Masks Lie and Nightmares Never Die

/

As the chaos continues between the Nightmare World and Equestria, a third party was at work observing what little they can opposite from the dark lands the nightmares live in. One of these inhabitants, a humanoid cricket, can be seen running past the various dark fauna as he ran past the borders connecting his home with the Nightmare world. Once back within his home, the cricket man sighed a breath of relief as he was surrounded by the more peaceful and friendly landscape of the Dream World. However he had no time to rest as he made a beeline to the pure white castle, he discovered something important and he needed to share it with the high ranking officials of his world.

*Huff* *Huff*

After ten miles of straight running the cricket made it to the castle gates and was met the familiar sight of a wolf and a rabbit humanoid guarding the gate.

“Halt, what is your business here Hopper?” asked the Wolf.

“Yeah, you look like someone lit a firecracker on your butt,” added the Rabbit.

“Lucain and Kiki please let me through. I need to see the high council or the king! It’s important!” pleaded Hopper.

“How important are we talking about?” Lucain asked.

Hopper took a deep breath before answering, “It involves Lord Nightmare…” he said gravely causing the two guards eyes to widen. They didn’t speak a word after that they instead allowed Hopper to pass on through.

“May Alpha help us…” Lucain said under his breath.

“What do you think is going on?” Kiki asked.

“I have no idea, but anything that involves that guy is definitely something to report about. I just hope it doesn’t break the peace we worked so hard to maintain.”

/

Hopper, after asking a few questions, quickly made his way to the High Council Hall, but unfortunately a meeting was already in progress. As a result he had to barge in unannounced causing confusion among those in the hall, “What is the meaning of this?!?” boomed one council member whose appearance is that of ant.

“Sorry High council for barging into a meeting in progress, but I come with disturbing news!” Hopper shouted.

“Speak now or else you will be demoted for this intrusion,” Spoke another council member whose appearance resembles a Fox.

Hopper gulped a bit before responding to the council member, “I was scouting the Nightmare World like I was asked to, but I saw Lord Nightmare!”

“So? What else is new?” interrupted a frog-like council member.

Hopper despite the interruption continued his report, “That’s not the important part! He came out of a portal with Paranoia and in his arms appears to be an Alicorn!”

The mention of an Alicorn caused a stir among the members, “An Alicorn? I haven’t seen one of those around here for 300 years!” Spoke the dream fairy in the middle who turns out to be the king of the realm.

“K-King Oberon?!”

“Don’t lose your nerve now Hopper, tell me what this Alicorn looks like?”

“U-Uh…it was purple! With a mane colored similar to twilight!”

“Hmm…interesting, we definitely don’t have a purple Alicorn. I wonder if Lord Nightmare is trying to start a ranch.”

“Your highness, that’s not the point! Lord Nightmare came out of a interdimensional portal!” Hearing this caused the entire council and the King to gasp.

“What!? Such magic is forbidden! Only the Archgods themselves are allowed to use them! He has broken a sacred rule!” The fox shouted.

“He must be confronted about this! Who knows what dark things this could imply,” The ant added.

“Fool! He is clever we cannot confront him about the crime unless we have proof!” countered the frog member.

“But we must do something! He knows forbidden magic! He may have been traveling to different worlds to spread his seeds of darkness under our very noses!”

“Great King Oberon what do you think we should do?” The fox asked.

Oberon crossed his arms, “Hmm…true we cannot let this go unpunished, but Bork is right, we need solid evidence to prove to the Archgods that Lord Nightmare has broke one of the sacred rules,” Hearing this brought Hopper great relief, as now maybe they will reward him and sent some stalwart yet stealthy heroes to take care of the problem, “Which is why Hopper I’ll be sending you and two others to take on this task,” Or maybe he was just going to get the worst assignment in history.

“R-Really? It’s an honor sire!” He forced himself to say as he secretly dreaded for the task at hand.

/

Darkness…pure darkness was the only thing Twilight could see, and strangely it felt…comforting like it was holding her in a gentle embrace. She never felt like this before it’s like she found true peace of mind. However, this peace wasn’t meant to last as a voice eerily sounding like her pierced through her mind

…Wake…up…

You…must…wake up…

…Please…

Suddenly, a small star appeared in front of Twilight and she felt herself being drawn towards the light of the star, but as she attempted to fly towards the light the darkness that kept her in a gentle embrace tighten its grip around her as if it’s trying to stop her from reaching the small beacon. That’s when Twilight remembered how she ended up in this void. She remembered hearing one single phrase before blacking out.

“Would you kindly…go to sleep?”

Twilight now became aware of the situation she was in. Paranoia put her to sleep with that single phrase, and as she’s sleeping the darkness that is currently keeping her away from the light is making sure she doesn’t wake up from magically induced slumber. With this knowledge she begun to fight back the darkness holding her, and slowly and surely the darkness was losing its grip on her. Eventually, she managed to break free from the darkness and started flying towards the light. However, as she flown closer to the light her body began to glow and it wasn’t long before Twilight felt her body changing into a form familiar to her, but at the same time it felt alien. Unfortunately, she didn’t have time think as the star she flown closer to completely covered her in its light, but before she blacked out once again she heard a voice.

