Ever believed that theres nothing you can do to change the outcome of something?
Even way before you even know it's coming?
Ever felt.. you're... drowning?
?
As she stepped out from the shadows her body is stands under the bright neon light of a restaurant beside her, filled with many ponies.
They were conversing with each other, lost in their talk. The entire world is filled with them but their once very cheerful attitudes were now clouded by an endless night.
She looked upon these cheerful creatures. Her reflection revealing her true shape. She didn't look like a pony... she was an entirely different species. Her slim anthropomophic body, wearing a black trenchcoat, black jeans and black socks. A pair of long ears on her head. Which blend in thanks to her mostly dark fur. What could be seen of her face were bright purple eyes and the most defining feature of her...
Her smile...
Nobody knows where she came from. Nobody even knows her name. She is extremely talkative and knows how to get around. Her overly zany attitude while charismatic, is nothing but a façade. Her true motives are a mystery. Her choice of clothing is often a cause of disputes. Due to her lack of neon lights which everyone around her wore. It doesn't help that the city has an strict rule of only wearing certain cothes at certain times of the 'day' if you could even call them that... Everytime there was trouble she just... vanished.
One thing is certain about her.
Her arrival to this place marked an incredibly important event. She likes talking about it but nobody knows as she just teases with. "You're not ready for what's coming!"
She is waiting for someone.
Her purple eyes look up to the sky. She spots a large ship lit up in bright neon purple lights. Her smile got even more malicious and bigger. The ship began being attacked by a barrage of rockets.
"Let us begin"
Nightmareverse: Cosmic Eternity
Chapter 1: Rash Axioms
This is the land called Equestria. A land once filled with happiness and friendship was now under the reign of the ruthless Princess Luna... or as she calls herself. Empress Moon. She killed her sister Celestia a century ago and quickly took over the entire land. Covering it in her endless night.
This did not come without drawbacks. Many creatures who depended on the sun had to adapt to the night in order to survive. The one's who bathe in the night? They became even bigger threats to all life.
The extreme cold from the night started to take many lives so the ponies had to create the "Thermal Retainment Shield" by using each of the Elements of Harmony as a power source.
Rarity's Generosity powered up the city of Manehattan.
Applejack's Honesty on Ponyville.
Twilight's Magic for Canterlot
Pinkie Pie's Laughter on Las Pegasus
Rainbow Dash's Loyalty for the secluded Cloudsdale, now though completely gone as the city once took off into the unknown with their element.
Fluttershy's kindness? Nobody knows. Legend says It's always out there, lurking in the shadows. The last thing you see before you can die off the cold.
All the other cities who weren't lucky enough to get an element to protect them had their population migrate to a city that did. As it was impossible to stay outside anymore. Cities like Appleloosa were completely deserted. Only residents there are remnants of pony popsicles.
Places that housed other species like Kuggletown, Abyssinia, Dragon Lands, Kirin Groove and Griffinstone of course also had to migrate to one of these cities. Often facing discrimination of the ponies who already lived there and were not used to cooperate with something that wasn't a pony.
What about the Hyppogriffis? Well, the sea has been completely frozen.
Now you're thinking. Wow, this can't possibly get any worse huh? Well...
Unicorns get most of their energy zapped from them in order to keep their magic levels in check. Certain colors of coats are not allowed and ponies who are Yellow or Orange are immediately executed. Even babies. Why? Empress Moon thinks it may be Celestia... "hiding". Pegasi can't fly that high now with the fucked up climate that came from Cloudsdale's disappearence.
It didn't take long for rebel cells to spring to life all over the remaining cities. Even if their little rebellion won, what would they gain? The entire world is beyond repair. Celestia is dead. Theres no way to bring the sun back!.
It's hopeless.
From here on out. Things are only going to get worse, for everyone.
Let us begin
Canterlot: Lower District
Sunday - 6:35 PM
Our story begins in the capital of this land. Canterlot. Where we meet our protagonists. Three royal guards named:
Skyline Seeker or "Sky" as everyone calls him. Is a white bat pony with a black mane and black wings. Blankflank. Joined the military at a young age. Now a lieutenant.
