The Black Eyes of the Nightmare

A day passed since Victor arrived. Moon Fox's and Celestia's wounds are healing up fine, and they don't have any hostiliaty toward one another anymore. Moon Fox is pleased with herself to know that she was right. Princess Celestia admitted to her that she felt calmer now. A calm god is a happy god, she replies.

It's a beautiful morning in Ponyville. Celestia's sun is beginning to rise, and the town starts to bustle. At least of most of them. Victor, the legendary human who now lives among the ponies, is resting on the branch of a large tree. Some passing ponies gaze at him, confused yet curious, then walk away.

Victor feels something shaking his shoulder. He opens his eyes, seeing a familiar fox face. "Oh, hey," he says, groggy.

"I need your help," says Moon Fox.

"With what?"

"Fluttershy's birthday is coming up, and I gotta get her something."

"So you want me to get it?"

"No. I'm asking you to help her friends set up a party. I'll go look for a present."

Victor yawns and rolls of the branch, making a three point landing below. "Kay," he answers.

"Thank you." The Moon Fox comes down and gives Victor a hug. "Start off with Twilight. She's hosting the party." Then she darts away from Ponyville. Victor stares at her banishing, then starts running to Twilight's library.

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Victor makes it to Twilight's front door, panting. He knocks. The door is opened, showing the purple pony Twilight. She is confused upon the sight of Victor. "Morning, Victor," she greets, laughing nervously.

"Morning, Twilight! Hey, Moon Fox sent me here to help with the party."

"Oh! That's why you're here! Well, come right in!"

Victor enters the library, and feels overwhelmed by the amount of books it has. He examines the room. There's no decorations, but it's still early morning. Victor wonders why Moon Fox woke him up so early. "So what do we start with?"

"Balloons!" Victor notices the child-like voice coming from Spike. He pops out of a box full of deflated balloons and starts blowing one up. "Man, this is gonna take forever," he complains, gasping for breath.

"I could help with ballons." Victor is not exactly the hardworking type. When forced to work, he aims for the most bearable tasks. He grabs a balloon and joins Spike in blowing them. Twilight heads out of the room.

"I'm gonna go get the rest of the decorations," she says.

As soon as Twilight leaves the room, Spike finishes another balloon and turns to Victor. "So, uh, you kinda went freaky on the Princess yesterday," he says, in a joking mood.

"I don't blame her."

"So, how does it feel? Y'know, transforming."

Victor starts to blow on another balloon. "Gosh, that sure is a good question. Knowing you're still a baby, you ask like a million questions."

"No I don't."

"Well, human babies," says Victor. "They're a pain in the ass. Anyway, transformation." He thinks about it for a moment. "I guess you could say it feels...different."

"Different how?"

"I really don't like transforming, and it's still kinda new, but when I do, I feel an explosion of fury. But I don't lose myself into a fit of rage. It's basically controlled, yet deadly. But the transformation also feels painful. It strains my body, so I can't stay in it for long."

"That's pretty awesome. Can you show me it?" Spike starts to hop in excitement.

"Spike, it's not for entertainment!" scolds Victor. "It's for when someone needs to be punished."

"Wow," says Spike. "In that case, you don't have to show it."

"I'm back!" says Twilight as she gallops back into the room, using her magic to carry a few more large boxes. "You boys didn't get much done."

"Sorry," says Spike, feeling nervous.

"Well, keep blowing those balloons."

"Yes, Mom," teases Victor. This makes Spike burst with laughter. Twilight starts to chuckle, then joins in on the laughter. The boy feels joyous to join in on the happiness of this world.

"Can you ask you a few things?" blurts out Twilight. It was a complete subject change, but Spike can already tell that her curiosity is starting to take over.

"Like what?"

"I dunno. I've always been curious about humans."

"I'm curious about everything, so fire away, Twi."

"Okay, so humans were considered non-magical creatures, so how can you do magic?"

"Well, I hang around with non-humans all the time, and they taught how to do all the magic stuff. I don't like calling it magic, but energy instead, because what I do is fueled by my life essence. The point is, humans can be capable of using magic, but it takes determination and strong will." Victor smiles. "Twilight, you remind me of when I'm studious. Even though I hate studying, I know I have to do it sometimes, but when I do, I want to know EVERYTHING."

Twilight giggles. "I guess humans also have a lot of emotion."

"In short, we're like the people of Equestria but without the magic. That's how it is on Earth. Vremena, however, is close to Equestria, but that world's a cornucopia of all types of intelligent life."

"How did you travel between two worlds?"

"Well, that's what I'm trying to figure out. Maybe I died back on Earth and I forgot about it." Victor starts to gaze at Twilight Sparkle's cutie mark. Her body is fixed toward him, so it's hard to see the stars that she shows proudly.

"What're you looking at?" asks Twilight, getting suspicious.

