Disclaimer:

Soooo, in the description of the story it says how violence will never be used during sex, and by that I meant cutting, brutal beating, or stabbing. All I'm saying is, whipping is kind of tame as far as these things usually go, and not something I personally include in my "bad/don't do" list. If you do consider this unacceptable behavior, then feel free to skip... certain... things. Not that I'm guaranteeing whipping of course, nope not one bit!

Deep breath in, deep breath out, deep breath in, and out. Luna opened her eyes.

Good, they're gone, they wouldn't be for long, she knew it. Better enjoy the clarity while she could. Luna sat up in her star spangled bed and stretched, yawning. Outside, the twilight of evening was just beginning, and a dull grey light filtered in through the large glass doors that led out onto her balcony. Piled high inside of her room, stacked any way they could fit and taking up nearly every cubic inch of space, were presents.

Yesternight had been one of the busiest of her life, with hundreds of ponies streaming to the Night Court for actual advice and assistance and the veritable plague of nightmares spawned from the infernal device outside the walls. She must have saved hundreds of ponies in total who were no where near Canterlot, with some of the most distant even reaching as far north as the Crystal Empire, and as far south as the Dragon Lands, geographically speaking, though she hadn't aided any dragons during their slumber that night.

Needless to say that Luna was probably more keenly aware of just how much this object threatened the entire world than anypony, even her sister.

As such, when she'd gone to bed yesterday morning she was so tired she completely forgot about dinner (or breakfast in Celestia's case) and had only noticed the veritable mountain of presents when she'd tripped over one and slammed face-first into her bed. This had, unsurprisingly, woken her up quite well, enough to notice the tag on her door that read:

Luna,
I was out in town today and the most incredible thing happened. I won't spoil it,
and I hope I was able to keep a straight face at breakfast, but behind this door is a wonderful surprise from everypony, and I mean that literally,
Love,
Celestia

After reading the note, she'd stood in shell-shocked amazement for twenty minutes at least. There must have been thousands of presents piled into her rooms, nowhere was safe! The next ten minutes had been spent reenacting a scene from a book she'd once read and done a few swimming moves in them like they were a pool. She had been very tired, and had basically giggled like a schoolfilly the entire rest of the time that she was awake.

Now she encountered the far more logistical problem of all the presents. She had no way of getting to nearly any point in her room, every avenue was blocked. No doubt this was a small prank on her sister's part who simply couldn't resist messing with Luna just a little bit, even during what had to be one of the happiest occasions of her entire life.

Whelp, she thought with a repressed smile, no way to get out of this mess but to open all of them! Gleefully she started to tear open all of the lovingly crafted wrapping on the present nearest to her. As the minute turned to many many minutes spent unwrapping gifts, Luna found that they generally had a formula. There would be the wrapping layer, and inside would be the name of the pony who sent it (usually with a note of apology) then a layer of paper around the gift itself. Luna had to stop several times to have a short cry at the most touching of letters (which was really almost all of them, as she was quite sure she'd never received so much positive attention at any point in her life) and after what felt like hours, even with both of her hands and full magical capability unwrapping as fast as they could, she only managed to unveil nearly half of the parcels. Most of them were what you'd expect ponies to get for a Princess of the Night, lots of stars and moons and there were several incredible paintings that really belonged in a museum, but Luna couldn't resist hanging them on her bedroom wall.

There were also gifts that very clearly came from unicorns, such as a host of telescopes of various makes and models, many sextants, somewhere close to thirty individualized star charts (which Luna also hung all over her walls that were not still blocked by the great present mountains), and a single device whose purpose and overall design was 100% impossible to discern. It looked like somepony had fixed a non-functioning nightlight with a massive battery to a vacuum cleaner, what it did was anypony's guess.

With Luna feeling slightly guilty about taking so much time to open all of the gifts she had, she quickly hopped over to the now accessible bathroom door and quickly got ready for the night ahead. Feeling much more refreshed, and happy, than she normally did, Luna chose one of her more modern outfits to wear. It was a long not-quite-translucent dress that started sky blue at the hem and gradually darkened and added stars up to the shoulders. It showed off a little more of her than she would normally like, in fact it showed off quite a lot of her hips and bust, but she didn't imagine she'd have many more opportunities to wear something like this in the near future.

Feeling ready enough to fight a dragon, Luna stepped out of the bathroom and carefully picked her way through the present carpet to the large glass double doors that led onto her balcony. Breathing in the cool evening air, she watched as her sister's magic pulled the sun from the sky, and it slowly sank towards the horizon. Doing the same, Luna reached out and felt her namesake far below her, and a little to the left. Taking a deep breath, she focused and pulled, the action as natural as blinking to her. She watched as the Moon slowly and silently slid into the sky, alone for now, tinted by the sizzling blue shield that enveloped the city of Canterlot in its embrace.

As they did often these days, her thoughts turned to thaumatics. Her sister condemned the study as an evil, wretched thing, but she didn't follow that logic. A point of major contention, over the past days. Luna was not a filly anymore, she understood that really nothing in life had a straight answer, and her sister probably had good reason, but it still frustrated Luna. Especially since it was being used all around her right now in such a positive way! Blueblood was sacrificing himself to save them! No matter how a pony achieves such a goal, it is always the noble and right thing to do.

Luna began to paint the stars onto the sky, little, big, twinkling lights to give her Moon company in that big empty room of its.

Maybe Celestia has forgotten that, she thought pensively, maybe she has forgotten that ponies are the ones with the choice, to be good or bad. Some ponies are just not kind, or honorable. It's not the means through which they destroy that make them evil, but the emotions inside themselves. I think that, instead of admitting that, she outlaws the magic, because she is afraid of bad ponies, not bad magic.

Though Luna understood the intent, and the excuse, she did not agree that it was the right thing to do. Had she remembered any of it, she would have more than likely have brought up the issue much sooner, merely on principle. Should they not also, then, ban swords? What of knives? Pans? All could be used to disastrous effect in the wrong hands, but none were evil in their own right.

With a sigh, Luna finished decorating the sky. It seemed her distractedness had showed, it certainly wasn't her most beautiful, but it would do.

Luna paused, and shook her head, When have I ever thought That will do? If it is sub-par then it is unsatisfactory Luna, no excuses!

Rousing herself to greater effort, Luna corrected a few of the parts of the sky she found garish, or that didn't fit. She added a comet or two, some more stars that actively winked, and a shooting star field for good measure.

There, now that is what will do, Nodding in affirmation at the improvements, Luna turned from her balcony and went to re-enter her bedroom when the tooting of the train whistle interrupted her. Luna turned back around, and, instead of looking up, gazed down upon the land.

The city was beautiful at night. Thousands of lights, either fueled or electric, hummed and flickered like a reflection of the stars above. Hundreds of ponies mingled, moved, and made merry with others. The streets were alive with music and joy, fun after a hard day's work. The train had just arrived and there was jubilation as family members received each other with open arms and wide smiles.

This is my domain, Luna thought, taking all in, while Celestia may have the bright warm day, full of hard work and bustling business, my time is in the cool air of the falling stars. In the cries of joy from hundreds that the day is done, and that a long, wild night is ahead, and the peaceful murmurs of those already asleep, content that they can rest safe, under my care.

Luna watched as a particularly vibrant pink pony greeted a serious-looking mare with an audible, "MAAAAAAAAUD!!!" No doubt Pinkie Pie's family had also been evacuees from the surrounding area arriving tonight. Luna wondered if she would get the chance to meet them, but doubted it unless they had a problem moving into the castle.

She sighed as the start of a headache built up. She knew what it would lead to, but it wasn't that big of a problem right now. She heard a clock strike eight and realized that she'd been sitting outside for a lot longer than she really ought to, and so she started her way to the Night Court.

It was not overly far from her bedroom to the throne room, and she left later than usual, even so one of her favorite ponies still managed to find her. Captain Golden Lance awaited her arrival like clockwork, standing dutifully by the door to the court, just as he had been on the day they first spoke.

Upon seeing him Luna broke into a light jog, a smile wide on her face. She flung her arms around him without saying a word, an embrace which he eagerly returned, before pulling her into a deep kiss. Her beautiful captain. She'd begun the relationship very shortly after meeting him, stress and hard times tended to do that to ponies, and they had worked very closely for several days before "first contact" as it were. She hummed contentedly as his agile hands ran down her back.

"You look incredible," he whispered to her as the kiss broke.

"And you should be asleep," she answered, giggling, before pressing her lips to his again.

He ended it with a laugh, "A guard captain never sleeps, Princess, but I find time to be unconscious enough. Though i'd prefer it'd be with you in my arms."

