Twilight was frozen in fear of the being she had brought forth. The black mass’s grin grew wider, as if he was enjoying it. His jaws opened and a horrific cackle escaped from his barrel.

The grey skies above pulsated hues of black and red, like a twisted heart pumping sickness into the air. The earth below twisted and chocked the nearby trees into massive twigs. The ruins and surrounding forests kneeled in pain and fear in the aura of the creature.

Ending his chortles, Sanctus taunted the quivering mare, “What’s wrong? Is it something with my face?”

Instantly, his face molded into a nightmare. His eyes split into five each and his gaping jaws split in four. The colossal face shrieked into Twilight’s, causing her to seal her eyes and ears and curl into a sobbing ball. Sanctus returned to his normal form and laughed at her misery.

“But in all do respects, my prey,” he gleefully hissed. “I am grateful for your efforts in freeing me from that ghastly Void. That Thanatus stallion was such a disappointment, but, as you can see, I put good use in him.”

“...Y-You…” Twilight muttered below her breath.

“Indeed. I was Lord Thanatus’s teacher, his leader, his master. That book, the Mad Book of Power, it gave me the connection to his very soul. Even though he didn’t finish, it was too late for any redemption. He was mine, and I made a pretty decent story with him, didn’t I?”

“You…” Twilight repeated, but an air of anger was present in her voice.

“And you want to know the ending to your little tale? They all died, their souls now all belong to me. Ebony Diamond, Silver Chord, Huntsmen, they’re all dead. After Arcega defeated Lord Thanatus, she turned the blade on herself and fell under the pressure! Eclipse went on and destroyed Centura under my control two months later, before she finally died from blood loss.”

“It, it isn’t true!”

“Oh, it’s a real story. Just read the scroll your once-assistant wields again.”

Twilight peeked from her covering and looked towards Spike, trembling beside a stone wall with the scroll tightly in his grip. She looked back at Sanctus. Her blood boiled in rage.

“You seem confused,” Sanctus teased Twilight. “How could such a ‘capable’ mare fall to my control with a mere book? That’s no book that you read. It’s Margáil Le Bás, a shapeshifting sword, a remnant of my being that connects this world to the void that imprisoned me for eons.

I’ve scattered a few remnants around the world before being sucked in between the worlds, but none as effective as that sword. As you can see, it can transform into a book, The Mad Book of Power specifically. Then it became Thanatus’s sword, which you know the rest I assume. Finally, it turned into ‘The Adventures of Arcega Minn’.

When you opened that ‘book’, the remnant was activated and it opened a portal, and I sent a portion of my spirit to this world and straight into your mind. The rest of me came once you opened that portal a little wider here.”

“Are you done telling me exposition?” Twilight growled, attempting to climb to her hooves.

Sanctus retorted, “You think putting on a tough façade will work?”

Sanctus’s body stretched and molded into a massive dragon and lunged out at Twilight. She screamed as the beast’s mouth opened. She tried to back away, but tripped and the dragon snapped its jaws into her chest. A sharp pain ripped into her body, and Twilight screamed in pain.

But, instead of killing her, the dragon’s body faded away into black dust and reformed into Sanctus’s pony form, standing above the wailing mare on the ground.

“It hurts, doesn’t it? Makes you wish you were dead.”

Twilight’s tear-filled eye opened and saw the massive grin of Sanctus, whose teeth were coated with a fresh layer of red. She couldn’t even nod from the amount of pain coursing through her body.

“But where would the fun be in that?” Sanctus asked. “You aren’t bleeding or anything that would actually kill you. It’s just my special way of making sure every vein and fiber of your being is rich in pain and fear. Oh, it gives me such euphoria to see you like this!”

“Leave her alone!” A voice yelled from behind.

With no regards to how necks work, Sanctus turned his head around to see Discord, standing at the center of the altar. His red eyes lit up as he recognized the draconequus.

“Ah, if it isn’t the arch-brother of Harmony herself. Oh, of course you don’t recognize me, it’s been centuries. Enjoyed my work though?”

“I said,” Discord declared once more. “Leave her alone.”

“Or what?” Sanctus barked in carefree pride. “I know more than enough magic to counter your chaos. I can survive over a thousand years in a void between worlds. I am the most powerful being ever to walk this planet. I am the God of Nightmares!”

Discord’s fists clutched tightly.

