> Don't Wake Up
>  by Grizzly Nation
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Dream Walking
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Here we were again, briskly trotting through the endless cloudy hallway filled with blue portals that led to many creature’s dreams. It was our duty after all, to watch after everypony’s dreams to ensure they didn’t suffer from their own nightmares. Nightmares can leave scars, mental scars and those scars are hard to heal.

Nightmares are complicated things; the fact that we can even enter the Dream Realm is a miracle to us. Nightmares are ponies’ feelings manifested into something bad. It’s not enough to just barge into dreams and destroy the nightmare we have to make sure they do not occur again. We can vanquish the Nightmare, but we cannot prevent it from happening that is up to the pony who created it. 

I am merely somepony who points them in the right direction, an instructor of sorts. Like a teacher I don't give them all of the answers, but I try to help them understand and succeed. In the Dream Realm –my realm– I rule. I take care of my subjects and do it regardless of appreciation and praise, it is my duty to protect my ponies.

Most of the time it is trivial things that scare ponies like spiders. Who would be afraid of spiders? What ponies should fear are timberwolves, things that can kill you. A Star Spider’s venom is hardly potent. 

But alas, it is our duty to bear through all of these ponies dreams...to repent for my actions. It’s not all that bad. It’s better than putting on a fake smile for subjects all day, Or signing thousands of papers that never end; I really do think I have it better here. 

A flash of red pulls me from my thoughts. Straight ahead a portal had just turned a bright red. I take a deep breath. 

“It is my duty.”





I race up the stairs and to my room, eager to finally get a break from the world. Throwing open the door I dropped my book bag and collapsed on my bed. As I felt the soft fabrics touch my skin a large groan escaped my lips. 

School especially sucked today. The only bearable part was study hall. My book bag straps kept digging into my shoulder the entire time. 

Why is the school so big?! Why do I need to learn more words that I’ll never use in my life?

All I do is work at school and then come home to work again. And guess what? I barely get allowance, and anytime I do my parents pick through it! I mean who gives somebody money just to take some later? 

I melted into the black mattress, the red covers felt like the best of silks that only the finest of kings slept on. My tired body relished this feeling of rest, and I quickly found myself drifting off. Lady sleep had me in her grasp and she wasn’t letting go for a while. 





Everything turned from black to a forest, like someone flipped a switch in my brain. The forest had a bluish hue to it, and the trees were the blackest I’ve ever seen. Their branches were twisted and sharp, protruding from...faces! Not like actual faces, but like chipped holes in the trunk made to look like eyes and teeth. 

“Yep, this is the weirdest dream I’ve ever had,” I said, slightly taken aback by my voice. It was different. Just so deep. It didn't sound anything like me, like Kratos or some kind of demon. However, what surprised me was the fact that I never opened my mouth. I just thought about the words and they were said. 

First thing I noticed was a white box attached to my face. Feeling around it, I realize it wasn’t a white box, it was a bony snout. And I could feel it!

“Well, this is the first time I can feel in a dream, and this one is very vivid,” I said aloud with the unfamiliar voice. 

Glancing down, I notice my body had also changed. My body had no flesh it was just bones, and barely recognizable as humanoid. Bones grouped up to form a makeshift neck where the flesh should be. In fact, nearly all the bones were pressed together and were more similar to armor than anything.

Suddenly, I get the strangest urge to go left, like I desired nothing more than to head in that direction. Of course I followed the urge. This was a dream after all, so there’s no harm in exploring a bit. 

Taking a step forward I nearly trip. I looked at my feet, I noticed they weren’t similar to feet at all, just white stumps! 

“What am I, a satyr?!” I shouted, “What is wrong with you, mind?” I asked myself, knocking on my skull. 

Taking another careful step, I firmly plant my hoof onto the ground, before taking another step. 

“I’m beginning to get the hang of these hoof things.” Walking on wobbly legs, I Slowly followed the direction of the tugging.





Placing my bony hand on a nearby tree, I studied what seemed to be a weirdly tiny, light blue horse sitting on a fallen over tree in a small clearing. It had the biggest eyes I've ever seen, even for something that scared. 

Why was this weird creature in my dream? And why was it so afraid? The small horse kept sporadically looking around in every direction, seemingly spooked by something. I didn't want to have anything sad in my dreams.

I approached the treeline in long, slow strides, moving carefully as if approaching a stray cat. The thing was cute and I didn't want to scare it. As soon as I left the treeline it's head jerked in my direction. 

I spoke softly, but my voice was something you'd hear in a demonic horror movie, “Hey, it's okay, I'm not gonna hurt you.”

The horse scrambled to its hooves as it let out a shrill screech. 

“Stop!” I yelled almost in desperation, and it froze silent, to my surprise.

I quickened my pace and took a seat next to the horse on the tree. Getting a closer look, the horse looked terrible. It's face had wet streaks running down in separate streams. It looked like it was going to bawl its eyes out again. Its hair was a mess and its fur was matted with mud. Long story short, I felt bad for this creature. I placed a hand on it and it flinched at my admittedly morbid touch. 

“So, um what's your name?” I asked, I didn't really expect an answer, afterall it was a horse, but this was also a dream.

It hesitated but it finally gave a meek murmur, “Blue Bloom.”

She seemed calmer, like my very presence soothed the horse.

“So, are you a boy or…?” I asked. It sounded like it could be either. I mean I'm not an expert on horses and I definitely wasn’t gonna check.

It's blue cheeks reddened before it suddenly blurted out, “I'm a girl!” 

I flinched, I wasn't expecting her to be that offended at a simple question. 

I held my hands up. “Woah, calm down, I didn't mean anything by it. I was just confused.” This thing had the squeakiest voice I had ever heard, though I'm squeaky too when I'm mad. Huh...seems like this horse is all too similar to me, but we are in my mind after all. 

She crossed her hooves and put on an indignant pout. 

I let out a laugh that sounded terrifying, and placed a hand on her head. I really don't like my laugh –actually no, it’s my voice I don't like. Can I change it? Well this is a dream, so I should be able to. 

I thought about my voice but without my squeak, because a manly man such as myself, cannot have any squeaks in his voice in the presence of a lady. I put an image in my head, of a red orb being switched out for blue orb and hoped for the best.

“So, why were you crying?” I asked, testing out my voice. It sounded like my beautiful teenage voice, luckily. 

She looked up at me kind of confused, her eyes told me she wasn't happy at all. 

“I don't like the dark at all, I hate it,” she explained. But I knew that wasn't it. I don't know how I knew, but it felt like I knew this horse, that I shared some kind of experience with her.

I removed my hand from her dark blue hair. “Listen, I know what it's like to be afraid of the dark. heck I still have a slight fear of it.” I looked ahead. “But, I realised it really wasn't scary if you look at it from a different perspective.” 

She still looked confused, but she listened as best as she could. 

I stood up. “Hey, you wanna see something cool?” I asked.

She nodded and looked up to me, wonder filled her eyes. 

Closing my eyes, I thought about the perfect night: a full moon at its brightest, a sky full of stars, and woodland creatures frollocking in the forest. 

I opened my eyes, and to my astonishment the night was more beautiful than I thought it would be. The moon cast a light that could even match the sun. Stars filled the empty sky. Deer jumped back and forth throughout the forest. And fireflies were scattered across forest, blinking green as they flew around. 

I glanced to my left. Blue Bloom had been standing beside me. Her eyes were very wide, as if she had never seen anything like this. It felt good to show someone or something different.

“If you look at something from a different perspective it's not so bad, don't you think?” 

She nodded before suddenly hugging my waist tightly. 

“I don't want to wake up, I don't want to lose somepony as nice as you.” She held even tighter. 

I didn't know my absence could impact someone so severely. I felt like some kind of helper, or maybe even a friend. I felt...great, so fulfilled. Is this what it feels like to help people, to be a good person.

Wait, did she say wake up? No, this is my dream, this just has to be some kind of backstory my mind created. 

I snapped back to reality (well, mindscape, I guess). I lightly pushed her away and knelt down, “Hey, I'm not going anywhere for awhile. Don't worry about me. I'm sure you'll find someone even nicer than me.” She didn't look satisfied with my response at all.

“Look, I'll visit okay, and plus I'm not going anywhere for awhile, so we have time.” She nodded reluctantly, but I could tell she was a little better. “Now, bring it in!” I blurted in a playful manner. 

She swung her hooves around my neck and embraced me and I returned the hug. I could feel her warmth, and it felt calming; It had been a while since I've gotten a hug. 

Wait, I could more than feel. I could feel everything, vividly and clearly, like I was actually here.

I pushed her off me suddenly, and she looked at me surprised, but I ignored her. What was going on? I felt my long face, and realised I could feel all of my actions. 

“What the fuck,” I said in surprise. Blue Bloom flinched at my harsh language. 

“Are you...okay?” Blue Bloom asked apprehensively. She tried a reach her hoof out to me. 

“Don't touch me!” I yelled as I slapped her hoof away.

She jumped back from my sudden outburst. 

What the hell was going on, is this real? No! It can't be real, it just can't be! Am I in her dream or is she a figment of my imagination?! Why can I feel?! 

I shut my eyes tight, I wanted to wake up right now. 

A warmth wrapped itself around me, and I felt better. I could smell...flowers, this calmed me. I couldn't help but feel safe. 

A soft voice whispered into my bony ear, “You helped me mister, so now I'll help you.” Blue Bloom's voice eased my worries and I wanted to melt in her hold. 

Opening my eyes, I stood up. “Thank you, I...needed that.” I was embarrassed but still I looked her in the eye, “You don't have to worry about me, it won't happen again.” 

Blue Bloom smiled and asked, “Well since you aren't going anywhere do you wanna play a game?” 

“Sure why not. What game do you want to play?” A game was sure to keep my mind busy for a while. 

“Hide and seek!” she squealed happily. 

“Alright, I'll count to sixty and you'll go hide,” I explained walking to the nearest tree and beginning to count. I listened to the thuds of her gallop as she ran away. 

As I continued, I could feel the tugging sensation. I would have smiled if I could. I could tell this was gonna be fun. 

Finishing up my counting I began walking in the direction of the pulling. As walked, I wondered that if I could change the environment and my own voice, then maybe I could change my body.

Once again, I closed my eyes and thought about me. I pictured my bones shifting out of place and bending to match the the skeleton of a deer. I heard a sickening crunch as I felt pain sear through my bones as I bent in unnatural ways. 

I shouted in pain, as my bones kept moving, “NumbNumbNumbNumbNumb!” I kept repeating until the pain finally stopped and I couldn't feel anything.

I opened my eyes, and watched in disgust as my body kept bending and and reattaching into different positions. I wanted to throw up, but I couldn't even if I wanted to. I wanted to pass out, but I had to finish what I started. I had the the the shape done, but I needed the skin. 

I was lying down on my side and couldn't move. Only my neck would listen to me. This time I didn't close my eyes and thought about being enveloped in flesh. 

A thick red stalk of meat sprouted out from the middle of my ribcage, the end of the meat quickly inflated like a balloon into a heart.The red stalk branched out and inflated two large pink lungs. The stalk of meat kept branching out and inflating several other organs. A long pink rope of flesh slithered down to my stomach before swirling and resting in a nasty heap. It reminded me of a long rope rolled in a pile.

Thousands of strings of red meat exploded out from my bones and quickly attached themselves to a seemly random places. And in seconds my body was covered in flesh. Brown clumps of fur burst from my fleshy body, and the fuzz quickly spread across my entire body. It was finally over.

“Well that was...something. I'm definitely not doing that again. But first, I need feeling.” I willed my body to feel, and just like that I could feel my new limbs. I was getting much better at this. 

I quickly rolled over and extended my new legs. Now that I was on my feet...hooves, I tried out walking. And it was pretty easy. Having four legs was awesome! It was so stable and efficient, now it was time to see what these legs could really do. 

Now how do I prance? Usually, I see deer jump on two legs and land on two legs. Alright, let's break it down into simple steps, rear, jump, and land. As I rose on my hind legs, I used that momentum to jump forward, quickly I kicked my hooves out to catch myself. 

I glanced behind. I had moved at least a foot of where I was before. Progress! Quickly I repeated my same action and did it again and again. 

“I have conquered the form of a deer! All shall fear my mastery of the mighty deer hahahahaha!” I cheered in my head. 

I kept prancing for at least two minutes before I realized I still had to find Blue Bloom. I turned in the direction of the tugging and continued the game, feeling mischievous. 





She didn't really move too fast. I could feel she was close. I pretended to graze as I tried to pinpoint her location. If it wasn't for the constant chirping of the insects I would have gone insane from the silence. 

A distinct snap had my attention. My head twisted to a nearby bush. The bush was dotted with a mix of red and black raspberries.

I stalked the bush, getting as close as I could. I stuck my head into the bush, pushing the branches aside with my massive forehead. Strangely enough the inside of the bush was somewhat hollow. However, inside the hollow bush was a certain blue horse covered in raspberry juice and twigs. 

She spotted me of course, but my disguise seemed to have her fooled. She moved her hoof in front of her mouth almost as if she was telling me to be quiet. Then she extended her hoof with a red raspberry in the center and impatiently shook it at me.

If I could smile I would, this was so cute. But unfortunately, I wasn’t a generally nice person.

My face suddenly split open, revealing the skeletal face she was familiar with. The skin that was split open hung limp on both sides of my skull. 

“Found you,” I said in a snarky manner. 

Blue Bloom let out the most deafening scream I had ever heard. 

I instantly backed out of the bush, trying to cover my ears with my hooves in desperation. This was the worst sound ever. It was like a dog whistle for humans. I begged to make it stop!

When Blue Bloom finally stopped her terrible scream, I felt something was wrong. I had a tight knot in my stomach. I felt I did something very, very wrong. 

Blue Bloom rushed out of bush and in anger she started beating me with her hooves. They didn't really hurt. It was like fighting a younger sibling.

“You meanie, why did you do that?!” she squealed in anger. 

I backed up wordlessly. I just couldn't shake that feeling. “Uh yeah, i’m sorry about that,” I said half-heartedly. 

She looked at me with a curiosity. It was weird she just kept staring at me, but I looked into her eyes and could tell she wasn't looking at me, she was looking behind me. 

I turned around, and the moon had a face on a it: a black silhouette of a horse. 

“Foul Tantabus! We expel you from my realm of dreams! Return from whence you came!”

The moon spoke...What the fuck! 

In an instant, a bright light blinded me. It's intensity burned my very core. I let out a terrible scream. All I felt was searing pain, but just as quickly as the light and pain started, it ended. 

Then I woke up.
> He Who Walks...Again
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

I can't believe we let it go. We had it right in our hooves, but it slipped away. That monster will continue to feed off of the fear that it instills in my subjects. We cannot let it continue its conquest against ponies. Nay, we won't let it happen again. I will not fail my ponies a second time. 

I quickly dismissed the dream realm. I got up from my quite comfy pillow and stepped out onto the balcony. The cold breeze brushed against my fur and ruffled my feathers. 

I began my ritual to lower the Moon. “All things rise and fall, however, your beauty will always continue grace our land,” I spoke the short passage that I had said ever since I came back to Equestria. 

I carved a path with my magic, and the Moon followed. Slowly, it descended down below the horizon and the land fell into great darkness. Then slowly as if on queue, the Sun rose. Its light quickly chased away the darkness, and the Sun replaced the Moon's gentle glow with a warm yet intense light.

I sighed as I returned to my room, shutting the balcony doors with a flick of magic. I plopped back down on my dark blue pillow. Closing my eyes, I let the silence surround me. I felt an everlasting calmness, and it felt good. This is peace; This is the part of life I love. 

“Rise and shine, Luna!” 

My eyes snapped open, a light suddenly intruded my space of solitude. Like a Manticore, I stood up, ready to defend my territory from the blindingly white menace. 

“Sister! Leave me to myself!” I shouted.

“But Luna, it's not healthy to sleep in, let alone not even eat breakfast,” Celestia responded. 

I slumped back down onto my pillow. “I'm not hungry,” I said, muffling my voice with the pillow. Suddenly I was entrapped in yellow magic and lifted from my resting place. 

“I'm not taking no for an answer,” Celestia replied, carrying me into the bright hallways.

“No! This is treason! I demand that you release me at once, Sister!” I yelled while I squirmed midair in her magic.

“Luna, we share power equally, fifty-fifty. So, if I say this isn't treason, then my power cancels yours, meaning this isn't treason,” she replied playfully. 

“You dare use your politics against me, Sister! I swear, I shall get my revenge. My vengeance will come down with the intensity of a thousand moons!” I threatened before cackling like an evil mare.

Suddenly, her magic disappears and I hit the ground. “Ha, I see you've come to your senses. Don't let it happen again and I'll stay forgiving,” I said. Of course, she let me go: all creatures feared the night.

She looked at me with a smirk, “Actually, we're already in the dining hall.” 

I glanced around with utter confusion. “Why, of course, we are, this was where I intended to be,” I replied quickly.

Celestia rose an eyebrow before taking a seat at the end of the wooden table.

I trotted to my end of the table, nose held high, just as the nobles of my day used to. 

A big plate of hot waffles and a tall glass of milk were placed in front of me. “Sister, how did you know I wanted waffles?” I squealed happily.





My day was terrible: School was boring as always, and of course, I didn't feel like I had any sleep at all. Why was all this happening to me? I just want to live a happy life. 

The sound of the bell snapped me out of my thoughts. I shoveled all my supplies into my black and white backpack and hurried out of the classroom. 

“Ah, quitting time,” I said to myself as I walked through the long halls. I dug into my pocket and pulled out my white earbuds. 

I popped the earbuds into my ears as I hopped onto the bus, by the time I reached my seat I had already been scrolling through my list of music. I needed to drown out this bus ride with music.





Sliding the glass door, I walk into my house. I kicked my shoes off as I stepped onto the white kitchen tiles. 

I slipped off my gray puffy coat and placed it on the nearest chair and made my way up the stairs. I dragged my hand on the pale blue walls as I walked up the stairs. 

I vaguely remember when my family painted this wall. We ran out of paint so we never finished. This was the first time in a while we did something as a family.

Damn, I miss the good times, back when I was in kindergarten. I didn't have to worry about anything. We had the dogs and the puppies, and everything was perfect back then. Now everything sucks. I'm just so unhappy. 

I did a quick U-Turn after I walked up the stairs. As I walked to the end of the hall I glanced into each of the opened doors. My parent's room was decent, it didn't have a lot of room, but they managed. 

My little siblings’ room was messy and pretty cramped. They never have slept in their own rooms before. Toys were scattered across the floor. They didn't even attempt to clean up.

I scoffed before entering my room, and once again I dropped everything and collapsed onto my bed. But this time I just went on my phone. I didn't feel like sleeping. I just wanted to stay awake for now.





The Dream Beast was sure to return, and I needed to be ready for it. But to do that we–I...I needed to have eyes everywhere. I had to increase my vision across the Dream Realm.

But how? I could’ve raised awareness about the creature, but no, that wouldn't help at all. Raising awareness would only induce more fear. I couldn’t let it keep feeding, or else it would grow too strong. I could not fail my subjects a second time, I wouldn’t give it a chance to harm anypony.

I cast my magic and was thrust from my seated position in my room to the purple void of the Dream Realm. 

I had limited options, but I had to try my best. If that beast continued to ravage the dreams of my ponies, it would have been all my fault.

I began my regular rounds, slowly trotting down the long hallway of dreams. My routine was simple: the little fillies first, then the mares, and finally the stallions. The fillies usually have nightmares, and mares are more prone to nightmares than stallions. 

A red flash gets my attention. I stare at the red door, its murky red portal tempting me to step in. I smile. “The hunt is on, beast,” I said as I stepped through the portal.





Once again my sight just blinked into existence. I was in some sort of town, it looked kind of old. The houses themselves were identical and simple. The walls had their wooden support still showing on the outside, and the walls themselves looked like they were made of dried mud or brown concrete. Raising my skeletal hand I realized what was happening. 

“I'm back here…” 

I had to be dealing with some kind of recurring dream. But this wasn’t the same: It was not gloomy or scary at all. The only thing that I found similar were the ponies –a lot of horses. So many colors flooded this town. Did I managed to get high, or was this an acid trip? The whole town gave off a cheery vibe and that weirded me out. 

A familiar pulling sensation reminded me of what I needed to find. I walked further into the town, listening to my feet clicking on the gravel path. As I continued walking I cast a few glances at the ponies. None of the horses even acknowledged my existence.

They went about their business in, what I assumed was, some kind of marketplace as several horses had set up stands. They bartered for these seemingly random goods. They were selling fruits, vegetables, feathers, bread, books, and practically anything they could get their hands on...hooves, anything they could get their hooves on.

Why couldn't they see me? Were they just ignoring me? I quickened my pace. I just wanted to get out of here. 

The whole vibe shifted suddenly, changing to more a sad one. Like when your watching a show and you find out the main character is getting abused by his parents. The area was visibly changing as I walked further. The once colorful and happy setting was blackening and completely silent. Eventually the color drained to a gray shade, like a black and white picture. 

The silence was killing me. The only thing that kept me sane was the rhythmic clicking of my feet. It was so strange, almost disturbing to have such a lack of sound.

Until a sound pierced the silence–some kind of high pitch yelp, like someone taking in a sharp breath of air. The sound was in the direction of the tugging as well. Something told me I was gonna meet another frightened child.

