The castle entrance was filled with shadows that danced around. David's NVGs allowed him to see into the shadows, and while he swept the room with his rifle, he could feel Luna doing the same on his right side. Something moved in an alcove, and immediately David fired, the trigger breaking at a crisp 2 lbs, sending a fusillade of 5.56 mm tracer rounds flying at the source of the movement. The green light thrown off by the phosphorescent rounds sent shadows flickering around. A horrifying wail resounded from the alcove, and something that looked like black blood pooled out from behind the statue that sat in the alcove.

At the sound of shots, Luna turned to see David slapping a new magazine into his rifle. She looked at the pooling fluid, and said, "They know we are here. They are in the top tower, I can feel their energy. DUCK!" She shouted suddenly at the end of her sentence, and David dropped to the floor and rolled as an arrow whisked over his head, causing another shadowy creature to fall, a crossbow clattering to the stone floor as Luna's arrow destroyed the dream minion's essence. They nodded at each other, then, in what can only be described as an elegant and graceful dance, they began fighting their way towards the tower. Luna would feel the hallway with her senses, then together they would move in, clearing out the waves upon waves of minor nightmares that had been sent by their targets in the very heart of the dark castle.

To David it felt wonderful to be able to move like he used to. Age had been kind to him, but now it was catching up. Here he felt that same power that he had possessed in his prime, no twinges every time he walked, no aching back, this was wonderful. They arrived at the base of the tower, and found themselves facing a dragon that had wrapped itself around the tower. David frowned when Luna's arrows simply shattered against the hide of the beast, and his bullets might as well have been blanks for all the good they did. "Shit, Luna, what do we do?" He asked, looking over at the beautiful mare. His jaw dropped as she threw her bow to the side and pulled out a glimmering katana.

"We do this the old-fashion way. Now, are you gonna help me or just stand there?" She asked, throwing him a seductive wink as she ran forward. David just shook his head. "Dayum, this is my kind of girl" he thought as he threw his rifle aside and imagined a Viking long sword made out of Damascus steel, tempered black and gold. Then he changed his armor into scale mail. With a battle cry of his own he charged. The shadow-dragon roared and let loose a wall of fire from it's mouth, but it made the mistake of focusing on only one. While David took cover behind a pillar, Luna jumped into the air, spreading her wings, her sword arcing in a hissing line that created a deep gash along the dragon's upper back. Green and black blood spurted from the wound, and the dragon's roar of pain shook the earth. It turned around to snap at Luna, and David took the opportunity to charge forward and thrust his sword through the creature's lower belly. The heavy blade went deep, and with a smooth upward motion, David created a second mortal wound. The dragon turned to swipe its claws at David, and Luna seized the opportunity, plunging her sword through the brain stem of the giant lizard, severing the nerve cluster and forcing David to roll out of the way of the dragon's neck as the beast collapsed to the ground, dead.

David watched in awe as Luna surfed down the dragon's neck, landing with a graceful roll. Holy shit.... his mind provided the words...well, one could not even put into words what he was feeling right now. It had been a long time since he had felt this way. Alive, with the strength of his youth. He had been able to bench over 250 pounds, but as he aged, that number had dwindled into the hundreds.

"Hey, David, we still need to kill the one who created this dragon." Luna's voice snapped him out of his musings.

"Right. Lets kill this thing, so we can relax." David imagined a Vietnam-War era flamethrower, a fire-thrower of his own. Loaded with napalm, it was even more dangerous than a dragon's breath.

Luna raised an eyebrow, "And why hast thou chosen to bring along such a weapon, good sir?" She asked, slipping back into her former way of speaking.

"Well, nightmares are creatures of shadow and fear right? Well, nothing creates fear like fire, but to normal mortals, fire can also be the most comforting thing, not something to be afraid of." David hefted the pack on his back. This horse/human body was incredible, he had the strength of a Clydesdale, yet the abilities and thoughts of a human.

They moved up the winding staircase, the light of the pilot flame flickering off of the walls. They reached the top, and walked into a circular room, where an alicorn sat, looking out of a window. "So, you managed to kill my dragon." It said in a sickly sweet voice. "I must say, Luna, you got farther than I expected, especially with him in tow." The figure motioned to David, who was carefully lining up his flamethrower.

"Nightmare Moon?" Luna said, somewhat surprised.

"Neigh.... Not Nightmare, I am her sister, the shadowwalker. The dream creeper. My sister was good at large showy gestures that inspired terror, but they also made her a target. I prefer a more subtle approach.... A little nudge here, a little cold sweat there. It took you longer that I expected to find me, but tonight, I will end you, and your boring little human." The figure turned around, showing a purple coat, so dark it was almost black, her entire body covered in chain mail. In her hand she held a curving scimitar sword. "So, come, try to end me, like your friends did to my sister." and with that, she charged.

David let loose a blast from the flamethrower, the abrupt spewing of liquid fire causing the figure to halt. "Clever, very clever, but you know nothing about this sort of combat, Human." The figure spat, and then magic welled out of the ground, a dark purple mist extinguishing the fire. David abandoned the flamethrower in favor of his Viking longsword and a steel kite shield. Luna meanwhile, took advantage of the fire as a distraction, and hammered down on the figure. But the nightmare moved fast, parrying Luna's lightning attack. Meanwhile, David circled around behind the creature, looking to stab her in the back. But the nightmare turned, and hurled a dagger at him. He raised his shield and the knife glanced off of it harmlessly. David then used the shield to push forward, forcing the nightmare to conjure a second sword to fight him off. Once again, Luna and David worked in tandem, connected deeply by their understanding of combat, an instinctive connection that warriors share.

The nightmare was surprised. This human actually could fight. And his strength was unwavering, Luna's attacks were coming at a speed that made lightning feel slow. The shadowwalker was now on the defensive, fending off the lightning fast attacks from the Princess of the Night, as well as deflecting the powerful, ceaseless blows from the human. Suddenly the fear-causer was now feeling what she had caused for so long in others. Terror, then Luna landed a blow, drawing first blood. The shadowwalker screamed as Luna's blade slashed through her abdomen. Then, David landed a bone-crushing strike with his shield, breaking the nightmare's wrist and driving her straight into Luna's next cut, which slammed across the upper body of the nightmare. At the same moment, David drove his sword between the second and third vertebra of the creature's spine. effectively decapitating it. With a horrible, ear-rending wail, the being dissolved into dust, whisking away in a gust of wind, leaving the Princess and David panting.

"I fear she is not yet gone, but we have pushed her back" Luna said, catching her breath.

Author's Note

Well... next chapter we get to see the aftermath.