The Griffon Coup

In a grandiose room, the prince of the Griffon Kingdom sat across from Equestria's Princess Luna. In-between the two was an exquisite tea set. Luna might have considered it pleasant, if not for the two guards holding their spears dangerously close to her neck. The fact that Twilight and her guards had been dragged away to Celestia-knows-where only furthered to sour her mood.

"Sugar?" Vincent politely asked as he poured tea into Luna's cup.

Luna barely suppressed a growl as she sneered at her "host." "What are you hoping to accomplish?! What have you done with Twilight Sparkle!?"

"Come now, don't tell me a thousand years of banishment has caused you to forget your manners," he mocked with a neutral tone as he prepared his own cup. Finding nothing but a glare coming from Luna he sighed as he set the cup aside. "No stomach for pleasantries, I see," he muttered as his voice took on a serious note. "Twilight Sparkle is perfectly safe in the castle's dungeon."

Vincent's words did little to put Luna at ease. "What is the meaning of this?" she drew out in a slow, threatening tone. "This is nothing short of an act of war!"

The alicorn's words only served to make Vincent grin. "Now, whether or not there is a war…well, that's going to be up to you and your dear sister," he sneered. "After all, my subjects are going to be begging to go to war when they learn that the princesses sent here to review treaties betrayed us and killed our beloved king and queen. Of course, I thwarted your evil plot and, as king, it falls to me to see to it that my subjects get the vengeance they so desperately seek."

Luna snarled in anger. "What have you done to them!? Your own sister and niece!"

"Me? I avenged them…or, at least I brought their killers to justice," he icily replied.

"You would betray your own sister to fulfill your twisted desires!?"

Vincent chuckled derisively at the incensed princess. "Come, come now, Nightmare Moon. As if I would betray my own sister just to satisfy some silly, selfish desire. Who do you think I am? You?"

Luna started to lunge after the smug bastard until the spears tore into her flesh, reminding her to stay in her place. She settled on glaring at him as blood trickled down her neck. "Monster!"

"My pursuit is noble," he claimed as he lifted his tea and took a sip. "You saw it yourself. My subjects are suffering. Less than a third of my citizens in our once glorious kingdom are living the happy, carefree lives virtually all of you ponies enjoy." He suddenly slammed the teacup down as his ire grew. "They are starving! They live in squalor! They try their damnedest to carve out a decent life for themselves and it's all for naught!"

He then pointed a talon at Luna. "You, you and your pony ilk are living in a time of unparalleled peace and prosperity while we noble griffons struggle just to survive! Your resources are near limitless while ours dwindle by the hour! Just because you stumbled upon it first you think your inferior species has the right to the land of milk and honey! Not anymore!"

"Celestia shall never surrender Equestria to the likes of you!" Luna defiantly proclaimed.

Vincent let the comment pass with a derisive snort. "I am no fool. Your kind has nowhere else to go. You will fight to the death for all of Equestria. But my demands are not so…unreasonable. Consider this: you and your pony-kind give your eastern coast and its fertile waters to the Griffon Kingdom and there is no blood shed. You and Twilight Sparkle even get to go home unharmed and there is no bloody war. My subjects get their recompense for the loss of such noble griffons with a new age of prosperity. A pretty fair deal, don't you think?"

"It is not my decision to make," Luna growled. "and Celestia shall never submit to you!"

"I don't think she would be so…unreasonable," Vincent claimed with a smug grin. "Even if she refuses, a war will tilt the negotiations in my favor. She would grow weary of bloodshed and fearful for her imprisoned princesses. Either way, our mighty kingdom will rise again to its old glory!"

"You are mad!" Luna accused.

"Go pump her for information on Equestria's defensive capabilities," Vincent dismissed with a wave of his talon. "If she can't give me what I want, then she's no more useful to me than that other disgusting pony." Two more guards came into the room as the two handling Luna forced her up and started dragging her to the door.

