Luna now sat in her room, the moon had already risen with her help because she refused to let Tia do it, and she contemplated going to sleep. She feared what her newest nightmare would be, since it was now the beginning of the week again, she didn't want to go to sleep. In the end though, the desire for sleep won out over the fear of the nightmares, she soon found herself slipping under the covers praying to the fates that maybe this nightmare wouldn't be as bad. Luna closed her eyes and gently drifted off into the world that was supposed to be hers.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Luna knew there was something different about this dream, she wasn't gliding over the island like in her previous dreams, she was looking at her surroundings from the ground. She saw all the flora of the island had been mutated into what could've passed as monstrous plants, glowing an eerie orange color. Another thing that set her off as this dream being different was that she wasn't in control of her actions. She was moving, but she wasn't moving on her own accord. After a few minutes of travel through the ruins of whatever buildings had been on the island in the first place, she finally was coming close to the target of her travels, her gaze drifted to a structure that looked like a ruined hollow pillar with a giant beam of orange light shooting out of it. Several thoughts passed through her mind as she looked at the strange, familiar glow. Her mind finally settled on one though.

"...How many times... How many times have I come to this place, and tried to destroy it... Or rule it, or sacrifice myself... The time stream will never be fixed like that... I know that I have to do something different... But I don't know what... YET."

Luna knew that she was seeing through the eyes of one of the humans because she was holding some sort of weapon in her front... Hooves? Or hands?... She didn't know which to say, and she was keeping her balance on two legs. As she finally approached the tower-structure that her long travels had been focused on, she spotted a figure standing just outside the first door. The human was old, most likely male due to how his physique was built more 'blocky' than the curves of females, and was probably a scientist due to the sole fact that he had no weapon. Upon her approach the old man spoke first.

"So, Renko... I see you made it without getting hurt too badly, now all we have to do is install the final modification to the TMD and you will be able to go back in time and destroy the singularity." Luna felt an unexpected twinge of regret as if she knew something bad was going to happen to the innocent man. Luna was a little surprised by the response she gave back in a male voice.

"Into the fires of hell to stop the beast..." Luna heard a small, almost completely missable twitch of sadness in the voice as he spoke to the scientist. Without a word they both proceeded into what Luna felt looked like a fortress, there were devices everywhere that had long since been left unused by their original operators, it would have been indistinguishable as she saw the body she was in walk over to a strange device that opened up and revealed several different types of weapons. After a few seconds of browsing 'Renko' upgraded and chose two weapons; the Kalashnikov-SNV1 and the Centurion. He purchased as much ammo as he could and used a separate device to make sure he had all the TMD perks and equipment that he needed.

He and the scientist spoke for a minute before continuing further into the labs. Luna's dream kept skipping to what she guessed was further into the labs until the man came upon a lever-looking object. With the practice of doing such a thing several times, Renko placed his hand on the switch and pushed it forward, the machine clamped onto the device on his left arm and began to alter it. The mechanical whirring went on for a few seconds before stopping, the light that the device had changed from the similar orange color to a light blue color, Renko flexed his hand as he got more used to the new power emanating from the device. He left the room that held the upgrade machine and decided to test out his new power, which fotunately happened to be the armored super-soldiers that his enemy now had clogging the halls, with a few bursts of blue energy pulsing from his palm Renko had the soldiers dead at his feet.

"oh yeah... I could get used to this..." He thought darkly. Renko quickly pressed on to the main chamber where the core of the singularity was being held, easily tearing through any creature that was between him and his goal, a Zek had leapt on him and managed to remove his sniper rifle before being blasted into the opposite wall by an Uber Pulse (not lying, that's what they actually called it in the game). He quickly got himself to his feet and continued his journey, Luna was surprised at how fast the man was healing from wounds that would've killed any of the other humans, he only turned his attention away from the path once and pointed the TMD at a bunch of faded chalk. With a quick expulsion of E99 energy the chrono-note became easily readable...

What if this was supposed to happen?

Renko shuddered at the surrealism of his own handwriting, how many times had he gone through this island to stop the singularity, he sighed as he realized he had lost count after the first few.

"no matter what I do, I always find myself going back through this island, and repeating my moves... does this mean that I've now eperienced the definition of insanity?" he thought with a morbid depression. Luna couldn't believe her mind, this human had not only made a journey across an island filled with monsters waiting to make him their next meal, but he had made the journey more times than he could count. The amount of pity she had for this man almost seemed to reach out through him from the nightmare. He continued on, walking up several flights of stairs until he reached the room where the central core for the singularity. Once inside he saw the scientist again, the man gave him the instructions to use the E99 bomb to destroy the singularity and put an end to the chaos once and for all, and without a word he opened up a time rift to fifty years prior and set the bomb. The scientists in the lab fled as they realized what was happening and he could only watch as the bomb charged to it's full power. As the flash in time faded, he looked around to see that nothing had changed from when he left it. A cold and dark laughter emanated from behind him and he turned to see the one man that he had devoted his journey to stop... Chancellor Demichev, Ruler of earth. Demichev had a handgun similar to Renko's pointed at the head of the old scientist.

