Chapter 14: Of Light and Darkness

Morning Blaze was in full-panic mode, after her conversation with Applejack, she visited Dawn Comet. Apparently the situation was even worse than she had expected, first the country mare, now Rainbow Dash. One has gone into what could be compared to exile, and the other had a suicide mission.

After a little investigation, she could find the pegasus’ general route, through a trail of blood. Her wounds reopened about halfway towards the city's gates. With the amount of precious life juice the captain found, it would be unlikely that Dash even reached Ponyville. So Morning Blaze did the second best thing she could think of, telling Celestia and chase after the blue mare…

The situation around and in the castle was still on edge. Hardly a surprise, considering what happened since she took this ‘vacation’. Blaze had needed that though, she couldn’t even focus on a proper fight anymore, her mind was still filled with the constant dark thoughts about her decisions, her weakness, how pathetic she really was. It was a joke, really, the once proud teacher of Equestria’s beacon of hope, reduced to a depressed pile of despair.

She literally kicked open the heavy gates of the sun court, normally nopony was allowed to enter it anymore, Celestia began to use it as a center of command. That wasn’t enough to stop her though, the mare stormed past the confused solar guards and sprinted towards the princess.

As her target noticed the strangely hectic mare she said, “Morning Blaze, a pleasure to see you ag—”

The captain interrupted her, “No time for formalities, Celestia. We have a problem!”

Celestia’s expression darkened, if her long-time friend took it that serious, she better listen carefully. Although, she feared what it would be this time, on the last occasion… she lost her faithful student, probably forever, “What is it?”

“Applejack and Rainbow Dash… I talked with the former as she left the city, the mare couldn’t take it anymore and left over the mountain pass. Rainbow Dash apparently awakened earlier this day, she seeks revenge for her friends, and Twilight is her target. I followed a bloody trail down the north way, but couldn’t locate her. “

The princess closed her eyes and sighed, without them… it would be near impossible to turn things around, “We have to find them. I know you are not on duty right now, but could you do me the favor and chase after Rainbow Dash? Her death is inevitable when she… faces Twilight.” It hurt, oh it hurt so much, those words tore into her soul like daggers. Her little student… feared as some kind of death angel in her kingdom. Once they caught her though… this would end, and everything would follow her plan.

Blaze gave her a little bow, “Only because it’s you, Celestia. I’ll bring her back, no matter the cost.” With a flash of light, the captain of the guards was gone, preventing a catastrophe… hopefully.

Pinkie Pie, alongside Twilight, ran through the streets of Ponyville, since the leader of the rebels single-hoofedly defeated an entire division, they had time to aid Rarity and Luna. The pink mare suggested that they should help their allies immediately, but her super intelligent friend said, that they needed to check at the town square. “Fair enough,” Pinkie shrugged mentally. If Twilight thought that they could defend it for a little while longer, then so did she.

Both were shocked as they reached the town square, they expected to find dozens of scouts and bat ponies running around, fixing things, helping out. Instead, there were corpses, and blood, so much blood… The stench was nearly unbearable, not only the foul smell of blood and slowly rotting flesh, no, it was something different, something very poisonous.

Twilight stared at the scene, an unbelieving expression on her eyes, “W-Who could’ve done this... “ She scanned the area, there were exactly forty four bat pony bodies and twenty dismembered corpses of Silent Flare’s rebels. The name hit her like the Friendship Express… the stallion had left before she encountered Taka and Law…

Then she caught a movement in her peripheral field of view, a reflection of a blade, a katana to be exact, and shortly after, two tiny, what looked like weirdly curved daggers. Twilight turned around… again! This time a clashing metal sound followed the strange sight. Finally the two mysterious opponents landed on the opposite sides of the town square. It was Silent Flare, his body littered with bleeding wounds and some splatters of an odd green liquid. His unknown foe, was completely hidden under a pitch-black cloak, only the violet eyes could be seen from under it.

