Roselight stood still, making herself look like more of a threat. She definitely looked different, making Blitz realise that she wasn't herself. Those eyes were not hers and neither was her smile, let alone the darkened fur and the wings that she took advantage of. She was going insane from the outside in. Roselight smiled menacingly, making Blitz stand stiff.

Her fur was a lot darker than usual, going from a dark purple and white, to a dark purple and dark blue. It was a lot shinier than he remembered too, making the appearance more scary as a whole. She was clean, no dirt, no blood, just fur and mane glistening like there was no tomorrow.

Her mane was glossy and very weird. It was almost like her mane was animated in a way that it would constantly play over and over again, different spots of white appearing at different points. It almost made Blitz think about stars, above the clouds. Although he didn't know what stars looked like, he had a pretty good idea of what they were through books, which gave him a seemingly bad image of what a star looked like. Everything was more beautiful through a real view anyway.

Roselight's teeth were sharper than usual, making them look like they could carve through flesh like a knife. Her teeth were sharp enough to be classed as fangs, which didn't help the mental image that Blitz was holding inside his head. Her fangs, like her fur and mane, were immaculate. They glistened within the hazy fog that lingered around, piecing all of the dull colours around Blitz with a freshness of bright white.

Her eyes were narrow pins, becoming less of a round shape and more of a sharp and pointy pair of slits. She had the same type of eyes as Sadjoy, which made him slightly curious to what the nightmare actually was. As they looked at Blitz, it felt like he was being attacked, due to how sharp her eyes were, digging into him with every little chance that she could, making him a little scared. A voice within him told him that he was going to be alright. That little voice was Death.

Her wings were not her own. The nightmare must have grown them out from Roselight's body, making Blitz wince a little bit at the thought, making her take a couple steps closer. The fear within Blitz's body was there, but it was like it was being hugged or at least tied down so that it could not overrun Blitz's mind with a guilty conscience. She kept her wings out wide, trying to make herself look more fierce, which must have gotten to the others somehow, but not to Blitz. He shook his head, before stepping a little closer.

Having evaluated her, he tried to begin a conversation. Without hesitation, before Blitz could even breathe another short breath, she raced forward, bringing a weapon to bare, in her magic. As soon as she slashed, Blitz dodged it quickly, making a swift leap to the right. She laughed, before realising that she hadn't hit Blitz. Blitz looked at himself, noticing that he had the power to dodge her attacks, which made him smile.

Before he could do anything, Death paused time, making her freeze too. Death walked out Infront of Blitz, looking exactly like… himself. Death was a changeling, one blue eye and a red eye, like himself. The only thing that was different, was the colour of Death. He was a grey scaled version of Blitz, which made him a little creepier. Blitz looked at him in shock, before shaking his head and trying to think of something to speak. Death sat down and highlighted Roselight's form, making Blitz wonder what he was about to do with her.

Death looked Blitz directly in the eyes and made him feel a little uncomfortable with his current situation. Anti came and sat down, beside Blitz, making Anti appear on the opposite side, sitting down next to Blitz. Blitz began to get very confused by Anti not being affected by the paused state that everypony else was. This made Blitz question what Anti really was.

"She is my gift to you, Blitz." Death stated, making sure that Blitz could hear him. Blitz looked back at Anti and then stroked her with a hoof, before she laid down on the floor and nuzzled Blitz's forehoof. "Right, now that you're relaxed, you got a choice to make Blitz!" Death explained, bringing up another copy of Roselight's form.

On the left was Roselight's form as she was. The nightmare form didn't change, but she was untouched. On the right was a blood-soaked Nightmare Roselight, cuts being all over her body and wounds displaying very gory details, such as her head being decapitated, stomach being cut open and more.

"No, no! We are not killing Roselight. She is the leader of this settlement and must continue to be the leader." Blitz explained, trying to make it clear to Death. Death shook his head.

"Oh but come on Blitz. Roselight would make a very good companion for you, like little Anti here. Plus, a nightmare would be a great addition to my collection. I mean, Anti is closer than you think to…" Death spoke, before getting cut off by both Antis, them both growling at Death like he was out of line. He smiled and chuckled. "Sorry girls, my bad. I almost spoiled the secret." He added.

"What secret?" Blitz asked, getting very caught up in the conversation. Death shook his head, before getting back to topic.

"Anyway, going back to this, I will help you either way, but remember that there are consequences to your actions, regardless of what path you take." Death explained, getting a little nod from Blitz in response.

"My opinion is the same. Despite you trying to persuade me to kill her, I think that she should be saved. We still need to find out what is up with those artifacts, don't we?" Blitz explained, making Death raise a brow in response.

"I almost forgot about that Blitz. Welp, now you know why I chose you over anypony else like that 'Stable Dweller' or 'Security' for example." Death acknowledged.

"Who?" Blitz asked, not getting a response from Death. Instead, Death just continued to stand there in Blitz's form, making Blitz feel a little frustrated about time not resuming. Death sensed Blitz's frustration and smiled.

"Eager to get back into the flow again, Blitz? Well then, let's have some fun!" Death stated, resuming time. Roselight looked menacingly at Blitz, who wasn't going to stand for Roselight's antics any longer, or at least the nightmare's intention. Blitz stood his ground and dropped his saddlebag, before kicking it off to one side.

