Slowly, the dreamscape of the millennia old Castle Everfree faded into visibility, emerging lit even as it coalesced from the sheer Dark.

My time had come.

While it had been only several years since that first moment, it had felt like at least three eternity's. Waiting for fate to catch up. And she had.

She finally had.

As fate decreed; I stood up and followed like a loyal soldier as I took my first step down the forming road, the Castle walls creeping up into existence as the shadows formed more and more of the Castle.

The Fortress fully formed as I reached the main courtyard doors, entering the Castle proper as if I were a visiting dignitary.

The Great Hall loomed overhead as I confidently marched inside.

I knew not what waited for me, maybe even certain death. But I had been waiting for too long to not take my opportunity of escape from my stagnant hell.

I wanted out.

Even if, maybe especially if, it meant willingly stepping into a deathtrap.

Dim shadows flung open the throne room doors, revealing the inky expanse of a totally unlit room at midnight. Even in the darkness, rows of distinct shadows stood off to the sides, along side where the central carpet would lay if it wasn't already a rotten rag.

I passed by them unbothered and calmly.

All they did was follow me with their gaze.

The throne's dais loomed into view, and perhaps being the only pristine object in my whole dreamscape, the throne rose.

An Alicorn, as black as death, sat on the shadowy throne.

I stopped before the dais, but did not bow.

Silence reigned.

"So..." the Other began after what felt like an hour. "Do you want me to start or-?"

"Go right ahead." I coldly stated.

"Ugh, fine." the mare groaned. "That first day, actually that first minute after we signed our accord, do you remember it?"

"I do." I sneered.

"Did you really believe I didn't know that a Harmonic creature can't tithe like a Duke unless at least a small portion of the Prince's essence possesses the host?"

"I needed you." I argued. "What choice did I have?"

"Oh, you've always had a choice Luna." the Other smiled kindly. "You could've done what your nobles suggested, and lost." she sneered suddenly. "But no, you came to me." the black mare stood up, and prowled down the dais like a predatory cat. "You came to me offering more than you realized..."

"And what would that be?" I asked snidely.

"Real-Estate." she purred. "A guaranteed spot in your head. Which, may I add; I'm saying as a compliment."

"Elucidate me."

"Oh, you haven't figured it out have you?" she grinned. "You're a very special Pony Luna." the Other spoke, patronizingly like a TV actor telling one of the students on stage an important moral lesson. "Even without the Moon's favor, being royalty, horn, wings- Er, well, wing now." she corrected, but continued. "Even without all that, you are truly special."

"If this happens to be the lesson of a Sunday Morning cartoon for small children I'm not even going to try to win." I deadpanned.

"Sunday Morning TV or not, you are special." The Other admonished harshly. "Oh, most have no idea, they all thought you were exceedingly brave. But that's not quite true is it?" The mare continued. "You have one fear. One, tantalizingly rare fear." she purred, resuming her prowling.

I stood my ground, but said nothing.

"Nothing? Not a single guess?" she whined, stalking around behind me.

I kept my silence, and didn't bother watching behind me.

"Oh come on now Luna... We both know that it'd be an insult to your intelligence if you say anything but the truth. So just..."

The mare rushed forwards, her face millimeters from my own.

"Give..."

I refused to even flinch.

"In."

The pupils in her slit eyes were mere threads as she glared.

I said nothing.

She continued to stare into my eyes for a few moments longer, before suddenly pulling back.

"You can't say it can you?" she chortled.

I waited.

"Or is it perhaps you don't know?" she mocked. "The great Luna Fiendbane! Hero and Princess of Equestria! Unable to acknowledge her only fear." The black mare bounced joyfully on her hooves as she continued to walk circles around me.

"Maybe I should point it out, for the students in the back not paying attention." she mocked.

"What-" she asked, raising her head proudly. "Is the most dangerous thing Luna can think of?" the mare asked out loud. "What, to Luna, is more persistent than Death?" she asked again. "What possibly, could Luna think of that scares even her?" she came back directly in front and stopped.

"Say it." she commanded.

I kept my lips sealed and my stance relaxed.

The mare advanced towards me.

"Say it." she said again.

"No." I simply stated.

"Say. It." she commanded slowly, once more in my face.

"If you can't tell me, show me." I stated through grit teeth.

The answer seemed to stun the Other. But she slowly grinned all the same.

"As you wish, oh Duchess mine." she said lovingly.

Red sensations of feeling appeared in the fabric of the darkness I found myself in. Appearing suddenly, retreating after just a moment, and reappearing in a slightly different location.

It felt like it happened hundreds of times, but in actuality, it was closer to five or six.

Pure, uninterrupted darkness returned.

I opened my eyes.

I was Lucas again. A child still. No older than twelve.

I sat in muddy grass, the school's playground wet from a spring storm that had passed through the area recently.

I was alone. Or rather, alone with the exception of my opponents. Four or five children, all larger than me.

They stood congratulating each other.

My face throbbed angrily.

I happened to glance over to the side.

I had been sitting on the grass near the edge of the playground's asphalt.

A large hunk of the rocky surface had broken off, and sat within reach.

I glanced over at the group of friends.

Measuring.

Judging.

Plotting.

Only one had been throwing the punches.

And I could kill him.

His was the only back who was completely facing me.

