Perils of the Past: From Ashes, Ch 8

By Somber

"Well, this sure is a lovely mess," Gramps muttered as he raked bits of splinted wood from the truncated town hall of Ponyville into piles. Most of the smallest pieces would end up in the fire, but the larger planks were being used to bridge the broken span crossing the river. Fury's final explosions had shattered windows and rained stones all over the town, but fortunately enough of the Equestrian Guard had recovered to prevent fires from spreading far.

"Aw, quit Bellyachin," Granny Smith snapped back as she carefully swept broken glass aside. "This is nothing like the tornado of 07'! There wasn't a roof left on Ponyville," she said with a fond smile. "I remember there were plenty of fine ponies in armor back then too." The green mare eyed the soldiers with the eye of a mare a quarter her age, "Ponyville needs some more disasters."

"Like a hole in the head," Gramps grumbled and then looked over at the new filly in town with a dark red coat and an orange and yellow mane. She faced off against four angry ponies, "Eh now, what's this?" The old brown pony wondered with a frown.

"I just want to help!" Diamond Fire protested as she took a step towards a fallen slab of roofing. The small rust colored pony pushed against the sheet of roof.

"We don't want your help," scoffed one, cutting her off with a shove.

"You're the reason for all this destruction," accused another, pointing his hoof accusingly.

Diamond Fire looked at each of them, "I know it's my fault. I'm trying to make it better."

"Sounds like the filly's got her heart in the right place," Gramps called out. This arrival drew sour looks from the town's ponies. "Unless you got a funny fondness for sweat, let her help." Diamond Fire looked at the old brown pony with a surprised but grateful smile.

"She should be in a dungeon," one of the ponies said sharply.

"Really? Might be a little hard for her to help out being all locked up," Gramps countered with an arch of his brow, "Maybe you can explain how she's supposed to pull that off?" The four didn't seem too inclined to argue the point, but didn't look happy about it either.

"That slabs too big for her anyway," one said with a nod of his head to the hunk of roof, "And I'm sure not helping her pull it!"

"Well if you can't handle it," Gramps said as he walked over to the harness hooked to the roofing. He looked at Diamond Fire and smiled, "guess an old hoss like me will have to step up." Diamond nodded gratefully and slipped into the harness next to him. She set her legs and began to pull, and Gramps jumped as her surge shifted the heavy roof. Another stallion looked at the others, shrugged, and gave the roof a shove and with the three of them they managed to drag it to the broken bridge where a team of ponies were busting up debris for building materials.

Unhooking her harness from the slab she turned towards Gramps, "Thanks." The blue stallion ignored her as he returned to his fellows, but Gramps just tossed his battered green hat, caught it on a hoof, and mopped his brow as he looked up at her with curiosity.

"Fer what? You're the one doing all the pulling! Never seen a filly with that much muscle," Gramps pointed out as he wiggled himself free of the straps. It was true that when she'd reverted she was as she was prior to her transformation, and she'd been no slouch back then. Fighting with big iron plates chained to her torso did wonders for her strength.

"For sticking up for me," she said as she ran her hoof through her orange and yellow mane. "Not many people do that. Not that I blame them." She looked back where the knot of ponies watched the two suspiciously; as if they expected her to explode into flame again and resume her rampage.

Gramps snorted, "Shoot, that's nothing. When I was a colt I figgered a hydra'd be a fine pet. Critter's momma came looking for it. Wasn't that a heck of a mess!" He cackled as he chewed on the end of a grass stalk. "Folks make mistakes. I figger, long as they're willing ta try and make right, then live and let live."

He walked back to his clean up, leaving Diamond Fire to find something else to haul. From the library, Twilight Sparkle watched Diamond Fire trot away and the purple Unicorn glanced over at Luna besides her, "That's the third fight she's gotten in in the last three days. Ever since ponies found out she was Fury, they've been pretty mad at her." Evacuated Ponies had been returning for the last three days and worked to make Ponyville right again, but there were still a lot of worried and mad folks out there.

Luna sighed, folding her hooves in front of her. "That's why Celestia kept me out of sight after you turned me back to normal. Let ponies forget a little about Nightmare Moon and what I did. But I don't think Firedamp… I mean… Diamond Fire can just sit around and do nothing." Princess Luna said softly as she watched her friend disappear out of sight around the corner.

"Have you two talked yet?" Twilight Sparkle glanced down at the dark Pegasus Unicorn as the Princess lowered her gaze and shook her head morosely.

"It's hard. When you changed me back it was like waking up from a horrible bad dream. I don't really remember every minute of being imprisoned on the moon, or what I did while fighting Celestia. Diamond Fire does. She looks at me and I can't tell if she's seeing Luna, Nightmare Moon, or something else," Luna said with a sigh and stamped her hoof in annoyance. "I've thought of ordering her to talk to me, but I doubt that'll work out well."

