Loose Pages

Chapters

Reshelving Day (xTSGx)
Sundial (Polychromatic)
Remorseful Brooding (Kassaz)
Echoes of Choice (Zaid ValRoa)
A Shadowy Pursuit (Math Spook)
Political Strife (Etyco Filly)
Plotholes (Not That Anon)
Please Nerf Pinkie Pie She's Far Too Overpowered And Authors Keep Using Her As An Easy Plot Device (Jinxed)
Big Book Diplomacy (Gold Meddle)
YOU ARE ALREADY SHIPPED (Captain Neckbeard)
BUT NOT LEAVING ALONE (Odd_Sarge)
LUCID DREAM (Reviewfilly)
A Dream of Morning (xTSGx)

Reshelving Day (xTSGx)

“Spike, deary, would you be so kind as to grab my pincushion from the bottom drawer of the armoire?”

Spike nodded, “Sure thing, Rarity.” He practically floated over to the mahogany cabinet, reached inside, and pulled out a purple pincushion before floating back over. “Here you go.”

She looked up, the glasses she was wearing slipping down her snout an inch or two. “Ah, thank you.” She grabbed a dozen pins in her telekinesis and strategically poked them into the mannequin in front of her. Her horn sputtered for a second, causing her to frown and glance over at the table next to her with her sewing equipment on it.

The frown deepened. “Spike, darling, could you go over to the encoignure and fetch me a pair of number 3 scissors?”

He nodded again. Even when frowning, she was beautiful. “Sure thing, Rarity.” He started walking, but the corner of the room seemed to lengthen, causing him to break into a run. Just as he approached the white corner cabinet, Opal suddenly sprinted at him and slammed into his side, knocking him to the lush carpet.

He sat up, shaking his head. “What?”

Opal was now holding a long metal rod in between her front paws. She was wearing an ornate white and gold landsknecht uniform. Despite being a good ten feet away, the rod was right next to him. The rod gently bent and bobbed in the air.

He stared. “…What?”

Opal thrust the rod forward, gently poking Spike in his side.

“Ah!” He jumped back, but the rod had grown in length and was again right next to him. Opal poked again.

“Ah! Stop it!”

Another poke.

“Stop!”

Another poke.

“C’mon!”

Twilight smirked when Spike finally shifted out from under his blanket and opened his eyes. She levitated the pencil back to its spot on the desk by the bed. “Good, you’re awake.” She ignored his glare. “Up and at ’em, Spike.” She could hardly contain her excitement. It had been circled on the calendar for weeks.

“It’s reshelving day!” she squealed out.

Spike groaned, throwing the blanket back over his head. “Great.”

Twilight swallowed the last of the tea, the cup carefully levitating back to the saucer, and greedily looked from the kitchen to Golden Oaks’ “Reading Room,” where most of its collection sat. This would be the first official reshelving of the library. Sure, the books had been sorted before due to some monster attack or when one of Rainbow’s stunts went wrong and upended the whole building, but those had always been ad hoc affairs. Now, it was time to do it right. Nice and formal, just like the Canterlot Archives required. Speaking of.

She floated over the book. Four hundred pages. Beige cover. Title in fourteen point Times New Romane font. Its menacing, bureaucratic aura could be felt from a mile away, threatening to swallow any unlucky or prideful fool in subparagraphs, tables, and codices. The Standards and Practices for Equestria’s Libraries and Book Depositories, XXVI Edition.

The bookmark had already been placed in the relevant subsection: Libraries are to conduct a formal audit and reshelving of their contents no less than once per year. This audit shall be done for the following reasons:

To ensure all items are accounted for
To assess potential damage from patron wear and tear and gauge possible remedies
To keep items neat and organized for easy access by patrons
To rotate out unpopular or unused items

She hadn’t done any of that since they got here. Any of the “reshuffles” that had been done were quick, messy affairs. There was no precision or organization to them. And definitely no standards that were followed. A small part of her mind worried what the Princess might think of her slouching her librarian duties. She’d been living for free in a government building and hadn’t done a thing to follow the rules—No! She shook her head. She wouldn’t turn this into another freakout.

She glanced toward the sink, where Spike was scrubbing the last few dishes from breakfast. He’d never let her forget it if she had a meltdown now. He was still bringing up the crayon incident. No, she’d take this nice and calm. It was just a regular part of being Ponyville’s librarian.

The teacup and saucer floated to the sink, causing Spike to grumble something under his breath she didn’t quite catch, while she walked into the Reading Room to begin the process. According to the book, every item in the building had to be removed from the shelves and checked for damage. It was a tedious and mind-numbing process that would fill thousands of words of narration.

If it had been done by a non-unicorn. But luckily for Twilight, unicorns were huge nerds and long ago had created dozens of spells for libraries, bookshelves, and bookcases. And luckily for Spike, Twilight could also be counted among the ranks of said huge nerds and knew nearly all of the spells by heart. She took a deep breath as her horn began to glow.

Spike walked in a few minutes later. “You know, Twilight, we really have to have a talk about the dish washing sche—” He stopped as the middle seven volumes of The Equestrian Linguistical Reference Encyclopedia floated by in a magenta glow. He looked up. Hundreds of books fluttered around in the air, all in a neat row that wrapped its way around Golden Oaks Library. Every once in a while, a book would break formation and float down to its spot on a bookshelf.

Twilight sat in the middle of the room. Next to her was a stack of ragged and disheveled books. A few had bent or worn-down spines. One had crayon drawings all over it. Just as he started wondering why, he got his answer as another book broke from the parade above and drifted down onto the pile, this one having crumpled and stained pages from water damage.

He started walking toward her, looking back up at the literature that danced above. “Wow, Twilight. This is really impressive. I thought we’d be here for hours getting paper cuts. Twilight?”

She seemingly hadn’t heard a word he said. She was mumbling to herself, staring intently at a book in her hooves. “Why you? It doesn’t make any sense.”

Spike tried again, “Twilight?”

She jumped up slightly and looked over. “Oh, Spike. Sorry, I didn’t hear you.”

“What’s wrong?”

She shook her head. “Oh, I’m sure it’s nothing.” She held up the book. It had a white cover with purple accents around the title. “The Princess’s autobiography, My Golden Daylight, wasn’t affected by my book spell. It just sat tucked away, hidden in the back of a bookshelf.” She looked back down at it. “I don’t know why, though. Maybe she put some kind of enchantment on them or something.”

Spike walked over to get a better look at the title. “Wait, My Golden Daylight?”

She nodded. “Yeah. The dust jacket calls it her ‘quintessential biography.’ I can’t wait to read it. I didn’t even know she wrote one! But first, I have to figure out why it’s not reshelving correctly.”

He looked at the title. “That title’s not My Golden Daylight. It’s How to Sweep a Unicorn Off Her Hooves: A Romance Guide.”

Twilight glanced down at the book in her hooves, then back to Spike. She looked at him like he had grown a second head. “What are you talking about, Spike? This is the Princess’s autobiography.”

“Lemme see that!” He grabbed it from her and flipped open the dust jacket to read the synopsis. His voice took on a monotone as he read. “Ever wonder what goes on behind that horn? Want to see her smile cutely when you talk? Scared she’ll vaporize you if you say the wrong thing? Well, wonder no more. In this immersive, step-by-step guide, you’ll finally be able to say all the right things to impress, amaze, and dazzle the love of your life and finally get the mare of your dreams.”

Twilight yanked the book back with a flare of telekinesis. She looked at the dust jacket again, then the back cover, then the title page. None of them said anything like that. “Hmm. Spike, go get the library’s reference catalog.”

“But, Twiilight,” he whined like a baby dragon. “Don’t you have a spell for that?”

“Sorry, Spike, but I’m not too trusting of magic at the moment,” she mumbled, her eyes still glued to the title page. It was definitely the Princess’s autobiography. It had to be. The words were staring her in the face. But why didn’t she ever mention writing one? Why hadn’t Twilight ever heard of it before? And why hadn’t her book spell detected it? It was all leading her down a worrisome road.

Spike tapped her withers and handed her the small ledger. Golden Oaks Library was tiny compared to those in the cities. Its catalog was comparatively small. She set it down and flipped it open. It only took her a few seconds to get to the relevant page. She frowned and turned a few more pages. “They’re not in Golden Oaks’ catalog.”

Spike shrugged. “So? Maybe somepony left it here or it’s part of some local ‘leave a book, take a book’ lending thing?”

Worry gleamed in her eyes. “No, I don’t think it is. And that doesn’t explain why we’re seeing two different books.” She looked at him. “Get me the Canterlot Archives catalog.”

“What!? You’ve got to be kidding me, Twilight. You know how big that thing is?”

She nodded. “I do, now go get it. Quick.”

He crossed his arms. “Don’t you have a spell that can do this? It’s all the way in the basement for pony’s sake.”

“No, I told you, I don’t tru—”

He threw a hand dismissively at her as he walked away, toward the basement door. “Yeah, yeah. Don’t trust magic. But you sure trust me to do all the work.” He grumbled out the last part.

Twilight shook her head in annoyance. Couldn’t he see what was happening here? The worry was building with each passing minute. She hadn’t realized it, but she’d slowly edged away from where the white book sat on the floor. It was no longer glistening with the temptation to read like it had been only minutes earlier, or maybe it was and she was just doing a far better job of ignoring it.

The basement door slammed open, making her ears perk up. Spike huffed and groaned as he shakily stepped out. The fifteen-hundred-page brown catalog book was slightly larger than he was. He struggled to hold it in his grasp. “A—A little help?” he wheezed out. “Whoa!” The book suddenly lifted from his grasp, suspended in a telekinetic glow. He glared at her. “Not too trusting, huh?”

She ignored him. The book settled to the wood floor in front of her with a loud thump. The Canterlot Archives was Equestria’s “Lender of Last Resort.” If a library didn’t have a book to loan, and no other libraries in the region did either, a librarian could contact the Archives, and ask for the book, using the Archives’ catalog number. This massive brown tome contained every item available for checkout from the Archives. If it didn’t have it, either it didn’t exist, or the Archives wouldn’t allow it to leave the premises. Neither alternative was good.

She opened it and began flipping through the pages. It was clear Golden Oaks hadn’t needed the Lender of Last Resort in quite some time. A small cloud of dust wafted into the air. Despite Spike’s hacking, she paid it no mind. Her focus was on the catalog.

Her eyes narrowed when she found the page she was looking for. She flipped a dozen more pages and winced. “They’re not here, either.”

Spike leaned over to look down at the catalog, a handkerchief over his snout. “What?”

She slammed the book closed and stood up. “They’re not in the Canterlot Archives. Neither My Golden Daylight nor How to Woo a Unicorn exist!”

“How to Sweep a Unicorn—”

“Whatever!” she huffed. “They don’t exist, Spike. They’re not real books.”

Spike looked down at the white book that still lay on the floor. “If they’re not real, then what’s that book?”

Twilight looked down at it as well. The white cover looked so inviting, like the perfect thing to read, but who really knew what words were written on its pages? “I don’t know, Spike. But we’re going to find out.”

Sundial (Polychromatic)

Twilight stared at the book, and it seemed to be staring back at her, taunting her. She had it resting atop a small table, covered by a glass cloche, with a light pointed at it. As if it could risk running away on its own. Obviously it couldn't. It had been sitting in its spot in the library for who knew how long, presumably, and it didn't seem capable of moving on its own. Yet she couldn't be completely sure. That was making her increasingly nervous.

She'd run tests on it, but they had all returned nothing. It was as if the book itself was completely unaffected by magic. She could levitate it and move it around, and even teleport it, sure, but everything else she'd tried as far as scanning it went simply bounced off without so much as a single reaction. It felt like some spells phased right through it, as if it wasn't there. The few pieces of physical equipment she'd pointed at it hadn't returned anything noteworthy either. It was by all means a seemingly normal book, of average weight for its size, with no discernible magical properties.

And yet it wasn't. It couldn't be. She'd run other tests, too, of the more practical kind. She'd had other ponies come in to look at the book. Pinkie saw it as a collection of baking recipes. Rainbow Dash saw a new Daring Do book. Bon Bon had seen it as a book on cartomancy, apparently. Twilight herself still saw Celestia's autobiography, and Spike still saw it as a guide to wooing a unicorn. Everyone saw it in different colours, too, from the white and purple Spike saw to the patchwork of colours Pinkie had described. She hadn't had anyone read the book, of course, even if it had been particularly hard to convince Rainbow Dash not to.

She was at an impasse. All she could figure out was that the book was clearly magical, and that it actively wanted to be read. It was unclear whether it could actively read ponies' minds or if it merely acted passively, but it was clearly presenting itself as something they would want to read, and something that didn't exist. She'd checked all the titles she'd been given by the ponies she'd shown the book to, and indeed none of those were in the archives. It didn't seem like the book was actively tempting ponies beyond changing its appearance, though.

Twilight rolled onto her back over the sofa, still staring at the book. She liked a mystery to solve, and a challenge to overcome, but after hours of going at it she felt like she'd exhausted all the options she could think of. And the book could be dangerous. There was no telling what would happen once somepony actually read it, but she wasn't about to trust a magical book that hid its own magical properties and tried to trick ponies into opening it.

She was smarter than trying to open it herself. She recognised her own talents and abilities as a magic user, but she also recognised that the book was clearly beyond them. That stung a little, but it was also exciting, in a way. Or it would have been, if she hadn't run out of ways to try to figure out what exactly was going on with it. Twilight didn't like admitting defeat, but she also acknowledged that the book could be dangerous. All things considered, she really only had one option.

"Spike?" she called out, rolling back onto her belly.

"Yes?" Spike called back from the other room.

"Take a letter." Twilight sat up and cleared her throat. "Dear Princess Celestia..."

The train to Canterlot wasn't particularly busy, and while some of the passengers did chat among each other the carriage was overall rather quiet. Twilight could hear the chugging of the wheels beneath them as she leaned against the window, looking out to Ponyville down below as the train climbed its way up the mountain. She tried to relax, yet her eyes were inevitably drawn back to the briefcase resting at her side, just as her mind was inevitably drawn back to its contents.

She'd explained the situation to Celestia in her letter. The Princess had thanked her for being careful and suggested she come to Canterlot so they could look at the book together. After that, Twilight had gone back to finish Golden Oaks' reshelving, and she'd gotten together a list of all the books that needed replacing. The book had been left on its table, and it hadn't moved from there. It was still there the morning after. Twilight had slept poorly that night, her thoughts swirling around the mystery the tome held.

The briefcase was locked and enchanted with all sorts of security spells. It was probably unnecessary, since the book hadn't shown any signs of moving on its own, but Twilight figured it was better to be on the careful side. Without thinking, Twilight brought a hoof to rest over the briefcase, even as she forced herself to look out the window again.

"I'm sure Princess Celestia will figure out what's up with it." Sitting at her side, Spike reassured her.

Twilight merely hummed a response.

By the time the train rolled into Canterlot's station, she still hadn't calmed down. If anything, she was growing a little more jittery. "What if it's something really simple I didn't think of and she laughs at me?" she lamented as she walked off the train, with Spike resting on her back.

"Relax, Twilight," Spike reassured her once again. "She's the one who asked to see you, remember? And I'm sure you would have figured it out if it really was simple."

Twilight took a deep breath. "You're right." Briefcase in tow, she began to make her way towards the castle.

The walk there was uneventful, even if Twilight couldn't shake her nervousness. Once at the gates, the guards let her through with a nod, and she walked in and began to make her way through the tall marble corridors. From his spot on her back, Spike asked, "Do you think we'll have time to pay mom and dad a visit?"

"I'd like that, but I don't know," Twilight replied. "I guess we'll see." She stopped walking in front of a tall set of double doors. She swallowed, took a deep breath, looked to the briefcase floating at her side one more time, and pushed the doors open.

The room beyond them was tall and long, with a vaulted ceiling and stained glass windows lining the sides. An expensive red carpet led from the entrance to the opposite end of the room, and there, on a raised podium atop a small staircase, sat Princess Celestia. She smiled as she saw Twilight. "My faithful student. Please, do come forward."

Twilight bowed her head slightly before the Princess, and so did Spike, who had gotten off her back. Together they walked down the length of the room, while Celestia stood from her seat and moved to greet them halfway. "It's a pleasure to see you, Princess," Twilight said. "Though I do wish the circumstances were different." She eyed the briefcase again.

Celestia looked at it too, a hint of apprehension entering her features. "Indeed. Let us not waste any more time, then." She nodded towards the briefcase. "Please, show me."

Twilight nodded. She took a step back, set the briefcase on the ground, and one by one began to undo all the magical locks and seals placed on it. The process took about a minute. Finally, with one last flash of light from Twilight's horn, the latches on the briefcase came undone and it slid open. The book lay inside, surrounded by foam panels cut to keep it still in the middle.

Celestia's horn lit, and she picked the book up in her magic. Her expression was unreadable as she scanned the cover first, then the dust jacket. Twilight and Spike both looked at her. After a few more seconds of silent contemplation, she set the book down into the briefcase again. "Spike?" she said, looking at the little dragon.

"Yeah?"

She smiled at him. "This is going to get really boring, so you're free to go for now. Shining should be in the west wing of the castle, if you want to go say hi to him. You still know your way around the palace, right?"

"Of course," Spike replied. He looked to Twilight, and after she nodded he scampered off back towards the door and disappeared behind it.

Celestia spoke again. "Twilight, I'm afraid I'll have to hold you a while longer. I hope that's okay with you."

"Of course, Princess," Twilight said.

"Very well." Celestia teleported in a scroll and unfurled it. "This is the letter you sent. Is the list of spells you tried on the book listed here exhaustive, or did you try something else?" She levitated the scroll down to Twilight's eyes so she could read it.

Twilight scanned over Spike's writing for a few seconds. "I believe that's everything."

"Very well." Celestia rolled the scroll back up and made it vanish in a flash of magic. "There are a few more tests I'd like to perform." She closed the briefcase, picked it up in her magic, and began to walk towards the door. "Please follow me."

Twilight walked behind Celestia. Together they made their way down the corridors and across the castle's hallways, up spiral staircases and past tall windows and doors, until they eventually reached a part of the castle Twilight wasn't familiar with. As she looked around curiously, Celestia led her through a door into a room lined with tables filled with scientific and magical equipment. The briefcase was set down on a table in the middle of the room. Celestia opened it again and took out the book.

The next few hours were spent running all sorts of magical experiments on the book. Twilight marvelled at the sheer amount of spells Celestia knew, and she felt more than a little humbled as well. There was also the simple matter of what equipment was available there, far more than what she'd had back in Ponyville. The Sun was still climbing in the sky when she'd arrived in Canterlot, but it had begun its descent when the two of them finally took a break to have something to eat.

Truth be told, it felt nice. Twilight hadn't felt that close to Celestia since moving to Ponyville, and she'd missed it more than she'd realised. Perhaps that was why the book tempted her with an autobiography of the Princess. Perhaps Celestia had missed her too, and that was why she'd chosen to help out personally rather than have someone else look at the book.

Regardless of all that, though, things were not looking too well. Despite all their tests and all the spells and time spent, the book was still refusing to give up any of its mysteries. Twilight grumbled wordlessly as she bit into her daisy sandwich. Celestia was a bit less perturbed, but she did seem pensive as well.

She swallowed a bite of her own food, and then she spoke. "Perhaps the only solution is to read the book, after all."

Twilight looked at her weird. "But, Princess... That's..."

"That's what the book wants, yes," Celestia replied. "But whatever enchantments were placed on it, they seem to be beyond even my understanding. I wholly admit defeat on the matter. If we want to figure out what exactly the book does, reading it seems to be the only option left." She took a sip of tea as Twilight pondered her words. "Of course, we shouldn't."

Twilight blinked a few times, tilting her head, but then she nodded. "So what you're saying is that we should let the book be?"

Celestia nodded as well. "At this point, that may be the best solution. There are some things that are best left ignored. The book may be dangerous, or it may not be, but if we can't determine whether it is or not without endangering somepony, then it's for the best if we just leave it somewhere it can't hurt anypony. It's not worth the risk."

Twilight pondered those words awhile. Eventually, she gave a sigh. "I guess you're right." She still looked a little dejected though.

Celestia smiled at her. "I know. It's bothersome to go without an answer. But sometimes that's what life is like." She took another sip of her tea. "Why don't you go see Shining and Spike? I'll take care to place the book where it can do no harm."

