The return of Nightmare Winter

by TheShadowOfZama

All know the tale of Nightmare Moon or the mare in the Moon, but what if she was not the only one banished what if just like the alicorn sisters control the day and the night two brothers once controlled the summer and winter. This is the tale of prince Freeze also known as Nightmare Winter who shall bring the eternal winter to Equestria now his 10.000 years of banishment are over.

Chapter 1 The story of Nightmare Winter

Equestria Canterlot palace:

All the princesses were busy decorating the throne room it was a tradition for many years that the princesses would decorate the throne room. "Luna could you give me another box with decoration please," Twilight asked politely.

Luna levitated the box over to Twilight using her magic while saying. "Sure no problem here you go!"

"Thanks."

Meanwhile Celestia and Cadence were busy decorating some trees. "I can't wait for Hearth's warming eve. I want to see ponyville again so badly," Cadence said cheerfully causing Celestia to let out a small giggle.

"I know Cadence. I can barely wait myself to go back I always enjoy visits to the elements," Celestia said happily.

"And you princess Luna? Do you see forward to or visit to ponyville," Twilight asked.

"We sure do Twilight. We are so happy that the inhabitants of that lovely town has finally accepted their princess of the night back. We cannot wait to have FUN AGAIN!" Luna said enthusiastically with her royal canterlot voice.

"Just remember your voice dear sister," Celesta reminded gently.

"Ahem yes of course we shall think about our voice," Luna said slightly embarrassed at once again falling back on her royal voice. The others stiffened their laughter as Luna's face became slightly red when suddenly a guard entered. "Princesses I came to remind you to get ready for the festival."

"Thank you guard we will prepare ourselves for the festival. You are dismissed," Celestia said gently making the guard nod before leaving the princesses alone. "You heard him let's get ready we cannot let those ponies wait too long!"

The others nodded and they all headed to their own bedroom to get dressed a good half hour later they were dressed. Celestia was wearing a white orange and red dress with gold making it look like the sun. Luna was wearing a dark navy blue dress with silver stars and some crescent moons on it, Cadence was wearing a dress which matched her hair colors and Twilight wore a purple dress with some blue and stars on it each dress was a masterpiece.

The four princesses got into their carriage which was protected by royal guards and then they headed towards the great plaza were the festival would be held. "How is Shining," Celestia asked Cadence.

"Oh everything is good with him, but he got hold up in the crystal empire he will be coming to the celebration in ponyville however," Cadence explained.

"It will be good to see my brother again. I can't wait to see him again," Twilight said.

"Oh he is also anxious to see you again Twilight, but over a few days you will see him again."

The rest of the trip the four mares talked about what they would do in the holidays while they had their royal duties they still had some spare time after a good fifteen minutes they arrived at the great plaza. The princesses got out of the carriage and where lead to their seats who gave them clear view on the podium.

Some servants gave the princesses some drinks and something to eat before the show started and various acts were done. There were school acts with little foals doing a theater about various legends and myths some acrobats who did various tricks some magicians and so on and on.

After a few singers had sung a beautiful song about Equestria a storyteller came up the stage. He was a red unicorn with a mane that looked like fire and like all the other participants he told his name and what he came to tell.

"Greetings everypony my name is Heat summer and I am going to tell you a story from back where I come from. The story over Nightmare Winter," The unicorn said causing the public to mumble silently eager in anticipation as they had never heard about Nightmare Winter even the princesses looked interested as they had never heard of this Nightmare Winter.

When the crowd calmed down Heat continued. "I know most of you if not nopony not even the princesses had ever heard of Nightmare Winter and that is normal as this is a story which takes place before the princesses were even born.

The tale of Nightmare Winter or the stallion in the ice is familiar to that of the tale of Nightmare Moon like the mare in the moon wanted to bring eternal night Nightmare Winter wanted to bring eternal winter as just like Nightmare Moon was jealous on her sister he was jealous of his brother claiming that the ponies liked his summer better than his winter.

