//------------------------------// // Chapter 2 - Retribution // Story: [Misplaced] // by awesomesauce4 //------------------------------// Eventually, you decide to get going. You’ve also been eyeing a roll of blank parchment and a pencil that were left on the table – maybe you could start drawing out a map of where you’ve been? Just to keep track. You get the feeling that the size of this place means you’re going to be walking a lot. [ITEM: Parchment] [Useful for writing, drawing, and origami.] [ITEM: Pencil] [Roughly as mighty as the sword. Give or take.] You exit the warm, comfortable Isolation Lab after a moment of scribbling, a clumsily drawn map guiding your path. Approaching the fork in the road you encountered earlier, you keep going, now taking the path to the left into the unknown rest of the prison. Your backpack, weighed down though it is, gives you a sense of confidence with all the useful materials you have gathered. The path is long, and the crystalline bridge is just as narrow as before, which makes you more than a little nervous. Up ahead appears to be another spire, the one with the cage that you saw earlier. You think you can make out a twinkle of blue inside the cage, but it’s hard to spot. You’ve been updating your map as you go, although it’s mostly just a long line at this point. You might have to redraw to fit the new scale of the map. Finally, after what feels like forever, you reach the second purple, crystalline spire in this strangely vast cavern. A sign is present at this one too, and you examine it closely. “0061 – NIGHTMARE MOON” A copy of the document you picked up before is posted below it, as well as some additional documentation. “To all researchers, It seems Nightmare Moon has lately taken to copying the blue attacks used by the Lunar E.U.P. Guard. As most of you will remember from basic training, blue attacks can be avoided merely by standing still. Now that I’ve reminded you of this, there will be no more excuses regarding getting injured by her while on duty. Are we clear? -Dr. Shield Array Head Researcher”  So this is ‘Nightmare Moon,’ huh? You suppose you could go up and ask her where you are. And maybe who you are. Among other things. You sigh, and begin making your way up the ridiculously long and winding staircase to her cage. Huffing and puffing, you make it to the top, and get your first up-close look at the cage, and the being inside it. She’s laying down, but you get the feeling she would be quite tall if she stood, perhaps just a bit shorter than you are. Her coat is such a dark black color that you can’t quite look at it properly, almost as if your brain is refusing to believe that there is simply a black patch of void where part of the world should be. She’s wearing a set of icy blue armor, consisting of a pristine, smooth war helmet, four intricately-designed horseshoes that extend nearly halfway up her leg, and a strange, necklace-like thing that doubles as a torso plate, into which a cold, white crescent moon is inscribed. She has black, feathery wings, like a bird, though they’re hard to make out against her inky black body. A long, spiraling horn juts straight out of her forehead, tapering to a lethal tip. Upon her flanks are tattoos of what appears to be the same crescent moon, this time a brighter white, on a background of what appears to be a purple splotch of paint. Had someone been painting her? You briefly check the documentation. The pictures on her flanks match the description of the “Cutie Mark” attributed to her – perhaps this is the prison’s way of keeping track of their prisoners, as some form of identification? How odd. “Hello?” you call out. She appears to ignore you – maybe she can’t understand your language? Cerberus kind of could, maybe. It was hard to tell, as he only barked. You approach closer. “Hello? Um… ‘Nightmare Moon?’” you try again. She lazily swivels her head over from her resting position to gaze at you, only for her eyes to widen as she takes in your appearance. “Thou art not a Guard,” she remarks, somehow sounding intrigued and aloof at the same time. Her voice is husky and mature, and slightly raw - it doesn't sound like she's spoken in quite a while. “No… at least, I don’t think so…” you murmur in reply. “What are you?” you ask politely. She looks at you