I came across a bench, and sprawled across that bench was a dark gray horse crying into her forearms. My gut clenched as I looked at the scene in front of me. I always hated crying. With kids it was normal, but I'm pretty sure this was a full grown horse.

I approached the bench, transfixed by the sobbing horse. With each step I took, I felt my need to help grow. I kneeled down, staring directly at the horse's buried face. I didn't know what to say. People who acted like this were usually fragile and irrational. I had to be cautious about my approach.

“Hey.” My voice sounded as demonic as the last time I was here.

The horse lifted it's head from it's resting spot. The horse's wetted eyes were slitted like a reptile. It's iris was blood red–it was strange.

The horse released a shrill scream that sounded feminine enough. Two leathery black wings snapped into action as she panicked.

“Stop!” I yelled as my arm immediately thrusted into the air. I clutched onto her dark blue tail, holding her in place as she desperately flapped her wings trying to fly away.

I yanked her tail, pulling her back down onto the bench. She landed on her back, her legs sprawled out as I climbed on top of her. I forced her front hooves down, holding them to the bench with both of my hands.

She began to thrash her body, kicking, trying anything to get me off. “No! No! Please don't kill me! I don't wanna die!” she screamed.

“Would you shut the fuck up!” I exploded, my regular voice finally returning. It echoed throughout the quiet space. I paused to collect myself. “Now, I am not going to kill you or cause any other kind of harm. And when I let go, you will not try to fly away, do you understand?” my gaze hardened before she quickly nodded. Her face was oddly tinted red. 

I eased my grip and slid my hands off of her hooves. I leaned back, getting a good look at the situation. She was still stretched out, and still blushing–why was she still blushing?

Then it dawned it on me: this entire scene looked lewd. I had forced her down and now she's spread out across a damn bench. I slowly glanced down, my eyes trailing her body before I stopped. I immediately jolted off the bench. 

“You were! I was touching!” I couldn't even form a sentence as I tried to process what just happened.

I buried my face in my hands as I tried to purge the thought from my mind. Why was it so hot!? I couldn’t even think straight! No! No, this was just a dream, none of this was real. I did not sexually assault a horse!

My rapid breaths finally were slowed as I calmed down enough to remember what I was doing here. Slowly, my hands uncovered my eyes, revealing the bat...horse...thing to still be on the bench, however, she was sitting upright still furiously blushing.

I took a deep breath. “Alright, so...why were you crying?” She froze like she just had a mental shutdown. These horses were so weird. “Uh, hello, you still there?” I asked. She shook her head and still seemed confused.

“Okay, sorry, I'm being rude,” I said before I softened my gaze. “Hello, what's your name?” I asked, trying to piece together this situation.

“Sharp Tooth,” she replied, shifting uncomfortably in her spot. Her voice was so young, like college dorm young. It was so beautiful, so kind. I would’ve loved to have a girl with that kind of voice.

“That's...a name,” I said. Why were their names so weird, I wondered. Were all horses named after adjectives and objects?

“What's wrong with it?” she asked, sounding offended.

“Nothing, look, why were you crying?” I asked again, changing the subject.

She sat there silently, almost as if she was hoping there was some way she could get out of this situation. I gazed into her ruby eyes, trying to read her from her expression, but I couldn't. I knew nothing about her; I had no basis. All I could do is just try to get to know her.

When she finally spoke, it broke me out my thoughts. “I was just upset about my situation,” Sharp said quietly.

“What is your current situation?” I asked, slightly leaning to hear her better.

“Other ponies hate me, because I'm a Bat Pony,” she responded, hanging her head in defeat.

Oh, discrimination, this is a pretty complex problem. “So, who cares if they don't like you?” I replied, tilting my head.

“Because, ponies pretty much rule Equestria! I can't get a job, and even I don't know how I'm gonna cover this month's rent!” she yelled as she ranted, holding her hooves to her head. 

“Quick question, what's Equestria?” I asked. I assumed it was the town we were in but I needed confirmation.

She lowered her hooves back to the bench, “You seriously don't know what Equestria is?” I nodded before she sighed. “Equestria is the giant country were in right now.” 

“Oh it's a country, who runs it?” I asked trying to pry information.

“Princess Celestia and her sister Princess Luna.” She spoke in a way that a teacher would when explaining a book to a student. 

“I'm sorry, but who exactly are they?” I was curious now. They had such elegant names. It seemed weird but the names sounded fitting.

She groaned before continuing. “Princess Celestia is a really really really old pony who raises and sets the sun.” 

That...perplexed me but I stayed silent as she continued.

“And Princess Luna is her also really old sister. Princess Luna controls the night. She makes the stars and moves the moon,” she finished, before looking at me.

That last word kinda stuck with me: Moon. “I know this is a weird question but can this Luna travel through dreams,” I asked, taking a glance at the sky.

She shrugged. “I don't know. It's news to me if she can.” She adjusted her position on the bench. “Now, it's my turn,” she said with a smirk, “who are you?” She stretched her arm out to tap my chest.

I really didn’t think I was dreaming anymore at that point. These personalities and conversations were too complex. The details were too real, but why? Why was this happening? Why was I a skeleton talking to a bat...pony?

I snapped out of my thoughts when I felt another tap on my chest. My eyes focused on her and she winced under my gaze, signaling that I probably should have started talking…

“Oh yeah, I'm Adam, the dream walking skeleton...guy.” Her expression stayed the same.

It was an awkward silence, we didn't even know where to start.

“So,” I began, breaking the silence, “why do...ponies not like bat…ponies?”

Sharp shook her head in disappointment. “I don't know, they just seem to not like anything that isn't a pony.” 

I crossed my arms. “But aren't there any other places that could have jobs for bat ponies?” 

“Probably, but I can't move out, I don't exactly have money,” she explained, flopping down onto the bench and giving a big huff.

“You ponies are silly,” I said at her display. 

She smiled at my remark and sat back up.

“Alright, so what can bat ponies do?” I asked, looking up and down her form.

She glanced around before answering, “Well, the only thing that's different are our eyes; I can see better than any normal pony in the dark.” 

“Why don't you do a job that attributes to your abilities, like hunting or like a bodyguard?” 

She cocked her head. “A bodyguard? Why would anypony need that?” 

I shook my head. “Don't you guys have crime?” 

“Not much. The worst crimes day-to-day come from ponies stealing an apple or skipping out on a bill,” she said.

I began pacing back and forth. “Ok, what about some kind of shepherd?” I asked just trying to throw an idea out.

“What's a shepherd?” 

I stopped pacing and sighed. “A shepherd is someone who watches over animals and scares away anything that would want to eat the animal,” I explained. She still looked kinda confused. “But, it doesn't have to be animals, it can be anything, like fruits and vegetables.”

She looked up to think, “Well, we do have a farm over here and they have been having problems with animals stealing and ruining apples.” 

“Great! You see there is always some way around a problem!” I exclaimed. I was actually happy that I possibly solved a pretty big problem. She smiled–this one felt genuine, but more than that, it actually felt good to do. This feeling was amazing. Was this what it’s like being a parent? It sure didn’t feel like this with my siblings.

In an instant she sprung at me. In a blur of blue I was tackled to the ground. I only had a moment of peace before I was aggressively nuzzled by Sharp Tooth. What was up with these ponies and hugs? –so much contact!

As she violently rubbed against me, she buried my face in a tuft of dark blue fur. She smelled like...honey. It made me feel at ease, and so calm. I just couldn’t describe the warmth I felt. It was so perfect. I wanted to stay like this forever.

After finally breaking out of my haze, I pushed her off. I was greeted with an inky sky dotted with white lights. 

I shot up, almost instantly standing up. I stood face to face with that same moon, the same moon that had caused me so much pain. The face was staring at me, singling me out from this entire town. It illuminated everything in a pale white light, almost as if it was trying to trick me into believing I was safe. 

And just like that, almost as soon as I saw the moon, a white light engulfed my vision and then...nothing. 





Nothing but black filled my sight, but I didn't feel any pain. An extreme numbness racked my body, it felt like thousands of needles pierced my skin. The feeling faded and a sore and sluggish feeling replaced it, almost like my bones were made of butter. 

I felt warmth return to my body and then movement returned. My limbs at least responded to me. I struggled to open my eyes, but they eventually listened and parted. Light flooded my vision, but this was gentle light. It was morning and I had my body back.

I realised I woke up.
> Is Sleeping Safe?
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Princess Luna


We had failed again. The creature had escaped in an instant. We would have found it sooner, but fillies were having nightmares all over. I didn't know how it did it, it just blinked in and out of existence. This just proved it's getting too powerful. If it kept feeding on fear it could come to our reality. If that happened there will be no way to stop it. Dream magic lets you do anything. If it gets mixed up into reality, that creature would become a god.

I needed to ensure this creature could not enter the dream realm again. I needed to do...something. But I didn't know what. I had no knowledge of whatever it was. It started to get to me, enraging me. I couldn’t help my subjects...

I needed to double my efforts –nay, triple, if I wished to vanquish this creature. I had to start getting serious. I needed to figure out how it could jump in and out dreams without a trace. This creature was like no other. It was actually learning. It was not driven by instinct and that scared me. We hated to admit it, but I was terrified of this creature...the thought of what it could do to me. Everypony would hate me...again.

My sides clenched as I immediately vomited on the floor. My legs threw out from under me and I landed face first into the bile on the floor. 

My head was pounding. It hurt so bad. The pain was almost numbing. My sides weren't faring any better and I couldn't feel my legs. Despite that, I needed to get up. I had to move. I couldn't let her win. 

”Why are you still fighting?” a voice said from seemingly nowhere. ”Everypony hates you!” It emphasized the first word, stretching its length and its effect.. 

I felt a heavy pressure holding me down, soaking my coat in more vomit. The room got visibly darker than usual. Everything was a dark blur, that voice drowning out everything. 

“Why even struggle? I could help you, we could vanquish this creature together.” I realised it was my voice –no, this voice was a twisted imitation of mine. Yet, it still allured me. Each word it spoke made sense. 

“Just release me, and all of your problems will go away.” I felt sleepy. I knew they could help me. But there was a catch. She always spoke such fallacies. 

Almost like getting struck with a needle of adrenaline, my eyes snapped opened. With this new energy, I struggled to get up. I fought the pressure on top of me. I couldn't succumb to her again. I'm better, I don't need her.

On shaky legs I got up. Vomit soaked my fur as I struggled, but I didn't submit. I fought through all these limitations. Everything seemed against me, but still I managed to get up. And when I finally did, all the pain faded. The heavy pressure had lifted and I was given free will. 

“I won't let you take control again!” I screamed into my empty room. “I am stronger, I don't need you!” I kept arguing with no one, venting my anger. “Leave me alone!” My shouting eased me somewhat, but I still felt an underlying presence of...fear.

I shook these feelings from my head. Twilight Sparkle and her friends showed me that ponies are forgiving...It's okay to ask for help. 

With a flick of magic, a black feather appeared, encased in my blue magic. I stumbled over to my dark brown desk. A lamp illuminated the desktop, an ink pot and a long parchment having already been laid out. I took my seat on the large purple pillow on the floor in front of the desk and began scribbling a letter.



 

Adam


I was laying in my bed, still thinking about what happened last night.

My conclusion was that I had woken up before I was hit with that beam of death. So, I had some stroke of luck in that world. I did some research but nothing had any explanation or even a prophecy of what was happening.

I couldn’t tell if it was even real, but I didn’t really care anymore. I had more pressing issues to attend to, like why does the moon have it out for me! It's words did stick with me; It called me a Tantabus. I couldn't really find anything about it. 

I found something similar though: Tantibus, which means Nightmare. That was the best I could find, but it didn’t really help. So, I looked more into dreams. Apparently they could be signs for something, good or bad, and that sometimes even they predicted the future.

Anyways, people have said it's your brain telling you something's wrong. Maybe my brain thought I should help colorful horses from another dimension. Maybe god wanted me to do that. Perhaps god made me into some kind of dream angel. 

I didn't want the dreams to stop, but I also didn't like feeling intense pain every night. Since I didn't have a choice, I'd have to figure out how to hide from that moon. 

Obviously, I needed to try to avoid being outside. Usually whenever it attacked me was when I spotted it. Does it...watch me? The thought was kinda creepy, but maybe if I pretended not to see it…? 

Wait...I had dream powers. I had infinite power in the dreams, so if worse came to worse, I could fight back. But how could I know if that moon couldn’t use the same powers?

Why did the moon attack me? Did it see me as some kind of prey? But that was a little too stupid of an idea. It probably saw me as some kind of intruder. It seemed pretty angry when it talked to me. 

That's kind of an understatement. Its voice literally shook the ground with its intensity. But I was pretty sure I was able to take it. I mean, it was just a moon with a laser. I am human man! I could outwit a giant rock.

I chuckled to myself. I got off my bed and walked downstairs. “Maybe some dinner could help me think a bit,” I mumbled to myself as I descended.





Princess Luna


I stood in front of the six mares who saved Equestria countless times, and even brought entire nations together. 

Like a similar scene from before, I stood in the center of a circular room. Six large beds were evenly spread across the room, the beds pointed to the center of the room. Each bed had a mare comfortably tucked in.

The room itself was not all that interesting. It was just a room I managed to scavenge and furnish quickly. The only light the room had was the illuminating light the Moon gave off. Despite the gloomy atmosphere, they still seemed joyful.

“I'm certain you are all wondering why I called you here,” I started, gaining their attention. “Another Tantabus has invaded the dream realm.” 

Everypony gasped. I let out a sigh. “I am certain you six have your concerns, but let me assure you I didn't cause this foul beast,” I explained.

“Well if it wasn't you, then who did?” Rarity asked. The white mare shifted into a more comfortable position under the covers.

“I...do not know,” I shamefully admitted. “This Tantabus is crafty, it's intelligent.” I turned to the other side of the room. “It feeds on fear, however it does not know many things.”

“What do you mean?” Rainbow Dash spoke up, flapping her blue wings. 

I turned to face her. “It does not yet know how to travel through different dreams. If it did, we are certain it would have done so.” This thing could do so much if it had the knowledge to, however we must not give it the chance to experiment. 

Finally Twilight spoke up. “If it's intelligent and has thoughts of it's own, then can't we try to show it friendship?” 

Pinkie Pie chipped in, “Wait does it like parties?!” Pinkie practically exploded with excitement, however she stayed confined to one spot on the bed. 

Just before I could respond, Rainbow Dash spoke. “Twilight, I’m sure it’s not civil. The only thing it uses its brain for is scheming for its next meal,” Rainbow Dash said, making weird hoof gestures.

Once again I was cut off, but by a yellow pegasus instead. “Oh, but maybe it's just misunderstood. It could just want friends but everypony is too afraid of it.”

Rainbow Dash gave her a deadpanned look. “Fluttershy, you say that about every dangerous creature we come across.”

I gave up on trying to speak as the orange mare cut in. “But she is right...sometimes.” 

“Exactly! I told you-”

“Enough!” I yelled, immediately silencing everypony in the room.

I took a breath. “The only thing that matters right now is stopping the Tantabus. It has been rampaging through the dream realm for days. And the only way I can stop it is with your help, so that is what I am asking.” I paused. My pride didn't want to allow this, but I had no other choice. “Will you help me?”

The room once again fell silent, each second that passed was painful.

“Of course Princess, we wouldn't leave you hanging,” Rainbow Dash said, hovering above the bed.

The rest of the mares nodded in agreement. 

“We'll always help you out, I mean who can deny a Princess?” Rarity agreed. 

“We will always be there, you can count on us,” Twilight said with a smirk.

I smiled. “Thank you Elements, you do us an honor.” I returned to my serious expression. “This creature only appears when a nightmare is present. I apologise but I must induce nightmares across all of your dreams.” 

“Pssh, I'm not a filly, I can handle a nightmare,” Rainbow Dash remarked before chuckling. 

“Well, if you're all ready, let us begin,” I said, building up magic in my horn. 

A white light exploded from my horn and its white tendrils attached itself to each of the ponies in the room. Each of them quickly fell asleep. Darkness seeped into the white light from my horn, snaking its way to each of the mares’ heads. As soon as the black touched their foreheads, their faces contorted uncomfortably.

I closed my eyes as I prepared to enter the Dream Realm. I didn't want to admit it, but I was kinda scared...I have an aching feeling that something bad will happen...





Adam


I laid on my bed, staring the ceiling. I contemplated if I should sleep. Should I take the chance? I knew I would have to sleep sometime, but I still wanted some kind of choice. 

I hate feeling so powerless. For the first time in my life, I don’t have a choice. I know I have to accept it, that I am forced to endure this. This is my fate, no matter what I do, nothing will change. 

I can't change where i'm going, but I can change what happens. Fuck the moon! I'm gonna kick its ass! So bring your lasers. I'm tired of sleeping in fear. i'm not afraid anymore. 

I glared at the ceiling. “Let's fuck this moon up,” I said quietly to myself. 

I closed my eyes with confidence. I was ready to fight back.
> Nightmares Coming to Life
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Adam


Once more, sight had clicked into existence, and I found myself in an entirely new environment. 

I was in some kind of room; It was trashed. Random objects were thrown across the floor, glass shards covered sections of the room, and some of the floorboards were torn apart. This was like something out of Resident Evil. The room seemed old. A thin layer of dust covered the area. 

I didn't know why but I wasn't afraid. I was as calm as I could be, like a detective taking in information from a crime scene.

I took a step and a loud creak followed. It echoed throughout the room, piercing the silence for a moment. I paused. Whatever caused this, that something could still be here, I knew. Fear pricked my stomach as I watched for any kind of movement.

I took another step, and to my relief, this time the floor didn't make a sound. I put more weight on my foot, testing the old wood. “Huh, seems stable enough.” 

I took yet another step, and the floor gave a loud groan, before I heard a snap. The floor suddenly gave out. The floorboard I stood on cracked open. My foot plunged through the board, the momentum sending the rest of my body through the floor. 

Out of instinct, I screamed, as I fell into an almost pitch black void. I flailed my limbs around, panicking as I awaited my demise. 

I hit the ground hard, so hard it should have killed me, or at the very least have knocked the wind out of me. But no, I was fine, if maybe a little sore –but fine overall.

I stayed on the ground, I took a sharp inhale of air. It smelled foul, but I probably needed air at this point. I tried to process what happened. The impossible had just happened, but that's dreams for ya.

I picked myself up and glanced at my surroundings. The only source of light was where I used to be, up above. Other than that, it was almost pitch black. 

“Wish I had some kind of light.” And on cue, a ball of white light floated above my head. “Huh, neat,” I said, marvelling at the power of dreams.

The light illuminated my surroundings. I was in some kind of tunnel. The walls were simple stone blocks and the ground was just dirt. 

The darkness gave me chills. I hope there are no spiders. I will flip out if there are, I don't play with spiders! I dreaded at the back of my mind.

I crept forward, glancing at the walls looking for cobwebs. The ball of light follow me, just hovering above my head. 

After a few more minutes of slowing walking through the tunnel, I was finally convinced there were no spiders and started walking at a decent pace. 

Then I felt it, the tugging once again. It was in the direction I was headed, and fairly strong too. I had to be close. 

I hummed a random song as I kept walking. I was bored and this tunnel didn't help. So I decided to pick up the pace. I settled on a light jog. It was nice to get some exercise anyways.

A shrill scream broke the silence of the tunnel. 

“Okay! Looks like I'm running!” I yelled to myself as I proceeded to sprint. 

I saw a light at the end of the tunnel as I kept going. I am almost there! The light increased in size as I got closer. I didn't care at this point. Whatever lied ahead was better than this damn tunnel.

I stopped dead in my tracks, kicking up dirt as I made it to the end of the tunnel. 

The smell hit me first. I almost recoiled in disgust at the sight. Blood covered the room, painting the walls in red. I slowly walked forward as fear pricked at my stomach again. 

I took in more of the room, it was some kind of...school? There were some desks knocked over and a big black chalkboard that covered the wall. The classroom was uneasily dim. There were no windows so escape was impossible. The only way to go was back into the hallways.

“What the hell, I swear if this is anything like corpse party, I'm leaving,” I said to myself, glancing around.

I quickly went to the door...or door frame as the door was ripped off its hinges. I peaked out into the hallway –nobody there and no sound. After a few seconds of mentally preparing myself, I stepped out of the classroom.

I decided to follow the tugging, using it as a guide through the twisting hallways. The hallway itself was also distorted. The lights were on but they were dimmed significantly. 

Some lockers were dented, left opened, or outright missing. This place creeped me out. The general feel of the place was all wrong. It felt depressed and malicious in a sense. 

My head snapped backwards as I looked behind me, though nothing was there. I felt like I was being watched but I kept going.

The silence was driving me insane. It was so weird not hearing anything but my bones clacking against the white tiled floor for this long. I hastened my pace and tried to follow the tugging. 

I knew I had to be really close, The tugging was almost physically pulling me. 

I decided I should take this time and experiment. I cleared my head as best as I could and pictured a spear. I visualized the head and then worked my way down the wooden pole.

And just like magic, the spear popped into existence into my waiting hands. “Cool, always wanted one of these,” I said, inspecting the spear.

I decided to test it. I raised the spear up to the side of my head, and with all of my strength, I hefted it into the nearest locker. It flew like a bullet. I couldn't even see it moving through the air. It went straight through point where I couldn't even see it sticking out of the hole in locker.

I quickly walked up to inspect the locker. The spear hardly even left a dent; It pierced through the locker with ease. I realised the hole it made went through the wall behind the locker as well.