As Flare spotted the two mares he half limped over to them, “T-Twilight…” His voice was coarse and very weak. “This is no ordinary foe, it… just appeared… in the middle of the town square, laughed… maniacally and started killing our allies… It’s… incredibly fast and uses…” Before he could finish his sentence, the beige unicorn collapsed, his body to weak to keep him awake.

The lavender mare’s anger grew tenfold, somepony was messing with her plans, her carefully organized plans… Her feared sword hovered besides her, she channeled her wrath into it. Twilight expected it to change, and indeed, it did, the entire length of the razor sharp blade was engulfed with black flames. The highest level of ordinary dark magic a mortal pony could ever hope to achieve. Although, for Twilight? That was just the beginning.

“Who are you?!” She half-screamed. “I want to know who’s head I will cut off!”

“Ohh! Such temper, I like that! If we weren’t enemies, I’d totally go out with you. Allow me to introduce myself,” Bligh’s magic grabbed the edges of her hood and pulled it away, revealing some kind of weird mask, it resembled an oddly long beak, like a crow’s one, only five times longer. “I am Blight, personal plaything of the princess and professional bounty hunter.” After that, the mare gave her a faint giggle. That way Twilight could see her coat colour around her neck, it was as black as her cloak… great.

“I am sure Celestia will be relieved when I leave your head on her bed, a nice little surprise,” She fell into this insane laughter again. How has Luna been able to suppress it for a whole millenia?

Two relatively small daggers hovered in front of her, they contained not a single straight edge, it was designed like an intricate piece of art, the magic holding it was coloured in a deep shade of violet.

The mare vanished, she certainly wasn’t teleporting, it was her own speed… The first attack was a small, knife-like projectile, almost piercing her head, a last second duck had saved the lavender unicorn. Then it began, Blight never stayed at one place for more than a second, but every time at least one new dagger was flying towards Twilight. It gave her little time for an opening, she had to concentrate on deflecting the, obviously poisoned, projectiles. The tactician in her analyzed every single move Blight made, there was a pattern to her attacks. After about five consecutive dagger throws, she had to stop for a few seconds, her foe was likely conjuring them from some kind of magical source.

Twilight deflected all of them, using the least amount of energy to get the highest possible defense. Blight was good, but Twilight had been trained by a goddess. The leader of the rebels arced her blade in a 360 degree angle around her, unleashing a storm of black flames. An ear shattering cry confirmed her suspicions, the mare wasn’t teleporting, it was something different. The mare rolled around on the ground, trying to quench the fire, finally she abandoned her cloak. Making her silky smooth, black coat visible. Her cutie mark showed a similar dagger with a smoking green tip.

Blight growled at her, her eyes narrowed to little slits, “Cheeky bitch, using such dangerous magic.” Her daggers disappeared, in their place an impressive, shadowy greatsword materialized in her magical grasp. It was only slightly shorter than Twilight’s weapon, but was straight and double-edged. It looked surprisingly stable for a spell-blade.

Before the lavender mare could even blink, the large spell-blade was already going for her head, her own sword intercepted the strike in time. It was this weird movement again, now she’d seen it. Blight seemed to stomp on the ground dozens of times in the fraction of a second. It didn’t even look magical, more like pure physical strength and agility.

The black flames flickered against the foreign magic, battling them for dominance. Blight grinned and pulled out another dagger, Twilight was forced to roll away, the projectile grazing her cheek. She could feel her body numbing, the poison was spreading quickly. Her foe laughed, “You can feel it, right? The poison of a chimera, very rare and very dangerous, it creates a powerful paralyzer with the right ingredients. Good night!”

The dark flames around her blade faded, she no longer had control over her reserves, the blade sunk into the ground as it impacted with it. Now her legs couldn’t support her weight anymore, she fell to her knees, sharing the same fate as Silent Flare.

That was it… after all her hard work, Blight towered over her, her spell-blade raised high, ready to end her life. Twilight was forced to watch the blade sink down, a split second before it cleaved her head in half, she heard another blade, sinking into flesh and breaking bones.