incredulously. “What… How couldst thee not know what we art?” she asks disbelievingly. You shrug. “I… don’t remember much of anything,” you confess. “Have we met before? Because if so, I don’t recall.” She gazes at you a moment more, then snorts. “Very well. Mayhap introductions are in order,” she answers sarcastically, before slowly getting to her hooves, adopting a regal poise. “WE ART NIGHTMARE MOON, DESTROYER OF DREAMS, PRINCESS OF ETERNAL NIGHT, ARCH-NEMESIS OF THE DAY, AND THE ONE TRUE PRINCESS OF EQUESTRIA!” she bellows, the sheer force of her voice catching you off guard. “Or, at least… we were,” she mutters, laying down again. “If you’re a princess, why are you in a cage?” you point out. She glares at you. “Hadst thee any education, foal, thou couldst plainly see that this cage bars us not. Verily, we languish instead in captivity of the…” she trails off, looking in shock between you and the floor. You follow her gaze to find you’re standing directly on one of those letter things, and wonder why she's so shocked. “Th-thou art immune to the containment field…” she murmurs under her breath, and falls silent. You look back, and find that there are a few runes you have already crossed, which seem to be clustered around the entrance to the staircase. You hear a rustle of wings, and quickly turn back to find that Nightmare Moon has escaped her cage and is stalking toward you with a predatory leer. “When we take possession of thy soul, we canst escape and retake our glory,” she hisses, a demented grin coming to her face. “We will be loved. We will be respected. The Night will LAST FOREVER!” she howls, before leaping at you. [Nightmare Moon attacks!] [50/50] [FIGHT] [RUN] [DO NOTHING] [FLIRT] [SPARE] [ITEM] It appears you aren’t allowed to pet Nightmare Moon. That is unfortunate. >>[SPARE] “Maybe there’s another way out?” you timidly suggest. She begins her attack, her horn lighting up a cold blue as she summons a hailstorm of magical, glowing spheres to attack you with. At the same time, the white spheres appear on the bullet board, as well as the little pink heart that apparently represents you. You dodge the flurry of death as best you can, only to find that you can pass through the spheres unharmed. “What…?” Nightmare Moon murmurs, taken aback by your lack of dying. She narrows her eyes. “It seems thou art immune to more magicks than just runes,” she realizes, before smirking. “No matter – we shalt simply have to get creative.” Her ‘turn’ ends, and you dread what she has in store for you next. [Nightmare Moon is pondering how best to kill you.] [50/50] [FIGHT] [RUN] [DO NOTHING] [FLIRT] [SPARE] [ITEM] >>[SPARE] “Wouldn’t you need a living body to possess?” you point out. Nightmare Moon throws back her head and laughs, her cackling filling the chamber and echoing around you. “Foal! We canst take control of a corpse as easily as we may a living body!” Her attacks are shaped like blue, sparkling stars that twinkle in and out of existence everywhere on the bullet board, an almost beautiful effect. Instinctively, you reach out to touch one, and instantly regret it as a sharp pain burns your finger – these magical stars are cold. Like, liquid nitrogen cold. Which means they can actually hurt you. [Nightmare Moon has waited for a long time now.] [49/50] [FIGHT] [RUN] [DO NOTHING] [FLIRT] [SPARE] [ITEM] >>[SPARE] “Enough!” you cry out. “I’m not going to hurt you, and I might even be able to help you if you weren’t trying to kill me!” Nightmare Moon scoffs at this. “Whom in their right mind wouldst help us? Hast thou not noticed whom we art?” The attacks are white and star-shaped now, and rain down from above like shooting stars, forcing you to dodge left and right rapidly to keep from getting struck. [Nightmare Moon doesn’t trust you.] [41/50] [FIGHT] [RUN] [DO NOTHING] [FLIRT] [SPARE] [ITEM] >>[SPARE] Nightmare Moon glares at you furiously. “We art a villain! A demon that all shalt fear! That all shalt bow to!” she howls, enraged. Her horn glows brighter, and a shimmering white sphere pops into existence, larger than the rest. You realize it’s a tiny moon, orbiting above your head, and it’s beginning to glow with an eerie blue light. “Die,” she declares as the moon blasts a laser in your direction. It’s a direct hit, and white-hot agony pierces your torso. Stubbornly, you