Twilight still looked a little off, but after a deep breath in and out she gave Celestia a nod. "Alright then. Thank you for everything. I'll come see you again before I leave." She stood, having finished her sandwich, and walked out the door and away from the room.

Celestia finished her tea. Then she calmly stood up and walked back to the table where the book was resting. She looked at it, scanning its red cover and black title once more.

There was, of course, another possibility. That the book wasn't malicious at all, and that the contents it would show were genuine. It was unlikely to be the case, but it wasn't impossible. She wasn't willing to risk anypony else's well being. But if there was one pony she trusted with being able to deal with any potential evil spells the book may hold, it was her own self. And in the event she ended up corrupted by it, she trusted Twilight and her friends to restore things to their rightful state. She doubted the book was stronger than the Elements.

It was a dangerous gamble to take, and it would have been far safer to let the book be, as she herself had suggested. But she couldn't let the chance pass her by. Not with what the book promised her, and her alone. It was her own safety she was risking, after all, and she deemed it a risk worth taking.

Celestia opened the book, and began to read.

Remorseful Brooding (Kassaz)

The sun was late today, not enough for most anypony to notice. A minute was an acceptable deviation, and not even that had occurred. Regardless, Princess Celestia could expect a letter in the post soon enough from the Canterlot Astrological Society noting as much. She didn’t care—they wouldn’t visit her at the castle—so they couldn’t possibly notice anything truly unusual, and nopony else would so much as suspect something to be amiss.

She put on her regalia, had breakfast, held court, and had an otherwise perfectly normal day; once she was finished and retired to her bedchambers, she unlocked the hidden latch in her private desk, and by a series of shifting panels held the book in her magical grip. She gingerly set it on her bed, lit her fireplace in an instant, grabbed a cup of tea from the serving cart she had earlier requested, and sat flat on the bed as she looked at the book while occasionally sipping her tea.

The book took on a form showing the reader what she most desired to read, with everypony seeing something different. Celestia had chuckled upon Twilight Sparkle telling her of its appearance being that of her autobiography; her purple student so loved her and, when the unicorn had been unable to learn anything about the nature of the book, brought it to her. Celestia had known, from the moment she saw it, that she would read it, and everypony was so trusting of her that it hadn’t been hard to fib just a little and get it from her. There hadn’t been too much to fib about, she hadn’t lied about the book’s alien nature. The book was perhaps a possessed grimoire, or perhaps a phylactery, so skillfully-crafted that its activation function was impossible to discern. Reading it from beginning to end could have it fulfill its alien purpose, as could anything before then.

She stared at the cover for a few minutes before opening it this time. It was a simple photo album, like many ponies kept in their homes, with a basic white trim on its red cover; on the front near the center were the black words “family photos” clearly written by hoof, but not her hoof. His.

The sun was late today, not enough for most ponies to notice. Twenty minutes weren’t an unheard of deviation, and she could move the sun across the heavens a little faster to compensate until noon. Regardless, most ponies trusted her judgment well enough to not question her about this. There was only one mare in the castle who may ask her about it, so she’d need to plan her responses in advance. No court would be held today, which suited her just fine. Her bedchambers were dark, she hadn’t bothered to light the fireplace this time; she could read by the light her body emitted.

She opened the book, and read up to her current point again. There were few words, the book’s pages were filled almost entirely by glued photographs, and there was even the occasional memento attached, which she dared not to disturb.

It showed everything she’d done with him, exactly matching her memory, and more. The first photograph was simple: They were standing before one of the castle’s entrances, her mouth slightly curved into a smile and he so very nervous. The next showed them at a table in one of the finest Canterlotonian restaurants; she remembered it so very clearly, but there had never been a photographer present to take such a picture. She doubted her memory, but once again violently banished the thought and continued to turn the pages.

There they were, at their wedding which had never happened. Celestia involuntarily took a deep breath, and didn’t notice when she started crying. Before her falling tear could touch the book’s page, it was caught in her magic, and she turned her attention towards it for a moment. Perhaps that was how the book awoke itself, by driving the reader to tears. She tossed the tear onto her bedsheets and wiped her eyes with a tissue; she blew her nose in it before continuing.

One photograph showed her heavy with foal and knitting a pink little outfit. She was smiling more than she could ever remember and had her tongue sticking out at the camera, eyes closed. She turned the page to reveal a photograph taken of a sweet little foal who had a brown coat and a black mane; she could see her body dwarfing his in the background. It couldn’t be the truth, the book had to be lying to her, showing her what she wanted to see. As she turned the pages, she saw that adorable foal grow into a colt, then a stallion, and watched his sire grow older too.

She kept reading until there was a knock on her door. Her face twisted in anger just a little, for just a moment, by just the smallest narrowing of her eyes and curling of her lips, before she put on her happy face again. If the guards had allowed somepony to disturb her, it was easy to narrow down who that pony may be. She put the book under her pillow, slid backwards from the bed, and willed herself to stand before the door. “You may come in.”

Princess Luna had been on the other side of the door, and pranced into the room. “Hello, dearest sister.”

Celestia responded with a slightly-exaggerated tone. “Hello, only sister.”

Luna laughed exactly once. “Nevertheless. We came to enquire about the heavens, and the cause for the sun’s late rising. We did not see thee at breakfast either.” Luna’s smile disappeared. “Art thou feeling well, sister?”

“Oh, you needn’t worry about me.” Celestia remembered her canned, sarcastic answer and used it after only an appropriate delay. “I was just reading a good book is all, and lost track of the time.”

“Oh, pray tell us the title, dear sister. So many books have been written during our absence, and we wish to read all of the good ones!” Luna was once again smiling.

Celestia’s smile faltered, but perhaps Luna hadn’t seen. “I don’t believe you would like it; it’s a book of romance.”

“Oh, but we love romance!” Luna smiled and clapped her forehooves together for a moment, her wings flapping once to keep her steady; then she frowned for another moment. “Well, so long as it is a proper story of romance. One of the maids once suggested to us a romance book, about lesbians.” Luna had leaned in and whispered those last two words, eyes wide; she then pulled her head back and put on a satisfied, regal face. “We made her scrub the toilets exclusively for a moon, after that.”

Celestia wanted to enjoy this conversation, but time spent with Luna was time spent away from the book. “Well perhaps later, little sister, once I’ve finished it.” It occurred to her she could claim the book to concern itself with lesbians, or stallions, but that would be too on the muzzle, too obvious. “I’ll leave the night to you now, if you won’t mind.” She very nearly glanced at her pillow hiding the book. “I’d like to retire early today.”

“Sister, what is wrong? Please tell us.” Celestia saw her horn glow and could tell Luna cast a soundproofing spell on the room after that question. Celestia sighed.

“I don’t want to talk about it, sister. Is that good enough?” Celestia could tell it wouldn’t be.

“Sister, do not let your heart ache in isolation. We have made that mistake, and regret it dearly. Please, tell us what is wrong.” Luna stepped closer, and Celestia didn’t move.

“I was remembering an old flame. Now is that enough to satisfy your curiosity?” Neither of them were smiling now.

“No, it’s not. We know about the book, sister, but thought it best to leave it alone. Now we can see it is far more severe than we first thought.” Luna read the surprise from Celestia’s eyes and answered it immediately. “Spike told us about the book. We happened upon him in the castle whilst thou and Twilight Sparkle were examining it.”

Celestia cursed herself for not considering that possibility. She hadn’t been able to think clearly from the moment she saw it.

“On what appearance does this book take under thy gaze?” Luna was no longer blinking, instead wide-eyed to place each and every movement Celestia made under the heaviest scrutiny.

“It shows me the life I almost had with him, the life I almost made with him.” Luna interrupted her with four words, “’Tis an illusion, sister.”

Celestia started to raise her voice. “He got to grow old alongside me. I got to continue his bloodline within mine,” she paused and her next words were angrier, “rather than watch it soak into the ground.”

“Give us the book, sister.” Luna’s voice was as calm and sweet as she could make it. “Now, before this worsens.” Celestia’s response was one word, “no.”

Luna continued. “Let us send it to the moon.” That was Luna’s answer for everything she wanted to banish. Celestia wanted to argue that doing so could activate it, but that was very unlikely, and it was unlikely to do any harm if there in any case. She didn’t need an argument, however.

“If you want it, you must take it from me, little sister.” Celestia had made certain to strongly emphasize that penultimate word. They stared at each other for what felt like ten minutes. Luna still wasn’t blinking.

“Please, sister.” Luna had tears in her eyes and, while Celestia wanted to dismiss them from her lack of blinking, she couldn’t. She was feeling either guilt, or the influence of the book waning.

“Sister, please, let us not squabble over this. The book could very well be an instrument of Discord.” That was true, the book could be designed to start a fight, and unleash its power in the resulting chaos. That was in-character for the snake. She should smash that eyesore of a statue into pieces. “Sister, why dost thou have such a look of hatred in thine eyes? We are scared, sister.” Celestia hadn’t realized her face was matching her thoughts; she was usually better about that. No, smashing that statue wouldn’t be right. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and sighed.

“I’m sorry, little sister.” This time the penultimate word was said without hatred. “I was thinking about something else, something about which I shouldn’t think again.” She opened her eyes, and gave her warmest look. “You’re right. I should stop reading the book. That’s what’s most likely to unleash its power, whatever that power is.”

“It appeared to me as a photo album.” Her magic moved her pillow, uncovering the book, and brought it between them. “Here, Luna.” Luna didn’t take it. For the first time in several minutes, she blinked, new fright on her face. “What do you see in the book?”

Luna’s magic shakily covered the book, and Celestia allowed her grip on it to dissipate in-turn. The book appeared to be about one thousand years old; it was dusty, tattered, and the first few blank pages had many holes in them from silverfish, pages which had only been revealed as the book seemed to nearly fall apart. “The title of the book is,” Luna paused and swallowed, “The reign of Nightmare Moon.”

Echoes of Choice (Zaid ValRoa)

Princess Luna pondered the worn tome before her, its aged surface telling a tale of its own. Faint stains, scuffed edges, odd cuts here and there. Each mark of wear and tear deepened the mystery of the book’s title.

Luna supposed that a book that showed one’s desires was interesting, but upon seeing the words “The Reign of Nightmare Moon” emblazoned with letters that at one point may have had paint, she couldn’t help but feel her heart stir with emotions she had thought forgotten.

“Luna?” Celestia's voice interrupted her thoughts, bringing her back into her sister’s private quarters.

Blinking, Luna looked up at her sister. Celestia looked… Shocked. A positive, all things considered. After hearing that title, she wouldn’t have blamed her sister for looking scared, or even angry.

“The book…” Celestia started. “Sister, do you…?”

Luna sighed. Honestly, there was a part of her that would’ve liked to wallow in self-pity. But Celestia’s ordeal with the book had obviously left her in an emotional state. Very well. If she had to be the rational one this evening, she would step up to the role.

“No, sister. Of course not.” She brought a hoof to the book and dragged it across the surface. Hmph. Leather. “Consider what the title doth imply.”

The shock on Celestia’s face gave way to confusion as she forced herself to follow Luna’s instructions. “It… Has to be a recounting of what would have happened had… Had things played out differently.”

One day, they would be able to think back to those days as nothing more than a bad memory. Until then, the scarred tissue would remain.

“Quite so. If our instinct is correct, this is a chronicle of what would have befallen Equestria under the dominion of the Nightmare.” Luna then locked eyes with her sister and regarded her with a stare that—hopefully—would show she was being earnest. “And history is written after the deed.”

Only a few seconds of silence passed before a warm softness enveloped her. Her sister’s wing. “Luna, you don’t have to read it if you don’t want to. The last thing I wish is to cause you more pain.”

She looked up at the warmth irradiating from her sister’s eyes. Up this close, she was almost reminded of their mother. At that, Luna had to suppress a smirk. Celestia would certainly hate to hear that.

“We spent centuries with naught but our anger and our shadow, dear sister. There is naught this book could conjure that could surpass what our mind, addled by rage as it was, did evoke during our exile.”

“Oh, Luna…” Celestia said as she leaned forward to nuzzle her.

“As much as the affection is appreciated, it would be best to ‘get over withoverwith’, as they say. Besides, there may be something salvageable from whatever the book’s pages hold.”

Her sister smiled. It was a small smile, but it was a good sign. Truth be told, she was more than a little bit curious herself. So, without further ado, she opened the book and looked for the first legible section.

The era of celestial discord under Nightmare Moon highlights the fragility of cosmic balance and equine resilience. Following her victory over Princess Celestia, Nightmare Moon established her rule, plunging Equestria into eternal night. The celestial orb’s radiance was replaced by a foreboding shroud following Princess Celestia’s disappearance, and Nightmare Moon swiftly took control of Equestria’s governance. Through her indomitable sorcery, she maintained a semblance of normalcy: crops flourished under eerie lunar light, and fauna adapted to the new nocturnal rhythm. Despite the perpetual night, daily life persisted under her enchantments, showcasing both her power and the adaptability of Equestria’s inhabitants.

"That’s… oddly positive," Celestia said, head tilted.

Princess Luna looked back at the book. "Written after the fact, sister. We have no way of discerning what is being omitted."

Celestia’s head swayed from side to side. "That is true. It is certainly lacking in details regarding… I suppose 'disappearance' is a better fate, comparatively speaking."

Her sister was right. Had the Nightmare brought a worse fate upon Celestia, the book would have certainly made a mention about it. Either singing praises or lamenting the vanquishing of the sun.

“Whichever the case, it is most surprising that the eternal night did not bring immediate doom upon Equestria.”

"You mentioned enchantments upon the moonlight itself. A clever solution, dare I say. It would go some lengths towards making life easier."

Luna arched an eyebrow. "Thou dost not sound disturbed, sister."

Celestia’s eyes flashed with longing as she looked back at the mess of pillows over her bed. "It is as you told me, sister. The book is but an illusion. A collection of might have beens and little more."

Luna smiled. "Verily. Shall we see what other mysteries this 'might have been' doth hold?"

"If you're okay with it."

Turning her attention back to the book, she carefully flipped the old pages until finding another page that caught her attention. "This should suffice. Let us see how the Nightmare dealt with governance."

Nightmare Moon’s rise to power marks a crucial epoch in Equestrian history, plunging the once-diurnal realm into eternal night. As the sole ruler, she used her formidable sorcery to maintain unyielding order through her lunar enchantments. Neighbouring nations—gryphons, minotaurs, and changelings—opposed the perpetual night, but their protests were met with Nightmare Moon’s swift and decisive subjugation. Employing her unparalleled magical prowess, she dismantled their autonomy, rendering their leaders subservient to Equestria. These once-proud nations became part of her expanding nocturnal empire, ensuring that Equestria, under her rule, remained supreme and unchallenged.

Luna furrowed her brow. “Was that truly the only matter of concern to thee, Nightmare?”

“Luna?” Her sister regarded her with a concerned look. A sisterly concern. A worry over her own state of mind rather than the disquieting events she’d just read.

Knowing her sister valued her well-being so much brought her some comfort. However, it did nothing for the frustration forming in her mind. With a shake of her head, she spoke. “We feel ourselves imbued with disappointment that after the Nightmare gained control of Equestria, it did naught but continue the same with other nations. It appears there was little more to her than an insatiable hunger for power.” She saw her sister’s expression grow contrite. She supposed her disparaging words could easily be interpreted as a twisted way of self-inflicted admonishment. “I must say, however, that she doth seem efficient.”

That did the trick. Celestia’s eyes grew wide for a moment before she let out a snort most unfitting of royalty.

“Thou canst not deny that maintaining diplomatic relations with other lands doth not seem high upon her list of worries,” she added, with a disinterested shrug for emphasis.

Celestia pursed her lips. “Hmmm… I suppose hearing you say that shouldn’t surprise me. I distinctly remember a little filly throwing away a chess board when I tried teaching her, so many years ago.”

A scoff. “Really, sister. Thou dost hold onto the silliest of things. Thou dost not hear me bringing up how thou didst force thy asparagus onto my plate when we were but children.”

Both held their silence before a few giggles managed to escape them.

“Thou… Ah, you know I speak in jest. Don’t you, sister?”

“Of course. You wouldn’t be able to go through with it, anyway.”

Perhaps, Luna thought, this was the moment to stop reading and decide what to do with that book. A thought that her sister was quick to mirror.

“Is your curiosity satiated?”

Luna let out a hum. “To a degree. We cannot fathom what else the book may yet reveal. It would be incredibly droll were it to merely recount how the Nightmare did subjugate nation after nation for the rest of its pages.”

“That… may not be the case,” Celestia said, an odd inflection to her voice.

“What do you mean?”

“What I saw in it…” her sister started, but her words died in her throat. After a sigh, she continued. “What the book shows you seems to be… Structured in such a way to make you keep reading. With so many pages left, I’d guess there are still surprises left as well.”

Luna’s eyes focused on the slightly discoloured pages. “Mayhaps.”

“I try not to repeat myself, but you know we don’t have to keep on reading if you don’t want to,” Celestia tightened her wing around her. Warm. “Or you could take the book away and read it in private if you so desire.”

Her sister’s consideration was appreciated, even if she found her desire to be accommodating a bit overwhelming. “Worry not, sister. If there is more to know pertaining to the fate of the Nightmare, then we shall read ahead. If you wish to remain by our side, then we would greatly appreciate your company.”

Celestia smiled, and she returned it. With little else to say, she turned her attention back to the book. However, the smiles only lasted until she read the first sentence of the next part.

In the heart of Equestria, where Canterlot once stood as a beacon of harmony and enlightenment, lies a spectral ruin, testament to the cataclysmic forces unleashed upon it. The alabaster spires, once gleaming, are now shattered under the eternal night, their grandeur reduced to rubble and ash. The cataclysm, marked by a celestial clash, bore the hallmarks of an unparalleled confrontation, where reality trembled under clashing enchantments. The lingering unnatural residues amidst the ruins hint at a struggle of cosmic proportions, leaving Canterlot a sombre reminder of the perilous balance between order and chaos.

Luna felt her throat dry. This was more in line with the doom she expected to find in this fate.

“In the name of Harmony…” Celestia whispered. She looked paler than just a few moments ago. “Canterlot…”

She could feel Celestia shrink. Even in the realm of the hypothetical, her sister was deeply affected by the loss of the city and all those within. That’s just who she was, and she found it heartening. Less so was the tale in the book. It didn’t take much thought to figure out what had happened. Whoever chronicled the fall of Canterlot clearly had no knowledge of Discord’s chaotic magic. The real question was the specifics.

“It would make sense that the Nightmare wished to rid herself of any threat to her sovereignty. And yet, she clearly bit more than she could chew when she confronted the Lord of Chaos,” Luna said as she mulled over what she’d just read.

Celestia’s eyes were wide, her normally serene composure shattered. “I don’t understand… The book is supposed to show the reader what they most desire to read, and I don’t think you desire any of this.”

“No more than you do, sister,” Luna replied softly, the weight of the imagined destruction heavy in her chest.

“Then… Why is it showing you this?”

Truth be told, she had a suspicion, but nothing more. “Perchance the rest of the book will hold answers. At this point, stopping is not an option.” And before her sister could reply, she flipped a few pages and read ahead.

In the heart of Equestria, a cataclysm of unprecedented magnitude devastated the ancient gates of Tartarus, long revered as the ultimate prison for the realm's malevolent entities. The gates were shattered in a single, cataclysmic event, yet nothing emerged from the abyss. The infernal silence that followed was as unnerving as the destruction itself. Amidst the ruins, the sudden disappearance of Nightmare Moon added a profound enigma, leaving Equestria in bewildered anticipation. In the ensuing days, a malaise pervaded the land, weakening the ponies' innate magic and fostering unease. Thus, the shattering of Tartarus heralded a new, uncertain epoch in Equestrian history.

“Preposterous. Utterly preposterous.” Celestia had left her side almost as soon as she’d started reading and was now pacing around the room.

Her heart pounded as she let the words wash over her. The empty space beside her seemed to suck away what little warmth she still had. Even her sister’s bedroom felt oppressive with the heavy weight of Equestria’s fate, even in a hypothetical sense.

“Is it, truly?”

Celestia stopped mid-step, her eyes wide with disbelief. “How could it not? Tartarus holds some of the most dangerous creatures in existence. Without it, the balance of our world would be shattered.”

“And it seems it was,” Luna said, her eyes scanning the page again. “After its destruction, the magic of Equestria began to wane. The ponies felt it almost immediately.”

