Spike got up from his dragon basket. It was nice and early, 6:00 A.M. to be precise. He paused and sniffed the air, letting his keen dragon sense of smell tell him where Twilight was. He couldn't find her. "Oh well, It'll work someday." He murmured to himself. Upon discovering that his hyper - enhanced - superbly - amazing predator senses weren't working, just like how they didn't work any other day. Spike rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and headed to the library of the castle. On the way he contented himself with only licking the tasty crystal walls. He entered the library and frowned, that's strange. He thought. Usually Twilight's in here compulsively re - ordering books or something. I mean, she's done that ever since she was a foal. But, hey, there's a first time for everything, right?
He figured that she must be in the kitchen, fixing them breakfast. His stomach grumbled, he thought that a good bowl of sapphires, would be a great idea for breakfast. Perhaps with some aquamarine dust in there, you know, for that extra kick. As he wandered down the halls of the labyrinthine palace, he hummed to himself:
dum da dum dum. On a date with Rarity. dum da dee dee. I'm blue da b- he stopped humming abruptly, he was nearing the kitchen, which Twilight was definitely inside. There was only one problem: if she was inside that room, presumably making breakfast. Where was the smoke? The burning smell from her cooking? This was strange. And needed to be investigated. He pushed open the door, and gawked at what he saw.
inside Starlight Glimmer, Twilight's protégé in the magic of friendship was sitting at a table, which was covered in books. Arcane runes and glyphs dotted about in the air, and she held a map of Equestria in her magical grasp. He chuckled, "Yeesh, Twi - lite, why are all these books out of the library? " He used the name "Twi - Lite" as a derogatory term, mainly due to how similar she and her mentor were. However, Starlight just kept ignoring him, her actions becoming more and more frantic the closer spike drew to her. Pentagrams, Hexagrams, and a whole lot of other 'grams joined the wards, glyphs, and star constellation charts she was already projecting with her magic. "Umm, is something wrong Starlight?"
Hearing her name called, she seemed to be jolted back into reality, "oh, I'm so sorry Spike, It's just... I can't find them!"
"Find who?" said Spike, getting a tiny bit annoyed at how vague her answer was.
"My friends! Pinkie, Rainbow, Fluttershy, Applejack, Rarity, or even Twilight!" Starlight exclaimed. Her voice becoming audibly faster as she said each name.
"you mean our friends, right? Besides, I'm sure they're just... somewhere," Spike trailed off lamely.
"That's just the problem Spike, they're aren't in Ponyville!"
"The princesses must have sent for them then. So they must be at Canterlot, right?" Spike's voice was full of confidence now. He had it figured out.
"No! They're not even in Equestria, I tried looking for their magical signal using the cutie map, but... they're not there! I sent a message to Canterlot, to the princesses, but they haven't responded, I think they're gone too!"
"Oh... that's bad. What about discord? he must've sent them to Chineigh or something to annoy them! he- he has to, please tell me that's what happened." Spike sounded desperate now.
"Spike, Discords magic Is very unique, using the map I would be able to tell if he was anywhere in the world, never mind Equestria, but... he isn't here either!" Starlight was sounding much more distraught as well.
Recognising this, Spike realised he had to be the voice of reason here. Just like he had to be the voice of reason whenever Twilight was freaking out about getting her homework grades from princess Celestia a couple minutes later than usual. He took a deep breath, "Okay, calm down Starlight."
"HOW IS CALMING DOWN GOING TO HELP ME FIND THEM!?"
"How is freaking out going to help you find them?" Starlight knew he had a point, Spike could see it in her eyes, or maybe they were tears.
"You're right, I'm very sorry Spike... I just don't know what to do!" Starlight moaned. Clearly exhausted, her hair was stuck up at odd angles, and her left eye was twitching. Spike couldn't help but note the similarities she had in common to his purple unicorn friend during the smarty pants incident. Starlight took very long breaths in rapid succession, her eyes stopped twitching, and she seemed much calmer. "Okay, so... what do we know? Discord isn't here. And neither are the girls, The Princesses probably aren't here either."
"Discord is probably dimension hopping, or doing whatever bored chaos spirits do," Spike countered.
"well, yes- but still! The girls aren't here, and the princesses haven't answered me. I'm presuming they aren't here either,"
"Do we know for sure that the princesses aren't here?" Spike wondered.
"Well, no... but I think it's highly unlikely that they would've ignored me. Especially if they saw a letter about their precious student."
"I'm sensing some major envy here!" Spike chided, before he remembered just how serious the situation could be. "Can you teleport us to them?"
"I was never that good at long distance teleportation, and even if I was, I'm too tired and frustrated to really focus. I wouldn't want to make a mistake and splinch us. Don't ask what that is... you don't want to know."
"Then we'll go to Canterlot to see The Princesses!" exclaimed Spike. "We'll go to Ponyville train station and board a train to Canterlot."
"Great Idea Spike, I can see now why Twilight keeps you around," Starlight announced, acting as if she had just figured this out.
"umm... Thanks Starlight," Spike murmured, clearly wishing he hadn't called Starlight "Twi - Lite" earlier.
"Just kidding Spike. So, are we going to the station or not?"
"Well... Sure, just let me round up some snacks!"
"Spike, now is not the time for sapphires with aquamarine dust!"
"awww, come on! I even had a dream about them and everything." Spike bemoaned, falling to the floor. While acting as if he had just been shot, and clutching his chest.
"... yup, Princess Luna has definitely been kidnapped." Starlight dryly remarked. "But seriously Spike, go get some snacks then we'll be on our way to the station and to Canterlot."
"Yes!!!" Spike then did a double fist pump in the air, and ran off to get his food.
=============================================================================================================================================
The walk through town was average, to say the least. The flower trio were trying to hawk their wares, however the apple stall, which would normally be ponied by AppleJack was instead being run by Big Mac. Spike suddenly had a eureka moment.
"Hey, maybe Big Mac can help us! he might know where Applejack was last!"
"I've already asked, he said Applejack told him she had somewhere to be, and then left... without leaving any hoofprints, that would require either a horn, or wings. Both of which Applejack does not have. Unless she has a horn under that Stetson of hers. Mr and Mrs Cake said that Pinkie Pie wasn't in her room when they went to wake her up... which isn't really unusual for her, I guess." she raised a hoof to scratch her mane, and then continued. "Except she wasn't in the kitchen counting how many sprinkles there were left like she usually is. Sweetie Belle said that Rarity was called to Canterlot on "fashion business", though I doubt that. Fluttershy isn't at her cottage, and neither were any of her animal friends. And rainbow dash wasn't in her cloud house, or training." Starlight stopped abruptly and wheezed, trying to get her breath back.
"wait, you did all of that in the morning? Just how much sleep did you get last night?" Spike said, with no small tone of worry in his voice.
"I didn't get any. Sleep is for the weak. Not for a strong, independent unicorn mare like myself."
"uh - huh so, in other words, you're dead on your hooves?" Spike said skeptically.
"yeah" Starlight admitted, her words and hoofsteps slowing as they drew within sight of the train station.
"Ouch, well, you can always sleep on the train."
"Oh, goodie! a whole two hours of sleep on a steam train, which somehow isn't powered by magic yet! That means it'll be tossing and turning through the whole journey!" Starlight slurred, her words becoming somewhat affected by her lack of sleep, and her worry for her friends. "Stupid earth ponies, with their stupid lack of magic, and their stupid, idiotic, ways of making trains."
"uh... starlight, might wanna tone down the supremacism there. Besides who cares, it's just a train" spike said jokingly.
"But I like trains." Starlight whined. While paying for their tickets.
"yeah, you're definitely going to sleep on the train."
They got into their train carriage, (which was pink and green) and while Starlight bedded down for her whole two hours of sleep. Spike stayed awake with worry about what could have happened to his friends. And devised many plans about what to do to the pony who kidnapped them, his punishments included things like: tickle torture, being locked in a room with Pinkie for a while and the classic 'give them to Discord'. Although they couldn't rule out the possibility that this was just another prank (or even another evil scheme!) by Discord himself. Spike frowned, That's unfair, Discord may be a little odd, but I doubt he would do something like this. At least not now, not when he has truly realised the value of friendship. The train took a hard left, and Spike was almost thrown out of his seat, he quickly reached a hand out to steady Starlight. She stirred slightly but otherwise made no sign of being awake. He wondered how her dreams were going, maybe Luna would talk to him and tell him what was going on if he fell asleep? Finally deciding upon an excuse, Spike laid his head on his bag and slept.
Author's Note
So here it is, my first story! I'd just like to thank my mom, the academy, and sidewalks, for keeping me off the street, but seriously, this was the best I could do so, be gentle with me. I would appreciate being informed about spelling and grammar mistakes, because I have to catch them all, and also a question: "Do you like my portrayal of the characters?" I obviously have no intention of making starlight a "unicorn supremacist" but, hey, she hasn't slept in a day and a half and hasn't eaten for half a day. and you're not you when you're hungry. Spike always seemed more mature to me than Twilight at times but tell me if i'm making him too intelligent or whatever. So, yeah... tell me if you caught any references (like all two of them.)
Have a Great Day!
