Equestria's Dreamscape

Chapters

1. The Darker Nightmare
2. Arrangements
4. Elemental Stones Part 1; Kindness
5. Elemental Stones Part 2; Honesty
6. Elemental Stones Part 3; Laughter
7. Elemental Stones Part 4; Loyalty
8. Truth of all Things
9. Elemental Stones Part 5; Generosity
10: Arrival
11. The Almighty Fausticorn
12: One Week Later
3. Twilight's Dream and the Agreement

1. The Darker Nightmare

Nighttime had fallen over Equestria and the only pony still awake was Princess Luna, who was spending her night going through the dreams of the sleeping ponies. Even after a thousand years the dreams ever got any better and the majority of them dreamed of better lives that existed when they were asleep. It was the only time she could be alone and guard anypony from their respective nightmares that they couldn't deal with themselves. It was a pass time that she enjoyed doing, helping ponies deal with their dark nightmares and allowing them to have a little peace at night.

About the only thing she couldn't deal with was her own demonic nightmare, which she had sealed away deep in her own dream world and tossed the key into an even deeper hole. Her darker half was never escaping the prison. Not for two to three thousand years at least.

That was when she felt a disturbance resonate throughout the entire dream world, shattering her peace of mind and thrusting her attention back to the world in front of her. She sent her magic throughout the areas around her, only to find that there was nothing in her immediate area that could have caused such a disturbance. Several of the trees had blown over and the sky itself, which was usually a light blue color, had become a purple color that was almost identical to Twilight Sparkle's coat color.

There was something, or somepony, else that was living besides her and the other occupants of the dream world. Something that had the power to cause such a disturbance and alert her in the process. There was only one pony that had that power and Luna had hoped that she would never have to see that pony ever again. That pony was a stallion that was capable of extraordinary magical feats and Luna could have sworn that she had seen the last of him a little over a thousand years ago.

She zoned in on where the magic force had originated from, an area with a peaceful sunset, and flew directly passed the borders that prevented ponies from leaving their own dreams. Luna could come and go as she pleased between the dreams, but to find the force that changed the area she had just been in she needed to trace it. Tracing magic was easy and it was also hard, it all depended on the skill level of the unicorn, or sometimes an alicorn if she was tracing her sister, using the magic. Bottom line was that she was either tracking a skilled unicorn, a certain draconequus, a powerful changeling queen, or another immortal alicorn.

Luna prayed to Faust that her target was either a skilled unicorn, a certain draconequus, or a powerful changeling queen and not another immortal alicorn that was as powerful as her and Celestia.

The dream area she passed through was a simple sunset, which could have meant that it might have been Sunset Shimmer's happy dream, but that wasn't much to go on. Luna followed the tug of the trace deeper into the dream world, into a much darker area in which the sky turned a darker shade of blue. The trees turned into huge thorns that stretched to the heavens and the ground turned black as the sands darkened. Everything Luna saw confirmed her suspicions that there was something else that caused the disturbance, something that had twisted one area of the dream world into such a vile location.

After a minute of flying Luna decided to land and kicked up a bunch of black sand, making her close her eyes to avoid getting any of it in her eyes. She walked deeper and deeper into the Forest of Thorns, as she decided to name it, and kept her eyes out for anything that could have disturbed the world. Eventually she came to a clearing, one with five stone pillars with what looked like a magical amethyst orb in the direct center. She stopped and looked around the rest of the clearing, trying to discover what had corrupted the area and forest like it had.

Before she could make a suitable observation of the surrounding area she found herself face to face with a cloaked pony floating above the orb. The pony was covered by darkness, so it was completely impossible for Luna to make out any details that could have told her who it was. And before she could even utter a word the pony was gone, as if he had been an echo from whoever's dream she was currently in. To make the circle complete she had somehow lost the trace, leaving her in the darkness about who she was dealing with.

The best thing she could do was lock the area in an isolated zone of the dream world until she and her sister, and maybe Twilight as well, could figure some things out. Either Luna was jumping at ghosts or she had a serious intruder that was somewhere in the dream world. One thing was for sure, the group of four alicorns were going to figure out what was happening and restore the corrupted area to normal.

She activated her magic and tore a sample of the thorns out of a tree, knowing that she could transfer it to the waking world with her once she woke up herself. With the thorn she knew that Twilight Sparkle would conduct a variety of tests until she discovered the origin of the thorn and who created the forest. Eventually she would come into the dream world and search the forest herself, which would allow the royal sisters to figure out how to battle the corruption.

The tree that was missing its thorn shivered for a second before it grew a whole new thorn, complete with what looked like a light green sappy ooze. Luna stared at it for a second before making a bag appear out of thin air and took a small sample of the strange substance. If the thorn and the ooze were connected then maybe Twilight could figure out exactly what they were dealing with. Maybe it was like a poison and its container, harm one and the deadly poison comes flowing on out into the unsuspecting victim.

Luna only hoped to Faust that whoever was behind the corruption wasn't who she had originally thought it was. Because if it was then everypony, alicorn or not, was royally bucked six ways from sunday.

2. Arrangements

Obtaining the thorn and its ooze was the easy part, getting them out of the dream world proved to be a difficult challenge that Luna hadn't been expecting. The crazy magic that had twisted the entire forest into a nightmarish realm was making it harder for her to tear the items out of the corrupted zone. The good news was that she was able to cut the corruption out of the area it had been in and transplant it somewhere where it couldn't grow any larger.

Her magic alone was not enough to break through the barriers that made it so difficult for her to remove the thorn and the ooze. The best thing she could think of was seeing if her sister could aid her in tearing a small hole in the barrier to retrieve what she needed. As another thought she could always ask Twilight to aid her, seeing how she was already thinking of hoofing over the items anyway she could always get a doorway opened.

As Luna faced the strange black barrier she wondered if bringing Twilight directly the corruption was the best idea at the moment. She could easily bring herself into the Forest of Thorns, but to traverse the forest again, to search for the pillars, would likely result in failure. There was some form of magic in the air that made it so she couldn't remember the exact pathway she had taken when she had entered, a spell that had erased the path from her memory.

There weren't many beings, alicorn or not, who could use such a spell without it turning on them and destroying their minds. Discord's mind was already blown to Tartarus, Chrysalis was more interested in taking over Equestria than bothering to corrupt dreams, Sombra could have attempted it at one point and that could have explained how he became evil, and her fellow alicorns would almost never attempt such a spell. Which meant that there was only one being who could have cast such a spell without fear of it turning on him and erasing his mind for all eternity.

"Tia," Luna called out to the surrounding area, her voice traveling all the way to where her sister was dreaming, "I need to talk to you sister."

~Celestia's Dream~

Celestia, Ruler of the Day and the Sun, was enjoying a much relaxing day on the beach, soaking in the sunlight as she watched her student and her friends swimming in the water. In her dreams Celestia had always seen her student as a unicorn, but now that she had ascended she was having a hard time changing the dream version of her student. She felt that it reminded her of the past, but at times the real her would spill over and everything would move on as if the wings had never bugged her.

She opened her eyes and looked to her right, spying the piece of cherry cake she had put there a while before she had closed her eyes. In the dream she could keep the cake slice as fresh as she wanted without fear of the flavor dying or going sour, which is why she always enjoyed eating dream cake. The flavor was whatever she wanted, but for her she had always taken to changing the actual features of the cake into what she envisioned the actual cake would look like. It gave her a way of teaching her chefs new recipes that they would never dream of creating, until they tasted her perfection and took to dreaming up their own creations.

Tia. She heard her sister call, I need to talk to you sister.

It was always odd when her sister called a meeting in the dream world; only the pony Luna wanted to conference with could hear her voice and respond to the summons. Usually when Luna called on her she would close her dream and allow the magic to pull her across the dream world until she was where her sister was standing. It was an endless process and they would discuss whatever Luna felt like talking about, which was usually Twilight's dreams and the potential threats from the old villains.

Celestia sighed and allowed her dream to fade away before disappearing in a puff of dark blue smoke, the sign that signaled somepony was going to conference with Luna. When she appeared next to her sister she was shocked to see a gigantic black barrier standing directly in front of her, behind which stood a forest consisted of huge thorny trees.

"I'm so glad you could make it here quickly Tia," Luna said, welcoming her sister to the strangest place in the dream world, "I see you have noticed the reason why I have called you here and I..."

"The REASON you called me here?" Celestia nearly shouted, turning on her sister, "What I see is that something has taken root deep in this dream zone and has corrupted it to the breaking point. What I do not understand is why you have not cast it into pieces and scattered the pieces into the other realms."

"I cannot simply destroy dream zones on a whim," Luna complained, "besides, I took some samples of the thorns on the trees and the ooze that comes out of them when they are broken in any way. I tried to remove them from the Forest of Thorns..."

"The Forest of Thorns?" Celestia asked, curious as to the choice of the name.

"Yes, the Forest of Thorns," Luna snapped, annoyed by the interruption, "Anyway, I tried to remove the samples and this barrier came out out of nowhere. It is a magical barrier that is preventing me from removing my samples and it erased my memory of a route I took to the dead center of the forest. A center that has five stone pillars and a pure amethyst orb sitting in a clearing."

Celestia was silent, thinking over the facts as she tried to determine if there was anypony else that could have caused such corruption. Discord was a perfect candidate, but the whole new spell that erased the path from Luna's mind was something she had only read about in the notes of the stallion who had created the spell. If the clearing was what she thought it could be then things were in a lot more trouble than Luna could possibly imagine.

"I take it you were thinking of using Twilight to research the origin of the thorn and its ooze?" Celestia asked, receiving a nod, "I am in agreement, but we cannot have her go any deeper into the forest other than to retrieve the samples. What we will do is have her open a small gateway into the corrupted zone, one designed to allow us access and to prevent anything from escaping, have her go in and get the samples, and then get out before anything appears. Then we'll run some tests and see if this is the work of a certain stallion we both thought we would be rid of long ago."

"So I'm not the only one thinking about Midnig..." Luna began, only to have her mouth shut by her sister's magic.

"Do not speak his name," Celestia hissed, watching the thorn trees hum with activity thanks to the near mention of the stallion's name, "Yes, I am thinking about him. If anything is to go by it seems that the area will respond to his name as if they're awaiting a command. We need to figure out what's going on. If the seals are weakening then we need to reapply them before he escapes."

"I agree," Luna replied, tossing the magic off of her mouth, "but we need Twilight's help to determine what this stuff truly is and what it is not. Can you write her a letter and invite her to a meeting in the afternoon? And maybe Cadence as well? We'll need their help to breach this mystery and quickly, before this barrier falls and the corruption spills into the other areas. We need to stop this before he manages to break through the seals and appears in Canterlot.

Remember; if he escapes then everything is going to start falling apart in rapid succession."

"I will write a letter to Twilight when i wake up," Celestia answered, shaking her head, "but we need to get in there and scout out his progress. If worst comes to worst then we might have to seal him in an even deeper prison than last time. Otherwise we might not survive his onslaught."

4. Elemental Stones Part 1; Kindness

"Twilight darling," Rarity said, opening the door to the library and entering it to find Twilight pouring over some sort of gigantic thorn, "I take it I came at a bad time?"

"Course not Rarity," Spike stuttered, his feelings for her overriding his mind for a couple of seconds.

"I'm just researching something that Princess Luna asked me to research," Twilight groaned, rubbing her eyes as she stopped looking in the microscope, "Its a thorn from the Dreamscape, located in an area that almost nopony visits."

"The Dreamscape?" Rarity asked, not understanding the term as it flew over her head, "Please Twilight, tell me what you mean plainly."

"Its the Dream World," Twilight replied, jotting something down in a notebook that sat near the thorn, "There's some corruption in one of the areas and Princess Luna wants me to get to the bottom of it. I told her that I would do what I can and that I would see if you girls would be willing to help out during some of the nights."

"Twilight, your a Princess now," Rarity said, shaking her mane as she sat on the couch that rested across the room from where her friend was, "you must stop calling them by their titles seeing how your equal to them. I would love to help you out Twilight, but I cannot get my hooves dirty. It is unbecoming of a lady to get her hooves dirty."

"Oh come on Rarity, you won't be getting your hooves dirty." Twilight stated with some annoyance, "The dirt of the area in question is actually quite clean and there aren't many creatures roaming the woods. Besides, even if you got some dirt on you the Dreamscape could probably take care of it in no time at all."

"I don't follow."

"Its quite simple actually," Twilight answered, "Your dream world, the zone you usually stay in during your dreams, shapes itself for whatever you desire. So say you wanted the best shower and cleaning system in the entire world at the moment, the zone will shape part of itself to that desire and in seconds you'll have the shower of your dreams. You could even make the design studio of your wildest imagination and craft the dresses that most would see in their most wild of dreams."

"So you want me and the girls to help you research the dream world?" Rarity asked, not understanding some of what Twilight was talking about, "What exactly are we getting out of all of this?"

"I'm not exactly sure yet," Twilight admitted, yawning slightly before another thought entered her head, "I have to tell the others about the research and see if they'll help. Maybe we'll find out whats happening quickly and we wont have to search for every long."

~An hour later~

Twilight had managed to convince her friends to come and speak with her, the only down side to all of it was that she could only get one pony to help her at the beginning. Fluttershy was the only one of the five to be remotely interested in researching the dream world and the strange corruption that hit one of the zones. She had managed to interest Rainbow and Applejack with the possibility of relaxing or training or spending time with some of their idols. End of the line was that three of them were willing to help her out and she wasn't sure about Pinkie, seeing how she was still bouncing around the room with a giant smile on her face.

Problem was that she had to explain the concept of the Dreamscape to her friends again, some of it still going over Rarity's head in the process. She would have more time to convince Rarity to accept the Dreamscape and she might even have some help if her friends liked what they saw when they came to help her. If anything Fluttershy would help her pave the way to reaching Rarity and Pinkie, seeing how Rainbow and Applejack had opted to let her be the first to 'invade' the dream world, as Rainbow put it.

"Okay then Fluttershy," Twilight sighed, wondering how she was going to deal with this now, "I will see you sometime tonight after we all go to sleep. If everything works out well we should figure out what's happening and get back to our own dreams before too much time has passed."

