Had there been a third mind actively drifting through the Dream Realm, they would have surely been awoken in a panic by the horrific imagery lancing out from Luminious Horizon’s mind. In the wasteland his mind crafted, Horizon let out a scream of pain as Princess Luna conjured another force of nightmarish power. Black spikes shot out of the ground under Horizon, puncturing his body in dozens of places before branching out and curling like fingers to hold him in place.
With his cohesion dulled by pain, Luna dove in and touched her horn to his, entering his mind directly with the intent of pulling out any information she could use. Horizon screamed once more at the intrusion; Luna made sure that no effort at all was taken to make it painless. Horizon thrashed violently before the spikes shattered and dissolved, his concentration returning. The tentacles on his back shot out, several of them slicing along Luna’s face and throat, blood spraying free.
With but a twitch of her magic, Luna repaired her image. She wasn’t physically here, after all. The shredded flesh stitched back together in only a second. Horizon glared up at her before the ground beneath him cracked, a circular island forming under him and breaking away from the flat plain. The fury on his face was just as prominent as the rage on Luna’s as he reached eye-level with her.
With a small smirk, Horizon suddenly vanished. Luna gasped and widened her eyes before looking around. A pained, breathless wheeze tore from her lungs as Horizon materialized behind her, digging his claws into her spine and stabbing his bladed tentacles into her belly and chest, twisting on the way in. He put his mouth next to her ear and snarled venomously. “My mind is nothing like the minds of anypony you have ever met, Luna.” His tentacles jerked, pulling her open. Luna would have screamed, if her projection still had lungs.
With her focus twisted by agony, Luna was helpless to stop Horizon’s own efforts to enter her mind. She locked up as memories and images of Nightmare Moon were pulled forth. Images of Ponies suffering under her jealousy and rage, of Princess Celestia staring at her through a rainbow-colored ray of magic with tear-filled eyes. The emotions she had felt then, as well as the guilt she felt after, were brought back into her mind and multiplied many, many times.
With a snarl, she was able to pull away from Horizon, her body reforming in a swirl of black mist. With a sharp twist, she plunged her rear legs into his chest and sent him careening back down to the dust below. Luna gasped for breath, clutching at her head and forcing the shivers out of her body. Then her eyes began to fill with black energy once again. “You are right, Horizon! You are nothing like a pony! You chose the path of a monster years ago!”
Horizon stood and glared up at her with bared teeth. “Yes, I did! At least I have the backbone and self-honesty required to admit it!”
“Silence!” Luna howled in rage, her horn lighting up once more, sparks flying off of it from the intensity of her magic. The ground beneath Horizon’s hooves bubbled and turned into an ocean of acid and snakes that pulled him in. His cries of alarm and pain were lost beneath the sizzling waves, blood boiling and evaporating on the surface as the snakes tore into him. With ragged, furious breaths, Luna converted the ocean of acid into an ocean of lava.
Horizon drifted up through the lava and broke through, the difference in heat and density forcing his body to the surface. His skin boiled, his eyes bled profusely and his muscles melted, causing his body to contort and sag horrifically. The strangled, smothered howl of agony was music to Luna’s ears. Suddenly, Horizon spoke into her ear again. “Look at yourself.”
Luna turned just in time for his claws to sink into her neck and his horn to touch hers once more. Luna went stiff in pain as Horizon sifted through her thoughts, emotions and memories.
“Dear oh dear, so much anger! So much hatred. Every time you think of me or any one of my fiends, you want nothing more than see us all die in painful ways. Me especially.” Horizon’s voice echoed in her mind as she saw the image of Horizon’s body melting and contorting on the surface of the lava. She felt Horizon emphasize how satisfying the image was to her. “If you take such pleasure in seeing me and my ilk die and suffer in such a manner, does it really make you any different from us?”
“SILENCE!” Luna’s words rattled the dream with their intensity. Horizon recoiled and gasped as Luna turned the tides of his intrusion, forcing her way into his thoughts and swiftly extracting a clump of memories and knowledge from him. Horizon’s form was torn asunder, his head blasted into pieces by the forceful extraction.
