The moon hangs high in the sky as Yuuki and Luna make their way up a slightly steep snowy mountain slope. The annoyed look on Yuuki's face did not escape the attention of the Equestrian princess.

"You're very frustrated with him picking this kind of location aren't you?" Luna asks, nuzzling Yuuki slightly.

"You have no idea... I know from what I'm told, Moon Foxes used to live with our east Equestrian Unicorn comrades... But, that doesn't mean after several years living in your warm castle with Celestia, do I want to bloody go back to a snowy mountain!" Yuuki groans in shear frustration.

"It'll be alright. Once finished here we can go home and have a nice warm joint bath." Luna states, with a happy smile.

"You're doing it again."

"Doing what again?" Luna asks, confused.

"Forgetting that we are more than master and pet now. Since going to the other world my body has changed and the circumstances of our reunion saw that our relationship progressed to the level we have now. I understand, we spent seven long wonderful years like we did... I, myself, sometimes forget. You... You're happy with how we are now?" Yuuki asks, as he helps Luna up a steep climb.

"How could thou even ask such a question? Of course I am happy with our current relationship... In truth, I had not forgotten... I just wanted to take a joint bath with you..." Luna states, sounding sad.

Yuuki groans slightly as he mentally slaps himself. "Luna... I'm sorry... I guess, with all this stuff happening and about my brother... It seems I'm the one who is still hung up on that... A warm joint bath sounds wonderful. I just hope this doesn't annoy me too much."

"So long as he doesn't start singing, you should be fine... Thank you for bringing me along, I know you wanted to come alone." Luna comments as they reach an iced archway.

"If anything, having you here will ensure I don't do anything stupid... That and you would never stop worrying about me if I left you at home." Yuuki takes a deep breath before they pass through the archway.

Upon passing through the archway the pair find themselves in a very summer looking setting. The ground they walk on is covered in lush green grass and the atmosphere is slightly warm. While confused, they press on past a corner rock to find a table set up with cups and trays in the form of a tea party. At the head of the table is Despair dressed in a formal, slightly mismatched black and purple attire.

"Brother! I'm so glad you could make it and you brought the misses, how quaint." Despair states with glee.

"I've come here as you asked... Now what is it you wanted to meet me about?" Yuuki demands.

Despair waves his finger at Yuuki and gestures for him to sit down. Luxure comes out of nowhere wearing a maids outfit and pulls out two chairs for them. "Now, now dear brother... Surely you wouldn't insult my hospitality and be rude? Please, sit, have some tea. I will explain everything shortly."

Reluctantly Yuuki and Luna take their seats at the table and accept the tea poured by Luxure. Despair gets up off his seat and walks around the table to stand opposite them.

"So... Why have you asked me here?" Yuuki asks, sipping his tea.

"Correction, why did I ask both of you here. You see I knew you would bring Luna and that's exactly what I'd hoped for. I'm going to lay out the ground rules... Luna, I hate you... I don't like you, I never will like you... Princess of the Night, my ass... Your union to my brother is so fake, I cannot even describe how fake it is... No matter what, you will always be his master and him your pet... Now that I have that out of my system... Yuuki, before I get down to explaining why I brought you both here, I will let you in on something..." Despair stretches a little and sighs.

"I don't exactly like that you just insulted my marefriend so bluntly..." Yuuki states, wearing a blank, unimpressed expression.

"Ugh... Marefriend, for fuck sake... I know you come from this world, but for heaven's sake don't use pony words around me... This little detail, is a result of being born of your emotions... The other alters will be experiencing, slight disruptions within themselves to do with what made them. Such as if Binary experiences an emotion he cannot explain with logic... Like love. The same could be said for any emotion they feel that they were made from like Valentine and love. Me, being made from darkness, is having a hard time controlling my body for long periods of time. The same will be for Kiara, she will experience the darkness inside her take control from time to time. Mostly when she feels confusion, maybe arousal... It's random." Despair explains while picking up and sipping a tea cup.

"I see... Is that all?" Yuuki asks, placing down his cup.

"What? No... Of course that isn't fucking all... You see brother... I'm perplexed about what to do with you. You piss me off, but you're my brother... So, I summed up everything I feel into a lovely composed song by one of my musical band of knights." Despair smiles as he conjures a top hat and cane out of thin air.

Yuuki and Luna suddenly have their legs and arms trapped in automatic cuffs, which seem custom made to fit each of them. Despair smiles widely as Yuuki looks at Luna with a panicked expression, then at Despair who kisses Luxure deeply before letting go and turning back to the pair. Luxure slips back into her normal outfit and brings out a staff which has a dark black gem atop it. Despair starts humming a tune before Luxure uses her magic to play the required instruments for Despair's new song.