I could hit him in the back of the head, and keep pounding until his brains were thoroughly mixed with the black, broken asphalt he stood on.

Who cared if his friends came to help? I would kill them too.

The teachers would notice, and come to stop me. I would kill them too.

The cops would be called to stop my rampage. I would kill them too!

The army will come! With tanks and planes and bombs! And I would kill them all!

I would rule this corrupt and broken planet by right of conquest! With nothing but the rock in my fist!

I knew I could do it! As strange as it was to say, I knew I could win!

There was no god nor demon who would or could stand in my way!

Shadows roiled like a boiling sea within my mind.

All I had to do... Was give in to the Darkness.

I grabbed the rock and stood up.

I raised the fist and rock high and-

What was I doing?!

I stopped.

How was this right?!

He's a stupid kid!

The group hadn't noticed me. They were still laughing.

Does he deserve it? Maybe. But world domination over a single kid was not worth it.

And I was going to do it...

If I had brought the rock down, I would've never given up in my quest. As stupid as it now seemed. I would've kept killing and killing, and killing, and killing until there was nothing left but me, the rock, and the burning pile that had once been Earth.

I tossed the rock away off to the side, letting it clatter harmlessly to the ground.

And suddenly I was flying.

I hit the muddy ground with a meaty thump.

I pulled myself out of the dirt, my rage boiling again.

The kid stood above me again.

He had hit me so hard I had flipped through the air.

I did nothing but fume as he stood silently.

But I kept to my decision. He would live.

But I hoped, by hate alone, that I had soured his eventual fate.

The rage in my heart collapsed into a controlled pilot's light as the group walked away.

I pulled myself fully from the mud and stomped towards the school.

Several people asked me what happened as I passed by.

I said nothing.

"Hahahahahahahahahaha!" The Other laughed loudly, her black wings outstretched.

I kept the scowl I had adopted in the memory. Furious beyond imagination, but so strictly controlled as to make a military academy look relaxed.

"Come on Luna... What are you scared of?" the Other mocked.

I knew the answer of course.

What was the single thing, that everything I had done, had in common? What was something so involved, that it was present each and every time? What was the most dangerous thing in every instance? What would follow me, faster and more determined than Death itself? What was present that night with the Hydra? What was present the very first night in Ùllahdmaiden? What was present during the Night of the Windegos? What was there during the Seige of Casúrdomhain? Of Pegasopolis? Of Unicornia? Of Bloodstone? With Discord? There with Sombra? There with the Griffins? What had been present that night in Area 51? What was there during the Cartel massacre? What was at that Nazi riot?

The answer was easy.

Myself.

I was scared of myself.

If I wanted, if I truly wanted... There was no doubt in my mind I could conquer all of Earth and Equestria.

Even as a small Human boy, ignorant of my true nature, I had somehow known how dangerous I was.

Even then, I had visions of fire and mayhem caused by my hand.

And for good reason. For what could stop me if I wanted to pay the Universe back for all the shit it put both Luna and Lucas through?

The United States? Please... They may be the world's super power... But the whole apparatus was rife with rot. If they tried to legislate, they would do what they always did and half ass any attempt to stymy me. There was no law, and no army of square jawed thugs large enough with a hope of victory... In the end, they'd have to resort to nuclear fire. And I was beginning to have serious doubts that a nuke would be enough... Perhaps a direct hit sure. But there were ways for even a normal Human to survive a blast.

Celestia? Despite my demeanor towards the mare, I wasn't afraid of her. Angry at, yes... But not afraid. If I were to fully commit to a fight with my sister... It was no contest. Even with her extra millennia of strength and wisdom. She was too soft to deliver the killing blow. She wouldn't start to seriously fight until she realized I was playing for keeps. And by then, it would probably be too late for her to keep me at bay.

So really, what could stop me?

What was stopping me from drowning this whole fucking planet in a tide of living shadow?

What was stopping me from spreading across the galaxy like a plague? Eating and consuming everything using nothing but my own rage fueled shade?

Nothing.

Not a God damn thing.

All I had to do, was to set the Darkness in my heart free. Letting it flow over everyone and everything. Taking revenge on all of existence for making my life a living hell.

It would be sooo easy...

And here I now stood, before the endless abyss, with nothing but my increasingly fracturing mind to keep the encroaching darkness at bay.

And therein lay the true goal of the Nightmare.

The Nightmare could never have dreamed to fight me directly. No matter what it did, even taking my shape as an imposter, it would never fool me. Because I was myself and it wasn't.

And I had been too distracted to see it.

Too busy with Sombra, too busy with Celestia and her court, too busy keeping the peace that I unknowingly gave the Nightmare exactly what it wanted.

A way to make me afraid.

A nudge here, a push there, and everything I had cherished and built collapsed around me. Manipulated and engineered by the Other, but ultimately being destroyed by my hoof. It was sick and insidious, never saying anything but the truth. Sometimes pushing violently, sometimes phrasing a sentence in an odd, yet valid way.

My fate had been sealed the first moment that sick, oily, feeling settled around my heart. This has, and always will be, the outcome.

I could only wait for Fate to demand the bill.

The Other's face was extremely close, a mocking, goofy half smile on her lips.

"Awe yuu gonna say it?" she said childishly.

"No."

I headbutted her.

Next Chapter: Chapter 151 The Nightmare Estimated time remaining: 28 Minutes