Inklord Featherwing or "Inky" as his friends called him. He's a light brown pegasus, light brown mane and tail with yellow on the tip. He was a poet before joining the guard. Now he's a strategist and general.
And finally, our main focus. J-
"No! No! Pleas-" was all a stallion could mutter as his neck was swiftly cut by a lightning fast blade. His body struggled to breathe as blood poured non-stop from its wound. His body falls down, coughing, shaking. It didn't take long for him to die along with many of his fallen commrades. Many dismembered bodies lay in their own puddles of blood, staining the steel floor. The walls, splattered in their blood. Traces of a massive gun fight are laid vare on the walls, corpses and floor. In the middle of it all stood a single pony. Completely armored. A neon red light runs through it's armor. Lighting up the place in a much stronger hue of red. It swipes off the blood from it's weapon. A small pistol. Carefully checking how much ammo it had in the magazine. It was clear the heavily armored pony was to blame for this massacre.
"You sick fuck!" Said the voice of a stallion.
It turns around to face three armed stallions all wearing black fatigues with guns pointing at him. One earth pony with a shotgun, one pegasus with a rifle and one unicorn with a pistol who also began preparing a spell. The pegasus on the left shoots his assault rifle first. The armored soldier quickly slides down and kicks the pegasus hooves, making him fall to the ground, The soldier stands up to backflip over the earth pony's shotgun. The buckshot spread ends up tearing apart his knocked down pegasus friend. The soldier stabs the earth pony with an ax, dead in it's face. The unicorn quickly gave up on the spell and took aim. His pistol is enveloped in his golden aura.
BANG!
The armored soldier manages to surprisingly react and slice the bullet in two with a blade that suddenly came out from it's right hoof. It turns it's attention to the unicorn who had given up the fight and was now running to another room. He started kicking a door to no avail.
"LET ME IN! LET ME IN! HE IS-" The armored soldier quickly pins him on a wall. The unicorn for some reason wasn't instantly killed like his comrades. He stares down at the metallic black with neon red armor his opponent wore. The unicorn could see his own face reflected on the visor, breathing could be heard from the helmet. The unicorn breaks the silence. "Go on! Fucking kill me! What do you want from me?!" The armor's neon red was shining and the helmet began to sparkle... whoever this is.. It's a unicorn too.
From the room the unicorn tried to enter. A black pegasus peeks his head on the window the room had. Taking off his white beanie so his black and purple mane could blend in better with the darkness in his room.
The armored pony began to... channel some kind of spell... The unicorn he had pinned began to feel pain surge through his head. His horn was surrounded in his golden aura and quickly changed to red.
"Get the FUCK AWAY FROM ME!" His horn began to shatter!. "AAAAHHHHHHHHHH!"
CRACK!
"MY HORN! What have you done my ho-"
SLAM!
The armored unicorn violently throws it's victim towards the door. The door breaks down. An audible crack was heard as the black pegasus inside watched at his unicorn colleague's dead body. It's neck shattered on the door due to the powerful throw. His horn was broken. What did their attacker do to him?! He stops asking questions in his head and quickly hides under a desk. Holding his breath.
He could hear the slow galloping of the armored unicorn searching the dimly lit room. If he remained quiet... he managed to keep himself calm and quiet for a minute. The galloping of his armored enemy started to sound distant... soon... he couldn't hear it anymore! He did it! He breathes one more time and opens his eyes.
Click
"You really though I wouldn't check every corner of the room?"
BANG!
Blood splattered all over the desk as a perfectly aimed bullet pierced through his skull. The pegasus body was knocked back by the shot, knocking the desk over. It dropped a bunch of piles of paper that were hidden in the drawers. He catches all of them before they get ruined by the bloodstains around the place.
The armored unicorn left the place.
Canterlot: Near the city limit
"There, you got what you wanted. Now wheres my reward?" Said a green earth pony stallion. wearing a purple coat with neon purple lights. His eyes were orange and was clearly in a hurry.
