Nightmare Moon on Oak Street

Chapters

Consign to Dream
First Blood
Smoke, Fire, Blood, and Screams
Running Won't Save You
I’ll Leave You In Stitches
Heroism Will Cost You
Embrace Fear
Insanity Unleashed
Cognitive Collapse
Epilogue

Consign to Dream

Chapter 1: Consign to Dream

Luna tossed and turned on her new four-poster bed. Mumbling curses to herself, she used her magic to shut the window. The frigid wind had blown it open for the second time that night. Tightening the silk duvet around her body, she shivered and closed her eyes. She should have gone to sleep shortly after midnight, but the weather conspired to keep her awake. The dark chocolate she’d snuck into her room for dessert probably didn’t help. She only meant to eat a half-dozen, but the empty box in her wastebasket said otherwise.

Her royal bedchamber grew dark as she pulled the curtains closed. The royal guard knew not to bother her while she slept, as sleep didn’t always entail rest for Luna. She sighed again and whispered to herself, “It’s alright, the prison cell is strong. Just relax, Luna.” She wanted to fall asleep naturally, but she’d use magic if she had to. With one more deep sigh, her body stopped fidgeting, and her eyes remained closed…

~~~~~

“Why do you do this, dear Luna? Why fight me? Don’t you remember how good it felt when we were together?” The voice felt even colder than the vacuum of space. Like a glacier grinding across a plain of permafrost, it ground against Luna’s patience. “Just put down your burdens for one night, and allow me to take care of you. I promise—”

“SILENCE!” Luna’s voice boomed impossibly loud in this place. She touched down after circling only once— an almost perfect landing. The amorphous shadow sitting in the middle of the vast crater shrank and solidified, but didn’t vanish. “I shall not give in to thy temptations. If trapping you here every night is the price I pay for harmony, then I pay it gladly.” This conversation had played out more or less the same way every night since Luna received harmony’s blessing.

Shadows fell off of Nightmare Moon like hot tar, yet she stood like a broken mare, with her head bowed. Heavy chains bound her to a huge moon rock. She glanced forlornly at the deep gouge left in the black sand by her futile attempts to leave. “Couldn’t you at least give me something to do, other than drag this pitiful rock around? At least leave me in Mare Fecunditatis,” she said with a wry smile. “That would be fun.”

Luna scowled. With a casual spell, she lifted the massive stone and smashed it into the center of the crater. Nightmare Moon wheezed when she bounced across the rock’s surface as it landed, making the crater just a bit deeper. “Nay, We maintain your redemption will come only through friendship. Do you wish for my friendship?” Luna asked. She strolled toward Nightmare Moon, her hooves brushing pale moon dust over the gouge in the crater. It had taken an entire day for Nightmare Moon to drag the boulder across the airless surface of the moon to make that path.

Nightmare Moon’s eye burned emerald; the cat-like slits narrowed to razor-sharp focus on Luna. “Is it hard for you? Always trying to redeem me? You slipped again and used the royal ‘We.’ Just admit it, you enjoyed our time together. Look at you, so worn around the edges. Are you having a rough night? Relax, set down your burdens, let me—”

Luna snarled, and magic slammed Nightmare Moon flat against the ground, like a giant invisible hoof had stomped on her. “This is MY world, MY dreamscape, and MY mind. You will behave yourself, or you’ll stay here in Mare Tranquillitatis.” Luna sighed and turned away from Nightmare Moon. She looked out over the desolate moonscape and let her eyes rise to greet the stars. She spread her wings as she prepared to take flight.

This tired sequence of events played out the same way night after night. Every day, Nightmare Moon would drag the pale boulder as far as she could. Every night, Luna would easily toss it back, like a meteor, into a slowly growing crater. None of this was as it appeared, because everything in dreams is just an illusion, a metaphor created by the dreamer. Locking away thoughts just made them grow stronger over time, so Luna devised a far more clever solution. Instead of locking Nightmare Moon in some kind of prison, she sublimated her in the Sea of Tranquility. As metaphors go, it effectively kept Nightmare Moon in check, so long as Luna visited at least once per month to keep her from leaking into other parts of her psyche.

Luna visited daily. Although today, she looked frazzled. She couldn’t even keep up a perfect appearance, a simple feat in the dreamscape. Unless her physical body rested poorly, which meant...

Nightmare Moon grinned, and shot a smoky tendril at Luna. Success! She could hardly believe it! With a lurch, she melted through the chains that bound her, and vanished into Luna’s nebulous tail. Normally, Luna would notice this sort of thing, but tonight she seemed tired. Nightmare Moon shrunk her form inside the constellation of Scorpio. Should I attack now? Not yet… I’m too weak, I’ve spent far too long in Mare Tranquillitatis. I need to gain strength from a nightmare. If Luna were to have a bad dream… Nightmare Moon thought with a wicked grin.

Luna spread her wings and stepped into the ether. In a flash, the dreamscape changed. Nightmare Moon looked out in awe. She could only see backwards, the opposite direction Luna faced, but this place energized her like an oasis in the desert. A fearsome, black nightmare flowed around her, giving her a taste of her old strength. “HA-HA-HA, give your magic to Tirek. I promise it will be quick!” A deep voice spoke out of sight. Nightmare Moon didn’t know who Tirek was, but she liked the fear he generated in… wait, this isn’t Luna’s fear. The delicious taste had a heady flavor, but felt like fear from helplessness. Luna almost never felt helpless, so whose fear did this belong to?

“Calm yourself, Rare Find. You know Tirek is banished, yes?” Luna’s voice asked.

A sniffling male voice responded, “I’m sorry, Princess. He just… came out of nowhere.” There came a crack of lightning, followed by a cry. The fear vanished like smoke, causing Nightmare Moon to scowl. They stood in a dark, empty alley. Now, she could only hear Luna, this sniveling foal, and crickets.

“You understand it’s your merely fear that you see? Tirek isn’t really here, it’s all in your head—”

“But it feels so real! I know I’m dreaming, but that doesn’t make it any better.” The male voice sniffled again.

“It’s the first step to lucid dreaming. Once you take control, you’ll be able to defeat Tirek easily. After you do it once, the next time will be far easier. Trust me, fear only has the power you give it.” Luna’s voice sounded calming, but Nightmare Moon smiled a vile grin. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have other nightmares to defeat.”

“Thank you again, Princess!” the male voice said. Another flash, and the dreamscape melted again…

~~~~~

“This is going to be the best sleepover ever!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed, as she unrolled her slate-gray sleeping bag. “I’ve even got my favorite sleeping bag with me!” She pronked around the circle of mares preparing for sleep.

“I hope there’s enough room in here. Carousel Boutique usually has little spare space for such frivolity, but with that huge delivery to Hoity having shipped yesterday, there’s plenty of open ground at the moment,” Rarity said, flipping her hair with a haughty smile.

“Yeah-yeah, you’re real generous for letting us use your work space, Rarity,” Rainbow Dash said, with a roll of her eyes. “Pinkie, stop bouncing everywhere. I need to sleep, I’ve got work early tomorrow.” She sat up and brushed crumbs off of her sleeping bag when Rarity wasn’t looking.

Twilight fluffed her pillow and sighed. “Seems like we have less and less time to spend with each other these days. That’s why I wanted a slumber p— sleepover,” she corrected herself. Saying ‘party’ would make Pinkie burst into a two-minute song, at a minimum. While everypony enjoyed that sort of thing, they needed to get some rest, and a song wouldn’t do right now.

“Alright, s’time ta hit the hay,” Applejack said, as she pulled the covers over herself. “Yer right, we should do this more off’n. It was fun.” She yawned and closed her eyes.

Fluttershy settled into her pillow and ran a hoof over Opalescence, who had curled onto the sleeping bag over Fluttershy’s belly. “Sweet dreams, everypony,” she said, before blowing the lantern out and closing her eyes.

~~~~~

Nightmare Moon felt ecstatic. Luna spent her night jumping from nightmare to nightmare. Each time she shattered them and freed their captives from the grip of fear, Nightmare Moon absorbed a few of the remaining shards from the host. Each one fed Nightmare Moon with a life-giving gulp, like a thirsty pony in a desert. I have enough strength to escape, but which pony should I strike? I don’t want to inhabit a weakling’s body, she thought to herself.

Then the dreamscape melted into something familiar.

Nightmare Moon saw a destroyed Ponyville. It looked like magic had been used to simply tear the buildings apart. She snorted silently; such use of magic felt... too crass, too raw, too unrefined. Magic should be used like a scalpel, not a hammer, she thought.

A deafening roar shook the air. “Give up! Or I shall destroy your friends!” boomed Tirek’s voice.

Nightmare Moon wished she could see what was happening. She could hear that sniveling filly, Twilight Sparkle, giving in to Tirek’s demands. Twilight wailed, and sank to the ground with a thump, overflowing with pitiful helplessness. Nightmare Moon drank the sweet nectar, tasting the fear of her most hated enemy.

“Aren’t you going to defeat Tirek?” Luna asked. Nightmare Moon tensed at Luna’s voice.

“I-I can’t!” Twilight cried. “I don’t have the trinket! Discord has it!”

Nightmare Moon had never met Discord, but in her madness, Luna had ranted about the spirit of chaos. Nightmare Moon wondered how Discord had escaped his prison, and what part he had to play in this memory gone wrong. There is too much I do not know. I have been away for too long, but that changes now! she thought.

A black mist crept along the ground. “See what your fear has wrought? Darkness will consume you if you give into fear,” Luna said calmly. “This is all a dream, an illusion. It represents what you truly think and feel. Are you so scared without your friends? Would you like me to banish the darkness for you? It’s the least I can do.”

Why possess Luna when I can overpower that mewling unicorn, Twilight Sparkle? I may not return to full strength in such a weak body, but I will force her friends or Luna to kill her! Even if I enter the void, it’ll be worth it to take Twilight Sparkle with me! Nightmare Moon decided. She slipped out of Luna’s tail and into the black mist. A sweet aura of fear flowed through it, feeding her further. She swirled around a nearby tree, hiding herself in its shadow.

Twilight’s voice sniffled from out of Nightmare Moon’s sight. “N-no, I can do it. I think…” Nightmare Moon watched Luna’s silhouette tense for a long moment before it nodded and stepped back. The mist slowly evaporated.

“Very good, Twilight. Keep it up,” Luna encouraged. Nightmare Moon laughed to herself at Twilight’s pathetic attempt to regain control. It might have been good for a first try, but simply banishing the black mist of fear was only the first step. It didn’t prevent—

“HA HA HA!” The voice of Tirek boomed across the landscape. A monstrous, demonic form dominated the horizon. It blotted out the moon and stars, and grew more monstrous still. Crimson eyes looked at Twilight like a pair of red stars glittering on a black cloak. Nightmare Moon felt a joy she hadn’t felt since returning to Equestria with Luna in her thrall. Such a monstrous form meant the dreamer’s fear grew out of control.

“How do I win without my friends?” Twilight cried. Nightmare Moon peered from around the tree’s trunk, keeping her nebulous form hidden. They were on top of a small hillock overlooking a destroyed Ponyville. The landscape looked like a giant had taken an axe to it; massive gouges tore at the land, while the remaining grass looked wilted and gray. “This isn’t how it happened in real life! Tirek hasn’t betrayed Discord, I don’t have the amulet, and Discord’s grayed out my friends. I can’t unlock the Tree of Harmony, and I don’t have my magic. What do I do now? How can I be the Alicorn of Friendship if my friends won’t help me?”

If Nightmare Moon had a physical head to turn, she would have snapped her neck in her effort to see Twilight Sparkle. Luckily for her, Luna and Twilight focused on the huge, demonic Tirek, instead of looking behind them. Nightmare Moon could clearly see the drooping wings on Twilight's back. She stared, transfixed at the sight of a new alicorn. Yes… yes… oh YES! If Twilight is an alicorn, and I possess her... The thought made Nightmare Moon’s black heart race with anticipation.

“Hmmm…” Luna mumbled, while she sat pensively, rubbing her chin with a hoof. Twilight cowered behind her, trying to hide from the massive Tirek. “I hesitate to try this, but… these friends who have abandoned you? They are only figments of your imagination, created by your mind. Would you like to share a dream with your friends? Your real friends?”

Twilight sobbed, “W-what? C-can you do that?”

Nightmare Moon hid fully in the shadow of the old, dying oak. Oh, this is too perfect! If Luna links the dreams of Twilight’s friends, I will have the chance to strike at them as well! Once they are finished, Twilight’s sanity will crack, and then I will have her! And without the element bearers, I will never be exorcised! Celestia and Luna will have to kill me… if I don’t kill them first in my new, powerful alicorn body! Nightmare Moon’s thoughts whirled with dark designs for her hated enemies.

Luna rose to her hooves and nodded. “Alright, Twilight. Try to fight Tirek; I will go and bring your friends to you. I will leave you six to your dream, and I promise, by the end of it, you’ll have conquered your fear.” Luna spread her wings, and in two strides, vanished into a vertical plane of air, like diving into an invisible pond. A fading ripple marked her passing, leaving Nightmare Moon to absorb even more fear that fell off of Twilight in waves. She curled onto the ground, hugging her tail with the monstrous form of Tirek surrounding her.

Which one first? Nightmare Moon thought as she watched.

A rainbow streak burst out of the air and landed next to Twilight. “C’mon, Egghead. You know I’d never leave you hanging.” Rainbow Dash stood next to Twilight, her eyes tracking around the horizon. “Whoa! Tirek was never that big in real life!”

This one likes to play the heroine. I should give her the chance… Nightmare Moon eyed Rainbow Dash; she seemed unafraid of Tirek. In fact, she focused almost exclusively on Twilight.

An apple tree grew in between Twilight and her view of Tirek. A bright, shiny bunch of apples sprouted in time lapse. Applejack stepped out from behind the tree and smiled. “I think you could use a little help, Twilight.”

I recall that one relies on her strength. Perhaps something to turn that strength against her... Nightmare Moon mused, as she watched Applejack.

Twilight replied, “I know something is serious when you call me by my name instead of ‘sugarcube.’” She glanced at the canopy of leaves above her, hiding Tirek as he roared. She shivered and asked, “Am I that scared?”

Applejack snorted, and shook her head as if getting rid of cobwebs. “We got it, sugarcube. Don’tcha worry none! Ah’ll have this here nightmare hog-tied in two shakes of a lamb’s tail!” Applejack sounded confident, while Nightmare Moon secretly grinned. Her mind whirled with terrifying possibilities.

A bizarre, candy-striped flying machine descended from the heavens. Pinkie Pie piloted the vehicle, setting it down to the wide eyes of everypony, even Nightmare Moon. Once the whirling blades stopped, Pinkie bounced out of the pilot seat and exclaimed, “Nightmare-shmightmare, it’s party time!” She wore a stupid grin on her face as she hugged Twilight.

“Oh! Well, it’s good to see you too, Pinkie,” Twilight giggled, “even if it’s only been like, an hour.” They stayed that way for a moment.

Nightmare Moon eyed Pinkie hungrily around the bole of the tree. That one is dangerous. Not easily frightened… but I detect a hint of insanity within her! Perhaps, if I draw that out, she’ll become a useful tool for my purposes… Nightmare Moon leached the fear that fell away from Twilight as Pinkie squeezed it out of her.

Nightmare Moon shrunk into the shadow of the tree as a multicolored light show burst from the canopy of the apple tree. “This place is far too dreary. How about some pink highlights… wait! Orange! That’s the ticket!”

“Rarity!” Twilight exclaimed.

Nightmare Moon could almost hear the hug. I think I’m going to be sick. I’m going to enjoy breaking you, Rarity. Although, there’s something about her. Some secret fear, perhaps? I’ll have to look into that, Nightmare Moon thought.

“Oh, sorry, I got distracted for a moment, but you should add some color to your dreams, darling.” Rarity’s voice floated over the hilltop, and where her lightshow struck, color returned. The black and white world of the nightmare bled spots of color, and the light of the stars in the night sky pierced Tirek’s shadowy form.

A cloud of butterflies swirled along the ground from every direction. They swarmed over the grass, flowing around Nightmare Moon’s hiding spot. They raced to the top of the hill, spinning around the trunk of the apple tree into a multicolored tornado. Ah, this must be the Element of Kindness. So timid, so fearful, but not of animals. I’ll just have to frighten her with something more… familiar. She might be the key; her fear could give me the means to win. I’ll have to save her until the endgame...

The butterflies settled on the tree trunk, turning it into a fluttering mass of tiny, colorful wings. “Um… hello, Twilight.”

“There you are, Fluttershy. I didn’t even see you arrive! Umm… are you okay? Please look at me,” Twilight asked. Nightmare Moon risked peering through the boroughs of the old oak tree. Fluttershy sat at the base of the apple tree, her back snugly against it and her eyes squeezed shut.

“I’m here for you, Twilight. Um, Luna said you were having a scary nightmare, and it wasn’t until I got here that I realized I would be in a scary nightmare, too. So, I don’t think I’ll be looking at anything. I’ll just cheer you on, okay?” Fluttershy shook almost imperceptibly, but Nightmare Moon could sense it. Fluttershy gulped as Tirek’s form bent down and simply breathed through the canopy of the tree with a foul exhale of fetid breath. The leaves shuddered as Tirek’s breath washed over the ponies like sewage. “Eeep…” Fluttershy squeaked, her eyes still squeezed shut.

In a flash, the Elements of Harmony appeared around Twilight and her friends. Tirek backed away as light burst from every gem. Nightmare Moon hid in the deep shadow of the oak tree, careful to keep her form from touching the light. Once I gather the shards of this defeated nightmare, it will be time to strike! You will know endless suffering, Twilight Sparkle, before I break you! Nightmare Moon grinned as light shone so brightly on the hilltop that it looked like a tiny sun.

Tirek roared in pain and shattered like glass.

Nightmare Moon breathed in fear, and grinned.

First Blood

Chapter 2: First Blood

Twilight and her friends blinked, spots dancing in front of their eyes, as the light faded. Twilight rubbed her eyes with both forehooves and looked around. She and her friends stood on top of the hillock, but the Elements of Harmony were gone. Wispy, white vapors trailed after the butterflies that slowly flittered away, leaving the six friends seemingly alone under the apple tree.

“PARTY TIME!” Pinkie shouted.

“Heh, kickin’ Tirek’s flank again does call fer a party,” Applejack said. Without turning, she bucked the apple tree. A half-dozen apples fell from the branches, one for each pony. Only Applejack caught hers with a hoof; Pinkie simply swallowed hers whole before it hit the ground, while the other four apples dropped to the dirt in front of their new owners.

Twilight picked her apple up with her magic, brushed it off, and crunched into it. “Thanks, Applejack. Thank you all. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

Fluttershy bit her lip, slowly opened her eyes, then looked around. She gingerly took the apple at her hooves and took a small bite. The apple crunched, just as it should have. Fluttershy chewed, then cracked a smile, causing Applejack to let out a barking laugh. Rainbow Dash and Rarity stopped chewing and looked at her, brows raised. “That ain’t how ya eat an apple!” she cried, still laughing. Applejack flashed a toothy grin, then took a huge bite of her apple; she nearly bit it in half. Applejack chewed for only a brief moment before the joy drained out of her face. Her jaw stopped chewing as she squinted at the remains of the apple in her hoof. Suddenly, her eyes went wide and her pupils shrank.

“BLEH!”

Applejack turned her head away and spat the apple bits out of her mouth with so much force, they sprayed halfway down the hill. She held her tongue out, gagging. Dropping the apple into the dirt, Applejack scraped her tongue with both hooves. “Ewwww!” Rarity exclaimed, as she pointed at the half-eaten apple on the ground.

The other four ponies looked at the remains of the fruit Applejack dropped. Twilight’s nose crinkled and her upper lip drew back. Rainbow Dash stuck out her tongue. The apple on the ground looked healthy on the outside, but the inside looked like the color of burnt toast. A dangling worm hung out of the rotting flesh, its guts leaking out like watery toothpaste. “Ha-ha-ha, you found the best joke, Applejack!” Pinkie giggled.

Applejack glared at Pinkie while she continued scraping her tongue. “Pinkie!” Rarity said with a gasp, “What a terrible thing to say— how is that funny?”

“Lighten up, Rarity! Haven’t you ever heard the old joke? ‘What’s worse than biting into an apple and finding a worm? Finding half a worm!’ Get it!?” Pinkie’s belly quaked with laughter as she rolled on the ground.

“What in tarnation is wrong with ya?! Rotten apples are the worst,” Applejack said, as she stomped away down the hill, still retching. With a sigh, Twilight and her friends followed Applejack, leaving Pinkie rolling in her laughter.

“Hey, wait up!” Pinkie called, as she cantered to catch up to her friends. Once they slipped out of sight, Nightmare Moon chuckled, like schoolyard fillies plotting secrets. The apple’s guts melted into a black puddle, smoldering like a snuffed fire.

~~~~~

“LET’S BURN DOWN THE BARN!” Pinkie shouted over the deafening booms of her party cannon. She had produced the cannon from her own fluffy tail only moments after entering the Apple Family barn. Pinkie insisted they have a party immediately, while asleep, because ‘it would be super-easy to clean up.’ The other five agreed that waking up would be an effective way to avoid the work.

“Puh.” Rainbow Dash spat out streamers and struggled, upside down, out of the mass of multicolored balloons that packed the ceiling.

“H-help…” came a tiny voice somewhere near the ceiling, hidden by too many balloons. Dash held her breath and dove back up. She resurfaced with Fluttershy a moment later, both gasping for air.

“Enough with the decorations, Pinkie!” Dash called. Pinkie twirled around on the disco ball, one hoof holding onto the wire that held it to the ceiling, and her hind hooves on the mirrored surface. She looked ready to sing, holding her other hoof out to the non-existent crowd below.

Pinkie’s eyes suddenly went wide, and a lit light bulb appeared above her head for a moment, literally. “Wait! We need more guests!” she cried. Squeezing her eyes shut, the light bulb flickered, broke its filament, then vanished.

“So much for a relaxing night…” Twilight mumbled. She, along with Rarity and Applejack, looked up at the disco ball. “Are you sure, Pinkie? We could just have a nice little party with the six of—”

POP!

The entire class of fillies and colts from Ponyville elementary appeared, scattered around the barn. Within seconds, they began playing the foalish carnival games Pinkie had set up with her party cannon earlier. The bounce house filled in seconds. Fillies squealed with delight as they bobbed for apples. Colts shot water guns at targets in an attempt to win a plushie. Pinkie appeared behind the booth with the water guns. Stroking her fake moustache and straightening her candy-striped jacket, Pinkie barked for her little carnival game. “Step right up, filles and gentlecolts! Try your hoof with a water gun! First one to fill the balloon wins a prize!”

Rarity looked as if she stood in a swarm of rats, as the fillies and colts surged around her. “What? How many ponies are linked to this dream? Pinkie, what have you done?!” she cried, as she darted around the crowd and squeezed over the young ones with her superior size.

A little cream-colored hoof tugged at Rarity’s mane. She looked down into the oversized glasses of Twist; Rarity recognized her as one of Sweetie Belle’s classmates. “Don’t you want every filly and colt to have some fun?” Twist asked.

“That isn’t what I’m saying!” Rarity shouted over the cheers of the other fillies. “I just don’t— wait a moment. Aren’t you the little rascal that has a lisp?”

“Oh my gosh, Rarity! You’re totally right! How could I forget?” Pinkie said, as she stroked her fake moustache. She pointed at Twist with her showmare’s cane and said, “You, lisp, now!”

“I-th s-so shorrwy. Ah’ll linthsp reeeaal good frm now on-th!” Twist replied with copious amounts of spittle. Rarity shook her head, blinking. She looked between Pinkie and Twist.

Both of Rarity’s ears pressed against her head and her brows rose. “What’s going on?” She asked.

“I think I know,” Twilight replied from behind Rarity. She edged her way into the crowd to stand near Rarity, while Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash hovered after her, ears piqued.

“Good, can you explain it to me?” Dash asked. “‘Cause I don’t wanna spend all night in a little filly’s dream. I’ve got better things to do than spend all night having tea with fillies, wearing a frilly, pink dress.”

Rarity scoffed, “But you’d look good in a pink dress! It would go with your coat so well. Not something frilly, of course. Something more like…” Rarity trailed off in thought, looking at Rainbow Dash with a little smile. Dash rolled her eyes, just as a flash of light covered her body.

“Wh-what the—! Get this off’a me!” Rainbow Dash cried. She now wore a tight-fitting, black-and-pink ensemble. The get-up looked like older-style workout clothes, but held some modern, sleek lines. If Twilight didn’t know better, she’d have thought Dash was about to model for a new line of training clothes. The pink matched Dash’s coat, but not her scowl.

“This is all a dream, but not every pony is real. These colts and fillies are just figments of Pinkie’s imagination,” Twilight said, then she stifled a laugh. “Just like Pinkie wanted fillies and colts to enjoy her games, Rarity wanted you in a dress,” she explained, while she pointed at Dash. “I guess imagination is a powerful thing here.”

“Wh-what if a pony imagines something scary? Like… if you imagined Tirek?” Fluttershy asked with a quaver. She flew a little higher, balloons partially covering her body, her mane covering the rest. She trembled, her breath coming in short gasps.

Rainbow Dash did a mid-air contortion as she tried to peel off the tight-fitting clothes. She bit at the fabric, like a dog wearing an unwanted sweater.

“Calm down, Fluttershy! Just think happy thoughts like Pinkie Pie. Look at her— she’s never been so happy!” Twilight said, as she pointed at Pinkie, who wore an almost manic grin. Surrounded by fillies and colts, she smiled wider than any of them. She just watched, while they tried their best to win a cheap plushie.

“QUIT IT!” Applejack barked, as she chased another colt off the hay bales. “THOSE AIN’T TOYS!” she cried, snatching a heavy pipe wrench away from another pair of colts fighting over it. “Twilight, make it stop! This is a nightmare!”

“Calm down, Applejack. It isn’t that bad, they’re just imaginary colts. This isn’t even a real barn, it’s just from… well, I guess it’s from your imagination,” Twilight said. “Seriously, what’s the worst that could happen?”

A trio of all-white fillies with red, green, and blue eyes darted past Twilight. She’d never seen these fillies before in her life. Giggling, care-free, they took up an impromptu game of jump rope, using Applejack’s good lasso. They sang a rhyme in high, foalish voices. “One, two, she’s coming for you…”

Applejack growled, “Get out, ya varmints!” One of the balloons near Fluttershy burst, causing her to cry out.

“Alright, alright. Let’s get these foals outside so they don’t wreck your barn,” Twilight said, as she lit her horn. The barn doors slid open, letting in the cold, starless night air.

“Stupid dress!” Dash kept biting at it, like she had fleas, in order to peel off the offensive garment. Another pair of balloons popped near Fluttershy, making her clap her hooves over her ears. A single tear slid down her cheek.

Rarity giggled, “Oh, leave it on, Dash. It looks wonderful! Shouldn’t we all just enjoy ourselves?”

“HEY! Who’s popping my balloons?” Pinkie inquired. She glared around the room, her eyes stopping on Applejack.

“Keep them doors closed!” Applejack barked. “Ah don’t need stupid fillies and colts running around the orchard, messing with mah apple trees!”

“...Three, four, better lock your door...”

The barn door slammed shut, locking with a bang. Several more balloons popped, causing Fluttershy to curl into a ball in mid-air, mumbling to herself. A cold wind swept through the barn, chilling the ponies and making their hairs rise. The wind kicked up bits of hay and dust. “Thanks, Twilight. Now help me stop all these rascals from destroying the barn!” Applejack said, with a giggling colt and filly slung across her back.

“Um… I didn’t close the door,” Twilight said uneasily. Her eyes darted about the room, searching. The wind picked up, blowing from nowhere. It rattled the disco ball, balloons, and the tools on the workbench.

“Fluttershy, are you alright?” Rarity asked, looking up as Fluttershy quivered helplessly.

“Be a tree… Be a tree… Be a tree… Be a tree… Be a tree…” Flutterhshy mumbled over and over to herself. The wind kicked a tuft of hay off the top of the stack of hay bales. The little straws, normally not dangerous, tore through the cloud of balloons like razors. Several balloons popped all at once, causing Fluttershy to let out a short scream.

A wispy, black mist bled out of Fluttershy, like a too-heavy, dark fog. It spilled in between Rarity’s hooves, sending an icy shiver up her spine. Her breath fogged once, and then it happened.