Luna wasn't the only one having a hard time. Deep beneath the castle was the dungeon.  Carved from stone, the narrow tunnels were lit by the fleeting light of sparse torches.  Here in the dank, claustrophobic corridors was Twilight Sparkle.  She lied on the stone floor of a relatively large holding cell.  Her fur was matted with blood and sweat and the taste of copper was on her tongue.

She slowly and painfully dragged herself to her hooves. Once she was up off of the ground she was forced to lean against the stone wall just to stay standing. Honestly, it wasn't any better than the floor. One of her eyes had swollen shut and her vision was cloudy as she tried to look at her unnamed assailants.

They were both male griffons. They looked just alike to Twilight, except that one had his head feathers slicked back while the other left them untamed. She had nicknamed them "Slick" and "Ruffles" respectively. Of course, she had given them the nicknames when they were asking her things nicely. When she couldn't tell them what they wanted to hear, they spent the better part of an hour trying to beat information out of her that she simply didn't have.

"Gotta admit, ponies're tougher 'n what I thought," Slick grunted as he struggled to catch his breath. Interrogating the old-fashioned way really wore on a guy after a while.

Twilight hadn't put up much of a fight considering the half-dozen guards outside her cell…not to mention the hundreds between her good old Equestria. Worse still was that she had no idea what had become of Luna or her guards. Twilight was all alone and her instincts told her that her best bet for survival was simply to endure.

Ruffles put a claw on Slick's shoulder to hold him back when he tried to approach Twilight again. "We need to cut this short," he calmly claimed. "She can't tell us anything if she's dead. A night in here might loosen her beak."

"Aww, come on!" Slick complained. "Don't tell me ya ain't curious as to what pony tastes like! I hear it's to die for!" He licked his beak as he contemplated picking at Twilight's corpse.

"You'll be able to eat all the pony you want soon enough," Ruffles dismissed as he dragged Slick out of the cell and sealed Twilight inside.

No longer needing to put on a tough face for her interrogators, Twilight slid down the wall and collapsed in a heap. How did this happen? She wondered as her horn started to glow. She only knew a basic first-aid spell, and she'd never even tried using it. Still, it was better than nothing. Her purple aura appeared in her wounds as it painfully pulled her cuts closed and dragged life back into her bruised flesh.

Twilight tried to figure out exactly what had went wrong. Considering most of her interrogators' questions were about Equestria's defensive capabilities, she felt confident that they were at least considering war. What she didn't understand was why. The Griffon Kingdom and Equestria hadn't been at war in centuries. They had been allies for nearly as long! Why would they suddenly be at war?

She couldn't wrap her head around it. Giving up on understanding why she was in this dire situation, Twilight just focused on the healing spell. It was especially effective at stopping bleeding, but it caused an immense amount of pain as it forced the tissues to mend. The more effort she put into the spell the faster it would stitch her wounds, but it would exponentially increase her suffering. Considering how much her bruised, bleeding flesh hurt even without the spell, she would have to settle on a slow, steady healing lest she cause herself so much pain that she would cry out or lose consciousness.

In spite of her efforts, she still must've lost consciousness at some point because the next thing she knew she was awoken by the sound of a tray clattering on the stone floor.

"Dinner time," a griffon guard curtly informed her as she slammed the cell shut and made sure it was locked with a yank of her talon.

The plate in front of her was anything but appetizing. There was a large bowl of brownish green goop and a single, tiny biscuit. Still, she hadn't eaten since just after Luna lowered the moon. Her stomach demanded nourishment and at this point anything would do.

As she got up she realized that she had either slept for a couple of days, or that she did a better job of patching herself up than she thought. Her muscles were sore from the bruising, but the pain was a fraction of what it had been during her interrogation. The cuts didn't really hurt at all and the scabs securely had her blood in. She could even see out of both eyes again.

Sitting down in front of her bowl of gruel, she contemplated the possibilities. Could it have been poisoned? Did it contain meat? Could it contain pony meat?!

Quelling her worries, she tried to make sense of it rationally. It didn't make sense for it to have been poisoned. Ruffles made it seem like she was still useful to them. Not to mention it would've been simpler had the guard just stabbed her to death in her sleep with that scary spear. So it probably wasn't poisoned. Probably.