Luna blushed heavily and bit her lip, "Perhaps when all this is over, Captain. I have no wish to endanger you by risking the discovery of our relationship," Luna winced as the headache she'd had grew worse, an uncomfortable pressure just behind her eyes.

Lance frowned, "Everything alright?"

She shook her head dismissively, "Just a small headache, it'll get worse for a while and the disperse. Thank you for your concern."

He laughed, "Well, I'd think myself a very poor coltfriend if I didn't ask if my mare was in pain."

Luna giggled like a schoolfilly at the word "coltfriend". Of course, she'd had many official courtesans before, and had lain with many more ponies than them besides, but the start of a new relationship was always special, and since her return she'd lost much of her former confidence in her "dating" abilities.

Stepping apart from each other, Lance said, "You've many ponies to see you again in the Night Court, Princess. I've tried to do my best to ward off the stupid or the unreasonably antagonistic, so the ponies waiting to see you should be honest ones with real problems."

Luna gave him a grateful smile, "Thank you, Captain. I suppose I should be off. Please, try to get some rest, I know you must have been on your feet all hours of the day doing..." she stopped awkwardly, what did he do all day?

He chuckled at her pause, "Guard Captain stuff?"

She laughed with him, "Yes, all manner of it, I'm sure. Go! Off with you, go get sleep!"

He made a deep and gracious bow, "As my Princess commands," he turned from her with a smile and a wave goodbye and jogged off down the corridor.

She blew him a kiss and turned to her own destination, the large set of double doors in front of her. Giving them a firm knock, they were swung smoothly open by a pair of guards on the other side. The room, which had previously buzzed with the low hum of many conversations, quieted, before a thunderous round of applause started up. Luna strode, smiling into the crowd of cheering ponies, even receiving a few wolf whistles, which she smirked and rolled her eyes at. Climbing to the throne and taking her seat, she declared, "The Night Court is now in session, who is first?"

The Night Court passed quickly and eventfully, with most of the problems brought to her attention having to do with the ingress of ponies and shortages they were causing, which was easily resolved with some simple rationing from the Royal Storehouses. A record low of actual disputes between ponies was brought to her that night, only two cases of disagreement, and in both of them they had already decided the blame and had merely come to her to divvy up the reparation dues. Of course there was one problem, one major problem.

At a juncture when it appeared most of the ponies had either taken their leave or were working up nerve, Luna called out, "We will now have a half hour recess, and reconvene at midnight, where we will continue for two hours more."

The record keeping pony, situated near the side of the room nodded and made note of the pause. Luna stood and made her way out of the throne room to her personal antechamber, a large octangular area decorated in a very similar manner to her personal rooms. Made entirely from black marble, with a floor covered in exquisitely soft wild Ursa pelts (all of whom had been threatening settlements around the kingdom at time of their deaths). Smokeless braziers stood in each corner letting off a soft orange glow, and back lighting the many cushions and couches strewn about the place. Many navy blue side doors led to different parts of the castle, and could only be opened by her.

A servant appeared in the doorway she had left open to the throne room, "Anything I may acquire for you, my lady?"

With a grimace of pain, she responded, "Just a glass of ice water if you please, maybe some coffee. Black."

The servant bowed and silently left.

What were they again? The pure ones? Dirt, Fire, Water, but I can't find the others naturally, too much interference, then, all of the sudden, it was upon her.

It started as an intense pressure, small at first, but building quickly inside of her mind. As the pressure became more and more forceful, it became more painful as well. About halfway to one if the couches Luna sunk to her knees, gripping her skull and started to sweat.

I must attempt to control it! Perhaps if I can learn to control this, then other things will become clearer, She attempted, without really knowing what she was doing, to combat the force expanding outward inside her head. There was a thump of involuntary magical release and all the cushions around her were shoved backwards, the torches flickered and the room rumbled ever so slightly, and Luna knew, before even opening her eyes, that she had failed. She could see them even with her eyes closed.

Colors. Hundreds of colors, thousands of them, ebbed an flowed around Luna. It had first happened just after she'd awoken from her bout of unconsciousness after the fight. Assuming it was just a result of her getting knocked around, after it went away she hadn't thought anything of it. It was when it had happened again, a few hours later that she began to worry. Wishing not to alarm her sister, she'd consulted a doctor about the problem after it wore off the second time. After an intensive brain scan he'd told her that there was no physical damage he could detect, and that the problem was either psychological or magical in nature. The next day she'd arranged another clandestine meeting with her psychologist, who had also confirmed that Luna wasn't suffering from any new issues (Luna had given her the most withering look she could for that comment) so the problem must be a magical one.

The only problem with that theory was that she had also consulted a battle mage medic and he'd said he'd never seen anything like it, and asked if she'd taken too hard a knock to the head.

Efforts thus thoroughly defeated, Luna had then decided to do what anypony would do and eaten a very large amount of ice cream to calm down.

Now, as she lay on the floor of the antechamber, she sighed as a lazy haze of yellows, reds, purples, and blues passed above her. She was almost useless when in this state, unable to see anything but muted color. Now, that wasn't entirely fair. The colors could actually be incredibly specific and beautiful, often flowing into one another or creating stark contrast depending on what they were. Looking at the carpet under her, Luna could see a vast range of whites, grays, purples, and blues, as well as undertones of brown and some kind of pea-soup green.. Luna decided to try and stand, at least make an appearance of normality.

As she stood, Luna realized that it was actually getting easier to tell what was what in this state. For instance, the stone floor was always solid grey, with a few other random pieces thrown in. Using that as a baseline, she was able to work her way over to a sofa and sit down on it, stretching out and closing her eyes. Not that that did any good. She saw the servant, even before he re-entered the room. Through the masking grey haze of the walls she could see the enigma that was a pony.

Ponies were undoubtedly the most complex things to look at when in color-vision. They came in layers, almost like circles, but not quite. The same as how the colors were not quite colors, but Luna had nothing else to describe them as, like trying to tell of the sunset to a blind man, the necessary references just weren't there. For some reason Luna felt that they weren't just colors though. They were more... weighty than that, more substantial. For instance, the servant's colors on the surface, or the top "layer", looked almost like what he'd been wearing before, clothes-wise, but beneath that was all manner of things that she couldn't guess at. A complexity she could barely comprehend, let alone discern meaning from.

But you do know the meaning, a part of her whispered. A part long thought dead, long unheeded, and even longer buried by sorcery.

Luna shivered as a feeling of cold passed over her for a moment, before sitting up straight as the servant entered the room.

Luna heard, though she couldn't really see, the pony gasp in alarm, and felt a brief stab of panic. What could it be? A changeling? A spider?

Luna whipped around, and saw nothing but the reds and yellows that made up the air around. And purple, there was always a tinge of purple, no matter where this malady overcame her. She wondered why that was.

Turning back to the aide, she asked, "Why did you gasp so, my little pony?"

She could see a deep indigo bleed across one of the layers if the pony, and heard the stutter in his voice, "F-F-Forgive me P-Princess, but... your eyes!"

Luna nearly had a moment when she tried to look at one of her eyes to see what was wrong, but of course that was physically impossible, so she settled for rolling them.

"How would you describe my eyes?" She asked in a placating manner.

The server gulped, "W-Well, um, th-the, uh, the whites are, uh, now black, a-and you know your iris's, which are normally such a wonderful shade of blue, are, um, orange."

Luna blinked, and then laughed, though she tried to hold it in, for the sake of the terrified pony in front of her, "Is that all?"

She witnessed as light shades of lavender and pink begin to blossom inside the servant in front of her, before he asked, "Ma'am? What do you mean?"

"Well," she said, still stifling a laugh, "The way you were talking I had imagined I was near death. This is merely a side effect of the recent magical battle in which I fought, and I would appreciate it greatly if you didn't speak to anyone of my... disability."

A few seconds of silence, before she heard, "Oh no, my Princess, of course I won't say anything! Oh, how terrible! Um, here are your drinks Princess, should I fetch a doctor?"

Luna carefully took the glasses, luckily they were made of actual glass so they were made of a baby blue to her eyes, and said gently, "No, no, I'll be fine. Um, what is this?" Luna pointed to the glass of water, except that it wasn't just water. Water was an ocean blue color, and Luna distinctly saw a neon green ribbon running through it.

"Uh," the servant said confused, "That's, uh, water ma'am. Are you sure you don't want a doctor?"

"No, no" she tittered,"There's something wrong with it."

The servant leaned in and took a closer look, "Can you, um, see me Princess?"

"Uh, heh heh, no not really, but I can still tell that there's something in the water," Luna wondered why he had asked that. Then she thought about it a little more, the circles were more than likely at the center of the pony, at least from what she'd seen of them so far, which would put his head... nearly directly over her cleavage.