"I'm not going to fight you Roselight! I refuse to, even if my body and mind seek to." Blitz stated, knowing full well that Death was smiling at what he had just said. Blitz slowly stretched his forehooves and hindlegs, letting his body get ready for the commitment that he was just about to make. Roselight smiled mischievously at Blitz, bringing her weapon into view again.

Blitz looked at the weapon, not really noticing what it was until that point. It was almost like the sword that Blitz had lost, due to the stupid raider stabbing the hydra with it. Blitz remembered that moment and probably would for the rest of his days. The sword looked lethal, having both a sharp end to it, as well as a dull end. Blitz didn't fancy catching either end of the sword, due to the nature of how most swords were lethal to normal ponies, let alone changelings.

Changelings were basic glass cannons or just glass, if they didn't learn any spells. Although the chitin was strong, the bits that connected the chitin together were as weak as paper, probably even weaker than that. Blitz had proven that he was the one exception to that. He had pried open a pegasus ghoul's maw and ripped it into two pieces. If that didn't show how strong Blitz was, then he could have proven it during the fight that he was in at the moment.

Roselight lashed out at Blitz, trying to hit him with the sharpest part of her blade. Blitz reacted quick enough and jumped out of the way of Roselight's swipe, missing him by a couple of inches. She looked angrily at him, beginning to understand that he wasn't just going to lie down and take it. He was going to be shifty about it. Roselight took another swipe at him, making him jump back. She followed it up with another swing, which Blitz didn't dodge. He blocked the attack with his magic, making Roselight push down on the sword with her magic, increasing the pressure.

Unlike all of the other times that Blitz used a shield spell, this time it didn't take any of his magical capability. It was almost like he wasn't casting the spell, or even channeling it for that matter. Roselight pushed harder and harder against Blitz's spell, but to no avail. Blitz teleported away, before Roselight regained her force.

"Roselight! I… I'm not going to hurt you!" Blitz stated, shifting the saddlebag that he had dropped more out of the way and teleporting his cloak to him. He put it on, before pulling the hood up, over his mane. Roselight cackled, making Blitz feel a little on edge.

"This should be fun then!" Roselight stated clearly, Blitz hearing an echo to her voice. That was not Roselight, that was the nightmare speaking! Blitz moved back slowly, giving Roselight the impression that he was beginning to fear, when in reality, he was preparing for Roselight to attack. She charged her horn and shot a bolt of blistering hot lightning towards Blitz. He tried to dodge it, but he didn't move. Instead, his body casted the blocking spell, dissipating the electrical bolt into thin air. Blitz was in shock, not because of the electricity, but because of his body's lack of movement and understanding. Was he even controlling himself anymore?

Roselight didn't hesitate, as another bolt of pure electrical power, blistered through the air and hit the ground beside Blitz, being originally where he had just been. Blitz charged up his horn and shot a weak bolt at Roselight, hitting her in the process and doing nothing, apart from annoying her a bit, which was what Blitz wanted. He wanted to try and annoy her, making her bring her own guard down, so that Blitz could finally see what was wrong with her.

Roselight shot another bolt towards his general direction, which Blitz just deflected and made it ricochet towards the sky. Roselight went wide eyed and just stared at Blitz, which made him feel a little on edge at the fact that the fighting had just stopped for a couple of seconds or so.

"How… how can this be? How can you block all of my attacks?" Roselight asked, trying to make Blitz fall into the false state of security. It didn't work, which made Blitz pressure himself to not attack her, making her more and more frustrated. "Fine! I'll just kill you myself!" Roselight screeched, the nightmare within her wanting to end Blitz's life. She rose up and began to charge her horn.

"Run!" Death commanded Blitz, making Blitz turn and run for cover, which there was little to none around. Blitz teleported himself above Roselight as she shot the beam of energy at Blitz's old general direction. She laughed like a phyco, but to no avail. She didn't even scratch Blitz, mainly due to the reason that he was behind her. Roselight heard the buzz of wings finally and turned to see Blitz flying there. She lit her horn for a second time, trying to smite the bug that was pestering her. Blitz teleported to another location, avoiding the beam that she tried to shoot at him.

"Stay still! Let me swat you like the bug you are!" Roselight shouted, looking around for said bug. Blitz stood on the ground, back where he originally was standing. Without hesitation, Blitz slowly began to walk up to Roselight, before she vanished into thin air. Blitz looked around for her, but she was nowhere to be seen. Blitz turned around to check on Azure, when he saw the huge alicorn, looking above him. Roselight placed a magical aura around Blitz's horn, prohibiting the usage of magic from Blitz. While doing so, she lifted him up to eye level, giving Blitz a look of superiority.

"Urgh! Get off me!" Blitz yelped, struggling at Roselight's tight grip. She began to charge up her horn, before letting off a little amount of green electricity. It turned into smoke as soon as it hit Blitz, but it didn't hurt him, which surprised Blitz. His vision started to turn green, as Roselight dropped him to the ground. He laid on his stomach for a couple of seconds before gingerly getting up, struggling to do so.

Fake voices started to speak within his head, as his vision slowly blackened at the edges. He could see some sort of mist coming off the corners of his eyes, which made him worry a little. He looked around and didn't see Roselight anywhere. The blackness in his very was like a thick fog of some kind, dispersing when he got closer to the blackness. It was almost like it was an aura around Blitz, that blocked his distant vision.

Blitz felt a sharp buck to the side, making him feel like he had been hit by a cart. He looked in the direction of the buck and received a buck from the rear, which made his legs tremble, before he slumped to the ground. Azure wanted to go out and help, but he had no way of defending himself against telekinetic powers, let alone the spell. Bullets on the other hand, he would be fine with that.