- INFUSCATE -
Princess Luna loved tending to her night. She could think of no better way to start her day than raising her beloved moon and covering the sky in her blanket of stars. She liked to tweak one just slightly, making it outshine its brethren for only a night. Her sister insisted that this was a result of the trauma of Celestia neglecting her, Luna didn't believe that. And then there was tending to the dreams of her subjects. Which was probably the only thing she didn't like about her royal duties. It wasn't the fact that tending to dreams was tiring, or stressful, on the contrary it often left her feeling lightweight and care - free. But the idea of peeking into some of her subjects worst nightmares sometimes kept her up at night (day?). Not because she might see something she would be afraid of, but because she would see something her subjects are afraid of. And ponies usually like to keep what frightens them secret. At least, they did from what she remembered. So, as she stood on her balcony whilst draping the night sky in her blanket of stars, (she had raised the moon with her sister just a few minutes ago,) she focused on the virgo constellation. Seeing as it was the biggest constellation it has to have the most ponies in it right? Honestly, she didn't know. She aimed her horn at that particular group of stars, making them glow much brighter than the rest, normally she would only make one star brighter but, hey, she was the element of generosity for a reason, wasn't she?
Finished with her nightly ritual she sat on her favourite pillow, made of an incredibly rich fabric, seemingly lighter than air, and softer than her own ethereal mane. Which was such a struggle to brush. This pillow also cost as much as several baronies, which may or may not be the reason that Griffonstone is no longer part of Equestria. As soon as she was sitting comfortably her horn lit up, pure white. Almost as blinding as her sisters sun. Then with a couple enchantments, she entered a deep trance, which is the real reason she's generally more composed than her fellow princesses. She landed in her 'dreamscape' as she called it. A number of doors appeared in front of her. All of them representing her subjects who were having nightmares. She could of course, make it so that all of her subjects who were dreaming would appear, but then the corridor would be nigh endless. Strange, she thought. there are far more doors than there should be. Although, it is in the run - up to Nightmare Night. She supposed. That holiday used to be awkward for her, even after the young Twilight Sparkle helped her get over most of it. But a couple chats (and mooncakes to the face) with Discord, who was surprisingly quite the master at conversation. Although, she had always known him to be charming and highly intelligent so she probably should have took it as a given. Anyway, after a couple chats with Discord (whom some ponies still burn effigies of on February the 29th) she got over the rest of her anxiety. Discord was surprisingly patient and understanding with her while she was talking. That must've been due to the influence of "dear Fluttershy" as Discord would call her. Or he just wanted to get on my good side so he could get amnesty for any crimes he would commit in the future. Yes, definitely the latter.
She stood, poised to enter one of the many doors in front of her. Just before she used her magic to open it, however. She faltered, the door was a chalk white with purple highlights. and many gemstones studded along its rim. She didn't need to use her powers to know this belonged to the bearer of the element of generosity, Rarity. She took a quick glance at the other doors. One was shaped like your average barn door, the paint was even peeling in some areas. This must be Miss Applejacks door she mused. She stepped towards what the barn door, it smelled faintly of sweet apple acres. Not just apples, but sweat, dirt, and all those other things that make a hard, but honest, days work. Another door looked like it was made entirely of living branches, with a small window inset into the middle and a rowan tree on either side of it. Another looked like a fire emergency door, like the ones seen in gymnasiums in Cloudsdale, except it was covered in posters of the wonderbolts and Daring Do. And yet another one looked like it belonged on a gingerbread house with candies on it. It also had balloons floating above it. Which shouldn't even be possible in the dreamscape. She also saw one that, well, let us just say it was clearly Miss Sparkles door and leave it at that.
There were three other doors as well, one looked like a cell door, It had a large 'keep out' sign on around the door handle. Between the gaps in the metal bars there was only darkness. She stepped closer to the door, it smelled of... nothing. How strange, usually one can tell something about the dreamer by what their door smelled like. Another "door" was actually... a palace. a huge, 100 story castle that towered over all the other doors. The castle looked like it was a paper cut - out, it was completely blank. But the door however, was intricately designed. its colour scheme was a chaotic mish - mash of colours that shouldn't work, but somehow did. It featured everything. from wrought iron designs of monsters as door hinges, to a window somehow made out of clear, solid jelly. That also worked as a funhouse mirror, except it always made you look fat. Or maybe that's just me. Luna thought.
It had an ace of spades door knocker, that when looked at out of the corner of your eyes, turned white, creating a paradoxical optical illusion. She stepped closer to the door and inhaled, the scent was intoxicating... it was like everything she ever enjoyed the smell of put together. But instead of being overwhelming, it was like she was smelling them all at the same time, but separately. Peppermint, cinnamon, butterscotch, violet, pumpkin spice, chilli powder, rowan wood smoke, coconut, freshly mown grass, vanilla, cookie dough, and coffee. The smell was delicious and she needed more of it. She shuffled, zombie like towards the door.
She reached for the handle. Her hoof rested atop the burnished brass metal surface. And it hissed at her! Suddenly the door knob became the metal equivalent of Luna's favourite draconequus, Discord. Although it's not as if she knew any other draconequi. "Oh, hello Princess Glooma! How's life? Met any new stallions yet to replace... Goshdarnit. What's his name? Oh yes! that Night Terror stallion. ya'know, the commander of your night guard? I'm doing great at meeting new people, actually. I've just met the most adorable bluebottle fly. And guess what? She's already moving in. At this rate I might need to set up a new casino, because I just hit the jackpot! There's only one problem though, I'm afraid I can't have a serious relationship with her... because I'VE BEEN TURNED TO STONE! So... please take your freaky, privacy invading magic elsewhere."
That disturbance, although rude, woke her up, so to speak. She came out of her zombie like state. And quickly backed away from what was no doubt Discord's door. She realised that in all of her time safeguarding ponies dreams, she had never encountered Discords door, 'either he's unusually resistant to nightmares which I honestly wouldn't be surprised if he was.' Luna thought, 'or he never counted as one of my subjects until recently'. while looking at the only door remaining, It was a polished white marble, and it shone with a radiance and warmth so much so that Luna instantaneously knew it was the door of her sister, Celestia.
'I should attend to the cell door first, as the girls have no doubt faced bigger threats in their waking life, Tia has ruled Equestria solely for 1000 years, and i doubt anything can scare her now. And I shall attend to Discord last as... Anything that scares Discord, the spirit of chaos and disharmony? Terrifies me.'
She approached the cell door, It's appearance looked even worse close up. Spotted patches of rust were dotted around the cold, blackened iron of the cell door. The darkness in - between the metal bars didn't seem to occur from a large amount of shadow, but rather a lack of light. 'How odd, usually the doors to ponies minds are more reflective of their persona.' The lunar princess immediately thought of Discords' door. No matter how disturbed the dreamer might be, I will still do my duty as princess of the night. With her mind made up, she approached the door with an air of confidence. She opened it and stepped through.
She saw an almost blinding flash of teal, before she entered her subjects' 'mindscape' as she called it. The layout of the room was that of an old opera house, a very old opera house. A pre - Discordian opera house in fact. She only knew what they looked like from books. as these buildings were made ages before she was born, and stopped being made while Discord reigned. Everypony had forgotten how to make such structures after Discord was imprisoned. Inside were rows upon rows of plush, red velvet seats, with three walkways segregating them. Two of the walkways were rather small, but the middle walkway was big enough for 4 ponies to walk side by side. The walls were a rich crème colour with golden highlights, there were five tiers of seats around the edge of the building, and the stage was massive. It was at least the size of the ballroom back in Canterlot castle.
Although the room was filled to the brim with the standard décor of an opera house, the subject of the dream was nowhere to be found. She floated (she had no need for physics in the dream world) down the middle walkway and onto the stage which was shrouded in darkness, with emphasis on was. As she entered onto the stage she was hit by a sudden, blinding light. A spotlight was glaring down upon her, with all the light of a miniature sun. That's not a metaphor, ponies back then could actually make such constructs out of magic and pure ingenuity. She shielded her eyes with her wings and called out: "Whatever daemon that hast taken control of the dream of my subject, will cease now! Or I will banish thee to the depths of Tartarus for all eternity!" Lunas' wings flared out, to make herself seem bigger and more intimidating to potential predators. Her horn lit up, and she prepared to use her dream magic to send this foul plague on her subjects mind to the sun if she had to. There was only one problem: her horn wasn't lighting up! She couldn't get as much as a spark from it. She heard a chuckle full of dark mirth, and turned around. Standing behind her was the culprit of this not so normal dream. Or was it the dreamer himself?
"You're... an alicorn!?" Luna gawked in shock. To the best of her knowledge, her and 'Tia were the only alicorns, and they didn't have any other siblings. At least none that they knew of. But something was wrong, she inhaled. This "alicorn" was entrenched in dark magic of the foulest sort, he was more corrupted than even Sombra had been.
"Having some trouble there Lulu? Need to go over your magical theory again?" The words seemed so belittling and derogatory, but the voice was incredibly warm, it was open and trustworthy, the voice of somepony who was your friend, somepony who you would fly over the sun for. Somepony who you would run to the ends of the earth for. Somepony you would give your life for.
Luna battled the strange compulsion to treat him as a friend, to hug him, to ask him how his day was, to do as he commanded. And eventually won. "Thou art a fiend! Appearing before me clothed as an alicorn to mock my very own birthright. Now leave my pony's mindscape at once, and never return."
The "alicorn" paused, the lights from the opera house glinting off of his charcoal black coat and feathers. His eyes glinting maliciously like the point of a knife. "Leave the dreamscape? Sure, just let me stop dreaming for a while." His laughter followed that incredibly witty remark. "Besides, it's not as if you could do anything about it, due to your current state of magical distress, also in other news, calling me an alicorn? how insulting. it's like calling a supernova a firefly. You just don't do it!"