~Dream World, Later that night~

It was quite easy for Twilight to find Fluttershy's dream area; it was a tranquil place filled with all types of trees from across Equestria and a bunch of animals she had read about in books. As she walked down a dirt path she came across what looked like a huge white boulder, but upon closer inspection she realized it was a snow bear from the frozen north. Everywhere Twilight turned she saw animals from the Crystal Empire and everywhere else in Equestria. Fluttershy's dream was as peaceful as her friend was, Twilight realized, but it also made it almost impossible to find her.

That was what she thought for a couple minutes, but that changed when she came to a stop in front of a giant tree that was far larger and wider than all the other trees she had seen. As Twilight inspected the tree she came across something interesting, something she had not been expecting to find on such a tree. In the direct center of the tree's trunk was the symbol of Fluttershy's cutie mark, three butterflies spread out together like they were in the real world.

The trunk buckled and the area below the mark began to swirl, causing Twilight to stumble backwards as she watched what was happening to the tree. Fluttershy walked out of the tree before her very eyes, the wood of the tree turning into her skin and fur as she stared at Twilight. Once all the wood had settled down and the tree had become quiet again Fluttershy gave her a small smile, which was usually what she gave her friends.

"Um, hi Twilight," Fluttershy weakly greeted, which was true to her nature, "I wasn't expecting to see you, um, so soon."

"I thought it would be best if we started immediately." Twilight replied, beckoning to the path she had taken, "I know that leaving your dream zone will be a little weird at first, but given some time you might find the journey to be quite relaxing."

Leading Fluttershy to the barrier around her dream zone was the easy step, making the barrier phase so she could pass seemed to be a challenge. Twilight had to resort to using a spell that Luna taught her the previous night, a spell that would allow anypony it was cast on to pass through the barrier with no problem. It was unusual for her to forget something that would help them out, but once she remembered the two of them were moving onto the corrupted zone in no time.

As with the last time Twilight approached the corrupted zone the thorns bashed at the barrier, but when they approached the thorns settled down and almost became like stones. Twilight had still found out nothing about the thorns and their strange goo, but she was determined to figure out something about the corruption. The new additions to the area was a giant laboratory zone that had everything that Twilight would ever need to figure out the truth and a special holding zone in case she discovered who was behind the corruption. She could easily contain the pony behind this and tell her fellow princesses before her prisoner could escape.

"Um, why did they stop attacking the barrier?" Fluttershy asked, peaking out from behind Twilight to stare at the thorns.

"I honestly don't know," Twilight commented, passing her hoof through the barrier before the two stepped through, "They did the same thing the last time I came here on the request of Luna. In fact they only stopped bashing the barrier when I arrived and not a single second before that. Something is telling me that the thorns aren't striking out at us, but why I don't even know."

"So, um, what are we doing here?" Fluttershy inquired, stepping up to a tree to examine the bark for a second and heard no reply, "Twilight?"

Fluttershy turned around to find her friend and watched some sort of smoke vanish into thin air as she tried in vain to find Twilight. She knew her friend well enough to know that Twilight would never disappear on her friends, but the smoke reminded her of a fallen king. Her mind was focused on the fact that the corruption she was seeing could have been all Sombra's fault, but without evidence she wasn't sure. Plus she couldn't go jumping at guesses until she learned the truth...wait, what was that growling noise she just heard?

Thanks to living with the wild creatures on the edge of the Everfree Forest she had developed the ability to understand when animals were either hungry or in some form of pain. Right now she was hearing the sound of pain, something she had grown used to dealing with whenever the animals were hurt. Twilight could wait, there was an animal in pain and she had to help anyway she could.

She turned down the dirt path she was on and began to sprint, her eyes peeled for whatever poor animal was making the noise. The more she moved the more she realized that the area around her was changing from a forest to what appeared to be an old castle. She slowed down just a bit and took in the sites, not believing that somepony had dreamed up such a beautiful castle that was surrounded by a forest of thorns. She slowed to a trot and took in the statues of ponies that were dressed in what appeared to be amethyst colored armor that resembled the armor of the royal Canterlot guards. The only difference was that the normal five sided gem was now a ten sided star.

"Oh Mistwing, you have returned to me," said a voice as an elderly unicorn stallion walked out from behind one of the statues, "No? Your not my Mistwing, your just somepony who resembles her."

The stallion in question had a amethyst colored coat, a draped mane and tail that had a dark blue outer area with a light blue inner area, and nearly dull red eyes. He was currently wearing what appeared to be an aged dark brown cloak, full of holes that were caused as if it were actually real and not something made of the dream world. On his hooves were what appeared to be some sort of black shoe, something that looked like what Princess Celestia wore, but then again it could very well just have been some dirt or ash covering the stallion's hooves.

"Um, excuse me sir?" Fluttershy asked, making the stallion notice her again, "I heard an animal crying out in pain. So, um, do you know where the poor animal is?"

"What's that? the stallion said, which meant that his hearing was damaged and likely hadn't heard her, "A hurt animal? Oh! You must be referring to my poor snow leopard, Victorious. Come along my dear...?"

"Oh, um, my names Fluttershy," she answered, surprised the stallion had heard her question.

"Then come along my dear Fluttershy," the stallion continued, turning around and continued Fluttershy's surprise by trotting to the courtyard of the castle pretty quickly.

What waited for them in the courtyard was a sight that not even Fluttershy had even seen before in her entire lifetime of taking care of animals. Laying on what she assumed was a large bed sheet was the largest white furred cat she had ever seen, a cat that was at least as tall as she was. The cat stared up at them as they approached, looking at the stallion peacefully and giving a soft growl as he noticed Fluttershy. That was when she noticed the amethyst plate armor laying on what appeared to be a shelf not too far away, which was even stranger than seeing what was supposed to be an extinct creature.

"Um, hi there," Fluttershy weakly said, approaching the dangerous cat as she looked for some sign that indicated any pain, "My names Fluttershy and I was wondering what was causing you pain."

The cat lifted up his front left paw and held it in front of her, making her search for something that would have hurt the poor creature. At first she saw nothing, absolutely nothing, that would have caused any creature any sort of pain. The more she stared the more she was convinced that she was hearing things and this wasn't what she was supposed to be doing at the moment, but then she found it. Stuck in the direct center of the cat's paw, nearly hidden by the fur, was a small black thorn that resembled the thorns growing in the forest. She grabbed it with her teeth, yanked the thorn out, and spat it out before she did anything else.

The cat winced as the thorn was removed, but once it was gone he purred as he brushed up against her. Apparently the thorn had been the cause and he was relieved to have it removed, going as far to rub himself up against her as a way of thanks.

"Hehe, should have known it was in the paw," the old stallion said, clearly pleased that his cat wasn't in pain, "You have my thanks miss...I'm sorry dear, I seem to have forgotten your name."

"Oh, um, I'm Fluttershy," she said, watching a pink butterfly land on the stallion's horn, "and, um, I'll be taking my leave now. I mean, if that's okay with you."

"Oh, your more than welcome to leave my dear," the stallion continued, a smile creeping onto his face, "Feel free to come around some time. We'll have some fun and I'm sure Victorious will enjoy seeing you again sometime."

Fluttershy gave the stallion a weak smile and started to walk out of the castle, but as she passed the thorn she picked it up with her teeth and put it in a bag. Twilight would be glad to have another piece to research on, but she needed to know that she might have discovered the owner of the corrupted dream area. Maybe she and the other princesses could figure out this mess before long.

She was unaware of the fact that the stallion was still staring at her, watching her leave the rotting castle courtyard as the pink butterfly began to glow. Deep in the dream area one of the pillars was beginning to glow, that the stallion was sure of, but he also knew the mare wouldn't know that. He continued to smile and beckoned to his cat, the two fading into thin air as they began to walk into the castle, as if neither of them truly existed. But before the stallion completely vanished his smile grew wider, as if he knew something that nopony else knew or would ever know.

5. Elemental Stones Part 2; Honesty

"Care to explain to me why ah'm here sugarcube?"

That was the question Applejack had asked the moment she had awoken in the Dreamscape laboratory that Twilight had spent the first night constructing. The same laboratory she had built on the edge of what appeared to be a barrier with a forest filled with thorns on the other side. The exact same laboratory that Twilight was running around, rearranging items on the various shelves and double checking her results on some of her other tests.

Applejack was more than willing to wait, she had all night to help Twilight with...whatever project the Princesses had asked her to assist them with. According to her friend Twilight was supposed to be searching for the source of something that was, as she put it, corrupting the dream area they were stationed next to. She was told that the corruption was making the dream area darker and more evil then it should have been, hence the thorns that were still at the moment.

The other weird thing was that Fluttershy was back in the dream area, seeming to stare at the thorn trees as if she was searching for something or somepony.

"Fluttershy reported that there's a castle area in this dream area," Twilight explained, dropping a drip of liquid on her thorn sample, "so I asked her if she would venture back into the castle and find the strange stallion she met last time she was there. Your here to help her in case she gets in trouble and maybe get the name of the pony we're dealing with."

"Why do we want this stallion's name so badly?" Applejack asked, not really seeing the logic in finding out the pony's name.

"Because Luna can search for him next time she's in the Dreamscape," Twilight explained, a smile appearing on her face as she turned to her friends, "We get his description and she searches for him. We find out why all this is happening in one night and fix up the zone before anything else happens."

"To be honest ah'm not sure if we'll see that stallion again," Applejack said, turning her head to the forest again, "but ah am more than willing to see what type of trees our 'friend' has dreamed up for us."

That was the other part of her mission, her own objective that was different than Fluttershy's objective of finding the stallion again. Twilight's reasoning behind finding out what trees there were was so she could form an opinion as to where the stallion actually lived. Plus Applejack knew a thing or two about trees, so she and Fluttershy could easily figure out where the tree might be located. She just hoped that they would find something useful while they visited the castle.

"Don't worry too much Applejack," Twilight assured her friend, "If anything bad happens and you girls need help I will come flying as fast as I can. I will not leave my friends hanging in their time of need."

And so Applejack and Fluttershy walked through the Forest of Thorns, the vile forest that Princess Luna had nicknamed due to the thorny trees. Their eyes were peeled for anything dangerous, anything at all, that could deter their progress or threaten them all together. That was including looking for any signs of the stallion or the castle Fluttershy had seen the last time she had been in this area.

After barely half an hour of walking they found the location they were searching for, the towering gateway entrance of the castle Fluttershy had seen. What Applejack had been expecting to find was a castle in such a pristine condition that the walls gleamed with the light of the sun and the very air was filled with beauty. What she found was a rundown castle, the walls were falling apart in places and there was even an entire tower in complete ruin. Even the courtyard, an area with a couple of trees and a ruined walkway, was in terrible condition. It was even worse than her barn at times.

"Are you sure this is where that stallion of yours is supposed to be?" Applejack asked, wondering if there could have been a second castle they weren't aware of, "It doesn't look like anypony has been here for a couple of years."

"I saw the stallion just yesterday," Fluttershy replied, not believing what her eyes were showing her, "and his snow leopard was sitting right over there."

The ground shook for a minute, but Applejack watched and suddenly found that there was an elderly stallion standing in front of them. She didn't know how the stallion had managed to do so with the low level of magic an elderly unicorn was supposed to have, but she knew something was up.

"Oh, young Fluttershy," the stallion welcomed her calmly, "I see you brought a friend to visit us. Mistwing loved to have visitors come to our house and would often chat up a storm with them. And you are my dear?"

"Applejack mah name," she replied, curious as to what the stallion was talking about, "Whose this Mistwing your talking about?"

"My wife of course," the stallion answered, shaking his head before moving down a ruined path, "Forgive me, I forget that neither of you have had the pleasure of meeting my wife and I should not have burst out the words. Come and I will introduce you to my wife."

Both ponies were expecting the stallion to lead them into the castle itself, but instead they were lead to the very back area of the castle. It was an area that had an iron gate and a dozen, if not more, tombstones scattered about all over the place. The stallion had lead them to a cemetery, but the thing was that neither of them could see anypony else walking around the place.

"Why are we here sugarcube?" Applejack asked, eying one of the tombstones as the three passed it by.

"Mistwing's around here somewhere," the old stallion said, clearly lost as if he had forgotten where the stone was, "She said she would be here as soon as our guests arrived. I guess by those words she meant you two...ah, here she is."

Fluttershy was expecting to actually meet the mare that she had been told she resembles, but when they arrived at where the stallion said Mistwing was supposed to be she quickly learned the truth. The mare that the stallion was remembering was dead, buried in the ground of a forgotten castle somewhere in Equestria.

"I hate to tell you sugarcube," Applejack said, getting closer to the elderly stallion as she spoke, "but the mare your waiting for is...dead."

"No...no...she isn't dead." the stallion cracked up, tears rolling down his muzzle as he laid on the ground in front of the tombstone, "I've known her for so many years, there's no way she could be dead."

Fluttershy sighed and sat down next to the stallion, trying to calm the stallion down as the truth of the situation came to his memory. While she did that Applejack wondered how the stallion could have thought that his wife was still alive when she was clearly dead. There was always something weird in the minds of the elderly.

"I'm sorry sugarcube," Applejack said, sitting on the other side of the stallion, "I'm sure that Mistwing was a great mare while she was alive, but your going to have to quit dwelling on the past at some point."

"I know," the stallion replied, "I guess that I shouldn't remain buried in the past anymore. I should let my memories go and let her move on at last."

Before either mare realized what was up they suddenly woke up, surprised by what had happened. Twilight would be happy to learn something about the stallion they were trying to figure out, but would be disappointed to learn they hadn't discovered his name. There were more opportunities to discover the stallion's hidden name in the future, they just had to be patient is all.

Back in the dream world the stallion smiled to himself as an orange apple floated next to him. Things were going exactly as he had planned, but with only two keys he had some more planning to do before everything was done. The next visitor would prove to be interesting when she arrived.

6. Elemental Stones Part 3; Laughter

Pinkie Pie bounced down the worn path she had been traveling for the last ten minutes, her eyes scanning the thorny trees as she passed by them. Attached to her back was a trio of balloons, a box filled with assorted party goods, and a large bag filled with a large variety of baked goods that anypony would enjoy. According to what Fluttershy and Applejack had said last time she saw them the stallion who lived in this dream area was saddened by the loss of his wife, a mare by the name of Mistwing.