keep going, moving out of the beam as it dissipates to nothing. Nightmare Moon is panting slightly, still glaring at you. [Nightmare Moon is surprised you’re still alive.] [16/50] [FIGHT] [RUN] [DO NOTHING] [FLIRT] [SPARE] [ITEM] >>[SPARE] “You don’t… have… to be a demon…” you cough out, stumbling backward a bit as you fight to keep from falling over and passing out. You’re badly hurt, both physically and from that little heart thing. “You… can be… whatever you want…” She stops, seeing you so wounded and still trying to spare her. “And what if we want to be a demon?” she challenged, although a strange tone is in her voice. “But… why?” you ask. “Why would you want to be hated? Wouldn’t… a friend… be better? Less… painful?” She looks at you, but the glare has lessened, replaced with a sort of resigned curiosity. “And how? Wouldst thee be our friend, after the pain we have caused thee? Wouldst thee accept us back, after everything? Wouldst thee… still care?” she asks, her eyes slightly unfocused. You get the feeling she isn’t quite speaking to you. “I would,” you agree. She looks at you – not angrily, not curiously, but sadly. “…Go on, then. Thou may heal thine injuries, if thou canst.” She looks away, and you quickly dig out your backpack and pull out another pink crystal, dimming to a pale white as you feel better. You then wrap some bandages around your bleeding torso, tying them as tightly as you dare as Nightmare Moon watches with a detached interest. [Nightmare Moon has finally given up.] [50/50] [FIGHT] [RUN] [DO NOTHING] [FLIRT] [SPARE] [ITEM] “If thou art going to betray us… please. Do it quickly,” she murmurs. She looks away, and does not see you approach. >>[SPARE] You hug her neck tightly, and she emits a yelp of surprise as you hold her close. “It’s okay,” you whisper. “I’m not going to hurt you.” She seems unsure of how to react to this, and remains as still as a statue. “Even after all we did?” she murmurs, tears threatening to spill out of her eyes. “Even then,” you agree. Tentatively, uncertainly, she returns the hug, wrapping her long, slender forelimbs around you and hugging you seemingly as gently as she possibly can. “We… we apologize for hurting thee,” she hoarsely whispers, wings folding back to her sides in a submissive position. “It’s alright,” you laugh, relieved to have won. She breaks away from the hug first, looking at you uncertainly. “Prithee… doth thee carry a means of containing souls?” she asks. You take a moment to decipher her words. “…No? I don’t… think so…” you answer. Nightmare gazes at the ground, a glum expression on her face. “Pity,” she mutters, before returning her gaze to yours. “Hadst thee a vessel for our presence, thou couldst presumably step across our barrier, escorting us both to the world beyond. Unfortunately, it seemeth we shall remain here…” she sighed, glancing at one of the ‘runes’ etched into the stone floor. “Didn’t you say something about possessing my body?” you remind her. Nightmare Moon snorts and whinnies in annoyance. “Verily, what of it? Tis’ not as though thou shalt allow us into thy soul.” You raise an eyebrow. “Why not? It would get us both out of here, like you said,” you reply expectantly. Nightmare Moon gazes at you in open incredulity. “Creature. Dost thee knoweth what thou art suggesting?” You remain silent. “If we doth take thy soul and mortal body, thou wouldst lose control. We couldst simply cast thee out to be a spectre, less than the meanest ghost, and use thy body as we see fit,” she explains angrily, pacing the floor. You shrug. “I trust you not to,” you reply. Nightmare Moon pulls up short at this. “Thou trusteth us, knowing we couldst betray thee at any moment and thou wouldst have no recourse? Thou wouldst sacrifice thy freedom just for the sake of kindness?” she asks you, and you nod. “You don’t seem like you should be trapped down here. I… don’t think anyone should be trapped down here,” you explain. Nightmare Moon gazes into your eyes, and you blink once before she lowers her horn. It alights with blue energy, and you nervously stand still, but before she can complete whatever she is about to do, she stops, her horn shutting off. “…Art thee sure?” she asks softly. You nod one more time, resolute. “I believe in you,” you remind her. Nightmare Moon swallows