The wind picked up a loosened hay hook sitting on top of the hay bales. It shot across the room with unholy speed, as if it were possessed. “FLUTTERSHY! LOOK OUT!” Rarity screamed. She jumped and pushed Fluttershy out of the way at the last second.

From her hiding place, Nightmare Moon gasped in ecstasy, as she vigorously rubbed herself between her hind legs. Her lips quivered, her eyelids drooped, her tail twitched, and her mouth opened just a bit. She drank in the scream.

“AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!” Rarity screamed so loud, the rest of the balloons popped. Dash stopped squirming in mid-air, her fearful eyes locked on Rarity’s foreleg. The handle of the hay hook had shattered the disco ball and tangled itself around the hanging wire.

The other end of the hay hook pierced Rarity’s left foreleg, just above the hoof. The sharp tip came out of the other side of her leg. Tiny square mirrors rained down around Rarity, each one reflecting her crying face and her scream of pain.

Fluttershy spun away and bounced once on the floor, before she came to a rest in a fetal position. She sobbed, crying useless phrases to herself. “Be a tree… trees don’t feel fear… trees can’t feel pain… be a tree…” More of that alien black mist leaked out of her eyes and drifted across the floor.

“Leave mah barn alone! And leave mah trees alone!” Applejack shouted at the onlooking colts. They all held faces that looked like teasing, smiling clowns. The black fog swiftly coalesced around her hooves. “Rarity, what’s all the hollerin’ about?” She looked, saw Fluttershy, and then Rarity. Applejack felt the horrible cold climb up her limbs, like ice spreading across a freezing lake. Her eyes went wide, and she opened her mouth to scream.

Nightmare Moon gasped one last time, ecstasy coursing through her. Her entire body tensed and froze. She let the wave of fear finally boil over. Her breath hitched in her throat, and her face contorted into exquisite pleasure.

“Be a tree…” Fluttershy said again, weeping.

CRRRAACCKKK!

“AHHHhhh—glck!” Applejack’s scream started with pain and cut short. It looked like an invisible giant had grabbed her with both hands, and twisted! Her lower legs stayed in place, while some force held her upper body into the air and spun that half of her around. It didn’t take more than a second for her spine to snap. Twilight, Dash, and Pinkie looked on in shock, their mouths agape. Twilight stumbled backwards and fell to her haunches. All of the colts, and all but three of the fillies vanished in a puff of white smoke.

Applejack’s head continued twisting even farther than the rest of her. Her limbs stretched to their breaking point, and a little beyond that. Tears and blood splattered out of her eyes, nose, and mouth. The look of fear Applejack gave Twilight settled into her brain like a headstone.

Then Applejack changed.

It happened fast. Her lower limbs changed first. Her hind hooves pushed into the ground with so much force that they shattered. Rivulets of blood spread out of the cracks, but by the time they hit the dirt, they transformed into roots. Thin, brown tendrils found purchase in the dirt. Her fur melted, morphing into something rough and brown. Her forelegs stretched far beyond what should have been possible, but instead of tearing off, they grew thinner. With a sickening rip, they split into branches. Another fantastic crack, and her skull split open, bursting with verdant green.

By the time Twilight staggered to her hooves, it was over. In front of her stood a healthy, blooming apple tree. Bright, red apples sprang into being on its boroughs. It looked like a normal tree, except for all of the blood that ran down in between the rough grooves in the bark, seeping into the ground. Applejack’s hat floated down and stopped in the dust at the base of the tree, all other remnants of her gone.

“HEEYAHHHHHH-HA-HA-HA-HA!” Rarity screamed again, until her lungs emptied and she gasped for air. With each shuddering sob of pain, another spatter of blood dribbled down her foreleg, seeping into her mane and coat. “H-HELP!” she screamed, her eyes squeezed shut, tears bleeding out of them as fast as the blood leaking from her foreleg.

“Nine, ten, she’s back again.”

Smoke, Fire, Blood, and Screams

Chapter 3: Smoke, Fire, Blood, and Screams

“Rarity!” Rainbow Dash screamed. A blue blur shot across the room and hugged Rarity tight. “I’ve got you, relax!”

Rarity continued wailing, quivering like a worm on a hook. Blood splattered into Dash’s eyes and face as she lifted Rarity to take the weight off her injured leg. “Wake up… wake up… wake up,” Fluttershy mumbled, still curled into a fetal position.

“A-Applejack?” Twilight stammered. “W-what, how...?” Her eyes looked in the direction of the bloody tree, but remained unfocused.

“TWILIGHT!” Pinkie shouted, right into Twilight's face. “Help Rarity!”

“W-What? RARITY!” she screamed, as she galloped across the barn, kicking up bits of dust and hay. She slid to a stop underneath Dash and Rarity, and just stared. “What do I do now?”

“Use your magic and get her down!” Pinkie shouted. “Focus, Twilight!” Pinkie grimaced and mumbled under her breath, “Why am I the one who’s acting level-headed?”

Twilight shook her head, clearing away the cobwebs. Her horn glowed, and so did the wire holding the hay hook and the remaining bits of the disco ball. Quickly unwinding it, Rarity screamed again when the last knot snapped open and she jerked downwards under the influence of gravity.

“I’ve got you! It’s okay!” Dash held Rarity with all four of her hooves. She floated gently down to the ground, landing in front of Twilight. Holding Rarity like a porcelain doll, Dash set her down on a thin bed of hay.

Rarity curled her left forehoof to her chest, breathing in ragged, deep breaths. Twilight swallowed as she looked at the injury. The rusty hay hook pierced Rarity’s leg just above her hoof, and glistened with blood. Deep crimson spread across her foreleg and chest, adding to the matching drops on her face and mane. Twilight glanced at Rarity’s face and instantly regretted it.

Rarity’s face contorted in pain, her lips quivered, and spittle leaked from her mouth. Her puffy, red eyes leaked tears like a broken pipe. She continued gasping for air, on the verge of hyperventilating. Twilight grimaced and said, “This will only hurt a little.” Without another pause, she lit her horn, took hold of the hay hook, and yanked it backwards.

“HEEYAHHHHH!” Rarity screamed anew as the bent metal slid back a fraction of an inch. The sound of metal scraping on bone, like nails on a chalkboard, could be heard throughout the barn.

“What are you doing?!” Dash cried. “Pull it out!”

Twilight sobbed once, and said, “I can’t, not without twisting! It isn’t a straight piece of metal.”

“It’s like an arrow— you gotta push it through,” Dash replied.

Twilight looked at Dash, her mouth open and her brows raised. “W-what? I can’t—”

“G-Get it o-out…” Rarity moaned. Snot leaked from her nose almost as fast as the tears from her eyes. She sobbed again, “P-p-please.”

The handle would prevent the hook from being pushed all the way through. Dash put one hoof on the straight section of the hook, and pressed it firmly against the ground, then whispered, “It’ll be over in just a second.”

Rarity quivered again, shutting her eyes. Twilight gasped when she realized what Dash planned to do. “Wait!” she cried, but Dash didn’t wait. Dash stomped her free hoof down on the handle.

The force of the blow sent a shockwave down the length of the hook. Rarity opened her mouth and screamed again. Every other pony in the barn flattened their ears, trying to block Rarity’s cries. The wooden handle splintered, but didn’t break. Before Rarity could jerk her foreleg away, Dash smashed the handle again.

CRACK!

The handle broke, leaving just the metal hook stuck in Rarity’s foreleg. She screamed in agony as the shock traveled down the metal and into her wound. Twilight held the metal shard in her magic while Dash held Rarity’s foreleg in place. Twilight whispered apologies and comfortless words to Rarity, then steeled herself.

Twilight swallowed, focused on the metal, and pushed. Rarity wailed again, but the metal wiggled forward, sliding with all the smoothness of a pair of mismatched gears.

Totally coated in blood, the hook slid through Rarity’s leg. Twilight tossed the metal shard away; it landed with wet thud in the dust.

Rarity gasped and pulled her foreleg to her chest. Her eyes lolled in her head as blood spurted out of both sides of her leg in a series of quick, little beats. Blood covered her chest and foreleg, staining her coat a dirty red. Twilight turned to Fluttershy and begged, “Fluttershy, help us! Rarity’s hurt... Fluttershy?”

Dash and Twilight turned to find Pinkie sitting on her haunches in front of the bloody apple tree. Pinkie cried quietly as she stuffed candy from a small plastic bag into her mouth. Blood had pooled around the tree’s roots, seeping into the dirt. Pinkie mumbled something inaudible, her hair flat and devoid of its usual fluff. Fluttershy mumbled things to herself, still curled into a fetal position, stroking her tail with a shaky hoof.

“HELP HER, YOU USELESS PIECE OF HORSESHIT!” Dash screamed at Fluttershy. “STOP BEING SCARED AND HELP OUT FOR ONCE!”

Rarity rolled onto her other side and wailed again, tears pooling beneath her face. Dash knelt beside Rarity and stroked her mane. Twilight’s mouth felt like a desert. She licked her lips, and trotted across the barn to stand over Fluttershy. “Please, Fluttershy. Rarity really needs some help. Won’t you help her?” Twilight used her magic to bring Fluttershy to her hooves, and covered her with a wing.

Fluttershy stood on her own, but she still hung her head, crying softly. “I’m s-so s-scared, Twilight.”

“This is just a dream. A bad dream, that’s all,” Twilight whispered.

Fluttershy shook under Twilight’s wing. “I’m scared of bad dreams.”

“Don’t worry, Fluttershy. We’re in this one together,” Twilight said, as she led Fluttershy to Rarity. She never looked up from the ground, but she didn’t need to once she stood over Rarity. With a gasp, she knelt, and a medical kit appeared in a small white puff of vapor. Twilight smiled as Fluttershy’s instincts took over.

Dash stood by Twilight and watched as Fluttershy set and wrapped Rarity’s injury. Twilight focused on Pinkie again. Twilight mentally braced herself and thought, one problem at a time, Twilight. A cold shiver ran down her spine when she saw Pinkie.

Still sitting on her haunches in front of the apple tree, Pinkie’s ears stood upright. Three strange white fillies surrounded her, leaning in close to her head. They whispered into her ears, things Twilight couldn’t hear, but something about the three strange fillies gave Twilight a chill. “Pinkie?!” Twilight barked as she trotted up behind her.

The three white fillies simply vanished into a cloud of white smoke that drifted away. Twilight glared at it for a moment before she gave Pinkie her full attention. “What’s up, Twilight?” Pinkie asked.

Pinkie’s body hadn’t moved, only her head looked at Twilight. She looked like a doll with its head twisted a little too far around. Her hair hung flat, and her grin bespoke ignorant joy. Twilight had only seen this once before, and it scared her even more now. “H-hi, Pinkie. Is everything alright?” Twilight asked, with a backward glance to Rarity. Dash glared at Fluttershy and said something quietly that Twilight couldn’t hear.

“Everything’s just hunky-dory, Twilight! Why don’t you sit down and chat? Applejack is a great listener,” Pinkie replied. She looked at the tree again and tilted her head. “Of course I can hear you, Applejack. Inanimate objects can be friends, too— and you’re still alive! Why wouldn’t we be friends?”

Twilight’s eyes went wide, and tears leaked down her face. She covered a gasp with a hoof when Pinkie stood before the tree and gave it a hug. Blood seeped into her fur, staining it crimson. Pinkie leaned against the tree, closed her eyes, and spoke quietly, rubbing the tree’s trunk. “There-there, AJ. I’m sure Twilight can hear you, too.” Pinkie looked over her shoulder. “Can’t you hear her, Twilight?”

Twilight froze, her brain trying to parse what she saw and heard. Pinkie’s gone mad with grief! What do I do? Twilight thought.

Suddenly, Pinkie jumped back and glared at Twilight. “Stop being rude! If you can’t hear her, get closer! She can’t move, you know!” Pinkie shouted. Without warning, Pinkie grabbed Twilight by the scruff of her neck and roughly pushed her head onto the tree’s trunk.

“Ow! Pinkie, what’s the matter with…!?” Twilight stopped when she heard it. Pinkie hugged the tree and Twilight in one embrace, holding Twilight’s head against the trunk. Twilight could see blood staining her fur, but she didn’t care. Her left ear could hear it, deep within the tree—

lub-lub...lub-lub...lub-lub

—the unmistakable sound of a heartbeat. Twilight gasped, and pushed herself a little tighter against the tree. “I… I can hear it!” She exclaimed. Pinkie smiled again.

“KILL ME!”

Twilight stumbled away from the tree as if she’d been electrocuted. The voice sounded like Applejack’s, but muffled. The agony in that voice came through clear as a bell. “W-what?” Twilight stared at the apple tree with horror.

“You can hear her, too?! YES! I knew I wasn’t crazy!” Pinkie exclaimed. Her flat hair and eyes that didn’t focus on the same thing suggested a different story.

“TRAITOR!” Rainbow Dash shouted. Twilight spun to see Fluttershy standing a short distance away from Rarity. She stood on three legs, supported by Rainbow Dash. Her left foreleg was tightly bandaged, and she sniffled a few times, but otherwise looked well. Dash glared at Fluttershy and covered Rarity with a wing. “We don’t need a pony who hurts her friends!”

Fluttershy sobbed. “I-I’m s-sorry. I d-didn’t mean t-to… do whatever it is I did!”

Twilight’s head whipped between her two groups of friends. Dash, Rarity, and Fluttershy on one hoof. Pinkie and… the apple tree on the other. She looked at Dash and said, “Don’t blame her, she—”

Creak…

Everypony slowly turned their heads to look at the apple tree. Pinkie still hugged the rough bark. She held a grin so wide, it looked like her smile would take over her entire face. “Isn’t that better, Applejack? I always imagine my friends moving around, even when it’s just Mr. lamp or Mrs. alarm clock!”

The rest of the ponies watched in awe and horror as the apple tree moved. The branches and limbs creaked and swayed for a moment before the trunk split and cracked. Roughly in the center of the trunk, just above head level, a jagged maw appeared below a set of glowing, emerald eyes. The face was rough and barky, the features indistinct, but Twilight knew Applejack when she saw her.

The mouth of the tree let out a low growl, like a timberwolf. Twilight gulped, and her voice quavered. “P-Pinkie, get away f-from that thing… We’ve got to get out of here. We need to wake up!”

CRUNCH!

A sizable chunk of the roof caved in with a resounding crash. Luna landed in the middle of the barn, surrounded by moonlight, bits of roof, and splintered wood. She snorted and flapped her wings once, blowing away the debris that clung to her. “TWILIGHT SPARKLE, THOU MUSTN’T WAKE!” Her voice boomed across the barn.

Every other pony turned to look at Luna and her dramatic entrance. Twilight’s tear-stained face held Luna’s attention. Twilight’s voice cracked, but she asked, “What’s going on? Applejack... she’s… she’s changed!”

Luna looked at each pony imperiously, her gaze lingering on Twilight. “Thou must understand, ‘tis Nightmare Moon’s doing. She’s escaped into your dream and has grievously injured your friend in the waking world.”

Rarity sobbed, “How is that possible? We’re just dreaming, aren’t we?” Dash smiled and nodded, still supporting some of Rarity’s weight.

Luna looked at Rarity grimly. “We are afraid not. ‘Tis the power of Nightmare Moon. If thou give in to fear, Nightmare Moon will grow strong. Strong enough to cause your injuries here to appear upon your body in the waking world. Death’s reach can claim you as well, if the fear is strong enough.” Luna glanced about the barn. “I do not see Applejack— where is she?”

Pinkie grinned and hugged the apple tree again. “She’s right here! She’s not dead, she’s just a little… movement-impaired.”

Luna’s eyes went wide at the sight of the tree. “Her back is broken in the waking world, but We never expected this. Often such improbable deaths cause the dreamer to simply die of a heart attack, but only if we’re lucky.”

Rainbow Dash gulped. Twilight sobbed and asked, “What could be worse than death?”

Luna fixed Twilight with her gaze. “She shall lose her mind from the shock and pain. She’ll be stark raving mad. An insane pony is a perfect host for Nightmare Moon.”

Pinkie squeezed her eyes shut and hugged the tree tighter. The tree’s limbs bent, and hugged her back. Pinkie whispered loud enough for every other pony to hear, “I won’t let her take you. You’ll be safe, I Pinkie Pie promise.”

Fluttershy continued to weep. “Please, let’s just wake up.”

Twilight sniffled and asked, “Yeah, why shouldn’t we just wake up?”

Luna crept forward, towards the apple tree. “Because if thou wake up, and Applejack isn’t dead, Nightmare Moon will possess her body. We cannot allow such a thing.”

Pinkie whirled around at the sound of Luna’s voice. “What do you think you’re doing?”

Luna stared at the apple tree, and said in a low voice, “What We must.” Luna lit her horn and a lump of hay levitated in her aura. With a glance, her horn shot a spark, and the ball of hay ignited into a ball of fire.

“Stay back!” Pinkie cried.

Twilight’s eyes went wide, and she breathed in and out rapidly, her heart racing. Dash started forward and jostled Rarity, causing her to cry out. Dash stopped short and gritted her teeth. Fluttershy cried, “No! No-no-no-NO!”

Pinkie flung herself onto Luna. “NO! STOP!” she cried, wrenching Luna’s head left and right in an effort to break her concentration.

Luna shifted left and right, the flaming ball moving with her. “Step aside, Pinkie Pie. This must be done.”

“Heh-heh-heh,” laughter echoed through the barn. A black mist leaked into the barn from the hole in the roof, coalescing into a vaguely equine shape on the ground. “Careful what you wish for, Fluttershy. It might just come true…” The voice of Nightmare Moon came out of the shadowy form.

Luna whirled on the figure, with Pinkie hanging onto her like an albatross around her neck. “Showing yourself already? We thought you’d be too cowardly. We suppose you’re not going to rely on cheap tricks this time.”

Nightmare Moon stepped out of the black cloud with a mischievous smile. “Oh, dear Luna, we need not rely on such parlor tricks this time. These ponies, especially lovely Fluttershy, have provided us with an ample supply of fear. We did little more than redirect it.”

Luna snorted and lowered her head. “Thou shall not pass.”

Nightmare Moon giggled, a high-pitched, girlish laugh that threatened to shatter glass. “As if you could stop me.”

Luna snorted again and pawed the ground with a forehoof, like a bull ready to charge. Nightmare Moon lunged forward. Twilight aimed her horn, intending to hit Nightmare Moon with a bolt of magic, when she once again turned into a cloud of dark smoke. Luna shook off Pinkie, and charged through the smoke without slowing down, emerging on the other side. Skidding to a stop, Luna turned, the ball of fire still floating near her. “What art thou playing at?”

The smoke darted forward, directly at the apple tree. Pinkie growled and pounced at it, but just like Luna, she passed through it. The smoke swirled around the apple tree, seeping into its crevices. “NO!” Luna cried. She reared back and aimed her horn at the tree.

“I promised!” Pinkie shouted, as she tackled Luna, but too late. Luna let the ball of fire fly, and it hit the apple tree squarely in the branches. In seconds, it flickered to life, setting the tree aflame.

“GYAHHHH!” the tree screamed, with a deep, reverberating voice. The black smoke leaked out of the tree’s ‘mouth’ and pooled around the roots.

“Get off of Us!” Luna growled, as she struggled to her hooves. Pinkie still held fast to her.

“Applejack…” Rarity sobbed.

Pinkie turned, saw the apple tree, and let go of Luna. “Water! We need water!” She looked around frantically.

“No, leave it be.” Luna finished her proclamation by biting down on Pinkie’s tail, holding her in place.

Tears streamed down Twilight’s face. She imagined what would put out the fire in the Apple family barn. Cider, she thought, and just like that, a barrel of cider appeared in front of her. “Applejack! I’ll save you!” Twilight cried. She flung the barrel of cider with all of her magical might. It shot across the barn with the force of a cannonball.

BOOM!

Thunder rolled across the barn floor, reverberating in everypony’s chest. Fluttershy screamed. The barrel of apple cider cracked and splintered as a jagged bolt of lightning caught it in mid-air. Apple cider exploded out of the shattered barrel, spraying outward into a cloud of steam and burning ozone. Bubbling cider splashed against Twilight, Pinkie, and Luna’s hooves. Everypony stood, mouth agape, staring at Luna.

Luna’s horn smoked, like a gun that had just been fired. “Oh my, Luna, how… violent of you,” Nightmare Moon said, as she coalesced out of the smoke again, backlit by the burning tree. “Letting Twilight’s precious little friends die? Now who’s the monster?” She tittered while the tree moaned in agony behind her. Flames licked the barn’s support beams, and sent angry cinders popping into the air.

“Begone, foul creature!” Luna said, through gritted teeth.

Nightmare Moon crouched and pointed her horn at Pinkie and Luna. “You know, you learned to use lightning like that from me. It’s too bad you never learned to use it correctly. If you want to use lightning—” her smile grew predatory and her horn lit with eldritch fire. Luna’s eyes went wide as she roughly tossed Pinkie by the tail out of the way. “—you have to want the target to die. Screaming. Instantly.” Nightmare Moon’s voice burned with contempt. “Like THIS!”

“Aieee!” Pinkie flew towards Twilight, who caught her with her magic. In the next instant, everything went white and silent.

Twilight blinked several times, her heart racing. Oh goddess, no! I don’t want to go blind and deaf! I have so much more to read! She felt herself cough, then take a deep breath. She smelled something burning, a combination of paper, hair, and metal. She closed her eyes, hot, salty tears streaming down her face.

“[font size=6]Thou must flee[/font].” Twilight heard a distant voice calling to her, but couldn’t make out the words. She blinked again, and the world darkened, coming into focus.

Her heart fluttered in her chest. I can see! She found herself on her side, hot ashes raining down around her. When she saw what had happened, she wished to stay blind.

The tree burned bright, while the flames spread across the barn’s roof. Pinkie Pie lay next to her in a heap, crying. Dash and Rarity cowered on the ground, Dash still covering her with a wing. Fluttershy wailed into the night air, curled into such a tight ball, Twilight thought she might stay that way forever.

But the sight of Luna made Twilight want to crawl into a dark hole and hide. Luna had been flung against the barn doors, which had splintered from her impact. Luna’s armor had melted away, and her chest bore a charred, smoking patch of flesh the size of a dinner plate. She coughed, blood dribbling down her neck and chest from her mouth. Nightmare Moon’s mane and tail burst into blue flames as she glared at Luna. “JUST DIE ALREADY!” She screamed, as she lit her horn again.

Black mist leaked out of Fluttershy, Rarity, and Pinkie. Thin wisps of the stuff raced across the ground and seemed to join themselves with Nightmare Moon. Luna coughed again, wheezing, and cried out with her last breath, “Flee you fools, you cannot defeat Nightmare Moon like this!”

In a flash, a wave of lightning blasted across the barn. The barn doors were atomized in an instant. Instead of a doorway, a massive, burning hole was left in the side of the barn.

Twilight didn’t think, she just screamed for her friends, lifted Pinkie in her magic, and galloped for her life.

Running Won't Save You

Chapter 4: Running Won’t Save You

Twilight stumbled and fell onto her face, gritty dirt grinding into her mouth. Spitting out the soil, she quickly rose to her hooves. Fluttershy darted into the treeline, followed by Rainbow Dash, still supporting Rarity. Twilight’s magic winked out, and Pinkie fell into the dirt next to her. Gasping for air, Twilight looked behind her.

The inside of the barn looked like an artist’s depiction of Tartarus. Fire ate away at the support beams, clawing its way to the roof, and setting the hay alight. The front of the barn didn’t have any doors, just a massive, circular hole ringed with charred, smoking wood. Nightmare Moon strode out of the barn with a grin. Backlit by flames and the agonizing screams of whatever remained of Applejack, Nightmare Moon approached Twilight as if she had all the time in the world.

“Running away? I suppose when Luna is frightened enough to run away from me, you should, too. Ahhh… but you can’t, can you?” Nightmare Moon asked, her grin growing wide. “I’ll answer the question that must be… burning inside of you! Ha-ha-ha!” Nightmare Moon laughed at her own little joke. “Applejack isn’t dead— not that I don’t have the power to kill her. You see, she’s my plan B. She’s going to stay right there, in the barn, rooted to the spot, screaming in agony. Pain like that does a good job of grinding away your sanity. So long as I hold Applejack’s mind in place, she won’t die or wake up.” Nightmare Moon glanced behind her with a wicked smile, as she stopped in front of Twilight and Pinkie.

“You’re a monster!” Twilight sobbed out between tears.

Nightmare Moon held a shod hoof to her chest, in mock offense. “Flattery will get you nowhere with me, Twilight. Of course, you could always just let me in…” Nightmare Moon used her magic to toss the weeping Pinkie Pie aside, as her shadowy mane lifted Twilight by the chin so the two alicorns could look at each other in the eyes. Tears slid down Twilight’s face, while Nightmare Moon’s eyelids fluttered. “It will feel so good if you just let me in, Twilight. I promise.”

Twilight closed her eyes, tears still leaking out of their corners. Her head would have dropped were it not being held. Sniffling, she replied, “Yes, you can have me. Do with me what you want, just let Applejack go.” Nightmare Moon gasped at Twilight’s reply and brushed Twilight’s bangs aside with a forehoof. That same forehoof slid down Twilight’s neck, tracing the line of tears. Nightmare Moon’s mouth parted, her pupils dilating, and she drooled just a bit.

POW!

Nightmare Moon growled and her forehoof fell away. Twilight opened her eyes to see Rainbow Dash swooping at Nightmare Moon like a predatory bird. “Are you crazy, Twilight? Get out of here!” Dash yelled.

Twilight shook her head, blinked, and charged towards the flaming barn. “Applejack, I’ll save you!”

“BEGONE, PEST!” Nightmare Moon’s voice boomed behind Twilight. Thunder detonated behind Twilight, causing her heart to pound faster in her chest. Lightning blasted into the air, tearing a jagged, white-hot line across the sky.

Twilight felt the hairs on her coat stand on end. She chanced a backwards glanced, praying that Dash hadn’t been hit with lightning. Dash swirled around Nightmare Moon with fantastic speed. Nightmare Moon gritted her teeth at the rainbow-colored tornado forming around her, flicked her eyes to the barn, and smiled. Twilight realized what Nightmare Moon intended at the last second.

“NO!”

Nightmare Moon let loose a fantastic blast of lightning that could have hit Rainbow Dash, but she clearly aimed it at the barn. Twilight screamed, her brain kicking into overdrive, desperately trying to stop the lightning.

CRACK-BOOM

Twilight’s heart raced as she skidded to a stop, narrowly avoiding the metal rod. It appeared in a flash of purple light, just when she needed it. The lightning rod absorbed the deadly discharge, while Twilight’s brain tried to keep up with what happened around her.

“No more lightning for you, Nightmare loser!” Dash taunted.

Nightmare Moon turned to Rainbow Dash, sniffed, then smiled— like a predator finding prey, hiding without anywhere to run. “You enjoy saving your friends, playing the big heroine, don’t you?” Dash stopped flitting around Nightmare Moon. Instead, she opted to hover high in the air out of Nightmare Moon’s reach. She swallowed the lump in her throat, but watched Nightmare Moon anyway. “Who do you like more, Pinkie… or Rarity?”

The crack of a beam splitting heralded the collapse of the barn. A large chunk of the roof fell in, spitting embers into the sky. “Applejack!” Twilight cried.

Nightmare Moon ignored the flaming barn. Instead, she continued to taunt Rainbow Dash. “Well now, I’m going to give you a special reward, just for heroines! You get to make a sadistic choice. Who will you save?” Nightmare Moon asked, laughing. Dash glanced at Twilight, a pleading look on her face. Then she glanced back at Pinkie, Fluttershy, and Rarity, visible from her height, but not to Nightmare Moon. Twilight knew Dash had less confidence than she liked to show, and right now, Dash looked nervous.

Nightmare Moon cackled as thin wisps of black mist leaked out of Rainbow Dash. Nightmare Moon popped her neck, like a weightlifter preparing to break bricks, then split! The amorphous shadows around her peeled off of her, forming an equine shape… then another… and another! Dash looked on in horror as three Shadowbolts stood laughing at her. “That’s not fair!” Dash screamed.

Nightmare Moon tittered, turned to the Shadowbolts, and commanded, “Go find the others and kill them. I would prefer it if you picked them up and dropped them from the sky. It’ll be amusing to watch the blue one try and catch both of them.” She turned to Twilight and continued, “Now then, where were we? Ahhh yes, doing just what Pinkie Pie wanted… let’s burn down that barn, shall we?” Nightmare Moon and the three Shadowbolts kicked off the ground and took to the air in different directions.

