//------------------------------// // Chapter 17.2: Rest for the Wicked // Story: Magic, and Mayhem, and... Murder? Oh my... // by Invictus //------------------------------// Huge thanks to RandomEncounter and 00Lizard for pre-reading this chapter for me and putting up with my constant asshattery. You guys rock. Twilight swam through a haze of cold and darkness, her eyes blurred from the pain of The Nightmare's fel grip. Somehow, she'd instinctively managed to keep herself from hitting the ground via teleportation, though the action had left her disoriented. Where am I? Her vision cleared, just in time to see a familiar bipedal alien calmly stride right up to a very shaken-looking living shadow. Shawn? Wha...? She could only stare in horrified awe as he raised his right arm, still bound in the cast she'd recently repaired, and swung it full force right into the demon's stupefied face. "'The Shadow Nightmare's' still way cooler," Shawn stated, then stared at The Nightmare for a full five seconds before clutching his damaged hand to his stomach and uttering a squeaky "Ow..." The shadowy alicorn slowly turned its head to glare down at him, looming over the much smaller detective. If Shawn's actions had been intended to shock The Nightmare out of its stupefaction and into a state of unbridled rage, he had succeeded wonderfully. Unfortunately, by the look on the human's face, that had probably not been the point. "Ooookay," Shawn spoke in mildly panicked tones, "maybe I was a little hasty on that one. In my defense, you did indirectly threaten to burn me to death... and then directly. But I've come to realize that violence is never the answer! Instead, let's talk about this like reasonable people and/or abominations. What do you say? Hug it out?" He spread his arms, a hopeful expression on his face. In response, The Nightmare flared its dark wings and reared up, ready to bring its front hooves down on Shawn's head. "Oh craaa-!" Finally regaining her senses, Twilight stood and weaved one of the quickest teleportation spells she'd ever cast. The human disappeared just before The Nightmare's hooves passed through the space his head had recently occupied. "-aaaaaaaaap!" Twilight folded her ears back in annoyance as he reappeared beside her. She'd forgotten just how loud and high pitched he could go when truly terrified. In fact, it appeared that he was still flinching away from a hit that should have come and gone several seconds before. "Shawn, are you okay?" she asked, concern coloring her tone. He opened his eyes and looked around, seeming to quickly realize what had transpired. "Y-Yeah... good save, Sparky. Thanks." The amount of relief she felt at his safety surprised even her. Had she begun to actually care for him as a close friend? When had that happened? She'd ponder it later... at the moment, they had a far more immediate problem at hoof. Albeit, she did have one question in mind she couldn't help but ask. "Did you really just try to hit an immortal demon in the face with your broken hand?" "It seemed like the thing to do at the time," Shawn responded, shrugging. "And I didn't just try," he pointed out, still cradling his right arm, "I totally got that crazy bitch right in its stupid face." In spite of the unnecessary expletive, Twilight couldn't hold back a burst of laughter at that last comment as she looked toward The Nightmare again. The demon appeared to have retreated back into its thoughts, further compounding the evidence for the instability of its psyche. One moment joyful, the next shocked, the next enraged, the next thoughtful... In other words: It was falling apart at the seams. That could be either good or incredibly dangerous for them. At least they were being given some time to plan. "Yes," she admitted. "Yes, you did." Shawn looked over at The Nightmare, "So... what now?" Twilight's ears drooped, "I'm... not sure..." The human hummed in thought for a moment, then spoke again, "You know... The Shadow Nightmare-" "Shawn," she stopped him with a raised hoof, "we're friends, right?" He looked down at her in surprise, "Of course!" Nodding, she continued, "Then, as a friend, I need to tell you something..." "What?" "That name is really, really stupid," she finished. Shawn stared at her for a moment, mouth moving soundlessly. "It is not!" he finally replied, then grimaced. "It is... it totally is... I'll give you that. Still gonna use it, though." "Why?!" "Because I've come too far to turn back now, Sparky!" Twilight sighed in mock exasperation, motioning for him to continue with her hoof. "Anyway, The Shadow Nightmare," he continued where he left off, "had us on the ropes... but something stopped it. Going by the shape it had before, I'm guessing it already took over Celestia." He paused to give her a sympathetic look, "But maybe not as completely as it thought. It doesn't even look like her anymore... it looks more like when it absorbed that other pony." "It's possible..." Twilight breathed, hardly daring to hope. "It's possible that princess Celestia is still in there, somewhere. If she is, she might have found a way to block The Nightmare from accessing her powers! Shawn, do you know what this means?!" "That the girl from The Exorcist was a huge wuss?" She frowned in confusion, then shook her head, "I... no, Shawn... it means that there might still be a way to separate The Nightmare from the princess!" "That makes a lot more sense," he admitted. "Can you... you know... fwoosh them into separating?" Fwoosh? This time, she ignored the nonsensical part of the question, "The only way The Nightmare could have overwhelmed the princess was if Celestia had run out of magical energy... if I can pour enough of my own raw magic into The Nightmare's body, there's a good chance she can use it to free herself." "Wouldn't that just make it stronger, though?" Shawn asked, once again displaying a startling lack of basic magical knowledge. "No, magic doesn't work like that. Every living creature has their own signature life energy. A 'Harmony', if you will. In order for somepony to use somepony else's magic, they have to be very closely harmonized. Usually a relation by blood... or a whole lot of time spent interacting with each other's magic. Princess Celestia and I fit the latter... although, it has been a while..." "So, like filling a balloon with too much air," he stated, scratching at his chin. Twilight stared at him, shocked out of her spiral of nostalgic regret at not having had the chance to spend much time with her mentor before... all this. "No. Not even close. Do you ever listen to yourself?" "Every night before bed. I find my deep tenor soothing after a hard day's detectiving. Anyway, let's go fill her with your magical air or whatever." This time, Twilight's exasperated sigh was not fake. "I see..." The Nightmare's distorted voice startled them both. "Very clever, princess. We'll find out how long you can keep that up for after you are forced to watch your student and her pet monkey die." --------------------------------------------------- Applejack ducked, barely avoiding the spear tip that came hurtling through the air, nearly taking her hat off... and her head with it. This was insane! She was a farmer, not a fighter! At least Rainbow Dash had actual martial arts training. The massive, brown minotaur she was fighting alongside stepped around her, swinging her horned head in a wide arc and slamming the offending armored dog aside and into two of his pack mates. Out of the corner of her eye, Applejack caught another diamond dog closing in behind Soft Speech. Without thinking, she leapt forward, twirling on her front hooves to bring her rear ones to bear. The well-practiced motion happened instinctively and instantly, her back legs uncoiling like compressed springs and throwing the dog even farther than the one Soft Speech had hit. "That's four!" Applejack shouted triumphantly, grinning madly. Ah'm insane! This is dangerous! Ah could get mahself killed! The thoughts floated around the outskirts of her mind, yet a laugh slipped from her mouth. It was that darned Wavedancer's fault, turning a fight for all of their lives into a competition. And, much like her blue-coated pegasus friend, Applejack had never been able to resist a challenge. She'd never admit it, but were it not for the salty unicorn, she would've spiraled into panic by now. Even the changeling invasion hadn't been this bad... those monsters had only wanted to capture them. Feed off of them. But every last one of these dogs wanted her dead. And that intent alone was far more terrifying than a whole army of changelings. So, instead, she found herself playing a game. "Four?" Soft Speech grunted, putting her back to Applejack. "Soft Speech is at seven. You've got some catching up to do, farmer. Even the cheater's doing better than you." "Oi!" Wavedancer called out, flinging aside another diamond dog she'd wrapped in the vines of a nearby tree. "It don' be cheatin' if I be usin' me own natural-born gifts!" Applejack's eyes narrowed of their own accord, and she tipped her hat forward, ignoring the sting of the many cuts and scratches she'd endured so far. There couldn't be more than two