Masks Lie and Nightmares Never Die

/

It’s full on lock-down at the Apple Farm as word spread fast to the Princesses of Equestrian and they sent a sizable squad of royal guards to patrol around the premises. However, none took this job more seriously than Applejack and Big Macintosh as they stood outside of Applebloom’s room, ready to take on the foalnapper coming to take her away. But, neither is sure what they’re going up against. The late night sky put the both of them on edge as they did not hear a peep from their younger sibling ever since she went to bed.

“She’s sure is quiet in there don’t you think Big Mac?” Applejack said breaking the silence.

“Eeyup.”

“Ah’ll just check on her just to be safe,” Applejack unlocked the door and opened it slowly just in case the uneasy silence was just from her sister’s sleeping. Looking inside, everything is quiet and still which both gave her relief and comfort as she saw her sister’s sleeping form in her bed. Walking over to her bed she sat partially on it before slowly stroking her hair with her hoof as the filly snored lightly.

“Don’t you worry Applebloom as long as Big Macintosh and I are around we won’t let some foalnapper get a hold of you,” whispered Applejack.

The mare spent a few moments in the noise of her sister’s snores until suddenly a distant whistle was heard. Hearing this confused Applejack as she got off the bed and made her way to the window to see if the noise was coming from outside. As she got closer another distant whistling noise was heard, but it seems much farther away than the last.

“Now who the hay is whistling?” she said quietly, “It can’t be one them royal guards as it sounds like it’s very far away. Whoever it is, is doing it very loudly though if it’s able to reach from all the way from where they are.”

Another distant whistle pulls her from her thoughts. The mystery of the whistle was puzzling in itself, but after hearing it a third time Applejack came to a sudden realization about the noise. Despite how far it sounded, it was very clear and distinct like nothing was blocking the sound waves from reaching her ears. As if to confirm her suspicions yet another whistle echoed in the room which alarmed her as it sounded more sinister than the last three whistles from before.

“Who’s there?”

In response she got a ghostly laugh that caused her to jump in place as she began to look around in the room for the source of the sound. Applejack needed to tell Big Mac about this situation and quickly so quickly and carefully she made her way to the door, but before she reach the handle the door knob morphed into a snake and hissed at the mare.

“Aah!” Jumping away from the door Applejack witness in horror as the door folded in itself before disappearing completely, leaving only a wooden wall in its place.

“Heh heh ha!”

“What the hay is going on?!”

Reacting to her surprise and mild fear music started playing. It sounded like a lullaby being played from a music box, but what song being played was unclear as it started with growing tones before dropping it in a melodic manner. Slowly looking behind her she saw a top hat sitting alone in the moonlight let in by the window. There was something in her mind that told her to stay away from that hat, but her body refused to listen to her as she walked slowly towards the hat. Her heart beats became more intense and loud for each step she took until she was finally in front of the hat.

It was at this moment the music stopped and the only thing Applejack could hear was her own heartbeat. She stared at the hat intensely before extending a hoof and tipping the hat over. The mare expected something to happen, but defying her expectations nothing happened. Getting closer to the hat she saw something shining inside of it. She attempted to inspect the object, but to her surprise a clawed hand shot out of the hat and swiped at her, causing the mare to stumble backwards before falling on her flank as the hand started crawling on the floor and all over the walls. The sight of seeing a hand creeping around like a spider would be disturbing to anyone, but for Applejack she suddenly lost all fear she had and chased the thing.

“Grr…come back here you little varmint!”

She was attempting to stomp on the creature, but kept missing due to its speed. It didn’t help that the creature would laugh at her for attempts to stop it in its tracks. This frustrated the mare as the she speeds up her stomping before the creature took off again and started crawling on the walls before disappearing into the darkness of the ceiling.

“Hey get back here yah yellow bellied coward!”

“*Yawn* A-Applejack?Who are you yelling at?”

“I uh...uhm…some hat spider hand thing.”

“A hat spider hand thing? W-Wait is it the nightmare coming after me?!”

“Y-Yeah…but don’t worry about it your big sis is going to take care of it.”

