Unfinished business (part two)

   Twenty years... It had happened twenty years ago, and Francisco remembered it like if he had had that nightmare the previous night. So clearly...

   Twenty eight years. He was twenty eight when he died, on Earth. Not very much if we think about the average human lifespan, but every time he remembered everything he had done in those almost three decades, Francisco couldn’t help to think of them as an eternity.

   ‘I guess even a short life, if well lived, is long enough...’, he thought.

   Twenty eight years... But, for some reason, Francisco felt really old every time he remembered his human age. In fact, when the drooling god had given him his new body, he had also asked to return to be seventeen again, wish that had also been granted. Francisco had thought that, that way, it would be easier to befriend the Mane Six, after all, they were supposed to be between twelve and eighte-

   His thoughts were interrupted when Willy attacked him. He barely avoided the giant punch, which opened a big hole in the ground. Francisco decided to leave the existential musings for later. He avoided another punch and flew to the air, five meters over Willy’s head. The pale human laughed.

   “What’s the problem?” he asked. “You could end this fight right now, both of us know that. You could just turn into Godzilla and squash me.”

   “I still want to known,” said Francisco. “Why?”

   “Why?” Willy laughed again. “Why does the fire burn? Why does the water wet? I’m a nightmare, fear is what I create and what I eat, that’s why I did it. Also, I wanted to anger you, so our fight could be more intense.”

   “You were looking forward this?”

   “So you were. I’ve been inside your mind all these years, knowing all you thoughts. Every time you wished of dreaming with me again so you could get your revenge, I knew it. You have spent two decades waiting for this moment, and I wouldn’t like it if you weren’t going for my head. To assure that, I angered you.” He extended his arms. “But look at it, little boy! This is not a dream, but a real fight! Better than what you were expecting, right? There’s only one thing that will make this battle different from the one in your fantasies...” Wily unrooted a tree with his bare hands and launched it to Francisco. “You will die, and I will live!”

   The white angel extended his wings, and the yellow eyes between the feathers fired a web of energy beams. The tree was burned in mid-air, and its ashes fell to the ground. However, that moment of distraction was more than enough for Willy to jump and grab Francisco for a leg. The pale human smashed the angel-like creature against the ground. Then, he grabbed Francisco for one of the arms and punched him in the face, launching him to a couple of meters away.

   Pain. The shapeshifter hadn’t felt any pain since he had come to Equestria, but Willy was able to hurt him. He’d better be careful, or that product of his nightmares would beat him up beyond recognition. Francisco flew again, avoiding another of Willy’s punches.

   “And just what did you show to them?” he asked, from the sky. “What kind of horrors did you put into their minds?”

   “Ah, good question,” smiled Willy. “I showed them very funny stories, little boy. For example, that pink one you like so much... I told her a hilarious tale about two friends... who were making cupcakes...”

   Francisco’s three red eyes opened widely.

   “No!” he shouted. “How dare you?!”

   “That’s right, little boy, show me your anger...”

   “How did you knew about them?!”

   “Ugh... Seriously, Francisco, you’re disappointing me a lot today! Will I have to explain everything? I’ve told you that I’ve been in your mind all your life, remember? Everything you saw, I saw it too.”

   “But I never read those fanfics!”

   “Ah, but you read about them. You knew the concepts, and that’s all I needed. My imagination did the rest,” He laughed again. “In fact, I would dare to say that my version of Rainbow Factory is, with all probabilities, worse than the original!”

   “You monster!”

   Francisco’s wings fired again, and the energy beams hit Willy. They left hundreds of holes on the gray suit, but the pale skin was left unharmed. The angel pointed at Willy with his left arm. A blue eye opened on the palm of his hand, and fired a powerful energy wave that caused an explosion. When the smoke dissipated, there was only a big crater.

   ‘Is it done?’ thought Francisco. Then, he was hit a big rock, right between the wings. He fell to the ground, Willy was laughing at his back.

   “Surprised?” he asked. “I may not be very fast, but I’m not a snail, either!”