The bounty hunter coughed, her mouth was filled with the metallic taste of blood, “W-what?” She managed to look down, a deep blue shaft of magic was lodged deep inside her abdomen, sinking deeper by the second. Another cough another spurt of blood. The grasp of her magic faded, the weapon meant to kill her target was gone as well.

The smooth voice of Princess Luna was filled with anger, “Your first mistake was to come here, the second was, to oppose my… friends.” She cried out, slashing through Bligh’s stomach, her immense physical strength sliced the mare in half, shattering her spine with it. The last breath escaped the bounty hunter, she laid in the dirt, with wide, open eyes and only half a body. The blood spraying out of her upper and lower half, slowly growing cold, another victim in this war, and certainly not the last one.

Luna helped Twilight up, the poison still affecting her, she could barely stand upright, without shaking madly, “Thank you, Luna. This... was a heavy blow, only… five bat ponies survived the surprise attack and ten of Silent’s rebels, he is also pretty injured. The only major force we now have, is Capone.”

“Himiko’s and Mistral’s division retreated, apparently their goal was to distract us. We will take care of Silent, and you too, some of your injuries look severe. The rest will be managed in time, dear Twilight. I’m glad I could stop that assault before she got you too.”

Twilight slowly looked down, her chest, flank, and back all had deeper cuts in them, she hadn’t noticed them, until now, “Maybe you’re right… but we have to do something, we can’t allow another attack like that. And I might know how to stop them…”

The last weeks had been tormenting, he had been working nearly twenty four hours a day. The white stallion was slowly crumbling under his own guilt and fear, the only thing he wanted, was that his little, innocent sister came back to him like it was just mere months ago.

Shining Armor, proud Captain of Celestia’s second division, and Twilight ‘Deathbringer’ Sparkle’s older brother. The times before this ridiculous war seemed to be long gone, so was his happiness. All he could do was watch… watch his entire world burn. With the slowly creeping depression, came the anger, Shining’s usual friendly and confident demeanour had completely given way to a mean-spirited and hateful stallion. That caused his self-hate to intensify even more.

He interrogated their prisoner countless times, nothing seemed to work, not even torture. Today was the time for another visit, a scout delivered bad news. Both Law and Taka, known as extremely competent fighters, have lost against his sister… only his sister, even Specter couldn’t do anything, one of his Archmages seemed to be ‘missing in action’ like their strange leader had said. Celestia’s personal bounty hunter was missing as well, very unusual for that mare, she adored the princess.

He walked down the stairs that lead to the castle’s dungeon, some guards walked past him, almost running because they didn’t want to be in his presence anymore. Shining emitted such a strong feeling of negativity, despair and anger that he was constantly alone now. He himself knew the reason for this perfectly well, but he couldn’t change it anyway. His sister seemed to be gone, forever.

Finally he reached the oldest part of the dungeons, a massive steel door separating him and their most valuable prisoner. The door creaked open with loud noises and Shining stepped in to the cell. Silver Night was strapped to the cobblestone wall, his hooves fixated with massive iron rings, exactly fitted for him.

Silver looked miserable, thin, only a mere skeleton and he had cuts and bruises all over his body. He could only smile as he saw his ‘warden’, “Heh… bad news, huh? I presume that Twilight has achieved yet another victory.”

At this point Shining Armor lost it, he rained down a series of hard punches in Silver’s abdomen, by the time the angry captain was finished, his prisoner already coughed up blood and panted heavily. The bat pony was barely able to stay conscious, he was just too weak. Silver wouldn’t give in though, for Twilight, for Luna and for the rebellion.

Shining almost screamed at his prisoner, all the blocked emotions poured out of him, “You will all pay for this! None of your petty little rebel friends will be even recognizable anymore when I’m done with them! You have taken MY LITTLE SISTER and the pony who will suffer the most is NIGHTMARE MOON!” He stormed out of the cell, leaving a bloody and beaten Silver Night. The massive steel door slammed shut, this visit only lasted for about five minutes, but for him, it felt like hours.

