Nightmare Moon on Oak Street

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?”