//------------------------------//
// Chapter Ten, Part Two: Lessons Were Learned 
// Story: Jumping In At The Deep End 
// by Anotherrandom 
//------------------------------//

The Castle of the Two Sisters was a quiet place. Silence fell upon the ancient building like a shroud. Not the serene kind of silence. A stifling silence, crushing every happy thought. It was silence that felt wrong. Castles shouldn't be silent, castles were supposed to be filled with people. Workers going about their day. Artisans practicing their craft or mighty knights in shining armor training for battle. 

Life is loud. Full of movement and change. The heart beats, the blood flows. All making their sounds, every living being a walking concert. 

To be alive is to make noise.

The castle was silent. Filled with crumbling stone archways, decaying furniture and shattered memories. Nothing alive was left here. Only the jumper.

And Her. 

Nightmare Moon entered. A magical mist floated through the empty hall, gaining shape until her imposing figure formed. Not noticing the jumper, she slowly walked the halls, gently touching a tattered tapestry - its image of two alicorns circling sun and moon now barely recognizable. The flow of time had drained the color out of the tapestry's threads until both alicorn sisters looked the same, their stark differences lost to age. Nightmare Moon was scowling, but her eyes betrayed more emotions than just anger.

This used to be a home.

"Hello, Luna."

The alicorn turned, wings spread open, horn alight. Ready to answer any challenge.

"WHO DARES TO-"

A unicorn filly met her gaze. Green dress folding down, dirty and torn, revealing steel beneath it. There was a calm, collected look on the tiny pony's face. 

"It's dangerous out here, foal," Nightmare spat. 

Anon chuckled, on a hair trigger despite her apparent calm. "I'm well aware."

The jumper didn't make the first move, simply watching the much larger alicorn from a distance, evaluating and planning. Pale moonlight showered the gray stone, the ruins sticking out of the forest like the bones of a forgotten corpse, left to rot. Roofs collapsed inside, revealing the ribcage of pillars and holding beams. 

The sky dark above them, the full moon claiming the sun's domain for itself. 

Nightmare raised a brow, wings folding on her back. If this was an assassination attempt, it was certainly the most absurd one she had ever seen. "Why are you here?" she asked. But the real question remained unspoken.

Faint light lit the hall. Golden, brilliant. Warm.

Hers.

The Sun orb shone in Anon's tiny hoof. Nightmare Moon's eyes narrowed, the silent question of allegiance answered. 

"I'll ask this once," said Anon, power surging, preparing for the fight ahead. "I ask not because you deserve it. But because I promised I would."

Nightmare Moon lowered her stance, and a corona of dark magic began building up around the alicorn. "Spit it out, servant."

Anon held herself from snapping back. She'd promised. As much as she knew negotiations wouldn't work, she owed Her to at least try. 

"Is it worth it?"

Nightmare Moon paused, maybe in confusion, or maybe even in amusement. An imitation of a little filly, standing in her way.

"You could start over," the filly continued. "Turn a new page, live in hiding if you want to avoid your sister so much. But this-" Anon gestured around at the ruined castle, at a place that once was home but never would be again. "-Is this still what you want? For you, for the world? Is it worth it destroying everything you had? Everything you could hope to have?"

"WORTH IT?!" Nightmare roared, loud enough to make Anon's ears pop. "Every betrayal! Every insult! Every stab at my heart! I’ll make them right, or I shall perish trying! There is nothing else left! Not for me!"

Magic swelled, danced around the alicorn. A thousand shades, serving their mad master. Anon could taste the magic in the air.

"The night shall rule eternal!" Nightmare bellowed.

Her gaze shifted back at the filly. She expected her to be cowering or running away. To stare back with fear or anger.

Instead, she found pity.

"Celestia still loves-"

The floor exploded, pieces of broken stone tiles flying everywhere. Nightmare Moon stared at the place the filly had just stood, numb. Her horn still crackling with energy. 

A crater and a big cloud of dust. Nothing else would be left. Only dust and ruins and loneliness. 

"Well, that was uncalled for." 

Anon flicked a piece of ancient stone from her dress, suddenly appearing behind the alicorn. The Sun orb shone a little brighter. 

Magic is a curious thing. It cannot be destroyed, nor created, only changed in form.

And it can be stored.

Nightmare Moon's magic flared once again, shadows gathering around her. Lashing out from the whirlwind of darkness, gnashing their fangs at the jumper.