   Willy started to approach Francisco, slowly. The shapeshifter tried to stood up, and he began to consider the possibility of changing his body.

   “You have provided me so much fun, that I’ve decided to be merciful,” said the pale human, while cracking his knuckles. “I will kill you right now, and you won’t see how I play with your pony friends. Don’t worry, I will not cause nightmares to all of them at the same time, it’s only funny if there are non-affected ponies around to interact with the ones who have had a bad night.”

   “Don’t touch them...” whispered Francisco. “Monster...”

   “Monster? Me? Well, maybe... But, if you think about it, my nightmares have actually improved Ponyville. Did you see Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo? They looked like if they were sisters, didn’t they? I bet that, for now on, that blue pegasus will appreciate that filly more than ever. Same goes for Big Mac, I’m sure that he is thankful that his little sister is still alive.”

   “Shut up...”

   “Speaking of Applebloom...” Willy raised his punch, prepared to deliver the final blow to Francisco. “I think I’m going to show her the same nightmare I showed to her big brother. That way, she will appreciate the fact that her two little friends are not dead.”

   He shouldn’t have said that.

   Willy was hit by a punch bigger than his own head, and harder than steel. Francisco had transformed in the blink of an eye, now he was a huge beast, with sharp teeth and a long tail ending on a blade. His skin was a hard armor, like the exoskeleton of an insect, filled with horns and spikes that were, literally, minerals. His head was elongated, and now he had two tiny eyes, similar to Willy’s, but totally white. White of rage.

   To put it shortly, it looked like a mix between a xenomorph of the Alien movies and the monster Doomsday, from the Superman comics.

   Willy laughed maniacally.

   “Yes!” he said. “That’s what I wanted! The real fun begins no-!”

   Francisco punched him again, launching him against a tree, which Willy broke. Before he could stood up, the beast jumped over him and started to punch him repeatedly. The shapeshifter grabbed the head of his enemy and used it as a hammer to open holes in the ground.

   The pale human managed to free from Francisco and tried to counterattack, but the shapeshifter saluted him with a direct headbutt. The beast grabbed Willy by the neck and prepared his tail. The blade descended quickly. However, the pale man, still smiling like a demented, caught it with his teeth. Then he punched Francisco in the belly. Despite the exoskeleton, despite the minerals, the shapeshifter felt pain.

   Willy stood up, with his suit shredded. He punched Francisco in the face, then kicked him in the chest. The boy retreated back to his angel form, and tried to fly again, but a new punch left him on the ground, defenseless.

   “Pathetic,” spitted Willy. “And I thought you will put up a decent fight for longer... Anyway, I should end this right here. I have ponies to attend.”

   “No,” Francisco stood up, barely. “I won’t let you-”

   “Oh, shut up. You are not funny anymore, probably you never were. That’s right, you never stopped being that baby, crying because you couldn’t wake up. Well, be ready, because I will send you to a dream where you will sleep forever. But before that, I want to hear your screams one more time. Say, do you remember this?”

   And he took off his face, like a mask. Under it, there was another face, as pale as the previous one, but wrinkled, as if it was the face of an evil old wizard, or an ogre from a dark fairytale. Willy laughed one more time, and launched his final punch.

   His big knuckles hit Francisco’s face, but nothing happened. The white angel didn’t move an inch.

   “First of all, I’m not a kid anymore,” he said. “I’ve seen many horror films, I’ve known the dark side of the Internet, I’ve been living in the cold streets, I’ve died, I’ve met a drooling god, and many of my new bodies are heavily inspired by lovecraftian imagery. You can’t scare me with those old tricks.”

   Willy punched again, and again, but his attacks had no effect.

   “Second, let me thank you.”

   “What!?”

   “You told me the way of defeating you, I’ve just realized right now. You said that I had spare avatars for my inner demons, which means that the body you’re using right now comes from me. In other words: I can control it.”

   The smile of the pale man faded away. He kept punching, but it was like if the angel was a wall of solid steel, and he was just a mere human.

   “You’ve lost,” said Francisco. “This is for making Pinkie Pie cry.”

