After a long, hard battle, my body, along with the suitcase, lazily washes up against the mainland shore. Sweet mercy, land! Oh beautiful dirt, how missed you! Let us never part again, unless I learn how to fly. If I can ever fly again, then screw you dirt.

The first laser shark was a fluke. I used my wings to hit the water and jump into the air. Just in time too. The shark blasted its laser beam right as I got out of the water. I landed on the thing’s back, giving me a perfect opportunity to slice it open with my claws and turn it into a sushi dinner.

Eating the shark let me grow fins and breathe underwater. It was cool and all, up until the point where two more laser sharks came to vaporize my ass. With my fins and underwater breathing, the battle was a lot more fair. I lost a couple of legs to a few lasers, but I won out on the end. More sushi for me.

It wasn’t until the eighth shark I started crying for mercy. Thankfully, the sea hid my tears.

Here I am, lying on a beach, exhausted and sick of sushi. I don’t know how long it’s been. It’s still dark outside, but the edges of the sky are starting to light up. I think the sun is starting to come up.

Woo, my eyes are… heavy…

oOo

It’s bright outside, but it’s not the sun. The sky is orange, but it’s night. The sky is orange, the buildings are orange, all of Manehattan is orange. It all looks warm and cozy, like a campfire. Weird. Discord must be out for a midnight stroll.

I sip on my coffee as I watch the night sky. Manehattan is peaceful at this hour. The only person sitting at this café is me. There’s a big “Closed” sign hanging in the window. It’s right above where the owner wrote the business hours in white lettering. Apparently he isn’t open in the middle of the night. That’s okay, I get the whole patio to myself.

A warm breeze comes from down the street. It tickles my neck feathers when it passes over me. It’s a nice break from the cool night air. Hmm, why can’t Manehattan be like this all the time? No ponies, no monsters, just some pleasant weather and a nice cup of hard black blend.

“Do you have the package?” a voice says into my ear.

I flip out. My coffee goes flying out of my claw. My head snaps towards where the voice came from. There’s a pony, I find, sitting in the chair next to me and leaning too close for comfort.

He’s blue, pegasus, and is wearing a nice suit. Looks sleazy, salespony sleazy. His eyes stare at me while he smiles. He tilts his head a little to the side, as if to say he didn’t just sneak up on me and is innocent of all crimes.

“Do you have the package?” he says again. “We can’t do business unless we have the package.”

I lean away from the dude. He doesn’t seem to have an understanding about personal space. “Who are you?”

“I’m someone who wants to help you,” the pegasus says. “I told you that last time. But you have to help me before I can help you.”

My coffee is lying on the other side of the patio, spilling out into a puddle. Crap, it’ll be a pain in the ass to find another cup. What store is going to sell coffee to a griffon at this hour?

The pony puts his forelimbs up on the table and crosses them. “I know you have the package. I know it’s nearby.”

I glare at the pegasus. He made me spill my coffee! “Look bud, I don’t know what you’re talking about. I don’t have any package to give you. You, on the other claw, owe me a new cup of coffee.”

“I hope you didn’t open the package,” the pegasus says, ignoring what I just said. “Bad things will happen if you open it.”

“And bad things will happen to you if you don’t get me more coffee,” I snap back. “In case you didn’t know, I eat people!”

The café window explodes in a fireball. Fire roars out of the building and annihilates the patio furniture next to us. The pegasus doesn’t notice. He just keeps on smiling. “There’s not much I can do to help if you opened the package, Gilda. Not much at all.”

The pillar of flame slams into the building across the street, setting that building on fire. As the building lights up, the neighboring buildings go up in flame as well. Soon the fire spreads throughout the entire block, and jumps to the next block over.

“Not much at all,” the pegasus says.

As Manehattan turns into a raging inferno, the pegasus slips into the shadows. It’s an amazing feat, since there are no shadows to slip into. All the fire is lighting the place up!

I look down at his place at the table where he was just sitting. There a coffee mug on his placemat, and the mug is full of good ole’ black brew.