Twilight’s dreams had been a constant Nightmare for the past few weeks, ever since the massacre of Canterlot. She tried everything, changing her diet, reading stories before going to bed, even Luna couldn’t provide salvation. “A being even older than I is responsible for this. The cure is not known to me, nothing in the waking world can aid you, I am truly sorry,” Those were the alicorn’s words.

Yet again her dreams were plagued with the same dream, over and over again. There was so much blood, all over her coat, the floor, everything… the few loved ones she still had, all slaughtered, by the hooves of her former mentor. The worst, was that Celestia smiled, as she happily murdered her dear friends.

She was forced to watch this scene countless times, her sanity slipping with every rerun. The only thing the lavender mare could do, was cry, and oh she did, even her body in the waking world showed this incredible discomfort and fear. Not one single night passed without her wincing and whimpering in despair and sadness. All of her friends were very well aware of that, but nopony was able to help her with this.

Suddenly the scene disappeared, ripping into tiny shreds and changing into confetti, the only thing that remained was this dark and deadly silent room. Twilight’s mood certainly didn’t raise as she drifted in this darkness, “H-hello? Is anypony there?”

A voice came from behind her, a very well known, and ever so mocking voice, “I didn’t know you were the insane kind of pony, my dear Twilight Sparkle.” A certain draconequus stated, he looked like the day before, still a mismatched composition of body parts.

His voice went dead serious, she could’ve sworn to hear a bit of sadness in it, “You’re carrying a great burden. The Nightmare’s insanity are a true curse, it shackles you, dragging you into the deepest abyss of your mind..”

“W-what do you want, Discord? Didn’t I order you to only come when I summon you?” She dried her tear stained cheeks with her forehooves.

“Oh yes, that’s right, if you want I can leave you with your wonderful dream again,” He stated sarcastically.

“N-No... “

The draconequus smiled, “That’s what I thought. I can block the dreams for a certain time, the nightmare is an old rival of mine, he hadn’t been active for a millennia or so, at least not to my knowledge. Playing cat and mouse with an old rival of mine is not the reason why I'm here though. Tell me, what do you know about immortality?”

“Y-you came into my dream t-to ask me… that? Well… not much actually…” Twilight stopped for a moment, she feared the answer Discord might give her. “You can’t die, not by any normal means at least.”

“Exactly, sit down, my little pony, I am going to teach you the very basics of immortality,” Two comfortable looking chairs appeared right next to her, with nothing better to do she simply sat down on one. “Every immortal being is tied to one idea, one fleeting thing it resembles. It keeps us running, keeps us tied to the mortal realm of the living if you want to say that. Luna now embraces the chaos, voluntarily, her sister must’ve been really obnoxious, but she also is tied to the night which you can rule out due to the war.” He chuckled shortly, after Twilight didn’t join in, he continued. “I am mainly resembling chaos, well, I am the spirit of chaos incarnated, that makes it pretty obvious. Celestia… oh, Celestia is different, her being is intertwined with harmony itself, the most unstable concept in the world. Everything is related to chaos, everything shifts and changes constantly. Harmony though, Harmony is a concept mortals came up with in the ancient times, they believed that everything can be solved with the ‘magic of friendship’ and the gift of purpose. As they started to adapt to this new concept, called ‘Harmony’ and ‘Friendship’, Cutie Marks started to appear on the first ponies, it was remarkable, really.”

It took a moment for her to realize what the draconequus just said, “Why are you telling me all this? You have given me a way to kill her for good, wage a terrifying war against Equestria and make people lose faith in her and Harmony.”

“You’re adorable, Twilight. If it would be as easy as you make it out to be, I wouldn’t be here, lingering in your dream, I’d be sitting on a throne made out of cotton candy and rule over the world,” For demonstration a large, and entirely pink throne appeared out of nothing. “No, ponies have always been different, unpredictable, they tend to cling to their ridiculous beliefs and superstitions. The concept of Harmony has gifted Celestia with the ultimate tool to ensure her reign, a forced purpose on her subjects, and this forced purpose incarnated, are the Elements of ‘Harmony’. I’m sure you’ve heard of them.”