dozen of them, howling as they prowled through the trees... but diamond dogs had a frustrating tendency to get back up from all but the most vicious, direct hits. At least none had managed to get back up after a solid buck from her hooves, so far. Though, at this rate, even if their luck held, the minotaur and the unicorn would be tired out long before every dog went down. Far too many of the canine guards were still standing for comfort. The only reason she and her group had not yet been overwhelmed was the forest itself. The thick underbrush and abundant tree-cover simply did not allow for more than a few dogs to fight them at once without getting in each other's way. Some had tried to stand back and throw spears from a distance, but the few weapons that managed to not hit any trees or get snagged in the branches were quickly snatched up by Rarity's dexterous telekinetic grip and laid at her hooves. "Gah! Bloody feather-duster!" Applejack turned to see Wavedancer down on her knees, a crossbow bolt sticking out of her rear left leg. Some enterprising guarddog had finally flagged down a griffon or two to bring their weapons to bear. This was really bad... even Rarity wasn't fast enough to grab a crossbow bolt out of the air, nor was she strong enough to maintain a shield for any appreciable length of time. Desperate, AJ lunged forward, trying to make it to the injured sea-mare before one of the diamond dogs got past the vines and finished her off while she couldn't dodge. On the way, two more guarddogs barred her path, stabbing at her from between the trees. She was hopping backwards, ducking and weaving and trying to find a way past them, when she saw Fluttershy rush forward and catch Wavedancer's tail between her teeth. One of the attacking dogs abandoned his spear to rip his way through a set of vines and charge, claws out. Applejack could see her timid friend trying to scramble backwards, never letting go of that tail. "Surprise!" A white, winged blur dropped down from the trees, crashing hooves-first into the guarddog's helmet and jamming it unto his head below his eyes. The dog stumbled, then fell over backwards into a shallow ditch. With the most immediate threat out of the way, Pinkie and Fluttershy finished dragging the injured unicorn to safety. Applejack's sigh of relief at the sight was cut short by more howling, coming from their right. She could already see the approaching group of new diamond dogs, wearing blue tabards and led by a large figure clad entirely in red cloth. More of 'em?! The sound was devastating... a final blow to the morale of a beleaguered group, fighting a losing battle for their lives. She felt herself slump, the brief moment of weakness allowing one of the dogs enough leeway to put a long cut across her flanks, right over her cutie mark. It wasn't the sting that brought tears to the corners of her eyes. "Sorry, Twi..." she muttered. "We tried..." Her flank bumped into a tree, blocking her movements. A diamond dog raised his spear, snarling. The world did not slow. Her life did not flash before her eyes. Applejack simply stared, terror fighting resignation. The rest of the world lost focus as that sharpened steel tip gained definition. A flash of red... "What the hay?" Her mind tried to process the following series of events as well as it could, apparently deciding that the simple utterance was the most sensible reaction to what transpired. The attacking diamond dog, spear and all, seemed to have simply disappeared. In his place, stood that massive, red-cloaked figure, holding an equally massive curved sword, its blunted edge gleaming dully in the filtered forest light. It stared at her through its veil for several moments before reaching up and ripping it off. "G-General Rex?!" The general was grinning fiercely, a fire in his eyes that she hadn't known was missing until this very moment. With a grace that seemed impossible for a dog of his... size, he casually deflected a spear thrust from the vanquished city guard's partner. Another motion, so fluid that it was nearly impossible to follow, and Rex's giant, dull sword impacted heavily against his enemy's chest-plate, denting it and sending the dog flying backwards to slam against a tree. Neither dog got back up as the red cloaked general turned to face her. "Sorry for cutting it so close, miss Applejack. This old dog isn't as fast as he used to be." He guffawed and slapped a paw to his belly, which was stretching the leather straps that held the steel cuirass in place to their limits. Applejack could only continue to stare in mute astonishment as the general knelt down, took her front right hoof, and briefly pressed it to his forehead. "General Rex reporting for duty, milady. You can take it easy now." His little speech shocked her back to coherence, and she whipped her head up to look around. The dozen or so dogs that had been attacking them for what seemed like hours had all been laid low by the newly arrived forces in blue tabbards. Many were groaning, and some did not move at all. The thought churned her stomach, though she was able to push past it and look back at Rex. "Aren't you being a little dramatic, general?" A sharp voice, barely disguising a teasing tone, caught their attention. "Hah! Fine talk coming from a unicorn who charges into battle with her earth pony troops!" Said unicorn emerged from the underbrush, smiling and leading two other ponies in white robes marked with red crosses over the cloth that covered their cutie marks. "Lieutenant Gladius!" she yelped. "The others! Are they okay?" The lieutenant nodded, "Captain Aegis and Rainbow Dash suffered only a few minor cuts. Actually, they were in the process of knocking the last griffon out of the sky when we caught up with them." She suddenly leaned forward, whispering, "Also, the captain was rather upset that your friend outmatched him in aerial knockouts. Don't tell him I told you." Applejack sighed in relief, plopping down to the mulchy ground of the forest without ceremony or preamble. "So, yes, they're fine," Gladius continued. "How about you, miss Applejack?" "Ah think Ah'll be alright. Could do with a nap, Ah s'ppose." Gladius chuckled, "You'll get your chance. First, though, you should accompany your friends to the field infirmary. All of you need to have your wounds cleaned and treated. Especially that unicorn." With a reluctant sigh, Applejack got back on her hooves, walking alongside the general and the lieutenant toward the rest of her group. "Ah gotta say, general. Ah'm... kinda surprised to see ya'll here. Fightin' on our side." General Rex grunted, turning to look out into some undefined spot among the trees. "One of your pegasi fought his way past my entire personal guard to come to me. Like you, he couldn't have thought that I would take up arms against my own Beta... he risked his life on a stupid bet. All because he'd heard I was... am Windy's friend." He turned to look at her, "Where I come from, loyalty and courage of that magnitude are never to go unrewarded." Applejack noticed Gladius nodding her head in agreement. "Friends, huh...? Ah got the feelin' you an' he don't see eye t'eye all that much." The response left her before she thought it through, and she instantly regretted having said anything. Rex had just personally saved her life and all she could do was call his motives into question? The general sighed and seemed to deflate, losing some of the vigor that had made him look like a younger dog, "We used to. I used to be just like him... I wanted nothing more than to fix the world, and my time with the Yeniçeris only convinced me I could. It's why I joined the Cauldron guard in the first place. I was gonna fight my way to the top and change everything, but..." At this point, he stopped and tapped the side of his nose with a claw, a sad smile playing across his muzzle, "Aðaç yas iken eðilir." Applejack's ear twitched at the guttural language, "Sorry... uhhh... what?" "It's an old proverb. 