"Aren't those things called cutie marks?" says Victor as he points to Twilight's flank.

"Yeah. They depict your special talent."

"You ponies got it easy finding your purpose. We don't get a picture on our butts telling us what our talent is. Humans like me have to go out and find it."

"Do you know it?" asks Spike.

"I knew it forever. I can draw real good."

"Idea!" shouts Twilight. "You could draw something for Fluttershy!"

Victor's eyes gaze at Twilight. He feels unsure about it. He gets up and heads for the door. "Well, glad I could help, but I gotta go help Rainbow Dash now!"

"Don't forget the drawing!" calls Twilight as she sees Victor run out the door.

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The speed demon of the Ponyville twirls in the sky, practicing tricks to perform for her friend Fluttershy. Victor manages to find her, and Rainbow could not be any more excited to see him.

"Ohmigosh! You're here!" she shouts.

"Yeah," pants Victor. "I'm here." He looks around. "So, what do you need help with?"

Rainbow Dash quickly lands next to Victor. It startles him a little. "I saw you go beast on Celestia yesterday, and you got some mad flying skills! I was hoping you could teach something. Y'know, to spice up my performance."

"So you want me to transform..."

Rainbow Dash nods, very anticipant. "Yeah! It's gonna be super awesome!"

Victor puts hand on one of Rainbow Dash's shoulders. Her excitement diminishes as she locks eyes with him. "You're asking me for quite a bit, Rainbow. I'm a stranger to this world, and I don't wanna scare or hurt anyone. They'll get the wrong idea if I transform, like I'm going to hunt them down."

Rainbow Dash gives Victor a sly smirk. "Victor, I really wanna see you turn blue! Why else did you think I got you so far away from Ponyville?"

Victor looks at the direction of the town. Rainbow. They're quite far from the buildings. Victor turns back to Rainbow Dash and sighs. "I'll do it for one thing," he says.

"Sure! Anything!"

"Okay. Do that face where you press your cheeks together, smiling like you're really, really happy."

"What?" Rainbow Dash is confused. Victor couldn't help it. The brony is just being a brony. "Just that? But why?"

"Because it's frickin' adorable," answers Victor. "Come on, it's all I ask."

"Okay, if you say so." Rainbow Dash quickly presses her cheeks with her hooves, squinting her eyes and smiling. Victor nearly bursts from laughter, but he can his heart explode from the adorableness.

"Thank you, Rainbow. Now to stick to my end. I'll have to warn you though, this transformation is a state of contained, powerful fury. My speed and power increases dramatically, but it also causes extra strain. I might scare ya."

"Bring it on!" says Rainbow, determined. "I'm not scared of anything!"

Victor takes a deep breath and closes his eyes. He focuses on the beast caged inside him. He looks for the key. He finds the key. Victor clenches his fists together. He digs the key into the lock. He twists the key, and the beast is unbound once again. Black lightning starts to surround Victor, and he starts to feel the strain. He's also seems like he's angry. The black markings appear, and Victor lets out a monstrous roar. A light consumes him, and Rainbow Dash stares at him with wide eyes. The beast is standing in front of her, glaring.

"You okay?" asks Rainbow Dash, feeling worried.

Victor starts rubbing his head. "I'm fine," he says in a cold, low voice.

"You sound different."

"I know. I only got so much time in this form, so let's get started."

"Why do you sound so serious?" asks Rainbow Dash.

"Probably a side effect." Victor takes off, and Rainbow Dash follows him. He looks around, seeing if anyone is watching, then glares back at Rainbow Dash. "I'm thinking we should spice up your Sonic Rainboom."

"But that was gonna be my finale."

"You can still do it, but it just needs something, to make it how you say, twenty percent cooler." Victor flies higher up and starts darting off multiple directions. Rainbow Dash can't even catch her eyes on him, but she notices the beast forming a blue trail, like her rainbow trail when she flies really fast. The trail does not form at random. With wide eyes, Rainbow gazes at a name formed in the sky by Victor's blue trail. It reads This kind of spice in cursive.

"That was so...AWESOME!" shouts Rainbow Dash.

"There, I showed you a trick," says Victor. "Now if you don't mind, I'll change back to normal."

"Wait!"

Victor gazes at Rainbow Dash, confused.

"You gotta teach me how to do that," she says.

Victor sighs. "Fine," he says in an annoyed tone. Rainbow Dash gets closer to him. "It's not so complicated once you know how to do it. You'll have a problem with the sharp curves, but I kinda push myself away to do 'em."

"But there's only air. How can you push yourself off nothing?"

"All living things have energy inside them. It's what keeps them living. You just gotta bring it out."

"Uh, how?"

"Just concentrate. That's all I can say." Victor roars again. It echoes past the trees. An aura covers him, then he reappears back to his old self. "I gotta go help Rarity now." He rubs Rainbow's head, messing up her mane, then runs off. Rainbow Dash places a hoof on her head as she gazes at Victor running off, then smirks at him.