“Yes… I’ve read a book about it, and how Celestia defeated Nightmare Moon with them. I thought they were still in the old castle back in the Everfree forest,” Twilight replied, she’d calmed down considerably now.

He slowly shook his head, “No, they never were, maybe their mere shells. Celestia has the real vessels for the ‘Magic of Friendship’, or well… had them.” Discord chuckled shortly, not explaining it any further.

After a short pause the draconequus continued with his tale, “The ponies live in blissful ignorance for millennia now, guaranteeing the princess an immortal life and free dominion over every living being in this kingdom. Your way won’t end well, only with every subject slaughtered it would be possible to even touch her at all. I’m sure you’re not willing to make that sacrifice.”

“What is your point? Should I just… give up? Return to my old life, spending the rest of it in a dark cell, imprisoned for my sins?”

Discord chuckled again, “Oh no, my dear. Chaos is the answer, in the right moment, I can destroy the bonds that shackles her soul to her body. Normally that wouldn’t be really useful, she can just return back into her body in a matter of seconds, but you… you can use yourself as a vessel, absorb her soul and use her power against the rest of Equestria.”

“That should be absolutely impossible. Wouldn’t I be forced to share a mind with her?”

“Possible and Impossible, those are just words for me, Twilight. I am Chaos, if it is impossible, I change it. To answer your question, yes, you would be. Your body would still belong to your mind though, still, until she doesn’t give up, she would try to take control. An incredibly risky, and last straw solution, but in your case one of the very, very few ones that would work.”

The spirit of chaos vanished, his voice rang through her slowly ending dream, “Think about it, I’m only one call away. Hahaha....”

Then she opened her eyes, the conversation still lingering inside her mind. The sky had not been changing over the ‘night’ unfortunately. It was kind of annoying, never really knowing how late it is, well… Luna somehow knew it, but asking her every time was just silly. Her thoughts returned to the draconequus, could she even remotely consider trusting him? Would she even be willing to risk that sacrifice?

The snowy field and the blizzard hadn’t become any more bearable over the course of the last few days, three to be exact. Without the surprisingly gentle Rost, Fluttershy would’ve died as she first ‘entered’ this land. The endless white was disturbed by the distinct glow of her new weapon, she hadn’t had the time, nor the courage to try it out though.

Rost tried it the day they left, it suited him perfectly, not quite like fighting with an axe, like he was used to, but the heavy broadsword was incredibly sharp and had a very long range. The poor little rabbit that had to be his test subject wasn’t quite as lucky, the timid yellow mare looked away during the process. Surprisingly it didn’t bring her to the verge of a mental breakdown, like when he first met her, but still… Fluttershy couldn’t watch the stallion slice an innocent bunny into bloody pieces.

The fourth day had started rough for them, the blizzard got worse by the day, another very good reason to banish the demons. Only the fur around their chest and flank protected them from freezing to death. Rost luckily knew how to build small cave like igloos, to protect them during the night. Also the fact that they had enough food and water made the journey almost possible… almost. She had to admit, the things Rost could cook with meat, smelled delicious, and the yellow pegasus hated herself for that.

As they walked through the snowstorm, the brown stallion observed Fluttershy, she had been even more quiet than usual, and looked quite sad, “How are you holding up, Fluttershy?” His voice almost got drowned out, due to the heavy winds that blew past their ears.

The timid pegasus lifted her head immediately, his voice snapping her out of the absurd train of thought, “I-I’m fine, just tired. How far away is the shrine?”

“At least another three days of marching!” Rost had to shout because of the strong winds. The blizzard was unusually strong, even for this land, something was wrong here…

Just as the stallion thought about the possibility, it revealed itself to them… a trap. In a large circle around them the air literally froze, creating giant icy spikes, blocking their escape route. The winds seemed to focus on a specific spot, materializing into the strangest creature she had ever seen. It looked like a giant mouth. Well, mostly strange looking lips, not even remotely similar to that of a pony, strapped to an enormous cartwheel. The thing had the colour of the ice that surrounded them and its mere breath created more crystals around them. Even the wheel had ice crystals on it. It rolled around them, breathing more and more ice at them, for a thing of that size, its speed was ridiculous.

