The League Of Darkness

“Hello?” said Darius Jem.

I could only stare back at him, “Hi… Hi Darius.”

He stood back and shifted casually, “Well, as much as I would like to stay outside on your roof, I’m actually quite cold… Could you let me in?”

I stood awkwardly, and thought at a rapid speed. Nightmare gave the impulse of not letting him in, but that would only make him suspicious. If someone was hiding something from Darius, usual order was that he would end up with what he wanted one way or another.

“Discuss with him in your usual manner, If you are to discuss anything other than matters regarding ‘life’ or ‘birthdays’, lie.”

I snapped to attention, and began to smile. Although keeping it slightly annoyed, as I would be if someone I knew was trying to get into my house at half an hour past midnight.

I sped walked to the french window, and threw it open.

“Normal way of continuing, hold him up and ask why he’s here.”

“Why are you here? It’s half past nothing in the fucking morning,” I shouted, keeping it a tad down to stop waking any of the others from waking up.

“I was busy today, and I couldn’t miss your birthday for the life of me!”

I coughed and alerted him to the time once more, “may I remind you, half past nothing on May the Second. You missed my birthday by forty-five minutes.”

“Good, keep humor high and make it seem like he’s the problem, it’ll keep the heat off you and the scar for another few-”

“Nice scar, by the way! You do realise that halloween isn’t for a good few months now,” he said, strolling past me to reach one of the bedside sofas.

I waited a moment and closed the door. It pained me that I was essentially locking myself in a room with a man who could possibly be a problem larger than even Nightmare Moon.

Either he was a master of deception and I was being a moron for even allowing him inside, or he could just be trying to be nice for my birthday. Where not letting him in would have betrayed the trust of a valued childhood friend.

I set myself a challenge, if I could find something, any little thing that could mean that he is actually a problem, after he left I would cease all forms of communication with him, run as fast as I could and make sure that we never met again. If I see no such thing, I would keep in contact, he may have been useful in keeping Nightmare in check.

But considering that it was late at Night, and I had no understanding of the situation or allegiance of him at the moment, I decided to leave out any details of Dimensia or Nightmare Moon for now.

“Yeah, I know. Hannah was taking up a course in filming and makeup and wanted to test out on me. But she used too much adhesive, now I can’t get the bloody prosthetic off my face.”

He smiled and nodded, “I have to give her credit though… That scar is pretty impressive. If you walked down the street with me, people would be saying ‘he’s pretty badass, oh look, that other guy has a scar,’.”

I snorted truthfully, that was actually pretty funny.

“And the red eye? I assume that’s a contact lens.”

“Yup. Nothing more, nothing less.”

He smirked, took off his glasses and slid back slightly. “How’s life?”

“Life? I’d say it was good,” I replied, although a bit too quickly.

It seemed to go over his head, “I mean, you had a freaking school reunion and I had five council meetings telling us how UKIP still want more power to a bunch of racists and how the Tories want to convert all council houses into velodromes.”

“Well, good to know that politics hasn’t changed from the early two-thousands.”

He smiled, “I’d like to change the system, you know I would. But no matter what I do I’m upsetting someone high up in the government. It’s strangely ironic, there’s no-one with more power than me other than the queen and yet it’s the bloody aristocrats who still have all the power.”

“Well you bought me this house and constantly use taxpayers money for your own means, so by your logic: You have all the power.”

He laughed, “Very clever. Very clever indeed.”

I changed the subject, “So, other than that, yesterday was great.”

“Really, how so?”

“Fuck, dead end.”

No it wasn’t, “I met David Tennant!”

Darius blinked, “Don’t lie. No way.” I adjusted my look towards him and raised an eyebrow. He quickly got the message, “No WAY! I didn’t know he was around the area. Now I’m really jealous, where did you see him?”

“Just at the school, turns out that going there wasn’t such a bad idea. It just happened to be pure luck that I met him! Friendly guy.”

He leant forward, “Did you get an autograph? C’mon, even I’d like a proper autograph from him.”

“Sadly, no, he was a little busy today, something about seeing a Doctor.”

“All he needed to do was look in the mirror then-”

“Ha! Good one.”

I checked the time, hoping that he would get the message that I didn’t want to talk to him. I think it flew over his head.

“Anyhow, I hope you got some good presents, I see that someone lucked out in the oriental department. I do hope that’s just ornamental.”