"And I would very much hope that you're not taking advantage of your physically disabled Princess young man."

"Oh! Er- of course not! That would bring shame to my house and... so forth. If you're sure there's something in it, I can pour this out and get you new water."

"Change the glass too," she said, leaning back onto the pillows behind her, "You may go."

The attendant bowed (or at least Luna assumed he did, she was only aware of a little bobbing motion) before stepping out of the door.

Sighing, and now unable to drink her other beverage as it had left the room with the servant, Luna cast a glance about the place, looking for something to entertain her until this spell or whatever it was wore off. What she saw surprised her greatly.

As mentioned before, there were many doors that led from this room, each had labels that told of their final destination. Obviously, in her current state, Luna was unable to read. Every door was just plain, undecorated, uniform brown. Every door, except for one. On this door, incredible patterns in different shades of vivid green moved and pulsed along the surface, each ending in a vibrantly red rose.

Luna quickly rose and walked over to the strange door, and discovered, to her amazement, that the green lines often broke slightly from the rose stems and curved to form part of a letter. When taken altogether, they formed sentences, a secret message hidden in the door!

And not only that, Luna thought, eyes burrowing into the message, a message that can only be read by those who share my condition.

The message read,

Chapter V,
Greetings Prospect, and congratulations on making it this far! Through this door you will find the necessary components to complete the ritual found in Chapter II. Once completed, head immediately to where the moon touches the spine, farewell, and good luck,
Thunderboom

Luna had many questions. She recognized the pattern on the door though, it was the same as every door that led to the garden.

Strange substances in my drink, hidden messages in the doors, what next? A giant lizard invades the castle? Luna snorted at her joke and, after but a moment's hesitation, opened the door. Grey as far as the eye could see extended down the corridor in front of her, dotted occasionally by the light yellow and red of torches. Nothing moved in the passage, no traps triggered, no assailants jumped out to capture her. In fact it distinctly appeared that no pony had been here in a very, very long time.

Taking a breath, Luna started down the corridor, forgetting that she had asked the servant to bring her anything, and instead completely focused on the task at hoof.

After quite a while of jack squat happening, Luna finally reached the other end of the hallway, to find a second door. Same green lines, same patterns, same message, and this one Luna knew led out into the gardens.

Pushing open the door with no small amount of trepidation, Luna gasped at what was on the other side. It was the garden, as it always had been, but with this new way of seeing... it was absolutely splendid!

The pale moon was suspended high in the sky, emitting the same yellow aura as the sun, but seeming so much more at a contrast to it. The plants beneath her feet radiated and swirled in a bed of chromatic wonders, and Luna could see every star in the sky brighter and more clearly than she ever had.

Almost entirely forgetting that she had come here for a reason, Luna stumbled through the garden like a drunken guardspony, ogling every flower and blade of grass in sight, until she noticed something really strange.

Where Zenith Terrace had once stood was now a large bubble of multi-chromatic energy. Moving to examine the sphere, Luna noticed that all of the colors here seemed... different, pure. It was pure red, pure blue, pure black, nothing seemed derived, and it was all held together by the same golden light. The same light that made the sun.

Celestia, Luna thought in shock. Luna looked around as if searching for another culprit, but no other explanation presented itself, it had to be Celestia's magic.

But, but... it can't be! She abhors this magic! She nearly called me a monster naught but two days ago just for suggesting its use, all the while SHE uses it for her purposes? We shall have a serious discussion with our sister about whom she goes around blaming! Fuming with frustration it didn't even occur to Luna what the bubble was, a barrier, meant to keep ponies out, and so, seething with indignation, she walked right through it. The magic of the barrier passed harmlessly over her in a wave, and allowed her inside.

Within the bubble, she did not find what she expected to. A pony sat there, a very old pegasus by the look of him, with grey skin but alarmingly blue eyes. They reminded her much of Lance's.

"Oh! Goodness me, don't sneak up on old ponies like that, young lass, any breath could be my last!" He chuckled at his words as though it were a joke, but Luna didn't think so.

"Oh, I'm terribly sorry, I was following a trail, you see, and I believed this bubble was made by my sister, but I must have be-"

"What bubble?" The old pegasus interrupted.

Luna paused and looked around, before realizing, "Oh, you can't see it! Right, that makes sense, I suppose I should have assumed that-"

"What, exactly, do you think you see?" Luna huffed at the second interruption, and looked down at the old pony with suspicion.

"Well, I have a condition from the fight recently, no doubt you've heard of it. There's a bubble around us of magical energy. I... I can't quite remember but I think somehow it has to do with thaumatics, a very, very old school of magic that has been lost to time."

"Lost to time?" The old pony chuckled and shook his head, "Girl, I don't know where you've been getting your facts, because thaumatics wasn't lost to time, it was destroyed! Obliterated! Erased from existence by Princess Celestia, along with anypony who knew anything about it! Though I suspect she wouldn't want you to know about that, Princess Luna, and you especially don't want her to know about the extent of your thaumatic reawakening. The Sight has already returned to you, and soon you will remember more than just how to make a rudimentary shield."

Luna looked shell-shocked at the old pony, her mouth hanging wide open, before a thought occurred to her, a thought so obvious she didn't know why it hadn't occurred to her earlier, "Why can I see you when I can't see anypony else?"

"Princess?" a voice called from her left, and, with an intense sucking sensation, the world snapped back to normal vision. Luna stumbled and grasped around for something to hold onto as her eyes adjusted to the dark, and her stomach somersaulted like it had entered in the Equestria Games.

"Oh my! Princess, are you alright?" A hand was there to help her up, and she gratefully took it. Looking over at the valiant pony, she discovered the same servant from earlier, looking very distressed.

"Oh, don't worry I'm fine, coming out of that state always makes me queasy, now then, you were saying, sir-" Luna stopped as she turned back to the old pony, only to find that he was no longer there, "Oh! Where did he go?"

"Well, ma'am, you were talking to thin air," the servant told her, looking worried.

"No, I'm certain there was an old pegasus here but a moment ago," Luna looked around her, hoping to find the old pony again.

The servant backed away slowly and said, "Alright Princess, I'll, um, I'll just leave you to that."

Eventually Luna realized it was pointless, and that she should probably return to the Night Court before she was missed.

I have to come back when I'm like that again, maybe I'll be able to see him then, Casting one last look around the garden, Luna sighed, and returned to the Night Court to serve her last two hours.

These were much less eventful than the first four, almost nopony was willing to stay up until 2 in the morning to have a minor issue resolved, and so Luna had plenty of time to think on what she'd seen.

That servant said that my eyes were orange and black, and I could see all the colors of objects around me. It all sounds very similar to what Blueblood did when he showed me the device's effects, he was able to see the magic in it. I wonder if I could do that? She didn't really feel like talking to Celestia about the bubble in the garden anymore, she suspected that she might get in more trouble for having discovered it than was worth the catharsis of chastising her sister for being a hypocrite.

A much more corporeal matter is, what was in that glass? It was almost definitely poison, but why? Does Kaiscillius still have fanatics under his sway in the castle? Or is this a new enemy, come to strike us when we are weakest? Luna shook her head and sighed, glancing at the clock for the millionth time. She could swear that it'd taken eleven months for the last hour to pass.

"The Night Court is now officially closed!" She announced at 2:00 on the dot, to basically only her guards and the minute keeper.

"I thank you all for standing so steadfast in the face of great drowsiness, please, go rest," The ponies in the room nodded and bowed gratefully, eventually filtering out and leaving her alone. Well, nearly alone. There was always Blueblood.

He stood in the same spot as he had on the morning of the attack, stance wide, arms outstretched, magic flowing strong from his horn. He'd never looked worse. They'd removed his shirt for fear of gangrene and the doctors had wanted to move him as well, which Celestia had expressly and, quite ferociously, forbade.

He now stood, bald, gaunt as a corpse, and near as grey as one. Deep grooves were carved under his eyes in black, and they had a sunken look to them. His lips were peeling, his fingers were bruised somehow, and Luna couldn't imagine the Tartarus he must have been going through.

And yet, still he stands, she thought with no small amount of awe, What kind of drive must a pony have, I wonder, to be completely and utterly alone, drained of all semblance of life, and still stand as though no time had passed, Luna shook her head, you have a stronger will than me, my friend. When this is all over, I will see that you are well rewarded.

Sighing (she seemed to do that an awful lot lately) she turned from the husk of a pony she had once thought selfish, and made her way back to her rooms to begin her other nightly task, clearing out nightmares from the minds of ponies and other creatures alike.

It was only a short way to her quarters from the throne room, and Luna, though a bit melancholy, attempted to make her way there quickly.