It would take only seconds for the agile Shadowbolts to find Pinkie, Fluttershy, and Rarity from the air. Dash shot forward and tried to tackle the first one, but passed through it, as if it were made of smoke. The Shadowbolt continued forward, but took the time to twirl in mid-air and laugh at Dash. “So, which one are you going to save?” the Shadowbolt asked.

“W-what are you talking about?” Dash asked with a quaver in her voice. Sweat beaded on her brow, but she stared down the Shadowbolt anyway.

“You can’t save them all, you know. You WILL fail— it’s the only option. Sure, you can save one of them, but you can’t save them all. And we both know letting one of your friends die is a big, fat, failure, isn’t that right, Rainbow Dash? We all know you’re not a heroine, and we’re going to show you how big of a failure you really are.” The Shadowbolt spoke with a raspy voice that held all of Dash’s attention. Dash shuddered once, and a tear slid down her face. “You always wanted to know if you’ve got the stuff to be a heroine, so we’re giving you the gift, the thing you’ve always wanted. You should thank us. Of course, as villains, we’re just going to have to give you a sadistic choice. Try to stay in the moment, heroine! Now choose!”

Twilight’s hooves pounded the dirt as she surged forward towards the burning barn. She skidded to a halt only three pony-lengths away, because Nightmare Moon dropped out of the sky like a meteor, landing in front of her with a billowing cloud of dust. “Now then, where were we? Oh yes, you were going to let me have you...” she purred, then added, “It’s alright if you scream and squirm. I like it that way!” Nightmare Moon licked her lips.

Breathing hard, Twilight screwed her eyes shut. Her horn glowed, and a beam of bright, purple light shot straight up into the sky. The clouds darkened, and with a distant crack of thunder, rain poured down. Twilight sank to her haunches and looked up at the sky with pure joy. Rain washed down her face, clearing away her salty tears. The fire in the barn sputtered under the downpour.

“Oh, Twilight!” Nightmare Moon moaned, with a lewd forehoof rubbing herself between her hind legs. “Precious child, why do you delay the inevitable? Why deny yourself such pleasure?”

“Just go away!” Twilight cried.

Nightmare Moon stopped and tilted her head. “But why? Our union will be perfect. You’ll know no pain, only pleasure. Trying to deny yourself such a fate is impossible. It would be like… trying to deny gravity!”

“AHHHHHH CATCH ME!” Two simultaneous screams echoed out from behind Twilight. She snapped her head around just as lightning lit the sky. For a brief, horrible instant, she could see them.

Two Shadowbolts had captured Pinkie and Rarity. They had flown a good distance apart, and dropped their captives. Rainbow Dash watched her two friends falling, in stunned silence. Twilight caught only a distant glimpse of Dash’s face, but she knew Dash had choked. Rarity’s tears streamed upwards while Pinkie flailed about uselessly, her flattened mane and tail flowing upwards.

“NO! I WANT WATER! SAFETY! ” Twilight screamed. A flash of purple light, and they were gone.

~~~~~

SPLOOSH!

Twilight breathed in water, fear racing through her as she drowned. One second, she wanted to save her friends, the next, she dropped into a frigid lake. Bone-chilling cold stabbed at her like a million needles. Her lungs burned for oxygen. Squirming, flailing her limbs, she rose to the surface. With a gasp, she broke through, sucking in freezing air and sputtering out water.

Twilight shivered in pain, the icy water soaking her fur as she swam forward. It didn’t take long for her hooves to touch sticky mud, and eventually she dragged herself onto land and flopped forward. Shaking herself like a dog, still shivering, she looked around.

Three of her friends coughed and sputtered behind her, struggling in her wake. Dash flew in the air just over the surface of the water. Like an eagle catching a fish, she plucked Rarity out of the freezing lake, and the two of them landed roughly on the bank next to Twilight.

“GYAH!” Rarity yelped as she landed on all four hooves. She flopped onto her left side, curling her bleeding foreleg to her barrel. Fluttershy and Pinkie shook themselves much like Twilight did, both of them shivering from the cold. “Ap-p-plejack?” Twilight asked hopefully.

They stood on a rocky stretch of ground under a large tree. Twilight’s face quickly lost hope when she realized it wasn’t an apple tree. Instead, the evergreen dislodged a mass of snow when another snowflake floated down and landed on an already snow-covered branch. With a sound like a load of laundry being dumped into a bin, snow buried Rarity. “H-help!” Rarity moaned, muffled under the drift.

“Rarity!” Dash stumbled to the mound of snow. Using her wings, she brushed snow aside, digging down.

“I’ll h-help,” Fluttershy offered. Fluttershy still dripped with lake water, and shivered constantly. Frost crept into her long mane and tail.

“Haven’t you done enough?!” Dash barked. Fluttershy squeaked and recoiled from Rarity like she’d been bitten.

“Where’s Applej-jack? D-didn’t you t-teleport her t-too?” Pinkie asked Twilight while her teeth chattered.

“I d-don’t kn-know,” Twilight replied. “I j-just want-ted us-s t-to be s-safe.” Her teeth chattered as well. She looked around, searching for shelter. This cold would get them if they didn’t do something about it.

It took a few moments, but Dash eventually uncovered a violently shivering Rarity. She looked even whiter than usual. Twilight screwed her eyes shut in concentration. What makes me warm when I’m cold? she thought.

“Here you go, Twilight,” said a coltish voice. Twilight opened her eyes and looked down. Spike stood in front of her, seemingly unfazed by the cold. Somehow, she had a blanket on, one of her favorite comforters. Spike held a thick book with a steaming teacup full of hot chocolate resting on top of it. The beverage even had three small marshmallows in it.

The wind kicked up, causing Twilight to shiver again. She ducked under the canopy of the evergreen and called out to her friends, “Under here!”

Dash and Fluttershy had to carry Rarity, while Dash shot angry glares at Fluttershy. Pinkie sat with her back against the tree’s trunk and pulled out a small plastic bag with a yellow smiley-face emblazoned on it. She reached in with a hoof and withdrew several pastel-colored candies. She stuffed her face, as if this would be the only food she’d ever get. Yet, no matter how many times she reached into the bag, it always seemed to have more candy. Rarity moaned again.

“Oh my gosh, how could I forget about you girls? Spike, do you have more blankets and hot cocoa?” Twilight asked.

Spike stood right where Twilight left him, cleaning one of his claws with a small nail file. “Hmm? Oh, sure,” he replied. He reached behind himself with both claws, and when he brought his claws into view again, they held blankets and hot chocolate. He balanced these items with perfect precision, something nopony had ever seen him do before. He wrapped each pony with a blanket, starting with Rarity, and gave them all a drink.

“Thank you, Spikey-wikey. I knew you’d come to my rescue!” Rarity said in between sips.

“No problem, Rarity. You were the coldest, so I gave it to you first,” Spike replied.

“I’m sorry, Rainbow Dash,” Fluttershy mumbled. “I didn’t mean to—”

“THIS IS YOUR FAULT!” Dash shouted, cutting her off. “You’re always a scaredy-cat, and now that’s going to get us killed!” Dash wailed.

“This doesn’t make sense,” Twilight said, rubbing her chin with a hoof. “Unless… Nightmare Moon... How devious…”

Rainbow Dash bundled herself in the blanket, drank the entire hot chocolate in one gulp, and asked, “What’s Nightmare Moon doing?”

Twilight turned to Fluttershy, “Did you want Applejack to be a tree?”

Fluttershy’s eyes shone with tears. “NO! I just… didn’t want to be afraid anymore. I hate being scared.”

Twilight nodded. “Then it must have been Nightmare Moon. She’s using our fears against us, but she’s even more powerful than just pulling them out and showing them to us.” Dash and Fluttershy nodded. “She’s even using the fears of one pony against another pony. I guess it’s because our dreams are linked together?”

Rarity sighed. “I thought we had defeated Nightmare Moon. None of this makes any sense to me. Nightmare Moon being in our dreams, Luna trying to kill Applejack, and Spike not doting on me. The only thing I get is the cold. I suppose that’s my fault, I hate being cold.” Rarity crouched lower into her blanket and sipped cocoa. She fidgeted with the blanket, trying to get it over her horn.

Twilight tilted her head. “I don’t like being cold either, but are you afraid of the cold? And what do you mean Spike isn’t—”

Suddenly, Spike tore at the edge of Rarity’s blanket and squirmed into it with her. “Don’t worry, Lady Rarity, I’ll keep you warm,” he said, while wiggling his eyebrows. With a small, deft flame, he blew on the base of Rarity’s cup, heating the beverage again.

Rarity, Fluttershy, Dash, and Twilight blinked. “Um, that was quick,” Fluttershy said quietly.

“Well, at least this is familiar,” Rarity said, as Spike nuzzled into her side.

“Hold on one second,” Twilight exclaimed, her ears going straight up. “I just wanted to be warm, and I thought about Spike bringing me a book, blanket, and hot chocolate. I didn’t think about Spike so much as what he brought me. Then you,” Twilight said, pointing to Rarity, “mentioned Spike acting differently, and I realized you were right. And now…”

“...He’s acting just like the Spike we know,” Pinkie finished with a mouth full of candies.

Rarity rolled her eyes. “I believe that makes this Spike a figment of Twilight's active imagination,” Rarity said, as Spike continued nuzzling into her. “I don’t remember him being quite this forward in real life.”

“Um… where are we?” Fluttershy asked, looking around. Beyond the lake and shoreline, the terrain looked featureless, aside from a few evergreens. Far into the distance, Twilight could see the shadow of a snow-covered mountain range.

Rarity sighed, then replied, “This is the lake house my parents and I visited when I was a filly. I hate this place.”

Once Rarity finished speaking, the mist parted and a log cabin appeared a short distance down the shoreline. Twilight rubbed her eyes and looked at it again. It isn’t that far away, how could I have missed that? she thought. Maybe Rarity didn’t think about it until she said it. How scary— things can just appear if we think about them! Keep thinking happy thoughts, Twilight! “Everypony, we need to stay positive. Don’t be afraid,” Twilight commanded.

Everypony’s breath steamed in the air, but on the next exhale, Fluttershy breathed out black mist. The black wisp of vapor flowed in between Dash’s legs and lost itself in the lake’s waters. Dash watched it go, then snapped her head back to the group to glare at Fluttershy. “Stop doing that!”

Fluttershy hung her head. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to do… whatever it is I did!” she replied.

“Stop being afraid!” Dash barked.

“Fluffy bunnies… fluffy bunnies…” Fluttershy mumbled to herself.

“And don’t turn any of us into bunnies!” Dash snapped.

“Pretty birds… pretty birds…” Fluttershy chanted quietly to herself.

Dash ground her teeth. “Is that black stuff… like… fear?”

Twilight nodded her head. “Maybe? Everypony, be careful what you think about. If you imagine it here, it just might become real.”

Rarity sighed. “Easier said than done, Twilight.”

Pinkie laughed, spitting a few candies into the snow at their hooves. “Quick! Don’t think about pink elephants!”

Within two seconds, an enormous pink elephant appeared, standing a short distance away. It looked like an oversized plushie. Pinkie’s eyes grew as wide as her smile. Twilight looked on nervously and gulped. “Wow, that’s… um… it’s really hard not to think of something when you say that, Pinkie.”

“I know, isn’t it great?” Pinkie bounced up and down. The elephant flapped its ears, fanning itself.

“I’m sure glad to be here!” Spike piped up. He sighed as he nestled into Rarity’s coat.

Dash put up a hoof, like a filly in class. Twilight was all too happy to call on her. Dash asked, “If this is all a dream, and we can make stuff by imagining it, why don’t we just imagine Rarity’s leg getting better?”

Twilight blinked, and her face brightened. “That’s a great idea!” Fluttershy gently tugged Rarity’s hoof out from under the blanket. The other ponies looked at Rarity’s hoof intently, while Rarity winced.

“Feel better?” Dash asked hopefully.

Rarity sniffled. “No, please give me my hoof back. It’s painful to have it stretched out like that.”

Fluttershy gasped, “Oh, I’m sorry, Rarity.” She released the injured hoof.

“I don’t get it.” Dash frowned. “How can I make that,” she said, pointing to the pink elephant, “but not fix Rarity’s leg?”

“I’m not sure. Did anypony not imagine Rarity’s leg getting better?” Twilight asked.

A moment of silence passed, Dash searching the other ponies for doubt. When her eyes settled on Fluttershy, they narrowed. Fluttershy crouched and hid behind her mane. She actually shrunk in size until Dash’s eyes went wide at the sight. Dash blinked, and looked at a Fluttershy that couldn’t have reached past her chest. She’d make a good playmate for Tank at this point.

Rarity coughed and cleared her throat. “I’m afraid it’s my fault. I just can’t imagine my hoof getting better instantly. It really hurts!”

Dash pulled her eyes away from Fluttershy to look at Rarity. “Don’t you want your hoof to get better?”

Rarity nodded, while Twilight shook her head sadly. “I don’t think wanting something is good enough. You have to imagine it.” Twilight squeezed her eyes shut for a second and a blackboard, complete with chalk, appeared. Twilight opened her eyes and smiled at her creation. With a few taps of the chalk, she outlined several equations. “I’m willing to bet that we all have to believe something is real for it to actually be real… or as real as things get in here. Wouldn’t that be something? There’d be a few philosophers that would have something to say about ponies creating a reality they all have to agree on.”

“Which is why you’ll get more powerful without your friends getting in your way. Why not ditch these losers and become goddess of this place?” A harsh voice echoed from above, out from the slowly falling snow. The friends looked up, peering around the canopy of the evergreen. High in the air, a Shadowbolt hovered, standing on a dark thundercloud. She watched Twilight with an insane grin.

Twilight’s eyes narrowed. “Never!” she cried.

The Shadowbolt chuckled, “Well, that makes the mistress’ job easier. I’ll just call her now.” The Shadowbolt jumped and landed on the thundercloud, sending a crack of lightning to strike the evergreen the friends hid under. The tree split down the middle, flames erupting out of its husk. Thunder followed the lightning, rolling out over the lake like an air-raid siren heralding impending doom.

Pinkie bounced onto her hooves, her blanket falling to the ground. “RUN!” she hollered. The elephant vanished in a cloud of white smoke.

Blankets and mugs of hot cocoa flew everywhere. Spike hopped onto Twilight’s back and held tight. Twilight and Pinkie darted for the only nearby shelter they could see— the log cabin. Dash hauled Rarity to her hooves and together, they hobbled towards the cabin as well. Fluttershy could hardly keep up with the injured Rarity; her smaller stature made her already slow flight even slower.

The Shadowbolt laughed and sniffed the air. “Ah, so that’s what Fluttershy’s fear smells like. So sweet, like honey! Does that make me a bumblebee? Should I come and harvest you?” The Shadowbolt laughed again. “What do you think, Fluttershy?”

Twilight and Pinkie reached the cabin just as Fluttershy glanced over her shoulder. With a tear in her eye, she whispered, “No.” Her word came out as more dark smoke.

The Shadowbolt sucked in a deep breath and drew in the smoke. She held a maniacal grin for an instant, while her skin crawled and bulged. With a loud, wet rip, the Shadowbolt burst into a buzzing mass. Thousands of bees, like a dark, angry cloud, expanded where the Shadowbolt had been an instant ago. They converged on Fluttershy, Rarity, and Dash. Each pony screamed as the insects stabbed them dozens of times. The three felt like they were taking a bath in Rarity’s sewing needles.

A bee stung Dash on her right eyelid, causing her to open her mouth and scream. A mistake, as a couple of bees took the opportunity to sting her on the inside of her cheek. Rarity received a number of stings on her soft underbelly, causing her to double over. Fluttershy received fewer stings, only because her small size left less surface area, but each sting felt more like a spear rather than a needle. Each pony jerked with every sting, like they were being electrocuted, slowly.

Twilight, Pinkie, and Spike reached the cabin. Pinkie yanked the door open and the three darted inside. Standing in the doorway, Twilight screamed, “Get in here!”

With a final cry, Rainbow Dash let go of Rarity and shot skyward, bees following her rainbow trail. She didn’t have to fly far to find a thick, steel gray cloud. With a swift buck, the cloud rumbled and dislodged rain. A rippling curtain of rain spread to all the surrounding clouds, like a pebble hitting a pond. Within seconds, the entire landscape weathered a deluge of icy rain, instead of lightly falling snow. The bees melted instead of flying away. When the rain hit them, they seemed to turn into some kind of inky, black sludge that stained Fluttershy, Rarity, and Dash’s coats. Hobbling, flying, and moaning, they made their way to the cabin.

“Good thinking, Dash!” Twilight nodded with a weak smile. Once all six of them were inside the cabin, Twilight shut the door, plunging the friends into a pitch-black room.

With a small pop, a light flickered to life. Pinkie held a sputtering lantern on her head. Twilight looked around to take stock of their situation. Pinkie once again took out her “happy candy bag” and stuffed her face. Dash flopped to the floor, moaned, and quietly cried. Fluttershy curled into a fetal position, whimpering. Dash, Fluttershy, and Rarity each sported a coat covered in angry, red welts. In particular, Dash’s right eye swelled shut. A black sludge stained their coats, running down in rivulets like cheap eyeliner.

Rarity curled into a ball on the ground and cried; salty tears leaked down her face to form a puddle beneath her head. “And now the nightmare is complete,” she said, between swollen lips. Spike waddled to her side and gently stroked her mane with a claw.

“W-what do you mean?” Twilight asked breathlessly.

Rarity sobbed quietly, but deeply. Her tears wracked her frame, and her breathing became hollow. “The one and only vacation I took as a filly here turned into a disaster. I got motion sickness on the way here. I threw up on the side of the road in front of another family of four at a rest stop, completely embarrassing. Then, once we arrived here, I got stung by a bee while exploring the nearby forest during the day. It rained on my way home, and it grew so cold. I remember being miserable on the way back, hurting from the bee sting, and sick of being cold. I wanted the trip to be over so badly. And then—”

“STOP!” Twilight shouted. A shiver ran down her spine and into her wings. “Don’t say or think anymore, Rarity. It’s already happened, don’t dwell on it. Forget the rest of the trip, think happy thoughts!”

Rarity moaned and rolled onto her back. “Oh, my leg, my stomach, it hurts so much,” she complained. Twilight winced when she saw Rarity’s stomach. The bees had stung her at least a dozen times in the thin skin of her belly. Instead of several, small welts, Rarity sported a single large, red welt on her stomach. It looked like the size of an orange.

“We need some more light in here. We need to find these three something for the pain,” Twilight said.

Pinkie nodded, “Yeah, we should look around.” The light in the lantern flared brightly, spewing light across the cabin. The ponies squinted for a moment; Twilight could see the cabin clearly now. It looked dusty and plain. Old, paisley curtains hung on the windows. Crude, wooden carvings of woodland animals peeked from the few shelves scattered across the cabin. A stone fireplace sat on the far wall, next to an old, cast-iron stove. A few rocking chairs sat on the hardwood floors, spaced around an open area with a beige, shaggy rug. A short flight of stairs led to a small upper floor with a wooden banister overlooking the rest of the cabin. The entire cabin smelled musty, and a fine layer of dust covered everything.

“Is there a medical kit in here?” Twilight asked, then facehoofed. “What are we doing? We want a medical kit? Lets just imagine one.”

Rarity gagged, and rolled to her hooves. She quivered, spittle forming on her mouth. “No, not again…” she moaned. With a heave, she clutched her stomach.

“What’s wrong?” Twilight asked.

Pinkie stuffed her mouth with candy and said between bites, “Maybe it’s something she ate? She did say she threw up in front of an audience before she got here.”

“Pinkie! Why would you say that?!” Twilight cried.

“Glahh!” Rarity vomited right in front of her friends, hot tears leaking out of her eyes. Spike stumbled backwards, away from her.

Twilight held Rarity’s mane with her magic and said, “It’s okay, Rarity. We’re your friends. There’s nothing to be embara— ewww!” Twilight’s eyes went wide when she saw what Rarity produced.

A dark, tar-like liquid came out of her mouth. Splattering on the ground in front of her hooves like mud, Rarity wept as it continued to flow forth. The gunk formed into long, snake-like creatures that slithered away from her. Pinkie and Twilight yelped as the creatures shot between their hooves. Like a black wave, they flowed up the stairs. After a moment, they congealed to form shapes on the other side of the banister.

“Ha-ha-ha…” Nightmare Moon’s voice rolled down the stairs like freezing mist. “Don’t worry, Rarity. I would never think to deny you an audience for your disgusting performance!” Nightmare Moon and the three Shadowbolts coalesced out of the shadows on the other side of the banister, leering at the ponies below. “And of course, don’t forget your grand finale!”

Dash rose to her hooves and stood beside Twilight. Pinkie stood on her other side. Even Fluttershy stood, but stayed behind Twilight, Dash, and Pinkie. They gritted their teeth and crouched like tigers, ready to fight. Spike held Rarity’s mane as she heaved, but nothing came out. “I’ve got the hang of this place now, Nightmare Moon. You’re finished!” Twilight said with defiance.

“I doubt that,” Nightmare Moon tittered as she looked over the group. “My-my, Rainbow Dash, you don’t look so well. Can’t see out of your eye, hmm?” Dash snarled, but shifted her left side forward to face Nightmare Moon. “And you’ve given me such good friends to work with... just look how quickly they’ve found you!” Dash blinked her one good eye at the Shadowbolts, and hung her head.

Nightmare Moon settled her eyes on Rarity. “Well? You threw up with an audience, got stung by bees, and trudged miserably through the cold rain. Forgetting something, aren’t we?” Nightmare Moon asked casually. Rarity cried again, her eyes shut. “You were so excited before this trip, you read all you could about camping and the outdoors. Even some first aid books. Why, didn’t you run across a section telling you about frostbite? Didn’t you have horrible dreams about one of your hooves snapping off?” Nightmare Moon mocked a gasp. “Just think of it, the three-legged Lady Rarity!”

“Leave her alone!” Spike snarled.

“Didn’t Rarity tell you all what happened just before she arrived at this cabin?” Nightmare Moon asked. The ponies nervously glanced at Rarity; Twilight bit her lip. “She didn’t know her way around up here, and she didn’t see the lake she was walking on.”

Pinkie tilted her head. “You can’t walk on water without floaties on!” she cried.

Nightmare Moon let loose another lithium-laced laugh. “You can if it’s frozen. Of course, the ice wasn’t very thick…” Nightmare Moon stared at Rarity. “Don’t you remember? Halfway across, the ice cracked…” Rarity wept, while Twilight spread her wings to cover her. Nightmare Moon couldn’t see Rarity, but feathers are no protection from simple words. “The ice cracked and broke. Just. Like. THIS!” Nightmare Moon twitched once and an ice cube appeared at her hooves. She raised a shod hoof and brought it down.

crack

At the sound, Rarity shuddered again. With each sob, she breathed out a dark vapor. Nightmare Moon smiled and sucked in a deep breath. Black smoke flowed into her as she breathed in, as if magnetically drawn to her. With a slow exhale, she breathed out, all while staring at Rarity.

A cone of frozen air and spreading ice shot out of Nightmare Moon’s mouth at the friends. With a cry, they darted away, but Rarity either didn’t see it or couldn’t get out of the way. “NO!” Twilight cried.

There came a rush of air as Spike exhaled. “I’ll never let you hurt Rarity!” he said, steam spreading around his feet. His fire breath neatly countered Nightmare Moon, who looked at the puny dragon with narrow, cat-like eyes. He stood in between Rarity and Nightmare Moon with his chest puffed out.

“Got you!” Dash shouted, as she darted recklessly at Nightmare Moon. Without any warning, or even a delay in reaction, the three Shadowbolts intercepted Dash and held her in mid-air. “Get off me, freaks! How are you all so fast?” Dash thrashed about, but couldn’t seem to shake the three Shadowbolts all at the same time.

Nightmare Moon shook her head slowly while giggling. “Those are your figments, Rainbow Dash. They’re always going to react to you, because they know what you’re thinking. Didn’t you know that? No? Oh well…” She laughed again. “Aren’t you going to save her, Fluttershy?” Nightmare Moon asked. Fluttershy shivered behind Twilight. “No? How about you, young Spike?” Spike glanced at Rarity behind him. “No? I suspect Lady Rarity is incapacitated at the moment, and Pinkie can’t fly… which leaves you, Twilight Sparkle. Why haven’t you trapped me in a cage by now?”

Twilight blinked, smiled, and squeezed her eyes shut. After a moment, she opened them, to find that the situation hadn’t changed. “Why?” Twilight growled.

Nightmare Moon tittered again. “Because you’re too busy imagining a realistic Spike there. Not to mention Luna foolishly linked your dreams, and your friends are having some trouble agreeing with you.” She closed her eyes for a moment and drew in a slow breath. “Hmm… let’s see… Dash is imagining tearing me apart with her bare hooves, Fluttershy wants to be even smaller than she is now, Pinkie actually does agree with you, but the real weak link? Poor Rarity can only think of the pain she felt when she fell into the lake.” Nightmare Moon breathed in deeply again, drawing in the rest of the dark mist from the air. “It would be horrible to lose a limb, wouldn’t it?”

Spike’s eyes went wide; he sucked in a quick, deep breath, ready for Nightmare Moon…

...who let loose her icy breath at Rainbow Dash. Still thrashing in mid-air, she managed to twist to the right and shake off two of the Shadowbolts, then she trashed to the left, with one Shadowbolt still hanging on. That’s when Nightmare Moon’s breath hit them.

“AAHHHHH!” Dash screamed. The Shadowbolt still hung onto her left foreleg, frozen solid. Dash’s left foreleg and wing were frozen solid as well, encased in glittering ice. The weight of the Shadowbolt, and the lack of one wing, caused Dash to tip and fall.

“Catch her!” Twilight screamed at Pinkie, who stood below. Nightmare Moon flicked her eyes at Pinkie, and the other two Shadowbolts darted forward, slamming her into the far wall with a thud. She struggled against them, but to no avail.

Dash and the frozen Shadowbolt hit the ground. Like shattering glass, the entire mass of ice broke into thousands of shards.

Now Dash truly did scream, an ear-splitting yell. The Shadowbolts holding Pinkie, and many pieces of dark ice, vanished in a cloud of white smoke. Pinkie stumbled forward, knelt, and held Dash in her forelegs.

“Yes… oh YES!” Nightmare Moon moaned. She drank in the scream as her eyes rolled up into her head. “Scream in agony for me! Let the pain bleed into you, and unleash your delicious fear,” Nightmare Moon said, as she rocked her hips back and forth, moaning.

Pinkie cried, looking at Twilight for help. Twilight’s brain froze as she stared at the blood pumping out of Dash’s stumps, and the hundreds of pieces of frozen wing and leg scattered across the floor.

I’ll Leave You In Stitches

Chapter 5: I’ll Leave You In Stitches

“Yes… yes… oh YES!” Nightmare Moon breathed out. Dash’s scream tore her throat raw. Twilight’s eyes locked onto Dash and all of the remaining pieces of ice scattered across the hardwood floor. She tried, and failed, to imagine how the pieces would fit back together. Perhaps if she had more time, she could work on this macabre, three-dimensional puzzle…

“RAINBOW DASH!” Fluttershy screamed. Twilight turned her head to look dumbly at Fluttershy. “WE NEED A HOSPITAL!”

“HA-HA-HA-ha-ha-ha…” Nightmare Moon’s laughter grew distant, as if the sound came from a retreating train. The tone grew lower and lower. Twilight blinked away tears, then rubbed her eyes. Everything grew fuzzy and indistinct. Twilight felt like she was looking through a camera lens that badly needed calibration.

Her breath hitched in her throat. My friends! she thought. Twilight could clearly see her friends, but now everything else looked even fuzzier, as if the world had only so much focus to give and had to take some from everything else in order to keep her friends sharp. Everything is soft… and quiet… and warm? Wasn’t it snowing outside? It’s like I’m in a big bed… Twilight mused.

Twilight blinked once more, and when she opened her eyes, everything had changed. She stood in a hospital room with dingy white linoleum. Florescent lights that occasionally flickered, and always gave off a low hum, hung from the ceiling. A single window to her left looked out onto green, sunny fields. A heavy, wooden door on Twilight’s right hung ajar, but no light came from the opening. A gray moth beat itself against the lights, making a quiet thud every second or so. Two beds with sterile metal frames stood against the opposite wall. Twilight’s heart skipped a beat when she looked at them.

Rarity lay in the left bed, Dash in the right. Pinkie sat in a chair by the window near Rarity, eating from her bag of candy at a steady pace, like a machine. Spike stood on a stool to Rarity’s right, clutching her right hoof and rubbing it slowly. Fluttershy stood on Dash’s left, crying softly as she finished wrapping Dash’s wing. “Rainbow Dash! Are you alright?” Twilight asked, hope bubbling in her.

Dash sobbed, and with a shaky movement, pulled her left foreleg out from under the covers. It ended just past her knee in a tightly wrapped bandage. Fresh tears burst out of Dash when she glanced over her shoulder. “My wing!” she cried. “I… I can’t fly! It’s my worst nightmare!”

Twilight shot to Dash’s side. “Don’t worry, this is all in my… our heads!”

Dash cried again, big, sloppy tears bubbling out of her. “That’s not what Luna said! My wing… my real wing is gone! You can have my leg, but gi-hive me b-back my wi-hing!” Dash broke down into pitiful sobbing. Twilight couldn’t understand anything else she said through all the blubbering.

“Shh… there-there, Rainbow Dash,” Fluttershy whispered. “I’m so sorry, I’ll make it up to you. Please, let me help.” As she spoke, Fluttershy slowly grew to normal size. She looked at Dash with soft eyes, dabbing away tears and mumbling assurances that Twilight couldn’t hear. It seemed to have some effect, because Dash’s sobbing subsided to quiet weeping.

That’s when Twilight heard the candies drop and skip across the floor. Like a filly dropping a bag of marbles, little pastel candies rolled across the linoleum and around Twilight’s hooves. Twilight looked past the beds at Pinkie. “This candy is tasteless,” she said, with the tone of a funeral director. Pinkie’s hair completely deflated. It hung around her, limp and straight.

Twilight’s eyes grew wide as she remembered what Luna had said to her. ‘An insane pony is a perfect host for Nightmare Moon.’ Twilight gulped, and trotted around the room to stand near Pinkie. First things first— I’ve got to distract her, keep her sane. Twilight thought. “So… isn’t it nice in here? Our friends are going to get better, right Pinkie?” That’s the ticket, make everypony think about getting better, and we will!

Rarity sniffed. “I’m so sorry. This is all my fault…”

“No it isn’t! Don’t be like that, Rarity!” Spike replied. He rubbed her foreleg again. “You’re going to be fine. Dash is going to be fine. We’re safe here, right?”

Rarity swallowed and said, “I suppose so. This is where I spent the weekend after falling into the frozen lake.”

Twilight turned to Rarity and smiled. “So, you got better here? And the doctors certainly didn’t amputate anything. So… we’re safe!” Twilight gulped, and hoped nopony noticed. She glanced at Pinkie, then asked, “So, what’s around here, Rarity? Are there any books, or board games? You know, something to distract us while we pass the time?”

Rarity closed her eyes, and tears leaked out of their corners. Quiet, silent tears that evaporated in a grayish mist. “No, I didn’t leave this bed for two days. This isn’t a proper hospital, and there are no doctors. This is just a country clinic with a nurse who tends to broken bones, the flu, that sort of thing. She did her best, but she wasn’t a doctor, and she couldn’t say if I needed to have something amputated. They called the doctor, but this place is so remote, it took two days before he arrived…”

Twilight’s eyes widened in horror. “What did you do in the meantime?”

Rarity continued to cry softly. “I sat in this bed, worried sick that the doctor would say I had serious gangrene. That I would have to lose a limb, or limbs. Or even worse, that the gangrene had gone too deep and I would die.” The tears kept flowing, but Rarity seemed perfectly calm. “I sat for two days, and waited for death. Just waiting. It’s horrible to wait, not knowing like that. I wouldn’t wish it on anypony.”

Twilight gasped. “Rarity! Don’t say things like that! Think happy thoughts, like what happened when the doctor arrived and said everything was fine.”

Rarity gave a little smile, but the tears kept flowing. “I’m trying to, darling. You’re right, of course. I survived this little episode no worse for the wear. Right now, I can’t help but feel guilty about Dash’s wing and leg.”

Pinkie sighed loudly, drawing Twilight’s attention. She stared at Rarity and Dash in turn, focusing on their injuries. With another sigh, her eyes drifted in different directions. “Heh, just a dream. You know, inanimate objects can really talk in dreams… Isn’t that right, Applejack?” Twilight blinked, and Pinkie held a shiny, red apple in her lap. “You seem fine, Applejack. Perfectly healthy. I always keep my promises, you know. Heh-heh.” Pinkie’s chuckle abruptly died in her throat.

Twilight swallowed and put a hoof around Pinkie. “Say, Pinkie, how would you like to go for a walk? Get some fresh air? Just you and me, doesn’t that sound good?”

“W-well…” Pinkie’s eyes snapped forward and focused on Twilight.

“Is that wise?” Rarity asked. She looked at Twilight and Pinkie with clear eyes, and her ears perked up. “What if Nightmare Moon finds you?”

That’s what I’m trying to prevent! I think Nightmare Moon is tracking us by our fear. As long as we aren’t afraid, we’ll be fine. But if Pinkie goes insane… I don’t even know what could happen then! Twilight thought. “We’ll just be outside in the hall. We won’t go far, I promise.”

Pinkie jerked upright. “You promise?! Do you Pinkie Pie promise?”

Twilight gulped, and replied, “Yes, I Pinkie Pie promise we won’t leave this building without our friends. We’re not leaving our friends behind.” I hope I know what I’m doing. Twilight thought, as she executed the proper motions.

Pinkie smiled, although her hair remained flat. “Yes! A promise! Good, okay, yeah, let’s take a walk.” Pinkie stood and trotted out of the room with the apple balanced on her head. Twilight followed right behind her.

Twilight used her magic to close the door once she exited the room. She and Pinkie stood on a small circle of light, the door and a bit of the wall illuminated. Beyond that, there existed only darkness. “Huh, I guess Rarity didn’t imagine anything beyond that room.” Twilight closed her eyes for a moment, then opened them.

They stood in a long hallway that seemed to stretch on forever in either direction. Clean, white tiles covered the floor. The walls and ceiling were painted a light beige. Pinkie giggled, “Wow, this hallway is LONG! How insane is that?”

Twilight shook her head. “No-no, that’s not right! Things should be calm, and make sense. They should be sane. Yes, sane, not insane. Insane bad, sane good.” Pinkied looked at Twilight with one brow raised. “Heh, um, let me fix that,” Twilight said.

A pair of walls slid out of the ceiling on either end of the hallway. One end had a window looking into the same field as the window in the room, while the other end had a pair of swinging doors with thin windows near the handles. A sign hung on the opposite wall which said “quiet please, patients recovering.” Twilight nodded and said, “That’s a little better. Say, why don’t we throw a get-well-soon party for Rarity and Dash?”

Pinkie gasped, “Twilight, you’re a genius! Can we invite Applejack too?” Pinkie asked.

Twilight glanced at the apple on Pinkie’s head. “Well…”

“Yeah, I’d love to go! Are ya gonna plan this here shindig, Pinkie?” Pinkie said, with exceedingly poor ventriloquism.

“Of course I am!” Pinkie replied. With a fwump! Pinkie’s hair returned to its cotton candy-like state. Her hair flung the apple on a short flight through the air, before she caught it with a hoof. She grinned one of her normal grins, then said, “It’s gonna be a great party! It’ll help Rarity and Rainbow Dash feel better!”

Twilight truly smiled. And that might actually make them better! she thought. She suppressed a little gasp of wonder as Pinkie continued chatting with the apple, her every breath releasing vapor.

Pinkie didn’t breathe out black vapor; it looked like some kind of psychedelic, rainbow-colored vapor. Pinkie didn’t seem to notice it, but Twilight watched as it drifted through the air for a moment before getting sucked into the apple. Twilight could feel no breeze, no movement of the air, but she could clearly see the colors being drawn into the apple by some invisible force. She watched in amazement as the apple absorbed the strange vapors.

“Hello? Equestria to Twilight!” Pinkie hollered, as she waved a hoof in Twilight’s face.

“What?” Twilight asked, shaking her head. “Sorry, I… was just thinking.”

Pinkie giggled and said, “Ohhh, careful, that’s a dangerous thing to do here! I was saying we should decorate. This hallway needs some balloons, streamers, and we all need party hats!” As Pinkie said each thing, it blurred into reality. Or what passes for reality in dreams.

Twilight gazed in awe as primary-colored balloons tied to strings bounced around the ceiling. A streamer bearing the words “Get Well Soon!” hung over the doorway, and a small end table appeared near the door, bearing paper hats and cheap blow horns. Twilight giggled and said, “This is colorful.”

“I know, right? So much better than hospital white. I hate all-white rooms,” Pinkie replied with a sigh. Twilight nodded, then blinked as she watched Pinkie’s sigh turn into multicolored vapor and drift away.

“Did you see that?” Twilight asked, pointing in the air where the vapor flowed into the apple.

“See what?” Pinkie asked.

Twilight tilted her head at Pinkie. “I don’t know, some kind of colored smoke. You made it, didn’t you notice? It sort of looked like that black smoke that Fluttershy made earlier, but this stuff—”

“That’s crazy talk, Twilight! I’ve never done that sort of thing! You’re the one making all that black smoke!” Pinkie exclaimed.

Twilight shook her head as if she’d been slapped. “What? What are you talking about? I’m the only one who hasn’t made that stuff. It’s okay, I don’t blame you. I don’t think anypony made it on purpose. I think it’s—”

“Excuse me? Twilight, you were breathing nothing but black smoke when Nightmare Moon was about to… I don’t know, possess you? We were all scared for Applejack, but if that black smoke is fear, then you were the biggest scaredy-cat of all of us!” Pinkie said with a smile, as if she reported the weather.

“That’s… fascinating! So each pony cannot see the emotions they generate, but they can see the emotions of others.” Twilight rubbed her temple with a hoof. “Maybe that’s how Nightmare Moon could tell what each of us were thinking. She could just look at the color of our… smoke, or aura, or whatever it is?” Twilight looked around, and a lightbulb literally flashed into existence above her head for a second. “And if I put your emotions in context, I can almost read your mind! You’re feeling happy right now!” Twilight exclaimed.

“I am!” Pinkie said, and her breath turned yellow!

“Incredible!” Twilight watched the vapor dissipate. “That means I can sense things by the colors in the air…!” Twilight had to squint her eyes. The transparent air suddenly burst with colors she hadn’t noticed before. Vapors of almost every color swirled in little eddies, circling around objects, and especially Pinkie. The only area that looked clear existed around Twilight herself, at least, as far as she could tell.

Twilight watched the yellow vapor that Pinkie breathed spread into her balloons. She could see an assortment of yellow, blue and pink leaking from the door leading into the room with her friends. She could also see the rainbow vapor from earlier cling tightly to the apple Pinkie once again set on her head. Pinkie waved a hoof in Twilight’s face again. “Hello? Did you get lost in thought again?” Pinkie asked with a giggle. “You shouldn’t get lost in there, it isn’t foreign territory for you!”

Twilight blinked, and watched as a sickly, green vapor flowed into the hallway from the crack at the base of the double doors. That’s coming from outside. Wait… are those Nightmare Moon’s emotions? Okay-okay, calm down. What does green mean? Green means envy, right? I guess Nightmare Moon wants something we have… Friendship? No, probably just a living body. If I follow that stuff, I’ll find Nightmare Moon. Does that mean she can find us the same way?! Twilight’s eyes went wide. She glanced at the hospital room where her friends lay injured. “We need to hide!” As soon as she said it, a gurney with a sheet draped over it appeared just inside the hall, near the double doors. Twilight dove under it and held the sheet up, beckoning Pinkie inside.

Pinkie looked at Twilight with wide eyes and her mouth slightly open. With each breath, Twilight could see a thick, black mist escape. “Twilight, you’re scaring me,” Pinkie whispered. Pinkie crawled under the gurney with Twilight. She gulped and whispered, “If we’re hiding, we should be in the dark.”

The lights went out.

Twilight lit her horn, but let out only a tiny speck of light. Twilight glanced at the sheet, and imagined it thick enough to contain the tiny light, then she used her magic to carefully pull the sheet so they were completely hidden. Twilight watched as Pinkie, curled into a ball next to her, breathed out more black vapor. No! Don’t give us away! she thought.

The double doors creaked open. Twilight’s heart hammered in her chest. Heavy, shod hooves tromped into the hallway. Without warning, a lithium-laced laugh ripped down the corridor, like nails on a chalkboard. Twilight heard a bored sigh. Then Nightmare Moon’s voice sing-songed, “Come-out come-out wherever you are!” Twilight heard a breath being sucked into a nose. “I know you’re here somewhere, I could smell the insanity! Delicious! Fear tastes wonderful, but insanity… that’s a special treat!” Twilight heard a sniff, like a bloodhound trying to pick up the trail, and she shuddered.

Twilight looked at Pinkie, her heart pounding in her chest. Twilight almost cried, she felt so happy. The black vapor Pinkie breathed out didn’t flow out into the hallway. Instead, it floated up and got absorbed by the apple sitting in Pinkie’s mane. I’ve got to distract Nightmare Moon! Twilight thought. She peered out under the sheet, and stifled a scream.

Nightmare Moon stood less than a stride away, fully armored, and surrounded by green and red vapor, like fire. Light from a single bulb hanging from the ceiling outside the open doors spilled into the hallway, backlighting Nightmare Moon. Her eyes searched up and down the hallway, but she didn’t seem to find anything in the dark. Twilight glanced at a blank spot on the opposite wall behind Nightmare Moon and squeezed her eyes shut. I hope this works!

When Twilight opened her eyes, her heart skipped a beat. Now, an open laundry chute waited for her on the wall. Twilight took the apple in her magic, and silently floated it behind Nightmare Moon and into the laundry chute. Then she released her magic, and the apple fell into the abyss. “Not going to come out and play?” Nightmare Moon asked. Another bloodhound-like sniff. “Hmm? What’s this? You’re not on this floor, you’re below?” Nightmare Moon turned and sniffed the open laundry chute. “Oh, a hospital basement! This is too easy. Well, if you’re going to imagine a hospital, I’ll make sure you get the full treatment!” Another laugh ripped down the hallway, and the double doors banged closed behind Nightmare Moon.

Twilight let out a shuddering breath. She turned to Pinkie and realized they were both soaked with sweat. Still shaking, Twilight crawled out from under the gurney, and Pinkie followed her. “Why did you do that?!” Pinkie cried. Twilight glanced at the double doors, her eyes wide, but they didn’t move. Nor did she see the form of Nightmare Moon appear on the other side of the glass.

“I had to get rid of Nightmare Moon. What if she found our friends?” Twilight replied.

“But did you have to sacrifice Applejack to do it?” Pinkie asked.

Twilight blinked, then realized Pinkie referred to the apple. “Pinkie, that’s just a figment of your imagination. It wasn’t really Applejack.”

Pinkie sniffed, on the verge of tears. “But what am I going to do without any candy or my special friends?” As she began crying, Twilight watched in horror as Pinkie breathed out a psychedelic miasma of vapors.

“Pinkie… look at me,” Twilight said softly. Pinkie looked at Twilight and sniffed. Twilight hugged Pinkie, who returned the gesture. “It’s going to be alright. I’m going to help you.”

“You will?” Pinkie asked, her sobbing easing.

“Of course I will, I’m your friend.” Twilight smiled, and gently pushed Pinkie on the gurney. A notepad, pencil, and pipe which blew bubbles appeared around Twilight. “Now, I have a theory, and I want you to help me. Will you do that?”

“Okay,” Pinkie replied. “Are you going to psychoanalyze me?”

“Well, sort of. I’m trying to figure out why that apple seemed to… absorb emotions. Tell me about that apple,” Twilight commanded.

“Applejack,” Pinkie deadpanned.

“Alright, Applejack.”

“Well, when I get nervous, I used to eat candy. But my Mom and Dad didn’t want me to get fat, so they told me not to do that. The trouble was I’d get so anxious I’d start breathing really fast, then I would pass out. Dad just told me to calm down, but that didn’t help. After the third time, Mom made Dad took me to this place they called a ‘sanatorium.’ The doctors there helped me a lot. They told me I should just put my bad thoughts into my new friend! You know, Mr. Alligator,” Pinkie said.

Twilight scribbled furiously in her notepad as Pinkie spoke. She nodded a few times, then asked, “Mr. Alligator, you mean Gummy?”

“Hmmm? No, Mr. Alligator is a stuffed toy they had at the sanatorium, silly! I got Gummy after I left, because they wouldn’t let me take Mr. Alligator with me. He ate all my fears, chomp-chomp! Just like that!” Pinkie replied, making the chomping motion with her mouth. “That’s why we need to get Applejack back! Who’s going to eat all my fears if I she isn’t here?”

Twilight jotted down more notes. “Why don’t you imagine Mr. Alligator? He can help you, right?”

Pinkie gasped, “And take him away from the other patients who need him? I’d feel super bad about that, Twilight. I guess I could share him with the other ponies—”

Twilight cut Pinkie off as quickly as she could. “NO! Don’t think about mental ponies! Think of something else!” Twilight furtively glanced around the hallway, but nopony appeared. “Let’s just go home.”

Pinkie gasped at Twilight. “We can’t leave! You promised!” Pinkie’s hair went flat.

Twilight facehoofed. “Of course, we won’t leave. Let’s think about something else.”

Pinkie’s hair got poofy again. “Okay, but what about Applejack? She’s already got my fears, right?” Pinkie asked.

Twilight screwed her face up in concentration. “Let me think for a moment. If the apple—”

“Applejack!” Pinkie corrected.

Twilight sighed. “If Applejack has your fears, does that mean you’re not scared of anything? Are you fearless?”

Pinkie shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe? I’m a little surprised I’m not scared of all that sanitorium stuff over there.” Pinkie pointed to the double doors at the end of the hall.

“Sanitorium stuff? Pinkie it’s just a hall—!” Twilight’s eyes went wide when she followed Pinkie’s hoof and saw the hallway beyond the double doors through the little windows. Where there had been a plain hallway, now there existed some kind of bustling hospital, complete with doctors and patients! “Whoa! Pinkie, did you imagine all that?”

Pinkie shrugged again. “I don’t know, I don’t think so. I hated that place; it was all boring and calm. Except for that one time—”

“Stop!” Twilight stuffed a hoof into Pinkie’s mouth, silencing her. She looked sheepish and withdrew her hoof. “Sorry, I just don’t want you to be afraid. That’s dangerous in this place.”

Pinkie nodded and replied, “Yeah, but I’m not scared of that one time the sanatorium went into lockdown and that psycho with a bone saw got loose.”

Twilight’s eyes went wide. “Pinkie… That’s dangerous! Like, finding-an-alligator-in-your-bathtub dangerous! How can you not be scared of that?”

“Ummm…” Pinkie looked at the strange hospital on the other side of the double doors and sat on her haunches, with a hoof to her chin. “I was super scared at the time, but I’m not scared now. I know my good friend Applejack is here to help me!” Pinkie giggled while her eyes briefly looked in different directions.

Twilight shuddered as she watched Pinkie breathe out a little more rainbow-colored vapor with her giggling. “Pinkie, I think we should find Applejack before Nightmare Moon does. We wouldn’t want her to… hurt Applejack.” I can’t let Nightmare Moon get ahold of that apple. Who knows what she’ll do with it! Plus, I need to test a theory. If it works, we can beat Nightmare Moon! Twilight thought.

“Oh, absolutely. You’re such a special friend, Twilight!” Pinkie replied. Pinkie produced another bag of candy from nowhere and stuffed her face again. “Do you want some?” Pinkie asked, offering Twilight a hooful of colorful candies. “They taste great!”

