"Are you certain that this is a good idea Luna?"
"The other choice is to pursue the slow restoration of your memories. A nightmare like this must have some kind of leads for us to use," Luna declared as she and a nervous Sapphire were standing in front of Sapphire's nightmare, right between the three raging infernos. Though, it wasn't a perfect recollection, since the voices that Sapphire heard weren't shouting at her as they did when she originally had the nightmare. Even the infernos weren't growing in size, though they did trap them in the middle regardless.
"I don't know... could this b—" Sapphire started to say before Luna moved her head to be in front of Sapphire, causing her mouth to shut itself.
"Which princess is the guardian of the dream realm?" Luna asked with a neutral look.
"You are?" Sapphire replied, rearing her head back as she felt like she might have hit a nerve.
"So who would be the pony most qualified to know the nature of nightmares?"
"That would be you..." Sapphire answered, to which Luna pulled her head back with a smug smile on her muzzle.
"It is good to hear you acknowledge that. Now, let us search this nightmare of yours for any potential answers. Remember, if you think you can link any parts of this nightmare to any of your memories, it could bring some light to this mystery that is around us," Luna explained before taking a look at the purple inferno.
"A memory that would be linked to this?" Sapphire mumbled to herself as she turned her attention towards the red inferno. Sitting on her haunches, Sapphire scratched her chin as she asked, "Would that time about me asking about the sky turning green be relevant?" Getting nothing, even when she concentrated on the memory, Sapphire stated, "Well that was a bust... but what else..." before her words drifted off, as she thought about the fact that this nightmare came to her out of nowhere. Maybe a memory that had the same property would be linked to this.
It was then that Sapphire remembered the odd memory she had when she fainted on Silver's cruise ship, particularly the memory of the unknown phrase. Standing up, Sapphire braced herself as she focused on that word as she said, "Vicium Mehemii?" Staring at the red inferno, Sapphire tilted her head until she heard a roar from the green inferno behind her. Turning her head around, she saw that the inferno had turned into a flaming vortex, with a greenish portal at its center where a thin clawed arm, its skin being an ever-shifting mix of green and black, reached out and grabbed onto Sapphire's leg.
Eyes widening in horror, Sapphire looked at Luna, who was charging a spell while baring a surprised expression. However, before Luna could finish the spell, Sapphire felt herself being yanked by the arm with such force that it tore Sapphire from whatever grip she had on the ground before it pulled her into the portal. "Sapphire!" Luna cried out as she jumped through the flames of the vortex, following Sapphire down the portal as she finished her spell, firing it at the arm only for a mirror to appear before the spell, deflecting it.
While seeing Luna closing her wings around her to pull into a dive that shattered through the mirror, Sapphire saw more mirrors appear between her and Luna. All the while, Sapphire was flapping her wings while pounding her hooves on the claw as she saw that the portal lead to a spinning corridor of intermixing green and black. As Luna was crashing through more and more mirrors that served to slow her down, Sapphire shifted her hooves to pulling the claw. She was met with limited success as she was pulling one of the claws off, only for the arm to stop pulling her as it simply threw her down, where she saw a bright white portal at the end of the corridor that ended up engulfing her.
"Sapphire, as we all saw, you have more magical potential than anypony we saw before," said a male voice as Sapphire looked around in pitch darkness.
"What... who are you?" Sapphire asked before the darkness faded away, revealing a lightly lit cave. There, she saw what looked to be a seven or eight-year-old filly version of herself, who was sniffling as she ran a hoof over her nose. Sapphire's eyes widened at the sight of the drying trails of tears beneath the filly's eyes, showing that she was sobbing recently. Before the filly was a crimson-coated stallion wearing his cloak as he gave the filly an expression that was showing his steely resolve as he was talking to the filly. However, Sapphire could see in his violent eyes that sorrow had gripped the stallion as well, showing to Sapphire that she and the unicorn were mourning over something.
"Henceforth, if you choose this path, Steel Coat, Rift Wind, and I will begin to train you so we can truly figure out the limits of this magic you bare. I know this is much to ask for since you are a child still. Yet... you saw what you did back there. A magical surge that was enough to flood the entire area..." the crimson unicorn stated as the filly continued to sniffle, some tears still leaking out of her eyes as the adult Sapphire watched, wondering what caused this event to occur.
Suddenly, Sapphire heard the beating of wings, drawing her attention to her right where she saw Princess Luna appearing from a white gateway. "Sapphire, there you are! I feared that th—" Luna started to cry out only to be silenced when Sapphire held her hoof up for it, before pointing at the memory playing itself out.
"Do understand, that if you accept this path, no longer will you be a filly. You will be an adult, and it will be your task to train at all possible hours. There will be no more fun or games for you... though I think that part is already a given after what happened..." the stallion stated.
Her eyes widening in surprise, Luna looked down at the real Sapphire as she asked, "What is going on?"
"I... I don't know... but it seems that the unicorn from my first alicorn memory... is trying to have me trained to do something..." Sapphire mildly answered as she kept her eyes on the scene before her.
