Life went on after the second coming of the Stallion of Torment. The truth beneath it spread like wild fire through the population and for a time were all unicorns, especially the Blood Clan, targeted by discrimination for nearly bringing an end to the ponies. Yet the royal sisters kept the peace, guards were given instructions to always patrol streets and alleys in shifts of ten minutes, it made it clear that no 'accidents' would occur to the innocent unicorns who had no part in Starswirl's descent into madness.

Yet even if the peace was kept were times getting tense and harsh. The Stallion of Torment's presence in the Castle Courtyard had caused a deep infection in the soil from where its had been bound. It had taken a week for any one to realize what was happening to the soil beneath the cobblestone and it was noticed only because something big occurred.

And sadly to say would those who discovered this not be able to do much.

Solid Stance, a middle aged dark brown earth pony with a white mane with pale green streaks, green eyes and a cutie mark of a red shield being struck by a sword, and repelling it. He was a royal guard of the Night Court, a Night guard as some ponies have started calling his order. He wielded a shield and spear, a common weapon combination for most Earth Ponies in the guards. Currently he was moving towards the gates leading towards the courtyard. Ever since Starswirl's mad ritual attempt and death had the courtyard been mostly left alone, only the big slab of marble and the remains of the black iron chains had been removed.

The courtyard looked the same as it had before the eve of that incident. Yet even after the remains of the ritual and Starswirl had been removed, and even the stone beneath replaced, was the air of the area tense and made most ponies at unease, especially at nights with a full moon out. Some ponies would swear they could make out the silhouette of a skeleton lying on the spot Starswirl died when the moon shone upon the area.

Sighing to himself the earth pony looked out at the massive trees surrounding the town like a looming mass of shadows. Even if the night was calm and beautiful in the city was the mere presence of the Everfree Forest and its fearsome creatures and flora making those at the deepest part of the town feel at unease. Even the guards at the castle felt ill at ease when standing guard at the nights with the darkness of the forest surrounding their home. *By the Moon and Sun when will we be able to get past this horrible forest? Some days I just wish that the princesses would burn it all down, or at least clear a path for us to escape. But that have yet to work.*

Indeed. In the earlier years the ponies had tried to burn down the surrounding forest after the disappearance of the 300 expeditionary force. Yes the trees burned and disappeared after being reduced to ashes. But only the next day they returned with a powerful and intense growth rate, as if the ashes of their former kin was acting like a super fertilize. Of course burning the trees constantly for days cleared out the edges of the town, but it would be impossible for them to clear out a path like this without risking putting the entire forest on fire. The only reason the trees had not managed to recover and close in on the town was because the two royal sisters had erected several thaumaturgic circles on the walls built around the town, they disrupted the growth of plants, this made the soil around the walls dead and hard like stone but the ponies did not care if it kept them safe.

The circles were too large to fit on anything smaller then a house's exterior wall and with Starswirl's death had the research on them ,along with the research on the mobile force fields, been brought to a near halt. Though the sisters were smart and very inventive, were the complexity of the project too much for them when they had so many duties to attend to. That was another thing that bothered most of the common ponies, the princesses were so constantly busy that it was starting to feel like nobody but them were running the kingdom and the nobles just made less and less effort to work.

As Solid Stance sighed to himself he wondered if someone had told the princesses about this distress, when he felt a slight shaking beneath his hooves.

Looked down at the smooth newly made cobblestone pattern beneath his hooves the young pony had barely time to react when a swarm of black tendril like branches erupted from the ground. He had no time to scream as the twisting and rapidly growing branches pierced his flew, tore through his veins like roots, flooded his organs, and tore his body apart. Flesh dried up as its nutrition was devoured. Eyeballs shrunk into black shriveled dots. Dried up like sand fur and skin flaked off the body and turned into dust. It barely took ten seconds and all that remained of the young colt was a skeleton, held within the embrace of the tree, stuck in the pose he had been standing when alive, his armour and weapon still in the same ready pose.

If it wasn't for the fact that all that remained were bones and gear, would his stance and posture been a proud and steadfast, like a true guard and soldier. The flood of blackened branches grew up and the other guards in the courtyard fell to similar faiths as young Solid Stance. The mass of black trees lifting up their bony remains like twisted looking fruits until it went still. Leaving an eerie beautiful black mass of trees, flowing with blue leaves and red flowers, the three pony skeletons, held up in its branches.

The following morning, chaos ensured, the discovery of the dead guards and the sickening beautiful tree broke the peace. Luna was the most affected by this, those three ponies had been three of the most promising recruits of her guard. She had personally trained them, picked them up into the ranks. And now they were dead.

The lunar princess buried her face in her hooves and shouted out, releasing her rage, sadness and frustration."No! Why doest this happen!? Why must they die!? Has not enough died already!? When will it end!?"

Celestia laid a wing over her little sister and rubbed her muzzle into her head and murmured to her. "We know not Luna. We know not." But the comfort of her big sister wasn't helping. Luna struggled out of her sister's comfortign wing, she glared at the black tree with tear stained eyes and then, she shouted out in pure anger, her eyes ablaze with energy, her horn it up. And then a massive light erupted.

"Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!" Blue and white energy soared out from the ground, erupting like a lance of burning ice. The intense heat and light from the blast made the ponies back away and take cover in sheer fear.

The light lasted for fifteen seconds before dissolving. What remained of the tree was a molten field of rock and soil, melted into a solid mass of molten earth. Standing by the melted earth, a panting Luna, sweat dripping down her body, felt spent, frustrated, empty and sad. She wanted to be angry, she wanted to be furious, yet she could not bring it out.

Tears still running down her cheek Luna turned tail and ran into the castle and towards her room. Celestia raced after her, and called out for her. "Luna! Please stop! Let Us talk with thee!" But to no avail, the moon princess slammed open her personal chamber, before closing the door and locking it. She then tossed herself into her bed, clutched her pillow to her face, and cried.