It's not easy having yourself a good time
Greasing up those bets and betters
Watching out they don't four-letter
Fuck and kiss you both at the same time
Smells-like something I've forgotten
Curled up died and now it's rotten

I'm not a gangster tonight
Don't want to be a bad guy
I'm just a loner baby
And now you're gotten in my way

I can't decide
Whether you should live or die
Oh, you'll probably go to heaven
Please don't hang your head and cry
No wonder why
My heart feels dead inside
It's cold and hard and petrified
Lock the doors and close the blinds
We're going for a ride

It's a bitch convincing people to like you
If I stop now call me a quitter
If lies were cats you'd be a litter
Pleasing everyone isn't like you
Dancing jigs until I'm crippled
Slug ten drinks I won't get pickled

I've got to hand it to you
You've played by all the same rules
It takes the truth to fool me
And now you've made me angry

I can't decide
Whether you should live or die
Oh, you'll probably go to heaven
Please don't hang your head and cry
No wonder why
My heart feels dead inside
It's cold and hard and petrified
Lock the doors and close the blinds
We're going for a ride

Oh I could throw you in the lake
Or feed you poisoned birthday cake
I wont deny I'm gonna miss you when you're gone
Oh I could bury you alive
But you might crawl out with a knife
And kill me when I'm sleeping
That's why

I can't decide
Whether you should live or die
Oh, you'll probably go to heaven
Please don't hang your head and cry
No wonder why
My heart feels dead inside
It's cold and hard and petrified
Lock the doors and close the blinds
We're going for a ride

The song ends and Despair throws away his hat and cane one at a time before sighing deeply.

"So, you see brother. I've devised a way for us to decide your fate. You can call it a little game with the highest stakes you have ever played with in your life. Luxure, if you would prepare the stage." Despair prompts Luxure, who smiles.

"Of course master, Luxure shall prepare your game." Luxure states happily as she rests the crystal tip of her staff on Luna's chest.

"You see, brother... During the last month I've had my army mining as hard as ever in the mountains to get enough rich ore that I could smelt into metal. This metal has had magic mixed into its very process. Using this metal I aimed to take prisoner something very precious to you." Despair states with an evil grin as he looks at Luna.

"You dare hurt or kill her and I swear!" Yuuki yells at Despair and struggles in his chair.

"Now, now... Killing her would take the fun out of my game. However, I'm well inclined to make her suffer... An Alicorn is the most powerful of all, right? Yet currently you have yet to break free of your bonds... I trust this is because you simply can't?" Despair asks, grinning wide.

"Luna..?" Yuuki looks at Luna, confused.

"Tis' true... Since these wretched restraints I've been unable to cast my magic..." Luna admits.

"Excellent... Then what is about to happen will hurt a hell of a lot..." Despair states, looking to Luxure.

Luxure uses her magic to extract a string of Luna's magical essence with her crystal staff. She then pulls out an odd looking metal necklace that has nine rare looking gemstones decorated onto its front. Using the essence she puts the string into the centre midnight blue gemstone making it glow. Despair takes the necklace and fits it around Luna's neck, the clasp at the back locks and melts into place making removing it difficult.

"There, everything is in place... Luxure, use the spell." Despair demands as he turns around to look at the moon.

Luxure begins chanting making Luna's necklace glow and begin to spark slightly as she groans in pain. As Luxure progresses the spell, Luna begins to yell in pain as each gem starts to glow their respective colours on either side of the midnight blue gem. Red, green, blue, purple for the left and yellow, dark green, pink, ice blue for the right. Each one lights up and causes Luna more pain.

"Almost there... You see each gem is imbued with a locking spell. It has nine locks including a master lock at the front. Each gem is magically connected to a chain I made out of that metal, thus sharing her magical capability over eight anti-magical sealing chains. you will need to break each chain in the eight locations I've conquered in the last month. You'll have to look for them yourself, however as a reminder of your curse and eternal sorrow, allow me to show you this." Despair waves his hand to Luxure.

Luxure continues the spell into it's second stage which causes Luna more harm. In the distance Yuuki can see eight bright coloured lights in the sky heading towards the moon.

"Despair what have you done?!" Yuuki asks struggling more.

"I've simply set an example using the Princess of the Night... This is a display of power and your punishment for abandoning me, brother... You love her so much, let's see how that love fares when she is left helpless and useless like a child!" Despair holds his arms out and a display of the moon is projected from the table.

