Original Link:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/12R-WgYTh8SBh_zZsyjsoOIpQwxko9hmhlsl0eawNbLs/edit

Shaking. That was all the young brown colt could do. Shaking and staring into the light of the only candle in his room. He heard the rumors of Nightmare Moon, but never believed in them. He just couldn’t imagine any creature to be that powerful and brutal. Now, afterwards, he not only believes them, but even thinks they understate her cruelty. The queen of the de manis really deserved her name. She truly was a living nightmare.

About one week ago, rumors spread across Equestria of sinister creatures haunting the land. Nopony ever heard of something like a de manis before, so they had no idea what to expect of them. It also seemed like everypony heard different things of what they look like and do.

Many say they are mostly black, but some also claim to have heard of de manis made of fire, ice and stone. A few even claimed to have seen a tall, white, faceless de manis in a black suit. It seemed like the only thing almost all had in common where glowing red eyes.

While many heard they lure monsters to Equestria like manticores, hydras, chimeras and cocatrice, there also were unverified stories of pony slaughter, flesh eating, burning villages and torture. The colt himself could confirm all of the above to be true.

Suddenly, the door opened and a tall figure stepped in. The brown colt instantly shot up from his bed and tried to run away, but ended up falling. Unable to get up anymore in his physical and mental condition, he skidded across the floor, screaming in panic while retreating into the next best corner. Even as Celestia stepped into the candlelight, he didn’t stop trying to squeeze himself against the wall. The Princess of the Sun glanced down on him in pity.

“Oh my poor child...” she spoke in a sorrowful tone.

The colt looked terrible. His right hind leg and half of his left ear were missing and he had various deep cuts and heavy burnings across his body. The dried blood covering him beneath the fresh bandages was not his own, as the doctors confirmed. But that only gave an even clearer hint to what he must have been through. Yet, that was exactly why Celestia had come to his infirmary. He was the third pony who had encountered Nightmare Moon and lived so far.

It took the brown colt a relatively long time to finally process what he was seeing and come to understand that it wasn’t Nightmare Moon standing before him, but Princess Celestia. Even after the realization kicked in, he only calmed down very slowly. Tears formed in the corners of his eyes and he gazed at the bright demi-goddess with a look that only made it all the more heartbreaking to her.

“I am so very sorry for troubling you while you are still in recovery, but I hope you do understand that the information you have are of huge value to me,” the Princess apologized.

The colt tried to put himself together and pushed himself up to a sitting position. His gaze then wandered down his body and to the bloody bandaged stump where his right hind leg used to be just hours ago.

“H-how... how can I help you, Princess?” he asked meekly and very insecure.

Celestia felt very guilty for what she was going to ask for. It was very clear that he was still under trauma and that asking him now would only break him down again, but it had to be.

“If you can still remember... and if it is not too much to ask, I would like to know everything that had happened,” the bright demi-goddess requested.

The question alone was enough for the colt to start shaking again. He needed minutes to gather the courage to dive into these fresh, horrible memories.

“I was with my parents when it happened... First, there were these noises. I never heard anything like that before. My parents told me to stay in the house while they went looking... Then, there was this roar. Then screams. Then...” the colt spoke, pausing a moment as he came to the gruesome memories, “this beast came... ‘A chimera, a chimera!’ they shouted... It... It ate my mommy...”

The child had to stop as the tears started to flow and the grief clogged his throat. Celestia came closer, laying down right in front of him and covering the colt with her right wing, caressing him carefully to comfort. After a while, he was able to continue.

“The beast ran past the house. It didn’t see me. Then, there were these other creatures. De manis for what I know,” he explained.

“How many?” Celestia asked carefully.

“I’m not sure. Like twenty. Maybe more,” he replied.

“They are multiplying quickly...” the bright demi-goddess commented quietly.

The colt couldn’t understand what she spoke and just gave her a confused look. She, though, shook her head slowly.

“It is nothing. Please continue,” she explained.

The colt hoped that she would have enough information now. He gulped hard and his pupils started shrinking, shaking even heavier at the thought of the events that followed.

“Everypony was running away from them. Daddy came in the house and wanted to take me with him. But then... this faceless thing... it grabbed daddy and took him away,” the colt spoke, starting to cry again.

The suffering of this small child was unbearable for Celestia. She herself was at the brink of tears, but she couldn’t allow herself to cry in front of her subjects. Instead, she just held him tightly and the colt embraced her back. He continued crying for a while, until he suddenly stopped as the most traumatizing memories resurfaced.

“She was there! I saw her! Nightmare Moon! I saw... blood... heads... bones. Red. Red everywhere. The ground, the sky, everywhere... These sounds... these screams...” the colt spoke, dread increasing more and more in his voice as he started shaking violently. “Oh merciful Celestia! Make it stop! Make it stop! Mommy! Daddy! No! Noooooooo!”

The memories and trauma became too much for the child to bear. He started panicking and hyperventilating. Celestia figured that the best she could do for him right now was casting a sleep spell on him.

