“Usually this is me and Celestia in the mornings,” Pete chuckled, his legs hanging off the top of his apartment block, the night sky hanging over head.

Luna laughed a little in response. “I'm well aware, but a little change of pace is good, isn't it?”

Pete nodded and looked at the sky. The full moon was steadily rising in the distance, the stars were out and shining brightly, despite the city lights below. The early Autumn air was cool, but not freezing, Pete's preferred temperature. The human took in a deep breath of the night air and let it out slowly. Many things had gone wrong in his life, but this night was perfect. Clear skies, idle chatter with the pony princess of night, and a quiet city below.

Pete suddenly blinked, “A quiet city...”

Luna looked at him, slightly confused. Pete's mind was in motion, however, and he didn't notice her look. Instead, he noticed the moon. He was sure they had been sitting here for hours, yet the moon had not moved. It had also started to form that cities were never this quiet, nor could the sky be this bright with the lights below. Something was wrong.

He looked up to ask Luna what was happening, but found she had vanished. Pete jumped up and looked around, but saw nothing at all. The city skyline had vanished. No, the city itself had disappeared. A creeping sense of dread filled his stomach as he looked down. His apartment was gone as well. Immediately he started falling through the gaping nothingness that had been the city and all was black as far as he could see.

“Fucking nightmares!” Pete shouted to the empty space around him, and then closed his eyes. Internally he counted to three.

One

Pete had discovered a long time ago the secret to waking up from dreams. Once he realized he was in one all he had to do was concentrate on opening his eyes.

Two

There was no visible bottom to the fall, but Pete wasn't interested in finding out. On three he would snap his eyelids open as fast as he could, which would cause his eyes in reality to open as well and wake him up.

THREE

Pete gasped and sat up, his chest pounding, lungs starving for air, brain still flooded with the natural chemicals to induce sleep and mild paralytic to keep from thrashing about during dreams. It was night, that was true, but the more he strained himself the more he remembered. It hadn't been night when he'd fallen asleep. In fact, he had not fallen asleep at all, it was more like he was knocked unconscious.

Physically shaking himself, stretching out to get his blood pumping, Pete looked around. He was in the middle of the living room floor, his many four legged guests each passed out as he had been. All of them except the princesses. Pete groaned and stood up, his body protesting, demanding more sleep. His eyelids were still heavy and he struggled not to yawn every few seconds. Exerting every ounce of his willpower, Pete made his way across the room, avoiding a couple of sleeping mares, and pushed his way out onto the rooftop.

The moment he cleared the threshold of the French doors everything became clearer. As if his brain had been stuffed with fluff just a moment ago, and suddenly it was gone. The evening air filled his lungs and his exhale seemed to carry all the mist from his mind. He turned back around and looked into the living room, making sure the alicorns were missing. Nodding to himself assuredly, Pete grasped the rung of the ladder attached to his block and climbed up to the roof of it.

He found Luna, alone, nervously biting her lip, eyes closed in concentration, and horn glowing dimly. Pete looked around shortly for Celestia, but could not see her anywhere. Moving carefully, Pete walked up behind Luna and stood there, expecting her to notice him. After almost a minute he gave up and announced himself, startling the princess.

“Pete!” she shouted, turning around, her eyes wide, “How... when did you get there?”

Pete raised an eyebrow, “I've been here for a bit, and I'm guessing you actually mean how did I escape your sleepy time spell going on downstairs?” Luna's blush was all the confirmation Pete needed. “It was pretty tough, I have to say. I probably took more time shambling out of it than I did standing here, but I've dealt with dreams more than most people have, I think. I'm a lucid dreamer after all, that gives me a bit of an edge when it comes to knowing how to wake up and stay that way.”

Luna slapped a hoof into her face, “A lucid dreamer, my least favorite kind.”

“Care to explain what's going on? Last thing I remember we finished breakfast and Twilight was talking about some dream she had.”

The alicorn paused for a moment, her eyes studying Pete's face, before letting out a deflating sigh.

“We heard Twilight's dream, and I recognized something about it.”

Pete folded his arms in impatience.

“To make a very long story much shorter, Nightmare Moon is part of my magic. We exist together, in a sense, and part of it … escaped.”

The human blinked, “Excuse me, escaped? As in is now free in the human world?”

Luna shook her head, “No, she escaped into the dreamscape. She only got as far as Twilight Sparkle before we all woke up, however. That is why I put you all to sleep, and sealed you inside the apartment. I can control things within that limited sphere, and I need to find that fragment of my darker self before it takes someone over.”

“Someone,” Pete noticed, “Not somepony.”

