Masks Lie and Nightmares Never Die

/

Day turned to night at Twilight’s home as the house sits empty without its owner or any of its inhabitants. However, in the shadows of the night the ones responsible for the day and night cycle lay in waiting with a small army; waiting to ambush the nightmare that will come prowling in the night.

“There, it’s nighttime now,” said Luna as she looked over to her sister.

“Then the nightmare’s hunt begins,” Celestia replied before looking over to the royal guards that are with them, “I’m sure you already been debriefed on this, but allow me to remind you all what we’re going up against. According to what little information we have the nightmare heading towards this location is called Fear. We don’t know much about his abilities other than his physical strength, so I want all of you to stay on your guard and be prepared for whatever he might throw at you.”

Wordlessly they nodded before giving her a salute and spreading out to get into various ambush positions around the house. The princesses themselves cloaked themselves with a veil of magic that hid them prying eyes. All they have to do now is wait for the nightmare to get to the house and when the time is right they will pounce.

“Sister, what do you think the nightmare looks like?”

“I should be asking you that question Luna. Things that involve the world of dreams are your forte.”

“I know, but there is something strange about these nightmares. Normally nightmares are manifestations of a pony’s self doubt, fear or trauma, but these ones are operating outside the world of dreams. That is something a normal nightmare can’t do unless somebody brought them here through magic.”

“So you think somebody is bringing them from the nightmare world?”

“It’s a possibility, but it probably isn’t the case as judging from what I been told about these nightmares they’rre under command of a much powerful nightmare.”

“So what are you saying dear sister?”

“That these nightmares aren’t from our world.”

/

“And now it’s officially nighttime,” Twilight said as she looked at the sky and saw the stars that lit up the night.

“Which means this Fear character is now out there in Ponyville looking fer Spike,” Applejack said.

“Exactly…” Twilight responded with hint of uneasiness.

Pinkie Pie noticed this and attempted to ease her friend’s worries, “It’s alright Twilight, this fear guy, whoever he is, is going up against Princess Celestia, Luna and a small army of royal guards! He’ll have to be crazy powerful to get past all of that.”

Twilight look at her friend and smiled, “Thanks for trying to make me feel better Pinkie, but I still feel like we’re not out of the woods yet”

“Stop worrying so much Twilight. Sure the Princesses don’t have the greatest track record in responding to emergency situations, but this time they are focused! There is now way we can lose this!”

“Your right, but…”

“But what Twilight?”

“Er… Never mind I’m probably over thinking things. Besides there’s something I need to look into,” the purple mare said as she was about walk away from the conversation, however, ‘something’ became the magic word that caught her friends’ ears because they all asked the same question.

“What do you mean ‘something’?”

Twilight sighed in frustration knowing it might take a while to explain the journal to them, “Okay but this may take a while to explain.”

“Well we literally have all night, so go ahead,” Applejack said.

“Yes do tell us Twilight. It has stimulated my interest.”

“Yeah!”

“Alright then, just let me take it out first.”

“It?” everypony said in confusion.

In response to their confusion Twilight then used her magic to pull the brown colored journal she found in her library, “Well here ‘it’ is” she said while giving everypony a good look at the journal.

“A journal? That’s what you’re looking into?” Pinkie said with a hint of disappointment.

“Not just any normal journal, this journal is written by someone not from our world!”

“What do yah mean not from our world, Twilight?” Applejack questioned.

“Think about it Applejack. It’s obvious that Panic came from a different world since there is no race in all of Equestria that resembles him. As a matter of fact he looks very similar to the humans I met when I crossed through the mirror.”

“Wait your saying that he came through the mirror, but isn’t that impossible?”

“Yes it is. Which why I’m looking into this journal because I found it in my library the same night we all been attacked by the Nightmare Brothers; and you know as well as I do that can’t be a coincidence.”

“Hold on Twilight, are you saying that there’s a connection between that journal and the foalnappers?” Pinkie said.

“Well that is a possibility, but…” Twilight said while looking at the ground in embarrassment.

“But what?” Applejack said impatiently.

“Well…I’m not sure how it’s connected to the nightmare brothers. I only developed a flimsy hypothesis based on name of the owner on this journal.”

“So what is the owner’s name darling?” Rarity asked.

“Sir Desmond DreamWalker.”

