We Remember Everything

by Thunderscourge

Everybody's Fool

Loki stepped over the bleeding body of the door guardsman with a smirk on his face. The many guards in the room all lay unconscious, their combat capability matching their bodyguarding and detective skills.

What Loki did not expect when he stepped over the guard was for an orange mare with a hat to leap in through the open doorway and take a swing at his head with a front hoof. Loki jumped back to avoid the blow, with the mare landing on top of the defeated guard.

She yelled at Loki angrily as she leapt forward again, “Stop it right there, you no good-”

A powerful blue blast to her body blasted her out of the doorway and back into the hallway where she came from. Loki took the moment after the blast to turn to Chrysalis, who had transformed back into the form of Cadance.

“However did this one get past your forces?” he questioned with a grunt. Chrysalis had brought the entirety of her forces into Canterlot under the guise of a crowd honoring the newest princess of the land. They outnumbered the guards by such a wide margin that to have one pony actually reach the throne room was surprising, even if that one was not a guard.

As she approached him Chrysalis nodded towards the doorway, a smirk growing on her lip, “This is one of the bearers of harmony. They are nothing to be underestimated, but a pony is a pony after all.”

The orange mare groaned as she limped back into the room, “What have you dun to the princesses?”

On the equine Loki noticed that there was burnt fur where his hit had struck her, but she was bleeding elsewhere on her body from what appeared to be bites and scratches. He had intentionally used a weak shot on her, expecting it to knock her out like the guards, but found himself impressed by their determination.

Impressed enough to up the ante.

Loki turned from the mare and towards the newest addition to his team, who lumbered over to his side, “Celestia, care to demonstrate?”

The Princess of the Sun took no time to fire a powerful and bright beam from her horn to knock the intruder out of the room a second time, this time causing the mare to slam into the wall across from the door and fall down limply.

Loki’s eyes rolled at the complete overkill from that strike. He knew his scepter could let him control other beings until they next slept or were knocked out, to a startling degree, but he was going to have to micromanage Celestia more lest she actually slay an equine.

“Oh dear, I hope she is not dead. She looks like she would make a strong worker.”

Chrysalis walked past him and into the hallway in her pink form, “Changelings and ponies living together in perfect harmony...as master and slave. I do say, your idea is quite superb. But why not kill those who resist? Would it not set an example?”

The green Alicorn shook his head as he followed behind her and willed Celestia to do the same, his eyes quickly noting the many Changelings standing over “We have yet to see Luna play her hand, and she may object to violent measures. We have been over this,” Loki scolded, “Once she bloodies her own hooves a little, there is nothing to stop us from continuing.”

Cadance, or rather Chrysalis, shrugged her shoulders as she altered her appearance to display false wounds, “I say we best address our new subjects and introduce them to their new rulers.”

Luna had enjoyed the celebration party thrown together by Pinkie Pie in Ponyville, and it was with a good mood that she found herself returning to Canterlot with hopes of having yet another party, this time catered by the Apple family. The other Ponyville heroes had tagged along, and even managed to be convinced by their little family members to bring them along on the train ride to Canterlot despite how late it was.

As the train approached Canterlot, however, an awestruck white furred Unicorn brought the sight that it was to everypony’s attention.

Buildings had fallen, a smoke plume rose from a far part of the city, and the train was heading right for the city at full speed.

“What has happened?” Twilight questioned as she rose from her seat to go to the window. Her stunned friend moved out of the way to allow her to see, at which point everypony in the train car rushed to a window to see as well.

Their faces quickly were wracked in fear.

“Applejack!” Apple Bloom cried out, worried as to what may have happened to her sister. Beside her Sweetie Belle looked up to her own sister, who quickly brought a hoof around the younger Unicorn.

Luna bit her lip as she tried to make sense of what she was seeing. Canterlot was under siege of some sort, but by whom? The darkness shrouded who the culprits may be and the distance they were still at did not help the matter.