nervously, and resumes. A jet of cyan light shoots towards you, linking the pair of you. Nightmare’s black form turns blue and starry, following the jet of light into your head… and you suddenly go completely numb, your body collapsing to the floor. A second later, you get up, even though you didn’t move your body to do so. We control thy muscles now, Nightmare’s voice speaks in your head. She stumbles around for a bit, evidently unused to walking on two legs, and makes her way towards the exit. Along the way, her/your foot steps on a rune, and she draws back with a sharp mental gasp, only to tentatively place her foot on it again a minute later – she evidently feels as little pain as you do when touching those now. More confidently, she makes it across the cluster of runes guarding the entrance to the spiral staircase. You watch through your own eyes in an oddly detached manner, viewing your reflection in the stone. Your hair’s turned a deep blue color, and your skin is as black as her coat was. Watch out for the stairs, you warn. They were hard enough on you, and you were used to this body. Nightmare very carefully goes down the stairs, reaching the first landing step before collapsing to her/your knees, exhausted from exertion. Do you want to unfuse? We’ve made it past your prison, you offer. Eager to escape our control? She asks sadly. No, I just think you’d have an easier time with these stairs if you had hooves again, you point out. Nightmare can apparently sense your intentions, as she does not make any more distrustful remarks. Instead, there’s a tingling, sucking feeling at the tip of your forehead as a starry mist seeps out, collecting into a cloud of blue, twinkling vapor. Once all of the strange magical vapor has left you, it coalesces into Nightmare Moon’s original body, and she collapses to the floor. “Are you okay?” you ask, hurrying to her side. “Even without the toils of a new body, we art fatigued. We hath not eaten or slept for three years,” she mutters. You gaze at her, shocked by how bluntly she spoke those words. “Th-three years?! Hold on, I might have something for you,” you remember. You pull out your medical kit, and take out a pink crystal – the last one in the box, as the rest have all been drained. “Will this help?” you ask, holding it out. Nightmare Moon gazes at it hungrily, but looks into your medkit. “That is thy last healing crystal,” she notices. “Doth thee not wish to save it for thyself, shouldst more prisoners attack thee?” You shake your head. “I’m getting us both out of here,” you remind her. “The better shape you’re in, the easier time we’ll have of that.” She gives you a small smile, the first one you’ve seen from her that wasn’t an evil laugh. “Such loyalty…” she murmurs. “Didst thee know we embodied Loyalty, a very long time ago?” You raise an eyebrow at her, and she looks away as the two of you continue walking down the stairs. “Among other things… we were one half of the Elements of Harmony. Six extremely powerful magical artifacts which couldst defeat anything. We hadst possession of Loyalty, Laughter, and Honesty,” she muttered. “The others are Kindness, Generosity, and… Magic.” You wonder why six of the most powerful artifacts in this place would have such… abstract names. “Who had the last three?” you ask curiously. A former friend or partner or hers, maybe? Nightmare Moon sighs and looks away as the two of you reach the bottom of the staircase. “Verily, to answer that, we must tell thee our full story. Tis’ quite long, and doth not have a happy ending. Dost thee wish to hear the tale?” she asks, and you immediately nod. The more information you have about this world, the better. “Long ago, we lived with our sister in the world above. We two were both alicorns, unique among ponykind for our possession of the wings of a pegasus, the horn of a unicorn, and the strength of an earth pony. The world was a chaotic and uncertain place back then, but we two were inseparable. We rose to power, discovered our aspects. We embodied the night, and the moon, and all who dreamed under its glow, while our sister embodied the sun, and the day, and all whose hopes saw its light. We acquired the Elements of Harmony, and defeated Discord, the master of chaos and the plight of the land, among many others. We became Princesses