Anon rushed through them, orb in hoof. A side step left, a blink-and-you-miss-it phasing to avoid a barrage of spectral knives to the right. A push of gravity to pin down one of the shades - a slap with the orb and it was gone, moon dust glittering in the air. From behind her, another shade attacked, changing shape to try and confuse her. 

She stomped on the ground. Solid stone turned to liquid under the shadow, swallowing it whole, and the shade disappeared into the stony depths. 

Anon rampaged in the ranks of the shadow monsters. Time slowed for her, allowing the jumper to dodge and weave around the shades despite their overwhelming numbers. Claws, teeth, and blades failed the magic constructs as they, one by one, met their end. The orb glowed a little brighter with each enemy destroyed.

Anon was used to fighting uneven fights. Being encircled, alone, and outgunned was the norm for the jumper. The key to survival was seizing the initiative, dividing her enemies, and never giving them a second of respite. Hesitation was death in a fight like this. Soon, the shades found themselves outnumbered in a battle of one against many, the jumper seemingly everywhere at the same time. 

And then silence.

Piles of moon dust littered the floor. The glow of the orb now rivaled the moon as the main light source in the hall. A small, stubborn sun, barely clinging to life, yet still fighting for a sunrise, held in Anon's hoof. 

I need a lot more magic for this to work.

Luckily for Anon, there was an alicorn all too willing to donate.

Keep your distance from Nightmare. Catch as many of her spells as possible. Stay alive. Simple, ain't it?

A new barrage of spells hit. A salvo of crystal arrows exploded all around Anon, who danced between them. But the pressure of the explosions made her head ring. A trickle of blood wet her neck - either her ear had been clipped by a piece of sharp crystal or the pressure had burst her eardrum. Sharp pain followed, like a needle straight to her brain - the eardrum then. While she was distracted a burst of crystal shrapnel hit her breastplate, but bounced off harmlessly. 

Why did I ever agree to this?

Nightmare Moon watched the brawl with mild interest. The shadows were mere constructs. Stupid and expendable. But the fact that this foal could dispatch them without sustaining a visible injury meant only one thing for the immortal alicorn.

This battle would be much more interesting than she'd thought.

She decided to switch tactics. After all, why not indulge a little? 

Gaining some altitude with a flap of her wings, she summoned swords with a flourish of her horn. A piece of the night sky, torn from the heavens and shaped into a pair of sabres so impossibly sharp Anon could hear as they sliced the air currents in two as Nightmare Moon took flight.

Luckily, Anon possessed a much greater weapon.

The alicorn dove at the jumper, the swords coming at Anon from two directions at once, air caught aflame as the swords cut water vapor apart, slicing oxygen and hydrogen from each other. Anon phased, the sabers slashed right through her, leaving no damage. The jumper reached for her own weapon, pushing her powers into the item of ultimate destruction. A tool of war strong enough to fell a god. 

"You are kidding, right?" laughed Nightmare, ceasing the onslaught of blades for a moment. "Is this some kind of joke?"

Anon held a spoon.

Something changed.

It was a fork.

With a blur of metal changing and flowing, Nightmare Moon felt a headache building up in the back of her brain.

It was a spoon.

It was a fork.

Then it was something in between.

Then it was everything in between. 

It blurred and coalesced. Melting together, existing beyond any comprehension, its mere existence defying the meager grip of reality. 

"Last chance! Surrender!" yelled Anon, the weapon held in her levitation as far away as she could manage, afraid of its tremendous power. An effort akin to trying to hide under a table when a tactical nuke is coming straight for your location. 

Anon's words fell on deaf ears. Nightmare Moon ignored the jumper and let out a war cry, swords swinging in tandem against her target.

The alicorn's summoned blades met the True Spork with a metallic ting.

Nightmare Moon was thrown off her hooves, wings flapping uselessly in an attempt to regain some control. Flung at high speed, she hit a wall, collapsing entire sections of the ancient castle. Then she hit a statue, a pillar, another pillar, then another–

It went on like this for a while. 

Anon ran towards one of the still-standing walls. The spot marked by a tapestry. Hoof phasing, she reached into it and pulled out a cylindrical object.

Hiding explosives in her room would be too dangerous. But here? Even if they went off, it wouldn't matter much. 

Nightmare Moon rose from the rubble, seething with anger. She found herself in what must have been a bedchamber. A golden decoration in the shape of a sun was stuck in her armor, between one of the joints. Some of the enchanted plates were deformed, biting into her skin and flesh. 

"Aaargh!" She tore the golden trash out, crimson spilling on the floor. Her wings straightened as the bones resettled, the wounds closing by themselves. The alicorn’s healing factor would prevent any lasting injury, but she could still feel pain. 