"... telling you, he put something in it!"

"I'm sure it was nothing, miss, now if you would excuse me?" A body pushed passed Luna with a surprising amount of force. Turning on her heel she saw that it was a guard dressed in standard sergeant's gear. His skin was a dark grey, and his face was obscured by the wings of his helmet.

"Well, I never!" Luna looked to the side to see a very fit young orange unicorn with ocean blue hair staring at the guard with a look of irritation and indignation. The servant's outfit she was wearing fit her figure quite well, the white frilled undershirt hugging tight to her body with the help of the satin black outer one.

"Is something the matter?" Luna asked the two. The guard ignored her entirely and kept walking, while the unicorn seemed to be noticing her for the first time.

"O-Oh my! Princess Luna!" The unicorn blushed heavily and bowed, which Luna cocked her head at. Perhaps she'd mistaken the young unicorn for a- but no! There was a definite bust and the legs were too petite and toned for a stallion.

Standing back up, the pony intentionally avoided Luna's gaze, "That was just Grey Shade, one of the guards. I was trying to tell him about something I saw in the kitchen but SOMEPONY IS AN ABSOLUTE GRUMP!" She yelled this last statement down the hallway at the diminishing form of the guard, then returned to sheepishly standing with her eyes averted and her hands clasped firmly together in front of her.

"What was it you think you saw, young one?" Luna wondered if it had anything to do with her drink being tampered with.

"Well Princess, I saw somepony dark and mysterious looking that I'd never seen before hanging out near one of the prep stations, and he left as suddenly as he came. I went over to where he'd been but I didn't find anything out of the ordinary. Still, I thought I'd report it in case something had been done."

Luna smiled at the mare, who's floor-staring intensified, "Well, you've done a lovely job. I shall personally see that an investigation is started. Thank you miss..."

The pony stood up straight as an arrow, "Eep! Flying Colors, Princess, and really you don't have to thank me! Why would you thank me? I was just doing my job is all and really anypony else would have done the same thing in my place in fact I-"

"Ahem," Luna coughed, grinning as the mare immediately stopped talking and went redder, "So, I take it you are new here?"

The cute orange unicorn nodded, "I am! I, uh, I was going to be a battle mage but something drew me to this place instead, not really sure what," Flying Colors looked at Luna for probably the first time in their whole discussion, "Oh wow! I love your dress!"

Luna laughed lightly, trying to capture the same air of easy confidence her sister always had with other ponies, "Why thank you, your clothing suits you as well."

Colors looked down at herself, "You really think so? I had to borrow Tuck's because they hadn't sorted mine out yet. He's a stallion who's even slimmer than me! So I guess this does show off a bit, huh?"

Luna nodded, appreciating the time she was being given to admire the lithe unicorn, and how snugly the clothes molded onto her supple body. Then she noticed that Flying Colors was watching her with a small smile on her face, and it was Luna's turn to blush.

"Well miss Colors, it has been wonderful making your acquaintance, and perhaps we may... get to know each other more intimately at a later date. For now I have business to attend to, but you can be sure that your matter in the kitchens will be looked into. Have a lovely night," Flying remembered to do a proper curtsy this time, which looked especially fetching as the thin black fabric of her uniform stretched over her thighs.

Luna turned quickly before she became anymore distracted and headed off down the hallway with a wave.

Well tonight has certainly been eventful! I'll have to see what Lance thinks about multiple partners, some ponies can be so possessive, but that Flying Colors is just too tempting a morsel not to at least have a taste! Giggling at herself, Luna finally made back to her room, and promptly took great pleasure in flopping down onto her bed, face first, and in the most undignified manner she could imagine.

It's the small things in life that you enjoy the most sometimes, she thought with a sigh. Sitting up straight amidst her blankets and sheets of black and blue, Luna began her second and final task of the night, and certainly the one she deemed most important, the protection of dreams.

Closing her eyes, Luna slipped into the dream realm as easily as a fish into water. She stood alone, a small shape amidst the vast cosmos of the Night around her. Here, there was no ground, no up or down, left or right, there was the Night.

And I am the night, and so it was. Luna was no longer a small pony against the infinite void, she was the void. She was the stars and the moons and those distant suns, her eyes were supernovas, her mane a galaxy, her body finite and infinite together. Around her were shimmering bubbles of consciousness, each looked like a soap bubble that showed something different on the inside than the out. Luna cast her heavenly gaze over the sea of them, growing and growing until they were but grains of sand adrift on solar tides.

Luna looked around, and sadness touched her heart of pulsars. So much disturbance, so much hate and fear.

Let it be no more, a wave of magic more vast than the universe rolled from her skin, she had no need for a horn, such a silly device. She was existence, her will was law, as inescapable as a black hole, as undeniable and inevitable as the slow march of time. She visited those dreams, fractions of her. Pieces, enough to comfort, enough to heal, but so many. So much work to be done, so many terrible dreams. She sought the source, in every crevice of every nightmare she saw it, watching. When she arrived, it retreated, more than the Tantabus had been, this was intelligence. This was planning and mastery of resources, this was devious, crafty, sorcery.

Almost done now, her decree of peace had reached the farthest corners of the dreamscape, none alive could hold back the swelling tide of resolution anymore than a leaf could a hurricane. Still she felt disturbed, still she felt her work was not done. One more, there was one dream that yet eluded her. Where?

Luna saw all of the conscious thoughts of ponies, each at peace, each content beneath her. Where could it be?

Each pony... beneath me... Luna looked up from the waves of Night and turned her eyes of eternity upon something... horrible.

Standing directly in front of her, though far removed from the other dreams and thoughts, was a bubble near as vast as she. It's surface was red as fresh blood, and undulated in spiked waves, throwing off gigantic quantities of chaotic energy into the shapeless void around it.

What is this? What sort of Nightmare has possessed somepony so, that they resemble Our own power? Luna drew all of her strength to her, and expanded. No mere fragment would save this pony from Nightmare, Luna would be delving into that pit of darkness herself.

Luna was falling, falling through red-tinged clouds, above her hung a horribly gruesome crescent moon, painted the shade of blood.

"No mother, please!" She heard a small voice shriek, immediately her wings snapped into action, and she pounded towards the call of distress. As she breached the cloud line, what she saw shocked her.

The ground beneath her was rent and torn, as though some great calamity had shattered this place, save for one circle of clear grass, green as any ever known. On this grass, a small creature stood over the body of an unconscious pony, and above the both of them towered Nightmare Moon. She was massive, several stories in height, her teal eyes filled with disgust, disappointment, and malice.

"THIS IS YOUR GREATEST FAILURE," the voice ripped with gale force from the giantess, nearly bowling Luna from the sky as she blurred towards the scene.

"Nooo!" The small creative's voice was shrill and hoarse, curling itself into a protective ball around the pony.

"REMEMBER THIS. YOU. HAVE. FAILED." The giant raised an arm, pointing a single finger the size of a small building straight at the pair, a dark energy began glowing on her horn.

Luna got there just in time. With a roar of rage, Luna blasted the giant version of her other self straight in the face. To Luna's surprise, the image shattered immediately, chunks of it falling all over the ground of the grassy hillscape. Then came the force.

A cataclysmic shriek filled the air, the wind howled and raged, and Luna was bowled from the sky by the sheer intensity of it, and even as she fell, the actual shockwave slammed into her, and sent her careening even farther off course. She hit the ground with such a massive THUMP that she threw up debris for hundreds of feet, and plowed a deep gash into the "earth" for several hundred yards before grinding to a halt. Still the wind howled around her like a typhoon, she wouldn't be flying anytime soon in this weather.

And... it was strange, it was almost as if she could hear something on the wind, a whisper in the gale. Straining her ears, Luna began laboriously climbing out of the hole she'd dug for herself. Reaching the top, she gasped in surprise as she found the pony and creature from earlier, what shocked her was that she recognized one of them. The creature was Kaiscillius, except he was much smaller, he looked only about as long as a pony would if they laid down flat.

Through the screaming winds, Kaiscillius asked, "Who are you? What's happening?"

Luna was so shocked she couldn't answer, this was the being whose power over dreams nearly rivaled hers? Impossible!

The pony next to Kaiscillius, a small lavender unicorn, hugged him tight and pecked one of his heads with a kiss, Luna saw him involuntarily shudder and smile, before shaking his main head. Through the growing force of the howling storm, he cried out, "It's not supposed to end this way! I-I can't be happy! I'm not allowed to- to... I... I know you! You're-"

Luna felt an intense moment of vertigo as the floor beneath her vanished, along with the sky and the wind and the dark, red moon. She stood blearily, and only further confounded her self when she tried to get her bearings. Everything here was black, her night vision did nothing to banish the darkness. Although there was at least a gravity here by which she could judge "down".

