Welcome to My Nightmare

Chapters

What Cannot Be, Is
Nothing Is as It Seems
Not the Bad Guy
Epilogue

What Cannot Be, Is

Luna's heart pounded. Her sides and neck were slick with lather. Her chest heaved, gasping for breath. She couldn't stop running. To do so meant death.

Death.

She tried to block the memory out of her mind. Her sister, lying on the floor of the throne room in a pool of her own blood, a look of horror on her lifeless face. It made her sick to her stomach, and she had to stop for just a moment to retch in a nearby bush.

Why was she running? She still didn't know. She should have been able to order the guards to stand down, but no. They were after her head, saying that she had to pay for her crimes.

What crimes? She couldn't let herself believe that they were right, that she had killed Celestia. In her heart, she knew it not to be true.

Her front right hoof caught a rotting log, and she tripped, falling headlong and sliding down the dirt path. She struggled back to her hooves, but she could hear the sounds of the guards closing in. Hiding would do nothing; they were tracking her magic signature. If worst came to worst, she would have to face them.

She tried to gallop, but a searing pain shot up her right front leg, and she crumpled to her knees, tears streaming from her eyes, wailing in agony. She couldn't tell if her cannon bone was broken, and if it was, it was just a superficial fracture, but whatever the case may be, she was going to be stuck there until she could conjure up some spell to heal it. And she didn't have time for that.

Hiding was her last resort. Little by little, ignoring the pain in her leg, she pushed herself toward the side of the road. One of the larger trees would provide shelter from quick glances, and she could further hide herself with brush and magic. She took up a position behind the nearest tree, and she began concealing herself.

But it was too late. The guards rounded the bend, lances at their sides. "There she is!" one shouted, vengeance in his eyes.

"I didn't do it, I swear!" she wailed. "Do you think I would kill my own sister?!"

"I saw it with my own two eyes!" the guard growled, propelling his lance forward with a flash of magic. Luna instinctively closed her eyes and waited for the impact. Whatever pain it would cause, God willing, would be over in only a moment. And then, peace.

But that moment never came.

She opened her eyes, not daring to move any other muscle. Poised millimeters from her muzzle was the keen point of the lance, held in place by a second spell. The guard fought hard to drive the spear home, to bury it in her brain. Beads of sweat ran down his face, and he clenched his teeth so hard that his head began to shake. At last, his strength failed, and he slumped to the ground, unconscious. The lance fell with him.

Luna released the breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding. Panting to try and regain normal respiratory rhythm, she shot a gloating look at the other guard, whose lance was still by his side. It was almost as if to dare him to hurl it. And hurl it, he did.

The same unseen source of magic caught the missile just inches from her face, and a sleek, black unicorn stallion came around the bend. The lance snapped in half and flew off into the trees, and the guard turned to look at the unicorn. "Are you mad?!" he bellowed. "She is guilty! She murdered Princess Celestia!"

"Are you so sure of this?" the black unicorn asked.

"My friend here saw it with his own eyes."

"Let the judge decide Luna's fate. Begone."

"But--"

"I said, LEAVE!" snapped the black unicorn. "You've caused enough trouble already."

The guard hefted his unconscious fellow onto his back and loped off toward Canterlot. The black unicorn approached Luna, and her heart jumped. "Thank you!" she gasped, doing her best to prostrate herself at his hooves. "My savior!"

"Savior?" the unicorn asked. "No, no, no, my darling." He bent down close. Luna looked crestfallen up at his large, brown eyes. He put his muzzle to her ear. His breath was like a jet of steam as he whispered, "I'm your worst nightmare."

Before Luna could do aught else, he raised a hoof and brought it down sharply on the back of her head. She collapsed to the ground, and a moment later the world went black.

Luna awoke in the dark. Her head ached, and every move of her front right leg was excruciating. She whimpered as she checked for swelling, but remarkably there was none. Just unbearable pain.

"Help!" she called. "Anypony, please!" Her voice didn't cooperate, and she didn't think it had gone very far. She called out again, but no reply returned.

Her eyes gradually adjusted to the light, and soon she saw that she was deep in the bowels of the disused Canterlot Palace dungeon, locked in some sort of cell. The only light that shone was generated by her own starlit mane, which cast an eerie, wavering glow on the walls.

Luna's imagination began to come alive. The shadows played tricks on her. She saw horrific, grotesque creatures coming to devour her, creatures that would vanish whenever she looked at them. She whimpered as her breath grew faster. The creatures multiplied and rushed at her, and looking at them was the only way to turn them back into shadows. "Help me!" she squealed, tears flowing, heart pounding. When her cries went unanswered, she dropped her head to the floor of the cell and covered it with her good leg, shutting her eyes tightly.

Silence. Silence, except for the pounding of her heart in her ears. Silence, except for her uncontrollable panting. Silence and stillness that helped her to calm down. Finally she stopped hyperventilating. Finally she was able to convince herself that the shadows were just that and not horrible creatures coming to devour her. When she was able to do this, her exhaustion took hold, and she slept.

She awoke again in darkness. It took a moment for her eyes to adjust to the wavering light cast by her mane and tail. She tried to use magic to pick the lock, but it was protected by wards, probably set by that mysterious black unicorn. She tried evoking the teleportation spell, which she had once mastered, but nothing came from her horn but the tiniest of sparks. She couldn't even generate a werelight, one of the most basic spells any magician could cast. Again, she dropped her head to the floor in shame and despair.

"Magic isn't going to help you here, Princess," said the voice of the black unicorn. She hated that voice now; it was the voice of her damnation.

Somewhere in the room, a candle wick combusted spontaneously, followed by another and another, until she could actually see where she was. She was deeper beneath Canterlot than she had initially thought, in the very lowest level of the dungeon. "Who art thou?" she demanded, using the Royal Canterlot Voice to try and intimidate him.

"I am Inspector Pipesmoke," the voice replied. "And I don't exist. Neither does the agency of which I am director. You wonder why you are here...or do you? I think we both know why you're here."

"I didn't kill my sister," Luna growled. The thought brought tears to her eyes, and they rolled hot down her cheeks. "Why wouldst thou think such a thing?"

"The evidence against you is strong, Princess. Upon review, one of two things will happen. Either you will be executed for your crimes, or you will be exonerated. But that doesn't change the fact that the sun will never rise again, does it?"

"The sun will rise," Luna said through gritted teeth, losing the edge in her voice. "Because Celestia is not dead."

"Oh, but she is. Impaled in the neck by a long, sharp object. The murder weapon was not found at the scene, but that's probably because it traveled with the murderer."

"What are you insinuating, Pipesmoke?" Luna stammered.

"You have no idea, do you? The dried blood coating your horn? We already took a sample of it for analysis, but I don't think much analysis is needed."

Luna strained her eyes to see her horn. She could see just the tiniest bit of it, but it was indeed stained crimson. "No," she gasped. "I couldn't have!"

"Again, your fate will be determined by the evidence. What do you remember?"

"Nothing," she replied. "All I remember is walking into the throne room and finding...." She couldn't bring herself to say it.

"Finding your sister's body," Pipesmoke finished.

Luna bit her lip as the memory returned, vivid in her mind's eye.

She had awoken an hour earlier than normal, three hours before moonrise. She had tried to get back to sleep, but to no avail. The sun was still sinking below the horizon, so she knew that Celestia would still be up and would have time to talk, something that she wished would happen more.

She made her way to the throne room, where Celestia sat sleepily on her cushion, paging through what appeared to be the dessert section of a cookbook. "Sister?" Luna greeted. Celestia shut the book and stuffed it under the cushion.