I had drifted off halfway, and lacked focus. Darius snapped his fingers twice in front of my face. “Hello? Ground control to Major Tom? What’s with the sword?”

Dragonbane lay on the nearby table like a giant slab of solid steel killjoy. I bluffed once more.

“It’s actually for a cosplay I’m working on, original character. I had that custom made to arrive today.”

“Do you mind if I?”

“By all means.” By no means actually, but I couldn’t just say no. Besides, if he ended up cutting himself on it I’d have him out of the house much quicker. I held back my emotions as he stood up and held the scabbard in his hands.

He knelt down, facing away from me and attempted to draw it in a manner a samurai would. But in a bizarre, and somewhat comedic fashion, the sword held its ground and his hand flew round and lodged his hand in one of the nearby draws.

“Jeese!” he yelled, pulling out his hand and nonchalantly closed the broken draw. He stared angrily at the sheathed greatsword. “That thing’s ruddy stiff. It it glued on or something?”

For all I knew, it was not. Earlier that day I had drawn it out of the scabbard like it was nothing. I was handed the sword and scabbard by him as he laughed.

“So is this just a scabbard or is there something in there? I mean, this craftsmanship of the guard is too exquisite for just a guard and scabbard, there has to be a sword in there.”

“Not that I know, it’s a little stiff,”

“AHEM-”

“Heard it as I said it,” I joked.

Darius smirked and looked more closely at the sword before glancing back at me. “Go on, have a go!”

“Sorry?”

“Have a go! Give it a few swings!”

I hesitated, thinking about if I actually drew the sword, if it had some sort of ‘chosen wielder’ shit. That would raise some questions.

“Are you sure? You’ve already broken one of my drawers. I doubt swinging a sword around would be good, especially at this time of night.”

“Yeah I’m sure, we could make a thing of it- go on! Give it a swing!”

I knelt down slightly, and pulled taut on the grip of the sword.

But nothing happened this time.

Strangely. Like the sword was now glued to the inside of the scabbard.

My mind wasn’t playing tricks on me, I definitely remember the sword coming out of the scabbard, I saw it the Night before when Josh cut himself, heck I even named it… Question was, why wasn’t it happening now?

“Darius, I think you should go… I’m really not in the mood for a visit right now,” I said, hopefully making him let me be.

“Aww, really? Why so, my boy?” he said with as much of a pout he could do with that jawline of his.

I decided to blurt out the blatantly obvious. “Because it’s half-past nothing in the Fucking morning.”

Then, his smile disappeared completely. To the point that one could assume that he would never smile from the frightening scowl that replaced it. It was a look that I had gotten only once or twice in my life before now. A look that meant either two things, I was in for a stern bollocking… Or I was royally screwed.

Judging by the events of Yesterday, I could assume the latter was true.

“Patrick… You do not know how… Disappointed I am.”

“Crap.” Nightmare and I thought simultaneously as one of his large hands forced me down upon the sofa.

He looked down upon me with a frightening gaze, his eyes locked into mine, as if to tear my soul right out just from a mere glance.

“From all the years I’ve known you… I knew that one day that you’d just… BECOME this. You don’t know how angry I am with you.”

This was not fucking good, not one single bit. I knew that he may react, but not THIS badly when he just figured it out. Maybe I should have kept myself hidden. Maybe he was about to do something horrible to me and Nightmare.

I felt her crawling for control, like a ravenous beast caged inside trying to tear open its bindings. Darius drew closer as I felt Nightmare about to release the full force of her power to protect us both. And I felt, that was exactly what was going to happen.

“I told you, Patrick… Don’t. Ever. Swear,” or so I thought.

“Wait, what?”

He continued to glare at me in the same way, with bitter distaste and disgust. “I said… Don’t swear. It may have been OK the day before yesterday, but now… I never want to hear any of those words pass by your lips again. Understand?” he shouted, much to my surprise.

I felt a little more relaxed, but I didn’t let down my guard. I didn’t want to look too relieved that THAT was the only thing he wanted to address. So I did what he did, delved deeper. Perhaps this benefitted me as well. “Why?” I asked.

He tensed up his face and spoke a little louder, “The mark of a true and righteous leader is the ability to love and control his or her people. The mark of a callous and false leader is one who uses his people like weapons, and treating them with disrespect.”

“And swearing has something to do with it?”