Celestia stood outside the room, and tried to find words to comfort her sister with. Yet nothing came. Only the sound her little sister crying could be heard and it tore at her hearth. Her ears fell flat and she sat down by the doorway, intent of staying there until Luna came out. Yet as the hours of night came, and Luna remained in there, Celestia had to go and lower the sun and raise the moon in her sister's stead. Before she could return to her vigil by the door she found herself covered with work that had remained undone from the day.

That incident started the drift between the two sisters. It would also mark when ponies started to not only fear the night, but its princess as well.

The courtyard was restored a third time, this time it was remade into a solid floor made up by thick square stones, covering the marks of Luna's fury. The stones were painted in different bright colours to prevent anyone to feel uncomfortable yet no one but the bravest ponies would walk upon those stones for an entire year.

Luna returned from her self inflicted isolation after two days. But she would not start up the night court until a week later. And even then she was barely speaking to anyone, even her sister. Celestia tried to reason with her and to make her feel better, but Luna only seemed to shied away from her comfort and presence, as if uneasy or even afraid.

Celestia felt increasingly worried but her duties began to pile up as more and more work found its way to her office. It was almost impossible for her to get as much time with her sister as she had in the past. And it had gone unnoticed to her because of the low gradual increase.

Unknown to either of the sisters was another presence starting to make its mark in Equestria. It had been only a whisper in the beginning, a stray soul of gibberish and fear. Brought to life during the Fall of the Green Star it had slowly developed, from a whisper in the wind into a shadow in the night. Then Starswirl's ritual and death brought about a sudden change in it. It was no longer a witless soul drifting aimlessly and blathering nonsense.

It had gotten a purpose. The final words of malice from Starswirl as his body was destroyed brought a powerful change in the air. The spirit had been drawn to the presence of the Stallion of Torment and been caught up in the ritual, it had been enclosed within the ritual pentagram of the unicorn. And when his final words cut through the air and his life left his body, the spirit gained something. A sense of self. And a sense of purpose.

It, no, SHE, was born of the Despair of the Dead and the Malice of the Dying. No longer a mere spirit travelling the world as a shadow, she was now a far stronger being. It took years for her to develop and form into a person, but when she did she knew her purpose and desire, the destruction and despair of ponies, especially the two princesses. Her work began when she witnessed the despairing rage of Luna as she incinerated the black trees that had consumed three of her guards. The negative emotions drew her like a moth to the flame, or in this case, a demon to a goddess.

Luna's despair was sweet like honey, her rage like strong coffee. And oooh how her frustration felt like the smoothest of wine. But she was still strong, she would have to weaken her further. She would have to make her plunge further and further down the pit of negativity before she could break her down completely.

Yes she knew what to do.

When Luna began to call upon the night after her seclusion to her room he spirit, no demon, began her work. Her presence spread out from the castle, a dull grey mist would rise from the ground, act a medium for her powers. Slowly but surely the peaceful nights of the land would change. Those awake, and those asleep, would feel a new presence, its cold and heartless sight spreading chills down their bones. Her powers began to drift into the realm of dreams through those that slept.

The spirit had found it by accident, yet it revealed a whole new way for her to enact her purpose. She would cause pain, despair and fear to all who sought the embrace of the night and its comforting darkness. For lo and behold, no pony would be able to sleep comfortable from here on out. For the Nightmare had come.

Little Blue Rose was enjoying herself, the fields were green and filled with beautiful flowers! There were butterflies and bunnies everywhere! The little filly rolled around in the grass, enjoying the warmth of the sun. She had only seen such a sight in story books or paintings. This was he desire, to enjoy the wide open freedom of the world.

Then the warm glow of the sun was covered by something. Blinking the little filly looked up and saw dark skies growing, the warm sun replaced by a red wicked moon. The bunnies in the field were gone and the butterflies seemed to fall down, withering to dust. Then something began to approach.

Dark tall shapes of trees began to move in, the field of flowers began to shrink. The little filly began to panic, she did not like the dark creepy woods! She wanted the warm sun and the open fields! She tried to move away from the woods, but it was all around her. Gettign closer and closer.

Shaking and shivering the little filly tried to call for help, but her voice only seemed to draw the woods in faster. As the field began to disappear and the dark woods was all that remained, she began to run, trying to get out of the woods. She ran and ran. Dark shapes, wicked laughter, evil eyes and chilling winds following her everywhere.

Then as she spotted an open place in the distance she felt hope. And as she ran out of the woods land and into the open fields again she smiled. But then something grabbed her., making her fall on her tummy. Looking back slowly the filly could only feel terror fill her as a dark wooden creature in the shape of an alicorn was crawling out of the earth, one of its root like hooves grabbing her hind leg, a pair of wicked snake like eyes staring at her.

A wicked smile grew upon the creature's face, revealing yellow sharp rotten teeth as its spoke up in a voice she had heard before, the voice of princess Luna, distorted as if spoken from rotten vocal cords. "You are never getting out!" The shape then began to drag her into the woods, she frantically tried to get away but the dark shape dragged her away from the open fields, and the all she could see was darkness and a pair of wicked eyes laughing at her.

She woke up screaming.

The Nightmare did her work well. No pony could sleep soundly with it's wicked presence targeting their open minds within the Realm of Dreams. Even the princesses were targeted, though only when their minds were bare to influence. And the nightmare took its shape after Luna's. basing its reign of terror upon pony kind's dreams in a corrupted form of the Moon Princess.

And this affected the ponies very effectively. Within just a few years the attenders of the Night Court would disappear one by one as the visage of Princess Luna drove fear into their hearts as the Nightmare's wicked dreams drove them to fear not just the night but the Night Princess as well.

Soon enough Luna would find herself isolated and alone, her attendants were gone, her guards were not receiving new members and the servants kept avoiding her. Her only connection was with her sister who, despite the bad dreams, would be there for her when she could. But with the rise of attendants in the Sun Court was Celestia finding it hard to find time even for herself, and this made it hard for her to even speak with her sister.