“That's a damn good spear for sure,” I remarked. So that's dream powers for ya, I think it might still be going.

I kept following the tugging as I thought of more things I could do. “So, I can change my body, make items appear out of nowhere, and change my surroundings...cool,” I explained to myself. 

I wonder if there's a limit to my dream power. So far I haven't been able to find one, but I think I can test that some other time.

I took a quick turn and made it into a seperate classroom. The classroom wasn't any better than the other one I was in, except most of the desks weren't flipped over. There was no blood, only that pungent stench that covered the entire school. 

I crept into the classroom, glancing around the dim corners. I knew someone was in here, I could feel it. I walked through the aisles of desks, glancing into each of them. But there was no one there. That was impossible, there's nowhere else they could possibly be. 

I began to panic before my eyes glanced upon a wooden cabinet. Getting impatient, I briskly walked up to the cabinet. I firmly grabbed the knob and slowly pulled the door open. 

A loud metallic slam interrupted me. I flinched violently from the sudden sound. My head snapped to the entrance of the classroom. I waited for what seemed like hours, before I heard quiet but heavy clops that slowly got louder.

I felt my stomach clench as fear gripped me. I quickly swung open the cabinet and hid inside, closing the door behind me. My light had followed me in there and illuminated the dark cabinet. I turned my head to look at my surroundings and almost had a heart attack. 

A yellowish pony with pink hair was standing right next to me, staring at me with a look of pure panic. I almost fell back, but held my stance. It opened its mouth to scream, but I covered my fingers over its muzzle and clamped its mouth shut.

I put a finger to my mouth and then pointed to the door of the cabinet. A sudden slam startled me. It sounded like whatever was out there threw a desk at the wall. 

I grabbed the ball of light. I closed my hands around it until there was nothing left. We were left in complete darkness. We were forced to listen to the heavy stomps of the creature on the other side of the cabinet.

At this point I had been holding in a breath for what seemed like ten minutes. I am fairly certain I don't need to breathe, which is awesome, but the pony next to me can't say the same. 

I could hear the pony breathing quite heavily through my fingers. I couldn't really muffle them any better, I just had wait it out.

Whatever this creature was, it was angry. Every few seconds it would flip a desk over. It didn't really make any sound itself, just its ragged heavy breathing.

Then I couldn't hear anything, maybe it ran out of desks to flip? I nearly opened the cabinet, but stopped as I heard the clop of its feet. The sound got louder and louder, until it stopped. 

I could hear it's breathing clearly. My heart sank as I realised where it was. It was directly in front of the cabinet. The door slowly opened, a weakly glowing line of light piercing the dark. 

My body acted on its own as I suddenly burst through the cabinet. The creature skid across the floor to the other side of the classroom. 

As it got up I got a good look at the creature. It was disturbing to the say the least. It looked like somebody fused different creatures into each other. It had four pony legs, but the torso was like a humans but grey. It had massive claws covered in blood, and long lanky arms that accompanied the claws. It was like a nightmare fuel Centaur.

But unlike the great Centaurs you usually see, this one was always hunched over. It had shaggy black hair on the top of its head. And it was visibly skinny, its ribs easily showing through its chest. It could have stood taller than me but it's hunched over form prevented that.

The Centaur charged me, its claws were ready to rip me apart. I didn't know how but I countered its charge. I grabbed it by the wrists and pushed back. It let out a feral growl before it opened its maw, giving me a view of its razor sharp teeth. It clamped down on my bony neck. Strangely it didn't hurt that bad. 

I open my long mouth and bite down on its neck in return. I easily tore through its flesh and felt its crimson blood dribble down my mouth. It released my neck with a ear piercing screech. I detached my mouth and took a few steps back. Its neck was covered in blood and it glared at me with hatred. Its black, almost button like eyes bored at my soul.

Once again it came running but I ignored its claws. I let it rake its long nails across my face. I didn't feel anything, only a slight scratch. I quickly clenched my fingers and smashed my fist into the side of the creatures head. It smacked onto the ground hard. Its head visibly caved in and blood spattered across the ground. 

I finally let out a breath. I wanted to collapse right then and there, but as there was someone else here I was looking for. 

I turned around to face the pony I had hid with. They looked feminine but I honestly didn't want to assume at this point. 

They still looked kinda terrified. I mean, they did just witness me kill a monster easily. Anyways, since I had a good look at them, I noticed wings. Their wings were held tightly against their side. 

I tried to break the silence. “So...Hey, how are ya?” I asked, not really expecting a response. 

The pony just stared at me, they didn't even move. 

“My name's Adam, what's yours?” I asked, trying to be friendly. 

Their lips quivered as they tried to answer my question. “F-fluttershy…” 

“Uhm, could you repeat that?, I asked as I inched closer to the cabinet. 

“...Fluttershy…” she replied a little louder.

“Oh Fluttershy, nice to meet you,” I said, trying to get a little closer, “So, you wanna tell me why you're dreaming about hiding in a cabinet from that guy over there,” I asked as I pointed to the smashed monster in the middle of the room.  

She didn't reply, almost like she couldn't. It was like asking a toddler to explain why they did something bad. 

“It's fine if you don't want to answer that, I'm not forcing y-” a loud crash interrupted me as my body was rocketed through the wall. 

In an instant I felt cold. when I landed I was met with unforgiving cold dirt. 

I glanced around frantically. The once stuffy school was gone. I was in an open field on a dark night.

I immediately looked up to see my arch nemesis. “Moon, you fuck! You just couldn't leave me be!” I said aggressively, pointing at the giant moon in the sky. “Well, come on, I'm ready for you!” I said. 

Instead of being lasered to death like usual, a small blue streak came down from the moon. It was like a comet, but it was from the moon. I didn't trust it, so I waited for the tiny comet cautiously. It was fairly quick. The blue comet had almost touch ground before it suddenly slowed down to a stop on the ground a few feet ahead of me.

It was another damn pony! A large dark blue pony had just landed in front. And it had a horn...and wings. Some kind of pegacorn had just come from the moon. Am I sure I'm not high? Either way, the pony did not look friendly. It glared at me. 

Their hair flowed through an nonexistent wind. That wasn't the weirdest thing either: They had had space hair. Well, not space hair, but hair that looked like the night sky. It contained white dots that gave it the appearance of stars. I felt like if I fell onto her hair, I would fall through it.

“We have you caught, foul creature!” it said to me, sounding pretty feminine, “Your days of walking in the dream realm are over!” She ended her statement with a wicked smile.

“Uhm...who are you?” I asked dumbly.

She seemed confused for a second before she corrected her expression. “Very well then, we shall allow you to know the one who shall vanquish you!” she said before she put a hoof to her chest. “I am Luna, Princess of the Night!”

I took a second to comprehend what she just told me, “Wait, so you've been attacking me because you don't like me here?” I asked, trying to piece together what was happening, “Dude, how fucked up are you?!” I was really pissed. It's not like I wanted to do this. 

“You dare insult us.” She looked beyond angry at this point. “You would do best to watch your tongue, beast.” She flared her wings letting them stretch to their fullest. 

“Fuck you,” I stated simply.

In one motion, she rocketed towards me. She quickly covered the distance between us. I could hardly see her but I knew I had to get out of the way. 

I dove to the side, the air rushing past me as she missed. I quickly got up and turned around, she skidded to stop and caught dirt in the process. 

She flared her wings, and immediately rushed towards me. 

I stood my ground. If I could take a monster, I could take a horse. I planted my feet and stood ready. She came like cannonball, barrelling into me and almost knocking the wind out of me. I grabbed her head with both arms and flung her to the side. 

I felt weird after touching her, like someone else was watching me. I just couldn't shake the feeling. But something else stuck out more, I could really feel her hit. 

“Ah, we finally found you,” a feminine voice said from seemingly everywhere.

“W-what?” Were the only words I could get out before I was hit by...something flashy. I recoiled in shock from the blast and felt a slight sting on my chest. I quickly inspected myself, but I found nothing wrong. 

Then, I looked straight ahead. That same pony stood, her horn glowing blue and kinda sparkling.I got ready for her next attack. 

Wait, what am I doing? I should be using my powers. I would win easily if I used them. 

Once again that voice spoke to me, “True, but thou cannot win. Thou art far too weak.”

Seriously, where is that voice coming from? I ignored the voice and tried to focus. I closed my eyes and quickly racked my brain for ideas. I need to restrict her movements... I got it! 

I opened my eyes just as her horn grew even brighter. I didn't think that was a good sign, so I moved quickly. I raised my arm and black chains shot out of the ground. The chains wrapped around the blue pony and pinned her to the ground. 

“Fool! Your magic is far too weak to restrain her!” The voice yelled at me. 

Her horn still shined and a blue bubble grew from seemingly nowhere, the bubble phased through the pony and pulled the chains past their breaking point. The chains snapped and dropped to the ground uselessly. 

“Heed my warning, thou art not strong enough! Flee while you can!” the voice shouted. 

“How?!” I relented, extremely annoyed by it's constant yelling.

“Useless Cur! Simply enter another dream!” it replied as if that was common knowledge.

I didn't have time to respond as I was hit with another bolt of light. This one actually hurt. I held my shoulder to try to remedy this pain.

“Would you stop?!” I shouted at the pony in annoyance as I dodged another blast. 

The pony ignored my comment and charged another blast. I immediately summoned the same spear from earlier, and closed the distance between us. 

She took to the skies as I ran, but my chains reanimated and chased her. The chains shot out relentlessly, like there was an endless coil of chains below the ground.

I watched as she zipped through the air. She did all kinds of maneuvers to try to avoid the chains, but one caught her. It wrapped itself around her leg like a snake. It constricted and held her in place as the rest of the chains caught up, the creature desperately flapping her wings. They wrapped around her and locked her wings to her sides.

She plummeted to the ground and I wasted no time. I sprinted towards her. I knew I couldn't reach her in time, but I just needed to get close enough. 

She broke the chains quicker than expected with another bubble. 

I hurled my spear at her as she got up. It whizzed past her head, her face unphased. I mentally cursed myself. 

She glared at me with a burning passion, and in a blue flash she was gone.

I looked around, but couldn't spot her. Only moonlit grass that went on for miles. 

“Is thou deaf in the ear? We said go!” the voice once again shouted at me.

“How about you try to be a little more positive?” I suggested.

I felt kinda winded, which was weird because I never felt tired here before. 

“Listen to me, thou is a weakening. Methinks thou should leave,” the voice replied and I finally relented.

“Alright, but how? I don't know how to use my powers.” 

The blue pegacorn reappeared in the air, it's horn having grown almost blindingly bright. She threw another bolt of light, which dimmed her light slightly. 

This bolt was considerably large, and whizzed past me. 

I tried to cover my large bony ears as I heard a large boom. I turned around to see fires that sprouted, they slowly spread across the grass. 

“Are you fucking insane!” I yelled to the pony, but again she just ignored me.

I dodged another explosion as I listened to a stranger in my head. 

“Just envision a pony and a door to their head, then simply walk through it.” 

“Well, that's cryptic as fuck,” I responded as I dove to the ground. The large pony flew just over me as I got out of the way. 

She's really not giving up, and it doesn't help that I'm having trouble breathing. I let out another heavy breath as I once again narrowly jump out of the way of the angry pony. This isn't working and I can't dodge forever. 

I kept my eyes on the Moon horse as I tried to picture a pony. Alright, now door come on! I thought as another explosion happened behind me. Fuck! Open now! I struggled to dodge; my movements were sluggish and slow. 

She blasted another huge bolt of light at me. I held up my arms to block the magic. The blast burned through the bone facade. The explosion that came after sent me on my back, and I was face to face with the moon in the sky. It's shining radiance contrasted my exhausted form. 

If I had hairs they would have stood up. I knew what was about to happen. 

“Fuck you,” I plainly stated to the giant rock in the sky.

And just like always I was engulfed in white. Pain was all I could sense, and I ceased to exist in an instant. 





I jolted from my bed and my head hit the top bunk. I recoiled in pain and hissed. I rubbed my forehead and looked at my other hand, skin and flesh. I sighed in relief and fell back onto my pillow.

I had woke up. 

“Yes, thou hast woken up.” 
> The Voice In My Head
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Adam


“So, let me get this straight,” I began as I walked through the halls of my school, “You are a Powerful Queen who has the ability to move the moon.”

“That is correct,” Nightmare replied. 

“And you've been trapped inside that blue pony, waiting for...me?” I asked as I tried to keep my sanity. 

“Yes, we've been waiting for you,” she responded. 

“I'm sorry, but i'm finding this pretty hard to believe,” I said.

“Tis true. Believe it or not, we are together now,” she replied.

I let that conversation end and collected my thoughts on the bus ride home.





I rolled over in my bed, I felt like an object to her. Like I didn't have any choice in the matter, “Well, can I ask a question?”

“Of course. Thou can ask us anything you desire.” 

I shifted in my bed. “What am I? I mean in the dreams.” 

“What thou are is the first thing thy mind came to when thou were brought to the Dream Realm,” she began. “But, thou is a Tantabus above all.”

“Yeah that's it, but what is a Tantabus?” I questioned.

“Tantabus is the name Luna gave to a piece of me.” 

My stomach clenched slightly at the mention of that pony.

“Thou must know, the Tantabus and I are one.”

“So, if i’m a Tantabus, does that mean you're part of me,” I said before I gestured to myself.

“And thou is a part of us,” she added.

“Okay, now that introductions are out of the way, what now?” I was bored out of mind, and wasn't gonna spend the whole day talking to a horse in my head.

“Methinks we'll teach thee to use thy magic efficiently.” 

“Ugh, can you stop talking like that?” I asked, annoyed.

“Is there a problem with how we speak?” she asked, kind of offended.

“I mean it's out of date, and kind of hard to understand,” I admitted.

“Fine, w-I will try to speak…favorably,” she replied as she tried rethink her word choice.

“Cool-so wait, are you the Tantabus or Nightmare Moon?” I asked, trying to piece a conversation together.

“How many times must we repeat ourselves, the Tantabus is us and we are it!” she burst out before she calmed down, “Though w-I will admit, that much more of me is still in Luna...so...yes.”

“It's nothing to be ashamed of, but I'm just trying to get to know you,” I explained, seemingly easing her. “Look, you can ask me anything you want,” I suggested.

“We already know everything, Adam, your mind's weak defenses are no match for us,” she replied coldly. 

That was kinda creepy, but i'll ignore that for now.





I rolled off my bed and sat on my desk chair.

I picked up a black controller and waited for the system to boot up as I pushed a button on the TV. 

“What are you doing?”

“I'm about to play a game, can't waste all of my weekend,” I simply stated.

“No, w-I must train to face, Luna,” she commanded.

“Yeesh mom, I have to be asleep first and that's not going to happen for a while, so just chill,” I said with a smirk.

“Fine, I shall remain patient,” she replied in an almost pouty voice.






Luna


We had won, and quite easily too. It nearly violated the Element of Kindness, though after seeing that creature in person, I felt kind of scared too. 

I don't know why I'm not celebrating. I just defeated the creature that has been terrorizing the Dream Realm for days. But, the only way to know for sure is to check and watch every night. 

After leaving the Dream Realm, I felt empty. I suppose that was the beast's magic feeding on my fear. The only thing I can do is hope that the creature doesn't return.

I almost stumbled out of my room. The morning rays blinded me as I left the darkness of my room. I staggered with each step I took through the colourful hallways.

“Iz too brite,” I mumbled as I made my way to dining hall.

A familiar white pony was already seated and had been sipping from a tea cup.

I took my seat at the other side of the table and levitated the waiting cup of coffee sitting on the table up to my lips. I took a large swig, downing most of the hot liquid.

I sighed in relief. “Sister, I see that you're already up,” I said. Celestia was naturally a morning pony.

“Hello Luna. I heard from Twilight that you had a mission in the Dream Realm,” she said, before she took another sip from her cup.

“Yes sister, and I believe I was successful,” I replied, quickly refilling my cup. 

She raised an eyebrow, “You believe? Didn't you stop it?”

I paused, “Well, yes...but I'm not certain if it's truly gone for good.” I squirmed a bit in my seat.

“That is...troubling, but as long as it's in your hooves then I have no doubts that this creature will be dealt with.” She turned her attention back to her tea. 

I froze, what if I couldn't do it? What if...I let her down, my own sister…I can't let that happen. 

I stood up. “I apologise sister, but I must excuse myself.” I left the table and almost sprinted back to my room. 

I was determined now through that short exchange. I knew I had to destroy this monster completely. 






Adam


As always my vision clicked on, but this time I wasn't surrounded by life.

I was just floating in a black void, I didn't really feel anything at all.

And then almost out of nowhere I dropped onto a transparent floor. I didn't know what to make of this place, it was literally nothing.

“Worry not, I have merely placed you somewhere we cannot be interrupted,” A familiar voice called out.

Like a cloudy wisp, a tiny galaxy formed in front of me. It reminded me of the hair of that Princess. The galaxy cloud swirled and grew bigger as if in response.

I stared, mesmerized, as I watched a long black limb gracefully stick out and land on the floor. Another limb quickly followed and then a whole head came through. 

A jet black snout came first and then a massive horn. The rest of the head came next, blue slitted eyes stared back at me as the rest of the body came out. 

This horse was huge, like the size of a regular horse. Like the Princess, she had wings and a horn too. Her wings were really big and looked less fluffy and more sharp in a way. Her rump had a purple splotch that held a bluish crescent moon in the center. 

I stood there astounded: I had just watched a pony come from a cloud.

“Are you finished staring,” she deadpanned. 

I quickly collected myself, “Uh yeah. Sorry.” 

“It is quite alright,” she said before speaking in a much more sultry voice, “Most mortals find our form quite alluring,” she finished, fluttering her long eyelashes. 

I shuddered at her last words. 

Suddenly, the empty void transformed into a grassy plain. 

I felt the cool grass against my feet and fell over, almost rolling through the grass. “It has been too long since i've done this.”

“You certainly have your duties in order,” Nightmare joked.

I sat up quickly. “Oh right, dream stuff.”

She sighed and crossed her front hooves as she laid down. “From what i've observed you know the basics of dream magic.” 

I listened and paid full attention to the pony in front of me as I was eager to learn. 

“However,” she began, “Thou lacks focus. You haven't used your magic efficiently.”

I wanted to frown. I thought I had been doing pretty good.

“But thou wasn't born with magic, so I shall help thee use your magic instinctively,” she stated.

“Oh, cool,” I responded.

She slightly glared at me, “The only way to effectively use your magic is to understand your magic.”  

“Makes sense,” I added.

She took a deep breath before she continued, “Most ponies can't control dream magic under normal circumstances. Some nights they can't even generate dream magic.” 

In the sky above, purple images phased into existence. It was like watching someone narrate the beginning of a movie. 

The first image was of a pony sleeping, and a cartoonish cloud lingered above their head as they slept. Slowly wisps of gas seeped into the dreams, but the gas's source was somewhere deep inside the pony. 

“Dream magic is the very foundation of all dreams. It is harmless in a dream, but–” she smiled and small pair of fangs stuck out, “If somepony could use that magic outside of a dream, they would be a god.” 

That word hit me. I had the potential to become a literal deity. Many people would jump at this opportunity. but I kinda didn't want to be a god. Many men acted like gods and ended up being awful people.

I interrupted, “But if nobody can generate that outside of a dream then what's the point of learning all of this?” I asked, almost afraid. 

“You can, does thou not know?!” She replied angrily. 

I shrunk, I just wanted to disappear, “...no…” 

Her scornful look turned into a more thoughtful one and she sighed. “We apologise for our outburst.” 

An awkward silence loomed across the fields. I could tell she was still angry, but I didn't want to speak up. 

This horse is scary, I definitely don't want to know what those fangs feel like. Heh or maybe I do...

Nightmare spoke up, “You generate dream magic by consuming fear and converting it into dream magic.” 

“Oh...okay.” I didn't really have an input because I didn't know what was going on.

“Dream magic is quite simple to use, as long as thou has an understanding. I'm almost certain thou has tried to use it.” 

“Yeah, i've tested it a bit,” I replied.

“Great, so you have had a taste of dream magic,” she said eagerly, “So, let us begin.” 

She walked around me, looking me over. “Dream magic is almost limitless, but it is only powerful when the user is focused.” 

I felt uncomfortable. She had been sizing me up like a predator, but nonetheless I stayed strong. 

“Perhaps you should try something...simple...like a weapon, perhaps a sword?” she sounded like she was making this up as she went. 

“Yeah sure.” I closed my eyes and thought about about a simple sword. The long blade, the pommel, the handle, all things a sword would have.

I felt a weight in my hand and opened my eyes. The same sword I had been focusing on was there. 

“Decent, but not good,” she said plainly, “The sword is there but there is no detail. Even the blade is dull,” she explained as she ran her hoof across the sword. 

I had to admit the sword did look a bit fat compared to regular skinny swords. 

I dropped the sword, letting it hit the ground. 

“No, do not waste magic, we only have a limited amount,” she said, kicking the sword slightly toward me.

“Well, how do I not waste magic?” I questioned as I picked up the sword. 

She facepalmed...well hoofed. “I'm sorry, I keep forgetting thou doesn't have magic of your own.” 

She glanced at the sword. “Close your eyes,” she commanded. 

I obliged and promptly shut my eyes. 

“Now think about the sword. Think about every single material and component that went into that sword.” her voice was so soothing, I could have fallen asleep again. “Now think of all those materials dissolving into power, like ice melting into water.” 