of the new kingdom – Equestria, land of ponies.” “But as the two of us ruled on, we began to notice that we were less loved than our sister. Ponies embraced her day and all it shined down on, while they shunned our beautiful nights in favor of slumber. They took to dwelling in closed-off homes, unable to even see our moon – afraid of the monsters that might lurk outside our borders. How we tried to reassure them that there were none! For we had slain them all. In that time, we were still Princess Luna, still a devoted, loyal, happy little sister.” “Things grew worse and worse for us. Nobles wouldst shun us to speak to our ‘less reclusive’ and ‘more diplomatic’ sister Celestia. Citizens wouldst avoid us outright, hiding their foals whenever we passed. Rumors spread wildly – that we ate ponies, that Celestia kept us locked up for our safety, that we were a monster!” Nightmare exclaims, heaving and panting with rage. You put a hand on her neck and begin rubbing it, and she looks at you, startled for a moment before remembering herself. Her hackles slowly lower, and she makes an effort to calm herself. “We told Celestia of these things, but she dismissed it all as naught more than foalish fantasies. She told us that our problems weren’t real, that they were all in our head, that we needed to stop focusing on the negatives and think of positives. Meanwhile, the ponies in the streets did call for our abdication.” “Finally, we had had enough. We confronted our sister, demanding justice for our mistreatment. She refused, and we… lost control. Our fury, our bitterness, our loneliness consumed us… creating Nightmare Moon for the first time.” “Our sister, frightened by our transformation, sought to use the Elements of Harmony on us. Our own Laughter, Loyalty, and Honesty banished us to the moon, in our sister’s final, desperate attempt to save the innocents from our wrath. There we stayed, for a thousand years, trapped on that lonely, desolate rock we had once moved with but a thought.” “After the thousand years had passed, we hadst regained enough strength to escape back to our home world. We incapacitated Celestia, lowered the Sun, and brought about eternal Night, just as we wanted.” She appeared unable to go on for a second, and you rub her neck comfortingly again. She sighs. “What happened next?” you query, knowing the story wasn’t over. Nightmare snorts angrily. “A mare, a ‘Twilight Sparkle,’ sought to defeat us. She was Celestia’s protégé, more concerned with books and knowledge than magical combat. We thought her naught more than amusement, and allowed her approach, together with five ponies she had just met. To our surprise, they quickly bonded, and bonded so well that the Elements of Harmony took new bearers for the first time in a millennia – and the sixth, Magic, at last took a physical form. With power far beyond her mortal comprehension, Twilight Sparkle overpowered us not with cunning, but with sheer magical force. The Elements of Harmony wouldst grant her deepest wish if it meant protecting her friends, and we braced for the worst.” “But Twilight Sparkle didst not wish to send us back to the moon, or kill us outright, oh no. She merely wanted to eliminate the part of us that wanted to hurt others, to seek revenge, from the part that did not. And thus, Princess Luna was reborn! Given new form, a fresh start, everything she hadst ever dreamed of. But we were not so fortunate.” “We were the part left behind. The part that hated, sought revenge, the part that Luna was most ashamed of. Our half of her soul was split, cast off from the physical being, less than nothing. All we were then and all we are now is raw magic.” “Our own physical self, disgusted by our visage and continued existence, ordered us captured and brought here, to live out eternity in isolation. And here we hath stayed, for three years, with few to speak to and even fewer to converse with.” You stare at her, horrified. “You were betrayed… by yourself?” you ask, shocked. Nightmare Moon shrugs. “Wouldst thee not do the same? Seeing a mirror of thyself, all the worst parts reflected, wouldst thee not cast it away out of shame and self-loathing? We doth not blame our other self for it, far from it.” “But…” you trail off, trying to think of something comforting to say. “But you’re… you. You’re