Luna paused to take this all in. The parasite knew she had lost her magic, so it was probably his doing. She spent a couple more precious seconds assessing the situation. He knew her childhood nickname, which could've been sheer luck, or something much more sinister. He had shown sheer brilliance into luring her into a dream and then taking her magic so she couldn't get out of it. Effectively trapping her consciousness here for as long as he desired. However, he had also shown that he wanted to talk with her before he carried out his nefarious scheme. She could use this to her advantage.
"So, what's your name?" Luna gulped nervously, hoping her asking this wouldn't send the villain into a fit of uncontrollable rage, or whatever it is villains do.
"My name? nopony has asked my name in two thousand years, I honestly don't remember it, but for now let's just go with... hmmmm, does Horus work for you?" The stallion asked, while twirling his newly summoned black handlebar mustache.
Although Luna was in a very serious situation, she had to struggle not to laugh at the stallions antics, something about the gravitas of the situation, combined with a black handlebar mustache made it hilarious The stallion clearly wanted to make her laugh, did he want to impress her? Would flirting back help? Should she be focusing more on interrogating him or making friends with him? Normally, she would rather go with the former, but without her powers...
"Well Horus, I can honestly say that I have never seen such a... um... such an attractive mustache before." Luna abruptly cut off upon realising how woefully unprepared she was for flirting in the modern era. She wished she had taken her sisters advice on reading some "gossip magezines" Although she didn't think that any of them would include tips on how to chat with possible super - villains.
Horus dropped his mustache, he was so overwhelmed with how stupendously silly Luna's last statement was, that he simply broke his concentration and allowed his mustache to be extinguished in a puff of smoke. "Luna- hahhahah- please- hahahahhaha! Go- pffft! hahhahhah" Horus stopped trying to stifle his laughter, and simply rolled on the now darkened, polished wood floor. His laughter seemed oddly muffled, however. Luna gazed around the room curiously, where there was once a seating area and walkways was now an almost ethereal mass of dark fog. She returned her attention back to her captor and was greeted with the image of Horus finally getting his laughter under control. Before promptly looking at her face and losing control of it again. His laughter echoed through the dream, echoing and reverberating all around his mindscape, suddenly however, he stopped and became so silent and still that it shook Luna to her core. "Sorry about that Luna dear, I tend to get a bit distracted." As soon as he began speaking everything seemed to begin to return to normalcy. Or at least as normal as one can get while talking to a supervillain in his own dream.
"So, Horus, how did you manage to take my magic?" Luna asked pleasantly, villains love to boast about how they accomplished their plans, didn't they?
"Oh well wouldn't you like to know?" Horus teased, while conjuring up an antique set of chairs and a table, as well as coffee and croissants for both of them. "Sit, please." Luna complied, her mind racing at her actions, befriending him... sure, that's pretty much the same thing as what happened with Discord but, having a coffee with him? She started to wonder if her amazing flirting was better than Horus let on. She grasped the mug in her hooves, as she couldn't use her magic, and took a long draught. It was exactly how she'd make it. As black as her nights with two sugars. The familiar scent of coffee which somehow tasted even better in the mindscape. Her croissant was warm and buttery, with strawberry jam, her favourite kind. The oddity of the scene came back to her, jarring her from her reminiscing of the past times spent with her sister. "Well, do you still want me to fill you in on how you lost your magic?" Luna felt her body respond with a nod. "It was simple really, did you see what was on the door to my mindscape?"
"It was a no entry sign, was it not?" Luna queried of her new friend.
"Yes, it was Lulu." Horus grinned as he used her nickname. "And you didn't obey it, you have to obey the wishes of the dreamer, right? Or else your magic is forfeit. That is, until the dreamer wishes it to be returned to you. So really, it's all your fault." Horus sat back, downed the rest of his coffee and smirked at her.
Luna frowned, she had hoped that this was all a villainous plan, some evil machinations that she couldn't fully comprehend, but hearing that it was all her fault had completely stunned her. She had wanted Horus to be a monster, but yet here he was sipping coffee with her. She knew he was evil, she could tell by the dark magic in his veins, but she was powerless and he seemed willing to negotiate. She knew something was... off about the entire scene, but couldn't figure out what it was.
"So, you said you weren't an alicorn?" Luna prompted, while struggling to lift her now (magically) refilled cup of coffee to her lips.
"Oh gods no. This isn't one of those stories-" he broke off his incredibly witty comment upon realising just how much trouble Luna was having. "Oh here, lemme get that for you."
Horus' horn glowed a deep crimson, the colour of the setting sun, and as it glowed Luna felt a familiar sensation, the magic was returning to her veins. She stared wide eyed at Horus, to talk with her was one thing, but to restore her magic to the state where she could send him to the sun if she wanted? This stallion was obviously insane.
"One: If you were going to banish me, I could simply take away your magic again. Two: I am evidently not insane, I literally just had a pleasant conversation with you, and three: I'm only giving you back your magic so you can do something for me." Horus' snide voice returned.
"Did- did you just read my mind?"
"Maybe I did. Or maybe you're just so obvious in what you're thinking." Horus tactfully replied. He gave a wave of his hoof and suddenly the table and chairs vanished, Luna fell from her chair and onto a giant pillow almost as plush and soft as the one in her room. "I tire of all this dancing around the issue." Horus announced, while reclining in an antique armchair. "What I want you to do is so simple, I don't think even you can mess it up." Horus leaned forward, his coat blackened and burned into a deep black colour, that was like looking into space itself, the air was filled with the feeling of static electricity. A strange symbol formed just underneath his horn. His voice became harder, and much more cruel, there was almost nothing left of the stallion who had calmly talked with her previously. "I want you to go into your little friends dreams, whilst in the guise of Nightmare Moon, and drag out their consciousness'" He leaned forward again, almost nose to nose with the princess of the night, and as his voice lowered, so too did the lights in the dream, creating an almost spotlight like effect. "Kicking and screaming if you have to. Then you will deposit their consciousness' into my dream, where I will take care of them until my..." His upper lip curled and he seemed almost to spit out the word. "associates collect their physical bodies."
Luna's body lurched backwards off the cushion, "What!? No! We would die before we did such a thing!" she announced. She tried to light up her horn, but it didn't respond. She felt her head bowing, she fought it. The tendons in her neck and the muscles in her back screaming in protest. Eventually she caved. her head dipped into a low bow, her ethereal mane pouring over her eyes. "What is happening!? Why can't I stop this?" the stallion gave a chuckle and shook his head, before Luna felt her body rise up from her bow, and heard her voice utter: "Yes Horus, I will do as you command" Her voice sounded strange even to her own ears. It sounded as if her voice strings were being plucked by somepony who didn't know how to play the instrument, so to speak.
Horus gave a cheshire grin. "Oh Luna, you were doing so well... fighting off my mind magic, trying to get information out of me, the whole shebang. But then you got cocky, you thought you'd won, you thought I was your friend. You thought you could beat me. You gave into your pride, and in that instance you were lost." he headed to the doorway that led from his mindscape into the dreamscape and bucked it open, white light edged into the room, and was quickly ushered out again by the dark smog that seemed to surround the dream. Her body was dragged against her will to the door, "There's a reason pride is the worst of the seven deadly sins, and that's because it's the only sin that even "good" ponies are allowed to have. Your sister knows that well enough." He gestured for her to stand in front of the doorway. "Oh, and Luna? Say hello to Nightmare Moon for me, please." With these final parting words, he turned around and promptly bucked her out of his dream.
Luna landed into the pure whiteness of the dreamscape, with the doors surrounding her, and could already feel Horus' commands taking place. Luna fell, Nightmare moon arose.
Author's Note
So... here it is, the chapter where my OC makes an appearance, I tried to make it at least a little bit funny in the start,(to balance the more somber tone at the end.) but I am terrible at comedy... I think.
So first order of business: Is my OC too Gary Stu -ish? Just to be clear he isn't an alicorn per se, he is just taking the physical form of one right now.
Second order of business: Did it make sense? Were there any parts you feel could've been explained better? Or any flaws in Horus' plan that you saw?
Third order of business: What would your dream door look like?
And the final order of business: please report any spelling mistakes and grammar corrections to me via the comments below.
Have a great day/night!
An interesting Discussion... Not Really
Spike and Starlight walked up the steps to Canterlot Castle. Spike, with his shoulders hunched, and his eyes downcast, Starlight, with her eyes struggling to stay open, and her fur bristling as if it were a cats hackles. Starlight hadn't gotten an iota of sleep last night. She kept muttering and turning in her sleep. Spike heard the words "unimaginable torment" and "eyes", alongside "always watching" and "hopeless". Spike thought she needed to lay off the slendermare comics.
"Halt!" announced one of the two pegasi guards stationed outside the entranceway to the castle. "Who are you two?"
Spike furrowed his brows, there was something... off about these two guards. For some reason they wore neither solar nor lunar armour, their chestplates instead being made of some kind of reddish-coppery metal, that shone like a freshly polished gem in the sunlight.
Starlight raised her head to answer the guard, before catching sight of his appearance and hurriedly dragging Spike and herself back, before enveloping them in a magic shield.
"Who are you!?" She called out, a touch of fear and uncertainty entering her voice.
The guards both looked at each other, before staring back at Starlight, bewildered. The one on the right cleared his throat before speaking. "I am corporal Phantom Blade, and this is my partner, Crimson Torpor. Before you ask about our armour, a few days ago Princess Celestia decreed that the Solar and Lunar guards become one cohesive unit. We're just called the royal guard now." Phantom cleared his throat before speaking again. I take it that answers your question?"
