Soon after reaching the Everfree forest entrance, Twilight and her friends didn't waste any time and marched straight to the ruins of the two sisters' castle where an unexpected sight made them all stop and take a double-take at the scene before them. The once ruined and decrepit structure now stood tall, brand new, and imposing, without a single trace or hint of having been taken over by nature, a completely new floor made the palace even more prominent. The most worrying sign of all, the stairs leading to the basement were nowhere to be seen and instead were replaced by a floor of dirt.
"How in tarnation did Nightmare Moon fix this place so fast? Not even Twilight's magic could do something like this…can it?" AJ turned to her friend with a raised eyebrow though Twilight only shook her head, still looking at the structure in surprise.
"It the prince's original spell" Garra answered keeping her eyes on the castle "With Nightmare Opera, Nightmare turned the entire castle into a den of dreams, the moment we enter she can dictate what is real and what isn't" She then turned to Twilight "We need to step lightly your highness, elements or not. If we are not careful, we will end up in the same mindscape the royal sisters are currently in."
"Ah Twilight, you wouldn't think that Nightmare Moon also turned the elements into a dream so we couldn't use them…right?" Fluttershy questioned prodding the dirt floor, confirming that it was real.
"Come on, Fluttershy. We are talking about the elements here," Dash hovered over her. "Even if she tried, it took Discord thousands of years before his magic did something to them, and that was when they were divided, now the elements are stronger, complete, and are growing."
"Rainbow Dash is right, Fluttershy. When it comes to magic, even if they were affected, it would take a long time before anything could happen." Twilight eased her worries, before looking at the castle with determination. "Ok, everypony, we don't know what's waiting for us inside, so we won't take any chances, let's call for the elements and march in. Daga, Garra, we will give you an opening. Once inside, look for Blueblood and get out as fast as you can."
"Yes, ma'am" They saluted and took a step back as Twilight and her friends got closer and called upon the elements. Still, before anything could happen, the group was blasted by an energy beam that sent them all crashing into the castle entrance before they heard the familiar crackling of Nightmare Moon coming from Rarity and Fluttershy of all ponies as their bodies turned into mist and merged together before forming a gate from which the mare of shadows stepped through.
"Foolish ponies, who dared to oppose my will."
"Nightmare Moon?!" Twilight questioned, astonished by the revelation as the mist keep creeping towards them
"Did you think that I wouldn't be prepared for any of your tricks?"
"It was you all along? You were just pretending to be our friends so you could capture us all in one move?" Rainbow Dash asked, flaring her wings in anger.
The nightmare only continued to laugh and shake her head. "And like the gullible sheep you are, you took the bait, hook, line, and sinker." Nightmare gloated. "Originally, I was planning on keeping you all apart as much as possible so you couldn't use those annoying elements on me. But after seeing the latent potential that this spell has and knowing how persistently annoying you all can be. I decided to allow you to join them instead of keeping you apart."
Rainbow tried to make a run at Nightmare, but fog appeared in the entrance stopping her moments and making her back away. She didn't feel any sort of impact either, just an invisible force that wouldn't let her advance, as Nightmare looked at the display with glee
"Welcome to the subconscious realm, ladies. A place where the elements of harmony can't reach you, and without my guidance, it's impossible to get out, feel free to explore, try to escape, or reunite with your fellow inmates. It won't matter in the slightest. There is no way to escape unless I say so." Nightmare Moon announced with a smirk before turning around as the mist closed in. "Let's see if you like being trapped for a thousand years."
Opening her wings, she prepared to fly away when suddenly the ground started to shake, making everyone lose their balance.
"What?" Nightmare Moon was confused by the rumbles before crystal roots burst forth from the ground, encapsulating the castle in a holed dome with a rainbow light covering every single hole in it, effectively preventing anyone from leaving. Nightmare demonstrated this when she tried only to be bounced back as a result. "No, no, no! This is impossible! I sealed you away. You shouldn't be able to use them now! I closed off your connection with the elements!" Nightmare screeched, completely livid from what happened, she tried to pierce the barrier using her magic, with no effect whatsoever. "I was so close! My empire was within hoofs reach! This isn't it happening! I'll not be denied again!"
"Tough luck, Nightmare," Dash smirked at her, "Told you, the elements were stronger."
"Of course! Over the years, the elements have grown in power and wisdom, and now that they are reunited once more. Even if we can't use them, they will never let the likes of you conquer Equestria." Twilight explained confidently, making Nightmare growl and look back to them.