Yuuki can see eight massive chains head towards the moon before they wrap and tightly bind themselves around it. Each chain interlocks with one another making sure the moon is secure before the chains tighten at their bases keeping the moon in place. The bright glow dies down and Despair lowers his arms as Luna stops writhing in pain. Another bright midnight blue light speeds up to the moon and attaches to the bottom collection of eight crossing chains before tightening down somewhere in the frozen north.

"Eight chains and one master chain... That is the game Yuuki. You'll figure out how to destroy them, I'm sure... Until then, she will remain bound like a helpless pig until you beg, plead and grovel for me to release her... Goodbye, brother... I hope you enjoyed the tea." Despair chuckles as he and Luxure disappear into black smoke.

A few seconds after they leave, Yuuki and Luna are released from their restraints and Yuuki dives to be beside Luna catching her from falling over. She is breathing lightly, but still concious.

"I'm alright Yuuki... Just very weak. I'm sorry I insisted on coming, maybe if I wasn't here..." Luna begins, but Yuuki shakes his head.

"No, none of that! I brought you here, he is my brother... Let's just get home okay? Have that bath we talked about..." Yuuki prompts Luna who nods as he helps her stand up so they can leave.

Looking around, the area has returned to it's normal harsh winter setting, the table and chairs quickly covered in snow. Sighing to himself, Yuuki looks very sad as he and Luna head for home after their encounter.

A few hours later Yuuki and Luna had made it home and with some initial awkwardness decided to take a hot bath together. Yuuki sits in front of Luna while he uses his tail to try and melt the necklace with his ice blue fox fire.

"Please try a bit harder..." Luna asks.

"I'm trying as hard as I can, Luna... Whatever this thing is made out of, it's resistant to my fox fire. Sorry..." Yuuki's ears droop sadly.

Luna gently nuzzles Yuuki affectionately to cheer him up before grabbing a flannel with hoof and uses it to wash Yuuki's back.

"Yuuki, it's not your fault. No matter how much you might want to blame yourself for Despair's actions, he does all of this on his own accord. I learnt very little about him from my time in your dreamscape... However, I know that I love you and will do everything I can to help you defeat him." Luna nuzzles Yuuki again making his ears go back up slightly.

"I just hate how he was able to put this horrible looking thing around your neck and I was powerless to stop him... He even chained your moon... He chained the very moon my people worship and I could do nothing about it..." Yuuki leans into Luna.

"Do you remember what Despair said about how we would be master and pet forever?" Yuuki nods looking at Luna. "Is that not our choice to make? We both know what developed during that month I spent every Equestrian night in your dreams... We moved beyond merely 'master and pet'. While that life was nice and cosy what we have now cannot simply be undone. Nor do I want it to be, I am happy to both have you back and be in love with you. This Despair can preach all he wants about how we are, however, it will only work if we let it work. What do you feel, Yuuki?" Luna prompts Yuuki who simply cuddles Luna.

"I think I fell in love with the mare who was my owner for seven wonderful years and in one month of not knowing each other at all, we moved up to dating. In the ten years I spent in that world I experienced many testing events and depressing times that were the cause of my mental split and the alters being created. Meeting Garrick and Ryota was the only thing that kept me going in that hell hole. I was reunited with my people, but... That only took me so far as I knew nothing of my life before. That one month I spent with you, it was the happiest month of my entire ten years there... I don't want what we have now to disappear... Despair has already cost me so much, I refuse to let him have anymore." Yuuki nuzzles Luna affectionately.

"I know what has happened to us is important and it puts me in grave danger not being able to use my magic while those chains remain around my moon... He has insulted me more than he might realise, being trapped again by that moon... I'd like to inform my sister of what has happened this evening. With luck we can swiftly discover the locations of the chains and work on a way to destroy them." Luna explains as she cuddles Yuuki.

After several minutes both of them get out of the bath and help dry one another. Once dry, Yuuki finds himself some pyjamas before getting into bed.

"Not sleeping in your fox form tonight?" Luna asks, tucking Yuuki in.

"I think it'd be nice to sleep beside you like this a few times. I can easily alternate some nights." Yuuki gets comfortable as Luna kisses his cheek.

"I don't mind either form, so long as it's you. Goodnight for now, little Yuuki. I'll be back shortly." Luna whispers softly before blowing out the candles and leaving the room to go to her sister's bedroom.

Yuuki sighs deeply and rolls over to stare at the ceiling. "I guess this is where the real story begins..."

Author's Note

Well, things are finally getting interesting. Despair has made his move and we shall see how Yuuki and his group respond in the next chapters that will come very soon. Certain complications have arose and there is a debate about if I should continue on this month switch out or carry on with a fic till it finishes. If any of you have comments on this debate please feel free to speak up, it'd mean a lot.