                                                                *                                *                               *

The young mage pushes pace after pace through the streets of Ponyville. Victor's libs are starting to hurt, but he knows there's really no rush to all this. Rarity could wait a little longer for a helping hand, but Victor tends to rush anyway. That's how he spends his life. He thinks that the time he has left could be gone any second.

As Victor rushes past crowds of ponies, some of them turn their heads toward him. They react either confused, surprised, or afraid. Victor doesn't even pay attention to them. He doesn't give a flying feather about what people, or ponies, would think of him. He knows he means no harm to them Try telling him that to the beastly side of him.

Victor catches sight of a rapidly glowing, purple aura. It pops like a balloon, and a familiar pony appears from it. Victor makes an unnatural reaction (at least for him): he grabs the pony and puts her in a headlock. The purple mare tries to pull his wrist away from her neck. At this point, Victor notices that she is Twilight. He drops her with no second thoughts.

"You scared the crap outta me!" complains Victor.

Twilight coughs. "Come on, Victor. How could I scare you?" she replies.

"Very easily. So what gives?"

"Oh, hi."

Neither Victor nor Twilight said that. They both turned their heads to the Moon Fox, who's walking toward them, carrying some odd-looking branches and stones. Victor pays more attention to the materials she's carrying, while Twilight pays more to the Moon Fox.

"Uh, hi, Fox," says Victor, attempting to sound polite. "What're you carrying?"

"It's for Fluttershy's present," answers Moon Fox.

"Not sure she would like that."

"Oh, don't you get it? It's all but puzzle pieces."

"Uh, Victor? There's something you need to know," interrupts Twilight.

"Please hurry up. I gotta get to Rarity's boutique," says Victor.

"I got a letter from Princess Celestia, and she wants to talk to you. Now is appreciated."

"But how am I gonna get to Canterlot so fast?" says Victor, starting to get frustrated.

"Just go blue."

Victor knows exactly what she meant. Unfortunately, he's not a big fan of his transformations. Sure, he increases his power dramatically and gains the ability to fly, but every up has a down. "Goddammit..." he mutters.

"This God sounds important," replies Twilight, interested.

"It's nothing, Twilight," says Moon Fox.

"Twilight, tell her I can't. I still gotta help out Rarity, AJ, and Pinkie for the party," says Victor. He eyes are fixed on his feet. He only sees ground, Twilight's hooves, and the ends of Moon Fox's black, blue, and white robes.

Moon Fox drops what she's carrying and puts a shoulder around the boy. "Victor," she starts, "if Celestia is calling you, it has to be important. Just go. I'll help out the rest of the ponies. The present can wait."

"It's not that," replies Victor. He tosses Moon Fox's arm aside, takes a deep breath, and his body changes once again, signaled by a powerful roar. The ponies all stare at the emerging beast, paralyzed. They have no idea what to do but stare at certain death standing near them. Victor them runs away and makes a mighty leap. He vanishes into the sky, heading for Canterlot. The spectating ponies slowly get back to their lives, leaving Moon Fox and Twilight as the only ones still staring.

"I don't understand him, Fox," says Twilight, curious. "He's nothing like the myths claimed."

"Twilight," says Moon Fox as she stares closely at her, "the first thing you should know about humans is that they're unpredictable."

                                                                *                                *                               *

Victor skids on the balcony floor. He arrived to the palace in a matter of minutes. With the belief that he has little time to spare, he runs into an empty room and out of it. He runs down a hallway, peeking at every room he passes. He's been here once before, but completely forget to keep a mental note of its structure. The hallway reaches a jagged turn, and when Victor reaches it, he instantly sees a white horse with a flowing, rainbow mare. She gasps and takes a step back.

"Oh. Glad you could make it, Victor!" says Celestia, hinting an apologetic tone.

"What is it, Celestia? It's not easy getting here," says Victor, with that serious tone that comes with the transformation.

"I was expecting Twilight would teleport you here, but there's always flying."

"It's not easy staying like this. I'm only doing this for you." Victor roars away from Princess Celestia, and the blue fades away. Once again, he's back to his normal self. Victor tries to give her a sincere, non-threatening gaze with his normal eyes, but he drops to the floor, feeling very fatigued. Celestia picks Victor's head up with one hoof.

"Are you okay?" she asks, worried.

Victor only gazes at her eyes. As Celestia anticipates his response, he tries to comprehend what's happening right now. Victor starts to feel touchy by the fact that Celestia has an arm around him, giving him her support. He gives out a weak smile and says, "I never noticed, but you have amazing eyes."

"Thank you," answers Celestia as she uses her magic to get Victor back on his feet.