The name earned mixed reactions within the group as they do agree the name itself does invoke suspicion that there is connection somehow. However, the name itself wasn’t enough for them to develop a solid a solid theory. Because of this, ideas was thrown around the group of friends to see if anything stuck, but they were so caught up in their idea slinging that they didn’t notice Spike walking up to them.

“Hey guys what you have been up to?”

Twilight was the first to answer that question, “Well the girls and I were just throwing ideas around.”

“For what?”

“Well…” Twilight was trying to form the right words to explain the situation to her young assistant, but sadly Pinkie was the one who beat her to the punch.

“We’re trying to figure if the person who wrote in the journal has any connection to the nightmare brothers. Although right now we aren’t having much luck.”

“Oh, sorry for interrupting you then it’s just…you know,” Twilight and the others followed his finger and found it pointing to the mark on his body. Being reminded of the mark Twilight found herself harboring mixed feelings of anger and determination.

Her friends on the other hand felt bad for the baby dragon, and she couldn’t blame them as the pressure of having someone hunting you down like some wild game can be overwhelming for someone like him. It was a like a child being targeted by an assassin which thankfully isn’t the case for him, but this pressure he was feeling pales compared to the one on the group’s shoulders.

“Well Spike, would you like to join us?” Rarity said, “Maybe you can throw your thoughts into this garble we’re having.”

Twilight saw Spike’s depressed mood immediately changed into a happier one which was improved even further when Rarity offered a seat next to her. The purple mare just shook her head in amusement at Spike’s elated face before speaking again.

“Well since Spike is joining our conversation we might as well fill him in what we got so far.”

Everypony agreed to the notion gave Spike a quick recap of the conversation and its subject. Expressions of confusion, surprise and deep thought flashed across the baby dragon’s face during the recap leaving him with plenty of questions to ask; which is something that Twilight needed less of.

“So… you girls think that this Dreamwalker guy has a connection to the Nightmare Brothers? I mean the word dream is literally in the guy’s name.”

“It’s too soon to say Spike I only read a few entries so at best we’re just grasping straws.”

“Well you have his journal Twilight, so why don’t we read more entries together? Who knows maybe we’ll find a connection somewhere along the way.”

“Might as well, since any new information relating to the Nightmare Brothers would be helpful at this point.”

Twilight then opened the journal with her magic, and gave a brief summary on the entries she already read with her friends. After that they came across the entries that Twilight hadn’t read. They were interesting as they’re accounts of the man going out on escapades with his mother in a forest. What made it interesting was when it was described in one entry that he actually dressed up the animals they came across. Then there was an encounter with a bear that attacked his mother’s friend who of which he protected before finding out why the bear was angry in the first place. Apparently the bear was making a dress and it got destroyed by the friend on accident. After calming the bear down he would make the bear a new one and send her on her merry way.

“Hmmm…nothing still, but he seems to be a respectable person if now strange,” Twilight said taking her eyes off the journal to look at her friends.

“Indeed he really does value family very much especially his own mother,” Rarity added.

“Well I can respect that, but why is his mother younger than him?” Applejack questioned.

“Hey! Don’t forget that he didn’t know too much about birthday parties!” Pinkie Pie shouted.

“I think you mean he only had a few birthday parties Pinkie,” Spike added.

“Well that too!”

“Hey let’s not forget he put a dress on a bear. As seamstress I would like to know how he managed to get the right measurements for a creature of that size,” Rarity said.

“Uh, what about the part that he held off a bear single handily? That’s impressive and I’ve seen Pinkie eat an entire cake in one bite!” Applejack added.

“Yeah but what about when he actually knew what the bear wanted? It’s like he was part Fluttershy or something,” Spike pointed out.

“I still can’t get over that he didn’t know what a birthday party was.”

Twilight mentally sighed they’re still nowhere closer to finding out if there was a connection or not, “There has to be a connection I know it! But the only connection this journal has to the Nightmare Brothers is it appeared in my library the night they attacked. Well there still a good amount of pages left in the journal, so bound to find something…I hope.”

/

Princess Celestia and her sister Luna continued to wait for the foalnapper each minute passing causing the tension in the air to rise. There was a shuffle here and there from uncomfortable ponies that were standing in place for too long.

A few more minutes passed before Luna decided to speak, “Sister, are you sure the foalnapper is planning to come here?”

“Don’t worry Luna I know he’s coming. We just need to be patient,” Celestia said.