'A green twig is easily bent'," he responded. "I was too young, ambitious, and naive. The world around me was too complex. I started to compromise... I thought, 'if it helps me reach the top, I can make up for it when I'm finally in charge'." He stopped then, thinking for a while, before he finally spoke, "It wasn't 'till I saw Windy again... after all these years... that I realized it. All those little compromises... I gave away what I was bit by bit, until all that was left was a fat, old, bent stick." AJ stood next to him, unsure of what to say. Eventually, she settled for a simple, "Ah'm sorry..." General Rex immediately perked up, the fiery grin resurfacing, "Don't be. That pegasus... Storm Front, right?" Gladius nodded. "I saw in him everything I used to be... everything Windy still is... and, I'll admit, it broke me. But that's how you straighten a bent stick, isn't it? You break it and put it together again the way it's supposed to be." Not really, she thought bemusedly, but held her peace this time. Suddenly, a thought occurred to her, "Say... how're Twi an' Shawn doin'? You find 'em okay? How's the princess?" Both guards stopped to stare at her and, for the first time in a while, Gladius spoke. "Wait... what?" --------------------------------------------------- "Oh, god, this was a terrible idea!" Shawn shouted as another bolt of dark magic missed him by inches. There was no explosion at his feet where the spell hit the ground. Instead, the rock and sand beneath it simply ceased to exist, leaving a hole with perfectly smooth sides covered in frost. He jumped as yet another bolt of that same magic whizzed by his head. Only The Shadow Nightmare's shadow... Okay, now that's just redundant... Only The Nightmare's shadow could be seen flying through the dust and ash. A mere glimpse was all the warning he got before each new bolt of magic nearly put a hole in him the size of a cantelope. "Hang on, Shawn!" Twilight called out from somewhere nearby. He barely had time to wonder what it was she wanted him to hang on for, before a mild, purple glow covered the ground. Moments later, large chunks of rock began to rise from the earth, forming a maze of useful cover just in time to save him from a third blast of freezing darkness. "Why does she get a disintegration beam?! I don't get one! This doesn't seem fair at all!" The call attracted several more shots from The Nightmare, hopefully giving Twilight the time she needed to prep whatever spell she was planning on using to inject her magic into the demon that was trying to kill them. Huh... that sounds so much crazier than it did a minute ago. Suddenly, the barrage stopped, leaving behind a grim silence. Upon further analysis, Shawn decided that he was not the least bit reassured by this change of pace. Then there was a thump, followed by the sound of heavy hoof-beats. "Why must you insist on making this difficult?" The Nightmare's voice called out as it approached. The dust parted, revealing the demon, tendrils of darkness sprouting from its wings, mane, and tail, slowly weaving back and forth through the air. To his left, Shawn saw a small, purple shape crouching near some rocks. Twilight nodded in his direction, and he gulped. I hate being the distraction. "Oh, I don't know..." he responded, attempting to use sarcasm to disguise his fear. "Maybe because you're trying to kill us?!" As expected, The Nightmare immediately looked in his direction. Instead of firing another bolt of magic, however, she simply smiled at him. What-? The cold tipped him off, and he dove forward to avoid the opaque tentacles of some sort of dark, many-mouthed horror that had sprouted from his own shadow. A corner of his mind registered one of the thing's limbs passing right through his ankle as he tumbled. "Shawn, look out!" Twilight shouted from her hiding spot. Apparently, in his efforts to avoid one unspeakable horror, he'd jumped right in front of another one. The Nightmare smiled lazily as two of the tendrils attached to its mane reached down and picked him up by the neck and waist. He struggled to no avail as it held him up, its smile turning into a knowing smirk. It knew... Somehow, he could tell that it knew what they were planning. The shadow around his neck tightened, preventing him from crying out a warning as Twilight jumped from behind her cover. "Shawn!" Her horn exploded with pent up magical energies, the raw, swirling vortex blasting forth directly at the monster's side. The Nightmare reacted instantly, turning to put Shawn between itself and the spell Twilight had poured so much of her strength into. He saw her face turn into a mask of horror as his world was washed in purple, the pure magic flowing around and into him... the one being here who couldn't actually use it. The spell was wasted, and The Nightmare wasted no time in capturing Twilight as well. "Well... that was quite a waste," it lamented as it mantled both of its wings around them. "Still, 'waste not, want not.'" Cold. Intense cold and darkness surrounded him. --------------------------------------------------- "The answer is... nnnno," A young boy watched his father expectantly, waiting for his response. The two sat in a comfortable, if not large, living room, working under the soft illumination of the little bit of late afternoon sunlight that filtered through the curtains. A lie detector lay on the table between them, dials and needles twitching constantly as the boy scratched uncomfortably at the wires that connected him to it. Henry Spencer sighed. "Wrong again." Is this... me? Shawn watched from above as a younger version of himself covered his face with a palm in frustration. He wondered if this was another dream like the others he could now recall... a memory corrupted by The Nightmare into a form of psychological torture. Would his father once again sit by and laugh as a dark beast consumed him. "Shawn, I knew you were lying." Henry looked into his son's eyes, "You have to believe the lie. Don't sweat. Feel your heart." He brought a hand to his chest, as if to illustrate the point. "Dad... this... this feels a little unethical-" "Trust me, Shawn," Henry interrupted. "There'll come a day, unfortunately, when this might be necessary. Perhaps... working... cover..." The old cop's voice faded, as yet another scene unfolded before him. Two children, no more than ten years old, stood arguing at the back of a stage, a stack of chairs providing an impromptu table for the one in the long purple coat. "I got scared!" Young Gus protested, dressed in a shiny red jumpsuit and sporting an afro. "You were supposed to be Billy Ocean!" Young Shawn accused. "Why would Micheal Jackson sing with Roland Orzabal?!" Shawn remembered this, too. The question was, why was he seeing all these things from his past now? "Why would Billy Ocean sing with Roland Orzabal?!" "'Cause he's awesome!" That's right, he is, little me! You tell him! Another scene change, this one faster than the last. A bar, not that long ago. Shawn saw an adult version of himself sitting alone at a table, as some crazy-looking middle-aged woman dragged Juliet over to him. "This is a speed dating first!" the lady laughed. "You and you, are a one-hundred-percent match from your personality questionnaires!" She inhaled excitedly, "I smell love!" The lady smiled cheerfully at the couple, then walked away, leaving them to their own devices. They laughed nervously, glancing at each other, then glancing away shyly. The moment built, the two opened their mouths, ready to confess their true- "I need a drink." "I gotta pee." Shawn watched as he and Jules walked away from each other, mentally slamming his head repeatedly into the nearest wall. Maybe The Nightmare is trying to torture me... Another scene, this one of him, Gus, Juliet, and detective Lassiter standing around, chatting amiably. A rare moment for them. The memories came more and more quickly, rushing through both the trivial and defining moments of his life as he interacted with the most important people in it. His friends and family. --------------------------------------------------- "Shawn!" A voice... familiar. Comforting. "Shawn!" He'd fallen asleep doing... something. Something very important. The memory teased at the edges of his mind, waiting for a prompt of some sort to jostle it back into place. Another frustrated shout, and the prompt arrived in the form of a hard, smooth surface repeatedly smacking him across the face. "Ow- OW! Alright, I'm up, I'm up!" Shawn shielded his face with his arms, surging forward into a sitting position as his previously invisible assailant sat back on her haunches. "Sorry... I was afraid you'd..." Twilight let the thought trail off. "I'd what?" She rubbed at the back of her neck, "That spell shouldn't have worked on you. In fact, without an existing pool of compatible magic to merge with, the magic should have just dissipated harmlessly into the air." The mare turned to meet his eyes, "But it didn't... and I thought between the shock of absorbing that much magic, then getting brought here... you wouldn't wake up..." "Oh..." he breathed out, choosing to ignore the implication and taking a moment to look around, instead. "Where are we, anyway?" Everything, as far as he could see, was black. It was disorienting, at first... had he not been able to feel some sort of floor beneath him, he wouldn't have been able to tell it was there. In fact, the overall effect was such that area they were in could have been the size of a bedroom or the universe. Nevertheless, both Twilight and he were as easily visible as if they'd been standing outside on a sunny day, though there was no discernible source of light anywhere to be found. "I..." Twilight looked around as well, shaking her head as she likely ran across the same headache-inducing perception of infinity. "I think we're inside the nightmare." "We got eaten?!" She thought about it for a moment more and shook her head again, "No... I don't think we've been absorbed the same way that earth pony and the princess were. In fact, I'm pretty sure this is The Nightmare's mindscape, and we're here as astrally projected ethereal golems-" "You lost me at mindscape, Sparky." Twilight sighed, then spoke again, but more slowly, "We're here in spirit form and our real bodies are probably still lying at The Nightmare's hooves." Shawn winced, hardly daring to