Having pony meat in it didn't make sense either. There weren't many ponies in the Griffon Kingdom. Even if they really did eat ponies, why would the meat end up feeding prisoners? Twilight shuddered as she remembered Slick talking about pony meat like it was some sort of delicacy. It was unthinkable that they would put it in this slop. Following that logic, it seemed as though this swill might really be edible. Though, there still could be other critters cooked up in there.

An audible growl from her stomach settled the internal debate. She needed to eat and all that was available was this…gruel. Picking up the biscuit she briefly wondered if it was actually a biscuit and not a rock doing a really good imitation of a biscuit. It was certainly as hard as a rock. Her mouth fell agape as she suddenly realized a solution.

Dropping the biscuit on the plate, she took a couple of steps back as she smiled confidently. Twilight lowered her head, pointing her horn towards the biscuit as it began to glow. Concentrating, she cast the spell. A ray of magic shot out of her horn and enveloped the offending morsel. In an instant there was no longer a stale biscuit, but instead a plump orange. Emboldened by her success, she subtly turned her head to point her magic at the bowl of mush. This time the zap turned the gruel into an overflowing bowl of orange slices.

Twilight briefly wondered if it was healthy to eat nothing but oranges and regretted not learning how to do other fruits and vegetables as she peeled the whole orange with her magic. Tentatively tasting her handiwork, she was impressed. While it wasn't quite the same as a natural-grown orange, it was still sweet and juicy. In any case it was infinitely better than what it used to be.

After devouring the oranges, Twilight lied down and turned her attention back to her mending wounds. Focusing her energy on the more uncomfortable bruises in her sides, the familiar pain of the spell erupted, nearly causing her to cry out in agony. Dialing back her efforts, the pain subsided to a more tolerable level. Several excruciatingly seconds later she finally had to stop. It just hurt too much.

To test how well her efforts had served her, she drew in a long, slow breath. As her ribs expanded outside her normal breathing range the pain from her bruises reminded her of her beating. Letting out her breath before she met her lungs' capacity, she had to resign. She was no doctor and her spell had apparently long since passed the point of diminishing returns. The rest of her healing would have to be the old-fashioned way. At least it didn't really hurt anymore if she just lied still. Nothing but a dull ache remained.

What could she do now? Her hunger was sated. Her wounds were tended to. What was left? The only thing Twilight could think of was to escape, but that seemed absolutely impossible. Sure, the bars sealing her in the cell couldn't stop her from teleporting free, but the dozens of guards patrolling the dungeon certainly would. Even if she somehow made it back to the palace there were hundreds of guards there. Then there were two imposing walls and an entire city before she could manage to escape the capital. After that were hundreds of miles of open wilderness, several more griffon settlements, and an ocean between her and Equestria.

She looked longingly to her wings. Maybe she should have tried harder to learn to fly. At least then her escape from this nightmare would only be implausible, not impossible. Not that she would ever dream of leaving alone. Luna was somewhere in the castle and Twilight wouldn't even entertain the thought of abandoning her.

With a sigh Twilight realized what it was she needed to do. She just didn't know how to do it. To escape she would need to find Luna and surely the more experienced princess would have a concrete solution to this inexplicable plight. Just where would they have taken her? If Twilight couldn't solve that mystery, her hopes of escape would be all for naught.

She was stirred from her thoughts by a sudden ruckus. Twilight gingerly got to her hooves as not to aggravate her injuries. Once she had herself steady, she approached the bars and did her best to investigate. She watched as a pair of guards rounded a corner at the edge of what view her cell offered. Another pair of guards followed and what Twilight saw made her lungs cease and her heart beat wildly.

It was Luna.

A guard on either side of her had their talons wrapped around her forelegs and were dragging her along in the procession. Luna wasn't moving. The guards didn't even seem to care as Luna's hind legs and tail dragged across the cold stone behind her. Her head and wings drooped straight down under gravity's omnipresent grip. Luna's once majestic coat was matted with blood and torn in several places, exposing raw flesh. Even her mane no longer flowed with a magical essence. It was just a pale blue mop that hung over her face.

