Author's note:
Hey Everybody, just a quick warning about this chapter. I got the idea for this chapter and wrote most of it drunk, so it might be a bit confusing. Just a warning. Enjoy.
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When Flare woke up, he wasn't in Luna's temporary quarters anymore. He was lying in the middle of the throne room. How the buck did I get here?
He looked around, confused, and froze. The changelings were still lying in the room, scattered about the ground. Flare rotated his head around to look at all of them. He heard a rustling noise behind him and snapped his head around in time to see...one of the changelings open its eyes and stare at him.
Flare tried to stand, to get away, but he simply fell back down. He looked down at his feet, and saw they were bound with ropes. He tried to open his mouth to burn through the ropes with fire...only to discover that his mouth was roped shut. The other changelings opened their eyes and rose, watching Flare with looks of triumph.
"Mhmhmhmm." A familiar voice giggled. It was not in his mind this time, but behind him, in the room. "This is too cute."
Flare whipped his head to the door to see the source of the voice. The creature he saw honestly intrigued him as much as it frightened him. It was obviously a changeling, but it looked much different than the others. It, or she, judging by her shape, was tall, probably as tall as Celestia. She had the same holes hooves, twisted horn, and translucent wings as the other changelings. She also had the chitinous plate on her back like the others, though hers had green mixing in it while the others were a simple blue. Her eyes resembled a ponies, though the pupil was ringed. The outermost ring was a bright green, while the inner ring was the same blue color as her mane. She had black elongated ovals in the center of her pupils.
She wore a small black crown with blue orbs on each tip. Flare assumed it meant she was their leader.
Flare was surprised; she looked an awful lot like him. She had snakelike eyes like him, her coat was almost the same color as his, and she also had fangs.
If she wasn't being so openly threatening to him, Flare could have almost considered her attractive.
"What fun we could have had together." She said, as if she could sense his thoughts, which she probably could. "Too bad you had to spoil it all."
Flare tried to speak, but all he managed was a gruff mumble. She simply laughed at his effort.
"No need for you to speak. Not yet, anyway." She said, walking closer to him. "Allow me to introduce myself. I am Queen Chrysalis, leader of the changelings." She reached down and untied the ropes on his mouth. "Now you may speak."
"Wrong choice." He said, opening his mouth to unleash a torrent of flame. But nothing came, and he simply coughed. "What? What have you done to me?"
"Oh, I have done nothing to you. You are doing this to yourself." She said, circling Flare. The changelings began to buzz in excitement. "Don't you see? No, of course you don't."
Flare was getting frustrated. He snapped his head out to bite her. Yet his mouth found nothing. He passed through her as if she were a ghost. She giggled at him.
"Persistent, aren't you?" She said, striking Flare on the side of the jaw. Hard. "This isn't your world to control. Although it is your world."
"Spit it out, I hate riddles." Flare said, spiting out bloody saliva.
She sighed. "You really are no fun. Fine then. We are in your mind, in your deepest of memories. The Dreamland. I can do whatever I want to you here." She said, smiling and raising his head with her holed hoof. "And no pony can do anything to stop it."
"But I'm not going to do anything. No. They are." She said indicating the changelings in the room. They all leaped into the air, circling Flare like they had during the attack. But his time Flare could not fight back.
"Sweet dreams." She said, kissing Flare on the forehead. Flare snapped his head back, repulsed. She smiled as she walked out of the room. The changelings swarmed in at Flare.
He closed his eyes waiting for the end to come.
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"Flare!"
Thump.
Flare snapped open his eyes. He noticed several things at once. First, he was back in Luna's temporary quarters. Also, the world looked like he was underwater. As his mind finished waking, he realized it wasn't water, but he was looking through the sparkling translucency of Luna's mane. She looked up at him, her face drawn with concern.
"Are you okay?"
Flare looked around, his heart still pounding in his chest. "Yeah...yeah, I think so. I had the worst dream, though."
"It wasn't just a dream." Luna said, her tone serious. she tried to rise up off of Flare, but fell back down on him. He reached out with a wing and pulled her to him.
"What do you mean? Those things could have actually hurt me?"
"Not physically, but mentally, yes."
Flare was shocked. "How?"
Luna sighed, gathering her thoughts. "Dreams are not entirely unreal, they all have some basis from your mind, whether it be a simply thought or a memory. The changelings exploited this by pulling you deep into the Dreamland, as I like to call it. Since I am the princess of the night I also control dreams. But because I have been so weak, I was only barely able to pull you and Armor out of your dreams."
Flare looked into her eyes. "Wait, Armor was having these too?"
"Of course. He had it much worse than you did, considering he had much more contact with the changelings."
"Well that still doesn't explain why you fell on me." Flare said, changing the subject.
"Well," she said, crawling farther up Flare so that their faces were almost touching. "it was less effort then pulling you out of your dream."
"Oh really." Flare said, sticking his neck out the last few inches and kissing Luna. She giggled, kissing him back.
They both heard the door open at the same time. "Good morning sleepy he-"
The silence was so profound Flare could have cut through it with a claw. They both slowly turned to the door where Celestia was standing. She had a smirk of disbelief on her face.