Nightmare picked up the extensively large bed frame with her telekinesis, throwing it at the jumper casually strolling into the room. Anon simply hid in a wall as the bedframe shattered into splinters against the stone.

"I'll make you pay for this!" Nightmare shouted, preparing her last, decisive attack.

Maybe if Nightmare Moon's mind wasn't so filled with anger and resentment, with words that she refused to believe and with physical pain muddling her thoughts, she could have seen it coming. Make a battle plan, realize what Anon was doing, what the orb in her hoof was holding in store for her.

But Nightmare Moon didn't do any of that.

What she did was cast a spell. A flash of violet lighting, forking and dividing. A skeletal hand around the jumper. Attacking from all directions. Too fast to teleport away from, too destructive to shield. 

Finally, Nightmare had her victory.

The Sun orb exploded in light. A small sun the size of an apple. The heat was searing - a day break, contained inside one room.

It pulled the lighting in, and the spell sizzled out of existence.

But the orb kept pulling.

Nightmare watched in horror as her magic was siphoned away. Her flowing mane fell down limply. Her body shrunk, second by torturous second. 

Magic cannot be destroyed, nor created. Only changed in form.

But it can be stored.

And alicorns are nothing if not living and breathing magic.

Nightmare thrashed and panicked. Trying to teleport, fly away. She had to escape, survive and come back. They would pay! Her revenge would come, great and terrible!

But then, Anon punched the alicorn.

Normally a foolish attempt. Punching someone in plate armor usually does nothing, except causing the one who did the punching to curl up and cry about how they broke bones trying to punch a metal suit. 

Normalcy is overrated. 

Nightmare stared at the green furred limb, stuck in her chest. Anon's hoof was phasing, looking and feeling like static, and only partially corporeal. 

"Brisingr," said Anon, her stubby horn alight with her fire spell, igniting the makeshift fuse. The mixture, prepared from rust, aluminum, and sulfur, did the rest. 

She let go of the thermite grenade.

A moment later, Nightmare's world became pain. Sheer ever-burning agony. 

There was no focus, no weaving of spells to try and get away while her magic was being drained. Only the cylindrical object, made from condensed pain, stuck in her chest. Melting her insides only for them to reform a second later, just to be destroyed again. 

Alicorns are immortal, so killing one with something as crude as an improvised explosive device is impossible.

Immobilizing them, on the other hand… 

Anon watched the orb. A balance was needed - too much, and she risked more permanent damage, too little and nothing would be accomplished.

Come on, come on.

If she did it just right, there would be no more fighting. No more danger that this world would burn or freeze. 

And Celestia would get her sister back.

Just as Daybreaker planned.

Storing all of an alicorn's magic in the artifact wouldn't kill them. As long as there was a will to live, it would only trap her. Then it was only a matter of using the elements.

The original plan Celestia had had was to cleanse Luna with the elements of harmony. That was still the end goal, Anon's whole job was just making it easier for the bearers to accomplish. Blasting a rock with a multicolored laser of harmony was a much easier task than having to wrangle a furious alicorn. 

As long as Nightmare Moon had a will to live, she would be alive and somewhat conscious inside the orb.

And Nightmare definitely had a lot of will.

She struggled, eyes bulging, bloodshot. Pain. The smell of smoke and burned flesh in her nostrils. Desperate. She wouldn't be trapped, she wouldn't be bound! Not ever again! 

Weakness, she had to find a weakness. Something, anything that would allow her to escape. All the magic she had left, everything she was, united in one goal. 

Win.

And then, she found it. A flaw in the jumpers' defenses.

Dream magic wouldn't work on a waking pony. Their consciousness would be too inflexible, easily withstanding an attempt at altering it while awake. 

But this wasn't a normal pony. This one lacked something.

A name.

A true name.

Her magic was wavering, but without a defense against it, the jumper would be easy prey. But first, she needed but one thing.

On shaking legs, the alicorn took a step. 

Closer.

Anon couldn't move. The orb blinded her with its light. Even a slight disturbance would cut the flow now, releasing the magic all at once with catastrophic results. She felt Nightmare move closer, she could taste the sheer stubbornness, the hate permeating from the outline crawling towards her. 

Closer.

And so, frozen in an icy grip of fear, and unable to do anything, Anon watched the dark alicorn make her move.

Closer.

A step, a flutter of wings, and a desperate reaching with her neck so her horn would be just a few inches closer, Nightmare conjured a wisp of magic so pitifully small it blended in with the gray stone.