"Probably not," Twilight Sparkle agreed. "Most friends don't do well with commands like that."

"Maybe, but it's that or I'm going to sit on her till she talks!" Luna said with a snort.

"No offence, Princess, but I'm pretty sure she would just get up anyway. You're not exactly a heavyweight," Twilight Sparkle said as she smiled and they walked back into the library. Luna smiled a little at the joke. In the last three days she and Dignity had been dealing with the constant stream of messages arriving from all over Equestria. Much of it involved reassuring the kingdom that Celestia was okay and the threat ended. Aside from her duties with the sun, Celestia had spent most of the time recovering. Fury had nearly beaten her to death before abandoning her rampage to save Apple Bloom.

Books lay open on almost every surface, maps had been tacked to the walls, papers were organized with reports from all over Equestria, and sitting on a cushion was the Princess. Looking quite battered and bruised, she none the less had insisted on spending most of the morning pouring over old maps and charts to determine where Nightmare Vicious and Nightmare Stryfe had been bound. Honesty scrambled to extract every bit of lore she could from the library tomes.

"What about with your sister?" Twilight asked softly, gesturing with a nod of her horn.

"Oh we talked. Actually I yelled. She took it. I called her an unimaginable hoof brain, cried at her, and did everything short of kicking her. I think she got the message." Luna said with a little frown at her sibling. "She better have gotten the message. I'm not going to let her do something stupid like that again."

"She really blamed herself for Fury… Nightmare Moon…. everything?"

"Of course. Celestia's had a thousand years to kick herself for what happened," Luna said with a scornful look at her sibling, "I guess she saw Fury's revenge as the appropriate time to flog herself like an idiot."

"Oddly enough, in a thousand years, I've also had ample time to improve my sense of hearing," Celestia said loudly as she levitated a map of old Equestria in front of her.

"Oh, that's good. I'd hate to have to repeat myself about you being a hoofbrained idiot, sister." Luna said as she walked over and sat next to her sister, looking up at the maps. "Any luck?"

"Things change a lot in a thousand years," Celestia said as her eyes traced over the faded drawings. "It also doesn't help that at the time we were hard pressed to find Vicious, and once we did, we were in a rush to finish Strife and Screamer."

"And Fury doesn't have any solid recollection of any bases beyond Nightmare Keep, Nightmare Moon's old base of operations," Honesty said as she unrolled a scroll. "We can't even find that for the same reason. Maps are old and inaccurate and the topography's changed."

Twilight frowned as she looked at the maps. "She was bound in a tree in a forest…" There was a lot more forest back then as well. The woods stretched from Trotterham to Fillydelphia, encompassing not just the Everfree Forest but Whitetail Wood and Sunset Sward. There were even forests with ominous names like the Thornbriar and Spiderbranches. "After that where did you confront Strife?"

"Here, at Manor Imbrium," Honesty replied. "True Heart was poisoned by Lord Imbrium, but we were able to use the elements to bind her within a mirror. Fortunately we know where that is."

"Oh?"

"Safely locked up in the deepest and most secure vault in all of Canterlot," Celestia said softly. "I checked it myself, but it hasn't budged in a thousand years." There was something in the way she said that which Twilight Sparkle didn't like.

"

"Princess, can you show me your memories the way Luna did? Maybe they did something or said something that might give us a clue," Twilight Sparkle as she looked away from the map.

Celestia looked at her sister with a smile, "Unfortunately, I have no idea how my sister does it. I wish I did. So much has happened that I'd like a second peek at what happened."

"There is another possibility," Honesty said softly as she pushed her thick glasses back up her muzzle. "We could question Nightmare Stryfe."

"No, Honesty. She can stay locked up until we're ready to deal with her." Celestia said softly.

"And Nightmare Screamer's never been bound. She could be anywhere," Dignity added as she levitated scrolls. "There have been sightings from Ponyville to Zebranna across the sea." She pointed her hoof. "Here is story of a foreign blue and red pegasus becoming a part of the Sultan of Araby's harem. A year later he's deposed in a revolution. This is a report in Majing, where a 'sky pony' from far away lands befriended an ambitious duke. He rebelled against their Empress and after a terrible war he was deposed and she fled. They go all the way up to a sighting in Manehattan a century ago when she was working for apple cider runners and left them all to be picked up by the Equestrian Guard."

Twilight Sparkle gave a sheepish little smile, "No offense, Princess Luna, but Nightmare Screamer seems a bit… um…"

"Untrustworthy? Unstable? Unreliable?" Honesty suggested.