Sanctus sneered at Discord’s gesture, “This is a losing battle. Twilight Sparkle’s already in my clutches and I’m at my fullest potential. This is my world now, and you want to take me on here?”

“Let’s see you put your money where your mouth is,” Discord replied.

With a snap of his claws, Discord materialized a large anvil above Sanctus’s head. Sanctus quickly transformed into a dragon.  The dragon swallowed the anvil whole and spat out an iron ball. Its tail launched the ball at Discord. Discord evaded it by splitting his body in two. But as the ball rolled past, it exploded and hundreds of spikes flung towards Discord.

While Discord’s halves avoided the spikes, Sanctus reformed. His mouth open and his long body folded into the back of it. A burst of black ooze spurted from the collapsing dragon’s throat and out climbed an equally huge, three-eyed scorpion. Each of his eyes had ten jagged pupils, and all were locked onto Discord. As Discord reformed to one being, Sanctus charged at him.

Sanctus Nightmare raised his claws into the air. Discord looked up and saw them. He had to act fast, but he couldn’t escape the massive pincers. The claws smashed down and shattered the ground below. Technocoloured blobs splattered around the ruins. Sanctus cackled in ecstasy, but soon realized something. The blobs of Discord begun to shift and move around. Sanctus turned his massive body and around and found Discord reforming.

Discord taunted at the scorpion, “You’re going to have to try harder than that!”

Quickly, Discord zipped below Sanctus before he could attack and made his way to the tail. Sanctus’s legs flailed wildly, trying to stomp the draconequus. As one drew close, Discord materialized a tack and jabbed the tip of the leg. Sanctus’s roars echoed throughout as Discord chuckled.

The leg Discord poked suddenly split and formed into a zygodactyl claw and grabbed him. Discord tried to squeeze out or use his magic, but it was useless. Sanctus had him in his grips, and wasn’t going to let him go.

Slowly, Sanctus Nightmare carried Discord to his face, where his thirty pupils pierced into his soul.

Sanctus examined the squirming body, speaking to himself as well as taunting Discord, “Seeing a little pony cower before me is quite refreshing and all, but imagine the sheer frenzy I will feel when the Spire of Chaos experiences my power!”

Twilight remained curled in her ball as she heard the roars of the scorpion and the groans of Discord.

I’ve done this! Twilight’s mind repeated. I’ve done this! I’ve done this! I’m guilty! I should’ve listened to Spike! Celestia, what have I done? What have I done? I’m… I’m… I’m a monster!

“Oh, you are,” the scorpion nightmare chittered. “You’re the Eclipse of this story, my dear, the instrument of your world’s undoing.”

Twilight wept, for it was the only thing she could do. She wept there for hours on end, crying out for any light of hope, only for it to be overshadowed by the dark face of Sanctus Nightmare.

The scorpion melted into a sea of black sand and swallowed the entire forest. It spiraled into a sinkhole with Twilight at the center. She tried desperately to escape, but the wet sand formed from her tears grappled her hooves and pulled her deeper. The mountains at the horizon turned to darkness as Twilight was pulled to the pulsating, red eye in the center of the sinkhole.

The eye split into a mouth and spoke as Twilight struggled, “Now, what’s your worst nightmare? I’d like to warm up before plunging the entire world into my destructive grasp. Hmm… Spiders? Drowning? Torture devices? Been a while since I’ve done that… Past rivals, perhaps? Oh, yes, the one you told me about…”

Twilight screamed as she fell off the steep cliffside of sand and fell into the gaping mouth. Its teeth clamped shut and Twilight found herself in total darkness. Twilight looked around for any source of light or anything but distinguishable, only to be met with the void.

A mare’s maniacal cackle echoed throughout the dark chamber, one that Twilight recognized as hers. The sounds of mechanical clinking and roaring followed the voice as its source travel around the darkness.

“One bad day,” the voice echoed. “And I became this. On the day you opened that book,”

Crimson light shone above, and the figure of another Twilight stood before her. She was dressed in dark armour, and had two metal limbs in place of wings, creaking and twitching in time of her eye. Her face was deeply scarred, and her eyes shone a bright red, flicking with the icy fire of Sanctus’s power.

“And you became me!” Twilight’s duplicate hollered.

Twilight was in absolute horror.

“No,” Twilight gasped in protest. “No! No! No! I’m not you!”