He felt something hit his back left leg softly. Turning around, Azure saw Petalbreeze and Brick hiding next to a building. Azure slowly got out from the cart and slowly scampered over, trying to avoid all of the action that was happening on the opposite side of the buildings. Azure heard a shrieking noise from their general direction and pegged it over to the others.

Brick was slanted against the wall. He was almost looking like he was chilling out and trying to distract himself, but Azure could see a shred of doubt within him. He looked over to Azure and smiled softly, before looking at the ground again, almost like he was ashamed of something. Azure looked to the directions of the fighting and walked back a little, tripping over a rock that was sticking out of the ground. Petalbreeze turned around and looked at him, making herself chuckle.

"Yeah, I forgot to tell you to watch your step." Petalbreeze laughed, only for a split second, before going back and peaking around the corner, keeping sure that the coast was clear. Azure admired Petalbreeze's survivability skill, but he could see that she was beginning to lose faith in coming to the settlement.

Blitz closed his eyes, trying to maximize the senses that he was getting. He could hear her gliding around him, within the darkness of the black mist that enveloped his view. He couldn't see that far, but he was pretty sure that he could make out her figure, flapping her wings around Blitz, going around in circles, as he opened his eyes. Roselight was just a thin, white outline within the blackened smoke, which didn't help Blitz at all.

Roselight came through the mist after a couple of seconds of Blitz following her movements. Blitz shot a beam of energy at her, making her dive out of the way, but Blitz was still able to hit her. Although he didn't want to hurt her, he had to make her know that he could. He didn't want her to think that Blitz wouldn't attack, he wanted to show her that he would attack if he was provoked. Blitz was pretty sure that she got the message.

Roselight lunged for Blitz again, missing by a hair as Blitz jumped backwards, making Roselight a tad bit angrier. She continued to slash at him, getting closer and closer until Blitz decided that enough was enough and teleported away. Roselight looked behind her to see that Blitz's shadow was on the ground, suggesting that he was above her. She looked up and saw him staring down at her, talking to someone that wasn't there.

"Who are you talking to, you stupid roach?" Roselight screamed at Blitz, making him tilt his head. He lowered himself for a couple of seconds, before throwing a magical bolt her way, making her jump, due to not expecting it. Blitz's eyes both began to glow red, before a voice that was not Blitz's spoke aloud.

"Hehehe, you really are a silly nightmare, aren't ya, little scared moon?" Death spoke through Blitz's mouth, teasing her, so that she began to get more and more confused. Blitz regained the ability to speak, so he tried to convince Roselight.

"Roselight, I know that you can hear me! So, don't be scared, don't be afraid, don't give up yourself to the nightmare that is within you, controlling you. Break out of those chains and…" Blitz stated before getting struck with a bolt of blisteringly hot energy, which sent Blitz upwards.

"I am the one you call Roselight!" Roselight screamed, clearly being the nightmare and not being the mare that Blitz was trying to save. The pain of the bolt hurt Blitz too much, which made him wince in the air. He looked down to his stomach and saw that his chitin had protected him for the most part, but all of the flesh around it was now yellow and dusty. It should have been white or something, but Blitz could smell his blood dripping into the dustiness, which didn't help issues. He could feel all of the pain, which only made him angrier and angrier. He flew down and then landed with an earth shaking rattle.

Roselight looked over to him and began to laugh loudly. She thought that he looked so stupid, but Blitz wasn't one to take looks into account. He didn't care how he looked right then and there. All he knew was that Roselight would be saved, one way or another. Roselight lit up her horn, before Blitz's eyes turned green again, making him disappear into thin air.

Blitz knew that all of the ponies and creatures there would be worrying about him and maybe even thinking he was dead, but he wasn't. He was in what Death called, an 'enraged vision'. It was something that tried to corrupt the minds of the host, due to dark magic and dark knowledge that was getting pumped into their minds. It could either be acquired through getting hit with a dark magic spell, or reading a book about the matter. How did Blitz know this? He didn't, Death did and sent his knowledge through Blitz's head.

Blitz opened his eyes to see that he was on a path, surrounded by the black and inky void, the void that he needed to avoid stepping into. It was almost like Blitz was walking on air, but he wasn't. The path created a snake like pattern, weaving through different sections that haunted Blitz's now corrupted mind. He followed the path, being sure to not step off the path. Death displayed himself behind Blitz, making him turn. He displayed himself again, as a grey scaled version of Blitz, but wore a completely black hood, rather than Blitz's brownish one.

Blitz noticed that the path behind him was slowly disappearing, which made him continue to walk forwards, allowing the darkness that was slowly eating away at the ground behind him to not catch up to him. Blitz made himself walk a little quicker, trying to get away from the blackness what was approaching him. He was in some type of purgatory that was riddled with fear and deception. In the moment that he was living, he was neither dead, nor alive. He simply ceased to exist, for the time being.

"Scared?" Death asked, making Blitz turn his wounded neck. He just blankly stared at Death, both of them being underneath the safety of their own hoods, making them look like out of place figures. Blitz slowly shook his head, not feeling the pain that had hurt not too long ago. Death wasn't so convinced that Blitz was not scared. In fact, he was uncertain on how Blitz was feeling. All Death knew was that Blitz didn't feel safe.