“If you say so, I just don’t want our efforts to be for naught”

A few more minutes passed and suddenly the sounds of dragging chains were heard scraping across the ground. It put everyone on alert as a fog rolled in and made it hard to see in the darkness.

“Get ready to attack on my mark…” Celestia said quietly to the Royal Guards next to her who in response only looked in the direction of the constant sound with eyes of resolution.

The sound of chains grew louder as a figure stepped out of the darkness and fog and into the moonlight. Celestia and Luna’s eyes widen as they looked at the figure’s appearance, he certainly lived up to his name. Firstly, his skin color is ash grey with some odd markings branded into his skin. Secondly, the foalnapper wore a weathered black gas mask that hides his face and invoke a feeling of unknown terror. He also wore long chains wrapped around his forearms,and waist. In addition he has a ball and chain connected to his left foot that doesn’t seem to slow him down at all. Thirdly, his only piece of clothing was some gray ripped up jeans. However, his most striking feature was the odd looking machinery connected to his upper body which seems to stick out a bit from his upper back. It looked like armor at a glance, but the movement within the tubing seems to say otherwise.

“Dra…gon…is…Fear’s…prey…” The nightmare spoke almost absentmindly.

“That creature certainly came from the realm of nightmares, but in all my time traveling through the dreamscape I never seen a nightmare quite like this,” Luna said.

“I have to agree, there is nothing on this world that cause a pony to dream up a creature like this. It just seems unreal,” Celestia added.

“It’s best not to underestimate it. It’s clear those chains around it once held it back, it would seem the nightmare Twilight talked to wasn’t lying.”

“True, we need to take him down quickly when the moment shows itself.”

“Agreed.”

The slow moving nightmare eventually reached Twilight’s front door, and for a moment just stood there much to the confusion of the hidden ponies. However, it wasn’t long before Fear struck the door with a closed fist effectively causing the door to shatter into numerous pieces of splintered wood. .

“…Dra…gon…” Fear spoke again in a voice devoid of emotion.

Celestia and Luna’s eyes again widen from the impressive feat looked to have taken no effort at all, “Maybe we were underestimating his strength just a tad bit,” Celestia said.

“Indeed…” Luna added.

“We need to box him in, guards get into position and relay the message to the others,” Celestia commanded the guards near her.

The guards saluted before taking their positions around Twilight’s home effectively surrounding it. Meanwhile, Fear continued to explore the inside of the house at his own pace, only stopping in his tracks momentarily to lift his gas off to reveal his nose and mouth. He then proceeds to sniff the rooms in order to find baby dragon’s scent. However, his nose picked up a different scent.

“Food…”

He then trudged his way into the kitchen and began to scan the area for the one object he recognizes; the refrigerator.

“Re…fri…ger…ator!…” he said with a hint of excitement.

The nightmare walked closer to the refrigerator and proceeded to rip off the door blocking him to his meal. He then scanned the fridge hoping to find the food item on his mind, but he didn’t which cause his excitement to die down.

“…No…meat……but…will…take…rest!” he said hungrily. He then proceeded to attack and consume what food items that are in the fridge including milk, cheese, and even left over pancakes. After clearing out the fridge he went straight for the freezer and began chomping on ice, frozen waffles, and whatever else you can find in a freezer. Once he was finished he let out large belch, however, he still retained a look of dissatisfaction.

“…Still…feel…empty…but…bro…ther…said…don’t…eat…all…”

Watching the entire event go down Princess Celestia and Luna couldn’t believe what they have just witness, “…Sister did he just ate everything in Twilight’s Refrigerator?” Luna asked in shock.

“Yes Luna…yes he did…” Celestia replied.

“Well shouldn’t we stop him?”

Celestia didn’t react at first to Luna’s question. She was still absorbing the fact there is another being in this world could eat food as fast Pinkie Pie, but in a more destructive manner.

“Sister?”

“Guards! Mobilize now!” Celestia shouted causing all the Guards to immediately enter Twilight’s House and surrounded Fear before locking him down with their magic.

“Huh?” Was all Fear could say when he saw the Guards around.

“Stay where you are! You are surrounded!” shouted one guard.

“You are outnumbered! Surrender peacefully and nobody has to get hurt,” Shouted another guard.

Fear looked around himself seeing each and every Guard’s face, seeing a deeply buried fear of his incredible strength, “Flies…” he said lowly.

“What was that?” asked one of the guards.