"Luna," greeted the elder princess. "You're up early."

"I couldn't sleep," she replied. "Something woke me up; I don't know what."

"Come, take a seat," Celestia invited, shuffling over and patting the cushion. "I'm about to paint the sunset. Have you ever watched me?"

"Once or twice," Luna replied. "But I've never gotten a front-row seat. And I don't know how you do it, either."

"This has always been my favorite part," the elder princess explained. "You can't start too early, or the sunlight blots out all your work. And if you start too late, then the masterpiece will never be seen. There's a fire deep in the Everfree Forest, and it's been filling the air with a thin haze of smoke. That always gives me the best canvas."

Celestia's horn glowed, and a palette of various oranges, reds, purples, blues and yellows floated over and came to rest on the dais, next to the cushion. The colors were not paints, but the seeds of light-spells, and the palette had been passed down through the generations, from the very first alicorn queen. Luna had always been jealous of Celestia's artistic abilities, and had wanted to paint a sunset of her own, but the laws dictated that it would not be so.

Celestia touched the tip of her horn to a fiery red, and as the disk of the sun was maybe halfway below the horizon, she took a deep breath, and she gently blew toward the star. The sky around it reddened slowly, and at the same time, the rest of the sky darkened. Next, she added a series of blues and purples, along with some streaks of bright pink.

It was the most beautiful sunset Luna had ever seen. She complimented Celestia, but the elder princess seemed to sense her jealousy. "Sunsets aren't the only thing that can be painted," Celestia explained. "You have a palette of your own."

"You mean the Milky Way," Luna scoffed.

"No. If you prearrange it with Cloudsdale, you can create something of your own. They're called noctilucent clouds. I'll show you how to paint them tomorrow."

And that was the last moment she remembered of her sister's life. Her next memory was her coming to the throne room for the changing of the guard and finding Celestia's lifeless body. Tears running freely, she pounded her good hoof, cursing whatever fiend robbed her of her dearest friend.

"Princess, are you listening?" asked Pipesmoke, snapping her back to reality. "Our initial investigation reveals data corruption in the camera footage when the actual murder occurred. But you were without a doubt the last pony to see your sister alive. And the first to be seen with her body. Damning evidence, wouldn't you say?"

"I've been framed," was all she could muster. "I don't know who did it, but somepony framed me." A sudden rage welled up inside her, and she leaped to her three good hooves and roared, "And when I find whomever is responsible, I will tear their head from their shoulders! I swear it on my sister's grave!"

"Do you seek to intimidate me?" Pipesmoke shouted back. "I am currently the most powerful stallion in Equestria! All I have to do is say the word and a hundred lances will impale you where you stand!" His horn glowed red, and he tugged on Luna's mane, pulling her to the bars, where her head impacted painfully. "I swear to you on your sister's grave that YOU will be brought to justice!"

"Thou askest whether we seek to intimidate thou, when thou hast attempted to do the same. Dost thou expect this to succeed? I have never heard such tripe!" She mustered her magic, drawing upon every source of energy she could sense, and she engulfed herself in a ball of light. One moment later, she appeared on the other side of Pipesmoke, and she took off at full gallop toward the stairs, ignoring the pain in her leg.

Then she saw a red glow form around her front right leg and knew what was going to happen. It snapped with a hideous *crunch*, and she crumpled to the ground. She hit so hard that her diadem left its place atop her head and clattered on the stone before her.

Surprisingly, her leg didn't hurt. On the contrary, it was almost completely numb. She mustered her magic again to try and fix it, but Pipesmoke was already upon her, approaching slowly, head lowered, poised to lunge forward and impale her with his horn. "You can't escape the law, Princess." His voice was cold and harsh.

"I am innocent," she replied. His horn glowed, and her broken leg moved. Hot spikes of pain ran through her veins, through her bones, through her very soul, forcing wails of agony from her throat.

"I can fix this in mere moments. But you have to give me a confession."

"Never!" she said, spitting on his front hooves.

"Very well." He moved her broken leg again. "I'm going to have to set this regardless of whether you confess or not. But only giving me what I need will make the pain go away." He moved her leg again.

"Please, stop!" she pleaded through her tears. "I am innocent, damn you!"

"Damn me?" He laughed. "It is your fate, o Princess, that you should be concerned about. You see, I don't care one way or another what happens to me. Haven't you forgotten? I. Don't. Exist." He punctuated every word for effect. "I can do whatever I want to whomever I want with complete impunity."

By this time, he was in range. She had to act. She lashed out with her hind legs, striking him in the throat. He crumpled to the ground, gasping for air, and she tried to muster enough magic to heal the fracture. It almost took too long, but she was able to at least set the bone so that it could bear weight. But the pain still shot up her side when she stood or tried to walk.

Stair by stair, she climbed out of the dungeon, taking time every so often to cast a loose stone or two down at Pipesmoke. Had he wings, he would have caught her. But fortunately for her, he was only a unicorn.

And he was waiting for her at the top of the stairs.

"You're not the only one who can use that trick," he growled. He spun around and kicked her hard in the chest, knocking the wind out of her. She tumbled down the dungeon stairs, hitting her head several times and landing hard on one of her wings. Amongst the stars she saw, Pipesmoke materialized next to her. He pushed her back into the cell. After a small spark from his horn, the bars began to glow with a pale light. "Your magic is now useless. Try 'til your brain explodes if you want, but you won't be able to leave this cell without my permission."

He walked up the stairs and slammed the door, and all the candles in the room extinguished, leaving Luna once again in near darkness. Some sort of liquid began to run down her face and drip off her nose. A few drops touched her lips, and, fearful of what it could be, she licked the viscous liquid off.

Sure enough, it was blood.

Nothing Is as It Seems

The only thing that could explain the blood running down Luna's face was that she'd split her head while tumbling down the stairs. Her horn was intact, thankfully, and she didn't feel any broken bones. Still, she had no idea how profusely the would was bleeding. Strange that she didn't feel any pain.

Another thing that she noticed was that her leg was completely painless. She tested it and found it to be sound, not just for bearing weight, but also for pawing and stamping. She felt it carefully, and there was no evidence that her cannon bone had been snapped in two. The spell she had cast to heal it wasn't nearly to the scope that it would completely erase the break from history.

"This makes no sense," she sighed. Her voice echoed in the darkness, but she didn't hear her words coming back.

"Of course it doesn't."

"Who's there?" she called.

"Nopony," her voice replied. "But it makes perfect sense that, well, nothing makes sense." By now, the voice had changed. It was a voice that was all too familiar.

"Discord?" she gasped.

"Who else?" A thin apparition of the famed draconequus appeared before her. "Sorry about your sister."

"You son of a--"

"No, Luna, I really am. Nopony could be more upset over Tia's...over Celestia's death than me."

"You monster," Luna growled. "You broke her heart all those centuries ago! And for what, a little chaos?"

"Luna, please, I--"

Her rage flared hotter than the fires of Tartarus itself. "And thou hast the gall to claim that thou missest her the most? What about us? We were her sister!"

"Well, you weren't exactly on speaking terms with her over the last thousand years, were you?" Discord shot back. "You got jealous. You tried to take her throne. You don't think that broke her heart, too?"

"Silence!" she roared. "The greatest day of our life was when we trapped thou in that stone prison!"

"Say that again."

A wave of confusion hit Luna like a wall. What did he mean, "say it again"? He wasn't challenging her. He seemed like he was...pleading. "The greatest day of our life was when we trapped thou in stone."

"Exactly," the draconequus replied. "If I'm trapped in stone, then how am I here?"