Fluttershy jumped out of the way, dodging a sharp icicle, “What is that?”

Rost already tried to catch the thing with an overhead strike of his sword, it left a fiery trail in the air as it came near to it, so that’s was why they were red. Apparently it was imbued with the power of fire, to help them fight against whatever the blizzard held ready for them, “A Wanyūdō! More specifically, an Ice Mouth, dangerous demons that can be encountered in the wilderness. Legends says that once a mare who made frigid comments was bound to a demon wheel. Now icy, she rolls through the barren landscapes, freezing those with open mouths. We have to slay it quickly, or otherwise it will completely freeze us solid!”

“A d-demon?!” The yellow pegasus was frozen with fear, quite literally frozen, there was no way they could defeat this thing. The beads around her body seemed to glow even more and grew warmer in the presence of this demon. Maybe it really offered her some kind of ‘divine protection’. This theory was about to be tested, Rost missed yet another attack at the ridiculously fast demon and it sped towards Fluttershy.

She shrieked and closed her eyes, in the end… she was not strong enough to return. The timid mare only hoped that her death would come quick and painlessly, she waited and waited, until she heard the sound of a heavy impact, alongside an angry scream. After Fluttershy opened her eyes, she knew the reason, the Ice Mouth had been stopped by a radiant crimson barrier around her, the countless beads of the rosary hovered around her and produced a connected shield with one another.

As soon as it appeared, it dissolved again, leaving the confused pegasus wide open. She wasn’t stupid though, she had seen what this thing could do. Carefully Fluttershy grabbed one jewel with her mouth and tilted her head in an arc towards the demon. Once again the beads connected with a ghostly crimson line of energy and created some sort of ‘whip’. The mare’s confidence skyrocketed and she let out a furious battle cry. Before the Wanyūdō was able to recover from the heavy impact, the rosary sliced it in half, the fiery pearls went through it without any effort, even through the thick wood of the wheelcart. It dissolved into a flowery explosion under soul-rending cries of agony, quite the contrast for this thing.

Rost stared at her, he couldn’t believe that the timid, little mare had something like that in her, “Woah. I sure won’t mess with you…” The strange weapon had wrapped itself around her neck once again.

She was totally lost, even though this encounter had been cleared in less than two minutes, it felt like an eternity for Fluttershy. Her entire being was exhausted, the stress, the fear everything was too much for her, although… this confidence, this fleeting strand of light… she clung to it and survived, and it felt good, better than anything she’d ever done. Well, maybe except the moment she met her oldest and most reliable friend, Rainbow Dash.

“Let’s just go…” She trotted past him, ignoring the stallion’s confused look, this was completely unlike her, The way she spoke this sentence, it was almost like a machine, her voice had lost every trace of emotion, only this cold and calculating feeling remained.

Her exile had lasted for a whole day now, longer than the country mare would’ve ever expected. Not that Applejack had ever planned to leave her comfortable home, or her comfortable life, friends… everything. That hope died the day she lost two of her dearest friends though, now she wandered around aimlessly, the constant twilight being a harsh reminder of the cold reality she now called life.

She passed over the Foal Mountains during the ‘night’, it took her about seven hours, so she figured that a new day had begun. Her only companion being her trusty stetson and the saddlebag full of supplies. Not a single soul had passed the despaired mare on her quest. Applejack figured that Hollow Shades would be a good place to rest for a while. In some way, it was exciting, exploring parts of Equestria she had never seen before. The verge of the forest was only about a mile away, the country mare could already make out the edge of the thick foliage.