“Swearing has everything to do with it. By one raising his voice denotes that he has no control of his people. He may as well be a working class citizen- You are not that. You are a gentleman!” He started painfully prodding me with his finger on his head. “I want that to stay in your head, young man. Foul language is something I cannot accept from you ever again- Understand?”

“I understand, I understand. Jesus-”

“That too!”

“It’s just a name!”

“Do you hear anyone use your name as an expression of annoyance?”

“No.”

“Exactly, so stop that.”

We shared an awkward stare for what seemed like ten minutes, when in reality only a few seconds had passed. He was looking deep, was he trying to get me to watch my language, or trying to suck out my fuc-, excuse me, soul?

“What do you mean by leader? You’re the only one with some form of power in this room.”

“Excuse me?”, well, the only one with political power in this dimension.

He raised his scowl into a sinister smile before it disappeared once more. His eyes moved from the sword, to my eyes and then to a watch that he concealed on his sleeve.

“As much as I would like to discuss this more with you… I feel that you were right. It is very early in the morning, my bodyguards wouldn’t like me gone for this long at this time of night.”

He dusted himself off before I could say anything else, then reached into his pocket. “You don’t mind if I use the front entrance? The guys wouldn’t like me to return with broken legs.” I nodded slowly as he continued to rummage around. He finally stopped and took out a small package, wrapped in marble-patterned paper and tied up with a black bow. He handed it to me casually and spoke under his breath. “If anyone asks, Starbucks never needed that money.”

He twisted around sharply, and began to walk with silent footsteps. He lowered the brightness of the lights in my room using the switch, then began to close the door.

“Happy Birthday,” he said before the door was shut.

Leaving me alone once more.

At least, physically alone.

“That meeting could have gone better,” said Nightmare sans-hesitation. I couldn’t agree more with her. I was way too suspicious and argumentative for just a friendly visit. And even though we were both tired, we were too questioning and angry with one another.

Also that outburst from Darius himself.

Considering the potential danger of the situation, I had never felt more terrified to see him angry at me. Even though it was for something as menial as watching my language… But what if it wasn’t? I had thought that he was aware of the whole thing, Elizabeth’s warning would have made sense then.

In order to keep my chances at maximum of surviving the next few days, I would need to make sure I did not see Darius much… Or even at all. He was a friend, but I could not trust him.

But I would need a miracle in order to explain what’s going on if Darius saw me when the changes became more… Physical. And seeing me again at all with the scar would make him suspicious.

Endless suspicions, endless thoughts about how either Darius or I could betray each other. But still remained the endless suspicions of the word ‘COULD’. He was a friend, but for how long could I say that?

He had done nothing violent, besides trying to get the sword drawn. And from what I could tell, there was nothing really that stated he knew exactly what was going on.

But the risk was still there, and it made me afraid… And tired.

I placed Darius’ package, after checking for hidden cameras, upon my bedside table before I took off my remaining clothes.

My routine that I would do kicked into motion, brush teeth, go to the loo, turn lights off.

The lights off revealed the moonlight once more. Now seeming more haunting than beautiful, my paranoia saw it as the eyes of the world around me. Seeing everything that I was and would eventually become. I wouldn’t have minded if the moon slammed down into the earth and killed me.

“I’m going to take note of that one,” I did not take in her comment. For now I just needed to sleep.

I took in no distraction or nuance of difference. Not even the clothes on the floor would stop me from crashing onto the bed.

I pulled the covers over and shut my eyes tightly.

Sleep took me without my realisation, as I fell into the dark void of mysteries.

“Are you sure? This doesn’t seem like the sort of place we could find it-” A voice echoed, becoming more visible by the second.

“My dear, do not fret. My sister was crafty, she would always do the most unexpected things in my youth. I would not be surprised if she had hidden it in this very place,” a familiar voice replied and I moved towards it. At least, I felt myself moving towards it an an uncomfortable pace.

“Then what shall we be looking for my queen?”

“Hope, what have I told you about that title?”

“You are not a Queen until-”

“Yes, I am not a Queen until a certain miss Solar Flare decides to move her fat arse off the throne.”

“Thank you… Nightmare Moon… It won’t happen again.”

By now, my vision had cleared, allowing me to see the landscape around the two figures… Nightmare Moon herself, in full clad armor, and a small golden Pegasus I had only seen once before... During the second dream with the League Of Darkness.