She stumbled slightly in place from the dramatic shift, then turned about to see her surroundings. That was a serious mistake. Behind her towered Kaiscillius as he was now, a thirty foot tall monster, who resembled what Luna looked like when she was in the dream realm. But there was something about him that she would never be able to match, his fury.

He looked at her with eyes that spoke louder than any voice, with screams of murderous rage, and the howls of madmen. His armor trembled, and the very floor beneath her shook as his eyes grew brighter and brighter in anger.

"You have seen what you should not have," his voice was quiet, like how the world stills before a great calamity, "That was private. That was sacred."

"Sacred?" Luna scoffed, "You attack my kingdom and harm it's people, and you expect me to respect what you call sacred?"

She could tell immediately that she had said the worst thing possible for the situation. Kaiscillius's three mouths opened, and a purple smoke began to roil out of them. From his back sprouted more heads. Two, four, eight, ten in total, all spewing purple smoke and sparks.

They spoke in unison to deafening effect, "YOU WILL NEVER ENTER MY MIND AGAIN," his mouths opened wider, and Luna could see a vibrating magical energy growing in the back of his throats, but something made him hesitate. Then Luna heard it too, a low whine, but it was gradually building.

"What is this?" He demanded of her, slamming a claw down in front of the pony, "What more destruction have you wrought upon me?"

Luna shrugged, "I have no idea! I assumed you'd conjured it-"

Luna heard a distant explosion, or perhaps an implosion, and the whining gave way to an eerie silence. She felt a tremor run through the blackness on which she stood, which was usually not a good thing when inside someone's head.

Turning towards the sound, Luna's jaw dropped as a wave of dark blue force, easily taller than a mountain, ripped its way through the space, leaving the darkness shattered, torn, and jagged in its wake. It was moving so fast that Luna could barely blink before it was on her.

Luna and Kaiscillius both were thrown from their feet, and the dream entirely.

"GrrrrRRRRAAAAAHH!!!" Kaiscillius released the pressure he'd been applying to the chains, the smell of ozone and scorched metal thick in the prison's air. He blinked in the dim light of the cell, shaking his heads to clear them. What... had just happened? Some kind of... chain reaction. It had started when that bitch had entered his nightmare! What had she done? It had to be her!

"Sir... what are you doing?" One of the guards assigned to watch from the circular doorway asked, much to the perturbance of the other guard.

Something was different, something was wrong. Kaiscillius felt it in his bones. He was off-balance and his head swam, he felt lighter and heavier than he had before, his brain was scrambled like eggs on Sunday morning.

"Dammit Spear! We aren't supposed to talk!" The other pony had a nasal sort of voice, which might make one think him weak if they were unable to see his paradoxically muscular body. His skin was a dusky blue, with swirling yellow highlights. The other was much shorter, with brown skin and a white mane. Both wore pure white suits of armor with fairly decent thaumatic protection spells interwoven into them. Nothing major, but it would prevent Kaiscillius from snapping their spines by looking at them funny, which he was inclined to do at this point. He'd been too careless, falling asleep at night and not during the day, but there was no way to tell time down here! Not for certain!

"Well I want to know! Why does he keep hurting himself, there must be a reason!" Clearly the brown one, Short Spear Kaiscillius remembered him being called, must have received most of the brain cell handed out to this duo. What had he been thinking about? So hard to remember, something about a dream?

"Maybe, and this is just a possibility, but just maybe, he's a bucking lunatic!"

They'd been arguing on and off for their entire shift before he'd fallen asleep, Kaiscillius wanted to scream, "Just kiss already!" But unlike these goons he could actually keep his trap shut when it suited him. He wondered how long it had been. Obviously it was sometime early in the morning, say 5 a.m., if Luna was still up fixing dreams before the sun came. He'd had three different shifts of guards, all wearing the armor, all pairs of males. What had that pegasus said? Something about Seeing Time? That would be useful in more ways than one. Kaiscillius had pondered that for a long while. In all of his years he'd never heard of being able to see Time. What elements would even form it? Order, definitely, and Void perhaps? Intelligence, Mechanics? He didn't know, but he dearly wanted to find out. Crack Pot and Thick Face had started up again, so Kaiscillius slowly leaned forward in his manacles once more, and hummed pleasantly as the low buzz of magical electricity began to run through him again, slowly filling him back to his full strength. The more he pulled, the more painful, but the more powerful. As such, he could expedite the process if he wished, but there was really no hurry until about 20 hours from now. He didn't have any way to tell time in here, except for his calculations of how long it would take Thrassimund to run dry, but even those were iffy, and didn't give him exact measurements.

Kaiscillius shifted, stretching his hind legs. They were horribly stiff after this forced standing position, and he did his best to keep them from cramping. The lightning helped somewhat, in both soothing his muscles and the grinding ache of his stomach. He hoped the stones were okay, a lot would go wrong if they became damaged in some way.

Kaiscillius whipped his heads up as the doorway ground open, and the two buffoons stopped bickering and snapped to attention. In walked Kaiscillius's Warden. A tall, beautiful stallion, with golden skin and mane of the same color, though splashes of a more white-gold ran throughout it. He was dressed in silver armor, a wide royal blue sash ran across his breastplate, and his helmet he carried under an arm. The sash perfectly matched his piercingly blue eyes that resembled sapphires in the way a tiger resembles a kitten. If ever there was a stallion Kaiscillius would waste time seducing, it'd be Captain Golden Lance.

"Rise and shine, gentlecolts," Oh, this stallion was good. His voice was like butter, as if it was somehow barely containing mirth, but his tone was serious, which gave the statement more gravity than a simple how do you do normally would.

Also, hah! My calculations, it seems, were right on the money! Thank you ever so much Captain.

"Morning sir!" The two chattering idiots called out like penguins with a collective IQ of 5.

"Status report?"

The brown one, ever eager to spill the vomit that passed for his speech out of his mouth, answered first, "No sir, nothing to report! Prisoner remains docile and unresponsive!"

"I have a name you know," the rumble echoed around the room like distant thunder, and all eyes turned to the black hydra. The black hydra's eyes turned right back, each head looking at a different pony, with the main one facing Captain Lance of course.

The captain turned a raised eyebrow to the brown one, "Docile and unresponsive, was it sergeant?"

Sergeant? Ponies have lower standards than even the rock bottom I believed them to.

Kaiscillius was in a considerably better mood, not that it was helping his petty bitterness much, but he'd just caught sight of the gift the lovely captain had brought him.

"Well anyway, you two are off the clock, Cloudy, Mira, you're up."

A pair of female guards, dressed in the same gear, walked into the room as Relative Intelligence of a Half-Dead Crab 1 and 2 stepped out, and began following the captain up the stairs. As the two lovely ladies settled in, the only competent pony in the room cast one final glance back at Kaiscillius, to which he responded with a wink. The captain grimaced, turned, and followed his subordinates up the stairs, as the wall slid shut behind him, and the two nice gals with swords stared full steam ahead in a very no-nonsense manner. Kaiscillius leaned forward again, and let the lightning power his armor back on. He took time in examining his new servants. Well, his soon-to-be servants anyway. He was very goals oriented today. And he really wanted to figure out what had bothered him so much about whatever dream he'd been having, but the plan came first, and these fabulous and fortunate females had now become part of it.

One, the one presumably named Cloudy, was a petite girl, seemed to be an earth pony with exceptional coloration. Deep blues and milky whites mingled across her skin like a three dimensional painting. Her long white mane hung down to the small of her back, and she had deep blue eyes, perhaps even with a purple tinge. She seemed nervous, and her posture shifted from side to side, although subtle. She had almost no chest to speak of, but Kaiscillius didn't mind, he wasn't really the sort to judge somepony for that. Besides the rest of her looked great. She definitely had a guard's physique, with small but muscular arms and legs. She was an animal lover, he could tell by how much Animal was spread over her skin, likely she owned several pets. He could infer, then, that her discomfort came not from fear, but rather from pity. Either would suit Kaiscillius just fine.

Having summed up the other guard and found her far from lacking, his much-seeing eyes turned to the other watcher he'd been assigned. Mira, she'd been called. Kaiscillius's lip curled in disgust when he saw that she was a thestral pegasus. Still, it's not like he couldn't hatefuck with the best of them, many he'd use her as a stress relief ball and treat the other one as an actual creature deserving of respect.