It struck the jumper, a dagger plunging into Anon's mind. 

And dreams claimed them both. 





"Congratulations!"

The young woman was dressed in her work clothes; a stained apron, faintly smelling of vanilla, and a chef's hat with a pink cat on it. Her whole person always carried the smell of sweets. It came with running a sweet shop, Anon supposed. 

The shop was small, tucked away on one of the many narrow streets of their hometown. It didn't look like much, just a few square meters of space, some flowers for decorations and aged tables and chairs brought on the cheaper side. It was back in the kitchen where the real magic happened - the kingdom where his sister ruled supreme, her will unquestionable. Connected to it was the storage room, and the tiny apartment above it where they lived. 

It was his home, despite its flaws. The shop was always too loud for him, even after closing time. The sounds from the club down the street always bothered him when he tried to sleep or study.

He smiled, hands reaching for a napkin. His acceptance letter next to the plate of chocolate cake. A key to a better future for both of them.

The letter, not the cake, though Anon’s attention was mostly locked onto the sweet.

Anon dug in - it was his favorite. Celebrating any important occasions with cake, not just birthdays, had been a tradition between him and his sister since-

He staggered back in his squeaky chair, brow raised. 

Sister? He basically never called his sister, well… sister, unless they were introducing themself to somebody. They were siblings, yes, but like any true siblings, they didn't just call each other “sis” or “bro”. She was his sister, but he always called her by name, even in his head. So why didn’t he-

He couldn't remember it. 

Nothing. Not her name, or her face or the nicknames he came up with as a revenge for her calling him… what did she call him? 

The sweet shop was almost empty. Utterly devoid of any customers despite it being rush hour, the sign at the entrance definitely reading 'open'. 

"Not many people here today," he said. His vocal cords worked on their own, going through the motion of speech with no input from him. 

The woman’s image was disturbed, her features obscured. It was like looking at a water damaged oil painting. Even her voice wasn't right. A misshapen voice, broken and filled with static. But he could feel her grinning at him. "What can I say? It's pretty… dessert-ed today."

He choked on the cake. Or was it him? The body sitting in the chair, talking with his sister did so without any help from Anon. "Gah! Really?!"

"What?" she smiled innocently. Playing with the spork in her fingers. Sporks, he hated those - and he suspected she used them specifically to annoy him. It was the kind of spork with one side slightly sharper to allow it to cut things. She might have given him one, but it was meant for right-handed people - thank God.

"You are the worst!" he managed to say. Clearly fighting the urge to laugh, just so he wouldn't give her the satisfaction. At least it seemed that way. Anon didn't feel like laughing, but that didn't stop the stranger hijacking his body.

She chuckled, it should have been a little devilish laughter at her brother's antics, but it sent shivers down Anons uncooperative spine. "Thanks, I try."

She pulled something out from under the table. A present. Something soft, wrapped in shiny paper, and held together by a red string. The one object seemingly hogged all the detail in the room, contrasting against the unfocused mess that was his sister. "I got you something," she said, a glint in her eye, felt more than seen. 

His body double raised an eyebrow, wondering what it could be. Unraveling the string and gently unfolding the paper.

"I know you plan on going to one of those little trips of yours, so I thought you could use it. The mountains can get awfully cold. "

With more than a little curiosity, the thing operating Anon's body opened it.

A hiker's jacket inside, with lots of pockets. High quality, durable. The kind he always wished he had. 

The kind Anon knew was expensive.

"Like it?"

His mouth opened and started half-heartedly arguing about such inconsequential things like money. It did so with no input from him, his body moving on its own while he stared at his reflection in the window, unable to recognize what he was looking at. 

A mashup of so many faces that they all blended together into nothing. He stared, and a hundred strangers stared back. 

And then it clicked, the curtains opened, and the mask fell off. The world stopped being real.

This is a memory.

He remembered this day. This home. The faces of the people here were unknown to him, their names a mystery, but he knew who they were to him. Who he was to them.

And he knew what would happen next. 

A ring from his phone, from a friend waiting outside. He would get up, say a quick 'see you later' to his sister. So casual in taking for granted the fact this wouldn't be the last time he ever spoke to her, he didn't even say a goodbye.

A mistake.

He tried to scream, to beg. Anything to stop himself from leaving. Turn around, stay, don't go out of those doors, he pleaded with his own memory for what must have been the thousandth time. 

You never find your way back.

The jacket on his body, worn at the behest of his sister. She wanted to see if it fit him and he didn't bother with taking it off. It did fit him well, at least back then, and he didn't even thank her.