a separate person… being. Doesn’t that mean you have rights?” Nightmare Moon snorts with laughter. “A separate creature indeed. We art not as separated from our ‘good’ half as thou may believeth. Even the Elements of Harmony couldst not split a soul in twain entirely, nay. Twould’st require too much energy. Instead, we art linked by a curious magical bond, perhaps unique in nature. Any thing Princess Luna doth hate most about herself, becomes incorporated into ourself, and the same is true for us. For example, we once spake normally, having stolen the knowledge of a modern lexicon from yon ponies above. But it seems Luna has grown to hate her olden-tongued grammar, and thus… we no longer possesseth the ability,” the alicorn sadly murmurs. “We hath no rights, for we art naught more than a reflection of all the worst Luna has to offer. Nopony loves us enough to grant us mercy.” You stop short, a sharp tap of your feet on the crystalline path causing Nightmare Moon to stop as well. “That’s not true,” you insist. “You granted me mercy. There has to be some good in you, even if you don’t see it.” Nightmare Moon sighed. “Must there? Or, perhaps, didst we spare thee because thou remindeth us of what we once were?” she asked rhetorically. You fall silent. “…Forget we said anything. Anon, there is a path to the surface ahead,” she mutters, trotting off into the gloom. You stare after her for a moment, then follow, wondering about her. To your surprise, you find her a moment later, laying down on the path and whimpering. “What happened? Are you okay?!” you ask, shocked at such a drastic change. “T-thou finally c-came…” she hiccups, shivering slightly. “What… what do you mean? You were only out of my sight for a few seconds,” you worry. “Time doth not follow rules here, nor space. A few seconds for one couldst be a few hours for another,” she explains, slowly getting back to her hooves. “What happened while I was gone?” you ask, helping her up. “The path ahead… is a trap. A magical loop, designed to counter escapes such as ours. And we cannot break the spell… we thought ourselves free, but we hath only expanded our prison,” Nightmare Moon laments. You think hard. “This trap, it’s completely magical. Right?” You ask. She nods uncertainly. “And I’m immune to magic somehow… meaning I can pass through. Right?” you continue. She begins to catch on. “And if we taketh control of thee once more, we may pass through!” she exclaims excitedly, already turning into blue vapor. “Right!” you laugh, holding out a hand. The vapor reaches out to touch it, and you once again slump to the floor as all your muscles are overridden at once. Nightmare Moon makes you get to your feet, walking unsteadily forward as she looks around nervously for something. Nothing so far, you comment mentally. The trap hath not been sprung, Nightmare Moon retorts. She closes your eyes and sprints forward, bracing for the worst… When your eyes are opened, nothing seems to have changed. Looking back, you’ve definitely advanced forward down the path. Up ahead, the wall of the titanic cave looms, a single entrance carved into it at the end of the path. It… it worked! We cannot believe it worked! Nightmare Moon cheered, your eyes glowing blue as she exits your body. “Of course it worked,” you reply, though inwardly you are just as relieved as she to have passed whatever trap had ensnared her. To your surprise, she encases you in an extremely warm and fuzzy hug, rubbing her nose across your forehead… ‘nuzzling’ you. “Thou art a good friend,” she whispers, and you blush slightly. “No problem,” you softly reply. She appears to return to her senses, and steps back hastily, a blue tinge to her cheeks as she grins guiltily at you, showing off a number of sharp fangs. “Er… perhaps we may progress?” she notes, extending a wing for you to get up. You grab it gently, unsure how much weight it can pull, and are greatly surprised when it pulls you all the way up with little effort – the muscles in those wings of hers must be immensely strong. The two of you walk into the alcove in the side of the pit, wondering what the future will bring. “What will you do, when you reach the surface?” you ask, as Nightmare Moon kicks at a rock. It skitters down the tunnel into the darkness, and you’re briefly glad that Nightmare