So Pinkie was coming prepared, intending to cheer up the sad pony so he could continue to live his life in the fullest that happiness and laughter could give him. She was prepared to give the stallion the party of his life, one that would reawaken the fun side of his now dull personality. She would reawaken whoever the stallion had been in the beginning and rekindle the fire that could have fueled his heart once upon a time.

As she looked around she couldn't help but wonder why some of her friends feared the thorny trees, considering that they all had fought the gods themselves to restore order to the world. Not that Pinkie really cared considering that she could appear anywhere she wanted, as long as she knew the area in which she was using her abilities. She cared about the safety of others, but following the rules of the universe was downright boring sometimes in her opinion.

But she continued to bounce along the path, the sound of her hooves hitting the ground for a few seconds being the only companion she had. She had stared out following the path that Fluttershy had described to her in full detail, but after some, distractions, she ended up somewhere where Fluttershy had not been before. Not even Applejack had been down this path, seeing how the two had traveled together the last time they had come to this dream area.

So right now Pinkie was alone, traveling some deserted path that none of her friends have journeyed down because she had taken her eyes off the path for a second. She knew that if she kept bouncing along she would eventually come to either the trail she had abandoned or the rundown castle her friends had mentioned to her. Still, she wanted to meet the stallion face to face and see what was troubling him so much besides the death of his wife and the ruin of his castle.

Speaking of the castle she turned around a bend and came face to face with the ruined area that her friends had described, only there was something strange about it. The destroyed tower that both Fluttershy and Applejack reported seeing was now standing tall where they said it had been. Several of the ruined walls had somehow been restored, linking the tower to other pieces of the ruined castle. Even the seemingly destroyed courtyard, the area Fluttershy had meet the snow leopard, had suddenly been repaired to some degree, now making the place look more regal than before.

Pinkie had the feeling that there was something more then what she had been told about this particular castle, something that maybe even Twilight didn't know about.

She ceased her bouncing and examined the statues her friends had seen during their visits to the rundown castle, the strange armored soldiers with the strangest emblem of them all. The strange ten sided star jewel. Upon inspection of the statues Pinkie discovered that the ponies she suspected that were ordinary ponies were actually bat ponies. That was ponies with fluffed ears, silted eyes, and, if they were a pegasus, bat wings in place of their normal pegasus wings.

Bat ponies were the royal guards of Princess Luna; so did that mean that these statues were made to resemble past heroes out of respect for those who died during the war between the sisters? Or did that mean that the statues were the guards of a different ruler, one who used Luna's own guards against her in such a time? Pinkie didn't know much about the current royal guards that protected Luna, but there was something strange at work here.

There was a snap of a twig to her right and she bounced backwards in time to avoid being pounced on by a very large and agile cat. A cat that now stood where she had been standing not a few seconds ago, staring at her as if she was prey that was to be hunted down. It had to be none other than the snow leopard that Fluttershy had met, the one the strange stallion had named Victorious. The cat was supposed to be a nice ball of fluff, but instead the cat was a brute that was trying to kill her.

She was going to have some words with Fluttershy about the meanie animal after all of this was over.

That was before one of the statues suddenly came to life and tackled the giant cat to the ground, rolling just a bit before tossing him into a wall. The cat shook itself and growled, staring the statue in the eye before making another attempt at Pinkie, which was intercepted by the statue. Pinkie had a feeling that the cat was a constant fighter, hence the reason the statues could come alive to capture the cat if it attacked a guest.

Whoever this dream area belonged to must have, at some point, been expecting guests and had once held the greatest form of defense the stallion could create. Pinkie definitely wanted to meet this mysterious stallion now.

"Victorious, what have I told you about attacking guests?" came a voice as a regal figure appeared in the walkway between the tower and the ruined castle.

The snow leopard growled as if it was trying to speak, or at least that was what Pinkie believed the cat was trying to do while the statue held it down.

"Just because you haven't seen this mare before doesn't mean you can attack her outright." the unicorn continued, his hood coming off to reveal the long haired stallion underneath, "Honestly Victorious, I expected you to show come compassion or kindness to those who walk through the castle gates every now and then. I don't want to keep explaining to my sisters why their subjects sometimes don't return from the castle and when they do why they are covered in scrapes and cuts."

The cat made the same movements as before, only this time more frequently and with greater haste as if he was trying to get a point across.

"You are right about that," the stallion continued, sighing slightly, "but I still care not for what my sisters say about you. I shall allow you to return to the wilderness and the old ways for a period of time, but I expect you to return here in one weeks time. After that you shall do as I say like everpony else does. Do I make myself clear?"

The snow leopard nodded and the statue released him. The cat took one last look at Pinkie before running off into the wilderness past where she had entered from. Pinkie suspected that she might have caught a glimpse of part of the stallion's real dream, the one that she and the others might have intruded on when they entered the castle area. Course she might have fit the role of a visitor from another castle and the dream could have activated at her point of entry.

"Ah, the traveling bard from Canterlot," the stallion continued, speaking to Pinkie as the statue returned to being just a statue again, "I have long awaited your arrival. I have heard that you possess the ability to cheer up and make everypony laugh in the general area of your famous parties. Maybe you could share some of your talent with me?"

The area exploded in a fury of lights and popping sounds as confetti, streamers, and dozens of party supplies decorated the entire courtyard. The unicorn stared at the pink mare, who now held what appeared to be a cannon that was smoking as if it had been fired recently, which could have explained the decor. He knew that from the way the mare walked, talked, and acted that she was the one type that partied all the time and truly gave others a smile.

"Your such a silly pony," Pinkie laughed, staring at her work with approval, "I give everypony a smile, even those who feel cranky and unhappy eventually get a smile. So, what can Pinkie cheer you up about today?"

The stallion stared at her, not really knowing what to make of the mare who seemed to have the abilities that allowed her to set up parties on the fly. She was happy, just bouncing in one spot while he stared at her, their eyes meeting briefly. And just like that she seemed to know what was making him unhappy, because she stopped bouncing and popped on over to the entrance he had come from.

"Of course, silly me, I forgot to invite the special guest," Pinkie said, a shadowy form appearing from the mist, "Mister unnamed stallion, meet your long lost wife, Mistwing."

Pinkie didn't know what to expect for Mistwings appearance, but when she stepped out of the mist she had been surprised to find a sort of gray coated pegasus mare emerge. Her wings weren't the same as a normal pegasus, instead they were large bat wings and her ears were fluffed up at the ends. Her eyes were colored light blue, but the strange thing about them was that they had a slit in them, almost like the ones Nightmare Moon had. She even had a pair of fangs, which actually made her look more like Princess Luna's guards then the wife of some stallion.

"I can't believe it," the stallion said in shock, allowing the mare to walk over to him, "I saw you fall. I could have sworn you had fallen so far that I couldn't see you again."

"Relax my darling Midnight," the bat mare said, the thorny trees around the castle shaking as the name was spoken, "We can be reunited now, to wander the Dreamscape for all eternity. Surely that is better then spending all your time wandering a ruined castle while you contemplate the defeat that landed us here?"

"It sounds better now that you say it," the stallion, Midnight, agreed with a smile on his face, "Before I let you leave Pinkie I must request that you perform the...Pinkie Promise was it?"

"Yes sir," Pinkie loudly said, "What exactly would I be promising to keep a secret and from who?"

"You must keep my name a secret from everypony else," Midnght answered, "I cannot allow anypony else to know of my existence here, other than you and your friends, but my name must be a closely guarded secret. Can I count on you to keep it secret and safe until I say otherwise?"

Pinkie nodded and recited the Pinkie Promise to the strange stallion, wondering why keeping his name a secret was so important. But she decided that it was better making him happy and laughing than to make him angry at her. Besides. she had set out to make the stallion happy and she had accomplished that quite easily, which meant she could go bug her friends in their sleep now.

As the pink mare vanished Midnight smiled again, a stray blue balloon glowing as it slowly faded away into nothingness. The pink one had been a help breaching the magic that was keeping his wife locked up somewhere deep in his mind and had made them happy. What she did not know was that he had now amassed three of the five keys needed to break the prison. Only two more and everything would be set straight.

7. Elemental Stones Part 4; Loyalty

Rainbow Dash trotted through the thorny forest that the majority of her friends had walked through the past couple of days, or nights as it were. According to what her friends had said she should be expecting the ruined castle to be even more repaired when she arrived at the stony walls. So far Fluttershy, Applejack, and Pinkie have seen the stallion they have been trying to learn about, but none of them had discovered what the stallion's name was. That was making it harder for them to determine if he was a friend or a foe.

Rarity was the only one who wasn't coming into the dream world, or the Dreamscape as Princess Luna called it, because she was going to be busy during the next few days. That meant that somepony was going to have to visit the stallion after Rainbow did, which was likely going to be Twilight going in. If Rainbow didn't discover the stallion's name than Twilight was going to break the stallion down and discover it for herself so they could finish the mystery. If it came down to Twilight discovering everything about the stallion then Rainbow felt sorry for the poor stallion.

Rainbow looked at the trees, still surprised that they looked like they did while the sky seemed to have taken on a more lighter blue color. She recalled the fact that Pinkie had learned exactly who the stallion's wife, a mare called Mistwing, was during her visit the previous night. She was still shocked to hear that the mare was a bat pony, one of Luna's guards, and seemed to be at ease around the stallion. She was sure that something was going on in this world, but whatever it was she wasn't sure of.

Rainbow turned right at the fork in the path and came face to face with the ruined castle, or what the others called a ruined castle. In front of her rested a nearly completed castle, the tower she had been told about was reconstructed, the courtyard was cleaned and presentable, and the main part of the castle, the throne room and housing for a ruler, was fully made. The only thing the castle lacked was a barracks for the soldiers and the usual banners that told whoever was visiting who the ruler of the castle was.

She walked down the stony pathway of the courtyard, her eyes scanning the statues that she had heard about and the strange ten sided star symbol they held. The ponies who had posed for the statues must have been bat ponies, seeing how each and every one of the statues nearly looked the same. The trees looked like they were healthy, not that she knew a lot about trees, and the area itself seemed to be more alive than what her friends had described.

That was because there were dozens of ponies walking about, as if the entire castle area was a real place and they were doing real business. Rainbow saw unicorns buying ingredients for what appeared to be an alchemy set, which was what Twilight called the art of making herbal potions or something like that. There were pegasi walking around, carrying packages while chatting with their friends, and even some busting clouds in the air. There were even earth ponies, either selling goods to their friends or actually buying them from other stall keepers.

The castle, Rainbow had discovered, was like a doorway to a completely different world. There was absolutely no way somepony had dreamed all this up and had set it to repair itself after being visited by some ponies like her friends had done.

"Ah, the Lady Rainbow Dash," a voice behind her said, causing her to turn around and come face to face with a bat pony stallion, "My Lord sent me to find you and bring you to him when you arrived. He and Lady Mistwing are currently in the throne room, but I was informed that you are free to wander the castle grounds and mingle with his citizens."

"Is that right you punk?" Rainbow replied, turning to face the stallion entirely.

"That is correct." the stallion answered, "My name is Thundercloud, or Thunder for short if you will, and I am the steward when my lord wishes me to be. I mostly watch over the citizens of his fair castle and insure that there are no drunken brawls or theft throughout the area. On the days I escort ponies around the castle my brother, the court alchemist by the named of Razorwind, takes my place as the steward."

"Fine then," Rainbow sighed, not sure what to make of the stallion, "So, what's first on the tour of the castle?"

"The airfields," Thundercloud said, turning towards the east gate, "Usually we have a dozen or more teams of pegasi, including my fellow bat ponies, preparing for flight. They fly all around the area, clearing clouds or adjusting them so the necessary farms get enough water so everypony has food to eat. Sometimes you'll see Mistwing out and about in the sky, outshining other ponies with her speed and her moves. Some say she was the first one to successfully perform the soon to be legendary Sonic Rainboom."

"Yeah yeah yeah," Rainbow muttered, trotting along side the stallion while he spoke, "I'll going to out fly and outshine Lady Mistwing. That's if she accepted my challenge and wanted to be down here instead of with her husband."

"Don't be too sure of that my friend," Thundercloud remarked, the open fields appearing before them, "Mistwing loves to spend whatever time she has practicing her flying and improving her speed. I doubt there is a pony alive that can outmatch my sister and her legendary speed."

Rainbow doubted that the mare was as great as the stallion said she was. There were almost no ponies around from the time of when the Sonic Rainboom was originally discovered and recorded as the hardest move in all of the flying techniques. There were the Princesses, Discord, Sombra, and the Changeling Queen Chrysalis, but Rainbow wasn't holding her breath if any of them even remembered much of the time this stallion was talking about.

But the airfields were larger than what Rainbow was expecting. Where she thought there would have been several rows for the flyers to take off there were towers and watch stands so other ponies could watch whenever they wanted. Each team apparently had a large area for themselves to use as they wish, such as practicing, exercising, and writing notes to their fans. Even now she saw three teams preparing to take to the air, the members stretching their wings as they prepared to show whatever fans they had in the stands some moves.

"This place is so AWESOME!" Rainbow squeed, not caring that the stallion could overhear her, "Seriously, how many teams does this place house?"

"Seven to be exact," Thundercloud replied, staring out at the field while keeping an eye on the mare, "This place can house seven teams of flyers at a time, but there are times where Mist and her team appear to join the others in the events. And if Mistwing comes here then you can be sure that our Lord will arrive to watch his wife and the others in action."

So there was a slim chance that Rainbow would be meeting the strange stallion she had been sent to investigate, the one who seemed to be in control of the entire dream area. She and the stallion walked down the steps that lead them to the seating area for the airfields, her eyes scanning the crowd for a sign of the stallion. She had a vague description of what the stallion looked like, considering he had changed from a sad old stallion to a young energetic pony. She didn't know what was happening, but by the looks of things they could figure out some mysteries that plagued the dream world.

Then she saw the royal couple, as they seemed to be, standing in the middle of the airfield. She was surprised by what she saw, the stallion wore a cape that was similar to the one King Sombra wore, but it was a light purple color instead of the vile red. Attached to his legs were what appeared to be some sort of black colored armor pieces that were identical to Sombra's leg guards while he wore a neck piece that was like a black version of Princess Cadence's necklace. He even wore a crown that was as black as the rest of his royal attire, giving him the appearance of being royalty when he was likely not in reality.