The royal court of the sun was busy, it had been getting more and more work for the last thirty years, it was making things hard not only on the princess but on the servants and the nobles as well. Currently was Celestia sitting on the throne and looking with a kind smile upon the merchant speaking before her.

Externally she was calm and serene but internally she was about as bored as a talkative parrot surrounded by a bunch of mimes. *By the Sun and the Moon! How many dost this make today!? We art in serious need of aid! If this dost keep up We shalt no longer be able to leave the throne room!*

After the merchant left Celestia called for a short break for food and left the throne room. After slamming shut the doors behind her the princess all but collapsed onto the floor of the hallway, letting out aloud agonized groan as she rested her face in her hooves. She did not want to have to do this! She barely had time to relax, eat or even go to the bathroom! She wanted to eat pastries! She wanted to tease and/or prank her little sister! She wanted to research magic and other interesting subjects to improve her ponies' lives! She did NOT want to be an over glorified secretary! She was a bucking princess!

Sighing Celestia stood up and walked over to the dining area for a quick lunch. Hopefully she could get things finished early so she could at least try to speak to Luna, she had not seen her for a week now and she was getting increasingly worried.

About thirty minutes, and twenty cupcakes, later she returned to the court and took her seat. And the line of pleaders and butt kissers continued. Yet behind the scenes were not just the wicked magic of the Nightmare doing its business, for the nobles of the kingdom were shoving more and more of their duties onto the Princesses. The generations of once strong, supportive and productive nobles had been replaced by obnoxious, inflated, arrogant, pompous and greedy parasites. And with the steadily growing animosity towards the Princess of the Night, they were seeing opportunities to grab more power.

With the Nightmare's work in the realm of dreams poisoning the minds of the ponies were the two princesses finding themselves isolated or overcrowded, neither of them could handle the out of control situations to get their bearings. And with the Nightmare manipulating the view of Luna from a benevolent and righteous ruler to a fearsome tyrant in their dreams, things were getting worse and worse.

The Nightmare was laughing in glee as the princess' mind began to bend and shake as her negative emotions grew and grew. It would not be long before the Nightmare could enacts its final plan. Once Luna's mind was weakened enough, Nightmare would play the last card, and break her. She just needed one final push to make her snap, and indeed, it came.

""

Half a century has gone by in the forest, nothing but wild beasts and dangerous plants making life difficult for the ponies. Yet something was going on today, something out of the ordinary even for this strange place. Out by the shore of a lake in the forest something was moving beneath the water.

A dark shape was moving through the thick murky mud of the bottom, pushing itself out of the murky layer of soil. With frantic movements it struggled straight forward and soon enough up towards the shore. Then a mod covered winged pony erupted from the water and flopped down stomach first onto the shore, coughed up water, slime and mud upon the grass. Gasping and coughing the mud covered equine struggled to its hooves, moving awkwardly back towards the waters where it tried to scoop up water with its hooves, and failing, and tired to clean out the mud from its face.

Muttering curses the pony dipped its head into the water and began to shake its head inside it, clearing out the mud from its fur. It soon went into the water entirely, and began to clean up its entire body. Green and brown lake mud was removed, revealing a thick shaggy like fur, as dark as pitch black ink. A mane of the same colouring was revealed as well as a pair of black wings. What came out of the mud was a black pony stallion, of incredible size. He could easily be considered the tallest pony alive, larger then even Celestia.

After having cleaned himself from the mud the pitch black pony moved out of the water and tried to dry himself up by shaking his entire body. It only managed to get the surrounding ground a bit more wet.

Pressing a hoof to his left nostril the stallion blew out dirt and snot through his other nostril, before repeating it to the other. Then he rubbed the trails of snot off with his hoof, before wiping said hoof clean on the grass. Brushing his still soaking wet mane out of his eyes the stallion sat down on the grassy field by the lake and looked at his hooves before speaking up in a deep male voice. “Okay… how much did I have to drink last night?”

Letting his body fall on its back to rest himself he landed with a thud, the pony felt something very painful when his body hit the ground. The jolt of pain caused him instantly shoot up and clutch his left wing, as he had landed on it when he had laid down on his side. Cursing in pain the big pony rubbed his sore wing the best of his abilities with his hooves. “Damn! Shit! Motherfucking Bitch! Ooooooh! Fuck!" Having calmed down and managed to massage the pain out of his wing the stallion grumbled to himself. "Okay that hurt like a bitch! Note to self, this is not a dream and try to learn how to sleep on your side or back without crushing your new appendages.”

With his recent incident of wing crushing the stallion did not feel like trying to lay down. Instead he struggled up on his hooves and tried to figure out where he was. “Well… I am not in Gothenburg any more that is for certain… Although… something about all this feels… oddly familiar.” He tried to take a few steps with his four legs and found it surprisingly easy, it was as if he subconsciously knew how to move this body already, though he could not figure out how or why that was. Must have been included in the transformation.

Then his head struck a tree branch as he walked around aimlessly in thought. “Argh!” Clutching his head as a headache assaulted his brain the pony only managed to slam his hooves into his forehead, sticking something sticking out of his skull. Feeling seriously freaked out the pony felt the thing with his hooves, it was kind of hard but he could feel sensations through his hooves, a bit. The thin sticking out of his skull was… weird. It felt like it was ridged, sharp and bent in an angle at the middle before pointing forward, ending in an up swinging curved blade like tip.

*Is this a horn sticking out of my skull or some kind of brain contraption?* He thought to himself before moving over to the lake and and tried to get a clear view of his face in the water. What greeted him was an odd sight, a black pony stallion with a shaggy black fur, a wild uneven hair, a pair of red eyes and a horn in the shape of what looked like some kind of weird insect or arachnid like leg slash tail. It was coloured green and purple, but seemed to alter colour when he looked upon it. It was segmented in parts of curved saw like claw segments, each segment looking like it could be bent or shifted, the tip was the largest and was long, curved like the blade of a sabre.

