It was her fault, this ‘Twilight Sparkle,’ that I lost two hosts because of her interventions. My first host, and my proudest accomplishment, was an alicorn and it took me years to slowly wear that one down enough to take over, only to be banished to the moon within the same year. After my eventual return I admittedly underestimated these six ponies that try to stop me, so I played game with them when I should have destroyed them outright. It was then that Twilight Sparkle manage to summon the Elements of Harmony, elements that should have been destroyed, and cast me from my host.
It took time for me to recover from that, but all the while I thought only of my revenge. Looking back I should have gone after Twilight then but I wanted to save her for last, picking off her friends off one by one, and only claiming her when she was a broken wrecks. I had chosen to go after the weakest of her friends first the only other unicorn besides Twilight. It had all gone so very well I was so close to winning it all, but then she came with her words of love and friendships and broke the hold over my host and nearly destroyed me in the process.
But I am not so easily destroyed, and I have learned from my mistakes. This time I will not drag it out, this time I will go straight for Twilight, and this time I will have vengeance! But I am weak and have little time left if I’m to have my revenge I much take it now.
It was simple enough to slip into her dreams; after all why worry about your dreams when what you have to fear has just been destroyed. She was in a library sitting at a desk reading through stacks of books, as more books came floating down from the floor to ceiling bookshelves. She was always in a library. During the week I spent terrorizing her dreams, and those of the other five ponies that followed her around, her dreams were the only ones the remained the same.
I took the form of a shadow and moved along the edge of the bookshelves, leaping from one shelf to another and using the shadow cast by flying books until I was mere feet from her. Slowly I approached her from the front. She set there toiling away with her books oblivious to the world, I readied myself to strike.
“Hello Nightmare,” Twilight spoke without looking up from her book.
With my element of surprise gone I rose from the shadows, taking the form of Twilight herself. “So how did you know I was here?” I asked her.
Twilight looked up and stared at her shadowy doppelganger and she looked…almost bored. Had she been expecting me! Have I stumbled onto a trap?
“I set up a detection spell in case something tries to enter my dreams again. I had assumed you were gone for good this time, but in many of the books I’ve read the villain always comes back for one last attack.”
I lowered myself into a defensive stance ready for whatever trick she may try. “So you think you have me cornered, and it will be so easy to do away with me. You will be sorely mistaken.”
“As I said, I assumed you were gone, so I had only planned to leave that one spell up for a week. If nothing came of it I would have stopped. I'm guessing this is the part where you pick some character flaw in me and begin chipping away at it, yet all the while convincing me you’re my only friend until you can finally take over.”
I smiled devilishly, she thought she was so clever thinking she had figured me out in a few simple words, summarized me like one of her experiments. The shadow I cast on the ground circled me expanding out, as a dozen shadowy tentacles rose out. “No Twilight this time I have something else in mine!”
With the same deadpan expression she simply looked back to her book and said. “Very well then, go ahead.”
I was caught off guard by her statement. I just stood there for a moment my mouth left ajar, my tendrils fixed in the air, until I was able to give a reply. “What?”
“You’re going to forcibly take over my body and I’m telling you to go ahead. I won’t stop you.”
I snarled as I said, “What kind of game are you playing? You’re just giving up? Don’t you understand I’m not just going to take you over like my last two host I’m going to scoop out everything there is about you and take over completely, there will be nothing left of you!”
Without missing a beat she said “I understand, please proceed.”
Very well then, I don’t know what kind of trick she’s up too but even in my weakened state I’m still stronger than her, and far wiser than her, no matter what she tries it's hopeless. My tendrils shot forth and wrapped themselves around Twilight, restricting her movements.
Stepping close I stared into her eyes as I effortlessly delved into her subconscious. I could feel it now, there was no mental barriers up or carefully laid traps within her subconscious. She truly had no defenses up. She had given up I suppose, whatever her reasons were I cared very little now. I dove deep searching for her very core of her being to rip out.