Mistwing, on the other hoof, was dressed almost like a Shadowbolt, only difference was that the black color had been replaced by the same purple color that was on the stallion's cape. On the side of her costume, where the symbol of their leader rested, was the same ten sided star that her friends had reported seeing on their visits. Whatever the star meant it was so important that it was displayed everywhere in this stallion's dream world, from the statues to the armor. Mistwing leapt into the air and she was gone, her wings allowing her to ascend to the sky quickly.

"So what does the ten sided star mean?" Rainbow asked, her wings itching as she wanted to take on the mare in the sky, "My friends and I have seen it repeatedly everytime one of us visits. There has to be some meaning to such a star."

"It is our Lord's cutie mark," Thunder replied, eying the mare's wings, "It represents the Schools of Magic that a unicorn has the potential to learn. But you did not come here for a history lesson, you came here to battle my sister in the sky where you do what you do best."

Rainbow shot into the sky, dust blowing as she skyrocketed right up to where Mistwing was waiting, most likely for her of all ponies. The mare nodded and a whole course appeared in the clouds, a course that reminded Rainbow of the course she took that earned her her cutie mark. The two smashed right through the starting line, tearing the ribbon to shreds as they traveled from post to post, breaking the poles as they moved. The sky itself blew as they flew around, wind whipping around their wings.

"She has skill," the stallion remarked, his bright red eyes trailing the two mares in the sky, "Maybe Mistwing has found an equal that she can respect in the sky."

"Only she would know my lord," Thunder replied, taking a seat behind his master as he watched his sister and the new arrival, "But this Rainbow Dash, she is the currently holder of the Element of Loyalty and has mastered the Sonic Rainboom, a feat that only my sister is capable of doing."

"Loyalty is a powerful trait for one to have," the stallion said, the sky darkening as the two flew, "we shall see if her loyalty to her friends is as true as everypony says. If it is then she will have no trouble getting through this storm I have conjured up. If not then she'll be feeling the tingle of lightning when she wakes up in the morning."

Lightning flew right by Rainbow's wings as she kept pace with Mistwing, who didn't seem fazed in the slightest about the sudden change of weather. She figured that the stallion was the one responsible for the change, but she didn't see how he could have changed the weather so quickly. She dived for a second to avoid the lightning and corrected her course, wondering what the hay was going on with this area.

Rainbow tore through the sky, chasing Mistwing as the two danced throughout the sky, tearing holes through clouds as they followed the course. The bat mare must have known the course pattern thanks to the stallion, seeing how all of this was his own projection anyway. So she was already at an unfair advantage over Rainbow, but she was planning on turning that advantage into nothing with her signature move. Rainbow was going to boom the daylights out of her opponent.

Rainbow strained her wings and went flying past Mistwing, a trail of rainbow colors following in her wake as she opened up the sky. She grinned, knowing that her opponent had no hopes of catching up to her at this point. She looked around and her jaw dropped in amazement. Mistwing broke right past her, followed by the exact same rainbow trail that Rainbow had used not a few seconds ago herself. The sky was alight with two sonic rainbooms, disrupting whatever storm had been summoned with tremendous ease.

"But Mistwing still got the better of Miss Dash I see," a voice said as another bat pony, one dressed up in flowing robes, joined Thunder and his Lord, "That's a shame really, I was hoping to see her perform a Double Sonic Rainboom so I could update my books."

"Ah, Razorwind, so kind of you to join us," Thunder sneered at his brother, "I was not aware that you would be leaving your tower to join us at the airfields."

"Oh trust me brother, I would rather be in my tower with my 'experiments'," Razorwind remarked, taking a seat opposite of Thunder's, "but my Lord called me out to watch our sister and Miss Dash compete, so I came out like I was asked to. I wish I could include Miss Dash in my list of experiments, but for now she is off limits and that alone has stayed my hoof in this matter."

"For now we act as if we are their friends," their Lord said, twirling a bit of red lightning as a evil grin filled his face, "but when at last the final seal is broken we shall break out of this prison and join Equestria once again as their mortal enemies. Celestia, Luna, Chrysalis, Discord, and Sombra will not know what hit them when at last we rise again. Not even the Elements of Harmony will be spared, unless they forsake the fallen sisters they serve and choose me as their Lord."

Deep in the forest, in the circular area that Luna discovered only once, a fourth pillar began to glow with an eerie red light of its own. It was joined by the light of three other stones, one with a pink light, one with an orange light, and a third with light blue light. The amethyst orb that rested in the center of the stone circle glowed, as if the four lights were allowing it to do something powerful. Whatever it was didn't bode well for anypony at all.

8. Truth of all Things

"Tia, things are getting out of hoof lately," Luna commented to her sister, just five days after the discovery of the corrupted dream area and four days after they allowed Twilight and her friends to visit said area, "I know we said that we thought He was involved in all of this madness, but now we have proof that it is Him doing all of this corruption. Mistwing and her brothers have been sighted in Rainbow's visit to the corruption zone and we are certain that he is close to escaping even now."

Celestia sighed and leaned her head against the back of her stone seat, her mind swarming as she tried to digest all the information. The Elements had been useful in discovering that, by the means of their arrival and departure, the stallion in the corrupted zone was using some form of magic to twist the world to his own command. It was the fact that they each reported a different castle, a different feel to the very air, different ponies around the palace, and, the most important part of all, a different stallion every time.

The second most important thing was that they knew exactly who the stallion was and how to fight him, so they were well prepared this time.

Only she, her sister Luna, Discord, Queen Chrysalis of the Changelings, and the exiled King Sombra knew exactly who they were dealing with. She felt no need to tell her former student and her friends that the stallion they had been dealing with was an extremely dangerous stallion with a dangerously high level of magic. Nor did they need to know that the ponies they had met during their visits were some of the most dangerous fighters from so very long ago. That would frighten them beyond imagining and likely make them question why they bothered with the dream area.

No; they would not learn the truth about the stallion and the other ponies they had met.

"If He is close to escaping...," Celestia began, only to stop when a second later, "I know we swore off calling him by his name in the Dreamscape, but can we please call him by his name now? I mean, it just sounds ridiculous that we call him by everything else in the rule book except for his actual name. Surely we, Goddesses in our own right, can call one dangerous stallion by his name and not live in fear that he'll escape just because we dared to utter his name."

"I completely agree with you." Luna said.

"Seriously?" Celestia asked, tilting her head in confusion, "You were the one who decided that it was the best idea not to call him by his name, but here you are saying that now we can begin calling him by his name again. Seriously Luna, what gives?"

"We are no longer in the Dreamscape sister," Luna explained, thankful that the courtroom that they were sitting in was void of life except for the two of them, "If we were still in the Dreamscape and we dared to utter his name it could have caused the very seals that are keeping him in there to unravel and allow him to escape. Now that we are in the waking world we are free to say Midnight's name with the greatest of ease and without any fear of the already weakened seals breaking too soon."

"I was afraid of that," came a voice as a brown coated stallion dressed in a business suit walked into the courtroom, "I assume the courtroom is protected against eavesdropping and what I say is between the three of us?"

"This area is protected by the best protection spells we have in our arsenal," Luna exclaimed, stomping her hoof on the ground, "Come and join us Discord."

Celestia watched as the stallion transformed into the familiar rule breaking Draconequus she had Luna had defeated a thousand years ago and the same one that Fluttershy had rehabilitated not too long ago. Discord stretched his wings and his claws while his eyes scanned the entire room, as if making sure that the room was as secured as Luna claimed. It was strange for them not to be at each others throats, but they had settled their differences, the majority of them anyway, and they were friendly towards each other again.

Discord sighed and summoned up three thrones, but the number of how many he summoned actually confused Celestia. She hadn't been expecting Discord to actually leave Ponyville and journey all the way to Canterlot to speak to them while they were already in session. The first of the three thrones was a seat that was made of some black material that had parts covered in some glowing green ooze. The central throne was the same black and red throne that Discord summoned whenever he wanted something to sit on or while he thought he was untouchable by others. The third throne was made of darkened crystals, nearly black crystals that resembled the royal seat in the Crystal Empire, and a velvet red cushion.

"I was unaware that we were having guests Luna," Celestia retorted, giving her sister a dirty look, "Why keep it from me that Discord, Queen Chrysalis, and King Sombra were coming to this meeting of ours?"

"I thought that you might overreact if you heard they were coming," Luna explained, "besides, they fought along side us when we went to war with Midnight. It only seems fair that we gather together again so when he escapes we'll be prepared for him. Knowing Midnight he'll be sure to raise his army from the passages of time and come to war against Canterlot and the rest of us."

"Yay, sister Luna," said another voice as none other than Queen Chrysalis came running into the room happily, throwing her front hooves over Luna's shoulders for a big hug, "It is so good to see you again. Same to you Cele, though I hope your still not sore about me beating you at Cadence's wedding."

"Sister Chrysalis, this is an unexpected surprise," Celestia said, waiting for the shadows to roll on in at any moment, "I take it our brother Sombra got lost somewhere between here and the Crystal Empire?"

"Actually he told me he was going to beat me here," Chrysalis answered, releasing Luna and taking a seat on the throne Discord had summoned for her, "Imagine my surprise to find that I actually beat him and that he's nowhere to be found at the moment. But we aren't here to talk about me and him having a race to see which one of us could get here first, we are here to talk about our fallen brother."

"Correct," Celestia said, her horn lighting up so she could activate the Seeing Runes she and Luna had placed around the area earlier, which in turn made the entire room light up with a visual of the area Twilight and her friends had scouted out for them, "Here is what we know so far on Midnight's progress; he has taken to constructing a fortress that resembles Fort Arcanium in the middle of what Luna calls the Forest of Thorns. The fortress was, in the very beginning, destroyed beyond reckoning when we unleashed the very Elements on him and his forces. The ponies who had foolishly followed him to the end were cast into the deepest pits of Midnight's own memories, serving as a reminder of his failure.

However, we know that Midnight has begun to poison the very ground around the ruins of Fort Arcanium, twisting the ground, the trees, and the very air to an evil version of itself. So we sent in Fluttershy at first, had her scout out the area and see what it was that could have been causing the corruption at the time, but she only found an old Midnight and his snow leopard Victorious. After that Applejack went in and discovered that all the ponies that the Elements had locked away in his memories were all dead, including his beloved wife Mistwing. Pinkie, being her natural puff of fun, breached the barrier that kept the dead in their place and brought Mistwing back to life, which in turn caused the next event.

Rainbow Dash found and reported that Fort Arcanium has nearly been put back together and that every single pony has been brought back to life. Right now Midnight stands ready, waiting for the seals that bind him to the Dreamscape to shatter so he could make his escape. His forces, the Abyssal Legion, stands with their master, sharpening their skills and their tools while they wait to reclaim their former bodies. This means that the moment the seals protecting our little ponies from the wrath of Midnight go down we have to be ready to deal with him as swiftly as possible."

"How do you suppose we fight him sister?" said a voice as Sombra, clad in his iron armor and flowing red cape, materialized on the third throne, "How do you propose that we fight our brother, our own very flesh and blood brother, when not even the Elements of Harmony could best him the first time around?"

"We'll use our superior offensive magic against him," Celestia proclaimed, not surprised that Sombra would stick to the shadows until he thought it was necessary to join the conversation, "The moment the seal shatters and Midnight escapes his prison he will be overcome with dizziness and the need to eat something. Thanks to the two thousand years he has spent in the Dreamscape, no doubt eating whatever he wanted that his mind could conjure, has done nothing to satisfy his real hunger. The fact that he doesn't know what Canterlot looks like will give us an extra opportunity to defeat him while he adjusts himself."

"And what about the real Elements?" Sombra asked, giving his sister a toothy grin, "Have you told them that they've been dealing with a deranged alicorn stallion who, despite being the original Element of Magic, nearly ended all of Equestria two thousand years ago? That the bat pony mare most of them met is really the sister of two of the most dangerous criminals ever known in our history and that she's married to the most dangerous stallion Equestria has ever known?"

"How can I tell them that we, by that I mean Luna and I, are related to the most dangerous villains in all of Equestria?" Celestia angrily fired back, "That we five and Midnight were the original Keepers of Harmony, charged by a higher being to keep the world running together? How do you think they would react to the fact that the stallion we had them visit and report on is really our brother, the original Element of Magic, and that he nearly destroyed the very thing we were sworn to protect?"

"I would say we might be a little disappointed that you kept the truth from us," said a voice as Twilight and her friends, minus Rarity, uncovered themselves from the dark corner they were in, "but considering that he was an evil pony who hurt others and nearly ended all life in Equestria I guess it was better that we didn't know. I do wish you trusted me enough to tell me, or even warn me, about the dangers we could have faced at the hooves of Midnight."

"Twilight, dearest Twilight, I do trust you." Celestia sadly said, "But you must understand that there are no records of Midnight left in all of existence and if word got out that there was another ruler, one sealed away in the dream world, then ponies would have begun to suspect that there might be more we weren't telling them."

"Like what else?" Twilight asked, her eyes gleaming with the thought of getting some information no pony else had.

"Like we mentioned earlier the five of us are all related to one another," Celestia answered, beckoning to Discord, Chrysalis, and Sombra, "and the fact that we five, and Midnight, were the original Keepers of the Elements of Harmony. We were tasked with keeping Equestria safe from anything that could do the world harm and we kept it safe for the first hundred years of our lives. It was during those first hundred years that the first ponies of earth, of sky, of magic, of crystal, and the changelings appeared. That was when we decided to create our own separate civilizations, allowing us to rule over our little ponies and to uphold what we had been tasked with doing."

The runes that had displayed the Dreamscape version of Fort Arcanium shifted until it showed the original fortress, the one that displayed the purple banners and the ten sided star that was Midnight's cutie mark. The vision was like an alternate reality, allowing the assembled ponies to watch the alicorn stallion, the purple coated pony clad in black armor, stand on a balcony over what appeared to be an army of a thousand ponies. Scattered throughout the entire army were creatures, anything from wolves to animated golems, made out of pure crystal.