Luna frowned at the albino pony. "I trust her. She might have issues, but she was always loyal to me when I knew her." The gray Unicorn Pegasus gave a dismissive wave of her hoof to Dignity's scrolls as she said, "This is from her being a nightmare. It has to be."

"I agree," Celestia said firmly. "Of the three, I think that Nightmare Screamer will be the least problem some." That drew a surprised look from her sister. "We need to deal with Vicious or Strife. Preferably Vicious."

"Why prefer her over Strife, your majesty?" Honesty asked as she looked up from her school.

"You know why, Honesty." The two shared a look and Twilight Sparkle suppressed an urge to throttle the battered ruler of Equestria.

Thankfully Luna was less tolerant of evasion as she said crossly, "Why don't you tell us, Celestia?"

The white princess looked at her sister before she sighed and closed her eyes. "When we fought Strife, I nearly killed Honesty." The pale pony smiled and shook her head softly as Celestia continued. "Strife has the ability to get into a person's head. Its magic I've never seen before. For a time, she got into me. I nearly became a nightmare myself. I crushed every bone in her body."

"Fortunately Honesty and True Heart managed to snap me out of it before that happened and we bound her. But tragically Strife had corrupted the heart of Imbrium. He slew True Heart after Strife had twisted his love to hatred." From the look on Celestia's face she did not want to talk about it any longer.

"There is also Nightmare Whisper to remember," Twilight Sparkle reminded.

"But since we have even less on her than Screamer, we'd best focus on the Nightmares we know are bound." Dignity swept her scrolls aside with a wave of her horn, wrapping them up. "I suggest we put all our effort into finding Nightmare Vicious. We know she's somewhere in Equestria, rather than the wide world, and if she's bound or not is of paramount importance."

"I disagree," Honesty said softly, "We know where Nightmare Strife is. We can question her, and Miss Sparkle can try to help the poor dear."

"I think we might be able to draw out Nightmare Screamer… somehow…" Luna said softly, "What do you think, Twilight?"

The purple Unicorn suddenly became aware of all eyes on her. "Me? Why are you asking me?"

"Because ultimately you're going to have to deal with the remaining four nightmares. You and your friends, Twilight." Princess Celestia's calmly reminded her.

Twilight Sparkle's eyes widened as what that meant rest upon her shoulders. Fury had almost killed Fluttershy, Applejack, and Celestia. Had she not stopped at the last moment her suicidal detonation might have killed all of them! She found herself backing away from the others. "I… I… I…" Her rump bumped into the door. "I think I need some air," she said with a flash of her horn and disappeared from sight.

"Fluttershy, darling, you simply must stop for a moment and let me check those bandages!" Rarity called as as Fluttershy limped after a clutch of rabbits she gently herded back towards their burrow.

"Oh, but I can't. There are so many bunnies and deer and squirrels that need help getting back to their homes," she said as she limped along.

"Fluttershy…"

"And don't get me started on the poor frogs. Their ponds have so much ash in them it might be weeks before they can return home!" Fluttershy stretched out her wing to gently nudge the smallest back in line. Once they reached their burrow she gave a gentle smile, "Don't fret, little one. I know it smells smoky, but the fire's all gone now."

"Fluttershy!" The Unicorn stomped her hoof firmly as the rabbits returned to their den and the Pegasus started to walk back towards Whitetail Woods. "Enough stalling. Those bandages need to be checked. You were hurt, remember? Nurse Tenderheart made me promise to look after you and I'm going to do it."

Fluttershy gulped and looked at the gauze wrapping her limbs. She gave a little nervous mewl in the back of her throat as she closed her eyes tight. Rarity's magic deftly removed each of them, coiling up the gauze nice and neat as she focused on the task before her. Her purple eyes widened at the sight of raw orange patches covered in white blisters. "Well… you're on the mend," she said as casually as she could. She levitated a jar of salve from her saddle bags and scooped out some of ointment within. Fluttershy wrinkled her nose, "Now now. I know it's not a pleasant smell, but Nurse Tenderheart assured me that it would help with the burns. Really, it's amazing how quickly Pegasus heal, but given how many times Rainbow Dash has gone through roofs and windows I shouldn't be surprised."

"Does it look bad?" Fluttershy whispered.

"Yes," Rarity replied briskly, "But far better than yesterday. And you'll be better tomorrow," she said as she levitated fresh bandages and gently wrapped them in place over the healing burns. "I doubt you'll have a mark at all in a week or so. Applejack's ribs are going to take a bit longer to heal, even with Tenderheart's magic."

Twilight Sparkle listened in from some bushes. She wasn't trying to spy, but right now she wanted to check in on her friends. Fluttershy's injuries seemed to have slowed her down. Would she be okay against in another fight? Rarity's might not have been injured beyond some scuffs and bruises, but would she fare better against a pony wreathed in lightning, cold, or toxins? Could she subject her friends to that again?