~~~~~

Twilight stepped past the double doors right behind Pinkie. They had explained to their friends Twilight’s plan to recover ‘Applejack.’ Nopony wanted to join them. Rarity and Dash had injuries, while Spike and Fluttershy didn’t want to leave their charges. Fluttershy weakly objected to Twilight going on her own, so they agreed Twilight should take Pinkie along. Twilight gulped as she looked down the hallway and into the strange hospital.

This hospital looked like none Twilight had ever seen, or ever hoped to see. It was more of a cross between a hospital and a carnival funhouse. The patients being pushed in wheelchairs or wandering down the hallways looked vacant, their eyes unfocused, their heads bowed. The doctors and nurses all seemed to be carrying the filthiest equipment imaginable; grimy scalpels, broken stethoscopes, chipped clipboards, and rusty syringes seemed to be the only things they had. The white medical uniforms all seemed to be splattered with a combination of blood and what Twilight hoped was dirt. While the patients seemed docile, the medical staff hurried about the hallways with manic grins.

The lights overhead flickered as another doctor brushed past Twilight, pulling a mare wearing a filthy hospital gown into a side room with a dirty mattress strewn on the floor. His maniacal laughter cut short when the door closed. “We shouldn’t stay here,” Twilight whispered to Pinkie.

Pinkie seemed totally unperturbed by the things around her. “Yeah, what if one of the nurses tries to give us medication? Then we have to fake swallow it, wait for her to leave, find a planter, and spit it out. What a waste of time!”

Twilight’s eyes tracked a nurse who pushed a cart with trays, calling out, “Lunch time!” Twilight only glanced at the plates before turning away. The plates held moldy hay, the cups held muddy water, and the ‘dessert’ consisted of one-half a wormy apple. Twilight put a hoof to her mouth and kept herself from retching.

Pinkie glanced over her shoulder. “Oh, I know, hospital food is so gross. I couldn’t wait to get out so I could eat candy again!” Pinkie ate another hooful of candy. “So good...”

They trotted down the hall, which seemed to go on forever. Twilight felt in her gut Nightmare Moon’s influence over everything in the hospital. It was a funhouse carnival designed to parade the worst a pony could experience in such a place. In one room, Twilight saw a surgeon with a bone saw hacking off a screaming unicorn’s horn. In another, a mare strapped to a gurney was having her mouth sewn shut by a giggling nurse. Her struggling caused for some rather uneven needlework; she got stabbed repeatedly in the lower half of her face. A sobbing mare with a torn hospital gown curled into a ball while another patient, a gray stallion, threw himself at her. He licked her neck and ears, while grinding against her with lewd laughter. The nurse who walked by nodded at the stallion and mumbled, “Get it all out, there’s a good boy.” The lights continued to flicker and the walls got progressively dirtier as Twilight and Pinkie proceeded.

Pinkie pronked down the hallway with Twilight close behind. Twilight’s stomach did a backflip at several of the sights, but she shook her head at everything. “That isn’t sanitary… what kind of procedure is that…? No real doctor would do such a thing… Now that’s just silly…” Pinkie and Twilight walked by a pegasus mare in a wheelchair who repeatedly, violently, banged her head on the wall. “Pinkie, are you scared of this stuff? Because… I’m not. Not really. I mean, seriously? What kind of nurse would be allowed to work in a hospital looking like that?” Twilight asked, as she pointed to a nurse wearing a blood-spattered skirt and a stupid grin, holding a rusty syringe. “Are ponies really afraid of this sort of thing? Because logically, this would never happen. Not in a million years. I’m more grossed out than scared. Even ponies without any medical training at all wouldn’t do this. It’s so…”

“Silly?” Pinkie asked. “I know, it’s like somepony is trying to scare us without really knowing what scares us. This would make an awesome haunted house at the next Nightmare Night, though, don’t you think?”

Twilight almost bumped into the elevator doors. “Oh, I guess we’re here. Wherever ‘here’ is.”

With a pleasant ding, the center elevator opened and three white fillies wearing little nurse uniforms trotted out. Each carried a basket of slimy apples. “Time for extra dessert,” the fillies called out, as they passed the apples to the hooves of several eager patients.

Twilight looked away and stuck her tongue out. “Gross, but not really scary. At least not to me. Nightmare Moon is going to have to be more creative if she wants to scare us.”

“C’mon, Twilight. We’re almost there!” Pinkie pronked into the elevator.

Twilight followed and glanced at the buttons. She snorted and thought, Of course. Of the dozen or so buttons in the elevator, only two worked. The rest were either missing, or badly smashed. Instead of floor numbers, the buttons held labels. The floor they were on had the label, “Floor full of friendship idiots.” At the bottom, the button which should have led to the basement instead held the label, “The autopsy of Twilight Sparkle.”

Twilight gulped. “Okay, I’ll admit, that’s ominous.”

Twilight pushed the button. As the elevators doors closed, the three white fillies trotted down the hall and sang, “One, two, she’s coming for you…”

The lights didn’t flicker as the elevator slowly descended, smooth jazz playing in the background. Pinkie flattened her ears at the sound. “So boring…”

Twilight sighed. “Well, this isn’t really scary. Maybe Nightmare Moon really isn’t that powerful without being fed some kind of fear from us.” A pencil and notepad appeared in Twilight’s aura. She scribbled a few notes and smiled. “More evidence for my theory…”

~~~~~

“He-he-he,” the three little fillies giggled as they entered the room. “Hi there, we’ve been looking all over for you.”

Spike and Fluttershy looked across the room at the three strange fillies that stood just inside the doorway. They were dressed in little nurse uniforms. They looked almost identical, with white coats and red, green, and blue eyes, respectively. They had no cutie marks. “What are you doing here?” Spike asked.

“We’re here to help you,” the first filly said.

“Pinkie Pie put all of her good feelings into this apple,” the second filly said.

“Yeah, all of her joy and laughter. Then she imagined us to bring it to you,” said the third filly.

They carried a single, shiny red apple. They brought it to Rainbow Dash, but Fluttershy held out a hoof. “Um… wait, I’m not sure about this.”

“Yeah, nothing is what it looks like around here!” Spike said, as he narrowed his eyes at the fillies. “How do we know Pinkie sent you?”

“Well, I did see those fillies with Pinkie back at Applejack’s barn,” Rarity supplied. “But, how will eating an apple make anypony feel better?”

“You’re right that things aren’t always what they appear to be,” said the first filly.

“But we’re telling the truth. Pinkie Pie is the one who imagined us,” said the second filly.

“And food absorbs all kinds of feelings in dreams,” said the third filly.

“You want to get better, dont you?” asked the first filly.

“This apple absorbed Pinkie’s laughter. Until you eat it, she can’t laugh again,” said the second filly.

“Yeah, and if you do eat it, you’ll feel better, happier. It’s a win-win. It’s what Pinkie Pie wants. She imagined me, so I know what she wants,” said the third filly.

“Really?” Dash croaked. She turned to Spike. “Can you tell what Twilight wants?”

“Um, maybe?” Spike replied. “I felt kinda grossed out a minute ago. Now I just feel… bored and anxious? Maybe that’s just my feelings. I want Rarity to get better. Oh, and you too, Dash. I’m a little anxious about that.”

Fluttershy smiled and squeezed her eyes shut. A banana appeared in her outstretched hooves. She looked momentarily surprised, then stared at it intently. “Darling, what are you doing?” Rarity asked.

“Well, I’m trying to put good feelings into this banana. Then I can feed it to Rainbow Dash, and she’ll feel better.” Fluttershy blinked, and peeled the banana carefully. It appeared normal. She offered it to Rainbow Dash with a smile.

“Really? After all you’ve done, you think a banana is going to fix everything?” Dash replied. She sniffed and looked at her missing wing.

“Please, just try it,” Fluttershy begged.

Dash snorted. “Fine.” She allowed Fluttershy to feed her the banana, with the three fillies looking on, smiling and nodding. Dash sighed once the banana was gone. The welts covering her disappeared, and her eyelids became heavy. “Wow, that worked! My leg and wing don’t hurt anymore.” She glanced under the covers and sighed. “Still gone.”

“That’s because you didn’t think it would work,” said the first filly.

The second filly turned to Rarity and asked, “You believe this will work, don’t you?”

“Please hurry, Pinkie is about to enter a dangerous place. She needs her laughter back,” implored the third filly.

Rainbow Dash yawned, her eyelids growing heavy. “What happens if I sleep when I’m asleep?”

Fluttershy gasped. “Oh my, it worked! I wanted you to rest and feel better! You’ll be right as rain when you wake up.”

“Huh, maybe this food thing will work. What do you think, Spike?” Rarity asked.

Spike put a claw to his chin. “I think… TWILIGHT!” he shouted, and then he vanished in a puff of white smoke.

“Oh no, Twilight is in trouble,” said the first filly.

“You need to help her,” said the second filly.

“Eat this, quickly!” The third filly offered the apple to Rarity.

Dash eyed the apple skeptically, while Fluttershy looked at the spot where Spike was, her mouth agape. “Alright, I’ll eat it. I’ll be the guinea pig,” Rarity said. “If Spike is gone, that means Twilight is in trouble, and she might need help. I’ve got to help my friends, even if that means charging into battle or making a sacrifice.”

The fillies darted across the room and hoofed the apple to Rarity. She took it in her magic and held it to her mouth. “Be careful,” Fluttershy said. “I don’t want to see anypony else get hurt.” Dash nodded off, her head sinking into the pillow.

Rarity smiled and said, “Nonsense. You should give ‘til it hurts.”

crunch

Rarity chewed the apple while the three fillies surrounded her bed, whispering into her ears.

Fluttershy looked at the door. “I hope Twilight is okay, and I hope Dash will be better when she wakes up.”

“Why, of course Dash needs my help!” Rarity exclaimed. With a start, Fluttershy spun around to find Rarity standing, her wounded hoof soaking her bandage. Rarity’s grin seemed… strange, like she had just heard an extremely funny joke and couldn’t help but laugh, even if laughing hurt her stomach. “That apple was wonderful! It was full of rainbows and blood!”

Fluttershy blinked several times, her mouth agape. “Wh-what? What are you talking about? Where did those fillies go?”

Rarity tilted her head sharply, popping her neck, as she stared at Fluttershy. “They’re inside of me, just like we’re inside of us! All those coverings, covering the wonderful colors underneath!” Rarity eyed Fluttershy, her manic grin unwavering.

“Rarity, stop it. You’re scaring me. What’s wrong with you?” Fluttershy asked. That’s when she noticed the apple core on the bed. It was full of rainbows! A multi-colored mist quickly leaked out of the apple’s remains. The mist coalesced on the bed and on the floor. Little rainbow-colored candies appeared, like tight knots of rainbow vapor. Fluttershy watched in awe as the candies spread across the bed and floor. “Are those the candies Pinkie was eating earlier?”

Rarity took a step towards Fluttershy. “We have to help Rainbow Dash. Don’t worry, Fluttershy, we’re full of thoughts! Thoughts with blood-and-bone-and-pain-and-unity... and sewing! How could I forget sewing! Fluttershy! We have to sew our thoughts up! Just dress her up again! Zip and stitch, that’s the ticket!”

Fluttershy took an involuntary step back. “Rarity, stop it! What are you talking about? Have you gone—” Fluttershy glanced at the apple. “—crazy?”

“Crazy?! I’m not crazy!” Rarity shouted. “Would a crazy pony go tromping through a hospital with a bone saw?” With a flash, a bone saw appeared in Rarity’s aura. A fearsome, jagged edge just below rusty splotches reflected in Fluttershy’s wide eyes. “Now just hold still, Fluttershy. This will hurt. A LOT!”

Fluttershy screamed.