"The spell was broken."

"But then I would be here in the flesh. As you can see, I'm just an image. Please, Luna, listen to me. I am a manifestation of your subconscious."

"Liar!"

"The last thing you remember before finding Celestia's body is watching her paint the sunset. That's because that was the last thing that really happened! Don't you understand?"

"No."

"None of this is real. Celestia is alive! In fact, you are asleep right next to her!"

"Prove it."

"I...I can't."

"If this is a dream, then how do I wake up?" She swung her head around and bit herself on the withers, wincing in pain. "See? That doesn't work."

"You must trust me, Luna."

The request was too much. There was no way in Tartarus that she was going to put one iota of trust in Discord. Her intense, burning hatred for him wouldn't allow it. Even if he was right, and this was some sort of nightmare, even if it meant her death, she would never give pass to such a fiend. She made her sentiments known.

"Sooner or later, you won't have a choice. Goodbye, Luna." The apparition vanished in a flash as the dungeon door once again opened up.

Inspector Pipesmoke descended, lighting candles as he plodded down the steps. His face was blank, though his body language dictated that he bore bad news. "Things are not looking good for you, Princess," he said, clearing his throat. "Our finest analysts were able to reconstruct the corrupt data from the security camera feeds. If nothing else, it incriminates you."

"What does it show?"

"It shows you, in a fit of rage, transforming into Nightmare Moon and impaling Celestia." He squinted at her. "Do you remember this?"

"No," she replied. "No, I don't. I don't remember anything from the time that she painted the sunset to the time that I found her."

"I've been doing some light reading on enhanced interrogation techniques, and I came across a book of spells. I found a whole slew of fantastic little tortures. I learned one that would make you feel like you were drowning, even though you weren't anywhere near water. Another bores into your mind until you either confess or go insane. My personal favorite involves dislocating your wings. One joint at a time."

"Stop!" she cringed, shrinking back as he walked closer. But the bars were no barrier, and he walked through them as if they weren't even there.

"But I'm going to be courteous and just use a standard memory spell on you. If the memories exist, it will conjure them."

He rushed forward and touched his glowing horn to her forehead. A flood of memories washed over her, playing before her eyes like a film.

She was a filly again, playing with her big sister in a sunlit meadow. She didn't have a single care, only gratitude for the love showed her by Celestia. She would never--could never hurt such a mare. How was it even possible that she, even as Nightmare Moon, could go so far as to murder her in cold blood? She still refused to believe it.

A young draconequus slithered through the grass toward Celestia, and then rose up, looming behind her, a look of mania in his eyes. Luna cried out, but she couldn't change what had transpired, what she had worked so hard to forget.

The draconequus tackled Celestia to the ground. But it wasn't how Luna had always remembered it. There was no shriek of surprise, no cries of pain. Instead, laughter. Yes, laughter, of all things! Her opinion of Discord had so twisted that she had been remembering wrong all these years.

"Discord, what are you doing here?" Celestia laughed. She kissed him on the cheek briefly. Again, Luna's hatred for Discord began to burn inside her. She wanted to warn her sister about events to come, but she had no control of her filly self.

"I have something very important to tell you, Tia," the draconequus replied. He sighed deeply. "May we speak in private?"

"Of course," Celestia replied. The two of them walked off to the shelter of a nearby tree.

Just as she remembered it, Luna sneaked through the grass and flitted up into the boughs of the tree to eavesdrop. She heard almost the entire exchange.

"...believe in destiny?" Discord asked.

"Of course I do," Celestia replied, smiling as Discord lovingly stroked her neck. "I know that you and I are destined to be together."

Discord smiled slightly. "Tia, I...I don't know how to say this, but I want--"

"I do!" Celestia squealed, leaping forward and placing her head on his shoulder, wrapping a wing around him.

"No, you don't. You can't. Because I want to end this." His words were labored, reticent. Not like she had always remembered it in her skewed reality.

Celestia gasped. "You want... How can you say that you want to break up with me? If you'd given some sort of excuse, I wouldn't have been as hurt, but...."

"Nopony has made me happier than you, but I've found my destiny." His next words were cold as ice. "And it doesn't involve you."

"How could you?" Celestia choked, beginning to sob. "You promised that you would love me forever!"

"Things change, Tia. You represent harmony; I represent chaos. It's who I am! There's nothing I can do to change it!"

"You didn't even try, did you?"

"You can't fight d--"

"Shut up! I don't want to hear another word about destiny! You knew this was coming, didn't you? From the very beginning!" Discord nodded balefully. "Then why in Tartarus did you let me believe that you could change? Why did you lead me on day after day with your kind words and your...empty love!"

"I swear to you, Celestia, everything I felt for you was real! I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you, but this morning I woke up and nothing was the same. My life was orderly, and I couldn't help but change it! I am Chaos! I am Discord!"

"You're damn fool, is what you are!" Celestia growled. "Get out of here! I never want to see your face again!"

"I'm sorry," he whispered.

"GET OUT!" Celestia bellowed, pointing her hoof at the horizon. As soon as the draconequus left, Celestia collapsed to the ground, tucking her hooves under her. She began weeping, sobbing, cursing herself for falling for a "duplicitous little snake."

Again the thought crossed little Luna's mind: "How could anypony hurt my sister like that?" It was then that she fell out of the tree.

She landed next to Celestia, who tried to dry her tears, but, realizing it was useless, let them continue. "How much did you hear?" she asked.

"All of it," Luna replied. "I wanna kick him in the face."

"No, Luna," Celestia chided. "He's right. We couldn't be together. What makes it worse is that I think he was Chaos from the beginning, and that he was building up to this very moment." The addition of the words "I think" to Luna's previously skewed memory surprised her once again.

"What will we do?" she asked.

Celestia took a deep, shuddering breath. "We wait. And when he comes after us, we fix him so that he can never hurt anypony ever again."

When the memory ended, Luna found herself back in the cell, again a fully grown mare. Inspector Pipesmoke's horn was still pressed to her temple, still glowing. "Anything?" he asked.

"Just evidence that I never could have hurt my sister. I loved her more than anything else in the entire world."

"Then we'll try again. Maybe we'll delve into the time you first became Nightmare Moon."

"No!" Her shout threw him against the now solid bars, and he slumped down. He shook his head and returned to her side.

"All right, fine. I'll try and call up a specific incident this time." He pinned her against the cell wall and pressed his glowing horn to her temple once again. Nothing happened.

"Anything?"

"No," she replied.

"Nothing at all?"

"Nothing at all. Not even blackness, which would represent the removal of a memory. The memory doesn't exist--I didn't kill Celestia."

Pipesmoke's horn immediately ceased its glowing. He stepped back, appearing defeated. But he shook his head and said, "Memory spells aren't admissible in court, anyway. The evidence piled against you is indeed mountainous. And somepony has to pay." He walked through the bars again and back up the stairs, extinguishing candles with his tail as he went.

Luna remained alone for an immeasurable amount of time. She tried to prove she was indeed dreaming by trying the standard lucid dreaming practices. She told herself she was dreaming, but to no avail. She tried conjuring a crumpet out of nothing, but nothing worked. She was able to circumvent the spell that blocked her own magic, but it took far too long. At long last, she gave up.

The voice of Discord once again echoed in the chamber. "I told you that you'll have to trust me," he sighed. "You can't control this dream."

"And why not?" Luna demanded. "If it's my dream, then I should be able to take control whenever I want!"

"If it were your dream, yes."

Her mouth fell open when she realized the ramifications of what he had said. "This...is yours?"