"Well well well, what do we have here?"
Luna turned a deep shade of scarlet. Flare just laughed. Celestia joined him in laughing. But there seemed to be something wrong with the way she was acting. She seemed almost nervous.
"I'll just...just leave you two alone now." She said, turning and closing the door.
Flare looked back to Luna and smiled. "Now where were we?"
"I don't know Flare, where were we?" Luna said, her eyes flashing green. She smiled in a wicked, unLuna-like fashion.
The revelation hit Flare like a bolt of lightning.
"No...NO!" Flare said, shoving Luna off of him. She simply giggled as she stopped herself mid flight and slowly landed.
"Come now, Flare." She said, walking towards Flare. A ring of sick green fire started moving across her body, changing her from Luna to the changeling queen. "You thought you were free? That she could save you? Oh, how wrong you are."
Flare just stared at her in horror as she approached him. He suddenly glanced about the room desperate for a way out.
The window! He charged through it, and was thankful when it shattered and let him through. He snapped his wings out, flying as fast as he could away from the room, from Chrysalis.
but suddenly he stopped flying and started falling. He looked to where his wings should have been, but they were gone.
Flare gasped, still watching where his wings should have been. He looked forward just in time to see the cold hard street before impact.
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"Flare! Wake up Flare!"
Flare snapped his eyes open. He was lying in the streets where he had crashed. Is this still a dream?
Luna was standing over him. "Get up! I'm going to get you out of this nightmare."
"How?" Flare wasn't even sure this was the actual Luna.
"We need to get away from here, then I can pull you out of this mess."
She took off down the street. Flare bounded after her. They ran as fast as they could through the city. Flare noticed that the city was also deserted. But he could not wait and ponder on it. They passed over a hill and there it was: the gate out of the city.
"Come on! We're almost through!" Luna said, running down the hill.
They were almost at the gate, so close, when Luna screamed and vanished before Flare's eyes.
"Oh, too bad. We almost made it." Chrysalis said, coming out of a nearby alleyway. She was in the form of Luna. Flare looked to her and back to where Luna was standing just a few moments ago. Was that really Luna, or just a trick?
Flare turned to her, his eyes full of rage and the spikes on his back turning white hot. "What the buck do you want from me?!"
"I want many things." She said in an almost bored tone. "My power back, food for my people, and oh yes, your sanity."
Suddenly the world warped and spun around Flare. When it came back into focus, they were standing in Flare's old home, the cave.
It was just like in his nightmare. His mother's skeleton lay on one side, and the shattered tomb of his father was on the other.
"And here we are, my dear Flare, where it all began." She said in Luna's voice, walking over to his mother's skeleton. Flare tried to move, tried to stop her, but he was frozen in place, only able to move his head.
"Don't even think about it." He was frozen with horror, watching her advance.
"About what? This?" She said, kicking his mothers skull. It dislodged with a sickening shunk and rolled away from the body.
Something in Flare's mind snapped. "No!" He cried.
She simply smiled at Flare. "Oops, did I do that? I'm sorry." She said, kicking the skeleton again. A rib the size of a spear separated. Flare felt the impact in his mind.
"It's only a dream, just a dream." Flare mumbled to himself in reassurance, trying to tear his gaze away from the sight in front of him.
"Oh? And what is telling you that this is just a dream?" Another kick, another missing bone, another flash of pain in Flare's mind.
"Because I just saw them two days ago."
"A lot can change in two days. I still have plenty of changelings that can make this vision come true."
"You wouldn't dare." Flare growled, looking back to Chrysalis with hatred in his eyes..
"Oh, but I would, and I shall." She said, grinning. Flare barred his teeth at her, trying to look as threatening as possible in his current predicament.
But deep inside him, he felt a shard of fear. What if she really did do this to my parents? She was twisted enough to do such a thing.
"Yes, show me your fear." She said, reaching into his mind and gripping it. "Ah, it is not much, but it will do."
Suddenly, the world blurred slightly as Chrysalis morphed it. The morphed so Flare could only see a rippling image. And it was of the cave, as Flare had seen it only a few days ago.His fathers tomb, his mother's sleeping body, both intact.
"This is the reality." She said as several changelings entered the picture.
"No." Flare mumbled, watching them approach his mother. They stopped as they reach his mother, turning to stare at Flare, even though they were not in the cave.
"I can stop them here and now, but only if you submit."
"You monster." Flare spat, his mind racing. what if this was all a dream, an incantation by Chrysalis? But what if this was real, and he was about to watch his mother's death?
"Time's up, make a choice." Chrysalis said with an almost business like monotone. "Submit to me, or watch your mother die."
Time slowed to a thousandth of a second as Flare tore himself between the decision. Who was worth more in this position? Him or his mother? He wasn't even sure this was real, but he couldn't stand the risk. Finally he came to a decision. You could repair brain damages, but not restore life.
"You...you win..." Flare said, resigned and in despair. The pain, it was too strong for him to bear.
"Oh really?"
