Heir of the Nightmare

Chapter 16: Day of the Dead

Canterlot Castle

Thirty-six Hours Since Red Dawn

Nightmare Moon

Something...tickled her muzzle.

It was warm.

Nightmare scratched at it with her hoof and tried to go back to sleep.

But it didn't stop.

She grumbled and tossed a black wing over her face, unwilling to give in so easily.

Now the warm...something...was tickling her wing. The sensation was somewhat familiar, like a long buried memory that she was beginning to remember.

What is that? What dares disturb the Queen of Sleep?

Nightmare tried to match a name with the belligerent bothering her as she groggily opened her eyes.

Sunshine.

Nightmare's eyes slammed open and she jumped up in shock, tossing off the blanket covering her. Rushing over to the obscured balcony, she threw back the curtains and stared out into the sky.

A scarlet sun glared back down at her. It was starting to slowly dip down below the horizon, allowing a twisted twilight to dominate the sky before night truly fell.

The sun wasn't Celestia's.

The fear and anger that had begun to rise in her quickly drained away and was replaced quickly by confusion and bewilderment. She took stock of what she knew and what she could assume.

The last thing that Nightmare remembered before waking up was casting a spell to show Twilight all that she had been through. Her banishment, her battle with Celestia, Twilight's foal napping, and all the pain and anguish from before Twilight's birth. She had been determined to show her daughter all the wrongs committed against them by Celestia and the denizens of Equestria.

But then...Nightmare didn't remember anything past that. The next thing she knew sunlight was waking her up. The spell had probably exhausted her. Mind magic was especially difficult, and the amount of energy it took to show Twilight all that had transpired over a thousand years ago had probably overtaxed her energy after their duel.

Obviously, by the way the Sun's magic had been twisted, Celestia hadn't raised the sun. Cadenza didn't have the means to do so either. Since Nightmare herself hadn't raised the sun, there were only two others who could have done it. An imprisoned demon, or her own daughter.

Second, Nightmare hadn't been imprisoned. That meant that either her soldiers or Twilight had placed Nightmare in her chambers after falling unconscious. Furthermore, Nightmare could sense that Twilight was in the castle as she set the sun and moved the stars.

Her daughter was safe and sound.

Luna let out a breath of relief.

Nightmare stretched out her magic to try to get a sense of what she was seeing. Her moon was rising in the east, mirroring the setting red sun in the west. The stars were starting to dot the sky as the red light waned and-

Nightmare's brow narrowed in confusion as she looked closer at Twilight's stars. Much like the sun, the stars were now a deep crimson red.

What has happened?

Nightmare resumed her study of the sky. She could sense Twilight's magic on the sun and stars. Although, upon examining it more closely,

Nightmare could sense that Twilight's magic felt...muted...and angry for some reason. Celestia's sun was resisting someone not its mistress, but it reluctantly allowed Twilight to handle it.