Building began to come into view, making Blitz's mind feel a little bit better. Although they were only outlines, Blitz knew that this was probably the best chance that he would have got a sense of where he was. His mind was already corrupted enough, he didn't need more corruption going on within his mind, did he?

First it was the bombs dropping, Blitz seeing the carnage with his own eyes, but not remembering a single second after the flash had initially blinded him. It was rather unusual and Blitz normally felt a little weird trying to remember all of the actions of it, but he never could remember what happened after that.

After that, it was the grim death or his mother, which hurt him in so many ways, other than physical scarring. He was definitely mentally scarred from those events. His mother getting abused by those raiders and then them putting her out of her misery, before doing stuff to her corpse. That is nothing that a colt should have seen, but it was and it hurt Blitz a little more, just remembering it a little. A tear crawled down Blitz's cheek, which got Death's attention.

Next, it was the actions that transpired to watching a couple of Blitz's old pals. He got them into a situation that ended up in their demise, which haunted Blitz, because it was his fault. He had got them killed, due to his stupid actions. Just like with his mother, Blitz had to endure the pain and suffering of his friends getting murdered by a group of raiders. Blitz shook his head, beginning to understand what was happening in the area around him. He pushed forward, seeing that the path was behind him and almost being within a step of Blitz's previous position.

Blitz continued to get reminded of all of the bad that he could have done. This ranged from fighting the raiders who were hurting his mother, to letting the raiders within Roselight's settlement, without hurting them. This was not like Blitz. It almost felt like there was something messing with his emotions, making him feel that way. He had never dwelled on the results of what happened, he just moved on from them and allowed himself to see the actions that could have happened, if there were different times.

Death picked up on something being off with where they were. Everything seemed to be dark and gloomy and tried to scare Blitz whenever it could. Dark magic was always so tricky to understand, but Death was able to wrap his head around it. There was only one thing that Blitz had to do to escape the everlasting nightmare. That thing was to stand up against his greatest fear.

Blitz could see eyes looking at him, slowly approaching him in a way that friendly faces couldn't. He began to see all of the eyes coming into view, through the thick void that was blocking his view. He looked behind him for a couple of seconds, before seeing that the path wasn't slowing down, still rapidly approaching Blitz, making him panic a little.

"Blitz, that's just what it wants you to do!" Death whispered into his mind, making it so that the dark magic couldn't have an increased impact on Blitz. Blitz nodded and saw figures lining up in front of him. They were unrecognisable, which threw Blitz off a tiny bit. He tried to squint, to see who or what it was, before it revealed itself. A sword teleported into Blitz's hooves, which made him worry. He placed it into his magic before slicing at the raider that was in front of him.

The raider fell and was then replaced with a different raider. Blitz noticed this one, it was one of the raiders that both Blitz and Azure had ended the life of. Was this going to be something that tried to make Blitz feel bad? Most likely. Blitz looked at the figure, not having the confidence to smite it down, but still wanting to do so. He placed the sword within the raider and made him vanish, before pulling the sword back and allowing another pony to spawn as the black mist.

Next up was the raider that had almost killed Azure, earlier when they had both met and went out of journey. Blitz plunged his sword into him like he was nothing, having nothing else to say or do about his emotions about the pony that was in front of him. He kept the blade within the ponies body for a couple of seconds, before sighing and pulling it out, before swinging the sword about, readying himself for the next one.

A couple of seconds passed before the mist around him grew thicker and closer, the path still being eaten away at the edge. Roselight's voice echoed within the darkness, trying to make Blitz regret his actions.

"What gives you the right to kill? What if those ponies had families? What if you killed them out of cold blood, when all they wanted to do was protect themselves?" Roselight tried to persuade, making Blitz hold his head. Blitz began to doubt himself, making all of the questions come up stronger and more often. Blitz shook his head, before having a specific timberwolf come up to him and nuzzle his back hindleg.

Blitz looked down and instantly drew a blank, making Roselight or the nightmare inside his head, angry. Death looked at Blitz, shaking his head.

"You do realise that the nightmare will make you feel these feelings. You need to just forget thinking about things at this point of time and you need to get moving!" Death explained, pointing his hoof at the path behind him. Blitz took the sword and sliced it into the wall in front of him, making a big enough gap that he could teleport through it. Blitz saw a bright flash in front of him and saw another figure in front of him. This time, it was somepony that Blitz knew.

Appleseed eyed Blitz, making him rethink his entire goal in the first place. He wanted to find out about what the artifacts were and what their significance was. With that in mind, Blitz looked at Appleseed again, before slicing a chunk out of her, making her vanish. Appleseed was stopping Blitz from getting out of this area, but he did have some regret with doing it, making purple mist spark from the corners of his eyes.

Next up was Sadjoy, although Blitz didn't know the bat pony well, the bat pony still didn't have enough of a spark or a connection to Blitz, to make him panic about the choice. Blitz sliced at one of her legs, making the illusion vanish, only to be replaced with Blitz's fear. Blitz dropped the sword, before staring blankly into his mother's eyes. Blitz missed her the most out of anypony or creatures. She was his idol and she was taken away by them, without any reason. Blitz couldn't kill her, he wouldn't.

"I… I can't!" Blitz stated, feeling defeated, Death and Anti looked at each other, before looking towards Blitz.