imagine what violent atrocities his real self might be suffering at The Nightmare's whims when a thought struck him. "Wait... how would you even know? I sure don't feel like a ghost..." "Not ghosts, astra-" she paused, narrowing her eyes at him in annoyance. "Just... look." The statement was followed by a generic gesture at his body. A glance at himself revealed the truth. He was no longer dressed in the well-worn pants and vest Rarity had designed for the party, but rather in his old jeans, green polo, and sneakers that he'd first come to this world in. A quick check on his pockets confirmed that they were completely empty. He was literally here with only the clothes on his back. And even those were apparently fake... along with this body. "Well, this is just great. Why would the thing even bother to do this? Why not just absorb us like it did the others?" "I... don't know..." Twilight admitted, rather ruefully. "It's clearly gone insane. It could be any one of a million reasons. Or no reason at all. None of this makes any sense." Shawn wasn't so sure about that. He didn't disagree with Twilight's diagnosis of insanity... but, so far, at least, The Nightmare's actions had a certain logic behind them. A twisted reasoning that he thought he'd finally managed to wrap his brain around. Until this. With a shrug, he picked a random direction and started walking, startling his fellow inmate in this weird mental prison. "Wha- wait!" Twilight trotted to catch up, giving him a reproachful look. "Don't just go running off! We don't know what dangers could be lurking here! It is the mind of an evil shadow entity. Do you even have any idea of where you're going?" He replied with another shrug, "Way I look at it, Sparky: The Nightmare probably dragged us in here for a reason. What that could be, I don't know... but I do know that we're not going to get anything done if we sit around hoping it'll spit us back out and give itself up." His four-legged partner blushed sheepishly at the mild rebuke, then nodded, "I suppose not..." She grinned up at him, "But this time, you have my blessing to blow this place up if you can." Shawn laughed, then winced, "Oooo... I don't know, Sparky... it's not nearly as fun when I'm allowed to do it." The comment earned him a solid kick in the shin, forcing Twilight to wait for him to finish hopping about in pain like an idiot before they could keep going. After about ten minutes of walking, Shawn was starting to suspect they were slowly going nowhere. With no landmarks or distinguishing features to guide them, they may as well have been traveling blind. For all he knew, they'd been going in tiny, little circles this whole time. "Shawn!" Twilight's ears twitched at the indistinct shout, her head swiveling toward the source. Out of the blackness, a shape coalesced as a tall, dark-skinned, bipedal figure ran into view. "Oh my god... GUS?!" Shawn's incredulous exclamation was quickly followed up by manic laughter, as he ran to meet his childhood friend. Twilight's pleas for caution went unheard. Wrapping Gus in an affectionate hug, Shawn picked him up and spun around a few times before putting him down. "Shawn, what the hell is this place?!" "What are you doing here, buddy?!" "I've been stuck here for ages, ever since you chased that creepy guy in the trench coat into the lab!" "It's a reeeaaally long story, I'll tell you about it later!" The two friends shouted questions at each other, followed by answers, followed by more questions, never actually stopping to let the other talk. Yet, somehow, they understood each other. That's what best friends did, after all. "Shawn..." Gus had stopped listening, and was looking warily at a spot behind his friend's shoulder. "Why is there a tiny, purple unicorn standing behind you?" Puzzled for a moment at Gus's reaction, Shawn suddenly remembered that tiny, purple unicorns were not, in fact, a common fact of life for everyone. "Gus, meet my temporary assistant: Merlin Gandledore." Turning to the pony, he continued, "Twilight, this is my regular assistant: Gumshoe McCueball." "I am not your assistant, Shawn!" The two shouted in tandem, then stopped to stare at each other. Out of the two, Twilight was the first to blink and step forward, "My real name is Twilight Sparkle. Nice to meet you... Gus?" She offered a hoof. "Why is that horse talking to me?" Gus backed up, eyeing the extended hoof in abject terror. "You know I don't like talking horses, Shawn." While Twilight was busy looking affronted at being called a horse, Shawn slapped his left hand to his forehead, "Riiiiight, the Mr. Ed incident..." He turned to give Twilight an apologetic look, "Sorry... the guy has one bad experience at a carnival and he's suddenly scarred for life." "I had to get 27 stitches, Shawn! Not to mention the psychological scarring that led to years of horrible nightmares!" Gus shuddered, "I can still hear the neighing... that dreaded neighing laughter..." Shawn sighed, putting a hand on Gus's shoulder and looking him in the eyes, "Look... I promise I'll explain everything later... but, right now, there's a really bad... thing... that's going to hurt a lot of people unless we get out of this creepy nightmare land." He pointed at Twilight, who was still staring sullenly at the two, "And she's the only one who can help us do that." Gus glared at him for a full half minute before finally exhaling and nodding, "Fine... this is all probably a really elaborate dream I'll wake up from later, anyway." "That's right, buddy, you live that dream." "That's-" Twilight started, but was quickly cut off by Gus. "That's not even slightly the appropriate use for that turn of phrase, Shawn." His friend finished, sulking less than Shawn would have expected. "Are you two done?" Twilight grumbled, a strange note of irritation tinging her tone. "One sec," Shawn answered before turning back to Gus. "Is there anyone else here with you?" "Just the monsters," he replied. Shawn stared at him askance, "Monsters? What monsters?" There was an ear-piercing screech, and the thing that The Nightmare had conjured up to chase them out of Twilight's rocks rushed out of the darkness, distinguishable only by the shifting outlines of lighter black against the pure black of the landscape. "Those monsters!" Twilight shouted, ears back. Shawn, however, did not hear her, as he was already busy running and screaming in tandem with his new-found, old friend. Just like the good ol' days, he couldn't help but think. A clatter of hooves announced Twilight catching up to the two of them, her four legs letting her easily outmatch their two when it came to raw speed. Not that Shawn and Gus were particularly speedy representatives of their species. Then again, neither was Twilight. Interestingly enough, the monster seemed to be only just fast enough to keep up with the two running humans, maintaining a relentless chase that herded the whole group toward an unknown destination. One that was made abundantly clear when a giant, grey cage rose up out of the darkness, iron chains wrapped around its bars and anchoring it to the invisible floor. Within it, resided princess Celestia, standing vigil over what appeared to be the unconscious body of the red-maned earth pony that The Nightmare had first absorbed. The princess noticed them at the same time, looking up with a startled expression that quickly shifted to hopeful eagerness. "Princess!" Twilight shouted and surged forward, leaving Shawn and Gus in her metaphorical dust. As the two caught up, several things became immediately apparent to Shawn. One, the cage itself seemed to be soundproof, as Celestia's lips were clearly moving in spite of the fact that nothing could be heard. Second, there were no obvious entrances or exits on its face... just stone bars and iron chains. And third... "Sparky! The monster!" Shawn screamed as he dashed past, panting from the long run. "Right!" She whipped around, ears down and an embarrassed, nervous smile on her face. "Sorry!" Her horn glowed as she snorted and set her hooves, causing Gus to yelp and attempt to put Shawn between himself, the monster, and the talking, magical mini-horse. A blast of purple magic lit the immediate vicinity, passing right through the creature as if it wasn't even there. Which, for all the effect the spell had on the thing, it may as well not have been. "Uh oh..." Twilight gulped, backpedaling to where Shawn and Gus stood, not quite against the wall. The unnatural cold that emanated from its surface had convinced them that touching it was a bad idea. The amorphous mass of teeth and tentacles slowed its pace, advancing more carefully now that its prey had nowhere to go. It oriented what Shawn thought to be its front toward Twilight, then lunged at the unicorn, letting loose another unearthly screech. There was a heavy thump, and the creature tumbled sideways into the dark from whence it came. In its place stood a panting Applejack, sweat pouring from her face and sides. She turned a happy grin towards them. "Well, howdy everyone! Looks like Ah made it in the nick o' time!" She smiled at the stunned faces around her. "Applejack!" Twilight shouted gleefully and rushed