Crimson Nightmare (Merging)

For other versions of Crimson Nightmare, see here.

Crimson Nightmare, later known publicly as Prince Crimson Dawn, is a former human who was pulled into Equestria by Discord's magic through a dimensional tear, and who, in accordance with the dimensional rules, turned into a unicorn.

His past is mostly a mystery, and all that is known about him is that he was from the Copy Dimension's Earth, and that he was probably pulled from the late 1940's.

For some time he wandered Equestria in search of magic with which to grow stronger. His eventual goal was to defeat Discord - who he suspected was responsible for being in Equestria - and force the draconequus to send him back home. In doing so, he gained substantial levels of magical power and myriad enchanted artifacts. He also met and traveled with Star Swirl the Bearded and his two proteges, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna - both of whom developed crushes on him.

After confronting and defeating Discord using the Elements of Harmony, he transformed into an alicorn and became an embodiment. Shortly thereafter, he vanished due to Discord's magic having been sealed and was returned to his native dimension.

Almost two thousand years later - though to Crimson only a few years had passed due to the temporal variation rule - Twilight Sparkle succeeded in completing an unfinished spell Star Swirl had made and opened up a portal to the Copy Dimension, which allowed Crimson to return to Equestria.

Crimson later rekindled his relationship with Princess Celestia, and eventually, he married her. They had one foal, a colt named Comet.

Unicorn
Crimson is a little below average size for a male unicorn. He has a dark, almost black coat, bright, piercing cyan eyes, and black hair with red highlights. He has been described by many individuals as intimidating and terrifying.

Alicorn
As an alicorn Crimson maintains a similar appearance to when he was a unicorn. The major differences are his gaining wings, growing to nearly the size of Princess Celestia, and his hair gaining a style not dissimilar to his wife and sister-in-law; The body of Crimson's hair is comprised of a flame-like gradient that moves like real flames.

Personality
For the most part, Crimson is a quiet, logical, slightly elitist person. He's also very polite but can be a bit harsh to those he doesn't like. He seems to be brooding all the time, but this is mostly just the feeling he gives off. In fact, while it's difficult for him to express it, he actually enjoys keeping company quite a lot. He does have a nasty temper if he's set off, though this is difficult to do, usually requiring something quite drastic.

Biography
Crimson was brought the Equestria thanks to Discord's chaos magic, which further opened a small, normally harmless dimensional tear. As a result he was ripped from the Copy Dimension and brought to the Animalia Dimension. He, like most, conformed to the rules of the current dimension and was changed from human to pony, in this case a unicorn.

Having no idea where he was, he quickly adapted to his new situation. He spent about five years amassing a considerable amount of knowledge regarding magic, and became known as one of the most powerful unicorns in Old Equestria.

During his travels, he met Celestia and Luna, not yet princesses at the time. They owned a jointly-operated magical emporium that they'd worked hard to buy. He parted with them after having bought some artifacts and didn't see them for another two years.

Upon their second meeting he learned that they were pupils under Star Swirl the Bearded, another famous wizard. Crimson decided to travel with the group and became very close to both Celestia and Luna during their time together. The two alicorns also developed feelings for him, however, in the end, Crimson's feelings for Celestia turned out to be much stronger than his feelings for Luna - much to her heartbreak.

After a few Earth years of traveling with them, Crimson decided to confront Discord and demand to be returned home. After a surprisingly evenly matched fight, Crimson emerged as the victor, but at a cost: The spell he used, cast by the Elements of Harmony, turned both himself and Discord to stone. Celestia, Luna, and Star Swirl - all of whom had volunteered to stay behind and fight Discord's shadow puppets - rushed to Crimson's aid as quickly as possible, but they arrived just as Crimson was about to be completely enshrouded in stone. Celestia desperately attempted to save him, all to no avail. Fortunately, due to the fact that in the end Crimson had defeated Discord, not for his own gain, but to free the ponies of Equestria from a terrible tyrant, he became the Prince of Justice all while being encased in stone. His transformation broke the curse, but mere moments later Discord and his power were sealed, and for some unknown reason Crimson vanished back into his native dimension as a result.

Thanks to Twilight Sparkle's preemptive measures taken to keep Malevolence sealed, she lived long enough to accidentally summon Crimson back to Equestria. Because of this, he finally got a second chance at rekindling his love with Celestia, and the two eventually got married and had a foal, a colt named Comet.

After Malevolence escaped her prison and went on a rampage, Crimson was one of the key ponies involved in her ultimate defeat. (In both previous universes these key ponies weren't involved, resulting in a horrible defeat for ponykind at Malevolence's hooves.)