He was looking at the armored unicorn who then lifts with it's hooves a briefcase and opens it in front of him to show it's contents. "I must say, your infomation proved useful for the purge. You really sold the world... their world" Said the armored unicorn. Voice clearly male.
"Ahhh! That's the good stuff!" The green stallion glared at the contents of the breifcase, the armored stallion closes the briefcase.
"Buuut..." The armored stallion puts the briefcase down. "That doesn't change the fact you were part of the rebel scum"
"W-wha- What do you mean?! I gave you all their locations! Isn't that enough?" The green stallion was scared.
"Rebel scum will always be rebel scum" A red aura envelops part of his helmet and something is lifted from behind. His armor lights up, glowing in a dark red neon.
"W-wait.. you're a uni-"
BANG!
"AAAAAAHHHHH!"
BANG! BANG! BANG!
"AAAAAAHHHHH STOP! STOOOP! AAAAAAHHHHH!"
He shot each of the green stallion's legs. Crippling him.
"I can't believe you seriously though I was gonna let you go" The armored stallion takes off his helmet, showing the face of a red unicorn with a black and blue mane.
"A- unicorn g-g-guard?!" Cried the crippled stallion while his legs kept bleeding uncontrollably.
"That'll be our little secret, a secret that I tell to everypony who's going to die" His horn lights up again, lifting the stallion's crippled body. "Say hello to that forest whore for me!" He throws him outside of the boundaries of Canterlot.
"Gaaah! AAAHHH!" The stallion crashes into some rocks. The cold from the outside starts taking him over. He looks around him and spots many glowing colored eyes surrounding him. If the cold didn't kill him, they will.
Only screams could be heard from outside the city limits of Canterlot. The thermal retainment shield muffled most of it for the city. After a few seconds... nothing. The screams were finally silenced. The unicorn gallops back to headquarters and puts his helmet back on.
"Welcome back to Nightmare OS ver. 1.15 Jack Redplay!"
Jack Redplay. A red unicorn. One of Nightmare Moon's most priced guards. Unlike the other unicorns, he wasn't zapped off most his energy. Instead he was granted by Empress Luna herself the ability to extract all the magic from a unicorn and fuel his neverending taste for more power. Every kill only made him stronger. Going far beyond the limits of a normal unicorn... but why?
He doesn't know, Nightmare Moon never told him why he needed to do this. He just... does... he likes it this way.
Canterlot: Royal Guard HQ
Jack galloped towards the main castle area and took a turn to the right. Entering a lobby full of many guards on break. He noticed a pegasus was waving at him.
"About time you showed up, Jack. Has the contact been dealt with?" Waved a brown pegasus. Signaling Jack to sit on their table. He sat beside a white bat pony.
"Mhmm. No witnesses. What did we get from the raid Inky?" Says Jack as he takes off his helmet again and removes most of his armor. Revealing his front right hoof to be prosthetic. He sits down. Inklord nods.
"Just as we though, they managed to create their own bible that supports their beliefs. They call it the "Journal of the Two Sisters"" The mention of the name made Jack and a couple of other guards in the room burst in laughter.
"That's gotta be the most ridiculous name i've ever heard!"
"Apparently someone in Manehattan made it... Oh, and he was a guard there. Someone named. Vida Palabra" Said Inklord, going through the documents. "I'm going to present this intel to Empress Moon right now"
"So... the guy WAS a guard eh? Probably got so pissed after being kicked out he had to create an entire religion as vengeance. PFFFFT" Said a white bat pony guard.
"This rebellion gets weirder and weirder" Said Jack. He gets up and follows the brown pegasus. "I wanna see how Moon reacts to all this. You coming Sky?" He asked the bat.
"Fine, this'll be interesting" He flaps his bat wings and follows them.
Canterlot: Palace of Empress Moon
The trio were about to enter Nightmare Moon's throne room when they were stopped by a white unicorn with green mane.
