The Nightmares Fear

by LunarGaurd

Two Years.... Damn, I should be dead.

Two years.

I've wandered through the Everfree for two years strait.

Now your probably wondering how I'm still alive. Right? With all those Timberwolfs, Manticores and Celestia knows what else that's out here.

Simple.

I never encountered anything. Not another living soul. There were no monsters, animals or abominations.

Never a single sound after the only thing I encountered ran of with its wooden tail between. That's right, I found a Timberwolf on my second day here.

It took one look at me and got ready to pounce...

Until it sniffed the air. Then it got a panicked look in its beady yellow eyes, whimpered and turned tail and ran as fast as it could. I also saw a puddle of tree sap where it was a second ago. "Okaaayyyyy... stepping around that." I thought to myself.

But after that, nothing. The only sounds I heard were the ones I made myself.

Not much happened besides that, not anything worth mentioning anyway. That lasted for about one and a half years...

*8*

I've been walking for a year and a half and still nothing. The only weird thing that happened sense that Timberwolf is that I seem to never be getting tired, scared, nervous, or really feeling anything.

That is, until this day.

Today I felt a sort of, tugging. It started out small but steadily grew and I drew closer to the source. I tried to ignore it at first but after five minutes I couldn't stand it any more, I took off running in the direction the pulling sensation was telling me to.

My speed was impossible, everything was a blur of color blending together so I couldn't describe my surroundings if I tried. But I also wasn't paying very much attention to my surroundings either.

After sprinting for a solid five minutes, the pulling just suddenly stopped. When it did I also tried to immediately stop, but do to my speed I was unable to do so and was sent as a fumbling ball of pony into something solid.

I was dazed for a second after that, but when I got my bearings again I looked up at what I ran into, and was amazed that I wasn't unconscious or dead.

It was a decayed stone wall. I don't know how fast I was running, but it was fast. Very fast. And I also know that running into a stone wall at that speed, and staying conscious, was impossible. Or so I thought.

Well, regardless of that, the pulling sensation stopped and now I need to find out where I am and what it was leading me to. Do do this I backed up a little bit till I could see over the wall. What I saw caused me to gasp.

They were castle ruins. I don't believe it. I thought to myself. IT'S A DAMN CASTLE FOR LUNAS SAKE!!! HOW DID IT GET IN THE MIDDLE OF THE FOREST!? This is just insane. Well my entire life has become the very definition of insane by now so I might as well explore it.

*8*

Well, that was uneventful. I explored the entire castle, exempt this last door, and that's because I can't open it. I've examined every detail of the door before when I first found it but discovered nothing that could open the door. After that lost cause I looked through the rest of the castle and found nothing of interest.

So here I am, back at the door to see if I missed something before. After another ten minutes of searching, I finally found something. There is a whole in the middle of the door, about head height. It looks to be about the perfect circumference for a horn as well... Wait a minute, I thought I read somewhere about a magical signal lock enchantment to create a door that takes a certain type of magic to open. Could this be one of thous locks? Then I remembered something, DAMN IT! I can't use magic. Again, my birth disability is keeping me from doing something. Why does this always happen?! As I turned and walked away, I remembered something that Nightmare Moon said, I will give you more magic then you can possibly imagine. Well, now is a good a time as any to see if she was telling the truth.

I closed my eyes and focused, I never used magic before but I've read multiple books on different techniques to access your magic. My personal favorite is the 'star' technique. It's where you look inside of yourself and feel for source of power, that when found will 'look' like a star made of magic. The larger the star the more magic you have.

I decided to try this, so I focused my mind to searching my inner self. Looking for the star of magic.

I don't know how long I was searching, but I do know that I was about to give up. But then I found it.

I was only expecting my star to be nothing but a spark if it was even there.

Boy, was I wrong.

A Supernova would be a more accurate description of how much magic I have at my disposal. Seeing this, I felt powerful. For once in my life, I was unstoppable, untouchable even!