…Light and Darkness…Dreams and Nightmares… either can’t be trusted, for both wear a mask…

…But…one has a better mask than the other…

…I ask of you…to find the one…whose mask truly lies to all…

…and…expose it to all it has lied to…

…Remember this…for this…decides the fate…of the realm of sleep…and the world you call home…

/

Fredrick, for once in his eternal life felt elated, for everything he had plan is coming together quite nicely despite a few problems that happened along the way. Nevertheless as he waited for the guest of honor to be ready he decided to spend some of this extra time gazing at the stars in the night sky. As he stood there gazing, a song came to his mind,

“Twinkle, Twinkle, little star,

How I wonder where you are.

Up above in the sky so high,

Or perhaps somewhere nearby.

When the light of hope is gone,

From the darkness I sit upon,

You continue to shine your tiny light,

And Twinkle, twinkle, all night.

But tell me why,

I cannot be part of your light.

Am I damned,

Doomed to a life of isolation,

In this realm of darkness,

Feared by all.

I question my existence,

For I walk in a place unfamiliar to me,

No memories of my birth,

No memories of my life,

Yet I exist in a place,

Where dreams fear to tread.

Oh little star,

Where are you?

The madness that creeping,

Is poisoning my mind,

If you can,

Grant a wish,

I beg of you to please,

Cure me of my blight,

So I can continue living,

And find my light,

So I can find,

My light…”

After singing the small song Fredrick took a moment of silence to let the song sink into his mind before commenting on it, “Hmm…it’s good, but I think I could improve it. I better make a mental note to work on it later.”

“Make a mental note of what Milord?” Paranoia asked, causing Fredrick to sigh.

“Alright Paranoia, how much did you hear?”

“All of it, but I do think you could make your little song longer.”

“I figured as much, but let’s not dwell too much on my singing. I know what you’re here for, so tell me how did it go?”

“I see…if you must know the operation was a success. She is currently resting in her room, you can see her if you want Milord, but you and I both know how she’ll react when she wakes up.”

Ignoring Paranoia’s warning Fredrick created a portal that leads to Twilight’s room, “I’m aware of that, she’ll need to get used to our presence and her temporary change to her entire physical being, but I’m sure we’ll find a way to convince her to cooperate with us. Besides it’s not like she has much choice anyway.”

“Heh, indeed… Brother. ”

Fredrick laughed a bit upon being called brother, “It’s been quite a while since you last call me that Paranoia. Maybe fifty years give or take…”

“Sixty actually Brother”

“Really? Huh…time sure flies by doesn’t it, but now is not the time to look back on fond memories,” Fredrick said as he walked towards the portal, “For our guest of honor awaits my arrival, and you do know it’s impolite to keep a lady waiting…” he said as he disappeared into the portal with portal dissipating afterwards leaving Paranoia by himself in the room.

“…Memories...isn’t that the magical word of the day.”

/

Meanwhile in a well lit room and in a soft fancy bed, a certain mare was stirring and turning in the sheet. It wasn’t long until she finally woke up with a start and began breathing rapidly. Her condition did not improve when she felt her own hand touch her chest. She looked down to see that once again she has human features such as her hands and body. She almost wanted to scream, but held back as she tried composing herself.

“Calm down Twilight! Calm down! You need to keep a clear head and process what’s going on.”

Looking around she quickly noticed that she was in a surprisingly comfortable bed. However, this was no time to admire the soft sheets she needed to see what she can find in this room. Throwing the sheets off her body and quickly jumping off the bed in one smooth motion Twilight landed on the floor on her own two feet.

“Well it may need a little refreshing, but it’s nice to see I still remember the motor functions of a human being. Now all I need to do is walk forward and-ah!” Despite remembering her experience as a human, the transformed mare tripped on the first step and fell to the ground face first with a thud, “Ow…maybe I don’t completely remember how human legs work,” Twilight slightly massaged her face until she felt something she thought she wouldn’t feel; her snout. Her eyes widen in horror as she took a quick look to her feet and saw hooves instead of human feet and toes. Just what did they do to her? Quickly she grabbed onto the bed and used it to help herself off the floor. Along the way she noticed that she is wearing a nightgown that was simple as a dress. It was pretty much colored like her fur, but in a darker shade with lavender straps holding it up on her body. Just beyond that are her hoofed feet which she only began thinking about how she was going to stand on them. She looked at the bed supports and decided that it she’ll use one of them to support herself as she tried getting used to them.

“C’mon Twilight you can do this, if you can get used to human feet then you’ll have no problem adjusting to your own.”

With a deep breath Twilight hopped off the bed near one of the supports. Once her feet landed she carefully leaned on the structure as she didn’t want to put her entire body weight on it. It was difficult at first for her to keep her balance, but after some practice walking near the support the mare let go of the support and began walking around the room.

“Okay…I think I got the hang of it now. Although I have to wonder why did they turn me into a mix of my pony and human forms? Something tells me that they wanted to see me to try and get used to this body while subjecting me to some sort test or something. Nothing I can do now but explore.”

