Ten seconds, that's how long everypony held their breath. What could they say? Rune just did one of, if not, the most irrational things anypony could do in that moment. He took the Nightmare Force, the essence that made Princess Luna into the Nightmare Moon, into himself. What was going to happen?

"This is odd." Rune said aloud, looking himself over. "I don't feel any-"

Before he uttered another word, a bolt ran through his body, it was as if Rune was being repeatedly struck by lightning. His stomach felt tight and cramp, his head felt like it was being crushed and body felt like it weighed a ton.

"AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Rune shouted and howled in what looked like severe pain and agony.

Images flashed before Rune's eyes and in his mind he saw it. Everypony who every used the Nightmare Force, all their thoughts, all their reasons for using the Nightmare, all their despair and anguish. Rune's emotional psyche was ready to tear itself apart. Was this what Luna felt when she became Nightmare Moon. Everypony around Rune could almost feel a magic pressure emanating around Rune, it was almost like the very air around him was crushing them.

"What's going on?!" Gemini shouted towards Luna.

"Rune has taken in the Nightmare Force." Luna answered. "His mind is being torn, even if he survives.....he will become....a monster."

"We have to stop him!" Gemini replied, trying to get up but found her body too limp and heavy.

"It's too late." Midnight said, standing her ground, almost unfazed by the pressure. "Rune will either bond with the Nightmare, or be destroyed by it."

Rune tried to talk but found he could only shout in pain. He arched his head back and in a swift motion, jerked his head forward and a black ooze vomited out of his screaming mouth. Nopony could guess where all this ooze was coming from but there was a lot, a puddle sized amount, then a small pond, a lake of ooze spewed from Rune's mouth and started creeping up the walls as if it were alive. His body finally dropped to the ground but began to flail about uncontrollably. As if something was struggling with him. Eventually, Rune body stopped moving, his body became limp and laid there.

"RUNE!" Luna shouted, running towards Rune.

Midnight stood there and watched Luna desperately try to wake Rune up. Nopony could see it, but Midnight's eyes were fixed on Rune, a small twitch and almost the smallest tear could be seen in the farthest corner of her eye. Luna shook Rune's body, shouting "RUNE WAKE UP!!!!" but to no avail. Luna then sensed a movement nearby, but it wasn't Midnight not Gemini. Luna looked around her and saw that the ooze was...looking...at her. Eyes...hundreds of thousands of millions of wide opened eyes stared at her. The sight was like that of some dark nightmare.

"What is-" Luna was pushed back by an unseen force and landed close to Midnight.

"It begins." Midnight quietly said to herself.

The ooze slowly moved itself around Rune's body. It moved and sloshed around his entire body but then stopped, drying and hardening. A loud cracking noise was heard from this ooze mold. All the ponies could so was stand there and stare at what unfolded before them. The mold cracked and chipped away. First came the head; Rune's mane was longer, flowing and moving like the darkness around him. His horn was longer and more pointed. His body was larger, roughly the size of Princess Celestia and his coat was a darker shade of blue. His tail was the same as his mane and his ears were pointed. Rune lifted up his head, his eyes remained closed. Doing a small stretch, Rune extended two large bat-like wings that were now attached to his body.

"Rune?" Luna asked.

"Rune?!" Gemini shouted.

Rune gave no word of response, he opened his mouth and laughed. The laugh Rune made caused the Castle to shake and tremble. It had a deep tone but then switched to a higher pitch. Then there were more laughs all around the room. The darkness that surrounded the room, those eyes...they were laughing with Rune. It was as if the very madness inside Rune's mind has emerged...and it was disturbing.

"Rune..." Midnight said, grinding her teeth in anger. "You can do this.....That power....that power.....THAT POWER IS MINE!!!!!!!"

Midnight charged at Rune at full speed and blasted a large wave of electric red magic. Before Rune could react, Midnight blasted him again and again and again, each attack getting gradually bigger and more aggressive, making a bigger and bigger crater under Rune's hooves.

"You won't stand in the way of what I want!"  Midnight shouted, letting loose all the magic at her disposal. "Don't think because you're my father I'll go easy on you! The one who will consume the Nightmare Force....WILL BE ME!!!!!!!!!!!"

Midnight definitely lost it, today was supposed to go perfect. Come to Ponyville, draw out Princess Luna, steal the Nightmare Force and use it to remake the world. But no, Rune had to go and screw everything up. Midnight was not gonna take this, she was gonna pull the Nightmare out of Rune no matter how painful it would be to him. Midnight stared at the small puffs of smoke where Rune was standing and she was blasting. There was no noise, no movement. Did Midnight win already?

"I..fEeL.." A quiet voice echoed. "i..FeEl...I...fEeL...." Out of the smoke, Rune leap at Midnight, his horn clashed against hers. Rune's eyes were different, one had a star while the other had a swirl. "i FeEl I fEeL...." Midnight felt like she was being pushed down just from his horn. "i FeEl InSaNe!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Rune started shouting and screeching through his fang toothed grin, excess magic spewing from his horn and he pushed Midnight against the ground.

"WhAt'S wRoNg MiDnIgHt?" The crazed Rune asked. "I tHoUgHt My MaGiC wOuLdN't WoRk!!!!!" Midnight couldn't answer, Rune was insane, or at least more so than usual, but he had a point. His magic was affecting her.

In a swift motion, Midnight shifted her head, causing Rune's horn to slide down her horn, bringing her hoof up to his face, Midnight sucker punched Rune across the room.

"Even if your magic affects me." Midnight declared with confidence. "I will still beat you!"