He reformed, layer by layer in a swirl of dust not far below and glared up at her. The ocean below was returning to the dust-covered ground from before. “You were filled with joy just then, weren’t you? Watching my head explode must be blissful to watch!”
“I SAID SILENCE, DAMN YOU!” Luna screamed in rage, her mane billowing out and the shadows swirling around her body before she hurled herself at him. Horizon grunted on impact, sliding back dozens of feet along the ground, digging his claws into the soil. Luna wasn’t even trying to dig into his mind anymore; she had already gotten all she needed in that department. Now she was just trying to make him hurt. The shadows bit at his skin like a swarm of flesh-eating insects, cuts appearing all across his body.
Horizon growled with effort and turned, shoving Luna to the ground beneath him and stabbing his claws into her chest, pinning her down. “I don’t take orders from you, Princess.” He snarled into her face before touching his horn to hers once more, the magic he poured into the intrusion exceeding any he had done thus far. Luna fell silent as her mind was completely at his mercy.
Celestia smiled and touched a hoof to her chest, touched by Luminous Horizon’s heartfelt speech of gratitude. Horizon couldn’t help but imagine his praising her beauty and grace helped put that blush on her cheeks.
“Oh, you’re too kind, Lumen.” She said, looking down at the bright blue unicorn with a loving smile. He smiled back up at her, taking a small step forwards.
“It’s only the truth, Tia. You’re the most wonderful thing to ever happen to me. You saved my life and my mind from Discord, you gave me a home where nopony else would. I can’t thank you enough. I owe you everything I have.” Horizon said before being drawn into a warm hug by the alicorn, one he delightfully returned, nuzzling into her shoulder contentedly..
“You needn’t thank me, Horizon.” she said softly into his ear. Lumen smiled and hugged her closer, basking in the embrace of the pony he had started to fall in love with. When the embrace at last ended, he looked up at her, opening his mouth to tell her how he felt. He saw her smile and, while his heart fluttered in joy at the possibility, his mind cowered in terror at the alternative. He twitched slightly and looked away from her.
“I still feel like I have to. You’ve gone so far out of your way for me…”
“Lumen, I’m helping you because I-” Celestia’s response was interrupted by the doors of the room swinging open. Princess Luna strode in, frowning the moment she saw Horizon so close to her big sister. Horizon looked towards her and wilted slightly. The animosity between them had been growing lately, even if Celestia had failed to notice it.
“Sister, there you are.” Luna greeted, trotting up to Celestia with a warm smile, though her gaze flicked to Horizon in a cold glare before returning to her sister. “May I borrow you for a while? Some more of the leaders of outlying townships are due to arrive any minute to discuss updates and reforms of trade policies. You’re expertise in such matters will almost certaintly be required.”
Horizon frowned bitterly at luna while Celestia sighed and stood back to her full height. “I suppose it can’t be helped. Royal duty calls.” She looked back at Horizon and smiled softly. “We’ll talk more later, okay?”
“Uh… yeah… s-sure.” Horizon mumbled, looking at Luna in exasperation. I’ve seen how these meetings go, Luna! Horizon thought to himself, his blood starting to boil in frustration. The ponies come, present their ideas, Celestia makes an adjustment on rare occasion and then signs them off! It’s not that hard! Just let us be in peace, won’t you? Please!
Celestia strode out of the hall with Luna in tow. The lunar princess shot frown back at Horizon before vanishing through the doorway. Now, Horizon sat alone, his heart racing with building frustration. He stood and began to make his own way out of the room, jittering slightly in his steps.
The doors on the other end of the room swung open and a pair of guards marched through, presumably to join the royal sisters at the meeting as the guards for that day's proceedings. One of them scowled at Horizon as he walked past, and noticing that Celestia was not nearby, the guard shoved Horizon down as he strode past. Horizon grunted on the impact and fell over to his side, a painful headache springing to life within his skull. He curled up on the ground and clutched at his head, groaning in discomfort.
“Why do the princesses let that murderer walk around so freely?” One of the guards asked the other, no small amount of contempt in his voice before they vanished into the next room, slamming the doors behind them. The sound echoed in Horizon’s mind, amplifying his headache to agonizing levels. Finally, though, after several minutes, the pain faded enough that he could focus his thoughts again.
