Just as the carriage was about to land before the palace entrance, Celestia lit her horn, then teleported both herself and Dusk straight to the throne hall. Dusk shook his head, pushing away the momentary dizziness of the translocation.

“I will allow you to explain yourself, Dusk Shine,” she said, then walked imperiously up the steps to her throne and sat down, her gaze upon Dusk both harsh, yet without expression.

Dusk watched the princess ascend to her throne with a lusty smirk. What is it about these mares here in this universe that they cannot keep their tails down? In the few days he has been here, he has seen more plot than he had before back in his world.

“First, can I have a smoke?” he asked. “I need a few minutes to gather my thoughts coherently.”

“No,” she stated flatly. “You will not. This is a throne room, not a place to be filled with your foul habit. It is enough that you sully my hall with your presence, assassin pony. Now, speak.”

“Forsooth, we also wish to hear what he hath to tell us, Sister,” spoke the princess of the night as she entered the hall with her head held stiffly and eyed the shackled form of Dusk as she also took the steps to her own throne.

“Well, well, Dreamwalker,” Dusk acknowledged Princess Luna with a nod, “Have you also come to humiliate me as well? Why am I not surprised to be held in judgement by you two mares? Mares who would rather see me burn at a stake than consider me as a gifted stallion, hm? Am I not like your dear Princess Twilight?”

“Thou art but a scoundrel, nothing like Twilight Sparkle, Dusk,” replied Luna with a snort. “She hath saved our land, whilst thou art but a murderer.”

Dusk stood on his four legs as his horn lit briefly, sending his shackles away with a clatter of the chains. “Ah, yes,” he said with a sly grin. “Now I truly see you as you are, Dreamwalker. You remind me of a line from a poem I heard once before. It goes:

“Cold hearted orb, that rules the night / Removes the colors from our sight…””

Luna sneered, and Celestia noted, “My sister is far from being the cold-hearted creature you speak of. She is as warm-hearted as any pony.”

“Except, she wasn’t before, was she?” Dusk fired back. “I seem to recall where Princess Twilight had to battle against the Dreamwalker as a nightmare.”

“’Twas was not me, but a foul demon,” Luna sneered. “We art much better now.”

“Ah, but that was you, Princess Luna,” Dusk countered. “And you made your dear sister suffer all of those long years during your banishment. That, dear Dreamwalker, was quite cold.”

Silence descended upon the throne hall for several minutes, with Dusk peering at both monarchs with a hint of a grin on his lips.

“You know,” he said then, breaking the uncomfortable silence, “it really is too bad that I never met this Night Mare Moon. I would have gladly offered my services to the Empress of the Night. We would have been unconquerable. With her intelligence and me as her weapon, truly nothing could have stopped us. I would have been quite happy to be her servant.”

“You speak boldly of your abilities, yet you have not shown any of them to us, alicorn,” Celestia spoke with her nose wrinkling in distaste. “Regardless, you are to speak of why you are a kind of monster, a threat to be imprisoned.”

He nodded. “True, true. First, a bit of context.” He then sat on his haunches, only to be lifted again to his four hoofs by Celestia’s magic.

“You will stand,” she said in a chilly tone.

Dusk glared at her. “Fine, Princess.” he snorted mockingly. “Fucking monarchs and their stupid rituals.”

Instead, he turned and began to pace back and forth. “You know about the Harmony Trees, yes?”

“Indeed,” Celestia admitted. “My sister and I have wielded such power before.”

He paused to peer up at her. “Protecting your little ponies, no doubt,” he remarked lightly. “That is one purpose they are meant for, of course. But did you know that they have a greater purpose for being?”

“And, what is that?” Luna asked.

“Firstly, are you aware that there are Harmony Trees all throughout the entire multiverse?”

Celestia gave a nod. “The concept of multiple universes is nothing new to me, or my sister,” she said. “Continue.”

He resumed pacing. “Each and every one of these alternate universes have their own version of a Harmony Tree, meant to be as a protector from in-verse threats and maintain the purity of magic in that universe. But, that is just a secondary purpose. The true purpose of the Harmony Trees is to stand as sentinels against that which exist beyond time and reality, things out there that which threaten all of reality and life.”

“Chaos?” Luna asked.

Dusk shook his head, flattening his ears. “Oh, no, no. Much worse, dear Dreamwalker. Chaos, much as your idiot Discord represents, is simply a version of the reverse of Order, existing beside that which is this reality we all dwell within.