Oh good, Stranger Danger left me a new cup. I take it and smell the fumes. Bitter, like my outlook on life. I like it. As the fires rise around me and consume the great city of Manehattan, I take a sip from my cup and sigh. This is fine.

A new voice cuts through the air. “Just a burning city? Considering all that has happened, I’m surprised you aren’t in the middle of a more bizarre dream. Hmm, at least it's not screaming carrots.”

I slam the coffee cup on the table. “I’m getting sick of all the damn voices in my”-

My voice cuts out when I turn around to see who’s here. Standing above me, in all her regal majesty, is Princess Luna. Her dark coat stands out against the inferno. She’s a black spot on the surface of the sun. She’s also glaring down at me, so I don’t think she’s all sunshine and rainbows.

Ah, it’s a dream.

The Princess of the Night glares at me for a long minute. Her eyes close and she breaths in through her nose. We’re in a dream, so she doesn’t take in a lung full of smoke. Lucky her. At the end of her minute, she doesn’t open her eyes, but she lets out her breath with one word. “Why?”

I roll my claw in the air, motioning her to continue on. “Why what?”

Luna tightens her eyes harder, forming wrinkles on her brow. “Why did you unleash Queen Chrysalis?”

I sip my coffee as I mull over the question. “Hmmm… Who’s that?”

Luna’s eyes shoot open and she slams a hoof on the table. “How can you not remember?! You unleashed her out mere hours ago!

“I did?” I think about what’s happened in the past day. Tanya, daycare, Rainbow Dash, Rainbow Dash turning out not to be Rainbow Dash but instead a bug lady… “Is this Queen Crystal or whatever a bug lady?”

“Yes,” Luna says without nodding.

“Oh right, she’s a bitch. She tricked me into thinking she’s was Rainbow Dash. See, I was going to Blackwatch HQ to talk to Blueblood, but the bug lady started talking with my mind when I got there, and she was talking with Rainbow’s voice. So I went in to free her, and, well, Blackwatch can tell you the rest.”

Luna smacks her face with a hoof. “You simpleton. Blackwatch had her contained for years, and you broke her out. She’ll spread chaos across the lands in a vengeful effort against Equestria! You do not know the least of how problematic she is to capture.”

I wave a dismissive claw in the air. “Oh, don’t worry about her. She’s trapped in a suitcase.”

Luna pulls her hoof off her face. “Excuse me?”

“You heard me right, bug lady is in a suitcase. We got in a fight, I opened the suitcase up, and a vortex came out and sucked bug lady in it. I know it sounds weird, but that’s what happened. I think it’s an ancient artifact or something.”

The Princess gives me a strange look. “Can you describe the suitcase?”

I shrug my shoulders. “It’s a light blue suitcase. Not much else. You can pull random things out of it, but that’s all I know.”

“Your friend, Tanya, it was her suit case, was it not?” Luna asks. “I thought I saw it in her procession at the daycare.”

“Yeah, it was hers,” I say. “I think she got it from a cult. I don’t know. Why do you ask? Do you know something about weird vortex suitcases?”

Luna rubs her chin. Her gaze goes past my shoulder. “A suitcase, it must be in it. That's how it was stolen,” Luna mutters to herself. “But how did a griffon get hold of the Nexus?”

“Uh, Luna,” I poke at her, “Mind filling me in what you’re thinking?”

“If the suitcase is what I think it is,” Luna says, “then it would explain how Tanya acquired the sword.”

“Yeah, suitcase, sword, I put those pieces together a while ago,” I say. “Mind telling me what the heck killed my friend?”

Luna’s head snaps back to meet my gaze. “I'll forget your transgression with Chrysalis. If you have the suitcase on you, you must return it to us the moment you wake up.”

“And turn myself in along with it?” I huff and roll my eyes. “How stupid do you think I am? I’m not going anywhere near you.”