"This red eyed, purple coated, blue maned alicorn stallion is Midnight," Celestia continued, her eyes lingering on her fallen brother for a moment, "Standing next to him, clad in a light metallic suit of armor, was his wife Mistwing and behind them were her brothers Razorwind and Thundercloud. His army, the Abyssal Legion, was a gathering of over a thousand ponies and the largest collection of crystal creatures we had ever seen at the time. At the time of the creation of our civilizations we five did not know that he had already amassed that many ponies to rule over.

We discovered later on that Midnight, using his skill over magic, constructed a barrier over his entire fortress city that made it invisible to anypony else besides him and his followers. Say one of his soldiers killed another pony in cold blood and disappeared without a trace on the border of where the city was supposed to be. The barrier was designed to keep the five of us and our various ponies out of the city so that we couldn't spy on him and figure out what he was planning. It wasn't until we caught one of his followers in the action of nearly killing another that we discovered that Fort Arcanium even existed, let alone that it was protected by a barrier.

So we called Midnight out of his fortress to attend one of my personal balls, kind of like the gala you girls attended not too long ago, and we dressed in fine clothing so we didn't give him the impression we were going to attack. When he showed up he stared at each of us with what could only be described as pure anger, something that he wasn't known to even possess. Midnight was, as a general rule, the most quiet stallion in the entire world when he was around his family, but get him alone without us near and he turned into a whole different pony.

Midnight accused us of stealing our mother's attention and keeping it all to ourselves, leaving him to feel unwanted by both her and the rest of us. He accused us of raising our ponies with the abilities to fight for themselves so we could turn them into soldiers against him and the ponies he protected. He really believed that we were out to get him, making it so that we were each building an army that would go to war against him. He even went as far as to accuse us of executing ponies who had sworn their allegiance to him, trying to turn us into monsters in front of our own guests.

Our beloved ponies knew the truth, that the five of us were the purest ponies in all the land that Equestria had to offer, and that nothing Midnight could say would change their opinions. For their ability to stand up to him, to call him a liar, and the acknowledgement that he was just a jealous sibling, it destroyed what little remained of our kind hearted brother. He attacked us without warning, using high level magic to level the entire ballroom of the Old Canterlot and kill the majority of the ponies assembled.

Using our knowledge of magic we managed to save a few ponies from the sudden and devastating attack, but we gained the confidence and the love of the ponies we protected. Ponies flocked to Old Canterlot after hearing the news of our brother's betrayal, bringing with them the desire to save others from the fate that could befall them if Midnight won a war between him and us. Luna and I didn't feel it was necessary to put them in harms way just so we could defeat Midnight, but eventually we decided it was for the best. Better to let them do what they think was right then for us to tell them not to interfere with something that would change the way life was in Equestria.

So three weeks after the attack and the training it took to educate the ponies in the art of defending themselves, we knew we were ready to face Midnight. We each donned ourselves with the armor that represented who we are; the golden sun armor for me, the light blue moon for Luna, an assortment of bits and pieces for Discord, a light green and black metal suit for Chrysalis, and the same suit Sombra still wears to this day. Our army, the first and last alliance of over three thousand ponies, was ready to do battle with a stallion who threatened everypony in all of Equestria.

That was before we discovered the truth about what Midnight was doing in Fort Arcanium."

The scene shifted again, this time showing the fortress surrounded by both a broken barrier, the soldiers of the Abyssal Legion, and the soldiers of alliance. The area around the war zone was burning, the black smoke filling the air as the two armies clashed with magic and the other weapons they had brought with them. But what Celestia wanted to show them was an area with five stone pillars that surrounded a single amethyst orb, the pillars containing the symbols of the other Elements of Harmony.

"What Midnight had done was nearly impossible," Celestia said, the image lingering on the area, "He had somehow snuck into our most secured vault, past all the magical defenses we had set up, and made off with our Elements. As a rule we were supposed to hold only the Element that was assigned to us and as such Midnight was supposed to have only Magic, but he stole the remaining five from under our noses. When we discovered the Elements were missing we knew he had to be behind it, because at the time there were no thieves who had the knowledge necessary to bypass the barrier spells we had in place.

What he was really doing with the Elements was he was trying to override the powers stored within the gems and use them to complete a ritual of untold origins. Midnight wanted to crack open the sacred gems, unleashing the full fury of the Elements upon Equestria, and in doing so he would have destroyed everything. But the five of us arrived at his ritual site and we put a stop to his madness, knocking the pillars down and breaking his concentration enough to make him face us.

We fought, our magic tearing the very ground apart as Midnight's own magic twisted the fabric of reality and began what could only be described as the End. Fireballs the size of houses rained down from the sky, crushing whoever was unfortunate enough to be under them when they hit the ground. Ponies on both sides panicked by the shaking of the ground, the terrible splitting that separated hundreds of ponies from the ones they loved and killed hundreds more. Even the gentle wind became a storm that tore through our beloved ponies, discarding their poor bodies anywhere and everywhere.

In an act of desperation to save what we could the five of us picked up the discarded Elements and placed them around our necks, hoping that we could at least reverse the damage Midnight had caused. Chrysalis wore the necklace of Generosity, Sombra bared the burden of Kindness, Discord housed the power of Laughter, Luna brought forth the power of her Loyalty, and I contained the essence of Honesty. We all hoped that Midnight hadn't broken the Elements to the point where they were worthless against him and his single Element.

Midnight, still wearing the Crown of Magic, sensed that we had obtained the other Elements and his horn lit up with the purpose of eradicating us from Equestria. We could see it in his eyes; he cared so much about the utter destruction of the world that he saw everypony that stood up to him as a threat. So we did what we had to do and used the magic within our five Elements to counter his single Element, but the end result of the conflict stunned us and still confused us.

Midnight's body slowly became encased in stone, something similar to what happened to Discord when we were forced to seal him away, and his soul was torn right out of him. His soul was shattered into three pieces and the pieces were sealed away in three separate locations; the Sun, the Moon, and the Dreamscape. Before we knew what else had happened we realized that the remainder of his forces and Fort Arcanium had been transported into his memories, so he could rule his dreams for all eternity we gathered.

Before he was completely covered in stone he gave us one last threat, saying 'One day, be it in the near future or the very distant future, the Elements gathered here will turn on each other for power or wealth or whatever pleases them. One day you all will be forced to give up the Elements and forever cast them into the darkness until they are born anew in different forms. And I promise you all, one day I will return from my banishment and I will finish what I started, regardless of whoever stands in my way.' And then he was stoned up, stuck forever in the battle stance that he had taken while we were fighting not moments ago.

Everything that was wrong with the world corrected itself the moment Midnight was sealed away and the Crown of Magic had fallen off of his stony head. We tended to the wounded and counted ourselves lucky that we didn't perish in the fight or lose so many that we might have reconsidered the entire thing. For a time it seemed like everything would return to normal, that ponies would forget the horrors they had seen during the war and, more importantly, forget about Midnight himself. But, like Midnight promised, things went downhill after a thousand years of peace.

Chrysalis turned into a love hungry creature, bent on getting love for her ponies at whatever cost it meant to the rest of the races. Discord went completely mad, using his power over chaos to cause destruction, madness, and havoc wherever he went. Sombra fell into the dark arts, his mind becoming that of a corrupted King that enslaved everypony under him until he was defeated. You all know what happened to Luna, but with the change in ones mind and the salvation of our brother DIscord you have restored everypony to their original state of mind."

"So now what are we going to do?" Twilight asked, not surprised to find that her friends were half paying attention, "There has to be some way we can stop Midnight from escaping from his prison."

"The Elemental Stones," Luna answered, allowing her sister to take a break from talking, "The five stones that Midnight used represent the five Elements that bind him to the Dreamscape, effectively keeping him from leaving. I thought we could have focused on how much he had either lost or how much he had gained in over two thousand years, but I was wrong. By sending you all into the Dreamscape we have assured that several of the seals have already been broken, allowing Midnight to return to who he once was."

"Wait...where is the mare named Rarity?" Sombra asked, realizing that they were missing an Element of Harmony.

Before anypony could answer the question the ground violently shook, making them fall to their knees as they looked outside the building they were in. A pillar of pure blue magic appeared somewhere in Canterlot, likely the park by the looks of it, but the sky darkened to a near black color. They could hear the screams of ponies, the cries that sounded like something had emerged from the area where the pillar was located.

"Faust almighty," Sombra cursed, everypony getting up as they faced the pillar, "We're too late."

"What just happened?" Rainbow asked, tilting her head in confusion.

"The last seal has been broken," Celestia answered, and for the first time in Twilight's life she could hear the fear in her old mentor's voice, "Midnight has been released at long last."

9. Elemental Stones Part 5; Generosity

Rarity found herself running along a finely made stone pathway, one that ran between two parts of what appeared to be a giant forest of some kind. The trees seemed almost ancient, as if they had been the first living trees in all of Equestria, and they glowed as if they contained magic of their own. She did not recall how she came to this forest exactly, but she knew she was running from something and she wasn't about to look back and see whatever was following her. She just had the feeling that is she turned to look at what was behind her then she might slip and fall, leaving her vulnerable to her enemy.

Besides the fact that she was running for her life she absolutely loved the night sky, a dark sky with no clouds and full of bright shinning stars. The moon was the fullest she had ever seen it before; the white sphere hung in the sky, giving light to those who traveled under it's night. The only strange thing that Rarity noticed was the black spirals that gathered in the center of the moon, branching off as if something celestial was happening. She figured that if something were happening to the moon then something would also happen to the sun, but she was not a master of magic who would think like she was currently.

"ARCHERS." a clear and calm voice shouted.

The single word kicked Rarity into high gear, making her turn around to see that she had been running from a pack of ten timberwolves. Not only did the thought of somehow outrunning the beasts come to mind, but so to did the thought of the fact that she hadn't caught their scent the entire time. Though she was now boxed in; with the dreaded timberwolves behind her and what appeared to be a fully armed caravan of soldiers right in front of her, blocking her path. Not to mention that the soldiers were armed with what looked like bows, each one nocking an arrow and taking aim at Rarity.

Rarity considered dropping to the floor and getting some stones in her fur, but she was really hoping that the soldiers were actually aiming for the timberwolves. She looked past the soldiers and noticed the familiar batpony mare that some of her friends had met before, the one called Mistwing. She decided to take a leap of faith and threw herself to the ground, closing her eyes as she waited for either the arrows to pierce her or the howls of the timberwolves in defeat.

"Fire!" Mistwing shouted, the arrows flying over Rarity and burying themselves in the chests of the waiting wolves, "Now mages, burn them down."

Flames jumped out from the assembled group, reaching across the open road to the stunned and waiting timberwolves, who were no friends of fire. The wolves exploded into an inferno of flames, running back the way they came as bits and pieces burned up thanks to the intense heat. Mistwing chuckled and her soldiers went back to making sure the cart was ready for transportation, leaving Rarity alone while she waited for something to happen.

"You can get up now Miss," Mistwing said, approaching Rarity as the mare picked her head off the ground, "Do not be alarmed, I am not an enemy. I come in peace."

"I know you come in peace darling," Rarity said, standing on her legs again as she brushed off as much stone as she could, "After all, if you weren't peaceful you would not have followed Pinkie back from beyond the grave and you most certainly would not have allowed Rainbow to try and best you in the skies. You would not have saved me from those dreadful timberwolves and for that you have my eternal thanks."

"It was how my husband taught me to behave," Mistwing explained, beckoning to the soldiers with her wing, "He told me that it was better to be loved by one's subjects and to help them whenever they are in need than to turn a blind eye to their troubles and leave them to burn alone. I find that, by helping my subjects, I can encourage them to help others that are in need and contribute to the overall happiness of everypony.

Some will say that by helping you, a complete stranger to Midnight's kingdom and his ways, I am encouraging others to help other strangers. I want the ponies that serve Midnight to see that he is kind, generous, and, above all else, a Prince that they can trust with all their hearts and their lives. He is the kind of stallion that many have already gathered behind and defended our very kingdom against his evil and untrustworthy brothers and sisters."

"Wait a minute darling," Rarity said, shaking her head as she collected all of this information, "Are you telling me that the Lord of the castle is a stallion by the name of Prince Midnight?"

"I can imagine your surprise," Mistwing shrugged, as if the truth had no impact on her anymore, "after all, Midnight has been trapped in the Dreamscape for over two thousand years thanks to the trap set for him by his family."

The way Mistwing said the word family gave Rarity the idea that whoever Midnight's family was had done something that caused both of them a great deal of pain, because she could tell Mistwing dripped the single word with venom. Rarity had no desire to truly stay any longer at the moment, for she had triumphed where her friends had failed. She had discovered the stallion's missing name so the Princesses could track him, though that also meant that she was really in the Dreamscape and not in the Everfree Forest.

"My husband wishes to speak with the last Element of Harmony before you leave," Mistwing continued, sighing slightly as Rarity turned to look at her, "He only wishes to speak with you before you wake up, so that you might have something useful to tell your friends the next time you all see each other. I am, at times, confused as to the methods that my husband uses, but right now I know he wishes to see the one who calls herself the Element of Generosity."

Rarity stayed silent and followed Mistwing to the caravan that was waiting, only turning to thank the pony who helped her up onto the seat. She and Mistwing spent the next ten minutes, or what felt like ten minutes, in silence as the soldiers walked around and made sure nothing popped out of the trees. Rarity knew nothing was going to attack them, figuring the good Prince would not have his wife, his troops, and the cargo they carried harmed by anything he could conjure up. She just watched the trees and kept her mouth shut, waiting for whatever information Mistwing choose to share with her and got nothing in return.

"So," Rarity finally asked, daring to speak to the mare while they rode along, "What are your thoughts on your husband's plans?"

"Oh, not much really," Mistwing sighed again, something that Rarity noticed was a habit of hers, "I mean, he's recovered so much of his former power and yet all he cares about is leaving this place and everypony he remembers behind. The truth is that since the majority of us in here have been dead for over two thousand years means that we'll have no bodies to return to when our Lord escapes from his prison. But Midnight has no need for an army anymore, now that he has discovered what went wrong two thousand years ago he plans on not making the same mistake again.

I have tried hundreds of times over the last few days to change his mind, telling him that it isn't worth it to lose everypony he has ever cared about in his entire life. If he were to leave this place, leave the Dreamscape and the wondrous power that it has, he would also be leaving behind me, my brothers, and the ponies that look up to him for guidance. I told him that we could start over, expand our kingdom as if we had never gone to war with his family in the first place, and live out our lives in the comfort of each others embrace.