"I'm sorry I lied to you about being a figment of your imagination. I'm right here, alive and well, trapped in this prison of stone. I have no idea how you got here, but I guess I should say welcome. Welcome to my nightmare.

"You see, when Celestia designed the spell that would encase me in stone, she built punitive measures into it. Every night, I am tormented by witnessing her death in some new and heart-wrenching way. I've been framed dozens of times. It's often a rogue faction from the hinterlands. A recent appearance was even made by Queen Chrysalis. She seems to be a regular now; she's responsible this time."

"So my sister has been torturing you for over a thousand years?"

"Constantly."

"How can you get me out of the dream, when you yourself are bound to it?"

"I have no guarantees. You could just face execution, and that would wake you."

"I'd rather not."

"Then trust me."

"I'd rather die."

"Then let them execute you."

"No!"

"Then trust me!"

Luna roared in frustration. "Why are you so difficult?!"

"Because I am Chaos?"

"Dammit, that's what I'm talking about! You are the only one to ever break my sister's heart. You promised her the world, and you gave her the cold shoulder. That jerk Pipesmoke made me relive that day, to see Celestia distraught, to hear her sobs! Is he one of your creations?"

"No! His purpose is to make you see what you lost! No, to make me see what I lost. I'm so sorry that you had to relive it, too."

"Are you saying that you have regrets?"

"I will answer all of your questions if you agree to trust me so that I can get you out of here."

She gritted her teeth and huffed at the ground. "Fine."

"Even though this dream is Celestia's creation, it couldn't exist without some elements of chaos. The bars are not solid unless you think they are. If you believe you can walk through them...." He materialized in front of the cell and knocked on the bars to prove their solidity. "Observe." A moment later, he walked through them just like Pipesmoke had. To prove he was indeed material, at least in the dream, he put a hand on her shoulder, which she quickly shrugged off. "Try it."

Luna walked toward the bars, but they were as solid as ever. She swore at him and put a hoof to his face, glad he was more than an apparition after all.

"Do it again!" he pleaded. "Just pretend the bars are made of cake."

Her stomach growled. "I hate you," she sneered, and she walked toward the bars. They gave a little bit. And they smelled good. Her stomach growled again, and, in disbelief, she licked one of the bars.

It was covered in buttercream frosting.

She turned her head sideways and took a bite out of the bar. It was a delicious, warm, moist chocolate cake, or so it tasted. Not only that, but it didn't make her feel sick to eat more of it. She ate until she was satiated, and the bars were gone enough to walk through. Rejoicing over her victory, she turned around to taunt the empty cell, and found the bars still in place. She tapped one with a hoof. "Solid," she marveled.

"I told you to trust me."

She sighed in exasperation and asked, "Where to next?"

"We have to escape this dungeon. It will be no easy task. The guards will try to kill you on sight."

"If I'll just wake up, then what would it matter?"

"If you die, you'll wake up screaming. If you find the exit--and there is one--you will wake peacefully."

"And you know this...how?"

"I've used the exit. Once."

"When you broke out of prison?"

"Actually, no. I won't say anything further; I've said too much already. Follow me, and for pony's sake, don't move unless I tell you to!"

He crept up the stairs, and she followed him. He passed his head through the door and peered out for a few moments, and then he said, "The coast is clear." He opened the door, and light flooded the room, hurting Luna's eyes. She forced them open and continued following, but when she came out into the open, she felt a hand press against her. "Hold here. I'll take care of the guards."

"What happens if you die?"

"I'll try not to." He slithered down the hall, and she heard shouts from the guards. But soon, Discord returned and motioned for her to move. By now, her eyes were more used to the light, so she could actually see where he was going.

When they rounded a bend, she shrieked in horror at the sight of blood. There, on the marble floor, lay the bodies of two royal guards. One had a lance through his heart, and the other's neck was bent in a way necks weren't meant to bend, an empty stare on his face. "You killed them!" she gasped.

"This is a dream, remember. They are my internal security force, manifestations of my subconscious. I didn't kill anypony."

"Manifestations don't bleed!"

"Watch." He snapped his fingers, and the bodies vanished.

"You could do that trick whether this was a dream or not," she growled.

"Look, what happened to trusting me? I'm trying to get you out of here. What does it matter if a few nonexistent ponies get lanced? You must understand that I would never have harmed them unless I was certain."

She forced herself to accept his explanation. If he was right, then he hadn't hurt anypony. But if he was wrong, she would somehow ensure that he paid for his crimes. "So where is this exit?" she asked.

"It changes location supposedly randomly, but I've discovered that there is a definite pattern. But finding the exit is not the hard part; it's getting through. It's the most heavily guarded gateway in this entire dream world. And it's not guarded by mere Royal Guards."

"Who guards it, then?"

"The Four Horses and their army."

Luna swallowed the lump of fear that formed in her throat. The Four Horses were the stuff of legend, the prophesied bringers of the Apocalypse. They were the rulers of all chaos. Moreover, they were invincible. "How do we get past them?"

"You're going to have to trust me."

Her anger once again came to a boil. Trust was something that was hard to give, especially to somepony so duplicitous. She still didn't believe his explanation that the guards he'd killed weren't real. She couldn't fully buy that there was an exit to this hell, much less that it was guarded by the Four Horses. They were just an old pony tale; everypony knew that.

But again, she realized that she had no alternative. With the body of evidence against her, it would be next to impossible to clear her name. She sighed and said, "Lead the way."

"That's more like it," Discord said with a smile. He reached out and took her by the chin. "Don't you worry your pretty little head," he said, switching to baby-talk. She wrested her chin from his grasp and glared at him. "No need to be surly."

"I am not the foal you remember."

"No, I understand. You're much closer to the young mare who teamed up with her big sister to trap me here. I don't harbor any ill will; you did what you had to do. And you had no idea what I've been going through for the last millennium and a half." He began walking down the hall. "It just doesn't seem right." He paused. "Does it, Luna?"

She averted her eyes from his insufferable form. To allow herself to feel remorse for Celestia's chosen method of punishment was to allow Discord to gain a foothold. And that was something that he could not have, prison or no. "Just take me to the exit."

"First, I have to figure out why you got entangled in this mess. I have my theories."

"Like what?"

"You see, in order for a pony to exist in this world, they have to somehow gain access to my thoughts, to my dream. Queen Chrysalis...no, I've said too much already."

"Are you saying that she's been regularly gaining access to your thoughts?"

"Oopsie."

"Is she...practicing?"

"Who knows? Maybe she just figured out that, by using my dream, she could kill Celestia with impunity. Either way, she somehow and for some reason brought you into the picture. Maybe to see if she could get away with framing somepony."

"But why me?"

"Yes, why you?" He began pacing back and forth, stroking his tufted chin thoughtfully. "She's shapeshifted before, into various preprogrammed characters.... No, she had to have been the one to bring you here. And there's only one reason I can think of."

"What reason is that?"

"She's practicing."

Luna's heart sank. Not only was Queen Chrysalis the most powerful foe Celestia had ever seen, but if she had found some sort of proving ground, things could get much more complicated. And with Cadance and Shining Armor away, defeat was not only possible, but probable.

Discord was at her side, a concerned look on his face. "This is why it's so important to get you out of here. So that you can make sure this doesn't happen in reality."

She once again turned away from him. It disgusted her that he seemed to care what happened to the throne of Equestria. "If a pony has to be inside the dream to exist in it, then why is my sister in it?"

"She's the only exception. Her clone, the one she burned into my synapses, has only one purpose, and that is to die. She can't speak, move...." He huffed and stood. "Come on, we need to go."