“Really? What’s the difference?” The unsatisfactory image of Twilight sneered.

“Plenty! I am not evil!” Twilight instantly retorted.

Twilight’s copy snickered, “Now you’re just lying to yourself.”

The mechanical claws of the Twilight copy reached out towards Twilight. Twilight tried to back away, but tripped over a branch the sinkhole swallowed. Twilight fell onto her back with a mighty crunch, and the duplicate’s metal limbs grabbed onto her. They raised her into the air before pulling Twilight to her face.

Twilight wiggled and squirmed. She attempted magic, but it only made her copy’s metal grip stronger.

“Tell me,” the cyborg duplicate whispered to Twilight. “What is your name?”

“Twi-Twilight Sp-Sparkle.” Twilight croaked, feeling the metal digits press on her throat and lungs.

“What is your name?” She asked again, her sadistic smile kept on her face.

“Twi-wi-wil-ight!”

“What is your name?”

“Twi-AIEP-light.”

“What is your name?”

“I’ve said i-”

“What is your name?”

“Sh-shut up!”

“What is your name?”

“It’s Twi-”

“What is your name?”

“It’s Mid-Twilight!”

“…”

“I meant Twilight!”

“…hehehe,” Twilight’s copy laughed.

The claws smashed Twilight into the invisible ground as the duplicate rolled over in a laughing fit. Foam spewed from your mouth as she laughed and taunted.

“You’re me, obviously,” She proclaimed. “The only thing ‘separating’ you and me is nothing! What have you done that I wouldn’t have done? You’re a fresh-cut villain, a new proxy for the Nightmare. You are Empress Midnight!”

“No!”

“It’s too late! All is lost! You are Empress Midnight! It’s too late! All is lost! You are Empress Midnight! It’s too late! All is lost! You are Empress Midnight!” The copy known as Empress Midnight continued to choke and laugh.

Until finally, after minutes of gagging, the cyborg fell limp. Her body quickly decomposed and reformed into Sanctus Nightmare, filled with pride from the work he had done. Before him was the broken body of Twilight. Her eyes were empty, her flesh grew grey, and not a beat of magic remained in her horn.

Sanctus said to her, “You feel that? That fresh cut of emptiness within you? You’re scared of it, aren’t you? You’re scared it’ll be filled with the Nightmare, the monsters, the Empress, the infamy your name will be forever known with by my side, and there’s no hope or anything positive to be found to fill the hole. That’s what I intend to do with every pony in the universe, to have them cover in fear and cry in pain forever. And you…”

“…” Twilight’s lips were limp, open, but not moving or showing any life to them.

“…hahaha… You will be there to aid me. You’ll be my proxy, my slave! What do you say to that?!”

“…”

“Seem awfully quiet. Better than cheers of joy, but we can do better. Perhaps a few lightning bolts to the horn will do the trick.”

Sanctus’s horn lit up and crackled in red sparks of electricity. His eternal, jagged grin grew wider as he aimed at his new toy. The void stepped back and watched as lightning jolted from his horn in every direction, waiting to be fired.

Just as he was about to fire though, an earthquake ruptured throughout the land. His horn misfired, and a solid beam of electricity just grazed Twilight, disappearing into the void.

“Well, that was unexpected.” Sanctus remarked, still grinning.

He readied himself again, but another tremor interrupted him.

Another one quickly came, this time, cracking the ground above Twilight and Sanctus.

“Wait, this isn’t right…”

The sinkhole’s mouth opened, but not of its own accord. A pair of massive, purple claws dug in between the sinkhole’s teeth and pried the sandy jaws opened. A golden light shone from above and bathed Twilight.

“Twilight!” A familiar voice called out to her from the heavens.

“Spike?!” Twilight exclaimed.

Instantly, she could feel hope burst through her and her magic return. Spike was still there, he still had hope for her, as well as her friends. Twilight could feel their presence even in this dire situation.

She looked towards Sanctus. His mouth wasn’t there anymore, and so followed his grin. A cheeky grin appeared on her face though, and she slowly walked to below the sinkhole opening.

“You were wrong.” She declared at him. “I am, and will never be your slave! As long as they, my friends, have hope in me, there’s no reason I would ever turn to your side!”