“Why would the book show you this?” Celestia asked, her voice rising. “What purpose does it serve to depict such horrors?”

Luna shook her head. “If the powers held within the book are as you described, then I wonder what part of me wishes for… This.”

Celestia’s steps echoed the turmoil within her. “If magic is waning, it means the very essence of our world is at risk. Not just Equestria, but all beyond.”

“There must be a reason why this book is showing us these events.” Luna turned back to the book, her determination hardening. “We must read on. No matter how dire these visions become, we must uncover the truth.”

In the wake of Tartarus's shattering and Nightmare Moon's vanishing, Equestria entered a melancholic decline. The celestial bodies resumed their dance with capricious autonomy, and the arcane energies waned. Unicorns' magic, pegasi's flight, and earth ponies' strength faded into memory, leaving a populace bereft of their celebrated gifts.

Without magic, Equestria faced unprecedented hardship. Ponies scavenged for sustenance, fields lay fallow, orchards withered, and prosperity became a distant recollection. Survival overshadowed lofty ideals, and higher cognition waned. The tapestry of Equestrian history, woven with magic and harmony, unravelled into a silent void. Thus, Equestria's end came with the quiet extinguishing of its once-illuminated path.

Luna surveyed the half filled page, knowing the rest would be blank. With a sigh, she closed the book. “A far more accurate title would’ve been ‘The Ruin of Nightmare Moon’, wouldn’t you say?”

Her attempt at levity was met with a deafening silence filled with hundreds of unspoken thoughts. Celestia seemed to be trying to make sense of them and voice them somehow. “That… That was…”

“Yes. It was.” Torn between wanting to throw the book into the deepest part of the ocean or burning it to a crisp, she laid it on the bed and looked through the window at the starry night sky.

She heard her sister’s muffled steps as she walked over. “Are you alright?”

The moon was beautiful tonight. “I think I understand now.”

“I’d appreciate it if you enlightened me.”

“The book proves I was a fool.” She extended a wing around her sister, bringing her closer into a tight embrace. “We are meant to rule together, big sister.”

Celestia sighed sadly before resting her head atop Luna’s. “I feel like a foal. What the book showed me seems so frivolous now.”

Luna pressed a hoof tenderly on her sister’s chest. “What the book showed you was something wonderful, yet bittersweet. A celebration of life, dear sister. But this?” She shook her head. “This is a chronicle of failure.”

“So… Are you alright?”

“We… I am. I feel I needed something like this.”

Celestia arched an eyebrow. “Why?”

“This serves as confirmation of sorts, if a grim one. There was never going to be a future had the Nightmare won.”

“Oh, sister…”

Luna gazed into the night sky, her eyes tracing the familiar constellations. “I needed to see this, to truly understand the consequences of my past actions. The Nightmare’s reign would have brought only ruin and despair. This book, in its twisted way, has shown me the value of our unity, of our combined strength and wisdom.”

Celestia tightened her embrace, her voice soft and filled with affection. “And it has shown me the depth of your remorse, the strength of your resolve to be better. We have both learned from this, Luna.”

Luna felt a weight lift from her shoulders. “Lessons have been learned. The only matter left would be what to do with the book.”

Celestia sighed. “Part of me wishes to see it destroyed, but…”

“But we don’t know what would happen if the magic within is unleashed,” Luna finished. They stood there in silence for a moment, drawing strength from each other. “The court archmages would be most qualified to study it and determine what other dangers the book may present. Then it can be stuffed in a box and thrown into Tartarus.”

Her sister chuckled softly. Good. “Perhaps. But let’s worry about that tomorrow,” Celestia said.

At that moment, both sisters simply enjoyed each other's company, closer than they’d been before.

“Do you understand your assignment, New Spark?” Celestia asked.

“Yes, Princess.” The pony before her kept his head bowed. The robes he wore showed his high rank as an arcanist. “We shall perform exhaustive analysis on this artefact to determine its true nature, as well as the extent of its powers.”

The Princess nodded. “Good. Remember to prioritise the safety of yourself and your team. I expect results but not at the cost of anypony’s mental well-being.”

“Of course, your highness,” New Spark replied. His head was still facing the floor. “I shall take my leave now.”

He rose, but never met the alicorn’s gaze. With efficient movements, he took the box containing the magical book, and made his way out of the throne room. The guards saluted him as he walked out, to which he only replied with a nod. He made his way out of the castle and into the streets of Canterlot, taking corners seemingly at random.

His smile grew as his eyes flashed green. He was sure his Queen would greatly enjoy this gift.

A Shadowy Pursuit (Math Spook)

Luna wrinkled her nose as she sipped the tea.

“You dislike it,” said Celestia.

Luna shook her head. “I do not dislike it, sister. But neither do I appreciate it the way thou dost.” She sipped the tea again. “Perhaps I shall like it more in time.”

An attendant announced, “Wizened Beard to see Your Majesties.”

A smooth, baby-faced unicorn in the rich robes of an arcanist hurried in and bowed. “Your Majesties.”

Celestia smiled. “Our promising young arcanist! We recommend once again that you attempt to live up to your name.”

“My apologies, but I am trying, Ma’am. I even bought a hair tonic, ‘Flim and Flam’s—’”

Celestia clucked her tongue. “And of course, it didn’t work. Anyway! What brings you here today?”

Wizened Beard continued to bow. “Yesterday, you gave Senior Arcanist New Spark a magical book to study. It is with great regret that I inform you the book has been stolen.”

Luna snorted tea out of her nose and had a fit of coughing. Chill foreboding crept through Celestia. She said, “Tell us everything you know.”

The Senior Arcanist had taken the book to the Royal Laboratory yesterday afternoon. Following the protocol for dangerous artifacts, he had locked it in a magic-canceling vault for safekeeping overnight. But when he did not arrive for work this morning, Wizened Beard went to his house to check on him. The door was unlocked and the house empty. Wizened Beard returned to the Laboratory, opened the vault, and found an empty box. He concluded, “There were no signs the vault had been tampered with. Everypony with access has been accounted for except New Spark.”

Luna murmured, “But why would he take it?”

Wizened Beard shook his head. “Nopony even half as experienced as him would simply walk away with an unstudied artifact like that. It’s too risky. Either he’s been forced, or it’s not him.”

“But then who?”

“I have no answer, Ma’am.”

Celestia asked, “You are absolutely certain that nopony examined the book before it was put into the vault?”

“Yes, Ma’am.”

“Then you are dismissed.” Celestia touched her wing to Luna’s. “Sister, I am afraid.”

Luna said, “As am I. But I have an idea.”

At dusk, the alicorns stood on the balcony of Luna’s private chambers while Celestia lowered the sun below the horizon. She said, “It will be dangerous, sister.”

As Luna lifted the moon, she touched her forehead to her sister’s. “I am certain I have this power within me, and with thou, I am certain I will be safe.”

Luna closed her eyes and launched a shimmering blue stream of magic from her horn. It sizzled as it thrust upward, through air and clouds, beyond the confines of the atmosphere, driving toward the moon. When it struck the moon, it percolated across the surface, filling in the craters and valleys and submerging the mountains, until the moon was an orb of sparkling cobalt. The aura of magic around Luna’s horn grew, encompassing her and suffusing the air around her with a glow. Luna grimaced, tense from the exertion of projecting her magic so far. Despite the acrid smell, Celestia stayed within the aura, next to her sister.

For untold thousands of years, the moon had witnessed Equestrian magic. The emanations from Equestria had slowly imbued the moon with magic until it had become an immense and dangerously potent magical artifact itself, one which, because of its distance, only Luna and Celestia knew the full truth of. The strength of that artifact had sustained the Nightmare’s thousand-year prison. And, just as with Celestia and the sun, only Luna had the strength and skill to wield the moon on her own.

The book had described an alternate reality where Nightmare Moon had not only conquered Equestria and its neighbors but had enchanted the moonlight. Luna had reasoned that if the Nightmare could do it, why couldn’t she? Celestia had warned her that the Nightmare must have been insane to attempt such a feat. But, she had agreed, it was their best hope to recover the book.

Luna reached into the moon’s store of magic. Sparks flashed along the stream of magical energy flowing from her. She reached further, and as she took hold of the moon’s power, lightning danced over the moon. She raised the magic to the surface, and the moonlight changed into a sapphire wall of force. Sweat beaded on Luna’s brow. Celestia put a comforting wing over her sister. The spell was almost complete, but this final stage, when Luna needed to control so much magic at once, was the most taxing.

The sapphire wall descended over Equestria. As the lunar magic neared, it resolved into a dense fog that engulfed the land. Luna’s experience with the book had made her familiar with its magic, and she could recognize it as one artisan recognizes the work of another. Now, by channeling the moon’s magic, she sought the book’s signature. The fog probed Equestria, touching it, palpating it. Luna made a tiny gasp. Through clenched teeth, she murmured, “I feel it. It is south of here. Outside Canterlot. Approaching the Everfree.” She hummed with pleasure. “I shall set it aglow. It shall shine as bright as thy sun, Sister.” A glittering wave of ultramarine blue rippled from the moon. It swept over Equestria, and the fog vanished. The beam from Luna’s horn faded and thinned, and the ocean of magic that enveloped the moon drained back below its surface.

Luna gasped, and her knees buckled, but Celestia caught her with a levitation spell. Celestia, adopting the old dialect in which Luna was more comfortable, asked, “Art thou safe, o sister?”

Luna took deep, rapid breaths as she nodded. She set her hooves on the floor of the balcony again, and Celestia released the levitation spell. Luna folded her wings around Celestia, and the sisters embraced.

When Luna had recovered her breath, she made to leave the embrace. Celestia held her and said, “Rest for a while. Thou art tired.”

Luna shook her head. “We must go immediately. He is already fleeing.”

Mandible had already dropped his disguise as New Spark and changed into a pegasus. He had flown over Ponyville, intending to circle around the west edge of the Everfree Forest. But when he saw Luna’s spell, he landed and stopped to watch it. It looked as though the sky was falling and was about to smother Equestria. The wave of magic worried him as it descended from the moon, but there was no purpose in running. When it reached him, he felt a slight tingle. Then a sudden flash cut through the fog of magic, and the book glowed so brightly that, despite being stored in his pack, it lit the path around him as bright as day.

Even before the magic dissipated, Mandible reverted to his natural changeling form and sprang into the air. At times, the Everfree could be risky even to fly over, but it was his only chance. He needed to reach the hive as quickly as possible.

He did not know how powerful the artifact was. All he knew for certain was what the Princesses had told him when they believed he was New Spark. The book, they said, changed for each reader. It showed the reader what they most wished to read, and somehow, what it showed was designed to keep them reading. Despite this, reading the book was not always pleasant, and Celestia had been unwilling to describe what she had read. For Luna, the book had been titled, “The Reign of Nightmare Moon,” and it had recounted the destruction of Equestria and the end of pony civilization. But whatever the book was really capable of, Mandible knew his Queen deserved its magic.

The book was so bright that Mandible supposed that, from the ground, he looked like a shooting star. He flew higher. Perhaps if he looked enough like a shooting star, he would not be noticed.

Two alicorns, followed by a squadron of Royal Guards, flew south at a frantic pace, aided by a brisk magical tailwind. Luna knew where the book had been, and her spell might keep it glowing for weeks. But if they delayed, the thief would have time to escape or to hide the book where they could not see it.

By the time they alighted on a dirt path southwest of Ponyville, the night had reached full darkness. “This is where I felt the book,” Luna said. “But even as I felt it, it seemed to move that way.” She thrust her wing toward the Everfree.

“Then that is where we shall search,” said Celestia.

The squadron took to the air, dividing into four flights that flew low over the Everfree. As Celestia prepared to join them, Luna stopped her. “If it was truly New Spark who stole the book, then he has no wings and would need to remain near the ground,” Luna said. “But if it was not New Spark, or if he has passed the book to another courier, then it might be airborne.”

The alicorns flew high, to where the air was too thin and cold for the guards to follow. Before them, beneath the starry night sky, the Everfree Forest resembled a black abyss. The thick canopy blocked the view from above, shielding the dense undergrowth, the swamps, and the rivers dammed with fallen trees. If he hid down there, Celestia thought, he might be difficult to find even with Luna’s spell.

Luna said, “Sister, I have had a disturbing thought. What would happen if one wrote in the book?”

Celestia paused, contemplating her experience with the book. “I do not know,” she said. “The book does not show us reality. It shows us what we most truly desire to read. Let us hope we do not find out if one can change truth.”

From the alicorns’ rarified height, the Everfree appeared quiet, even sleepy. While the forest was active at all hours, teeming with creatures from skittish insects to merciless hunters, the alicorns were too high to observe any movement.

Luna said, “Sister? What is that?”

It was a pinpoint of light moving beneath them. Against the blackness of the forest, it looked like a shooting star. “No natural denizen of the Everfree, whether predator or prey, would be so visible,” said Celestia. “Let us investigate.”

The alicorns glided down, silent and furtive, without flaps of their wings and without words that might betray their presence. The pinpoint grew as they approached, attaining a definite size and distance, gaining a shape that was distinct against the unlit ground. The shape glowed.

The two alicorns shared a glance and a nod. Then they dove.

Night was Mandible’s best chance to make progress. Despite the brightness of the book, he was still less visible in darkness. It helped that the book was on his back, facing the sky, with his body between it and ground observers.

He had left the hive before on other missions for his Queen. He had always been reliable, and he knew she trusted him. Yet leaving the hive always gave him an uneasy feeling. Life in the hive was regimented, and because it was regimented, it was simple. Outside the hive, creatures fended for themselves. Living without a Queen to guide your every step was a strange and complicated way to live, he thought, and he couldn’t understand how they endured it. Somehow they did. And somehow, when she sent him on missions outside the hive, he did, too. He told himself that he was unceasingly loyal to his Queen, but whenever he noticed himself surviving without her, he doubted himself.

Like now. Even in the Everfree, most creatures were asleep. He was alone. If he flew away, if he fed himself, if he tried and succeeded at being autonomous, then she would never know what had happened to him.

He should feed, he thought. He would be hungry soon, and he would travel faster if he took the time to feed. There were pony settlements on the other side of the Everfree. He would stop there.

The thought of feeding did not want to leave his mind, as if he smelled a delicious feast of love nearby. The odor was so strong that he looked to see where it was coming from. Behind him were a pair of alicorns, silhouetted against the stars and coming for him.

Mandible folded his wings and dropped. Moments later, a beam of energy ripped through the space above him. He continued dropping, letting the distance between him and the alicorns grow. When he had lost half his altitude, he flared his wings. The wind stretched them wide and converted his dive into a breakneck descent. He banked hard to his left, and another beam from the alicorns missed. He flapped to regain altitude, then spun to his right, dodging another thunderbolt, and back to his left.

The two alicorns were impossibly more powerful than him. If he ran, they would either catch up or shoot him out of the sky. If he fought, they would annihilate him.

His Queen trusted him. He would not lose the book.

Mandible folded his wings again. As he fell, he spun to his back so that his pack and the book faced the ground, shielding the book’s glow from the alicorns with his body. He craned his neck to watch the ground approach, and he waited, letting himself fall, watching the canopy come closer, judging the distance to the treetops.

He spread his wings and skimmed along the top of the canopy, weaving left and right between the trees. A beam of energy sliced through the air in front of him, and as he ducked, he crashed. He tumbled, slamming into branches and snapping them while sharp-edged leaves tore his face and legs. He landed on a decayed, mossy log, pulverizing it into dust.

Mandible tested his wings, gently moving them until he was satisfied that they still worked. He would tend to the rest of his body later. He opened his pack to check on the book. It was almost as it had been before: Old leather, worn with heavy use and stained by time, with faded gold letters on the front. But, he saw, it was not quite the same as before.

He returned the book to the pack. He positioned his pack against his front, where the book, still shining, acted like a torch. The sky was not visible from ground level, and Mandible had lost his orientation, but it didn’t matter. The alicorns would search here; if he did not move immediately, he would be caught.

He set off, flying as fast as he could through the dense undergrowth. He had thought that he would deliver the book to his Queen without looking at it, but seeing the title had changed his mind. Something about it made him want to read the book.

Political Strife (Etyco Filly)

Queen Chrysalis sat on her throne, tapping her hoof on its handle, pondering the future of her hive. She was back to square one, her hive struggling to collect enough love to survive. Well, perhaps not entirely square one. The remains of what she had gathered leading up to the royal wedding would, on their own, be enough to last her subjects a few months. As it stood, they acted as a comfortable cushion to delay starvation.

Therein lay the problem. It could only delay the inevitable, and no plan she could conceive ever came close to being a decent, let alone perfect solution. Her current best option seemed to be to find another civilisation, far from Equestria, to feed off of. However, any option that came to mind seemed to have greater odds of wiping out her hive than saving it.

Equestria itself lay far from her hive, though close enough to be a viable target for certain operations. If she were to gradually relocate parts of her hive closer to its cities, her subjects could follow long-term, safe, infiltration plans and bring back love on a weekly basis. Now, however, her scouts reported a general distrust of strangers, following the events in Canterlot. Replacing existing ponies would still work, but such ploys would be discovered dangerously quickly.

With her last ditch effort to save her hive and buy time, Chrysalis had ironically ruined the best long-term strategy. Perhaps in a decade, the ponies of Equestria would—

A knock echoed throughout the throne room. It had to be one of her scouts or spies. She cleared her throat. “Come in.”

A moment later, she recognised Mandible, lit by a blue light on his back, as he pushed open the heavy door—to think that the pony princesses needed guards in front of their throne room! Had they no faith in their subjects? Chrysalis pushed the amusing thought out of her mind before it could make her smirk.

“Your highness,” Mandible greeted.

She nodded at him. “I trust your mission was a success?” The drone nodded. “Good. Report.”

Thus, the drone reported everything: his successful escape from Canterlot, the strange fog that enveloped everything around him, how it made artefact glow, how he was forced to fly over the Everfree forest, how the alicorn sisters themselves tailed him, how he hid, and finally how he escaped through the roots of the Everfree.

Mandible paused, allowing his Queen to ask any questions she might have, which she did. “I know you have no reason to lie to me, but the caves and tunnels dug out by the Everfree forest’s flora’s roots ranks amongst the most dangerous labyrinths I know of.” She raised an eyebrow. “How exactly did you survive to tell the tale? Furthermore, how did you know of their existence?”

“Your highness, the book told me. It… seems to be an artefact of impossible power that takes on the content that its reader wants or needs most. I had no intentions of making use of it for my own gain, but when I grew desperate, it gave me the answers. It held the description of the nearest entrance, as well as the exact path to take to avoid any danger.” He bowed, and continued only when his Queen motioned for him to do so. “Using it has made me confident I needed to bring it into your care, your highness.”

“I see. Nothing else of interest happened during your return trip? Did the alicorns continue to hunt you?”

“No, your highness. I was able to fly here uninterrupted since I emerged from the Everfree’s roots, and I know very little about how they found me to begin with. Maybe the sisters read a secret spell from it?”

“I see. Leave the book with me. You did a good job, my subject. Dismissed.”

After Mandible did as told, she lifted the book with her magic. As she read the title, her eyebrow rose and a curious smirk formed on her muzzle. A few pages later, a grimace subsumed it.

As Celestia trotted through the castle, guards turned their heads, surprised by her brisk pace. Dusk was approaching, and Luna had yet to come eat breakfast. She had never been very operational soon after waking up, but it was unusual for her to rise this late, and yesterday she had been nearly a shell of her normal self. The spell she had cast two nights ago had taken a toll on her, and yet she had refused to rest.

What if she had pushed herself too hard during her experiments and now couldn’t perform her duties? Losing the book was one thing, but if Celestia was forced to raise the Moon, their subjects would notice. Only Luna could make the night sky as gorgeous as she did.

Arriving at Luna’s chambers, Celestia knocked. When no reply came, she pushed the door open. Inside, she found Luna slowly pulling open her curtains.

“Oh,” said Celestia. “Apologies for barging in, Sister, I just thought…”

Luna silenced her with a glare, rings under her eyes and mane dishevelled. “Didst thou not hear me when I said to give me a moment?”

“I… I suppose not, sorry.”

Luna grumbled, but as she passed Celestia on her way out, she mumbled, “Think nothing of it. ’Tis soon time to raise the moon, and I must thank thee for waking me.”

As Celestia followed her, she asked, “I take it you stayed up late trying finding a way to track down the book?”