The two were walking, in the dead of the night, through the canyon I had seen many times in the show. It was a large Canyon that eventually led to the resting place of the Tree Of Harmony. It was apparent that the two were heading there for unknown reasons.

What baffled me at the moment however, was how in the dreams I had had before had me seeing events in a first person perspective… Whereas now, I was an unseen observer of events unfolding.

The Pegasus tripped and began to fall down the stairs, only to be caught in the telekinetic grasp of Nightmare. She scowled at the smaller and allowed her to begin flying. Flying with gentle flaps, less like a bird and more like a butterfly. The same way I remember Fluttershy doing on the show.

“Please stay alert, Hope… It could be anywhere.”

I again had no context or information as to what the two would have been looking for. But seeing as where they were going and the fact that there seemed to be remnants of what looked like plunder vines, I could guess what they were looking for.

However, things did not add up. In the show, when Twilight had to go to the tree of harmony to stop the plunder seeds, it was obvious in the show that they were swarming out of the entrance of the tree of harmony. Yet in this world, I did not see a single root other than the occasional one dangling off their bodies.

So why were they there?

The little one, which Nightmare called ‘Hope’ twinged and twitched, before grabbing her head in agony.

Nightmare’s eyes widened with excitement. “It’s close then!”

“Yes,” she put bluntly.

“So where is it? Is it behind one of these walls?”

“No… It’s…”

Hope’s eyes widened, before she flew off into the fog, leaving Nightmare Moon temporarily behind.

She searched around for the little golden pegasus, before eventually finding her outside an area of rock. This rock, however, seemed different from the others in the canyon. It was obvious that Nightmare could sense this too.

“It’s here,” said Hope with a voice as cold as the air around us.

Nightmare inspected the wall carefully, and I moved in to see the wall for myself as well, seeing that I could move on my own accord as well.

The rock was strange… From afar, one could not see it. But up close, one could see that among the moss, nooks and crannies, areas of the rocks were marked with perfect parallel lines in an archaic fashion. Nightmare knew exactly what it was.

“It seems that she’s trying to deceive us. This rock is a fake.”

Her horn flared into a bright glow and a force was created that instantly shattered the rock, leaving nothing but shrapnel littered on the ground and for the light to emit itself from the new opening.

“Be on your guard, Hope. That wouldn’t be the last of my sister’s trickery,” she chuckled as she stepped over some of the newly created gravel flooring. I followed the two into the cave, seeing no plunder seeds or welcoming blue glow from the tree of Harmony. Which was there, in the centre of the room.

Except, the tree looked dead. Not shrivelled or twisted like a normal tree, but like when the plunder roots were strangling the life out of it. Looking metallic and blackened with time and weakness. The lack of reaction from Nightmare Moon said that this was what they were expecting. Although the expression on Hope’s face said the contrary.

“Surprised, Hope?”

“Definitely… Nightmare… I always imagined the tree of Harmony as an embodiment of light. This is not what I expected.”

Nightmare laughed. “Yes, I’d imagine it’s not what YOU expect, but I can use this tree whether it be black or blue. Even in death it still has a function.” She turned to face the pegasus, “book please, Hope.”

The little one pulled a large, marked book out from the bag that I now saw that she had. The book seemed to be engraved with archaic runes and transcriptions, while looking like it was made out of several pieces of coloured parchment, hastily sown together, on the cover. Nightmare Moon grabbed it telekinetically and placed it directly in front of the tree.

“The tree of harmony responds to sacrifice using Harmony magic. Enough would allow it to awaken from its slumber, but for now we only need a fraction of its power. Knife please.”

Hope took a small, dark and very much sharp knife out and it, like the others, was held telekinetically.

“What are you doing?” asked Hope as Nightmare hovered it over her raised hoof.

“Alicorn biology is strictly bound to Harmony magic, we won’t need much for a harmonious transmutation, but I still need to create a sacrifice of blood.”

She swiped the knife across her hoof, making a small incision and cut. She showed no sign of pain as she tilted her hoof sideways in order for two drops of blood to fall, one onto a blank page of the book itself, and another to land on the ground between the book and the tree.

There were no other words spoken, the effect was immediate. The blood soaked up through the roots of the tree, its dark crimson showing through the glossy crystal of its bark, until the tree illuminated the rest of the room in a red glow. Nightmares eyes directed down to the open book, which began to rise up, taking on more of the glow, before starting to shine with a cyan light.