That was the last time he saw his big sister. The day he jumped for the first time. 

And he never even said goodbye. 





He - was it still he? The jumper wasn't entirely sure anymore. He (probably, maybe) sat on the floor of some underground complex. Resting after his latest trial.

"This is so weird," the jumper said, inspecting his new hand… thingy. It was blue, covered in chitin plates, and had only two pincer-like fingers.  

"You get used to it, and stop wriggling."

His 'hands' were being bandaged by his new friend, who had been transformed into the same kind of insectoid creature.

"I don't know how I could ever get used to stuff like this," Anon pointed at himself.

Feandil's 'hands' worked miracles. The seemingly infinite roll of bandages turned in the other jumper's grip, and scissor-like fingers cut it to length. The more experienced jumper gave his creation one last critical look.

"Think I'm done here."

Anon nodded, his wounds tended. They were mostly shallow cuts, but they would leave scars, both physical and mental. 

He could still feel the chains. A phantom pain, reminding him just how close his last brush with death was. If Feandil hadn't found him, he would've surely perished in that dank, dark cell.

"Thanks."

Feandil waved it off. The movement looked almost comical, when done by what was basically a bipedal cockroach. "No need. This definitely wasn't my finest work. I must be getting out of practice. Those stitches were positively amateurish!"

A giant insect attempting to sound posh wasn't a thing Anon had ever expected to hear. But expectations didn't mean anything anymore. "I meant thanks for saving my life," Anon clarified, stretching his limbs, feeling the fluid he had instead of blood make them move, like some sort of hydraulic system. 

"Oh, that!" Feandil laughed. Or at least Anon thought it was a laugh. It was hard to tell with these forms. But Feandil's maw made a fast clicking sound that seemed close enough. "You silly goose. Of course I saved you. We're jumpers! If we don't watch each other's back, who will?"

Anon looked at him. Feandil had laughed. Feandil shared his curse. Torn from his home by an alien power awakening in him, flinging him across existence in a random direction, and he was laughing. "How can you be so…"

"Happy?" offered Feandil.

 Anon nodded once, flinching as his head made a cracking noise as the chitin bent. "I was about to say cheerful."

Feandil beamed. There was a spark behind his compound eyes as he spoke. "My friend. I simply adapted to my situation. Try to see the bright side. All the dangers, all the wonders of the universe. Those are all ours. Adventure beyond the wildest imagination! Isn't that exciting?" 

"So far, it's mostly just been painful," said Anon. "I want to go home. Not frolic around the universe that clearly wants me dead."

Feandil patted Anon on the shoulder, the chitin plates meeting with an audible clank. "Oh yeah, don't get me wrong, it can absolutely suck Moloch's balls out there. But we cannot fall to despair. We must hope! Always hope, my chitinous comrade! No matter the hardship we suffer!" Feandil smiled, Anon was sure of that, but it made him shiver. Smiling with mandibles had that effect.  "And our powers? They may have severed us from the homes we once had, but what they offer us! With some practice and skill, not only will you find your way back eventually, but you will have power rivaling gods! A snap of your fingers and reality shall obey your will!"

Feandil's 'hands' clinked as he rubbed them together. "Speaking of practice, let's give a small demonstration! We can't have a jumper not knowing how to jump, can we?"

A gift from his friend: the art of aimed jumping. Navigating the mess that is the multiverse is hard. Without Feandil's guidance, he would never have found his way around it. This moment always shined in Anon's memory. 

Even after Feandil's end, Anon took solace in knowing that he had at least freed his friend from a fate worse than death. And that Feandil, while he was still his insufferable, cheerful self, had lived exactly how he wanted.

"Let's start with something relatively simple…" Feandil scratched his chin, creating a noise not too dissimilar from somebody stabbing a chalkboard with a blunt knife. "Gravity dispersion! That should be easy enough. Now what you need is…"

Something echoed throughout the burrow, like thousands of toothpicks chipping at the stone. 

Anon tried to stand, his legs shaking, their use still unfamiliar to the jumper. "What was that?" he asked. 

Feandil shrugged. "That? Those would be our insectoid hosts, trying their best to find us, kill us horribly, and then bath in our blood. Quite intense, these chaps, aren't they?"

Anon's eye-stalks raised in alarm, while his new friend raised his limbs, pulling at the unseen weave holding reality together. "Well, let's skip the simple stuff." Feandil said, holding the very fabric of the universe in the palm of his 'hand'. 

And then he cut a hole in it.