She lay down, tucking her legs under her, and watched as Discord walked away. She had no intention of following him; she didn't care how she left the dream. A lance to the heart was a lot easier than trying to mend the wounds he'd left all those centuries ago. Even if it meant waking up screaming, it was worth it.

"Luna!"

She refused to open her eyes. Her sister's voice was fake; she knew it deep inside.

"Luna, do what he says!"

Still she refused.

"Luna, you're running out of time!"

"No," she said resolutely. "I'm getting out of this dream, and I'm doing it my way."

"Luna, please." This time the voice was closer. She felt somepony nuzzle her, and she opened her eyes. Standing there was a translucent apparition of her sister. Alive and well. A tiny gasp escaped her lips, and a tear rolled down her cheek. "Luna, please. I know you don't want to trust him, but he's your only hope. I've been watching you sleep, and the pain from the injuries you sustain in this dream carries over. Somepony altered the spell, and I think it was to try to kill you. If you die here, your heart will stop in reality. Luna, I want to see you again. And until you get to the exit, all I will see is an empty shell."

"Why haven't you tried to wake me up?"

"Believe me, I have. This was brought on by a spell, and only the ending of the dream will end that spell."

"I still don't want to follow him."

"And that's because you don't trust him. But do you trust me?"

She looked up at Celestia's face. It showed concern and love. And genuine fear. "Yes," Luna whispered.

"Then go. I will help you as much as I can, but you have to reach the exit yourself! Go!"

She heard steel-shod hoofbeats echoing in the halls. She quickly checked herself over with magic to make sure her right leg was healed. Then she took off at full gallop after Discord.

Not the Bad Guy

"Discord!" Luna called. Her voice and hoofbeats echoed in the empty halls. "Discord, where did you go?" Off in the distance, she heard the shouts of the guards as they clashed with Celestia. She increased her speed until her legs couldn't carry her any faster. But the smooth marble floor proved to be her undoing; she slipped when she tried to turn a corner and slid to the wall, colliding with a display table, sending its silver bowl and platter flying across the ground. She tried to scramble out of the rubble, but somepony hefted her out and set her on her hooves.

"I knew you'd come around," Disccord said, brushing her off. "What changed your mind?"

"Celestia," Luna panted. "She came into the dream with a warning. If I get hurt, it affects me in reality. So if I die...."

"Then you've been targeted from the beginning."

"Again, what if you die?"

"If the spell was so altered...it affects me, too."

"And Celestia?"

"If she entered the dream after the spell was altered, then she should be safe. We don't have much time." He took off down the hall, slithering through the air like a snake, or maybe an Eastern dragon. She had to fly to keep up with him, and he shouted directions as they went.

"Where are we going?" she asked. "Do you know where the exit is?"

"Not exactly, but I do know how to find it. Next hall, right." They turned together. "I have this down to a science. There are two separate elements in the map: switches and triggers. Switches are things that the dream changes, and triggers are things that I change. Each one leads to the next in a predictable path that leads to one of seven possible exits."

"Couldn't you just go to each exit and check?"

"Far too risky. Would you rather get past the Horsemen just to have to turn back? They will follow us to the exit and attack when we get too close."

"Then how do you get past them?"

"You're going to have to trust me. We'll cross that bridge when we come to it. But to get to that bridge, we have to go through the map to find the right exit, because we'll get only one shot. Stop here." They came to a halt in front of the library, and Discord took her by the shoulders. "No matter what I have to do, you're getting out of here alive."

For a moment, she saw not the monster she remembered, but instead the Discord of her foalhood: a loving, caring draconequus who treated her like a sister. She was confused. Upset. But she knew that she couldn't take the time to sort this all out. "Where's the first piece of the map?"

"Follow me." He led her through the shelves. The Library was Celestia's realm, not Luna's; the dust often got to her, as well as the smell of moldy and decomposing books. She was glad there was no real dust in the dream; her allergies were calm as a sleeping foal.

"The first switch," he explained, "is a particular book hidden in the Starswirl the Bearded Wing. I'll stand guard; you check it." He stopped outside the door, and she went inside. "Aisle 5a, third shelf from the bottom, sixth book from the left. Tell me what its title is."

It took her several minutes to find the book, but when she did, she called, "It's a biography of Starswirl."

"Which one?"

"I can't read much more. It's written in ancient Ponese."

"Try again."

She looked at the book, and the writing changed to something she could read. "The subtitle is, 'Sire of modern magic.'"

"Good. Get back here; they'll be onto us soon enough."

"When I get out of here, I'm going to learn Ponese," she thought aloud. "Discord, where's the second piece?"

"I wish the book had been a treatise on magic rather than the biography; if that were the case, the next thing would be a switch in the middle of the labyrinth. Easy to reach if you can fly."

By now, she'd reached him. "But...?"

"But in this case, the next thing is a trigger. In the throne room. Yes, it's going to be heavily guarded, but that's not the reason I hate this trigger."

Luna understood. "She's still there."

"I hope Celestia entering the dream threw things off and replaced her body with her living avatar. But we'll see. We can't get sidetracked. We'll have less than five minutes to flip the trigger before the guards swarm the room."

"What exactly is the trigger?"

"Do you know what a Rubik's cube is?"

"Yes..."

"Do you know what a Professor Cube is?"

"You're pulling my wing."

"How fast can you solve one?"

"Twenty minutes for a three-by-three, if I'm lucky. A five-by-five? Maybe an hour. You solve it."

"I can't risk you standing guard. You'll have five minutes to solve the cube. I'll buy you as much time as I can. Let's go."

"It can't be solved in five minutes."

"The Equestria Record is fifty-one seconds. We must hurry."

Luna took off running after him. "I may be trusting you, but I find it hard to believe that anypony can solve a puzzle cube that fast. You could prove it to me."

"You are the only one that can solve the puzzle!" he snapped. "I've already checked every possible trigger and switch, and I can't see any of them. If I ever hope to get out of here, you're the one that will have to do the work!"

Luna dug her hind hooves into the slick marble, and it turned to soft earth. She skidded to a stop and demanded, "Discord, did we hear thee correctly? Didst thou plan to use us for thine escape?"

"Road apples," he cursed under his breath, turning around and joining her. "All right, fine. My original intent was to try and elicit your help to find the exit. But now that I know what danger you're in, I need to help you get out of here. My getting out will be a plus, but getting you out is more important."

"We aren't-- I am not so sure you should be getting out."

"If one of us gets out, both of us do. The dream will continue until it ends, either by us finding the exit or by my death."

"Maybe I should save Equestria some headaches and kill you right now," she growled. She lowered her head, pointing her horn, and pawed at the ground.

He put his hand out and stopped her from moving. "You honestly have no idea what the ramifications would be. There's a reason Celestia encased me in stone rather than doing away with me, which I know for a fact that she wanted to do. If you were to kill me, you wouldn't last a week before the Four Horses would come after you. They'd throttle you in your sleep, and they'd dethrone your sister, plunging Equestria into ultimate chaos." He chuckled. "Not that ultimate chaos would be a bad thing."

Deep down, she knew he was telling the truth, and she hated it. She had no choice but to trust him. And she was certain that Celestia had put measures in place to prevent Discord from escaping again. She wrinkled her nose and grumbled, "You leave me no choice, Discord. Yet again."

"Then let us go to the throne room."

Several minutes later, they were at the large double doors that led to the throne room. Some hours beforehand, she'd pushed through them only to find the most horrible sight she'd ever seen. Now, she was about to do it all over again alongside one of her worst enemies. "Aren't you going to open the doors?" she asked.

"I...I can't bring myself to."