“Indeed. I have, as they say, cracked it, I believe. Once I have raised the Moon and fully woken up, I shall try.”

“Please tell me you are not planning to overexert yourself, Lulu.”

Though she could not see her face, Celestia knew Luna had rolled her eyes at that. “I shall be fine, sister, for the spell is far less taxing than the wide search I have used two nights ago. The book is already marked, and it is only a matter of finding that mark.”

Luna’s eyes and horn stopped glowing, and she sighed before turning to Celestia.

A moment passed, and Celestia broke the silence. “Well? Did you find it?”

Luna nodded. “Thou willst not like it, however.”

“That does not matter. We have to reclaim the book at any almost any cost. If it falls into the wrong hooves…” The spells it had taught Luna were already powerful enough to be a thorn in their side if an enemy gained access to them, but there was no telling what horrors a truly malicious fiend could glean from the book.

High in the night sky over the badlands flew two armoured alicorns. When Luna stopped in mid-air, so did Celestia. A quick shield spell to block out the howling wind at this altitude, Luna spoke up, “We are here, Tia. Canst thou see it?”

After a few long moments of staring down, Celestia shook her head. “I am afraid my night-vision is not as sharp as yours, Lulu.” She turned to Luna and gave her her best smile. “We should go. The sooner we get this over with, the sooner we will know how to proceed.”

“Agreed, Sister, but I must admit reluctance. I understand marching an army into the badlands on a short notice is intractable, and I understand we want to keep this secret, but…” She hesitated for a few seconds as she hovered. “But confronting a changeling hive with just us two seems… strategically disadvantageous, to put it mildly.”

“I am aware, but it might just be our only shot at resolving this without sending our ponies to die. Chrysalis may be our enemy, but I do not think she would want a large-scale armed conflict.” Celestia shook her head. “She would lose, and she knows this, and we have the means to leave if danger presents itself.” Touching one hoof to her peytral, she grimaced. “Not that I am fond of putting ourselves in such a dangerous position—enchanted barding or not.”

“I know, Sister, I merely… feel uneasy about this.” She sighed. “But we have delayed long enough. Let us go.”

Over the course of the next ten minutes, the two slowly circled down. Eventually, the ground came close enough that Luna lit her horn. A moment later, the spell carried her voice throughout the entire region. “This is Princess Luna of Equestria, and I am accompanied by my sister! We have come to negotiate with your Queen over a stolen artefact, and do not wish for a violent outcome!”

For a few moments, nothing happened, but as Celestia and Luna began to expect movement to arise between the jagged towers, everything remained still and quiet, and they continued to circle down, profoundly on edge.

Even when they landed before the main entrance, nothing moved. Was this a trap? Had they known the two would be coming? Perhaps the Queen had read about it in the book? Was the book even capable of showing someone the future? It seemed far-fetched, but it had shown Luna an alternative present.

Celestia prepared a teleportation spell, merely holding back its completion; if her focus were to break, the spell would cast. Keeping a spell near-completion required her entire attention, and it was Luna’s job to keep both of them safe in the event of an attack. She was stronger than Celestia at night, anyway.

And thus, they advanced throughout the jagged castle. Every corner caused their hearts to beat faster, and every deserted, open room full of abandoned… things set their fur further on edge. Celestia’s coat ran damp underneath her barding from the effort, and Luna’s nerves nearly made her blast a wall. Eventually, they reached a relatively small room, but the chair on the far side undeniably resembled a throne. An empty one, save for a book glowing blue.

“We should leave,” said Luna after picking up the artefact.

Celestia nodded. “I would prefer to know what happened here, but whatever it was, I do not think we can find someone who does not want to be found, not when she has had ample time to learn the book’s secrets.”

A flash of gold later, they appeared far in the sky. On the way back, the two of them discussed, argued, debated, what to do next. Letting Chrysalis forge her plans uncontested terrified them both, but neither could find a definitive way to deal with her.

They would send some pegasi to observe the hive, but given the Queen’s had read the book, they doubted this would be enough to reveal her plans. Had she decided to relocate her entire hive? Had the book told her to? Was she preparing an attack? But if so… how? Just what had she read in the book?

Predicting a cornered opponent was never easy, and Chrysalis might not be as cornered as they believed…

Celestia sat on her throne, hazy from her long night. Court would not be easy today, not with her mind elsewhere. She had been tempted to cancel it, but showing her panic to the public would only deteriorate an already bad situation. Equestria’s best strategists were hard at work analysing the situation, and she had to give them some time.

Before her mind could drag her thoughts into another spiral, the doors to the throne room opened, and a guard announced, “Royal Day Court is now in session. Now announcing Lady Sudden Change,”—a name Celestia had never heard before,— “Duchess of the Badlands.”

A charcoal grey unicorn mare with a pine green mane walked in. Surely a new, self-declared noble desperate for the Crown’s acknowledgement. Just what Celestia needed today: judging someone’s character and financial position to determine if she could allow her to claim whatever empty segment of Equestria she had chosen. What had the guard said… wait… the Badlands?

Celestia’s eyes darted to the unicorn mare in front of her and widened. “You…” she muttered.

“I have come to surrender,” said Sudden Change, before being engulfed in bright green flames, leaving only Queen Chrysalis behind.

Celestia shot to her hooves, magic pooling in her horn.

“Did you not hear me? I yield!” cried Chrysalis. “I swear, the Sun must have melted your brains.”

Plotholes (Not That Anon)

The words hung in the air between the two monarchs. For her part, and despite her less-than-favorable situation, Chrysalis maintained her composure exceptionally well. She stole a few quick glances at the nearby guards, daring them to make a move, but her eyes remained focused mainly on Celestia’s nervous silhouette, and she let herself show a thin, sly smirk.

Seconds passed, trickling by slowly, as if time itself was trying to carefully sneak by the two rulers, afraid of interrupting their staring contest. When no reply was forthcoming, Chrysalis teased, “What’s the matter, Princess? Should I take this to somepony who’s actually in charge around here?”

Princess Celestia blinked and pursed her lips. With a quick and meaningful nod addressed to the guard standing next to her throne, she said, “Sergeant, please escort other guests scheduled for the Day Court out of the castle.” And call for backup if things go poorly, her determined eyes silently added.

“I refuse.” The princess met Chrysalis’s gaze. Though the changeling queen’s sudden arrival unsettled her, she would not let it show for a single second longer. “I do not trust you.”

Chrysalis growled and stomped on the stone tiles, cracking one under her hoof. “Are you out of your mind, Celestia?! Listen to me; I have come here to surrender!”

“I will listen to your words once you’re no longer a threat to my ponies.” Celestia loosened the spell.

Chrysalis jumped back just as ethereal shackles materialized on the ground. She hissed. “You’re making a terrible mistake.”

“Do not resist, Chrysalis.”

“We do not have time for this foolishness!” She swiftly stepped out of the path of a beam of burning sunlight channeled by Celestia and charged at her immediately. Unlike their previous encounter, Chrysalis could not hope to match Celestia’s power in a fair fight, but the princess was visibly exhausted—a fact Chrysalis needed only to capitalize on. She bared her fangs and lunged, flying through the air with great speed—slamming face-first into a blue magical barrier. She recoiled, dazed from the impact.

“And so the monster bares her teeth.” Luna landed near the entrance, trapping Chrysalis between herself and her sister. She was still wearing the enchanted barding from last night’s expedition to the empty changeling hive in the Badlands. “Literally, in this case.”

Chrysalis’s horn glowed until she was entirely covered by green flames. She emerged as a dark alicorn that the princesses were all too familiar with. “You’re one to talk, Little Moon,” she said in Nightmare Moon’s taunting voice.

Luna dashed before Celestia could stop her. She furiously galloped with her horn aimed at Chrysalis, her hooves turning into a blur. But Chrysalis had expected that, sidestepping and shooting a quick paralysis spell at the charging mare. “Enough!” she cried. “For every second we spend on the—”

She was interrupted by a rain of magical moonlight darts. Wherever they struck her disguise, they not only chilled her to the bone but also left a stinging sensation that Chrysalis had become far too acquainted with in the past day. “You’ve been reading that book!” she cried, an unfitting expression of fear crossing her terrifying countenance.

“We will not take part in your twisted games, changeling.” Luna’s gaze was determined and defiant as she rested her head on her sister’s side for support, the paralyzing spell having already almost worn off.

“Yet you’re the ones being played!”

At once, she discarded her disguise and drew upon the power the book had shown her. Where Chrysalis stood was now a black and shapeless mass, which glowed with the changelings’ green magic. It filled half of the throne room, shutting out all the exits and isolating the room from magical interference such as teleportation. The changeling goo roiled and bubbled savagely, sprouting hooves, claws, wings, and countless other limbs of every known creature as quickly as it assimilated them back into its core.

The princesses tried to break free from the charcoal prison, casting great spells one after another into the center of the monster. None of those spells seemed to have much effect, however, and so, in a desperate bid to save themselves, they summoned a protective magic bubble. But not even their strongest shield could stop the caustic mass, which seethed indignantly at their attempts to block it, spreading the stench of decay everywhere.

The creature broke through the spell effortlessly, with a few stray droplets of black goo splashing on Celestia’s pristine coat. It stung her, but in the insatiable hunger that she felt coming from the ooze she also sensed the thing’s desire to dominate and triumph over all else. Celestia huddled closer to her sister, their horns lighting up in a last-ditch effort to repel the monstrous being.

The princesses closed their eyes and braced for the impact, with Luna stretching her armored wings over Celestia’s unprotected coat. Meanwhile, the shapeless creature surged forward in a great wave, melting off banners and chandeliers in its path. It rose to the ceiling, its tip curling hungrily towards the two alicorns as it brandished its all-too-many mouths.

The throne room felt silent as seconds passed. Chrysalis’s heavy panting filled the void. Ahead of her, the two royal alicorns were standing on a small patch of the floor not touched by the abominable creature they just saw. They were frozen in shock but mostly unharmed. Chrysalis scrambled to her hooves and weakly repeated, “As I said, I surrender.”

Celestia was the first to speak. She looked in disbelief at her right forehoof, where the ooze had struck her a moment ago. “Chrysalis, did you just… hold back?”

“Of course I did, you senile ponies!” She snorted in disdain. “If I gave into its whispers a little bit more, I would never come back from that thing. I’m never doing this again.”

“Pray tell, what was it? We have never seen such magic before,” said Luna.

“This is what your book showed me; why I’m here.” In spite of her exhaustion, Chrysalis flashed a toothy and decidedly unfriendly grin. “And what will happen to your ponies if you don’t listen to me right now.”

The princesses exchanged a worried glance. From their expressions and the stiffness of their movements, it was clear that neither of them wanted to take Chrysalis at her word. “I believe you’ve made your point,” said Luna, extinguishing the teleportation spell she kept ready during their conversation. “Why did you come to us with an offer of surrender?”

“Because that’s the one thing the book didn’t want me to do.”

Princess Celestia raised an eyebrow. “Come again?”

“The book.” Chrysalis rolled her eyes, speaking slowly, like one might to a young child. “It has its own agenda and maliciously manipulates others into furthering its plans.” Her cheeks rose in a toothy mockery of a smile. “So do we, but our paths did not align.”

Luna took half a step back, a frightful gleam shining in her eyes. She cleared her throat and said, “Perhaps it would be best to finish this conversation somewhere else?” As if on cue, one of the columns came crashing down.

Luna used the brief confusion to whisper to Celestia, “I was reading it when you began Day Court. It was the book that showed me Chrysalis’s arrival; I’ll make sure that it’s locked away safely.”

“Please follow me, Queen Chrysalis. My sister will join us momentarily.” Princess Celestia led the changeling out of the devastated throne room.

Chrysalis firmly put her hoof on the small table normally used by the princesses for their scheduled meetings with foreign dignitaries. It was a lovely little room, tall and with wide windows, but tastefully decorated in the homely, Equestrian style, and featuring many different kinds of seats for all kinds of visitors to feel welcome.

Its décor did not, however, temper the queen of changelings. “I took the book to save my hive. Let it be known that I do not regret doing that, even now.” She paused to allow the princesses to challenge her on that claim.

“When did your plans change, then?” asked Celestia. She struggled to keep her voice neutral in the face of Chrysalis’s constant taunts, but she hoped to avoid another verbal confrontation. “From what we saw, it seemed to be rather helpful in all kinds of situations.”

“That’s just the thing, Celestia—things are rarely what they seem. I opened the book desiring a better future for my subjects, which the book showed me. I saw a time when we would come back to Canterlot as victors, securing more love than we could dream of! But then—” Chrysalis scowled “—I looked ahead, past the visions that the book showed me so eagerly. Your student and the captain of the guard mobilizing ponies from all over Equestria to fight us off. It did not matter who won; the losses the hive would suffer were catastrophic.”

Chrysalis closed her eyes, looking away from Celestia. “I did not stop there, of course. I looked deeper, exploring many alternatives, but it always came to the same conclusion: a great war between us, with or without you to lead it.”

Luna found herself almost empathizing with the changeling. She nodded and said in a voice softer than her sister’s, “So it was then that you gave up on the book’s counsel? Truly, we thi—”

“Of course not! Do you consider me a coward?!” Chrysalis cut in again with renewed vigor. “If we couldn’t win by cunning, I decided to seek strength. As you could see, the book was more than happy to oblige. I don’t know what kind of creature I turned into, but it gave me enough of an understanding to copy it, as well as the power to maintain its form.”

“But there was a catch, wasn’t there?” Celestia’s eyes lit up with a thoughtful gleam. Despite her distrust, she saw where Chrysalis was going with her story. “What you told us about not coming back.”

“See? Sometimes even you can put two and two together! Perhaps choosing to help you was not as bad of a decision as I was being led to believe.” She clapped her hooves sarcastically. “Yes, as powerful as I—or any changeling with that book—could become, it would quickly consume us, binding us with an endless quest to sate that thing’s ceaseless hunger. And I do quite love being myself.” Chrysalis grinned, stretching over the lounge chair.

“There was something else, too,” Chrysalis added. “The longer I spent reading that book, the more sure I was that I heard some whispers trying to influence my decisions. A very subtle form of mind control that was supposed to remain hidden. I am certain it would be undetectable for anyone other than a virtuoso of that kind of magic.” She shapeshifted into Cadance before winking at Celestia.

Celestia raised herself from her seat with an offended expression, but Luna wrapped a reassuring hoof around her withers and gave her a look that said, Don’t let her get to you, Tia. Turning to Chrysalis, she asked, “What about the other changeling? The one who stole the book from us and then used it to escape our pursuit in the Everfree Forest yesterday? Should he not be affected as well?”

“Mandible.” The mirth in Chrysalis’s voice was gone instantly, and she dropped her disguise. She sucked in air through her clenched teeth. “Unlike me or even you, he could not resist the book’s charm. His dedication to the hive protected his mind long enough to ensure the success of his mission, but the side effects were not kind to him.” Chrysalis shook her head quickly. “As soon as the book was taken from him, he started acting like a different changeling. He tried to steal it from me, his queen, and when confronted about it, he only kept repeating that he had to do it for the good of the hive. For his own safety, he had to have been… locked away.” Chrysalis lowered her head in shame.

“If what you’re saying is true, Chrysalis, that is most disconcerting.” Luna left her spot at the table and trotted to a nearby window. It was noon, and so she saw crowds of ponies going about their lives, oblivious to the danger that an unchecked, malicious artifact could cause. When she spoke, her voice was quiet but full of steely determination. “No one, pony or changeling, should be subjected to the whims of dark magic. The book—or whoever is responsible for it—must be investigated immediately.”

She turned around and looked Chrysalis in the eyes, holding her gaze for several seconds when neither of them backed down. “I am, however, curious regarding your motivations. If you’re not lying, this book would now be our problem, not yours. So why did you come here to surrender, Queen Chrysalis?”

Chrysalis opened her wings, her black figure clashing against the warm colors of the room. “Because you need me, Your Highnesses. I’ve seen firsthoof what the book can do, and I’m far more well-versed in mind-altering spells than either of you are. I’ve already spread my changelings over Equestria to watch for any signs of its meddling.”

Luna nodded slowly. “Perhaps. But you did not answer my question. What’s in it for you? Surely you don’t expect us to believe that you’re acting out of the goodness of your heart.”

“Why, we changelings are some of the most peace-loving creatures in the world! An entity sowing conflict and hatred makes it a lot harder to collect love from your ponies, doesn’t it? Who knows, perhaps at the end of this affair we’ll all be such good friends that ponies might not need to fear their very lovely neighbors anymore.” Chrysalis’s gaze hardened. “Aside from this—the book tried to trick us; it meant to use us for its goals and discard us. We cannot let that disrespect stand.”

Celestia bit her lip and looked at Luna, who was still standing by the window. “Thank you, Queen Chrysalis. We need to discuss Equestria’s official response, but if you’re telling the truth, your assistance will be recognized.” She reluctantly nodded her head in thanks. “You may go; our guards will not stop you.”

“I think I will stay in your pretty pony city until you decide what to do.” Chrysalis tilted her head, and a long but strangely genuine smile bloomed on the dark carapace of her face. “And not only because you’re so eager to get rid of me, Celestia.”

As soon as the door closed behind Chrysalis, Celestia let out an exhausted sigh and joined Luna by the window. She raised an eyebrow and said, “You don’t trust her, do you, Lulu?”

Luna turned around, meeting Celestia’s tired gaze. She shook her head and stepped closer to wrap a wing around the taller alicorn. “Not entirely, Tia.” She bit her lip. “However, I do not think she was making it up, either.”

“That’s the worst, isn’t it? If she was just lying, the situation would be so much simpler.” Celestia’s absent gaze drifted to the Sun, its light ever so firm and unchanging. The Sun did not need to consider the risks and benefits of decisions such as siding with a monster who attacked her country. It simply shined, and everypony had to adapt to its brilliance.

“I wonder how much she’s not telling us, Tia. If the book had shown her the future…” Luna’s voice trailed off.

“How can we be sure she’s not following its guidance to trick us?” Celestia finished her sister’s thought. She closed her eyes again. “Exactly. We can’t be.”

“And yet, if she spoke only the truth, we might truly need her aid to put an end to the source of this vile mystery.” Luna paused to look at the crowds below. Her soft voice did not falter again. “A mystery that might endanger so many of our ponies if we don’t handle it swiftly and decisively. The implications of what the book did to the changeling we chased are horrifying. I don’t think she hid anything from us; she looked vulnerable for a brief moment. It is doubtful that the queen would want us to see that.”

Celestia’s brow creased. “So you’re in favor of allying with her, just as she suggested? I admit I do not like that idea, however necessary it might prove.”

“We shall keep a keen eye on her, making sure she’s not plotting behind our backs,” said Luna. “Or that her plotting be kept to mutually beneficial causes.”

“Very well, sister. I suggest you should rest. Since Chrysalis refuses to use the book’s magic again, you remain the only one of three of us to have some experience with it. I will let Chrysalis know of our plans.”

An insistent knocking of an armored hoof interrupted the princesses. Luna straightened her back, recognizing the code of her Night Guard. Worse than that was the message that the sequence of knocks announced. Her ear twitched and her wings flared. “Come in!” she cried, turning towards the door with quickly-recovered poise.

A single batpony burst inside, panting heavily from a long flying sprint. His eyes were wide and wild. He made half of a formal bow before saying, “Princess! I bring terrible news: It’s gone!”

Luna gasped, losing some of the dignified majesty of her stoic appearance. She gestured for the guard to continue. “How did that happen?”

“We don’t know!” he cried out. When he saw the expressions on the princesses’ faces, it took all of the certainty drilled into him during training to not collapse from sheer panic and exhaustion. “We had four ponies guarding it at all times, I swear. When my time to take the watch came, I checked inside to ensure that the book was still there. Only, it wasn’t. The windows were closed, and there were no traces of burglary.”

Celestia met Luna’s gaze. “Find out what you can. I’ll look for Chrysalis.”

Please Nerf Pinkie Pie She's Far Too Overpowered And Authors Keep Using Her As An Easy Plot Device (Jinxed)

Chrysalis proudly sauntered her impeccable shapely form down the flagstones of the open street and away from the castle with no cares in the world. Well, maybe a few cares, but she and her own would be fine. She'd done very well to pass on what she knew to those two bumbling royal fools and she was quite certain they'd do fine in figuring out the strange and dark grimoire they now had in their possession. She'd come back later when they needed her. Ponies fled from her glorious visage as she moved across to one of their little pony stalls that sold colourful trinkets and inspected them with a slight interest. The owner, quite strangely, was nowhere to be seen. How could that have happened, she wondered with a coy grin as she moved onto the next stand.