Touching the horn with his hoof he could feel it move a bit, wagging the horn around a bit he could feel something in his forehead shift along with it, like a muscle he wasn’t aware of. After a bit of experimenting he managed to shift and alter the shape of the horn without his hoof, it was slow but the progress was steady.

“Okay… so Laura really did turn me into an Alicorn… wow. I sure hope this horn was the only bug in the transformation, not to mention sending me… to wherever here is now. Or I might get a bit upset.” Looking around for a bit the former human noticed a big tower reaching above the tree lines in the distance, seeing no better option the black alicorn began to walk towards the tower.

As he walked he noticed something weird about his hooves, they were metallic, and had a dark grey chrome colour instead of black like the rest of his body. But it didn’t seem all that important considering his current situation.

The sun was setting rather fast in this place though. He noticed that as he reached to the end of the forest after a few hours and came upon a big town surrounded by a stone wall, with a castle in the middle, the castle's highest tower had been the point he had been following. When he reached the unused cobblestone road leading to the town he could see the sun going down, and followed by a beautiful moon rising. *Wow, that was the fastest moon rise ever… did she actually send me to her home world or something? Because the moon back home is NOT that big.*

Moving into the town he didn’t notice that there were no guards by the gates as he entered, unknowingly moving through it just as the day guard changed shift with the night guard, mere minutes before they would lock down the town gate. As he moved through the town he noticed two things, the people living here were not humans or anything humanoid shaped, these were ponies.

"Come on now Sweet Talk! We need to get home!" The speaker was a young looking brown unicorn mare with a white mane and tail with the brand of three bottles, filled with different colored liquids, red, blue and yellow. Following her was a little foal, a colt, with no brand, he was a unicorn as well with green fur and brown mane. "Coming sis!"

And that answered his earlier question if Laura had sent him to her own world. The second thing that he notices was how ponies were moving into their homes with frightened looks in their eyes. Nobody seemed to so much as glance in his direction as he moved towards the castle, it was very strange behavior.

Another, perhaps trivial, thing that he noticed was that compared to the other ponies, he was most likely over three times the size of an average adult pony, like comparing a giant war horse to a common pony. It made him feel a bit awkward but he ignored it, he had to find Celestia and Luna, and tell them about their mother.

Walking down the street he wondered why none of the ponies were looking or even glancing at him, it was like he was invisible, or they were too focused on going home to notice him. Yet that still did not explain why they did not even take a glance at him. He pondered if he should try to speak up to one of the passing ponies, he reached out with his hoof to touch one of the ponies, when he noticed something, his hoof was like a shadowy wisp.

Baffled by the sudden change of his physical attribute he shook his hoof and stared in blank surprise as the shadowy mass seemed to flick off hiss flesh like oily water when he waved his hoof. Giving his entire body shake he noticed how he had been entirely covered by this black mass. What had that been? When had he been covered by it? He had not noticed anything when he walked through the woods. Was that why he had not been spotted by any of these ponies? Shaking his head the large equine looked around, the streets were bare and empty by the time he had recovered from his surprise, curtains and windows were closed.

Figuring he could figure things out later he moved towards his goal, the castle. And it was just as unprotected as the town gate for some reason. The gates to the castle were wide open and there were no guards at them, which was even more strange, what was going? Walking into the main entrance the large pony tried to reason just where the main hall was, deciding to take the middle path he moved through several doorways until he came upon what he thought was a big pair of doors leading to a grand hall, but instead he found a big library.

While not all that keen to read was the library’s content not just books, upon the walls laid murals of historical events, painted glass windows with great detailed figures in such events as well. Deciding to take a look the alicorn moved along the wall, the murals showed ponies of three different types, regular pony, pegasus and unicorn. Living in peace but in separate kingdoms.

Then came descriptive details of how war broke out between the tribes. A great snow storm came with the war and the ponies were forced to flee from their homelands or perish. The tribes fled, fell into disorder when they fought with one another even as they reached new lands, and the snowstorm followed. Then a unicorn born of the royal bloodline was born, from what the alicorn could tell was this Laura Faust, when she was the unicorn Princess Tender Crown.

The murals showed how Laura united the tribes, quelled their disorder. Then it showed her discovering and banishing ghost like spirits in the shape of ponies circling in the snow clouds. After that came a coronation, of the three tribes proclaiming her their unified ruler. Then another showed a wedding between her and three other ponies, one mare and two stallions from the way they dressed.

From there was the birth of Celestia and Luna, but by the names engraved upon the mural, in English thank the gods, were their birth names Sun Beam and Moon Light. Then came the events of a being of disorder and chaos, Discord, wreaking havoc upon the lands, sending everything into a state of disarray. Laura could be seen fleeing with her children into the woods, hiding in an old tower by a cliff. There were a few childhood scenes between the three, but then Laura left when her daughters were old enough to care for themselves in their home.

It showed a summary of how she wrestled through snow storms, raging volcanoes, wild oceans and dense jungles. Then came a show of Laura ascending from the heavens, as an Alicorn. She was shown coming home, and ascending her own daughters, how was not revealed, before starting to teach them.

Then came Discord, who banished her by punching her with a giant salmon into a black hole in a toilet bowl, that made him chuckle a bit, the chaos god had some good points for style right there. Then came the sisters, fighting discord, unifying the ponies and then turning him into stone using six magical gemstones, the Elements of Harmony from what was written on it. Generosity, Kindness, Laughter, Honesty, Loyalty and Magic.

How exactly these could be the Elements of Harmony was lost to him but then again, according to his wish was his own elements of Courage and Terror made up by Bravery and Discipline for Courage and Screams and Fear for Terror. So he was not one to talk.