Twilight nearly jumped out of her cell to rush to Luna's aid, but there were at least six guards in the group surrounding her. She couldn't confront that many on her own, and, even if she did manage to overpower them, Luna was in no condition to implement a daring escape. Twilight couldn't even tell if Luna was still alive.

She was forced to watch in muted horror as the griffon guards unceremoniously dumped Luna into the adjacent cell. As the guards filed out to whence they came, one that trailed close to Twilight Sparkle's cell suddenly slammed his spear against the bars. The sudden movement and deafening clatter caused Twilight to yelp and recoil, tumbling painfully to the unforgiving stone floor. Struggling back to her feet, Twilight saw the griffon guard laughing as he high-fived another guard.

After they disappeared and the sound of their armor clattering faded into nothingness, Twilight approached the bars again. She did her best to look around. Despite having a very limited view, especially of things right next to either side of her cell, she felt confident that there were no guards in the immediate area. Stepping over to the wall that separated her from Luna she focused her magic as her horn sparked to life. In a flash of magenta light, her cell was empty.

It took a second for Twilight Sparkle to reorient herself. An unfortunate side-effect of teleporting was that schism in perception. Shaking it off, she found Luna. The larger alicorn was lying in a heap in the middle of the cell. Twilight walked over and gently nuzzled Luna's face in an effort to stir the injured princess.

Princess Luna's eyes slowly opened to focus on Twilight. Languidly, she rolled over so that she was lying on her belly. "Twilight Sparkle?" she softly asked in a whisper. "They placed us in the same cell?"

"No," Twilight quietly replied, following Luna's lead. After all, she had technically just escaped her cell. There was no need for any nearby ears to know that. "They put you next to me," the studious alicorn explained as she pointed to the wall she had teleported through. "I was worried about you so I teleported over."

Luna observed the bars for a short time to make sure that no griffon guards were watching. "It is no accident that they have placed us so close together," she whispered as her horn glowed ever-so-faintly. Had they not been in a dark dungeon it probably wouldn't have been noticeable. Suddenly, Luna's most grievous-looking wounds looked markedly better and her mane again flowed magically.

Twilight's jaw dropped as she realized what Luna had done. She had used a disguise spell to make her wounds appear far worse than what they really were in order to fool her interrogators. It was brilliant. Should she survive and make it back to Equestria, she would have to study up on disguise spells. Disguise spells and how to transmute food into things other than oranges.

Collecting herself, Twilight huddled near Luna. The larger princess responded by draping a wing over her, pulling the smaller pony flush against herself. "Do not speak freely," Luna whispered into Twilight's ear. "They have placed us in adjoining cells in hopes that we may tell each other what we would not tell the interrogators. They are listening."

A little whimper was all Twilight could think to do to vocalize her understanding. It was terrifying, but at least Luna was here now to protect her. "Um…do you need me to tend to your wounds?" Twilight offered at a carefully low volume.

"You know such magic?" Luna queried.

"A little. I read about battlefield healing, but I never had to use it before now," Twilight admitted. "It really hurts, but it at least makes the bleeding stop."

Battlefield healing? Luna teased Twilight's words in her mind. Now was not the time or the place for the conversation she needed to have with her ward. But Luna did have a rather…unconventional solution. "My wounds do not require your attention," she again whispered in Twilight's ear, "but there is another thing you can do for me."

"Anything!" Twilight eagerly volunteered, just a bit too loudly.

The next thing Twilight knew, her head was enveloped in a blue aura as she was overcome with a powerful somnolence. "Sleep," Luna's voice resonated in Twilight's ears as she fell into a deep slumber.

Twilight found herself floating in a shapeless void. Feeling quite uncomfortable floating about with no up or down or anything in-between, she longed for solid ground as she flailed her limbs and uselessly flapped her wings. Seemingly responding to her desires, her hooves found solid ground. Looking around, she saw nothing but wisps of purples and blues. Suddenly, the faint, shapeless colors swirled before her, taking the form of an alicorn.