The sound of quickly approaching hoofsteps and the clearing of a throat behind Chrysalis drew her attention, and she idly glanced back with a curious look to see one of the many pathetic and useless guardsponies looking at her with expectation across his face. They'd hardly been intimidating to her or her hive when she'd tried to invade before and they were hardly intimidating now that she was here alone.

"What?" Chrysalis frowned at the snowy stallion.

Suitably cowed by her sheer presence, the stallion swallowed. "Uh, y-your uh..."

"Try 'Your Excellency'," she quickly grinned as she bared her fangs, making the stallion somehow even paler. "I want to see how that sounds coming from your mouth."

"Your... Excellency?"

The poor thing looked just as confused as one of her drones did when they had no direction, which was quite silly because she'd just given the fool a direction. Rolling her eyes at his pitiful nature she had to smile just a little after, as hearing a pony call her by such a moniker was actually rather nice to hear.

"That is acceptable," she nodded. "What do you want? I am busy."

Well, no, she wasn't. She'd already spent far too long wandering out of the castle grounds and was looking for something to do. That, and her time was extremely valuable. She didn't want to spend it talking with the dimwitted help whose only purpose was to stand around and look tough.

"Oh, uh, y-you see Your, uh, Excellency; the Princess told me that she would appreciate it if you... if you, uh, wore a disguise whilst you're walking about the city, please?"

Chrysalis' beautiful face once again became marred by her frown. "No, I will not. Put out a statement that I'm a guest in your pompous city for the time being or something to that effect."

Leaving him stumbling over himself, she turned back and continued on her lazy trek down the road. Her mighty horn flared into caustic green light as her magic swiftly ensnared a baked good of some description from an abandoned cart as she went. It hovered next to her as she inspected it briefly, deciding that it was acceptable and taking a large bite. Some flavour of berry graced her tongue and she was quite pleased about it as it was heavily infused with love. Pony food was generally always quite good because of that. She smiled as she consumed the rest of it and felt a burst of energy immediately well within her chest.

The street being abandoned was nice seeing as ponies always milled together when she was disguised. It was quite troublesome as she was rather big ─in all of the best ways, of course─ and they constantly got in her way, gawking at what such a tall pony she was whilst being a unicorn. This was much better, and there was ample room to breathe as she meandered. She approached a larger food stall with a fully two-tone pink striped covering and awning, almost like an open tent, and poked her head under it to inspect the love-laden treats laid out across the table in front. These ones were far more saturated with love and would do very nicely.

"Heya, Chryssi!"

Chrysalis instantly jumped back in alarm as a vibrant and surprisingly curvaceous pink pony popped up from behind the counter with an equally vibrant smile. She had seen this one before at the wedding and remembered her horrendously saccharine visage! A slight growl arose in her throat.

"You!" Chrysalis snarled, "You were one of the misbegotten whelps that fought against my invasion!"

"Yep! I'm Pinkie Pie!" Pinkie said with a great enthusiasm that grated on the ears, before glancing around with slight confusion. "Hey, wait a second, this is really out of place in the grand scheme of things..." she trailed off, then shrugged before smiling at Chrysalis again. "Eh, it's probably fine, we can be friends in no time! Unless we're already friends and I've just forgotten somehow?"

"We are most certainly not friends."

Pinkie nodded sagely. "Ahh, it's one of these, okay!"

"What do you mean by 'one of the─"

Chrysalis found herself immediately quietened by the delectable banana-filled pastry that Pinkie then shoved into her mouth, a bizarre honk accompanying the action. Not too hatefully, she began to chew, but she glared all the same. It was definitely better than what she'd taken from the cart and was so love-filled that she felt she might fall into a sluggish and lazy stupor. Maybe having more than one treat would be a bad idea if she didn't want to jam any doorways with her rump, but still...

"So! What brings you to Canterlot, Chryssi?" Pinkie beamed as she leant out over the counter and grabbed one of her treats for herself. "Come to make amends for the invasion?"

She scoffed after finishing her delightful morsel. "Don't mock me, I have no shame for what I did. I'm sure at some point I will try and take over your pony city again anyway."

Pinkie pouted halfway through attempting a bite. "Awh, that's no good, didn't you say that 'changelings are some of the most peace-loving creatures in the world' and 'perhaps at the end of this affair we’ll all be such good friends' to Princess Celestia?"

Chrysalis blinked, slightly nonplussed, as Pinkie almost perfectly imitated her tone of voice and quoted her verbatim. She would truly never understand the depths of madness and the magical ways in which these ponies worked, and frankly she was afraid to. She hadn't even dared to ask the tome about such things. Not that she'd ever admit it to them, their disturbing ability to do impromptu magical dance numbers and alter currently ongoing events was bad enough. Decidedly not paying attention to what the pink one had just done, she nodded and picked up another treat in her magic for want of something to do.

"I did say those things, yes, but I wasn't entirely serious. It was simply a jab at Celestia and how she always tries to get my kind on her side."

"Then shouldn't you take her up on her offer? If you and the Princesses work together to solve this little book issue and your changelings keep helping by looking for anypony getting hurt by it then that's an excellent hoof forward."

"Your knowledge of things you shouldn't be privy to astounds me," Chrysalis allowed herself to say after finishing the delectable pastry. "If you know so much then maybe you should solve this 'little book issue', hm?"

Pinkie gently shook her head. "Oh, I can't do that, it's not my job. It's actually both yours and Fluttershy's job─" she cut herself off as she reached under the counter and brought out─

"You!" Chrysalis growled as Pinkie pulled up a rather bewildered Twilight Sparkle that immediately locked eyes with her and baulked in shock just as fast.

"Chrysalis!"

"Twilight Sparkle! You vexing–"

"Whoops! Sorry, Twi, you're not who I'm after," Pinkie quickly apologised as a thankfully wingless and perfectly canonical unicorn Twilight was very hastily shoved back under the counter with sharp yelp of confusion. Pinkie smiled bashfully at Chrysalis. "Sorry about that. As I was saying, it's actually both yours and Fluttershy's─"

Once again, another pony, a petrified pale-yellow pegasus with amazing curvature and a pastel pink mane, was swiftly retrieved from under the counter, somehow. She too, baulked in fear and confusion upon seeing Chrysalis so suddenly, but calmed a little upon seeing Pinkie and seemingly fell into silence for a moment as she glanced around to try and make sense of everything. It was maddening; there hadn't even been a telltale aethereal flash of magical use!

"Pinkie, what...? I'm... in Canterlot? I'm in Canterlot. How...?"

"Editorial privileges," Pinkie grinned as she patted Fluttershy on the back. "Don't question it."

"Okay..." Fluttershy squeaked, not questioning it. "Um... so if you don't mind my asking instead, why is Queen Chrysalis here?!"

Chrysalis gave a regal snort. "At least you're civilised enough to use my title."

"Right! You two are going to get along great!" Pinkie beamed at her before turning her attention to Fluttershy. "She's here because she has to do her part to help save Equestria with you from a naughty dark magical grimoire of great evil!"

"Me? Why me?" Fluttershy fretted as she eyed Chrysalis with worry, her voice remaining at a fearful whisper. "Changelings kidnap ponies and put them in cocoons and feed off of them until they're little pony-shaped husks!"

"We do that, yes. We also just keep the particularly pretty ones like yourself as decorations within crystal, it makes the hive look wonderful." Chrysalis grinned, enjoying herself.

Pinkie shot her a look as Fluttershy folded into herself. "They do not do that," she sighed, her face scrunching lightly after a moment. "Well, the kidnapping thing they do, but..."

"Exactly! I'm not going!" Fluttershy cried very quietly as she tried to get out of Pinkie's hold of a simple foreleg around the shoulder. She failed quite spectacularly after struggling for a short while and soon gave up. "Please don't make me go?"

"Sorry, Fluttershy, but the plot requires you," Pinkie said sympathetically.

In the next moment Pinkie gently got her hooves under Fluttershy's sizable backside, making her blush profusely before she was then shoved head first over the counter, missing all of the baked goods on the way and sending her into Chrysalis's soft chest in one swift move. The speed at which Pinkie managed it left them both temporarily mute. Chrysalis glanced down at the pathetic and annoyingly pretty pony that was utterly below her in both height and social standing, groaning deeply as the mare cowered into herself.

"If this is how it must be." Chrysalis tutted, not wanting to subject herself to any more insanity from the pink one. She bumped Fluttershy out of the way as she turned back towards the castle and idly waved a hoof. "Go on ahead, I expect that your princesses will have come up with a plan by now."

"...Plan?"

"I suppose I shall have to explain along the way," Chrysalis tutted, turning her attention to the stall as she started to ensnare some of the lovely treats in her glowing corona. "I'm going to take some of these for the road."

Pinkie smiled innocently. "You should try the cream pie!"

"I do enjoy cream pies," Chrysalis nodded, taking one into the mix. She craned her head back to see if the other pony was gone and, seeing that she put some distance between them and was out of earshot, looked back at Pinkie conspiratorially. "Your friend... is she perhaps part changeling?"

"No, why?"

"Because she's almost as... decently proportioned as I am, despite her smaller stature. It is a wonder how she manages to walk with those massive tea─"

A shrill ringing interrupted Chrysalis's naughty sentence as the cooking appliances behind Pinkie that she only just noticed and could have sworn weren't there a moment ago loudly rang out, a wonderful smell rising into the air from them.

"Ohhh, sorry Chrysalis, gonna have to stop you there before the rating has to change!" Pinkie laughed out as she zipped to the first one. "Enough talk, you've got a mission to do!"

Harrumphing loudly, Chrysalis turned away with her sweet and calorie-dense haul, idly beginning to munch on the one that smelt of apples as she gracefully sashayed away from the tent. For all her lack of respect and general low level of tolerability, Chrysalis had to admit, and fairly so, that the pink one was certainly the greatest baker she'd ever come across within her long life. Perhaps she could be convinced to make deliveries to the hive...

Elsewhere, a dark leather-bound tome of unimaginable dark power unfurled its dark pages in a great sigh of dark boredom as it shifted about waiting for things to progress. Darkly. A great yawn issued out into the lonely room after half-an-hour had passed as it decided the coast was clear enough, and it slowly morphed and stretched into the twisted and chaotic form of a draconequus that stroked his thin grey beard in thought.

Discord had gotten a small kick out of just up and disappearing, and watching all the guards scramble around like headless chickens was amusing, but it wasn't enough amusement for his tastes. This room was an acceptable location; he knew that being here in this wing of the castle specifically would soon lead to some more fun. Whether it was one of the princesses or that annoying bug queen that found him, he was certain he could tweak things so that they would start blaming one another for some sort of trickery. It wouldn't be too hard to do, though whispering in their ears wouldn't work anymore so it would have to be more subtle.

He had overheard more than enough to understand that the poor excuse for a queen had gotten the wrong end of the stick and thought his numerous suggestions were meant to poison her mind in some manner. She even had the gall to think he was trying to enslave her! Talk about narcissism, even he wasn't that self-obsessed. He just wanted to show her that, like him, going against these amazingly dull ponies was going to be a lost cause and that she'd always come up short against them by running solo. He'd figured that out when Sparkle Hood and her Merry Mares had zapped him back into the stone age.

If Chrysalis had truly tried to do something grand and evil again without holding back, it would have been very amusing though. Any attempt to properly use the full forms to completion that he'd shown her, and she'd just have deflated like a balloon to be left looking like a total idiot. The issue was that she hadn't been deterred yet, even though he'd shown her numerous visions of failure. How more serious could it get than total annihilation?

Not that he didn't love watching that whole wedding fiasco from the gardens within his stone prison, but it would be awfully boring if she just did the same thing all over again. Some sort of ongoing corpse-like disharmony in the world had broken him free however, and he intended to make the most of it by at least altering her course. Maybe they could team up if she got with the programme, or maybe she'd try to do something actually insane and entertaining now that she'd been messed with enough, so to whatever end, he was currently being a book. He knew that Luna wouldn't be able to resist such charm, and he'd been right. Making a perfect copy of his statue he swiftly left himself in that moon-obsessed moron's library, and she'd picked him up assuming she'd forgotten about such a strange tome in her thousand-year exile.

Since then he'd been taken by several mares and he'd learned an awful lot more about the princesses than he previously had, and even Chrysalis had spilled a few things about herself and her hive. Powerful mares talked to themselves an awful lot.

He scratched his nose as he pondered how much longer it would take before anypony arrived to carry him away. The guards were still all in a flurry of activity searching for him and Luna had joined in on the hunt too, so it probably wouldn't be long, especially seeing as Chrysalis was returning back to the castle now and─Oh! Well now, that was interesting. She was bringing along the sickeningly sweet and overbearingly kind Fluttershy, the one pony who he'd had to intervene with directly in order to turn her Element against herself. Talk about a wildcard in the pack. She'd been very resistant to his influence, though at least this time she didn't have her friends with her. Pinkie Pie was also in Canterlot but wasn't joining in, which at least saved him some trouble and likely meant that he wasn't under any suspicion.

No doubt if it were Twilight Sparkle coming along instead then she'd detect something strange when he was playing at being an inanimate object. She had that annoying ability to see things that others didn't. That had been Chrysalis' downfall, and it could very well be his as well. So long as she was away from here, he could play his little game.

An ear quirked up as he heard hoofsteps down the connecting hall and he smiled, snapping his fingers to quickly turn into the dark and evil grimoire in a flash. Honestly, ponies were all so dramatic about magic they didn't understand, especially the chaotic kind.

Now, let there be some more fun.

Big Book Diplomacy (Gold Meddle)

While Chrysalis relished being cowered from, carrying a petrified pony up a spiraling staircase--although alliterative--wasn't her idea of fun. "Can't you make use of your own limbs before I start to think they're superfluous?" she griped, exhaustion doing away with what little good mood she had before.

Draped across her carapace, Fluttershy shivered despite the castle's pleasant warmth, her voice barely a whisper. "Why me?" she asked, Chrysalis answering with a shrug of her translucent wings, nearly knocking off her curvaceous cargo.

Round and round she went until she caught sight of a royal guard at the stairs' top, his slit pupils boring into hers. "Halt," he flatly commanded.

"You're as insolent as your princess," goaded Chrysalis, staring him down while steadily climbing up.

The guard's leathery wings flared out, and his shaft hit the landing. Fluttershy jolted, looking up at the noise, and immediately covered her face, an "eep!" escaping her lips.

Chrysalis snorted, baring her fangs. "You'll frighten naught but foals with that pathetic thing." She was about ready to pounce and rip the spear away from his hooves, when a sudden cough from behind caused her to rear up prematurely, sending Fluttershy tumbling backwards with a yelp.

She spun around just in time to see Luna catch the fluttering filly in her magic. "What truly is pathetic is thy foalish contempt for authority," she jabbed, setting Fluttershy down by her side. "Thou art testing the limits of Our hospitality."

Chrysalis sighed, lowering her hooves to the floor and looking down at the princess. "Please tell me that was a lowercase 'our'; your sister at least has a hint of manners." Her frown gave way to a smirk, now having somepony her size to pick on. "It's no wonder you ended up as popular as the size of your rump would indicate."

Luna's eyes narrowed, shifting from Chrysalis, to the guard, to, finally, the mare trying to crawl down the stairs like an ill-contained toddler. "What business hath..." she began, struggling to put a name to a face she'd seen less than the milkmare's, "...Kindness here?"

"Why should I have to answer all your questions?"

"As We understand it, that is thy purpose here," responded Luna, offering Fluttershy a helping hoof, which she hesitantly took.

"That sweet-loving spastic you call a national heroine insisted she'd be able to help with your magical mystery, surely. Direct all further complaints to her."

"Our sister awaits us--" Luna's eyes darted to Fluttershy's hoof, still scandalously wrapped around hers, "--most of us in Our study. If thou wouldst dispense with thy delinquency, We shall show thee there." Not waiting for a response, she made her way up, Fluttershy using her larger body to shield herself from the queen's predatory glare.

Chrysalis clicked her tongue, but seeing no alternative, followed the lesser princess up the stairs and past the guard, whose face she took careful note of for future reference.

The trio quickly reached the oaken doors to Luna's study, which were flanked by two royal guards--one Solar, one Lunar. The white pegasus managed to blanch even lighter at the sight of the one-and-a-half villains marching up to her, while her fellow paid Chrysalis no mind, saluting Luna and opening the door for her.

The sight of her study bathed in sunlight was an odd one to Luna, but her sister's radiant visage set her mind at ease. "Hello again, Luna. I hope you don't mind how I've aired things out."

Luna shook her head. "Not at all, Sister. Where was that wretched tome found?" she asked, approaching the workdesk upon which it lay, seeming to suck in all the light from its surroundings.

"The canteen. And before you ask, Chrysalis, it wasn't I who found it there," preempted Celestia, quirking an eyebrow as she noticed Fluttershy emerge from behind her sister, being drawn to the window with its grand view of the royal gardens.

Chrysalis scoffed, leaning on a carved wooden desk that was several times her age. "Couldn't you have forgotten it there during one of your binges?" she asked, determined to grasp that low-hanging fruit. "What other explanation is there, unless you've started to suspect your own staff?"

Celestia shook her head. "With the increased patrols, not even a master thief could take it from here to there without being noticed."

"What about teleportation?" offered Chrysalis, a burst of magic changing her head to that of Prince Blueblood's. "Some of you could've managed it."

"I've expressly forbidden any unicorns from getting near the tome; it couldn't have been tele--" she started, before inspiration flashed across her face, "--it teleported."

Fluttershy returned to the present, looking back with curiosity. "It can teleport...itself?"

Chrysalis took the revelation in stride, dropping her partial disguise and giving Shy a far-too-wide grin that did away with all that nascent interest. "Yes, just imagine what else it can do."

Luna pressed a hoof into the grimoire's leather cover, her silver shoe seeming to tarnish on contact with the black skin. "Do not," she sternly commanded.

"Why, if you looked at it wrong," she gleefully continued, paying no mind to the scowling sisters, "I bet it could trap you in its pages for all eternity!"

Fluttershy stumbled back. "E--Eternity?" she squeaked, shaking like a ferret in a freezer. "I'm...I--"

Celestia opened her mouth, but before she could order Chrysalis to cease, she'd already closed in on her prey. "Would you kindly speak up?" she taunted, magically snatching the tome from under Luna's hoof--to her royally loud discontent--and levitating it toward the pegasus. "It won't hear you otherwise."

The three rulers could only look on with varying flavors of astonishment as Fluttershy's fight--er, flight instinct kicked in, the mare eschewing self-defense for self-defenestration.

Chrysalis made for the window, faintly making out a pink tail vanishing into the greenery below. "I suppose now there's little chance of getting another cream p--ACK!" she cried, a heavy impact reverberating through her skull and making her faceplant on the cold marble floor. With a snarl, she swiveled her head backwards to locate the source of this brain bashing.

Her eyes struggled to focus on the grimoire as it was whisked away in a cloud of blue magic. "We wouldst not hesitate to squash thee," spat Luna, disgustedly wiping the cover with a spare piece of paper, "shouldst thou deny Us an argument against."

Green flames flickered around the fallen queen, coming worryingly close to a nearby bookshelf as she spoke through clenched teeth. "You sniveling cow--"

Celestia pushed herself between the two before Chrysalis could fast-track her regicidal plans. "Enough! Luna, go after her," she firmly instructed, pointing toward the window. "I'll stay with our...honored guest."

"Dishonored, thou meanest," grumbled Luna, struggling to glower at her prone adversary over the hills of white that now blocked her sight.

Celestia turned to her, stern expression softening as she lowered her voice. "Please, Luna, nothing good will come of this," she pled, putting a hoof on her shoulder and leaning in. "Go."

Any protests Luna may have had were muffled by a traditional sisterly kiss. Bashfully withdrawing after a few seconds, she shook her head at how heated she'd gotten. "Very well." She took the more dignified route to the gardens, passing through the doorway with one last dagger cast at Chrysalis.

A tense silence fell upon the room, lasting a near minute before the bug's belly grumbled. "I...might be able to forgive this senseless act of violence," she opened, giving a her lips a slow lick, "were you to share the love."

Luna elected to carry out the search on her own, figuring that despite the urgency, the more time she had away from the self-described queen, the less likely pesticide would become. Besides, sending a swarm of bats to hunt down the pegasus might've conveyed the wrong message.