Moon’s hair glows such a vivid blue, allowing you to see. “Verily? We hath never considered it,” Nightmare Moon answered with a small laugh. “You wouldn’t… try to take over again, would you?” you wonder sadly. Nightmare sighs. “Nay… we are both well aware of the likely result of that. Mayhap, instead, we wouldst go… somewhere quiet. Out of the way. Where nopony wouldst bother us, and we wouldst bother nopony… except maybe thee?” she asks hopefully. You consider this. “Well, it’s not like I have anywhere else to go… sure, I’ll come with you!” you answer. To be honest, you were dreading having to go and find your way out in a world where you remember nothing, and having someone to help you takes quite a bit of weight off your shoulders. Nightmare Moon, too, looks greatly relieved. “O-oh! Verily, we art glad thou shalt join us!” she stammers, giving you a bashful grin. At the end of the tunnel, the path forks off into two separate ways: One leading up, the other leading down. “This way, friend. The tunnel into Canterlot doth begin here,” Nightmare Moon directed, heading towards the left, upward-sloping path. You obediently follow, curious about where the other path went. The two of you go up what seems like an endless series of spiraling stairs, and by the time you reach the top, you’re completely winded. You flop to the floor after climbing for hours, while Nightmare Moon examines the gigantic door in front of the pair of you. It looks ancient, rusted over in some places and merely darkened in others. The door is made of solid steel, and appears to be very thick, perhaps even a foot deep of metal. It must weigh a few tons, and looks impossible to move by sheer force. Six symbols are carved into the metal frame, though you don’t recognize any of them. “How… do we get past… this…?” you ask, slowly regaining your breath. “Verily, we art unsure… the Guards opened this door, the first time we entered. It may be that only they knoweth the spell required,” Nightmare Moon muses. “Could you… slip through… and open it from the other side?” you wheeze, and Nightmare looks over. “Art thee alright?” she asks in bemused concern. “Humans… not made… for so many… stairs,” you get out, and Nightmare Moon raises an eyebrow. “Prithee, t’was barely a trek. Thou shalt need much more strength in thee if we art to escape Canterlot,” she chastises. “Sorry…” you pant, finally managing to regain a sitting position. “…Tis’ alright. Thou art clearly of different make than the species we art used to… perhaps thy life was that of nobility, and thou had little cause for exercise?” Nightmare Moon wonders. You frown in thought. That doesn’t sound right… but then again, what would you know about it? You can’t remember anything. “Maybe…” you mutter. You take a moment to rest while Nightmare Moon paces around the door, poking and prodding at it and muttering to herself. What have you gotten yourself into? You’ve made friends with some kind of… magic demon-alicorn thing, and the two of you are escaping a prison together. Does this make you a felon? Are you really doing the right thing by letting her go? It’s hard to tell. You pull over your backpack from across the dusty, dry cavern floor, pulling out your roll of parchment and carefully drawing out an updated map. By the time you’re done, Nightmare has taken a seat across from you, watching you draw with a curious expression on her face. “Wherefore art thee scribing?” she asks curiously. “It’s a map,” you explain, showing her your scribbles. Nightmare Moon picks it up with your magic, a gentle tug lifting it from your grasp as she inspects it, rotating it every which way. “Well… thou art no cartographer,” she snorts. “Even so, tis’ readable enough… Thou encountered Cerberus?” she asks, and you nod. “He was cute,” you note, smiling. Nightmare Moon rolls her eyes. “He is the lone Warden of Tartarus, and hath been so for many, many centuries. Verily, he is quite up to the task – a single blow from one of his paws is known to crush entire bodies.” You swallow nervously. “Good thing I made friends with him,” you mutter. “So… have you figured out a way to get through that door?” you ask, glancing over at the rusted gateway to the world above. “Nay,” Nightmare Moon sighs. “It doth possesseth some spell blocking our egress. We shalt have to find