All he cares about now is leaving all of us behind so he can enter Equestria once more and continue life as if nothing had ever happened. He should just stay here with me, with the ponies that have grown to love and respect him, and not just cast us aside like he is. If there was anything in the entire world I could wish for it would be that my husband would stop this foolish quest of his and stay here with everypony."

Rarity looked over again and noticed that tears were running down Mistwing's face freely, that she wasn't doing anything to prevent them from falling at all. She felt sorry for the poor mare, it wasn't her fault that her husband wanted to leave the wondrous Dreamscape and reenter Equestria again. Midnight, she decided, was going to get an ear full when she met him soon. It wasn't right for him to just leave everything he had spent so long creating and restoring behind because he felt like it.

"Don't worry darling," Rarity said, trying to comfort the poor mare, "I'll try to talk some sense into this stubborn husband of yours. Who knows, maybe he'll reconsider leaving everypony behind and come join you all again."

Mistwing gave a laugh and Rarity smiled, knowing that even if she failed to talk some sense into her husband she still made the mare laugh on her own. But their moment was short lived as the caravan came to a sudden and complete halt, right in the dead center of what appeared to be a clearing. She could have sworn that they were heading to the castle, like her friends had done in the past few days, and not someplace as empty as this.

"Where's the castle?" Rarity inquired, climbing off of the wagon she had been riding on for who knows how long, "Where is the castle that Prince Midnight rules from?"

"You mean Fort Arcanium?" Mistwing asked, "The fort is over two thousand years old and, seeing how it hasn't been in the real world for so long, it has likely been reduced to dust. Nothing lasts forever and thanks to my husband trying to leave us here we're all slowly turning back into memories and, eventually, pure dust. The fifteen of us that you see here are the last remaining remnants of Midnight's once grand army, the one called the Abyssal Legion. The rest of his soldiers have turned to dust, just like the ponies that loved and trusted Midnight with their very existence."

The air in front of them shimmered for a few seconds before settling down, but what Rarity saw before her was enough to make her believe something magical had just happened. Crouching before the sixteen ponies was an alicorn the size of Princess Celestia, but the pony in question was a stallion with a short spiked blue mane and tail. His purple coat, what she could see because of the armor blocking most of it, had burned spots in several places as well as holes blown in the suit he was wearing.

His wings were spread out low to the ground, giving Rarity a glimpse of the chains that were wrapped around all four of his legs. Chains that glowed with an eerie color and seemed to burn the very flesh they rested on, if the really red areas of his legs were anything to go by. She could tell that the stallion had tried to leave the area several times and the chains kept him from going anywhere, forcing him to assume the position of what she suspected was a fallen angel.

"Is that him?" Rarity asked, turning around to find that she was utterly alone with the stallion now. Mistwing and her soldiers must have reverted to dust like she had said they would, mostly due to the fact that they had successfully delivered Rarity to her destination.

"'Is that him?'" the stallion copied, looking up to face her and revealing his red colored eyes, "If by 'him' you mean Prince Midnight, Lord of Fort Arcanium, Master of the Abyssal Legion, and the first bearer of the Element of Magic, then yes, I am him. You, on the other hoof, are the current bearer of the Element of Generosity, the Lady Rarity. You have done much with your friends in the last three years then most have done in the first couple years of their working lives."

"I'm not a lady," Rarity insisted, making her way around the stallion's left side as she wondered how he couldn't escape, "and I've only done as much as I have thanks to my friends. Why haven't you escaped from this place? You seem to have the power to do so much and yet you can't leave."

"Ah, the question that has been the same one asked a thousand times," Midnight chuckled, twisting a chain with his hoof as his eyes rested on Rarity, "I have asked myself that same question for the first few years of my imprisonment and by my family whenever they choose to visit me. The answer, one found thanks to being here for over two thousand years, is so simple that it makes me wonder how it took me so long to figure it out. It was the Elements of Harmony that bound me to the Dreamscape and the only way escape my prison is to break the bonds keeping me here.

I have done nothing to any of the newest bearers of the Elements of Harmony, the ponies that you have befriended and have fought next to for the last three years. One by one the chains have fallen from my soul, bringing back my magic and my state of mind that I had thought that I had once lost. Now all that remains is to shatter the final chain so I can leave at long last and rejoin my family back in Equestria."

"So that's why you can't leave yet," Rarity said, noticing some sort of necklace around the stallion's neck, "You need me to shatter the Chain of Generosity so you can finally escape."

The stallion started laughing, as if what she had said had been inaccurate and completely incorrect.

"I do not mean to say that you are entirely incorrect," Midnight spoke, "but I do not need you to break the Chain of Generosity for me. All I will ask of you is that you take this necklace off of my neck and shatter the cursed gem that rests in the center. That will likely shatter the chains for me and we can both move on as if we had never truly met each other."

Rarity took another look at the necklace, a golden necklace with several symbols made in silver, and the very gemstone Midnight wanted her to break. The gemstone was a bright red ruby, one that held a bright inner flame as she spotted several runes swirling around his neck. She actually wondered how she, a unicorn who didn't know any magic that could shatter something like the necklace that she was staring at.

"You do not know a spell or enchantment that can shatter the necklace," Midnight said, a look of surprise appearing on Rarity's face as a special scroll appeared in thin air, "Inside this scroll is an enchantment that can help any unicorn learn how to break something like this blasted necklace. The only reason I have not used it on the necklace myself is the fact that nothing happens, as if the collection of runes prevent me from doing it myself. I need somepony to shatter it for me, and that has to be you."

Rarity held the scroll in her magic, wondering if she should actually help the stallion escape from his 'prison' and allow him to reenter Equestria. But seeing how she didn't know what his crimes, if there were any, were she just shrugged and unbound the scroll. The energy burst out of the scroll, tearing the necklace into a thousand shiny pieces and shattering the gemstone into almost pure dust. The chains that held Midnight down shattered, bits of iron flying as the stallion stood at his full height.

The ground shook violently as a tremor hit it and the very sky darkened with the blackest clouds Rarity had ever seen in her entire life. The very forces of nature were acting violent as the ancient trees turned into a blazing inferno and red lightning clashed with the ground itself. Rarity stumbled and went down on the ground hard as a chasm opened up between her and Midnight, who was making no effort to move at all. He was just staring up into the sky, almost as if he was in a trance, and Rarity looked up to see whatever had caught his attention.

Then she saw it; the swirling vortex in the center of the sky that seemed to be the cause of all the sudden chaos in the Dreamscape. Whatever the vortex was doing was disrupting the way the world worked and was reducing the dream area to what she suspected was rubble. Somewhere in the area a volcano went off and Rarity could smell the ash in the air as more destruction rained down on where they were.

"The time has finally come at all last," Midnight said, bringing his eyes down on Rarity, "Thanks to you I can finally rejoin my family in Equestria. I'm sure Celestia and Luna will be shocked to watch my arrival tear apart everything they spent hundreds of years trying to cover up. Now, witness the end of this dream area as I depart at last."

Before Rarity could even say anything Midnight burst into the air, soaring straight up into the waiting vortex as the rest of the dream area fell apart. It made her realize that he had been holding the entire area together with his magic and now that he was leaving he was abandoning everything. She wondered if she was going to end up surviving the collapse of the dream area, but the moment she closed her eyes she woke up in Canterlot.

She looked out of the window of the room she had fallen asleep in earlier that day and her heart nearly stopped beating for a few seconds. Ascending to the sky in what must have been Canterlot Park was a pillar of blue magical energy. She knew that without a doubt it had to have been Prince Midnight returning to their world after two thousand years of being away.

And it was her fault that the prince had finally escaped his eternal prison.

10: Arrival

Celestia, her brothers, and her sisters arrived at the source of the magical pillar, just in time to witness the magic suddenly dissipate completely. At first they saw nothing, no familiar form of the pony they expected to be in the park and no ponies in fear of whatever they had seen. They were expecting to find their brother Midnight struggling to regain himself after being out of his body for so long, that way they could defeat him quickly.

What they found was a open hole in the center of the park where the fountain had been standing, chunks of stone laying scattered around the place.

"I don't understand," Luna said, studying a chunk of stone while the others looked around the area for clues, "The first thing we should be seeing is our brother amongst the wreckage of the fountain, yet there is nothing that suggests he could have escaped. The destruction of the fountain is evidence that Midnight has been freed from his prison, but where is he?"

"None of this makes any sense," Discord replied, tossing a rock into the air while he spoke his mind, "Midnight played us for fools, making us send the Elements of Harmony, the very keys to his prison, into his domain after he had originally broken it. With each Element brought to bare against the seals that kept him locked away his magic would have returned in full strength and so would have the knowledge on how to use said magic.

But now that all the seals have been broken he should be standing before us, gloating that he managed to trick us into releasing him on accident. Yet, even with all of his planning he seems to have over thought the fact that he might have been trapped someplace else entirely. So I say that it is safe to assume that we have nothing to fear from our fallen brother and should just live life without worrying about him anymore."

That was before something collided with him, knocking him to the ground while whatever had hit him rolled on the ground for a few seconds before stopping. Discord growled and turned to look, only to find that the area around what had hit him was on fire and the object in question was another pony. Or more like Midnight himself, which meant that he had actually succeeded in escaping the Dreamscape at long last.

"What the buck did I hit?" Midnight cursed, straightening his back as he turned and noticed Discord planted in the ground, "Wait, if Discord is here, then that means..."

Midnight looked around him, taking in the cobblestone streets, the brightly lit buildings, the music that was coming from several other buildings, and the ponies that were gathering around him. He realized that he was now standing amidst the destruction of what might have been a parks fountain, not that he actually cared what he might have destroyed. He looked to his brothers and sisters, all of whom he had not seen in over two thousand years, and noticed that they were equally surprised to see him.

"Midnight, it is good to see you again," Celestia said, secretly hoping that their brother had calmed down and no longer wished to fight them anymore, "How do you feel?"

"How do I feel? I feel fantastic," Midnight honestly answered with a grin, "I spent the last two thousand years trying to overcome the seals that you all placed on me while I was in the Dreamscape. I spent every waking hour trying to figure out how to lure each of you my new domain so I could convince you to break the chains you put on me. Imagine my surprise when I learned that my last words had come true, that you all fought against each other and only dear Celestia was left.

I had to wait another thousand years for the Elements to receive new bearers, ones that didn't know I would be lurking in their dreams until I could release myself. My magic, my beautiful magic, began to fade before my very eyes as I waited for the Elements to come to me once again and soon I became an old stallion. My majestic wings became nothing more than a memory and even my memories faded away, leaving me to question who I truly was.

Even when my memories began to return to me I still questioned myself, questioned the fact that I went out of my way to break that which we were assigned to protect. By all rights I should have stayed in the Dreamscape, stayed where my magic couldn't hurt others and built a kingdom worthy of my name. Instead I decided to allow myself to fall into my old patterns, thinking only of breaking what I had sought to break in the beginning."

"Midnight," Luna said, draping a wing over her brother, "What are you going to do now?"

That was the ultimate question. Was Midnight going to resume his two thousand year old mission or had he turned over a new leaf and forsaken all notion of ending the world? If he resumed the mission he would be at war with his family yet again and maybe this time he could win a battle between them all. If he abandoned it then he might very well be welcomed back as Prince Midnight and be forced to endure all the new teachings of the new legal systems.

"I'm sorry Lulu," Midnight said, rather softly so almost nopony would hear him, "I'm sorry."

Before annypony could make a move he blasted Luna right in her side with a stun spell and kicked up a wind spell that blinded them for a few seconds. He used those precious seconds to launch himself into the air and charted a path to the fields below Canterlot. where he would attempt the Breaking yet again.

"I can't believe he did that," Luna said, shaking off the effects of such a low powered stun spell with ease, "and I can't believe that after two thousand years he's still dead set on trying to break the world."

"Some things will never change Luna," Celestia remarked, casting an eye towards their brother, "but we had best go after him and make sure we stop him this...time?"

The ground was already starting to shake violently, as if Midnight had done something to the Dreamscape before his departure into the real world. Giant balls of fire, eerie similar to the ones that had rained down during Midnight's first attempt at the Breaking, rained down everywhere. Celestia's eyes widened as she realized what was happening before them all; it was the Breaking when they had interrupted Midnight the first time.

"Twilight, get everypony to safety," Celestia called out, taking to the skies with the rest of her family in tow, "We'll deal with Midnight for real this time."

"I do hope you have a plan sister," Chrysalis commented, eying the destruction that was already happening, "otherwise we might be in a bind. Midnight might not have much of his magic back already, but seeing what he is already doing means that he's got to have some amount of power left."

"We fight like we did last time," Celestia answered, drawing the power of the sun while they landed some distance behind Midnight, "but this time we make sure that we hit him hard and we hit him fast. We don't want him to get any further then he got the last time he attempted this. And if necessary I could always call on our mother to help us, but that's if we can't stop Midnight."

Magic spun around Midnight and struck out at her, causing the group to disperse as it struck the ground and exploded in a fury of stone and dirt. Luna responded by summoning and throwing a magical spear at Midnight, in the hopes of bypassing his defenses and stalling his vile magic. Celestia had thought the same thing, having thrown a summoned spear at her fallen brother from the opposite direction.

They knew that they had a shot at getting past the barrier spell, mostly because they knew you could only face one direction and defend in said direction. Midnight was going to have to suffer a direct hit from whichever direction he chose to ignore, the question was did he want to suffer sun or lunar damage? Before their eyes Midnight spun around and somehow redirected both of the spears, sending the lunar charged on at Celestia and the sun charged one at Luna. The two sisters barely had time to move as the spears streaked by them, cutting up the ground as they went.

Midnight stared at his sisters, watching them in the air as he sent streams of pitch black magic chasing after the two of them, only to have them blocked by more darkness. Midnight growled and noticed his brother Sombra hanging around in the shadowy mess, saving both of his sisters from the attack. He spotted Discord sitting on a cloud, conjuring what looked like more lightning bolts, while Chrysalis was sulking around them all somewhere.