“Okay…but be careful.”

Applejack nodded at her younger sibling as she continued to scan the darkness until suddenly a voice broke through the darkness.

“Can you hear them? The whispers, the voices. Can you hear them and their melody?

A phantom among you, a masked being oh so threatening.

A man of falsehoods, a nightmare of trickery.

Can you hear me? My whispers, my singing. Can you hear me and enjoy my melody?”

The singing completely unnerved Applejack as it was haunting in tone and it didn’t help that the one who’s singing it is out of view. The nightmare continued to sing as Applejack searched for the being.

“Applejack…”

Her sister calling out her name only fueled the fire in her body to confront the nightmare haunting them both, “Come on out you varmint! I’m not afraid of you!”

Suddenly, the singing stopped and everything became silent again. The tension couldn’t be any higher as the next few seconds nobody dared make a sound. Not until Applebloom spoke up once more.

“Applejack…”

“Don’t worry Applebloom I got this.”

“Applejack…why are you lying to me?”

Those words were all it took for Applejack to turn around and see Applebloom staring at her with a blank look in her eyes. The mare felt a chill run up her spine as her sister’s head tilt side to side in a jilted motion that only a puppet could do. Applejack began to slowly realize that the being staring straight at her is not her sister; this was reinforced as the thing pretending to be her sister warped her mouth into a wide grin that would cause skin to crawl.

“W-Who are you?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” The voice is now warped and sounded like two people are speaking to her at once, “Heh, what’s the matter? Scared of your little sister now are we?”

“You’re not mah little sister!”

“No, I’m not. But then again, you’re not exactly aware of your current situation.”

Applejack at first was confused by the beings words until suddenly she felt her body sinking into, “What the hay?!”

“Heh heh heh, what’s the matter Applejack? Never experienced a nightmare come true before?”

The mare struggled against the liquid muck that was once the floor. It was like trying to walk through quicksand to her and it didn’t help that the nightmare pretending to be her sister is taunting her the entire time. Using slow movements Applejack found her stride as she made progress towards the bed. The fake Applebloom suddenly frowned at her determination and shook her head.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”

The warning didn’t deter the country mare as she got closer, but as soon she made one more step towards the bed she fell deeper into the liquid; submerging her entire body save for her head.

“Can’t say I didn’t warn you. That last step is a doozy.”

Applejack struggled to stay afloat in the liquid, but found herself slowly sinking every second that passed, “You won’t get away with this!”

“Ha! If you think you can beat me then you must be dreaming.”

Those words were the last thing she heard until she felt something grab her foot and quickly pull her into the watery depths.

/

“Applejack wake up! You’re having a bad dream!” Twilight shouted.

She and the rest of the gang were quickly informed of the situation by Big Mac when heard screaming coming from Applebloom’s room and the door refused to open. By the time they got there the screaming stopped and the door was able to be opened again. There they found the young filly still asleep in her bed while Applejack was rolling around and mumbling to herself. They had no idea what happened so the group did best to shake her awake. This took at least half a minute before Applejack suddenly shot up with a scream.

“Aah! Ah…ha…I’m alive?! How?”

“Easy there Applejack, you were having a nightmare. Just take deep breathes.”

The mare did as she was told, but for some reason she found it hard to relax. The presence she felt from before is still in this room and she can feel it watching all of them together.

“*Yawn* what’s going on? Did you scare him away?” Applebloom said sleepily.

“Scare who away? The foalnapper?” Twilight asked.

“Y-Yeah…isn’t that why all of you are here?”

“No, we just heard Applejack screaming in your room. Big Mac said the door just suddenly locked and then she was yelling at someone. But considering the circumstances I don’t think there is any doubt that the foalnapper sent to take you has something to do with it; we are dealing with nightmares after all so who knows what they’re capable of.”

“Well whoever it is better watch out, because if I get my hooves on them I’ll make sure to give them a clobbering!” Rainbow Dash proclaimed.

“Then let’s do some investigation work darling, because obviously whoever it is, isn’t here at the moment,” Rarity said.