“All…I…see…is…FLIES!” Fear roared at the top of his lungs causing everypony in the area who wasn’t sleeping to cover their ears at the intensity. Unfortunately, Fear took this chance to break out of their magical grip and grab one of the guards by the front legs before he started swinging him around; effectively decimating the rest surrounding guards. Seeing the problem escalating Celestia and Luna jumped into action and shot out their own magic telekinesis to grab hold of the nightmare before dragging him out of the house and brought before them.

“Princesses…make things…difficult,” Fear said.

“Sorry if we’re making your job difficult, but we simply cannot allow you to take my former student’s assistant,” Celestia said with a glare.

“Also we cannot have you disturb the citizens of ponyville, even though your roar woke up everypony in the neighborhood,” added Luna.

Fear just stared at them for a moment before responding, “So this…is…a trap?” he asked.

“Why yes, yes it is,” Celestia said.

“Then…should’ve brought…a bigger army!” Fear shouted as he slowly broke free of Celestia’s and Luna’s combined magical grip.

“What!?” The sister’s shouted in shock at the nightmare broke their hold on him.

As Fear landed back onto the ground he took out two broad axes and charged into the small army of Royal guards. What happened next can be considered a massacre, for Fear viciously attacked one guard after another brutally beating each one to an inch of their life with his two axes. The tools broke bone, rend flesh, and left its victims a broken mess. Celestia and Luna attempted to stop his ruthless onslaught, but each time they tried to use their spells on the nightmare he either dodged them or reflected the spell at another guard causing unintentional friendly fire. At this point many ponies were woken up by the battle and some screamed as they saw the mess being made.

“Sister this is getting out of control!” Luna exclaimed.

“I know!” Celestia shouted.

“What should we do?”

“It appears we have no choice Luna, we’re going to have to use our full power if we’re going to bring this nightmare down.”

Luna couldn’t help but gasp, “Sister, are you sure you want to risk that?! If we’re not careful we might destroy a large chuck of Ponyville! Not to mention if it doesn’t work we’ll be left without power for a while.”

“Then we’ll take this out of Ponyville and make sure he stays down.”

“Okay then…”

“We won’t fail Luna…” After saying that, Celestia started charging up her magical power with Luna doing the same. However, the moment they started charging Fear was already finish with the Royal Guards, having untold amounts strew across his feet. In addition the nightmare’s personality drastically changed, taking on a much ruder and cruel persona. He scanned the bodies around him only to spot one guard attempting to stand. He quickly made his way to the guard and stood right in front of him. The guard looked up only to see a gas mask covered face staring back at him.

“I wouldn’t try to get up if I were you,” the nightmare said to the guard before raising his foot and stomping guard back into the ground earning the sounds of ribs breaking and a cry of pain from the guard. Seeing this stir the princesses to charge faster, but they could do nothing but watch the poor guard be toyed with by the nightmare.

“Now…tell me where the baby dragon is or I make sure the rest of you is in pieces!” he said, proving his point by stomping on the guard’s left hind leg and snapping bone inside into two pieces.

“Grahh!!! N-Never you f-foul creature!” the guard managed to spit out.

“Heh heh heh…I was hoping you say that pal,” the nightmare raised his foot again and promptly stomped the guard’s other hind leg.

“Ahhh!!!”

“It hurts doesn’t it? Then again the breaking of bones tends to have that effect…ha ha ha ha! Besides you know how to make it stop. Just tell me what I want to know and I won’t have to break the rest of your limbs like twigs.”

The guard’s only response was spitting blood onto Fears mask in an act of defiance. However, Fear only laughed at this action while wiping the blood of his mask, “Ha ha ha…have it your way…” he said sinisterly.

Fear again raised his foot, but instead of stomping the guard’s leg he stomped the guard’s lower back effectively paralyzing him from the waist down. The guard screamed in agony while Fear could only laugh at his victim pain. The nightmare then took a moment of silence to listen to the guard’s screams and enjoy every second of it along with the screams of various witnesses.

“I love hearing screams of agony in the dead of night. Speaking of dead, your awfully close to that aren’t yah?” he said.

The guard didn’t respond, but instead continued to scream in pain due to the injuries cause by Fear.

“Hey I’m talking to you!” Fear shouted as he grabbed the guard by the neck and pulled him up, so they were meeting eye to eye, “Yah know, I still haven’t got my answer. Last chance, tell me where the baby dragon is hiding and I might let you live,” he asked while tightening his grip around the guard’s neck. However, due to Fear’s grip the guard couldn’t talk at all.