Searching the room, Twilight didn’t find much out of place in the rather fancy and pleasant room. It has all the things a personal bedroom would need such as a closet, a drawer, a cabinet, a vanity, a desk with chair, a door that leads to a bathroom, and a large flat box hanging in front of the bed. She had no idea what the flat box was for, but she has them before in the human world. While she never used them herself she felt that she may end discovering things that she wouldn’t completely understand. Twilight then checked the drawer and found several sets of clothes for her to wear.

“Jeans, shorts, skirt, shirts, dresses, and undergarments, well I can’t say I didn’t expect anything else, but I am surprised it’s stocked at all,” Pulling out some of the articles of clothing Twilight noticed that they’re just her size, “Okay…that’s just creepy. How did they know my clothing size?”

Putting the clothes back she checked the closet and she a variety of jackets and coats. Her thoughts went back to the clothes in the dresser and just how creepy that all the stocked clothes are just the right size for her. After some thinking Twilight then recalls in the first message that Lord Nightmare sent her and the he said he had been watching her and her friends for quite some time. It’s a bit farfetched, but any other thoughts and possibilities did not make any sense other then he truly had been watching all events that has happened to her so far; which includes her journey to the human world. Just thinking that made her shiver in uneasiness as it was like having a stalker following you around.

*Knock, Knock*

Twilight made a small yelp as heard someone knock on the door across the room, “Hello? My dear are you awake in there? Please answer me if you are.”

“Lord Nightmare! I need to hide!”

“I heard that, ” Lord Nightmare said playfully as Twilight watched in utter surprise when he phased through the door like it never existed in the first place, “Good afternoon my dear Twilight, I trust you had a peaceful slumber?”

The mare was wary; the ringleader of the challenges and lord of nightmares was standing before her and greeting her casually. Seeing there is no reason to fight right now she decided to play along, “I slept fine, all things considered.”

“Yes, I apologize for the roughness when we first met, but I must remind you that you wouldn’t come peacefully. However, that is the past and now here we are.”

“Well I couldn’t agree to the demands of somebody like you. You used the younger sister of one of my friends and two of my friends as some sort of bargaining chip. How low can you go?”

Twilight heard the nightmare sigh, “Only as low as I’m willing to allow my dear. However, even I have my standards.”

“So then traumatizing my friend Applejack with the illusion of her dead sister is allowed? Or what about all the royal guards that one of your lackeys injured when he was sent to hunt Spike?” Twilight responded angrily.

“A challenge isn’t a challenge Twilight when there isn’t stakes or consequences involved. Besides, your dear princesses knew the risks and so did the guards they brought to help defend the marked ones. Blood would be shed, there was no avoiding that, but be glad that they still live and one of my best healers is fixing the physical damage that was caused.”

“W-What?”

“Do you think I’m heartless my dear? I’m hurt, truly I am. I’m a nightmare my dear, not a monster there is a clear difference between those two.”

“D-Do you think that makes it better?”

“No, but it makes sure no one walks away crippled.”

“You’re unbelievable! Those ponies risked their lives to protect the marked ones! Not to mention the one royal guard who was paralyzed by Fear breaking his spine! You can heal the physical wounds, but not the mental ones!”

“*Sigh* You forget who you’re talking to my dear. A nightmare’s purpose is to test the fortitude of those chosen by us. That guard will be tested in time, but for now I believe you should be more concerned about yourself. As you already noticed your body has changed, but not into a human rather a cross between your pony and human forms. I believe the term used to describe such transformations is anthro these days.”

“Yeah about that, why did you turn me into this anyway?”

“Isn’t it obvious? I wanted to challenge you physically by having you adapt to a new yet similar form. Turning you human would be too easy for you due to previous experience, so I had Paranoia turn you into an anthro for reason I have already stated. Also it makes it easier to talk to you. I would strain my neck if I had to keep looking down at you just to talk to you.”

“At least you’re honest.”

“Yes I am the foundation of a good relationship, romantic or friendly, is based on that virtue. However, even with this virtue…you don’t trust me don’t you?”

“How can I? You foalnapped my friends, injured countless royal guards, and foalnapped me before transforming me into this form.”

“Well to be accurate I technically didn’t do that. All of that was the Nightmare Brother’s doing.”

“Who were acting on your orders!”

“*Sigh* details, details. Anyway it would seem you will need some time to adapt to your current predicament. I shall leave you now, but not without telling you that there are things I wish to discuss with you. Once you adjust to your new surroundings I expect you to take a bath and get dressed. What clothes do you wear I don’t care as long as it decent, so that means no streaking in my mansion. I know that you quickly learned about that with your time in the human world, but consider this a reminder.”

Twilight wanted to rebuke the nightmare, but still her tongue as arguing with this nightmare is getting her nowhere. So for now she relented, “Fine, but you better have a good reason for taking me.”

“Trust me I do, but from you all I require is a little bit of faith,” with this said the nightmare snapped his fingers and disappeared in a cloud of smoke that faded away. Twilight gave a frustrated sigh, she knew that Lord Nightmare is going to be a tricky one to talk to and if she doesn’t play her cards right she will be left in the dark in a strange new world.

“I need to find out what’s going on around here. He only foalnapped Spike, Applebloom, and Fluttershy to get to me, but why though? What does a nightmare want with me?” These questions swirled in her mind, but with nothing to answer them she gave a sigh before doing what the nightmare asked and getting herself ready for their meeting.