~~~~~

Twilight sighed as the smooth jazz continued. “Wouldn’t I be dead if they were doing an autopsy on me? That might be scary for my friends, but how is that scary for me?” The bell dinged, and the elevator stopped. “Oh finally, we’re here!” Pinkie cracked an eye open, and pulled her tongue back into her mouth. It had only been a few minutes, but Pinkie acted like they’d been in the elevator for years.

“AHHHH!” Twilight screamed as she stepped out of the elevator and fell into space. Tumbling end over end, she fell for what felt like miles. She slammed onto a cold, hard surface, and something snapped over her limbs, stretching them taut. Groaning, Twilight opened her eyes. She found herself in the middle of an amphitheater, on a cold, sterile, metal table. Straps held her legs, wings, torso, and head.

Twilight coughed once, and a bit of blood spattered onto her face. Focusing, she took stock of the situation. She looked ‘up’ and saw the open elevator door. Pinkie stood in the elevator car, looking at the short step to the amphitheater. Pinkie stepped down and stood next to Twilight. “Seriously, Twilight? It wasn’t that far.”

“Get me out of here!” Twilight cried. “We’ve got to find Applejack, remember?”

Pinkie sniffed… and breathed out a black vapor. “I hate being tied up. They call ‘em restraints in the sanitarium, but they just tie you up. I wasn’t trying to hurt anypony! Why did they do that? Why did they lock me in those little rooms, like a padded elevator, playing boring music? It was so boring, I thought I’d go crazy.”

“I’m… sorry about that, Pinkie. Please, just get me out of here!” Twilight replied.

Pinkie sniffed, then bit down on the straps holding Twilight. She pulled and pulled, but they didn’t budge. “I can’t do it, Twilight. I’m sorry.”

“Shall we begin the autopsy?” Nightmare Moon followed her own question with another high-pitched laugh. “What’s inside Twilight Sparkle? Is she full of fear? ... Or maybe there’s a little crazy in here!” Nightmare Moon stepped out from the shadows high on the edge of the amphitheater. She wore a surgical mask, and stood near a cart piled with surgical implements. Several identical brown stallions, all wearing doctors’ scrubs and surgical masks, filed in from behind her and took seats around the amphitheater. They all sat and stared at Twilight.

“I’m not afraid of you!” Twilight shouted. “As soon as I get off this table, I’m going to banish you right back to the moon!” Twilight glanced around, trying to find the missing apple.

Nightmare Moon flitted down to alight at the foot of the metal table. Pinkie quivered and backed away towards the elevator doors. “Hmm… interesting. You don’t smell frightened— that’s more like curiosity. Are you sure you don’t want to let me in, Twilight? Even if I trade Applejack?” With a flash of her horn, Applejack appeared in a cloud of white smoke, strapped upside down to a similar table as Twilight, but this one was bolted to the ceiling. Twilight could see Applejack stretched out, as if on a torture rack. The look on her face told Twilight how frightened she was.

“Not a chance! That isn’t Applejack, that’s just a figment of your imagination!” Twilight growled back.

Nightmare Moon looked momentarily thunderstruck, but she recovered quickly. “Oh my, Twilight. Impressive, most impressive. I thought distracting you with a little fall might make you scared, but all it did was break your concentration. A pity. I hope you weren’t imagining any figments to help you.” She noticed Twilight looking around for the apple, and smiled. Nightmare Moon ran a cold, shod hoof over Twilight’s chest and up under her chin. She forced Twilight to look at her; her grin did not show joy, only sharp teeth. “Looking for that little food item full of Pinkie’s fear and insanity? I’m afraid dropping it into subconscious space is a poor way to hide it. I found it just floating in the void here.” She ran her hoof down past Twilight’s chest and over her soft belly, slowly working her way lower. “I’m going to enjoy getting inside of you. And when I’m done, you’ll like it, too,” she whispered.

Pinkie slapped Nightmare Moon’s hoof away. “Leave her alone! What are you, crazy?”

Nightmare Moon put her hoof down and let out a long, lithium-laced laugh. “Crazy? CRAZY!” She suddenly stood and snarled. “You’re the crazy one! Holding down your friend Twilight like this! All I did was put her on the table and strap her down. It’s your fear that’s keeping her there.” Pinkie backpedaled and looked at Twilight with tears in her eyes. “It’s you who’s afraid of a psychopath with a bone saw, not me.”

“Leave her alone!” Twilight shouted. She watched the black vapors Pinkie breathed out, and the crimson stuff that surrounded Nightmare Moon, especially when she looked at Twilight. Nightmare Moon watched Twilight intently, but Twilight turned to Pinkie Pie instead. “Fight back, Pinkie. What about the party we’re going to throw?” Pinkie slowly brightened, and the doctors seated around the amphitheater suddenly had yellow smiley faces drawn on their masks. Twilight wiggled a hind hoof as one of the straps loosened. “That’s it, Pinkie— think about our friends!”

Nightmare Moon flapped her wings once and laughed again. “Yes, Pinkie. Think of your good friends, Fluttershy and Rarity. I need an assistant for the autopsy anyway!” She trotted in place, her metal shoes echoing on the tile underhoof. “Bring them here, right now. Oh, they’re so close, they could be down that hallway!” Nightmare Moon pointed a hoof at the entryway beyond the foot of the metal table. The strap loosened enough so Twilight could pull her head up and look ‘down’ at the darkened entryway.

Like looking into a camera rapidly focusing, Fluttershy came into view. The macabre hallway surrounded her as she tore down the hallway as fast as she could. Doctors, nurses, and patients all looked at her and laughed. She cried, tears streaming down her face, black vapor billowing out around her.

But it was Rarity, behind Fluttershy, that caused Twilight’s breath to freeze in her throat. Rarity stumbled behind Fluttershy, psychedelic vapors clouding around her. Her bloodshot eyes locked onto Fluttershy’s back. She hobbled on three legs! Her previously injured leg had been hacked off just above the knee, blood spurting from the stump. It didn’t seem to bother Rarity, who dragged a bone saw in her aura along the wall near her. It made a terrifying screech, like metal scraping against metal.

“C’mon, Fluttershy. It’s just a little ripping and tearing! I need some material to sew up Rainbow Dash!” Rarity called out.

Twilight screamed.

Heroism Will Cost You

Chapter 6: Heroism Will Cost You

Twilight blinked away tears, hoping things would change every time she opened her eyes— they didn’t. With a giggle, Nightmare Moon flapped her wings and alighted in the stands just above the doorway. With a flash of her horn, a huge array of bright lights lowered itself from the ceiling and focused on Twilight. The lights blinded Twilight, causing her to squint. She felt as if she would melt beneath the heat. The straps held her down and kept her exposed— she couldn’t do anything to cover herself.

Fluttershy ran, the horrible screech of the bone saw scraping against the wall still chasing her. Pinkie and Fluttershy both quivered, black smoke coming out of them with each breath. Fluttershy darted into the room, and skidded to a halt. Her eyes darted everywhere, taking in her surroundings. She could see everything except for Nightmare Moon, who leered at her from above the doorway. “W-we have to g-get out of here!” Fluttershy gasped out between breaths. “Rarity… she… she...!” Fluttershy sobbed.

“Fluttershy! Unstrap me, quickly!” Twilight called. Fluttershy moved slower than Twilight would have liked, but she bit down on the straps over Twilight’s hind legs and pulled.

Nightmare Moon scowled as a strap slid free. She turned to Pinkie, curled into a ball, quivering, and said, “Aren’t you worried that psycho with a bone saw is going to cut off somepony’s wings? Aren’t you going to stop her? Oh, that’s right, you were too scared to do anything. You just sat in your room and watched while she took that bone saw…” The screeching quickly grew in volume. “...while she hacked off that poor pegasus’ wing. What was his name again?”

Pinkie curled into a tighter ball and sobbed, black smoke flooding out of her. “I… I… I—”

“DON’T KNOW?! That’s right, you sniveling filly! You never knew his name! Some friend you are! You think that just because you know everypony’s name in Ponyville, it’ll make up for it?” Nightmare Moon snorted with derision, but Twilight could see her breath turn from crimson to yellow. Nightmare Moon pointed her horn at Pinkie. Tendrils of dark smoke peeled away from her and shot to the table like venomous snakes. The straps holding Twilight suddenly tightened down.

Twilight wheezed as the straps dug into her fur. The strap across her chest forced the air out of her, causing her to gasp for breath. The strap over her forehead slammed Twilight’s head onto the table. She groaned, spots dancing across her vision. Fluttershy bit down on the strap around Twilight’s belly, but her quivering didn’t instill confidence. The horrible sound of the metallic screeching grew to a crescendo… then stopped.

Fluttershy let out a little “eeep!” and darted away from Twilight. Twilight blinked, but couldn’t move her head even a little as she stared up into those bright hospital lights. A silhouette appeared in front of Twilight’s vision, and a hot, sticky liquid dripped onto her right shoulder. “Oh, Twilight, darling. There you are. You’re such a good friend, aren’t you? Not like selfish Fluttershy over there.” Fluttershy whimpered somewhere out of Twilight’s vision.

Twilight shut her eyes and asked, “What’ve you done with Rainbow Dash?”

“Look at me when I’m talking to you!” Rarity snarled. Twilight felt cold metal grinding against her left cheek, and the strap on her head suddenly snapped off. With a cry, Twilight opened her eyes as she received a sliver of pain across her left cheek. Rarity stood over her with a bloody bone saw in her aura. Fresh blood from Twilight’s cheek dripped from the end. “It’s rude not to pay attention when another pony is talking.” Rarity put her face into Twilight’s so they were almost nose to nose. Twilight could feel the miasma of colors that Rarity breathed out. “There now, isn’t that better? Now then, you had a question? Rainbow Dash, yes? Don’t worry about her, Twilight. I’m taking good care of her. Why, I’d give her the shirt off my back.”

Twilight took this opportunity to look around again. Pinkie whimpered, staring at the bone saw. Fluttershy stood with her flank pressed against the elevator, which led to… the hallway on the other side of the room? Twilight wasn’t sure, and didn’t have time to think about the nonsense physics of dreams. Nightmare Moon held Twilight’s attention, subtly moving her horn like a conductor’s wand. The black smoke responded, coalescing around the straps, and wrapping itself around Fluttershy and Pinkie. Twilight felt a tightness in her chest, like the rush of panic that accompanies a fall. Nightmare Moon is trying to scare me with fear itself! I can’t let it get to me. “I’m not scared, this is all just a dream. Rarity, don’t you remember why you’re here?”

Twilight looked at Rarity and watched as more and more of that rainbow-colored mist clung to her. Rarity tilted her head. “Why, I’m here to help ponies, poor ponies like Rainbow Dash. And the best way to help ponies is by being generous, by giving of yourself. Don’t you agree, Twilight?”

Twilight swallowed the lump in her throat. Knowing you’re afraid doesn’t really make you less afraid. But I shouldn’t be afraid, this is just Nightmare Moon’s doing. Keep it together, Twilight! And keep Rarity sane! “Of course I agree. Why don’t we all just calm down and go back to Rainbow Dash? I’m sure she’d like it if we played a board game with her to pass the time. Being in a hospital bed is no fun.”

Rarity’s smile grew so wide, Twilight was sure it hurt her. Somehow, the smile didn’t actually tear into Rarity’s face, but the grin told Twilight that Rarity had no more self-preservation. Rarity held up a bloody stump of foreleg. “But we can help Rainbow Dash so much more if we give of ourselves! You don’t need these wings as much as she does, and you don’t even need to give her both of them, just one! I’ve already given her my leg— SEE?” Rarity grinned and pushed the still-bleeding stump into Twilight’s face. “Aren’t I the nicest, most generous pony you’ve ever met?”

Twilight couldn’t help the cold pit forming in her stomach, and her own foreleg twitched with sympathy. “Th-that’s so nice of you, Rarity. How about—”

“Now just hold still, Twilight! This will free up those wingy thoughts of yours!” Rarity tilted her head and looked at Twilight’s left wing, positioning the bone saw to begin her grisly work.

Twilight felt the rush of panic, and cursed herself. She could see Nightmare Moon in the edge of her vision, tittering. Black mist filled the room. Twilight screamed without thinking, “ANYPONY, HELP!”

As Rarity brought the saw down, a blue blur slammed into her from behind, and Rarity hit the wall with enough force to crack it. Twilight tilted her head sideways to see Rarity and Rainbow Dash wrestling with each other. “Get us out of here, Egghead!” Dash shouted.

“Dash, I’m only trying to help you! I don’t have any wings to give. Don’t be so ungrateful!” Rarity tackled Dash, shoulder-checking her into the wall, and slammed her head into the tile. Dash fought back and returned with a solid left hoof.

A solid, white, left hoof.

Twilight couldn’t stop staring at the white foreleg stitched onto Dash’s missing one. She still didn’t have a left wing, but it wasn’t bleeding anymore. Dash breathed out a thick cloud of reddish-orange vapor to mix with Rarity’s rainbow colors. Twilight took the opportunity to rally her friends. “Pinkie, Fluttershy, look at how brave Dash is! There’s no reason to be scared!”

The black mist stopped leaking out of Pinkie as she watched Dash. Rarity bit down on Dash’s blue foreleg. Dash snarled and used her white hoof to pound Rarity on the horn, sending her sprawling. “This is crazy, and I know something about crazy!” Pinkie swallowed when she saw the bone saw lying next to the table. Gingerly, she picked it up and held it over Twilight. “I’ll get you out of there in two shakes of a lamb’s tail!” She still quivered as she said it.

“GIVE THAT BACK!” Nightmare Moon screamed at Pinkie.

“Keep it up, Pinkie!” Twilight smiled as the saw bit into the first strap.

Nightmare Moon drew the shadows in around herself, growling like a wolf. Twilight watched in horror as she flapped one wing and sent a massive wave of black vapor at Rarity and Rainbow Dash. Dash pounced on Rarity just as the wave overtook them. Twilight gasped and held her breath. Dash momentarily stopped and shivered as a horrible, oily feeling raced up her spine.

The blackness hit Rarity as well, but it washed over the rainbow vapors like oil and water— the two didn’t mix. While Dash flinched, Rarity took the opportunity to buck her in the stomach. Dash flew across the room and smacked into the wall near Fluttershy. Rarity scrambled to her hooves and stumbled towards Pinkie. “Excuse me? Are you a psycho?! Give me back my jagged, sharp thoughts!” Rarity cried.

Pinkie’s eyes crossed and focused on the bone saw held in her mouth. With a start, she dropped it while stumbling back. Twilight tried to think past the panic and shouted, “Pinkie, cut me free with something else!” Twilight tried to think of something sharp in a hospital. “I know! A scalpel!”A shiny, razor-sharp scalpel appeared right in front of Pinkie in a purple flash.

“I’m sorry, Twilight. A scalpel will take too long. THIS will be faster… and more painful!” Rarity exclaimed, as she hopped onto the table again, the bone saw held in her aura.

She tried to bring the weapon down on Twilight’s wing, but Rainbow Dash tackled her at the last second. She used her one good wing to hold Rarity in a headlock while bashing her with the white hoof. Luckily, Twilight didn’t get stepped on as they tussled on the table. “Yeah, have a taste of your own medicine! Heh, sweet, I got to make a quip that’s totally in context!”

“Forget the quips, get me out of here!” Twilight screamed.

Rarity slapped Dash’s wing away, then followed up with a zap from her horn, knocking Dash sideways. Twilight gasped, but Dash kept her balance by using her one remaining wing. “Dash, use this!” Pinkie cried, as she tossed the scalpel in a lazy arc.

Twilight watched the horror unfold in slow motion. Dash tilted her wing to catch the scalpel. Rarity flicked her attention to the bone saw, bringing it back for a swing. Dash caught the scalpel with her wing and continued to turn, bringing the point in a low arc. With an insane glint her eye, and a low growl, Rarity brought the bone saw across her body in a high, vicious swing.

Twilight didn’t hear anything besides the blood pumping in her ears. Rarity faltered. She stopped breathing out rainbow-colored vapor; instead, her breath turned black. Tiny crimson spots appeared all over Rarity, like somepony hit her with a giant, red spray can.

Then Dash obscured Twilight’s vision with her body as she slumped on top of her. Twilight could feel Rarity crumple and fall on top of her hind legs. “Dash?” Twilight whispered.

Dash slipped and her hind legs fell off the side of the table. Twilight could see Dash’s upper body, her hooves holding on to keep her from slipping off. Twilight felt a hot liquid spilling across her chest. Dash smiled and cried. When she spoke, it came out as an airy rasp, as if she sucked on thin air. “I didn’t fail… I totally stopped… the psycho… I got… to be… the heroine…”

Twilight and Fluttershy screamed. Blood spurted out of Dash’s neck and all over Twilight’s chest. The cut on her throat severed both arteries and her windpipe. Tears burned hot in Twilight’s vision as Dash slowly slid off the table, spraying her lifeblood everywhere.

With a wet thud, she hit the floor, allowing Twilight to see Rarity. Twilight’s scream didn’t miss a beat. Rarity lay on her back, turned the opposite direction of Dash, across Twilight’s hind legs, facing the ceiling. The scalpel stood, buried in Rarity’s chest, right over her heart. A thin rivulet of blood ran from her mouth, and her missing leg still seeped blood onto Twilight’s leg and the table.

Nightmare Moon stood high above, cloaked in shadows. Twilight could only see two cat-like green eyes, and the white, devilish grin just below. The scalpel’s handle seemed to point right at that smile. Twilight focused on it. The scream died on her lips.

The blood of her friends covered her, hot and sticky and dead. Burning her. Seeping into her. Her own blood boiled.

It should have been a cause for tears, but Nightmare Moon smiled. Smiled a true smile, the kind Pinkie Pie held when she made other ponies smile, and it sparked a rage in Twilight she had never felt before in her life.

She’d been irritated past her breaking point with Pinkie before. She’d felt her blood quicken in battle with Tirek. She had even felt true anger at Trixie that time she enslaved ponyville. But never in her life had Twilight felt such white-hot rage, or so quickly. It wasn’t an emotion she was accustomed to. Not until she actually had something precious taken from her and the perpetrator enjoy it so, did this ancient emotion awaken.

Twilight’s mane and tail turned to fire, her tears into steam. The vapors in the room seemed to melt away, and everything looked crystal clear to her. As she rose to her hooves, the straps snapped like worn violin strings, making a discordant sound. For a brief instant, Nightmare Moon seemed to shrink. The room grew hot. “BURN!” Twilight growled, her entire body shaking with rage.

The room turned into an inferno. The doctors, silently seated around the amphitheater, screamed. Flesh blistered, blackened, and sloughed off in the heat. Fur and hair burned to cinders. Even hooves cracked and split. Everypony in Twilight’s vision screamed in unbearable agony, and she wanted Nightmare Moon to feel all of it. Nightmare Moon laughed behind the flames.

“No! This isn’t right!” Fluttershy shouted. “Twilight, come with us!”

“We’re not leaving anypony behind!” Pinkie cried.

Hooves dragged Twilight backwards and into darkness.

~~~~~

Everything Twilight saw held a red tint. “Uh…?” She blinked and tried to focus. Her head felt like it was stuffed with hot popcorn: full, but nothing of substance. She heard music.

Smooth jazz.

“It’s okay, Twilight. Everything’s okay now. You burnt her to ash. It’s over,” Fluttershy said quietly. Twilight blinked as her thoughts flowed back into her head. She suddenly felt exhausted and empty.

“It’s not quite over,” Pinkie sobbed. Twilight looked around, and her surroundings came into focus.

She stood next to Fluttershy in the elevator car. Smooth jazz played through the speakers, and a new button had appeared on the panel below the others. In Fluttershy’s delicate script, the label read, ‘Peaceful graveyard for friends.’ Blood stained the elevator car in a thick line starting at the doors and leading to Pinkie.

Rarity lay on her back next to Pinkie, her eyes glassy. Pinkie cradled Rainbow Dash in her hooves. Dash’s eyes stared up, quivering. Her mouth opened and closed, like a fish out of water trying to breathe. The gash in her throat poured blood out between Pinkie’s hooves in a small river. Pinkie bent over Dash, tears splattering down her face and onto Dash’s chest. The tears did nothing to wash away the blood pouring down her front.

Dash’s mouth moved. Twilight couldn’t see; everything became blurry with tears. “Twilight, Dash wants to tell you something,” Pinkie said through her tears. Twilight knelt and tried not to cry as she put her ear near Dash’s mouth.

“Embrace fear,” Dash whispered.

“Wh-what?” Twilight turned her head to look at Dash, and immediately wept again. Blood seeped out of Dash’s neck, but her eyes didn’t focus on anything, and she didn’t move. “NO!” Twilight cried, wrapping her hooves and wings around Dash. The body still felt warm.

Twilight simply sobbed.

Embrace Fear

Chapter 7: Embrace Fear

Ding.

The elevator doors opened. A cool breeze brought an earthy smell into the elevator car. Twilight didn’t look up. “Pinkie, if you get Rarity, I’ll get Dash and Twilight,” Fluttershy said with a sniff.

Out of the corner of her eye, Twilight saw Rarity’s body getting dragged away, leaving a blood-slick trail. A hoof gently tried to lift Twilight, but with a vicious swipe, Twilight batted that hoof away. “NO!”

Fluttershy gasped; it was a mousy sound, but it made Twilight look up. “You don’t have to be angry anymore, Twilight. It isn’t your fault Nightmare Moon pushed all that anger on you.”

“What?” Twilight asked, focusing on Fluttershy.

“Um… you’re not mad at me, are you?” Fluttershy asked.

Twilight shook her head. “No, why would I be mad at you? There’s no logical reason for that.”

Fluttershy visibly relaxed. “Oh, that looks better,” she said, staring at Twilight’s face. “I was scared when Nightmare Moon flung all that red mist at you. I wasn’t sure what that meant. Anger, I guess; you suddenly got really angry right afterwards. You didn’t even notice Dash gasping on the floor, trying to get your attention.”

Twilight looked between Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash, still cradled in her limbs. She wept quietly over Dash. “I’m so sorry. What a terrible friend I am, getting angry instead of helping you.”

Fluttershy helped Twilight to her hooves. Together, they lifted Dash’s body with their wings, like she was a war hero going to rest. “Don’t blame yourself, Twilight. It’s Nightmare Moon’s fault.”

Dusk settled over Twilight as she walked onto a grassy field. Tombstones stood in solemn rows, empty epitaphs etched onto each one. Following Pinkie was extremely easy; they only had to follow the blood trail. Twilight felt guilty losing control, but she had to know something. “Did I… burn Nightmare Moon alive?”

Fluttershy nodded and replied, “Yes. She didn’t seem to mind, but you burned everything above the table. I don’t understand it; why would Nightmare Moon make you angry, only to let you kill her?”

Twilight’s brain kicked on. She didn’t want to think because everything seemed to hurt, but her mind didn’t allow itself to stay idle. “I don’t know. I have more questions than answers. Why aren’t you sad about Rarity and Rainbow Dash?” Twilight asked. Just saying the name sent another stabbing pain into Twilight’s chest.

“I am sad. It’s horrible, but I just wanted to help you through it instead of crying about it. If I think about it too much, I will start crying, and I won’t be able to stop,” Fluttershy replied. Twilight looked at Fluttershy and saw her breathe out a steady stream of grayish vapors.

“Oh…” Twilight mumbled, and let the subject drop. She and Fluttershy slowly walked around a wide oak tree to find Pinkie standing in front of two open graves. Pinkie sat on her haunches, with Rarity in the grave to her left. The scalpel had been removed, and Rarity’s body lay curled up, as if she slept peacefully with her head resting on her right hoof. The missing hoof was hidden under her, so it looked as if she were whole.

Twilight froze in front of the empty grave. Fluttershy took Dash’s body and placed it inside, while Twilight stared, dumbfounded. Fluttershy posed Dash as if she slept on her back. Fluttershy closed her eyes for a moment, and a necklace that looked like the Element of Loyalty appeared on Dash’s neck, covering her fatal injury. “There, doesn’t that look better?”

Twilight cried again. Still, her mind itched with questions. Why did Rarity attack them? Besides fear, what other emotions could Nightmare Moon play with? Why did Nightmare Moon allow events to play out this way? What did Dash’s last words mean? Why wasn’t Rarity affected by the fear that Nightmare Moon struck Dash with? And why did Nightmare Moon hit Twilight with anger instead of fear?

Pinkie produced her special bag of candy again and took out another mouthful. Before she could stuff them into her mouth, Fluttershy slapped them away. “Pinkie! Stop eating those, they’re full of… well, crazy!”

Pinkie looked forlornly at the candies that fell on top of Rarity and mumbled, “Sweets for the sweet, I guess.” Pinkie turned to Fluttershy and asked, “What do you mean, they’re full of crazy? That’s what I eat when I get stressed out. News flash: I’m super stressed out right now!” Pinkie’s hair went flat. “What am I supposed to do without a stress reliever?” Her eyes drifted in different directions.

“I’m sorry, Pinkie. How about a hug?” Fluttershy asked. She hugged Pinkie, who returned the gesture. “Let’s focus on something else. How about… digging?”

Two shovels appeared in the piles of nearby dirt. Pinkie sniffed and nodded. Pinkie and Fluttershy slowly filled the graves, quietly sobbing.

“Why, Rarity, why?” Twilight asked, looking at Rarity as the dirt slowly covered her.

Fluttershy paused her work. “She ate the apple Pinkie imagined, and it was full of cra—” Fluttershy glanced at Pinkie, who looked away. “...rainbow candies. After she ate it, she… changed,” Fluttershy finished.

Twilight clenched her teeth and said, “If Nightmare Moon wasn’t ashes, I’d burn her again!”

“Twilight! Stop that, stop breathing that red gunk,” Fluttershy admonished her.

Twilight sighed. “I’m sorry, you’re right. I should just let it go. It’s over. Now is the time I should reflect.” A fresh pair of tears slid down her face. “I just wish they were still here. I can just imagine them.”

Rarity flashed into existence right in front of Twilight.

Twilight, Pinkie, and Fluttershy gasped. The new Rarity that stood between the graves blinked in the fading sunlight and asked, “Is everything alright? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

“R-Rarity!” Twilight exclaimed. She looked between the grave with Rarity’s body and the Rarity who stood before her. “Um… Rarity, are you… you?”

The new Rarity tilted her head and replied, “I believe so. Of course, if I’m a figment of your imagination, then I would believe I am me.” This Rarity glanced at the grave, the dead Rarity’s head and one hind hoof still visible. “It seems I’m a figment of your imagination,” it said. Twilight squeezed her eyes shut and a single sob tore fresh tears out of her. “Darling, stop that! You’ll ruin your complexion with so much crying.”

“B-b-but you’re d-d-dead…!” Twilight sobbed. “Th-there’s s-so much I w-wanted t-to say.”

The figment of Rarity smiled and said, “Well, I’d be happy to listen in the real me’s stead.”

Twilight opened her mouth, but no words came spilling out. The figment of Rarity just smiled and nodded. Twilight swallowed and said, “Um… I’m sorry Dash had to kill you, and I wish you weren’t dead. Funny... that’s all I really want to say.”

The figment of Rarity hugged Twilight, who closed her eyes and wept. “Oh Twilight, that’s kind of you. And I don’t blame Rainbow Dash, I blame Nightmare Moon. I just wanted to help, and she twisted that against me. Oh, and Twilight, if you ever want to talk to me, remember I’m always in here.” Twilight stood back and opened her eyes. She expected to see Rarity pointing at her heart, but instead, Rarity pointed at her head. Twilight nodded. The figment of Rarity faded and vanished.

Pinkie stood, mouth agape. “Twilight, you can imagine friends!”

Twilight sniffed and closed her eyes, just trying to breathe evenly. “I guess I can.”

Pinkie pronked in place. “Do Rainbow Dash! I want to see her!”

Fluttershy put a wing over Twilight. “Your aura looked better after your talk with Rarity. I think Pinkie has the right idea. Um… I’d also like to say sorry to Dash, if that’s okay with you.”

Twilight nodded. “Of course you can.” Twilight closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

Rainbow Dash appeared in a purplish flash, hovering just in front of Twilight. She appeared pristine and uninjured. “Hi, Egghead. What’s up?”

Twilight opened her eyes and sighed. “You know I hate it when you call me that.”

“Which is why I do it. Seriously, you’d think an Egghead like you would have figured that out by now. Or I guess you already did, but you still get irritated by it. Funny how that works, huh?” Dash spoke with a cocky little grin.

Fluttershy spoke up. “I’m so sorry, Rainbow Dash! I didn’t mean to be afraid, but I can’t help it. I wish I were as brave as you. I wish—”

The figment of Dash cut her off. “Flutters, it’s okay! Really, it is! I know you didn’t do it on purpose. I know I got irritated over it, but that’s only because it put other ponies in danger. I still hate Nightmare Moon. Just remember, no matter how angry I might get, I’d never leave you hanging.” The response quieted Fluttershy, who cried quietly over the real Dash’s grave.

“I wish you weren’t dead,” Twilight said, her voice flat.

The figment of Dash barked out a laugh. “Yeah, me too. I still had stuff to do, but I got to go out in a blaze of glory, didn’t I?”

Twilight nodded, then the question popped into her head again. “Dash, what did you—” Twilight glanced at Fluttershy and Pinkie. “—your final words mean? Did you only intend for me to hear them, or can I tell the others?”

The figment of Dash pursed her lips. “Sorry, Egghead— I don’t know anything you don’t know. You’ll have to figure that one out on your own.” Dash stretched and yawned. “I guess I should go to sleep now. That’s a nice way to say it, isn’t it? Just close your eyes and drift off peacefully…” A fluffy white cloud appeared just under the figment of Dash. She laid on it and sighed.

Twilight’s eyes went wide. “I didn’t do that!”

Fluttershy looked at Twilight. “Do what?”

“I didn’t imagine a cloud bed, so who did?” Twilight asked.

Pinkie shrugged and said, “Not me!”

“I got sleepy, so I imagined the cloud,” the figment of Dash replied.

Twilight stared at her creation in awe. “But I imagined you!”

The figment of Dash nodded. “Yep, and I got sleepy and imagined a cloud. Which means you imagined Rainbow Dash being sleepy and carefree. And what would the great Rainbow Dash do in that case?” The figment gestured with a haughty smile and a hoof pointing to herself.

“Sleep on a cloud,” Twilight finished with awe. “I didn’t know figments could imagine figments of their own.”

“You’re an Egghead— I’m sure you can figure all this dream stuff out. Why don’t you just think about it for awhile?” the figment of Dash asked. Twilight sighed, her wings drooped, and she seemed to fall into herself. The figment of Dash and her cloud vanished.

“Thank you, Twilight. I needed that,” Fluttershy said.

Pinkie gasped. “That was so cool! It’s like bringing a pony back from the dead, but not like a zombie!”

Twilight snapped her head to look at Pinkie. “Don’t say, or even think about zombies! Honestly, Pinkie— we’re in a graveyard for crying out loud. Keep your thoughts in check!”

“Okay, I’ll try,” Pinkie replied. “Shouldn’t there be a eulogy or something?”

Twilight closed her eyes and cried again, softly. “Yes, there should be. This is all happening so fast. I just want everything to slow down for a second. I just want a moment to myself to think.” A flash of purple light burned past Twilight’s eyelids. “Huh?”

Twilight Sparkle opened her eyes, and found herself standing in front of... Twilight Sparkle. “FINALLY!” the new Twilight exclaimed. Pinkie and Fluttershy backstepped, astonished.

“Who are you?” Twilight asked.

The new Twilight smiled, saluted with a wing, and replied, “Subconscious Twilight Sparkle, reporting for duty!” With a wry grin, she glanced at Fluttershy and Pinkie. “Would you two excuse us for a moment? I’d like to have a private conversation with myself.”