   And he slapped Willy, launching him against another tree.

   “This is for making Rainbow Dash cry.”

   An invisible force lifted Willy into the air, and then let him fall to the ground.

   “This is for Big Mac, and all the other ponies you traumatized.”

   Willy was lifted, higher than before, and then he fell again.

   “And this...” Francisco, using his talons, grabbed Willy by the head and flew, so high that Ponyville could be seen in the distance. “This is for me. For that horrible night, when I was eight years old.”

   The angel descended at highspeed, smashing Willy’s face against the ground and opening a big crater. Francisco released his enemy from his claws and stepped away, wrapping himself in in his white wings. He looked at the pitiful pale human, he wasn’t scary or strong anymore. Willy, the nightmare from his childhood, was now in his power. With just a thought, Francisco could make him explode. He could take his revenge, quick and without leaving marks.

   However... was it right? Should revenge exist in Equestria, that beautiful world of colours? Francisco had gone to that place to be happy, not to kill someone. Not even a part of himself.

   “Go,” he said, turning his back on Willy. “Hide yourself in some cave, far away, and live a peaceful life. Don’t come near Ponyville or any other city in Equestria, and I will let you live.”

   Willy didn’t answer. He stayed with his face on the ground, moaning, growling. Francisco started to walk away.

   The pale man stood up, with the rage filling his body. He tried to attack, again.

   “You shouldn’t have turned your back on me, fool!” he shouted.

   Francisco closed his three red eyes. Apparently, there was no other option.

   Then, Willy exploded, and not a single cell remained. The white angel didn’t look at the explosion, he just kept walking, silently. It was done. After twenty years, it was finally done.

***

   A black stallion came out from the Everfree Forest and entered in Ponyville. His steps were slow and a bit clumsy, like if he was injured. His body had no wounds, yet somehow he looked like if he had just came from a fight. But it was ok, because he had won.

   Francisco found Twilight on the street. She was alone.

   “Where is everypony?” he asked.

   “Rarity has taken Pinkie back to Sugarcube Corner,” explained the unicorn. “We called Fluttershy, and she’s taking care of Rainbow Dash. Applejack had to return to the farm, to help his brother. What happened with that pale creature from before?”

   “He won’t harm any of you anymore. He’s gone.”

   “I’m glad to hear that. But you seemed to know him, who was he?”

   Francisco gulped. He had been dreading that moment in all the way back to the town. The time of the explanations.

   “I’m sorry,” he said.

   “What do you mean?”

   The shapeshifter told Twilight everything: that Willy was a nightmare from his childhood, and that he had became real thanks to his powers.

   “It was my fault,” he whispered, looking at his hooves.

   “No, it wasn’t,” said Twilight. “You had no idea that this could happen.”

   Francisco looked at the unicorn, surprised.

   “Then, will you forgive me?”, he asked.

   “There’s nothing to forgive. And even if there it was, we forgave Princess Luna for becoming Nightmare Moon incident, we can forgive you.”

   “Thanks.”

   “Don’t worry about that. Now we have to help those affected by the nightmares. I’ll go back to the Library, to search for a spell. See you later.”

   “Goodbye.”

   The purple unicorn went away. Francisco looked at the streets, there were much less bystanders than usual.

   Twilight was wrong, it was his fault. If he had forgotten about Willy instead of wishing to encounter him again for twenty years, maybe that demon would have vanished in the corners of his mind, and nothing of that would have happened. It was his fault, and he had to fix it.

***

   Rarity left the Sugarcube Corner. Finally, with the help of Mr. and Mrs. Cake, they had been able to put Pinkie to sleep again. Hopefully, this time she would dream nice things.

   Then, the mane of the unicorn started to move. A strange wind had appeared out of nowhere in all Ponyville, but it wasn’t black, so probably Francisco had nothing to do with it. Surely it was just a natural weather phenomenon. Rarity ignored it and decided to return to her boutique. She had work to do.