/

Meanwhile, back at the throne room in Canterlot Castle Princess Celestia, and Luna have recently summoned Twilight’s remaining friends Pinkie Pie, Applejack, and Rarity in order to discuss about yesterday’s incident. When they got there they also saw Princess Cadance and Shining Armor waiting for them as well. For a few moments no one said a word, but it wasn’t long before Celestia herself spoke, “I brought you all here to discuss about what happened yesterday and maybe help develop a plan on what to do next.”

“Ah’ know what you mean Princess. What happened back at the hospital was more nuts than a jar of peanuts,” Applejack said.

“There were peanuts there? How come you didn’t tell me?!” Pinkie exclaimed.

“No Pinkie Applejack means that while we were at the hospital, things got a tad…out of control,” Rarity explained.

“Oh, so no peanuts?” Rarity in response shook her head earning a groan of disappointment from Pinkie.

“Anyway… getting back on topic. We already knew that Paranoia the eldest Brother was the foalnapper sent to foalnap your friend Fluttershy, but what we did not expect is how quick he was able to do so despite the number guards going in and out of the hospital. Another thing that was also unexpected is him taunting Shining Armor’s squad,” Celestia recapped.

“It was really strange. You would think a foalnapper would silently sneak out as he came in after he has already taken his target, but he didn’t. Instead he appeared before my squad and revealed that he has what he came for,” Shining added, “If I had a question it would be ‘why did he do that?‘ But considering that my sister is gone the answer is obvious; he was baiting Twilight and she fell for it easily.”

“Wait, so you’re saying Twilight was the actual target?!” Applejack said in shock.

“Not just that Applejack, but adding to the fact that all previous foalnapped victims were returned brings up another interesting point,” Celestia added.

“That Lord Nightmare’s original target was Twilight herself, but the question remains. Why? Why go through all the trouble of foalnapping others if you only wanted another pony entirely?” Luna said.

“Well…considering that all the victims are connected to Twilight in some way. I believe they were used as some sort of leverage against her,” Cadance said.

“The letter…it’s starting to makes sense now!” Rarity said.

“Letter? What letter?” asked Celestia.

“Well a few days ago we received three scrolls. Two of them were addressed to Applejack and I, but the last one was address to Twilight herself. The ones Applejack and I received were letters from Applebloom and Spike telling us that they’re okay, but the third scroll was from Lord Nightmare himself. To summarize, the letter was telling Twilight to give herself up and they would bring Spike and Applebloom back to us unharmed,” Rarity explained.

“This Nightmare fella was basically telling Twilight that despite the plan we had at the time we wouldn’t stand a chance against Paranoia…well looks like that part wasn’t a bluff,” Applejack added.

“Indeed, since he took out two guards and Rainbow Dash without alerting anybody else in the area,” Luna said, “But the only thing I find strange is that I can’t find these nightmares anywhere in the world of sleep. Normally nightmares are created from the fears and insecurities of an individual, but these nightmares weren’t made by anypony. Instead these nightmares were created from another being entirely, but what type of being remain unknown to us,” she explained.

“Unfortunately, this brings up another issue; where the nightmares went after taking Twilight. As I recall Twilight was last seen in this very room pursuing Paranoia, but when we got here she was gone,” added Cadance.

“So what do you think happened?” Applejack asked.

“Well…we had some unicorns who are experts in magic searched the room and they found traces of magic being used. So far they were able to confirm that a clash happened in the room, but most of the magic they were able to trace belonged to Twilight. Except for one spot which after studying it they determined it was high level portal magic, but who casted such powerful translocation magic is still undetermined.”

“Portal magic, what’s that?” Pinkie asked.

“Like Cadance said, it’s a type of translocation magic. Magic that used to transport either the caster or the target to another location,” Celestia explained.

“You mean like that teleporting magic Twilight uses?” Applejack added.

“Exactly, but Portal magic on the other hand works a bit differently. It usually takes longer to be casted, but once casted it creates a temporary shortcut from where the caster is and the caster’s desired location. This magic isn’t used very often due to teleporting magic achieving the same effect at an instant. At low levels, portal magic can only reach a mile worth of distance or to a specific pony, but higher level versions of this magic will allow the user to reach towns, countries, and other places world. It’s even rumored to even travel to worlds different then our own.”

“Wow, that’s one heck of a difference.”

“Indeed, but can’t we just make a portal of our own and follow them?” asked Rarity.

“We can…but the only problem right now is determining where the portal took them,” Celestia said.

“As of now we have no idea where they went. We cannot just make portal until we can figure out where they took Twilight,” added Candance.

“So, how do we find them?” Applejack asked.

“Well, if we had anything that belonged to the Nightmare Brothers then we would be able to track where they are with our magic,” Luna said while causing Celestia to go wide eyed. Luna noticed this, “Sister, don’t tell me you have something that belonged to one of those brothers this whole time?!”

“Err, I wouldn’t say the whole time Luna,” Celestia responded sheepishly.

Luna sighed, “Just tell me what it is sister.”

“Remember Luna our encounter with Fear?”