Spike involuntarily shuddered when he saw the teeth of the guardsponies. They were sharp. Feral. They reminded him of adult dragon teeth, except all of them seemed to be sharp, with no molars.
Starlight, upon realising that the guards weren't a threat, hastily lowered her shield, her cheeks suffusing with blood and developing a soft red glow. "Uh... Can you take me to the Princesses please?" The lilac unicorn mare emmited a nervous chuckle, which quickly snuffed it as she remembered why she had gonee to the royal palace in the first place.
The guards efficiently opened the double doors, and guided them into a long hallway. Sometimes called 'the hall of stories', the stained glass pictures depicted here were legendary. They not only told the history of Equestria, but were also protectd by the most powerful wards in existence. A couple of years ago a stallion tried to steal one of them. He still hasn't woken up...
The walk to the throne room was awkward. The guards didn't want to talk, and Starlight didn't want to talk to them. Spike tried to speak from time to time, yet his tinny voice seemed to be crushed by the sheer magnitude of the hallway. Eventually after a walk that seemed to last forever, the group arrived at their destination. The doorway to the throne room. This door was made of solid gold, inlaid with steel and precious gems. They depicted every race in equestria, from the dragons flanking the corners, to the alicorns in the center, all were there. All except... draconequui Spike noted.
The guards took position at either side of the door, before brushing it with their right forehoof simultaneously, and allowing Spike, (with his draconic hearing) to hear heavy bolts being withdrawn and even the pop of magic being dispelled.
Starlight and Spike rushed in, eager to tell the princesses just what had happened, they were both so caught up in their own thoughts that they didn't hear the subtle click of the door closing behind them, nor notice how... dark the room truly was. It wasn't until Starlight stubbed her hoof against somethng and fell over that she noticed the unnatural silence of the room.
"Woah. Starlight, you okay?" Spike asked, extending a claw to help her up.
"Yeah, fine I guess." She chuckled awkwardly, before gratefully accepting the claw. As she stood up she quietly spoke: "I wonder what I trippe-" Starlight suddenly cut off in the middle of that sentence, she gazed down at what had caused her stumble. What she saw was impossible. What she saw shouldn't have been there. What she saw went against everything she had ever thought of.
But it was still there.
What she saw, was the sun emblem that was usually emblazoned on the back of Celestia's throne. it had rough edges, and a crack running down it's middle. Somepony had shattered Celestia's throne. Quickly racing up the steps and onto the podium that the lunar and solar thrones were normally kept on. Instead of the thrones, she only found debris. The princesses weren't here, nopony was. Wheeling around to Spike, she frantically tried to tell him that something was wrong.
Spike's eyes were glowing red.
"You okay there, Starlight?" not-Spike said, his voice holding a touch of smugness, and seeming a lot more mature - like a stallions - rather than his normal raspy/squeaky tone.
"What are you!? What have you done with Spike? And my other friends!? Where are they!?!" Starlight yelled, becoming even more hysterical with each question.
"My, my... How clever. Already figuring out that I'm the one who "stole away" your friends? Now I can really see why Twilight picked you as her student." His tone was dark and mocking. Revulsion filled Starlight's face as, before her eyes "Spike" began to change and shift, his tail lengthened, gaining barbs the size of ballistae bolts. His size increased, until he towered over Starlight. His horns ripping through the enchanted marble ceiling of Canterlot Castle like it was wet paper. But the most terrifying change, was to his eyes. They went from emerald green orbs shining with kindness and a slight red tint to them, to eyes that seemed older than time. Eyes that had seen so much. The grass green was gone, instead there was... emptiness, his irides were black, the type of black you saw when looking into a deep hole, or a starless and moonless night, his pupils were tiny, contracted even at the small amount of light in the braziers dotting the room. Starlight felt like she was looking into the abyss.
The lilac unicorn didn't stop to think. She just ran. Whatever in Tartarus this... abomination was, it was scarier than anything she had ever faced in her whole life. She was halfway to the throne room before the monster had took it's first step. it was big, but it was slow. Unfortunately it also covered a lot of ground. That one step had put it only centimetres behind her. Thinking fast, Starlight teleported in front of the throne room doors and flung them open. Somehow completely bypassing all it's magical security.
The creature took another step, making it completely level with her, as Starlight sprinted down the corridor, the demon got closer and closer. She upped the pace, desperately trying to escape it's grasp. Then she noticed something that almost paralysed her with fear. No matter how fast she wanted to move, she was going at a rather sluggish rate, like a fly caught in amber.
"Oh Starlight, do you know the funny thing about nightmares? No matter how fast you think you go, the monster in the hallway is always faster."
Starlight looked left and right, hoping desperately for a way out, instead she saw the glass windows that made up Princess Ceelestia's legacy melting, twisting upon themselves. Only to be replaced with other images. Twilight's coronation was replaced with one showing a young male alicorn wielding a scepter and wearing a crown, with something that looked like the Alicorn Amulet around his neck, except the gem in it's socket was coppery with glowing blue runes on it. Discord being sealed in stone for the first time was replaced with Discord and some other being with white fur seemingly battling, if the lightning bolts and scorched earth was anything to go by. The image of Sombra being vanquished was replaced with some kind of Hydra, trying to eat the sun. And the image of Nightmare Moon battling Celestia was replaced with the same alicorn from before battling some sort of ram. Except his eyes burned with a red fire, and he seemed to have a drawing of an eye, right in the middle of his forehead, which also glowed red.
"Wh- what are you going to do to me?" Starlight shrieked, eyes almost rolling up into her head as the monster grabbed her in one of it's terrible claws.
"Oh, Starlight, if only you knew. But I wouldn't worry about yourself. I'd worry about Equestr- actually, why should I stop there? I'd worry about what's going to happen to the rest of the world after I'm through with it." Starlight squirmed in his grip, but still couldn't escape. She looked down and noticed something. The colour was being leached out of the world. The marble floor, faded to grey. The pictures on the walls, turned into black and white images, save for the 'red eye' on the ram. The colours slowly leached out of the dragon, leaving him looking like something from an old movie. The discolouration crawled up it's chest, before reaching it's arms. The greyness was inches from her when the beast lifted her up to his face, allowing her to get a good look at it, and to notice that it too sported a 'third eye', red in colour.
Before the darkness reached her, she barely heard the creature utter some words over the pounding of her own heart. "Ave ac tenebras" It breathed, carrying the stench of death and decay. Even in such a dire situation, Starlight's mind raced to decipher the words, they were spoken in the olde tongue, A language used before the reign of Celestia or Discord. Seconds before the greyness claimed her she realised what it meant.
'Hail the darkness.'
Author's Note
I really apologise for being so late on updating this. I have no excuses. I'm just a procrastinator. Also, I promise that this story will not become some kind of edgelord tier grimdark fic. Everything featured in this chapter is strictly necessary. Probably. 
By now you should realise that this fic has two main antagonists (with secondary appearances from Chrysalis and others) with those antagonists being Horus, a unicorn stallion with a purple glowing eye in the middle of his head, and The Darkness, a mysterious being older than time, who may just be guiding everyone elses strings. This chapter also contains a lot of spoilers for one of my stories that isn't even out yet, and the story as a whole is linked in with A Broken Crown - another story I'm writing, which tells of the relationship between Horus and The Darkness
Nightmare Moon gazed at the doors surrounding her, she let a soft sigh escape her lips. There were eight doors, and eight ponies behind those doors. Six of these ponies were national heroes, who had saved Equestria four times. One of those doors belonged to her sister, the alicorn of the sun, who was half responsible for leading Equestria out of it's primordial age of chaos and disarray. The last door of course, belonged to Discord himself, the all powerful, almost all knowing spirit of chaos, who had plunged the whole world into chaos, not once, but twice, and had more power in his little finger than all the other ponies in this room added together. Standing in the hallway between all these great and mythical figures, Nightmare Moon felt... unworthy. She was unworthy, who was she to stand among these seven titans, and one literal god?
Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of Horus rapidly telling her to stop crying. Oh. She was crying? I guess I wasn't paying attention. "Come on Miss Moon, you're more than them! Even now you're still only spoken of in hushed tones behind closed doors, and you're not going up against them all alone, you have me, your... friend?" Horus' voice seemed almost hesitant on that last word, adding in just the right amount of confusion and nervousness to make it seem like he'd never had a friend before. 'Hook, line and sinker' he thought eagerly, watching as Nightmare Moon was stunned by his proposition.
Nightmare Moon nodded. Horus, her friend, was right, she deserved to be here. She was going to show them what she could do, with that in mind, she headed towards the door containing the most powerful entity of them all: Discord. She marched towards the door, her jaw set. Nothing could shake her confidence now... except for when she heard a sharp intake of breath from inside her skull:
"um... yeah, let's just turn around. Not that I think you can't handle Discord, I just think... um... think you should work up to it. Yeah, let's go with that!"
Nightmare Moon turned around from her draconic friends door and came face to face with the door of the element of loyalty, Rainbow Dash. She gave a hearty chuckle, "ah yes, our polychromatic pegasus friend, I feel this one may be significantly easier than any of the others. From Luna's memories Nightmare moon saw Rainbows dreams, she commonly dreamed of fighting monsters, She should be able to slip in almost unannounced.
