The sound was louder here, deeper; more present and clear. Inside the pit of hearts, countless hearts were nailed to the walls; not a single glimpse could be caught of the walls or the ceiling beneath. And all of the hearts were beating as one.

"Ewww..." Twilight cringed as another heart beat made the walls shudder. "What kind of memory is this supposed to be?"

Luna's gaze traveled over the countless hearts; gruesome as it was, the display was unlike anything she had ever seen before. "A promise," she whispered almost out of hearing.

"A promise?" Twilight asked. "How can you tell?"

"Luna is the ruler of the night," Celestia commented quietly. "And she is also the guardian of dreams," she looked towards her sister. "She has always had an insight into these things far deeper than anyone else," her expression turned into one of worry. "But it is not without risks to have such insight..."

Princess Luna took another long look around the room and then raised her hoof to point at something at the far end. "Look."

Twilight and Celestia followed her gaze, and spotted a blood-covered Krieg at the other side of the room.

"WHERE IS SHE!? IS SHE SAFE!? WHERE IS SHE!?" Krieg screamed as he ripped off one heart after the other, each of them spraying him with more blood only to reveal more beating hearts beneath. "RIP THE FLESH!" Krieg continued to howl. "SOMEWHERE BENEATH THESE MOUNTAINS OF FLESH!"

"Somewhere beneath," both Celestia and Twilight turned to Luna as they heard her whisper the words. "Somewhere beneath all this flesh-"

"GOTTA TEAR THEM ALL OUT! IF ONLY I HAD A SPOON-"

"To rip them out faster-"

"CROSS MY HEART AND HOPE TO DIE! CROSS MY HEART AND HOPE TO DIE! LITTLE GIRLS LIVE AND LIARS DIE!" he continued to rip out hearts. "DIE! DIE! DIE!"

"Rip the flesh..."

"Luna," Celestia started to approach her sister with a worried expression.

"Rip the flesh..."

The heart beats came to a sudden halt, and Krieg suddenly turned towards them. "Princess," Twilight whispered with dread, trying to gain Celestia's attention as the blood-covered Krieg slowly walked towards them.

"Rip the flesh." Celestia whirled around as she heard Krieg's voice next to her, shocked by his sudden presence and even more shocked at how calm his voice suddenly was.

Luna took a step forward, her eyes half-closed and a dreamy expression on her face. "Somewhere beneath these red curtains," she whispered to him.

"Somewhere beneath these red curtains," he replied quietly as they now stood face to face.

"Luna!" Celestia spoke up.

Luna's eyes fully opened again, but she remained calm. "It is alright... I understand now." She looked into Krieg's twitching eye with a sad expression. "You promised it to them... didn't you?"

"Cross my heart and hope to die," he solemnly whispered back. "If only I had my spoon..."

Luna was silent for a moment, but then her magic flared up and a deep-blue replica of his buzz axe appeared next to her.

"What are you doing?!" Celestia asked in shock.

"Trust me. I know what I'm doing," Luna didn't take her eyes off the blood-covered Krieg. "Here. Take this spoon," she watched him reach for the weapon. "And then, rip the flesh." He froze and looked at her. "Again... and again. I'm sure you'll be able to find her one day."

Krieg tilted his head and silently observed her for a moment, but then his hand tightened around the handle of the weapon until his knuckles cracked. "Rip the flesh," it was a whisper at first, but as Krieg repeated it the hearts started to beat again and his voice became louder and filled with joy. "RIP THE FLESH!" he brought the axe down onto the hearts with a happy scream, slowly cutting a hole into the wall of flesh. "MY SPINE TINGLER SINGS WITH JOY! SING ME A SONG OF SALTED WOUNDS AS I RIP OUT YOUR LYING HEARTS!"

Luna watched him as he dug deeper and deeper into the wall, until the hearts closed behind him and he could be heard no more. She continued to watch the spot where he had disappeared. "Good luck..." the hearts grew silent again.

"What just... what just happened?" Twilight asked, still shocked at Luna's actions.

"Sister," Celestia spoke up carefully. "What was the meaning of this?"

"It was a promise," Luna replied with a quiet voice. "A promise he couldn't forget even if he wanted too... He's searching for someone."

"For who?"

"I don't know," Luna shook her head with a sigh. "I think we should leave this place," she nodded towards the other end of the chamber. "It seems he is letting us pass on," unnoticed by the other two Alicorns, a large door had opened inside one of the walls.

"This place doesn't look as bad as the last one..." Twilight carefully spoke up as she and Celestia followed Luna's lead.

"That's what's worrying me," Luna commented from the front. "Be on your guard."

Behind the open door, a seemingly endless corridor of blackened concrete led into the darkness, the walls lined with foreboding, heavy metal doors. All of them were locked and barred but at every door they passed, voices could be heard coming from behind them.

"Commence injection... make sure he remains conscious..."

"BADASS CRATER OF BADASSITUDE!!"

"The force fields are down! The experiment is on the loose!"

"WE AT TORGUE BELIEVE THAT THIS IS FUCKING AWESOME!"

"Right now, you like 'pow'..."

"I punch the initiative!"

"But when I'm done you gonna be like 'piddy-PAOW'!"

"Stairs?! NOOOOooooooo!"

"Hodunks chose that as their emblem 'cause they love skinny chicks. And they love skinny chicks 'cause they's pussies."

"What are all these voices?" Twilight asked in wonder.

"Recent memories," Celestia replied in front of her. "It means we are drawing nearer to the center."

"You are right," Luna stopped and spoke up. "But I fear that we still have one more barrier to overcome... ready yourselves."

"What do you-" before Twilight could finish the sentence, the lights in the corridor stopped working and the voices died down.

"This," Luna's voice could be heard whispering in the dark, a slight tremble in her breath. "Will not be as simple as the last one..."

With a flash of light, the three Alicorns found themselves inside a huge room filled with piles upon piles of toys; all of them ablaze in a searing fire that ran up the walls of the room like a slow stream of water. As the fire crackled around them, plastic faces melted, puppet hair burned and glowing sparks flew through the air; they spotted Krieg inside the center of the room. He too, was burning.

"SO COLD!" Twilight took a shaking step backwards as she heard his voice through the roar of the fire. "GIVE ME GASOLINE! TAKE MY SKIN, DRAIN MY BLOOD AND FILL MY VEINS WITH MOLTEN DESIRE! FUEL MY FLAME! FEED MY RAMPAGE! I AM BURNING BUT SHIVERING COLD AT THE SAME TIME!" he turned towards them, fire escaping the edges of his mask with each word. "MAKE ME FEEL THE SEARING DARKNESS!" his blazing form took a step towards them. "GIVE. ME. YOUR. SOUL!"

Author's Note

Getting closer to that chewy center! Sorry for the short chapters, but I can never get myself to write for more than an hour at a time... let's just call it a defiency of the mind ^^

PS: Got my fearst pearlescent weapon today, the Unforgiven... Yay :D