A shadow passed overhead and the ivory Pegasus stallion with midnight black mane landed before them, sending the animals around them scurrying for cover. Radiant folded his wings and looked down at the pair of them… well rather at Fluttershy as Rarity edged into his field of vision.

"Why, hello again Radiant," Rarity began, seeking to distract his hard dark gaze away from Fluttershy. "I must say again how thankful the ponies of Ponyville are for…" neither of the pair acknowledged she was even speaking, "…your people's… generous… sacrifice?"

Radiant's dark eyes drilled into Rarity for one long and terrible moment before returning to Fluttershy. "I'm returning to Cloudsdale," he said in his deep, soft voice. It was like distant thunder. "We have plenty of repairs of our own to make. Every Pegasus is needed."

"Yes sir," Fluttershy said softly, her eyes on her bandaged hooves. The silence stretched on. Twilight Sparkle thought about stepping out, but even out of sight as she was the ominous presence of the pegasus kept her rooted.

Rarity stepped between the two of them. Her voice was much more high strung as she said, "Yes, well I'm sure you've lots of work to get to. Plenty of work cleaning up Cloudsdale…" The grim stallion didn't move or say a word. His dark glare seemed to reach out and seize Rarity as if he had Unicorn magic. "So… um… so do we. Much work. Fluttershy is so busy with her animals."

Radiant's eyes didn't shift off Rarity's, and the white unicorn started to sweat, looking as if she'd hope he'd blink soon. "Is that true, Fluttershy?" he asked low and steady.

"Yes sir," she whispered, hiding behind Rarity. The white Unicorn looked as if she wished she had something to hide behind as well. Enough was enough! Twilight Sparkle rose to stop this bully.

His dark eyes stared for another moment before he said in his low, ominous voice, "Very well. Be more careful in the future, Fluttershy." Fluttershy simply nodded and Radiant flapped his wings to fly towards Ponyville. Twilight Sparkle looked at her two friends, then at the departing Pegasus, and quickly rushed to her friends. Whoever sourwings was, he took second priority to Fluttershy.

She raced up."Rarity? Fluttershy? What's going on? Who was that Pegasus?"

Rarity started to answer when Fluttershy whispered, "My father." Both of them went silent as they stared at the gentle pink and yellow Pegasus. Her blue eyes looked up in the direction he'd gone.

"Fluttershy, why didn't you tell me the Head Pegasus of Cloudsdale was your father?" Rarity asked as she knelt, putting a hoof on her shoulder. Twilight Sparkle agreed, it was hard to imagine any relationship between the two. Radiant was hard and cold; a bit like Nightmare Moon when Twilight thought about it. "You don't even look similar."

Fluttershy just looked away, lowering her eyes as she said, "I was always told I look just like mom."

"I can't believe he'd act like that with his own offspring! Some pony should give him a stern talking to!" Rarity stomped her hoof, purple eyes narrowing as she scanned the skies over Ponyville. "Fathers should not do that!"

"Please, no. Don't," Fluttershy said as she stepped in front of the white Unicorn.

"Fluttershy…" Rarity said softly.

"Please. Don't bother him. Not about me. He's a very important pony," she said as she looked after him again, "He has so many people that count on him."

Twilight Sparkle stepped up to her. "Fluttershy, how he's treating you is wrong!"

"Oh. Yes. Well… no," she said as she turned away. "You see, it's my fault that mom died, so it's only fair he blames me."

"What?" Twilight Sparkle gasped as Rarity pressed her hooves to her mouth.

"I was just a foal, and she gave me a little pink ball. The three of us were on a cloud and I was throwing it over the edge. Father would catch it with all kinds of tricks he learned." She smiled softly, her eyes now looking as something much more distant than her father. "He warned me if I threw it that he'd let it fall to the surface where there were all kinds of monsters, but I threw it anyway." She closed her eyes, looking back at them with a little mirthless smile. "He refused to go, so mother flew down to get my ball. She didn't come back."

Twilight Sparkle gulped and didn't want to ask. She didn't have to. "She ran across a dragon. A mean one… he gobbled her up," Fluttershy said simply, "and that was that."

"No!" Rarity sniffed. Fluttershy's eyes were dry, but so terribly sad. The yellow Pegasus just nodded.

"Father went into his room and didn't come out for a very long time. I cried a lot. I'd dream about it; what happened to her. When he came out, he went straight to work. He didn't look at me. Didn't talk to me. So he must have blamed me," she said with a little smile that didn't touch her eyes. "I used to think that if I flew, I'd fall down to the surface where dragons would eat me too. Sometimes I still feel like if I fall there will be a dragon down there." She sighed and shook her head, "Silly, isn't it?"

