"AHHHHHHHHGHH!" Fluttershy woke with a blood curdling scream, frantically looking around only to find the silence of her moonlit bedroom greeting her.

It...It was a dream?

She glanced at the vanity mirror on her dresser. The face that greeted her back was disheveled and frightened. It sent a twinge of pain to her head, flashes of the events that happened yesterday passed through her mind. They were fuzzy and incomprehensible, and trying to remember them only made the growing migraine worse. Wincing, she wrestled herself away from the sweat soaked sheets of her bed and cantered towards her reflection, doing a thorough inspection for anything out of the ordinary.

No fangs, bat wings or funneled ears greeted the small mare, a welcome sign pointing towards the apparent nightmare she just experienced. Still, something didn't quite feel right to her. It was too quiet. Too tame. "Something's not right..." Fluttershy whispered. S-something's here...

A clatter rang out from what sounded like the kitchen downstairs. Gulping, she took deep breaths, cautiously opening her bedroom door and creeping down the stairwell as silent as a mouse. Eyes widening in shock, the frightened mare was greeted with a grizzly scene:

Blood was splattered all along the walls throughout her entire household, its crimson hue dry and flaky in some places from days of it being there. Her animal friends were ripped to shreds, entrails decorating her furniture like an ornament on a Hearth's Warming Tree. Fluttershy covered her mouth with both hooves, muffling the scream. Quickly she shut her eyes, hoping the gruesome backdrop would fade.

It's not real, it's not real, IT'S NOT REAL! the poor mare chanted over and over, trying to convince herself it was just another nightmare. Trembling, she opened her eyes only to meet her regular household, no blood or mangled bodies of her animal friends in sight. In fact, they were all sleeping peacefully as usual, minus the nocturnal ones of course.

More rustling was heard from the kitchen, freezing Fluttershy in her place. "H-hello? Is t-there someone in there?" She squeaked out in a frightened tone. The rustling persisted further. "P-p-please c-come out!" She begged the source of the mysterious noise.

Suddenly the rustling stopped, and in the shadow of the moonlight was a silhouette of some sort of demon, frightening the mare even further. "G-GO AWAY!" The poor mare cried, provoking the shadowy demon to creep closer towards her. Trembling, she stepped backwards towards the stairs. "P-please?" It didn't listen, getting ever closer and closer until...

SMACK!

"Youch!" She held up her now sore hoof throbbing with pain.

A plethora of angry chitters rang out from below. "A-angel?!" It seems the resident bunny was helping himself to a late night snack. "You scared me half to death!" Fluttershy berated her pet, only to receive another round of angry chitters and paws pointing to an empty bowl with Angel's name on it. "Did I forget to feed you, my little Angel bunny?" She picked up the peeved fluffy critter, petting him and cuddling him despite his struggles against the iron grip the cream yellow mare had on the bunny. "Oh I'm so sorry Angel bunny! I promise, tomorrow morning I'll make you the biggest, most special salad you can imagine!"

She sauntered over to the kitchen and chopped up a nice fruit salad to give to the bunny, being careful not to wake up all her other animal friends. Smudging a dollop of whipped cream on top, Fluttershy set the bowl down and let him eat the well needed snack. Cleaning up afterwards, Fluttershy trotted back upstairs, completely forgetting about her gruesome vision. "*yawns* I guess it was just Angel Bunny helping himself to some food. I'll make him that special salad he likes tomorrow morning." She climbed back into her bed, falling asleep again and dreaming peaceful dreams...

The Royal city of Canterlot, Luna's private chambers...

"You see? I wasn't fibbing!"

"Hmph" Luna spoke, releasing the dream spell she cast prior, silently observing Fluttershy's nightmare. "What you predicted means nothing, Draconequus." Using her magic, she pried away the curtains blocking her moon's rays, lighting up the small subchamber adjacent to her bedroom. Glaring her teal eyes towards the moon, she sighed solemnly. "No matter what was scryed from either of our minds, the fact of the matter is she isn't aware. We know all too much what that is like..."

SNAP!

A self-playing Fortepiano was summoned into existence and the nearby hearth set aflame. "Oh so you got a little moody for a century, give or take. Big deal!" Discord said, sipping a glass of wine dressed in what looked like a fancy robe and monacle.

"Coming from the one who just 'set the mood' so to speak?"

"What can I say?" He chuckled. "I have a flair for the theatrical!"

The princess of the night chuckled as well. "Aye, that you do!" Her expression immediately turned firm once more. "However, we can no longer monitor this problem. 'Selene' is awakening, that much is certain. She's breaking through your shackles, Discord."

"And she's doing it cleverly, the cheeky little minx! I mean, using dementia? AGAINST ME?!" He threw his mismatched arms in the air in defeat. "It's like strangling the painter with the painting! It doesn't make sense, and for once, that makes me peeved!"

Luna sat down on one of the pillows strewn about in front of the hearth, contemplating. "It really isn't your fault, Discord." She spoke, prodding the fire with an iron poker held aloft by the sapphire aura of her magic. "We knew it was going to happen. That's what happens when you shackle something misunderstood..."

"Yes, we both know that. Twice in my case." Discord agreed.

SNAP!

The Fortepiano jumped out a nearby window, and the fire keeping the hearth lit tapdanced into the kitchen sink and turned on the faucet. "Well, I think time's up according to your sister's six hundred quadrillion ton alarm clock." He pointed to the nearby sunrise through the window.

"Discord?" Luna gazed at the Draconequus one last time, stopping him before he left. "If you plan to free her, please..." She stood up, walking closer. "Don't make another one of us. Save her."

"...I will."

Author's Note

What's real and what's not? Memory is a fickle thing, and easy to manipulate even from our own minds...

Here's a good demonstration:

Imagine a good memory you have of kindergarten. Now, try to picture something small from it, say the teacher's desk. What color was it? Tan? Grey?
Your mind will tell you one color even though it might have been the other. Both rational and irrational parts of your mind are battling it out, trying to tell you the answer. Tan and Grey.

Was discord there? Was "Selene" there? Or was it simply the two sides of her mind, fighting for control?

"Discord" might have been her rational side whilst "Selene" was her inhibitions and her irrational side being "reigned in" or "chained"...

Or, I might just be an evil writer who wants to essentially break your mind as well as Fluttershy's. Who knows? Maybe the desk was in fact black, with a tan accent/vice versa?