"wait, you're actually going to do this tactically? I was honestly looking forward to all the thunder and lightning. As well as all the shouts of: 'thou shalt not escape night's vengeance'... oh, well."
"Would you like me to do that?" Nightmare Moon asked, trying really hard to not betray just how much she wanted to.
"I tell you what, since this is RD and she dreams about stuff like that all the time... I'll let you do it this once." Horus' voice filled her head, resonating around so much that even after he stopped speaking, she still had a headache. She suppressed the urge to squeal from joy and dance around like a little filly, and instead schooled her emotions so she could act like the unholy matron of the night she was. She raised her hoof to Rainbow's door, and pushed it open.
She fell, she was plummeting to her death. She didn't have her magic, so she couldn't stop gravity, nor protect herself from the fall. She sank like a stone in a pond. Before she remembered she had wings, Idiot, she mentally scolded herself. Thou couldst have suffered serious injury. She then promptly facehooved again for not realising this was a dream and the fall wouldn't have done as much as ruffled her feathers.
"haha ahah aha AHAHAHA!!!" ~~Her master's~~ Horus' abrasive laughter thrummed inside her head. Somehow in perfect sync with each beat of her wings as she rose to gain a vantage point in the element of loyalty's dream. She was on the cloudsdale racetrack, the one usually reserved for the wonderbolts. The rainbow maned pegasus was surrounded by changling drones, fighting them off by the droves. Somehow knocking down at least twelve with one kick. Against the wall of a sports equipment storage area were the wonderbolts, trapped in that green, sticky goo those little bugs are so fond of making.
"Rainbow "The Coolest Pony To Ever Live" Dash, we need your help!" Spitfire, the leader of the wonderbolts pleaded. "We're not awesome enough to fight them off! Only a truly courageous and noble hero could fight them! Help us!"
Rainbow grinned, she was in her element, if you would pardon the pun. she shot off into the stratosphere, leaving the changlings in the dust, and then rocketed back down. somehow performing a double rainboom. As she sped downwards, leaving a double rainbow trail in her wake, she spread her hind legs out, and spun. corkscrew diving into the mob of changlings below her. The pure air pressure she had amassed crushed them like the bugs they were. As Nightmare Moon watched, jaw agape, wondering what exactly this could mean. She yet again heard the voice of Horus in her head.
"Oh, I better give you your powers back. he said belatedly. As the harbinger of the night felt a familiar warmth return to her body. The warmth of magic. Her magic. Returning to her, this was proof, whoever Horus really was, he kept his word, and that meant a lot to her. She raised her right forehoof, and sent magic cascading from her horn into it. Letting the pure cosmic power slosh around like it was water before she hardened it. Taking aim for that horrible rainbow mane, she let the ball of magic fly through the sky... until Rainbow Dash dived to the ground, landing on the soft cloudy surface of the racetrack. The sphere of magic sailed over the pegasus' head, and impacted into the measly amount of changlings left standing. Let's just say that they actually had less holes in them after that ball of magic finished disintegrating them. Nightmare Moon cursed under her breath, in a long forgotten language.
"Woah! Someone's angry! Oh, and just to let you know if I hear you curse near me again I will turn you into poison joke, and feed you to rabid timberwolves. If that's okay with you."
Rainbow Dash turned around, her magenta eyes alight with the adrenaline of combat. Those same eyes narrowed as she met her oldest of arch enemies, Disc- I mean, Nightmare Moon "Ha! Nightmare Moon? Was losing once not enough for you? I'll give you a right hook straight back into that moon of yours!" Rainbows' voice bellowed, heavy with the confidence that this was just a normal dream.
"Thou ungrateful whelp! Dost thy ignorance know no bounds? Insulting a princess, you should be convicted of high treason, but It seems I shall have to beat you myself this time."
"You beat me? Well, to be fair you could probably do that..." Rainbows voice seemed to trail off, before coming back in full force "IN YOUR DREAMS! OOH! DARN! Ya didn't see that one coming, did ya?"
"She has a point you know, you walked right into that. Kinda pathetic if you think about it. The Scourge of Darkness, being beaten by a common pegasus, why don't you show her who's boss?
Nightmare Moon moaned, at first the prospect of a long dramatic fight seemed interesting, but now all she wanted to do is get things done.
"Show us thy best then, you illiterate imbecile!"
"You can't even speak proper Equestrian! you... jerk!"
"Jerk? You mean like you were, when you bullied poor miss Fluttershy during flight school?"
"Grrrr, I'm gonna grind you into dust!"
The rainbow maned pegasus pawed the ground with a hoof like a bull preparing to strike. Her nostrils exhaled steam, like a voracious dragon, and her face had an eerie calm on it. Like that of a snake preparing to strike. She charged right at Nightmare Moon, head down, wings flexing furiously. She gave a mighty bellow of rage (it was more like a grunt really,) and leaped, intending on separating Nightmare's head from her body by head-butting it. She was inches away from Nightmare Moons armour, when an astral veil, much like luna's mane surrounded her, safely teleporting her to Horus' dream room.
"What!? That's it? well, at least she's dealt with." There was a pause, Horus seemed to be contemplating his next words very carefully. "Ah, Miss Dash has arrived in my room just now. Thanks, Lu - I mean... Nightmare Moon."
Nightmare Moon growled, just the mere mention of that name had raised her blood pressure by at least 20 percent. She headed out of Rainbows' dream, which was starting to fracture, and crack. Slowly falling to pieces without a subconscious mind to power it. She sped towards the door and smashed through it completely, rolling to a stop a good five feet from where she was originally. She turned her head to see Rainbow's door vanish from sight. Fading into the same astral white background of the dreamscape. She looked around at the seven remaining doors, and decided that it would be best to get Twilights encounter over with. She headed towards the door that was literally a giant book.
"Someponies say that a book is a portal to another world..." His voice seemed deafening in the pure silence of the hallway. "I wonder where this one will take you to?"
She looked at the book - door, around the edges it had a thorny bramble design, with a title emblazoned in gold writing: 'Et in figura dicitur saeculum imperio magicae' Horus and the night queen both let out low whistles, Nightmare because she could tell this was an incredibly advanced magic textbook; only certain spells even required an actual incantation, and only super powerful spells were wrote in the old tongue, (like the ones for raising the moon). Horus let out a whistle because he could actually read the title. And because he knew what the book contained, he used to have a copy of it on his bedside table... but that was before his bedside table was burned to the ground. With his castle. Nightmare took in a halting breath, speaking out loud to calm herself. "This should theoretically be the easiest battle, Twilight is apparently an immensely powerful spell-caster, but power is meaningless in the dream realm. Here, I am god. The only real problem will be Twilight's new earth pony strength and her ability to fly."
"Can you even call it flying?"
"If it's as bad as Discord was saying then... no. I don't think you can.." She allowed her voice to trail off before pausing yet again. What were these random attacks of self doubt? It was almost as if she didn't want to do this. She remained there staring at the wall for what seemed like hours but in actuality was only a couple minutes. Not that it really mattered, time was relative in the realm of dreams. It moved as slow as a fly caught in amber. Miss Moon could've been staring at that wall for an epoch before a decade had passed back on Equestria.
Horus, while In the safety of his dream realm sighed. This pesky, puppet princess's morals were too strong. He frowned, deep in contemplation. Before a smile split his features, it was a freakish sight. Unnatural even. His mouth was too far apart, showing his teeth in an almost painful grimace. It looked as if his lips were held apart by tiny, almost invisible, black strings. Horus decided to exercise his power over Luna. Whereas before it had barely been enough to make her obey his commands, now it was powerful enough for him to be able to project his magic from her.
Nightmare Moon started, she felt something wrap itself around her ankle. Glancing down, she saw what appeared to be a piece of gossamer. On closer inspection it revealed itself to be a string. An almost invisible string. One that was stretchy like elastic, but could be as sharp as a piano string. It guided her hoof up towards the book - door and pushed it open. She bowed her head, and ducked inside.
She was immediately amazed at what she saw. She was standing on a vast island of books. Which was somehow floating. The air was just perfect, allowing a crystal clear view of all the surrounding landscapes, it also felt incredibly nice to simply breath it. The air was light, yet full. She couldn't describe it, it was too good to be put into words. There were steps in front of her. This time made out of polished marble studded with sapphires of the clearest blue she had ever seen. She had one word for this place: Harmony. A fitting name for a kingdom ruled by the Princess of Harmony herself. The land beneath her is an endless expanse of the greenest pastures she has ever seen with the occasional break for rolling hills. She looks to the sky and is astounded at what she sees. All the constellations are laid out. All of them. Even though she changed them every century. The astral diety couldn't even imagine how much research Twilight had done on her constellations, suddenly a wave of affection came over her. She couldn't place quite where it came from. Be it the surroundings, the feeling of peace in the air, the memories it sparked up within her, or something else. She felt tears come to her eyes for the first time in years. Tears of joy, tears of sadness, it didn't matter, all that mattered was the Moon Princess sobbing her eyes out and hidden amongst those sobs, were small twangs, it was the sound of a million strings snapping and disintegrating, as well as a crack as the guise of Nightmare Moon fell off. These noises went unnoticed to the now restored Princess Luna, the noise however did reach someponies ears, and that pony wasn't best pleased.