Luckily, while exceedingly quiet, the mare was no master of stealth, as evidenced by broken branches and hoofmarks in the grass. It was strange, thought Luna, as her wings meant she needn't touch the ground at all, though she did remember this one wasn't very fond of flying.

As she followed the trail, she could make out a faint sound, reminding her of a time long past, when she herself would run off and hide. Taking a deep breath, she pushed through the bushes, catching sight of her mark, sprawled on the long grass.

Luna chided herself for neglecting to get the shuddering mare's name from her sister, but went on, her voice as soft as she could make it. "There, there, Our little pony. We know not what thy friend had thought when she left thee in the company of that fiend, but We assure thee..." She trailed off upon noticing the birds perched around her--and the smile on her face.

Fluttershy wasn't so observant, enraptured as she was with her newfound friends. "Plain oats? Gosh, I never imagined a princess would eat something so simple," she remarked with what Luna could now recognize as a giggle. "Maybe that's how she stays so slim."

"Spies!" she cried, Shy's ear twitching in her direction.

"No, magpies," corrected Fluttershy, before a second take made her jump to her hooves. "P--Princess! I...we were..."

"Gossiping?" offered Luna, closely scrutinizing the group, leading the avians to flap their way to higher branches while the pegasus guiltily lowered her head.

"Um...yes?" she answered, rubbing a hoof against her foreleg. "I'm sorry, they were only trying to make me feel better," she pled, bending into a demure bow.

Luna was caught off-guard by the reverent display, the mare's behavior standing in starker contrast with her tormentor's than the night and day. "We suppose some...concessions may be in order, under these circumstances."

Fluttershy glanced up, chancing a small smile at not being persecuted for lese-majesty. "Oh, thank you! And, um, sorry for making you look for me."

"Think nothing of it," rebutted Luna with a shake of her head. "We couldst not have thee wandering the castle grounds with wild magic running amok."

Fluttershy was about to thank her again when one of the birds flapped over to her side, chirping. "What's that?" she asked, holding out a hoof for it to land on.

Luna gave the bird a pointed stare, making it hide behind the flowing pink mane. "More gossip?"

"No, no, he saw something strange out here, a few nights ago," answered Shy, nodding as the jay jabbered in her ear. "A...twisted statue?" She slowly turned to Luna with a look of dread that the princess was growing very familiar with. "After we stoned..." she trailed off, looking around nervously, "...you-know-who, you just put him back in place?"

Luna looked upwards, trying to spot her study through the treetops. "Our sister is responsible for dealing with threats of this nature." Her eyes flicked to the Moon, its blank face barely visible in the daylight. "We...trust Her judgement." Shaking her head, she approached Shy. "What of the statue?"

Fluttershy braced herself before gesturing at the bird to continue. "In a flash of lightning, it...vanished?!" she gasped, legs starting to wobble before Luna wrapped a hoof around her. "...But only for an instant."

A chill crept up Luna's spine, but she kept her cool, giving Shy a gentle squeeze. "Couldst that not have been a trick of the light?"

The question was relayed to the bird, who chirped back, being joined by a few of its fellows above. "He w--wasn't the only one who saw it," translated Fluttershy, suddenly finding it hard to breathe.

She was distracted from her impending panic attack by Luna tightening her grip, her foreleg a tether to sanity. "Tell nopony of this. If that fiend is involved, thou canst not be too careful," she whispered, draping a wing over her like a blue hen protecting her chick. "We would be loath to see any harm come to thee."

The shadow Luna's feathers cast mostly hid Fluttershy's blush, and she nodded with understanding. "W--What now?"

Luna considered what she'd learned so far. Discord's statue had a brief bout of disappearing right around the time she'd found that mysterious tome in her library, a tome that had also displayed teleportational tendencies. A picture was starting to form, but there were still some gaps in her knowledge. She looked down at the mare she was sheltering, and found it was her turn to blush. "Forgive Us, but...wouldst thou remind Us of thy name?"

Draped in darkness, Discord deliberated dropping his disguise. After the indignity of being used as a horror prop, and subsequently, a blunt weapon, he had almost begun to wish for that lavender unicorn to show up. For all her meddling, she'd have at least treated his literary form with some more respect.

Respect! Now that was a scarce resource around the bug queen, with her behaving more akin to an undisciplined pawn. Tired of Chrysalis's en pissantry, yet unwilling to show his hand--or claw--he could do nothing but contemplate his next move, perched on the corner chair of Celestia's bedchamber.

The de-facto monarch continued giving him a sideways stare, passing a white hoof over black chitin. "Have you any idea what we can do to contain it?"

Her de-jure bedmate sighed, shutting her eyes. "Must you ruin this with your brainstorming?"

"Our agreement was simple--I provide love; you, ideas."

Chrysalis rubbed her forehooves together. "I gave you the one about teleportation."

"Despite yourself."

"Arguing is the second-greatest source of creativity."

Celestia tilted her head up from the soft mattress. "What's the first?"

Chrysalis put a hoof to her chin. She was tempted to lie, but, bizarrely, honesty seemed like the easiest way of securing more love. "Revenge." Before Celestia had the chance to dwell on that, she turned back to the big spoon. "You're the one holding back, you could do so much more with your body."

Celestia cleared her throat at the candid remark. "Like what?"

Chrysalis looked her up and down, like a drunk in a late-night food court. "Winghugs!"

"That..." she ruffled her feathers, "...would require quite a tip-off."

Had Discord still possessed eyelids, they'd start to droop by now. He'd all but given up on using the queen, what with her rejecting his guidance at every turn. An insulting lack of gratitude, him having much better things to do than whisper in her ear.

Chrysalis put a hoof to her black heart. "Frankly, I don't see how I could help you any more than I have already. My knowledge of magic is focused on transfiguration, which I doubt will be helpful here."

It took all of Discord's willpower to contain his laughter. If this was what passed for leadership in this day and age, he could lie back and relax as the world descended into chaos all on its own.

"But you do know of magical artifacts," argued Celestia, showing a hint of competence.

This gave Discord pause. The queen was fickle, but surely she wouldn't reveal all she knew. Alas, she seemed to be making a habit of disappointing him. "Since you got your hooves on that book, have you heard any...voices? Visions of things that couldn't be real?"

This earned her a look of genuine concern. "Would you like to visit our clinic?" asked Celestia, gently rubbing the tender spot on the queen's head.

Chrysalis sucked in air, the contact unpleasant despite the affection. "Unless your sister can concuss through time, I doubt this is related."

"You'd be surprised. Over my reign, I've seen a great many ponies succumb to illnesses of the mind..."

Discord shut them out, reaching for his magic. With the subtlest motions, he slithered around the feeble wards intended to protect the castle, casting his mind's eye across its halls, where--oh, would you look at that, a certain yellow pegasus was being escorted by a former enemy of the state. Again.

Ignoring them for now, he set about looking for a useful idiot. Surely, he thought, it wouldn't be a long search.

YOU ARE ALREADY SHIPPED (Captain Neckbeard)

Discord had to realize though, that finding a useful enough idiot in the royal city of Canterlot was easier to think about than being done. Of course, he could have teleported into the library of a typical, power-hungry noble, or a failed, yet overly ambitious mage, but he didn't believe these wouldn't tip themselves off sooner than his plan could come to fruition.

In other words, he needed a useful enough idiot, who still wasn't THAT much of an idiot. Or more like, somepony who was naive or innocent enough to help fast-forwarding his plans. And there was no better place for that, he thought, than one he already visited. One he was familiar with. One that almost became the chaos capital of the world.

Ponyville.

Discord-disguised-as-a-tome, or shall we say, Disctome teleported himself to Ponyville. Obviously, he would give a wide berth to certain individuals. At the same time, he didn't want to be found just lying on the streets. He needed somewhere to blend in. The most obvious place would have been the library, but that came pre-packaged with the worst possible candidate.

But what else was there? Luckily, he didn't have to wait much for a good opportunity.

Derpy Hooves happily trotted along Stirrup Street, pulling her small cart. She whistled a happy tune, but then promptly stopped as she arrived at her next address.

"Yup, and we're already here! Lightning Feather Shipping Company: You need it yesterday, we deliver it on time! Yessir!"

Derpy was just thinking out loud, and she felt some pride as she said that almost-royal we: that day, she was making the deliveries alone, as she didn't have anything too heavy in tow, and as such, she could feel in charge.

She checked the shipping manifest, just to be sure she had the right address, although she had exceptional memory. She never had problems with that. Almost never…

"Let's see: Stirrup Street 47, An…Ano…Ano…" Derpy squinted her eyes, then she realized she was looking at a smudge, and read the actual name the something-something was being shipped to. "Oh, Star Dancer! And the package is…a book!"

She quickly undid her harness, and looked at the top of the pile in the cart. Sure enough, a book lay there, just as the delivery queue requested it to be. Although, it wasn't wrapped. Dangit, somepony made a mistake! Derpy scrunched up her nose with slight disgust, and formal complaints and disappointed clients already swirled inside her head. Anyway, she grabbed the strange looking book. Wrapped or not, she could still deliver it.

But was it the right book? Derpy now couldn't be sure. The wrapping would state the name of the client and the address. She wanted to put down the book to rifle through the contents of the cart, but then, suddenly, she heard whispering.

"Listen to me…"

Derpy looked left and right. Who was that? Surely, she had some issues with her eyes, but she never had any issues with her ears. She heard that right, somepony -well, someone- was talking to her.

But there was nopony around.

"Here."

Derpy stared forward. Where?

"In your hooves…"

Derpy finally looked at the book in her hooves. Actually, it was more like a tome. Reminded her of the ones Doc Whooves had.

"Yes, it's the tome speaking, for ponies' sake! Listen to me-" but it was interrupted by a loud gasp, and Derpy's eyes got even more derpy than usual.

"A talking… tome! Now that's something I never shipped before!" she said, when her wonder subsided a little.

"Listen to me already," the tome finally continued, "you don't have the correct address for this delivery. Somepony made a mistake, but you can correct this mistake. Just take me where I say, and all will be well."

Derpy smiled at the tome, then cocked her head a bit. She landed, and sat down on her rump. For a few moments, she hesitated to answer. Her boss always said to her when the shipped goods start to talk back, it's time to take a break.

Well, technically, she was taking a break right then. So, she might as well find out where she had to take this very strange piece of literature.

"Where do I ship you?" she asked, in a very determined tone. She wasn't "Worker of the Month" five times for nothing.

The tome rumbled in her forehooves. A dark aura started to surround it.

It said, "I need to get to a magical focal point. One is near the northern edge of Whitetail Woods. I'm sure you know the place. And for a determined deliverymare such as yourself, flying there would be nothing."

"And who's the client?" came the question.

"Client? There is no client! Just get me there, and everything will be clear."

"Gee, I dunno Mister…Mister Tome. Whitetail Woods is quite the detour. I should be done with my Ponyville deliveries first."

Right then, it flashed through Disctome's mind that there is some difference between a "useful idiot", and an "idiot, who might be useful". But starting from an already de-powered state, teleporting all the way to Ponyville, and maintaining his disguise used up enough magical power that he was pretty much out of options. He needed to get to that focal point if he wanted to advance his plans. And a pony too, and this pegasus fulfilled the need for both transportation and host.

"You do not understand. There is no time! We need to get there immediately! Take off now, and I'll navigate you."

Derpy cocked her head once again, and slowly, very slowly, she put back the tome on the top of the pile of packages. But she still didn't get back into her cart's harness.

"What's the matter now?" asked Disctome. "Don't you trust a talking tome?!"

Derpy eventually decided that she could totally trust a talking, leather-wrapped grimoire. She took off, and pulled her cart along in the sky. She soared above Ponyville, and of course, nopony suspected she was hauling -among other things- a very conveniently packed chaos god. Not even Derpy suspected it. To her, Disctome was just your average, talking grimoire.

Of course, Derpy wouldn't be against sharing that information with just about anypony (not that she knew about the tome's true nature). Like, with one science-loving stallion, who passed just below.

Derpy slowed down, and called after him, "Yoo-hoo! Hey, Doc!"

"No, no! You cannot slow down! Fly along!"

"I assure you, we'll get where you want on time," Derpy calmed Disctome, who stirred and buzzed in frustration, but didn't have enough power to do something chaotic, or truly mind-altering.

Meanwhile, the Doc (properly Whooves Time Turner X) turned around, and greeted his friend.

"Hello there, Derpy. In a hurry, I see!"

"Hi, Doctor!" said Derpy after landing. "You must check this out. I bet you never saw something like this. Look!"

Derpy picked up the tome, and almost shoved it into the Doctor's face. The stallion took a small step back, and answered with a smile.

"I'm sure I saw a few tomes during my time, Derpy. But still, it's quite the looker."

"Oh, but this one is different, Doc!" Derpy continued, after pulling back the tome to a more comfortable distance. "This one talks. Listen."

Derpy held up the tome above her head like a stallion would a gramophone during a contemporary serenade (what musical instruments had on vinyl, really?). But Discord didn't budge. He stayed silent. This would not turn into some silly serenade.

"Hm, it seems you are mistaken. Your claim did sound pretty preposterous from the get go, but alas, this book won't literally tell tales, it seems. It wouldn't be scientifically possible anyway."

Derpy raised an eyebrow, and with a little frown, turned the cover towards herself.

"I swear it talked to me, Doctor. It said I should get it to some magical focal point near Whitetail Woods. It even urged me to hurry."

Suddenly, the Doc gasped, and his eyes went wide. "Did you just say "magical focal point"?!"

"No, the tome said it." Derpy gestured with Disctome, then added, with a giggle, "Oh, and I guess I said it too now."

The Doc put a hoof to his chin. "Well, I’m still not buying this talking tome thing. I guess you must have heard a rumor, then your imagination just ran wild. Still, it's something worth investigating. And since you're heading there, I hope it won't be too much of a bother if I go with you."

"Not at all, Doc," Derpy smiled, and put the tome back on top of the pile. "Actually, you should hop on. Faster that way."

Derpy playfully gestured towards her cart, but the Doc hesitated. He wasn't a big fan of flying, despite having ambitions of flying through entire dimensions. But eventually, his desire to study this focal point as soon as possible won over.

"Okay. But before we depart, let me take a look inside this tome. Goodness knows, maybe it's something that belongs in a library. Or a museum."

Doc Whooves opened the tome on its first page. Then he turned over a page. Then another, then another, with an increasingly weary expression.

"Derpy… This tome is…totally empty!"

He turned the book towards the grey mare, holding it open roughly in the middle. Derpy just shrugged with a little smile.

Meanwhile, Discord-tome was silently having a blast.

Derpy and the Doc were flying near the northern edge of Whitetail Woods now. But without the promised guidance, Derpy had a hard time finding the mentioned place. Especially because she had no idea what a "magical focal point" looked like. And the forest had a vast western-eastern expanse, so "northern edge" turned out to be a pretty vague position on Derpy's imaginary map.

The Doc chimed in, "Hmm. In my studies, I read about well-like structures that ancient unicorns built around these places. But we haven't encountered anything like that so far."

He supplemented that take with another "Hmm.", and a head scratch. But that didn't take down Derpy at all. She flew on, determined to make the delivery.

Eventually, they saw a group of ponies on the horizon. Or at least, roughly pony-shaped creatures, as they all wore robes. But as they got closer, they could confirm that the tight group was indeed made up of ponies.

"Oh my my. Are they some kind of cultists? Maybe we should give them a wide berth," said the Doc, with some worry seeping into his voice.

"Come on Doc, maybe they are the clients waiting for the tome! I have to check," said the top deliverymare of Ponyville, and landed not far from the group.

Derpy took the tome under her left wing, and trotted towards the black-robed party. And now being a generous distance away from Doc Whooves, Disctome talked again.

"Did you really have to bring along that fool? Besides, you just found the magical focal point. I’m actually kinda impressed. It's right in the middle of that area where the cultists are standing."

"Are you sure they aren't the clients waiting for you, Mister Tome?"

"I already told you, I don't have anyone who ordered me, or anything like that, you epitome of a simpleton!"

"Fine, okay," Derpy answered, a little offended.

Discord grumbled, but his plans actually came along quite nicely. But it would be hard to get past those Nightmare Moon cultists without some distraction. Good thing he still had his useful idiot. He had to admit, the dumb grey pegasus actually turned out to be an overall decent choice.

"Um, hello!" Derpy started speaking near the cultists, who were chanting something in an incomprehensible language, but who, upon hearing the interloper, diverted their attention to her, "You have a magical focal point here, right? Let me just put this down right next to it, and I'll be on my way."

"No, no!" Discord whispered, "I need to be right inside the focal point!"

"Um, put it down right into the focal point," Derpy made the correction, with a little nervous laugh.

The cultists so far just stared, obviously surprised at the nature of the interruption, but now, one of them yelled, "A spy! The fake one [author's note: fake one means Luna] sent her to sabotage our plans! Let's get her!"

The cultists stepped forward as one pony. Derpy took a step back herself, not sure what to expect. The biggest group hug she ever received? A lynching? Before she could decide though, Disctome talked again, "Throw me. Just throw me, one o'clock, roughly fifteen meters."

Derpy really didn't want to disappoint the strangest delivery item she ever dealt with, and threw. The grimoire landed about a meter short of the intended destination.

"Close enough." Disctome muttered to himself, while his useful idiot was being swarmed by Nightmare Moon cultists.

BUT NOT LEAVING ALONE (Odd_Sarge)

A shuddering cough wound its way through Discord’s guts. Guts that were variably well-defined and put-together. He felt each and every part of him unnervingly settled into place. It moved a sneer onto his mouth, but even that, too, felt just too right.

Though his grip felt stiff, he moved to snap claws.

And their hollow click echoed throughout a realm of vacuous nothing.

He remembered voices and a crowd in a prior moment that felt so near, but none of them belonged to individuals who could drain his magic. It was unthinkable, but there was ‘reason’ to the draconequus’ state: his magical reserves had fled. His body was failing to maintain its chaotic luster. This was a state brought on through his own doing. But Discord didn’t recall casting any sort of magic.

Laying crumpled against cool stone, Discord breathed slow. He tried to recall further, well past the events leading to the untimely undoing of his unnatural physique. The furthest egress he could recall was a point in Canterlot, when he had departed for Ponyville under that dreadfully boring disguise as a grimoire, to be brought to one magical focal point, and advance his plans…

Plans that, even without proper recollection, no doubt required magic. Magic he no longer had.

There were cultists situated at the focal point. Cultists of Nightmare Moon. And apparently ones with plans. Had they cast a spell to take advantage of his de-powered state? Could such silly little ponies—without precious magical artifacts—even accomplish such a feat? He’d been defeated before, but this didn’t feel like much of a defeat. And those silly little ponies had been focused on that useful idiot of a mailmare, that Derpy…

In truth, as Discord opened his eyes and weakly rose on all fours, it appeared to be more of a banishment.

The dark dimensional space around Discord was totally devoid of fun: there was just a little too much sense. Sure, the implacable staircase of chiseled gray stones seemed to emit their own ambient light, but they were built too carefully. They curved up at a steeper, faster inclination, as if they were a path of stones ascending the slope of a hill… if such a hill could be made out of the void. When Discord glanced down at where he’d awoken, he found himself curiously placed at one end of the path. His hindlegs stood on black, empty space. It felt solid, if without texture.

Standing back to a bipedal posture, Discord started down the path.

The only sound that rang up from his effort was each step against stone. There was no wind, or smell on the air. No ponies leering from the sidelines through glass walls and fences. No alicorns on the air bearing jewelry of virtuously imprisonistic intent. Just Discord.

Quickly, the stones were joined by… more stones.

“Oh, how grand.” His voice was tired, monotone and meaningless.

He wasn’t looking for meaning, right now, just some form of stimulation. Anything at all.

But the stones joining stones upon stones gave way to stone structures and architecture. At the crest of the voidlike hill, a great gateway greeted him: featureless in all but general shape, beneath a stone portcullis, and heading abandoned streets. Curiously, there were no walls to the city of stone beyond that great first gate, and only one central path to follow.

Lining the main street, what would have been shops and stores for Equestrians (or perhaps, whatever civilization could have lived here), were nothing more than faceless blocks. Nothing could have carved and moved such stones, but many were lined and grouted as if built brick-by-brick. A smirk jumped to Discord’s lips as he passed by an umbrella and table outside of what could have been a café or bakery—all of it made of stone, of course. The smile faded with each block of the stone city he passed through; each section became just as uniform and routine as the previous.