"Twilight Sparkle!" Luna called out as she fully formed from the nothingness.

"Princess Luna?" Twilight asked with a puzzled expression.

"You are dreaming," Luna hurriedly explained. "Your dream has yet to fully form. You should be cognizant on this plane."

True to Luna's word, Twilight realized she was dreaming. More importantly, she remembered their dire situation. "We-we're still in the dungeon, aren't we?" she asked as she withered.

"Yes," Luna gravely confirmed as she stood next to Twilight and draped a wing over her. "Here we are able to speak freely. They cannot eavesdrop here."

"O-oh," Twilight muttered as she kept her head down. Honestly she just wanted to go home—for the real world left behind her to be some horrible nightmare. The dream responded to Twilight's desires. The hazy colors violently swirled and in a dizzying flurry found themselves imitating the inside of Twilight's library.

"Try to remain focused," Luna chided, not wanting Twilight to become enthralled by the dream world and forget why they were here talking.

Again the dream world shifted as Twilight's thoughts trailed to the desperate situation. Now they were back in the dungeon. "Why is this happening?" Twilight whimpered. "What is going on?"

Luna sighed. "There has been a coup. Prince Vincent has overthrown his sister and is planning on blaming her fall upon us. He means to incite a war."

"What!? War!? Why!?" Twilight recoiled as she stepped away so she was face-to-face with her fellow princess.

"He believes—truly believes—that provoking a war shall alleviate the suffering of his subjects," Luna explained. "Because he truly believes that his actions are just and right, he shall not be swayed by words. He shall fight to his last breath."

Twilight stared incredulous at Luna. After a second she slowly shook her head. "This…can't be happening!"

"There is yet hope to prevent war," the older alicorn assured. "The usurper cannot be swayed, but the masses shall not follow him if we can reveal to them the truth."

"H-how do we do that?"

With a sigh and a shake of her head, Luna admitted the flaw in her desperate plan. "We must find the ousted; King Cyril, Queen Maria, or Princess Sophia. If they are…gone, then I fear we cannot prevent war. If such is the case, we must escape back to Equestria."

Twilight glanced about as her thoughts raced. "W-well, how do we find them?"

"Griffons' dreams are not my forte, but I shall see if I can find their dreams. Short of that, I do not know," Luna elaborated on her hasty plan. "If we must escape, we shall attempt to flee before dawn."

"But, if we run away…there will be no stopping a war, right?"

Luna hesitated before nodding. "Yes."

"Then we can't do that!"

Luna looked down as she weighed her options. She looked back up as she shook her head. "We are in no position to go seeking out prisoners that may or may not yet live. If I cannot find their dreams, we must leave. It shall not matter if we stay or go if we cannot reveal the truth to the citizens. There shall be war."

Twilight had to sit down. It was just such a horrible proposition. If the royal family was locked away or perished, then there would be no way to prevent war. Unless…

"What if we remove Prince Vincent from power?"

"Without the word of the King, Queen, or Princess to absolve us, all the citizens shall see is two alicorns ousting the last of the royal family. Their cries for war would only grow stronger," Luna denied. "Only the truth can diffuse this situation, and our word is nothing next to his."

Twilight whimpered. She was out of ideas and she desperately wanted anything but war, but her hooves were tied. If they could not find any of the royal family…they were doomed to a bloody conflict with these frightening beasts.

The landscape changed from the dank dungeon to an immense field. On one end, the forces of Equestria were shouting as they rushed towards Twilight and Luna. On the other, an armored battalion of griffon warriors were charging.

"Twilight Sparkle, cease this fantasy!" Luna barked, not wanting to see it any more than Twilight.

"How!?" Twilight panicked as the opposing forces closed in.

"Think of happier times! Of anywhere but here!"

Twilight closed her eyes and concentrated. Just before the two sides crashed into the princesses, the dreamscape shifted and changed. When Twilight opened her eyes again she found herself in her library again. "Thank goodness," she breathed a sigh of relief.