Let me start telling the tale long ago two brothers were responsible for the coming and going of the seasons like princes Celestia and princess Luna are responsible for the sun and the moon and it worked out fine. Prince Freeze however started getting annoyed as the ponies didn't like his winter or him a lot this had a reason however this story is placed not so long after the wendigos had terrorized the country nowadays called Equestria.

The unicorn used his magic to form an imagine of a blue alicorn with blue/white fog as mane and a red alicorn with fire as mane.

However prince Freeze also lacked another thing he lacked love it was said his heart existed out of ice and was incapable of feeling pure love."

The unicorn changed the image from the two brothers to a normal heart that slowly changed into a heart of ice. This made a lot of ponies gasp including Cadence as she was the goddess of love and the very thought of something unable to even feel love made her shudder.

"Prince Freeze was feared by the ponies because he showed no remorse and no mercy and well he liked a certain thing which caused the ponies to give him a nickname. They nicknamed him Prince Blizzard because he loved blizzards!"

The crowd gasped at that. They shuddered from the very thought someone actually liked the dreaded storms.

"The Colder the better for prince Freeze. He absolutely loved snow and ice so each winter he made sure that every rock, tree and water had a thick layer of either snow or ice on it needless to say winters back in those times were bad and each winter it became worse and worse and the ponies became desperate so they asked his brother for help and the prince parents and they did everything in their power to let him see reason."

The unicorn made an illusion which showed a red alicorn and a couple of bigger alicorn they assumed the parents whilst the male alicorn looked like prince Heat the female one resembled prince Freeze more they were talking to prince Freeze who turned away.

"However he didn't want to see reason and so with no other choice they banished prince Freeze to the winter realm and the three of them shared the responsibility of bringing winter and for a long time this went well the ponies were content again and even if they missed their missing family member they knew that for the time being it was for the best.

However this new rule didn't stay working deep in the winter realm in the cold heart of winter the winter prince slowly, but surely became more twisted and insane there are those who whisper the castle was filled with an evil entity that Freeze accidentally released three to be more specific the ones you know as the wendigos!"

The crowd gasped at the name of the dreaded creatures that had nearly succeeded in bringing an everlasting winter until they were defeated by the fire of friendship what happened to the creatures no one knew, but everyone always thought they still lurked somewhere waiting for a chance to return. The unicorn made another illusion this time of prince Freeze sitting in the middle talking to tree wendigo's who formed a circle around him.

"It is said that he formed an alliance with the winter spirits and thus gained more power this however had a price his sanity slowly, but surely began to disappear and he became a creature worse than Nightmare Moon!" The unicorn exclaimed loud making even the princesses wince.

"They say he sold his heart for power," The unicorn said before changing the previous illusion in one that showed prince Freeze giving a heart to the wendingo's who in return gave him more powers.

His decent was quick and swift that day Prince Freeze became Nightmare Winter also known as the stallion in the ice," The unicorn exclaimed before letting the previous illusion disappear in smoke and make one of an dark blue alicorn with instead of blue flames as mane he had now a misty colored mane which looked like there was a snowstorm inside of the mane and he also wore darker armor he wore iron armor a greek style phalanx warrior helmet, a breastplate and armored lower forelegs.

Another notable feature was that he was bigger than prince Freeze was and even higher than princess Celestia and Nightmare Moon were by half a head, but the most notable feature of all was the fact that his eyes were a bright white blue and were radiating a same colored fog to the side of it much like with king Sombra and as last feature which was even if it was less notable than the others the ponies saw he had predator teeth like he was a meat eater which made all the ponies inclusive the princesses nervous.

"You are seeing it correct both prince Freeze and Nightmare Winter were meat eaters for the simple reason that meat was the best findable food source in the winter which was the time both prince Freeze and Nightmare Winter were active,"

This made some ponies want to throw up and the princesses had a disgusted look on their face. Suddenly the illusion changed again this time it contained Nightmare Winter and what seemed like an army of ice ponies.

"With an army of ice ponies he set out to conquer the world after many bloody battles he was eventually defeated by his brother and was sent to the furthest and coldest planet of this planetary system Neptune the ice planet would be his home and that of his army for 10.000 years!"

