Void. Complete darkness. Cold nothingness. Nothing but a voice.

"Dad? Where are we?"

The voice wavers. It is the voice of a child.

"Dad...why did you send us here? Dad? It's...cold here."

The voice cries.

"Dad, I'm so scared. Please dad...I want to go home."

The sobbing grows louder. "I want to go home dad. Please. I miss you. Why did you send us here? Did I do something wrong?"

The crying turns to screaming. "Dad? I'm sorry dad! Please! Why did you do this to us? Dad please! I want to go home."

The voice shrinks back to soft sobbing. "I want to go home."

Fireheart bolts straight up in bed, his forehead cold with sweat, his whole body shaking. He stares terrified at the floor in front of his bed. He rubs his hooves against his face and forces himself out of bed. He looks at the clock. 3:30 a.m. He walks to the room's balcony and opens up the window with his horn. He silently stares at the moon for awhile.

"Firehoof? Celestia didn't tell me you were here."

The alicorn glides past the roof and lands next to him on the balcony.

"Hello, oh Princess of the Night." Firehoof says. "Eavesdropping on the dreams of ponies as usual?"

Luna gives an slightly sad but empathetic smile. "Firehoof. After all these years it still-"

"Yes."

She looks up at the moon with him. "You know. Sooner or later, you're going to have to forgive yourself."

He shoots an angry look toward her, then regains his composure. "That's a pleasure that's only reserved for the innocent."

"You were innocent. Discord tricked you."

"I should have played it safe. I was a fool, Luna. What was I thinking gambling with the lives of my family? And you want me to forgive myself?"

Firehoof looks to the bottom of the balcony. He spots a couple out for a late night stroll together. "There is no forgiveness for that."

"Listen." Luna takes a deep breath. "I know what's it is like to think of yourself as a monster. Believe me. It doesn't help matters." She turns her head back toward him. "I'm sure if your family knew why you did what you did, they would understand."

Fireheart sighs. "I guess I'll find out when I bring them back."

Luna jolts. "What do you mean by that?"

"I can bring them back Luna. I have the means. All I need is the opportunity."

"Fireheart. It's been thousands of years. By now, they're-"

"Still there," Fireheart says sadly. "The place I sent them to is timeless. They might as well have been immortals like myself."

"If you bring them back, will you finally forgive yourself?"

"I suppose there's only one way to find out."

"Then I wish you the best of luck in your efforts." She raises a suspicious eyebrow. "Just...don't go hurting anypony in the process."

"Nopony who didn't have it coming already for a long time."

"...You mean Discord, don't you?"

Fireheart's face turns red. His eyebrows narrow. He stares at Luna but soon she sees him staring past her, as though his stare is meant for the past itself. Several moment pass before Fireheart speaks. "This is what I have to do to fix things."

"Fireheart, Discord has changed."

Fireheart raises his voice. "Everypony keeps saying that, but I'm not buying it! HE doesn't change. He never will. You want proof? Look at Twilight's friends. Him and I have a debt to settle, and when I'm through with him, he won't hurt another pony ever again!"

"Fireheart..."

"It's been a pleasure talking to you princess. Goodnight."

"Fireheart,"

"I said goodnight."

Luna pauses for a moment, and begins to fly away. She pauses one more time. "You were Celestia's pupil for a reason, Fireheart. I know you'll make the right choice. Don't let your soul be poisoned like I did."

Fireheart watches the princess fly off into the night sky. He watches her intensely. "Well, looks like another sleepless night," he mutters.

In her temporary sleeping quarters in the castle nursery, Twilight too suffers from a sleepless night. She paces the floor with worry. Worry for her friends. Fear and suspicion of Fireheart. Confusion over Discord's riddles and attempting to remember them correctly. She stops herself and walks down the hall to the restroom for a glass of water. She picks up the glass, spots something out of the corner of her eye and jolts.

"I told you he was trouble, but does Twilight Sparkle ever listen to her friends? Noooooo."

"Discord!" Twilight angrily half whispers. "You scared me half to death! Who is trouble?"

"You know who." A glass-shaped Discord returns himself to his normal form. "You know, Twilight. That time, it wasn't actually intentional. Discord clears his throat and glass sprays out. "We need to talk, and we need to do it discreetly." Discord transforms himself to the form of a gray stallion. "Follow me,"

Twilight rolls her eyes and follows. Discord leads her outside to the garden square just outside of the hedge mazes.

"Really?" Twilight says, "You're leading me here?"

"Ah, such fond memories. Look. It's only because nopony else is going to be wandering around out here at 3:30 in the morning, and Luna is claustrophobic."

Twilight cranes her head. "She is?"

"Focus, My Little Twilight."

"Okay, so what's all of this about?"

Discord stretches out his hooves. "Ugh, how do you ponies handle moving in such a constrictive form? Okay...how do I explain this? Look. You know I'm not making you do this quest just to be cruel, don't you? I mean, I know it looks that way, but it's not."

Twilight raises an eyebrow. "Care to explain why then?"

"Well, it's just that this whole thing is designed to teach you something, something extremely important."

"Which is?"

"I can't tell you."

Twilight grits her teeth. "Why not?"

"I can't tell you that either. All I can say is that it's something that needs to be shown, not told."

The two continue to wander down the maze. She stops for a moment.

"What is it, Twilight?"

"Why are you avoiding him, Discord?"

"I'm avoiding him, because if he knows I'm around, it will put you in danger, not to mention potentially the rest of Equestria, though he doesn't know it yet."

"What are you talking about?" Twilight says, "What kind of danger are you talking about?"

"Can't say, so I suppose time will tell."

Twilight growls in frustration. Discord bends himself over and in front of Twilight. "Now before you get all bent out of shape, allow me to be a good friend and assist you with one of your problems. You were having trouble remembering my little riddle, weren't you? Allow me to write it out for you. I've been studying your handwriting. Let me know if I'm on the mark. I even brought a quill."

Discord pulls out one of Twilight's feathers. He sneezes out a bottle of ink. "Well now, what was that doing up there?"

He manifests a scroll and writes the riddle on it. "There now. Now you don't even have to go on memory. Show it to your friend, if you like. Trust me, it was painstaking to learn to write the way you do. You're just so...obsessive about it."

Discord's riddle shows a legible, clear, controlled font, almost identical to Twilight's.

"I got to hand it to you, Discord. This looks an awful lot like my handwriting."

"Of course it does. We're best buddies! How would I not spend my days studying your every move and expression?"

She raises her right eyebrow. "Uh, seriously?"

Discord instantly reappears in front of her in the form of Twilight and raises his right eyebrow. "Uh, seriously?" Discord even parrots her voice. Discord turns back into himself. "That's what you sound like."

He shrugs. "In either case, you're a smart little pony, so I'm sure you'll figure the riddle out right away. You have my vote of confidence, Twilight. The first one I made easy on purpose. Just don't over-think it like you tend to do, and you'll be fine."

"Discord, when are you going to give me some answers?"

"In due time, Twilight. In due time. In the meantime, I think you are in need of some rest." Discord snaps his fingers, and the two appear back in the nursery. "Tata!"

Another snap of his fingers, and Discord is gone. Twilight stares at the undersized nursery bed for a moment, sighs, and lays down. With the morning comes some sanity and the energy to think things through. Tonight, however, she'll take what she can get.

Author's Note

I wrote this chapter in the middle of the night. Pretty fitting, eh? Sleep well, my friends.