Moments after her horn began to glow, the child rapidly calmed down until it fell asleep in her front legs. The bright demi-goddess made sure that the spell would give him sweet, innocent dreams and let him levitate back into his bed.

Now that nopony was watching, she allowed her emotions to surface and her tears started flowing while she watched the parentless little colt. At least for the moment, under her sleep spell, he looked like he was fine. But the colt had become one of many new orphans in Equestria.

“Reckless, ruthless, careless, regardless...” Celestia blamed herself while watching the colt sleep.

More than two weeks had passed since the land had seen sunlight the last time. As if the blight wasn’t fatal enough, the lack of light made most of the remaining unsheltered plants die. Those who didn’t receive a painful and brutal death from Nightmare Moon or her children slowly vegetated from the lack of food. Equestria was dieing.

Celestia didn’t know what to do anymore. With each new de manis created, the red darkness spread more across the land. Equestria used to have thousands of settlements, villages and towns. The Princess of the Sun knew of fifty that had been completely destroyed by now. If things kept going like this, next to all would be gone within the following weeks.

Celestia’s eyes remained stuck on the sleeping child as she sank in thoughts. Was this really what the future would look like for everypony? After all her sister and she had accomplished, was it really going to end like this? Equestria, destroyed in the name of revenge and ‘justice’?

The bright demi-goddess’ stopped crying and looked up with a very serious expression. No. She would not let it come to that. Celestia felt very guilty for what she had done to Luna, but there was no justice behind these horrible actions. If there was no other way, she would have to start a war against her own sister. Her defeat and maybe even death would weight less than the lives of hundreds of thousands.

While the bright demi-goddess turned around and stepped outside, she used a magic spell to create a golden armor around her body. She had made her choice. Celestia would do everything necessary to protect her subjects.

---

“Well done, my children,” Nightmare Moon congratulated. The de manis grinned back at her evilly.

Another settlement had been destroyed. When the queen of the de manis arrived, her children had already done the job. Blood and guts were spread everywhere and the air became thickly filled with red darkness. By now, half of Equestria had drowned in destruction, suffering, horror and the evil red of the night.

Darkness was pleased. Nightmare Moon could feel it and so did all the other de manis. But their work was far from done, yet. They would continue until de manis where the only creatures remaining in Equestria.

After her children went on to assault the next civilization, Nightmare Moon took a different route. Ahead of her in far distance was Everfree City, the place where she was born and where Celestia was hiding. If she kept walking this direction calmly, she would arrive just in time so this city would be one of the last standing.

All of Nightmare Moon’s actions had meaning. She planned to murder every pony in her way and destroy every settlement that blocked her straight path back. With this, she wanted to give a clear sign that she was coming. Slowly. As an unavoidable sign of doom.

As she kept walking, the queen of the de manis suddenly found herself ambushed by a group of ponies. Although Celestia had warned them to stay away from the evil queen, not everypony was following this advice. Some thought of themselves as heroes trying to rescue the land by defeating Nightmare Moon. But so far, every attack on her failed miserably.

The wicked mare of darkness did not even have to look at them. With a simple spell, she created a powerful shockwave around her that tore the ponies to shreds. At least that is what she thought would happen.

Nightmare Moon was quite surprised when she felt a knife being rammed into her left front leg. She gazed down to the pony who dared to assault her in pure hatred. This is when she realized her attackers were all wearing enchanted armors.

Now aware of what she was dealing with, she cast a second spell. Black spikes shot out of the ground below the ponies. As they hit the armors, the enchantments on them became removed and the ponies found themselves impaled.

It was silent around the evil queen again. Her expression changed to one of great anger, since she knew what this meant.

“Celestia, you fool! You dared to declare war against me and my children? You really do not understand what you are doing. The more you fight back, the greater darkness’ fury will become,” Nightmare Moon mumbled.

She then looked down to the stabbed leg. The blade was still stuck inside. As Nightmare Moon lifted her leg, she realized that she was bleeding. No. Not she. Luna was bleeding.

“Are you honestly willing to go this far, Celestia? You would be willing to have your sister killed, only to stop me?” she questioned while removing the blade and treating the wound. “This body might be very powerful and immortal, but it is not invincible. Should Luna die, then I, too, will perish with all of my children.”

Nightmare Moon closed her eyes and seemed to sink into Luna’s mind. Slowly, an expression of frustration grew on her face.

“You stubborn thing! Give me your soul already! Give me my freedom and independency!” she growled.

Somewhere deep inside her, Luna was still there. She might be in coma, but resisted to be entirely engulfed by Nightmare Moon. For now at least. Sooner or later, the queen of the de manis would win and be able to devour Luna’s soul. If that happened, Nightmare Moon would become material and all of Luna’s powers would be hers forever.

But it might be too late until then. This first assault Celestia planned on her already managed to injure Luna. Out of each failure, the bright demi-goddess would learn and improve. Next time, the results could be much more critical. Nightmare Moon needed to think of something.