Nightmare now began to speak, in a manner of almost a chant.

“Occultum Deus , exaudi verba mea

Utere fer mundum et ego ducam te ad scientiam victimæ!”

A rumble around them started, causing the tree to almost pulsate with unholy energy.

“Saecula fracto vitam fracta .

Educ de tenebris ad rem.

Iustitiae tibi do facultatem voluntatis.

Et sic facies eam : Scriptum!”

The air around the book pulsated, spinning, unfaltering at an increasing speed. Until an ominous light shot out from the centre of the pages, spinning around like a snake, wrapping around and then plunging back into the pages themselves. Acting like a disembodied pen, it engraved and scribed onto the large pages.

The speed and skill of this pen was beyond belief, truly an act of pure magic. It only increased in speed as it seemed to draw to the end.

It ended abruptly, with the book slamming shut. Falling onto the ground with a slam, shaking the ground around us.

They approached the book slowly, seeing it now completely still.

“Was that it?” asked Hope, reaching for it with her hoof. Nightmare stopped her calmly.

“It is as complete as we need it to be. The book itself is resonating Chaos.”

“Will we be able to understand it now?”

“Undoubtedly.”

She raised the book with her magic, cautiously opening it to the first of the new pages.

The newly created text and images wrapped around like a matrix, runes and scripts forming into lines and circles, illuminated slightly with a green glow. That glow faded as she read. A snake-like smile growing on her face.

“Oh, my dear subject… We are going to do such wonders with this.”

Hope bowed down graciously and fearfully.

“But… My Queen… What is this?”

Nightmare Moon smiled, closed the book and held it close to her body. “The tree of Harmony has accepted my wish, and it shall be done… With this spell… We will find the centre of reality.”

Those last words I heard weighed down on my like an ocean of syrup. A sickening laugh erupted from her, calm as it was vicious. But that was the laugh she used when in control of me. I felt sickened, violated, confused. Everything seemed to agree around me.

The dream distorted and warped, tearing up into shreds, revealing a blackened room.

I collapsed onto the floor of the room, trying to cope under the stress.

But something seemed off.

Why would I feel the ground so vividly?

Why could I breath?

Was I awake?

Was this real life or a dream so lucid my brain is having me believe it was real life?

Is this real life or is this just fantasy-

The fact music started almost playing along around me confirmed my suspicion.This was a new experience.

I had already found out enough I needed to know, but why was I still dreaming? I guess I could have woken up by now, but why hadn’t I?

Was Nightmare Moon in control of me? I doubt it, since I still remain aware of what I am doing when she controls me…

At least, I hoped that was the case. I had only been aware of her being in my head for about a day.

I looked down at myself, to find myself wearing black clothes. No noticeable difference in my appearance so far.

I would expect that dreams would allow oneself to appear how they would want to appear. For now, until I imagined myself as a dragon, this was how I was going to appear.

The land I was in fascinated me, from the details of the surrounding area, I saw some slightly raised platforms. Lining the ground like a long wall. But these platforms seemed to be rising, becoming walls as I imagined it.

It seemed I had control of something at least, albeit subconsciously.

I wasn’t going anywhere, but I felt a little lonely. It was quite quiet. No sound, not even the rush of air. The closer I concentrated on the silence, the louder I heard my own sounds, with the eerie lack of any kind of Echo.

There was no motif, no sound nor vision. Ironically, the place where people have the most chaos was probably the calmest place I had been to in a while. I did not need time, I could just sit here contemplating the silence.

I would enjoy the isolation of dreams and-

Wait, did I say that?

Was I just about to just remain in a dream?

If the Matrix or Bleach told me anything, remaining in the dream would not help me both physically or mentally. And again, I had little idea what was happening in the outside world.

One thing was for certain, I had become too relaxed in this state. I had learnt all I needed to learn tonight, yet leaving me a little more confused. I just needed to get out.

But the trouble was how.

How would I get out?

Could I even escape?

What if I was trapped here anyway?

“This is a world of walls,” a voice spoke. One that I had never heard before. But its voice was rich, masculine and… Looming.

“What do you mean?” I yelled to the abyss.

The abyss spoke back. “This is a world of walls, divisions. It is inescapable.”