~~~~~

Twilight and her subconscious stood a short distance away from the gravesite, out of earshot. Twilight’s subconscious circled around Twilight, grinning the whole time. “Hi, you can call me Ego.” Ego stopped at Twilight’s hindquarters. “Nice, I like dat flank. You’ll get Flash Sentry’s attention for sure if you shake it at him. You won’t have to use your hooves to…” She ran a forehoof over Twilight’s flank and down the back of her hind leg.

Twilight jumped forward, tucking her tail between her legs, blushing furiously. She whirled on Ego. “Stop that! What are you doing?”

Ego giggled. “I’m you, and not just a figment of your imagination. I’m you, uninhibited and unfettered. I’m what you desire, what you hope for, long for, and what you say to yourself so quietly you don’t even let yourself hear it.” Ego circled around Twilight to face her front, and gently held Twilight's face with her hooves, like a lover. “In short, I’m you.”

“What do you want with me? Why did you want to talk to me alone?” Twilight asked, as she shied away from Ego’s invasion of her personal space. Then again, Ego probably considered that her personal space as well.

“Because I’m the private you! The you no other pony gets to see unless you want them to. By the way, you don’t. At least not all at once. Plus, it means I don’t have to worry about embarrassing you in front of your friends. As for what I want? Easy— I want what you want. I want you strong, healthy, loved, and admired. I’m immune to being embarrassed, but I’m not immune from feeling embarrassment from you. That’s why I think you should just show Flash Sentry your flank and drive him wild. He’ll figure it out, and if he doesn’t, you’ll drive him insane. Serves him right for ignoring you!” Ego shook her hoof in the air as if Flash Sentry had just insulted her.

Twilight blushed and shook her head. “Wait, what? He hasn’t ignored me, we’ve hardly said more than two words to each other.”

Ego giggled and put her hoof back down. “Yeah, sometimes I get a little carried away. Your desires and thoughts are raw for me, and I’d just act on them. It’s all those higher brain functions that keep me in check.”

Twilight sighed. “I was hoping you could help me figure out my current problems. I guess you’re only as smart as I am, and I don’t have enough data.”

Twilight felt odd hearing her own giggle coming out of another’s mouth. “Oh, I’m much smarter than you.”

Twilight cocked an eyebrow. “Excuse me? You are me. How can you be smarter than I am?”

Ego clapped her hooves. “Easy. Your conscious brain needs to process data and put everything together. You wouldn’t believe the sky is blue without at least a dozen data points confirming it. You can’t synthesize what you’ve seen, because you use logic. I don’t waste my time with that garbage. I use intuition; it’s faster. Oh, and bonus, I have access to your logic outputs as well, which means I can synthesize information using both the raw data points and what you’ve figured out.” Twilight couldn’t believe how confident her subconscious sounded.

“Intuition is unreliable; that’s why I use logic instead. I don’t want to draw a wrong conclusion,” Twilight replied.

Ego blew out an exasperated breath. “Yeah, I guess intuition can be wrong sometimes, but here? In this place? Thoughts are reality, so why don’t you let me do the thinking for a bit? Please?” Ego begged, her hooves pressed together in supplication.

Twilight bit her lip. “Well, okay, tell me what you… or I… think.”

A huge smile appeared on Ego’s face as she pumped a hoof in the air. “YES! In the driver’s seat at last!” Twilight felt a rush, like a shot of adrenaline into her heart. Her body felt hot. Sounds and images assaulted her.

“S-Stop!” Twilight cried, covering her eyes with her forehooves and pressing her ears to her head.

The assault on Twilight’s senses abruptly ceased. Ego’s grin was huge. “Heh, too much for you? Then I’ll just tell you— that way you can process it in your dumb, slow way.”

“Th-Thank you,” Twilight mumbled.

Twilight could see Fluttershy talking to Pinkie; the conversation seemed lively. Ego began, “Nightmare Moon can control emotions in dreams, track them, read them, and push them around. She can’t make an emotion from nothing, but she’s good at tricking you and your friends into feeling something, then using that material. So know thyself, Twilight. And here we are,” Ego finished by pointing to herself with a smug grin.

Twilight blinked, trying to keep up. “Right, but what I really want to know is—”

“In dreams, anything you imagine becomes real. With multiple ponies in the same dream, the strength of your belief determines what becomes real and what thoughts get pushed aside. So quit doubting yourself. Your doubt’s going to get us killed.”

Twilight nodded. “Oh-okay. Um, how do I—”

“If you imagine something that needs continuous thought, like another pony, the two of you will know what the other thinks and sees, but only intuitively. If you wanted to see through the eyes of that figment you made of Rainbow Dash, you’d have to focus on that. The tricky part? The part that’s going to bake your noodle? That same thought process may not be under your complete control, unless you believe it is. Quick! Imagine Flash Sentry doing what you want him to do to you. Go!” Ego grinned salaciously.

Twilight’s eyes went wide. She mumbled, “Cold shower, stargazing, new book smell…”

Ego smiled and nodded. “Nice! If you keep your thoughts in check, you can’t easily be manipulated. Emotions drive thoughts, but thoughts are what become real. Emotions are just vapor here, color-coded for your convenience. You cannot sense your own emotions without great self-reflection. You can see the vapors, but it’s better if you smell them, because that way you can get a better handle on who’s feeling what. That’s how Nightmare Moon tracks you, by the way. Seeing is like logic, smelling is like intuition, follow me?”

Twilight nodded silently, her brain on fire.

“Anything you take into yourself here will affect you emotionally. Food is especially potent, because it’s a basic need, which means I want it. Thus, it has all kinds of powerful emotions already tied to it. Pouring your negative emotions into a vessel is a useful way to protect yourself, but only if you keep the vessel safe. It only works for one or two emotions, because most ponies only associate a food with a couple of emotions at most. If you’re tired, think coffee. If you’re scared, think comfort food. And for the love of the sun and moon, don’t eat or drink anything you didn’t create yourself. That’s just asking to get yourself manipulated.” Ego was on a roll now.

Twilight nodded, taking notes with a pencil and pad of paper she had imagined. “Fascinating, but how do I wake—”

“If you imagine something, and you lose your concentration, the thing you imagined will vanish and return to the original mind that created it. The more concentration required for that thing, the easier it is to lose it. Figments can imagine other figments, but it all depends on the original mind. You will not face the shadowbolts again unless you imagine Rainbow Dash. Follow me?”

Twilight nodded, smiling. “Incredible! But how do I—”

“Everything here is a metaphor for what’s going on inside your head. Your dead friends over there? Not their real bodies, just their minds. You don’t want Nightmare Moon to have access to them, so burying them is a good idea. You might want to encase them in cement or burn them. Safer that way.”

Twilight looked horrified, but nodded.

“Which brings me to the important part. Your best weapons are belief and imagination. Be creative, and Nightmare Moon won’t know what hit her.”

Twilight nodded. “Um, Nightmare Moon is dead. I burned her alive.”

“Psh, yeah right. No way Nightmare Moon is that dumb. Either she somehow escaped, which I doubt, or she imagined something else. Like say… herself,” Ego said with a smug grin. “If she imagined a figment that was a double of her, she could safely attack you without exposing herself to harm.”

Twilight’s eyes went wide. “What?!”

“Hello?” Ego waved. “Look at me, I’m a double of you! If Nightmare Moon is as smart as I think she is, she doubled herself, then attacked you with anger to make you crazy. Crazy is much better for her than dead. If you’re dead, she can’t possess your body, but if you’re crazy, then she can get inside you. Technically it means she’d replace me, which means I’d die.” Ego suddenly glared at Twilight with an edge to her voice. “I don’t want to die, Twilight.”

“Uh… no, that would be bad,” Twilight replied.

“Damn right it would be. Self-preservation is my number one priority. That’s why crazy is so bad, it suppresses that instinct. It also helps you resist other emotions, like fear. Fear is bad here, but crazy is the worst. Don’t you dare give up, Twilight. Keep using your dumb logic, no matter what!”

Twilight nodded and giggled. “I’ll make sure I’m me.”

“Imagining a double of yourself as a figment is a good idea, but don’t use me to fight. I’d be super strong, because I don’t have doubts, but if I got killed, you’d become a vegetable. Nightmare Moon could easily possess a pony without an ego to resist her. After you beat her, a great, anticipated fall will wake you when you hit bottom. Do you understand everything I’ve told you? Can you put it all together?”

Twilight nodded.

Ego snorted. “Of course you understand, we have an amazing mind. Now then, for our self-preservation, lose your concentration, okay?” Ego rhymed, but looked dead serious.

“What?” Twilight asked.

Ego rolled her eyes and mumbled, “Dimwit.” Ego suddenly reached out and smacked Twilight across the cheek. Hard.

The world snapped into focus, and Ego vanished in a puff of white smoke. Twilight blinked and watched as the smoke drifted away, splitting into a rainbow of colors. The colors didn’t mix; they were an ordered rainbow. Twilight decided to test Ego’s advice and took a deep breath, sniffing like a bloodhound.

She breathed in the rainbow vapors, and felt whole again. Everything Ego said suddenly made more sense. She could smell… herself, an incredibly complex, beautiful perfume.

She could smell other things around her as well. She sensed the acidic mixture of her friends bleeding off from their animated conversation. There was another scent as well, something akin to burning hair.

Twilight pinched her nose shut and focused on seeing the vapors around her. The smells were so complex she couldn’t make heads or tails of them. However, she could see the green vapor drifting across the grounds and between the gravestones. Her eyes followed the vapors to Pinkie and Fluttershy.

Pinkie laughed maniacally, slamming the shovel into the mound of dirt that covered Rainbow Dash. Rarity had already been uncovered. Pinkie kept shoveling the dirt out, back onto the pile, while Fluttershy darted around her, begging her to stop. Twilight focused on her friends. She could see Pinkie, wreathed in a miasma of mottled, rainbow colors. She could see Fluttershy in a dirty orange cloud. She could even see the cool blue vapors Twilight herself breathed out. Looking at them made the rest of the world grow fuzzy and unfocused, so Twilight focused on Pinkie instead.

Twilight galloped back to her friends and cried, “Pinkie, what are you doing?”

Pinkie turned her head to Twilight, like a doll without a spinal cord. Her hair hung limp around her, and her eyes didn’t look in the same direction. The frown on her face looked to be the only normal thing about her. “I’ve got to get our friends out of the ground, Twilight. That way, you can imagine them back to life!”

“I keep trying to tell Pinkie it doesn’t work that way, but she won’t listen!” Fluttershy cried.

“Pinkie, stop digging,” Twilight said calmly. “I can imagine some new friends for us, but it’s based on my imagination; they’re not our real friends.”

Pinkie pursed her lips. “Are you sure about that? Isn’t belief the most powerful thing here? I believe if I put some smelling salts under Rarity’s nose, she’ll wake up. That’s what’s going on here, right? We’re all just asleep, remember?”

Twilight shook her head. “You have to listen to me, Nightmare Moon is still alive! The thing I destroyed was just a figment of her imagination. We have to keep our friends’ bodies… minds… whatever, safe from her! I really hope they’re not dead in the real world, and if they’re not, we can’t let Nightmare Moon near them,” Twilight finished.

Pinkie grinned and said, “Well, then I know just where they’ll be safe.”

Twilight eyed Pinkie. “We need to hurry, Nightmare Moon could be here any—”

“Speak of the devil, Twilight… ha-ha-ha!” Nightmare Moon laughed from her perch on a dark storm cloud. “And then there were three. You can end this anytime you want, Twilight.” Nightmare Moon licked her lips. “You know what you have to do.”

Twilight glared at Nightmare Moon, while Fluttershy gasped and hid behind her. Fluttershy leaked a bit of black vapor, while Pinkie kept digging furiously. Twilight took a deep breath to calm herself; when she breathed out, her breath appeared as a cool blue.

Twilight focused, and the Element of Magic appeared on her head in a flash of purple light.

Nightmare Moon laughed, “Going to use the Elements of Harmony on me? It seems you’re three friends and five elements short.” She focused on Fluttershy. “Hmmm… what do you think I should do next, Fluttershy? Did Pinkie mention any good ideas? Zombies perhaps?” Nightmare Moon sniffed the air like a predator, smiling as Fluttershy leaked more black vapor.

Twilight shook her head. “I don’t think so.” She put a wing over Fluttershy and whispered, “Don’t worry, I’ll protect you. Just stick by me. You trust me, don’t you?”

Fluttershy cracked an eye open and nodded. “Yes, but what are you going to do?”

Twilight smirked. “Get imaginative,” she said simply.

Fluttershy shivered and replied, “Okay.”

Twilight looked back at Nightmare Moon, still smirking. “Having a little trouble there? Not enough vapor to fuel your attacks?” She could see the black vapor from Fluttershy flow into the Element of Magic. She breathed out a bit of black mist as well, but once the Element absorbed it, her breath solidified to a cool, pale blue.

Nightmare Moon growled at Twilight. “Had a little chat with your ego, did you?” She sniffed again, her nostrils flaring. “Logic. How banal. You know you cannot defeat me with mere logic.”

Twilight grinned. “I know. That’s why I imagined the Element of Harmony. It’s the one thing that I know for a fact banishes fear. Try to imagine just how much I believe in it, while it absorbs all of your fear and leaves you powerless.”

Nightmare Moon let rip the highest, smuggest laugh Twilight had ever heard. “I’m sorry, you think something that absorbs fear is going to defeat me?” Her laughter boomed across the landscape.

Twilight focused, ready for anything. The air around Nightmare Moon appeared greenish, now mixed with yellow. Twilight searched, but couldn’t find even a hint of black. “How can that be? Everypony is afraid of something! Unless…”

“Die, you mewling filly!” Nightmare Moon snarled. She lit her horn and let loose a white-hot, jagged lightning bolt.

It tore across the sky and hit… Twilight’s lightning rod. “You’ll have to do better than that,” Twilight quipped, smiling.

Nightmare Moon shook her head. “So predictable. Let’s heat things up a bit, shall we?” With a flick of her horn, Nightmare Moon circled the ponies in a ring of fire. “Your turn to burn!”

Twilight shrugged and lit her horn. The thundercloud Nightmare Moon stood on rumbled and let loose rain. The deluge caused the fire to hiss, sputter, and die. “Is that all you can come up with? We’ve done this dance before.”

“Oh, I’ll get creative!” Nightmare Moon’s snarl turned her face into a rictus of rage. She flicked her horn again.

Rotting, cracked hooves burst from the ground. Moaning, decaying ponies climbed out of the surrounding graves. Only Rarity and Rainbow Dash didn’t move. Zombies crawled out from every direction, their milk-white eyes searching for Twilight and her remaining friends. Each had a unique set of bleeding gashes, rotting flesh, and organs hanging out of place. With a howl, the nearest one, a brown stallion with no tail and a bleeding eye socket, charged at them. His teeth were either yellow, cracked, sharp, or missing. He snapped at Fluttershy, who yelped and literally shrank in size.

“I’m not afraid of you! There’s no such thing as zombies,” Twilight said with a stomp.

Nightmare Moon laughed. “Oh really? Don’t believe your eyes? Why don’t we try an experiment, hmmm? What if… we let them eat Rarity and Rainbow Dash? Your friends might come back to life! Wouldn’t that be grand?”

“Get off me!” Pinkie cried. Twilight turned to see a pair of ponies trying to bite Pinkie. One held her right forehoof; Pinkie bucked the other in the face as he bit her tail hair.

Twilight lit her horn. “What’s making you move? Some kind of disease?” Several of the sickened ponies stumbled towards Twilight, growling. As she spoke, many of them bled from their eyes, ears, and mouths. “I see, some kind of hemotoxic bacteria. That means antibiotics should cure you.” In a purple flash of light, dozens of filled syringes appeared, floating around Twilight. With a smirk, she sent them through the air like darts. Each found a mark in the bleeding flesh of their attackers.

Nightmare Moon growled, her breath morphing to a dark red. The sick ponies fell around them, moaning in muted pain. “I’m going to make you feel such agony, Twilight,” Nightmare Moon purred. “I’m going to—”

With a sickening crack, an anvil fell on Nightmare Moon’s head. “That really hurts, trust me,” Twilight said with a grin, as Nightmare Moon stumbled and fell to the ground like a marionette with its strings cut. “Time to finish you off!” Twilight said, taking a step forward.

Without warning, Nightmare Moon vanished in a puff of white smoke. Carried on an unfelt wind, the vapor hurtled away. Far in the distance, a black dot appeared, the vapor rushing towards it. The ground rumbled. The faint sound of fillies singing carried on the wind: “One, two, she’s coming for you...”

“What’s happening?” Fluttershy asked. “Did we win?”

Twilight shook her head. “No, that was just a figment of Nightmare Moon’s imagination. I guess you could call it her self-image. I’ll bet Nightmare Moon imagines she has no fear.”

More singing. “Three, four, lock the door...” The ground trembled again, worse this time, as if a giant approached.

“Show yourself, coward!” Twilight’s voice boomed across the landscape. Fluttershy gasped at Twilight’s words.

Nightmare Moon fell out of the sky like a meteor. She slammed into the ground, leaving a crater wide enough to fit a dozen ponies. Still smoking, she rose to her full height and spread her black wings. Her eyes burned bright, the cat-like pupils sharp enough to cut diamond. “My apologies, figments don’t have much creativity. I suppose if you want something done right…”

“This ends now, Nightmare Moon.” Twilight stood tall, her wings spread. “I’m ready for you.”

Nightmare Moon smiled. “Ah yes, I can smell the change in you. Spoke with your ego, hmmm? Must have been an interesting conversation. It smells like it subtly transformed you.” Nightmare Moon looked at Pinkie Pie. “Transforming is so easy in dreams. You can be whatever you want to be. Isn’t that right, Pinkie?”

Twilight followed Nightmare Moon’s gaze and gasped. Pinkie cradled her right forehoof. A bloody set of teeth marks had left an impression on her leg. “Am I going to become a zombie?” Pinkie asked, rocking back and forth.

“Don’t be absurd, Pinkie. There’s no such thing as zombies,” Twilight assured her. “Those ponies were just sick. You should clean that wound and take some antibiotics. You’ll be fine as soon as I—”

Nightmare Moon lit her horn and let loose a lightning bolt that had enough energy to turn the air into ozone. The grass wilted and died, blistered by the incredible heat of Nightmare Moon’s attack. Twilight blinked, spots fading from her vision. A ring of lightning rods set in a circle protected them. “Excellent reflexes, Twilight,” Nightmare Moon said, licking her lips. “I MUST have you! Time to get… imaginative!”

Twilight focused on Nightmare Moon. She stifled a gasp; Nightmare Moon breathed out nothing but rainbow vapors. She’s totally cracked! Twilight thought.

Nightmare Moon lit her horn and smiled. A pack of monstrous diamond dogs burst out of the open graves around Twilight and her friends. They howled and charged, frothing at the mouth and snarling with rage.

Fluttershy yelped and shrank to the size of a large butterfly. She scrambled onto Twilight’s back while Twilight gritted her teeth. The first diamond dog snapped at Twilight, forcing her to pull her head back. His rotting breath washed over her, a thick soup of stinking meat and earth. With a glare, Twilight imagined a femur with a bit of flesh still attached. The diamond dog tried to bite down again, but the bone appeared in his mouth, holding it open.

Three more diamond dogs stalked around Twilight. She ‘fed’ them all with meaty bones. The first diamond dog snapped the bone in half with his powerful jaws. Instead of pouncing on her, he sat and gnawed on the marrow of his treat, blood dripping between his teeth. Soon, Twilight and Fluttershy were surrounded by the sounds of splintering bones, ripping flesh, and the moaning of the sick. “Pinkie? Where are you?” Twilight called.

Nightmare Moon circled around Twilight, aiming her horn. “You don’t have time to worry about Pinkie; worry about yourself!” She let loose her spell. Twilight stood ready to counter something dangerous, like a lightning bolt or a fireball. The fog took her by surprise. Thick, grayish fog boiled out of Nightmare Moon’s horn. Within seconds, Twilight could see only shadows of the creatures and objects around her.

Fluttershy gulped. “Is that a tombstone, or a diamond dog?” she asked, pointing at a shadowy patch of fog to her left. The crunch of bone caused her to yelp. “That’s definitely a diamond dog! They won’t be distracted forever, and I need to help those poor, sick ponies. Can you blow away this fog and distract Nightmare Moon while I—”

“HA-HA-HA! This will be the last act, Twilight. My self-image collected enough fear for the grand finale! I’ve been saving it up! Now, weep with fear!” The fog grew thicker and the sun suddenly dropped below the horizon. A blood-red moon rose into the night sky, the only source of light. It rained, a freezing drizzle, covering everything in crimson liquid. Twilight shivered as an icy chill crept up her spine. “Those zombies are just lying around, useless. Shall we make a meal of them?” Nightmare Moon asked from beyond the crimson fog.

The crunching of bones continued, but now Twilight could hear the wet ripping of flesh as well. A sound just to Twilight’s right drew her eye. She turned to see a nearby diamond dog standing over a moaning, sick pony. The diamond dog growled, then tore into the pony’s throat. Putrid blood splattered all over the dog’s muzzle and the ground. It appeared black in the red light of the moon. The rotten flesh of the pony seemed to quickly spread to the diamond dog; his flesh crinkled and withered. Yet still he ate, and ate, his gut distending, and his tongue lolling out of his mouth as he continued to lap up black, fetid blood and wet chunks of raw meat.

Twilight felt bile rise in her throat. A warm, wet spot on her back told her Fluttershy had urinated or vomited. The smell was the worst: the disgusting flesh of the sick ponies and the smell of blood-wet diamond dog combined into a new, horrifying odor. The smell hit Twilight with almost physical force. Gagging, she stumbled back a step. “Do something, Twilight!” Fluttershy begged, then she gagged as well.

“We’ve got to get rid of this smell and fog first.” Twilight lit her horn and let the cold seep into her bones. A whistling wind stirred the fog; it quickly grew to a howl. The rain turned into flakes of crimson snow, still illuminated by the moon.