Many years after the Malevolence incident, Crimson took part in the joint attack on the giant dimensional tear, which was ultimately ineffective. He was also one of the many ponies who spent a large amount of his time defending Equestria against the generally hostile interdimensional creatures who came through the tear.

Crimson took on at least two apprentices, Magenta and Spark. Magenta, a half alicorn, half changeling, would go on to become one of the most powerful ponies alive, while Spark would artificially turn himself into an alicorn, which ultimately drove him insane and caused him to attack his own friends. Crimson was more deeply hurt by this betrayal than he let on but was quick to forgive Spark once he recovered and returned to normal.

During The Great Merging, when the Copy Dimension and the Animalia Dimension were collapsing in on each other, Crimson was assigned as a Royal General in the New Equestrian Army. He provided a pivotal role in suppressing human attack forces and in promoting peace between ponykind and humanity. After World War III and the subsequent and spontaneous Hysteria War were put to an end, Crimson was one of the ones to face down the ancients when they attempted to banish humanity a second time. After they managed to talk the ancients down, he and the other alicorns negotiated for many years before reaching an agreement, that being the creation of another mirror world for the majority of humanity, with only those who currently hold ties being left behind. This proved an unpopular conclusion for many humans - both because of Animalia's rich resources and it's potential for exploitation, as well as the fact that many humans didn't fall under the necessary prerequisites of being 'attached' to Equestria. Fortunately, both protests were relatively satisfied when Twilight Sparkle managed to link her Crystal Mirror to the new dimension, allowing travel between there and Animalia.

Crimson's last major ordeal towards the end of the Merging Era was to oversee the mass exodus of humans leaving Animalia. Luckily things went smoothly, and at the story's end, he and his family are living peaceful and happy lives.

==Abilities ==

===Mental === While his magic is exceptional, and his physical capabilities are high, Crimson falls short in mental strength. While not anywhere near stupid, he's not over intelligent in anything save magic - though, in terms of pure knowledge, Twilight Sparkle easily beats him. His book knowledge is terrible, he doesn't think things through, and he falls for simple tricks on occasion. Still, he does have ample of what one might call 'street smarts', or 'real world experience', so he makes up for his shortcomings on occasion, especially after living a while as an alicorn.

===Magical === Crimson is considered a prodigy in terms of magical ability, with the ability to learn quickly and accurately. His ability to learn has been described as scary, Star Swirl the Bearded once mentioning that in the years it had taken him to learn one new spell, Crimson had caught up to him from square one. In the future years of the Merging Universe, Crimson is considered one of, if not the most magically capable pony in Equestria.

===Physical === For being smaller than average, Crimson is surprisingly strong. He's not by any means the strongest stallion, but he's well above average, especially considering his size. His stamina is exceptional, most likely thanks to his walking everywhere instead of teleporting like most unicorns would. As for speed, Crimson isn't especially fast, but he can run as quickly as any other pony his size. His agility is a bit above average, due to dodging traps and obstacles in his way while dungeon-diving.

Princess Celestia
Princess Celestia is Crimson's wife. The two met during the days of Old Equestria and, over the course of their travels together with Luna and Star Swirl the Bearded, the two began to develop feelings for one another. However, they were both too stubborn to admit it. But, after Crimson disappeared, Celestia finally admitted her feelings for him and vowed never to love another stallion. She held that vow until Crimson's return, after which she finally told him that she loved him. The two were married, and have a good, strong relationship that hasn't faded over the course of well over a century. They have their fair share of arguments and serious discussions, as overheard by Spark on several occasions, but they always work things out.

Comet
Originally Crimson and Celestia had planned to not have any children, due to their both having pressing duties to attend to on a regular basis. As such, Comet was quite the surprise for both of the alicorns. Despite this, it would be wrong to say Comet was unwanted so much as unexpected, as both of his parents quickly grew to adore the little colt. Crimson especially is quite close to him and often spoils him just a little. Unlike many other ponies, who see Crimson as a fearful figure, Comet sees his dad as the exact opposite: A kind, caring stallion who prioritizes time with his son over his work.

Princess Luna
Originally Luna had a crush on Crimson, something that was reciprocated. However as they began learning more about one another, Crimson, then Luna began to realize it was merely an infatuation. Even with this past, the two have a strong brother/sister-like relationship, and neither feels uncomfortable even though at one point they had thought they were in love with the other.