“You fail to understand. What you possess holds a great danger to Equestria. The longer it is out in world, the more likely it will bring ruin to us all.”

Luna’s tone shifted from “Gilda, you’re an idiot,” to , “The world is in danger,” pretty fast. That’s not going to fool me, though. “Aren’t you Miss Melodramatic. ‘The world will end if you don’t turn yourself in.’ Come on, you’re thousands of years old. You’re more clever than that, Princess. I’m not going to turn myself in over that weak trick.”

Luna hardens her glare as she leans in close. “This is serious. I don’t know if you realize this yet, but anything can be pulled out of that suitcase. Anything. Your friend Tanya learnt that the hard way, did she not?”

Luna pauses to let Tanya’s name sink in for a moment. I take another sip of tasteless coffee. The Princess can bait me all she wants. I won’t bite.

“You’ve seen the state Manehattan is in,” Luna continues. “Imagine if Blacklight, or something worse, spreads past the island. Imagine Ponyville, Griffonstone, everything falling to chaos, just like Manehattan. That suitcase must be contained, otherwise it will unleash unknown horrors upon the world.”

A little voice in the back of my head picks up on a bit of subtext from the Princess. “So the suitcase can make anything?”

“’Make’ may not be the correct term,” Luna says, “But to my knowledge, yes, it can make anything. Do not fool yourself, though. It is more likely to bring destruction than wealth to those who open it.”

“No, I get that. More fire and flame than mountains of gold. I don’t plan to use it like that.”

“Don’t plan of using it at all.”

“I don’t. I’m just curious.” I sip on my coffee again. Hmm, I don’t think this cup is going to run out. Dream logic and all that. “The suitcase will probably make something dangerous, that’s what you’re getting at. It will unleash Tartarus upon the world.”

Luna nods. “You understand then. It must be sealed as soon as possible.”

“If if I were to take a guess,” I say, hitting that little subtext, “this suitcase full of who knows what unleashed Blacklight. Is that what happened to Manehattan?”

The pauses for a moment before she says anything. “You're right. Blacklight came from the suitcase.” She puts both hooves on the table. “So you of all people must understand how imperative securing that suitcase is.”

I lean back in my chair and sip some more. Interesting, Blacklight came from Tanya’s little suitcase of horrors. Maybe Luna’s lying to me. Maybe not. If she’s not, then I have the power to end the world strapped to my back. I wonder how Tanya got her claws on it.

“Sure, I understand,” I say. Luna perks up, and I smile at her. “But I’m not going to give it to you.”

The alicorn’s nostrils flare. “Did I hear thee correctly?”

“I hope you heard. No way I’m going to give this to you. It’s how I’m going keep everyone off my back.”

Luna looks at me for a long moment. “This is foolish! You don’t know what you’re saying!”

“I do know, and I think it’s the smartest I’ve ever done.”

“It’s the stupidest!”

“Think about it.” I prop my legs up on the table and pull my claws behind my head. “If anybody, Blackwatch, Genicorn, you, the cops, were to come after me, what’s to stop me from opening the suitcase and unleashing another Blacklight on another city?”

Luna’s jaw drops. A little stuttering comes out, and for some reason that makes my giddy inside. “You dare make threats”-

“I do dare,” I interrupt. “Manehattan is surrounded by water. It’s hard for the plague to spread beyond that. But if you take a land locked city, say, I don’t know, Canterlot, something like Blacklight will spread like crazy across the country side.”

Luna is silent. She closes her eyes again and steps back off from the table. “I take it you’re serious.”

I shrug. “I think I am.”

“You are truly taking into consideration this ludicrous idea of yours.”

“Oh, I think I’ve gone past consideration. I’m going to take every chance I have to live my life the way I want to.”

Luna takes a long breath through her nose. “I will give you a chance to reconsider. Please, for all that is good, make the right choice.”

“I am making the right choice,” I say. “I’m sick and tired of people going after my neck just because I can shapeshift. I want to be done with that nonsense. My choice is to live without anyone hunting me down. I want freedom. That’s my final decision.”