"Nothing teaches you as fast as jumping in at the deep end, I say," said Feandil, just as the first hostile insectoid breached the cavern.

A shimmering portal appeared in front of Feandil. A bridge, if a dubious one that was hardly held together, formed across dimensions.

"Follow me, if you wish to live!" 

With no other option, Anon did what he had to.

And jumped.





This world was dead. A desert of sand turned to glass. Ash fell like snow from the burned heavens, from the sky of perpetual sun. Time itself had stopped here, having seen no point in continuing anymore.

Nothing was left except silence and the jumper. 

And Her.

Daybreaker hesitated, wary to come too close to the small green filly. She didn't want to hurt her. Just by touching her, the sheer abundance of mana around her risked turning the filly to ash. It crushed her soul. Alone, so alone, and unable to touch her only visitor. But at least she could say her goodbyes. 

Daybreaker felt her end coming.

She made the last gamble, a plan. Maybe she would do some good yet. Not in a vain hope of redemption - it was too late for redemption now, and she was too tired. Tired of being, tired of weeping. Tired of it all.

No, this was a chance for something else.

Daybreaker’s mane fell limp, its flame gone, extinguished. Cold, so cold. Her flames were fading, she was fading. Her limbs were getting numb. It was getting harder to think.

The jumper was still there, watching the sunset. Her sunset. Finally, time moved a little after staying still for so long. It was the last movement, the last hurrah of a world killed by ambition and foolishness. 

Anon was prepared to go, but she promised to stay here until after the ritual was done. For a week, the jumper stayed by her side. Being there, listening. Staving off her loneliness by simply talking. Talking. It was joy beyond nearly anything she had ever felt before, to hear something other than her own voice. 

They talked about their lives. About what they used to have, who they used to be. They talked about nothing and anything to fill the silence. 

And then they talked about the plan, her final gamble.  

But staying here for long would kill the jumper. Mortals were always so fragile and delicate. Precious sparks of life, far too easily vanishing into nothing. Daybreaker did what she could to prevent this spark from going off, but there was nothing she could do now. 

Fear, it snuck its way inside Daybreaker’s mind, poisoning her thoughts. Fear, she hadn't felt fear in so long. There was nothing left to be afraid of or for. 

But now, as the end approached, and the world became dark after ages of blinding light, she was afraid.

Was she alone again?

"Are you… still here?" she cried, tears evaporating on contact with her skin. She cried for the beautiful world she had destroyed. For her sister and her student. For all her little ponies. And for her last little pony, watching the very last sunset with her. 

"I… I don't want to be alone." 

Something pressed against her. Anon holding her, hugging her. Unflinching, ignoring the burns. What was left of her were mere embers, but even embers can burn you if you touch them. 

Daybreaker smiled weakly, too exhausted to push the jumper away. Too cowardly to say anything. Her flames were fading. The world was fading. But it was okay.

She wasn't alone anymore. 

Daybreaker's body became more still, her slitted eyes glazing over, staring into nothing - and everything that lay beyond it. 

"Luna, is that you?"

The jumper froze, swallowing once. An impossible choice in front of her. "Yes, it's me, Tia."

"I… I'm sorry."

Then, in the land of perpetual day, the sun had finally set.

It was over; the ritual was complete. Anon stood alone, darkness setting upon the dead place that used to be Equestria.

A single crystalline orb, shining a faint golden light, remained. 

Anon opened another tear in the weave, building her flimsy bridge to a different reality. She knew how to do it now, she'd had practice. Much more than she wished she had. 

She looked back at the empty world. 

And jumped. 





This world was dead. A frozen wasteland of ice and snow. A ruined, destroyed town laid before them. 

Darkness claimed it. It claimed everything. An eternal night, where not even the moon shined any light, for the moon only reflected the sun, and there wasn't any sun for it to reflect anymore. 

The air sat still. Time did too. 

Nothing was left, except silence and the jumper.

And Her. 

The alicorn did not hesitate in trying to catch the jumper, sending shadows to grapple them unsuccessfully. 

Nightmare Moon lashed out, her mind long gone to the madness that consumed her and clouded her mind. But under it all...

She didn't want to be alone.

The jumper squinted, already opening a portal. It was a hasty, unaimed jump. She would be lucky if she didn't end up twenty paces up in the air. Anon turned towards the alicorn and showed her a gesture for which you need fingers, or at least one finger.

And jumped.

Leaving Nightmare Moon behind, screaming, alone in a dead world. Screaming and screaming and-





Nightmare Moon stopped, reality hitting her like a train. The castle, they were at the castle. Fighting, the orb nearly got her. Draining her magic.