Litch
Crimson's brother-in-law, he and Litch share a fairly close, brother-like relationship. They have almost opposite personalities, which amazingly enough allows them to balance one another out whenever they work together. They have been described as an 'Incredible Team', which surprises most due to their conflicting character types.

Honey Bunny
Since her father is relatively freakish appearance-wise, Honey doesn't see her uncle as all that scary. As such he's come to see her, and her siblings as something akin to his own children. Since he has no children of his own, he visits fairly often, and due to Honey's innocent, genuine, bright personality, she's his favorite.

Pancake Syrup
Pancake is a bit older then Honey, so he's a little more standoffish towards his uncle then she is. All the same, he's open-minded enough that Crimson has become something like a second father to him, and the two often get into deep philosophical debates, which Crimson almost always gives up on due to his nephew's vast intellect.

Magenta
Crimson is first and foremost Magenta's teacher. He teaches her magic but also sees her in an almost parental light. Out of all of his nieces and nephews, she knows Crimson the best. And, while Honey is his favorite, Magenta is the one he understands the most.

Mellow Dusk
His youngest niece, Mellow looks up to her uncle and is relatively close to him. Being as logical and smart as she is, Crimson sees great potential in her as a future student but wants her to enjoy her childhood a bit before he begins teaching her. He's fairly close to her, but thanks in large part to her unnerving observations, he finds it a bit uncomfortable being around her.

Star Swirl the Bearded
When he was still alive, Star Swirl was a bothersome, annoying old pony in Crimson's eyes. He was also a close colleague, one whom Crimson held great respect for and who he considered almost a friend. Star Swirl's views of friendship, however, have left Crimson feeling a bit less attached to the old pony than he could have been. None the less, he was quite sad upon hearing of Star Swirl's - greatly exaggerated - death.

Twilight

The one who 'rescued' Crimson from his original world, Twilight shares a special sort of bond with the alicorn. He considers her his savior and also respects her vast reservoir of knowledge - in particular, her deep understanding of magic. The two also become close friends through the years, which is further strengthened by their mutual closeness to Princess Celestia. In ways, Crimson has even come to see Twilight as a sort of adopted daughter - particularly after her real parents passed away.

Big McIntosh
Since he's fairly close to Twilight, Crimson naturally has a fair amount of interaction with her husband, Big MacIntosh. He quite enjoys the big red stallion's company, as Mac is friendly and easygoing, and shares Crimson's more simplistic sense of conversation. Despite liking Mac quite a bit, Crimson has expressed some frustration with the stallion's tight-lipped nature - though considering he himself doesn't talk a whole lot, it's not generally a problem.

Losty
Upon arriving in Equestria for the second time Crimson learned that he wasn't alone and that other humans had somehow been transported there as well. He learned through the grapevine that Losty was a fellow human, and as such eventually decided to speak with him on the subject of their mutual origins. The two quickly developed a solid friendship, one which would grow stronger each passing year and would last until Losty's eventual death of old age.

Applejack
Since he was good friends with Losty, Crimson also got to know Applejack fairly well. The two considered themselves not quite friends, but not quite mere acquaintances either.

Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Fluttershy
Due to his friendship with Twilight and, to a lesser extent Applejack, Crimson knew and occasionally associated with the rest of the Mane 6.

Princess Cadance
While having a faint friendship, the fact that the princess lives in the Crystal Empire, and that Crimson only really sees her at formal events leaves the two with a somewhat weak relationship. Their main ties to each other are through Twilight.

Shining Armor
As with Princess Cadance, Crimson doesn't see Shining Armor as often. However due to both being a stallion, and being Twilight's older brother, Crimson does have a stronger bond with him than with Cadance.

Ceaser
Due to his immortality, Crimson will far outlive Ceaser. However, he quickly befriended the old general since they have a lot in common.

Ivory
More of a friend by extension, Crimson mostly knows Ivory through Ceaser.

Spark
Initially Crimson was one of Spark's mentors, teaching him about magic and how to use it. However as time wore on, and Spark grew up Crimson came to see him as a friend. When Spark 'turned', it left even Crimson confused and hurt by his former pupil's betrayal.

Discord (Formerly)
At one point Crimson sealed Discord in stone to stop his tyrannical reign over Equestria. Now, while not exactly friends, the two get along fairly well considering their past.

Malevolence
While never having suffered at Malevolence's claws directly, Crimson heard from Twilight Sparkle about the events from the Wander Universe. As such he holds a deep, righteous anger towards the ancient being because he's well aware of what she would do if she was left to roam free.

Others
Crimson has many other friends spanning his long life, many of whom are not mentioned.