Looking past the, frankly, pretty big deal that she was a thestral, Mira was pretty, in a generic sort of way. She had the same skin tone that almost all of them had, cobalt blue. Her eyes were teal (how original), she had a dusky blue mane (yawnorama), and big tits. Whoopty freakin doo. Actually her face was quite pretty, you could tell she spent a lot of time on her makeup. Her normally bland eyes were made exotic and dangerous by the expert smoky shading she'd done of them, and her lip gloss made them seem fuller and much more appetizing than they normally would be. Mira was taller and less muscular than her normal pony counterpart, giving her a softer, pillowy quality that just made you want to squeeze every part of her to feel the flesh mold in your hands.

Kaiscillius could feel himself getting more excited by the second looking at these two prizes, which really showed how desperate he was becoming. Neither of them were particularly beautiful, especially considering that he'd last had sex with two elements of harmony, arguably the epitome of beauty among their pony types.

Stop that, this isn't a fashion show, you just need them to do one job, cracking his mental knuckles, Kaiscillius began to weave his spell. Celestia had been foolish not to completely prevent him from using magic, though the guards' armor would stall his efforts for a while, they could, by no means, halt them.

He began earnestly, ponies were so quick to trust a friendly face, "Well, I suppose it would be rude of me not to introduce myself since we'll spending the next several hours together without interruption. I am Kaiscillius-"

"We know who you are, prisoner, and what you've done. I'm only informing you just this once that we are, in no way, permitted to converse with you, or each other, while on duty," This was the earth pony, Cloudy. She had some surprising steel to her, despite her small stature.

Kaiscillius carefully measured both of their reactions to the statement. Cloudy definitely meant what she said, far from the nervous position she had taken upon first entering the room, she now stood unbendable as an iron girder, with just a hint of danger in her eyes. She was a good actor. Unfortunately, Kaiscillius saw through all facades, and her outer arrogance was to cover the inner hollowness, and perhaps even dread, she felt at having to stand there for hours watching an animal be tortured and unable to say anything.

Mira, on the other hand, was much more forthcoming with herself. Her disdain for standing around in the pitch black unable to speak was quite evidently written across the sneer she wore on her face.

So we've found our weak link... just... why did it have to be a thestral?

Quickly the spell was formulated, a simple pathway to the mind was not so difficult, and the lovely Celestia had apparently forgotten some of the rules of thaumatics. Such as that it is a contact sort of magic, and the helmets had visors. Were he to fire a beam at these two he wouldn't harm their brains or hearts, but he'd sure as Tartarus melt their faces off. Clearly she'd been in a rush while making these. Good, hopefully his agents on the outside were following his instructions to the letter and giving her headaches.

Focusing on the spell framework he forced the necessary elements into it. Mind, Sense, Sight, Sound, and Travel assembled in front of him, though invisible to the lesser ponies,. Though right before he fed it through Mira's visor, Kaiscillius hesitated, and added a Memory-Void pair, as well as a host of several other emotions. He didn't feel like scarring her for the events he was about to make her commit. Satisfied, he pushed the vaporous magic through the open faceplate and into Mira's eyes, embedding it into her mind. The pony shuddered, looking around.

What was that? Kaiscillius heard her wonder, though Cloudy heard nothing. She had a beautiful voice, soft and supple just like the rest of her, and naturally husky. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all. Slightly curious now, he used the connection to gently probe her memories, in case Celestia had been smarter than he expected. She hadn't been, and Mira's mind was completely exposed. Mira was a twenty three year old thestral, mother of two, though not in a committed relationship from the looks of things, she worked late (early morning) shifts so she could spend the night with her sons. She had a close circle of friends, Cloudy being one of them, though they'd been more in times past. Things had been tense between them since the riots, Cloudy having been a fervent believer of Kaiscillius's propaganda, which Mira, obviously, believed none of. She had been hoping to use this time to talk things over, albeit quietly, and was now slightly annoyed that she wouldn't get the chance.

Kaiscillius felt a surprising pang of guilt for nearly forcing the pony to do a good many things that she would have been averse to, and he might still have to do them, but he wondered if there was another way.

Of course there isn't, how else am I going to get them to do what I wish? Mira's never taken Dust, and I doubt that even if Cloudy had she'd be able to convince her to do something I said. And I need magic, fast. I just don't know if I'll be able to get all I need from my chains.

Still debating what to do, he stalled by assembling a similar spell to the last one he had cast, and fed it into Cloudy's thoughts instead. Cloudy was twenty two, and with much less responsibility than Mira. She took early shifts because she was a morning pony. She lived in a tiny apartment on the other side of Canterlot near the honorary "Thestral Quarter". This is how she and Mira had become friends, and even lovers at one time, though that had ended swiftly. She had three dogs, and would much rather feed them than herself. She was also no stranger to bestiality, happily enough, but Kaiscillius wasn't really in the mood to pry into that gem of a memory box. She'd been called in even earlier than usual for this assignment, and had been incredibly awkward the entire time. She remembered the events of the riot much more vividly, and was much harder on herself, than Mira. They'd had several arguments, and Cloudy had declared them over as friends forever. Afterwards she'd crawled back to Mira like a beaten puppy and begged forgiveness, which, of course, she had gotten, but she also still thought there were some things that hadn't been said. Interestingly she had lied when she said that she knew who he was, neither of them knew why they were here really, or why security was so tight for this one prisoner.

Then an idea occurred to him, it was no less twisted, but it's result would not mean the abandonment of Mira's children, or Cloudy's already alienated friends.

A chuckle resounded around the chamber, shaking the ponies in their boots. Kaiscillius twisted to of his heads around menacingly, placing them low to the floor, eyeing the two with a predator's eyes. Both smiled cruelly, as if in on a joke which the two mares had yet to realize. The third head mimicked their actions by splitting its maw in a similar fashion. Kaiscillius's eyes shone, and the darkness around him grew thick, almost heavy with the weight of his malice. He radiated a new air. Far from the beaten prisoner, it seemed that the guard captain had left two snacks for a cunning beast rather than two well-trained guards. The silence in the room grew palpable as the two waited, unconsciously holding their breath, and their swords, each watching one of the serpentine appendages that observed them, eager for a chance to strike. Kaiscillius spoke.

"You are a good liar, Miss Cloudy, but there are none better than I. And none more able to tell the truth, also. You do not know who I am, or why you are here," Kaiscillius paused for effect, waited to hear one of the girls gulp, and turned out the lights, including his own.

Three snaps echoed through the chamber like hammering thunder, followed swiftly by the thump of metal on stone. Kaiscillius watched the two poor guards clutch their flimsy swords in white-knuckled terror. To their credit, they did not scream. Mira was close to wetting herself, though. To be unable to see in the darkness must have been very disconcerting for a thestral, for one so used to the shadows of the night. But these were not Luna's shadows. Pale imitations of Darkness, one of Kaiscillius's favorite elements, and nothing like what he had plunged the room into now. True Dark was something you could feel, almost touch. It weighed heavy on the soul and mind, and terrified those not attuned to its whispers.

The hydra's voice came from everywhere and nowhere, emanating in the ponies' ears themselves almost, with no indication of direction, "So let me tell you some lies, and some truths, little ponies. I am Kaiscillius, the first of my name, Breaker of Greystone, Chosen of Nightmare Moon... and an excellent cook, or so I've been told," He chuckled at his joke, though it seemed his audience just wasn't up to his standard of humor, "I'm the one that started the riots, I'm the one that stormed the castle, and nearly killed princess Luna, and they've locked you in here with me," He let out a long, rasping laugh, which slowly soured into a growl.

"W-W-we should call for backup," Mira said, trembling.

Kaiscillius answered in Cloudy's stead, "Oh should you? And how were you planning on doing that? These walls are thick stone, and I've already stolen the magical horns they gave you."

Both ponies frantically grabbed around their waists, searching for the summoning horns they'd been given in case of trouble. As the monster had said, they were gone, which meant that the hulking creature had gotten close enough to both of them without being spotted to actually take the horns.

"Cloudy?" Mira whispered.

"Yeah?" She answered, putting on quite a brave face for her friend.

"Hold me," Mira was doing a much less impressive job of keeping her cool, which Kaiscillius found strange. Thestrals were supposed to be unflappable, independent, aloof, but this one was cowering behind a wiry earth pony three-fourths her size like a scared filly. No matter, really, that meant she'd be easier to turn.

"So, do either of you wish to leave here alive?" Cloudy choked on her own spit and started hacking up a storm, and Mira resolved her bathroom problem and stood rooted to the spot in fear.

After Cloudy was done coughing out a lung, she asked, "You won't get us to do anything for your sick plans, creature!"

"Oh I don't know," Cloudy yelped and flailed as the voice seemed to come from directly behind her, "I convinced an entire city to tear itself apart based on a happy coincidence, including you miss Cloudy, if I remember rightly. It should be no problem for me to sink my hooks into your psyche a second time."