“Yes I do remember that monster quite vividly. What did you take from him?”

“Well from our fight from him I noticed some parts of his skin started cracking. Eventually, those parts started to crumble of his body. I found this quite interesting, so I…well…took some of the skin that fell off of him,” Celestia said while rubbing the back of her head.

Everybody after hearing this stared at Celestia with looks of confusion and surprise.

*YOU TOOK WHAT?!?!*

/

Back in the Nightmare World, Twilight was clearing her mind in what she discovered to be an extravagant bath made from marble. As a matter of fact, the entire bathroom looked like a mini bathhouse that belonged in a palace. The bath itself only took up a medium portion of the bathroom with the actual basic necessities for a functional bathroom tucked away to the side and away from the square tub. Unspecified plant species hung around in various corners and pillars that seemed to hold up the room. There was a towel rack not too far away from the tub for easy access along with nightmare branded shampoo, conditioner, and body wash. There was even a loofah hanging around the nozzle of the bath

“This is surprisingly relaxing; the water is nice and warm while relaxing my muscles at the same time. It’s too bad Lord Nightmare is waiting for me or else I could have enjoyed this a bit more, but there isn’t much I can do about that now can I?” Twilight said to herself as she adjusted herself into a seated position that nearly had her breasts surface from the water. The mare looked at the mammary glands with some interest as she has seen them before when she went to the human world. However, they seem a bit bigger than the last time she took a humanoid form, heck the proportions of her body seem to have been slightly adjusted from her human form as if her humanoid body has matured a bit. It was an insignificant detail, but one she personally wanted to find out as pony and human physiology are completely different. Perhaps she should have saved some of those biology books when she had the chance, but regardless she decided was clean enough and decided to drain the water in the bath before stepping out. Grabbing a towel Twilight covered herself up as she carefully walked out of the marble bath.

The soft patter of dripping water echoed in the room as Twilight headed to the sink and started drying herself off. After finishing she can’t help but be amazed how somebody was able to change her into a cross between her pony and human form, and so perfectly too. She took the time to think about it as she considered magic was involved, but threw that idea out the window as she couldn’t feel an aura of magic around her like most polymorph spells tend to do. So was it something they managed to do organically? It’s an absurd idea to be sure, but she wouldn’t toss the idea out such yet. Knowing these nightmares they probably found out how as they’re just full of surprises.

Leaving the bathroom Twilight went back to the room, stark naked and started picking out her clothes from the drawers. Searching through the drawers she was looking for something familiar to wear and too her surprise she found the familiar light blue button shirt from her time in the human world.

“How did they recreate this? I just showed up with this shirt when I got to the human world, hmm…though the size has been adjusted. Well I suppose there is nothing wrong playing it safe with clothing options. I wonder if they have the skirt too?” Shuffling through a few drawers Twilight found the skirts and no surprise there was the same purple skirt she wore back in the human world and with it her cutie mark emblazoned on the side, “Yup, they do, just adding to the question pile aren’t you Lord Nightmare?”

Personal comfort aside she tossed the two article of clothing onto the bed as she looked for the underwear drawer. Couple of drawers down she found them, white bras, and panties for her to wear and to add comfort for her private areas. There was nothing of note about the undergarments except for the panties as they seemed to have been adjusted a bit to give room for her tail. She wonders if the same thing was done to her skirt and after quickly checking she saw there was a little covered hole that had the same purpose of giving room for her tail.

“Well at least they’re considerate, but I don’t think they’ll do the same for socks and shoes,” she then looked at her hooves as she took a few steps forwards and backwards, “Well it’s not like I mind anyway.”

Panties first she started dressing herself starting with the bottom wear. The panties hugged her lower region while not being too constricting. The skirt came next and not surprisingly it was a perfect fit for her waste and the length of the skirt itself was modestly reaching her knee caps. It took some effort to get her tail through the hole, but with the help of a mirror she was able to pop it through. She gave her tail a playful waggle before moving onto the other half of her body as placing the bra around her breasts. Normally, she had help with this and considering she doesn’t have a petite teenager body this task was even harder as she wasn’t used to the somewhat increased size of her mammary glands. With some help from the mirror she was able to attach the back strap and all she had to do after was adjust the shoulder straps. She was surprised her wings weren’t constricted, but after taking a second look at the bra from the back she saw it had more space in the back in order to have her wings keep their full movement. It made her back look barer, but for the sake of flying it was something that was necessary. Curious she looked at her shirt and unsurprisingly it had slits in the back for her wings. Without hesitation, wings first, she put her shirt on and almost naturally she buttoned the shirt up. After that was done she checked herself out in the mirror. Despite the increase size of her figure and her wings she didn’t feel uncomfortable at all at how she looked, but something was missing.

“Hmm…there was something that was supposed to go with this outfit, but was it?” she pondered for a few moments until she saw the short red ribbon hanging next to the mirror along with the message.

Sorry for leaving it out in the open like this, but I didn’t know where to put it.

-Lord Nightmare

Twilight stared at the message with mixed emotions, but decided to not think about it too deeply as she wrapped and tied the ribbon around the collar of her shirt and like that she completed her original look, “Ta-dah!” she said playfully before giggling to herself. This wasn’t something she normally does, but a little laughter can really take the stress out of the situation.