"Do you want to get out or don't you?" He still didn't budge. She took matters into her own hooves, gripping the doors with magic and forcing them open.

The scene was just as she'd left it when she'd run from the guards. Her sister's body still lay on the cold marble in a pool of crimson, a look of terror on her face. Luna walked over and knelt down, brushing a wing over her sister's eyes and closing them. "Sleep, sister," she whispered. "I will see you again."

"The cube, Luna!" Discord called. "I can hear the guards."

She jumped over Celestia's body and retrieved the puzzle from beside the cushioned dais. She looked it over quickly and began to solve it, using the method Celestia had taught her. She was able to solve the six center sections quickly, and as she began matching up edge pieces, she called, "How much time is left?"

"You've only gone two minutes. We have all the time in the world!"

She smiled and continued. For her, everything was intuitive up until she had to solve the top layer, the final step in solving the puzzle. She had a minute and a half left when she reached it, and she thought that it would mean a new personal best time for her. That is, until she botched an algorithm and erased most of her progress. Her heart skipped a beat, and she fumbled with the puzzle, trying to think of what had gone wrong. She started moving pieces around again in a desperate bid for redemption.

"Fifteen seconds!" she heard Discord shout. Not enough time. She kept working through the algorithms in her head, and Discord began shouting at her to go faster.

"I'm trying!" she retorted as the last piece fell into place. A string of numbers hovered in the air: 5:04.29. It was fast, but not fast enough. "It's solved," she called.

"Finally!" Discord leaped at her, arms outstretched. He took the cube out of the air, and it began to glow. "This will take us to the next piece!" He grabbed the tip of her wing, and she began to feel a tingling flow through her body. By now, the guards had reached them, and they let fly their lances. Luna shut her eyes and braced for the impact, but none came.

The world suddenly smelled different. She heard different sounds. No more guards, no more echoing of shod hooves on cold marble. Now, everything was muted except the foreign bird songs, which echoed irregularly in the chilly, humid air. Slowly, she opened her eyes. She was still in a castle, but it was not in Canterlot. It was the Schloss im Herzensgrund, the millennia-old ruin deep in the heart of the Everfree Forest. She remembered it well; this had been the place where Twilight Sparkle and her five companions had freed her from her own Nightmare. She decided to pay Ponyville a visit as soon as she got out of this one.

"Where is the next item?" she asked with a sigh.

"I don't know."

She shot him a glare. "What do you mean?"

"I've never been taken here. Chrysalis must have modified the dream to a much greater extent than I originally thought."

"We don't have time to search this entire ruin for the next piece of the map. We have to get out of here!"

"Is that the Royal We, or--"

"NO!" she bellowed. "By 'we' I mean both I and the brainless, heartless draconequus who's dragged me on this wild-goose chase!"

Discord grew much more agitated. "Well, it's not my fault that you got stuck in this hell. In fact, in a way, all blame goes to your sister! If she hadn't seen fit to torture me night after night, then none of us would be in this mess!"

"Well, I think it's a great idea, especially after you ripped her heart out and ground it into the dirt before her eyes! Why does this torture you, anyway?"

"Because I still love her!"

Everything was suddenly silent. The birds stopped chirping. Rivers stopped running. Even Luna's heart ceased its elevated rhythm. "What did you say?"

"Luna, you are the blindest pony I've ever met." He paced back and forth on the stone floor. "I thought you'd have seen it by now. Everypony else here knows it. I never got over her, over what I did to her. And I never will. She may move on, she may get over me, but as long as I live, she will never be out of my mind." He knelt down and put his hand behind her head. "That is why I want to get you out of here so badly. Because I really care about the both of you. If we could coexist, believe me, we would. But...." He shook his head and turned and walked off. "Forget it. Just forget everything I said. Just help me find this stupid switch."

"How do you go about finding them?"

"Trial and error." He went up to a wall and began tapping on various stones. "You forget, I've had fifteen hundred years to figure these things out. I've been subject to this torture literally half a million times. Some nights, I make myself useful, trying to find and reach the exit and the peace that comes with it. Other nights, I just give up. I kneel weeping by Celestia's body until the guards lance me and I wake up, only to wait the long hours until the night forces me once again to sleep, to this nightmare."

"Discord, I'm sorry."

"Don't be. I'd rather see her nightly in death than never again." He was now leaning against the wall, and he'd stopped tapping stones. "What's the use? Chrysalis is brilliant. She would know about the map, about the exit. She probably set this up to stymie us." He balled his fist and pounded the wall. A stone broke loose and fell to the ground. It began to glow, and a sun emblem appeared on the floor around it.

"It wasn't Chrysalis," Luna said softly. "Celestia must have given us this respite. Look!" She walked over and nudged the stone with her nose, and an apparition of Celestia appeared in the center of the room.

"Luna, I'm so sorry this happened. You must understand that I never intended for anypony to be able to enter this dream, and I built the map and the exit system as a failsafe. It looks like Chrysalis has been actively meddling, changing things to suit her as she went along. She discovered the map and somehow altered the spell to destroy it. I replaced the cube puzzle that she destroyed with one that would take you to safety. I also added a spell to it that would show you the pieces' locations as you went along so that you could solve it quickly.

"Now, because the map is gone, you won't be able to find the rest of the pieces. But you will be able to get to the exit; that is a structural part of the spell that she couldn't change. But since the Four Horses are a part of the exit, I couldn't remove them, and you'll have to find your way past them.

"I was able to catch a glimpse of the map's elements before they were destroyed, so I can tell you where it is this time. I wish I could give you better news, but you're going to have to make it to the gates of Tartarus. Don't worry; Cerberus isn't there, but getting past the Horses will be a feat worthy of recognition, especially considering...the very real danger you will be in.

"Also...remember to protect Discord. He is the only thing keeping this spell--and the two of you--alive. I want to see you wake up again, Luna, so please...stay safe. I...." The apparition swallowed and sighed, then faded away.

"Tartarus, then?" Luna asked.

Discord was still leaning against the wall. "Where did you get that?"

"You didn't see the message?"

"What message?"

"From Celestia. The one that we just saw."

He chuckled wryly. "She doesn't even care about me enough to keep me in the loop. I'm assuming she has something to do with this."

Luna recounted the elder princess's message, and repeated their destination. Discord didn't look at all pleased. "What's wrong?" she asked.

"The gates of Tartarus are the most dangerous of the five possible exits. There is almost nowhere to hide, and distraction works for only a few moments. It's possible, I suppose, but I've never made it through this one."

"Then we'll just have to try." She walked up to him and held up her hoof. He took it in his hands, staring blankly. Moments later, he nodded.

"Let's get you home."

Luna gazed down from her cloud at the gates of Tartarus. Where the three-headed hellhound, Cerberus, would usually be stood four alicorn horses taller than Celestia and much more imposing. "How are we going to get past?" she whispered.

"It won't be easy," Discord replied. "The first, white horse, Katagonistes, is the most astute of the four. But he will be the easiest to get past. All you have to do is stand your ground when he charges you. But if you step aside one millimeter, if you submit to him at all, he will win, and you will die.

"The second, red horse, Polemos, is the second-hardest to evade. But as long as you can get through his army, you should be fine.

"The third, black horse, Sitodeia, is very hard to get past. She will starve you senseless. Usually, you would die, but with both of us, we should be able to withstand what she throws at us.

"The fourth, Ker.... I still don't know how to get past her."

"One the ancient Pegasellic goddesses of death, the sister of Thanatos," Luna recalled. "Chrysalis must have planned this well."

"You're getting out of here alive. No matter what, understand?"

"I--"

"Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye."

