//------------------------------//
// Chapter XXXIII: Dimensional Lords 
// Story: Nocturnal Mayhem 
// by Silvak 
//------------------------------//

"What do you mean by that? Surely th—"

"Mother, no offense, but we're talking about an age-old hatred that could potentially date back to the dawn of time for all I know. It's not something that you can simply command us to ignore on a whim," I answered as I started to explore the rest of hallways that held my memories, noting that a few of the memories had a small fragment missing.

"Even as ancient as this hatred between your organizations is, all things must come to an end. Wouldn't you want to be the one to bring this about?" Luna asked as she followed me.

"Not with how my peers would react to me making an active effort in making peace with a Magister of Time. They would probably try to sabotage any attempts or make it result in a skirmish between our forces as we try to show who's the better group, again," I replied.

Frowning, Luna replied, "Sounds like this feud between your fractions is nothing more than showing off each others' power. A rather pointless endeavor, in my point of view."

Shrugging, I answered, "It may be, but that's how it is nowadays. Though, it's better that way than how it was millions of years ago, or so I heard."

"I find it hard to believe that your organization is that old, but that reminds me of something. You claim that you aren't allowed to reveal much of your group, but since we are in the realm of dreams, perhaps you could finally divulge some more information for once?" Luna asked, causing me to cock an eyebrow at her while tapping my chin in thought.

"I suppose you have a point, never in my travels, nor what I heard from my peers, indicate any sort of knowledge of this dream realm. So I guess that I can tell you some more things, but not everything. Some secrets must remain secret, and what I tell you stays between you and me, not even Aunt Celestia can know, for it's for everypony's safety. Understood?" as I stared into Luna's eyes, trying to adopt a serious expression, only for her to smile a bit at what may be something that looked incredibly ridiculous on a foal's face. Guess I need to be employing action to look threatening, or something like that.

"Very well, you have my word that I won't divulge what you tell me today about these two organizations," Luna declared, causing me to nod before taking a deep breath, letting it out as I racked my brain for all the details I could tell her.

"Okay, to start with the beginning of what I know, Dimensional Lords and Magisters of Time have existed since or near the dawn of... well time. At the beginning, each group consisted of members of one species, each devoted to the maintenance of their respective spheres. However, over time, the Dimensional Lords discovered that there was so much to do in regards to their duties, which led to them wanting to explore their abilities beyond just traveling throughout the cosmos and fixing any dimensional irregularities," I explained, causing Luna to nod in acknowledgment.

"And that is when they discovered the destructive potential their powers can possess," Luna observed.

"Correct. Turned out that having vast command over space could lead to various means to tear it apart on a whim, go figure. This eventually led to infighting amongst the original lords, each seeking to dominate their fellows. It lasted for centuries and resulted in many worlds being destroyed due to their arrogance. It wasn't until the destruction of their homeworld that the infighting came to an end, as they saw the error of the ways and decided to organized themselves into a ranking structure instead, with a system that allowed one to challenged another for their position in a duel with set rules, in order to prevent other worlds from being destroyed. 

Due to the lack of a homeworld to call their own, the original Lords went on to look for a new place to have as their own domicile but instead discovered dimensional spaces that lie in between dimensions, some that are completely devoid of life. This led to them selecting one such place to be what you might call the headquarters of the Dimensional Lords, but it is more of a meeting ground for them for the most part. They instead moved on to claim other isolated spaces or even worlds to rule over. This was when the Dimensional Lords started to changed.

Now, this is a private secret, mostly to prevent future issues, but I will tell you this. Dimensional Lords follow a bit of a might makes right system, to the point that it affects our membership. For after settling down the headquarters, the Lords were left to their own devices once more, some choosing to research their abilities as well as research the dimensions and the cosmos, others choosing to go the path of conquest, either as benevolent rulers or ruthless warlords, others going on to explore the dimensions, either out of a search for power, knowledge, the lust for adventure, or just to spend their time, and others simply went for quiet private lives where their presence is barely known among other species unless they had to attend to dimensional matters. Regardless, this increased contact with other species, which led to more conflicts for the Lords, who then learn that they're not indestructible, for some of their numbers fell.

Now, one constant rule is that there are always seventeen Lords, and the Magister of Time strangely follow this same rule as well. Neither faction could increase their numbers, and neither faction could have less than seventeen. Maybe it's the way for the cosmos to maintain the balance, but regardless, when the first Lord was slain, their opponent somehow inherited the Lord's spatial essence or something like that, I'm not sure on the details, but in the end, the Lord was replaced." 