Furthermore, where were Loki and Celestia and why were they not stopping this? Something in Luna’s gut did a flip as she realized just how bad things must be if both Loki and her sister were not able to stem whatever was happening.

Was the Everfree Forest going rampant again? That would not make sense given that its corruption had been lifted. Had Discord done this? It did not match his particular bombastic style, but one could never be certain with the chaos lord.

“What the heck is going on?” the blue Pegasus known as Rainbow Dash questioned from where she hovered above the others.

Luna shook her head sadly, “I know not, but we will be there shortly enough. Things might not be as bad as they seem from here.”

She was not sure if she was trying to convince herself of them with that. The feeling in her gut made it seem all the worse, for she could not help but feel that Loki and her sister were in some sort of danger.

The group fell into silence as the train rapidly approached their destination. Upon arriving, Luna ordered the train’s operator to remain in the station before the group disembarked. The train station and everything around it was completely devoid of ponies, although various broken things all about the place made it look like a battle had been waged.

The three young fillies who had come with the group initially tried to follow the others off of the train, but Luna instead stood in their way to block them.

“Stay here you three. We will investigate this matter, but you must stay safe. Understood?”

Sweetie Belle’s older sister Rarity walked back on the train as well, “I will stay and look after these three. Do be careful everyone.”

As the group of mares left the station they did so slowly. The complete lack of ponies in the area made them all worried, and so they cautiously walked from it.

Luna, after peeking around an empty street’s corner, looked to the other two with wings there and nodded up.

“I have a most terrible of feelings. We should take to the skies and look about for whatever has caused this disturbance.”

“Yes ma’am!” Rainbow Dash saluted her princess and bolted upward, her timid friend Fluttershy following slowly after her. Luna too took off from the ground, sending a frown Twilight’s way as the purple Alicorn attempted to lift off to no success.

From the sky Rainbow Dash jabbed a hoof over towards Canterlot Castle, where she could see hordes of figures gathering, “Those are Changelings! They’re rounding everypony up!”

Princess Twilight began to gallop in the direction that Rainbow was pointing and her friends followed quickly behind, “How did such a large group of Changelings possibly enter Canterlot without anypony noticing?”

“I don’t know, but I’m pretty sure the Changelings will know!” Rainbow Dash yelled down to the others as she darted ahead quickly, catching up to them and maintaining the same speed. She did not wish to outpace them and be caught alone, given the overwhelming odds. They had been defeated by the horde previously, but this time they had Luna and a more powerful Twilight to possibly handle the creatures.

Meanwhile, Luna was still contemplating the situation and what they knew so far. The Changelings would be no threat to somepony as powerful as Loki, and they could only take Celestia down after draining a significant amount of love. But Celestia would not just let the Changelings do this...

Luna winced at the thought of what her loved one’s state could possibly be at this point and found herself cursing the fact that she had not dealt with the Changeling threat once and for all, even though they had been previously locked away.

“Loki, Tia…I’m coming,” she whispered as she flew off towards where the town’s inhabitants all were.

Whatever the Changelings were doing, Luna would put an end to it, and if they had touched a single piece of fur on Celestia or Loki…

Luna snarled in anger. She would murder these creatures if they had done anything to those she loved.

Standing in front of Canterlot castle and above the gathered up crowd of ponies from the town, Loki cleared his throat before slamming one edge of his scepter down to quiet the crowd. The slam echoed quite loudly as magic pulsed from the staff, drawing the attention of those before him and the Changelings who surrounded them all.

“Greetings upperclass twits and nobles of Canterlot. I am Loki of Asgard, and I have come here to bring about a new world. A world where ponies are able to live with their neighbors, the Changelings, in a much more beneficial way to both races.”

The previously bustling crowd silenced as they all cowered in fear. Queen Chrysalis, having reverted back to her true form after fooling some more guards, gave him an approving smirk.