Horus was livid. Not only did he have to deal with his imbecilic associates, not only did the first stage of his plan have to be carried out tonight, not only did his plan hinge on the very uncooperative night princess doing her task properly, but on top of all that, he had an itch that he couldn't reach. Eventually quelling the itch with a simple burst of magic, he realised that there was an easy solution to at least one of his problems. the old adage: "if you want something done properly, do it yourself." came to the forefront of his mind. He scoffed, that saying was nearly as old as he was. He needed to capture the newly restored Princess Luna, the only problem was, leaving this room would not be good for Rainbow's sub-conscious trapped within it, as it would fall to pieces without somepony who could control dreams in it. Rainbow was currently entrapped in a dark, crystalline cage, unconscious, and bearing a few scratches and bruises for sure, but very much alive. Horus pondered how to solve his little conundrum, before eventually realising it was simple. All he needed to do was use a simple spell that would link Luna with Rainbow, who was currently unconscious. Therefore making her unconscious as well. Of course, they weren't really unconscious, with their dream-selves being their subconscious mind, it was more like there brains were shut down. But frankly he didn't really care what terminology he was using. All he needed was to perform this simple spell... which wasn't actually that simple.
Horus groaned, this plan was going to be harder than he thought, like Luna, Horus was not asleep, but meditating, he was in a trance, so to speak. This allowed him to shape his dream as he saw fit, to far greater extents than even Luna could go... mainly due to his control over the mind. While in the dream realm, he didn't really use up any of his magical energy, (which was good because he barely had any), rather his 'magic' was powered instead by his imagination. Which, although it would allow him to take on anypony who dared to enter his dream. Would literally be useless against somepony who was in another pony's dream. This meant he would have to use his real magic, which would be almost impossible, merely accessing it would probably wake him up, then his plan would fail and Rainbows' subconscious would... actually he had no idea what happened to a subconscious trapped inside a deteriorating dream. He grinned, there would be time for experiments later. Focusing his will, he attempted to channel his real magic into his real, physical horn. Horus winced, he could feel his dream tremble, he was waking up! All his planning, for over a thousand years were useless! he tried to fight back against the urge to snap out of his trance but it was impossible! No. He wouldn't allow this, his eyes narrowed, his wings spread out, he felt a searing pain as the eye symbol was branded onto his forehead, just below his horn, which now sparked and smoked ominously. His greyish fur seemed to disintegrate, as it blackened and burned, before turning into a glossy, black, which could rival even the blackened heart of Sombra. Horus- no, Asmodeus, for that is what he is now, was enraged beyond reason, he had all this power, and yet his own mind was betraying him. He wouldn't let this happen. He was Asmodeus. He was a God. He was the master of his own mind! And with an earthshattering explosion, that sent shockwaves around his dream, causing the growths of blackened quartz that had sprouted up from the ground during his transformation, to shatter and slam into the walls. In all the commotion caused by his ascendance, he didn't notice that the strings that once covered his body had multiplied, there was now thousands of them, looking as intricate as a spiders web. His eyes glowed a sickly emerald colour, with a haze of black smoke coming from the corners of them. he finally broke through the barrier that was holding him back. His dream ceased to tremble, he could feel his real magic! Focusing greatly, he reached deep into his magical core, and felt a rush of clarity flood his mind. he was able to see everything. From the dust particles in the air, to the foolishness of his own plan.
Linking Rainbow and Luna was foolish, Luna would probably resist the charm. Knocking Luna unconscious and then leaving his dream to do the job himself was foolish, with no - one to keep the dream stable, it would collapse. Asmodeus grinned, a plan forming in his mind. He exercised his 'real' magic, letting it coalesce around his horn, it was a pitiful amount of power, but alas, one cannot expect to have a high power level after one has been imprisoned for millennia. He magically scanned around the room that his physical body resided in, and found what he was looking for. Asmodeus let out a breath he didn't know he had been holding, letting the magic from his horn grab the object in question. before using an incredibly powerful but cheap spell that allowed him to bring the object into his dreamscape. It was a plain hunk of rock, to the common eye it would seem to be made of granite. But to a trained magic user from times past such as Him, it was a lethal weapon with no equal. Capable of even harming literal gods such as Discord. With his mind powers he reached out into Luna's thoughts, and easily overpowered her minds natural defences. Contrary to popular opinion, it doesn't become harder to control someponies mind the more you do it. It actually becomes easier, although it also becomes easier for them to break that control. With Luna now under his complete control, albeit only temporarily, he forced her horn to light up, making her teleport to him.
Luna blinked, she was taken from what seemed to be Paradise, to a cold, emotionless expanse of nothing, the only thing around her was an endless amount of black smog. She shivered. Where the last dream had seemed warm and had filled her with such a feeling of happiness, this one was... empty of any emotions. It wasn't particularly harsh, it just seemed... apathetic. She glanced around at the black smoke, still in shock from not only being mind controlled twice, but also from being forced to come here. The smoke to her right parted, and Hor- no, Asmodeus stepped through. His mouth was open in a Cheshire grin, his pearly white teeth on full view. Luna recoiled, broken out of her reverie by his appearance, before she could react Asmodeus spoke: "Luna, here's the deal. I am going to leave this dream, you will remain trapped within it. Any questions?" Luna's eyes narrowed, she snorted, steam actually coming out of her nostrils, and charged.
Asmodeus just stood there. Stock still. Luna neared him, a feral growl tearing itself from her throat. She swung her right forehoof at his face, hard. Only to be met with thin air. She gasped, and immediately turned around, expecting him to teleport behind her to retaliate. What she didn't expect to see was a giant sign saying 'behind you!! Luna pivoted so fast she almost broke the sound barrier, with a hoof raised to defend herself. Asmodeus smirked, easily anticipating her next move. With barely any effort at all he swept aside her upside hoof, before delivering a punishing blow to her ribcage. Sending her rocketing straight through several walls conjured by Asmodeus' imagination. After coming to a stop at least 30 meters away from Asmodeus. Luna rose silently, albeit with a wince, she then immediately took to the air with two beats of her powerful, blue wings. Charging at Asmodeus. Asmodeus teleported directly above Luna before performing a nigh impossible ninety degree turn and slamming both of his forehooves into Luna's back. Sending her directly into the floor, cracking it.
Luna raised her head. The world around her swam and spun before coming into sharp focus. She struggled to her feet, and wished she hadn't. The pain was almost unbearable, she was sure that if she wasn't in a dream, She would've broken her back. Asmodeus continued to advance towards her, she sent out a cluster bomb of magical projectiles. Asmodeus simply disappeared. She turned her head, without teleporting Horus had managed to get 50 feet away from the magical beams! How? She lowered her head, he was too fast. Unfortunately for him, he had forgotten about the magical homing cluster bombs that were heading towards him. They barreled into his side, each one exploding, sending him further backwards. He got up, his movements seemed a blur to her eyes. He advanced towards her slowly, stalking her, like a leopard.
His eyes glinted dangerously, black smog seeming to pour from them unendingly. She remembered the old mares saying: the eyes are the window to the soul, and shivered. He was almost upon her now, his hoof raised above her leg, ready to strike it and probably break it. he brought his hoof down, intent on shattering it, before it was blocked by a shimmering, cerulean shield. the shield slowly expanded,, casting her entire body in a dark blue glow. Asmodeus seemed quite annoyed at first before smirking, raising his hoof, he stomped down on the barrier, causing one singular crack to run along it's surface. Applying her magic to the affected area sealed it up tight. Asmodeus just grinned and brought both of his front hooves up, before bringing them both down as fast as possible in a staccato flurry of speed and power. Again and again. Now to a normal pony, rapidly pummeling into a shield created by a being who raised the moon twice a day, would probably break their forelegs, to an alicorn it would probably hurt. A lot. But Asmodeus was neither of these, he was using his mind powers to supress the pain his body was feeling, as well as how tired he was from the fight. He would doubtless pay for it later, but he'll burn that bridge when he gets to it. With an ear splitting roar, Asmodeus brought both of his hooves down on the barrier that Luna had mended about five hundred times already. Reducing it to magical dust. Luna quickly formed another barrier around herself, and another, and another, this much overuse of magic would usually cause her to have a major horn-ache at least, but she had set the shields to only block Asmodeus' hooves, therefore reducing the amount of magic needed to power them. She didn't notice the piece of granite that was hovering behind her, it slipped through her shields without a sound before ramming into the back of her head. Knocking her out of her own shields. Asmodeus grinned joylessly, seeming to recline back onto the shadows that always followed him, before he spoke: "Luna, I will give you one last chance, I don't want to hurt you, not really. I want to help you, what I am doing is in everyone's best interests."
The princess suddenly realised her one way out of this. This was a dream, and she was the most powerful dreamweaver to ever live. She would not fail in her duty to protect her subjects! She cast her horn forward, divine light surging from it, casting the entire area in an incandescent glow. The light got steadily brighter. Soon reaching the potency of a thousand stars, Luna dared to look up at Asmodeus, and discovered that he was terrified. He was cowering before her might. Fear adorning his face! With a wordless scream, Luna sent the ball of magic cascading from her horn. It raced towards Asmodeus, breaking the sound barrier and causing a sonic boom, before... dissipating. She stared in shock. That was the same spell which she had used to almost one-shot Celestia as Nightmare Moon, and it just disappeared.
Asmodeus headed towards her, with each step the darkness slipped off of him before rejoining the black fog that always surrounded him. Disappointment clear on his face. Horus took a deep breath and said: "Really Lulu? Did you forget I still have control of your dream magic? But... If you stay here while I take care of your friends, I might give you it back. So, are you going to cease this insufferable nonsense?"