Luna nodded grimly.

Pete tapped his foot, a nervous tick from his childhood, and thought hard. Even a piece of Nightmare escaping into the human world could be devastating, especially if it managed to keep its magic. He knew he couldn't let that happen, but how could he help? He was just a human, not especially smart, strong, fast, intuitive, barely average. How could he help stop a large magical pony that due to sheer size and muscle mass could murder him, ignoring the million ways it could use magic on him.

“You … control dreams, right?” Pete looked at Luna, an idea forming.

“I do not normally, I generally just watch them. Why?”

Pete rubbed his chin, “Could you insert me into the dreams of the girls downstairs?”

Luna looked shocked, “What ever for?”

“Well, if this piece of Nightmare is jumping from dream to dream it could take you days to find it, but because I'm a lucid dreamer I could help you look for it. Move between the dreams while you do the same, doubling our chances of finding it.”

The Princess of the Night thought about it. At first she wanted to laugh, but slowly the sense dawned on her. Twice as many eyes would speed things up, and since Pete would be tethered to her magically she would know where he was at all times. When he spotted the culprit and woke himself up she could move right to the fragment of her other self, assuming he would be the one to find it to begin with.

“The plan has … merits...” she muttered quietly, but audibly.

Pete nodded, “I'm not saying you can't do this by yourself, but it's getting pretty late. People will be going to bed soon, and if this thing manages to breech your sphere of influence and get out into the minds of the city we'll never find it.”

Luna nodded gravely, “You are right. We must contain the piece of Nightmare's power before it can slip away. … Return to the living room and allow my spell to take its course. Once you are again asleep I shall give you access to the dreams of the others. Remember, we must be swift. Do not dawdle and stare at their dreams, search quickly and move on.”

Again Pete nodded, and then turned and descended the ladder. Opening the door back into the living room he felt the full impact of the spell once more. He barely managed to close the door behind him before practically collapsing. Luna was clearly working overtime to knock him back out. Pete curled onto his side, his head resting on his arm, and let the magic wash over his mind.

Books. Everywhere books. Stacks and stacks of perilously stacked books. Pete blinked rapidly, the names of the books swirling and changing, never cohesive enough to read, a sign he was dreaming. The sea of books was many hued and labyrinthine in construction. Pete slipped through it cautiously, but quickly, until he heard a voice.

“NO! It can't be!” the voice of Twilight cried, “I know I sent a report in yesterday. … or was that the day before? I can't possibly be late again?! Or was this letter from yesterday? Of course it's not, you just got it!”

Pete came around a stack and found the purple unicorn waist deep in books and papers, her mane a frazzled mess, bags under her eyes, and her eyes themselves wild. Clearly she hadn't slept in some time. The human tried to make contact but was ignored, as if he didn't exist at all.

“If only I had someone, anyone, to help me sort this mess out,” the dream Twilight lamented. “It was so easy at first, a simple check list kept everything running smoothly, but its all piling up and up and up. More things get added to that stupid list than I can check off in a day.”

Pete cocked his head as a realization hit him. This was a dream of Twilight without Spike. Her assistant might occasionally bumble, but most of the time he kept the smaller details in check while Twilight focused on the rest. This was a Twilight with no help, writing friendship reports, helping friends, running the library, doing independent research, studying magic, conducting experiments, and it was too much.

“A nightmare,” Pete muttered aloud. “Is that what it's doing? … If it gains power from negative emotions then maybe it's generating them in here so it can break free. And its been doing it all day.”

The epiphany that the Nightmare Moon fragment might be stronger than he originally expected hit Pete harder than it should have. A sound broke his worry though, a sudden laugh from the other end of the room pulled his attention back to the moment.

No longer caring about the world around him, Pete dashed towards the sound, passing through the columns of books he had avoided earlier. It seemed he was almost like a ghost in these dreams. He came to a wall at the other end of the room and looked around. The only thing he found was a door. After wandering around for another moment or so, and saying keywords into the air, like Nightmare Moon, he opened the door. Certain that whoever had laughed had been what he was looking for, and figuring the door as the only way out.

Pete had expected another part of Twilight's dream, but instead he was outside. In front of him was Applejack, and in front of her was a field of withered trees and brown grass. More than a little shocked, Pete explored around, finding a busted sign on the ground that read Sweet Apple Acres. He turned back to AJ and tried his best to get her attention, anything, but it was again to no avail. Finally, Applebloom rolled up, the filly in a wheelchair with broken back legs.

“Ah wasn't ready for buckin', sis,” the filly said coldly, “We needed you here, Mac couldn't handle all the work himself, and you know Granny is too old.”