another path,” she explains. “Oh… Is there another exit out of Tartarus?” you wonder. “We once overheard a conversation from a Guard that was quickly hushed by her superior,” Nightmare Moon reminisces. “Something about an ‘emergency elevator’ located deeper in the Pit, able to move all the way to the surface if necessary. If we art correct, this door was sealed from the outside, and therefore the ‘elevator’ shouldst still function.” You look at her worriedly. “So, in order to escape, we need to go deeper…” you mutter, glancing back at the passage. “Fear not, friend. Thou hath us by thy side,” Nightmare Moon promises. Only slightly relieved, you follow her back through the tunnel, leaving the blocked-off exit behind. Nightmare Moon takes the path the two of you ignored the last time, a spiraling set of stairs leading downward into the gloom. You cautiously follow, wondering if anything will jump out at you from the darkness. A pebble, seemingly attached to the ceiling, falls and bounces down the steps, the sounds like thunder to you as you jump. “Afraid?” Nightmare Moon notices, seemingly amused. Embarrassed, you look away, and she chuckles, a dark, throaty laugh that you think would otherwise preclude a full-on evil cackle. “Were thee anywhere else, we might call that cowardice. Here… that is called ‘common sense,’” she wickedly adds, before continuing on. The tunnel stops spiraling at a lone, white door, a golden grille set into the floor just in front of it and a panel with buttons on its side. Nightmare Moon, upon seeing it, sticks out her tongue. “White and gold… our sister’s calling card. Verily, she hath no taste.” Surprised, you chortle at her disgust. “Would a better color scheme be black and blue?” you joke, intentionally picking her colors. Nightmare Moon raises her head regally. “T’would fit the atmosphere! Tartarus is a prison, not a palace. Tis’ not meant to be warm and inviting.” You reach out and press the ‘up’ button on the panel, only to find that it doesn’t appear to be working. “Tis’ disabled,” Nightmare Moon notes, examining it. “Verily, no spell enchanteth this pressing disk. The other, however, doth function normally.” Reluctantly, you return to the original plan, pressing the ‘down’ button. It instantly lights up yellow, and you can hear the hum of a slowly approaching elevator. A while later, the button gives out a loud ding, the sound echoing harshly through the tunnel, and the doors slide open. It’s easily the fanciest elevator you’ve ever seen – red velvet carpet, a golden, engraved design on the other side of the doors, and a golden lever on the opposite side. The walls are paneled and beige in color, with a single, massive glass window set into the right wall. Through it, you can see a harsh, white bar-shaped spotlight, with a metal sign below reading “Level 00 – Isolation” in big, block letters. “Isolation…” you murmur. At least you have a title for the map you’ve been writing now. Nightmare Moon’s nose wrinkled in deepest disgust the moment the doors open, and she takes a seat on the plush carpet. “This must be her elevator,” she mutters. “Nopony else wouldst have chosen such awful, clashing colors.” Amused, you pull away from the window and try to find the panel by the side of the elevator that normally demarks what floors you can visit. “If thee art attempting to activate it, thou mayest notice the giant lever opposite thee,” Nightmare Moon calls over sarcastically. Embarrassed, you immediately move over to the lever. “I thought there were multiple floors to visit,” you mutter. “Multiple floors? Such technology is far too modern for this place,” Nightmare Moon scoffs. “Dost thee hath an idea of the complex magicks required to stop and start an elevator at multiple, separate, addressable points?” An image of the panel you were looking for flashes in your mind, separate floors marked by translucent, plastic buttons that occasionally failed to light up. “…I guess not,” you answer, pulling the lever and taking a seat. The elevator shudders and begins to slowly move downward. More of those spotlights move up past your vision beyond the window, indicating the speed of your movement. You close your eyes, taking another moment to rest. This place isn’t quite as comfy as the lab was, but the floor is nice and it’s warm, at least.