“All dressed and ready to go, but um…how do I get to Lord Nightmare’s room?”

As if to answer her question she noticed a note that mysteriously appeared on the bed. Picking it read:

Check the drawer next to your bed. There are three bells in there, one for each Nightmare Brother. Just ring one and that brother will appear in your room and escort you.

-Lord Nightmare

“Wait if he can send me messages from his room, then why doesn’t he just pick me up himself?” In response to this breach of logic another note poofed into existence right in front of her. She picked this one up as well and it read:

I owe you one explanation.

-Lord Nightmare

“Actually, I believe you owe me more than that!”

No new messages appeared after that and with a little huff she walked over to the drawer near her bed and like the message said there are three bells packed in a small box. Opening the box Twilight saw the sinister looking bells have a dark color to them and on the bell itself was a small decal in the shape of a mask. Each bell has a different mask, most likely to represent that specific brother. Twilight thought carefully who summon to escort her, obviously the first choice gone was Fear as she wasn’t over the frightful image of the burnt monster in her mind. She hovered over Panic for a bit, but decided not to use him as the nightmare was very tricky and knowing what little of his personality she gained from their first encounter he was most likely to leave he lost on purpose just for kicks. With those two eliminated that only left one brother to choose from; Paranoia, the eldest nightmare brother.

Twilight got nothing but uneasy feelings from that brother, but out of the three he is the most refined and gentlemanly. She can at least put her trust into him to lead her directly where she needs to go. With a deep breath, Twilight grabbed the bell with the plague doctor mask and rang it.

At first nothing happened, but then the temperature in the room grew colder. This surprised the transformed mare as she looked at the window and saw that it was still closed. She looked around for a few moments before spotting a dark spot on the ceiling that was growing bigger. It was almost liquid like, but it did not drip from where it was. Then slowly, a figure emerged from the dark spot and immediately Twilight recognized the nightmare as his signature mask popped out along with the rest of his body. However, to her surprise he was standing on the ceiling completely upside down and unaffected by gravity.

“You rang milady?” Paranoia said as he looked down on her from his spot on the ceiling.

The mare gulped a little, “U-Uh yes?”

“Then what can I do for you?”

“Right, I’m ready to meet Lord Nightmare now. Can you escort me?”

The nightmare in response to her question melted back into the ceiling before the black puddle dropped and splated across the floor. Twilight was confused by this display as the nightmare reformed and stood in front of her, showing the height difference between them, “Follow me.”

Wordlessly she did as he asked and after unlocking the door to her room they entered the hallway together; however, to say the hallway was unnerving is an understatement. The moment Twilight set foot into the hallway she already had the feeling something is watching her. As she followed Paranoia she saw the hallways seemed to lead into nothing but pitch-black darkness save for the hallway they are currently walking through which is dimly lit by the lanterns hanging on the walls.

“How do you know where you are going?” Twilight said trying hard to hide her nervousness, “I can barely see anything else in this hallway.”

“We don’t, as mostly we teleport to our desire location.”

“Then why are you walking me towards Nightmare’s study instead of simply teleporting us there?”

“Because I enjoy the scenic route, is there a problem with that?”

Twilight felt the air around her grow colder, “N-No not r-really.”

“Good…now please hold any further questions for milord himself, for we have arrived at his study” Paranoia said as the two stopped in front of an intricate door.

Twilight felt the cold air around her subside as Paranoia pressed a button which caused a ringing sound after being pressed. A short moment later a voice is heard, a voice Twilight is all too familiar with now.

“Yes Paranoia? What is your business?” Lord Nightmare said casually.

“Milord…Lady Twilight wishes to see you.”

“Really? You’re a tad early my dear, but no matter please come in, for like two other before you there is much we must discuss with each other.”

“Two others? He must mean Applebloom and Spike…” Twilight thought. Just as she got out of her thoughts the door in front of her slowly opened up revealing a large library similar to one she saw in her dreams. Twilight looked at the library in amazement and wonder almost finding it hard to believe that such a place actually existed.

However, before she could admire the long line of bookshelves that surround a singular spiral staircase, Paranoia spoke up “This is milord’s study and as you can plainly see it doubles as a library. It features a large quantity books found from different worlds, so you may find books familiar to you here. On a side note please stay in the main lobby of this library, for I cannot guarantee your safety beyond the lobby.”

“What’s beyond the lobby?” Twilight asked curiously.

“More books but also some rather unfriendly nightmares who don’t like it when somebody interrupts their reading time,” Paranoia said simply, “So if you wish to see beyond the lobby then let milord guide you since he knows this library better than any of us.”

Twilight was about to ask Paranoia another question until she heard a voice, “Welcome my dear to my study. Please meet me in the center, for I know your curiosity must be satiated.”