“No, what I speak of exists far beyond the limits of our reality. Forces that would devour not just life, but time itself, creating a vast void where all matter ceases to be.” He again paused to look at both alicorn monarchs. “Within me is such a creature.”

The silence in the hall was palpable and oppressive. Dusk let the import of his admission sink in. After a few moments, he again started to pace. “You see, my world, Equineland, lost our Harmony Tree, opening up a breach where such monsters can freely appear. It was during the Mage Clan Wars that began in Solarian Year 2746 when my world lost its guardian Tree.”

“We also had our version of mages warring,” Celestia noted. “Many centuries ago.”

“The year I was born was Solarian Year 4259,” Dusk told them. “Fifteen hundred years without a Harmony Tree is a long time. Even so, the Clan Wars left much of Equineland devastated. Even in my lifetime, huge swaths of land remains entirely unpopulated by any creature or pony save the hardiest, such as dragons or griffons.

“At any rate, the loss of a Harmony Tree is bad for the universe, as it leaves us unprotected. We think, that is, those whom have survived the Clan Wars which were my teachers, that despite the loss of the harmony Tree in our world, that other Harmony Trees may have built some kind of bridge between adjacent universes to cover the loss of one of their own, which is why our universe was not immediately attacked. Even so, one must have found a way into our unprotected universe. One that I have in myself contained and locked away.”

“One of those monsters of which you mention?” Celestia asked, her ears twisting backwards. “If you have it contained, why should that be a problem to us?”

Dusk looked to Luna. “It is there which I have locked away in my memory,” he replied. “You seek to open that memory, and I am telling both of you that to do so will release that horror upon yourselves.” He backed away, then made a face. “I hope that you won’t mind, but I need to drain my bladder.”

Both princesses chuckled, dispelling the tension. Celestia pointed to a doorway to the side. “Go and take care of your need, Dusk,” she said. “When you return, we will discuss this further.”

Dusk hurried to the indicated door and swiftly disappeared. Celestia and Luna gazed at each other, as if not believing what Dusk was telling them. However, before they could talk, Dusk reappeared with a pleased sigh of relief.

“So, young alicorn,” Celestia said as he stood before her. “What else is there in that memory?”

He sighed, folding his ears and switching his tail. “The worst part of my life,” he replied in a low and sorrowful tone. “One that I wish never to remember ever again. Please, do not make me open that memory! I beg you both, leave it be. If not for my sake, but for yours as well!”

“We have fought many monsters over the long yeas, Dusk Shine,” Celestia stated with a sigh. “What is another? We have our Harmony Tree, so if it does appear out of your memory, I am sure it can be defeated.”

“But not one such as I have in me!” he cried. “That one is an extra-versal creature, a thing that takes several Harmony Trees to hold back! It cannot be fought by a single Tree. The easiest way to prevent your world’s end is to kill me and let my death be its prison forever. Please!”

“Perhaps if I slip inside and peek, I might see enough before anything such as Dusk is saying could manifest itself and escape,” Luna suggested to her white sister, slipping out of her usual archaic speech.

“But what you seek isn’t in the surface of my memory, Dreamwalker,” Dusk stated controlling his desperation. “Buried it many years before I encountered the horror, a horror that I found through my many researches of dark magic. I alone must bear this thing. Please, you must not do this! Please!”

“Do you feel that it may be doable, Luna?” Celestia asked. “Sneak in and get a quick look?”

“Forsooth, sister,” the moon princess replied, nodding.

Dusk sighed heavily, knowing that his pleas was falling on deaf ears. “Fine, Princesses,” he relented. “Allow me a day to prepare myself and unlock that particular memory for you. Now, can I have my cigarette?”

Celestia rolled her eyes, then lit her horn. A bookshelf on the far wall with numerous artifacts moved aside, revealing a set of double doors. The doors opened and let in a blast of frigid air. Dusk swiftly made for the doors, where he found himself on a balcony far above the valley below. Creating a shield, he lit a cigarette and smoked, thinking what he might do to curb the thing within from escaping.

Out of curiosity, Dusk probed the space beyond the balcony where he stood, quickly discovering that it had been shielded. It was immediately apparent that the shield was meant to contain, not prevent any assault from without. He snickered. It felt typical of that old whorse sitting on her plot on her throne. Oh, he had no plans of escaping, yet she had cast a spell to keep him from such an attempt. It did give him time to consider what he could do to get her back. Perhaps, after this is done and past, he might sneak into her private rooms for a night visit…

He suddenly felt a compulsion to return back, and he finished his cigarette hurriedly, then allowed himself to go back into the throne hall with the two old nags. Unsurprisingly, the bookcase slid back to its original place, blocking that exit once again. Dusk stepped to stand before the white alicorn princess and waited for her to speak.