Following the defeat of Discord are the ponies seen dancing and laughing in joy and happiness. There are then some scenes of a castle made out of crystal being covered by shadows, Celestia and Luna sealing a dark spirit and the crystal castle away with the elements. And another showed a strange minotaur slash centaur creature attacking the lands, only to be brought down and chained within a dark cavern, with a three headed hound guarding a giant gate.

Then came the partying ponies again, almost as if the two dangers were only a footnote compared to Discord. But then came a sight that made him uncomfortable. A green star is seen falling from the night sky. The ponies look up. Then the green star hits them and explodes. Next is a scene of the castle he was in surrounded by green fires, and then, and then was the sight of a skeletal winged pony with a hole in its forehead, erupting from the flames and running into the night. The Stallion of Torment, was written beneath it.

Feeling uneasy the pony moved ahead, the sight of a dark and evil forest growing up from the green flames, of guards going into the woods, never to return. Next were images of ponies improving and trying to regain control of their lives. And then of the mage Starswirl’s fall into madness, of how he experimented on living and dead creatures, using a black horn surrounded by green fire.

That uneasy feeling before? Yeah it was growing. The images seemed to blur, the sight of the old unicorn capturing a now zombie like Stallion of Torment. The next sight is of Starswirl trying to stab the creature, how the horn shattered, then flashes of the old unicorn trying to bash in the head of the creature, only for him to end up damaging-

Suddenly shaking his head the male alicorn felt his heart ache as he realized something. *Wait. Those images were not on the wall.* Looking up at the mural he could only see a still image of Starswirl and the black horn, yet nothing of what he did with it. The next image was of Starswirl dying surrounded by roses, yet the image felt wrong to him.

Looking at the images, again and again and again the alicorn could only feel his head ache as more and more images, no, MEMORIES, emerged. Pain like no other, his body alight in green fire, of how he was bound in chains, of how a madly smiling unicorn had tried to stab his skull and then tried to smash it into bits with his melting hooves! “Oh no… oh no! No please do not tell me that… that was me!?”

Feeling chills and quivers the alicorn slumped beneath the last moral, his head hung low, his wings hung lose, touching the floor, his ears flat and his left hoof pressing against the wall beneath it. His eyes were wide and his mouth agape with horror and he tried to speak, he tried to think, yet nothing came out.

Finally he drew in air and let out a long breath before shuddering and pressed his head against the wall. his horn folding itself back over his neck and flattening out to let him press his forehead against the stone, and muttered to himself. “How many? How many died because of me?” His question echoed through the silent room, and no answers were given, but he felt it still, the gnawing guilt running through his soul as the despair and depression settled in. “Gods… why did this happen?”

But then something broke his depression, as a song began to fill the castle.

The Moon was high in the sky and everything was at rest. In the Castle of the Royal Pony Princesses sat a lonesome figure on her throne, looking out at the moonlit fields of the gardens of the town. For five decades she and her sister had worked to maintain order and protect their subjects, yet things were dire. Even with their improved agriculture were the fields they had bearing too little for their growing population. And the Everfree Forest was a constant threat with its dangerous creatures and flora.

With the danger of the night the ponies did not dare to move outside, it had gone so far that no pony ever visited the night court, only the Night Guards were active at night and their numbers had fallen to an all time low in recent years because of the ponies’ fear of the night and its ruler. And with Celestia's duties growing larger, her petitions, visitors and meetings taking up a tremendous amount of time, was the ruler of the day not able to see her sister because of the night and day cycle of the two courts. And thus Luna was left alone, more often then not she found herself sitting on her throne or by her desk, only speaking to her sister, though only for a few moments before she or her sister went to sleep, or the staff. It was at the point that nobody even seemed to bow to her anymore. And it was grating at her nerves and heart like a woodpecker’s constant pecking.

It was driving her up the walls in frustration, her hooves carrying her in circles through the castle and back to the throne room, and repeat over and over. She had been doing this for years now, finding herself wandering the empty halls of the castle, only her thoughts as company. But this night was even more nerve wracking then those that had come before.

The nightmare was making her final move. Luna's psyche had been worn down to the point of near instability, she would just need to grate those final nerves in one more illustrious manner. Then she could claim what was rightfully hers. To do this the Nightmare went to the point of her birth, the courtyard, she required... a boost.

The dark shadow of the wicked creature slithered across the ground of the courtyard like a mass of darkness. Twisting and turning she reached the center of the courtyard and there the shadow like being began to force its way through the stones of the courtyard, pressing between the thin cracks between the stones. She spread out her influence through the barren earth, her dark shape pushing through soil, rock and hardened molten soil until she found what she was looking for. A sensation of corrosive heat, a fragment of the green fire from that night fifty years ago.

She had tried to absorb the energy residue of the green fire before, but if she did so it would only empower her for a day and then leave her heavily weakened. But she was going to put all her bets on this one plan, no like she had a lack of time if it failed.

With an almost frenzy like hunger the Nightmare submerged itself into the earth and sought out the traces of the green fire that had been inside it. Then she began to absorb them. As she did that she felt her power grow. And as she finally absorbed the final traces of the energy she enacted the second part of her plan and her dark shadow like form, began to shift into something larger.

At first there was nothing, but then, through the cracks of the stones of the courtyard, began a greenish glow to appear. The green glow grew stronger and stronger until a wicked hissing sound of boiling liquid was heard. In the beginning there was nothing more then green vapor, but then as the glow went out and the courtyard went dark again, was something starting to flow out from the ground.

it was a cloud, a cloud of pale green mist. It grew and grew, slowly starting to cover the courtyard, and while parts of the mist flowed out upon the town was the main part of the mist starting to flow towards the castle. Its green gaseous nature would have made it visible to the average eye, yet as the mist spread out through the castle it became thinner until only a slight green sparkling could be seen, making it almost invisible. No one, not even the few guards stationed by the doorways, were able to notice it and neither did Luna. And as the mist drew itself upon her she was unaware of its existence, let alone its purpose.