"Welp, we did say that we had your back!" Death stated, before summoning his own personal scythe and slashing at Blitz's mother. Blitz went wide eyed, before Death teleported his scythe away, before looking back at Blitz and smiling. Blitz didn't know if he should have smiled, or if he should have been angry at Death. Without Blitz wanting to, he was brought back into the real world. Roselight was cackling, until she saw Blitz return.

Blitz had his eyes closed, before he opened them with pure green vision and purple haze at the side of his view, which made her smile madly. She slowly walked over to Blitz, before seeing that he was enveloped by dark magic. She smiled and then pointed at Azure and Petalbreeze, having caught them hiding. Azure looked at Blitz and Blitz looked at Azure, displaying no emotions. Blitz then looked up to Roselight and blinked again, extinguishing the purple flames and the green tint.

"Who said I was in your control?" Blitz spoke out, getting a surprising glance from Roselight. She shot a beam of magic at Blitz, which didn't scare him, only making him move closer. Roselight's beam was being cut off by another beam, coming out of Anti's maw, which surprised Blitz a little. Roselight forced her beam more, not yielding any better results. Blitz walked forward and smiled at her, before using a magic cancelling spell and touching his horn to hers, making his vision go back, almost like he was within the illusion before. He walked down the path again, only to see Roselight chained up, with a certain nightmare there too. Blitz shot a beam at Roselight's shackles, releasing one of her hooves within the illusion.

Blitz turned and ran the opposite way, running towards the path that was slowly getting eaten. He jumped into the blackness and saw that his vision went black and then went back into reality. He was trying to set Roselight free, making her able to escape the nightmare's grasp. The nightmare had her in chains, so Blitz had to make it a fair fight. Roselight backed off, trying to keep away from Blitz.

"Come here nightmare! I need to take those shackles off for Roselight." Blitz teased, making her look angrier. She blasted another beam at Blitz, which Blitz quickly dodged, teleporting behind her and pulling her neck backwards. Blitz touched his horn against hers again, before Blitz went into her head again, seeing that the path was getting quicker and quicker to catch up to him. Blitz saw Roselight trying to break out of her shackles with her free hoof. The nightmare was blocking Blitz line of sight with any of her other shackles, making the nightmare tense up a little and shudder.

"You will not best me, mortal!" The nightmare commanded, prompted by a pure desire for power and pretty much nothing else. Blitz flew around, barely missing a couple of shots from the nightmare's horn, which didn't scare Blitz in the slightest. He just continued to hover around and dodge whatever attack she sent his way, making him smile when he got the opportunity to teleport next to Roselight. He teleported to her and smiled, before burning an additional shackle off, before getting hit with another blistering hot lightning bolt, straight to the stomach.

The bolt shot Blitz out of the illusion and into the air, making Roselight able to batter him with a couple of other lightning bolts. These extra bolts visually hurt Blitz, showing green blood on his chitin and mane. Blitz got pushed out of the settlement, landing not too far off the main gate. Azure came blisteringly fast over to Blitz, seeing him in the state he was. He tried to heal Blitz's wounds with all he could, but Blitz refused it.

Blitz got one good look at Azure, before he rolled his eyes and nuzzled Azure, making him blush. That wasn't the end of it though. Blitz also kissed Azure on the top of the head, making him blush a bright red, counteracting poorly with his fur colour. Blitz chuckled, before spitting out a little bit of blood. His now blood-soaked chitin began to harden and make his actions stiffer and harder to achieve, but that didn't stop him from trying to break himself, to make himself work better.

Azure helped Blitz to the gate and saw a scene which was not going to go well in Roselight's mind. Petalbreeze was hurt, most likely due to Roselight, which made Azure look at Blitz. Azure knew that Blitz was a dangerous pony to deal with, so he let go of Blitz, only to have him teleport away.

"That's my boy!" Azure muttered, before going to help Petalbreeze with some of her wounds. Roselight took to the sky, rivaling Blitz's actions of teleporting up there. Blitz could see that Nightmare Roselight was getting weaker and weaker, due to Roselight being able to get out from within the shackles she was placed in, within her own head.

"Are we going to end this?" Roselight asked for the final time. Blitz nodded, only to have Death take over his mouth and voice.

"Of course!" Death admitted in his raspy voice. Blitz shook his head before charging up his already damaged horn. Roselight did the same, only she was going to be using dark magic to be able to hurt Blitz, both mentally and physically. Roselight let out a channeled beam of energy, constantly being cast by Roselight as she figured for dominance. Blitz countered her beam with his own beam, beginning to feel slightly overwhelmed by Roselight's power.

Blitz needed help and quickly received it, in the shape of Death himself. He took control of Blitz's body for a split second before giving Blitz something.

"Cast the spell I gave you Blitz!" Death called out from within his mind. Blitz used a new spell that he now recognised within his memory and teleported above Roselight, making her point her beam up. Blitz charged up his beam again, but this time, lightning sparked at the corner of his eyes and he released a black beam of magic. The beam made quick work of Roselight's magic, which made Blitz feel like he was too strong, but that didn't matter. What mattered was that Blitz was able to get the nightmare out of control of Roselight's head.

Blitz hit her pretty quickly with the force of the beam and quickly knocked the mare down to Equestria once again. Blitz flew down and pointed his horn at hers, sparking when they both made contact. Blitz shot through the blackness and found Roselight trying to get off the last shackle, after taking one off herself. Blitz shot it off with his magic, before the nightmare bucked Blitz in the head, sending him into reality again, without getting the collar around Roselight's neck off.