Twilight Sparkle's jaw dropped. She couldn't imagine such a thing. She'd hadn't talked to her own parents in years, but knowing they were in Canterlot and caring about her was a constant comfort. To have lost a parent like that… no. Fluttershy hadn't lost one parent. She'd lost them both, but where one was gone the other changed into something cold and unloving.

Rarity, however, hugged Fluttershy. "It's not silly at all, darling," she said as she brushed Fluttershy's mane from her eyes. "I only wish I'd known sooner."

Twilight Sparkle looked from one to the other feeling suddenly like an intruder. She'd once read a diary of Rarity's. The entries had shown that the well bred Unicorn knew loss and tragedy all too well. Twilight Sparkle simply couldn't sympathize with that kind of loss. She could only empathize with their pain and hope that somehow it could get better. Turning away from them both, she quietly made her way back to Ponyville.

Is that what it was like to lose someone you cared about? Did it gouge a hole inside you that never really healed? She wondered how she would feel if Fluttershy died, or Pinkie Pie, or Rarity. Celestia had lost every single one of her friends except pale Honesty. How many centuries had it taken for her to become the kind monarch Equestria now enjoyed?

Suddenly Luna's wish to save her friends became far more real to Twilight Sparkle. Is that what friendship really meant? If so, how could she risk her friends, even to save Luna's? The selfish thought was both disgusting and comforting at the same time.

"Hey, Twilight. What are you doing all the way out here?" Called a voice from above. Rainbow Dash lounged on one of the small black rainclouds broken off from Cloudsdale; she spotted a swollen cloud pillar sticking out of the side.

"I was checking on Fluttershy. Rarity's with her." Twilight said as she looked at her sprawled out on top of the cloud, "Aren't you supposed to be pushing that out to the Everfree Forest and making sure all the fire is out?"

"That fire is done. It didn't stand a chance against Equestria's best flyer. So I'm catching up on some much needed nap time." She gave a dismissive wave of her hoof as she rolled on to her back. Twilight couldn't help but smile. No matter what happened, Rainbow Dash remained Rainbow Dash.

Twilight glanced back the way she'd come before looked up at Rainbow Dash, "Hey. Did you know that Radiant is Fluttershy's father?"

From the shock on Rainbow Dash's face it was clear she hadn't. "He's her dad? Oh geeze, and I thought I had parent problems." She rolled off the cloud, snapped her wings to flip upright, and floated down in front of Twilight Sparkle. "That makes some sense though. Did you know that winged jackass wasn't going to lift a feather to save Ponyville? His plan was to move Cloudsdale and let earth ponies save earth ponies. It wasn't till I mentioned Fluttershy that he moved his rump."

"Really?" Twilight Sparkle looked back behind her before regarding her friend, "Can I ask you a hypothetical question?"

"A what question?"

"Hypo… never mind." Twilight Sparkle hung her head as she regarded her friends. "Do you think we should go after the other nightmares?"

"Sure," Rainbow Dash replied without hesitation.

"Even if it means we might lose our friends?" Twilight added with a little frown.

"Sure," Rainbow Dash answered, just as easily.

"Rainbow, I'm serious! You nearly got burned to death saving Zecora. Fluttershy… Applejack… Celestia… any of them could have been killed." Twilight couldn't believe that Rainbow Dash wasn't taking this seriously!

"Sure," Rainbow Dash replied just as evenly as before. She looked at the purple Pegasus and her lips smiled into a cocky little grin. "Twilight… we could die tomorrow. Applejack might make a batch of baked bads again. Pinkie Pike could be buried under a mountain of cupcakes. Rarity may chip a hoof. And someday, Twilight, it's gonna happen. And that day is gonna be completely unawesome, which is why it's never going to happen to me. " She put her hoof on Twilight's shoulder, "But if we just sit around and let super nasty Nightmares run around when we can fight them then not only is it going to happen but it's going to happen sooner."

"I know… it's just… when we were fighting Fury I didn't really think about it. Not like right now. We had to do it. But thinking about going from protecting ourselves to actually hunting them down…." Twilight closed her eyes for a moment, "Dash, I'm scared!"

I'm scared. Saying those two simple words quieted the fear that had been boiling and twisting inside her. She was scared. Seeing Rarity and Fluttershy hurt like that… physical pain was nothing compared to that.

"Every pony's scared. Well, except for me," Rainbow Dash said with a little smirk that almost convinced Twilight, "It's just another race. It's just got higher stakes, sure. We win and there's sunshine and rainbows. We lose? Unawesomeness."