*COUGH! GACK!*

“Oh so sorry that isn’t an answer in my book,” Fear said with an unseen smile, but right before he could tighten his grip further he blasted away by a strong beam of magic into the outskirts of Ponyville.

He tumbled and crashed into a few trees before coming to a stop, “Ow… that actually hurt, but… that means somebody strong is nearby! Now that’s the stuff that get’s my adrenaline pumping!” Fear said as he stood from the large dirt trail he unintentionally made. However, as he got up he instinctively dodged two more beams of magic seeking to end him, “Well now I thought you two gave up trying to hit me with your magic a short while ago. Good thing I was wrong or I wouldn’t have seen your full power Princesses.”

Celestia and Luna said nothing to the nightmare as now both glowed with great power. Celestia’s normally light rainbow mane now being covered in golden colored flames, and Luna’s body covered in white glowing marks and a mane turning into a sliver sheen. This was their full power, something they rarely used unless it was absolutely necessary. However, considering their situation right now it seemed like overkill.

“So many good colts and stallions now lay broken because of you,” Celestia said menacingly.

“Especially, the brave guard who refused to reveal Spike’s whereabouts to you,” Luna added with sympathy.

“Well boo hoo what you want to do? Apologize? Say ‘hey sorry for breaking nearly every bone in your fricken body!’ Well excuse me Princess for doing what I love,” Fear retorted sarcastically.

“No…we don’t want apologies, for it’s already too late to ask for forgiveness.”

“Indeed, for your crimes now weigh heavily upon you. In the name of Equestria…”

“YOU SHALL BE PUNISHED!!!” yelled Celestia and Luna in unison.

“Heh, dramatic just like one annoying idiot I know, but enough talk I plan on making toothpicks out your horns!” Fear let out another roar before charging at the princesses.

However, Celestia and Luna just stood their ground, and as Fear leaped up to strike their horns he was immediately immobilized by a magic hold courtesy of Celestia.

“Ahhh… not this bull shit again!” shouted Fear as he struggled with the reinforced magical grip. Unfortunately, he didn’t have to wait long in the grip, for Celestia simply pointed her head upwards and Fear was thrown straight into the sky at sound breakneck speeds that have the nightmare almost reaching space. As he reached the peak of the height he was thrown Luna appeared above him, and blasted him with a barrage of high powered magic missiles that not only pierced his body but also sent him plummeting faster. The nightmare became a meteor as he crashed hard with the ground; leaving a large crater where he landed.

Fear slowly climbed his way out of the newly made crater while laughing as he got out, “Ha ha ha ha!!! Looks like I left my mark on the world, but…I’m starting to feel all cracky heh heh heh heh,” He wasn’t wrong, the nightmare’s skin began to crack and chip away as the battle dragged on, “But…if only Paranoia took this thing off my back then I can really unleash the monster inside,” However, before Fear could finish his thought he found himself again in another magic hold. “This again?! Really?!?!” However, instead of being thrown he felt a burning sensation all over his body, “Well… isn’t this fanfucking fantastic. Now I’m being roasted!”

“Sunlight is a natural weakness of Nightmare’s. All I’m giving you is a taste of what the sun feels like,” Celestia explained coldly.

“And me without my sun-block! Ahh!!!” Fear shouted angrily and in pain.

In response to his outburst Celestia increased the intensity of the flames, and continued to burn Fear in its inferno.

“Graaaaaahh!!!” Fear screamed as his skin became charred black from the burns, and it wasn’t long before he went limp from the pain.

After seeing that the nightmare was no longer moving, Celestia promptly released her hold on him, causing his body to hit the ground like a ragdoll. It wasn’t long before Luna appeared right next to her sister inspecting the charred body.

“Amazing, I can still feel his life force. Normally, such close proximity to the Sun simulated or not would destroy normal nightmares, he is clearly in a league of his own.” she commented.

“Indeed, but he should be incapable of moving for the rest of the night,” added Celestia.

The sisters then reverted back to their normal states looking exhausted, “It may have taken our full-power, but tonight is where this nightmare ends.”

“All that is left to do now, is wait for our strength to return, so we can get medical attention to the wounded as soon as possible.”

“I’m just relieved that Twilight and her friends won’t have to deal with this menace.”