"Listen to me carefully Twilight Sparkle, you may have trapped me, but all of you are in MY world now. And here, my word is the law!" She then grinned and lifted off once more "I could dispose of you with a mere thought right now, but that would ruin the special nightmare I created just for you, straight from Blueblood's mind." She claimed before flying upwards. "Try to find your friends! I will love to see what happens." Her laughs echos were the last thing they heard before the fog made it impossible for them to see anything else.
"Well, so much for a surprise attack," Daga sighed dejectedly as her sister inspected the place, trying to distinguish anything in the fog that was currently surrounding them.
"Aw doesn't feel bad, Daggy, you'll see, everything will be all right. Things didn't go according to plan the first time we faced Nightmare Moon either." Pinkie console and cheer her up before bringing her into a hug. "Do you remember the cliff?" she asked her friends.
"Yeah, it was scary how Nightmare almost kill us that time." AJ nodded, remembering the event.
"What about the bridge? You think the Shadow Bolts will appear here and ask me to join them again?" Dash joked, lifting their moods too. "Not that I can blame them, I'm just that awesome."
"I remember how scary it was when Nightmare Moon destroyed the previous elements of harmony" Twilight mentioned with a smile "But then I remembered all that we learned that night and how the elements weren't pieces of rocks with magic inside, but instead, they were in all of us."
The friends share a group hug "Thanks, Pinkie. We needed that small pep talk."
"Anytime Twily, I'm sure we can think of something."
"Yeah, you always do sugar cube, no pony knows about anything more than you. If anyone could think of a plan, it would be you."
"Well, I have studied the subconscious realm in the past. I wondered if I could use it to study while I slept."
The comment earned a knowing groan from everypony present. "I know, I know. I shouldn't do so much of that. But if there's something I learned from the experience, it is that it has a very peculiar way of doing things. It kind of obeys the wishes of a pony but in a subtle matter. If we all keep thinking of finding the princess and our friends, this place will lead us straight to them, but it will not be immediate. It's finicky and acts at random sometimes, but it always delivers."
"There you go, Twilight! See? I told you, you could come up with something" AJ praised her as the fog started to clear.
"Hey, why don't we ask that guy for directions?" Pinkie pointed in front of them, and they noticed how the room they were in had changed much more than they initially thought. Instead of a regular hallway, the group found themselves in a graveyard outdoors, bursting with tombs spread all over the place and overgrown by nature. A dead tree stood in the middle of the grounds, and a pony stood groaning and panting from exhaustion, with unkempt, ragged white mane and tail paying no attention to them as he was busy chopping something on the ground using a long-handled ax. He was wearing a black stetson, a ripped and decrepit black trench coat, and a dark grey scarf with old and dirty bandages draping everywhere on his body.
"Hi," Pinkie said as she approached him, but Daga and Garra extend their wings to stop her advance, and they shook their heads before slowly taking out their weapons, eyeing the pony carefully as he was finished chopping an empty suit armor
"…Traitors, all over the place…" The pony started to speak, seemingly not noticing the group yet "…You'll learn to bend the knee, sooner or later…" He slowly turns to face them, revealing how his face was also bandaged and exhaled slowly, letting out a long gout visible breath as the temperature plummeted.
At that moment at the base of a staircase leading to the entrance of a gothic cathedral
"Everypony stay alert, and whatever you do, do not interact with anyone." Luna ordered the group before looking ahead of her while continuing to scan the location for threats. For her part, her sister took up the rearguard as they kept moving in a straight line after discovering what Nightmare Moon had done to them.
"Are you sure you know where we are going, princess?" Rarity kept taking the occasional glance to all the ponies roaming in all directions around them...none of them with a face. Other than the occasional wardrobe choice, there were no discerning details on their bodies. They all looked identical to the point where she couldn't tell if they were mare or stallion. "All these faceless ponies are making me nervous, and not just because of their awful choice in the wardrobe." She pointed out looking at the ragged and dirty clothes everyone was wearing at the time from head to hoof, in what appeared to be sets of clothes from the fifth century, for the common class. "Seriously, it's like they all fought with a porcupine and lost." She complained as they continued their march.
"A…Are you sure none of them will hurt us, princess?" Fluttershy inquired, still trembling from the scene all around them.