“Alright then, ponies let’s search for clues! Knowing how recent the attack was there isn’t any doubt that whoever it is left behind some bread crumbs for us to follow.”

“Bread crumbs? You think he was eating a sandwich before he came in?” Pinkie said.

“No Pinkie…that’s just an expression for evidence.”

“Oh.”

The group went off to search the room for clues with the exception of Applejack, who was still recovering from the nightmare she just experienced, but there was no way it could have been a simple nightmare. She was wide awake when she entered Applebloom’s room, heck she didn’t remember feeling drowsy at all. It felt all too real to be simple nightmare, the whistling, the crawling hat, and the fake Applebloom. Was the nightmare sent after Applebloom was just toying with her?

“What’s wrong sis? Was the nightmare really that bad?”

“Y-Yeah…it was just all kinds of strange. This nightmare is a tricky one.”

“It’s sounds like he’s using a magic trick to confuse you or something.”

“Maybe, ah’ll just join the others to see if we can find anything.”

“Alright then, hope you find something.”

Shaking off the rest of her remaining shock Applejack joined Twilight in her search for clues in a closet, “Hey, Applejack. Feeling better now?”

“No Twilight, I didn’t want to say this out loud, but whoever is in that bed is not Applebloom,” Applejack whispered.

“Wh-“

“Shh!”

“Okay…but what makes you say that?”

“Because she is calling the nightmare a he!”

Applejack watched Twilight’s widen in horror as she realized what Applejack realized a while ago. There was no way Applebloom knew the gender of the nightmare since none of them have met the being face to face.

“Oh big sister…why are you spreading lies?”

Applejack and Twilight froze in place as they slowly turned around to see Applebloom smiling at them with a creepy smile as her eyes became blank.

“Hello dear sister…shall I go on to explain how badly you fail to protect me?

The rest of their friends began to take notice as Applebloom began to laugh manically, “Uh, Applejack? I think there something wrong with your sister,” Rainbow Dash said, while backing away slowly.

“That’s not my sister!”

The fake Applebloom began to laugh, “Give her a prize folks she noticed something that you all missed at the starting gate.”

Applejack had enough of this fake and immediately ran up to it and pushed it down on the bed, “Enough games! Where’s mah sister?”

“Well aren’t we taking the initiative? But I’m afraid you’re wasting time right now.”

“Now what the hay are you talking about?”

“Well the thing is…you’re assuming I’m taking the form of your sister right? Well you couldn’t be any more wrong.”

Applejack became confused by this until suddenly the fake Applebloom stopped moving and became lifeless under the mare’s hooves. A shriek came from Rarity while the others looked on with horror when Applejack pulled the lifeless body out of the bed and revealed to everyone that it was a puppet.

“What the hay? It’s just a puppet!”

“Which means the puppet master is still here!” Twilight shouted, as ghostly laughter filled the room.

“Lookie lookie what do I see? A bunch of ponies all stupefied and lost by my tricks of trade. Looking around like headless chickens, you’ll never beat me and my illusions.”

“Don’t count us out just yet!” Rainbow Dash shouted, “We taken on much worse than you!”

“Oh really? Then prove it to me, I’m standing right here.”

To everyone’s surprise, a figure appeared next to the window with arms spread as if waiting to receive a hug. There was no doubt this is the nightmare that was sent to take Applebloom. However, thanks to the moonlight they couldn’t make out any details on the dark being other than a single glowing red eye. Applejack felt there was something fishy about the sudden appearance of the nightmare, but was unable to voice her concern when Rainbow Dash suddenly charged at the being. Applejack could have swore she saw the figure smile as Rainbow Dash closed in and to everyone’s surprise she passed through the being and crashed through the window; shattering it.

“Rainbow Dash!” Everyone shouted, completely worried for their friend as the being she passed through started to laugh while clapping his hands together.

“Well now…I sure hope she didn’t cut herself on her exit, but she should have known better and listened to my words. I did say illusions are part of my trade did I not?” The being clapped one more time before fading into nothingness, but the conversation continued, “No matter, I suppose it’s about time we get this show started.”