“Hopefully they found a good place to sleep in our old castle sister.”

“I wouldn’t worry about that. The guards know their way around.”

“Heh, I supposed they have to or else they would have been lost too.”

The two sisters just sat there laughing with each other glad that the foalnapper is stopped. However, unbeknown to the sisters, the charred body of Fear started to move. Fear slowly took out an odd cylinder shape object and pulled a pin off of it. A few seconds later a bright light flashed blinding the two princesses.

“Ah!!! My eyes! Sister, is this your doing?” Luna asked surprised.

“No it wasn’t, at least not this time!” Celestia responded while rubbing her eyes.

“If it wasn’t you, then who’s responsible?”

Once their eyesight returned Celestia and Luna made a horrific discovery; Fear’s burnt body has disappeared.

/

Meanwhile…back with Twilight and the gang. They have made new discoveries within the journal. Other than figuring out that Fredrick’s mother’s name is Jocelyn they found that Fredrick and his mother had an encounter with the Dream Fairies; beings created from the imaginations of people from their world. Apparently, this had them run into Nightmares as well which inhabit the same world as the Dream Fairies. However, there was no mention of the Nightmare Brothers or Lord Nightmare. To makes things worse the latter pages which should have held details of their adventures are all completely blank.

“Huh…I guess he didn’t make any more entries,” Spike said.

“That can’t be, there still a good chunk of this journal that is unused,” Twilight added.

“I agree with Twilight, it is a bit odd for entries like these to end so suddenly,” said Rarity.

“Ooh! Ooh! Maybe the rest are written in invisible ink!” Pinkie said, causing everypony in the room to look at her in surprise. “What? Too farfetched?”

“Actually Pinkie, I think you might’ve just hit the nail on the head.” Twilight said in surprise.

“I’m afriad you lost me Twilight. How does anypony write using invisible ink?” Applejack asked.

“Well it’s quite simple really, the words you write in invisible ink stay visible for a few minutes before fading, but it’s also possible to write invisible words with lemon juice.”

“Uh, how can writing with lemon juice make your writing invisible Twilight?”

“Easy, lemon juice writing is barely visible to begin with but once it dries the writing made with the juice disappears, and one of the ways to reveal the writing is to put it under a type of lighting called ultraviolet light. Granted there are other methods, but this one is less likely to damage the journal,” Twilight explained.

Applejack was about to ask another question until everypony heard the cries of pain from the guards assigned to them outside their tent. When they looked out their tent they were met with a horrifying sight. The guards sent to protect them wear being pounded into the dirt by a horribly burnt man. The man noticed their gasps and looked up from his current victim, giving everyone a good look at his face as they saw the charred leftovers of a gas mask and his piercing fear inducing yellow eyes. Those same eyes locked onto Spike which causes him to yelp in surprise.

“The dragon, give him to me!” Fear demanded.

“Why should we give Spike to you?!” Applejack shouted.

“Oh, you wouldn’t like the alternative,” Fear said with a sadistic smile.

“There is no way you’re taking him away! We’ll stop you before that happens!” Twilight exclaimed however despite this show of bravery she was trembling in her hooves as Fear smiled.

“Fine then, your funeral,” Fear began to laugh as the ponies got ready for their battle with the nightmare.

Immediately the nightmare rushed at them and in response Twilight and Rarity began to sling magic missiles and beams at him. However, much to their horror the magic attacks bounced off his body like a rubber ball and caused him to laugh.

“Weak!”

Applejack seeing that didn’t work decided to run at the nightmare herself. Twilight voiced her concerns, but it fell on deaf ears as the mare ran off away. The purple mare and her friends could do nothing but watch in shock when the nightmare somehow side stepped the country mare and upper-cutted her into the sky. But it didn’t stop there, Fear then followed up by jumping into the air and slamming the defenseless mare into the dirt below which not only left a crater but also cause mare to bounce slightly off the ground. When the nightmare landed, he picked her up and head-butted her onto her head before tossing her to the side.

“Next!” the nightmare shouted mockingly. However, he wouldn’t have to wait long as Twilight saw Pinkie sneaking up on the nightmare. Seeing this she hoped that she can distract the monster long enough for her, and Rarity to escape with Spike. However, Pinkie’s version of distracting came in the form of a guess who game.

“Guess who?” she said teasingly.