What I found was cold dark nothingness.
It was like something had already hollowed her out. There was nothing for me to cling to, no emotion, no sense of self, just the darkness, and I could feel it staring back at me. This darkness, I feel it pull me in deeper.
I tried to pull back but it just pulled me in harder, taking bits of my magic with it. Fear began to consume me and I struggled with all my might but the darkness just tightened its grip on me taking more of my magic from me. I had not lived this long without having a few tricks under my hoof. I broke off all parts of my being touched by this darkness and retreated back from Twilight's subconscious as fast as my remaining magic would take me.
I collapsed on the library with in Twilight’s dreamscape panting heavily. I was going to pay in the long run for fracturing myself like that but the alternative. I shuddered thinking about it.
“Back already?”
I set up from where I lay to see the last of my tendrils being absorbed by Twilight, “What are you!?” I yelled, barely able to keep the fear from my voice.
“That’s simple, I’m a pony…only I’m missing something, something other ponies have that I don’t: My emotions.”
“That’s impossible! I’ve seen you with my own eyes and with the memory of my last host.” I say, as I picked myself up from the ground.
Twilight closed the book in front of her and stood up from her desk. “This library is not just some dream I keep having. This is a space I made myself, while my body rest I read. Every book you see here is a book I have read in real life, and each of these books have taught me how to act around others. When somepony tells a joke you laugh unless they tell an inappropriate joke or you’re with a group who do not laugh. If somepony is sad you comfort them and depending on the situation offer advice. I have learned from books how to respond to any situation, and until last year I never bother testing out any of my friendship scenarios. That wasn’t until the Princess gave it to me as an assignment.” She stepped closer to me and on instinct I stepped back. “The only thing I can’t figure out with just books was how to respond to you. I don’t mean when you tried to take over Equestria, that follows the basic villain scenarios. I mean when you try to take somepony over like you did with Rarity, with me you were a bit forceful.”
I took another step back at her continued advance. “Is that why you let me try to take you over?”
“Not quite,” She answered. “I wanted to know if I would feel anything if you took me over, and from what I can tell I’ve taken half of you inside of me, and yet I still feel nothing.”
I bumped into a bookshelf as I fail to retreat any farther, but she kept trotting forward.
“So I was thinking, if I still feel nothing with only half of you perhaps with both halves you will be able to fill the emptiness inside of me.” she spoke in an almost emotionless tone.
“Stay away from me!” I cried. I need to be rid of this place and of this cursed mare. I closed my eyes as I tried to cut myself from this dream.
“You may fine leaving harder than before”
My eyes snapped open. I was still in the dream, still in the library, and she was still advancing. How? Why, why was I still here? My wordless question was soon answered
“You see, as I said before this dreamscape is of my making and as long as I know you’re here whether you come or go is up to me.” She takes another step forward.
“Stay back I’m warning you!” I say, as I pressed myself into the bookshelf buying me as much space as I can get.
She took another step forward.
“Come now, we both know that with your remaining magic you’re barely as strong as Rarity.”
She took another step forward.
“I SAID STAY BACK!”
She took another step forward.
“Why would I do that? I’m giving you what you've always wanted: to be a part of something…forever”
She stopped in front of me.
“No, no please NO!”
It was so dark.
***
Twilight awoke early. The sun shined through the window of the tree house, filling the bedroom with warm light. She yawned and stretched as she got out of bed, and could already smell the aroma of breakfast wafting up from the kitchen, so she wasted little time heading down stairs. Spike stood on a step stool frying pancake one after another. “Morning Twilight, I’ll be done in a minute. Go ahead and have a seat,” Spike said over his shoulder. Twilight took her seat and waited for the mouthwatering pancakes to be served. “So how did you sleep last night? Anymore nightmares?”
Twilight smiled, “I had a pleasant night sleep Spike. I think our nightmare problem is finally over with.”