I felt my grip on the sword loosen as a warm liquid ran down my arm. 

“Now feel yourself absorb that power!” she exclaimed, getting significantly louder. 

The liquid I felt disappeared and had been replaced with a feeling of strength. I felt good, like how I helped out some ponies. 

I opened my eyes and released my grip. I had been grabbing air; the sword was gone. I looked at my empty hand in astonishment. I had done it. I successfully recycled magic. 

“Good job. However, methinks thou should recreate the sword with a bit more detail this time.” she said as she smiled. 

My victory ended as quickly as it had started. I went back to closing my eyes and focusing on an imaginary sword. 

I started thinking about the basics as before: the handle, blade, and such. I kept focusing, adding more detail. I made the blade skinnier and sharp, the handle a little longer and leathery. Simple, but a functional sword. 

I opened my eyes. Nightmare had been giving me that same stare, but the sword was there. 

I took a practice swing and the thing was light as a feather. It arked through the air with ease and was a generally better sword. 

Nightmare nodded, “An acceptable sword. Now you can make the basic items.” She paused looking me over again. “But you must be able to do them without your eyes closed.” 

I mentally sighed.
> Fearmonger
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Adam


I had trained all night and it was mentally draining. I spent all my time creating and recreating that same sword until Nightmare was satisfied. 

I asked if we could do something different, like maybe sparring, but she said that it was “pointless” and “your concentration is our top concern.” It's annoying. 

Then, when we finally tried something different I fuckin’ woke up! That training was worse than taking an ACT test. I at least got the hang of creating and dissolving items. Apparently we're going to learn how to alter the dreamscape on our next training session. 

I feel like my thoughts aren't my own, though. Well, I know they're mine, but I feel like i’m always being watched. I hate it. I hate feeling eyes over me everywhere I go. 

Is it even worth it? Maybe I should just try to talk it out with this horse. I mean not everything needs to be handled with violence.

You can't fight fire with fire, but could you fight violence with violence? Maybe i'm overthinking things? Of course i’m overthinking things. Do I really have a choice? I was thrusted into a world that I wasn't supposed to be in, so I have to fight...right?

Well, hopefully my luck will turn around, I need my sleep. 

Speaking of sleep, Nightmare has been pretty quiet this morning. I wonder what she does? She probably watches me. She seems like a stalker…

y'know this reminds me of that one game...Shadow of Mordor. With like that Ranger guy being possessed by that elf...Cel...something. God, I miss that game, I might install it again, or maybe I should get the new one. 

Wait. What was I talking about?








Luna


I think I did it. I can’t find or sense the Tantabus. So...mission successful? It doesn't really feel like it. It's like I know deep down it's still somewhere. 

I feel...empty in a sense. Nightmare Moon hasn't flared up at all in my states of weakness. It's odd and unusual, I thought a direct confrontation would dispel the creature, hence why I used a slightly stronger spell, meant to render the creature unable to manifest dream magic. That should have been the end of it, but I just can't shake the feeling it isn’t. I-I'll monitor the dream realm for the next few weeks, then I'll lay my suspicion to rest. 






Adam


For the hundredth time I had turned the grassy plains into a desert, a stonefield, and then a jungle. 

Apparently we were working on my 'magical endurance'. I doubted that was even a thing. I didn’t ever feel the slightest bit tired, ever. I wasn’t losing magic because there was nowhere for it to go.

"Y'know why don't we try something different?" I suggested as I knelt down, sitting on my heels. 

"No," she replied, almost ignoring me as she gazed into the starry night sky. 

I sighed. "I've been making and remaking this area for like 2 hours, and I hardly have to think about it this point," I explained, quickly changing the area with a wave of my hand. 

The area instantly warped into an opening in a forest. A small lake sparkled in the moonlight as it sat in the middle of the clearing.

"Seee?" I dragged that word like a toddler showing their parents a clean room. "Why can't we do something like sparring?" 

She huffed in response. "Mastering the art of sparring takes years, even decades. You do not need it." She never once even glanced at me. She just kept staring at the moon.

"Yeah sure," I said, looking away from her.

My body slowly lifted from the ground as I slowly fell to my back, as if lounging in an invisible hammock. It wasn't comfortable but it beat standing –plus it looked kinda cool.

We sat there in silence. No one even moved.

"Fine, give me your sword," she finally said. 

I glance at her. I wanted to smile but I didn't have a mouth. 

Bright blue glowing strings of light came from seemingly nowhere and gathered around my hand. The strings form together and tighten, forming a simple solid blue grip. The strands wrapped around the handle and up out of my fist. Bat-like wings, significantly bigger than the grip, protruded from each side, completing the hilt. A large amount of string exploded from the end of the hilt and expanded out, materializing a long, wide blade. 

The glowing sword quickly faded to its true colors. The handle and hilt turned a nice purple and the criss cross of leather across the handle became more apparent. The blade seemed to glow blue slightly. I inspected the engraving in the blade: three triangles surrounded by wings. 

I lazily tossed the sword over to Nightmare. It landed and sunk into the dirt, almost exactly perpendicular to the ground. With the moonlight shining over the sword, it was perfect. 

Nightmare Moon looked at the sword with a raised eyebrow. "This is a terrible sword," she flatly commented. 

I chuckled. "Tell that to Hylia." 

She only got more confused. "Fine, I shall use this...sword." 

The handle of the sword was enveloped in her dark blue magic. Without a hint of struggle she plucked the sword from the ground. It levitated to her side and she gave it a few good swings. 

"Surprisingly light," she commented. 

She pointed the blade at me. "Come at me." 

I wanted to smile, but couldn't. I slowly lowered my body to the ground. 

She stood unflinching and kept her sword pointed at me. 

I quickly blinked a simple sword into existence. I slowly approached, yet she didn't move. Her eyes followed me and her demeanor changed. 

Suddenly I lunged, eager to stab what was in front of me. 

Rows of sharp fangs presented themselves as I struck right through her, her form evaporating into smoke that lunged back onto me. The black cloud rushed around me, completely blinding and disorientating me. Fear pricked my stomach. 

Yet just as quick as the cloud surrounded me, it disappeared. I felt a strong poke on my back. I glanced behind and found the smiling face of Nightmare magically gripping a sword to my back.

"You see, there is no use in practicing with blades." She flung the sword to the side.

I stood there baffled, "You...you gotta teach me how to do that." 

"In time. Thou must be patient," she replied as she stared at the moon again. 

I dissolved both swords. "Come on, I wanna go to another dream." She hardly even acknowledged my presence. "I mean, shouldn't I collect more dream magic so we can fight Luna or something?"

She finally looked at me and sighed. "Fine, if it will silence your incessant complaining."

I was excited, I was finally gonna do something interesting. 

"However, thou must not use magic."

I deflated, "What? Why?" 

"Luna has thee marked. If you use your magic, she will find you." 

I let out a long sigh. "You always have to kill my fun, don't you?" 

She ignored my comment. "I will be dropping this dreamscape. I can not guarantee what dream thou will enter." 

Without any kind of warning, her horn lit up and the land around us began to fade. 





I was once again surrounded by darkness: a never ending void that hugged me from all sides. It was so dark I couldn't even see my own hand. 

And, like always, my vision clicked on. 

I was surrounded by incredibly high walls...full of books. These bookshelves seemed to go on forever, and they stretched across every wall. The wooden walls blended seamlessly to the floor like someone took a huge chunk of wood and just carved a library in it like a pumpkin. 

Then I felt it, the tugging. It was much closer than it had ever been. 

"Follow thy feeling, Adam," Nightmare spoke. 

She kinda spooked me, but I obeyed. 

There was only one opening through the library. I almost stepped through the short doorway, but something felt off. 

I paused as the nonexistent hairs on my neck stood up. 

"Move fool!" 

Fire suddenly erupted through the library, demolishing everything. The fire ripped through the walls like paper and burst through the shelves. The shockwave that followed sent me tumbling through the doorway.

I quickly stood up, and everything was different. The library didn't exist, and everything was so smooth. I was in a hall made of purple crystal. 

"Everything keeps getting weirder and weirder," I say to myself. My voice echoed off the walls and down the hall.

Then silence –well not quite. I could hear...arguing. 

That prompted me to move further down the hall. The angry voices got louder as I rounded a corner. On the side of the hall was an open door. The tugging seemed to confirm I was close.. 

I got right to the edge of the door and I could make out some of the words. 

"You are so useless! You'd think with those wings you could actually be faster but you're even slower than before!" 

I peeked over the corner and I realised it wasn't an argument, it was a scolding. A smaller purple pegacorn was screaming at an even smaller lizard thing with wings. 

"Twilight Sparkle!" Nightmare hissed with rage. 

"You know her?" I whispered. 

"She is the one who ruined our plans! We would have ruled over all Equestria if she hadn't intervened!" 

The purple pony drew my attention. "The next time I tell you to do something! You do it!" she strutted out of the room before stopping and turning her head, "Or maybe, I should just get a competent assistant." With that said, she trotted down the hall. 

I tensed as she turned to face me, but she walked right past me without even a glance. 

"Thou hasn't made thy presence known. No dream entity will react as long as you don't use your magic," Nightmare explained. 

The purple lizard leaned against the shelf in the room. It had kept its head down the entire time. I felt bad for the thing, it was probably still a kid. 

Suddenly dozens of scrolls fell from the shelf. They buried the lizard in a mountain of scrolls. 

This thing must have the worst luck. 

I stepped out from the doorway and moved into the room. I could hear its sobs from under the pile of scrolls. I wanted to hug the lizard and let him know everything was alright.

"Hurry, Luna could come at any time," Nightmare warned. 

I reached into the pile of scrolls and felt the rough scales of the reptile. I latched onto the first solid limb I could grab and pulled. The purple lizard popped out arm first, still crying till it looked squarely at me. 

And like most creatures, it freaked out.  

"Quickly siphon its fear!" Nightmare commanded. 

Like liquefying the swords, I absorbed the fear from the lizard like dream magic. It had calmed down considerably, but was still sobbing at this point. 

I sat down criss cross, like in elementary, and placed the lizard in my lap. 

It curled into a ball like a cat and continued to cry. I gently rubbed its head back and forth in silence. It was surprisingly warm. Its wings covered most of its body and were kinda soft. 

A rush of memories that weren’t mine surged into my mind. All of the sadness and disappointment this dragon felt, felt like it was my own. It hurt unbelievably to watch someone suffer like this. 

"Let us leave, thou hast collected thy magic," Nightmare ordered. 

"Just a little longer," I whispered as I continued to pet this lizard...dragon?

A few more silent seconds passed before I sighed. "I am sorry, but I have to go." The sobs had stopped, and the young dragon was silently staring at me from beneath its wing.

I lightly placed the drake on the floor and stood up. I didn't like leaving things unfinished, but I was in a hurry. There was still something l could do, though.

"Listen Spike...don't scold yourself in your own dream. You always do your best and then some. Don't be the best assistant to Twilight, be her best friend." I gave him a thumbs up before the dream faded around me. 

"That was foolish. We cannot afford to take our time. The final fight is coming and we need to be ready for it," Nightmare scolded. 

"Yeah, I'll try to be quicker next time," I replied, waiting for the next dream.
> Dream Jumping
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

My vision clicked on and I found myself stood in front of a simple house. The nondescript building stood two stories. The roof was made of hay with hardened clay jammed between the wooden framing of the house. A singular circular window was set on the top floor. I noticed the-

"Will we have to explain to thou that our time is limited every single dream! Make haste!" The Nightmare exclaimed, interrupting my thoughts.

Without a word, I pushed the wooden front door open. The door creaked as I glanced inside the house. Immediately I noticed how blurry the interior was, like whenever I took off my glasses. I wanted to blink but lacked eyelids, so I rubbed my eye...holes. My vision didn’t clear. This was a different kind of blurry. Everything felt like it was vibrating violently. The whole house was nauseating.

I considered using my magic, but vanquished that idea at the thought of Luna finding me. I glanced around through the blur of shapes, hobbling around the room looking for some kind of stairway through the haze. My vision kept getting grayer and grayer.

I swung my arms around trying to get a feel for the room. My arm hit a flat surface, I slid my hands across it until I hit a wall. This...platform was up to my chest, I think it was made of wood –but this surface was really clean, not a single speck of du-

Crash

A jolt ran through my spine. My head quickly turned to the source of the sound. A brown blur was on the floor. I kneeled down to get a good look at it. 

It was a picture of some sort and I must have shattered the frame when I knocked it over. Slowly my arm extended out, I gingerly picked up the shattered frame to try and parse the image. A bright red and dark blue blur were next to each other. I held the picture even closer. 

These blurs were ponies, and they looked quite happy. They clung to each other with the largest smiles ive ever seen. I studied the picture for a few seconds before placing it back on the floor.

I glanced around, and the room was clear now. The blurry haze seemed to have lifted. I just assumed it was a dream thing and continued up the stairs, which I could actually see now. At this point, I didn't even need the tugging to tell me I was going in the right direction. 

This house was weird. Instead of a hallway with rooms, it had entered an attic. The attic was...boring. There was nothing besides the wooden planks that made up the floor. The only piece of furniture in that room was a bed, placed in front of the window, the backboard facing me. 

Moonlight crept through the window and gently illuminated the area around the bed. The thick blue covers pouring down the edges only added to this majestic sight. 

Almost of their own accord, my feet moved, my brain on autopilot. And before I knew it, I was behind the backboard. 

I slowly walked around the bed, trailing my hand along the curvy wooden frame. I circled around and prepared myself for who or what occupied it. 

My nerves calmed as I spotted that it was just a pony –a dark blue one to be exact. It looked feminine, small curved muzzle and all that. The pony's hair was long and flowed down past her shoulders onto the bed. The color was bright white, and reminded me of the night sky. 

Their eyes were closed. 

"Now, take its fear," Nightmare interjected.

I silently obeyed and slowly raised my hand. My bony limb extended and snaked its way to the pony's head. 

Suddenly, the pony's eyes snapped open. 

I jumped back in surprise, nearly falling over in the process. 

"I'm so sorry! I thought you were asleep and I was just gonna leave after-”

"Who are you," The pony interrupted.

"What…?" This question threw me off. "You're not gonna freak out and scream?" 

"Why would I?" she plainly asked. 

"Why would you?” I asked. "Because I look like this!" I exclaimed as I gestured to myself. 

The pony paused before she replied, "I don't really care how you look." 

I stood there dumbfounded, but then I took a really good look at her. Her eyes were different in a way. 

"Are...are you blind?" I blurted out. 

She paused. And for a moment everything was so quiet, it felt like I was back in the void of nothingness. 

Until finally she responded, "Yes." She just stared straight out the window. 

I quickly traced her gaze out the window, seeing the moon. I studied the moon, taking in every inch of the round object in the sky. 

No face. 

I turned my attention to the pony again. 

"Adam!" Nightmare barked. 

I jumped in surprise. 

"We have to go now," she commanded. 

"Yeah...I know." I sighed, reached over the bed and laid a bony hand over the pony's forehead. 

Her features hadn't changed at all. In fact, I'm pretty sure she leaned into my touch. 

"You have strange hooves," she said, facing me. 

As the world around me faded I only uttered, "I'm sorry." 





I was in the place of nothingness again. It didn't even feel like a void anymore. It wasn't black, just nothing. 

I felt terrible. I wanted to help her. I wanted to find out what she was going through. I wanted to connect to her and help her through her problem. Instead all I did was invade her dreams and leech off of her fear. 

Maybe Luna should kill me. 

"Nightmare," I spoke softly. 

"Yes?" she responded. 

"What's the point of all of this?" I asked. I felt so lost, I just wanted to wake up. 

"Thou know'st why we're here. We art here to become thy rightful ruler of Equestria, and you're here to rid thyself of thou's curse," she explained. 

I sighed, not satisfied with the answer. "You know that's not what I meant."

Nightmare paused and then let out a groan of annoyance. "Adam, we know thou wants to help, however thou can't help everypony. Every single living creature has different problems, each one has its own level of difficulty. To even try to solve all of those problems would be impossible!" she ranted. 

"Yeah, sure," I muttered under my breath. I felt a hole open in my nonexistent stomach. I felt like something was tearing me apart despite not having any skin. My whole body felt so heavy; emotions flooded into my system. I wanted to cry, yet I couldn't –wanted to curl up and die, yet I couldn't. I wanted to wake up, yet I couldn't. 

I failed and I deserved to suffer. 



 

In an instant my feet landed on solid ground and the world around me turned on. Thick trees surrounded me. This place was...weird. All of the branches were so numerous and long that that they almost blocked out the sun. 

This place was at least colorful: the different hues of green grass swayed in the gentle wind. It felt...peaceful. 

Isn't this supposed to be a nightmare?

I begin to walk towards the tugging. I took in all the features of the forest and it was surprisingly pleasant. 

Then I spotted a brown leaf.

I would have just brushed it off, but it felt out of place. And then I found another and then another. I looked up and noticed all of the leaves had turned into different bright colors: red, orange, and yellow. It was so satisfying to just stare at the vibrant colors. Each one was just so bright, probably the most vibrant leaves I had ever seen.

But then the leaves gradually turn into a disgustingly shriveled and brown. Each and every leaf, once beautiful, shriveled up and lost their colors. Like rain, each leaf fell off of the trees, covering the ground in a thin layer of dead leaves. 

White stars began falling down all around. Each one sparkled in the sun's rays. So much fell so quickly it turned into a blizzard. Snowflakes piled upon snowflakes and soon the leaves were covered in a thin sheet of snow. The snow kept falling until I was ankle deep.

Just as soon as the snow stopped falling, it began to melt. Quickly, the snow shrunk and disappeared. 

Beneath the snow, green grass poked through. Soon the forest grounds were full of green grass and the trees had once again covered the sky. 

"The heck was that?" I asked in wonder. 

I have just witnessed fall, winter, and spring in minutes. Dreams are awesome. 

"We...do not know. Dreams are very diverse and some can be...creative," Nightmare replied, trying to understand what just happened. "It does not matter, we must extract the dream magic."

"Yeah yeah, I know," I said, brushing her off. 

I continued my walk, staring at the everchanging forest. 

It was so amazing to see the impossible happen in front of me. This was why I loved dreams. Maybe I shouldn't be trying to get rid of this curse. Maybe it's really a blessing in disguis-

"We are close, just beyond those trees," Nightmare said, interrupting my thoughts. 

I shook my head, trying to focus. Sure enough, the tugging confirmed her words. Straight ahead was the pony –the pony I would have to drain.

...I'm not gonna use drain anymore –it sounds kinda weird out of context. 

"Focus!" Nightmare shrieked, causing me to jump, "We cannot dwell upon this dream!" 

"Okay okay, just stop yelling," I said, giggling a little. 

I looked ahead, and there was a dirt clearing behind the trees hiding the small area. I pushed past the trees and into the clearing. 

In the very center was a statue of a pony, no wings or horn. The statue looked very old: Vines covered the legs and held it in place. 

I walked closer to examine the statue. The tugging stopped so someone had to be close. 

"This appears to be the work of a cockitrice," Nightmare explained. 

"A what?" I asked as I kept looking at the terrified expression of the statue. 

"A cockitrice: A being that is part chicken and part dragon," she continued. 

I paused. "And how could a chicken do this to this...guy?" I asked while I stared at the rectangular muzzle of the statue. 

"They have the ability to turn beings into stone with only a glance into the victims eyes," she finished. 

My stomach dropped at this information. 

How could a chicken turn someone into stone? This world's mythical creatures are messed up. These creatures are way too dangerous. 

It felt like something out of a horror movie. This poor pony was afraid of being trapped in stone for eternity. This was their nightmare. They didn't deserve to dream this. No one deserved a dream this vivid and depressing.

I reached out to the statue and laid my hand on his head. I began to drain his fear, and prepared myself for what I was about to do. 

"Nightmare…I'm sorry," I stated solemnly. 

"Why art thou apologizing?" she asked. 

My hand glowed a light blue and cracks began to spider across the head of the pony. The cracks stretched across the pony's face and quickly enveloped his neck. 

"FOOL, THOU HAST RUINED OUR PLAN!!" Nightmare's voice rang through my head. I gripped the sides of my skull in pain. "THOU FOOLISHLY REVEALED THY PRESENCE! SHE NOW KNOWS THOU ART HERE!" 

My head felt like it was about to explode. Pain pulsed through my eardrums. Everything was ringing. I couldn't hear. I felt as if my head was bell that had been struck. My vision was vibrating and I couldn't see. My thoughts were jumbled, and swam around my head. My legs gave out and I fell to the dirt face down. It just wouldn't stop. 

I let out a loud cry of agony. 

And then everything stopped, as if nothing had happened. I felt normal again. 

I let out a long and well deserved sigh. A huge weight had been lifted from my skull, and I felt so relieved. 

I glanced up and froze. 

There was no more forest, no more trees, just grass that stretched on forever. That pony was gone too, but that didn't matter anymore. 

I looked around while I was still on my hands and knees. The dark sky only worsened my gut's feeling. 

And I saw it –I fucking saw it– that damn moon. I stared at the white giant disc in the sky, the dark image of a pony imprinted on its side. 

She was here. 

"MOVE!!!" 

My body all at once acted on its own. I was launched to the side and just seconds later before a pillar of light thundered down. 

The shockwave sent me tumbling away from the blast. I skidded to a stop across the grass, and got to my hands and knees. My body felt sore all over, and I felt so confused. 