And a perfect test of my new found power will be busting the lock on this damn door that has caused me so much trouble. With that thought in mind, I turned around and shoved my horn in the hole and activated my magic.

Big mistake.

As I reached out to 'touch' my magic, it felt cold. It's supposed to be warm, not cold as ice. But that was only a minor thing, the door did open thankfully, but the next and final thing that happened was a flashback, to two and a half years ago. Right after I got possessed...

*8*
(Third person view)

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!" Spectral screamed, alerting his parents that something is wrong. As they ran to there son, hoping to help him through whatever is causing him pain, his scream turned into a dark and almost demonic laugh. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAA!!!!!" This only caused them to run faster, and as they called his name again they saw the door to his room explode outwards into splinters.

As they entered Spectrals room, they didn't see there son. Instead they saw.... somepony, but it wasn't anypony they or there son knew. This new Unicorn had a Jet-Black coat that was cut off at the fetlock in a spiky fashion, exposing his Blood-Red hooves. His teeth were pointy and looked ready to shred his pray into a bloody mess, his horn was a longer then average six inches and has a tip that would be more befitting that of a spear than a horn, it also had an eerie crimson glow. His mane is a mohawk that starts with a Midnight-Blue color and grew into a Blood-Red, and his tail was in a flowing spiky style with the same colors as his mane. His eyes were the most frighting.

Oh sweet merciful Celestia, thous eyes.

For starters they have slit pupils. Then there was the corneas, witch are a piercing Blood-Red that seemed to stare into your vary soul. But the whites of the eye are the worst, because they weren't white. They are the same Blood-Red as the cornea, giving the illusion of a soulless being that would strike you down in cold blood and smile, watching as the life drains from your eyes, then make the last thing you hear his dark laugh.

No, this isn't a pony. This is a monster.

"What have you done with our son you monster!?" Spectrals mother yelled.

"Monster? Mother you hurt me! Don't you recognize your own son?" The pony mocked.

"NO! You're not my son! Where is he?!"

"Why, he's right here. Well, not here per say as much as this is his new and improved body. Courtesy of me of course. He needed something a bit more sturdy then what he had previously in order to hold all the dark magic I gave him."

"What are you talking about?" Spectrals dad said. "Our son has no magic. And who are you anyway?"

"Who? Little old me? Why, if you took a little more interest in your child's personal studies then perhaps you would know that wouldn't you?"

"Who. Are. You."

"Fine, I suppose I could tell you. I'm Nightmare Moon!" Both parents gasped.

"Wha-? But your just an old ponies tail! How did you get into our son!?" Spectrals mother shouted.

"Well, it's quite simple really. He knew about the legend and thought he'ed take a chance. So when I was escaping he prayed for me to come to him and I did. I was his last resort after all. So we made a deal. I get control of his body for ten minutes, and his complete loyalty when I take over Equestria as my right hoof pony, and I give him unimaginable magical power!"

Both parents were shocked into silence with there mouths wide open.

There was a slight ringing in the background.

"Well, it would seem our time together is at an end! I would tell you to enjoy the eternal night but you'll be to dead to do that. So I guess this is farewell! With that Spectrals horn grew a layer of black along with the crimson glow surrounding his horn, and with little effort through out a bubble of black magic. When this bubble hit Spectrals parents they were pushed up against the wall, flattening them till they popped in a bloody pulp.

And then Spectral blacked out.

*8*
(Spectrals POV)

When my vision returned to normal, I was on the floor crying. I killed my parents? I thought. Is that why I felt satisfaction and accomplishment when I saw what was left of there bodies? I cried harder with that thought, and I continued to cry for an hour.

Once I was done, I made myself a promise. A promise that I hope I will never have to break for any reason. Why do I get the feeling that I wont be able to keep it? It was a disturbing thought but true. I did get that feeling and I don't like it. This promise is that I'll never use my magic as long as I live. Ever.

After I made the promise I decided to see what I got for my trouble.

...

...