That hit to home, I screamed out to it. “Then why taunt me? Is that you Nightmare Moon?”

The abyss did not reply to my question, it continued as if it never heard me.

“Walls cannot be escaped. Walls are everywhere, whether it be the ones you see around you. Or the ones that you cannot see.”

“That makes sense,” I mumbled sarcastically.

“Young boy, do you know the truth?” it said, louder than I had heard it before.

“Truth is an illogical concept, one man’s truth is another's lie,” quoting some philosophical babble.

“You obviously do not.”

“Then tell me, what is this truth I seek then, oh mighty Abyss?”

There was a pause, it did not reply for a while. But it returned, sharply.

“When all your questions are answered, and when you can then give the answers to the questions of others… You will have the Truth.”

“I get your vague message, but that doesn’t actually make sense.”

Then it did something that made me shiver. It simply chuckled.

But with the tone of voice and volume that the abyss had, it seemed all the more dark and disturbing to me.

It chuckled at my ignorance, it was mocking me.

“Who are you?” I yelled finally.

“You will know when you answer his calling.”

“What?”

“You have piqued his interests. You should feel proud. The truth will present itself when he comes to greet you.”

Something felt off now, as if someone was pulling on my head with a fishing line. This force only increased, never faltering. I appeared to be waking up. I had to take advantage of the time I had with the Abyss. Who knows if I was to meet it again?

I spoke to it, trying to locate where the source of the voice was. “What is the truth? Who is he?”

The world continued to brighten, the pull was now out of my control. But I heard the last thing that it said to me.

“You’re on your way… Do not fall. If you do… Then the truth will be lost, and we shall all pay the price.”

His repetitive use of the pronoun game was annoying me. I couldn’t get a grip on the world, if only I had slightly more time in that hell. But it was lost now.

I was going back to consciousness. With the smell of…

Bacon?

“Why do I smell Bacon?” I said as a disembodied voice inside my own head.

“I’m cooking it, what do you expect?”

Nightmare’s voice acted like an alarm clock. The vision I could see with my eyes was blurred and bright. But the smell of bacon was the first thing that hit me.

Another thing was that somehow my muscles hurt, like the ache after a good session of exercise. But I hadn’t exercised in a while. And I doubted that the transformation had anything to do with muscles.

“You’re persistent aren’t you?” she said, mockingly.

“Why are you frying bacon?” I asked with my mind.

“In your mind, it’s one of your favourites. I wanted to have this experience for myself… In our culture, it is rare for a pig’s meat to be used culinarily. I found your interest of Long Crendon Back Bacon intriguing. From just the smell, I can tell why you like this. The smell of caramel was strong.”

It was a delicious smell, admittedly, and I’m glad that’s all she had done in my unconsciousness.

I could see properly now, to see the sharp light of the spring sun.

“I thought it was all ‘eternal night’ with you, what gives with the sun.”

“As much as I would like to, my magic is still quite limited in this form at the moment. You won’t be seeing any moonrises in the next few days.”

“That’s nice to know, what’s the time right now?”

“It just turned 8:00. I hope you had a nice sleep.”

“Are the others up?”

“Joshua went out to ask for a leave at his job. He says he needs time off, as for the others, they haven’t shown their faces yet.”

Hold on, if it was only eight, where did the long crendon come from? Last time I checked, I was all out of bacon.

“Where did you get the bacon? Also, HOW?”

“You were asleep and I took advantage of the time of night. What’s wrong?”

“The only place to get that stuff is from Newitts in Thame, that’s over 13 miles away. Are you telling me that you ran to Thame, broke into a shop and stole some bacon?”

“Yes, with my limited magic, what else was I to do?”

The pain in my legs and arms seemed to make sense now.

“Did you have to sprint? What else did you do?”

Nightmare Moon laughed nervously.

I could not read her, but I asked anyway.

“Did… Did you kill someone again?”

She continued to cook the bacon in a similar way that I would do it.

“Well, don’t expect that breaking into somewhere won’t cause any trouble. It was better than you being in a jail cell right now… Although we could probably easily get out of there, I doubt that you want to gain any more attention from Darius.”

Shoot. She didn’t- she couldn’t… Actually, she probably would-

“Nightmare Moon. Tell me this honestly. Did you just kill a police officer to get some bacon?”

Nightmare Moon did not answer, she only displayed the images from her eyes.

The way the police officer spotted us.