As the nightmare focused its power into the Alicorn's barely protected mind Luna's emotions began to grow out of wack. Only feeling more and more anger, more frustration, more jealousy, more envy and more desire.

Then the mist seemed to be absorbed by her body, a slight shimmer began to fill the room for a few seconds. And then. Then. Luna began to sing.

The music carried itself through the castle like a phantom, making chills run down the guards’ spines. The song was beautiful yet it held so much contempt within it.

Ghostly voices sang out strange words in the background, as if inciting the walking princess to sing louder.

Her eyes seemed to change into a new colouring for a few seconds, taking on a bluish green tint and her pupils turning into slits, like that of a cat’s. Yet they changed back after a few blinks.

Standing upon a balcony Luna looked upon the moon and her horn lit with energy and then the night sky began to change, the moon being surrounded by a reddish glow while black and red colours began to shift across the sky.

Her eyes were once again in their cat like state, her teeth turned jagged and sharp and as she began to walk towards the throne, her body began to shift and change. Growing more menacing, dark and unhinged. Finally as she reached the throne she stood in front of it, turned around ,spread her wings and declared out her final lyrics as the castle began to morph and shift, green flames erupting from the torches as her voice sang out into the halls.

He had no idea what was going on but it was not right. The entire castle felt wrong, it was shifting and turning into a mockery of an evil wizard or warlord’s castle. Moving out of the library he tried to find his way, the turmoil in his heart growing as he began to hear shouts and screams all over. Then he felt the ground shake and saw a beam of energy fly through the air outside and cut a swat into the courtyard, torching the ground into molten rock.

Looking up at the spiraling staircase the alicorn gulped but tried to run up the stairs without tripping. *Oh Gods! Legs do not fail me now!* He ran up the staircases as armoured ponies rushed around outside and inside the halls, the sound of metal clashing and energy flying around could be heard from above the castle.

Reaching the top he used his front legs to smash open the door and got out on the top. There above the castle were two ponies fighting, armed in yellow golden and crystal blue armours, one pink and one of the darkest blue. The alicorn recognized them instantly from the images he had seen on his phone from that night.

As he tried to come up with something to do he spotted his wings but shook his head at that, he had no idea how to fly so he was not going to try it. But instead, he would have to try and do something, anything.

Getting an idea he bent his knees a bit and jumped up with a light skip, he jumped a good bit before landing, but it would not be enough, he would need something more. He did not know how to use magic or how to fly, but he knew that if he now was an alicorn, he would have to be stronger then your average being, he just needed to figure out how to use that.

Spreading his four legs apart, spreading his wings and hunching down, he tried to push as much of his physical strength through his legs and wings as he could. The result was not what he had expected, instead of just jumping a bit over thirty feet, he went sky rocketing up and into the clouds, the tower beneath his hooves crumbling apart by the force of his leap.

He punched through the clouds and tried to stop his ascent by flapping his wings, and with some kind of miracle he managed to stop his up going. Only, now he was falling down.

*Ah shit!* The stallion thought to himself, he tried to halt his descent in all manners, spreading his wings, flapping them, angling them and so on. Even if his body could walk and move without problem, could he not fly or access magic. To fly with wings was something he could only assume needed practice, only not as much practice as learning how to wield magic.

Even if he was certain he would survive the fall, was he NOT comfortable with falling like this, he was afraid of heights. "Oh how I wished this body came with inbuilt instructions!" He lamented as he helplessly fell down towards the town below, closing his eyes and hoping that the impact would not hurt 'too much'.

But as things would turn out, he would not have to worry too much about hitting the ground. Although, that might have been preferable.

Celestia frantically tried to stop her sister’s rampage but nothing seemed to be working, the Princess of the Moon was overpowering her with sheer ferocity. Her sister was skilled and powerful, just like she was, but they were no stronger then the other. Something was so wrong here.

Blocking the long sword aimed for her spine with her spear Celestia fired a lightning bolt at Luna who deflected it with her wings. “Luna! Stop this! Please come to thy senses!”

A furious screech answered her and she had to dodge a beam of plasma trying to strike her. The beam struck the Everfree Forest, creating a scorched scar in its length, the ground seemed to shake from the impact. “We art no longer Luna! We art Nightmare Moon! And we shall rule Equestria! As is Our Right!” Luna, or rather, Nightmare, shouted out in pure rage.

*This can not keep going on like this! The town and the castle will be destroyed if we keep fighting like this!* Then a thought struck her and she looked towards the shrine on the eastern wing of the castle, the location of the Elements of Harmony. *The Elements!*

She had to reach the elements and fast. But it would be difficult, her sister was chasing her like a bloodhound, what could she do to reach them? Her answer came from an outside force, as a black shape suddenly flew down from the sky and into her sister, sending her and the dark shape crashing into a tower.

Deciding not to take this moment for granted Celestia flew towards the shrine and scrambled inside towards the altar containing the elements. Meanwhile was her sister and the unknown interfere struggling.

The corrupted alicorn slammed into the stone and felt a big heavy shape pressed on top of her, her instinct for a few seconds registered a strangely exciting musk, but then her temper blew those thoughts away. "Who art thee, fool who dareth interrupt Our moment of triumph!?" Nightmare Moon roared out in anger as she tried to kick off the being on top of her.

Said creature grunted in pain as a pair of hooves slammed into solid ribs, bruising flesh and organs. But then it retaliated by suddenly warping a pair of large forelegs around her neck and hooking themselves, effectively putting her into a grapple.

"Release us thou lout!" Furious at the humiliating hold the alicorn princess summoned a blast of plasma on her horn, only for her assailant to be too close to her to strike a proper hit. Releasing the spell she blew asunder the tower they laid in and hope to get free of the hold in the fall.

A loud grunt escaped from her now identified, male assailant, but he did not release her from his grip. Furious the possessed alicorn let out a incomprehensible scream and launched herself against the nearby stone wall of the castle, slamming her assailant through it like a battering ram. Yet he did not let go.