Fear’s response to this little game came in the form of him grabbing the pink mare by the head and bringing her face to face with him, “Talking cotton candy?”

“Me? Cotton candy? Oh no silly,” Pinkie said before pulling out the actual snack item in front of him, “THIS is cotton candy.”

“Huh?”

The appearance of the snack item confused the nightmare long enough for the mare to squish it into his face. This caused the nightmare to tighten his grip as he quickly ate up the sugary substance before giving the pink mare a furious look, “Heh, heh…delicious huh? It definitely has that run away flavor.”

Twilight was at first confused by the mare’s statement until she picked out the words run and away, “Guys we need to start running and fast!” she said to Rarity and Spike.

“But what about Pinkie?” Spike said with concern.

“She’s trying to delay him; we need to get out of here as fast as we can!”

Seeing that there is no reason to argue, the two agreed and quickly followed Twilight as they ran out of the camp as quickly as they can. Twilight hated leaving her friends behind, but if they want to end these challenges once and for all then they need to delay the nightmare long enough until morning time. The last thing they heard before leaving was Pinkie’s voice chatting away with the nightmare.

/

Running through the Everfree forest is a bad idea considering the number of dangerous wildlife prowling the area, but in comparison to Fear they would rather take their chances with them.

“You can’t hide from me ponies…I will find you and you’ll regret not handing over the dragon when you have the chance,” they heard him shout in the distance.

“Wow this guy is persistent!” Spike said.

“That there is no doubt, but how did he find our camp by the old castle?” Rarity said.

“I don’t know, but it would seem that he survived his encounter with Celestia and Luna,” Twilight said with worry as she wondered if the sister’s are okay.

“Judging by the way he looks I say he slipped away when they weren’t looking,” Spike added.

The three continued to make their way deeper into the forest as the taunts of the nightmare continued to follow them. It almost seemed hopeless as no matter how far they went, his voice would be at the same distance from them. He was following them somehow and like a predatory animal he wasn’t giving up the chase. Crunching leaves and branches would be their signal to run faster, but in the end they were no farther than they were before. Twilight knew she had to think of a plan to delay him, but her only option is to put herself in harm’s way. She debated whether to go with it or not as she knew very well Spike would not want her to get hurt. However, the choice would be made for her as the three ran into a dead end. A wall of trees blocked their path and before they could double back they yelped in shock when they found the nightmare standing before them.

“End of the road and the end of this little game…” the nightmare said as he stepped closer and closer to the group.

“S-Stay back!” Rarity shouted.

“We’re not giving Spike up!”

“Heh heh heh, your friends lay beaten and still you think you can beat me? This isn’t bravery, its plain stupidity.”

Twilight didn’t responds to his insult, instead she and Rarity fired one last desperate beam attack at the nightmare’s head; hoping to knock him out. However, no such miracle happened as the beams bounced off his body again.

“Fighting to the end…I like that, but it’s time I end this,” Fear said before suddenly disappearing.

Twilight’s mind panicked when this happened as she frantically looked around for the nightmare, but by the time she found out where he was coming from it was too late. She felt a hand wrap around her throat before it picked up her body and slammed her into the trees. The hand held her in place while choking out what ever air she was trying to breathe in.

“NO!!!” Shouted Spike, as now the nightmare held the two mares within his grip and slowly choking the life out of them.

“I warned you ponies, and now you’ll pay for interfering,” shouted Fear.

Twilight wanted to say something back to the nightmare but her cut off air ways made it impossible, “Stop it!” Spike shouted.

“Oh? You’re stepping up little man? I don’t recommend it, one wrong move and they’re good as dead.”

“Grrr, I-I…I…”

“I what?”

“I…give up.”

The nightmare smiled, “Good choice,” the nightmare dropped both Twilight and Rarity which caused them to cough profusely.

“Sp-Spike…don’t,” Twilight managed to weakly spit out her thoughts on the manner in two words.

“Pl-Please…”

The baby dragon had a pained look on his face, and didn’t want to do this personally. However, Twilight knew that Fear had him cornered and now they were helpless to stop him from going with the nightmare.

“Heh, it’s time to go.”

“Just…get it over with.”

“You got guts kid, let’s get out of here.”

Suddenly two shadowy wings appeared on the nightmare’s back and after picking up Spike he took to the air and blasted through the roof of the forest; leaving the two mares in the forest exposed to the elements.

“Spike…” was all Rarity could say before breaking out into tears.

/