“Ah'm sorry,” was all Applejack could say.

“Sorry doesn't bring back the farm! Or Granny...”

Pete swallowed hard and tried not to be sick. He didn't know what would happen if he threw up in the dream and he wasn't interested to find out. Shaking his head, his whole body slightly shuddering at the sight before him, Pete tried to pull his mind back together. Taking several deep breaths, he turned around and thought about things. Namely, he thought about these nightmares. They seemed organic, not fabricated, but rather like they were things the mares thought about. It made sense, nothing would generate more fear and despair than their own brooding thoughts being manifest.

“I guess I know why you've been so hard on me, too,” Pete said to himself, once again taking in the sight of the dead farmland. “It's not going to be like this, I promise.”

A fist clenched, Pete started to explore the surroundings. He didn't see anything that hinted towards the escaped Nightmare fragment, and he didn't hear anything like last time either. The only thing around was the Apple family house. After making sure that nothing was out of place, or rather what passed for out of place in this practical hell-scape, Pete made his way to the wood house. In the last dream a door led him to this one, so he decided to experiment.

Pulling open the door of the house, Pete found himself again outside, though this time it was dark. He turned around, but found the portal he'd just came through had vanished. Looking around it became obvious that he was in thick undergrowth, like a jungle or forest. The trees completely obstructed the sky, making it impossible to tell if it was day or night, and woods around him echoed with strange sounds.

If this were a normal forest Pete might have felt more okay, but, given he was in the mind of a being from another universe, there was no telling what lurked in the shadows. Telling himself it was just a dream did not help one bit. This was no ordinary darkness, this was thick, impenetrable, almost somatic. It set his teeth on edge.

After walking for several minutes, Pete finally came to the dream's inhabitant. Fluttershy was curled up in the middle of a tiny clearing, crying. Around her were glowing eyes, watching disdainfully. They despised this butter colored mare. Pete could only imagine what she had tried before he arrived, the beginning of this nightmare. Fluttershy, lover of animals, being abused by them. He could almost sense a disturbed feeling of delight in the air, the creatures in the shadows enjoyed seeing her in pain, they were elated to torment her like this.

Pete felt his teeth start to grind, and he wished with all his might that he could burn the woods around them to cinders, but a laugh stopped him. Again, from the other side of the dreamscape, the same laugh as before. Anger fueling him this time, Pete rushed forward at a sprint, determined to find the sick thing responsible for this. Moving at full speed, he saw the edge of the woods, but there wasn't any light.

Breaking through, Pete stopped dead and looked around in shock. There was nothing, nothing at all. It was if he were floating in space, but without the stars. Again, the previous dream had disappeared behind him. On the opposite side of space was a door, like the others it was plain, wooden, and with a brass handle. In the middle of the area was a young, flat maned Pinkie Pie.

The filly was muttering something to herself, low enough that Pete couldn't hear it, but he could make a guess. Pinkie loved pretty much everything, so what was the one thing she would hate? Nothingness. A complete void of everything, no ponies, no beings, no items, nothing. As he walked towards the door, the blank space clearly devoid of his target, Pete heard the filly's mutterings.

“Everyone leaves eventually,” the young Pinkie said, spitefully. “Nothing lasts.”

A part of Pete felt another pang of familiarity with this concept. Maybe Pinkie thought the same things he did, deep down. That no one was truthful about themselves, that all they do is wait for the best time to leave you behind. Leave you with nothing. It was a dark place, much like the void around them, and Pete did not have time for it today. Greater things were on the line than personal philosophies.

Averting his gaze and steeling his resolve, Pete refocused on the door, moving purposefully towards it, and practically yanking it open. Whatever was causing this he would stop it. Even if he believed the worst in everyone it didn't strike him as a reason for people to suffer. Stepping through the threshold, the door closed behind him, and the small, pink filly looked up.

“Of course you left, like all the others. Pinkie is all alone...”

The small Pinkie Pie sat there with her eyes on the floor, and so she missed when someone else appeared in the 'room' with her. A chunky kid dressed in all black, his hair grown long over his face, and his hefty physique wrapped up in a large coat. He silently sat with his back to the filly and kept his own gaze at the floor. The dream Pinkie was completely unaware of this newcomer until he broke the seemingly endless silence.

“All people do is hurt you,” he said quietly, but the emptiness around them seemed to amplify the words, causing Pinkie to jump and look behind her. “It's better to be alone than to let other's tear themselves away from you. At least it doesn't hurt when they go.”