"Yes! Just stop!" Flare said, staring in horror at changelings in front of him. He sobbed, going limp, although his frozen body stayed upright, and only his head sagged.
Chrysalis walked over to Flare, raising his head with her hoof. "It's ok, darling. I can make all the pain go away, all you have to do is submit to me."
Flare nodded, all the fight in him was gone. The last memory he had left, his past, his parents, was now crushed. The changelings began to back away from his mother, then the picture vanished and the two of them stood in a void.
"Its ok, Flare, it will all be ok now." Chrysalis said, changing back to her true form and adopting her true voice. She raised her horn and touched it to Flare's forehead. The sudden feeling that burst into his mind was extremely intense. His snake pupils closed up into almost invisible slits. Her presence, the changeling's presence, swarmed out into his mind, gripping every fiber of his being. the world around they shuddered as his very essence was gripped by the presence...and altered.
His memories started to bend, to change. Did his father die from natural causes, or was he murdered? Did he willingly go with Luna, or was he forced? Was he Luna's assistant, or slave? His entire life as he knew it blended in front of him.
Suddenly, the entire presence was gripped by something and ripped from his mind. He let out a cry of anguish as his mind shut down and darkness enveloped him.
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"You there, Dragon Boy?"
Snap snap. Flare opened his eyes and looked around. Now he was sitting in the garden, back in Canterlot. But the garden was different. The grass was a strange shade of purple, and the clouds in the sky were pink, not white. The statues were decorated with an assortment of ridiculous attire. The entire world seemed to be twisted.
"Yes, the flowers are nice and pretty, but look at me." A voice Flare didn't recognize said behind him. He turned and looked to the source of the voice...and froze.
It was another new creature to Flare. It, or he, as he sounded, was a very tell creature, but the most interesting thing about him was his variety. His head was horse-like, but much different in shape than anypony else. He had a deer antler on the right of his head, and a goat horn on the left. He had one long fang, different-sized pupils, a snake tongue, and a beard. He had the right arm of a lion, the left claw of an eagle, the right leg of a lizard, and the left leg of a goat. In addition, he had a bat's right wing, a Pegasus' left wing, and a snake's tail.
Overall, he was very different. Then again, so was Flare.
"Yes yes, look at me like I'm a freak." The creature said absentmindedly. "Everypony does when they first meet me."
Flare simply shrugged. "Meh, I've had that happen to me, too."
"I'm sure you have, considering you're half dragon. My name is Discord, by the way."
The way he said that made Flare think he should have heard of him before, but he hadn't. "So what do you want with me?"
"My, that's no way to thank your savoir." He said, grinning.
What is he talking about? Flare thought. "Savoir? Savoir from what?"
Discord seemed genuinely surprised. "Of what? The crazy changeling that was ruining your mind! That's what!"
Flare simply stared at Discord. "What are you talking about? She was saving me, freeing me from the rule of that tyrant, Nightmare Moon."
Discord's arms dropped to his sides, a look of horror growing on his face. "I was too late. Buck, she really screwed your head up, didn't she?"
Flare was getting frustrated. "What are you talking about? Why am I here?"
"Sit down, kid, and let me explain." Discord said, and Flare suddenly was restrained by a brown liquid which one of the clouds rained down.
"You will let me go!" Flare said, struggling. Discord simply walked over to him and slapped him.
"Now shut up and listen to me." He said, sitting on a nearby bench. "I'm not usually this nice, so enjoy it while it lasts."
His tone became serious. "Everything I am about to tell you is the cold, hard truth, but probably not what you believe. From what I have observed-"
"From what you observed? What are you, a stalker or something?"
Slap. "Pay attention. From what I have observed, Luna brought you here a few days ago."
"You mean Nightmare Moon forced me to come here after she killed my parents."
"Wrong, you came voluntarily with Princess Luna, though I cannot say anything about your parents. Anyway, you were appointed her assistant/bodyguard by Celestia."
"Appointed her slave, if that's what you mean."
"No, her assistant, as in you still had your free will and could have left anytime you wanted."
Flare simply stared at him, and for a few moments, Discord thought he had gotten through to him.
"You," Flare finally said. "Are freaking nuts. Now let me out of here." He said as he ripped himself from his restraints and walked away, leaving Discord alone in the garden again.
"I'm so sorry, Little Lulu." Discord mumbled, watching Flare go. "He's too far gone."
Flare reached the edge of the city, where the gate was. Chrysalis said that there was an exit around here. As he opened the gate, he saw a reflective opening, like a rippling mirror.
"Found ya." He said, walking through the portal.
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"Flare! Flare, wake up!" Luna said, shaking him.
He opened his eyes and looked up at Luna.
"Oh thank Celestia you are alright." She said, hugging Flare.
But he did not hug her back. His eyes were small slits, staring cold death at Luna.
"Get away from me, Nightmare Moon!" He cried, throwing Luna across the room. She screamed weakly as she tumbled across the room.
Luna hit the wall hard and slumped against the ground. She looked up to see the only other being she had loved, besides her sister, in a millennium open his mouth to shoot flames at her. A single tear rolled down the side of her face.
"No, Flare, don't do this....."