Luna quailed, her sense of courage evaporated. This... goliath of a pony had bested her in every sense. He was unbelievably fast. He had the speed of somepony who both knew exactly what you were thinking, and had years- no, centuries of military experience. Real military experience, not the pathetic amount of training that the solar cub scouts went through. She knew she was outmatched, even Celestia wouldn't have much of a chance against him. She could just escape the trance, but who knows what would become of Rainbow Dash? Or the others he no doubt would capture? She knew she only had one choice, she had to do as he desired, for the greater good. Luna bowed her head, her astral mane floating over her face, covering her eyes. She hadn't felt this helpless since the Nightmare's had corrupted her. She licked her dry muzzle, and spoke. "Yes... I shall wait here and ensure this dream doesn't collapse to pieces while you collect the rest of my friends."
"Great, have your magic back... Oh, and if you try to use it to get Miss Dash out of this dream, I'll know... and you won't like what happens next." With this last threat, Horus simply stepped out of the door that connected his dream to the dreamscape. Luna remained inside the room, exerting her will to ensure that her and the still unconscious Miss Dash's soul wasn't lost to Oblivion. in the seclusion of the dream, no - one noticed the tears that slowly trickled down her face. No - one, but me that is.
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Horus strolled through the dreamscape, looking at the three remaining doors left, one in the shape of a spell tome, another in the shape of... a pop - out book? I could've sworn it was a gingerbread house door before, and a giant castle before that, as well as the boring, almost plain looking marble door that denoted Princess Celestia's room, it gave off a slight glow, but even that was unable to pierce the veil of darkness that surrounded Horus wherever he went. He had dealt with the other element bearers easily enough. Applejack was a bit tricky, she was as strong as he was, if not more, and Pinkie Pie was... unpredictable to say the least. She actually pulled out a dubstep gun at one point, but it's hard to beat someone who knows your every move. Horus smirked, he was unbeatable he hadn't even been using his magic, and yet he was still able to predict her moves, and move around them like he was the air itself. He decided to pay Twilight a visit next.
She would be easy, threatening to hurt her friends unless she came with him was probably a good idea.
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That was not a good idea. Horus narrowly dodged another magenta burst of magic which exploded behind him with the force of an average pipe bomb. Causing the books that made up the very foundations of one of the many floating islands that were dotted around Paradise to crumble, reducing the island to ash. Twilight and him were engaged in an aerial magical firefight. For once, Horus felt like he had met his match. He couldn't attempt to mind control her, she was far too enraged by the news he had captured her friends. He did a barrel roll and watched another purple beam of magic narrowly fly past him. Only for it to stop in mid - air and loop around, hitting Horus right in the rump. Horus fell out of the air, before smacking straight into one of the many book islands. With his horn now impaled through a copy of mating habits of the common draccus, he slowly stood up, before casually disintegrating the book around his horn. "Time to get serious." Was all that came out of his mouth before he turned into Asmodeus once more. The dark veil that usually followed him was swallowed into his very soul, turning it blacker than pitch. He ascended through the air with a mere thought and turned to smoke, letting a bolt of purple fire fly through him. As he re - solidified, he shot twenty beams of shadow out of his horn, Twilight saw them coming and conjured an amethyst shield to stop them. Unfortunately for her, as soon as the bolts hit the shields they exploded like firecrackers, shrouding her in a dense smoke. Coughing heavily, she was taken by surprise when two pairs of hooves wrapped around her barrel and drove her into one of the book islands. As Twilight limped to her feet, she noticed something. This new villain had no scars on him at all. His sleek, charcoal black coat didn't have a hair out of place. She levitated approximately half of the book island into the air, before sending it rocketing towards him. To Asmodeus these books might as well be stuffed toys for foals, he saw them as if they were moving in slow motion, easily stepping around them. His motions seemed like he had done this countless times before.
Twilight couldn't believe it. He had survived that barrage of books, without getting hit by even one of them! He continued to walk towards her. Then, she noticed something strange. Every unicorn (or alicorn) has a "magical aura" as Princess Celestia had called it. This was what they used to... levitate objects, for example. Everypony's aura is different, The Princess's was warm and loving, Luna's was slightly unnerving, as if it made all the hair on her body stand on end, and Discords seemed to be everywhere at once, it always changed as well. She remembered how, when he sided with Tirek, his aura was oppressive. It seemed to crush you by it's very presence, and Twilight believed that that was Discord holding back. But with Asmodeus, you couldn't even feel his aura. It could be because she was dreaming, or it could be because... well, she honestly had no idea, but still, there was something strange going on there. As he slowly walked towards her, Twilight felt a sense of dread, if this was a dream, then why wasn't Luna saving her? Then again, Asmodeus had said he had captured her. Which meant he was real, unless this was just her imagination making this dream up. Why was dream philosophy so hard!?
"Come on Twilight, I'm giving you the chance to protect your friends here." Asmodeus smirked, a predatory grin adorning his muzzle. "You did the same thing with Tirek, didn't you? Surely you want to be with them in their time of struggle?" Twilight faltered, her eyes going wide. Asmodeus just chuckled, he had her now. "So, the way I see it, your choice is simple, come with me willingly, or I drag you there."
Twilight gulped, she didn't know why, but she had such a feeling of cold dread. She had faced worse than Asmodeus, right? She had faced somepony who possessed the whole world's magic for Celestia's sake! And yet... she couldn't shake the feeling that she needed to go with him. She knew it couldn't be mind controlling powers, those were outlawed by Celestia after she took the throne from Discord. Although the spells were still taught to unicorns, they were never to be used. The princess had had a very strongly worded conversation with Starlight after that particular incident. I'm not sure she thought. what if this is some kind of omen? It's not like I could beat him anyway, I think he could tank just about anything I could throw at him. Well, except for the friendship beam, but I need to be with my friends for that to work! With her mind made up, Twilight called out: "Fine I'll go with you, but if you harm my friends... I'll make you pay." Asmodeus just grinned, he was invincible this pathetic brat couldn't hope to harm him. "So... how are you going to get me to my friends? Are yo-" before she could even finish her sentence, Asmodeus had teleported her to his dream, and knocked her out.
As the shadows fell off of him, turning him into Horus once more, he voiced his thoughts out loud. "Well, only two to go, Celestia will be easy, she still feels guilty about the whole Nightmare Moon incident, so I'll be able to guilt her into joining the others. As for Discord... I'll cross that bridge when I come to it."
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A note from the ever lovable Discord:
Hello everypony! Did you miss me? Well no matter, because I've decided that I'm going to take over this little portion of the story, I mean, what's a semi - corporeal, metaphysical spirit compared to me? I'm OBVIOUSLY the better narrator! So with this, I bid you good day. Arrivederci!
As Horus expected, Celestia was easy. She was about to go all "Celestia Ex Machina" on him but after finding out that he had beat pretty much everyone, she looked a lot less confident. Maybe his mind control powers had something to with that as well (hehe). So now we find Horus in the dreamscape with only one door, minus his own, left. It had now taken the form of an invisible door that was only visible when you were doing backflips on a Sunday while yodeling the draconian alphabet semi - backwards (what? so maybe I'm a little paranoid about ponies invading my personal privacy) thankfully Horus had a lot of experience in pushing past illusions, and this was one of those instances where it came in handy. He raised his hoof to the door and sighed. "I am so going to regret this."
Horus walked into a land of pure (beautiful) chaos, that is the only way I can describe it. Pigs were flying, houses were rotating, avocadoes were field trips, and meaning had no mea- oh, sorry I almost slipped into tacky villain mode. He watched the chaos in pure awe, obviously too stunned at the beauty my mind can create. Before he set his jaw, and ventured forward. He got quite far, kudos to him... He even managed to figure out that the floor wasn't really lava, it was just orange soda. I wonder how he did that? I mean there was even a sign that read: 'this area of floor is boiling hot lava, do not touch. It's a shame really. And so it was, that Horus, who stole his name directly from another mythos by the way, came to be rather annoyed. He eventually just gave up on searching for little old me and just shouted for me instead. "Discord! I can hear you narrating my life! I would rather you stop it." Naturally I assumed he was just another father who wanted me dead because- "Discooord!!" He bellowed. "Come out." Groaning I teleported into his view. Well, I say teleported, but I actually appeared riding an old rocking pony shaped like Sunbutt, except instead of walking, the pony rolled like a bicycle. If a bicycle had cheese as wheels that is. I gave my signature winning smile, my snaggletooth hanging over my lips, surprisingly this only infuriated Horus even more. I wonder why? "Discord I'm just going to skip the part where I explain why you're going to come with me, and just ask you to come with me instead."
I inhaled through my nose, using my predator senses (that, unlike Spike's actually work). I was immediately assailed with the stench of corruption and dark magic, but... that wasn't all, I could smell power, it was a strange smell, it varied by what type of power the person possessed, powerful mages tended to smell like the type of power they had. Fire mages smelt like smoke, water mages smelt like sea salt etc, etc, nobles tended to smell like a cloying perfume, which was far too sickly and sweet. Horus smelt like true power. I could sense his magical power, but it was a smell that I have never encountered before. It smelled nice, but that's really the only thing I can say about it. His blood smelt like gold, he knew what it was to have true wealth. His breath carried the scent of blood, a tangy, coppery scent that sent chills down my spine, he was definitely a warrior, he seemed like he had been in countless wars. I took a deep breath and pushed past all the dark magic that ran through his veins, the horrible scent offended my nostrils, and what I found took my breath away, literally. Deep inside him was a furnace of rage and pain. Somethinghad happened that had made him want to see the world burn to ashes around him. Unfortunately, I, the great Spirit of Chaos, don't possess mind reading powers, even if I did Horus had so many wards on his mind that I doubt I would be able to get anywhere near it.