"Ugh. It's you three again. What do you want this time with the Empress" The impatient unicorn said.
"Secretary Minty. We collected intel regarding the recent Rebel Uprising-"
"AAAAND it's subsequent purge... by us!" Jack winked at the Secretary. She just rolled her eyes in annoyance. Inklord pushed Jack back for his interruption. "We want audience with the Empress to discuss our next plan. This is cr-"
"UGH! Fine! Fine! I get it! You want to talk to her!" Minty Root's horn lit up and the doors behind her were opened. "Go on, don't talk to me"
The trio entered the throne room. The room was massive, filled with many banners depicting all the moon's phases. Large stained glass windows stood tall on both sides, depicting Nightmare Moon's victories over many opponents.
In front of them sat the empress of the night. Nightmare Moon herself. Wearing large purple helmet, A long purple cape that covered her back and light purple loincloth and huge black boots. "Welcome back my loyal servants" She opened her wings and flew. Landing right in front of them. "I presume you bring good news"
"Good news and slightly bad news your highness" the brown pegasus talked first. "The purge was succesful and all rebels have been wiped from Canterlot. The bad news is the intel we gathered points to a much bigger picture"
"It mentions someone named Vida who created something called the 'Journal of the Two Sisters'" Said Sky. The mention of the journal caused Nightmare Moon's eyes to grow wide in fear. She quickly turns around to hide her worried expression. "It's on Manehattan"
Nightmare Moon chuckles. They didn't care about the journal. "I can already imagine what you'rr going to say next. You three want to go to Manehattan and hunt them down... Am i right?" She smiles at Inklord.
"Y-yes.. your highness..." Inklord stutters, surprised she took the words out of his mouth.
"Hahaha! You need to keep working on your strategies youngling. Remember. Not even the most feared enemy must know what your going to do OR say next" She laughed. "Fine, I'll order the preparation of my flagship"
"T-the Queenbreaker?!" All three guards say in surprise.
"The rebels must have already noticed their friends here are missing. My ship is one of the few that can cross the frozen lands between. When they see my beautiful Queenbreaker they'll cower in fear at it's magnificence" She kept laughing. "You three will board it and make haste to Manehattan. Find that journal and this 'Vida'" She began to fly. "Capture him and burn their precious bible on the big screen. For all of Equestria to see! Then they'll know... then.. they'll know"
Jack showed an excited expression. Skyline was grinning and Inklord was thinking how they can handle things once they get there.
"Now now, Inklord, no need to be 5 steps ahead" Luna lands in front of him and pats his head. "You'll also receive assistance from Rarity's finest. I'm sure they're your type" She laughs. Inklord blushes. "Enough blabber, you got your mission. The Queenbreaker will sail in 4 hours. Prepare"
The three ponies salute and turn to leave.
"Jack, stay here" Empress Moon exclaims.
Jack stops and turns back again. "Yes, your highness?"
Nightmare Moon takes a close look at Jack's horn. "This purge seems to have increased your magic quite a lot"
Jack nods. "Every unicorn I break makes me feel better" He rubs his horn.
"It's nice to see my dark magic is making my little experiment a true weapon of fear" She teleports in her right hoof a small medallion. It was black with a red ruby in the middle. She hands it to Jack who levitates it with magic to have a closer look.
"What's this?"
"This my pupil. Is the Alicorn Amulet"
Jack puts it on an- "Gaaah!" His eyes start to glow in a stronger shade of red as an erie aura forms around his pupils. His body shakes. "gnikatehtrofenimsihcihwdlrowehtninwonkylurtstahwdnoyebthgilfekatisahtapymnidnatslliwgnihton"
Nightmare Moon quickly pulls it out off him. The amulet drops to the ground with sparks forming around it. Jack stumbles weakened. "When you need a massive increase in power. Put it on and it should make you as powerful as an alicorn. However, using it comes at the price of losing your sanity. Not even I was able to control it's urges" She looks at him with a very concerned face. "Only use it when you TRULY need it" She helps Jack get back on his hooves.