Suddenly smoke began to fill the room which took everyone off guard as they had no idea where it was coming from. The smoke began to gather in front of the broken window and before anyone could act a pillar of fire burst from the wooden floor preventing anyone from getting close. Applejack and others close to the origin of the tower of fire braced themselves as the wind pressure nearly blown them backwards. The shape of a male figure appeared in the flames as it brought both arms in the air before in one swift graceful motion disperse the both the flames and the smoke in grandiose fashion.

“Ta-daaa! The master of illusions, Panic, the middle sibling of the Nightmare Brothers stands before you and makes his grand debut in Equestria for the first time!”

The nightmare proudly announces his presence just as the ponies recovered. Fluttershy shrieked in terror as she recognized the being standing before them as the remaining embers of the fire lit up the face of the nightmare in the darkness. It revealed his white mask that covered half of his face and his burning red eyes.

“Ah yes, you’re the shy one right? I remember paying you and your friend Rainbow Dash a visit in the past; a private showing of my skills as you will. Nice to see some returning faces to my shows.”

“No one gives a flying buck about you’re shows! Where is my sister?”

“Ah right, the younger Apple sibling. Well if you must know,” Panic snapped his fingers and in a puff of smoke a small bag appeared next to the nightmare before picking it up and swinging it over his right shoulder, “She’s still sleeping, but at this rate I’m not sure for how long.”

“Give her back!”

“Well when you put it that way…no, but this room is really cramping my style so let’s take this outside,” the nightmare then to everyone’s surprise jumped out the broken window while laughing manically all the way.

“Twilight, what are the odds that the royal guards down there can stop him?”

The purple mare was about to answer until everyone heard shouts of confusion and slight pain from outside. This quickly answered the question and wasting no time everybody ran out of the room in order to meet the nightmare waiting for them outside.

/

Barging through the entrance of the home the group found themselves outside. Big Mac joined the group along the way as they all stopped in shock as they saw Panic standing there looking at his claws as the royal guards are tied up and left struggling some distance away from the nightmare. There under the moon light they saw his full appearance and saw he was wearing what can be described as a dark ring master outfit as the normally bright and colorful coat is now a dull red with faded gold trimmings. On his head he is wearing a stark black top hat marked with an eye symbol on the front. On his left hand they can see he was wearing a clawed glove with blades on each digit on his hand while his right hand was an actual bony claw that nearly mirrored his glove.

“Hoo… doggy that was fun, but rather short lived, honestly these guys don’t even come close to a decent warm-up; highly trained my butt!”

Applejack cursed under her breath as she was tempted to run up to the smug nightmare and slap him across the face, but held off as she didn’t want to repeat Rainbow Dash’s mistake. Speaking of the Pegasus, the mare looked over where she crashed and found the sky blue mare lying on the ground moving slightly in pain as trails of blood leaked across her body. She was still trying to recover from the fall, but those cuts will need some medical attention.

“You’re not out of the woods yet yah varmit! You still need to deal with us!” Applejack shouted.

“Now why should I? Nothing is stopping me from just leaving this encounter from the get go. Oh, and don’t even think of using your teleportation magic princess. The sooner you activate it the quicker I’ll leave.”

Applejack saw the look of surprise on Twilight’s face as her plan was quickly found out. The country mare grew even more frustrated as it seems there is no way to get the jump on the nightmare. He is completely confident that whatever sneak attack they could come up with, he would be able to see it a mile away.

“Well now, don’t look so glum. I’m a fair man, so I’ll tell you what. I’m going to divide myself and one of my clones will have the bag containing your sister. If you can beat whoever has the bag then you win, but don’t get too excited I’m far from easy. Now…if I count my numbers correctly then I need to make six of myself or maybe seven if I count your nigh unconscious friend over there. Anyway, let’s say we get this party started?”

The group prepared themselves as Panic started to spin in place and in just a few seconds became a whirling tornado of unpredictability. Eventually that tornado spawned more tornados of equal size which increased the wind pressure in the area as a total of six tornados are in front of the group. The violent winds died down as now six Panics’ are looking straight at them all with smiles on their faces and bags over their shoulders.

