Author's Notes:

Here you go, Sorry it took so long. It should have been longer but I didn't want to keep you waiting. As always, Like, Fave and Comment. Also feel free to leave me ideas, it helps give me an idea as too what I should and shouldn't do.

”There is no escape…” The voice echoed through Dominic’s head. “Try as you might, you are a monster…” Dominic found himself running in an upside down world, everything in it was intact. The buildings on mainstreet, the cars, the people. He felt compelled to look up, but fought it at the same time. “Don’t fight it…” All sound was muted save for that voice. “Embrace me, EMBRACE ME AS YOUR SAVIOR!” Dominic looked up, he found himself staring into his own eyes. A reflection of everything loomed above him, but it was far more sinister. “Embrace your rage!” The reflection hissed.

The reflection was in flames, carbonized corpses lined the streets and the cars burned like torches. Dominic could see his counterpart smiling at him, a fiendish smile. Suddenly, the reflection became Dominic’s world. Clouds of smoke blocked out the sun, screams echoed in the distance, and the other Dominic stood in front of him.

“S-Stay away from me!” Dominic shouted, pointing at his counterpart.

“How…?” The voice echoed for what felt like an eternity. “I am you.” Dominic blinked and the other was gone. The entire world was gone. Dominic found himself in a massive black void, four figures appeared. Each was shrouded in darkness.

“You killed us, Dominic.” His father’s voice echoed through his head. One of the figures lit up, it was his father before a muzzle flash lit his face and the body fell to the floor. Dominic wanted to scream, he wanted to run and hide.

“You’re a failure, I can’t believe I bore you.” His mother’s voice now, another muzzle flash and then a corpse. Dominic fought with everything in his being, just to shout, just to move, but nothing happened.

“You did this… Dominic.” The third voice was his sisters. “You did it all…” She was joined by hundreds of other voices as the bodies of all the infected he had killed became visible. A third muzzle flash and all of them fell away.

“I can’t believe I trusted you…” That voice, he hadn’t heard that voice in years. The final figure revealed itself. A girl his age stood before him, raven black hair hung past her shoulders. “You were never strong enough.” She spat, there was no flash of light, she simply fell into the darkness. Dominic clenched his eyes shut, then opened them.

He stood in a desert, massive dunes of sand stretched out as far as the eye could see. The wind came up again, it pushed him down one of the dunes. He rolled multiple times before coming to a stop, Dominic lifted his head and spat sand from his mouth. Sitting in front of him was a word, it had been drawn in the sand. It read ‘Lost.’. He was suddenly grabbed from beneath and dragged kicking and screaming into the sand.

{♠}

Dominic jerked awake, taking in deep breaths and clearing his mind. His body was drenched in sweat and his bandaged side ached, it was one of the worst dreams he had ever had. Slowly he swung his legs over the side of the bed and put his head in his hands. The eerie silence of his room hung like a shroud, the only light available was the dim moonlight from the window. Dominic let out a sigh and stood up, his joints popped loudly. He quickly dressed himself, from his helmet to his boots.

Dominic slid his revolver into its holster before donning his bandoleers. He then grabbed his shotgun and slung the strap over his shoulder. This had been his ritual for the past few years, he didn’t intend on changing it. When he had everything he walked to the door. He gave it a shove and the heavy door opened. Bright light from the hallway poured in, blinding him for a moment. When his eyes had adjusted he looked at the two guards, they returned to look expectantly.

“Sir.” One of them said, Dominic blinked a few times. “Princess Luna has ordered us to bring you to her. Would you please come with me?” It took a moment for the words to go through Dominic’s head before he nodded.

“Yeah… Yeah sure. Let’s go.” He replied before shaking himself awake. “Fuck I need a cup of coffee.”

“Private Straight Arrow can get you a cup while I escort you.” The guard stated, the other guard nodded and started off down the hall. “Right this way.” The guard began to walk down the opposite hallway. Dominic watched him for a moment before following, his hand discretely slipping to the grip of his revolver. For several minutes the only sound between them was the clicking of Dominic’s boots and the guards clinking armor.

“What did she want to see me about?” Dominic asked, breaking the silence that had fallen.

“I don’t know, she simply ordered us to bring you to her if you woke.” The guard replied in a stoic tone. They walked on for several more minutes before he took in a deep breath. “What’s it like.”

“Excuse me?” Dominic asked, not sure what the question was. He didn’t intend to answer it, but he liked to know what he was refusing.

“You’ve killed before right? What’s it like.” Dominic looked at the guard with a shocked expression, he had expected a question like this from one of the element bearers. The bluntness of the question was dumbfounding to him, did these ponies think he killed for fun? His hand tightened on the grip of his revolver before he decided against killing the guard, instead he answered the question.

“It leaves you hollow inside.” Dominic said in a cold voice. “Every night you hear the screams, see the faces. It tears away at your soul like a wild animal and leaves you empty.” The guard was silent for the rest of the trip, which Dominic was fine with. He had given him the answer that he wanted to hear, not the actual truth. If he had, the guard would have probably thought he was a monster. When the pair reached their destination the guard silently left and pointed at the large doors.

“Fucking asshole…” Dominic muttered under his breath. The door he stood in front of was massive, the great mahogany wood was decorated with golden insets that depicted both the sun and the moon. He wasn’t sure he had the strength to even try pushing them open, but that didn’t stop him from doing so.

Slowly the doors began to open inward before swinging free, he stumbled a few steps and looked up. The sound of swords being drawn caught his attention before he himself drew his weapon. He stood up straight and whirled around on his assailant, the hammer of his revolver drew back as the barrel came face to face with a lunar guard. Another guard tried to sneak up from the left but found Dominic’s shotgun barrel in his path.

“Enough!” Luna’s voice rang through the room, the guards flinched slightly. “Guards, stow thine weapons.” Reluctantly the guards complied, dominic followed suit and let his shotgun hang free on its strap before the revolver was replaced in its holster. Luna was sitting at the top of a massive set of stairs, her regalla was shined far more than Dominic remembered and she had an air of seriousness about her. Slowly she descended the steps with all the grace and elegance of the night itself. “Leave us.” The guards saluted and left, Dominic heard the door close before speaking.

“What the fuck was that shit?”

“Our guards are over zealous when protecting the throne. We apologize for their behavior.” Luna said in a calm voice, Dominic sighed.

“What’s up?” He asked, looking the princess in the eyes.

“We wanted to check on thee, we predicted thou would have a nightmare after the incident. However, we wanted to honor your request to abstain from directly interloping.”

“But you want to talk to me about it, huh?” Dominic asked, Luna nodded. “Well, I don’t know what to tell you. I can’t remember, and that’s just fucking fine with me.” He lied, shivering slightly as the image of the final figure’s face popped into his mind. Luna gave him a sad smile and shook her head.

“Dominic, we have been alive for thousands of years. We can tell thou art fibbing to us.” Dominic looked away from her and sighed. “We will not force thee, but if thou doth let emotions build for too long…” Luna looked down for a moment. Dominic didn’t need her to continue, he knew what she meant.

“I don’t need help.” Dominic muttered, more to himself than Luna. “Is that everything?” The princess shook her head.

“No. Twilight Sparkle wished to speak with thou, her friends also seemed interested when we spoke with her.” Luna walked over to Dominic and put her hoof on his shoulder. He turned back and looked at her. “If thou ever wish to speak, do not hesitate to find us.” Dominic sighed and the pair left the throne room for Twilight's.