Blitz opened his eyes and watched as Roselight charged up her horn for another time, before getting hit with a stool from the side. Both her and Blitz looked over to see plenty of angry faces. Petalbreeze, Gretzky, Azure, Brick, Nightclaw and Sadjoy all held weapons up at Roselight, making the nightmare within her chuckle.

"Oh, you all are the funniest of ponies! Sick and twisted mortals cannot stop me!" Roselight announced, cackling to herself once again. Blitz rolled his eyes before allowing Death to take control.

"Oh? And I assume that you are immortal, right nightmare?" Death asked Roselight, getting the painfully disturbing look from not only Roselight, but all of the others as well. "Blitz, if you would hologram me, then I'd set her straight." Death asked, Blitz's mouth moving with every word. Blitz's eyes went bright red, before he used a hologram spell, allowing Death to move about, without being in the confines of Blitz's head.

Nopony spoke, only gawking at the sight of a myth that Blitz was in the possession of. Death looked at his hooves, seeing that they were bony and discoloured, which made him smile, before he changed form. Blitz didn't know why, but he wanted to understand why Death kept changing into a dark and twisted version of himself. He would eventually ask him, but it wasn't the place for it now.

"So, nightmare? How have you been doing? It's been a while since you sent me somepony to keep me company." Death explained, noticing that there was some trembling that was happening nearby. Blitz looked around and saw two ponies shaking. One of them was Roselight and the other… the other was Zeke. Everypony else was just standing silent, allowing Death to do what was needed or required, which Blitz supposed was pretty nice, allowing him to just get on with it.

"Let Roselight go!" Petalbreeze called out, not to Blitz or Death, but to the nightmare that had taken over Roselight's mind. Roselight shook her head at her and smiled, before trying to drag the unicorn over to her. Roselight realised that something was making the telekinetic power that she had, very, very weak. Roselight looked to Blitz, seeing that he was using his magic to not only display Death, but to stop Roselight from getting to Petalbreeze. Roselight flew up into the air, before charging her horn and making her eyes bubble with a purple haze.

"Feel the wrath of a tormented corrupt nightmare!" Roselight stated one final time, before shooting out a black and dark purple beam of magic. No, dark magic! She was shooting a dark magic beam and she was an alicorn. That was not good. She shot the beam down to the group of ponies from both settlements. Blitz wouldn't allow any of them to die, so he did what was right. He teleported in front of the entire group and used a protection spell, blocking all of the magic that was draining his magic, by the second.

Death knew that Blitz couldn't hold that magic for long, especially it being dark magic. He quickly used his magic, from the hologram, to push the magic back. He was quickly joined by Anti, shooting a continuous beam back at Roselight, making her work harder to keep up the spell. Blitz felt his magic drain at a slower rate, which made him feel a little safer with everything that had happened to lead up to the events that were happening then and there.

Azure came up to Blitz and wrapped his hooves around him, trying not to disturb Blitz's magic flow. Blitz accepted the hug that Azure was trying to provide. It gave Blitz a bit more confidence going into all of the fighting that was bound to happen within getting Roselight free. Blitz looked back at Azure and smiled, knowing that he was a true and humble friend. With that, he turned to look back to Nightmare Roselight and smiled a little, before walking towards with the shield going.

Death and Anti were still going strong, which made Blitz worry a little. Blitz focused all of his magic into the shield, pushing forward and letting Death re-enter his mind and soul. Blitz eyes went bright red again and he laughed a little, before Anti disappeared again.

"It makes me laugh that you chose a unicorn to control, since there were no pure minded alicorns in the Wasteland. Ready for the final assault?" Death asked in his lingering, painfully raspy voice. Roselight nodded and smiled, before going to slash at Blitz with a sword. Blitz didn't block, nor did he dodge the attack, like he normally would. Blitz had cheated the system of living, thanks to Death.

Before Death stopped talking, he charged a spell he used to watch over everything, making Blitz start to phase into limbo, which was pretty cool when Blitz thought about it, but also terrifying when he thought about it more. He was in a state that was still visible, but his matter was not able to be touched by anything. Blitz slowly walked up to Roselight, making her shiver a little bit at the sight of a God within a pony.

Blitz didn't ask for any of it, but he happily accepted to help Death cleanse the Wasteland. Blitz was proud of himself, which he cherished for a short while, before coming face to face with Roselight. Blitz touched his horn to Roselight's and entered the blackness, for the final time. Blitz was glad that Death turned off the limbo spell before getting to Roselight.

The path was as ominous as ever and there were breaks in the path in front of them. Blitz, Death and Anti all tried to avoid the cracks, while avoiding the being too slow and letting the path disappear under them. It didn’t take them long to find Roselight and the nightmare together. Blitz looked over and saw them both fighting. Even though Roselight was still restricted due to her one remaining shackle, that didn't stop her from resisting the nightmare’s attacks against her.

Blitz was sure that both Roselight and the nightmare couldn't see them, which made him a bit happier. Blitz looked at Death and Anti, checking that they were both thinking about what he was thinking about.

“If that is what you want to do Blitz, then I am behind you.” Death said, reading Blitz’s mind for a split second. BLitz nodded, before walking up to both Roselight and the nightmare. Blitz’s steps almost became completely silent, as Blitz walked over to the two. Roselight spotted him, but she didn't want the nightmare to realise that he was behind her. Thinking of that only made the nightmare realise that Blitz was there behind her.