   The strange wind surrounded the entire town, including Sweet Apple Acres and the house of Rainbow Dash, like an invisible dome. Francisco was going to erase the memories of those terrible nightmares from the heads of everypony. They wouldn’t remember Willy, either.

   Yes, they were going to forget...

   “Did you see Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo? They looked like if they were sisters, didn’t they?”

   The wind stopped.

   “Same goes for Big Mac, I’m sure that he is thankful that his little sister is still alive.”

   ‘Damn you, Willy,’ Francisco thought. He could almost hear the laugh of that demon in his head.

   If he erased the memories of the nightmares, all the feelings derived from them, even the good ones, would also disappear.

   Was it worth to conserve them? They were feelings of love, but they had born from the pain and the fear. The ponies would forget valuable things, but their minds and souls would be cleaned from the darkness of the previous night. It would be a necessary sacrifice.

   But... Francisco had lived on Earth, which was way different from Equestria. Sometimes, in some places, there were only a few good things on Earth, and they couldn’t allow to miss a single one, they had to treasure every one of them, because the sadness was outside, and it could come at anytime.

   Not a single good thing should be lost, ever. And maybe the true solution was not to forget things... but to face them.

   And so, the wind blew again over Ponyville, in every street, in every house, in every room. It didn’t erase the memories of anypony, but it gave them strength. Strength to overcome the nightmares, strenght to see that they had been only bad dreams which could not hurt them, strength to defeat the darkness and banish the horror to the corners of their imagination.

   And strength to embrace the new valuable things they had learn from those unpleasant experiences.

   Soon, everypony was healed. They stopped talking about the nightmares, and those who still did, laughed at those ridiculous dreams, wondering how could they had allowed them to disturb their lives so much. Unlike Francisco, the ponies wouldn’t have any unfinished business with their nightmares, which would never return.

   Pinkie Pie woke up from a short, yet very nice dream. Her mane and tail were puffy again, and she didn’t remember the nightmare very well, only that it was about a laughably impossible situation involving cupcakes and Rainbow Dash. She felt the urge to make a party for the blue pegasus. Why? She was Pinkie Pie, she didn’t need a reason for a party.

   She went downstairs. The Cakes were glad to see that she had recover her smile.

   Then, somepony knocked at the door. It was Francisco.

   “Hi!” said Pinkie, bouncing around him. “Have you come to visit me? How nice! Hey, can we play the Transformation Game again, can we?”

   “I’m sorry, Pinkie,” smiled Francisco, looking back at his cutie mark. The yellow eyes on his flanks were closed. “I’m afraid I won’t be able to transform into anything for some days. I used all my powers to do... a little miracle, and it will take a while for them to grow back.”

   “Oh, well... I doesn’t matter! I know more games we can play!”

   “Actually, Pinkie, I was thinking if you could show me the town.” He blushed. “That’s it, if you don’t have other things to do, of course...”

   “Okey dokey lokey!”

   The pink pony bounced away, and Francisco followed her. He was glad to see her happy again.

   “Do you know what?” he asked. “I’ve been thinking, and I’m going to stop living in the Everfree Forest. I want a house here, in Ponyville. I will also need a job.”

   “No problem!” smiled Pinkie. “We’ll find a house for you, but after your welcome party!”

   “Uh... I already had a welcome party.”

   “Then, we’ll make a welcome party for your house!”

***

   Rainbow Dash was flying over the town, searching for somepony. She found her.

   “Hey, Scootaloo!”, she said, landing near the filly.

   “Hello, Rainbow Dash. Are you ok now? You were acting weird before.”

   “Yeah, I don’t know what happened to me... Say, Scoot, do you wanna hang out with me?”

   The eyes of the pegasus filly shone.

   “Yes!”, she shouted. “Yes, of course I do! ... Wait a minute, Rainbow Dash, you never want to hang out with me! What’s going on?”

   The blue mare scratched her head with a hoof.

   “I had a bad dream that made me think.”, she said. “I’ve decided that I owe you a bit more of dedication. After all, you’re my number one fan, aren’t you?”, and she winked. “Come on, let’s see if you can catch me with that scooter!”

   “All right!”

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