Twilight felt herself calm. "You're right, Dash. Thanks." It certainly helped dampen those worries inside her.

"You're the smartest Pony I know, Twilight. You tell us what to do and we'll do it. No worries. Kay?" Rainbow Dash said as she stretched. "Now if you don't mind, I've got a few more hours of sleep to catch up on. See you later, Twilight." And with that she launched herself back up to the cloud and pulled the fluffy surface over her like a blanket.

"Thank you, Dash." Twilight Sparkle said as she trotted towards Sweet Apple Acres.

Nightmare Moon. Nightmare Fury. Nightmare Vicious. Nightmare Strife. Nightmare Screamer. Nightmare Whispers.

Of the six nightmares, Moon and Fury were the most well known. Nightmare Moon may have been the leader of the fight against Celestia, but from Twilight's research she thought more and more of Nightmare Moon as a figurehead. Inspiring, fear inducing; the face of the six. She wasn't a tactical genius or a political creature. Worse, from listening to her many speeches, it was clear Moon believed she was. She inspired fear, and while that fear sustained the rebellion for a while eventually she was isolated and banished. It wasn't a pleasant topic in the library for any pony.

Nightmare Fury had been the muscle. When Nightmare Moon played general, Fury was always on the battlefield. In many ways Fury was more feared than Nightmare Moon; Moon had vast magical powers but she rarely used them. A visit by Fury could level a community. Fury wasn't subtle. Every pony knew she was coming and knew to surrender, run, or burn. Her charge on Ponyville actually was very true to form.

Nightmare Vicious, more than any pony, was the smart one in the bunch. Instead of bold statements or open aggression, Vicious was subtle. She kidnapped countless victims, sometimes returning them to their families injured and mutilated. Others didn't return at all. She likewise was something of a cook of sorts; only instead of pies and cupcakes she brewed all sorts of noxious poisons, drugs, and chemicals. Luna had been so busy running Equestria the last few days that Twilight hadn't had a chance to ask who Briar Rose or the others were before their transformations.

Nightmare Strife had been the manipulator. She, far more than Moon, seemed to control things from behind the scenes. By every account she was beautiful, but cold and vain. She lead to the ruin of hundreds of aristoponies and orchestrated the murder of Celestia's friend Trueblood via the poor love sick stallion Lord Imbrium, one of the founders of Ponyville. Diamond Tiara's family were his descendants. Twilight contemplated visiting their manor, but doubted that they would know much about a Nightmare a thousand years ago.

Nightmare Screamer was the odd bunch of the party. Charismatic, but not as much as Nightmare Moon. Powerful, but not as strong as Nightmare Fury. Intelligent, but not as clever as Nightmare Vicious. Manipulative, but not as tricky as Nightmare Strife. Screamer was the one that got away. Where the others were all experts in their fields, she was always the back up.

Nightmare Whispers. The unknown. That unnerved Twilight Sparkle more than anything: a manipulator behind manipulators. Twilight Sparkle stopped as she slowly looked around herself. The air was terribly still. The buzz of insects droned softly around her, but not a breath of wind stirred the grass under hoof. Her hackles rose as she swallowed. "Nightmare Whispers…" she murmured as softly as she could. "Nightmare Whispers. You can hear me, can't you?"

She felt silly. Now she was starting to get paranoid on top of everything. Yet she stood there as still as she could manage, straining her ears. The faint buzz of grasshoppers dwindled away. Twilight felt her heart pound as she closed her eyes.

"Twilight Sparkle?"

Pinkie Pie's squeak made Twilight Sparkle jump and land in a heap. The pink pony wearing saddlebags cocked her head and then grinned. "Oh? Is it a game? I was wondering what you were doing just standing out here all alone. What are the rules? Who's playing? Can I be the car? I want to be the car!" She said as she looked around with a grin, then noticed Twilight Sparkle was twitching a little she frowned and looked down at her. "Um… Twilight? Are you okay?"

"Fine, Pinkie. Just fine. And it was a game and I just lost." She said as she sat up, rubbing her horn.

"Oh, that's too bad. Well, here." She dug into her back and fished out a cupcake and tossed it to her friend. "Consolation prize." Twilight caught it with her magic, and then smiled. It smelled excellent and she hadn't had much appetite all morning.

She munched and then smiled, "Thanks, Pinkie Pie. I needed that. This whole nightmare business has got my tail in knots."

"Ohhh, and no pony likes a knotty tail," Pinkie Pie commiserated. "Well I'm taking these treats to Sweet Apple Acres. They're all working so hard to fix it up after all that mess."

Twilight Sparkle chuckled as they continued walking together. The air of the glade was still silent after their passing. Then a low soft laugh carried through the long grass before that too faded. The insects, unconcerned by such things, resumed their soft droning buzz.