An image of the ice planet appeared and showed how Nightmare Winter and his army were locked up the same kind of way as Nightmare Moon was sealed on the moon only without an image of a head appearing on the planet like it had on the moon.

"The world was save, but prince Heat was gravely wounded from the battle and lost nearly everything he lost his wings and became a regular unicorn who was barely able to do a simple telekinetic spell his brother might have been defeated, but the prince had lost most of his powers a couple years later his parents and he was cursed to wander the world alone for he was still an immortal being."

The ponies became sad at the thought the hero had won, but had literally lost everything.

"So cherish your loved ones! Cherish your princesses definitely the one of the night for she is free of her curse whereas Nightmare Winter is still lurking on the icy surface with his army waiting for a chance on revenge waiting for his chance to strike it is said that Nightmare Winter needs two things to come back first of all the 10.000 years need to be over and second the planets need to give him passage.

You see his brother didn't have the elements of harmony to imprison his brother he used his own power and send him to Neptune using the planets whilst Nightmare Winter can control most planets seeing as they have no connected soul there is one planet between Neptune and ours that he cannot control and it is also the very same planet that hangs above us on this beautiful night you guessed correctly it is the moon," The unicorn exclaimed before using his magic to form an illusion of the moon this made Luna look in awe as she had never heard anypony give her so much praise.

"Keep your princess of the night happy my fellow pones for it is said that it isn't prince Heat that shall defeat Nightmare Winter, but a goddess of the moon as she can grant him both the access to Equestria!"

This made suddenly two bright blue eyes appear on the moon and a mouth with razor sharp teeth which led out a maniacal laughter.

"Or she can keep him imprisoned!" This caused the eyes and mouth to vanish and the shadow of Nightmare Winter be pulled back into Neptune while letting out a loud angry, but also sad cry before the illusion disappeared.

"This is the story of Nightmare Winter or the stallion in the ice or prince Freeze how you also call him fear him and never forget him for that is what he wants if nopony remembers him there is nopony prepared against him when he returns and then he shall win and bring eternal winter," The unicorn finished his tale which resulted in a loud applause from the crowd and the princesses.

"Sister would this story actually have happened," Luna asked curiously.

Celestia nuzzled her younger sister and said. "Luna I am pretty sure that this was no more than a tale.

The rest of the evening there was a big party where all the ponies feasted and had an all around good time even the princesses.

Planet Neptune:

The weather on Neptune was very harsh and with harsh meaning winds of almost 600m/s (1340 mph) needless to say any life here was impossible with these winds however deep in the snow the body of a pony laid frozen solid in the ice. The body had been here for 10.000 years not always in this form, but once as an actual living being that just made the climate of the planet inhabitable in an area around him.

However almost 2000 years ago he had gotten bored and decided to go into a deep slumber the ice kept the body fresh and hydrated even if it didn't breath anymore it was very much alive and the time for waking up had arrived.

Two eyes opened themselves revealing bright blue orbs and caused some fog in the same color to start floating out the eyes on the same way as it does with king Sombra. The winds calmed down and the air was filled with oxygen when the pony came out of the ice on the surface. He looked around as if to see where he was and all he saw was snow and ice nothing else.

Slowly the memories came back to him and he used some magic to summon an ice pony which looked like a changeling also containing both horn and wings only his wings seemed to exist out of fog. "Sir, you called for me!"

"Yes, I believe it is time!"

"I shall gather the others," The ice pony said before his horn started lighting up and suddenly the entire plain showed hundreds of blue lights form under the surface. The ice ponies had slept in formation and now they came out of the surface in quadrangle formation meanwhile the alicorn who was known as Nightmare Winter had taken a seat on top of an ice crystal.

"My soldiers! Our time of waiting is over!" The ice ponies cheered loud at this.

"We have waited ten thousand years almost and now over a few days that dreadful time of waiting is over now we escape this prison planet and set our reign upon Equestria!"

"HOORAH! HOORAH!HOORAH!" The soldiers exclaimed.

"Uhm sir aren't we kind of stuck here even with the 10.000 years passed," The ice pony commander he had summoned first asked.