forward, wrapping her friend in her own hug, much as Shawn had done with Gus. "Where are the others?!" Shawn's gaze was drawn to the numerous scratches and bruises on the farmer's previously pristine coat, the dark discolorations of bruises beneath clashing starkly with its pastel orange hue. Applejack's smile gained a mixture of sadness and worry, "Sorry, suga'cube, Ah ain't rightly sure. We caught up with ya'll just as The Nightmare did somethin' that left you out cold. We tried to fight it... but it got to Dash an' Pinkie 'afore Aegis and the rest o' his guards caught up. Last Ah saw, all the others were still fightin' it when Ah got caught mahself." A frantic tapping at his shoulder distracted Shawn from the next thing she said. "Shawn!" Gus whispered frantically in his ear. He turned and whispered back, "What?!" "There's another horse, Shawn! How many more of these things are going to show up?!" "I don't know... two or three?" "Two or-?!" Gus glared at him, "How can I even be sure any of this is real?! For all I know, you could turn into Freddie Krueger at any moment and scare me awake!" Shawn stared at him for a moment, then flicked him on the nose. "Ow! What the hell was that for?!" "Now you know this isn't a dream. Dreams don't hurt." Gus thought about this for a moment, before sullenly muttering, "You could still be Freddie Krueger. He killed people in their dreams." "Would that really be so bad? If I was Freddy, that'd make you John Saxon." "Saxon? Why do I have to be Saxon? Why can't I be Johnny Depp?" Shawn raised an eyebrow at his friend, "Gus, the only one here who could pull off young Depp is moi. Besides, why wouldn't you want to be Roper? Playboy-gambler martial artist on the run from the mob fits you to a tee." "You know dat's right." Gus asserted, standing a bit taller and completing the requisite peace-offering fist bump. "Awww hay... another one?!" He and Gus turned to see Applejack, displaying an expression that could only be interpreted as tortured dismay at the two humans. Twilight, curiously enough, was silently glaring at their connected fists. This is getting ridiculous. "Okay, you know what?!" Shawn finally shouted, exasperated. "We're stuck in the mind of a demonic other-worldly being and none of this is helping." He glared first at his childhood friend, then the farm-pony. "Sparky and I have a plan to get us all out of here, and I promise we'll explain everything when we do. In the meantime, though, just... please... save your questions for the end of the lecture and either help out or shut up." The two newcomers to The Nightmare's mind stared at him, then looked away sheepishly. "Okay, Sparky... you've got the floor on this one." Twilight had been staring at him too, though her astonishment was flavored with the tiniest bit of respect. Or, at least, that's how Shawn liked to think of it. "Okay..." she nodded and turned to the cage. "First thing we need to do is get the princess out of there." Celestia was still standing, clearly having realized that sound was unable to pass through the strange stone and iron that imprisoned her. At some point during their arguments, she'd moved up to stand just on the other side of the bars. She was waving a wing at them in a strange gesture, as if she wanted them to get closer. "What's she doing?" Gus asked from over his shoulder. "I... I don't know..." Twilight replied, ears down and head tilted at her mentor. Shawn thought for a second, "Maybe she wants to talk to us and thinks we can fit between the bars?" He tried to mime to the princess that the bars were not nearly far apart enough for such an endeavor and received the world's most blatantly confused expression for his troubles. "That's just' ridiculous... s'more like she cain't see the bars, Ah'm guessin'. Ah get the feelin' we shouldn't be touchin' 'em, though. They're givin' me a bad case o' the shivers jus' standin' this close," Applejack commented, then looked over at Twilight. "Maybe ya'll can break'em?" The unicorn fixed her gaze on the ground, contemplating the thought. After a minute, she looked back up, her features set into determined lines, "I don't know... but I have to try!" Bold declaration clearly bolstering her morale, Twilight set her hooves into an aggressive stance and pawed at the ground, snorting. Her horn began to glow, then her eyes, beads of sweat quickly forming on her brow as she concentrated on the spell. While the others were mesmerized by the building display of power, Shawn took a moment to observe the cage more closely. It seemed strange to him that The Nightmare would imprison Celestia in such a way as to leave the sun princess' powers unavailable to it. For that matter, it had already been in control of her abilities for a few minutes before losing them to whatever she had done. Motion from the other side of the bars caught his attention. If he didn't know better, he could swear that Celestia was trying to motion for Twilight to stop. Did the princess not understand what Twilight was doing? Or... could it be that they didn't understand... Just who's being fooled here? "Twilight, stop!" he shouted, lunging forward to shove her head away from the cage. The mare squawked in surprise, the magical light emanating from her horn fading all at once. "Shawn, what are you doing?!" she and Applejack shouted at the same time. In response, he merely pointed to Celestia, who was still frantically waving and shaking her head at them. "Something's wrong. We need to think things through, Sparky," he looked into her eyes, pleading. "Seriously?! Shawn, ya'll're jus' bein' paranoid now! If we don' get princess Celestia outta there, we might be stuck here forever!" Applejack shouted angrily at him. Gus gulped audibly, "I don't like the sound of that, Shawn... maybe you should just let the magical, talking horse do her thing." He ignored them, continuing to stare into Twilight's eyes. "Shawn..." she started, but was interrupted by a horrific screech. The whole group turned to face outward, trying vainly to see through the blackness. More wails started up, clearly getting closer, and the outlines of dozens of copies of the creature that had chased them here started to form. Twilight's expression became resolute, and she pushed him away with a hoof, using her greater mass to move him back. "We don't have time for this, Shawn. You're the one who told me that sometimes you have to take risks to get things done." She looked back toward the cage, "Well... it's time to take a risk." Her horn began to glow again and Shawn grimaced, facing away from her to see that Applejack had set herself between them and the advancing creatures. Maybe she's right... I'm probably just being para- The thought was interrupted by a prickling between his shoulder blades. He turned to see Celestia, tears at the corners of her eyes, which were begging him to... to what? A scene replayed itself in his head: As expected, The Nightmare immediately looked in his direction. Instead of firing another bolt of magic, however, she simply smiled at him. What-? The cold tipped him off, and he dove forward to avoid the opaque tentacles of some sort of dark, many-mouthed horror that had sprouted from his own shadow. A corner of his mind registered it when one of the thing's many limbs passed right through his ankle as he tumbled. He blanched... thinking harder. The amorphous mass of teeth and tentacles slowed its pace, advancing more carefully now that its prey had nowhere to go. It oriented what Shawn thought to be its front toward Twilight, then lunged at the unicorn, letting loose another unearthly screech. There was a heavy thump, and the creature tumbled sideways into the dark from whence it came. In its place, stood a panting Applejack, sweat pouring from her face and sides. She turned a happy grin towards them. Shawn looked between his friends, both old and new, then made a snap decision. "Sparky, to your left!" he shouted. The unicorn flinched, whipping around to face the fake threat. The moment she was unbalanced, Shawn charged. Memories of a few days spent training with a pro-football team while on a case rose to the surface as he rushed forward in a text-book dive tackle. Despite his greater momentum and her flat-hoofed stance, Twilight almost didn't fall, her four legs and low center of gravity resisting his efforts to overcome her inertia. However, she tripped over her own hooves in her surprise, and they fell into the bitterly cold bars... then right through them onto the floor. Clearly furious, Twilight stood up and grabbed him in a field magic, lifting him upside-down to glare into his eyes, "What the hay do you think you're doing, Shawn?!" In response, he merely pointed to something behind her shoulder. "Ahem..." said something coughed. Suddenly, Twilight seemed to become aware of their surroundings again. Shawn could see that she was noticing the same thing he had: From this side of the bars, things looked a lot different. In fact, there appeared to be no cage at all, but rather an opaque, golden half-dome. The floor they stood on shone with a soft light that suffused the entire area. "Twilight..." The unicorn finally turned from her amazed inspection