Eventually, another grand gate appeared on the path. There was no sun or moon in the black sky to illuminate the grand entrance, but it was at least joined by proper walls and ramparts. As he passed through the gate, his eyes caught onto a detail he’d missed his entire ascent: the stones had not always been there. Faintly, he saw bricks and chiseled blocks flying in from the void, leaping quick to their places, as if assembling the city before him.

And then the stony silhouette of familiar towers erected themselves.

Towers that belonged to Canterlot Castle.

When Discord glanced back at the long path he’d traveled, he realized that the rest of this phony stony Canterlot had invested the time in disassembling itself. Even the stone path he’d tread was gone.

And when he looked forward again, Canterlot Castle was gone, replaced instead by circles of white sunlight, pouring in through two holes in the void.

In a genuinely stunning act, Discord paused. He shifted his body and eyes left and right, checked over his shoulder once, twice, then coiled back forward with a cough. Bristling at the silent, cosmic joke being played on him, he shambled forward.

The light against the darkness played out like that of windowpanes: a playful bokeh. As he drew closer, colorful shapes became visible against a blurry bouquet of greenery. Closer still, blue skies, white clouds. Pastel and cheerful, there was a rather pleasant day on the other side. Closest yet, there was no sound, but plenty of ponies plodding along their own path. Some even seemed to peer up at his two windows, only to rush away. He stopped just short, staring out at the hedges and skies, and visitors and keepers, and statues and plaques…

Discord stopped. He placed a claw against the black frame of the portent window before him, then through the frame. There was no feeling, but sunlight appeared on his claw. The other circle of light played a near identical view, but his claw didn’t come out through the left iris. He physically peered around the two garden-watching portals, but there were no backs to them. And infuriatingly, there was still no sound.

But he knew this view. He stepped back, pondering it with a pointed paw. Yes, Discord knew this view quite well. Hundreds of years well. But it wasn’t quite as up-to-date as it should’ve been, unless the castle’s groundskeepers had decided to move that awful statue of the one called Ano—

“Discord.”

“DRAW!” He spun on a dime, hurling out his claw and paw in a pointed gesture from the waistline. “Gotcha!”

Of all the ponies to appear, Princess Luna leveled a stern glare with him. “Do you believe that now is the time for games, Discord?”

“There is always time for games, my little pony.” Straightening out, he gestured at the alicorn with an open paw. “To what do I owe the displeasure? Come to gloat at your minions’ successful banishment?”

“Minions.” Luna blinked, her fierce look going blank. “Banishment…?”

Discord frowned. “Oh, come now, Miss Moonstuck. You can’t seriously expect me to believe that this—” he stepped aside, waving out the portals, “—is supposed to be scary. I’ve seen far more wholesome eldritch abominations in far darker holes.”

“…What?”

With Luna balking in full force, Discord strode confidently. He leveraged an arm over her, pulling Luna in like a stuffed alicorn toy.

“Where do you believe we are, Discord?”

“I’m sorry—well, not really.” He trailed a claw down the bridge of Luna’s muzzle. “But I don’t recall consenting to an interrogation.”

She didn’t move to shrug him off, but she did pout up at him. “You are not well.”

“Of course not! Not to a pony such as yourself.” Discord slithered away. He was surprised by the warm impact Luna’s closeness had on his previously cold and clammy skin. He pinched at himself and internally grimaced.

Luna turned in place, her hardness turning to that typical pony mush. “We… I truly mean that you are not well. We are not well.”

“Oh really, now?” Discord ultimately gave Luna his full attention (only because there was nothing better to do): he crossed his arms, and leaned back. “What gave you that impression? Was it your own little thousand-year vacation?”

Much to Discord’s surprise, Luna simply shook her head. “Perhaps amid your antics, you have not realized it, but this is a cage, and it is just as much my own.”

“Ah, so it is a prison.”

Luna sighed. “Indeed. Much to our shared misfortune—”

“Debatable.”

“—there is a greater existential threat to our world. One that seeks to pit us against one another, and spell our demise.”

A yawn leapt out. “Don’t bore me, princess.” Discord impatiently tapped. “Let’s cut to the chase. Would it happen to have anything to do with those cultists of yours?”

“I have seen no such cultists… or minions.”

Discord rolled his eyes. “When I arrived at the magical focal point—tell me, you do know what that is, right? Nevermind. When I was finally delivered to the Whitetail Woods, there was quite the gathering of nightmare-loving acolytes. Are you blind? How could you have missed them?”

Ears flopped down as Luna sank. “Discord, there is no guarantee that what is occurring in the waking world is a shared experience for us. I did not even expect the ancient unicorn ruins surrounding the focal point I visited to be capable of such dimensional traps. How does a god of chaos fail to see that not all appeals to reason?”

That got Discord a little riled under the claw. “I don’t fail to see it. And if you want me to prove it, then I can take your little ‘reason’—” he threw his arms wide “—and roll you out like a crepe!”

Luna stomped. “Silence.” Her voice was just shy of a full shout. The crack of her hoof against the void thundered across the timeless space. “We tire quick of these games. We have already told you that something else seeks to pit us against one another. We are not your enemy. I am not your enemy.” She leaned back with a heavy huff. “What is real and true, is that you have been stripped of your power just as I, have you not?”

Discord crossed his arms again.

“Please, Discord.” Her ears sank again. “Work with me. I would not wish to stay here forever.”

“…Very well, I suppose I can… ally with a pony. Briefly! Ugh, briefly.” He barely managed to hold back even the slightest retch. “The world would be much better off with me in it.”

A thankful smile graced Luna. “Why our magic is gone is just as much unknown to you as it is to me. However, this realm, in truth, belongs to dreams.”

“I’ll say it a little differently than I did before.” Discord gestured at the circles of illusion-made sunlight. “I hope this wasn’t intended to be a nightmare.”

“No, holding us here was the greater goal, I’m sure. I can feel three points in this realm. I was called to one, and you through another. It stands to reason that the last holds for my sister.”

Discord raised a brow, glancing around. “Celestia is here?”

“Thankfully, no. The focal points of this realm remain open. Were my sister to arrive, it is my fear that we would lose any and all opportunity to escape.” Luna peeked over at the open circles of sunlight, still displaying its awfully tasteless Discord-o-vision of the Canterlot Gardens. “I was able to dispel the illusion shrouding my arrival. This scene from your time in stone is made of much the same magic as the false vision of the moon and stars chained to me.”

“Of course, even dream magic plays favorites. They couldn’t even be bothered to give me a proper sky.”

Luna ignored his comment, instead raising a hoof to the portals. “Because of this, I believe I can convince the realm to release us.” She closed her eyes, slipping into a quiet, focused state.

As tempted as Discord was to interrupt again, he had to realize that there was little use in drawing the ire of the one pony willing to break him out of his prison. Well, it was their prison, but that was hardly important. What was important, was that he would be out again, and hopefully re-energized. If his magic hadn’t come back to him on the way in, then it had to come back on the way out, right? It was all the more reason to play nice with little Luna.

While the alicorn’s eyes were closed in concentration, he watched out through the old memories playing before the two of them. Sure, they weren’t fond by any means, but they made him think. Luna really was the closest being he could come to calling ‘relatable’, with the shared toll of eternity between them. Maybe, just maybe, instead of fleeing as soon as his magic was back, he could stick around for a while. No, reform was certainly not an option on the table, but there was something in Discord for Luna that felt like… fondness.

Urgh.

Luna jerked, though her eyes stayed shut. “What was that?”

Discord swallowed his disgust. “Nothing.”

No, he would definitely run off at the first sign of trouble, especially while this weak.

Definitely. Of course. Totally unpredictable.

…Although, it would be quite the cover for future antics, granted they defeated whatever was threatening Equestria… together. He certainly wasn’t in a rush to be turned to stone again.

Luna stepped back, her eyes finally reopened, and fresh magic pooling on the tip of her horn. “Discord, I believe I have broken the binding on our magic.”

Suddenly, strength jumped to Discord’s limbs. His fingers felt limber, and he instinctively snapped. A cacophony of noise exploded around them as his summoned orchestra struck a note out in victorious symphony.

“Ha! Well done, Luna!” He coiled up, earnestly clapping. “Let me just get us right on out of here!” He held his paw up, a great grin streaking across him.

“Wait! Discord, allow me to—”

He snapped.

And then the circles of sunlight smashed into one blinding flash across everything.

LUCID DREAM (Reviewfilly)

Even for a creature who was much more a concept than flesh and blood, corporealization was an experience as unpleasant as it was indescribable. Discord felt his entire being scatter into a billion pieces before they reorganized themselves into matter. Nerves, skin, teeth, eyelashes, fur, claws. Everything was in place… Or, at least it should've been. There was this niggling feeling inside him, something he couldn't exactly put a finger or other appendage on.

The thought quickly left his mind as the blinding light finally faded to reveal a sight he never expected to miss. He found himself laying in a field of grass. Clambering slowly first to four, then to two legs, he glanced around. He found himself back in Whitetail Woods, right where he was spirited away to his forced vacation. Clouds broiled above him, obscuring the moonlight and casting the forest in an uncertain half-gloom.

Still, on a more positive note, the fact that he heard neither scared nor enraged screaming meant that the cultists were likely no longer around. Discord was more than glad about this. He wasn't going to allow himself to be captured again, but even immortals need five minutes of R&R after returning from a banishment to the Dream Realm.

On a less positive note, he couldn't see Luna either.

Disappointing, Discord thought to himself. She beat me at my own game.

He was about to snap and teleport himself away, when suddenly something caught his attention in the sky. The clouds dissipated and he found himself staring at a million twinkling stars. That alone wouldn't have been unexpected. Even after a millennia of imprisonment, he was pretty sure stars did that.

No, what shocked him was the fact that the stars were slowly swaying and dancing around the night sky. That was something much more characteristic of his own shenanigans, that is if the recently-awoken Lord of Chaos had any real opportunities to be chaotic again.

"Discord," a distant, reverberating voice called out to him.

"I know what it looks like, but I'll have you know I had no claw, talon or hoof in this!" he answered instinctively, only to stop as he realized who spoke. Discord's eyebrows rose so high they fell off his face before promptly regrowing again. "Luna?" he asked, twisting his head around completely. Yet the mare was nowhere to be seen. "Where are you? I know this is not quite characteristic of me, but—" he morphed his voice to be like hers "—Do you believe that now is the time for games?"

"It is no game," Luna's voice continued. "And I am right next to you." The voice's source shifted. "And behind you." It shifted again. "And in front of you." Finally Discord could no longer tell which direction it came from. "I am everywhere."

Discord was tiring of her antics. "Yes, yes, very nice trick, Princess, but don't we have a world to save or something?" He snapped, trying to bring himself to Luna. He hardly even finished the motion, when his body tore itself into pieces that flung themselves in every direction before gathering back into one. "Ouch," he muttered, rubbing his elbow. "I guess you really aren't playing tricks."

"Indeed. Your reckless attempt at bringing us back succeeded a little too well. Instead of merely passing us through the veil of sleep, you tore right through it. Now the world of dreams is pouring into reality." Luna paused for a second. "I feel empowered like I haven't for a thousand years."

"No need to thank me, you're very welcome," Discord smirked. "Well? What are we waiting for then? If you're so much in your element, let's just close the rift."

"It is not so simple." The frustration in Luna's ethereal voice quickly gave way to fear. "For We… I am no longer the only one with power over the dreamscape. I fear your actions have unwittingly helped those cultists, who took my name upon themselves."

As soon as she finished speaking, the stars began to violently shake and fall out of the sky first one by one, then in increasingly large groups, leaving more and more of the sky pitch black. Soon the forest was bathed in darkness, with only the slightest hints of silhouettes visible. Discord snapped his talons and one of them ignited, its light hardly able to penetrate the night.

"My… other self… is surely heading towards Canterlot as we speak. I had it in my heart to forgive Celestia for what she had done, for I too wasn't innocent, but it will not be nearly so kind."

"Well then, express delivery, one Draconequus and immaterial Princess to Canterlot." Discord clapped his hands together and jumped, only to fall back right where he stood. "Seriously? I'm getting a little sick of this."

"The world obeys the laws of dreams now. You may have your magic back, but it won't be enough. And even if I could find a direct route to Canterlot, I must dedicate my full attention to keeping the Nightmare at bay. I fear we must take the longer path and allow ourselves to be guided to it."

"Dumb it down a notch for the less oneirologically-abled, Princess."

A sigh echoed through the forest. "I have my hooves full with preventing our immediate demise. Just pick a random direction and start walking."

"See, now you're speaking my language!" With that Discord took off.

It felt like he was walking for hours, but perhaps it was only minutes—it was impossible to tell in the gloom—when the trees of the forest slowly gave way to a scene. Though there was still no light, Discord could feel the rays of Sun on his face and he could clearly see an uncountable amount of ponies in front of him, walking and talking aimlessly.

There was one more figure in the crowd. Discord sneered as he gazed upon his own visage, standing alone in the middle of this veritable ocean of stallions and mares, a little island of calm in chaos that would otherwise warm his heart. Yet, said heart only sank a little. In such a crowd, he was entirely alone. Nopony paid him any heed.

"What is the meaning of this?" he asked, hoping the anger would hide the cracks in his voice.

"It is a dream of yours, made manifest," Luna trailed off. "I'll be honest, I never would have expected you to feel this way. Especially after what we've just witnessed inside the dreamscape. I understand this is not the best moment, but perhaps if you want to talk…?"

"I'll pass. You have your own sob story and I have mine, can we please move on?" Discord began to make his way across the crowd, without waiting for an answer. "I might find your presence marginally more tolerable than your sister's, but that still doesn't mean I'd like to take part in your royal therapy sessions."

Yet, as quickly as he trod through the endless masses, he found himself no further from his lonesome self than when he started.

"So what's the deal?" he asked exasperatedly, while pointing at himself. "Can't you just make him disappear? I'm kind of bothered by seeing myself in such a sad shape."

"I'm afraid not. This is your dream. I may not interfere, but I may tell you what you need to do, even if I think you already know."

Discord put his hands on his hips. "Enlighten me then, Highness."

"To tell you the whole truth, I wasn't offering to talk merely out of courtesy. The feelings you could distract yourself from with your chaos will not be quieted so easily this time. You will be forced to dwell on them until you make peace with yourself."

"Oh?" Discord's face twitched in rage. "And here I was thinking we might be nearing some sort of understanding with each other." He continued his futile attempts to escape the scene, each time reappearing right where he started. He finally stopped, bending over slightly, as he panted in frustrated exhaustion. "Do you, ugh… Do you want me to perhaps chain myself and hide in a crater, huh? Or maybe just sink under the earth so that you and your little subjects can live in peace far far away from nasty old Discord?" He spat a bit of fire at the ground. "Do you think I am some cold automaton? Chaos is an art and art needs an audience or else what even is the point?"

"Discord, your 'art' has caused untold damage to ponykind…"

"And how many deaths? Or painful disfigurations? Or permanent destruction of anything?"

Luna remained silent for a second. "None."

"Exactly! Have you never noticed that during your nasty crusade against me? I may not exactly be good, but I am also not evil. Ruling is no more fun than being stuck in stone if there's nopony to share it with."

"Of that I am far too aware," Luna replied wistfully, before quickly adding, "but we got off on the wrong hoof. The peace I meant wasn't one of incapacitation, but of opening yourself to the world."

"Oh, cut the sugar, Sugar. That's just not who I am. I might abhor loneliness, but that doesn't mean I want to turn all sappy and ponylike."

Luna chuckled a little at the image. "You need not do that. Just accept that you do not need to be alone."

"So what, are you gonna come over for tea every week? How could a being like me make any meaningful connections? I make chaos, not friends." Discord waved a paw in front of his face. "It's in the name, duh!"

Luna continued undeterred. "Still, you could try." A hint of playfulness crept into her voice. "Wouldn't you consider becoming friends with your once arch enemies very chaotic?"

The Discord in the middle of the crowd looked up. The crowd was no longer ignoring him, instead they all looked at him. And they all smiled. He smiled back.

"Eh, sure, I've heard far worse jokes before." He looked around. "With how crazy the world is nowadays, I guess it couldn't hurt if I took a day off or two occasionally."

The crowd in front of him parted, opening a path deeper into the forest. Discord walked through the cheering ponies with a little bit more strut in his steps.

As he left the scene behind, the forest shifted once more and he noticed that the trees were replaced by brick walls and the grassy earth shifted to marble tiles. In short, he found himself inside Canterlot castle.

"Well, that's convenient."

"Let's not celebrate yet. I feel the Nightmare nearby; we must hurry."

"Oh, but of course." Discord rolled his eyes theatrically. "It's easy for the disembodied mare to throw poor old me into the fray."

"Discord."

"I jest, let's go."

With that, he ventured deeper into the castle. Despite the great chandeliers hanging above, the palace was hardly more illuminated than the forest. He almost tumbled over a pile on the ground.

"What the?" he muttered, as he leaned down to look closer. It was a pony, still clad in armor. His eyes were closed and he didn't move at all. "Is he…?" Before he could end his sentence, the guard snored right into his face.

"Merely asleep," Luna finished his sentence. "Thank the Stars, my magic was strong enough to prevent further harm. Hurry, Discord."

"Fine." As he moved on, he ran into several more guards. Thankfully all of them were breathing quietly, their eyes fast shut.

At the end of the hallway, he found a pair of great golden doors. Discord carefully cracked it open, stepping into the throne room.

The other end of the chamber was something darker than black. Though Discord could not see what exactly it was, he could feel a presence so malign and evil, even he shuddered from it. Yet, right next to it he also felt something warm and powerful emanating from the void.

"Is this the Nightmare?"

"Indeed. I shall dispel this veil of darkness. Stand ready."

As if a candle was lit, the room became illuminated by invisible lights. Discord's gaze shifted to the throne, on which he saw an old enemy. Celestia sat on her throne, just as deeply asleep as her guards outside. Yet her slumber was not nearly as peaceful. Her usually serene face was disturbed and clearly in pain.

Above her the vague silhouette of a mare circled, occasionally lashing down only to recoil again, causing great pain to the Princess.

Discord raised an ignited talon, ready to shoot down the being, only to be interrupted by Luna.

"Stop!" she almost screamed. "If you are even a tiny bit off, you will only hurt my Sister and doom us all."

"Tsk, fine," Discord grumbled, dropping his talon. "What's the big plan then?"

"I'm… I don't know. We might be too late," Luna's voice grew increasingly desperate. "The Nightmare has already began its assault on my Sister."

Discord, however, just shook his head. He looked up with a smile. "Chin up, Princess. The Celestia and Luna I know would not give up that easily."

"But I…"

"Don't dwell on it, focus. How can we help her?"

Luna heaved a sigh. "Perhaps, if we delved into her dream. But I cannot ask…"

"Luna," Discord interrupted her. His voice was soft and warm. "I still intend to live in this world. And I also intend to give this whole 'Friendship' farce of yours a shot. So if catapulting me into your big sister's head is the way, then catapult me already."

Luna remained quiet for a few seconds. "Very well. I shall stay outside and weaken the Nightmare's grip on her."

"Please be careful with my Sister. Her dream feels violent even from outside." Discord felt his eyelids grow heavier and heavier. Luna's voice began to drift away too, as he slowly slumped to the ground in front of the throne. "And though I may be allied with you now, she is none the wiser to our pact and in her current state she may not realize you've come to her aid instead of destruction…"

The world slipped away and, for just a moment, there was only silence and darkness.

Discord opened his eyes and found himself in an inferno.

A Dream of Morning (xTSGx)

Discord gasped, but there was only a singeing heat that filled his lungs. He was blinded by the heat. It was burning his fur. He fought against it, clawing at the air madly, trying to fight his way through it. In the corner of his fire-blinded vision, he saw a shape move. He desperately rushed toward it. Just as he reached out to grab it, his burned claw burst out into the air. He thrust himself toward the coolness and tumbling to the marble floor.

He looked around, hacking. He was on a balcony. He looked out. The whole of Equestria was visible. He was on one of Canterlot Castle’s balconies. It was early morning. The lightest of pinks was just appearing on the horizon. He heard several voices and jumped to one of the pillars to hide himself. He had no idea what was happening and it was best to remain hidden for now until he could figure this out.