"But I'm saying it as a friend!" adds Victor. "'Cuz y'know, I'm not interested in dating ponies, could that would be ridiculous." He gives out a weak laugh, trying to keep eye contact with Celestia.

"I know. I kinda needed that today."

"So why did you want me here?"

"Well, I got something to show you. Can you walk just fine?" Victor starts to realize what Celestia is really saying. He feels like she knows the side effects of his transformation.

"I'll manage." Celestia smiles, then turns around. Victor follows here through a few corridors, until they reach the palace's library. Victor feels overwhelmed by the amount of books there, and it puts Twilight's to shame. As he keeps following the goddess, he notices Princess Luna skimming through a pile of books on a table. She notices Victor and smiles.

"Good day, human!" greets Luna.

"Hey," answers Victor.

Celestia gives Victor a large piece of parchment and quill, presented with the yellow aura of her magic covering them. He grabs both and gives a curious glance to Celestia. "I want you to draw this Vremena," she requests.

"You want me to draw a map? What for?"

"I want to see how it's like there."

Celestia starts to give Victor the puppy eyes, and it puts the boy to work at once. He melts so quickly to cuteness. He shakes the quill and starts sketching what he can remember about the world he lives in. Celestia and Luna both peek over his shoulder, but Victor finds it annoying. Their flowing manes start to pile over the parchment.

"Girls, you guys are cool and all, but those goddamn manes..." says Victor. He brushes both of them away from the parchment and gets back to work. The two sisters stare at each other and start snickering. They both look at each other's mane and start playing with them. They now understand what Victor felt about them.

"Ok I'm done," says Victor as he puts the quill down. The two sisters look at his sketch. Victor put tiny symbols in it to indicate what is land and what is ocean. They quickly understand the drawing because of Victor's skill in drawing.

"That is the weirdest peninsula I've ever seen," says Celestia.

"Yup. That's a spiral land right there," says Victor, feeling a bit proud.

"Sister, it looks quite basic," says Luna. "Flat, mountains, ocean, desert, and mountains. It's just like our world."

"Victor, can you draw Earth now?" asks Celestia.

"Kay." Victor works on this sketch much faster. He feels more familiar to recognizing the shape of his home world. He still questions how he lives in another, but he will never forget how his own world will look like. He presents the sketch to the twi sisters.

"This one's basic, too," says Luna.

"Of course they do," says Victor as he outs the sketch away. "It's for the living conditions."

Celestia drops a painting on the table by surprise. She looks at Victor, nudging to take a look at it. Victor takes a glance, confused. "What do you see in that painting?" asks Celestia.

"I see a pony with a long beard and classic-looking clothes," answers Victor.

"No, pay closer attention to the background."

"Oh. Well, he's stretching his arms and legs, shaping a circle, and there's a bunch of ovals behind him."

"And what do you see in the ovals?"

"Just some lines."

"Look closer. This is why I wanted you to draw."

Victor does as he's told. He notices that all the ovals differ in contents. The scribbles drawn within them all look unique compared to the others, but then Victor's eyes grow wide as he finds one oval having a spiral sketch on it, and it looks just like the map of a Vremena he drew. He quickly scanned over the painting and finds another oval containing the outline of Earth, down to every continent. "What is this painting?" he asks.

"Oh, that would be a work of art created by Garudon, a brilliant artist from around 5 centuries ago," answers Luna. "Look, human. Thou have just witnessed some of his thoughts. The ovals in this painting, according to historians, represent other worlds. Garudon was a fan of the multiverse theory."

"Jesus Christ..." says Victor. "He must be right!"

"The real question is how," says Celestia.

Victor starts to feel nervous. "Look, you two are the thousand-year-old ponies ponies around here. I can't answer that," he says.

"Could you at least answer something else?"

Victor takes a seat, gesturing a yes.

"My sister and I have been baffled since thou arrived," says Luna. Victor has an idea of what they're going to ask.

"Yeah, we can't understand how a human could possess such power," says Celestia. "Don't get me wrong. The idea is just fascinating."

"Didn't I explain last night? I think I did?" says Victor.

"Not really, human," answers Luna. She locks eye contact with Victor. "Ever since Moon Fox arrived, my sister and I have been worried about her, whether she'd be a threat to our subjects. But our suspicions were nothing but quarreling thoughts. We know that thy friend is immortal like us, and we can comprehend her having power leveled to us as well. But then, out of nowhere, thou came." Luna puts a hoof on Victor's chest. "Thou proclaims thyself as a human. We can believe that, but it's the beast inside thee that we can't. Thou hath power, Victor, but how did you thou earn it?"

Victor blinks twice, and Luna seems to copy him. He smiles and says, "Luna, all I can say is that all life has a potential waiting to be discovered. Remember how we're both dead in Vremena right now?" Victor holds the hoof Luna placed on him tightly and starts to cry a little. "I turn into the beast because I saw Moon Fox died right in front of me."