I looked over to where I had been, and found a circle of bare earth. All of the grass had been burned away and several feet of dirt had been upturned. 

And everything clicked: I had just dodged a moon blast. 

"Adam," Nightmare addressed me calmly, "She has us trapped, we cannot leave." 

"Does that mean-"

"Yes," Nightmare interrupted, "Thou can use magic." 

Like my chains had been broken, I felt amazing power flow through me. All of my body's discomforts disappeared and I felt alive. 

There she was, standing a few meters away from me, the Lunar Princess herself. She had some kind of dark purple armor on. A small white crescent was placed on her chest plate that glowed a gentle pale white. But the thing that stood out the most was the sword held in her dark blue magic. 

The sword's handle matched her armor's color and had a slightly jagged crossguard. The sword's blade was double edged and had a sharp bump near the hilt. The blade was so white that it practically glowed, seemingly projecting the light of the moon itself. 

Her serious expression told me everything I needed to know. I could see her hatred. Any ill feelings she had for me were worn on her face. I knew this was going to be our final battle. Only one person is going to walk away from this.

"Thou must remember our plan. Thou art weaker than her, however thou has a great wealth of imagination. That is thy only advantage, do not hold back or thou will lose," Nightmare ominously cautioned. 

"Yeah, I know." I stood up and conjured a short metallic stick. 

"Trust me–" With a click of a button a sharp hiss sounded. A beam of blue light exploded out of the stick to a swords length with an electric hum. My excitement peaked as I felt the vibrations of the lightsaber. 

"–I'm not going to hold back."
> Psychological Warfare
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

All of the metaphorical hairs on the back of my neck were raised. I was ready to pounce, but I still hesitated. I wasn't afraid; I had all of this energy ready to burst out of my body, but I still wouldn't move. I was waiting for something –anything to put me into action. 

"This shall be our last confrontation, beast." I almost jumped, I wasn't expecting her to speak at all, especially with such hate. "I thought you were a simple problem that would just go away and disappear if handled with enough force." She slowly began to advance, "You, who has trespassed on my realm and fed off my subjects." She stopped a few feet away from me and gave me a predatory look. "I now realise, if you want to stay in my realm so much, then you can stay here. Permanently." 

An explosion of dirt followed immediately. In an instant she was in front of me; her sword raised above me. Time slowed as I watched in her sword coming down on me, only to pass right through me. 

My body expanded into a mist-like form, and I covered the entire area in a white smoke. I quickly reformed a short distance away and fell to the ground. 

My heart was pounding out of my chest. 

How the hell did she move so fast?! I almost died again! I think I’m gonna pass out."

"Adam, calm thyself," Nightmare said, "The princess is swift, yes, however, so art thou. This is a dream; This realm bends to thy will," Nightmare soothed. 

Her words hit me like a train. She was right, this is a dream. I wasn’t restrained by anything like physics or even health. I was in control. 

I stood up and flicked my arm to the side, lifting the veil of smoke. I knew where Luna was already. I could sense her: her fear. I outstretched my arm and held out my hand. After a few seconds my lightsaber came flying back into my grasp. I pressed the button and the weapon sparked to life. 

As the smoke cleared I could finally see her. Her Blue Highness was still in confusion as to where I was, desperately glancing around -until our eyes finally met. That rage, I saw, had come back again. 

This time, however, I was ready. In an explosion of movement, we both lurched forward at speeds seemingly impossible. Our swords clashed, stopping both of us dead in our tracks. Our swords trembled as we strained to overpower each other. 

She slid her sword out of the way, causing me to stumble forward past her in surprise. I turned around just in time to see her sword just inches away from my face. 

"SHIT!" I quickly exclaimed in fright. Almost instantly, an invisible force pushed me back, out of the range of her sword.

I quickly stood up and gripped my lightsaber tightly. With no hesitation she shot forward again. Her blade was blur as she slashed again and again. I managed to just narrowly match her speed to block her attacks. Despite how quickly she tried to strike me I could tell there was some elegance to it. Every swipe of her sword had a purpose. 

I, however, was not elegant at all. It was a miracle that I'd been blocking so effectively. This was not working, and I'm not sure what would happen if I did get hit. 

In a short burst of extreme speed, I smack her sword as hard as I can, momentarily causing a pause in her flurry of attacks. Seeing the opportunity I created, I lunged forward using my empty hand to grab her neck. 

The blue magical aura surrounding her sword disappeared and the blade fell to the ground. Her concentration had been broken: This was my chance. 

With one swift motion, I lifted her off the ground, watching her hooves flail helplessly as I slammed her down on her back. Her pained cries only spurred my actions. I raised my saber high, pointed straight at her face and quickly thrusted it down. 

"Enough!" Luna shouted. Her horn glowed a blinding white before everything exploded. I was hurled somewhere away from her. I felt the ground swipe my feet before my back slammed into the ground, sliding to a stop. 

Normally if I fell this hard on my back I would be gasping for air, but not having lungs was pretty cool. 

But if I don't have lungs then how was I breathing before? Actually, how have I been moving without any muscle? Wait, how can I feel anything without nerve–

"–Focus!" Nightmare barked.

Right, I'm fighting.

I got to my feet and scanned the area. There was no sign of the lunar princess but I spotted the hilt of my lightsaber a few feet away. 

My head jerked upwards and I saw it –the moon. Well, I saw what was in front of the moon. The black silhouette of a winged horse hung directly in the center of the moon. 

I stood there just staring, like my brain had shut down. My mind went blank, not out of fear or anything like that. I couldn't describe it. It was like some kind of invisible force shackled me in place. I knew that something bad was going to happen but I couldn't take my eyes off of her. Her menacing presence was awe inspiring. She had the force of a demon but the grace of an angel. It was beautiful in some twisted kind of way. 

Then her horn shined, quickly getting brighter and brighter. The light of her magic illuminated her hate-filled face. With clenched teeth she rose higher in the sky, even higher than the moon. The moon...pulsed? No, it shone brighter briefly somehow and then dimmed, then returning to its normal glow.

"Stop gawking and get the buck away from here!" Nightmare cut in. 

Why was she screaming again?

My body twitched as an intense sense of dread pricked my stomach. In that moment I knew exactly what the fuck was happening. 

Almost as if on reflex I quickly bolted away in complete panic. In my haste I tripped over my foot, but that still didn't stop me. I scrambled to crawl away like a frightened dog. 

For a split second I felt an intense heat kiss my heels, and the next second I wasn't touching ground. Everything happened so fast but now everything felt so slow. I was in the air and still rising. I watched the ground run away from me as I flailed, trying to get back down. My legs floated upwards as my torso rotated down. My whole world turned upside down as I found myself midway through the slowest ungraceful front flip. As I continued to rotate, a bright light assaulted my eyes, yet I could not blink. 

I watched a giant pure white beam of light coursing into the earth below. Sparks of white energy crackled around the beam, adding to its destructive nature. It looked like thousands of smaller shaky streams of light were grouped together tightly. The whole scene felt like a lucid dream.

...oh wait, this is a lucid dream. I lightly chuckled to myself. 

"Adam, can thou hear us?" Nightmare asked, seemingly concerned for me. 

"Yeah, loud and clear," I replied mentally, "So what the hell is happening?"

"Thou accelerated thy mental functions without accelerating thy body," Nightmare explained.

"So, you're telling me that I'm thinking faster than the speed of light. This is awesome!" I could feel Nightmare facepalm in my head. 

"Nay, it is much more complicated than tha–nevermind! We are here to remind thou to take this fight seriously! Thou must remember this is a fight, not a dream. If thou is bested, thou will be unable to return to thy original form. Thou will be trapped here forever. Thy consciousness will remain in this place while your body rots away. There is no second chance." 

Okay okay, let's not panic right now. Panicking never solves anything. So let's just stay calm right now in this moment of complete calmness.

"Adam, thy can win! Remain in control. Remember, Luna lacks imagination: That is thy advantage. We...believe in thou!" Nightmare blurts out.

She's right, I can't afford to make another mistake. Fighting her normally isn't going to work here. I need to start fighting creatively. I'm gonna be the most unorthodox person she's ever fought! 

I closed my eyes and focused on speeding the rest of my body up. I imagined those scenes with Quicksilver and how he moved normally while everything stayed slow. Those movies were the best. 

I opened my eyes and I could move, but I was still slowly falling. I felt like I was swimming in a pool of jelly. I grabbed the air in astonishment. 

Is this what it's like to be high?

I shook my head, I needed to focus. I look back down to the ground where I once stood. This moon blast was much more powerful than the last one. The ground around the blast had been upturned and cracked. I stared at the scene below me before continuing my search. 

Then I saw it; It was just a glint of light but I knew what it was. Thinking back to all of the movies I've watched, I reached out to the sparkle of light far away from me. Almost straining my left arm, I continued to reach as far as this body would let me. I closed my eyes and imagined an invisible force pulling it toward me. 

My eyes strained as I kept thinking and thinking of it entering my hand, until I felt a smooth cylinder slide against my bony palm. I immediately clutched the object and opened my eyes. 

It was my lightsaber! I tightened my grip and it sparked to life. I gawked in pure happiness. I admired the fine weapon once again until a thought crossed my mind. 

When did I get eyelids?

I blinked again, but couldn't. My eyelids had left me as soon as I acknowledged them. 

Wait! Is this what Nightmare meant when she said I need to use dream magic as an instinct? Ahh! Focus Adam, we are fighting!

I glanced up towards the very moon that had tried to shoot me, then a little higher. The mare that caused all of this was far above the moon. 

I levitated upwards as quickly as I could with the slowed flow of time. I held my free hand out as some kind of steering guide. It looked so much easier in the movies but floating was hard. I had to lift my whole body. If I just lifted my feet I’d be turned upside down. 

I slowly floated up towards Luna’s position, trying not to wobble. Flying is like trying to balance on a ball: If you lean too far off center you'll wipeout. You have to find a balance and stick to it, and I think I was getting the hang of it. 

Despite the carnage beneath me, I couldn't help but marvel at the night sky. There were more stars than I had ever seen in my life. The sky had never been so clear before. The night really was beautiful, everything about it was just so satisfying. The cool air, the gentle glow of the stars, the whole vibe of the night, and all within the slow ooze of this time distortion. Everything was perfect just above the battlefield.

"Indeed, our night truly is amazing. Yet, not many ponies appreciate our night the way thou does. How can thou value our night so much when thou sleeps during it?" Nightmare asked. This was the most vulnerable I've ever heard her and she was actually interested in my opinion for once. 

"And here I thought you knew all of my thoughts," I teased, "Nightmare, I enjoy the day, yes, because it is awesome. But so is the night. Without the day, the night isn't really the night. I enjoy the night because it gives me a reason to be lazy, it makes scary movies better, and it's the perfect time to hang out with my friends. In a way, everyone likes the night whether they know it or not, because without it we would be hot all the time in the summer, the nocturnal creatures wouldn't come out, and most importantly I'd lose my time to hang out with the bros. Day and night cannot exist without each other because then they become less special. Do you get what I mean?" 

Nightmare didn't answer right away but I assumed she was thinking about my words. "We suppose there is some wisdom in thy words," she admitted. 

"I'll take that as some kind of compliment," I replied. 

I continued to make my slow ascent towards the Lunar Princess, and gradually I could make out her features. Her face still held the same angry expression it always had, however she looked...off somehow. I couldn't tell but it was just a feeling. Her wings were fully extended out on both sides while her hindlegs hung limp below her and her front...legs were tucked and held against her chest like a praying mantis. 

I had finally floated up her level and didn't hesitate to advance forward. I had made it halfway before I saw her wings move, just slightly though. But that was enough to make me freeze in place. I watched as her wings sped up and completed a full flap. 

"Thy powers art wearing thin! Hurry!" Nightmare warned.

Alarm bells rang in my head. I practically dived towards the Princess as fast as my time alteration allowed...which wasn't that fast.

I watched as her eyes widened in surprise before returning to their former glare. My heart was pounding despite how slow everything was going. She was slowly becoming more animated and began shifting faster. It wouldn't be long before she was as fast as me. 

I was so close! I just needed to reach a little bit more! I was inches away from her –just mere moments from reaching her. 

My vision went completely white. I recoiled in shock as I rubbed my sockets with my empty hand. When I finally removed my fingers from my eyes, she was gone. Then I heard a snap from above. I quickly looked above to see Luna rocketing towards me, brandishing her sword. 

I raised my lightsaber in time to narrowly block her strike. But at that moment I lost concentration in my flight and my right foot fell through the open air.

With our weapons still locked perpendicular to one another, she kept pushing. In this short moment I once again looked into her eyes. The same hatred that had always been stained on her face had not disappeared. 

What did I do to make her hate me so much? Wasn't I the one trying to survive?! Wasn't I the one fighting for my life?! Wasn't I the one who was cursed with these powers?! Wasn't I the one who was hunted night after night?! How dare you look at me like that! What the fuck did I do to deserve this shit?!

Then I hit the ground. I couldn't even feel it. I was solely focused on her eyes. She was on top of me, still pushing almost as if she was trying to force me through the ground. 

Now thoroughly pissed, I pushed back. I let out a guttural growl before grabbing her sword with one hand. Her eyes widened in surprise, and for a small moment I noticed a small lack of strength behind her force. 

I put everything into both my hands and my lightsaber. With all of my strength I halted her advance, but couldn't seem to move her at all. But then she put a single hoof on the blade of the sword, forcing my lightsaber dangerously close to my chest. 

Our faces were so close, hatred still strewn across her face. My long snout was the only inches away from her face. I could feel her heavy breaths against my nose. If we weren't trying to kill each other this could be romantic. 

I could feel the heat of my lightsaber against my bare chest. I could only dread the slow approach of my own weapon. Panic flashed across my mind. My eyes bounced around trying to find anything that could save me in this situation. My feet scraped across the ground as I kicked and thrashed, anything to get her off of me. 

Then in one motion, I clicked off my lightsaber and jerked my head to the left. My jaw unhinged and my head lunged forward, biting into her neck. 

My jaw clamped down harder as I felt the hot pain of her sword in my chest. I heard her let out a scream of pain before her wings flared out. With a few flaps, she was off the ground, carrying me along with her. 

With her no longer on top of me, I tugged my head to the side. She crashed back to the ground on her side and I wrenched her sword out of her magical grasp and threw it to the side. I dropped my lightsaber and, using both hands, I pinned her down, placing a hand on the side of her face and another on her shoulder. Now it was my turn to be the predator. 

She kept moving, kicking, and squirming: Anything to try to loosen my grip. But I wasn't going to budge. She let out sickening screams, the screams of someone in pain, the screams of someone afraid. 

I didn’t know why but at that moment I felt so strong, like a boost of energy had surged through me. I wanted more. I used this extra strength to bite down even harder on her tough skin. I knew what was happening. I knew this feeling, this taste. 

It was her fear .I was devouring her fear straight from the source and it tasted delicious. But I also tasted something else, a kind of metallic taste, like I was sucking on pennies. 

Blood. It was blood. The moment I realised it I immediately let go of her. I must've jumped a few feet back, because I was a significant distance away from the Princess. I was horrified and stood in shock. I didn't have a tongue but I could still taste it. 

When I looked upon Luna I froze. She stood like a wounded deer, yet she had the expression of absolute rage. She hung her neck low and panted in exhaustion. I stared at the pool of crimson that had accumulated on her neck and watched as streaks of red slowly dribbled down and onto her forehead, before ending at her chin and dripping down onto the grass. 

I put a finger up to my snout and felt a wet sensation, I raised my finger higher to meet my gaze and gasped. Blood. My mouth was coated in Princess's blood. My legs suddenly lost all strength and I collapsed to the ground. 

I was eating her! I am a monster. I deserve to stay here! How could I have tried to eat her alive?! And I was enjoying it! What the fuck is wrong with me?! Ahhhhh, this is definitely not a part of the plan!

"Adam, do not blame thyself for what happened," Nightmare said. I felt my anger rise once more. 

Why the hell shouldn't I?! I just tried to eat someone alive! How can you be so calm about this!?

"Adam, if an animal is backed into a corner, it will fight tooth and nail to escape. Thou was simply doing the same," Nightmare explained, not sounding even a little bit concerned. 

It's still not right! I shouldn't be biting people or trying to eat them! 

"It's not right?" Nightmare mocked, "Tell us, art thou not fighting in the first place? Didn't Luna herself try to disintegrate thou?" Nightmare questioned. 

Well sti-

Nightmare cut me off, "Is Luna not the one who vowed to trap thou within this dreamspace forever? Do not speak morals with us. This is a fight for survival. If thou holds back thou will be imprisoned for eternity. Next time, do not stop. Do whatever thou must to win," Nightmare scolded. 

I almost forgot I could be here forever. Within this space of...grass, with no interaction whatsoever. As much as I dislike fighting like an animal, I might have to. I'm fighting to survive, not for vengeance, and certainly not because I want to. Forgive me Lord, please I just want to live…

I stood up and Luna was still there, but her neck was perfectly normal. There wasn't a single drop of blood anywhere on her form, but she did have her sword in her magical grip once again. 

I didn't even bother using the force to get my lightsaber. I didn't feel like looking for it so I just made another one out of thin air. I held the shiny hilt with both hands and winced as pain shot through my right hand. 

I quickly let go of the weapon and flapped my hand around, trying to quell the pain.I stopped and looked at my hand. A deep blue gash ran across the appendage. This was the first time I had seen my own blood. I didn't even know I had blood in this form. I stared at my hand almost crossing my eyes, and then a long tongue slithered out from my mouth and snaked its way to my hand. 

I did it, I fucking did it: I licked my blood. I tasted like blueberry yogurt.

I lightly chuckled to myself, before my tongue retreated back into my mouth, never to be seen again. With my tongue no longer obstructing my view of my injury, I saw that it was gone. What I done had worked. I wasn’t sure what I did exactly but I probably had some intention of healing myself. 

Then I looked to my chest, remembering my reckless actions, and noticed I felt no pain. I gingerly placed a hand on my chest and winced in anticipation, but there was no wound, it was gone. I wasn’t sure if I caused this or maybe I had some kind of super regenerative powers naturally. 

"Die beast!" Luna roared, snapping me out of my thoughts.

I quickly looked up and saw the Princess coming right at me. I clicked on my lightsaber and was instantly on the defensive. She brought her sword down hard but I was ready for it. I held my ground but her sword backed off suddenly and then swung in from another direction. 

Her sword was getting faster and becoming harder to predict. Her sword circled me, prodding my defense. It was then I realised, I wasn't fighting her, I was fighting her sword. I glanced back to Luna, and she was just watching me. 

I saw my chance. Her sword was still circling me, and I was between her and her sword. Without warning, I lunged forward towards Luna. Immediately, I swung my saber out in a wide arc, ignoring all dangers, causing Luna to jump back in surprise. I let go of the hilt as I recklessly swung it outwards. The lightsaber spun and flew to the side. Luna instantly took advantage of my helpless state and thrusted her blade straight to my back. 

Except it didn't go through, her sword bounced off my back with a loud metallic twang. My back was covered in a hard black substance that was seemingly strong as steel. 

"Haki bitch," I stated while more of the black substance coated my fist. 

I punched her with said fist in the face, launching her far away from me. I wanted to smile as I watched her tumble in the grass. 

I quickly advanced after her, not wanting to give her any room to breath. The black substance, or the 'haki' was recycled back into my body. She was quick to get back on her hooves and was already on the offensive again. She slashed and stabbed at me but I simply dodged out of the way. 

"Y'know, I used to be really afraid of you," I began as I casually dodged another swing of her sword, "but, then I realised just how powerless you are." My hand, covered in Haki again, grabbed the blade of her sword as it came down on me. The blade became soft and malleable, but this took longer than usual, almost as if the sword was trying to resist me. But I focused my mind and soon the blade completely liquefied into a dark blue mush. Then, I sucked it into my body. It felt different somehow, exotic in a way, or flavorful in a sense. 

She wasted no time in flapping her wings and gaining some distance between us. She stood away from me, giving me that same glare she always had. 

"I now understand that I require something more...drastic to defeat you." Her horn shined so bright that it mimicked the sun itself. I had to cover my eyeless sockets before I was blinded. I felt the ground shake and an extreme surge of power that wasn't going into me, but flowing around me. I was definitely intimidated and I couldn't even see. 

The light finally dimmed and the ground had settled, but when I opened my eyes I didn't see Luna. What I saw was some kind of celestial being. What stood before me was a tall equine that looked like the mirror opposite of Nightmare. She was glowing white and her hair was a dim silver full of shining stars. Her eyes were pure white, and she had horseshoes that were sparkling silver. She wore no necklace, nor did she have a crown. Despite having no pupils, I could tell that she was most definitely pissed at me. She easily towered over me, and her presence reeked elegance and dominance. 

"I shall not let this go on for any longer." Her words echoed across the plains. Despite not yelling, her voice still boomed. 

A black cloudy thing circled around her. It was huge, almost as big as Luna herself. It seemed to be trying to enter her in some way. It constantly prodded and poked her body, but Luna remained unfazed. Then, it suddenly rushed towards me. 

I tried to punch it almost out of instinct but my hand went straight through the black cloud. And suddenly, I was surrounded in a tornado of swirling darkness. I could feel it invading my body. Small wisps of cloud seeped through the orifices of my skeleton body. My sockets, my nostrils, even the cracks between my bones. I thrashed and grabbed, but couldn't grasp anything. This entity somehow was solid and a literal cloud at the same time. The only thing that I knew was that I was afraid. 