The sight of the forest brought another flash of sad memories with it, the event that most likely started this whole mess, their first encounter with Nightmare Moon, “Keep ya’self together, AJ! Dun think about it all. It doesn’t matter anyway, mah friends are most likely dead. Twi, the poor gal, is still with that terrifyin’ Nightmare Moon, they’re doin’ Celestia-knows what…”

Tears threatened to fall, the memories were still so fresh, but the mare knew that moping around wouldn’t get her anywhere. She didn’t really know where this ‘exile’ would take her… everything was better than this war though…

The first few trees of Hollow Shades passed by, the foliage was unnaturally thick, it was even darker than in the Everfree Forest. Maybe that was just her imagination though. After about an hour of wandering through the woods, she decided to build up her little camp, Applejack had brought a little tent, some flintstones and a fire striker.

Another hour passed before she finished her little makeshift camp, the little leaf-green tent was barely big enough for her. At least in the little fire pit she built, crackled a small fire to warm the mare. Applejack surrounded the flame with rocks, to prevent a forest fire. She sat down on a large log she’d found a little further into the forest, “Ah guess that’s it… it takes a whole lot more time if Ah’m on ma own.”

“Must’ve taken the wrong turn, eh? These woods can be dangerous for a mare like you,” A voice had interrupted her, it was definitely male, and it seemed to be right… She jumped forwards and turned around quickly. There AJ saw the source of the voice, it was a pony, dressed in some sort of… grey leather or cloth garb. His face was obscured by a similar grey hood, but she could she that one eye was covered with more cloth.

He leaned against a nearby tree, completely calm, like he had watched her for some time now. It began to really freak the mare out, “Were ya jest watchin’ me or what?! Ah don’t need another pony followin’ me and creepin’ around in the shadows!”

The pony didn’t move one muscle, he just continued to stand there, “My wish is to discover the ancient secrets of the Nightmare, and since your friend, Twilight Sparkle has been touched by it, I figured that you six ponies would be the closest I’m ever going get to unveil its secrets.”

“Ah have not the slightest buckin’ idea about any of that! What the hay is ‘the Nightmare’? Also, Ah don’t appreciate it if ya accuse ma friend of co-operatin’ with that thing, she’s jest controlled by it! It brainwashed her or somethin’” The country mare got angrier by the second, who did this pony think he is?!

“The Nightmare doesn’t force its victims. It corrupts them, twists their world view, but Twilight Sparkle is a part of it now, by her own free will. Most of the rebellion’s members are likely in the insane grasp of the Nightmare.”

Her face showed nothing but extreme shock and sadness, Applejack sat down and grasped her head with her forehooves, another wave of tears threatened to fall, her quiet sobbing caught the attention of the mysterious stallion, “Not all hopes are lost. I haven’t found it yet, but I’m sure that there’s a way to banish the Nightmare, and finally unveil the secrets it holds.”

Applejack looked up, her eyes red and swollen from the crying, “W-who are ya?”

A faint smile formed on his lips, “Just call me… Sharpshot, my real name does not matter.” He began to move towards her, she could see a strangely curved sword at his back, it had a slight curve in the middle and went straight at the end again. AJ noticed that it had slits along the edges, it seemed like it could ‘transform’ in some way.

“Ah don’t know if Ah should trust you… but I want this to be over… Ah want ma friends back. This Nightmare… holds the means to end this hell. Ah have to know what it is and what it wants… If ya don’t mind, I’d come with ya, I may be not the smartest pony around, but Ah’m sure two pair of eyes see more than one.”

“Ahh, yes, I see…You sense a secret within the Nightmare, just like I do and you cannot bear to leave it be. As if the spirit of the old scholars lives on within you! Such inquisitive ponies will relish the journey to uncover the secrets of the night. But beware, secrets are secrets for a reason. And some do not wish to see them uncovered. Especially when the secrets are particularly unseemly…”

“That doesn’t matter anyway, Ah left everypony Ah cared about behind, it can’t get any worse…” Those words sounded incredibly sad, if only some of her friends were here right now. This Sharpshot… seemed to be weird, he definitely knew more than he let on, but if his words were true…

“Very well, let us lift the veil of the Nightmare and put an end to it.”