Kaiscillius had struck a nerve, he could see the floods of Shame and Anger from where he stood, Mira was still paralyzed by Sorrow and Fear, so he decided to loosen her up next.

"And I know one of you has a very personal reason for needing to leave here alive. After all, I hear foster care is dreadful for a child's upbringing," this part of his new plan Kaiscillius was not proud of, he felt like absolute scum by threatening children, but the plan had to succeed!

Mira hissed in surprise and finally began to move with outstretched arms, probably hoping to hit a wall, "I swear if you harm one hair on my kids' heads..."

"Oh Mira!" Cloudy groaned. Kaiscillius let out another chuckle that made Mira cease her moving until the room stopped rumbling.

"What? He clearly already knows about us, so what's the point in hiding anything?"

"Because there's no way he could know anything about us because we were picked for this job a few minutes ago!"

"Actually Cloudy," Kaiscillius interjected, "I know quite a lot about both of you. But more on that if we need to discuss it later. Now, we were discussing what you'd be-"

"Pshh, prove that you know a single thing about either of us," Cloudy said, her voice heavy with mockery. She squealed as something long and thin cracked like a whip across her flanks, and immediately moved her hands to cover the sore raw flesh. She looked around as involuntary tears prickled at her eyes, trying to find the source of the punishment. She cried out again as the same thin appendage grabbed hold of a leg and toppled her face-first into the stone, striking two more sharp cracks on her exposed rear before repenting.

"Do not interrupt me again, understood?" Kaiscillius was no longer being mysterious, his tone was commanding and stern, brooking no argument.

"M-m-mhmm," Cloudy nodded her head into the floor, not trusting herself to speak as she shivered from the sudden pain.

"Now, as I was saying, you two will perform a service for me, two in fact, and I will let you leave here with your lives. You do not get the choice to agree or disagree. It will be done, or you will be punished severely. Do I make myself clear?"

"Mhmm," Cloudy whimpered, still a little dazed from the impacts.

Mira spoke softly, "E-excuse me s-sir, but what do you, um, want us t-to do, exactly?"

Afyer a long period of silence, in which Mira began to sweat from the tension in the air, Kaiscillius said calmly, "That is not your place to ask,"

Mira's eyes widened, "No sir, I'm sorry- AH!" Three more strikes cracked off around the room, connecting with such speed that Mira hadn't even had time to cover exposed hunches before they landed. She gasped with pain, and had the wind driven out of her as she too was yanked to the ground, shivering as she lay on her knees.

"You do not make demands of me. Ever. Now, stand up. Both of you. And follow my instructions to the letter. I don't want to make you two more uncomfortable than is necessary."

Shellshocked, Mira immediately stumbled to her feet at the behest of her unseen tormentor, but Cloudy, ever the stronger of the two, did not rise, instead spitting onto the floor, "I'll not do anything for you bastard. Not until I'm too bloody to be of use."

Another crack broke the heavy dark, and both girls cringed and cowered, but neither were actually hit.

The voice held a cold superiority as it boomed down at them, "So you prefer to huddle on the ground like a dog and take the whipping like the masochistic bitch you are? So be it then, cur, I approve of your submissive cravings."

Cloudy's face lit up like a firework, "I-I didn't mean that I-"CRACK! Cloudy whimpered in pain and struggled to decide which was worse, standing in compliance or taking it to the ass like a slut. Eventually, silent and defeated, she stood shakily, hanging her head.

"What good little servants I have, standing so nicely for me. Perhaps a reward?" A drop of some foreign substance fell on both of the ponies. Cloudy suffered whatever it was in silence as Mira quietly tried to wipe hers off with a sleeve.

CRACK CRACK CRACK!

Three rapid blows landed across Mira's ample breasts and ass, when the echoes died down Cloudy still cringed with fear and Mira huddled on the floor in tears saying, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry..."

A displeased growl rumbled them both, "It is very rude to throw someone's gift away, and I am one you do not wish to disrespect. Now, stand back up, and follow my directions."

With some shuffling and muffled squeaks, Mira climbed back to her feet and touched a hand to her stinging breast. She was shocked to find that whatever Kaiscillius had used to whip her, it had torn clean through the white leather she'd been wearing.

Oh this shit is so useless! She thought angrily. They'd told her it even had some kind of "special" protective spells on it, but if she'd been wearing her usual plate mail none of this would have happened. It covered her damn ass better for one thing.

Cloudy was experiencing something a lot less unpleasant. As the liquid inched down her back it stilled her shivering body, and gave her a sense of calm. When it left, a warm tingling sensation followed which made her gasp as it soothed the burning whip marks across her butt and thighs.

"Should I have to tell you what to say, dog?" The creature's voice purred in her ear.

"Thank you," she replied breathily, whereupon she received another droplet of the whatever-it-was which made her shiver involuntarily with warmth, which coincided perfectly with the whispered, "Good dog."

She felt, rather than heard, something move near her, and her tormentor spoke again,

"You two are learning well, soon you will be the perfect servants for me. What you should remember is that I am being kind and merciful to you now, and not enslaving you permanently with magic. Instead I am training you to complete a single purpose. The single most important purpose in your sorry, unimportant lives. And you will weep with joy at being able to fulfill my desire for you. Mira, turn to your left and take two steps forward. Dog, to your right and one step back."

Neither of the females protested, and neither queried their commander on what he would be having them do. They both started as they touched each other's bodies. Then Mira grasped onto Cloudy with a grip of iron, and began to cry. Cloudy pulled her friend in for a silent hug, any previous animosity forgotten through their shared suffering.

"Oh, good girls! It seems you've already defined my intentions for you, somewhat. Another reward, then, and soon you will have more of it than you know what to do with," two drops fell from above them, slipping smoothly past their clothing and heating the girls' breath and bodies, cooling the stinging bites of whatever lash had struck them.

"Cloudy,"Mira whispered as she trembled and her body started to tingle, "I'm scared."

"I know Mira, it'll be alright, as long as we have each other, it'll be alright," Cloudy clutched her friend harder, a fraying piece of her mind marveling at how soft her friend was, how good it felt to press against her.

"I'm glad you feel that way Dog, because you two are going to be getting very comfortable with each other for a long time. Dog, you will strip your friend for me. You will do it in the most... entertaining way of which you are capable, and for every time I am not satisfied with your performance, she will be whipped. Do you understand?"

A light came on. For the first time in what felt like an eternity, Cloudy and Mira could see each other. Their eyes were puffy from crying, Mira's beautiful eye shadow work was ruined by tears, and both had reddened marks crisscrossing their legs from the impacts.

"Monster," Cloudy muttered so quietly it barely reached her own ears.

CRACK! Mira howled in pain as a... something whipped out of the darkness around them and lashed her. It was long and thin, split into two like a snake's tongue, but tiny sections armor covered it.

"No! Oh, Mira, I'm so sorry!" Cloudy caught her friend as she stumbled, and a chill ran down her spine as her friend stared at her with shame-filled eyes and said, "Just do what he wants Cloudy..."

She started, surely Mira hadn't given up all hope yet? She was stronger than that, surely...

CRACK CRACK! Mira didn't cry out this time as her ass took the beating, she just groaned and hung her head. Cloudy stared on in shock. What had she done wrong?

"That punishment was twofold. Mira, it appears you were talking to someone that does not exist, and I will not abide by daydreaming servants. The wretched creature in front of you is called "Dog", though any serviceable noun could apply such as "bitch", "slut", "whore", or any others you may make up. The second was for said bitch not being fast enough."

Cloudy jumped into action as soon as his impatient tone reached her ears, "Come on Mira, I need you to stand up."

Slowly and humiliatingly she undressed her friend for their unseen audience. She hoped to Celestia that Mira was coherent enough to remember their cheerleader days together, and lock her legs, as Cloudy wrapped herself around Mira's waist and worked to undo the leather straps of the white and torn armor she wore.

Under Cloudy's dexterous and well-practiced fingers, Mira's top fell away to reveal her plain white bra underneath that held up two smooth orbs of dark blue flesh. Remembering that their captor had said to make it entertaining, Cloudy kissed all over Mira's neck and shelf of mountainous cleavage as she worked off the bra.

The thestral shivered under Cloudy's touch, the drops that rolled down her smooth skin had left their mark, and when her friend touched one of their trails Mira could feel her groin convulse with growing desire, and her breath became a little more ragged for a few seconds. Her bra was quickly discarded into the dark void , and she gasped aloud as another splash hit her directly at the nape of her neck. She squealed quietly as it slowly, tortuously, rolled its sluggish way down her whole spine, and slid like molasses across her two reddened cheeks.