"Is this the best you can do?" Midnight challenged loudly, his magic cracking the ground around him, "Two thousand years ago, when the world was still new, you all went all out against me, creating the land that we now stand on. Where did those ancient warriors go? Where did the warriors that gave me a run for my coins go? Show me you can still put up a good fight or I will end the entire world right now!"

That was before something crashed into him and tossed him aside, stalling the earthquakes and the fiery balls that were falling from the sky. He flipped around and slammed a hoof into whatever had hit him, revealing a mass of darkness that had to have come from Sombra. He tried to toss the darkness away and found that it was attached to his hoof, allowing him to understand that Chrysalis had snuck her goo into the globe. He grinned, they were starting to treat him like somepony who was actually going to do exactly what he said he was going to do.

And then the entire area exploded in a fury of light as Discord lit the entire place ablaze with the lightning he had been crafting.

"This is too easy," Chrysalis complained, scratching behind her ear while she waited for the dust to clear, "Couldn't we have waited until he was at a higher level of magic so we could have a more fair fight?"

Just as she finished speaking a shockwave of light green lightning came screeching out of the dust cloud, making her eyes widen in fear. The lightning crashed into her body, cutting into her nerves and causing her to convulse before hitting the ground with a dull thud. Her eyes rested on the dust cloud, where Midnight was waiting for the rest of his family no doubt.

"Chrissy!" Luna shouted, her anger going to a whole new level as her sister fell, "Damn you Midnight. How can you do this to your own sister?"

"He doesn't care about us anymore," Celestia answered, blasting away the dust to reveal a magically shielded Midnight staring at them, "He just cares about making sure we can't stop him and breaking the world. I doubt he feels anything for Chrysalis anymore, otherwise he would not have damaged her so much."

Midnight wasted no time bursting into the air, soaring right up to the cloud that Discord was sitting on and barely giving him time to raise a weapon in defense. He slammed Discord out of the sky and right into the ground, breaking the stone apart and burying the draconequus in the ground. Discord coughed as darkness swept over him, Sombra attempting to catch Midnight as the evil alicorn moved like the wind.

Celestia managed to clip his right wing, somehow passing through the barrier and forcing him to lower himself just a bit, but still she was unhappy. Luna smirked and crashed a firebomb right into Midnight's chest, blasting open the armor he had been wearing into a hundred little fragments. Lightning coursed across the skyline and crashed into Midnight, lightly searing his wings as he regained his focus. The immediate reaction was intense and destructive.

Midnight's magic took a firm hold of them and crushed them all into the ground, causing several broken leg bones and shattering the very ground. He turned back towards the circle he had summoned up before, allowing the ground to resume violently shaking and the fiery rain continued. He was not a pony who cared so much about the little things, like the fact that he had not driven his family into immediate defeat and was only allowing them to witness the end of everything.

"Celestia," Discord groaned, lifting his head up to look at Midnight, "Be a dear and summon our mother."

"I was thinking the same thing," Celestia sighed, her horn glowing as she prepared to utter the single word that would help them save the world, "I just hope she's still listening and willing to come back here.

MOM!"

11. The Almighty Fausticorn

Midnight turned back to look at his elder sister, the Goddess of the Sun itself, and wondered if he had heard her speak correctly. Had she, the original Element of Honesty, sister of the Goddess of the Moon, who once bared the Element of Loyalty, call for aid? And not just call for aid like normal ponies, but for the aid of the celestial mare that had created Equestria and tasked them with it's safety. A very safety that Midnight was currently focused in destroying that very moment with his very own magic that was given to him by the mare in question.

She was seriously calling on the mother of all ponies.

"Are you insane?" Midnight asked, his concentration breaking and the entire earth shaking ended abruptly, "Do you have any idea what she'll do when she arrives?"

"I don't know what our mother is going to do Midnight," Celestia coughed, now glad that her brother was starting to feel real fear, "We haven't seen her since the beginning of Equestria and we don't know what she's going to do when she arrives and sees what we have done already. Who knows, maybe she'll fight you or maybe she'll just restore everything to normal. We honestly don't know what's going to happen next."

Celestia would never lie about something like this. She and the rest of her family hadn't seen their mother in over two thousand years, so there was no telling what mood she was going to be in when she arrived. For all they knew she could be in the foulest of moods and could very well tear holes in the ground at their lack of being able to stop their own brother. She was scared of what could happen and half wished she didn't have to call on their mother at all.

The black clouds burst open with golden rays shining down on the area, rays that radiated pure and undiluted magic that silenced all the destruction in one instance. The clouds broke apart until only a clear sky remained, but one part of the sky held a figure that the six of them never thought they would see again. Floating in the sky was a pure white coated alicorn mare dressed up in what appeared to be the finest golden armor ever crafted. Her flowing mane and tail was colored bright red, almost the same color as the roses that grew around where she landed. And sitting on her head, just behind her horn, was a golden crown that gave off an aura of sunlight, as if it was glowing on its own.

"Ah, it has been many a moon since I last set a hoof in Equestria," the mare said, her voice sound kind and ancient at the same time, "and by the looks of things it appears that somepony has been very bad in my absence. So, who calls on Faust, the Alicorn of Creation?"

"Hey mom," Luna called, waving one of her hooves at the deity that was their mother.

"Ah, my little Luna, I haven't seen you since you were a little filly learning about your gift," Faust said, smiling as she turned and noticed the elder sister, "and Celestia, I see you have grown from a sweet and lovable filly to a respectable mare. Discord, I see you've been up to the same old tricks again, summoning pink clouds and drinking chocolate milk while having some fun. Chrysalis, my sweet Chrysalis, I'll make sure that you and your ponies don't go without for a couple of months. Sombra, stop being a grump and get some happiness back into your life.

Midnight."

When Faust spoke to the rest of his family she was nothing but kind and sweet, but the moment she uttered Midnight's name her tone changed to a disappointed one and his blood went cold. He hadn't been expecting a warm reaction from his mother, not after all the destruction he had caused to her beautiful Equestria. He was going to be lucky if he managed to get away with a small punishment and not some other worldly prison like the Dreamscape.

"My son, I am very disappointed in you," Faust said, causing Midnight to shudder as she looked towards Canterlot, "When you were born I heard the very trees of the Everfree Forest whisper your name. You were born with the incredible gift of magic and I had hoped that you would have used your powers for the betterment of everypony. Instead I find that you've been using your gift to fight with your siblings and bring destruction to the land you were tasked with protecting."

"To Tartarus with your disappointment," Midnight shouted, baring his teeth at his mother like any rebellious son would do, "I am Prince Midnight, the original Element of Magic, and Master of the Ten Schools of Magic. There is nothing, absolutely nothing, you can do to stop me from destroying Equestria once and for all. Come mother, come and feel the magic you gifted me with over two thousand years ago."

Streams of silver magic burst forth from Midnight's horn, streaking through the empty blue sky towards his mother, who was just standing still and watching him. His intent was pure and simple, best his mother in magical combat and then get back to destroying the world afterwords. But when the magic reached his mother he got a decent surprise, the magic spattered apart and suddenly faded into pure nothingness. There was no magical barrier protecting her from his magic, but the spell had still died as if something was actually protecting her.

He kicked the ground and giant pillars of earth grew out of the ground all around his mother, stretching towards the sky with dirt sliding off. The pillars shattered into giant boulder sized stones and fell on where Faust was standing, appearing to bury the mare under their weight. Midnight gave an early smile that was short lived as the boulders turned into much smaller stones, revealing an unharmed Faust. She just stared at him with disappointment, which fueled his anger towards her none the less.

Midnight tried something different this time, spinning magic around like it was a pure weapon as time itself seemed to slow way down. He quickly approached Faust, using the slowed down time to move much more quickly than anypony else at the moment. But as his magical weapon reached his mother he noticed something extremely strange, the magic constructing his weapon unraveled and the entire thing vanished.

"Ah, I had forgotten the tickle of Cronomancy when it is used," Faust commented, making Midnight jump away before she could even lay a hoof on him, "I see that the majority of your powers have returned and, in essence, the majority of the Ten Schools as well. I see evidence of the Destruction School, the Alteration School, and the Conjuration School all around me. I can tell that you now contain the very powers of the Time School, the Chaos School, the Darkness School, and the Demonic School I told you to never touch. I also noticed that you have taken to not using the Solar, Lunar, and Natural Schools of magic anymore."

"Just because I have chosen not to use those three schools does not mean that I have turned my back on them," Midnight said angrily, his eyes flashing to a deep shade of red as a red aura appeared around him, "I learned the secrets of the one school you hoped that I would never touch and eventually forget about after years of studying magic. You may be the Alicorn of Creation, but I have learned a magic that allows me to stand on par with you. Right now the demonic power courses through my veins, power I acquired from years of learning every dark spell the demons could teach me.

You may be creation, but where's there creation there is also destruction. What ever you create I will destroy, no matter what that something is it will be reduced to pure dust. Go ahead, create something that can put up a fight against me and I will erase it before it can even touch me. I AM the true master of magic and everything else you've made will never compare to me."

His horn lit up and a beam of red energy burst forth, streaking through the air as it sailed straight for Faust and turned the sky a vile shade of red. The energy hit Faust square in the face and then it was gone, as if it had never existed in the first place. The fact that Faust was somehow avoiding his spells only increased his anger even further, causing the sky to darken and the aura around him to turn even redder.

He lashed out with flames that were hot enough to melt the area around wherever they struck, charring the area around Midnight as they whipped around towards Faust. Again the attack whipped around her and again the magic faded into nothingness, only leaving a charred area around the two of them. Faust sighed as again and again Midnight cast spells that were designed to harm her, noting that he still failed to understand that he could not harm her in the slightest way.

"I'm afraid this charade has gone on long enough," Faust said, sighing as a sword, one with the purest golden blade possible, materialized in front of her, "I was hoping that, with all the constant failures you've been having in your attempts to harm me, you would have realized that fighting me is not the answer. But i can see that over two thousand years of being away has made you resent me, trapping the inner and more peaceful you down deeper inside. You were never this violent and it pains me to have to resort to using my own blade on.

I just hope that when this is all over you'll forgive me enough to want to speak to me again."

Before Midnight could even respond he found a long diagonal cut across his chest, confused as to how the cut had appeared through his armor. Then he noticed the bits of armor laying scattered around him, as if something had exploded on contact with him and this was the result. Faust was still stand where she was, which made Midnight question if she was the one responsible for the attack or if she was just messing with his mind.

Then he saw a specter standing next to his mother's right, a younger version of himself who had always looked forward to the next time their mother had returned. To her immediate left, however, was a red furred stallion with a black curved horn, blood red eyes, a fully black mane and tail, and an evil toothy grin. This second stallion, one whose wings had become large raven wings and who had two large demonic horns on his head, seemed to frightened Midnight's very core.

"I cut out the demon part of you that was slowly growing deep inside yourself," Faust commented, steadying the sword as she cast a look at her confused son, "In time you would have become a demon of Tartarus, a creature bent on truly erasing Equestria from the face of the universe before moving on to another world. I could not let one of my sons fall into such a place, one that maybe even I could not save you from if I allowed it to happen. If you had destroyed Equestria you would have taken the step that would have transformed you into this...hideous creature.

Now to banish this monstrosity to the blackest star and seal it away for as long as possible."

As Midnight crumbled to the ground he watched the demonic version of himself become just a tiny orb in the night sky, where he would spend the rest of his days. The other, much more kinder, version of him trotted on over to him, giving him a smile as he faded back into Midnight's body. He looked up to see the kind face of his mother leaning over him, something that made the now light hearted Midnight smile as he succumbed to his dreams for the first time in over two thousand years.

"Mother," Celestia started, only to be hushed by Faust.

"He needs to rest now," Faust said, giving her children a smile, "Don't worry too much, I will have your brother restored to his former self in no time."

12: One Week Later

One week had passed since Faust had arrived in Equestria, much to the surprise of Twilight and her old foalsitter Cadence. One week since the world had avoided complete destruction at the hooves of her son Midnight, the Prince of All Magic as he called himself. Even now the stallion was resting in the Canterlot Hospital, his mind and body healing after all the damage he received from fighting with his mother.

Faust hadn't actually harmed her son, but she had forcefully removed the demonic part of him that had taken over his mind and fueled his desire to destroy everything. He was going to carry the scar on his chest that would always remind him of his possession for the rest of his entire existence. But Faust had spent the majority of her week in the hospital, watching over her son while being visited by her other children. She even had the opportunity to properly meet both Princess Cadence, who love was something Faust admired, and Twilight, the newest Princess.

Most ponies who noticed Faust only saw a white coated unicorn mare who was watching over the sleeping alicorn, unknowing they had just past the deity who created everything. The only ponies who could actually see the real Faust were her children and the newest Princesses. Most of the past events had been erased from the minds of everypony, so most only knew Midnight was a wounded relative of Celestia and Luna. That was how things should be and would always be until she decided that everypony else was ready to know she existed.

Midnight had spent the last week sleeping, his body and mind healing the entire time, and not once had he woken up the entire time. It was starting to worry Faust, worrying her that she might have went overboard when she had separated the demon from Midnight's mind. She worried that he was never going to wake up and that he would remain trapped in the Dreamscape after everything that had already happened.

"Any change?"

Faust looked up at the door, surprised to find her little Luna standing there with a stack of flowers that replaced the week old flowers that were in the room. She was dressed in her royal attire, but for once she didn't have her batpony guards with her.

"No," Faust sighed, "no change at all."

"Celestia and I talked earlier," Luna said, taking a seat near her mother, "Remember how we were forced to seal Midnight away in the Dreamscape? How the five Elements of Harmony overpowered Magic and blasted him into the realm he eventually escaped from?"

"Yes?" Faust answered, raising an eyebrow as she wondered what her daughter could be on to.

"He shattered five of the chains that held him down, but what if there was a sixth chain?" Luna asked, "A sixth chain, a hidden chain, that maybe only he could shatter on his own? One that represents his link to his past, the same past that he must now be ashamed of. What I'm saying is that he might still be in the Dreamscape, trying to find that last chain so he can free himself from the sins of his demonic side."

"Its not much to go on, but its worth the effort to check." Faust said, casting another look at her sleeping son, "I can't just leave him in this state, knowing that it was by my hoof that he ended up back where he started again. Quickly, you and I will dive into his dreams and see if we can find him."