Loki continued on, the intended reaction of the equines having been demonstrated, “Kneel to me, equines, and I will see that every one of you lives.”

“That’s not going to happen!” a voice yelled from the crowd, but Loki had trouble discerning where exactly it had originated. With a sea of equines to look through the prince decided he best approach the issue of this heckler in another way.

Loki levitated the limp body of the orange mare from earlier up in the air and tossed her at the feet of the crowd he stood before and over, “If that is the case I will demonstrate to you all what happens when you defy me.”

The same voice from before cried out, a purple body with a unicorn horn and wings forcing its way to the front of the crowd, “Applejack!”

Chrysalis laughed at the anguish of her foe, “We meet again, Twilight. Congratulations on your coronation, I must thank you for it. It allowed for me to bring my entire force in undetected under the guise of your adoring fans.”

The response was nonverbal, instead being a growl and a powerful blast of magic from the former unicorn. Both Loki and Chrysalis avoided it, the beam instead colliding with one of the countless Changelings in the area and evaporating what once was a head.

Loki snorted at the outrage, “Feisty. Are you mad that I am ruining your big day? Many apologies, but how do you think I found these Changelings to suit my needs? With the knowledge lent to me by you and your precious books.”

A light blue blur caught Loki’s eye and he quickly let off a blast from his scepter in its direction, causing the dashing figure to change their flight path that would have made them crash into him. The figure, Rainbow Dash, recovered from the event quickly by swooping around and stopping beside Twilight, “Woah, not cool man. Here I thought you were some cool prankster like me.”

The sight of his previous partner in mischief brought a small frown to Loki’s face, “My apologies, but this is about business not pleasure.”

More ponies from the crowd pushed forward, including the pink monstrosity Loki found enervating and a light yellow Pegasus he was quite sure was becoming acquainted with the cephalopod he left in her house.

The pink one shook a hoof towards Loki, who simply wondered how his partner’s useless forces let these unwelcome guests in, “Hey, we were going to have a party! You can’t just do something wacko like this! Okey dokey, Loki?!”

Her rant would have continued if a powerful blast from above had not knocked her into the ground and shattered the area around her. The others by her gasped, only avoiding the strike themselves by a bit, before they looked up to see what caused it.

“Princess Celestia?” Twilight asked, dumbfounded by what she was seeing. Above them was her mentor and fellow princess, Celestia, and her horn was flickering dangerously as she hovered above them all with her giant sized wings. The crowd of ponies behind those rebelling gasped and some cries of terror escaped their lips, but none moved to do anything but cower in fear.

Loki smirked at the mares who now stood before him, already thinking he knew how this would play out, “This battle is over. She is my pawn to use,” his tone became mocking, “You may still surrender and be forgiven for your treasonous actions.”

Rainbow Dash growled and flung herself forward with the sole intent on wiping the smirk off of his face, “Hey, no-one messes with the Princess and gets away with it!”

Right before she collided with him Loki smashed her down into the ground with the scepter, “I am sorry, what were you saying?”

Loki nodded towards the others and hoped Chrysalis would lend a hand just to make matters easier. After she noted this and began to approach them Loki lowered his scepter down to Rainbow Dash who was struggling to rise, “Correct me if I’m wrong, but you need all six elements to use your powers, correct?” the others gasped as he touched the scepter to where her heart would be, “I thought so.”

The previously struggling Rainbow Dash rose to her feet effortlessly and turned to face her friends, eyes turning black briefly before settling on an icy blue matching Loki’s own.

“What did you do to her?” Twilight yelled, her horn glowing as she prepared to fire it at Loki. This was foiled when Chrysalis engaged her, leaping down from the platform she and Loki had been on to attack the purple mare who had bested her.

Chrysalis cackled as she locked horns with the young Alicorn, easily beginning to force her back towards the crowd with their difference in physical strength, “Nothing much, besides mind manipulation. Have fun with your precious elements now.”