The strange pair sat together in the darkness, whispering thoughts of empty loneliness to each other

Pete looked around and found himself some place familiar, but impossible. Outside the sun was shining, pegasi cleared away clouds from the sky, and inside sat Rarity, designing a dress. The ghostly human invader snooped around what was clearly Carousel Boutique. He saw nothing out of the ordinary, no mocking laughter, no dead relatives, Rarity wasn't hideously deformed, which Pete almost expected to be her worst nightmare. All was normal. Against his better judgment, Pete walked over to a love seat meant for clients, and sat down.

All of the recent horrors one after another had left Pete mentally battered. He knew that some form of darkness was lurking here in this dreamscape, but at the moment it was a quiet day in Ponyville. It was something Pete had dreamed of being part of for so long. He craved this moment deep within himself, in his soul. Listening to the birds chirping, the scratch of Rarity's pencil on paper, and the mare's humming, put Pete at ease with things. He scarcely realized that he was stretched out, completely relaxed, until somepony burst into the boutique.

“Excuse me, Rarity,” Twilight said, a dress pulled behind her in her magical grip, “I need this fitted and hemmed up before the gala.”

Rarity smiled slightly, “Of course, that will be no trouble at all. Step over here and I'll get your measurements.”

Twilight did as she was told, and Rarity took her measuring tape and did as she was asked. Measuring every area of Twilight, nodding quietly, before walking back to her table and scribbling something on a piece of paper.

“Here is what the work will cost you,” the fashionista said, magically floating the page to Twilight.

The librarian nodded, “That's what I expected. I'll pay when I pick it up.”

Rarity rolled her eyes, “Of course, you want to make sure it fits and all. Thank you for stopping by.”

Twilight quickly trotted out the door. Rarity waited a moment and then scoffed, picking the dress up with her magic and stepping over to her sewing machine. Meanwhile, alarms were going off in Pete's head. Rarity was the Element of Generosity, she wouldn't charge Twilight for a simple job like that, and certainly not since she was invited to gala as well. The two mares were very curt with each other, borderline spiteful.

While Rarity was distracted with the dress another pony entered the shop. Rainbow Dash trotted in and looked around, Fluttershy steps behind her. RD seemed peeved at something, but Fluttershy looked half terrified.

“Why do you need a dress from here, exactly?” Rainbow asked her timid friend.

“I-It's the cheapest place, and it's close by,” Fluttershy replied.

Dash rolled her eyes, “I would pay for another dress if you got it somewhere else. Rarity is the most self absorbed mare in Ponyville, and that means a lot coming from me.”

Pete stood up, grasping what the idea behind this nightmare was. Even though dream Rarity seemed fine, she had no real friends. She was Rarity if she was just a little more over the line. Not the Element of Generosity, simply a fashion mare that needs to make money to chase her dreams. Although Pete knew that the mane six wouldn't abandon her if she were like this, Rarity didn't. Rarity's fears were that if she wasn't generous the others wouldn't like her. She had seen these things in herself and actively fought against them, and this was if she ever failed.

Pete had seen enough, and could see that the Nightmare fragment was nowhere around. There was only one mare left to visit. With a shaky exhale, Pete opened the door to the boutique and stepped outside, and into what would be the nightmare of Rainbow Dash.

A sense of awkward dread filled Pete as he looked around. It was Ponyville, as one would expect it, though much more real than it ever looked on television. Clenching his fists to keep from shaking, he stayed alert. Pete couldn't figure out why this was the dream that made him nervous. After everything he had seen so far this, like Rarity's, was pretty normal.

“I can't believe it,” Fluttershy said, the voice attracting Pete's attention. The shy pegasus was walking next to her usually confident rainbow maned friend, but something was off. RD did not seem confident at all.

“It'll be fine,” the cyan pegasus replied with a half-hearted smile, “Lots of pegasi get injured like this.”

Pete felt his stomach flip a few dozen times as it started to burn with fury.

“But they fly again, Rainbow,” Fluttershy said, riling Pete's emotions further.

“Now why is that?” a voice said behind him, a cool, sadistic voice that somehow managed to also sound intrigued.

Pete turned around, expecting to see a form of Nightmare Moon, but he was caught off guard. Behind him stood himself, if he were made from shadows. The being's eyes were a piercing yellow, its skin and clothes jet black, but otherwise it looked just like him. The shadowy form stepped forward, the sunlight seeming to dim as he drew closer.

“Why her, of all the mares? I killed Applejack's family, trapped Fluttershy in the Everfree Forest with the meanest of beasts, removed Spike from Twilight's life, removed Pinkie Pie and Rarity's friends, but when Rainbow Dash gets into an all too possible accident and can't fly any more that is where you draw the line.”