“Now then, get’em boys!” Shouted one of the Panics’ as the others leaped into the fray as Applejack and the others prepared themselves for a fight.

The clash that ensured was one of mixed results as the fighters of the group, Applejack, Big Mac, and Twilight took on their own Panic with different approaches to the conflict while leaving the non-fighters to think of alternative methods to fighting the threat in front of them.

Applejack knew she was going to have a hard time with the nightmare, so instead of brute forcing it she carefully watched the agile nightmare as the two circled each other. It was a standoff as the two waited for each other to make the first move.

“Your move varmit.”

“No you, ladies first after all.”

“Good, Rarity will be relieved to hear that.”

“Well aren’t we a clever one?”

The two continue to circle each other as the shouts and noises from their allies happened in the background. Then suddenly the Panic did a quick spin and changed his outfit into one of a matador. At first Applejack was confused until the nightmare dangled the bag in front of her like the mantle the entertainers used in their line of work.

“Tauro! Tauro!”

“Do I look like a bull to you?”

“No, but you come pretty close.”

“That’s enough yap out of you!”

Deciding that she heard enough from the nightmare Applejack started the battle off by charging at Panic. She knew that the nightmare is just going to disappear if she went straight for him, so instead she went for the bag. It’s another trick to be sure, but she has an idea that might catch him off guard. Running straight at the bag she quickly jumped into the air and like expected Panic moved the bag away from her. With a smile the mare twisted herself in the air and used her momentum to kick the nightmare in the shoulder. The nightmare cried out in pain as her strong kick made contact.

“Argh! That’s really smarts!”

“Heh, you may think you’re tricky, but when you put up with the likes of Discord then you’re nothing short of predictable.”

“Ergh, me predictable? You wish.”

The threatening tone in the nightmare’s voice had Applejack expect the worse from the nightmare as he rolled his shoulder to disperse the pain. Then without warning the nightmare threw the bag straight at her. This took the mare by surprise as she didn’t expect him to straight up throw the item at her, making things worse was the fact she didn’t know if the bag contain her sister or not. She didn’t want to risk it being her sister, so Applejack ultimately decided to take the hit. She’ll quickly regret this decision when the bag opened up and the contents was revealed to be five cream pies all coming straight at her. Applejack didn’t have enough time to dodge as the tasty food items smacked into her body and made a mess. Cream was everywhere, the Panic was laughing, and this country mare just had enough.

Shaking off the cream off her body, Applejack was fuming as the Panic was rolling around on the ground laughing. Walking up to him she stared down at him as he looked back at her with a smile on his face.

“Did you seriously think I would throw the bag containing your sister? Ha ah! You’re a lot more gullible than I thought!”

“Keep laughing yah hyena, because I’m about to buck you into next week.”

“Heh, you said buck!”

True on her promise Applejack assumed the position and reared up her back legs. In one swift motion her hooves connected to the nightmare’s body and sent him flying over the entire farm. If everybody wasn’t so focused on their own fight they could’ve heard the nightmare shouting ‘worth it’ as he passed the horizon. Applejack dusted her hooves before giving a snort.

“Clone or not, he was getting on my last nerve!”

“Ee-eeyup!”

Upon hearing her struggling older brother the mare snapped out of her anger immediately before turning over to see Big Mac dancing around like a ballerina no thanks to the Panic clone manipulating his body, but how she did not know.

“Dance for me big boy!” The clone was obviously enjoying his torment of the poor stallion. He made him pull off various ballerina dance moves, most of which were painful to watch as Big Mac was not flexible enough to pull them off painlessly.

“Hey! Leave my brother alone!”

“Make me!”

“You asked for it!” Applejack was about to run straight at the nightmare clone until suddenly Big Mac moved in front of her to block her path, “What the?! Grr…why that yellow bellied sidewinder!”

“Ha ha ha ah! You’re going to have to get passed your brother if you want to get to me!”

This was a problem for the mare as her brother’s big burly frame is blocking her path to the nightmare clone. It didn’t help that each time she tried to go around him he would be forced to respond by moving to cut her before attacking her with odd quick movements that looked painful for the stallion. Applejack couldn’t help but feel sorry for her brother as the nightmare is using him as a living puppet.