Nightmare Moon screeched out in pure rage and with a brutal push of her entire body flew straight forward and smashed him through the thick stone wall of one of the towers. But he kept his grip tight. Flaring her wings she flew straight through one of the walls of the tower and slammed him into the stone floor of the courtyard, cracking the stone beneath it. Yet he still kept hold of her.

Grunting and groaning in pain as his back, wings and sides hit whatever surface the mad alicorn was slamming him into, the male alicorn could only contemplate of how he wished he had never made that bet. Of how he wished things had not turned out like this. Caring little of the pain from his body being used as a wrecking ball he just let her went out her anger, he didn't fight back but neither did he let go.

He did not want to hurt anyone, he never intended to and had never thought he ever would. But now he had found out he had caused the deaths of hundreds, if not thousands of living breathing and self aware beings, all because of that stupid bet. Not to mention the suffering of the two girls, or mares, he had promised to help. The guilt in his heart was aching like rain of needles upon his soul.

The dark princess screamed and pushed him through another wall, and the pair found themselves in some sort of shrine.

Noticing the white alicorn by the altar with the stones he realized those must be some kind of magical objects, or weapons, why else would she go here during such a crisis? And with his determination of paying back for his sins, he steadied his resolve, and his grip, and shouted out at her.

"Do it! Before it is too late!"

Meanwhile Celestia had reached the shrine containing the elements. Her hoofs carried her over to the decorated orb and stars containing the jewels containing the power of the elements. Releasing the Element of Magic from its confinement the rest of the jewels began to shine. She knew she could use them. But she hesitated. Even if she could use the elements on her own. Could she do it? Could she really use the elements on her own sister? What would happen? what would be the effects?

So many questions so little time to get answers. She tried to find a solution, an answer, something! Yet there was none, for the elements where not predicable in their effects, one could influence them to seal, heal, harm, protect, change and so on, but that was just the intent, not the effects themselves.

A crash sounded from behind her and she turned around to see something that made her eyes widen and her jaw drop. A giant black stallion, not a pegasus and not a unicorn, or an earth pony, but an ALICORN STALLION, was laying on his side, his wings pressed against the rubble of the wall he had been slammed into, the struggling shape of Nightmare Moon held by his forelegs.

The stallion’s eyes meet her own, blood dripped and flew from his mouth as he shouted out through the pain as Nightmare Moon slammed her knees and hooves into his gut.

“Do it! Before it is too late!”

His voice sounded like thunder to her ears. And the words made Celestia make a decision, and with resolve she activated the elements. The gemstones spun around her like a halo, flaring and shifting in colours and brightness. Then they stopped, assuming a perfectly still position around her. A sudden flash came, before a powerful explosion of white light flew out, striking both the stallion and Nightmare Moon. Their bodies flew like leaves into the night sky.

The light faded away and then their bodies started to sparkle and fade as they flew up. The fading was slow and steady, and soon enough nothing of them remained, their shapes seemingly disappearing into moon. And as they faded away, the moon began to shift and change as a line of craters began to take shape on the right side of the moon, forming a pattern in the shape of a unicorn,

Stunned Celestia stared upon the moon where she had sent her sister and the stranger. Then she heard the voices, the voices of the elements.

The elements then went still, their magic spent and their purpose done. Celestia then noticed, how her once pink mane had been turned into a rainbow like colour pattern and her once bright pink fur, was pure white.

But then those words registered in her mind. One Thousand Summers. Her little sister would be sealed within the moon for one thousand years. Along with that innocent stranger. And it was all her fault!

Her vision grew blurry, then the tears ran down her cheeks and finally she just tossed her head up into the air and cried out in despair. Uncaring for dignity or stature, mourning her lost sister, feeling more alone then she ever had in her entire life.

The surface of the moon was covered in bright stone and endless sand oceans. A silent and serene place upon which no living thing had touched its surface for unknown time. But that was all to change when something fell upon the surface of the moon, striking through the sand dunes. A cloud of dust and sand erupted from the soundless impact, but was swift to settle as with no air, the dust and sand had nothing to hold them up. Once the dust cloud had settled came a familiar looking black alicorn stallion out of the crater he had made on his landing. Soundlessly groaning in pain he shifted his jaw and chin from the bruising he had taken from Nightmare Moon when he landed on her in midair and good her really mad at him.

Cuts and bruises littered parts of his body but were healing rapidly because of his alicorn physiology. Standing up from the crater the Alicorn looked around, trying to figure out where he was when he spotted the blue and green planet in the night sky. Thankfully there was no air on the moon, and his alicorn magic kept him alive, or many would have heard his profound swearing even down on the planet below.

Frowning the alicorn stallion looked around, where was Princess Luna? He had been holding her when the light of colours had hit them, so where was she? Moving down the sandy dunes he tried to get some orientation of his surroundings. That's when he noticed something, a green coloured mist was rising from the sand beneath him. Leaping gracefully, thanks to the weaker gravity field of the moon, he flew up and away from the spot. After around ten seconds of jump aided flight he landed on big dune. Feeling a bit safer he turned around and looked down at the green mist, it did not look safe.

*What the hell is that?* He pondered to himself, he didn't intend to investigate it however and was about to leap further away from the mist when it suddenly surged towards him like a tidal wave. Caught off guard he tried to scramble away but found himself choking as the mist forced itself into his nostrils and mouth. As the last piece of mist forced itself into his body he fell down and rolled down the side of the large dune, when he stopped rolling he just laid there. His eyes open and still, glowing red and green as whatever had forced its way inside him tried to take control.

Blinking slowly he looked around. He was... standing on a vast field? *What in the actual hell is going on?*

Then a wicked laughter began to echo through the place. "Ohoohoo! What a treat We hath found! Yesss! This body shalt make Us invincible!"

Looking at the direction of the laughter he managed to pinpoint the location of a strange black mass of... slime? Ichor? Or whatever ooze like substance it looked like. The thing was in the shape of an alicorn, similar to Luna, only... This one looked more bulky and taller, not as tall as himself but about as tall as Celestia.