"Adam, calm down, thou ist safe. Allow thyself to consume us," Nightmare interjected. 

I calmed down somewhat and stopped trying to fight the cloud. Seemingly in response, the cloud lessened its aggressiveness. Its movements slowed and it felt more calm in a sense. Slowly, the misty darkness crawled through my body and disappeared inside of me. 

"Finally! We are complete! Adam! Thou ist no longer alone in this battle!" Nightmare shouted cheerfully before breaking into a maniacal laugh. Nightmare had never been this happy ever. It's kind of scary. 

"Adam, so that is thy name." I shuddered at the mention of my name. It felt like the very ground shook when she spoke.

I quickly looked at the white mare, as she began to slowly advance

"I expelled all evil from my body and finally let go." She gave me a disgusted expression. "And here you are sucking it all up, feeding like the parasite you are." 

A thousand needles stabbed my chest and I immediately lurched over in pain. 

Luna began slowly circling me as she spoke. "It hurts, doesn't it? –All of my hate, my insecurities, all of my demons. And thou devoured them all." 

My body spasmed on the ground from this invisible attack inside of my body. I shouted in pain, but no sound came out.

"It's eating you from the inside, trying to break out and tear you apart. I had to carry this pain with me everywhere, even when I was completely isolated. It kept growing and festering." Each word she said seemed to make the pain increase. "So relish it, this is my pain and there is plenty of it." 

I clawed at the dirt as I tried to bare through this burning feeling. I momentarily stopped writhing out of shock. I was turning black! Slowly, I watched as a stream of jet black travel up my bony arm. My body was quickly being converted to black, and now I had something else to panic about.

"Adam!" 

Everything stopped: all of the pain, all of my fear, everything except the blackness overtaking my body. 

"Did I not tell thou to calm thyself?" 

I could feel my anger rise. 
I am out here squirming in pain and all she says is to 'calm myself!' Does she not know that I feel pain?! 

"Yes, we are well aware of thy pain, however it is a small price to pay for power," Nightmare calmly stated. 

I looked at my hand and saw that it was completely black, as was the rest of my body. 

"Ah, now I understand. Thou hast taken refuge within thy creature." Luna actually chuckled. "It all makes sense. You didn't think I wouldn't notice thy disappearing act?" she suddenly paused and then smirked while I silently listened. "Thy hideous transformation proves it all. This is good, I get to destroy both you and Nightmare Moon." 

Then Nightmare started...laughing. She laughed hard, cackling like a maniac. Even Luna seemed confused as me. 

Her laughs echoed throughout my head and wouldn't stop. It was all surreal. Was she going insane or was I going insane? I felt like a madman with the amount of laughter bouncing in my mind. I wish I was having the party she was having in my head. 

"What dost thou find so humorous?!" Luna yelled. The force of her voice alone blew a strong gust of wind.

Nightmare just wouldn't stop, and Luna was getting angrier by the second. 

"I told thou to explain thyself!!!" In an explosion of dirt, I was skidding across the grassy plains a few feet away. 

"Nightmare, I would appreciate it if you didn't antagonize the enemy!" I exclaimed in annoyance. 

I quickly stood up and saw the area around the white mare was a crater of dirt. Despite her having no pupils I could still see the anger in her eyes. So much for being a pure deity. 

"Forgive me Adam," Nightmare began as she tried to fight off another cackle. "Luna, you truly are a fool." 

I could hear the thunderous growl Luna emitted. I was getting ready to yell at Nightmare again before I was cut off.

"Luna, thou expelled all of us, all of thy negative emotions from thy memories. Thou expelled All of thy hatred, thy sorrow, and all of thy fear," Nightmare finished with a giggle. 

I could see the gears turning in Luna's head and mine were moving as well. 

She fucking gave us all of her fear. She just handed us a rocket launcher in a knife fight. Nightmare is back together and I just got a fuckton of fear. 

"Well Luna, as a wise man once said, 'you just fucked up'." At that moment I felt an incredible surge of power running through me like a boost of adrenaline. I just felt pumped. 

I looked at my now black skeletal hand and saw purple arcs of electricity flashing in and out of existence around my fingers. 

Dark purple clouds that reminded me of Nightmare's hair swirled around me, before returning somewhere behind my back. I was completely awestruck at my new transformation. 

I look awesome! And now I have those purple swirly thingies! 

I completely looked myself over. Not much had changed besides the fact that now I was black. I could already feel the racism running through me. And the cloud thingies were definitely new.

"Adam, we believe thou hast everything thy needs to end this. Make. Her. Suffer," Nightmare said in a sinister tone. 

"Of course, why wouldn't I," I replied, trying to match her evil..nes. 

I extended my arm to the side and reached out. An invisible yet powerful force spiraled out and grabbed something, pulling it towards me quickly. I felt the object hit my grasp and its brilliant blue blade sparked to life the second I gripped it. I looked at the lightsaber: a jedi's weapon, but not one that is needed right now. The weapon melted in my hand and I absorbed it. I needed something fresh –something that felt like me. 

Y'know what? I don't need a weapon. If this fight has taught me anything, it's that swordfights fucking suck. I don't have any training, I was only trained to be unpredictable. It was...pretty weird training, but still acceptable in this situation. I am going to end this once and for all. 

I readied myself. I knew I had what it took to win. If I was going to win this I would need creativity, passion, and anime –a lot of anime.
> Mental Games
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

This fight was symbolic in a way, y'know. Luna looked like the embodiment of light, and I looked like darkness itself. Yet, I knew inside that our true selves were reversed. I was fighting for my survival and freedom pretty much. And she was fighting for her' subjects safety'. Did she have any risks from this fight? I mean, wouldn't she just wake up if I managed to kill her in the Dream Realm. Was she sleeping? It's strange, I know so little about her, yet here we are, fighting for our own reasons. I guess it is true everywhere; people do fear what they don't understand.

She stared at me with her pupil-less eyes. Even though I despised her, I couldn't deny her beauty, her elegance. I felt paralyzed in wonder; the way she shined was stunning! If this was the last thing I'd ever see, then so be it. If this is my eternal prison, then I'm going out with a bang!

"Then allows us to assist you." Nightmare said, which kind of made me jump. She sounded a lot closer like she was right beside me. 

"Are you always gonna keep interrupting my thoughts," I asked, slightly annoyed. 

"Ist thou going to keep forgetting who thou hast to fight?" That made me chuckle a little. 

"Yeah yeah, I know, my mind is just a little scrambled right now." This whole situation was giving me big Hollow Knight vibes. Especially with my recent power-up. 

"Beast." her voice rattled my spine. With a single word, she had sent all of my senses in overdrive and now had my complete attention. I had never felt this way with anyone; I wasn't scared; I was just alert? Maybe?

"I would like to thank you." If I had facial features, I would look absolutely dumbfounded. 

"W-what?" I stuttered, taken aback by her earlier statement. 

"Because of you, I was able to let go of everything. Everything that held me back." Luna took a step forward. "Out of every creature I have ever faced, you have been the most troubling. I have never felt so much stress over one singular threat before. I was so afraid of you, what you could become, and what you would represent. All of that pressure almost destroyed me, and I almost gave in." she paused and looked me straight in my eyes. "Almost gave into you..." she wasn't looking at me; she was looking through me. Her eyes were fixed on what was inside of me. "But I resisted you and persevered, and I have never felt so free. And as a fruit of labor, my suffering, I can finally get rid of you permanently. No longer shall you be an itch that grows within the back of my mind. When this night is over, I won't ever have to worry about you again!"

"Is that all I am to you?" I asked coldly, "Just an annoyance, an obstacle, a fuckin rat in your kitchen?! Huh?!" I shouted in anger. 

Luna eyed me curiously as if she was surprised I was capable of intelligent communication. 

"You're not the only one who suffered. Because of you, I have felt pain that no one should ever feel. I came here completely clueless only to be incinerated by a goddamn moon beam!!! Time and time again, I have died at your hands, but for some reason, I can't help but see you as a living creature. Despite everything you've done to me, I tried to find some ounce of good in you, and because of that, I held back." I took a deep breath, "You are selfish, you aren't doing this for your 'subjects,' you're just doing this for yourself, for your oh-so-precious piece of mind! I can't show sympathy for you anymore; you don't deserve it-"

"Silence! I've heard enough! I do not need your false sympathy nor your lies!" she spat with venom in her voice. "I don't need you anymore!" her horn quickly glowed and then 
 flashed a bright white light. 

I easily stepped to the side, dodging a missile of light. I felt a massive shockwave and heard a huge explosion behind me. I fought the urge to turn around and kept looking at Luna. 

She stamped her hoof as she charged her horn again and shot another magic missile at me. 

I lazily tilted my head just out of the way of the blast. Her attacks seemed slower than usual, which perplexed me. She didn't seem to be holding back. 

"Adam, you slightly accelerated thy body again." Nightmare explained. "However do not waste thy power!" she warned.

That made sense; I guess my standards for her deteriorated after her speech. 

Another magical bullet broke me from my thoughts. "Y'know I'm getting really tired of dodging your attacks." I taunted. 

Luna snorted as she charged something bigger. 

I focused on Luna and myself, my individual body parts. I could be fast if I wanted to; I just have to believe that I am fast, maybe if I mimicked something that's also fast.

What's fast? Uhh, Sonic, Flash, Jets, Lightning McQueen? No, not the kind of speed I need -wait! What about that thing Sasuke had? The uh Rinnegan, with that, he just teleported instantly. Maybe instead of forcing myself to accelerate, I could just teleport.

I hardened my gaze; now that I had a plan, I could focus on what I needed to teleport without any flashy stuff. I just needed to be over there. 

I got into a position with my fist raised; I was ready to strike as soon as I got over there.

Instantly my vision swirled, and I felt weightless for a moment. Then I felt the gravity of the world return to my shoulders, and I was standing again. I felt slightly off-balance, but what caught my attention was Luna dangerously in front of me. 

Without thinking, I thrust my fist forward, and I felt like I had punched a brick wall. To my surprise, I had hit a white dome of magic. My fist bounced back as if the dome was made out of rubber, sending my whole body off balance.

Immediately, the white bubble of magic faded, and Luna shot forward. 

Hot pain struck through my chest. My eyes darted down, and I saw a white transparent blade injected into my chest. I quickly looked back up at Luna and saw a smile creep onto her face. Several more magic swords burst into existence; they sat suspended in the air. Each blade was then sent forward. Every one of them dug into various places in my body, causing almost mind-numbing pain. My arms and legs spasmed as if electricity was sent through them. 

I wanted to scream but I couldn't. I tried to move, but I couldn't. My body felt so heavy like I was sinking in a pool of thick oil. My arms and legs wouldn't respond. I felt like my mind was trapped in my own body. My concentration was gone; I couldn't think straight. My thoughts were hazy and muddled. I lost; if I couldn't focus, then I couldn't use my powers. I got too laid back, and I messed it all up; now I'm going to be here for eternity.

Was this it? Just a minute into the fight and I'm already out? I really screwed up; I'm so stupid, I keep holding back even though I know she wants me dead. I fucked up.

My vision dimmed, the grass turned pale, and the world's color turned into a depressing shade. Everything slowly got darker..darker...darker….and darker, until finally, the inky blackness of darkness enveloped my vision. 

"It is far from over!" 

My vision clicked back on, and my body was full of energy. I quickly regained my stance, and an invisible force swept me off my feet and away from Luna. 

When I stopped, I quickly pulled a sword out of my shoulder, breaking the blade down into a blue dream goo and absorbing it. The pain was long gone, and I felt great. I wasted no time pulling out the rest of the swords and drinking them. I was just so...excited in a sense. 

"Forgive us for our absence; we were...getting used to thee." Nightmare awkwardly said.

"Thank God you're here! Luna is stronger than ever; I don't think I can beat her!" I exclaimed, shaking my head. 

"Indeed, she is powerful. However, she would not hath been an issue if somepony did not...fuck it all up-mmm yes we do enjoy that word." I could feel Nightmare smirking. 

"Okay, okay! I get it; I messed up! Just help me out!-AH!" A not-so manly shriek escaped my mouth as I jumped out of the way of the White Mare barreling towards me. 

"However," Nightmare began, completely ignoring me. "Thou hast all the tools thy needs to defeat her, and now thou hast me." 

"What?!" I asked, feeling a little pissy. 

Luna rapidly flapped her broad wings, quickly rising high in the sky. She stopped when she was right in front of the bright moon. Her body turned from white to pure black as she blocked the moon. The only features I could make out was her glowing pure white eyes. 

My fear returned with a vengeance. I felt so small compared to Luna, and I was afraid of what she planned to do up there. This was supposed to be easy, but I couldn't think. I had no ideas because I was so focused on just surviving. 

"Thy mind does not have the experience to manipulate dream magic as we can. That is where we shall assist thee. We shall refine thy skills and keep thee focused." Nightmare explained. 

Luna's horn flashed, and two giant white circles appeared in the sky. Each one was bigger than the moon itself. The rings were filled with unknown symbols and markings that reminded me of a zentangle art project. These symbols slowly rotated in circles like gears in a giant machine. As the magic circles turned, they grew brighter as if they were gaining power. 

"Art thou ready?" Nightmare asked, her tone shifted from stern and demanding to soft and understanding. 

"Yeah, and I really mean it this time," I affirmed. 

I looked up, and Luna's circles were spinning so fast that they were a blur. She was almost ready. 

I knelt and plunged my hands into the ground. I forced my magic into the very foundations of the dream and pushed Luna's influence out. The lock she placed on the dream was unbreakable, so I couldn't escape, but I still had control of the very dream itself.

The white circles in the sky were spinning even faster now; I could even feel the tingle of power they emitted. Then, an orb of light passed through a circle and crashed into the ground a few meters away from me. The orb shook the ground with its explosion and charred the earth where it struck. Then another sphere of light struck the earth having the same effect as the last one. Dozens of orbs simultaneously hit the ground, tearing into the dirt. The balls of light were spewing from the magic circles, like a Gatling gun of mass destruction. It had no accuracy, but it was carpeting the area in explosions, and if I didn't do something soon, I would be in trouble. 

I pulled my hands out of the ground and stood up. My fingers felt like they were attached to invisible strings connecting me to the ground. Like a puppeteer, I began to pull at the strings, and the ground in front of me rose and curved over me. A half-circle of dirt and stone protected me from several explosions. Each blast tore chunks out of my shield, quickly eating away at my only defense. 

I threw both my arms down to the side in a stylish manner, and the wall of rock and earth retreated into the ground. 

My eyes lock onto the darkened form of the mare in front of the moon. 

As if gravity reversed, I shot up towards Luna. Magic missiles whizzed past me and just barely missed me. 

Black feathered wings suddenly burst out of my back, and with a hard flap, I'm pushed out of the way of an orb of light. My wings had a mind of their own, and they effortlessly weaved me through the blanket of balls in the sky. 

I never felt so alive; I was flying! Sure, it wasn't the first time, but I felt like I was flying. 

"Now is not the time to be so easily distracted." Nightmare said forcefully. She sounded pretty distracted herself; maybe she was controlling my wings. 

I felt like I was strapped into a roller coaster; I was just here for the ride. My wings, however, were much more proactive. They turned, dipped down, and did so many flips with accuracy and grace that would take me years ever to master. Clearly, these wings knew what they were doing. I could hear the soft flapping of my wings as they snapped to attention in a seemingly random direction, but no matter which way they turned, they kept pulling me up. 

Which was symbolic of our relationship—Nightmare and I, I was a vessel for her to raise me; raise me above what I ever could've been. I didn't love her romantically, but I did really care for her. She was the only one there for me when no one else could've been, which is why I owe it to her to get her out of here. 

I was at a steady advance towards—no above Luna. Once I passed those magic circles, they would be virtually useless, but that was getting increasingly difficult due to the sheer amount of magic bombs spilled out of the rings. The wings were doing an excellent job at evading these projectiles, but it wasn't enough. I needed something more, something yellow. 

"Nightmare, I got an idea but, I need you to keep us steady," I said. She didn't respond; however, most likely, she was focused on keeping us safe. She did acknowledge me by lowering our altitude and slowly giving up ground to Luna. 

This is kind of an advanced move, but what I'm creating is a pretty simple creature. I closed my eyes and tried to ignore the feeling of my body jerking left and right while balls of light whizzed past me. Like I was in a pitch-black workshop, I went to work. I imagined a bright yellow sphere and then visualized a triangular cut in the sphere like a slice of cake. The cut area quickly darkened to an almost pitch-black shade. I placed two black ovals over the creature's front to finish it off—these would be its eyes. I opened my eyes, and the basketball-sized creature was cradled in my arms. 

"Pacman!" I shouted in victory. That's right; I had created the most iconic character in gaming history. However, despite his complete appearance, he was still a husk—a body without a brain. He needed some commands to get him going. 

I pressed my black bony fingers into Pacman's head, and they sunk through—straight to his core. I sent my thoughts through my fingers and straight into him. I gave him three simple commands. 

"Find the magic. Absorb the magic. Reproduce." These were the only commands I gave him, and they would be more than enough to complete his task. "Oh, also, don't eat my magic." I hastily added, it would've been quite the predicament if he tried to absorb me.

I plucked my fingers from Pacman's skull and let him go. He hovered in the air and slowly rotated like a planet in orbit. He seemed like he was unfocused and was calibrating himself like a machine. 

Suddenly his mouth twitched, and his whole body slightly tilted at an odd angle. Confused, I slowly reached out and poked the side of his head. I felt what would be the equivalent of a static shock when I touched him. 

"Ow! You jerk!" I shouted in surprise, quickly retracting my sore finger. 

Just like that Pacman was full of life, he completely ignored me and flew past me. With his iconic shrill and grainy "waka waka," he charged forward alone into the cloud of magic balls. 

"I guess he needed a jumpstart of magic." I shrugged, and then my wings flapped hard. I was a few feet behind Pacman, but I intended to stay behind him. I had to find out if he could do what I told him to do. 

Pacman's maw opened and closed wildly as he was racing to intercept the closest ball of light. It took no time for a magic missile to connect with Pacman's eager mouth and his mouth enclosed over the ball, and it was gone, but he kept going forward.

"Wait, you're supposed to reproduce!" But my words had fallen on deaf ears that I didn't create. "Damn, maybe I need to specifically tell him how to reproduce. That would make sense; he is something that acts only on its commands. Great, now I'm going to catch up to hi-" I paused because while I was mulling, a second Pacman appeared. "....what?" 

I watched as the second Pacman ate a magic ball and continued on its way. That Pacman slowly grew larger until its size was nearly doubled. Then, in an instant, it flashed a bright white, and another basketball-sized Pacman split from the first one. When that happened, the original Pacman went back to its average size. 

"Huh. So it works like bacteria, I guess." I shrugged in mid-air before I was forced to the right, narrowly avoiding a ball of magic. "Thanks," I said on instinct as if this was normal. 

Already there were about twelve Pacmans...Pacmen? They were quickly growing in number, and all I could do was wait. However, my wings had a different plan, and they refused to sit idly. They rocketed me straight to the front, using the opening of magic blasts the Pacmen created. But, we passed the yellow creatures and were right back into the spinning runes' full power. We were back to trying to weave through a blanket of destructive magic and to be honest; it was all pretty stupid to me. 

"Nightmare chill!" I shouted, trying to halt her advance but to no avail; she either couldn't hear me or chose to ignore me. Rightly pissed, I visualized the strings I had rooted into the foundations of the dream, and I pulled back. I was causing us to halt our advance suddenly. 

"What art thou doing?!" Nightmare hissed. "I was almost there!" 

I rotated my arm in circles, wrapping the invisible strings around my hand tightly, and pulled harder. We plunged behind the incoming waves of Pacmen. 

"I don't give a shit; you need to be patient." I scolded. "I don't need you putting us in dangers we don't need to worry about." 

"We can do this, thee needeth to trust us!" Nightmare pleaded; I could hear the strain in her voice as her wings fought against me.

"I do trust you, but you need to trust me too!" I shouted. "We're supposed to be a team, but you keep trying to do all of the work! All we need to do is hang back and let the Pacmen do their jobs!" 

"No! I'm tired of waiting; we must seize our chance while it is still here!" Nightmare replied. 

"You're the one who always talked about patience, so why are you being so stupid right now!" I angrily responded. "Are you bipolar?! Because you're really screwing up our plan!" 

"Don't thou dare call us strange names! We shall cut thy tongue off for such an insult!" Nightmare threatened. 

"Ooo, scary!" I said sarcastically, "Yeah, make threats when you have a body to something. Just take a hint and realize that you're fucking everything up!" I took a deep breath; I needed to calm myself. "Look," I began calmly, "We can't be fighting like this. We need to be on the same page, y'know?" 

My words seemed to calm Nightmare considerably, "Agreed, which is why thou should stop impeding us." 

"I swear, Nightmare, I'm not gonna keep going back and forth with you. You need to chill out! We aren't going to take any more unnecessary risks!" I stated.

"It's thy fault that we are here! Thou was supposed to only take the child's fear and leave! But nay! Somepony had to use their magic to save a colt who was soooo scared!" Nightmare mockingly replied. 

"Okay! I accept that blame for that, but that has nothing to do with what's happening right now. We need to work together, or else we will be trapped here forever! So, I'm please just wait; we don't need to rush into things right now." I pleaded, trying desperately to get through to her. 