“It's time to end this, you nightmare!” Blitz pressured, making the nightmare feel the effect of its actions, making the nightmare’s smile so much bigger. The nightmare lashed out, swinging the sword at Blitz, in the hope to hit him and finally end this, so that the nightmare could get back to what it was doing. Blitz wasn't going to stand for that, so he blocked and blocked and blocked. Blitz didn't want to do anything to the nightmare, so he just kept her busy, while Roselight tried to struggle out of the restraints.

The metal collar that Roselight was trying to take off was very solidly put into place and looked like it had been welded into place. That wasn't the case however, which was quite surprising that the metal was slowly melting, due to the head of Roselight’s magic. Blitz spotted the action from the corner of his eye and smiled, making it a little more obvious that he knew something had happened. The nightmare was way too distracted in Blitz, that she didn't realise that Roselight was melting herself free of her final restraint.

Anti slowly walked over, followed closely by Death himself. They just watched both parts play out for the most part, but wanted to contribute to help. They both looked at each other, before nodding and walking to either one of the scenes before them. Death walked over to Roselight, going over to help her and Anti calmly pranced over to Blitz and the nightmare, knowing full well that Blitz wasn't going to give up.

Roselight looked at Death and froze, knowing full well that she was going to wind up dead somehow. She panicked as Death got closer, which made him smile a bit, but it wasn't his intention to scare her. Death shot a beam of magic at the collar that she had been trying to take off, making it shatter into pieces and allowing Roselight to breath. She looked over to Death and smiled softly, making him know that she was grateful for what he had done. Death smiled back, before looking over to Blitz blocking the nightmare’s attacks. Death had confidence in Blitz, but knew that he would eventually get hit, due to exhaustion.

Death walked over and pinned the nightmare to the path, before eyeing her down. She cackled, before understanding who she was up against. She stopped laughing completely and didn't even breathe, as she observed a pony that made her tremble. Death wasn't planning on doing anything with the nightmare, which got him thinking about something they could do to the mare. Death was going to keep the nightmare and torment her, but he was planning on using her powers to enhance Blitz’s knowledge, power and resilience. Death was displaying those ideas into Blitz’s mind and waiting for Blitz to respond to them.

Although Blitz liked the idea of the power and the knowledge, he understood that that would change him more than he would have felt comfortable with. Blitz did ponder on the idea for a couple of seconds, but then decided to refuse the idea, leaving Roselight to ponder the option that Blitz had taken. Blitz walked a little closer to Roselight and saw that the mare looked awfully confused on what was actually happening. Blitz found it easier to allow others to pick up the pieces that were slowly crumbling away his past, making his past harder to describe.

Blitz looked over to Death pinning down the nightmare. The look of fear that was present on her face was one that Blitz would remember for a long while. She couldn't look away from Death’s gaze, which made her feel more and more on edge. She deserved to feel like that, for tomenting and torturing Roselight into turning into the creature that she was now. Although her mind was set free, Blitz knew that he had to eliminate the nightmare from the body. He didn't know how to do that, that was the only problem.

Roselight placed a hoof on Blitz's shoulder, making him turn. She stared into his eyes and smiled, making Blitz feel a little better about himself in general.

"Thank you Eater, I appreciate it." Roselight announced to him, making him feel that much better than he previously was. He was grateful for the appreciation, but knew that his work was not over completely. Although Roselight was free, the nightmare was still in possession of Roselight's body. Blitz needed to find any way to get Roselight back to her normal self, without the nightmare interfering with her life.

Death looked over at Blitz with an idea, but he knew that it would be a risk. He used his magic to talk to Blitz, without letting anypony else know.

"The only way to end this, is to either kill Roselight and the nightmare, or take the nightmare away and put it into another pony's body. That would corrupt their mind instantly and let the nightmare mingle within. The only exception is you, because you have me in your head, and I'll probably be able to manage the nightmare's activity." Death explained, making Blitz worry a little.

Blitz nodded to him, before walking up to him and looking directly at Death's blank expression.

"What do you need me to do?" Blitz asked, not liking where it was heading. He would sacrifice himself just so other ponies and creatures could live without the added fear in their lives.

"Don't let her corrupt you. An illusion within an illusion." Death simply stated, before Blitz's vision went clear white. Blitz heard some voices, making him fear where he was going instantly. Blitz was sure that it was just going to be him and the nightmare in the illusion, so he prepared himself for what was to come.

As soon as his vision cleared, he couldn't hear the voices anymore and saw nopony around. The nightmare appeared down the corridor and Blitz growled at her, making sure that she knew who she was dealing with. Blitz was pretty much Death’s right hand stallion, Death’s apprentice. The nightmare didn't flinch, only moving closer with every breath that Blitz took. He stood his ground, making sure that he wasn't going to run into a trap that she could have placed somewhere along the room that they were both in.

They were in a room that Blitz remembered very well, a place that burned itself into his mind. The memory orb that the room came from flickered red every now and again, suggesting that the area was corrupted and not really real. Blitz looked around the corridor and saw that every stained glass window was clear. There were no images or designs on any of them, making the place feel less and less familiar to Blitz, as he kept looking around and waited for the nightmare to do something.

She teleported her sword to her side, making Blitz smile, due to the repetition that she showed towards him. She swung her sword in Blitz's direction, missing by a couple of inches, as Blitz dodged the attack by hopping backwards. She looked up into his eyes and saw that there was no mood within them. No emotions at all.