Before Luna knew it the two of them were suddenly in the Dreamscape, standing in front of what had previously been the Forest of Thorns. The forest was now just a dried up husk of what it had originally been, the thorns now reduced to withered up logs that looked ready to burn. The very air seemed, well, dead to say the least. It was almost as if Midnight's escape a week ago had destroyed his dream area, which would have explained why everything felt so wrong. Even the very sky was a deep shade of red and was partly covered by black thunder clouds, making Luna worry for her brother.

"We must begin our search," Faust said, returning to her true form as her eyes scanned for any signs of danger, "I suspect that we'll run into nothing that will hinder our progress, but it is best to have some weapons in case something appears."

Luna nodded and summoned up her magical lance, casting an eye over to her mother to see what weapon she would conjure up. To her surprise she only summoned a simple sword with the rune of unbreakable on it, meaning nothing could shatter the blade. Luna sighed and moved into the rotting forest, keeping an eye on things as her mother followed close behind.

The further they got into the dream area the more Luna was disturbed by what she saw and by what she didn't see anymore. The once grand stone walkway that once paved the way to Fort Arcanium was now destroyed, left in ruin with stones scattered about. Even though there were no fires at the edge of the forest there were several fires going on deeper in the forest, burning like the fires of Tartarus. Something didn't sit well with Luna, not when she heard the howls of something truly demonic around them.

"A demon from Tartarus," Faust commented, eying the direction in which the howl originated from, "I sense the presence of only three demons at the moment, but it was a wise move on your part to seal this place off from the rest of the Dreamscape. The Lord of Tartarus and his lieutenants are well aware of Midnight's powers and tried to recruit him under the false accusations that lead him to go to war with you all. They will stop at nothing to turn Equestria into a version of Tartarus that they can command without having to travel through that gateway of theirs."

"So why are there three demons here now?" Luna asked, wondering if she should don her armor in case the creature attacked them, "Should we fight them off?"

"No, they are only here to scout and watch Midnight." Faust answered, an idea already in mind, "But I can create a new dream area for him, one that doesn't reflect his troubled past and allow him to have some much deserved sleep. This area will become an isolated place in space, one that the demons who enter here will find they cannot escape from no matter what powers they possess. If I could trap the Lord of Tartarus in a cold star in the middle of space then I would, but to trap him would certainly ensure his escape."

"Does the Lord of Tartarus have a name?" Luna asked, "Or will you keep referring to him as such?"

"I would not dare speak his name here," Faust replied, "To speak his name here would mean I was summoning into Midnight's dream and that is what he wants. He wants to control Midnight, or more specifically his demon, so he can shatter Tartarus' Gate and escape into Equestria. After that all I can envision is a great and terrible war between my family and the Lord of Tartarus."

"I will keep my eyes peeled for the demons," Luna said, stepping over a fallen tree husk, "and hopefully we'll find Midnight before...long?"

The area in front of them, the same place that once housed Fort Arcanium, was now a burning ruined fortress with smoke rising all over the place. All over the burning fort were the charred corpses of both ponies and the foul demons that were lurking around the dream area. Of the charred bodies Luna noticed ponies that had once served her brother in the Abyssal Legion and those who were once his citizens. The demons had butchered his ponies and his army had retaliated in kind, which explained what happened to the area.

Midnight's mage tower exploded in a fury of fire as a batpony, dressed up in the armor of the Abyssal Legion, flew into the air with a demon close behind. The batpony spun around and the demon was blasted right out of the sky by some sort of explosive, something that only Razorwind would do to his enemies. Thundercloud would have lit the sky ablaze with lightning while fighting his foes and Mistwing would have tricked them into signing their doom.

"Razor, get down here," Luna shouted, wondering if there were more demons waiting for them.

The batpony noticed the two of them and quickly brought itself to the ground, where Luna found that it was not Razorwind, but rather Mistwing instead. How she failed to realize exactly who the pony had been in the air confused her, but for the moment she really didn't care. She cared that her brother was still around somewhere and that his wife was still alive, fighting the demons in what appeared to be an attempt to find him.

"Princess Luna," Mistwing greeted, eying the second mare as she approached, "I have bad news. Demons have attacked Fort Arcanium and have killed the majority of our ponies, ponies who once believed that Midnight would save them no matter what the price. But Midnight has not returned from Equestria, leaving us to deal with the demons when they first arrived in search of him."

"Rest easy child," Faust said, scanning the area, "How many souls still linger in the dream?"

"Alive or dead?" Mistwing sadly asked, shaking her head, "We have lost nearly everypony who followed Midnight in the beginning, so almost all thousand of us are already dead. There are about ninety of us left now. Those who served Midnight and survived the initial attack are fighting the demons scattered around the dream. Unfortunately my brothers have fallen to the demons tricks, leaing me as the last of my family."

"We haven't much time," Faust said, "Midnight will have gone to the one area that he knows anypony will look for him at, the area in which the seals were broken. Follow me now."

Faust guided the two mares through the ruins of Fort Arcanium, as if she had known all the routes by heart and kept a grip on her weapon. Twice they came into contact with demons and twice Faust dealt with them, her weapon turning the ponies to dust easily. Luna was amazed, wondering why her mother seemed scared of the Lord of Tartarus if she could reduce his minions to dust so easily. Within minutes Faust guided them to what looked like a prison, but waiting for them was the remainder of the Abyssal Legion, defenses created to allow one enemy to enter at a time.

"Look, its Lady Mistwing," one pony shouted, the others realizing they were finally saved at long last.

"Luna my daughter, stay with these ponies and make sure they stay safe," Faust said, turning to face the direction of where Midnight would be, "I will return with Midnight when I am able to do so."

Faust traveled to the immediate north, her sword moving quicker then her enemies could even predict. When she had told Luna there had been only three demons left she had lied, there were literally hundreds of lesser demons roaming the dream area. That was why she took it upon herself to rid the dream of as many demons as possible, leaving a trail of black dust in her wake. She had little love for demons, those destroyed whatever they pleased, and if anypony who knew her was watching they, to, would know it.

The clearing that Midnight was supposed to be in was so scorched one would have mistaken it for a field of black stone and grass. The entire area was scorched black, as if something had exploded in a giant ball of fire. The only thing that wasn't ruined was Midnight, who sat alone in the center of five stone pillars, each with the symbol of a Element of Harmony. Wrapped around him was a set of golden chains that glowed with the purple color of the Element of Magic, proving Luna's theory.

"My son, I see you are well," Faust commented, the chain melting away like it was nothing, "Why have you remained here while your citizens are under attack from the demons?"

"I...I don't know," Midnight answered, his eyes looking away in shame, "I thought I had all the answers, that I had the capabilities of leading a kingdom on my own. I let my magic get the better of me and I destroyed everything that I created, sealing my ponies and myself in a prison that took me two thousand years to escape. Now I wonder if I should even be in Equestria, seeing how I can only bring destruction and unease."

"You need to learn to be a true leader," Faust smiled, wrapping a wing over her son, "You need to focus less on the magical aspect of live and more on the actual ponies who make up your life. You lost everything you held dear two thousand years ago, but it was an experience that will have made you a better pony in the long run. You may not be able to see your old friends and loved ones in the real Equestria, but you can always see them again whenever you dream. Come back with me and Luna and we can see about getting you back into politics. And maybe you can rebuild your castle in the Everfree Forest one day."

Midnight looked up and in that instance the two of them reappeared in the hospital room, with a very confused Luna laying on her side next to Faust. Midnight was sitting straight up, sweat rolling down his face as he stared at the ponies who braved his unstable dream area to get him. Luna smiled as her brother smiled for the first time in a long time, meaning whatever her mother did had gotten through to her brother.

"Rest my son," Faust said, "You have need of some real uninterrupted sleep."

Midnight, for the first time in over two thousand years, finally got some much needed sleep. Only this time he didn't have to worry about the demons roaming his dreams and ruining everything again. All he knew was that he owed everything to his mother and slipped right into the dream without a second thought.

3. Twilight's Dream and the Agreement

"Generous. Honesty."

"Laughter. Kindness. Loyalty."

"Twilight helped us each to see..."

"...all that we can be! So..."

"So get up, get down. If you're gonna come around.

We can work together helping Twilight win the crown.

So get up, get down cause its gonna make a sound.

If we work together helping Twilight Sparkle win the crown."

Luna watched the small lavender alicorn mare dancing to the beat of a song that seemed to be playing all across her dream zone. The song appeared to be stuck in her head, but she didn't seem to worry too much about it. Luna smirked and observed as her sister ate some popcorn, which was unusual since she loved to eat cake and everything else sweet. Twilight seemed so peaceful that Luna wasn't about to interrupt her dance secession, which was improving her dance skills.

That morning Celestia had sent a small letter to Twilight, explaining that she and Luna needed to talk to her that night after she went to sleep. She had written that there was some unknown being messing with the dream world and had corrupted one of the zones. What Celestia wanted was for her to meet with them and, hopefully, get her to at least run some tests to determine what was the cause of the corruption.

She had also sent a second letter to her niece Cadence and asked that she join them in the dream world, to which the pink alicorn had replied she would definitely be there. Shining Armor had, of course, insisted that he join his wife in the meeting, to protect them all from anything in case the barrier seemed to fall apart. When he learned that his sister was going to be there he practically demanded that he be allowed to protect them, as if four alicorn's couldn't protect themselves. So Celestia looked the other way and let him ease his way into the meeting as well.

Speaking of the royal couple they were supposed to be making their way to Twilight's dream, which happened to be placed within a minute or two of the corrupted zone. It was close enough for them all to walk over, but it was also far enough so if the corruption escaped it wouldn't be the first target. Luna had been specific in her placement of the corrupted zone, placing it where nopony would come across it if they left their own dreams.

"Princess Celestia, Princess Luna," Twilight spoke up, noticing the royal sisters at the border of her dream, "I wasn't expecting to see you guys until later. I assume there has been some... development... with the corruption you spoke of?"

"Please Twilight, drop the formalities," Luna smiled, watching the dream power down until it was nothing, "First things first, we get to the zone so you can see the corruption first hoof for yourself. After that we'll talk about what we need to be looking out for and the possibility that there might be... something else that we haven't thought of yet."

Twilight noted that there seemed to be something that Luna wasn't comfortable sharing with her, something that made her hesitate. As if there was something that she couldn't talk about. She sighed and paid it no mind, she would eventually figure out what was making her nervous and she would fix it. After all, she had fixed her friendship in two different dimensions and had bested so many villains that she figured she could best whatever was bugging the Princess of the Night.

"Okay then," Twilight agreed, noticing another thing, "You still haven't answered my question. Has something happened since you sent me that letter?"

"It's best for you to see for yourself," Luna replied, wondering how she could tell Twilight she she had seen.

Luna led her sister and the young alicorn in the direction of the corrupted zone, quickly breaching the barrier of Twilight's dream and passing into the space between dreams. It was there that they came across the wandering royal couple, both of them looked confused, lost, and eager to join the group. It took them mere minutes to reach the spiraling black barrier that Luna wanted Twilight to see, only this time the thorns lashed out at it. The vibration coursed all across the barrier, but the thorns stayed on the other side and watched them.

"So this is what you wanted me to see?" Twilight asked in awe, watching a thorn stare at her on the other side of the barrier, "I never knew that the Dreamscape had such fascinating specimens hidden from the public view."

"The thorns weren't hitting the barrier last time I was here," Luna remarked, eying the things with caution, "but now that we're here they seem to have settled down quite a bit. In fact, they aren't even attacking the barrier now. What could have caused such a change in behavior?"

"I don't know," Twilight muttered, approaching the barrier as she stared at the one thorn, "There is something about these thorns that seems intelligent. Almost as if something else was trying to reach out and contact us."

"Twily, watch out," Shining warned, watching her sister cross over as a thorn readied itself and he drew his sword.

The thorn neared Twilight's face and stopped short, rubbing it's smooth end against her cheek in affection. It was as if something was trying to reach out to her, but she couldn't put her hoof on it. The thorn wrapped itself around the samples Luna had taken the previous day and deposited them in her saddlebags. It made a little wave gesture before the entire forest returned to normal, or as normal as a forest of thorns could get.

"That... was weird." Cadence said in shock, surprised the thorn hadn't struck out at Twilight, "What's in the bag?"

"Samples I took the previous day," Luna replied, eying the trees as she approached the mare, "One of them is a sample of the thorns themselves. The other is a sample of the ooze that comes out of them when they're wounded or damaged. Samples that are supposed to be the key to determining if something could be corrupting this area."

"Something is definitely behind this," Twilight remarked, eying the thorn that had gifted the samples to her, "It is almost as if something wants us, or me more likely, to figure out what's behind this corruption and stop it at the source."

"I wish it were that simple," Celestia said, "We need you to figure out what's behind this and how to fix it. Your free to use whatever resources you need to figure this problem out, resources from both the waking world and the dream world."

"The laboratory of my dreams." Twilight gasped, a light lighting up in her eyes as she realized what the dream resources could be, "I could conduct countless experiments on these samples and I could get countless answers. I could cross reference the answers with the Canterlot Archives and make sure my experiments are accurate. Maybe even stroll around the forest and collect some data from the dirt and the trees themselves."

"I wouldn't dare risk asking you to investigate the Forest of Thorns," Luna said, worried about the thorns, "but seeing how they don't react to you I guess we can let it slide. How about you conduct your research and we'll share whatever we can with you, Cadence, and Shining. If we can figure this out then we can reverse everything that has happened to this area in no time."

"I will share anything I find out with the four of you," Twilight replied, eying the samples in her saddlebags, "Hopefully we figure out what's causing the corruption in the... Forest of Thorns as you call it... and reverse it as soon as possible. I might have to ask my friends and see if they'll help me collect samples in exchange for being completely refreshed in the morning. Don't worry so much, the five of us and my friends are going to figure all of this out and stop whatever's happening."

Luna dared not speak her mind to Twilight. If the one responsible for the corruption was who she and Celestia thought it was then Twilight might be taken aback by what they knew. She could not be allowed to know the deep and dark secret that the royal sisters shared with only a select few. A secret that could potentially tear apart everything that Celestia spent the last thousand plus years painstakingly creating.

Yeah, Luna wasn't allowing that to happen for an eternity.