Twilight looked in the direction of the voice to see Lord Nightmare walking down the steps of the spiral staircase in the center of the library. She can feel his eye staring at her each time he came around the bend. Knowing that this isn’t a time to get cold feet she made her way down to the center of the library; where there was a small space with couches, chairs, and tables for readers to relax in. Not surprising the mare at all, Lord Nightmare himself was already relaxing with a good book while drinking an odd purple and black colored juice that Twilight could not identify though what perplexes her most is how the drink itself flew underneath the brims of his mask. Nightmare took notice of her presence and spoke, “It looks you took your sweet time getting here my dear. I’m guessing the allure of books took most of your attention, not that I blame you,” he said with a refined gentlemanly voice. Twilight didn’t say anything and simply sat on the couch while putting distance between herself and Lord Nightmare, “Why so silent my dear? Did you come here only to see me?” The nightmare teased.

“Why did you bring me here?” Twilight said suddenly, without making eye contact with the nightmare.

“Ah…so cold…I hope we can change that later, but first things first, your answer. To put it shortly I need your help,” Lord Nightmare said as his voice took a serious tone.

Hearing this shift in tone caught Twilight’s attention as she turned around to face Lord Nightmare, “What kind of help exactly?”

“Don’t worry it isn’t anything bad. All I need you to do is help me find a certain star…”

Twilight’s eyes widen, not out of shock but surprise. She was surprised that all the pain and tears that she and her friends were subjected to were because of a star. This angered the transformed mare as she locked eyes with the nightmare, “A star? Are you telling me that you essentially attacked my friends, just so you can get help finding a star?! You better have good reason why you need to find that star or so help me.”

“I’m dying my dear,” The nightmare stated and almost immediately Twilight’s anger was replaced with surprise.

“Wh-What?”

“Not physically dying my dear, but to be more accurate I’m mentally dying as in I’m slowly going insane.”

Twilight blinked a couple of times as she processed the explanation, “You’re going insane? Shouldn’t you see a psychiatrist for that? As a matter of fact, how do you even know you’re going insane?”

“I have already seen the best psychiatrist my world could offer, but even they couldn’t help me. I asked my right hand man to see what was wrong with me; he’s a doctor by the way,” Lord Nightmare explained, “Anyway…he took a look at me and discovered something terrible. The very thing that keeps me alive is slowly poisoning my mind, destroying it.”

“What’s keeping you alive then?”

“See this drink I hold here in my hand?” he said as he raised the hand holding the cup in question.

“Uh…yeah?”

“It’s a liquid made out of the very thing I’m forced to thrive on to survive…living, breathing, blended nightmares.”

Twilight was taken aback by this new disgusting information, “Wh-What!? You eat your own kind why?!?”

In response to her question, the nightmare pointed to the two symbolic letters carved into his mask’s forehead, “These two letters are the reason why” he said calmly, “For you see, these are runes.”

“Runes? I read a couple of books about runes, they are magical letters that when mixed with other runes can augment and object or thing with a spell. So those markings on your mask are runes?”

“Indeed they are, but it’s plain to see the runes on my mask were made roughly since they don’t look like traditional runes.”

Twilight looked at the marks closely and saw what Nightmare said is true. The marks seem to be cut roughly, but not rough enough to be unreadable, “N, E? I don’t know too many spells that start with those two letters.”

As so as she said that the nightmare began to chuckle which causes her to shoot a glare at him, “Heh heh ha ha, you just need to use your imagination, but for the sake of this conversation I’ll just tell you what they translate into. They stand for the spell Nightmare Eater.”

“Nightmare Eater? I never heard of a spell like that.”

“It’s written in a spell book somewhere, you just haven’t found the book in question. Anyway, as for the spell itself it’s an affliction type spell.”

“An affliction spell?! Who would have the power to curse you?”

“If I knew the answer to the question I would have that person bound in chains by now, but as for the spell itself it causes the target to be unable to eat any normal food or drinks, but instead must feast on the nightmares of others in order to survive. Also eating nightmares is its own torture, for eating a nightmare will not destroy them but instead they remain stuck in your body till the day you die. As they remain stuck in your body, the nightmares will struggle in an attempt to leave your body, but they will later find out this is impossible. Once they figure this out they will attack the nightmare eater’s mind in order to drive them insane or if weak minded possess them. When they accomplish this they will cause the eater to commit suicide, but not without killing a few people with powerful dreams.”

“That’s insane, why would one anybody do that to another?”

“You’ll be surprise how cruel the world can be if you let it, but I digress. Anyway…this spell is usually casted by high ranked nightmares that have no moral kindness to their own brethren; as a result, this spell became forbidden after the first Lord Nightmare saw how inhumane it is to nightmares and humans alike.”

Twilight was confused by the mention of the first Lord Nightmare, “The first Lord Nightmare? I thought Lord Nightmare was actually your name? It’s actually a title?”

“Yes, I’m the second nightmare who received the title Nightmare Lord. The first is The Boogey Man who retired after the people of the waking world begun fearing him less and less, for you see a nightmare’s power is equal to the number of people who fear him or her.”

“That…makes sense, but if Lord Nightmare is just a title then what is your real name?”

“My name my dear, is Fredrick Nightmarewalker. A gentleman to some, a hero to little, and a monster to all. However, for you my dear you can simply call me Fred.”

“Nightmarewalker? Sounds similar to Dreamwalker could he possibly be related to Sir Desmond or is he is Desmond? Because there is no way their last name are a coincidence,” Twilight thought to herself as she made a mental note to put that information in a file and store it.