of her surroundings to the soft voice behind her, squeaking in surprise at its source, "P-P-Princess Celestia!" The princess raised an eyebrow at her student, turning her bemused gaze toward Shawn. "Perhaps it would be best if you put Shawn down, before he passes out from the blood rushing to his head?" Twilight squeaked again, nearly dropping him in her haste to put him down. "But... how... what...?" she stuttered. Celestia sighed, managing to nearly look her age in her weariness, and admitted, "I... made a terrible mistake, my student." Taking a moment to collect himself, Shawn got back on his feet, listening to the princess' story. "I fell into the monster's trap," she continued. "The only thing stopping it from burning the world to ashes like it promised is a stop-gap measure I developed over my sister's thousand years of exile... in case anything like that ever happened again. It has allowed me to seal away my own power and spirit. However, I am now trapped within The Nightmare, and its assault upon my defenses is constant." She stopped to smile at him, "If Shawn had not stopped you... I am not sure I could have withstood your combined assault. As it is, I am uncertain as to how much longer I can last like this." Twilight blanched, "I-I'm so sorry, princess! I thought you were trapped... I was trying to free you!" "I understand, Twilight," Celestia responded, shifting her beatific smile to her student. "Shawn is the only one of us that The Nightmare has yet to fool, it seems." At the word us, Twilight turned, panic in her eyes. "The others! Where's Applejack?!" Celestia pointed a hoof at the edge of the shield, where dozens of horrors, Gus, and Applejack stood and stared directly at them... eyes vacant. "Wooo... that's creepy," Shawn shuddered. "What happened to them?" Twilight whispered, similarly disturbed. "They're fakes," he stated simply, before the princess could answer. The unicorn and the alicorn turned to face him, the latter nodding in encouragement. "You said it yourself, Sparky. We're in The Nightmare's mind... a place fully under its control. It must have pulled AJ and Gus out of our memories, using them and the monsters to try to trick us... trick you into helping it break Celestia's shield. It's why those things kept showing up at just the wrong times. And why AJ was able to kick them, when the one that attacked me out in the real world swung its tentacle right through my foot." He grimaced, "All the signs were there... I just can't believe it took me so long to see them." "That you saw them with enough time to act is boon enough," Celestia stated, before turning to grimace at the creatures watching through her shields. "However, this will not do. It is only a matter of time before my seal wears thin under The Nightmare's assault... and there is nothing that we can do from within it." "What if we combined our magic?" Twilight asked, a familiar, stubborn look in her eyes. The princess shook her head, "You have spent so much of your strength already, Twilight. The strain would almost certainly kill you, with only a marginal possibility of success. I could never let you do that, much less ask you to." "If only I hadn't missed with that spell..." her protégé lamented with a groan. "Now all of that magic is stuck out there, in Shawn's body... and the worst part is, I don't even know why!" Both of Celestia's eyebrows rose at that, "He absorbed your magic? That... should be impossible." "Tell me about it," Twilight muttered, then looked up, abashed. "I-I mean... you're right, princess. Sorry." Celestia only shook her head, frowning, "Please... Twilight... I would prefer for you to call me by my name, at least. There is little use standing on ceremony and decor during such a dire situation as this." The student frowned along with her mentor, face scrunched in thought, "There are just so many things I don't understand. How did Shawn absorb my magic? How did The Nightmare come back? How did it know to shield him from my location spells?" "Actually... I can answer that last question for you," the sun princess interrupted. "It was not The Nightmare that shielded him, but my own spell, cast on an item he carried. One even he did not know was of such import." Guess that pebble was more than just a tracking device, he thought ruefully. Twilight stared at her teacher in shock, "You?! But... why?!" Celestia flinched, "At the time, I had hoped to make our enemy truly believe that Shawn acted of his own volition. To that end, he needed to be able to realistically avoid detection by it, you, and the other unicorn mages with you. It took a lot of power, but I was able to weave enough strength into the spell to keep his location secret from everyone. Not that it mattered, in the end..." "I... I still don't understand. Why didn't you tell any of us? Why didn't you tell me?" The look in Celestia's eyes was so tortured, Shawn almost stepped in. Almost. Admittedly, a big part of the reason he didn't was because he wanted to know, too. "Oh, Twilight... I could not. While I did not suspect the true nature of The Shadow at the time, I recognized its cunning. Your actions had to seem genuine to more than just casual inspection..." the princess paused to smile sadly. "I am proud to say that you were never the best of liars, my student." Ponyville's resident librarian and Element of Magic, Twilight Sparkle, struggled to reconcile the loving, motherly teacher she knew with the cunning, well-intentioned manipulator before her. Shawn could see it, in every twitch of her eye, ever wrinkle of her snout, and every short intake of breath. Throughout all of this, the princess remained silent, watching her student work through issues she had no doubt wanted to broach with more time and tact. Eventually, Twilight sighed. "Is there really nothing we can do?" Celestia opened her mouth, as if to say something, then seemed to change her mind. She looked away and responded in a tired tone, "Even if you were to exit the shield, The Nightmare would only take you both. At best, it would simply destroy you. At worst..." The rest was left unsaid. A sudden thought struck Shawn. "Uhhh... what's stopping it from stomping our bodies into paste out in the real world?" he asked. Princess Celestia looked back at them, understanding dawning on her face. "It... did not absorb you... you are here as projections..." she muttered. A deep pain, tinged with regret, overtook her features, and Shawn suspected he really wouldn't like her answer. In fact, he suspected the princess thought their bodies already destroyed. For her part, Twilight stood silently, attempting to show courage in the face of the knowledge of her own likely demise. Tears prickled at the corners of her eyes. Shawn stood in numb contemplation. To be honest, he had fully expected himself to go into panic mode by this point. Death... had never been an easy thing for him to deal with. The death of a stranger was coped with through wildly inappropriate humor, as if defying the gravity of the event could somehow reduce its tragedy. The death of a pet, much less a friend... or himself... well, he'd never been able to stomach the thought. To the point of outright denial, in fact. Which, he realized, was where he stood now. He refused to acknowledge it. Not when there was still a chance that their bodies remained unharmed. That he could fix all of this. Somehow, he would fix all of this. Even if he had to make a deal with the devil itself. But not from in here. His gaze drifted back to the edge of the shield, his mind aware of the princess draping a tender, comforting wing over the withers of her precious student. Her daughter, in almost every sense. His friend. The first step was hard. The second less so. The third... easy. He knew everything would become far more difficult the moment he stepped out of that shield. In all likelihood, every single being he'd become friends with during his time here would end up hating him. But, if that's what it took... His father's words came back to him. "You have to believe..." Celestia and Twilight looked up just in time to see him step into the other side of the fragile bubble of light. Far too late to stop him, or even shout a simple, "No!" He flinched, expecting the shadow creatures to rush him, but they only continued to stare. Their unsettling gazes dug at the foundations of his sanity, slowly stripping away the bravado that had carried him beyond Celestia's protection. "Well, well, well..." A patch of darkness coalesced into a floating pair of eyes, accompanied by a manic, fanged grin. "If it isn't the 'alien psychic detective'. Come to beg for your life? The lives of your friends? A quick death?" The disconcerting vision nearly startled him from his conviction... until he banished his fear with the realization that The Nightmare, in its efforts to scare him, had accidentally mimicked a character from one of his very favorite childhood tales. He crossed his arms, "Actually, I came to make a deal." The face stared at him in genuine surprise, before turning several flips in the air as it laughed. "A deal?! What could you possibly have to offer me?" Shawn mustered his most confident smile and