Her hoof reached for her chest - the grenade had stopped burning. She was freed from the sun orbs' grasp. 

It worked, the dream spell had worked, but everything after? Those glimpses, images and feelings? That shouldn't have happened, that wasn't how dream magic was supposed to behave. It should have just knocked her foe unconscious. 

"W-what was that?" Her voice was hoarse from the abuse, her legs shook as if somepony had replaced her bones with jello. 

Anon tried to stand without much success, falling to the floor as she lost control over the contents of her stomach, throwing up all over the ancient furniture.

"My," -she heaved-, " goddamn life."

Nightmare Moon grabbed her, lifting her up by the scruff of her neck, fangs only inches from Anon's face. "What trickery was that?! You think you can fool me?" 

Nausea overcame the jumper from the sudden movement. Her head was heavy. Concussion, she reasoned. She must have landed head-first on the stone floor when Nightmare Moon knocked her unconscious with her spell. 

"The last vision! Was it true? Speak!" 

Nightmare kept screaming at her, but the words barely registered. Anon was dizzy, the world kept spinning, and her brain was itchy. Still, a thought managed to escape the jumbled mess of the jumpers mind and successfully signaled her vocal chords to move. "It hits differently, doesn't it? Wishing for something and then getting it for real." 

The dark alicorn shook her. "The last two visions! What were they!"

"You didn't recognize it?!" Anon spoke, just barely holding onto consciousness. "Your victory. Everyone paid. Just as you wanted."

Nightmare threw Anon on the floor, hard. The jumper felt something give in. She tried to determine just what was broken by finding where the pain was coming from, but either every part of her was broken, or pain needed to learn to be more specific.  

"That wasn't what I wanted!" the alicorn screamed, her own tears now flowing as she took shallow breaths of air.

"Oh no, it is exactly what you wanted." Anon tasted copper in her mouth and tried to spit on the alicorn, but missed. "And it's nothing less than what you deserve." 

Alone, in an empty, desolate wasteland. Nightmare Moon had lived through it. A thousand years passed by in a blink, her essence bound to the moon. 

It wasn't supposed to end like that! She couldn't make them love her, no matter what she tried. So she did the next best thing - she would make them fear her. But that? That wasn't what she wished for, was it?  

But there was no fear in the jumper, not of her at least. Only pity. Only disgust with what she had become. 

The being laying on the floor. It had experienced being hunted, being feared, and hated, and forgotten. It knew what it was like facing a universe where it had no place.

And yet.

 "Why?" she sobbed. "Why did you help Her? We both lost so much, and-"

"You know nothing of loss." Anon's voice was dripping with venom and spite. "Nothing. You didn't lose anything, you threw it all away! Your name, your sister, your home! Why? Because of petty jealousy? Because your sister was more popular? Look around you!" Her words echoed through the castle, its stones cold, wind howling in the empty halls. A corpse. Dead, forgotten and abandoned. "Like it?! Cause if you win, there won't be anything else left!" 

The weave was outside Anon's reach right now. No jumping away, no escaping. The dark alicorn stared, still as a statue, predatory eyes glowing in the darkness. 

The alicorn was tired. Tears rolled down her face and onto the bent plates of her armor, where it mixed with dirt and blood. Both of them were filthy now, crawling around in the old ruins had coated their fur in dust and grime. 

Nightmare Moon got up, raising one armored hoof above Anons head, the expression on her face hard to read. The image was too fuzzy. A dark blue blob with some shiny bits bolted to it.

Laying in the dirt, that's how I die. 

There were much worse ways to die than this. Anon had seen some of them. This would at least be quick. And maybe she had done enough to throw Nightmare Moon off her game, giving the bearers more of a chance, making it all less pointless. 

Her life flashed before her eyes, the early parts as boring as they always were. Those boring bits, she missed them the most.

Nightmare Moon stared at something, a glint of gold behind the jumper.

Golden horseshoes, neatly arranged next to each other in rows. Made for a mare of great stature. 

Celestia had left behind the golden horseshoes, the decorations, even her bed. Abandoning their castle, their home, in a hurry. Losing everything in a span of one night.

"I… I'm sorry," Nightmare whispered, too quiet for anypony to hear, but herself.