Celestia peered down at him for a moment before she spoke. “My sister and I have talked,” she said without any emotion on her face. “We have concluded that you are a skilled pony with your tongue, but it was easily seen that you must be lying to us. We therefore have decided that you will open your mind to us, regardless of your empty threat, Dusk Shine.”

Keeping himself calm before the sun goddess of this universe, he replied, “I see that you seem to believe that I am some colt that has cried ‘Timberwolf’ far too many times. Fine. I accept your decision, Ancient One. However, when it manifests, don’t go blaming me for it. I jeer your stupidity, but also welcome it. Let us get this over with so I might go on and live, even if the world is reduced to an unlivable habitat. I don’t care anymore.”

He looked up and stared at her. “I will need a day to prepare myself and unlock the spells keeping that memory sealed. Will that be satisfactory, Princess?”

“That will be granted, young colt,” she replied magnanimously.

“Here.” Dusk lit his horn. A paper appeared with a quill, and he wrote on the paper, then glided it to Celestia. “I will require these items to make my preparations. A proper mage robe would be nice, but not necessary.”

“These will be provided, Dusk Shine,” Celestia agreed with a nod.

He then looked at Luna, whose green gaze peered at him with keen interest. “You should have remained as the Nightmare, Princess. That one might have been strong enough to fight what I will become, but better if she had made me her servant.”

“The Nightmare would hath belittled and pushed thee away, Dusk,” Luna replied without any change in her expression.

He shrugged. “No longer my concern,” he insouciantly said. “It was mere speculation anyway.”

“Princess Celestia,” he said after a pause. When the white alicorn looked down at him, Dusk went on. “My reluctance to open up my memory was not meant to keep you away, but rather my attempt to keep something else from appearing and causing great harm in your world. However, as I see that you are determined to see what is there. I must be prepared to battle that. I only hope that my abilities are sufficient to prevent it from breaking out. I had fought it once before when it had been weak back in my home world, and that had been a long struggle then. Contain it I did, but it had been close.”

Celestia gave him a terse grin. “We are thankful for your consideration and warning, Dusk,” she said. “However, all we need is a quick peek to see what you are hiding from us. A small look is all that is required. Should this quote-unquote monster you keep talking about be there and start something, we are well-prepared to fight that off, rest assured, colt.”

“Yeah,” he said in defeat, knowing that his warnings fell on both sets of deaf ears. “Still, it might be best if you put me somewhere secure, just in case. Somewhere deep enough to keep it contained.”

Her smile was grim. “I have such a cell for that, Dusk. My guards will take you there. It won’t be a comfortable room or apartment, but will suffice. After my sister takes a look, we shall see then where you may go from there.”

The door opened, and Dusk turned to find several of Celestia’s Solar Guards waiting to escort him away. He glanced to Luna then. “I will be expecting you tomorrow eve, Dreamwalker,” he said with a bow. “Don’t get too frisky with your Lunar Guards now.”

Luna blushed, hardening her gaze down at him. “I doth never ‘play’ with mine Guards, scoundrel.”

He chuckled. “Selene did, every night.”

“I am not thy ‘Selene’!”

Dusk smirked. “No, you are not her, Dreamwalker. Pretty like Selene, but too tight with your tail.”

He spun about and flicked his tail at the two monarchs, then calmly walked to the Guard contingent. “Sirs,” he gave them a bow. “I trust you know where I am to be led?”

The sub-captain grunted. “That we do, colt. If you will follow us.”

Dusk stepped amongst the Guards and began to walk with them, not bothering to look back. He had a big task ahead now. He felt dread, but perhaps some relief that he could seek a way to rid himself of this darkness within his mind.

Author's Note

Poem line is from the poem at the ending of the song "Nights in White Satin" by the Mood Blues, from their "Days of Future Passed" album. Hard for me to imagine that i was eleven years old when that album came out in 1967.

Pleas don't blame me for my horrible attempt to give Luna's speech the way she should. I am too modern in my speaking, and I have little experience of Shakespearian Middle English beyond what I have read. which is rather sparing, I'll admit.

A short chapter, but that is because I have more to this, so I decided to split the chapter into two parts, thus chapter eight will continue the action here with a surprise...