suppressed a shiver, "Oh, come on Cheshire. Those two in there," he hooked a thumb in the direction of the ponies he'd left behind, "can't be the only ones who're tired. I bet you've got a lot of strong, angry ponies coming your way very soon, and there's a good chance you'll lose if they gang up on you while you're weak. Plus, Twilight's recovering pretty quickly in there..." The Nightmare stared at him, its eyes glowing an unearthly, bluish hue. "That last bit," it said, vicious grin growing wider, "was a lie. Even if it was a rather clever one." That shiver... The Nightmare was doing something similar to what Celestia had done. It would be able to tell if he believed what he said to be the truth. That was fine by him. "Fine," he admitted, raising his hands. "But that means you know the rest of it wasn't." The grin never faded, though the eyes were half-lidded in thought. "So, then?" He closed his eyes and breathed. In. Out. In... "I'll help you disable and capture the other Elements, if you promise to spare our lives. Just send us to my world and burn this one." The eyes narrowed, "You expect me to simply relinquish my vengeance for the sake of convenience?" "No. Think about it: Wouldn't death be a blessing after watching their world burn? Otherwise, they'll spend the rest of their lives knowing that they were helpless as you utterly destroyed everything they loved. Celestia, the rest of eternity. There are fates worse than death... you should know." The Nightmare stared, while he resolutely met its gaze. I'll save them. Even if they hate me for it. It started to laugh. "Did you hear that, Celly?!" it called out to the princess behind him. "Your precious pet has condemned you to the same fate that I suffered. Oh, how grand!" Shawn flinched and turned. Twilight and Celestia stared at him in open horror, shocked betrayal plain on their faces. Though The Nightmare had obviously made it so they could hear him, he could still not hear them. Still... it nearly broke his heart when he saw Twilight mouth the word, 'Why?!' He turned back to The Nightmare's floating face, inches from his own. "You'll be happy to know that your body remains untouched. I had planned to hold it hostage... but this is far, far better." Shadows began to swirl around him, covering first his legs, then his abdomen. The process was painfully cold... like frostbite creeping its way up toward his head. "I'll return you to it. You'll lure the other Elements to me, and I'll banish you all back to your world... as soon as they finish watching me destroy this one, of course." "Of course," Shawn managed to grunt between gritted teeth, as the shadows covered his eyes. Once again, darkness took him. --------------------------------------------------- Shawn awoke to the sounds of hoofsteps. His back ached, particularly a spot that had apparently been lying atop a shard of rock as his spirit wandered through the disturbed recesses of an insane demon's mind. At least the sun was back to normal, probably due to Luna's efforts. "Twi! Shawn!" Applejack's distinct southern twang tore through the stillness of the wasteland he had found himself thrust back into. Below him, a tendril of shadow wiggled its way into the cracks between rocks. He sighed, his voice cracking as he sat up and uttered the last thing he wished to at that moment, "Over here!" His shout echoed through the ash and dust, which had somehow not yet settled or been blown away. Wingbeats this time. A blast of wind rustled his hair as a cyan blur rushed past and doubled back to land before the sleeping body of Twilight Sparkle. "Is she...?!" Rainbow Dash asked him, panic in her voice. "She's fine," he interrupted, weary. "Just out from exhaustion." The hoofbeats grew closer as Dash suddenly leapt forward, pulling him into a crushing hug, wings mantled around him in a protective gesture. "I'm so glad you guys are okay!" her voice shook, muffled by the fur just below her neck that his face was pressed against. Shawn got the feeling she was barely holding back tears of relief, though he said nothing. Instead, he simply patted her back. Hopefully, she'd figure out that he needed to breathe before he passed out from lack of oxygen. "Dash?! Twi?! Shawn?! Ya'll over here?!" Applejack's call snapped Dash out of whatever had come over her, and the pony suddenly let go, wiping at her eyes with a foreleg. "Sorry," she laughed nervously. "That was so uncool... uhhh... please don't tell them I did that..." "Your secret's safe with me, Skittles. That'll be twenty bits, though." She punched him in the shoulder just as a group of ponies appeared from beyond the dust. Lead by Applejack, with the rest of the Elements following behind her. Aegis and Gladius brought up the rear, several unicorn guards spreading out into the surrounding area in wary stances. "It's alright, guys," he lied. "The Nightmare's gone. Celestia's sealing it in stone as we speak." "Well, that's a relief," the cap'n breathed out, surprising the guards around him with his immediate relaxation. It hurt Shawn to see how much even Aegis had come to trust him. "Oh my goodness, what happened to Twilight?!" Fulttershy rushed forward, pressing a hoof to the unicorn's neck. "She's just asleep, Fluttershy," Dash asserted, and the others relaxed. "I guess this means we won, huh?" "Yeah... we managed to warn the princess in time," he responded, breathing in. "Well, Ah'll be. Never thought Ah'd be the one sayin' this, Shawn... but mighty fine job! If it weren't for you, who knows what could'a happened?" Applejack trotted forward, a genuine smile on her lips. "Sorry..." he breathed out. "Wuzzat, suga'cube? Ya'll need to speak u-" Applejack froze in horror as tendrils of darkness rose from her shadow and held still. The rest of the group had gone quiet, too, which Shawn knew meant The Nightmare had probably managed to ensnare all of them with the spell. "He was apologizing for betraying you, I believe," The dark shape of The Nightmare rose from the ground, that same, manic grin still plastered on its face. "Although you all really should be thanking him. After all, he bargained rather skillfully to save your lives... and all at the negligible cost of the life of everything else on this world." Shawn ignored it as their shocked stares turned to tears and glares of anger. He said nothing, even when Applejack tore her muzzle free of her shadow's grasp and shouted at him, "How could you?! Ya two-timin' sonuva- mmph!" Fangs pierced the back of his vest as The Nightmare pulled him to his feet, then settled a dark wing over his shoulder. His gaze remained fixed upon the ground, however, as he shoved his shaking hands into his pockets. He could still feel their eyes. Accusing him. Hating him. "Well...?" he spat. "Well what?" The Nightmare sighed, contentedly. Shawn could practically hear the snapping of the last threads of its sanity as he asked, "Aren't you going to gloat?" It hummed and giggled, "I suppose I could. I spent so long planning for this moment... I'm not entirely sure of what to say." Suddenly, it whipped around, nearly throwing him off his feet. Without preamble, it approached the ponies and began to speak. "Do you know what it's like?" it asked. The Nightmare waited, though it must have known they could not answer. Its own magic prevented it. After an undue pause, she continued in a soft voice, "Do you know what it's like, to come into the world, fully formed, knowing that you were composed of everything your creator hated most about herself?" The ponies shifted. It had been long enough that the anger had likely started to fade, only to be replaced by a growing fear. "To watch, helpless, as she goes about, crafting beautiful nights for worthless scum that paid no heed to her time and her sacrifice. For your only source of sustenance to be the resentment, loneliness, and jealousy she could not consciously cope with?!" The Nightmare seemed to grow angrier at their silence, now beginning to shout. "To finally have a chance at granting her deepest, darkest wish?! To take control and seek to show the world and her sister her truest self... her majesty... only to be banished?! Cast aside like a broken, unwanted tool?! A demon to be exorcised?!" It froze, its mouth forming into a rictus as it began to laugh, "To wallow in failure for a thousand years, only to become precisely that upon my return? Of course I'm a demon... what else could I be? And what else does a demon do, but destroy everything around it?" There was a brief silence as The Nightmare stared at the ponies it held. Shawn didn't know if it expected them to answer, but the unfocused look upon its face told him that it hardly mattered either way. Making his way over with heavy steps, he sighed and tapped it at its withers with his cast. It turned, blinking owlishly at him for a second before sighing gleefully, "The seal is about to break, little human. You should turn away, lest your eyes be burned from their sockets by my impending radiance." "For what it's worth," he replied, "I'm sorry your life sucked so bad." He didn't even need to force himself to believe a lie to say it. "Wha-?" Its utterance was cut off when he shoved his entire