“Ow-ow-ouch!”

“Oh hey he can say more than two words! And here I thought he only came with two responses.”

“Let my brother go!”

“Again, like the first time you told me to leave him alone I only have this to say; make me.”

This only earned a frustrated growl from the mare to which the nightmare chuckled as once again he managed to get under her skin. Applejack again tried to break through the defensive line created by the clone, but found no success when each time her brother blocked her way. This continued for a few more moments before suddenly Big Mac was pulled out of the way and she accidently charged at Panic. Before she knew Applejack felt multiple strands of string land on her body before being forced to stop in her tracks in front of the nightmare. He smiled at her with a wicked grin as she realized how was the nightmare was manipulating her brother. He was using string, very thin and nearly invisible string that glistened in the moonlight. It should have been obvious as he used the same type of string to manipulate the Applebloom puppet, and now she’s in his web.

“Wow, I didn’t think you would be dumb enough to charge at me after using that duck and rabbit gag to fake you out, but I suppose we’re all full of surprises today.”

“How were you able to create this trap so fast?”

The Panic clone laughed as he reveals to her his strange bone plated clawed right hand, “Call it a simple hand trick.”

Applejack began to struggle as she heard the grunts, cries and frustrated growls of her friends against the remaining Panic clones. It’s plain to see that they are at a disadvantage as the nightmare has proven to be too fast and too wily to beat in a normal fight. They have to take him by surprise, but how?

“Hands off my friends freak!”

“Huh?”

The sudden shout confused the Panic before he was suddenly blindsided by a rainbow blur. Applejack immediately recognized it to be Rainbow Dash as she witness the mare tackle the nightmare to the ground before giving him a solid head butt that not only knock out the clone but also caused him to explode into a cloud of purple smoke. Just like that the strings holding Applejack and Big Mac in place disappeared and dropped them back to the ground.

“Thanks for the assist Rainbow Dash, but how are you feeling? You’re still scratched up from crashing into the window,” Applejack said.

“Eeyup.”

The sky blue Pegasus gave a pained shrug, “Still hurts, but I can still fight.”

“I can see that, but don’t push yourself too hard. The last thing we need is you passing out on us.”

“Pssh, I’ll be fine.”

Applejack rolled her eyes at her friend before turning around to see Pinkie blowing up the Panic clone she was facing with her party cannon. Looking to the right she finds Twilight and Rarity teaming against their own Panics’ which leaves only Fluttershy, but she didn’t see any sign of her.

“Aaaaah!!!”

A shrill scream came from above the group as they all looked up to see Fluttershy plummeting towards the earth. Reacting quickly, Rainbow Dash flew into action and took to the air to catch her falling friend before she hit the ground. Applejack winced she saw the pained look on her friend as she caught the falling mare and struggled to bring her gently to the ground. To the mare’s horror she saw the both their wings turn red with their own blood as they touched down. Applejack quickly ran up to the two to see Fluttershy trembling and crying as Rainbow Dash tried to comfort her, though it was plain to tell she was having a hard time staying strong thanks to the bleeding.

“Hello down there!” Shouted the clone.

Applejack looked up to see the Panic clone floating in the air with a tiny umbrella and immediately she became furious as the clone attempted to speak his case.

“I-uh…may have lost control a bit during my fight with your friend and uh…”

“Big Mac! Get the wagon!”

“Eeyup!”

“Oh hey hey! No need to get extremely violent here I mean I know I just stabbed her wings and all and…er…you’re just ignoring me now.”

Applejack didn’t care what the nightmare had to say, no one hurts her friends this way and gets away with it. Soon Big Macintosh brought out a wagon full of blocks of hay. Looking over to her brother he nodded at her as he picked up one of the blocks of hay and tossed it in front of her. Aiming carefully, she kicked the hay and sent it flying straight at the floating Panic. The nightmare gave a small scream as he dodged the attack, but this only spurred Applejack to fire more his way. After a few shots and some begging one of the hay bales hit the floating target, knocking him out of the sky before crushing him and forcing the clone to explode into a purple cloud of smoke.