Jack shakes his head. "Whoa... that... power..."
"Calm your urges my student. The accelerated pursuit for ultimate power can come at a great price. Take smaller steps Jack. The amulet now know how powerful you are, show it you're stronger, this is what i've been preparing you for with all the magic you've been stealing. The amulet will only kneel to the strongest" She lifts it and looks at it. "And you're close" She hands it to him. "Keep going, show it what you're made off Jack" She flies back to her throne.
Jack looks at the amulet one last time and hears a faint laugh come from it. He walks away.
"Jack! quick! Create another shield!"
"Fucking hell we're not gonna make it!"
"Where the fuck did i put the Amu-"
BOOOOOOOOOOM!
?
Monday - 6:54 AM
Jack had crashed down hard on a alleyway. His suit only received minor damage on the back. Jack began to recover. He rolled to the side, in front of him stood a small silhouette. It had long ears on it's head... it stood on it's hind legs... it didn't look like a pony...
"Well, well, well. Is it someone new?" The voice was clearly female. It walked towards Jack and crouched down on his face. He could faintly see a black furred face with purple eyes. She smiled. "Oh! It's you Jack! Man! You look waaaay different here!" She laughed. "I can already tell we're gonna have so much fun here. Definitely more than last time!" Who... who is she?! And why does she know his name?! Jack doesn't recognize her at all. She turns around and begins walking away, back to the glowing neon street. "Until then, have fun! And remember.' No rash actions!'" She waves good-bye and leaves. Jack remains on the ground confused and tired. He blacks out
2 hours later...
"Woof woof! Look! I found a dead guard! Let's sell his armor-"
"W-what... the..." Jack opened his eyes.
"AAAAHHH!" POP!
"Huh...?" Jack wakes up to find he is covered in cookies... how? He gets up. He stumbles around while walking towards the neon lights in front of him. He looks around to find many ponies wearing luxurious neon clothing walking on sidewalks. He takes off his helmet to breathe feeling the warm air hit his sweating face.
Suddenly someone crashes into him.
"Oof!" The voice of a young mare is heard. Jack looks down to see a young earth pony mare with grey fur, white mane and a long white tail. She was wearing glasses and a brown hoodie, her cutiemark looked like.. canned tuna?. She looks up to see Jack's face. "S-s-sorry! M-m-m-mister! I d-d-d-d-didn't see you!" She stutters. "M-my stupid glasses they-"
"Where am I?" Jack asks.
"H-huh? You're in Manehattan sir..."
"Mane...hattn..." Jack holds his head trying to remember. "Mane... HATT... INKY! SKY!... SHIELDS!" He drops down unconscious once again in front of the young mare.
"Oh dear!"
...
...
...
"Jack?"
Jack finds himself being strangled by a figure he couldn't recognize. He had a sword impaled through his chest. Around him were... floating... hearts?
"Now... it's time for you to kickstart your new purpose Jack!" The figure blasts him towards a river that appeared out of nowhere.
As he falls he sees the moon is heart-shaped. A crack forms and splits it in two. He splashes on the river and is carried away by the currents.
SPLASH!
"Not too much water!"
"GASP!" Jack springs to life and finds himself surrounded by many... many ponies. All of them looked at Jack with fear and curiosity.
"Are you okay mister?" The same young mare approaches him.
"Where the fuck am I now?!" Jack asks.
"Barrel!"
"Top of the-"
"Our Barrel"
Everypony was cutting each other off trying to answer Jack's question.
"Shut the fuck up everyone"
Everyone turns to see a blue earth stallion with blue eyes, blue mane and tail. He whore a stylish blue cape with red neon streaks. His cutiemark was a white heart. he stands in front of everyone. Looking straight at Jack's eyes.
"Welcome to Top of the Barrel. My name.. is Vida"
"V-v-vida... Vida... VIDAAAA" Jack gets triggered trying to remember what was so important about that name. "Vida... VIDA" He blacks out again.
"Fucking great Vida, you killed him"
Chapter 2: Axioms speak louder than words