Grunting with effort, Cloudy bent over backwards and undid Mira's belt and pants while still hanging from the mare's waist by her legs. Her mind frazzled and she nearly lost focus for a second as a drop hit her directly on the face. She thanked Celestia that none of it got in her nose while she was upside down, that would have been pretty bad. Her breathing got heavier as the strange substance melted into her skin. It held a certain smell that she couldn't exactly pin down, but she wanted more as her skin flushed with heat and sweat began to dot her brow.

"Very good, you are just full of wonderful surprises slut, keep this up and you'll be earning a more substantial reward in no time,"

Cloudy could barely hear the creature over the sound of the blood pounding in her ears. That last hit to the face had not been a good thing, and it was made worse by the close contact that her moistening nethers were having with another warm body. Particularly that warm body. One she'd once often lain next to, brimming with hormones and smelling of sweat and sex. Was it just a trick of her addled nose, or could she smell it still? That scent of Mira's damp lips pressed close to her nose, quivering with need as Cloudy teased her over and over, sometimes not letting her finish for hours.

Without realizing it, the earth pony had almost entirely stopped moving, and her hands only twitched feebly around Mira's legs. Her eyes were rolled into their sockets, and her tongue lolled in the direction of her nose. Her long white hair hung disheveled to the ground, and a clear dark stain was spreading across her open crotch.

CRACK!

Cloudy jerked awake as Mira whimpered, and hastily resumed tearing off items of clothing, a furiously hot blush adding to the already quite substantial redness in her face, she couldn't believe that she'd gotten distracted by thinking of the sex she and her friend had shared at a time like this! Though maybe it was easy to see why, the back of her head almost perfectly covered Mira's front door at the moment, and those thighs! She wondered if they were as smooth as she remembered them, so toned and muscular, yet soft enough to squeeze and feel it mold around your lips-

CRACK!

Mira, on the other hand, was getting very confused. Every time another whip lash landed, she received a drop of "reward". So she was being rewarded for being... punished? It didn't make any sense, and what confused her the most was, it was starting to feel really good. She'd thought it had been her imagination the first time when one of the whips struck an area that the liquid had passed over, and she'd nearly creamed herself, but after the third time now, it was clear she was getting turned on by it. The sensation was like nothing she'd ever experienced, it was sharp and hot, and just so... intense. It felt like her ass cheeks were a cunt all to themselves, and each strike was like a good dicking straight to the cervix, completely fulfilled in a way she hadn't even imagined. Only Cloudy, her sweet long-lost lover, prevented her from sticking her ass out and begging for more like a street whore.

CRACK!

Oh, buuuuuuck that's good, she thought, drooling a little as her butt jiggled from the impact and stimulated the harsh lances of pleasure further. It was like she had a fever, nothing really felt quite real, and her bod was just so hot. It was when she received the next drop that she lost it.

"Oh, buck! Cloudy!" she screamed as she came hard into her half-off pants. Her knees buckled and she collapsed, writhing, on top of her friend as her marehood gushed like a loose faucet and she trembled uncontrollably.

CRACK CRACK CRACK!

Mira's mouth dropped as she screamed wordlessly into the abyss, and reveled in the hard lashes across what was now her most sensitive area, "Guuaaaauughhh! Yes, buck yes, please buck me! Smack my ass harder, whip me till I'm bucking cumming like a two-bit whore, BUCK!"

She heard a growl from beneath her and looked down to see Cloudy going feral. Her eyes were clouded with lust, and her face was redder than Mira had ever seen it. Her friend hoarsely, desperately, snarled at her, "Get down here you bitch," before pulling Mira into the roughest and most passionate kiss they'd ever shared. Cloudy rammed her tongue as far down Mira's throat as it could go, Mira chocked on it a little bit, which made her tingle in a new special way. Complying with her fucktoy's request, Cloudy proceeded to pound Mira like she was a bongo drum, and smacks, followed swiftly by unearthly screams of raging orgasm, slammed across the cavernous space. And all the while drops trickled onto the two aggressively mating ponies.

It is really annoying to hold a mouth open for this long, Kaiscillius thought to himself. He did indeed have one of his necks craned over the two mares in heat, constantly dispensing his aphrodisiac saliva onto them. He also had an absolutely raging boner, which the tarp that had been slung over him failed vigorously to contain. Also his tail was really sore. Cutting through that armor through sheer kinetic force with the thinnest part of the tail was very painful, he hoped they appreciated the effort he had gone through to make them more comfortable.

"Get on your BUCKING knees Mira, I want that ass in my mouth, NOW!"

*Incomprehensible Groan*

But now... Kaiscillius faced a dilemma. He was pent up, very pent up. He imagined that he hadn't cum for at least an entire week at this point. And here in front of him were two mares whose mental defenses were more than lowered enough to give him what he wanted without anything resembling a struggle. And it would give him more magic to work with when the time came, and it had been in the original plan.

Or... he could just... not. As he'd thought, their shields were almost fully down. With minimal effort, he could slip a short fused obedience spell in, say three days or so, and they would forget about everything he'd done to them and their part in this. It would be quick, simple, and painless, for all involved.

Plus, he thought to himself, chewing on the inside of his cheek in concentration, I want to save up a good amount in case everything does workout as I intended. I don't want my first showing with Celestia to be disappointing.

But he really wanted to fuck something. Very, very hard. And the two writhing, sweating bodies on the floor were looking tastier by the second. A sudden realization snapped him out of it.

Am I not better than this? For all my claims of how base and stupid ponies are, I now fall prey to the same urges as they?No... NO, I am better than my carnal desires! Besides, the mating would have unforeseen consequences, and could damage them permanently, why did he care about damaging them so much? This had been his initial reason for going the punishment, rather than persuasion, route in the first place, less long-term side effects.

Well... it could arouse suspicion, if they were to act strangely after leaving their shift, more eyes would be directed my way, excuses often made sense to those who used them.

Kaiscillius snorted and shook his head, his inner query unnoticed by the two enthralled ponies beneath him, But if everything goes to plan it wouldn't matter if it was noticed, it might even help some! So why? Why the denial? Why the self-doubt? I've never cared about such things before!

...

...

He'd cared once. One time before, had he abstained, for fear of what it might do to the other.

Kaiscillius's breath caught in his throat, his eyes slowly slid down to the ponies. They were so small. So fragile. So... pitiful.

He sighed through his nose and closed his eyes.

So that's why. Just this once. For her.

Kaiscillius ended the dream.

Cloudy and Mira blinked slowly, regaining consciousness was a struggle for them. They both felt very strange, and looked, near simultaneously, down at their bodies. Their clothes were fine, nothing was ripped, torn, or in any way distressed. They looked at each other, vivid memories of a vague dream they'd just had caused them to immediately look away, blush rising faster than a hot air balloon. They looked at the prisoner. He remained, as he (always?) had, hung with great iron chains by his three necks. They did not notice, for they had no reason to, the extra weight on their belts. A new pouch hung from each, the pouches both contained a gemstone. Had they searched for the memory, they may have recalled the hydra vomiting up the stones. But again, neither had a reason to remember this event. One gem was a deep navy blue, similar in color to Mira. The other was an amber gemstone, of reddish-gold hue. They were to hide these objects, in the safest place they knew of. Somewhere that nopony would find them. Neither of the mares thought of these inclinations as odd, they simply were there. Feelings, intentions.

The dream was quickly, and thankfully, forgotten, and both mares continued on their shifts, unaware of the kindness they had been granted.

And I suppose that's a wrap, Kaiscillius thought through lidded eyes. He felt tired, almost as if he'd... overcome something. He didn't really want to sleep, but didn't see how it could be avoided, especially with nothing to do until his morning conversation with ol' 'Lesty.

I suppose it was nice, he yawned, while it lasted.

And slowly, he drifted to sleep.

A breeze blew on the moonlit hill. A short acacia-like tree with blue leaves grew here, Kaiscillius sat under it. A hand brushed his claw, and he opened his eyes. In front of him sat his young love, with her beautiful smile like syrup straight to his soul.

"Thank you," she whispered, and cuddled with him under the tree. The moon was full. And there were no stars this night.

Kaiscillius's eyes slowly opened, something had awoken him. Realization, for the first time, truly dawned.

What... the fuck... was that.

Author's Note

Man, this was a pain to write. Especially that last part with the two guards, I must have erased and re-written that whole thing like five times.

The last day dawns on Equestria, and Kaiscillius seems unconcerned about his apparent defeat. What machinations has he wrought, what destruction does one such as have in store? And why now, of all times, do unknown things befall him? Find out, next time.