"What does that mean?" she asked.

"I learned it from a friend. It's a solemn oath that, if broken, would spell certain doom for me."

"Thank you for helping me," she sighed. "I never thought I'd be saying that."

"It's my pleasure."

They left the cloud and dove for the ground. Shooting straight for the gates was suicide, so they would have to get past each of the Horses individually. Discord had explained that, were this any of the other exits, it would be easy to sneak through trees, around columns, or to swim under the Horses. But this was out in the open.

Luna landed with force in front of the army of Katagonistes, whose name meant "conqueror" in ancient Pegasellic. Her impact sent waves through the ground, knocking the troops aside. She locked eyes with their leader and shouted, "Elthe deuro, o Katagonistes! Boulomai se prokaleisthai!"

"Unlike the real Horses, these doesn't speak ancient Pegasellic," Discord remarked.

Luna sighed and translated, "Come forth, o Katagonistes! I wish to challenge you!"

Before her materialized the tall, white horse. He towered over her, sneering. He wore heavy plate armor, and his long, sharp horn extended from his helmet, gleaming in the sunlight. "You wish to challenge me?" he laughed. "I could crush you underhoof, foal! Surrender and you will live."

"Don't," Discord whispered.

"I wish to challenge you, not to surrender."

"Then you and your companion will die." He vanished, then reappeared fifty yards away, snorting and pawing. He reared and took off at full gallop, which seemed nearly twice as fast as anypony she knew.

As he lowered his head and pointed his horn, Luna turned to Discord and ordered, "Get close to me!"

"Are you insane? I'll die!"

"We'll both die if we stay put. I have a feeling that Chrysalis has made a few more changes." As soon as he was at her side, she unleashed the flow of magic, creating a shield in front of them. Her confidence in the spell dwindled as the horse approached, and she almost stepped aside, but Discord placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder. She planted her hooves firmly and put her weight forward, and when the horse collided with the barrier, he shattered into a million pieces and turned to dust.

"Did it work?" Discord asked. She cancelled the spell and looked up at him and saw that his eyes were shut tight.

"Yes, it did," she said, nudging him. "You can open your eyes now."

"He's gone," Discord marveled. "It actually worked!"

"Doesn't it always?"

"I'm sorry I lied. I usually wind up run through."

"Did you lie about the others?"

"No. I usually get overpowered by Polemos's army, I usually starve to death when I face Sitodeia, and Ker...well, I usually just try to sneak around her. Not possible here."

"Let's try to get through Polemos. I can handle being hungry." She started flying toward the cave that housed the gates of Tartarus, and thick, black clouds began forming in the sky, which quickly turned a dark red.

"Luna, wait!" Discord called, slithering through the air in pursuit. "When he materializes, his army will be thick. You'll have to plan your path carefully so that you don't get ca--"

He was interrupted when a black, seventeen-hand draft horse materialized in his path. Luna doubled back, conjuring a shield that would deflect any projectiles hurled at her, including lances, horns and hooves. She ducked under the horse's neck and whisked the unconscious draconequus up with a burst of magic only moments before his head was crushed under the horse's colossal hoof.

She turned and ran toward the cave, dodging and weaving through the army. She tried flying, but she found an unbreakable magic ceiling above her, though she couldn't tell whether it was Celestia's or Chrysalis's design.

As soon as Discord regained consciousness, he got back on his feet. "What happened?" he asked over the roar of the ensuing battle.

"You didn't watch where you were going," she replied. She extended her spell to him, and they dashed side by side through the tumult. "What happens when we get to Polemos?"

"We're going to have to kill him somehow. C'est la guerre."

Luna sighed. Even in this nightmare world, she knew she couldn't be a killer. Even Nightmare Moon wouldn't hurt a fly. "Not we, Discord. You."

"Let's not forget," he said, "how I haven't been able to interact with anything important thus far. It could very well be that you will have to face Polemos. Think of it this way: if you were facing a life or death situation and the only way out was to kill your attacker, would you be able to do it?"

"Yes," she replied defeatedly.

"Here's your chance." He pointed casually, and she looked up just in time to see a lance flying at her head. She ducked, but the point nicked her on the neck. She gritted her teeth in pain and rejuvenated her protection spell, adding variation to the specific magic so that Chrysalis wouldn't be able to adapt the nightmare to pierce her wards.

A deep bellow shook the ground, and the army immediately stopped their infighting. They parted and assembled in lines, forming an aisle of sorts, the black horses on one side and the red on the other. Down the aisle marched a colossal horse of nearly eighteen hands by Luna's estimate. His sorrel coat had two hues. The first was a bright red like tongues of fire. The second was a dark, ruddy color that looked like blood. His eyes burned with a perpetual rage, and his visage was chiseled into a perpetual scowl. "I hear that you have conquered the conqueror," he said, his abnormally deep bass voice rumbling in his barrel chest. "But that whelp Katagonistes was a sweet dream of love compared to the might that is me, Polemos, god of war!" His army cheered, deafening Luna. "Do you seek to challenge me as you did my brother?"

"I do," she replied feebly.

"I'm sorry, I couldn't hear that.

She thought of Celestia, of Chrysalis, and of how there would be only one winner if they were to duel. Chrysalis had defeated Celestia once before, with very little effort. Luna knew it would be much the same again. But together, and with Luna's advance knowledge, it was possible to survive. She steeled herself with an extra layer of protection and her most imposing form. With great reluctance, she became Nightmare Moon once again, hopefully for the last time ever, and bellowed, "We seek to challenge thee for passage to the gates of Tartarus!"

"The traditional Royal Canterlot Voice? I'm quaking in my shoes!" He spread his wings and retrieved the lance, hurling it at her with nigh inconceivable speed. She dodged it, whipping it around her with a quick spell, giving it extra speed. Polemos didn't have a chance to act before it buried itself in his heart. After the initial shock wore off, he growled, "It will take a lot more than that to kill me!"

"I know," Nightmare Moon said with a chuckle. She turned on one hoof and kicked the lance with all her might, burying it even deeper. Polemos bellowed in pain and slowly turned to dust along with his army.

When it was all over and the light cleared, Luna transformed back to her true self. She hated taking on the guise of her former self, except on Nightmare Night when it was all for fun. Even in the dream world where nopony had actually been hurt, she found it difficult to take another life. "I can't go on like this," she told Discord. "Not if it means killing again."

"Relax," he said, patting her on the back. "The next two are about survival and endurance. You needn't worry."

"The word sitodeia means, 'famine', doesn't it?" Luna asked. "How exactly does her trial work?"

"You will be subjected to three days' worth of starvation in just a few seconds. I think you can handle it."

"I haven't eaten in a day already."

"There's only one way to find out. If we don't go to her, she'll come to us."

"I could just conjure a muffin or two." She tried to spark the appropriate spell, but it just fizzled.

"I'm afraid that won't work," said a feeble voice. A shorter, black mare about Celestia's height materialized nearby. She appeared to be malnourished; her ribs were showing, and her head hung low. But the evil in her eyes was alive, burning like the fires of Hell itself. "Your magic will not be able to help you. But I am not like the others; I am forgiving. I will let you pass if you can survive. But survival is the hard part."

A sudden pang of hunger struck Luna like a kick to the gut. She dropped to her knees and gritted her teeth as the pain grew steadily worse. She tried to relieve it with a spell, but it didn't have any effect. When the pain stopped increasing, Sitodeia smiled and said, "You have done well. Ker will be pleased; she is just as hungry as you must be." The black mare faded away, and a hot, sandy wind started blowing across the landscape.