"As long as you don't interact, all of these ponies are nothing more than daily afterimages."
"Afterimages?" Rarity looked at the princess with a raised eyebrow.
"Like residual memories from what you saw during the previous day" Celestia answers for them "Think about it this way, when you go out for a walk around ponyville without any objective in mind, do you remember every single pony, pet, or other species that pass by you? Regardless if you know them or not?"
"I'm not so sure, to be honest." Rarity finally replied after she and Fluttershy thought it over for a while.
"Which is normal, unless you had a particularly sharp photographic memory. Having the perfect recollection of everything you see directly or indirectly would be impossible. At most, you would have some vague silhouette and maybe one or two details, and that is what all these ponies are"
"Which is why you must be cautious and do not look at them for too long." Luna butted in with a strained sense of urgency, "It will be wise to consider all of them as ticking time bombs."
"What?" The group looked at Luna in surprise at this revelation
"This is one of the dangers of the subconscious land. Afterimages are like blank pages waiting to be filled, pay too much attention to them, and you fill those pages with the very first thought that crosses your mind, be it good or bad, and so they will be. They are the actors that appear in the background of all of your dreams, be pleasant ones or dreaded nightmares, and if we are very unlucky, we might even face the main star of the latter. Wich with Nightmare Moon on the loose and influencing our nephew, nightmares will be all but guaranteed." Luna warned them as they reached the double doors leading inside. "We are here."
"What is the plan, Luna?" Celestia inquired, walking to her side.
"I trust that all of you have heard the expression 'Dreams are windows to the subconscious.' Am I correct?"
They all nodded
"Well, said window works in both ways, and even though it's not an actual window, dreams, and the subconscious have an actual point of union. If we can find it and cross over, I can regain control over my nephew's dreams and severe Nightmare's connection with him."
"Which means that the location will be heavily guarded, right?" Celestia confirmed the reasoning with Luna's logic as her sister merely nodded.
"Be ready everypony, this is our only way out, and to defeat this evil, we will have to be prepared for anything." Luna coached them before opening the giant set of double doors revealing a twisted version of their throne room with murals depicting Nightmare Moon instead of the history of Equestria. What appeared to be a large shrine stood at the back of the room and a pony mare kelt before in the center crossing, praying.
Fluttershy gasped and started to approach "Oh my, did Nightmare capture another…?"
Luna unfurled her wings and arched her back in alarm, "Do not be deceived! That is a nightmare!" Luna yelled, Celestia and Rarity followed her lead and prepared their horns for combat.
Meanwhile, the mare just kept mumbling her inaudible prayers before she started to sob and held a gold watch in her hoof bringing it close to her chest before suddenly raising her head in the air while letting out an ungodly wail as her body shifted and transformed right before their eyes until she became a massive blind werewolf-like creature with antlers, swathed in bandages who slowly turns around and growls at them.
With a start and doused with cold sweat, the prince woke up before hearing the cackling of Nightmare Moon near him as he slowly stood up, trying to maintain his balance as he watched through two sets of full body mirrors how what he just dream turn into a reality judging by how the events were still progressing within the mirrors as Nightmare admired them from her throne.
"Such magnificent nightmares, such beautiful creatures of the night you have given me. You are certainly of my blood, sweetling." She praised him with a warm smile while with a flick of her wrist made both mirrors turn to fog and dissipated from existence.
"What…what just happened…so much rage…what did you do to me?! What horrors did you make me create?!" The prince demanded in a mix of horror and anger at her.
"Made you?" The mare asked in mock confusion, exaggerating her moments and even bringing her right hoof to her chest for effect "Oh sweetling, the only thing I did was unlock your true inner self in a dream, and brought it into reality." She stood and walked towards him before poking his forehead as her expression turned malicious. "What you created was all your own doing."
The prince swatted her hoof away as she went back to her kind face. "It felt good, didn't it? Getting all that pent up frustration out of your system? Finally, finding out what type of pony you are…knowing that for a brief moment, you truly were a pony of shadows." She kept speaking while circling him with a predatory grin. Blueblood closed his eyes and looked down. Fits of rage from for what she did to him and shame from seeing what he looked like inside shook him.
"Admit it, deep inside your heart. You liked the freedom that I gave you." Nightmare whispered into his ear, but when he did not respond, her demeanor instantly turned aggressive, "I say, admit it!" She ordered him once more.