"Sapphire, I know I appear harsh to ask you of this so soon after... your parents' death..." the unicorn stated, causing Luna to gasp in surprise as Sapphire's pupils shrunk at the revelation. "But... there are still more ponies that need help. Ponies that are unable to defend themselves, yet you have the power to safeguard them. You have a choice, but I beseech you, you were born this way for a reason, and now we see why you're so special."
"Sapphire.. are you..." Luna started to say as she shifted her attention onto the adult Sapphire, only to be taken aback at the sight of Sapphire's horror plastered onto her face.
"With that being said, what do you say Sapphire?" the stallion asked, looking down quietly at the grief-stricken filly.
"Sapphire... we should leave this memory... we have se—" Luna started to say, only to be interrupted by the filly Sapphire finally breaking her silence.
"I... I want to fight... Uncle Runic... so that no pony will..." the younger Sapphire started to say before falling silent, her sorrow almost bringing her to tears again,
Nodding in acknowledgment, Runic stepped over to the filly, sitting beside her as he wrapped a hoof around her shoulders. "Sapphire... it is okay if you need to cry more, no pony will fault you for that. Take the time you need to mourn. Once you are finally ready, we will begin with your training," Runic declared, causing the filly to nod before bawling out, turning around to wrap her hooves around his waist. Sighing in sympathy, Runic returned the embrace, only for the memory to fade away. However, before it fully faded, the adult Sapphire heard Runic mumble, "Sapphire... you will have your vengeance..."
With those last words, the memory faded away as a saddened Luna looked at where the two memory figments once were before turning her attention to her fellow alicorn. "Sapphire... that mem—"
"Luna... I need to be alone... I don't want to remember anything else," Sapphire stated, her head lowered as she stared at the ground, her form shivering from the memory she witnessed.
Reaching out with a hoof to comfort her, Luna then hesitated, torn between comforting Sapphire or honoring her wish, before pulling back as she decided to do the latter. "Very well... Sapphire. I will leave you to mourn if you so need to, and I will ensure that no nightmare will torment you tonight," Luna finally declared before lighting her horn up, her form fading away from the empty world until all that was left was Sapphire. Finally alone, Sapphire covered her face with her forelegs as she laid on the floor, her sorrow taking her as she cried at her forgotten loss of her parents.
"Auntie? Are you with us again?" Cadance asked as she saw the white tendril of light that came from Luna's horn attached to Sapphire own horn snapp before fading away, as the pair were standing in Sapphire's room as the owner of the room remained in her slumber.
Opening her eyes, Luna let out a deeply held breath as she looked at the slumbering form that was Sapphire, her muzzle frowning as she watched Sapphire start to shiver quite a bit. To one, it may appear that Sapphire is cold, but to the lunar princess, she knew otherwise. "The... search of the nightmare has born us some fruit about Sapphire's past. There are still... many things we need to learn, but there are new facts that have come to light," Luna answered.
"What... what are they?" Cadance asked as she looked at Sapphire in concern, able to tell that something had deeply disturbed the mare. She, however, knew that Luna wouldn't have left her in a nightmare, making her wonder just what was tormenting Sapphire.
"Dear niece, we have learned three important things today. We have learned the name of at least one of the ponies that might have significant connections to Sapphire, maybe more if Sapphire herself heard them before I was able to witness the memory. Furthermore... we learned that Sapphire had... lost her parents when she was just a filly," Luna declared, causing Cadance to gasp in horror as her forehooves covered her mouth.
"Are... are you certain that she lost her parents?" Cadance asked, though by looking at Sapphire's face, she could see that it was bearing a sorrowful expression.
"Yes... the memory was quite clear about their demise... but there is more," Luna stated as she started to walk to the window of Sapphire's room, the one that was facing the castle gardens.
"More? What do you mean?" Cadance asked as she wondered what other horrifying memory that Sapphire could have relived.
"We learned that she was offered the chance to train, to fight the thing that claimed her parents' lives. We also saw that she seemed to have great magical potential at a young age, though I'm highly doubtful since it could just be caused by her unstable emotional state which was brought about by the deaths of her parents. Lastly, Sapphire might have been raised with a mission of vengeance in her heart, but we do not know who she desires to direct her vengeance against," Luna answered as she reached Sapphire's window, where she looked at the castle gardens. In particular, she was looking at the statue of an old foe, one that held a joyish expression in his imprisoned state.
Discord, pray tell that the suffering that Sapphire had been through was not by thy own hooves, or there will be a reckoning, Luna idly thought. She then had one more thought cross her mind, that caused her doubt on Discord being involved. This idea came to light at least one final realization. If Discord did had a hoof in this matter and that Sapphire vowed vengeance against him, then this would mean she appeared far older than she looked right now. There was also a second potential outcome, to which Luna thought, But if it wasn't Discord... what evil is there in Equestria that my sister and I haven't found but yet claimed the lives of Sapphire's parents?