Loki turned his attention to Pinkie Pie as she rose weakly from her place in the crater she formed. As soon as she rose to her feet he blasted her back with his own power, making sure to limit it as she was tossed into the crowd of equines they had emerged from. The fact that the crowd moved out of the way to let her tumble and crash back made the prince almost feel sorry for the mare.

Almost.

“Your champions are weak, but they fight valiantly for you. And not one of you lifts a hoof to save them. It makes me wonder why they would fight so ardently for your sorry hides,” Loki looked down the Pegasus he had recruited to his cause, “Daughter of Bifrost, teach your citizens a lesson for me would you?”

It took her little time to dash forward and deck the first pony she could see, an elderly purple coated mare, before turning and smashing the stallion beside her. The ponies in the front of the crowd quivered in fear, not even moving to protect themselves from the beating they were about to receive.

Rainbow continued to beat upon those in front of her brutally, her mind numb state not registering how wrong what she was doing was. She looked at the hundreds and hundreds of ponies before her not as her people, but as targets.

Loki looked to the last of the ponies who had stepped forward, the pale yellow Pegasus, and willed Rainbow Dash to turn her attention toward the quivering and awe struck mare. Shutterfly or whatever was cringing as she watched everything go on, to nervous to even fly away and having nowhere to run to as Rainbow Dash lunged for her.

“Rainbow Dash!” a small voice called out from the crowd.

As Rainbow began to pound away at her friend with strike after strike, and Chrysalis continued to fight Twilight who was surprising her with her newfound Alicorn power, the broken Applejack on the ground grumbled, “Scootaloo?”

Sure enough, the young filly had left the care of Rarity to follow her idol who was now viciously attacking her oldest friend. Scootaloo tried to run up to the two to see why Rainbow was doing this and to try and stop her, but a kick Fluttershy dodged collided right with the filly’s head and sent her flying backwards. She was knocked out instantly by the blow, but none of the townspeople moved a hoof to help her. They were still too afraid to oppose the army of Changelings who vastly outnumbered them, as well as the usurper and Celestia.

Having watched this happen, Loki felt his mouth open but he halted his words. He had, in essence, just done the equivalent of forcing Odin to strike Thor or himself, and done this to a child nonetheless. It felt like a self-inflicted punch to the gut, and Loki knew he would not forgive himself if any permanent harm were to come to the filly.

Applejack growled from where she lay, pathetically trying to lift herself up from the ground to no avail, “Aw now it’s on, partner!”

Loki moved to leave his stage and use the magic Luna had taught him to heal. He would right his error. Or rather, he would have if he had not been blindsided by the stage becoming enveloped in shadows that quickly converged on the space before him. Before Loki could react to this the shadows collided with him and knocked him back, their shape ending up as none other than Luna.

And she was not happy.

“I will not stand for this, Loki,” she said, face contorted in anger as she stared venomously at the stallion before her.

Luna wiped a trickle of blood from his mouth and tried to laugh off her entrance, not wanting to display what he was really feeling, “Oh why hello, Luna. I was wondering what was taking you so long.”

His companion turned back to the ponies he had been soundly thrashing as well as Chrysalis, “Leave them be. They are of no threat to you,” her furious glare returned to Loki, her glare chilling and more threatening than any Loki had encountered before, “I intended to watch and see what your plans and intentions were, but you have forced my hand. I cannot let you follow this course of action.”

Her words were not exactly what Loki wanted to hear, his voice coming out with a hint of condescension, “You would protect the people who would fear you? Who belittle you?”

Luna huffed as they continued to lock their eyes, “I could not care less, actually. Who am I to say you are wrong for seizing power? I have tried to do the same myself,” her horn lit up and she snorted, “But, this harming everypony I care about is another matter entirely.”

The blast of magical energy from her horn passed straight through Loki. Only, it was not Loki, but an illusion he cast and so the magic instead wiped out an entire group of Changelings that had been standing guard behind Loki.