A loud whistle emitted from Sanctus’s body, shattering all sound. Twilight winced from the painful noise, but held her ground. Sanctus's body began to reform into a dragon again. Spike’s huge arms broke through the sinkhole and grabbed into Twilight. Holding on with all of her might, she was carried out from the pit and into the skies.

“You think you can get away from me?!” Sanctus roared, following quickly behind. “This is my world!”

“Twilight!” Spike’s voice called down from the heavens beyond the black sky. “It’s only an illusion. The demon has you in some sort of death stare. You need to break out!”

As Spike’s hand continued to pull, Sanctus continued to grow mass and gain speed. He fired a volley of fireballs towards Twilight, but she deflected them with her newly found magic. Around her, Twilight could notice cracks in the air around her, growing more and more the higher she went.

Finally, upon breaking the storm’s top, Twilight saw what Spike was talking about. In place of the sun were two red, piercing eyes, staring at her. Aside of them was a golden crack in the sky, where Spike’s arm lead to. Feeling her wings return, Twilight took off from Spike’s arm and flew up to the exit as fast as she could.

The black dragon burst from the clouds below and bit Spike’s hand. A painful roar caused the sky to vibrate and the illusionary cracks opening more so. Twilight was almost there. The illusion was breaking. But Sanctus was drawing close, too close to be sure of escape. Twilight flew as fast as she could, she could feel his teeth grinding against her hind hooves and tail.

Everything went to black. A thunderous shattering sound could be heard, and the world felt as if it were tumbling upside down.

“Twilight!” Spike’s voice echoed in the distance.

A rush of blood surged through her brain as Twilight came to her senses. Her eyes opened, and Twilight found herself laid on the wet dirt floor, in front of Sanctus Nightmare, back in his pony form. The sky had returned to the grey storm it once was, and the forest and ruins were as they once were.

Sanctus’s illusion was shattered.

As Twilight was soon joined alongside her worried friends, she grinned at Sanctus, wobbling around in a mild daze.

“Like I said,” Twilight repeated. “My friends will be there for me, even in my darkest moments.”

“Twilight is back!” Pinkie cheered.

“Well I’ll be darned.” Applejack replied.

“It’s about ti-” Rarity added before being cut off by Discord.

“Ahem.” He called out to the mares and Spike, motioning at Sanctus. “Don’t we have something to take care of?”

“Right!” The seven quickly agreed.

As they surrounded Sanctus, the black mass regained control and his smile returned.

“You think breaking an illusion’s going to beat me?” He asked them tauntingly. “I’m still a god!”

Smashing his hoof against the ground, Sanctus summoned a shockwave, launching everypony away from him. Discord however, phased through the blast and approached him. Sanctus turned to Discord with a loud snap in his neck, eager to attack.

“Don’t think I’ve forgotten about you!” Sanctus hollered.

His eyes gleamed as they locked onto Discord. A wave of black smoke instantly burst from his mane and covered the two. The mares ran as fast as they could, but were too late. The black smog had hardened into a dome shield, sealing Sanctus and Discord inside.

“Not this again!” Fluttershy exclaimed.

“What is it?!” Twilight asked.

Dash quickly answered, “It’s the same thing that nightmare thing did to you.”

“The illusion!” Twilight exclaimed concernedly. “Don’t worry Discord! We’ll get you out! Girls, we have to get him out! The horrors! The-”

The black shield suddenly shattered, and Discord was launched out into a stone wall. The others ran to him while Sanctus was recovering from the illusion shattering. Discord was dazed, but seemed to be undisturbed.

“Discord, are you alright?” Fluttershy asked.

Discord gave a weak thumbs up and muttered, “Giving yourself the kick out of a nightmare’s not easy. I’m afraid I’m out of commission for now.”

“But what about Sanctus? How do we beat him?” Twilight asked.

“We got you,” Discord answered with a smile. “That should be enough. I’ll be back.”

Discord melted into ooze and slithered under the wall. The mares and Spike turned back to face Sanctus, now fully recovered.

Sanctus chuckled at the team and taunted, “Six ponies and a baby dragon, against me? The God of Nightmares? Well now I know you’re all asking for my nightmares, including Twilight. You just can’t get enough of my show, can’t you?”

“That’s enough!” Twilight declared. “For your injustices against me, my friends, and all of Equestria, I, the Princess of Friendship, Twilight Sparkle, joined alongside my friends shall bring justice to your door!”

“Unleash the hounds of war!”