Luna lowers her head. “Then you’ve forced me to do this.”

The alicorn’s eyes fly open, and they unleash a bright light. The fiery city around me goes out all at once. The raging inferno snuffs out, leaving behind an empty, black void. The only lights that pierce through the darkness are the beams coming from Luna’s eyes.

Huh, impressive show- ACK!

I grab my head as a sharp pain spikes through my brain. The coffee mug shatters on the floor, and I keel over and curl up into a ball. AGH, it burns! My head, it burns! It Burns!

The Princess’s voice booms through my mind. “I offered you free will, but you have forfeited the right to make your own choice. I cannot allow you to persist, as you are a danger to not only Equestria, but all of the world.”

My legs spasm out at the pain ripples through my body. My eyes shrivel in tears, and all I can see is a blurry image of two beams of light.

“I command you to bring yourself to my authority, and relinquish the Nexus to my care. This is the only way, Gilda.”

The spasms grow in intensity, and I lose complete control of my body. My spine arcs back and forth, and all I feel is fire inside my skin. Stop it. Stop it! Stop it!

How can she do this? This is a dream. You can’t feel pain in dreams! This is a dream! This can’t happen!

This is a dream!

This is a dream!

This is a dream!

oOo

My body shoots up into a sitting position and I gasp for air. I shudder as my senses kick back in and the pain leaves my flesh.

It’s bright out. I’m sitting on something hard. It’s warm, but not burning. My eyes blink over and over and the world clears itself. It takes me a moment to figure out what’s going on, but soon enough I check back with reality.

It’s sunny out. The sun is high about me. I’m sitting on a bunch of rocks. There’s water rushing past the edge of the rocky area. I’m on a beach.

I grab several parts of my body. Beak. Feathers. Arms. Tail. Claws. I still got everything. Everything is attached. Everything feels not broken.

I take another breath in. I make it a long breathe, and I fall back on the rocks. Ow, those are hard, but at least they’re not in a dream. Ah good, I’m not in that dream anymore.

What the fuck, Luna? Were you trying to take over my mind? That is a clear overstepping of your authority. No, that wasn’t cool. That was definitely a violation of a Griffonstone treaty. Don’t know which one, but definitely one of them. I’m going to have to write an angry letter to congress!

The events of the night prior come back at me all at once. Great, I didn’t actually get Rainbow Dash. I’m back at square one. And now I’ve pissed off the Princess, so I’m double screwed.

No wait, she wanted to bring me to justice before. Nothing’s changed about that. The only thing that has changed is I now have something to keep everyone off my back.

I look to the side and find a blue suitcase lying on the shore. Oh good, I still have you. I hope I never actually have to open you. I just made a threat of national security in front of a Princess’s face. Who knows if that thing will be able to back up my words.

I push myself back up to a sitting position. Now that I have some free time on my claws, guess I should try to find Rainbow again. Like I said, square one.

I look up at the island of Manehattan. The first thing that catches my eye is the massive red cloud hanging over the city. The cloud spans from one end of the island to the other, and drifts down to the ground. Looks like a fog of blood hanging over the city.

From this side of the shore, I can hear the distant screams of mass crowds freaking out over the end of the world. That doesn’t sound fun.

I glance over to where the Genicorn building is. The massive growth on the top of the building isn’t there anymore. Instead, flaps of thick skin and goop are hanging off the edge of the top. A thick cloud of spores are hanging around the building. I think the growth might have exploded.

I look at the cloud, then back at the building, then at the suitcase, then back of the red cloud. The far distant screams of terror are still going.

Hmmm.

I grab the blue suit case, stand up, strap it to my back, look at the city…

And I turn around and sprint into the forest.

Nope. I am not going back in there. I am never going back in. I am not dealing with red cloud bull crap. Let Blackwatch handle that noise.

I wonder if Las Pegasus needs a scone shop.

Author's Note

End of Disk One. Please insert Disk Two.