"AAAHAHAHAHHAHHAHAHHHHHH!!!!!" Rune laughed madly. "Is ThAt So??? WeLl ThEn!!!! LeT's HaVe FuN!!!!!"

Rune closed the gap between himself and Midnight. Grabbing Midnight's horn by his teeth, Rune tossed Midnight across the room. Before she could recover, Rune continued his onslaught.

"I don't understand." Gemini asked Luna, as they both stood there and watched. "How is it that we couldn't even touch her, but Rune is tossing her around?"

"Because of the Nightmare Force." Luna answered. "During our fight, Midnight was unfazed by your Lunar magic, but remember what she did when we attack her?"

"She dodged it?!" Gemini realized. "But why?"

"Because unlike your magic, ours is tainted by the Nightmare Force, or at least was." Luna explained. "That's why whenever she was hit by our magic, her mane was slightly affected."

"So because Rune is using the Nightmare Force." Gemini concluded. "Midnight can't defend herself!"

Midnight was really on the losing end. Any attack she blasted at Rune literally bounced off him. While his magic was tossing her back and forth. In fact, Rune has only really used magical attacks maybe once or twice but they've missed. Any other attack that landed were merely physical.

"Why are you only hitting me?" Midnight demanded. "You haven't once came at me with magic? Are you mocking me?!"

"oH nO nO nO......" Rune laughed, then teleported behind Midnight. "....yEs!!!"

Midnight turned and tried to blast some magic, but Rune tapped her on the horn. Instinctively, Midnight jumped away while Rune maintained his position.

"What did you do?!" Midnight shouted, surprised that despite casting a spell, nothing came out of her horn.

"Wait for it..." Rune giggled.

Before Midnight could react, her horn glowed a bright orange with the light getting brighter and brighter.

BBBBBBBBBBBOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM

A large explosion blew in Midnight's face, knocking her onto her back. Rune in turn leaped on top of Midnight, pinning her to the ground.

"What are you doing?!" Midnight shouted, kicking at Rune's legs but to no avail.

"HaVe YoU eVeR dIeD bEfOrE?" Rune asked, bringing his face close to Midnight's. "nIeThEr HaVe I!!!!" Rune spread his massive bat wings, countless of those creepy eyes opened and stared inside the wings. "lEt'S fInD oUt!"

"Rune are you going to?!" Midnight shouted but her mouth was covered by Rune's hoof.

"Shhhhhhh..." Rune hushed her. "DaDdY aNd DaUgHtEr, LeT's Go ToGeThEr!!!!"

Each eye opened wide and a small blue and orange balls of magic formed and slowly grew bigger.

"We have to stop him!" Luna shouted, struggling to walk towards Rune. "If we don't stop him...He's gonna kill her...he'll..become...a monster.." Luna's mind raced with her memories as Nightmare Moon and all the pain she caused. She never wanted anypony to go through that.

"Rune...Rune...RUNE!!!!" Midnight shouted, trying to find some way to stop Rune. "...Daddy..."

This comment caused Rune to flinch for a moment, but that's all it was....a moment. His massive wings spread and the eyes now had massive balls of magic, ready to destroy Midnight.

"Rune!!" Luna shouted. "You have to stop this!"

But these shouts fell on deaf ears, Rune was ready to blast away Midnight, maybe even blow himself away with her.

"RUNE!" Luna shouted.

"RUNE!" Gemini shouted.

"RUNE!" Midnight shouted.

Here it comes...............Rune was about to attack.....................

'SSSSSTTTTOOOOPPPP!!!!!!!!!!!' The inside of Rune's mind shouted, causing his body to literally stop. The magic balls vanished and Rune's grip on Midnight lightened.

"I don't want to do this!" Rune mumbled to himself. "No....We MuSt EnD hEr!!!!" Rune's mind was tearing. "We can't! We MuSt! We can't....We WiLl!!!!!........NNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Rune was fighting back the Nightmare Force, but he couldn't come to grips with himself. He was losing his mind.

"There must be another way!!!" Rune shouted. "YoU cHoSe ThIs WhEn YoU dRaNk Us!!!!"

Midnight, seeing the opportunity, got to her feat and grabbed Rune by the face with the same magical claw she used on Luna.

"The Nightmare Force!" Midnight shouted. "You don't have the will to use it...SO GIVE IT TO ME!!!!"

The procedure was quick but to Rune, it felt slow and agonizing. The Nightmare force was literally torn from his mind, it was as if his body was slowly ripped apart piece by piece. The Nightmare Force emerged out of Rune as the same dirty white liquid light but now it had a subtle hint of orange and blue.

"The Nightmare Force....is mine!!!" Midnight said in confidence, gulping down the liquid.

The same power and pressure flowed and exploded through Midnight. She could feel the power, the agony, the memories of all the ponies who have used the Nightmare. The eyes that were hung around the wall, one by one, closed their eyes and the very darkness crept towards Midnight, wrapping around her like a dark blanket. The dark veil then scattered like a black mist, revealing Midnight's new form. All in all, she look no different, the only noticeable change was her horn slightly curved upwards and she donned two large black feather wings.

"You could of stayed home." Midnight said, gazing upon the wounded and panting Rune with her cold, slitted eyes. "You could of stayed home, maybe even stayed in bed, anything but no....you had to interfere!"

Midnight's eyes quickly looked away from the downed Rune and turned them over her shoulder. Behind her was the sight of a super pissed of Princess Luna. Her eyes glowed with rage.

"MIDNIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!" Luna shouted in her loudest Canterlot voice.