While the sinister queen struggled with Luna, she dove into her memories. Luna had been through quite a few historic events already. One of them was especially interesting to Nightmare Moon. As she realized she could use this knowledge to her advantage, her malicious grin returned.

“Well, well, well, Celestia. If you want a war, you shall have a war. You are not the only one who can set up legions. This assault on me only gives me more reasons to spread terror,” Nightmare Moon spoke, then turned her head towards Everfree before finishing. “Very soon, you will learn to not provoke me.”

Her mighty laughter echoed across the land again as she teleported herself away.

---

As it flashed again, Nightmare Moon found herself in a seemingly endless plain of snow. She was in search for a presence similar to her own. A dark and very evil one.

After spending a few minutes flying across the arctic wasteland in high speed, tracking down the sensation, she ultimately arrived at a small frozen lake close to a forest. He was here.

The sinister queen stepped in front of the lake, gazing down into the ice. The longer she stared, the stronger the feeling became that something was watching her back.

“Show yourself!” Nightmare Moon ordered.

A muffled growl came from beneath the ice. Moments later a large black fog and two red eyes, surrounded by corrupted green and overflowing with evil magic appeared. The eyes stared at Nightmare Moon full of anger for daring to command him like that.

“Sombra. Creator of curses. You and I have just about enough in common for you to be of interest to me. Consider yourself lucky,” Nightmare Moon started.

The eyes narrowed, glancing at her in distrust.

“Being imprisoned beneath the ice of the arctic north, you can not be blamed for not knowing who I am. My name is Nightmare Moon. But this body I am using is one that should be familiar to you. Princess Luna, demi-goddess of darkness,” the queen of the de manis explained.

Sombra became enraged as he realized one of the two alicorns who had done this to him was standing right above him. He came as close to the surface as the boundaries of his confinement allowed it, wishing he could attack her and make her pay. Nightmare Moon was amused by how much he hated Luna.

“Calm yourself, corrupted soul of darkness! Luna is under my full control,” she explained, then allowed the true, malicious red color of her eyes to surface. “Very soon, her soul will belong to me and she will die.”

Now, Sombra understood that something possessed Luna and that she was as good as gone. This satisfied him and he stepped back again, allowing Nightmare Moon to continue speaking.

“I have come to offer you a bargain, crystal king. To your great fortune, you possess an ability I require. The ability to create powerful curses,” she explained.

Sombra’s eyes narrowed again, wondering what he would get out of teaching her his greatest ability. Nightmare Moon understood, causing her to laugh a bit.

“It would hardly be a bargain if I would not offer something in return! You and I are similar. We are both creatures of darkness and corruption. We both seek domination. So, I offer you a one in a lifetime chance. Give me your talent and your soul. In return, I shall grant you powers beyond imagination, immortality and freedom. But most of all, I will guarantee that you will regain rulership over your empire. Your banishment and the curse of the crystal empire shall expire at the same time. You will be able to reclaim the land and do whatever you wish with it,” Nightmare Moon offered.

The corrupted king was unsure. The price was high, but so was the gain. Finally, he concluded that his desire for freedom, revenge and domination was so strong that he would do anything to break free again. With a nod, he agreed to the bargain and started casting a spell.

Nightmare Moon started grinning again and cast a spell on her own. Although she was not strong enough to break the seal which kept Sombra locked beneath the ice, their powers combined managed to create a tiny gap in the magic seal.

As soon as it opened, Nightmare Moon let her blue aura crawl through it and inside Sombra himself. He watched as hands formed out of the aura, grabbing inside him. While a part of Nightmare Moon remained in Sombra to prevent him from dying, a part returned with his soul.

The small black sphere was emitting a strange purple aura. Sombra bound his entire knowledge of curse magic to it in this form, making it easy for Nightmare Moon to absorb it.

The queen of the de manis inhaled the aura. Instantly she started laughing in satisfaction. She now was able to create curses.

“Very well, Sombra. You have kept your part of the bargain, then so shall I. This curse will be my first and many will follow,” she announced.

Nightmare Moon tore a large part of her aura away and turned it back into red darkness, which then started clustering around the black soul. The curse Nightmare Moon crafted was so powerful that the entire area around her drowned into a deep crimson color for a moment.

They both watched as the red mass compressed more and more, until it finally turned into a small object. A black triangle with a large red diamond on it. The head of a black and red eyed unicorn was above the gem, as well as black and red wings placed to its sides. In a few hundred years, this object would become known as the Alicorn Amulet.

“This token will ensure that no force in the world can destroy you fully. The curse on it will cause the wearer to gain great power, but in return will permanently damage their soul. Additionally, each use will weaken the seals that keep you and the crystal empire bound. One day, the seals will shatter. Until then, you must wait,” Nightmare Moon explained.

The corrupted king seemed amused and nodded in confirmation. He now could actually hope to be mighty again one day.

The queen of the de manis was done here. Sombra retreated into the depths of the ice and she herself teleported back into the center of Equestria, throwing the Alicorn Amulet into the next best river. She knew it was just a matter of time until it would be found.