"So..." Chancellor Demichev began, "...you thought that just by going back in time and destroying the machine everything would change?" he questioned with sarcasm, "...all I had to do was build a new one, and it begins your journey all over again..." He knocked the scientist to the ground with the barrel of his gun and said in a cold voice, "...Only the victors write the history books..."

The world seemed to move in slow motion as Demichev attempted to shoot Renko, but Renko beat his speed as he drew the Centurion and landed a quick shot to Demichev's shoulder, Demichev fell to the ground and dropped his weapon several feet away. The scientist, sure of the fact that Demichev was no longer a threat, got to his feet slowly and repeated the last thing that Demichev had said.

"That's it! Only the victors rewrite the history books! Renko, it was not Demichev who was the anomaly... It was you! You need to go back in time and stop yourself from saving Demichev in the burning building." Luna felt like she would've been nauseated at how this man was just casually talking about leaving another of his race to die. All their attention was caught by the form of Demichev, struggling to get up off the floor, without a weapon Renko let the man get up and voice his opinion.

"you mean to make him go back in time and kill himself... that certainly sounds like a pleasant idea..." Demichev's voice still was filled with sarcasm, and even Luna admitted that this man, no matter how terrible, had a point. Demichev took a step forward and decided to place his offer on the table, "...Join me, and together we can have a power that others could only dream of... an entire world to rule!" But the Scientist stepped forward to interject.

"Is this what you would like to rule? A world of death, chaos, and fear?" The man asked in an accusatory tone, which Demichev countered coldly.

"No leader is without his critics... All you have to do is prove your loyalty to me by killing Barisov... Now choose..." Both men stood a couple steps away from Renko, and it only took him a few seconds to make the choice, Luna could feel the sadness that weighed on this poor man's heart as he made his decision, and all she could do was watch as the man quickly brought his gun up and made another shot.

Demichev clutched the new wound in his chest as he fell to the floor, the color quickly drained from his face until his chest slowed to a still. The scientist, Barisov, leaned over to look at the body.

"You killed him..." Barisov said with disbelief, "...You just killed the most powerful man in the world" Luna was shocked at how Barisov was surprised at Renko's move, but was taken aback as the man continued talking, "...But that still does not change the fact that you need to go back in time to kill yourself and stop the time anomaly..." Luna still couldn't believe that anypony could be as calloused as these humans over something as tragic as death.

Barisov's look turned to shock as Renko turned the iron sights on the Scientist, which surprised Luna as well, but the princess soon realized why Renko had been so sad when speaking with Barisov.

"R-Renko... what are you doing?!" Barisov asked with a look of terror on his face.

"I'm truly sorry Doctor Barisov... But no matter who I chose between you two, the Soviet union still will control the world..."

"Is that really your reason to kill me?" Barisov replied, trying to find out why the barrel of a very deadly handgun was now pointed at him.

"No... it's because whichever choice I go with, I still end up wandering this island to do the exact same thing... expecting a different result... I've come to know insanity as the only constant in my life, but I intend to end it here. Without you or Demichev to stop me, I'll finally be able to get off this rock and use the now unlimited power you have given me.

Barisov's eyes widened in fear as it dawned on him the only outcome of this encounter. Renko pulled the trigger and with a loud "BANG!" Barisov now held his chest in surface of the floor.

With a blink Luna now found herself seeing through the eyes of Barisov as he made his last few breaths. Renko now stood over him and Luna saw the face of the man she had followed in her most recent nightmare, the same face that she had seen in the mirror earlier that day, but this time he had more than just the look of a killer. Even though his eyes showed torment and pain and anger, Luna saw the unmissable look of true sadness, she saw a sadness that showed the man regretted ever being born into such a nightmare. Renko walked away into the darkness that crept its way through Barisov's vision.

As the man's vision finally was eclipsed by the darkness Luna bolted upright in her bed. She had to shield her eyes as she realized that the sun was now up, once her eyes had adjusted to the light she saw both of her Hoofmaidens looking at her in surprise.

"A-are you alright Princess?" Star Snip asked with a slightly confused look.

"Actually... yes I am... I certainly am..." Luna replied, she noted the tone of surprise in her voice as she spoke. "...I actually managed to sleep through an entire night without waking up in a cold sweat..." She couldn't believe what had happened, but she wanted to speak with Tia.

"Um... Miss Snip..." Luna began tentatively

"Yes Your Highness?" The teal unicorn replied, standing at attention almost as if she was a guard.

"I... I would like you to have somepony let my sister know I wish to speak with her later, same place as yesterday." Luna said, he voice seemed like she was surprised about the mere fact that she could talk. She flew out the window and landed in the gardens, she began to trot around and observe all the plants that their servants had planted, upon reaching the pond that had several chairs laid around it she promptly took a seat and waited for her sister.