"Are you insane! You expect me to be happy with what you just made me do!?" Blueblood replied defiantly, glaring right into her eyes, "The only thing you did was force me to live out my worst nightmare!"
"Still, refusing to accept yourself?! Perhaps I woke you up too soon. Maybe you need another song." The prince's eyes went wide in surprise and horror as Nightmare came closer "Or maybe just creating nightmares wasn't enough, and what you need is to be a part of them."
"No! Don't you dare Nightmare I swear if you make me hurt my friends or my aunts…"
"I'm your aunt now!" She slapped hard across the muzzle, sending him to the floor in a fit of frustration before taking a deep breath and calming down. She then knelt and helped him stand up to look at him with a sad expression, "Oh my poor misguided heir, why do you keep making me hurt you so much?"
The prince wanted to reply, but the mare had him paralyzed under her magic "Have those mares conditioned your mind so thoroughly that you don't see the shadow they are forcing you to live in?" She ended the spells and started to walk away from the prince. Who still glared at her angrily until the light around him faded. Finally able to move, Blueblood looked up and saw a giant statue of Celestia blocking the sun and putting him literally in her shadow. "Haven't you ever stopped and asked yourself, what is your role with them? Do you think she has a grand plan for you too?" Nightmare questioned, pointing at the statue. "When I took Luna's body, I also took a peek at her memories, and let me tell you. The future doesn't end well for you."
He started to consider her words before realizing what was happening. Shaking his head awake making the illusion fade out with a poof of smoke and returning them to the throne room "You are lying, nothing here is real, you are just using my spell against me, and this is just a bad dream" The prince turns around to see her, but she was gone.
"And what do you think is the core of this bad dream?" Nightmare questioned, reappearing behind him in the form of mist as she kept whispering into his ear. "Nightmares don't just appear from thin air, without rhyme or reason." Blueblood spun around, but she vanished again. "Every nightmare comes from a gathering of guilt, of fear, or of trauma. And there is always a kernel truth you don't dare to see or want to expose inside them."
"Shut up," Blueblood hissed out angrily.
"Don't you want to learn what your aunts refuse to tell you?"
"I said, Shut UP!" The prince blasted her with magic the moment he saw her only to destroy a wall and make a hole to another room.
"We need to do something about that nephew of yours..." The voice of Luna caught the prince attention, as he slowly stepped inside the room revealing a foggy version of Celestia's bedroom were both mares were discussing something in the middle of the night "...he claims to love us, but all of he does is mooch, guilt trip or scheme so he can always, ALWAYS have his way." Luna continued to fume at her sister
"Huh?" The prince looked at them, confused as he hid behind Celestia's bed, out of instinct and curiosity about what they were saying, making him not notice the tendrils of Nightmare Moon altering the memory as he kept listening.
"Fine. You win, Luna. You are right, he is a petulant little monster, and he needs to be taught a lesson. I'm not blind. I simply allow this because his behavior was my fault."
She walked toward her windows. "The little snot was once my pet project for the future, a prominent candidate to succeed us once we retired. But when I saw the utter failure he was. I decided to make preparations for plan B, Twilight Sparkle."
"Which solves the problem of who will rule after us, but leaves his fate up in the air…"
Celestia brought her hoof to her chin "Perhaps not sister, tell me something. Wouldn't it be just wonderful if he were to have a change of heart or rather, of soul? One that would be of great use to Twilight?" Celestia asked in a sinister tone. Which snapped Blueblood back to reality as he looked behind him.
"NIGHTMARE!" He stopped his hoof on the ground and enforced his will on the scene, causing everything to disappear with a poof of smoke as he returned to a now-empty throne room with the mare of shadows laughter echoing through the hall beckoning him to follow.
"Well, spotted, dear."
"I will not be deceived by your tricks anymore!"
"Perhaps not, but I only tampered with half of that memory."
"It will not change a thing regardless. I know how I was before. Whatever they discussed was more than fair."
"Oh? And what about your current self? Do you think they now wish you to have the crown? Twilight is still a prime candidate, what does that leave you with? Hmm? Celestia was particularly eager to take you under her wing and pretend that you were her family when she heard that story, doesn't that raise some questions?"
Feeling an invisible force, the prince started to march towards the dark hallway. "Why don't we go find out?"
As he advanced, he did his best to ignore Nightmare jabs "She is just lying, she is just lying, she is just lying" He kept chanting while exploring the castle.