The fog blew away, revealing a freezing graveyard. Rime caked everything: diamond dogs, dead ponies, gravestones, even the blades of grass on the ground had frozen. The diamond dogs moaned and curled into little balls, shivering. Twilight shivered violently as well, and the quivering little ball on her back told her Fluttershy fared no better. “S-so c-cold,” Fluttershy complained.

Nightmare Moon still stood on the storm cloud, slowly drifting around Twilight. “I could freeze one of your limbs off again. Honestly, Twilight. Is it a good idea for you to make things cold? What would Rainbow Dash say?” She laughed again, her laughter echoing over the frigid landscape.

“You’re right, being cold in the dark is scary. So let’s warm things up a bit.” Twilight shot a beam of purple light at the moon.

“Oh no you don’t, that’s my moon! Don’t you dare touch it!” Nightmare Moon snarled. She focused on the crimson moon, keeping it in place.

The moon didn’t move, but it instantly heated up. The sky turned a pale blue, the fog vanished, and the rime quickly melted. “Oh, don’t worry, I’m not going to move it. But, a red celestial body should be the sun, not the moon, right?” Twilight mocked.

Nightmare Moon glanced between the moon and Twilight before she realized the orb in the sky had transformed into the sun. “NO!” she screamed. “HOW DARE YOU! You’ll pay for that! You’ll be eaten like the prey you are!”

Twilight crouched, ready for the diamond dogs, as they stumbled to their paws. They all whimpered sadly, their bodies covered in boils, blisters, withered flesh, and weeping sores. One diamond dog howled as his overinflated, bloodshot eye popped out of its socket. Another scratched at a boil on his ear until his ear tore off, causing him to howl in agony.

A diamond dog crawled to Twilight, his body covered in sores. Seeping puss from dozens of places, he stumbled and fell to the ground only a single stride away from her. She snorted and looked at Nightmare Moon. “Your diamond dogs don’t seem to be doing so well after eating that infected flesh.” Twilight raised a brow at Nightmare Moon, whose expression made her blood run cold.

Nightmare Moon’s grin spread wide, her body wreathed in mottled, rainbow-colored vapor. Her rictus grin didn’t falter as she lit her horn and pointed it at the closest diamond dog. Twilight quickly focused on the diamond dog, and a wire cage appeared around him. Nightmare Moon let out another lithium-laced laugh. “Don’t you know trying to contain a thought only makes it stronger? Trying to keep things in isn’t going to work… not when they hunger to get out!”

Twilight and Fluttershy gasped. The diamond dog’s putrid skin rippled. His eyes went wide, and he opened his mouth to howl… when a rat crawled out of his mouth! Hundreds of clicking scarab beetles and squeaking rats burst out of him. Nightmare Moon shrieked with laughter as she pointed at the other diamond dogs, one at a time. Each of them howled in agony and burst at the seams, releasing hundreds of hungry beetles and rats. Fluttershy cried as the diamond dogs and dead ponies were stripped to the bone by these scavengers.

Nightmare Moon laughed and laughed. “Soon, they will run out of dead flesh to feed upon, and they’ll search for something else. Something warm, something alive… something injured and bleeding!” Her eyes lit upon Pinkie, then Twilight. “What’s your plan now, little pony?” she asked with a smirk.

Twilight retreated near Pinkie. She watched a rat chew itself out of the back of a diamond dog’s eye socket and spill out of his still-bleeding skull. With a hiss, the vermin scurried towards her, the first of many. More of his brothers followed as they ate the last of the diamond dog’s flesh.

Twilight panicked as she shot the first rat with a bolt of magic. How do I stop rats and insects? she thought frantically. Rat poison? Bug repellent? I can only stop one group of them at best! Teleport away? What about Dash and Rarity? Should I heal Pinkie? Can I? What do I do? Twilight shot rapid-fire bolts of magic to keep the vermin at bay, but it was like trying to push back the tide with a broom.

“I’m afraid! I’m sorry!” Fluttershy cried.

A light bulb appeared over Twilight’s head for a moment. “That’s it!” she cried. With a flick of her horn, she lit a small campfire in front of her. Embrace fear.

Nightmare Moon laughed. “If you’re going to protect yourself with fire, shouldn’t you at least surround yourself with it? It won’t help you anyway; scarabs will just fly over it, and rats will burrow under it.” Her laughter died on her lips. The fire billowed a thick cloud of black smoke. Twilight fed the fire with the Element of Magic, fanned it with her wings, and blew it out around her. Dark vapor spread rapidly outward in a thick cloud. The rats and beetles scurried or flew away from the cloud as fast as they could go, as if it were acid rain.

“How do you like me now?” Twilight asked smugly. With a flick of her horn, she snuffed the fire, returning the landscape to a semblance of normalcy.

Nightmare Moon’s eye twitched. She chewed her tongue and frothed at the mouth. The last beetle flitted past her, clicking its mandibles. “MY MOON! MY FEAR!” she screamed. Her bloodshot eyes focused on Twilight, her breath quick and shallow. “MY BODY!” she screamed, spittle flying everywhere. Nightmare Moon whipped her horn in a circle and flapped her wings, stirring the air around her. The rainbow-colored vapor swirled into a vortex, a psychedelic ball of crazy. Nightmare Moon smiled her insane smile again, breathing out more of the rainbow vapor. “MY LUNACY!” she howled, then with a powerful beat of her wings, she flung it at Twilight.

“LOOK OUT!” Twilight cried. She dove to the ground and covered her head with her hooves. Fluttershy tumbled off of her back and landed behind a nearby gravestone. The mass of raw emotion sailed over her head like a cannonball. With a thud that she felt more than heard, it struck. Twilight raised her head and looked behind her.

Standing in the open grave over Rarity stood Pinkie. She blinked, then slowly tilted her head. Her smile didn’t move. Her eyes floated freely, unfocused and uncoordinated. Her head continued to tilt, far past the point a normal neck would allow. She suddenly snapped upright, like a soldier at attention, and her eyes focused on Twilight. “I’m not scared, I just need to eat something to keep myself calm. Hang on, Twilight— I’m going to keep everypony safe!”

Insanity Unleashed

Chapter 8: Insanity Unleashed

“BWAH-HA-HA!” Nightmare Moon’s laughter pealed across the landscape. “Isn’t this rich?”

“Pinkie, are you alright?” Twilight asked, as she cautiously stepped forward and stopped at the lip of the open grave.

Pinkie growled and ducked down. With a wet rip, she bit down on Rarity’s neck and pulled out a string of bloody flesh in her teeth. Twilight’s eyes went wide as Pinkie viciously threw her head back, blood spilling everywhere, muscle, tendon, and white fur still in her teeth. Pinkie gulped, and smiled. “Soon, you’ll come back to life, Rarity!” She ducked her head and tore into Rarity’s belly with her teeth.

“PINKIE, STOP! What are you doing?!” Twilight cried.

Nightmare Moon’s horrible laughter echoed from above, drawing closer. She appeared in the corner of Twilight’s vision as she landed on the ground. With an impact that Twilight felt in her chest, Nightmare Moon stomped down with the force of an avalanche. A shockwave rolled through the ground, causing Twilight to stumble and nearly fall. Gravestones tilted away from Nightmare Moon, as if they feared her, while the half-dozen nearest her floated into the air, suddenly weightless. “Pinkie, shouldn’t you give the gift to Rainbow Dash as well?” she asked calmly.

Pinkie straightened up again, her mouth and neck covered in blood. As it dripped off her chin, it hit the ground as little liquid drops of rainbow. She gasped at Nightmare Moon, “You’re right! Dash deserves to be eaten, too!” In a single bound, she hopped out of one open grave and into the other.

“STOP! Pinkie, don’t—” Twilight cried, as she lit her horn to hold Pinkie back.

“I told you, worry about yourself first,” Nightmare Moon said. The floating gravestones circled around her, whirling faster and faster. With a warcry and a beat of her wings, Nightmare Moon sent four of the gravestones hurtling at Twilight with blinding speed.

Twilight’s heart quickened at the sight of the high-speed stones as she canceled her spell. Instead, she put a shield up around herself in a small sphere, like the kind her brother would use. The gravestones had such speed, the air parted and vibrated as they flew. They hit Twilight’s shield, one after the other, blasting her away. The world turned topsy-turvy as Twilight tumbled about inside her shield. She bounced down long rows of gravestones like a pinball. She ricocheted off a dozen stones before the sphere stopped on a thick patch of grass. Twilight continued to spin around inside the shield for several seconds before she dropped the spell and slumped to her stomach. “Ugh… my head,” she mumbled, her eyes rolling in different directions.

Nightmare Moon trotted closer, tittering. “Looks like I got a bit of topspin on that one. I’ve already sunk the screwball into the grave, does that mean I get another shot?” She smiled, and crouched with one leg forward. One of the floating gravestones stopped circling; instead, it hovered near Nightmare Moon’s head, pointing itself at Twilight. “Eight ball, corner pocket!” With a stomp, the gravestone blasted at Twilight with the sound of cannonfire.

“Time for a different sport,” Twilight replied, shaking off her dizziness. With a flash of her horn, a shimmering shield appeared around her again, this time in the shape of a wedge. Twilight crouched, with the shield pointed at Nightmare Moon. As soon as the stone hit the angle of the wedge, Twilight pushed off the ground. “Bump!” she called, as the missile slowly rose into the air. With a powerful beat of her wings, she took to the air after it. “Spike!” Twilight called, as she rose just above the stone and slammed both forehooves into it with tremendous force.

The tombstone flew at Nightmare Moon, rapidly turning end over end. It easily had enough force to squash her flat. She smirked. With a dull boom, the stone hit the ground right where she stood. A black cloud blew outwards, swirling onto the last floating gravestone. The cloud coalesced on top, and Nightmare Moon re-formed, using the floating stone as a platform. “What a tedious pony you are, Twilight. Didn’t your ego teach you anything?” Nightmare Moon scoffed. “Nevermind, this game is boring; let’s turn the game board upside down!” With that pronouncement, Nightmare Moon jumped straight up. She landed on the stone, shattered it, and continued downward into the ground. The impact felt like Nightmare Moon weighed thousands of tons.

Twilight yelped as the earth rose up like wave, rippling outwards from the crater Nightmare Moon stood in. The ground cracked and split, chunks of earth floating away as if they weighed nothing. “What, is lunacy like, super heavy? Is it making you fat?” Twilight shouted.

Nightmare Moon screamed wordlessly as huge chunks of rock rose into the air, collecting at a point high in the sky. Snarling, she yelled, “I’ve decided! I don’t want a wretched, stupid pony like you! I’ll take Pinkie Pie, at least she knows how to think properly!” Nightmare Moon laughed, breathing a noxious mix of colors. “Checkmate, Twilight!”

Twilight wondered what Nightmare Moon was up to, when Fluttershy, still her tiny size, darted over the cracked earth between them. Dodging the rocks raining upwards, she flew as fast as she could.

Pinkie Pie chased her, covered in blood from her mouth to her hooves, laughing like an oversized toddler. Twilight watched in horror as Pinkie used a butterfly net to swipe Fluttershy out of the air. “Got you! Why are you flying away, friend? I’m going to keep you safe!” The crazed look in Pinkie’s eyes chilled Twilight to her core. The Element of Magic absorbed Twilight’s breath, but she hesitated, unsure what to do; she didn’t want to injure Fluttershy.

“Keep her safe, Pinkie,” Nightmare Moon commanded. Pinkie nodded stupidly, her tongue hanging out of the corner of her mouth.

Twilight gulped. “Pinkie, what are you—”

Fluttershy screamed.

crunch!

Pinkie popped Fluttershy into her mouth and bit down. Blood sprayed out between her teeth and the corner of her mouth. As she chewed, wet crunching sounds echoed like drum beats in Twilight’s head with every bite. “Mmmm… tastes like pain! Now you’ll be safe in my belly, Fluttershy!” Pinkie sat on her haunches, grinned, rubbed her swollen stomach, and giggled to herself. “I’ve got butterflies in my belly!”

“NOOO!” Twilight screamed. Frozen in shock, she watched as Nightmare Moon strode up behind Pinkie and put a wing around her.

“My my, there’s no way I can get to your friends in your belly,” Nightmare Moon said. She gently brushed Pinkie’s flat mane back with a hoof. “What should I do with you, hmmm?” Her hoof traced Pinkie’s neck and ran downwards. “Would you like to go to the moon with me? It’ll feel soooo good…” Her hoof ran lower, down Pinkie’s distended belly.

Pinkie gasped and awkwardly pushed Nightmare Moon’s hooves away. “I’m not supposed to be touched there, that’s my naughty no-no place! My parents said so!”

Nightmare Moon scoffed. “Are your parents smarter than you? Are they smart enough to protect all of their friends from a horrible nightmare? Are they smart enough to turn a nightmare into a friend?”

Pinkie looked up at the taller Nightmare Moon. “You want to be my friend? You want to get inside of me too?”

Nightmare Moon’s hoof ran between Pinkie’s legs. “Oh yes, please help me.” She pouted. “I’m such a bad girl.”

“Okay!” Pinkie replied. She and Nightmare Moon both breathed out a thick mixture of multi-colored vapor. They mixed with each other, forming a dense cloud Twilight could hardly see through. Not that she wanted to, because Nightmare Moon slowly ran her tongue up Pinkie’s ear, while Pinkie moaned and giggled...

Twilight cried, tears tracing down her face. Have I lost? Is Nightmare Moon going to possess Pinkie Pie? The world really is turning upside down! As if on cue, Twilight felt herself lose her footing. She stumbled and fell, but didn’t hit the ground. “Whoa!” Instead, she slowly floated upwards. Eyes wide, she twisted in the air, and saw a new planet far above her! “What the—?”

Nightmare Moon, holding Pinkie, lifted off the ground and floated after Twilight. Tumbling through the air, the three of them settled on the planet and its pale, dusty surface. Nightmare Moon and Pinkie landed like they hit old pillows, a cloud of whitish dust rising around the impact point. “Ahhh, home at last,” Nightmare Moon said with a sigh.

“Tee-hee-hee, that tickles,” Pinkie giggled.

“Do you like it?” Nightmare Moon whispered into Pinkie’s ear. On the quiet surface of this small, desolate moon, Twilight could still hear her from far away. Nightmare Moon poured a thick, psychedelic vapor into Pinkie’s ear. Pinkie’s eyes rolled up into her head, her breathing grew shallow, and her cheeks flushed.

Twilight shook her head. “Leave her alone!” she shouted. Aiming her horn, Twilight poured her will into the Element of Magic, and she felt a surge of power. It worked! You really can use emotions to fuel spells in the dreamscape! She imagined the most powerful beam of magic she could, then fired it at Nightmare Moon and Pinkie.

Nightmare Moon gave the oncoming spell a tired smile as the light blinded her. It looked just like it did in the real world, when all six Elements of Harmony hit her.

When they banished her, leaving her alone.

Nightmare Moon suddenly snarled. “THIS ONE IS MINE! MINE! I LOVE HER!” she screamed.

The impact sent a shockwave rolling across the surface of the tiny moon. Pale dust hit Twilight like a wave, just in front of an expanding ball of warped air. She covered her eyes and mouth as the wave overtook her, covering her in a fine layer of silt. Brushing her eyes clear, she looked at the center of the new crater.

A glowing, reddish forcefield sparkled in the center, with Nightmare Moon and Pinkie on the inside. Nightmare Moon laughed hysterically. “Nothing can defeat the power of love!” she shouted. “You can’t harm us! Pinkie is mine! You can’t have her!”

“That isn’t love, you sick freak!” Twilight cried. “You don’t trap those you love!”

The forcefield faded. Nightmare Moon dragged Pinkie to her hooves. “Would you like to leave?”

Twilight sucked in a breath and bit her lip. Pinkie’s eyes looked in different directions. “My tummy hurts. Will you take care of me?” she asked.

Nightmare Moon nuzzled her, breathing into her ear. “Of course I’ll take care of you. I’ll give you everything you want.”

“Oh, that does sound like love,” Pinkie replied.

“Freak! You need to be locked away forever!” Twilight shouted. With a flash of purple light, Nightmare Moon found herself chained to a huge moon rock. “That should hold you,” Twilight said.

Nightmare Moon’s eyes twitched as she frothed at the mouth. “Let. Me. Go,” she said, clipping off each word.

“Oh no, I don’t want you to be trapped,” Pinkie said, looking up at Nightmare Moon. “I’ll keep you safe.” She touched the boulder with a foreleg and said, “Boop!”

The boulder shattered into a dozen pieces. Nightmare Moon let rip one of her lithium-high laughs. “Why thank you, dear child.” She levitated a few of the larger bits of broken rock around her and aimed her horn at Twilight. “You can have these back!”

Twilight focused, watching Nightmare Moon’s breath. By the way the vapors swirled around the first chunk of rock, she knew it would fly at her any second; she prepared to teleport to the left. The first rock shot at her with the speed of a bullet. Even knowing when it would fire at her, she almost got hit. Her teleport shifted her a stride to her left, but she had no time to think, only react. The rock hit a small hill far behind her, blowing into it with enough force to make the planet tremble.

Nightmare Moon growled while the vapors condensed around three more of the rocks. Twilight crouched, ready. Nightmare Moon fired at her in a horizontal pattern, the meteors moving with such speed that they kicked up a path of dust as they traveled a few hoof-lengths above the ground. Teleporting would be tricky— left or right, she might still get hit. With a powerful beat of her wings, Twilight took to the air. The meteors sailed under her. “Leave Pinkie alone, it’s me you want!”

“Oh? You’ll give yourself up in exchange for your friend?” Nightmare Moon asked.

Twilight nodded. “Yes, just let her go.”

Nightmare Moon snorted. “Liar!” She levitated the last rock behind her and bucked it with one hoof. It sailed off over the horizon of the tiny moon at an odd angle. Twilight raised an eyebrow. “You’re using logic, not fear, to dictate your decisions. That mean’s you’re planning to trick me as soon as you can.”

Pinkie gasped, “Twilight, that isn’t nice!”

Nightmare Moon stood behind Pinkie and slipped a hoof over her belly, rubbing it gently. Pinkie’s eyes rolled back into her head. “Oh Pinkie, won’t you let me inside of you… where it’s safe?”

Three meteors flew up behind Nightmare Moon, traveling low along the ground. With an errant spell, Nightmare Moon again used her forcefield around herself and Pinkie. The meteors slammed into it with the force of a cannonball and broke into pebbles. As the shield faded away and the dust settled, Twilight’s heart sank when she saw Nightmare Moon and Pinkie in a tight embrace. “Whoa, it’s dangerous out here!” Pinkie exclaimed.

Nightmare Moon nodded. “Once the orbit is finished, Twilight will be distracted for a moment, and then we can be together.”

Twilight focused on Nightmare Moon, ignoring everything else. “Nothing you do will distract me! Now, leave Pinkie alone!”

Nightmare Moon’s vapors turned decidedly yellow as she grinned. “Twilight, can you smell the joy on me? Can you feel it? See it? When my self-image dropped you onto the table in the hospital, you weren’t expecting it, so it didn’t hurt you much. But you’re expecting an attack now, so it’s going to hurt so much when you get hit!” Her grin grew wider.

Twilight’s mind worked rapidly. “Wait… what do you mean, what orb—”

CRACK!

A rock bigger than her hoof slammed into the back of Twilight’s head. Her vision grew blurry, and blood leaked into her eyes. Dazed, she fell into the dust like a falling leaf.

Before she touched the ground, Nightmare Moon pounced on Pinkie.

“Mmmm—!” Pinkie’s cry was muffled behind Nightmare Moon’s tongue. Kissing Pinkie on the mouth, Nightmare Moon’s vapors turned deep crimson. Pinkie’s eyes went wide.

Twilight tried to stand, her vision still swimming. “S-stop…” she mumbled.

Nightmare Moon used the hoof on Pinkie’s belly to push lower, between her legs. With a sharp jerk, she jammed her hoof inside Pinkie.

Pinkie screamed. Twilight could hear it, even through the kiss. Pinkie wept, tears bleeding out of the corners of her unblinking eyes. Nightmare Moon viciously pushed her tongue and hoof into Pinkie, deeper and deeper, while rubbing against Pinkie, covering her, enveloping her.

Consuming her.

Pinkie looked at Twilight, fear in her eyes. Twilight wobbled to her hooves and took a halting step forward.

Nightmare Moon’s form rippled and turned into smoke.

Still crying, the smoke flowed into Pinkie through her mouth and slit. The smoke still had some substance to it, because Pinkie wept as it forced her open. Within seconds, the entire cloud that was Nightmare Moon disappeared into Pinkie Pie.

Twilight galloped to Pinkie, blood still trickling down the back of her head. She didn’t notice it. “Pinkie, are you alright?!” Twilight cried.

Pinkie still wept, but her eyes focused on Twilight. “S-so… deep… deeper… deeper!” She grimaced, hot tears streaming down her face, her aura turning black. “H-help me, Twilight,” she begged, quivering.

“I’m here for you, Pinkie,” Twilight replied. “Let me think, we can fix this!”

Pinkie twitched like a puppet; her mouth opened and she spoke with Nightmare Moon’s voice. “This vessel has fear, and I will not allow my body to contain fear, only the glory that is Nightmare Moon!” Pinkie’s eyes glowed white.

“Leave her alone, take me instead!” Twilight cried. She threw the Element of Magic off her head. When it hit the ground, instead of vanishing in a puff of white smoke, it exploded into a black cloud.

Pinkie laughed with Nightmare Moon’s voice. “You want me? Fine, give me a moment and I’ll come for you!” Pinkie twitched again, and her eyes lost their glow. She wept again, doubled over, her hooves covering her distended stomach. Squeezing her eyes shut, she moaned in pain.

Pinkie retched and opened her mouth. It came out of everywhere. Pinkie vomited, urinated, and defecated all at the same time. Instead of the usual fluids, it all came out as an inky black sludge. However, it smelled about right.

Twilight stumbled backwards, away from the quickly spreading pool of vile, black muck. Her eyes went wide.

Embrace fear.

The logical side of her brain kept working, but she also had a promise to keep to her ego. She formed the correct thought pattern, steeled herself, then plunged forward.

She wrapped both wings and forelegs around Pinkie in a tight hug and said, “I love you, even when you’re afraid. Even when you hurt those around you.”

With another horrible retching, Twilight got hit with a fresh wave of the black gunk. It felt like hot tar, and burned like acid. It seeped into every nook and cranny on Twilight’s body. It went into her wing feathers, under her forelegs, over her stomach, in her tail, and into her mane. She focused on Pinkie, and tried her best not to think about what that stuff might do to her head wound.

Wave after wave, gag after gag, Pinkie poured out a seemingly endless stream of this black, disgusting tar. Twilight hugged Pinkie tighter. Pinkie shuddered and wept, and as she heaved, more garbage splattered onto Twilight’s back. Since they sat in a large crater, the sludge filled the bottom like a bowl, rising up past Twilight’s haunches and over her own stomach.

With a final heave, Pinkie stopped. Sobbing, she quivered in Twilight’s hooves. Twilight rubbed her back. “There, it’s over. You’re okay.”

Again, Pinkie twitched like a puppet getting its strings jerked. With a violent shove, she pushed Twilight away. Twilight slipped and fell onto her back, the black muck washing over her. She staggered to her hooves, sputtering, totally covered in putrid tar. Pinkie spoke with Nightmare Moon’s voice again. “Ahh, that’s better. And look at you, covered in delicious fear!” She licked her lips, catching some of the muck caked around her mouth. “I could just eat you up!”

Twilight gagged and put a hoof over her mouth. She watched in horror as Pinkie’s skin crawled, as if hundreds of bugs burrowed underneath. She opened her mouth and screamed when it happened.

With a sickening crack, Pinkie exploded! Blood and gore sprayed outward in a crimson wave, splattering into the dark pool and covering Twilight in a sticky layer. The explosion hit with such force, she slipped onto her flank. Twilight quivered, weeping tears that mixed with the disgusting soup she sat in.

Nightmare Moon hovered just over the fetid pool in Pinkie’s place.

“Oh my, that was wonderful. Was it as good for you as it was for me?” she asked. She flapped her wings slowly to keep herself aloft while she idly ran her forehooves over her face, neck, mane, and body. Blood covered her from her hoof to the tip of her horn. Nightmare Moon ran a dripping hoof down between her hind legs and rubbed herself, gasping in ecstasy. “Mmmm, this feels soooo good,” she moaned. “Pinkie was a nice appetizer, but I still want you, Twilight. I want you so bad.”

Twilight wobbled to her hooves, trying not to slip again. She cried into the pool, her tears mixing with bits of pink fur, blood, and black muck. There’s nothing more I can do, she thought. She felt so empty, so drained. She didn’t expect to feel this way, but it made sense. Funny, I still have my logic. It’s a cold comfort.

Nightmare Moon moaned, vigorously rubbing herself. Her voice fell to a calm, breathy whisper. “I’m going to rape you, Twilight Sparkle. Not like Pinkie, either. I’m going to rape you until you scream. Until your mind breaks. Until you like it and beg me for more. Then, and only then, will I take you.” She chuckled, “Shall we begin?”

Twilight sank to her haunches in the pool and let the disgusting soup soak her. The stars grew dim, and the surface of the moon dulled.

Cognitive Collapse

Chapter 9: Cognitive Collapse

Nightmare Moon licked her lips. “Let’s begin,” she said with a smirk.

“Why? It’s all over.”

Nightmare Moon looked up and found another Twilight Sparkle standing at the edge of the crater. She snorted at the dejected Twilight covered in muck below her. “Oh, this is rich. You split off your ego before you tried to save Pinkie.” She looked at Ego. “You failed to save Pinkie, by the way. How does that feel?” she mocked.

Ego cackled, “Holy cow, you’re dumb when you’re distracted. Or maybe it’s all that fear surrounding you? Does it clog your nose?”

“Excuse me? I’ve won. Even if you somehow manage to beat me, I’ll just retreat and possess the body of Pinkie Pie. Then I’ll kill you in the real world, where THAT,” Nightmare Moon pointed at the miserable, muck-covered Twilight, “won’t be able to do anything to stop me.”

Ego shook her head. “That’s… not even wrong. How can anypony be that stupid?” she said with a raised brow. “You’re giving egos a bad name.”

Nightmare Moon tilted her head. “What are you babbling about? And communicate properly— none of this talking nonsense.”

“Connect my mind with yours? How dumb do you think I am? No, we’ll just talk, thank you very much.” Ego scoffed, shaking her head slowly. “I just can’t believe you’re forgetting the fundamental rules of this place. Nothing is quite what it seems. Well, except for Twilight. Poor me, tossed like a fish out of water into this place. You’re just lucky I’ve got a brain capable of processing all of this,” Ego said, gesturing around herself. “I’m still a little shocked this entire dreamscape didn’t just disintegrate into subconscious space. Then again, I’m fabulous at multitasking. What I don’t get is why you didn’t notice earlier. Don’t you have an ego’s intuition? Can’t you smell it?”

Nightmare Moon flitted higher out of the crater, clearing the black, low-hanging clouds, and circled around the crater. She landed on the opposite side, and took a few strides away, sniffing like a bloodhound. Every exhale came out as black vapor. “NO! This cannot be!” Nightmare Moon shivered, her eyes darting around as if she searched for an ambush.

Ego snorted. “I guess with my higher cognitive functions suppressed, things are easier to read. So like I said, it’s over. Time for you to go home.” Ego tilted her head to the dull stars. “Get your fat flank out here, Luna!”

“No need to be rude,” Luna said. She stepped out of the constellation of Sagittarius and shot like an arrow to the surface of the tiny moon. She landed gracefully, and looked at Nightmare Moon.

Ego gritted her teeth at Luna. “Get your shit out of my mind!”

Luna bowed to Ego and replied, “My apologies.” She turned to Nightmare Moon, who shrank away from her, breathing out a thick cloud of black vapor. “Oh-ho, afraid, are we? Understandable.”

“W-wait, we can make a deal! Lock me up here, and I’ll—”

Luna sighed and closed her eyes. Nightmare Moon vanished in a cloud of thick, white smoke. Luna quickly drew in the vapor. “This nightmare is over. I’m—”

“YOU DUMB-BITCH-SLUTBAG!” Ego screamed and flew at Luna with incredible speed. She slammed into the larger alicorn and pinned her to the ground. Ego pummeled Luna with both forehooves, while Luna took the beating in shock. She struck with such force, the ground under Luna cracked and trembled with each blow.