"That was…a vivid representation," Luna breathed a sigh of relief. "Have you studied the Equestrian-Griffon wars?"

Twilight nodded. "I studied so hard so I would d-do well at the negotiations." Her ears folded back as she stared at the floor with a forlorn expression. It was still hard to believe things had gone so wrong so quickly.

Luna sat next to Twilight and draped a wing over her. "Our ordeal is not yet over. You shall shine yet."

A small smile touched Twilight's lips at the praise. "I hope we can stop this."

"As do I," Luna earnestly replied.

A comfortable silence set in. As much as Luna longed to relish in the reprieve from the madness, she could not shake the uneasy feeling clawing at the back of her mind. "Twilight Sparkle, earlier you spoke of a 'battlefield healing' spell," Luna recalled. "How would you know of such a spell?"

Twilight blushed a bit. "I was a bit surprised that I could remember how to do it properly. I read it in a book I studied for this trip. It was a recommended read from one of the books about the Equestrian-Griffon wars."

Luna took in the sight of the pony next to her as she reluctantly asked, "What was the name of this tome?"

"Battlefield Sorcery: An Archive of Arcane Arts," Twilight effortlessly recalled. "It was surprisingly difficult to find."

"You should not have been able to acquire that tome!" Luna exclaimed with a frown.

Twilight raised a skeptical eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

Luna sighed. "I am not supposed to tell you this, but I fear that it no longer matters. There exist many tomes and scrolls that are forbidden to you. That tome is among them."

"Forbidden?"

Luna nodded as she felt a bit guilty. "My dearest sister has decreed that you should not have access to any malevolent magics. Any tome with any such spell is supposed to be impossible for you to acquire."

Twilight's mouth was agape. Why would Celestia deny her access to magic? Why would she keep it a secret from her? She could scarcely believe it. Only one question existed and it found its way to her lips, "Why?"

"You asking such a question is, in essence, the answer," Luna cryptically replied. "You only see yourself as a diligent student, a reluctant princess, and lucky to have such wonderful friends. But you are so much more. Perhaps not now, but in the future."

Twilight looked up to Luna with a small blush. She didn't have her question answered just yet, but she had become enthralled by Luna's words. Her eyes met Luna's and begged her to continue.

"My sister told me of the day she found you. How she had never in her life seen such potential in a single pony. And that was from just a filly who had yet to attain her cutie mark," Luna explained. "My sister knew when first she found you that you had the potential to reshape Equestria. That if she guided you, you would usher in a new age of prosperity and happiness. But…she also held a great fear about you."

"M-me?"

Luna nodded. "When my heart was tainted by resentment, I betrayed my own sister and nearly plunged Equestria into war. For my selfishness I was banished for a thousand years," her voice thick with regret as she spoke. "My sister fears that should your heart, too, become corrupted that she may not be able to so easily vanquish you. That it may ultimately lead to an age of suffering and war throughout Equestria."

"I-I would never—!"

Luna interrupted Twilight by drawing out her wings and giving them an angry flap as she let her emotions get the better of her. "I felt the same as you, once…" she lamented as she turned her back to Twilight Sparkle. "My dearest sister was my only family…my only friend. I loved her with all my heart—I still do. But I grew jealous of her. I knew that no matter what I did or how hard I tried, that she would always outshine me. When I let that bitterness into my heart, the nightmare forces found a home to grow and become powerful. They led me to betray the pony I most admire from that single mote of resentment."

"L-Luna," Twilight empathized as she tried to sit next to the dark blue alicorn, but as she approached Luna flared out her wings to prevent her from getting near.

"My sister never trusted a pony as she had me. And she never will again," Luna bitterly continued. "She fears that should your heart become tainted, it may plunge Equestria into an age of untold suffering. That it may be nigh on impossible to stop you should you become swayed as I was. That is why my sister has decreed tomes with malevolent magics forbidden to you."

Twilight sat as close to Luna as the sorrowful princess would allow. "I…understand, I think," she mumbled as she tried to lean as close to Luna as she could.