Nightmare sighed, and her voice softened, "We suppose that we can see the strategy in letting your...creations 'do their thing.' However, we wish to be heard too! We wish to have a say in our strategy!" Nightmare emphasized. 

"I understand, and I'm sorry that I made you feel like you haven't had a choice in what we do. But you gotta admit, man, you're usually pretty quiet." I explained. 

Nightmare spoke slowly, "We suppose we have been a little too...observant." We hovered in contemplation; none of us knew what to say at that moment. "And we... apologize …for being uncooperative, we shall try to follow your plan." 

"Pssh, don't worry about it," I waved her off, "We are partners, comrades, amigos, friends, and in this moment, we gotta work together to get out of here. No more discourse! And certainly no more fighting between us! It's like you said before we are one, and now we gotta start acting like it." I ranted. 

"We...I...trust you...and I believe in you, so please do what we could not, please defeat Luna." Nightmare sounded broken, but I knew she was genuine. This was probably the first time she had someone to rely on, and it must be hard for her to admit that she needs my help. 

"I promise I will, and you just watch my back and keep me focused," I told her. I released my magical grasp on the ground, and we slowly ascended. 

"Yes." It was the single reply I got from Nightmare, but she was determined. 

I looked up, and holy shit, there was a lot of Pacmen now! It was practically a sea of Pacmen advancing on Luna, and their numbers were still growing. This was our chance to get to her finally. 

As if on cue, my wings snapped to attention and quickly thrust me upwards with hard flaps. I easily cleared the distance between the Pacmen and us. Then, I entered the swarm of Pacmen, flying past the dozens, maybe hundreds of yellow faces. Each Pacman raced fearlessly towards the looming circles above them, and I was getting ready to lead the charge. I matched their energy and rushed to get ahead of most of them, but I still kept a few ahead of me as shields. 

We were getting pretty close, actually, and my plan was working quite well. The Pacmen are still relatively slow, which was good initially, but this was starting to get dull. So, I thought that I would speed this process up a little bit. 

I pointed a finger gun at one of the Pacmen, and an arc of electricity shot out at the yellow ball. The electricity traveled straight through the creature and jumped to the next one. The arc hopped from Pacman to Pacman and quickly moved through them at an incredible speed. I began firing these arcs in every direction and silently watched as sparks of electricity jumped every which way. It was somewhat fun, actually, like playing one of those arcade games with the plastic guns. 

A storm of sparks jumped through the Pacmen, and then suddenly, all of them came back to me. Dozens of sparks danced through the air and entered back into me quite violently. My body slightly spasmed as the electricity came back into me. However, my wings were unaffected by the shock. 

After my mini seizure, I gazed upon my work. The Pacmen were glowing now and were even faster now. Like really fast now. 

"Hm, so thou made them faster by sending a magical signal through their cores. Very wise Adam." Nightmare complimented. It felt weird being praised by her, but I still accepted the compliment as any human being would. 

"Thanks." I responded, "And, uh, good luck not getting tazed." I teased. 

"Our magical core is much denser than thy simple creations." Nightmare gloated. It was pretty typical for her to compliment herself, and I'd just have to work harder for her to compliment me instead. 

"Mmhmm," I mumbled, not knowing how to respond to that.

I focused my attention back on what was ahead of us. My Pacmen were now advancing much faster than before, and we were finally making significant progress. My wings had to struggle a little to keep up with them. I finally felt like we were getting somewhere; I had single-handedly nullified her attack using barely any magic. I continued to move within the swarm of Pacmen and even closer to Luna. Then, I felt a shiver up my spine, the same tingly feeling I felt before something terrible was about to happen. 

But, I couldn't tell what was happening; my vision was covered by Pacmen. I felt myself getting anxious, and fear prickled up where my stomach would be. I needed to fucking move right now!

"Nightmare! Move out of the way!" I yelled in desperation. My wings turned direction, and I was swiftly moved to the right. My body was freaking out and throwing warning signs all over the place. 

"Calm down Adam, what hast thou so troubled?" Nightmare asked, sounding a little panicked. Just then, everything went deathly silent, and a beam of light considerably more massive than me had driven through the horde of Pacmen. Every single Pacman that was where I just was had vanished. A hole had formed in our army, and through it, I could see a direct path leading straight to Luna. 

"Shit! Move!" I exclaimed. The prickles of fear just wouldn't go away. I clutched my sides, trying to alleviate the pain, but I just couldn't take it. I let out a cry of pain as Nightmare's wings carried me in a different direction. 

Just as we moved away, another beam of light crashed through our last location, and the Pacmen that were there were gone. Through the pain, I looked on in surprise. She was specifically targeting me. 

"Adam! How did thou know when she would attack?" Nightmare asked. She seemed genuinely shocked. 

I shook my head, "I-I don't know, I just felt in danger." I explained. Maybe I could sense her intentions, or perhaps I could feel her cold glare on me. But, the pain was mostly gone, so that I could think rationally now. 

I looked around and noticed how a lot of Pacmen had been eradicated with just those two attacks. If I didn't do something fast, they would all be destroyed. Thinking quickly, I sent out dozens of invisible strings. Each one carefully traveled through a Pacman, and through its core, it was like threading string through beads to make a necklace. Then fear stabbed my chest, halting my concentration and killing any rational thoughts. However, I did notice that I felt much worse than I had before. It was a sign that I was not going to take lightly.

"Go, Nightmare, and don't stop moving!" I cried out. I don't know why but we needed to go. Someone big was happening.

Nightmare took my warning seriously and immediately changed her direction, just narrowly avoiding another beam of magic. 

"God it hurts! Please keep going!" I begged. My ears were ringing, and I lost grip on reality. This mind-numbing pain was seriously pissing me off. 

Nightmare did keep moving and moved in strange directions, trying to avoid an attack that had no pattern and no warning. 

I closed my eyes and did my best to focus. The ringing in my ears blocked all sound, and the throbbing pain in my torso stole my attention. I just needed to concentrate. Just focus on my own words in my head. Let this pain subside—let this pain disappear. Now go away. Shoo! I don't want you here anymore! Bad pain! Ow! That made it worse. Okay, okay...please go away…

Apparently, I just needed to ask nicely. The pain was still there, but it had faded away substantially. I felt so much better; heck, even the ringing in my ears was gone. 

"ADAM!" My eyes snapped open as I heard the angered tone of Nightmare. 

"W-what?" I asked drowsily. My body swung to the side as Nightmare dived, just barely dodging a beam of light. 

"If thou hast any ideas, then please feel free to say so!" Nightmare shouted with a strain in her voice. She was getting tired, and it must be bad because even I could notice. 

Shit! she's only firing lasers now. "Uh-uh-uh, hold on!" I panicked. I feverishly looked around, trying to get a grasp of my situation. 

Just then, another laser broke through the Pacmen. Nightmare's wings folded, trying to drop below the blast. But, this shot was aimed dead center. 

My eyes widened as the blinding stream of magic flooded my entire vision. 

Then...nothing...happened...Was my death, painless? This wasn't that bad...could use a few more colors other than just white. As a matter of fact, I don't think I can even see myself here in this mysterious room of...whiteness! 

"Would thou stop it with thy delusions! We are still alive!" Nightmare roared. 

"Wh-huh?!" I blurted out, confused. I shook my head vigorously, and the whiteness in my vision began to clear. I saw the night sky, the green grass below, the Pacmen still fearlessly charging, and I saw-A GODDAMN BEAM AHHH!

Then there wasn't a beam, but I felt off. Like out of place. 

"Adam! Snap out of thy stupor; we merely just teleported thou!" Nightmare explained. 

"Oh," That would make sense, "Oh shit!" I exclaimed. I don't have time to do this! I need to finish what I started. "Okay, Nightmare, just keep dodging as long as you can; I need a little bit more time." I didn't wait for a reply; I just got straight to work. 

Flexing my fingers, I felt the strings I had made earlier and reconnected to them. Each one immediately slithered towards more Pacmen at a swift pace. I didn't dare pay attention to what Nightmare had to do and just focused on my task at hand, but I did need to hurry. My strings were more like arcs of lightning with how much speed I pumped into these puppies. I quickly got every Pacman I needed. 

Finally, I looked up and paid attention to reality aaaannnnnd we were still alive! That was good news! 

"Alright, I'm going to clear the skies!" I shouted. I firmly gripped the magical strings in my hands and pulled my arms over each other. Every Pacman on either side veered to the left and right respectively to meet in the middle. They all kept going towards the sky, but they were now all in a huge clump. 

"Damn, these dudes must really want some of that magic," I mumbled. Then an idea struck me, "Nightmare, I got a plan, stay behind the Pacmen." I told her. 

She quickly carried us behind the mass of Pacmen jammed together. "I hope thou knows what thy is doing." Nightmare said, Clearly skeptical of my abilities. 

I just nodded in response and shot one more command through the strings I had firmly implanted in each of the Pacmen. Merge.

Then in a graphic display, each Pacman violently clashed and squished together. Their skin melted like yellow mucus, and they connected with one another. They formed a mass of dripping liquid that never fell off; it just kept rolling around the round blob of yellow. It was over very quickly, but there were some stragglers who just dug into the mass and disappeared. 

I shivered in disgust at the scene ahead of me. That was the most disgusting thing I had ever had to witness. Well, minus that time I rearranged my entire body. 

Anyways, the Pacmen blob had smoothed out, and all that remained was a gigantic Pacman. As its mouth bounced up and down, I felt a burst of air. The absolute power of this thing was incredible. 

My wings jumped to action and flew me on top of the giant Pacman. I took a few seconds to sit in a comfortable criss-cross fashion, and then I plunged my hand into the giant creature. I sent a powerful boost of energy into the monster and held onto its core as its head bobbed up and down. 

"WOOOOO!!!" I cried in excitement. We were in maximum overdrive now, and it was a very rocky ride up to Luna. As we rapidly ascended, I noticed that the magic circles were narrower and more compact. That must have been how she was firing lasers now. Each spinning ring had tilted and was pointed directly at us. I also noticed that the circles were quite bright now. I felt a tingling sensation in my stomach again, but this time it was toned down since the last time. 

The rotating circles flashed a blinding white before a beam of light was discharged. They made no sound, but I could feel the buzz of the energy just pouring off of this attack. 

I flinched as the magic laser came right at us, and I closed my eyes. I felt nothing, not even the pressure from the blast. I opened my eyes, and it worked! Pacman was big enough to eat the magic! We rode forward undeterred by anything she could throw at us now. 

Before I could begin celebrating, I felt a massive amount of energy charge through me. It felt like I hit my funny bone. It didn't hurt, but it didn't feel right either. It was hard to explain. 

We were very close, and she was just a few meters ahead of me. This was my time to act now! As another blast of magic was sent our way, I gripped the Pacman's core much tighter. With my other hand, I lightly rubbed Pacman's head and whispered, "Thank you for your hard work." Within the next second, I forcefully ripped the round black core out of Pacman. Then, I jumped off of him, and my wings instantly took flight. 

I glanced down and watched as another beam of light eradicated the defenseless husk of the Pacman. I felt a tinge of sorrow, but I couldn't focus on that. I sucked the magic out of the core and felt it get smaller and smaller until finally becoming nothing in my hand. I used this burst of energy and conjured a powerful gust of wind that rocketed me up, past the circles, and finally up to Luna. 

I was finally faced with the pony I've been trying to get my hands on for the longest time. Part of me wanted to savor this moment, but my more responsible side decided to end this little game. I raised my black fist and prepared to strike, but then I stopped for a moment. 

"Were her eyes closed?!" I asked, bewildered. I felt my anger rising, "What the FUCK!!!" I exclaimed as my fist came down on her at lightning speeds. She quickly shot down and impacted the ground, leaving a sizable crater. 

"Ah, so she was sensing thou, that explains how she was so accurate." Nightmare said mostly to herself. "Adam those pains thou had felt; it was thy aura conflicting with Luna's." Nightmare explained. 

"That's cool and all, but I'm still pissed," I said while descending towards where I slammed Luna. 

She was completely unharmed and encased in a bright white shield. With her hooves planted onto the ground, she dropped the magic dome around her. Her eyes finally opened, and then she spoke, "You finally made it, I almost fell asleep up there." She made an exaggerated yawn and even put her hoof up to her mouth. "But, I suppose I've gotten used to my new power." Luna said calmly before a spear of white light flashed into existence in front of her. "It's time we take a more...hooves-on approach." her silver hair swished in the nonexistent wind, and her face had a stern look. 

With a flap of her wings, she had lifted herself out of the crater she was in, and then she lightly drifted forward and landed in the grass. 

I quickly brought myself to the ground to match her. My wings disappeared as well because they were no longer needed. As soon as my feet touched the ground, a familiar feeling of excitement had returned. Only this time, I could tell she was just as eager as I was. 

"Yeah yeah, you're all-powerful and pure and shit, so let's just finish this thing," I replied, trying to speed things up. I held out my hand and visualized a powerful weapon to aid me in this fight. Moments later, I felt a sizable amount of weight in my hand, and a giant sword had appeared in my grasp. 

The sword was pretty simple in design, but the sheer size of it made up for it. It was almost as big as me and was very wide; I'd have considered it a club if it weren't for its sharpened edges. The blade was double-edged and ran straight down before sharply turning to a triangular point. 

I gazed upon the sword with awe and slowly lowered my wrists to point the sword at Luna. Despite the size of this enormous weapon, it felt like I was just holding a long stick. It was perfect; this would be the weapon to crack that shield of hers. The Dragon Slayer would get the job done. 

Luna looked at the large sword with confusion and curiosity. Her head slowly cocked to the side as she said, "That is quite...the interesting weapon, yet very unwieldy in combat. Do you truly believe you can keep up with a sword of that size?" She held back a laugh as she inspected my sword. 

I chuckled at her response, "Come on, Luna, you've been here longer than me, and you still don't understand. This is all a dream." Suddenly with incredible speeds, I was in front of her with my sword held high above my head, and I then swung down with all of my might. The blade connected with Luna's rigid shield and crashed right through as if the shield was made out of white glass. 

Luna swiftly moved to the right, narrowly avoiding the incoming sword. Using that momentum, she jumped backward to put more distance between us. She must've been quite surprised by my display. 

When the sword hit the ground, a shockwave threw up all of the loose dirt and clouded the area. The dust finally settled; I pulled my sword out of the ground and looked directly at Luna. I could see the look of surprise on her face for a moment before she turned it into an annoyed expression. 

"Where did your spear go?" I asked sarcastically while looking around dramatically. "Looks like somebody lost their focus." That statement only heightened her angered expression.

A combination of magical swords and spears took their place behind Luna. "That was a miscalculation on my part; however, do not expect me to fall for any more of your tricks." she said as she sent all of the weapons in my direction. 

Holding my sword with two hands, I charged forward. I swatted the first flying spear out of the air without losing any speed and leaned out of the way of the next one. Halting my advance, I raised my sword, using the wide blade to shield myself from the incoming swords. Each time a weapon connected with mine, an audible clang sounded throughout the dreamscape.

Getting tired of defending myself, I moved into action. I felt everything slowing down as I increased my speeds. 

"I have told thou about wasting thy power." Nightmare warned. "We cannot afford for thou to lose our strength. To do so would mean our certain defeat!" 

"Trust me, Nightmare, I know what I'm doing," I assured. Trying to conserve energy, I accelerated my speed in small bursts, almost the time it takes to blink. 

In one instant, I had passed a sword, and in the next, I was right in front of Luna. She was not surprised by this, and she held a spear in her magical grasp in defense. This spear was different from the ones she was throwing at me. It was made of actual metal and not just pure white. This metal had a dark blue tint with a crescent moon branded into the head of the spear. This spear's magnificent head sat upon a simple metal rod that made up the spear's base. 

My sword came down upon this spear, and despite the size difference, her spear didn't break or even budge under the weight. She then tilted her spear at an angle, causing my sword to slide down the spear's pole and embed itself into the ground. This threw me off balance and gave her the chance to drive her spear directly at my chest. 

Thinking quickly, I let go of Dragon Slayer and felt the sting of her spear along my chest as I barely avoided her attack. She wasn't finished. However, her spear jerked backward and was thrust at me again. 

Four large red tentacles burst out from my lower spine and safely lifted my body off the ground above Luna's spear. Each tentacle was firmly planted into the ground, and I had full control of each one. Luna was at least six feet below me, and she was focused on the four tentacle-like appendages. Her spear bounced off the almost crystalline red tentacle, and she quickly shifted her gaze up to me. Then her spear changed directions and rocketed upwards at me. I quickly swatted it away with a tentacle and went on the offensive. Moving quickly, I retracted the red appendages to a reasonable length so I could stand on my own. 

Each red appendage curved around my body and hung over me. They pulsed an ominous mixture of red and black, and they were more like a fox's tail and came down to a point at the end, making them quite dangerous. 

Luna had her spear back into her grasp and held it defensively. I was a very unusual opponent, so she had to stay on her hooves if she wanted to keep up with me. 

Then each tentacle shot forward. With impressive force, she slammed the first one down into the ground with her spear. Moving quickly, she dodged the next tentacle and hurled the spear in her telekinetic grip at me. 

I quickly retracted all of the red appendages into my body as I narrowly avoided the thrown spear. They were too much to keep track of and used way too much magic to keep them hardened. 

Luna charged ahead with a new spear in her magical grip and jammed it right into my chest. 

I ignored the spear and lunged forward, which pushed the spear further into my body. With both arms outstretched, I reached both sides of Luna's head and gripped them tight. Her horn lost its magical glow as her concentration was cut off. Suddenly a flood of information rushed through me. 

Thoughts and memories passed through me. Shreds of information just flew by. I couldn't possibly hope to take in all of the years of data stored within this mare. Some critical pieces of knowledge sort of stuck with me, but most of it went straight out of me. But I didn't care about what she knew or what her memories were. I was here to drop off some information of my own.

Luna violently thrashed against my tight grip but to no avail. I wasn't letting go, and I was putting every ounce of my strength to hold her in place. Despite how much she shook, struggled, and pushed against me, I wasn't moving. Her front hooves scraped against the ground over and over as she tried to force her way through me. She was furious and was almost growling at me as she continued to struggle.

I felt the spear passing through me as my body healed and closed its wound. I'm gonna have to thank Nightmare for that later.

"I got her, Nightmare! Hurry up and do what you gotta do!" my voice strained as I shouted, she was pretty intense, and I couldn't keep holding her forever. 

"Leave it to us, Adam, we shall take care of the rest." Nightmare responded confidently. 

I watched as my arms slowly turned back to their bleached white color as the black color of Nightmare flowed out of them and onto Luna's pure white coat. A blotch of inky black traveled all along her body, snuffing out any of the glowing white fur it touched. 

Luna began to panic and doubled her efforts to escape my grip. 

I grunted as she actually jerked my hands back as she flailed around, trying to find and exploit any kind of slack in my grip. Without Luna's fear fueling me, it was becoming tough to keep her in place. 

But despite how she tossed and turned, the black, almost goo-like substance continued to meticulously cover every inch of her body. As more of Luna's fear covered her, I could feel her getting slightly sluggish. However, as more of her fear left me, I also got weaker, so it was a stalemate. The first one to let up would lose this conflict. 

All that was left of her fear were tiny strands that silently flowed off my arms and streamed onto her head. 

At that moment, Luna's horn activated and cast a powerful pulse that knocked me onto my back. 

Now free, Luna raised her black forelegs off the ground and spread her now dark wings wide in a display of dominance and strength. She towered high above me and held a look of hatred that burned into my soul. Her eyes shined like a lighthouse warning oncoming ships of dangerous shores. Her horn shined bright, charged with some hazardous and likely painful spell. I felt that familiar tingling sensation come back in full force. I didn't want to die.

In some poor attempt to defend myself, I held my arms out and covered my head almost on instinct. All of my confidence and all of my ideas meant nothing at this moment because all of it would come to an end just like that. All of the ponies I had helped meant nothing; all of my hopes meant nothing, everyone I had ever met and cared for meant nothing. All that mattered right now was survival, yet all I could do was cower like a frightened infant. I was powerless to stop her because I was alone. 

Gravity pulled Luna down; it pulled the front of her body back to the earth along with all of her might, and all of her malice, and all of her hatred, and all of her power directly onto me. It felt like she carried the weight of the world on her shoulders to add some more pressure to her attack. This was it; this was where I was going to disappear forever.

I waited for the inevitable to come....but it never did. Luna just stopped moving, like she was frozen in time. Then I noticed her horn stopped glowing, and her eyes were no longer glowing white but were now black voids that seemed to go on forever. 

I sat up from my position and carefully watched Luna's motionless body before sighing in relief. "We did it!!!" I cheered, "I can't believe we actually won!" I stood all the way up and approached Luna's body triumphantly. 

I got right into her face, almost pressing my snout against hers, "That's what happens when you fuck with the Dream Team! The peeps with a plan! The Dreaming Scheme—AHHHHH" 

A black droopy appendage launches out of the black pony mass and quickly pulls me into the heap of fear and Nightmare. I'm swallowed without any resistance and disappear. 






Luna


I awoke with a jolt; I glanced around my dim room before calming down. The thoughts of what had transpired in the Dream Realm came back to me. I had failed again! 

I had them both right where I wanted them, and I let them slip through my hooves! I should not have toyed with them; I should have just crushed them right then and there! I should have known that discarding my negative emotions would only make them stronger! What was I thinking?! And, of course, Nightmare Moon had a hoof in this. She's always been there, and she will always be a thorn in my side. 