left hand into her mouth. A flick of his fingers sent the little, red pebble it carried tumbling down its throat, and he withdrew the appendage before she could bite it off. The Nightmare stumbled back, hacking and choking on the offending stone. It shook his head and glared at him, snarling in rage, "You dare?!" Shawn only shrugged, too tired to summon any sort of witty one-liner. "I'll... ugh... end you... h-heeee..." It stopped speaking as it realized something strange was happening to its body. Cracks were beginning to form, spilling a pure, golden light as they did, "W-what... did you...?" "I just force-fed you a big, o'l dose of Celestia and Twilight's magic," he replied, watching as The Nightmare's shadowy body continued to break down. "Now, I'm only just starting to get this whole 'magic' thing... but I'm pretty sure that Twilight's spell didn't dissipate because it actually did have a large pool of compatible magic to mix with: The pebble ol' Celly spent all that time pouring her power into so she could shield and track me. Now, all of that energy's probably getting used by the princess to wreak a little havoc on your insides." The monster glared at him, raw hatred in its eyes. The emotion was so strong, it was almost as palpable as it had been in that strange limbo where it had first wiped away his memories. He took a step back, then another, as The Nightmare advanced on him, tottering on its four legs. Its horn glowed with an unearthly darkness, clearly trying to form some sort of spell, then flickered and went out. "T-This... this is not... over!" it cried, its voice rising in pitch to the consistency of nails on a chalkboard. "I-I did not... come... this f-far... for this..." The light faded, as cracks started to reform. uh oh... Shawn could see the rest of the ponies were still struggling against their bonds, which meant he'd be getting no help from them. The only who'd made any headway against them was lieutenant Gladius, who seemed to be trying to use her magic to overcome the effects of The Nighmare's spell. She managed to rip the tendrils away from her muzzle and shout, "Run!" He did, and The Nightmare charged. "Not towards us, you idiot!" she screamed in frustration, still struggling with the rest of her bonds. "Well say that next time!" Shawn yelled back, making a run for the rocks that remained from their first battle with the demon. The steady canter of hoofbeats upon the scorched, rocky ground behind him suddenly faltered, losing their rhythm and slowing to a snail's pace. He turned to look at his pursuer from behind one of the rocks It stood there, staring sullenly at him, yet clearly unable to move any further. Its expression was petulant, almost childlike in its anger and frustration as more and more cracks formed along its midnight coat. "Just let it go, Nightmare!" Shawn pleaded from the safety of his rock. "I know that... I know that you've gone through a lot. The way you were born... the crap you had to put up with... no one deserves to go through what you did! But it's over... just let it go and let yourself rest... you deserve some rest... aren't you tired?" There was a thump, and Shawn peeked around his cover to see that it had fallen over on its side, staring up at the sky and blinking in confusion. "T-Tired... a nap sounds good..." it muttered. Shawn stepped closer, leaning down to look upon a dark deity laid low. It turned to look at him with eyes that were finally devoid of rage or hatred... simply a dim intelligence gasping out its final breaths. "Hurts..." "Sorry..." It was all he could think of to say. "I..." The Nightmare coughed, shuddering, then cried out as light burst from every single surface of its body. A light so brilliant, it instantly wiped away the tendrils of shadow that restrained the guards and the Elements and flung him back a good ten feet. When the glow faded and everyone could see again, three figures remained where The Nightmare once stood. An unconscious, red maned pony, a shining avatar of the sun, and a very pissed-off Twilight Sparkle. The unicorn stomped forward, huffing, twisted and kicked out with her right hoof, landing a solid blow right to his stomach that knocked him on his ass. "You jerk!" she shouted. "Wait..." he wheezed, fighting to regain his breath. "I can... oof... explain." "Don't bother," she spat. "We saw everything. It was making us watch!" Oh... "How could you risk your life like that, all by yourself?! It was arrogant, and reckless, and stupid, and selfish, and... and..." Twilight, seemingly running out of colorful adjectives and on the verge of tears, sighed, "... and I'm glad you're okay." A soft glow lit the flustered pony from behind as Celestia approached, a brittle smile on the monarch's face. The rest of the ponies followed her, a confused but relieved hush having fallen over the group. He made a mental note to get Sparky to have a talk with the princess about The Nightmare's final words. For all her vaunted age and wisdom, she wasn't doing a good job at hiding the fact that they'd obviously reopened some old, painful wounds. Right at that moment, however, the last thing everyone needed was a bout of depressing introspection from their leader and savior. "I think my dearest student has quite thoroughly covered the nature of your behavior," Celestia laughed softly. "Well, Shawn? What do you have to say for yourself?" Shawn sat, thinking and rubbing at his aching abdomen, before replying, "Eat this..." The ponies glanced at each other, confusion plain on the multitude of faces. Celestia, meanwhile, merely arched one royal eyebrow, "Pardon?" "It was so perfect! And I missed it!" Shawn lamented as he got to his feet. "Maaaan... I never think of a good one-liner until after I beat the bad guy!" The silent stares of blatant astonishment were broken by a loud snort, calling everyone's attention just in time to see Pinkie Pie break down into a powerful fit of giggling. She was actually rolling around on the ground, kicking her hind legs helplessly into the air. Not a pony or human there stood a chance against that, and, soon snickers became chuckles, chuckles became chortles, and everyone was laughing in their immense relief at simply being alive. Even the guards. Shawn turned when a hoof tapped at his shoulder, and he found himself face to upside-down face with a floating Pinkie Pie. She smiled widely, flipped around, and wrapped him in a big hug, which would have been fine with him by this point, considering everything that had happened. Unfortunately, she apparently forgot to keep her wings moving, which resulted in Shawn having to carry her full weight for about three seconds, before he collapsed under the strain. "Oopsie!" she laughed... though he noticed she didn't let go. "Come on, guys! Group hug!" "Oh, god, wait!" he tried to shout, but it was too late. Most of the rest of the Elements piled on, laughing, crying, and generally being happy to be together again. Their attitudes were infectious, and in spite of his initial reservations, he was soon laughing as well, sitting between Dash and Twilight as they all faced each other in a circle. "Ya'll are a real piece o' work, ya know that?" Applejack spoke up from just outside the group, giving him a level look past the rest of her friends. "Uhhh-" "Ah ain't never been fooled by nopony's lies afore. Element of Honesty an' all that," she barreled on, not letting him speak. "But, for a little while, I really did believe ya'll had betrayed us to The Nightmare." "Appleja-" "An'... I jus' wanted to say... Ah'm sorry," the farmer finished, speeding up her speech. "Ah should'a known better. 'Specially after everythin' ya'll've risked for us, even though you jus' got here, an' ya don't really know us all tha-" "AJ!" Shawn shouted, this time interrupted her. She stopped with a start and finally met his eyes. "I think Pinkie's still waiting for you to join the hug," he pointed out, hooking a thumb at the impatient-looking white pegasus. With a shake of her head and a sudden laugh, the mare stepped in between Rarity and Fluttershy, who laughed along with her. "Would you mind if perhaps I joined in?" a soft, crooning voice spoke from just behind him. They all turned to see the princess, sitting demurely just outside the circle, an uncharacteristically unsure smile on her face. "P-Princess!" Twilight exclaimed as the others gaped. Before the unicorn could say anything else, Shawn reached out and hooked his injured arm over the princess' neck. "Come on, ya old goat, get in here!" The others gaped in abject horror, but the princess only laughed and let him pull her into the spot between him and Twilight, who looked up at her teacher and broke out into a wide smile. "I'm really glad you're okay, Prince-" "Twily..." Celestia interrupted Twilight with an admonishing look. "Could you please call me what you used to? I would like very much to not be a princess... just for today." The princess' protégé blushed, then laughed, "Sorry... Tia..." "So..." Shawn spoke past his own grin as he saw Celestia smiling happily at her student. "Is it just me, or could anyone else go for some pancakes right about now?" As a matter of fact, they could.