Pete knew what he should do. He should wake up, Luna would discover where her escaped darkness fled and this would be over. Something stopped him. More important than why Rainbow's predicament upset him most was why this thing looked like him. Was it messing with him?

“You really want to know?” it asked, as if it were reading Pete's mind, “I'll tell you. Nightmare Moon is just a spark, a darkness risen by something much more powerful, and that spark traveled. To you.” The shadow grinned at Pete. “Your darkness made manifest, spreading all the wonderful misery you love to dish out.”

“Bullshit!” Pete grit his teeth and spat the word out, “I didn't want to do any of this!”

The shade laughed, “Didn't you? The very first thing you did was make them feel afraid and alone. You wanted that, you wanted them to trust you explicitly. You wanted control.”

“No, I mean, they had to listen to reason. Bad things happen, I didn't want them getting hurt,” Pete protested.

“I didn't want them getting hurt,” the shadow mocked, flapping his hand like a mouth, “The pathetic excuse of a coward. That's what you are, Pete Powell, a coward. Afraid of getting hurt, even by these pastel horses. Afraid of stepping out of your own shell. They can't hurt you if you hurt them first, land the decisive blow before they have the chance to even defend themselves. Crush their expectations so that when you try even a single modicum it seems like you're doing something gallant.”

Pete mashed his teeth together until they hurt as he listened. When the shadow stopped Pete stood there, staring with rage. After what seemed like forever, Pete opened his mouth.

“What do you want?”

The shade raised a brow, “What do I want? Well, let me put it like this: I came from you, I'm part of you. Luna wants to make me not part of you, she feels responsible for my creation.” The shadow Pete stepped forward until his face was practically mixed with Pete's. “I want back in. I want to fester inside of you and drive you absolutely mad. Because I can't do shit to these ponies, except fuck with their dreams, but you...” He laughed, “I can do so, so much more.”

Pete looked at Rainbow Dash, the mare sitting at a table, the look on her face saying everything. Without flight she felt empty, she felt like Pete had before the ponies came. He turned his gaze back to the shadow.

“You come back, and all this ends?”

The dark Pete nodded, “I didn't want to leave in the first place, but you'll have to convince Luna to leave me alone. Otherwise I'll make things much worse next time.”

“Fine,” Pete half growled, grabbing the shadow's shoulders. The alternate Pete looked at his counter part's hands in confusion, then back up. Just in time to see Pete lean back and slam his forehead into the shadow's face.

Pete woke again with a start, pulling a huge lungful of air into himself and looking around quickly. The mares were still asleep, but Luna was now in the room, her eyes firmly locked on the human. Groaning, Pete struggled to his feet and approached the Princess. Rotating his shoulder, which was sore from sleeping on the floor, and adjusting his glasses, he noted her acidic gaze.

“What have you done?” she practically shouted.

“I made a deal with the devil,” Pete replied, half sarcastically.

“The devil would have given you fair terms,” Luna spat back, completely serious.

“So, you were watching?”

“Of course I was. As soon as it stopped running I found it. I heard everything.”

Pete smiled, “Good, then you know you have to leave it alone.”

“That thing will ruin you, human!” Luna did shout this time, her voice causing several ponies to jolt awake, everyone of them breathing hard and looking around, confused and sore.

Pete wasn't going to let Luna take the lead here. No, there was a much greater matter at hand now. With the shadow back home, and Pete finally understanding what it truly was, everything was fine, except...

“Where's Celestia?”

Luna blinked in surprise, but quickly recovered. “My sister has nothing to do-”

“Every time I turn around she's gone, Luna. I'm not blind, a bit slow maybe, but eventually I can notice when a large white horse is missing from this tiny apartment.” Luna winced at the term 'horse.' “Now, tell me where she is.”

The Princess of Night opened her mouth for a retort, but silenced it quickly. “She's at work,” she said after a minute. Pete tilted his head, and Luna explained. The Changeling's ability to shapeshift wasn't exclusive to them, it was a form of magic. One that Celestia and Luna were well versed in. Since the second week of their isolation Celestia had changed into a human form and then teleported off the roof to find a job. She was working at a gas station not terribly far from Pete's apartment.

Turning around, Pete walked into his room and grabbed his jacket and shoes. Dressed in a pair of loose cargo shorts, a deep blue shirt, and his black shoes and jacket, Pete picked his keys up and headed for the door. Luna called after him, but was suddenly distracted by the mane six asking her about their missing day. This left Pete free to escape the building and make his way to the gas station where Celestia was. As he hit the street and started walking a breeze blew past, bringing with it a wind much colder than the one in his dreams.