Blitz didn't want to fight back, but he had to keep the nightmare distracted for Death, for him to complete the spell. Blitz pulled out a dagger of some kind, one that didn't look too familiar to him. Blitz looked at the inscription on the handle of the dagger and saw some words transcribed onto it.

"Death's soul ripper!" Blitz read aloud, making the nightmare slow down and listen. Before Blitz could do anything, the nightmare charged him, knocking him over with the dagger still in his magic. He pulled it over to him and watched as the nightmare cackled over him. Blitz clutched the dagger tighter with his magic and felt a surge of energy rush through his body, like somepony was giving him love or like a certain pony had infused a little bit of themself inside the object. The surge from the dagger gave Blitz a different approach to the situation and even to his normal functioning state.

Blitz jumped up, having all of the energy in the world to get up and start distracting. The nightmare stopped cackling and watched Blitz with a mindful eye. She didn't know what to make of the events that were transpiring, but she was sure to have a smile while she was doing it. She lashed out again, swiping the sword in Blitz's general direction. She couldn't hit him, due to how evasive he was, which was making her more and more angry.

Blitz jumped in all directions, avoiding each and every single slash that the nightmare could unleash. He came within a couple of inches of a couple of the slashes, but for the most part, he was relatively safe for avoiding the slashes. The nightmare was having the worst time trying to hit him. She was beginning to get angry with the fact that Blitz was too fast for her to keep up with. She began to change her strategy, mixing in some blasts from her horn as well, which proved to do nothing to him, even though he was still a mortal being.

The nightmare’s ego was way, way too big. Too big for her to even handle, but that made her believe that she was the best of the best, a god in other words. Blitz would normally roll his eyes at ponies with huge egos, but he was finding some sort of humour out of all of the stuff that the nightmare was coming up with.

Blitz found an opening to go for an attack and went for it, wielding the dagger in his magic. He ran closer to the nightmare, before plunging the dagger into where her heart should have been, only there was no contact, not even any other force that restricted his movements. She was just an illusion! The nightmare laughed at Blitz and shot him with some red hot lightning, singeing some of his chitin with a chalky whiteness that rubbed off. Blitz was surprised to find that the burns in his body didn’t hurt. They more or less made him feel fresher, which was not a good sign.

The nightmare went wide eyed and stopped laughing. She noticed that Blitz was still there and still breathing. She tried to hit him again, charging her horn again, before releasing the magic and watching Blitz teleport beside her.

“Why are you so surprised?” Blitz asked the nightmare, hoping to learn what would have happened to regular ponies. She didn't follow along with it, slicing the sword at Blitz previous location, nearly catching herself with the sword in the process. Blitz teleported away without a second to spare, ending up a little distance from the nightmare.

The nightmare changed the surroundings a little, making the walls shit inwards and making them look like they were constantly getting closer and closer together. Blitz didn't fall for it, still dodging the attacks that the nightmare sent his way. Blitz noticed that the walls behind himself and the nightmare were quickly closing in, which scared them both, until Blitz realised what was happening. Death had completed what he had to do and it was going to fuse the nightmare and Blitz together. The nightmare didn't know this, but eventually, she would.

Blitz held his head as a voice spoke to him from within his mind. It was Death speaking to him, but not speaking like he normally did.

"You are able to kill her now. Stab her with the dagger and she will be fused to you! The time limit of the spell is those walls that are closing in on you. You have to do it, fast!" Death explained, not being able to hear a response from Blitz, which Death hoped was a good sign. Blitz looked at the ground and closed his eyes before smiling evilly and looking up with a single tear in his eye.

Blitz launched himself at the nightmare, before he teleported away. The nightmare was surprised by what Blitz had just done and tried to teleport away, but it didn't work. She began to panic as the room was getting smaller and smaller. She pushed against the wall, hoping to stop it, but nothing happened. He got pushed back and felt the other wall against her hindlegs, making her worry more. Without warning, Blitz dived down and landed on top of the nightmare, before stabbing her in the heart. She didn't scream, she only looked down at the dagger in her heart, before they both were crushed by the wall.

Snapping out of the illusion, Blitz saw Nightmare Roselight still in front of him, which made him pause. Didn't he just kill the nightmare? Roselight blinked rapidly, before looking around with a pain in her head. She looked over to Blitz and smiled.

"Is she gone?" Roselight asked Blitz, noticing that he wasn't thinking straight. He nodded, not looking towards her for a couple of seconds. Roselight looked at her new skeleton like wings and sighed. "Well, I guess what I'm going to have to learn to fly!" Roselight added, hovering in the air with her magic.

Roselight landed on the ground and had Petalbreeze run up to her, before giving her a hug and nuzzling into her. Gretzky joined the hug, along with Sadjoy, Plumjuice and Nightclaw. Blitz landed on the floor shortly after and turned around, before noticing that something was off. He knew that he was now in possession of the nightmare, but where was… Blitz was interrupted by Azure coming over and tapping him on the shoulder.

Blitz turned around and saw Azure stood there, a couple of tears in his eyes. Blitz smiled and opened his hooves, before Azure tackled him, pinning him to the floor.

"Now you get to relax! No exceptions!" Azure playfully commanded, making Blitz smile.

"Sure, I can do that!" Blitz answered back, making Azure hop off him, before going over to talk to Gretzky and the others. "...But for how long, Blitz?" Blitz stated in a slightly corrupted and demonic voice. That wasn't his voice. That was the nightmare!