"Pandora's Box has been opened," Luna warned as she finally turned back to Twilight, doing well to hide any remnants of tears. "You have already learned spells forbidden to you."

"I studied them," Twilight admitted as she shrank a bit, "but that doesn't really mean I've learned them. I haven't ever tried to use any of them… Only the healing one a little bit ago."

Luna sighed as she stood and looked down at Twilght. "The forbidden knowledge is now known to you. That in itself shall not taint your pristine heart. However, to use that magic—to harm somepony—surely will. I know without doubt that in a normal situation you would never dream of using such magic. But we are not in a normal situation. Your life, my life, perhaps even the fate of Equestria hangs in the balance."

Twilight could see where this was going, but she still didn't know what to do. "What…would you have me do?"

"Had you not learned those spells, I could simply tell you to try your best. Instead, I can only warn you of the consequences of your actions," Luna gravely cautioned. "Your life is more precious than your innocence. But, if you allow yourself to become tainted with the blood of your persecutors, then your heart will be forever tainted."

Twilight knew that Luna was speaking from experience, but she seemed to be exceedingly dire. "F-forever?"

"The Elements of Harmony washed away the nightmare forces and the hatred they had brought upon me. But my own bitterness, anger, and resentment yet dwell in my heart," Luna confessed. "And new regrets plague me now that I know the suffering I have caused. They shall never be erased. Just as indelible as your sins would be should you be forced to taint your hooves with blood."

Twilight swallowed hard. She had no idea how many negative emotions Luna had been grappling with all this time. "I-I'll find a way," she muttered.

"I know you shall," Luna let a small smile touch her lips.

"Um… Luna?" Twilight spoke softly. "You said that…that you still have resentment in your heart. You don't still…hate Princess Celestia, do you?"

Luna's smile quickly fell into a frown. "No! Banish the thought!" she stamped a hoof.

Twilight withered. Definite miscalculation there. In spite of herself, she could not stop her lips from forming another question, "Then, who…?"

"Myself," Luna curtly replied as she turned away from Twilight. Before the younger princess could apologize, Luna changed the subject as she began to depart from Twilight's dreams. "I shall see what I can find in the dreamscape. Regardless of what I find, we shall act just before Celestia raises the sun."

The last few words echoed throughout the dream as Luna left. Twilight proceeded to fall heavily on her rear as she kicked herself. "Idiot!"

"Twilight! Twilight! Can you hear me!?" A familiar voice caused the dream to falter and shatter.

Out of a black fog, a blurry face appeared before her. She couldn't quite make it out, but the splash of purple and green could only be her number one assistant: Spike.

"Oh my gosh! Are you okay!?"

Twilight tried to raise her head up and reply, but she couldn't find the strength. Her vision darkened as her consciousness swam. Blinking the world back into existence, she saw Spike's face more clearly. He was obviously worried. No. He was downright panicking.

Suddenly, a bit of motion caused Twilight's eyes to focus on something behind Spike. It was Rarity. She looked angry and seemed to be standing there yelling at a griffon. Gilda?

Her vision darkened again. When she fought back the dizziness and focused she found Rarity's fire to be gone. She looked…afraid. The white unicorn was backing away from a furious Gilda and the griffon was the one yelling now. "R-Rare…Rarity," Twilight managed to choke out, eliciting Spike to whip his head around. Just as Gilda swiped at Rarity with her razor-sharp talons, Twilight's vision failed.

Blinking back the darkness, she found Spike with his jaws wrapped around Gilda's tail as she flailed about trying to get him off. Rarity was off at the edge of her vision. Twilight couldn't see her well, and couldn't move her head to get a better look. All she could tell was that Rarity was on the floor and she wasn't moving.

Twilight's attention was snapped back to Gilda as the griffon managed to wrap a claw around Spike. Forcing the tiny dragon from her tail, she violently throttled him a moment before throwing him. Spike quickly seemed to get bigger as he zoomed right at her. Suddenly, the mass of purple and green slammed into her, ushering in the darkness once more.