With a new and unwelcome weakness, Luna struggled to her hooves, cast a spell to keep the sand out of her eyes, and looked around for Discord. He lay motionless on the ground, half buried. "Get up," she commanded, trying to levitate him. She didn't need to check for vital signs; as long as he was alive, the dream would continue. When her magic failed to support both spells, she lifted him onto her back. "We have to get out of here," she shouted over the wind. "Don't give up on me!"

"I never did," he mumbled. "You were going to die, so I lent you my strength. You're getting out of here, no matter what happens."

"But you have to stay alive for that to happen! When will Ker show up?"

"Moments before you die."

The voice Luna heard was almost musical. It was sweet and soft, almost like how she remembered her mother's voice. From the blowing sands materialized a pale, gaunt horse whose eyes were white and empty. "Surrender to your fate, Princess." Ker's eyes began to glow, and Luna felt her heart skip a beat. It took her back to her knees, and she felt the life begin to drain out of her. "Don't worry; you'll find your peace. You'll wake up like none of this ever happened."

"No, you won't," Discord coughed. "Don't listen to her!"

Luna's heart continued to beat slower and slower. She could feel Discord trying to give her strength, but it didn't do much. Ker stretched out a wing and lifted Luna's chin. "Your essence is sweet, Princess," she said with a fanged smile. "It's a pity that you have to die."

"No," Discord said, rising to his feet. He stumbled forward and wrestled the gaunt horse to the ground, breaking her concentration and sending Luna's heart into arrhythmia.

"What are you doing?!" Luna yelled. "You're going to die!"

"It doesn't matter," he replied as he grappled with Ker. "Get to the exit!"

"I'm not leaving you!" she cried as her heart regained its normal rhythm. "I'll find a way to--"

"Only one of us was ever going to get out of here," he replied. "I would rather it be you. Now get to the exit!"

As she watched the life drain from his eyes, she could see only the caring, affectionate face that she had forgotten over the centuries. Those eyes urged her onward with no regard for self. Again she realized that this was not the villain that had trampled her sister's heart underfoot. "Thank you," she said, tears flowing from her eyes. "Thank you, Discord! Your sacrifice will be noted throughout Equestria and--"

"Just go, my darling! And tell Tia I said hi." He wrapped himself around Ker, constricting her. The color faded from his face, and the rest of the life drained from his eyes.

Luna turned and bolted for the gates, going as fast as her wings could carry her. The dream around her started to collapse, which she took to be a sign that Discord was either dead or very near to it. She lowered her horn and broke through the gates, and her world went black.

Epilogue

She awoke peacefully under Celestia's wing. The cushion beneath them was stained with Celestia's tears. "Sleep, sister," she bade, placing a kiss by her horn. She got up and walked to the balcony. The stars were out, but the moon was still down. She took a deep breath and cast a spell that she hadn't cast in a very long time.

The moon slowly rose, deep red in color. It was like raising a flag to half-staff; this way, all of Equestria would know that something tragic had happened. But they would never know what it was.

She retired to her room and fetched a quill and an inkwell. She sat at her desk and dipped the pen, putting it to paper.

Dear Princess Celestia,

Today, I learned that forgiveness is more than saying that you're sorry. I also learned that it's not very smart to judge a book by its cover, because you won't know what's inside unless you read it.

Nopony deserves to be tortured, no matter what their crimes may be. I had a chance to meet the real Discord, the one who still loves you. He sacrificed his life to save mine, and you need to take that into account.

So next time you decide to torture somepony, think twice. Consider him, not yourself.

Your sister,
Princess Luna

She rolled the paper into a small scroll and sealed it with a red ribbon and a spot of golden wax. She debated leaving it on Celestia's cushion, but she opted at last to give the letter herself the next morning before bed. She shut the letter in her desk and pulled on a black cloak and hood before walking out to the garden, where the statue of Discord stood. On her way, she plucked a single rose of an appropriately dark shade of pink, and she tied a few sprigs of rosemary to it.

"I will always remember what thou hast done for me," she whispered, setting the flowers at his feet. A pink rose for gratitude. Rosemary for remembrance. Several tears fell from her eyes, moistening the marble. She knelt at the statue's base and began in verse:

Unfairly kept at wingtip's reach as centuries slipped by,

Yet rancor entered not into the sanctum of thy heart.

I wish upon the blessed Moon to know just who thou art,

But ne'er again will life be seen within thy chiseled eye.

Thy sacrifice without a want for safety of thine own

Will ne'er be absent from my mind, unto the end of time.

And what became of thou I'll wonder ere the Sun doth shine,

Each night when I have raised the Moon and on us it has shown.

To honor thine brave sacrifice, a day will be bestowed,

In honor of forgiveness and of kindness of the heart,

In honor of the price thou paid, the one thou truly art.

But never will I e'er forget the debt to you I owe.

After a few moments of silent reflection, she stood again and shambled back to the palace. She saw somepony in the shadows, but who it was didn't matter much to her. Even if it was somepony plotting something sinister, it wouldn't be of any consequence.

She got back to the palace and lay down on the cushion next to her sister, stroking Celestia's mane with her feathers. She was glad to be back in the real world, back in a place where she could be at peace. Even if for just this moment, everything was good, everything was right. And she couldn't be more thankful for what she had.

Several hours later, Celestia stirred; dawn was nigh, and it was time to raise the sun. After exchanging a brief sisterly kiss, Luna trotted off to her room and retrieved the letter she had written. She hoped that it would somehow sway Celestia and make her see the light.

After Celestia finished raising the sun, she turned around and saw Luna carrying the letter. "What's this?" she asked quizzically.

"Doesn't Twilight Sparkle send you these whenever she learns something about friendship?"

"Yes," Celestia replied, "but you don't have to send me a letter; you could just tell me yourself."

"I figured that it would be a bit more 'official' if I put it in writing."

"Well, then, let's read it, shall we?" She broke the seal and unrolled the paper, and her expression quickly turned from one of amusement to one of exasperation. "Really, Luna, what is this?"

"Something I learned about friendship," Luna sassed.

"Are you trying to convince me that imprisoning Discord was wrong? Would you rather have the world in chaos?"

"I'm just saying that you may have misjudged him."

"Luna, I did what was right."

"By torturing the one who still loved you?"

Celestia's impatience began to grow. "I don't regret my decisions. And because of them, we're all much, much safer."

"Because of your decisions, I almost lost my life! Did you read the whole letter?"

"I didn't see the need," Celestia replied bluntly, rolling the paper back up and replacing the ribbon closure.

"He sacrificed his own life to save me. That has to count for something!"

"It doesn't mean a bucking thing, Luna!" Celestia bellowed.

"What doesn't?" Luna asked accusingly. "His life? Or mine?"

"Luna...."

"No, don't answer that question. I'm going to adjourn for a while."

"You can't do that, Luna. You have responsibilities."

"Really? You seemed to be doing a fine job while I was imprisoned on the moon for a thousand years! What's another week? Next full moon, I leave."

"Where will you go, Luna?"

"Somewhere, anywhere! Anywhere you aren't."

"Then go. Either way, you shan't sway me. Imprisoning Discord in such a fashion was the right thing to do."

"So you say, sister. So you say." She turned and walked indignantly out of the room, returning to her quarters.

When she arrived, she saw a note lying on her bed, along with a single rose of a certain shade. Dark pink for gratitude. She picked up the note and read it.

Long before the shadows fell, you lingered in my mind.

Long before my prison-hell, I knew that I was blind.

You showed me how to live again, and now I clearly see

That blessed hope, the tunnel's end. I give my thanks to thee.

Discord