I looked up from where I was painting some high quality shipping material of Horus and Chryssie snuggling each other, what can I say? They're too cute. I cleared my throat and addressed him: "look, I find it noble that you're trying to: 'make the world a better place' with your villainy, it's certainly better than what I did when I was evil, but the answer is the same: No." Horus just swallowed, as if he knew it would come to this all along, "Fine." He called out, "but I won't fight you, Discord. I fought Luna because I needed her to do as I said, I fought the element bearers because they started it, truthfully it hurt me to fight them, they reminded me of some of my friends from so long ago. But I won't fight you Discord, because I know you. And I owe you a debt that I will never be able to repay. I have no quarrel with you." These were the last words Horus managed to say before the floor beneath him shot up into the air, revealing the massive spring that I had placed underneath it. Horus flew up into the stratosphere, he looked down and saw the floor, so far away, he gulped audibly, he had a rather irrational fear of heights, or rather, falling. Thankfully he didn't fall, he landed on a cotton candy cloud. "phew, that couldn't have gone better, now all I need to deal with is the fact that this is never going to get out of my coa- oh wait, this is a dream, forgot about that." Sadly Horus didn't see the giant white banner above the cloud; 'FREE BOILING HOT CARAMEL RAIN'. So he was rather surprised when he was coated in boiling hot caramel that stuck to his coat and feathers, rendering him unable to use his wings to stop his fall. He was also covered in sticky, hot liquid that singed his fur and mane, burning through it and then hardening onto his skin to stop him from moving completely, but that's not as important. he fell to the ground, and landed with a massive 'THWUMP' I love that word, thwump, thwump, thwump. it's fun.
His impact also caused a massive crater that was roughly pony shaped. Horus rose unsteadily out of the hole, his feathers and fur burnt beyond all recognition. His mane still had spots of hardened caramel in it. "I knew this was going to be a bad idea," Horus commented. "I... actually can't be bothered with this. Where's the exit door?" I took this moment to appear before him, "I moved it. Oh don't give me that look, you really thought I would let you escape so soon after kidnapping Fluttershy?" I leaned forward, my eyes glowed demonically, I was literally face to face with Horus, who rather than being even slightly annoyed, merely looked accepting of his fate, I... couldn't go through with it. Don't get me wrong, I'd love to turn him into a pair of slippers or something, but... there was something off about him. Other villains, Sombra, Tirek, Me, Chrysalis... we all gave off an air of evilness, but Horus just looked like a little lost colt. What I'm trying to say is he didn't seem like a villain, I knew he was evil but... he didn't seem like it. I couldn't do it. I just couldn't.
I turned around, facing away from him and watched as the landscape dissolved, turning from the land of chaos that it once was, into a standard reception area you might find in a 3 or 4 star hotel. there was a set of sliding doors at opposite the reception desk, which I was currently at. I look up from the boring Sudoku magazine I'm holding and lazily gesture in the direction of the double doors. Horus looks at me, shocked, before striding regally over to the doors, and heading through them. When he thinks I can't see him, he slumps over miserably. I notice what's left of his fur blackening. Horus looks down at his hooves sadly before he's replaced by something else. I feel an icy chill enter my heart, I feel like I've seen this before. And I didn't like it the first time.
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I now interrupt your irregularly scheduled narration to bring you back to your normal narrator
Horus strode angrily back to his own mind door, it had hurt him to go against Discord like that, but it hurt him even more to have Discord not remember any of what he did. He slammed the door open, immediately seeing Luna lurch away from her sisters side and back to standing on guard. Horus could have reprimanded her, but couldn't really muster the energy to do it. Using his imagination, he conjured up his throne, it was a marvelous thing, made of polished rosewood that was so shiny you could see your face in it. It had a rich, velvet cushion full of cotton, which he promptly plopped down onto. The most spectacular feature of his throne however, was the back of it, it was shaped like an alicorn with it's wings spread out, at the apex of the wings and the tip of the horn was a singular, suspended light. Making lights was by no means a hard thing, most unicorn colts and fillies could do it, but this light gleamed like a star in the night sky... probably because it was made from a star. It also changed according to Horus' emotions, and right now it was rather muted. Horus sighed, the plan was in action. All he had to do was wait for the changelings to do their part. He hated changelings.
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Ditto grunted, she was a changeling, who had been tasked by her Queen to capture a list of certain people, she was heading to Ponyville, with a squadron of drones and two sentients to capture the Elements of Harmony, a crack team of infiltrators and combat experts were going to recover the two pony Princesses from Canterlot. Her squadron was flying in a V shape, to take advantage of the night sky and the extra concealment that it would bring, she felt an extra gust of wind and looked to her right to see one of the other two sentient changelings named Facsimile, flying beside her. He shouted to combat the noise of the wind going over their heads. "So, why are we goin' after the elemen's, again? Won't they just beat us like they did last time?" Ditto winced at the memory of their previous defeat. It had happened quite a while ago, but they had all been under the Queens' fury up until a couple weeks ago, when the shaman had shown up at their hive. She shouted back to her fellow sentient. "No, remember that zebra mare told us they would be asleep! And wouldn't wake up no matter what." Facsimile scrunched his face up, trying to remember. "I weren't there! I was sco- scou- doing undercover work in the dragon lands, remember?" Ditto cast her mind back before remembering, Facsimile, with his incredibly low intelligence had been perfect to go undercover as a small dragon. She groaned, she was going to have to explain what happened or Facsimile would never stop asking her about it.
"Well, it was a few weeks ago, and this zebra mare showed up to the hive, she was a funny type. Her black and white markings seemed to make a sun on her flank, almost like a cutie mark. Oh, and she spoke in riddles. Err- I mean rhymes..."
The Changeling Hive, A few Weeks ago
The changelings cowered in fear, a scouting party had come back and told the queen that they couldn't find any traces of Thorax, that was the third party to say that in two weeks. Their Glorious Queen was furious at the news. "Why shouldn't I just drain all of your love!? Give me a reason!" Chrysalis yelled as she pinned a sentient named Duplex to the rocky ground of their hive. The sentient was silent for a while before answering, "I don't have any, My Queen." was his miserable response, it was true, the changelings were slowly starving, and Our Queen knew that. Chrysalis's eye twitched. She removed her hoof from the changeling and hastily apologised. The assembled changelings quickly dispersed, lest the Queen see them gawking. They were abruptly stopped from doing that by an intruder just walking into their hive. Chrysalis looked up and gawked, how did a zebra get past their sentries? The zebra in question piped up and said: "Sheathe thy fangs, I come in peace, with a plan that is sure to make your hunger cease." Chrysalis looked up from where she was standing, interested she asked: "What is your plan, Zebra?" Zecora grinned, and I swear that the black and white stripes on her fur started to swirl around her, seeming like an optical illusion. Her eyes were the strangest thing about her though, they seemed to be pure white, with no pupils, and shadows coming out their corners.
"'Tis not my plan, but my masters, to bring all Equestria to the edge of disaster, He has many schemes in place, yet this one requires the help of Your Grace." The zebra ended. Addressing Queen Chrysalis directly. The Queen pondered for a couple minutes before smirking victoriously, "Why don't we talk in my personal chambers. You'll have privacy there." After saying this, The Queen rose from her seat and led the way to her chambers, with the zebra following her.
"Oh... I think I remembah someone saying sumtin' like that." Facsimile murmured. Ditto just rolled her eyes and continued flying,
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Horus, now very much awake, and very much real, watched as the prisoners slumbered in front of him, courtesy of the sleeping enchantment he had placed on them. He leaned forward on his "throne" and smirked. What he was doing might be evil, but it was for the greater good. When this all blew over, he'd be a hero for having to sacrifice his own morality to bring about a new age of peace and prosperity. It would all be worth it. He was so engrossed in his thoughts that he didn't even hear the voice that seemed to come out from the shadows that surrounded him. "yes," It whispered, "Everything is going to plan." And with those words, The Darkness stopped talking.
Author's Note
I finally finished this chapter, and I'm still not that happy with it. Mainly due to the fight scenes, I'll probably go back and rewrite them later. Their were a lot of hidden details and hints buried (or put in plain sight because I'm terrible at suspense and stuff) in this chapter about our villain and his plan, I would suggest going back and re - reading it. Or not, do whatever you feel like doing. 
I was gonna explain how Horus managed to beat Celestia, Luna and all of the mane six, but frankly it all boils down to them being in a dream. Dreams take place in the mind, which Horus has control of. He was subtly using his magic on them to get them to give up. Plus the mane six know that the only way they can beat him is by being together, and Celestia couldn't bear leaving Luna alone again. We also see Horus' strengths and weaknesses, he's a very accomplished fighter, his mind magic makes him more cunning than anyone alive (aside from Discord maybe) and he is able to look past magical enchantments and illusions, hmmm, talking about illusions, I wonder why he hates the changelings?
Also, Zecora dialogue is annoying, thank god for Rhymezone, and the whole thing about Horus' real magic and his dream magic and his imagination was sooooo confusing to write (and probably harder to read.) so if you have any questions about that please ask them in the comments below. Have a great day or night. I also apologise for the three memes in this chapter, sorrynotsorry. Anyway, next chapter will be a brief interlude with Starlight and Spike before we get into the nitty gritty.
See ya!