"Yes, we are unless we can convince that moon princess to let us pass," Nightmare Winter said agitated.

"Then is our time of waiting not going to take a while I heard she isn't in the evil business anymore," The ice pony commander said confused.

"Indeed, but we are going to force her to let us pass," Nightmare Winter said annoyed.

"Uhm how exactly? If I may ask."

"Well, seeing that explaining the plan on the normal way obviously didn't work so well 10.000 years ago. I am going to do it on another way now."

"How?"

(music Be prepared from the lion king! I would advise listening to the MLP version Nightmare Moon be prepared on youtube the one who posted it is engineermk2004!)

[spoken]

I never thought ice soldiers were essential!

Their idiocy exceeds that of ponies by far.

But their powers and numbers have a potential.

To bring and maintain my eternal winter"

[Nightmare Winter sends some ice pony flying by landing near them.]

[Song begins]

"I know that your powers of retention

Are as wet as the snow is outside"

[Nightmare starts circling around a rather clueless looking ice pony who was studying an ice crystal which Nightmare sends flying which causes the ice pony to salute.]

"But thick as you are, pay attention

My words are a matter of pride

These millennia have been nothing, but torment!

The Asteroids saw the tears on my face

And now they see back my importance

And so they require some new management in this place.

So prepare for a winter that will last forever

Be prepared for sensational news

The reign of the Nightmare

Is tiptoeing nearer"

[Commander:]

"And where do we feature?

[Nightmare Winter:]

Just listen to teacher

I know it sounds sordid

But you'll be rewarded

When the asteroids and planets finally cut me loose

Yes, there's no hiding from this Nightmare

Be prepared!"

[Spoken]

[Ice Storm:] "Yeah, Be prepared.

Yeah-heh... we'll be prepared, heh.

...For what?"

[Nightmare Winter:] "For the eternal winter!"

[Ice storm:] "But, doesn't prince Heat control the summer?"

[Nightmare Winter:] "yes, but he is too weak to fight us anymore!"

[Commander:] "That's wonderful! Who needs a prince?"

[Commander (and then Ice Storm):]

"No prince! No prince! la-la-la-la-laa-laa!"

[Nightmare Winter:] "Idiots! There will be a prince!"

[Ice Storm:] "Hey, but you said, uh..."

[Nightmare Winter:] "I will be prince! ...Stick with me, and

you'll never be scared of melting again!"

[Commander and Ice Storm:] "Yaay! All right! Long live the prince!"

[All ice ponies:] "Long live the prince! Long live the prince!"

[Full song again]

[Ice ponies: {In tight, crisp phrasing and diction}]

"It's great that we'll soon be connected.

With a prince who'll be all-time adored."

[Nightmare Winter:] "Of course, quid pro quo, you're expected"

"To take certain duties on board

At last all ponies shall cower

Of summer they won't see a thing

But all do the winter lasts forever

Don't think your loyalty can fall apart

So prepare for the coup of the century

(Oooh!)

Be prepared for the murkiest scam

(Oooh... La! La! La!)

Meticulous planning

(We'll have ice!)

Tenacity spanning

(Lots of snow)

Decades of denial

(We approve of)

Is simply why I'll

(Endless winter)

Be prince undisputed

(Aaaaaaah...)

Respected, saluted

(...aaaaaaah...)

And seen for the wonder I am

(...aaaaaaah!)

There's no spring coming no more

(Oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo)

Be prepared!

[All:]

Yes, there's no spring coming no more

Be prepared!"

All the ice ponies and Nightmare Winter break out in a maniacal laughter on the icy plain on Neptune.

Authors Note:

Hello everyone I would like to ask you guys to leave a review and I like to thank you guys for reading the first chapter of this story and I will bring you guys more when possible the more reviews/ favorites the more inspired I feel and well the more inspired the faster I write to put it simple.

Additional information:

-I made the cover image for this story myself using a very handy program it's like photoshop, but not photoshop it isn't professional I know, but it's good enough if you know I really don't do much with that program.

-The lyrics of Be prepared are my own creation whilst the song and it's original lyrics belong to Disney these lyrics have a personal though of mine added to it.