“But, we gone off on a slight tangent haven’t we? Let’s get back to the main topic shall we?”

The mare snapped back to reality as she suddenly realized she spaced out, “Uh… Yeah…we should…”

“Something on your mind my dear?”

“Well, I do have one question, and it involves your…condition.”

“The Nightmare Eater? Go ahead and ask, I don’t mind.”

“Well if the condition is being created from your mask then shouldn’t you just take the mask off?”

“If I could do that my dear, then we wouldn’t be in this situation now would we?” Fredrick said playfully.

“Er…yeah I suppose I should have thought of that first, wait why can’t you take the mask off?”

“Well frankly my dear the blasted monster who cursed me with this mask didn’t stop at one curse. The last time I checked the mirror it has come to my attention that they placed multiple binding runes on this accursed thing,” He then pointed to the multiple chain carvings on the mask, “These blasted runes make it nigh impossible to remove the mask. Every other method I tried proved to be ineffective at breaking them.”

“Oh, uh…I guess that answered my question.”

“Throughingly I might add, however let’s move on. Do you have any other questions?”

“Okay…just how long you were suffering from the Nightmare Eater spell?” She asked with concern.

“Five hundred years last I checked my dear.”

Twilight’s eyes widen in shock when she heard this, “Five hundred years!?! How can you last that long?”

“My dear I’m the current Lord of Nightmares I can resist the influence of the nightmares I consumed for quite a long time, but sadly I’m at the end of my rope. For I am starting to hear their voices in my head.”

“Is there any other effects you experienced?”

“Well I also experience blackouts and waking up in places I don’t remember being in. Sometimes I even wake up restrained by the Nightmare Brothers.”

“Wow…I don’t know what to say…”

“There isn’t much else to say my dear, for each night that passed the nightmares in my body grow stronger as my hold on reality grow weaker. It doesn’t help that I know these nightmares plan on possessing my body for great evil.”

“Why?...”

“Because they wish to drown the waking world in darkness, so all the most sinister nightmares in this realm can prey on the weak. Unfortunately, since I made a connection between my world and yours. They will also target your world as well,” Fredrick explained as Twilight’s eyes to widen again from this new information.

“What?!?”

Fredrick however was quick to ease her fears, “You don’t have worry about the safety of your world though, for I have already developed a plan just in case my plan fails.”

Twilight, upon hearing that he has a plan felt a little better, but at the same time she can’t help but feel worried, “and just what is your plan?”

Fredrick closed his visible eye and sighed, “I…cannot tell you that…sadly.”

“Why not?” Twilight asked.

“Because if I told you…you might try to stop me.”

Hearing this caused the mare to spring up from her seat, “Wait, just what are you planning!?”

The nightmare hesitated for a moment, but ultimately did not answer her, but instead he stood up from the couch and walked towards the spiral staircase before stopping and responding, “I’m afraid… I said too much already. This conversation is over, Paranoia, take her back to her room.”

Paranoia suddenly appeared out of the shadows surprising Twilight for a brief moment, “Yes milord,” he said as he grabbed Twilight by her wrist and refused to let go despite struggling.

“Hey! What are you, Ow!”

“Sorry…my dear…but I cannot divulge such information just yet...” Fredrick said with a somber tone as he snapped his fingers at Paranoia telling him to take her away.

Twilight attempted to pull away as Paranoia nodded in compliance as he created a portal out of shadows and proceeded to pull Twilight against her will into the portal. However, before she was completely pulled into the portal she yelled out the remaining question on her mind, “What’s your connection with Sir Desmond Dreamwalker!”

Hearing this name froze the nightmare in his tracks, and caused him turned around, “Wait! Where did you hear name from?!” she heard him exclaimed in desperation, but it was too late as the dark portal Paranoia created swallowed her and plunged her into darkness.

/

Twilight’s last words before being sent back to her guest room haunted Fredrick’s mind as the question itself reminded him of that his mentor told him in the past, “Boog…the name you have told me about in your stories has popped up again except it was from a being from a different world. How could this be? From what you told me that dream…is long dead.”

Fredrick then began his ascension up the staircase before stopping suddenly, clutching his head while screaming in pain.

“Oh Fredrick…” A feminine voice echoed in his head.

“You again…you do know that talking to me gives me a migraine.”

“Forgive me love, but I couldn’t help it. For you see, I felt something…familiar so I just had to see what it was for myself. However, it would seem I was too late.”

“Familiar? Was there something about Twilight that was familiar to you?”

“Twilight…hmmm, it doesn’t ring a bell, but she sounds interesting.”

“Argh…can we cut this conversation short? I can feel the other nightmares trying to claw their way to the surface.”

“Oh don’t be such a baby love, makes you less attractive. However, I do wish to meet this Twilight myself. Do you think you can arrange that?”

Fredrick felt another twinge of pain as the voice accentuated her point, “No, out of the question!”

“Aww…don’t be like that.”

“You do realize that talking to you runs the risk of one of the nightmares in my body to slip through and try to take me over!”

“Of course I do…which is why I’m going to do my part in suppressing them.”

“You…can do that?”

“Of course, they don’t call me the queen of the night for nothing…”

/