The way he ran after us.

The was he ran into us.

The way he tried to call to his comrades.

The fear in his eyes.

The fear in all of their eyes.

The way they ceased to be.

And I couldn’t do anything to stop it. I was innocent… But had falling asleep made me guilty?

She killed several police officers.

Potentially one school boy, that would make me a wanted man.

Two or more armed men, that would make me a fugitive.

But the fact ‘I’ had just killed three police officers… I was right and royally screwed.

I couldn’t even look at that bacon, as much as I loved it. But my eyes still held strong, Nightmare was trying to get them properly cooked.

“You sicken me, Nightmare… One day, I’m gonna make you pay.”

“I doubt that. I outclass you. And since I’m in this body, any harm to me will also be to yourself. I doubt that your family would be happy of a suicide.”

“Better than knowing that their son is turning into the pawn of some psychotic serial killer.”

“And we’re back to square one are we? I don’t have time for this, the bacon’s ready.”

I was furious, but I still had to be sure.

“Ok, Nightmare. I’ll happily deal with your psychotic outbursts, but did anyone else see you?”

“I like to make a spectacle, how are my subjects supposed to know of my return?”

“But did they see MY FACE?”

There was a pause, affirming the worst, if people recognised me from murdering 3 police officers I would be done for, even if I somehow escaped Nightmare’s clutches, I would not be free from her impacts.

“No. It would have been too dark. I moved also too fast for them to see me. Also, your bland choice of clothing doesn’t leave much to the imagination.”

She turned off the heat from the pan, then began to levitate the bacon towards some pre-prepared toast, making what looked like a delicious sandwich.

“I doubt I can trust you to have unsupervised control of my body again.”

“That would require you to have 24/7 watch over yourself. You wouldn’t be able to sleep… Nor learn anything about me or Chronos' past.”

“Better that than risking anything from you.”

“Fine. But you’ll fall behind on some important history lessons. Some more important than others.”

I spoke spitefully, “I hate history. What matters now is keeping hold of myself and keeping you in line. Not what you or whomever this ‘Hope’ is.”

“Oh, I forgot, you did learn something tonight, what was it?”

“You and a pony called hope using the tree of harmony to create something to get to the center of reality.”

“I still remember that like it was yesterday. Happy times.”

“Did you eventually find the center of reality?”

Nightmare scowled and expressed using my arms.

“What do you think?” she said out loud, using my body. Allowing me to notice the slightly more feminine tone she used in my voice now.

Luckily it seems she didn’t want to ask about other things, bringing up the abyss would not be something I would like to discuss with her. She was too focused on the Bacon sandwich.

Luckily for me, I could still use my taste buds, so I received every succulent flavor and texture.

The saltiness of the oil mixed in with the sweetness of the meat, the sharp flavor of the ketchup to mix in with the oily butter and the smooth white bread.

It was common for me to eat this stuff, but today I could feel new flavours. A bitter tang from the flesh, the wateriness of the uncooked parts tasted fresh and exquisite. The deep cooked parts still had the taste of something. I couldn’t put my finger on it… It was rich, iron-y, smooth and…

Blood… It tasted like blood.

My mind instantly went to the blood that was pointlessly spilt in order for Nightmare to have this Small Breakfast. I felt like spitting it out, but Nightmare relentlessly continued to expose me to the delicious flavours.

It was obvious that she was enjoying these flavors for an entirely different reason. She was a lion tasting fine penguin for the first time. It would be familiar to her, but the experience would be new. She was obviously in bliss.

She laughed. “This is delicious! A true delight.”

She scoffed the rest of it greedily down like a hungry dog. “Tell you what… I would have made it hard for you to survive without any sleep. But if you can keep introducing me to things like this, whether it will be meat or other- Then I will try to make it easier for you to keep awake.”

“I don’t think I can take your word for it.”

“Last night, I did let you explore some of my own memories, and I am in as much control of you as I was last Night. No unfair gain of control was done yesterday.”

“And here we are with the blood of three innocent men on my hands.”

“The bargain never said anything about what I could do with your body when you were asleep. And also, if we keep on those three men, then we won’t get anything done. I thought you said you hate history. So play your part and stop bringing up the past.”

“Could I have my body back please?”

“Nothing much is happening, so sure-”

The force exerted in our transfer was more apparent now, I felt being launched into the drivers seat, causing me to reel back in my seat. But the process was mercifully quick. Allowing me to raise my hands willingly.