"THREE BOOKS!?!?!?!?!" I shouted, infuriated. I was forced to watch myself kill my parents for a few books. Three damn books. These better be some DAMN good books. I thought as I approached them.

The room was perfectly preserved. The walls were made of Sun-Stone, a jewel that emits warmth and a little bit of yellow light. The roof and floor were made of Moon-Stone, this is a gem that emits a slight cold and seems to absorb light. With these to gems mixed to create one room, it made for quite an interesting affect. The glow from the Sun-Stone is being absorbed by the Moon-Stone, created the affect of a dimming light that's brightest on the outside and dimmest on the inside. It looked quite beautiful.

The books are on three pedestals. The pedestals seemed to be made up of an alloy of Moon-Stone and Sun-Stone, causing light to pulse out of them every few seconds. Well, I might as well read them. I went through hell to get here after all.

The first book is bound in black leather with stars doting the surface, the book is also about six inches thick. The title is on the side the binding and is as follows, Dark Magic Compendium - Starswirl the Bearded.

I suppose that might be useful. When I went to open it I found that it was written in some strange foreign language that I cant understand. Or not...

The second book is made of magic metal. This is a black metal that will only move for somepony with a certain magical signature and can be grouped with multiple magical signatures, but if it isn't aligned with at least one signature it will move for anypony. The title of this book is The Alicorn Handbook - Everything known about Alicorns. I didn't even try to open this book because of the material it's made of.

The final book is made of iron. The title of the book is Equestrian to old Equestrian language guide. When I opened this book I realized something... This is the same language that the first book is written in. That's convenient.

I took a few steps black and examined the books again. after a cupple of minutes I sighed, "Well, might as well start reading...." So I went towards the dictionary and began memorizing it.

I did that for about a month and finally got it entirely in my head, so now I can fluently speak, read, and translate old Equestrian. Well, now I can read the dark magic book. I thought.

Four months. FOR MONTHS it took me to memorize that book, but it was worth it. I got some valuable insight. For example, I found out that I have dark magic. So now I know what I can do with my magic if I ever need to use it as a LAST RESORT!!!! Emphasis on last. I haven't forgotten my promise to myself.

After an hour or so of wondering what to do, I figure I'll try and open the Alicorn book. Well, I thought, Here goes nothing... I put my hoof on the book and griped the cover...

Holy shit it opened! Well, Now I have something else to read. It's about the same size as the language book so it should take about the same amount of time to memorize as well.

I was right about that btw. After one month of reading I had the books' information stuck in my long term memory.

And now we're where we were before that not-so-little recap of the two years I spent in the Everfree.

So here I am...

In the library of a decaying castle...

Reading...

Alone with nothing but my though-"Are ya sure we should be here twi?"

"Of course! I've read every book in the castle library. The only books I haven't read are in here."

"Hold on girls! My Pinkie Sense is telling me something!"

Wat...

Author's Note:

Sorry this took so long, but I've been a bit lazy.

Now if you would be so kind, I would appreciate some feedback in the comments! That is, um... only if you want to. please.

Comments

[GroxD]

After re-reading what you have up, I have to admit, my curiosity is itching to know more about Spectral and the Dark magic's that is flowing through him now. I mean, Is Nightmare Moon inhabiting him in some way shape or form?
Will having dark magics drive him to do evil deeds?

What will happen in the next chapter, cause it seems your leading up to either A. a confrontation with the main 6(Really doubting that outcome), B. a meeting between Spectral and the Main 6(Seems a bit more likely in my opinion, but maybe not.) or C. Spectral hiding from the main 6.(don't really see this happening, but, well, I don't know.).

You've done an excellent job so far, I'm looking forward to the next chapter you'll put up. Hopefully soon, but, I'm patient, I can wait, I've waited years for things to happen. But hey, if it comes sooner rather than later, all the better.

[LunarGaurd]

6429971 Thanks for the feedback! I'll try and do better with updating with a faster succession.

And remember, if you have any suggestions I'll always take them into consideration.