Apple Bloom and Zecora picked their way along the muddy trail towards Zecora's home. Long strips of black wood streaked through patches of green and brown. Here and there Apple Bloom could pick out hoof prints baked into the mud. The little pony had agreed to accompany the zebra back to her home to see what remained. "Zecora, what are you going to do if your home's not there anymore?" she asked as she trotted besides her, looking up. "You're not going to leave Ponyville, are you?"

The zebra chuckled and said in a voice still scratchy from the smoke, "It may be I'll have to roam, but nearby I'll find another home. More worried am I for what remains. Some losses will cause me great pains."

Apple Bloom nodded, knowing quite well herself. A lot of Sweet Apple Acres had gotten demolished, but thankfully neither their house nor their orchards were damaged. "Zecora, I was wondering, where did you come from?"

"Ah, a land beyond the sea where the grasslands grow far and the wind blows free. Where the stars are bright and the moon glows true and the sun bathes everything through and through. Where the land is strong and not quite tame; Zebranna is its name." Zecora said with a fond smile. "Villages of thatch and muddy bricks and palaces of stone with walls quite thick. Markets with goods from all around could be found in almost every town. Music plays and zebras dance… oh it makes me want to prance!" The zebra said with a little hop skipping walk that made Apple Bloom giggle.

"Well then why'd you leave?" Apple Bloom asked, hoping it wasn't because of something bad.

"The world calls, dear Apple Bloom, and you cannot see it without leaving your room. I've walked seas of burning sand and left them colored black and tan. I've seen great mountains that bite the clouds with snow clinging all year in gauzy shrouds. Forests great and oceans deep where strange and wonderful beasts creep. Flowers great and blossoms small as the seasons rise and fall. With all the world holds with its call, how could I not travel and see it all?" Zecora asked with her dreamy smile. "Coming to this Forest Everfree I knew there was much to see. I found a home and made it nice, such a trivial price for the wonders which I have seen and the ponies I've met who are so keen."

Apple Bloom could almost imagine those wondrous sights as she walked besides her. When all this began the cutie mark crusaders had talked about being explorers, but Zecora was the real explorer. She'd left her home and travelled all around the world only to make her home in the Everfree Forest for a time. It was enough to make Apple Bloom want to go to Zecora's homeland to hear the music the zebra no doubt remembered.

The young pony looked at the ugly black char. "I can't believe how bad this is. She must have burned miles and miles."

The zebra stopped and walked to an ugly patch of wet ash and mud. "Look here, Apple Bloom," she said and gestured to thin green shoots poking out of the ashes. "Fire does not always spell doom. Though fire may rage and chastise, from the ashes life will always arise."

Nudging the little green shoots with her hoof, Apple Bloom smiled and said, "Take care, little guys."

Unfortunately further along the pair found her home in its state of near desolation and Zecora's mood sobered quite a bit. Of all her belongings, she was most upset by the loss of her books. She set them down and carefully paged through them to save any that where recoverable. The masks were likewise a sad loss, but she simply bid them farewell until she could make them anew. With their saddle bags full the zebra then approached the steps down to the root cellar.

"This place has also tasted fire; the blaze must have been very dire," Zecora said as she stepped between the bins and boxes that were all blackened. Zecora walked back to a small alcove, and then froze. "No! This cannot be! How could I lose the seed of the tree?"

Apple Bloom frowned as she climbed on some crates that creaked, but supported her lighter frame. "Zecora. What is it? What's wrong?"

"In my travels far and wide I was seized by a strangest tide that led me to a place powerful and green where magic could be felt just unseen. Trees older than all grew there, more beautiful than beyond compare. In that place a gift I received more precious than could be believed. A seed of the potent three, offspring of the World Tree," she cried as she put a hoof inside the space, as if the fire had made it invisible. "Hidden well within this space were treasures from that distant place."

"Maybe the fire burned it all up?" Apple Bloom looked around the scorched crates.

"Find me the hottest flame's greed, it could never consume that seed." Zecora insisted.

Apple Bloom then looked upwards at the roof and frowned. "Zecora? Why is your roof all shiny?" In the wan light coming down the stairs, Apple bloom could see black lines of melted glass.

Zecora's eyes widened, "By my hooves, I do not know what could make the roof just so." Then she paused and frowned. "Wait, in my travels I do recall a stone found in merchant's stall. Blackened glass in jagged line: the product when lightning and sand combine."

"Lightning? Well how in tarnation did lightning get in your cellar, Zecora?" Apple Bloom asked.

"Truthfully, I do not know; I can only read what the letters show. If this lightning stole my seed then it is a clever thief indeed."