She looked at her hoof, the hoof she was about to-

No. Not anymore. She had done enough; it was over. Help, yes. She would have to find help now, some healer to save the filly or-

For the second time that day, Nightmare Moon was flung into the air. A beige earth pony mare let out a shriek of white hot rage as she delivered a powerful kick with her hind legs, sending the alicorn flying. Before Nightmare could react, she landed back on solid ground, creating a small crater as the shrieking mare karate chopped her on the head repeatedly, driving her into the floor like a nail. The alicorn's helmet producing sounds akin to an abused gong. 

Normally, punching plate armor doesn't yield much results, but Sweetie Drops worked with a very loose definition of normalcy and didn't really care for such things at the moment. Right now, she only cared about the fact that her charge was a bloody mess on the floor. 

"Hi-ya!" Sweetie Drops followed up by kicking Nightmare Moon squarely in the jaw, and ended the combo with a quick uppercut. 

That whole night, she'd had to stalk around the future element bearers, trying to find signs of Anon. And when she did find her, it was nearly too late.

The agent had rushed into the room, forgoing all the proper protocol and training. Her brain was screaming at her. All her hours of training and rigorous regimens, meaning very little against an alicorn. This wasn't a battle a lone agent should be able to win.

But, again, the agent didn't really care right now.

Nightmare Moon was baffled. An earth pony mare decided to show up and kick her teeth in? Did the mortals all gain a death wish while she was gone? She may have been weakened, but she was by no means defeated.

"You-"

Another buck from the agent sent some of Nightmare Moon's fangs clattering on the ground. 

Bon Bon whipped around, sending a throwing knife Nightmare Moon's way while grabbing Anon, the filly barely conscious.

"Enough!" 

A pulse of dark magic sent both the agent and the jumper against the wall. The agent desperately used her body to cushion the landing for the injured jumper. 

What Sweetie Drops forgot to account for the breastplate the filly wore.

Little spots entered Sweetie Drops' vision. Her ribs were definitely broken, every breath sending jolts of pain. 

"Now listen you-"

Something whipped through the air, faster than an eye can follow, striking Nightmare Moon across her muzzle and leaving a red line. A string, an instrument string, used as a whip by somepony very angry.

Lyra glared.

Nightmare Moon was an alicorn. She had fought against foes innumerable. Grogar, Sombra, Discord, and the ancient beasts now lost to legend.

But Lyra glared. 

Nightmare Moon gulped, backpedaling away. "So, there was a change of plans."

Multiple strings levitated around Lyra as the minty unicorn walked into the room. The immortal alicorn gulped once more. 

"My name is Lyra Heartstrings," Lyra said coldly. A string charged back and whipped, nearly cutting off the alicorn's ear, making Nightmare yelp and dodge to the side, towards a crumbled wall. 

"You hurt my fiancée." 

Another string sent Nightmare further back, close to where a collapsed wall opened, offering a full view of the Everfree forest and the several-storey-high fall into the moat under the castle.

"You hurt my foal."

Nightmare attempted to cast a spell, but stopped as yet another string, taken from Lyra's precious instrument, hit her right on the horn, disturbing the magic and making her eyes water. 

"Prepare to die."

Nightmare Moon took one final glance between the unicorn and the moat, and made the simplest decision of her life.

She jumped off the ledge.

She has wings, of course, but it's the sentiment that matters. 

With a few flaps and a gust of wind, the dark alicorn vanished into the night.





Nightmare Moon had a moment to herself.

Wind flew through her fur. The stars glimmered and shone above her. The world was so beautiful, even the wild Everfree looked peaceful from so high up.

Celestia still loves you.

These words and the vision came at the forefront of her conflicted mind. The castle was where the elements of harmony were - the only thing that could really defeat her now. 

Defeating her… Her anger at the jumper slowly gave way to regret. And with that, more of her carefully built mental wall fell. Anger fueled her, anger made her. But what had anger got her in the end?

She looked at the moon.

Nightmare shuddered. She didn't want to go back, to lose everything again. 

A thousand years of nothingness, and countless more years of nothingness to come, if she were successful in exacting her revenge. 

So what now, was the question.

Could she be given a second chance? No was the simple answer. The ponies of Equestria hadn't accepted her then and they wouldn't accept her now. 

Endure, she had to endure. Find the elements, and then… talk. With Her. Negotiate for her freedom. It was far from ideal, but better than any of the alternatives. 

And then she saw purple light coming from the throne room. Nightmare recognized it instantly - she used to wield the elements before, after all. Long ago, the artifacts made her feel so safe, and now the sight of them filled her with dread.

The alicorn hesitated, stopping in the air, turning towards the source of light. 

"I'm sorry, sister."

A few minutes later, the Sun rose above Equestria once more