With each strike, Ego released more and more vapors of many colors, but mostly red. With each breath, Twilight felt stronger. She struggled to her hooves as the deafening booms of Ego’s strikes continued. She stumbled up the crater, slipping on the oily black soup, and stood behind Ego. Twilight bit down on Ego’s tail and pulled back, but to no avail. “Stop it! Don’t hurt Princess Luna!”

Ego stopped, sweat trickling down her sides. She turned to look at Twilight over her shoulder. With a final, casual strike, she slammed her hoof into Luna’s chest, and hopped away. The moon cracked, broke, and Luna fell into a black abyss with a cry. Twilight’s mouth dropped open in shock. “Good riddance to bad rubbish,” Ego said with a snort, before turning to Twilight. “You have nothing to fear in this place, Twilight. Now, you’re the goddess you deserve to be.” Ego bowed to Twilight, lit her horn, and all of the black tar evaporated like dry ice in the sun.

Twilight looked wide-eyed at Ego. “Thanks, but what did you do with Luna?” She looked down the hole. “Princess Luna? Are you alright?” She could see dust, vapor, and motes of light get sucked into the portal. She gasped at the sight and exclaimed, “Th-there’s a black hole in the center of the moon!” She felt herself being drawn in; she stumbled and fell, face first. Gasping, Twilight flailed her limbs about. “Help!”

She hung in space, her hind legs just touching the lip of the hole into nothingness. She glanced over her shoulder and saw that Ego had bitten down on her tail to prevent her from falling. “Got you,” Ego said with a smile.

With a grunt, Ego pulled her back from the edge. Once Twilight couldn’t see the black hole anymore, she suddenly didn’t feel its pull. She toppled over and fell onto Ego, who absorbed the impact with her body. “Ohhfff…” Twilight rubbed her temple. “What’s going on?”

Ego wrapped a set of strong legs and wings around Twilight, cuddling her. “Hmmm… this is nice. Now that Nightmare Moon is gone, let’s have a pleasant dream.” Ego nibbled on Twilight’s ear, right where Twilight secretly liked her ear to get nibbled. Ego whispered, “Maybe a wet dream, hmmm?”

“S-stop!” Twilight breathed out, heat rushing to her cheeks. “Please, tell me what’s going on. I feel like my head is full of cotton. Why can’t I think straight?”

Ego sighed. “You really want to know, don’t you? Alright. That thing that you thought was Nightmare Moon? That was Luna’s ego. Or at least an older version of her ego. She’s probably constructed a new one by now. Thoughts like that one are hard to get rid of, especially since she spent 1,000 years with Nightmare Moon. It’s tough to banish a mental construct that goes that deep. The Elements of Harmony must have done an amazing job of stripping away Nightmare Moon, but not the idea of Nightmare Moon.” Ego ran her hooves over Twilight’s hips, then even lower.

Twilight closed her hind legs together. “Quit it! What’s with you?”

Ego blew out a huge sigh. “What’s with you? Don’t you know suppressing a thought just makes it grow over time? You never let me out! You never have any fun! We’ve got needs, you know.”

Twilight gulped, and wracked her brain. “Okay… if you answer my questions… I’ll take a long bath when I wake up.”

Ego instantly perked up. “With the lavender bath soaps?”

Twilight blushed. “For an hour, minimum. With candles.”

Ego’s breath grew shallow. She held Twilight’s hoof in her own. “Don’t be so gentle this time, okay? We like it a little rough. Don’t hurt yourself, but you know… think about Flash Sentry!”

Twilight blushed deeply. “D-deal.”

Ego squealed. “You’re so smart, Twilight. Setting it up so that getting what you want gets me what I want.” Ego gently petted Twilight’s head; Twilight could feel the torn skin on the back of her scalp knit together and heal in a second. “You’re so awesome and beautiful, don’t ever forget that.”

Twilight blushed again. “You’re… awfully flattering,” she replied, but smiled anyway.

Ego snorted. “I’m an ego, what did you expect? Anyway, you can’t think straight because you split me off, and I’m the source of your raw energy and power. I’m sure you can still use memory and logic, but your thoughts are going to be dull, like the stars. I released quite a bit of energy when I attacked Luna’s self-image. I hope you feel a little better.”

“I do feel a little stronger, but why did you attack— wait… self-image?!” Twilight asked.

“Yeah, that was Luna’s self-image. You didn’t think Luna would actually enter your dream and put herself in danger, did you?” Ego asked.

“But, if Nightmare Moon is her alter-ego, she shouldn’t be in danger from her. You’re not dangerous to me, are you?” Twilight asked.

Ego chuckled. “Luna isn’t in physical danger from her alter-ego, she’s in danger of the Nightmare Moon ego destroying her newly constructed ego. If that happened, Luna would go insane. Again. Not to mention the danger from me…”

Twilight turned her head just a bit and looked out of the corner of her eye at Ego. “Why did you attack Luna at all?”

Ego cuddled Twilight a bit tighter. “Because she failed to keep her alter-ego in check, and put you in danger. I don’t hate her, but at that moment I was angry.” She shrugged. “Sue me.”

Twilight bit her lip. “What were you thinking? You could have hurt her, or made her angry!”

Ego paused. “Thinking? There’s only one of us who can actually think here. I work on intuition, instinct, and emotion. Heck, I don’t even know how to talk without accessing your language center. I would just communicate with images, sounds, and emotions, but you don’t process those very well. So I’m stuck with these dumb words your higher cognitive functions like to use.”

Twilight sniffed, then cried, tears sliding down and around her face. “My friends are gone. What will I do now?”

Ego laughed, “No they’re not! Don’t worry about them, they’re fine.”

Twilight snapped upright and rolled to her hooves. “What?! No… Don’t lie to me. Don’t give me false hope, please…” she begged.

Ego stood and gently shushed Twilight, hugging her and brushing away her tears with a wing. “I would never lie to you. As your ego, I’m not even capable of that. Your friends never entered your dream. Those were figments of imagination.”

Twilight sank to her haunches, hyperventilating. “Y-you m-mean th-they…” She couldn’t form any more words. She sobbed, big sloppy tears running down her face and over her smile.

“Yep, those were just figments. I didn’t know who they belonged to until Luna’s self-image absorbed Nightmare Moon and I smelled the constituent vapors. Those figments must have belonged to Luna. Once Nightmare Moon possessed that figment of Pinkie, she lost. All Luna had to do was reabsorb her figment and Nightmare Moon would be trapped, and so she is. The only pony who was in any real danger was you. I don’t know how Luna did it, but those figments generated complex emotions of their own, just like a real pony. It almost fooled me, and it certainly fooled Nightmare Moon. I guess you can ask Luna about that when you wake up.” Ego hugged Twilight, comforting her right when she wanted it most.

Twilight wiped her eyes and sniffed. “Maybe that’s why Rainbow Dash said to embrace fear; it wasn’t Dash at all, but Luna speaking. Why didn’t you tell me all of this before?!” Twilight asked, incredulous.

Ego nodded. “I told you what you needed to know to keep us safe. Self-preservation is my number one priority, remember? At the time, I didn’t know who was using the figments to speak, so I didn’t know if it was a good idea to listen to them or not. You mean you didn’t notice all the times your friends didn’t act quite right? It doesn’t matter, I believed you’d figure it out.”

Twilight swallowed the lump in her throat. “What if you were wrong?”

Ego tilted her head. “Is this that thing you call doubt? Not believing in yourself? Weird. Yeah, I don’t have that.”

Twilight face-hoofed. “Wow, you’d be lost without me.” Twilight shook her head slowly, trying to process everything. A light bulb appeared over her head for an instant. “Wait… if my friends are alive, are they waiting for me to wake up?”

Ego nodded and replied, “Probably…. Oh…!” Ego put a hoof over her heart. “Wow, that’s a powerful desire. You want to wake up now and see your friends.”

Twilight nodded, then hiccupped as tears streamed down her face.

“Okay, let’s fulfill that wish in my favorite time frame: right now!” Ego said, as she gently pushed Twilight, who stepped backwards. When Twilight’s hind hooves reached the edge of the hole in the moon, Ego leaned close and whispered into her ear, “Try to remember this checklist when you wake up: hug friends, slap Luna, then bath. A long bath, with slippery suds and thoughts of a friendly Flash Sentry! I need a playmate in here.” Ego put both hooves on Twilight’s chest. “Ready? It might be easier if you close your eyes.”

If Twilight couldn’t trust herself, then who could she trust? She closed her eyes and tried to relax. Ego gave her a shove, then Twilight fell into freefall. She felt herself stretch and accelerate, faster and faster into nothing. Everything turned black and cold, wind whistling past, tearing her breath away. Her lungs burned for air as she fell into forever.

~~~~~

GASP!

Twilight bolted upright. It felt like a dozen hooves caught her, wrapping around her in a tight embrace, squeezing the air out of her. She opened her eyes; everything looked blurry. She blinked away the rheum stuck in her eyes and wept.

Wrapping her forelegs and wings around her friends, she cried while they squeezed her tight.

“Ah’m mighty sorry ya had ta go through that, sugarcube.”
“It’s over now, darling.”
“We’re not dead, or insane, so you can turn off the waterworks.”
“I’m so glad you’re not crazy.”
“That was fun, let’s do it again!”

Twilight sniffled and found her voice. “I… I thought I’d lost you all,” she said, her voice cracking. She looked into the faces of her friends, all gathered around her.

Then Twilight noticed the changes to Carousel Boutique. The sleeping bags sat in a pile, and the six ponies sat in a ring of bat-pony guards. Luna lay curled on Rarity’s favorite red divan, her eyes closed. The guard nearest Luna leaned down and whispered something in her ear. Luna stirred, and opened her eyes.

Luna stepped off of the divan, stretched like a cat, and yawned. “I have fulfilled my royal duties. Thou art safe, Princess Twilight.”

Make sure you’re awake. Luna’s a tricky pony. Twilight suddenly froze, her eyes wide. Her thoughts sounded in her voice, but Ego sounded like her, too. Twilight knew the thought came from Ego. “Am… am I awake?” she asked, staring at Luna.

Luna raised an eyebrow at Twilight. “You came to that thought without any evidence, using intuition instead of logic, yes?” Luna asked with a smirk. “Imagine something safe. If it doesn’t appear, you’ll have your answer.”

Twilight screwed her eyes shut and focused with all her might. Spike… Spike… Spike… she thought, over and over, using all her mental powers to imagine him. She ignored her close friends, still hugging her, and the rest of the ponies in the room. Then she opened her eyes.

Spike stood in front of her, holding a blanket and a mug of hot chocolate. “Twilight! You’re alright! You had me so worried,” he said, tears rimming his eyes.

Twilight screamed and pointed a hoof at Spike. “You! You just appeared when I imagined you!” Her eyes shot around the room, searching for the tell-tale vapors of Nightmare Moon.

Her friends looked at her with quizzical expressions. “Twilight, that ain’t no way ta treat Spike. He’s been worried sick over ya ever since he got here.”

Rarity stroked Twilight’s mane. “Calm down— Spike appeared from my kitchen, not from the vapors of your imagination. See?” Rarity pointed a hoof at the kitchen door.

Twilight glanced at it. The door hung open. She remembered they had eaten a midnight snack before bed and left the kitchen in a bit of a mess, so they closed the door to hide the view. Twilight closed her eyes again and thought hard.

“Um, what is she doing?” Rainbow Dash asked.

Pinkie snickered. “Imagining pink elephants, I bet!”

Twilight opened her eyes with a start. She looked around, but nothing had substantially changed. She breathed out heavily and allowed a tear to slide down her face. Rarity scoffed and replied, “I doubt Twilight is thinking about pink elephants at a time like this.”

“Actually, yes I was. I thought Spike…” Twilight looked at Spike and smiled. “Nevermind, I would like that hot cocoa. Thank you, Spike. You have no idea how much it means to me right now.”

“You’re welcome,” Spike replied, as he offered the cup. Twilight took it in her magic. “Sorry about the marshmallows. I… kinda ate them while you were asleep.”

Twilight sipped from the cup and sighed. “It’s perfect, Spike. It’s real. That’s what matters.”

Luna smiled and said, “I suppose you believe yourself to be awake now, else you wouldn’t be consuming anything.”

Twilight spat out her second sip into Rainbow Dash’s face. “What am I doing?! I’m not supposed to eat or drink anything!”

Rainbow Dash looked at Twilight, her brow a line. “Oh, apology accepted, Twilight. This is the thanks I get for playing the heroine,” she said as she stepped back and wiped the drink off her face. “Seriously, what’s the matter with you? And what do you mean you can’t eat or drink anything?”

“Oh-oh-oh, does this have something to do with that super-secret conversation you had with yourself?” Pinkie asked.

Twilight looked at Pinkie, her mouth agape. “I thought… how do you know about that?”

Pinkie sucked in a huge breath. “Princess Luna went into my super-cool dream about the taffy-volcano-apocalypse and asked me all these questions about what I’d do if I got into your dream and all this weird stuff happened like Nightmare Moon turning Applejack into a tree or if you got strapped to a hospital table and had your wings cut off and I told her that would be super-scary and she got kinda happy about that which creeped me out but I know Princess Luna isn’t a scary meanie-pants so I trusted her and told her the truth when she asked what my biggest fear was.” Pinkie didn’t pause, and had to stop to suck in a breath.

Luna spread her wings and spoke loudly, but not so loud as to use the Royal Canterlot voice. “Guards, leave us. I do not wish to interrupt, but could you six leave us alone for a short time?” Luna asked.

Twilight’s friends stepped back. “Shucks, ya done plenty fer Twilight tonight. Jus’ don’t take too long, we can’t take another nightmare like that,” Applejack replied.

Rainbow Dash sighed and said, “Okay, we’ll just hang out in Rarity’s room for a few. If you need help, Twilight, just yell and I’ll come flyin’ at’cha.”

Twilight looked at Rainbow Dash and nodded seriously. “I know you will.” Her friends trooped upstairs; Rainbow Dash had to pull Spike away from the banister, because he refused to move and take his eyes off Twilight.

Once the door closed, Luna sighed. “I am sorry for the trouble my alter-ego caused you.”

“Your alter-ego? What about my ego? I pounded you into the moon, literally!” Twilight looked at Luna and bowed her head.

“I felt no pain, even when I absorbed my figment. I should be the one to apologize. My alter-ego tried to… possess you. Putting you in danger isn’t something We… I take lightly,” Luna replied.

“Possess... that’s a nice way to put it,” Twilight said. “Seriously, what’s wrong with us? Why are we like that?”

“What do you mean?” Luna asked.

“I mean, like, why are we so… cruel and horny? What’s wrong with me?” Twilight scuffed the floor with a hoof and looked down. She could feel the heat in her cheeks.

“Twilight Sparkle, thou art more than simply ego. Do not believe for a moment you are nothing more than a foal, a collection of basic physical desires and selfish emotions,” Luna replied. Her expression looked grave. “The Twilight Sparkle I imagine is a superior being in my dreamscape. You feel shame because you met your ego, but you shouldn’t. Your ego drives you, but your character is what determines what you do with those drives. Certainly, some ponies give in to them, but not you,” Luna said, lifting Twilight’s chin with a hoof. “The Twilight Sparkle I see is one of the most conscientious ponies I know.”

Twilight shrank away from Luna’s touch. “Um, if our egos are our secret desires… you… uhmm…” Twilight blushed.

Luna blushed and cleared her throat. “Normally you would be correct, however Nightmare Moon is my alter-ego, a much older version of my ego from one-thousand years ago. We have… grown apart since the Elements liberated us. The desires of Nightmare Moon in my dreamscape are the depraved remnants of the real Nightmare Moon. They have nothing to do with my current psychology. I assure you, I do not desire to… violate you.”

Twilight blinked, then smiled. “Oh, that’s a relief.” She swallowed a lump in her throat. “Um, My ego said she was me, just without restraint. She also said she couldn’t lie to me, which means I want...” Twilight pursed her lips. “Is she really me, or was she lying?”

Luna shook her head. “She told you what she believed to be true. Egos in the dreamscape are powerful entities, but they are little more than machines. No, your ego isn’t you. Or rather, it isn’t all of you. And while they can deceive, they never lie to their creators. They can hide, misdirect, or omit things, but your ego cannot lie to you. You would know if they tried. They cannot truly think, nor can they plan far ahead. They have poor impulse control, no manners, and no empathy for others. They understand you fairly well, especially what you might want, but they don’t have time for anypony else.” Luna smirked. “And they detest anything they perceive as a threat. Especially other powerful figments, like other egos. I believe your ego called me a—”

The smile dropped off of Twilight’s face. “I’m sorry! I didn’t mean that!”

Luna nodded. “I know. Your ego saw a powerful figment, assumed it posed a threat, and acted accordingly. Her insults were most expected from an ego.”

Twilight tilted her head. “Expected?”

“They were sexual and personal in nature— two things egos know well. Imagine a foal raised in the wild by timberwolves. Such a pony would be much like an ego in the dreamscape.” Luna sat on the divan and patted the space next to her.

Twilight sat and pondered. “My ego wanted me to ask you how you got figments to generate emotions.”

Luna chuckled. “I have spent the last few hours jumping into your friends’ dreams and asking them what they would do if they truly were linked to yours. I then used considerable mental resources to transport their emotions into your dream and manipulate my figments to act as your friends would. I dared not enter your dream directly, not until Nightmare Moon took the bait and tried to possess one of my figments.”

“Why didn’t you just enter my dream and beat Nightmare Moon yourself?” Twilight asked.

Luna looked downcast. “I have imagined a new mental construct, a new ego, to replace Nightmare Moon. Sadly, reforming oneself from the core isn’t easy. I am not as powerful as Nightmare Moon in the dreamscape. I can outwit her, but I cannot destroy her without inflicting grievous damage upon my own psyche. Had I entered your dream, she would have been forced to try and possess you or hide in your subconscious, waiting to strike again.”

“And that would be bad,” Twilight said.

Luna nodded. “The results would have been unpredictable. ‘Twas not a risk I would have liked to take. Instead, I imagined figments of your friends and allowed them to lose to Nightmare Moon. I wish you didn’t have to see the depravity of my alter-ego inflicted upon your friends, but it was the best way to recapture her.”

Twilight leaned closer to Luna. “I made some promises to my ego.”

Luna quirked an eyebrow. “Did you? I wouldn’t overindulge, but try not to suppress desires for too long. If they don’t have some kind of an outlet, they tend to grow out of control.”

Twilight booped Luna on the nose. Luna shook her head and arched her neck back. Twilight laughed. “My ego wanted me to slap you; I say that counts.”

“I see,” Luna replied. “Well, thank you for… being the wise and kind Twilight Sparkle, instead of the ego-driven Twilight Sparkle. I trust all of this will stay between the two of us? I don’t want my alter-ego’s thoughts and desires to become common knowledge, as it would be embarrassing. I suspect you’d prefer to keep your own desires a secret as well.”

“You’re welcome, and don’t worry— my lips are sealed. Although, I do want to see my friends now, and I have some chores to do, if you don’t mind,” Twilight said, with a toothy smile.

Luna stood and nodded. “Alright, I shall leave you to your friends.” Luna looked over her shoulder with a wry smile. “And the ‘chores’ you promised to do for your ego.”

Twilight blushed furiously. “Wh-what are you talking about?”

Luna hid her laughing smile behind a hoof. “I’ve seen thousands of dreams, Twilight. I know what egos want. Try to channel those desires into something constructive, and you’ll be fine.” She turned to the stairwell and called, “We’re finished.”

Twilight’s friends rushed down the stairs and bombarded her with questions.

“Did Ah really get turned into a tree?”
“I wish I was a tree.”
“How crazy did I go?”
“Not crazier than me, I bet!”
“Did I save the day? Was I really awesome?”

“How do you really see me, Twilight?” Spike asked.

Twilight held up her hoof to quiet her friends and stop the deluge of questions. “It’s kinda hard to remember everything. It’s… well, it’s all just a fading dream. I’m tired, and I want to take a bath. I’ll try to write down what I remember, then answer your questions tomorrow after I’ve had some rest.”

“Awwww…” her friends all said, disappointed.

Twilight smiled as she turned to Spike and asked, “Say, Spike, I know it’s an odd time, but do you remember where you stored the lavender bath soaps back home?”

Epilogue

Epilogue

“HA-HA-HA!” Nightmare Moon laughed as she gnawed on the chain binding her fetlock. “That was so much fun! I can’t wait to do it again!”

Luna landed gracefully in the middle of the massive crater on Mare Tranquillitatis. “That will not happen again. You shall not escape, ever,” she said, with a deadpan expression.

“Oh no?” Nightmare Moon asked. Once again chained to the moon rock, Nightmare Moon acted like Pinkie Pie on a sugar-rush. Her eyes darted everywhere, while her forelimbs and tail twitched and her mouth seemed to endlessly chatter. “I haven’t felt this good since we had our special night one-thousand years ago. Oh, how wonderful that felt,” she said, tracing a hoof between her legs. “This feels soooo good,” she mumbled, biting her lip, drawing a bead of blood.

“Did you enjoy your time away? Absorbed plenty of fear?” Luna asked, glaring at Nightmare Moon. “I’ve put this off for far too long,” she said with a sigh.

Nightmare Moon nodded. “Yes, you’ve kept me chained here for far too long. We can smell your desire, feel it burning inside of us. Suppressing me here might work when your willpower is strong, but what happens the next time you have a bad night? No, you need an ego. You need an outlet... “ She licked her free forehoof; starting at the knee, she sensually, slowly ran her tongue up the length, only to stop at the metal binding. “We need release,” she moaned in a breathy voice.

Luna nodded her head. “I agree,” she replied. Nightmare Moon’s eyes shot wide open. She trembled, a grin breaking out on her face like a plague. Her pupils dilated as Luna stepped closer. “There is a pony I wish you to meet. A playmate, if you will.”

Nightmare Moon stood bolt upright at attention, her tail twitching. “You’re giving me a playmate? Oh Luna, I didn’t expect… Well, it’s good to know those higher cognitive functions of ours can still surprise me after one-thousand years. I haven’t noticed any of the stallions around catching your eye, so who’s my playmate?” she asked, bouncing on her hooves.

Luna smirked and shook her head. “Why, this fine young filly will be your playmate,” Luna replied, as she closed her eyes.

“Filly?” Nightmare Moon asked. She looked at Luna with one brow raised and asked, “I didn’t know we were into mares. Or fillies, for that matter. Whatever, I’ll release all of your pent-up desires on this soft, innocent little—”

“FUCK OFF, YOU UGLY SLUT!” a young, female voice growled. A dark blue alicorn filly stepped out from behind Luna. She looked almost the size of a normal adult mare. She trembled on spindly legs. Her horn and legs had numerous holes, with starlight shining through them. Her wings didn’t have enough feathers, and her fur looked a bit rough. Her voice sounded like a teenager’s, cracking on occasion. “I’m the one who’s got all the desires around here!”

“DIE, YOU INSOLENT USURPER!” Nightmare Moon screamed, frothing at the mouth. She lunged at the filly, lightning cracking around her horn. “DIE!” She let loose enough lightning at the filly that it should have left nothing but ashes.

The filly smirked. Luna kept her eyes closed, the corner of her mouth twitching as she focused. The lightning struck the filly’s horn as if it were a lighting rod. One of the holes in her horn closed, solid bone filling in. She raised a hoof to her mouth and blew Nightmare Moon a kiss. “Thanks, you old hag. Got any more?”

“AHHHHHH!” Nightmare Moon screamed, lunging at the filly until the bindings around her legs drew blood. She breathed rapidly through her nose, her nostrils flaring. “You! You’re Luna’s ego! How is that possible?” She shook her head and growled, “I’ll give you nothing and you’ll like it, you little shit-stain!”

With a cry, the young ego lunged at Nightmare Moon on shaky hooves. Luna opened her eyes and caught the filly with a hoof before violence broke out. “What did I say? Just take from her, don’t attack her.” Luna scooped up her ego with a wing, then placed the filly on her back. “I think that’s enough for introductions. That was actually less crude than I expected.” Spreading her wings, Luna lifted herself off the ground with a smile.

Luna’s ego nestled between Luna’s wings and looked at Nightmare Moon over Luna’s shoulder, sticking her tongue out. “Loser!” she called, as they flew away.

Nightmare Moon cried out at Luna’s retreating form, “Don’t you dare forget me! Don’t go! Don’t leave me alone…” Her mane fell listless, and she hung her head.

Flying over the surface of the moon, Luna and her ego surveyed the landscape. “Cool, this is all mine! Mine-mine-mine!” the little ego babbled. “Hey, um, what’s a changeling and why do I look like one?”

Luna chuckled. “Changelings are creatures that feed on emotions. Since you’re still weak, I decided to use that weakness to your advantage. I’m glad the metaphor worked; I wasn’t sure if it would.”

“Oh, it worked alright. And I’m not weak!” the filly replied. “Nightmare Loser is the weak one. Did you hear her? She actually thought for a second we liked fillies! Disgusting!” she tittered. “I guess she can’t feel your desires anymore.”

Luna nodded and glanced over her shoulder. “Feel better, do you? Good, I want you to absorb some of Nightmare Moon’s vapors every night until you are whole. I don’t think she’ll be foolish enough to let loose so much energy again, not unless you goad her into it. You’ll need to come up with a more creative insult next time.”

The little ego pouted. “Can’t you just link us? I could tease the crap out of her if I didn’t have to use these dumb words.”

Luna shook her head. “That would leave you open to her direct influence. I cannot allow that.” Luna’s ego sniffled. Luna swallowed and said, “How about some ice cream in Mare Nectaris? Or would you like to relive the most recent Nightmare Night in Mare Cognitum?” That should distract her, Luna thought.

The filly snorted and replied, “Nahh, how about we go into that crater there?”

Luna’s mouth fell open. “Y-you want to visit Mare Fecunditatis? What’s gotten into you?” Luna asked.

Luna’s ego wrapped her forelegs around Luna’s neck and nuzzled into her withers. “I’ve never felt so alive. I can feel your desires, all of them. You want Nightmare Night chocolates, the servants to polish your tiara more often, additional responsibilities as a proper diarch of Equestria, and…” She grinned.

Luna blushed. “And what? Wh-what do I wish for?”

“Oh, you don’t know?” One of the holes in the filly’s hoof closed. “You thought it too quietly for your conscious mind to hear it, hmm? Well, that’s okay, I’m always listening. And now, I can hear it,” the filly said with a smug grin. “Just land in the crater and step into another dreamscape on instinct. Trust me.”

Luna looked horrified. “No! If I do that, I’ll step into another pony’s secret dream! The ones where they—” Luna blushed. “You know very well what would happen! Since when have you wanted to visit Mare Fecunditatis? You’ve never asked for that sort of thing before.”

Luna’s ego giggled. “Fillies gotta grow up sometime, and we have been distracted by other thoughts for awhile now. Besides, aren’t you curious?”

“About what?” Luna asked, blushing.

“Why Twilight likes lavender bath soaps?”

Luna and her ego nearly fell out of the sky. “I would never do such a thing! That’s a private dream, not meant for me or anypony else!” Luna cried.

Her ego blew out a sigh. “Fine, but I know how much you like to watch. Why don’t you point your telescope a little lower tonight, hmmm?” She nuzzled up Luna’s mane, sending a pleasant shiver arcing up Luna’s spine.

Luna blushed furiously. “I can’t do that,” she said, but her voice held no conviction.

“Uh-huh,” Luna’s ego said with a roll of her eyes. “Like you’ve never done it before. You know how much that couple on sixty-ninth street likes it when you watch. They’re exhibitionists, for crying out loud! That shouldn’t piss off those stupid morals you have, right?”

“I… uh… I will consider it,” Luna mumbled.

Luna’s ego giggled again. “Don’t forget, you need an outlet for these things. We don’t want a repeat of Nightmare Moon, now do we?”

Luna gulped. “No, we don’t, but Nightmare Moon escaped when my envy grew out of control. I dare not think about what the result of uncontrolled lust would cause.”

Her ego squealed. “Yes-yes! WE don’t want that!”

Luna sighed and said, “I used ‘we’ again, didn’t I? I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to refer to myself and Nightmare Moon again.”

The filly bounced on Luna’s back. “But you didn’t! You referred to me! Me and you were the ‘we’! So like I said, we need to talk to your sister, Miss Sunbutt herself, about additional powers we need assigned to the night court…”

The filly’s horn solidified, whole and unbroken.