Sweet Apple Acres was only slightly less dinged up than Ponyville, thanks to the efforts of the Apple family. Everywhere Twilight Sparkle could see the family busied themselves with clearing away what'd been destroyed. Most of the barn and water tower lay in two heaps and Twilight could see big Macintosh hauling a wagon of lumber over to where the building had once stood. The vegitable garden was probably destined to become Sweet Apple Acre's new duck pond.

"Yoooo hooo!" Pinkie Pie called as she bounced down into the farm. "I got pastries, confections, punch, and cookies!" She said as she opened her bags and dumped them on a picnic table near the house. Anypony who approached quickly got a pointy hat as well as something sweet to eat. "It's a congratulations and thanks for all your hard work party!" She proclaimed as she broke into a musical number.

"That filly could celebrate grass growin, I reckon," Applejack said as she approached Twilight Sparkle.

"Don't give her any ideas," Twilight Sparkle said with a smile, looking impressed as a half dozen of Applejack's relations joined in. "Someday I'll have to find out how she does that."

"Does what? Hop around like a bunny? Cause that's been biting my biscuits since we first met."

"No Applejack. I wonder how she always makes everyone smile like that." Twilight said as Pinkie Pie launched into a chorus about hammers and nails. Twilight let out a soft sigh as she said, "I have to decide which Nightmare we're going to deal with next. Vicious. Strife. Screamer." Twilight laid out the problems as she saw them. Vicious was the most dangerous. Strife was locked up. Screamer was free.

"Well shoot. We can search till the cows come home and never find this Vicious critter. I say, till she pokes her nose outta whatever hole she's in, we go pay a visit to the one Nightmare who's hiding hole we know." Applejack said, giving her two bits. "And if we come across this Screamer, we can give her the punt too. Teach her it was a mistake to come back to Equestria."

"I suppose you're right. She's not as powerful as any of the others. So, I guess we'll just have to go to Canterlot and deal with Strife." She looked at the bruises on Applejack's sides. "Though I think we can wait a little longer for your ribs to mend."

"I'd appreciate it." She looked at her older brother with a sharp snort and said, "I just know Big Macintosh loves hauling around those loads in front of me like I'm a little filly. I'd haul them and him if I'd hadn't gotten applebucked halfway across Sweet Apple Acres!" Twilight Sparkle smiled and shook her head. Some days she was sure she had the orange equine figured out, and other days…

The hole loomed in the ground like a great pit in the foggy field. Her wings spread wide as she drifted slowly down to the ground. Wet wood and gray thorns surrounded her on all sides. Her hooves touched down in the base of the low shaft, sinking into the soggy rot that filled the bottom of the void.

Vicious terrified Nightmare Screamer. Of all her former friends, none truly gave her the same gut loosening sensations as the sweet pony that had gone completely off the deep end. She could see the thorns growing before her eyes. They curled into the gaps in the wood, twisting out of sight. Others bent and tore at their own, and she spotted a thick thorny length split in two as another runner tore it slowly in two.

She swallowed and then called out, "Vicious?"

The thorn vines stilled their movement for a moment. Then beneath her hooves she felt the squirm of thorn vines. Lightning flashed in her eyes as she reared and struck the mung beneath her. Every strike blasted apart pale clingy roots that wiggled towards her. "Knock it off, Vicious. It's me!"

The roots stopped their advance. From the shadows a voice said softly, "Go away."

"I can't. I know Whisper's talked to you. Told you what she needs." And not told Screamer, she reminded herself. In this case, however, screamer didn't want to know. The vines continued their crawling around her. Some vine tips pressed tip to tip, increasing pressure till they both split. "Look, just take it and I'll get out of here." I'm not begging. This is not begging!

The thorn vines slowed their movement. Then two walls of vines pulled open to reveal a rotted out space. Even with the flickers of lightning off her mane, Screamer couldn't see the depths of that hole. From it stretched a thick root. Slowly it approached and then unfolded before Screamer's eyes like an open skeletal hand.

Screamer pulled off the pouch and shook out a silvery white seed about the size of a walnut, shaped vaguely like an apple. The root coiled around the seed and immediately drew into the space. "I want…" Vicious muttered, trailing off into a soft mumble.

"What?" Screamer couldn't help herself as she leaned closer to the hole.

"I said I want…" but more mumbling obscured the words.

Screamer turned her head and leaned just a little more towards the hole. "You want what?"

Thick thorn vines whipped around her throat and legs and pulled her head into the head. A white, gaunt shape pressed its face against hers. Baleful green eyes grew as it opened a mouth full of razor sharp thorns and screamed, "I WANT A PONY!"

The blast of lightning erupted from the earth as Nightmare Screamer flew like a thousand rabid Princess Celestias were on her heels.