I pick up a nearby pillow and jam it into my face. I let out a muffled scream that held all of my pain into it, but it barely did anything to quell my anger. I picked up said pillow and hurled it into a wall. I growled in frustration and sat completely still in thought. My mind ran rampant with ideas of revenge and absolute hatred for that wretched creature. 

I would have my revenge, that beast may have bested me this time, but next time I won't hold back. I will not stop until they are gone; I shall never let my pride get in the way of my duties to my subjects. 

I let out a breath of dismay, "Which means I must swallow my pride and request help from my sister." I slowly stood up and made my way to my door. This was the only choice I had left; I can not trust myself to handle this independently. 

Before I reached the door, I felt a feeling of extreme discomfort. My chest heaved as my breathing quickened, and my legs wobbled in complete fear. My body was telling me to run! To get as far away from here as possible, I ignored those signals and stayed perfectly still. 

Clack...clack...clack...clack…

My ears swiveled to pinpoint the sound as the rest of my body refused to move. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up, and my breathing was out of control. I was utterly panicking, but why? I've never felt like this ever; I have never feared for my life so much.

Clack...clack...clack…

It was getting closer and closer with each step. Every slap of whatever creature was behind me sent shivers through my spine. 

Clack...clack…..clack…….

Then, the sound ceased, and that sound was replaced with my ragged breaths. For a few agonizing seconds, I waited in silence; I waited for anything to happen. Still, I didn't dare to look behind. 

A gentle rush of hot air tickled the hairs on the back of my head. Each strand that was touched by this creature's breath sent numbing arcs of electricity through my body. 

"Turn around." It commanded eerily.

I recognized that voice and jolted when it spoke. Every fiber of my being feared this creature, yet despite that, my body followed its command. I didn't want to turn around. I didn't want to face this creature, not now. But, I couldn't control my own actions. I was a prisoner in my own body. I knew who it was, but I didn't want to look at him! I just couldn't look at him! Please don't make me look at him!

My body jerked around, and I was face to face with the monster I had been chasing in the Dream Realm. It was a creature made of bone that defies all laws of nature. This creature had no eyeballs to speak of, yet it stared at me with floating blue, glowing pupils. It had the skull of a large dog with a long snout, and it had the horns of a demon straight out of Tartarus. 

We stared at each other motionless for a moment that dragged on forever. His eyes scanned my body or perhaps even further than that. 

"Are you afraid?" he asked, looking deeply into my eyes. 

Without even thinking, I lightly nodded my head. Unable to look anywhere else besides this creature's piercing gaze. 

It's jaw morphed and deformed into a crooked smile that would give nightmares to anyone. 

"Don't worry. I won't hurt you here," the creature assured before raising both of its skeletal hands to either side of my head. "You look tired; how about you have a good night's sleep." 

My mouth opened and closed, but no sound came out. I tried to scream as its hands got closer and closer, but I just couldn't. I felt both hands gently press against both sides of my head as I stared into those blue eyes before everything turned black.
> Nightmares Coming to Life For Real
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Adam


Luna’s fearful expression disappeared, and she fell limp in my hands. I released my grip on her head and let her body fall to the floor. Her legs folded under her own weight, and she collapsed in a heap of legs, wings, and magical hair. Now that I could actually observe her peacefully, I noticed how she is slightly muscular compared to any of the other ponies I’ve encountered. She was still slim however, the closest thing I could compare her to is a Great Dane. Looks aside, there was something that I had to investigate now that I had the chance. 

I reached down and gently dipped my fingers into her flowing hair. I instantly felt a cool sensation which was almost like holding my hand in a freezer. The starry night sky that was her hair flowed around my fingers, and it was almost therapeutic watching the tiny stars in her hair swirl around my digits. Then, I realized that I was playing with an unconscious woman's hair and quickly retracted my hand and looked for something else to focus on. 

“Well, that was easy, I thought I was gonna have to do whole ‘nother big fight,” I said, changing the subject and crossing my arms.

I glanced around the room, and it was quite spacious. However, the room had a gloomy look to it. Her bed was large even for something like mine. Her sheets were dark blue and the covers that laid on top were a light shade of blue and the picture of a crescent moon in the center—go figure. The bed however was perfectly neat and didn’t have a single wrinkle on it. So, either these sheets were brand new, or she never used this bed. I spotted a large pillow on the floor that was about the size of a bean bag that suggested that she slept on that instead. She must have been a simpler kind of person. The windows were covered by thick dark curtains that blotted out most light from coming in. But the worst of it was the floor, there was no carpet or even a rug. Just a hard white floor that made my feet clack every time I took a step. This room did not feel like royalty and felt more like the room of a goth teenager. Then again, this princess is pretty goth, to be honest. 

Then, Luna’s unconscious body began to turn black like wood smoldering under a flame. Her legs began to stretch and grow to almost double their original length. Her chest, neck, and even horn went through a similar transformation until she was much bigger than she was. Eventually, the pitch black that smothered her body began to fade and return to its normal colors. Except they weren't Luna's normal colors. Her fur had turned jet black and pieces of armor appeared from under the retreating pitch black. The once unconscious seemingly dainty princess had turned into a dark armored monster. 

One pupil snapped open and darted rapidly from left to right before fully dilating like a reptile. The pony rose to her hooves and her horn towered over me. Her massive wings stretched to their full length, and she reared onto her hind legs. She was easily taller than me and it felt like she was trying to emphasize how physically imitating she was. 

With a flick of her magic, all of the curtains were thrown to the side. Sunlight flooded the room and bathed the once dim room in the rays of the Sun. Nightmare Moon held deep eye contact with me as her horn continued to sparkle. 

Behind her in the sky, the dark silhouette of the Moon crept upwards towards the Sun. The light that had once covered every corner of her room had retreated back from where it came as the Moon smothered the Sun. Finally, the Moon halted its journey and rested right in front of the once bright and warm ball of fire in the sky.

Nightmare's crazy cackling filled my ears as this event transpired. The person who I trust is acting like a maniac, and it seemed like every part of her body rejoiced in this moment. Her hair was more of a crazy storm. It whipped around wildly, almost smothering me in a cloud of darkness. 

The Moon pulsed and brilliant rays of darkness shone through the once dark room. It was so weird; this light was just like the sun's, but it was black. This light almost felt like sunlight, but it felt off. I couldn't describe it, but this light was just strange to me. 

Nightmare finished her bit of excitement and lowered her front hooves back on the floor. 

"We have done it, Adam! After so many years we have finally escaped the Dream Realm!" Nightmare excitedly said with an infectious grin on her face. 

This was the first time I had seen her so happy. It was a nice break from her usual authoritative self, however, her feeling of glee quickly subsided as she regained her composure. 

"However, we must still retake our Kingdom," she turned towards the closed door of the room. "We," she paused, "No. I will need thy assistance Adam, I do not wish to take any more chances when I am this close." It was more of a command rather than a question but that was the best I would ever get from this woman.

She continued to silently stare at that door as if that was the most interesting door in the world. 

I placed a hand on her back causing her to look back at me. "Of course I'll help you, we said we were in this together, remember?" 

Nightmare gives a small smile, "Yes, I remember." Suddenly her warm features turned cold and with a sparkling horn, she threw the door open. "Then onwards to take what is rightfully mine!" Nightmare exclaimed. 

She shrugged my hand off her back and moved through the doorway. I followed quietly as we traversed through the various marble halls. We passed many interesting portraits of art that I didn't get much of a chance to look at and intricate multicolored swirls and symbols stained into the glossy floor. 

"Hey, Nightmare?" I said, which slightly slowed her brisk pace. 

"Yes Adam?" she replied while glancing back at me. 

"If this is a castle...then where are all the people and the guards?" I asked, which earned a smirk from her. 

"We will run into my subjects soon," Nightmare affirmed. "This is Luna's wing of the castle and she always preferred to be alone. So, all of her staff and security tend to be dismissed." Nightmare explained as she resumed her pace. 

"Oh okay." I quietly responded. The castle felt so creepy given how barren it was. There were no other sounds besides the clop of Nightmare's hooves and the clicking of my feet on the hard floor. This whole situation was just unsettling and made me feel anxious. Anxious for the supposed battle ahead and I guess takeover of an entire nation. That part was still a little hard to believe, but I'm here now. I'm in a completely different world now with new creatures and cultures. I don't know how I should feel. I just feel confused, like I'm just going forward without processing anything.

My thoughts were cut short when I heard the muffled murmur of a crowd. I couldn’t exactly pick out what they were saying, but I could tell that they sounded distressed. What I did know is that we were moving closer to the voices, whether that was a good or bad thing is up for debate. 

Nightmare led us to a pair of thick plum-colored curtains. She hesitated and looked back at me. Her face flashed a look of nervousness before she took a breath and her ‘royal mask’ took over. 

We passed through the curtains and entered a large room. The room was a very elegant throne room with pillars that lined the halls and large painted windows that depicted various ponies in different positions. This hall was absolutely beautiful. I had never seen something so majestic in person before. No wonder Nightmare wants her kingdom back, this place is amazing! 

The first thing I noticed was that we entered beside the actual thrones–apparently there are two–which were situated at the top of an elegant and curvy ramp. 

The second thing I noticed was the small crowd of ponies wearing clothes. It felt strange but oddly cute, like a dog wearing clothes. However, what these ponies were saying certainly lessened their cuteness factor. 

They spouted things like it being ‘dark outside’, ‘sun tans ruined’, ‘tide changes’, and ‘blah blah blah.’ Then something took my attention. The thing that caught my eye was a particularly large white pony. That definitely had to be Princess Celestia with the crown and the large sun prints on her backside. The really really really old pony who controls the sun and sister of Luna. 

Honestly, she didn’t pass the pony cuteness factor, but she was elegantly beautiful in a way. She had a look of calmness and a commanding yet comforting aura about her. Like a motherly figure actually. She addressed her subjects, which quickly quieted the room. 

“I have heard and understand all of your concerns.” She takes a momentary pause, “I can assure you that this matter will be solved as soon as possible, but in the meantime, I will need you all to remain calm as we try to figure out this situation.” She easily took control of the situation and eased the atmosphere in the room, but her charismatic efforts were in vain when Nightmare finally made her appearance. 

“Oh yes, Celestia, please tell us how you are going to ‘solve’ us.” Nightmare mocked as she descended the stairs with a smirk on her face. 

All the fancy ponies took a step back in fear, but Celestia stepped in front of them, halting Nightmare’s advance, and unfurled her wings to their full span. Strangely enough, she reminded me of an angry goose defending her young. 

“What is the meaning of this?!” Celestia demanded, her eyes sternly locked onto Nightmare. “What have you done to Luna?!”

“Oh please! Do we really need to explain ourselves again, or have you forgotten us already?” Nightmare held a hoof to her chest as she feigned a look of hurt before her mouth twisted into a wicked smile. Nightmare slowly circled Celestia and the group of ponies as she began her monologue. 

“We have waited so long for this moment. First one thousand years on the moon! And then another couple years stuck in that insufferable sister of yours!” she gave a look of disgust.

“Impossible! The Elements should have destroyed you!” Celestia declared as her hoof stomped on the ground. 

Nightmare smiled and broke out into a fit of laughter, “Destroy us?! Your precious elements merely pushed me back into your sister!” Her laughter died down before she continued her predatory behavior. “Every moment since then, we have been poking and testing Luna’s mental barriers just waiting for her to weaken and so we can take over.” Celestia’s face contorted with shock, “We have never left her, and we have always made sure to never let her have a moment of peace without us.” Nightmare was enjoying every moment of this. She was practically bouncing with every word she said. 

Celestia’s whole body tensed, as if someone had placed a massive weight on her shoulders. 

Nightmare giggled, “And the greatest part was that she never told anyone! That fool kept me a secret and even tried to fight me all on her own, but we all know how that worked out for her!” Nightmare had fully circled around back to where she was originally and once again couldn’t stop herself from cackling in delight. 

The white Princess’s long horn sparked to life and bathed the dark room in a fantastic yellow glow. Her magic was much brighter than Luna’s and seemed more powerful. It just kept pouring into her horn getting brighter and brighter before it was all released into an enormous beam of golden light that almost paralleled the size of the moon beam.  

I quickly snapped into action and was immediately in front of the still-laughing Nightmare Moon. The wave of golden magic connected with my outstretched hand, and I felt a hefty pressure pushing against me, but I held the beam steady. I explored this powerful magic by pushing my own magic into it, my little blue tendrils hooked into the very fabric of the magic, and I began pulling it into myself. 

However, as I quickly discovered, this magic was hot; really hot. This wasn’t magic I was used to, so I turned it into something familiar. Suddenly the assaulting magic lost all of its momentum and turned into a blue slush that fell to the ground. I pulled the goop into my hand and absorbed the magic. It was quite filling, but it didn’t compare with the amount of magic I had received earlier. 

I looked at my now smoking hand and almost cracked a smile. “That was pretty cool.” I admitted to myself, before my thoughts were interrupted by a solid bonk on my head. 

“We could have handled that ourselves.” Nightmare said with an annoyed look on her face and an outstretched hoof.  

“I know, I was just getting bored.” I lied, shaking my now steaming hand.

Celestia took a step back in shock. “What is that abomination?!” 

I jumped in surprise at the sudden attention towards me and sheepishly said, “Hey, I’m Adam.” I waved.

She was not amused by friendly demeanor, “You must be the monster that my sister was worried about.” She looked me over and a serious expression took her face, “You must be the one who brought back Nightmare Moon, Luna was fine before you showed up.” she accused. 

My blood was boiling; she had no idea what I had been through, “What! My life was fine before I met-”

Nightmare stood in front of me and silenced me with a wing to the face, “Thou must be confused, we were never gone.” Nightmare’s devilish smile returned. 

Celestia's eyes widened, “what do you mean?”

Nightmare pointed her hoof at Celestia, “Those Elements thou are so proud of, never destroyed us, they merely suppressed us; locked us away.” 

Nightmare’s gaze fell to the floor and her smile disappeared as she spoke, but it quickly returned as she focused on Celestia again. “We always resided within your precious sister, poking and prodding at her emotions; just waiting for a moment of weakness to strike. But now, everything is perfect; we have returned, and you have no Elements to protect you this time.” Nightmare sneered. 

A loud solid thud rings throughout the throne room as the large doors to the room slam open, and a squad of ten ponies covered in gold armor, each one equipped with a spear, burst into the area.

“Protect the Princess and surround the intruders!” One guard with a particularly feathery red helmet barked. 

“We hate interruptions.” Nightmare growled before she motioned towards me with a hoof. “Adam, deal with Celestia’s army and stay out of our business with this false Princess.” Her tone shifted into one of disgust with that last word. 

I paused in confusion, “Wait, like the whole army?” I questioned.

“Yes, the whole army.” Nightmare affirmed.

“Like every guard in the c-”

“Yes! We want anyone who sides with this fool to be dealt with! Is this not clear enough or should we repeat ourselves again?!” she exploded.

I put my hands up in defense, “Okay okay, I get it, every guard in the city.”

Nightmare snorted angrily and without warning shattered one of the stained-glass windows with a blast of magic. “Come now Celestia.” Nightmare unfurled her wings and lifted herself off the ground. “We wouldn’t want to destroy our new castle now.” Nightmare smirked before flying through the broken window.

Celestia paused for a moment to look at me, but quickly snapped her wings into action and followed Nightmare outside. 

My eyes followed Celestia out before they settled on the guards and spear points that now surrounded me. 

I put my hands up in a disarming manner. “C’mon guys, can’t we just talk this out like civil beings.” 

I was answered with several spears poking at my ribs. 

My skull dropped in dismay, and I sighed, “I really am not in a fighting mood right now, but if you guys really insist.” I open my jaw and white gas spews out, causing the armored stallions to collapse and fall under a deep sleep.

I gingerly step over their unconscious bodies and stroll over to the now opened doors to the entrance of the castle. I entered another room and arrived at the landing of a couple steps. There was a red carpet laid out across a black and white checkered floor. The carpet reached the middle of the room and then split off into different hallways, each entrance was emphasized with a large golden arch. 

However, straight ahead were two big marble doors much like the one that led into the throne room. I walked down the steps and stopped in front of the large doors. With both hands I gave the doors a firm push and with a creak and a groan, the doors parted just enough for me to walk through. 

I stepped past the doors and the cold night air hit me. My eyes widened as I saw the full scope of the city I was in. A variety of shops and restaurants lined the cobbled streets. Most of the buildings in this city are white or have some sort of light palette to match the gigantic castle behind me. However, each store and business still had its own flair. Some had large distracting signs that promised deals and an excellent experience, while some had large glass displays that showcased dresses, jewelry, and whatever else they were offering.

However, something was off. There were no ambient sounds of a busy city. Everything was oddly quieter than usual. 

Then I noticed, there were groups of ponies and other creatures I didn’t recognize standing outside in little gatherings just staring at the sky. I looked up and noticed the total eclipse that covered everything in a layer of darkness. 

Then the sky had flashed a golden hue and then a purple color. Looking further I noticed what everyone was gazing at. 

Nightmare and Celestia were high in the sky. Each one of them threw their own collection of magic bolts and lasers at each other. They zipped and twirled around each other with the grace of angels in the sky, but the ferocity of their attacks sent tremors down to the city each time one of their attacks connected to the ground.

Suddenly, I heard a shriek of terror. My eyes snapped back to the ponies at eye level. 

All of their eyes were on me, but nobody had moved or even spoke. An uncomfortable silence fell upon us and none of us knew what to do. 

“Monster!” Someone shouted, finally breaking the silence.

“Somepony call the guards before it hurts anypony!” Another added.

“N-no,” I half-shouted, raising my hands defensively, “I’m not a-“ I tried to defend myself but was quickly cut off.

“It shouldn’t exist!” 

“It belongs in Tartarus!”

“Get out of here!”

All of these attacking statements quickly turned into a jumbled mess of words. It was just an overlapping of angry shouting, no one was making any sense anymore. Everyone was just so loud and so upset. 

All I could do was just stand there; I didn’t know what to do. I felt so helpless to the assault of sounds.

They just don’t understand! I had no choice! This was the only way to stop Luna! Why won’t they just listen to me! Don’t they know how much I suffered, the kind of pain I felt! 

Everything was swirling, I couldn’t focus on anything. With the constant rumbling that rattled my brain and the increasingly loud crowd I couldn’t take it. Each hateful statement thrown at me rattled my very core. I clenched my eyes shut and wrapped my hands around my head. The overwhelming cloud of emotion turned the air thick and suffocating. It was hard to breathe and the air tasted vile. 

Then, the jumble of words began to reorganize back into recognizable sentences.

“I *pant* can’t *pant* breathe!” a voice squeezed out.

Suddenly, a chorus of screeching and coughing replaced the words. A mix of screams and desperate gasps joined the chorus of sounds. Dozens of voices wheezed out their greedy breaths before snuffing out one by one. Until there was nothing, no angry yelling, no confusing words, no screaming, no begging, and no more crying. 

Everything was just peaceful.

I remove my hands from my head and slowly open my eyes up. 

Bodies. Limp bodies replaced the once lively crowd of creatures. A crimson mist ominously loomed over the fallen creatures. 

“Oh no!” I exclaimed as I rushed over to the nearest creature. “Oh no oh no oh nonononono!” I knelt down next to a brownish griffin who had a death grip on their own throat. Their beak was stretched wide open and saliva ran down the corner of their beak into a slowly forming puddle on the ground. I watched in panic as the creature’s body violently spasmed.

“What should I do?!” I exclaimed frantically looking around. “Oh!” I focused hard and felt a strong gust of wind blow through me. The wind carried the red fog into the sky and out of the streets. 

I shifted my attention back to the griffin in front of me. “Are you okay?” My bony fingers gingerly tapped their forehead. Suddenly they jerked forward, startling me. As they moved, they coughed up a big gob of spit and hungrily gasped for air. I leaned in closer in worry as I witnessed this. Finally, after the griffin took a couple more aggressive breaths, its breathing pattern began to slow and stabilize. 

I sighed in relief and stood up. Several more gasps filled the air as more and more creatures began to breathe normally again. I moved through the now sleeping crowd. I took careful steps around the mob and quickly went past them. 

I couldn’t look behind me. I was too afraid of what it could have looked like. I looked up and ahead of me towards the battle between the two princesses. They were still busy with no real clear winner. 

I was once again fixated on this fight until a sudden rush of wind took my attention. Several figures passed overhead in the shape of a backwards V and toward the battle. A dark smoke streak followed their trail as they tore through the skies. Each figure was covered in a light blue fabric. Their wings beat quickly as they raced to defend their ruler.

Then groups of flying creatures began to litter the sky towards the action. Except these creatures were covered in shiny gold. Each one carried a spear tucked into their forelegs. Each spear was pointed straight ahead as if they were cutting through the air. Swords attached to their waists rattled in their sheaths as they shook in the wind. 

More and more soldiers took to the skies to join the swarm of flying creatures. The ground began to shake as the marching of hooves and barking of orders surrounded me. The soldiers in gold that couldn’t fly arrived in broken groups that filed toward the capital.

The ones that arrived first saw me and then the bodies behind me. They quickly put two and two together and pointed their spears at me. Many more guards trickled in through other streets and positioned themselves tightly to the increasingly large group of aggressive animals.  

The whole city was aware of our presence and was waking up. 

Staring ahead at the sheer numbers of this city, I realized I wasn’t going to be able to talk this one out.