He lay there, frozen. His mind rattled with confusion and frenzied emotions His breath slowly began to turn into a series of pained, ragged gasps. Finally, he stood, his legs trembling beneath him. With a shout of frustration, he pulled a flower pot off of it’s ceiling hook and smashed it into the stone floor with his magic, shattering it and sending soil and flower petals everywhere. His headache flared once more and he fled the scene, wanting to be alone right now.
Luna gasped as she returned to awareness within Horizon’s mind. He looked down at her blankly, the memory still fresh in both of their minds. “...You saw all of that as I lived it. Tell me… were you justified in pulling her along for such things? Were you justified in letting one of your subjects be forced to endure to such treatment from your guards? Do you think that you were in the right?”
Luna gulped and glared at him, though she couldn’t meet his eyes. “Of course not! ...My jealousy for my sister in every way was growing, then, and I did many things I have come to regret deeply! You weren’t the only one to suffer because of me! But you can’t honestly believe you are justified in your actions, can you?” Luna looked back at him and snarled.
“Let me tell you a little secret, Luna.” horizon said before pulling his claws from her gut in such a way that he pulled her intestines with them. “I stopped caring. The day I reached the edge of Equestria and became the first fiend, I decided that I didn’t care anymore. Justified or not, it makes no difference to me. I have my goal, and I am going to make sure you suffer greatly along the way.” He leaned in close to her, his eyes boring into hers. “Just like you did to me.”
Luna twitched faintly before Horizon dropped her innards and backed away. With a scoff, he turned and began to walk away.
“Now, get out of my head.”
Luna awoke with a start in the waking world, gasping for breath and covered in a thick layer of cold sweat. Her head was pounding with intense pain and her heart beat in a flurry of confusion and leftover, instinctual panic.Touching a forehoof to her head to calm her nerves, she checked a clock and nodded. Time for sunrise.
With a grimace, she set to work in lowering the moon and bringing the sun back up. The light was welcoming for her as it gradually peaked out from behind the distant mountains, though it was now slightly dimmer than it was at sunset yesterday. With a nudge to put it into its motion until it was time for night, Luna turned and tiredly began to make her way for her bed. She had been awake for far too long and she could really use the rest.
As she slipped into bed, she thought on the information she had managed to rip out of Horizon’s mind, scouring it for his base of operations. A half smile formed as she pinned down his location to be Mount Eclipse. It was an isolated colossus of a mountain peak that rested well beyond the Crystal Empire to the north. It’s name was derived from the fact that, for a small valley inhabited by a settlement of the old unicorn tribe, the sunrise would be concealed behind this mountain until almost midday. It made sense that he made that his base of operations; hard to reach and even harder to navigate around once reached. The scattered images of his hideout interior made it clear that it was formed to be akin to a maze inside.
Then a furious knocking came to her door, drawing an agitated groan out of the weary princess. She looked at the door with a glare before throwing it open with her magic. “Speak.” she said bluntly to the thestral who had so rudely interrupted her preparations for sleep.
He swiftly dropped into a very low bow. “A th-thousand pardons, your majesty, but I bring troubling news from the Solar Plaza!”
Luna raised an eyebrow. The Solar Plaza was the name they had given to the plaza in which Celestia was buried, renaming it after the funeral. “You have my attention. What is it, soldier?” she asked, slowly sitting up in her bed.
“It’s your s-sister’s grave, your highness. Something s-seems to h-have, uh…” the soldier shifted uncomfortably, trying to figure out how to word it in a way that would save him from Luna’s anger.
“Spit it out already!” Luna snapped, too tired to have any patience left.
The guard yipped and Ducked down into his bow like it were a hiding place. He stuttered for a long moment before responding in an uneasy voice. “Something has desecrated her grave, your majesty! It was dug up and bones are missing!”
Luna went silent, her eyes going wide. She slowly stood from the bed and walked until she loomed over the guard. Shadows were licking into her eyes from their corners. When she spoke, the guard was almost sure her anger alone could kill him with no effort at all, were raw emotions able to do such things.
“Show me.” Luna whispered coldly.