“And good riddance too!”

“Incoming!” shouted another Panic, taking Applejack by surprise as Big Mac pulled her out of the way of a flying Panic clone that crashed and exploded when he made contact with the house.

“That should be number five. Which means only the real one is left.”

Looking over to Twilight and Rarity she saw them cornering the remaining Nightmare. The mare thought Panic would be quaking in his boots now that his entire plan has fallen apart, but to her surprise the nightmare didn’t look concerned at all. As a matter of fact he was smiling the entire time the two closed in on him.

“Big Mac, empty the wagon and get Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy on it so you can get them to the hospital on the double!”

“Eeyup!”

With that said Big Macintosh went off to empty the wagon as Applejack ran off to join Twilight and Rarity while also trying to figure why Panic was smiling at his current predicament. Before she knew it the purple mare quickly fired a beam of magic that restrained the nightmare’s legs as he raised his hands in surrender. The act only added to her suspicions when he gently placed the bag holding Applebloom onto the ground before being magically restrained by Rarity.

“Dang should’ve brought my rope if we’re going to hog tie this varmit.”

“Oh how nice of you to join us Jacky,” Panic said, acknowledging the mare’s presence.

“Shut it yah varmit, this challenge your Nightmare Lord is coming to an end now.”

“If you say so, but you know the saying, it aint over until the fat lady sings.”

Applejack ignored the nightmare’s warning and went over to the bag. She could hear soft snoring coming from it and it relieved her a bit that Applebloom did not wake up throughout the entire battle.

“Aww…do you hear that? She’s still sleeping.”

Panic’s comments served to annoy Applejack as she whacked his body with her tail. The force behind the whack though small was enough to cause Panic to tip over and fall on his back.

“Ow…was that necessary?”

“Can it,” Applejack proceeded to open the bag and see her sleeping sister inside. This brought her comfort as she attempted to reach in and pull her out, but was stopped by Panic’s voice again.

“Hey do you remember my little string trick?”

“Uh, yeah?”

“Ever wondered how I got that string in the first place?”

Applejack rolled her eyes and attempted to ignore the nightmare, but then he started to sing.

“The itsy bitsy spider climbed up the water spout. Down came the rain and washed the spider out…”

“Can one of you put a muzzle on him?”

“Oh don’t be like that, besides…I still got another trick up my sleeve.”

Everybody looked at him with caution as wicked smile grew on his face. His clawed glove hand pointed in Applejack’s direction while his clawed hand was pointing upwards. Nobody knew what he was doing until suddenly a silk like strand was shot out of his right hand. This took everyone by surprise as the near invisible strands landed on the bag.

“No!”

Applejack attempted to grab the bag, but was too slow as with a simple flick of the wrist Panic pulled the bag towards his clawed hand at high speeds before it was impaled by the sharp blades. All three ponies had their eyes widen in horror as the bag turned red with blood as the nightmare shushed them by placing a finger to his lips.

“Shhh…let the filly sleep.”

/

Far away from the action and the terrifying event, a certain lone figure was chuckling to himself as he watched the events unfold from the safety of the trees with binoculars.

“Heh, I knew that sky blue Pegasus was going to be joining the fight. It’s always troublesome when that one random factor comes in and ruins your plans, but that’s what planning ahead is for. It’s going to be awhile before they realized I tricked them, but by then I’ll already be long gone.”

Snoring was heard behind the man as he looked back and adjusted the bag that was over his shoulder.

“Sorry about this kid, but this is how we do things. Hopefully, you’ll find it in yourself to forgive me. As for your sister…well I don’t think she’ll be forgiving me anytime soon for what I have done especially with her two friends. A nightmare’s job is a thankless one considering the bad rap we have. C’mon kid, time for you to see what I mean.”

Pocketing his binoculars, the nightmare leapt off the tree before landing on another one and continued to do this in order to gain enough distance from the town and the Princesses. All along the way he was singing a small song.

“Twinkle twinkle little star, how I wonder where you are…”