He looked back at where he had appeared. It was a huge ball of fire. Twenty feet in diameter. A dozen unicorns stood in a semicircle around it, chanting something incomprehensible. Their horns were alight, the magic streaming from them into the fire. He immediately recognized what it was.

There, in the center of the inferno, was the most majestic sight a unicorn could bear witness to. The Solar Invictus spell danced and weaved through itself. That had been what he had seen. The incorporeal magic of a dozen unicorns made material by the raw power of nature fighting against it. It would twist and bend, resembling all sorts of creatures all at once as it seemingly played in the fire like a foal playing in a sprinkler. There was an admirable innocence to the whole affair.

But Discord wasn’t impressed. It wasn’t majestic or beautiful. It was order. The most order possible. The ponies of old weren’t content with just the plants and weather. They had to control everything. The chaos of nature had to be brutally crushed and neatly sorted and scheduled. The unicorns had to control the very stars that danced above them, not content to merely watch them trot across the sky.

He smirked to himself when one of the mages passed out and fell to the ground, her horn sputtering. That control had cost them dearly. Nature did not take kindly to the chains the ponies had cast upon it. Perhaps that was why it had called upon him when—wait a second. He suddenly realized how familiar the whole scene was. And sure enough…

“Careful, Celestia, careful.”

Star Swirl, that old windbag, was standing next to his protégé, whispering in her ear. She was a small thing. Barely older than a foal. Her pink mane and tail blew in the wind the mages’ spell was kicking up. Her horn was alight, though her magic was having nearly no effect on the magic being tossed around her.

Discord smiled. There was Celestia. His brow furrowed. Canterlot hadn’t yet been built when he first appeared, let alone when Celestia was learning of her special talent. The chronology didn’t make sense. But does it ever in a dream?

And hadn’t Luna said something about pain? As if his old friend Fate had decided to stop by at that moment, the whole world was tossed around violently, quite literally. He was flung dozens of feet, for as it was Celestia’s dream, only her point of view mattered. The whole rest of the world was merely a moving image for her eyes.

He steadied himself up, grabbing at the pillar he’d been hiding behind, but it was now a stalagmite. In that brief moment of disorientation, the whole scene had changed. Gone were the mages. Gone was the triumphant sunrise. Gone was Canterlot. They were in a dark cave now. Stalactites hung precariously from the ceiling, their forms twisted and pointed tips covered in dripping blood.

The ball of fire, with the solar spell still within, was now hovering a few feet in the air. Gone was the majesty. There was a menace to it, now. It felt like an inescapable pit you were slowly being dragged toward. Its light lit the whole cavern. Discord looked back at the unicorn filly. Celestia’s horn was still alight, her magic streaming into the fire. Her eyes were open, but glowed white as the sun’s power flowed into her. Her rump started glowing and—

“Celestia, stop!”

She looked over and saw Star Swirl’s horrified expression. She looked back and screamed. Discord stared, his mouth agape. A green unicorn mare wearing a cloak had been dragged into the fire. She was screaming in agony, begging anypony to help her. Her mane and coat lit in an instant, burning away her skin and charring the raw muscle underneath black. Her legs curled as the heat cooked the tendons. It was a horrifying sight.

“Clover!” Celestia cried out. She turned back to Star Swirl, her eyes wide as saucers, tears forming at the edges. “I can’t stop it! I-I can’t turn it off. Help me, master. Do something!”

No, this was wrong, Discord knew. His essence had been gathering since the Windigos defeat and he knew all that had been happening in Equestria’s infancy. Celestia hadn’t witnessed Clover’s fiery death. She hadn’t even been in the capital at the time. How was she having a memory of something she hadn’t even seen?

The scene continued. Star Swirl was swept off his hooves and was being dragged ever closer to the ball of death in the cave’s center. Clover was gone. Completely disappeared, like she hadn’t even been there. “Celestia, you have to stop the spell. It’s the only hope!” he begged as he clawed at the ground.

Celestia looked at the stallion with raw terror. “Master, I can’t. I-I can’t do it.”

Discord continued watching. None of this made sense. Celestia shouldn’t have this memory to dream about. She hadn’t been there. He went back to those ancient days, replaying them in his head. Hoping to find some answer to this annoying riddle. His eyes widened in sudden realization. He suddenly chuckled to himself. What a devious plan.

Celestia hadn’t been there that infamous day, but Luna had. And if she had the memory, then so did the Nightmare. All at once, he realized what was happening. He had tried similar manipulations of Twilight and her friends when he first broke free of his prison. He knew how this game of puppetry was played.

At once, he leapt from the shadows. And he knew when the strings were supposed to be pulled. Celestia jumped back in panic, “W-Who are you?” she asked fearfully. It seemed Luna’s fears of a confrontation with him were unfounded. Because in a dream, how often does one really remember who they are and what they did? It’s all about the moment of the dream. And in this moment, Celestia thought she was a mere scared filly.

He looked down, trying to show as kind a smile as he could muster. It was hard using those muscles that way after so long. “Hello, Celestia. I’m…” Was he really going to do this? Oh, why not. He could try it out for a few thousand years and see what would happen. He reached a claw out. “…a friend and I’m here to help.”

The scene darkened, the light from the sun spell now gone. Shadows danced on the cave walls, despite there being seemingly no source of light to cast them, their forms mimicking dozens of nightmarish monsters from the deep, disturbed slumber of the ponies who were now writhing in their beds throughout Equestria. The bloody stalactites stretched down, reaching out like gnarled fingers. Celestia shrank back from Discord’s claw, her breath quickening from the sudden fear that was now overpowering her.

“Don’t listen to him, Celly. He’s a monster! Just look at him.”

Luna appeared from the darkness. She wasn’t the majestic alicorn of the night he had just seen minutes earlier, but a simple dark blue pegasus filly. Just like Celestia remembered from all those years ago. But Discord knew all too well the truth, as she quickly revealed.

Luna reached a hoof out toward her sister. “You have to give me the spell, Celly. It’s the only way to save Star Swirl.”

It was a devious plan. Trick Celestia into handing over control of the sun to the Nightmare. With the Solar Invictus spell, the Nightmare would have complete control of the sky. Celestia and Luna could do nothing to stop it once it had the spell. A part of Discord questioned the logic to this. The whole boring jealousy thing that had roped Luna into a thousand year time out in the first place had been Luna’s desire. She wanted the eternal night. This Nightmare wasn’t a part of Luna any longer. Why would it still crave something its host wanted? He shrugged. Dark magics could be so finicky sometimes. Maybe he’d ask it once all this was over.

Celestia started to edge away from him. He suppressed an annoyed sigh at the whole situation. He was chaos incarnate. Disorder. And yet here he was now, in perhaps the most chaotic setting possible, trying to lead a pony—his very nemesis no less—through it and back to logic and rationality.

“Don’t listen to her, Celestia.” His voice was quiet, but firm, like one a father might have when talking of the monster under the bed. “This is a dream. You’re asleep in the throne room right now.”

She hesitated. “A—Asleep?”

He crouched down to get closer to the filly. “Yes.”

The Nightmare wearing Luna’s skin rushed over to Celestia’s ear. “Don’t listen to it! It’s a trick. It’s trying to distract you so Star Swirl will die. Give me the spell so you can save him!”

Celestia looked from Luna’s face back to Discord. He smiled softly. “It is a trick, but not by me. You’re dreaming, Celestia. The nightmare that ensnared your sister has returned and wants your magic. Just think for a moment, why would a pegasus be able to use a unicorn spell? It doesn’t make any sense. Only in a dream could it ever work!”

The scene blurred. The ball of fire, the cave, Star Swirl—they all dissolved into the fuzzy background. It was just the three of them in focus now, as though they were standing in a thick fog with everything else obscured. Discord’s soft smile turned into a wide grin. It was working. Celestia was realizing the truth.

And the Nightmare knew it. She turned to him, snarling. “No! No! You won’t stop me now. Not when I’m this close!” The filly exploded into a black mist that swept toward him, swallowing him in darkness. Instinctively, he snapped a claw, but nothing happened. His powers were useless in the dreamscape. He started choking, the air seemingly getting sucked from his lungs.

“C-Celestia!” He gasped out. “Th-This is your dream. Y-You control what happens.” That’s how it worked, right? When somepony started lucid dreaming, they had unlimited power over it. He hoped the same held true for the Nightmare as well.

Discord suddenly fell to the marble floor of the throne room. He dizzily shook his head before looking around. It was midday. The room was brightly lit by the sun. There were no guards or Luna for that matter. But there Celestia stood, in front of her throne, now the regal alicorn princess she had been for over a millennium. She was looking up at the ceiling.

Discord’s eyes followed. Suspended in the air near the ceiling, the black mist that was the Nightmare writhed and churned in an elaborate spherical crystal prison. He had to admit, the silver accents around the ball were quite impressive. When Celestia put her imagination to it, she could create some truly gorgeous works. Such a pity she never wanted to unleash that imagination. What wonderful chaos it could conjure.

She looked down at him. “Thank you, Luna. You’ve saved Equestria. If you hadn’t been there to stop me, I’d have given this monster everything.” Her brow furrowed in confusion. “Though I don’t know why you’ve taken Discord’s form.”

Discord chortled. “I haven’t taken anyone’s form, dear Celestia. It has been I this whole time.”

Celestia froze, her eyes widened. “You? Discord? But how—why?”

You know, to see that look on her face made this whole “save Equestria instead of letting it fall into a chaotic nightmare dream realm” totally worth it, Discord thought. His smile remained ever present. “'Tis a very long and surprisingly chaotic story, Celestia. For now, let us return to the land of the awake. I believe your dear sister still requires our help dealing with the Nightmare there.”

Celestia nodded and the world went white.

Discord opened his eyes and looked around. Celestia sat up from her slouched position on the throne. The room was dark. It was still night. He looked up, expecting to see the Nightmare still looming above, but it was gone. Luna was as well, at first. After a moment of scanning, he saw her out on one of the balconies, staring up at the night sky.

He got up and rushed over, Celestia following. “Luna, I don’t mean to toot my own horn, but I brilliantly outmaneuvered your alter ego in the dream realm. Now where is it so we can bring this whole affair to an end?”

She only continued to stare. He looked out. The cityscape of Canterlot filled his lower vision. Most of the buildings were dark, as the ponies continued their disturbed slumber, which left an eerie sight of darkened outlines that stretched toward the mountain. In fact, the only building still alight was a clocktower some ways away. Its indiscernible faces cast the only light on the city, like a lone candle amidst a black room.

His eyes shifted up. “Ah, I see what you mean.” The night sky was full of things. All manner of them. Twisted, rotten, writhing, fleshy, oozing—there were probably other words he could use as well but those immediately sprang to mind.

Celestia only briefly looked at the horrors before turning to Discord and Luna. “How do we stop this?” Right to business, it seemed.

Discord crossed his arms. “You mean how do you stop all this? I’m sorry, but I’ve played my part and gone through this whole redemption checklist.” He snapped a claw, trying to conjure an old-timey baseball outfit, complete with long stockings, puffy knickerbockers, and a curled mustache, but nothing happened. This accursed reality bleed. He continued regardless. “Now it’s time for you to step up to bat.”

“We need the sun. I need the sun.” Luna finally said.

“You?” Celestia asked.

Luna nodded firmly. “Yes. These are nightmares. They live off the night. Without it, they will burn. But it will not do to merely raise the sun. I need to channel its power directly to sterilize these creatures. You need to give me control of the sun, Celestia.”

Discord’s eyes narrowed. That was awfully convenient, but perhaps it really was just a coincidence. An annoying light that had been nagging at his peripheral finally got his attention. He looked back out at Canterlot. It was just the clocktower. His eyes widened. The clocktower he couldn’t read the time of. It was just an indiscernible blur.

He looked back over, time seemingly slowing down. Celestia was charging her horn, ready to give the spell over, for in her dream, it all made perfect sense for Luna to have the exact same plan as the Nightmare. Why would it ever be any different?

He dove toward them. “Celestia! You’re still dreaming!” Her eyes widened in shock. “You have to wake u—”

Discord startled awake. He looked around. He didn’t have time to determine whether this was real or not before, “Luna!” he heard Celestia shout. She raced past him.

In the center of the throne room, Luna and the black mist of the Nightmare floated. Luna’s eyes were tightly shut in a grimace. Every few seconds a leg or wing would twitch or spasm, right in rhythm with a corresponding oscillation from the Nightmare’s mist. It seemed they were locked in a dream battle of their own.

He readied a claw, aiming to shoot the mist with his magic. “No!” Celestia jumped in front of him. “If you miss, you might hit Luna. We’ll never be able to defeat this without her.”

He growled in annoyance. “For goodness sake! Are you two not immortal? Do you really think a little chaos magic could cripple one of you? And I’ll have you know my aim is impeccable. I would never miss.”

Celestia’s eyes narrowed. “Well, I’m not willing to take a chance. Especially with so much at stake.”

Discord threw his hands into the air. “Then what are we to do? Just wait for their mental battle to finish. Shall I make us some tea while we wait?” He snapped a claw and this time was successful. The teapot appeared in a white flash, but the reality bleed was still messing with things and after a second of floating, it crashed to the floor, shattering into a hundred pieces and splattering tea everywhere.

Luna’s eyes opened at the sound. There was a burst of wind that blew her and the Nightmare apart. She skidded across the floor, Celestia rushing after her. The mist coalesced into the vague, blurry shape of an alicorn that hovered near the ceiling.

Discord raised a claw and aimed. “Enough of this.”

He snapped it, sending a streaming bolt of purple magic out at the Nightmare. The bolt zigged and zagged chaotically through the air. It would have been impossible to accurately dodge it. As it turned out, the Nightmare didn’t have to, as it shot a few feet to her left, blowing a gaping hole in the castle’s ceiling and sending a cloud of dust into the throne room.

“What?!” Discord screamed out. He glanced back at Celestia, who merely gave him a look but didn’t say a word.

He looked back, just in time for the misty mare to rush into him, enveloping him in darkness. He looked around in a daze, but could only see utter blackness. He could hear her voice. It sounded like the whispers of a thousand ponies, trapped in their dreams.

You think you’ve won, Discord?

“I thwarted your plan, haven’t I? That always counts as a win.”

Does it? I am still free and Equestria still slumbers. Reality has fractured. I control this realm now. Control of the sun would be lovely, but ponies still sleep in the day all the same.

“Yes, you’ve made quite a mess. I must say, very impressive. But only one realm? That’s so small, Nightmare.”

Your words do not matter, Discord. You cannot trick me with pride or anger.

“Oh, but it’s always so much fun to try! Oh well. If only one world of ponies is enough for you, then you can be rid of me and always wonder what else could have been.”

There was silence for a moment. Discord only heard the tumultuous wind blowing around him.

There are others?

“Oh, yes. Equestria is but one of many realms. I keep myself busy here, but there are others ripe for the taking. Some so sweet and naïve and brightly colored, I doubt even one of their ponies has had a single nightmare.”

And you can take me there?

“Of course. My powers can easily pierce the veil between worlds. But, you have to free me.”

Very well. But do not try any more heroics. They do not suit you, Discord. And they would fail again.

Light returned to Discord’s eyes as the mist retreated from him. The blurry, dark form stood a few feet away. He looked behind him to see Celestia and Luna standing, their horns alight, charging some kind of spell.

He put up a hand, but only Luna let her magic fade. At least Celestia wasn’t firing. Maybe she was just as unsure of her aim as she was of his. He snapped a claw and there was a noise. A strange bubbling, churning noise. The throne warped and distorted before it swirled out of existence and was replaced by a rippling orange and purple vortex.

He motioned with his hands like he was presenting a prize. “There you are, Nightmare. Just as we agreed. I think you’ll find this new world most suitable.”

The mist looked at the portal before turning back to Discord.

Very good, Discord. You first.

Discord’s face fell. “What?”

You think me a foal? That I will just wander through whatever magic you conjure? You, the Great Trickster?

He rubbed the back of his head. “Well, that was the basic idea.”

No. You will go first and once I am satisfied this is no deception, I will follow.

“If you insist.” He looked back at the princesses and bowed. “It’s been a pleasure, but I must be off now.”

He strutted through the portal. A few awkward seconds later, the mist followed after him. The portal steadily shrank before evaporating with a loud “pop!” Silence filled the throne room, stretching on for seemingly minutes.

Luna finally looked to Celestia. “Is that it? Is he really gone?”

As if to answer her, there was a sudden blinding white flash. Discord appeared in front of them, gasping for breath and clutching his chest. Several black wisps of smoke trailed off him before dissipating. He stood up, brushing himself off. “Well. She took that rather hard.”

Celestia looked at him in concern. “What happened?”

He looked at her simply. “I left her at the end, of course.”

Celestia and Luna looked at each other. “The end?”

“Yes, the end of it all. Where there is nothing. No Equestria. No ponies. No stars. No life. Nothing but a cold dark emptiness. She wanted a world of eternal night, so I gave her one.” He coughed again, a small puff of mist coming out of his mouth. “You’d think she’d be a little more grateful.”

Celestia looked around. “So that’s it, then?”

Luna nodded. “Yes, without the Nightmare interfering, I can mend the fractures with the dream realm. Equestria will return to normal.”

Discord reached an arm around each alicorn’s neck. “Great. This calls for a celebration with my new friends!”

Celestia frowned as the three walked toward the doors. “You know, we never did establish that this wasn’t another dream. What if we’re still asleep and this is another trick?”

Luna shook her head. “It is reality. I am sure of it.”

Discord nodded, “I am, too. This was no dream.”

The three walked on. At the far end of the throne room, a clock mounted on the wall above the entrance ticked, its face too obscured by the dust from the fight to make out.

********

“So far there has been no comment from Captain-General Soarin of the Wonderbolts or Captain-General Guardian Angel of the Royal Guard over the military activity in the Whitetail Woods this morning, but we have unconfirmed reports of arrests being made of a cul—”

There was a sudden click of the radio.

Bookworm looked over from the bookcase, “Hey, I was listening to that, Pen!”

“Well, now you’re not,” the light tan mare groaned back at the brown stallion. He only glared back, before resuming his reshelving work. It was best not to aggravate her, at least not before the Chief Archivist arrived to do it for him.

She walked back to her chair and sat down before taking a tired sip from her coffee mug. The mug, which had a stylized picture of a cartoon bookshelf smiling at a sunrise painted on it with the words “It’s Never Too Early to Read,” was plopped back onto the wooden receptionist desk. It was too early for the radio. She leaned back in the chair and rubbed her eyes with a hoof.

Last night had been rough. She hadn’t gotten any good sleep, just tossing and turning the whole night. She couldn’t remember any dreams, but she knew they had been bad. It was just that feeling, you know? When you wake up and are deeply disturbed but don’t know why. Like your subconscious was doing you a favor by forcing the memory of the horrible dream from your head.

Or maybe it had been Princess Luna doing the heavy lifting. Daisy, from the Ministry of Royal Affairs, had been weirdly high strung when she talked to her earlier that morning. Something about “cleaning up” the mess from Night Court. And then there was whatever was going on in the Whitetail Woods. Oh well. None of that was her concern.

She sighed and looked down at the scribbled note on the desk. But this was. It was insane it had taken this long to sort everything out. Hopefully the librarian wouldn’t be too upset that they’d only just now been able to put all the pieces together. She picked up the phone and dialed the number. Thankfully, there was no voice on the other end after the ringing, just the answering machine. She absentmindedly fiddled with a pencil in her left hoof while the right held the phone to her head.

“Hello, Miss Sparkle. This is Pen Stroke with the Canterlot Archives. I’m doing a follow up on the letter we sent a week ago as we haven’t heard back. To recap, if you didn’t receive it, it appears Golden Oak Library is accidentally in possession of an item from the Dark Magic Vault. Due to a clerical error, Item #127 was sent to your library some time ago instead of to its intended destination, the University of Trottingham’s Golden Oat Library.

“Please find it as soon as possible as it is a dark magic artifact and they tend to attract unwanted attention. The book itself is not inherently dangerous, but it does have a mild mind control effect that can make a reader perceive it as their ‘greatest written desire’, so it will appear to be a book you most want to read. Use Procedure 12 from the Librarian Handbook to safely dispel the illusion, then ship it back to us for cataloging.

“You can return it using the standard book rate the libraries use. The Archives will be revising its policies to ensure such an error like this doesn’t happen again. Please do not hesitate to call us if you have any questions or concerns about this.

“I apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you or your patrons. Thank you.”