"Wait a minute, weren't you slain as well? Why are you still around then?" Luna asked with an eyebrow raised in suspicion.

Snorting, I answered, "Simple, I killed the one that delivered the killing blow, so when I passed away, there was no victor to take in my 'essence'. This resulted in my essence moving onto forming a new body while keeping my mind, or most of it, around. Apparently, since I survived the longest, in the end, my might was the greater one, hence why I'm here before you."

"I see, seems like you are a stubborn one, my daughter," Luna said with a smile while ruffling my mane, causing me to snort at her before continuing on.

"Anyways, this led to some confusion amongst the ranks, until the most powerful of the Lords was able to restore order as well as bring in the new Lord. Seeing that even when one Lord is slain, only for a new one to takes its place, they decided that it was probably meant to be, but did lead them to take on a more cautious approach while trying to induct the new member into their order. This also created a new system, whenever a Lord rebels against the rest, they are hunted down and eliminated. This left that Lord's essence to find a new host, which is normally the nearest life form that is capable of handling the power of a Lord. This naturally resulted in the Lords changing over time, yet the established tenets remain. 

However, they soon discovered that they could infuse others with dimensional energy. This granted those that were infused dimensional powers, yet it was minor compared to the power a Dimensional Lord. This lead to Lords gather agents to infused with power, having them act on the will of their patron Lord, yet still given enough freedom to pursue their own devices. It was this point when the Lords were gathering forces when they encountered the Magisters of Time, who was also a large faction of their own worth. This was when both factions learn one crucial factor about each other: Dimensional Lords spatial powers had no effect on the Magisters, and the Magisters' temporal powers had no effect on the Lords."

"Interesting, this surely shows just how interlinked your factions are with one another. It is surprising that your predecessors didn't join forces with them," Luna commented, causing me to roll my eyes at her.

"I was getting to that mother," I shot back before clearing my throat before continuing. "With that particular trait discovered, the Lords that first met the Magisters deemed them a threat, and hence war began, with both sides relying on their natural powers along with their own powers used on the environment instead of using them on their foes. Like the first power struggle, this resulted in many worlds being lost, even some star systems, until some centuries later the leaders of both factions decided on a truce, for it was also discovered that no one being could be a Dimensional Lord and a Magister of Time. However, that war was laid the first seeds of hatred with one another, and the eventual discovery of the vast differences between our organizations only served to grow that hatred even more. However, as much as we hate one another, it is an established rule that neither faction would go into war with the other, so the worst that could ever happen was a short-term skirmish until other members intervene to put a stop to it."

Stopping, I only receive silence from Luna as she stared at me, causing me to sigh before saying, "That's the end of that little tale, mother. I don't think I should divulge any more information, at least for now."

Blushing, Luna said, "Oh, I thought you were searching your memories once more, my apologies. However, that is quite an interesting tale, my daughter, but couldn't you tell me about the differences between the two organizations?"

Shrugging, I replied, "That, I don't know. I didn't bother to learn how the Magisters of Time operation worked due to my war with the Venanites. Priorities and the sort."

Sighing, Luna stated, "Such a shame. It would be useful to know the differences so that I might help you come up with the means to at least ease relations between your and Chrono's factions. So, how did you obtain your position among the Dimensional Lords?"

Giving Luna a long look, I answered, "Isn't it obvious? I ripped the head off my predecessor and then took his place. More or less."

Returning my look with a deadpanned one of her own, Luna responded. "Of course you did. Why couldn't you just be a peaceful filly like most foals are?"

"Cause that would make life boring, and who would want that, mother?" I shot back with a wink, causing her to groan in annoyance before sitting down on her haunches to rub her forehead with her forehooves.

"Why must I be the one to have the troublemaker as their foal? I doubt my sister has as many problems with her foal as I have with you," Luna groaned out as she started to close her eyes.

"I highly doubt that. She probably doesn't have the same problems as you have with me, but I bet that instead, she has her own special brand of problems of a temporal nature," I replied with a cheeky grin, causing Luna to glare at me.

"I thought you were going to strive to become a better pony?" Luna asked through gritted teeth.

"I am, but that doesn't mean I can't have my own brand of amusement here and there, just as long as it doesn't hurt anypony," I answered while keeping my grin, which only served to cause Luna to let out another groan of frustration.