“Thank god,” I said, noticing my voice now at it’s normal pitch.

I heard the sound of someone entering through the door behind me. It was David.

“Morning… You sleep well?”

He blinked twice. “Is that Patrick or Nightmare I’m speaking to?”

“Patrick, thankfully. You just caught us, do you want any breakfast?”

He raised his hand and shook his head. “I’ll wait for the others, I’m just wondering if there’s any changes of clothes? Being knocked out in a coffee shop kinda got my usual ones in a mess.”

Looking at him, I could see that obviously.

“Downstairs there should be a washing machine, I’d suggest popping those in and grabbing some clean ones from down there.”

“Thanks, you wouldn’t mind?”

“No, not at all, In fact I’d be honored.”

“Don’t push it,” he said dryly when leaving the room.

I sat up and cleared the plate away. I thanked the fact the dishwasher was empty to Nightmare Moon. Thankfully the pony I was turning into wasn’t a slob…

Which did remind me, I needed to check up on myself, to see any changes that had occurred.

I carefully went to the bathroom upstairs, which had the largest mirror. I grabbed my ‘morning after’ pad and began to take notes on the next page.

“Report on Physical Body

Date: 02/05/2020 (2nd of May 2020)

Things to note:

Due to the effects of Dimensia, body is going under a state of Metamorphosis, changes appear to be subtle for now- Split Personality emerging and mild ability to tap into non-scientific forces, dubbed ‘Magic’.

Adjustments to previous day:

Tattoo is permanently marked into skin, effect due to Dimensia.

Right Eye has been regrown with dominant red pigment.

Large scar has hardened diagonally across eye. No impairment to vision.

Physical Changes:

Coccyx is pressing against skin, possible signs of potential growth. Further observation needed.

Head hair has now grown, seeing reduction in facial and pubic hair.

Faint hints of blue pigment in some areas of hair.

Skin seems more tough, less flexible to touch. Further observation required.

Ears shows reduction in size.

Forehead shows physical strain, potential for growth needs to be observed.

Study continues.”

“You notice a lot of things in these studies.”

“It helps to know things that people wouldn’t really notice. Did you feel any of these when you were awake last night?”

“I did, but I guess I was too caught up in the moment to notice.”

It was either that or the changes were so subtle that one wouldn’t notice.

What are you talking about?

Who is Chronos?

You’re blade is dull and weak, much like the god who made it.

The void will claim you.

Wake UP-

My power comes from the moon.

???’s Story

I looked across the sand that stretched expansively across the horizon. It seemed never ending. But that did not stop the search of Kennedy or Roondar. The ferryman remained perfectly in place, he had just seen what all of us were capable of… Bar myself.

No-one should have to see what I am truly capable of yet.

The others were looking for those who had dropped the items that we should require. The sigil I still held, we weren’t going anywhere until I deemed us to do so.

Kennedy was of course looking for his spiked chain that was still embedded in the skull of some poor morsel he decided was unworthy of life. I however, had different motives.

That lunatic said that it would be here… The second part of the Zahtiid, one that reverberates with the scabbard and resonates with the first. Xemnas Philistine wanted it for himself. I was going to claim it for my own and take its power.

I knew I was just a link in the chain, but if I did this, then he would benefit, as would I… Only I could know what the Zahtiid could do.

But just my luck, I picked it up on my senses. It was close, I could feel it.

After what seemed like an hour of searching, the wastelands seemed every larger, while littered with bodies too-and-fro. It was only near the tallest mound of bodies that I felt my prize drawing ever closer.

The others weren’t looking, only the mage was nearby. He would not be a problem if he found out my intentions. Judging by how things have gone, they might’ve ended up helping me achieve what I want.

And there it was… The object I had been searching for.

What may have seemed like an ordinary weapon, it was however, so much more.

In my hands, it would give me such great power… In his, even more.

I took the blade, it’s beautifully woven handle to compliment the ferocity of its deadly white blade.

“Kage… I hope you can hear me…” I spoke coldly, grasping the Katana in my left hand. Placing my broadsword upon my back once more.

The power of it coursed through my veins. I did not know how to use it, but I felt it best to place the blade away before I transform for the first time. Especially in front of them.

“For now… I am your vessel…”

The blade clicked into its new found scabbard on my side.