Frowning the alicorn male stepped forward and spoke up to the mare, she was off her rocks insane but he had no patience for trying to reason with some crazy gal right now. "Okay lady, two things. One: stop it with the creepy laughter, it is annoying. Two: where the fuck are we?"

Jumping a bit the ooze like creature turned around, revealing green glowing eyes and a jagged equine mouth. She hissed at him and snarled. "WHAT!? How are you still conscious!? I should have taken over your mind by now and suppressed you into your subconscious!"

"...Wait whut?" Was the dumbfounded response from the stallion as the words of the creature registered in his head. "My mind? This... is my mind?" He took a look around the vast open fields, noticing some structures, mountains and forests in the far distance.

As his head was turned he suddenly found himself struck by a pair of hooves from a buck kick, not even feeling pain he simply let his body adjust itself correctly, like a cloud, not even feeling anything out of place. The strange creature hissed at him and fired a globe of green and black goop. Yet... even as that orb of creepy paste moved towards him, he did not feel afraid.

In fact he felt... serene. In control. Calm. He could not describe it, but he... did not feel like anything could harm him.

Calmly raising his left hoof the stallion simply focused his thought, and the globe of untold slime, suddenly stopped before cracking apart into what turned out to be a swarm of moths.

The oozing creature stared in shock at what had happened to the spell of corruption she had cast. Never before had something like this happened to her in a mindscape. "What!? No! This is my domain! I am Nightmare Moon! I am the ruler of Dreams and Horrors! No pony can best me in my domain!"

The stallion just glared at her and began to slowly walk towards her. Snarling in mad fury the Nightmare cast spell after spell at him. Yet none of them so much as phased him.

He thought of what he knew of nightmares from his old world, and could see some similarities to those horror striking horses to this black goop of shadows. And then he realized something. Even as a sphere of fire reached him, it just exploded into a winged fat little imp laughing in a wicked high pitch voice. "It is true that you are a nightmare, a spirit who feeds on the negative dreams of the living. However."

A solid sphere of rotten flesh and bones struck at him, turning into a mass of worms crawling into the ground. Yet he kept talking, not even bothered by the horrors he created from her magic. "However. You are not the ruler of this place. You are not strong enough to take hold of my mind. That is something beyond you." Screeching at his words the Nightmare summoned a massive black snake of black ichor and sent it at him, it exploded, turning inside out before its innards and bones turned into rotting decomposed corpses of humans, zombies.

Her eyes widened at the rotting monsters growing out of her spell. The once bright and warm sun was being covered by a dark shadow of storm clouds. The grass was turning brown, rain started to fall and lightning began to crack across the sky. Across the howling gales and the sound of rising waves of water, the Nightmare screamed out. "This is impossible! Nothing alive can have such control over their own mind and fears! This is my domain! How are you doing this!? Who are you!? What are you!?"

But the stallion was gone, as if swallowed by the sudden storm of havoc emerging around her. Instead a loud rumble answered her as the ground began to crack and lava began to erupt across the storm, as water began to push in from around, raising massive explosions of steam as the heated rock met the waves. More and more monstrous beings began to emerge from the waters, the ground and the sky. Swarms of bats and flocks of crows flew screeching over her head. Masses of rotten creatures reached out with decomposing appendages for her flesh. A massive white creature swam out of the water, its pale flesh riddled with massive hooks, spears, harpoons and pony sized maggots, its massive jaws of uneven teeth revealing a massive stomach below.

Even as the Nightmare flew away from the horrors below there was more waiting for her above. Tornadoes tore down from the sky, carrying pieces of corpses and winged beasts tearing at the flesh of the pieces. A massive winged reptile with a beak snapped at her wings. An insect the size of a house snapped its wicked mandibles and curved claws at her. Swarms of locusts flew over her body. A massive black being of horns with wicked pincers snapped at her while the five heads of a hydra tried to tear her wings apart.

Then even as the ground beneath the mountain peak erupted in green and black fires the nightmare glared around and screeched out. "Tell me!"

A strong light shone upon her, temporarily blinding her, then as her vision recovered, she saw something that sent chills down her non-physical body. A massive equine like head of green and black flames was floating in the center of the storm of horrors, out of the flames of its form grew the horrors, like monsters born from a horrid imagination. Shapeless monstrosities that made her eyes hurt just by looking at them. The equine like head looked at her with two crimson red eyes of fire, before opening a jaw that looked more like the fang filled mouth of a dragon then that of a equine, and then spoke, even as a third eye on what could only be described as its forehead, opened, revealing an eye of green fire. A voice of echoing thunder and nightmarish screeches, cracked across the mindscape of horrors. "I am the Danger that Stalks Those who seek to Harm Others in the Pitch Dark Night! I am the Talons clawing at the souls of the Wicked! I am the Foundation of those Who who have Doubts! I am the Chill that runs down the Spines of the Corrupt! I am the Source of Horror and Bravery! I am the Sovereign of Courage! I am the Lord of Terror! I! AM! MALEFICUS! VICTORIA!"

All Nightmare could do was scream as the tide of horrors rose up towards her, grabbing her with teeth, appendages, slime, tentacles, mandibles, claws and more. And as the horrors held her in place the burning aberration in front of her opened its burning jaws wide, revealing the dark core within, a single shape standing within the darkness of its throat, staring out with cold red eyes, before swallowing her whole.

Author's Notes:

Staadnauthursil: Annnnd done! Gods that took a week longer then I had anticipate, bloody fevers and work makes this Dragon a dull boy. I feel like it was rushed at the end but I think I got it managed... well for the most part. It didn't feel as bad as the first version I made.

Pinkie Pie: Good on you for making this chapter Staady!

Staadnauthursil: I am going to get myself some good rest for now, until then, enjoy the reading and do send a comment if you have anything you wish to point out.