Loki had repositioned himself to be beside her, where he used the power of the scepter to send both an attack from Celestia and from it to assault Luna’s side. His weaker strike hit her as she avoided the attack from her sister, but in total she appeared unfazed by his attack.

Glancing up to her sister and then back down to Loki, Luna returned fire with a derisive laugh, “Even with Celestia you are nothing more than a crafty, well rounded trickster Loki. You do not have the power to face me.”

He gestured to his scepter as he avoided her strike and returned with another of his own, “But this, I am afraid, does.”

From the ground below Chrysalis blasted her opponent Twilight back and turned to face Loki, whom she scolded with exasperation, “Oh quit your lover’s quarrel and be done with this! If you will not join us, princess, we will have to remove you from the equation!”

Chrysalis prepared to send a beam of her own towards Luna, but the strike missed completely and hit the ground as Twilight tackled into Chrysalis’ side and sent her stumbling in one direction, “Just die already!”

Twilight followed up the physical blow with a magical one, knocking Chrysalis down just as her Applejack limped over to her side. The new princess yelled to the next youngest one there as she prepared to attack yet again, “Luna, we can handle her, you go handle him!”

Luna did not hear Twilight at all as she continued to engage in the almost dance she and Loki were enacting, with one blasting away at the other only to be avoided or blocked. She had tunnel vision on Loki, who she felt betrayed and angry at for this conspiracy and she was quite sure her blood would continue to boil until she could defeat him.

One of her beams connected with Loki, but again it passed through as it was merely an illusion. The high speed of the combat was making it harder and harder for Luna to gauge whether things were an illusion or not, for she was trying to dodge his attacks all the meanwhile having Celestia blasting away at her from above.

The fact that Loki tricked her in the fight made Luna’s tunnel vision worsen, as it reminded her of how he had pulled the wool over her eyes these past months, “You and your tricks! Stand and fight me!”

Loki laughed at her, intent on increasing her anger if it would mean she would both oppose him as well as not think clearly, “If you fall for them, why not keep playing them?”

“And what of these past few months. Were we all just your fools?” Luna growled at him as a beam from Celestia nicked her side.

Loki laughed, his plan to aggravate her working quite well, so he did what he did best: lie, “You have caught me red-handed I am afraid. Ever since I first saw one of your colorful equines I thought to enslave them.”

Instead of angering Luna more, something clicked in her mind. He was lying when he had no reason to. And he had reacted with shock when Scootaloo was harmed. Nopony was noticeably dead, and he seemed to be holding the leash on the Changelings from doing anything too rash like their last invasion.

Something was wrong. His actions were conflicting, his words were not reflective of what he truly felt, and he was not utilizing Celestia’s full power to slay her despite having full control of her it seemed.

Luna jumped back to disengage from the fight, narrowly avoid another volley of strikes from both Loki and her brainwashed sister, “You lie, as you always do. This is not you.”

Loki tried once again to laugh despite her words, “Well why else would I be doing this if not for myself? I have no loyalties anymore, not after I was cast aside by my realm and family.”

Luna felt her anger flow out of her as she thought more about the possibility that Loki was not indeed betraying her. She thought she had glimpsed a piece of that sad, broken man she had found not all too long ago in their extended lifetimes. The Loki she had spent these days with would not be doing this of his own volition.

“Loki, stop this madness. I refuse to believe your falsehoods. Stand down, and we can talk about whomever is forcing your hand.”

Chrysalis managed to beat back both Twilight and Applejack with a swing of her body, giving her a chance to comment of the other battle being waged, “You mean ‘the Other’? Cheerful fellow I would say, be it the threats, insults-”

Loki pointed his scepter at a new target, that being Chrysalis, “Know your place, insect!” he yelled in an almost panic.

She responded with a roll of the eyes, not taking his threat seriously, “What is the point in keeping it a secret when none of them can do a thing about it?”

Seeing Twilight and the others all unable to muster up any strength to keep on fighting, and knowing that she could not face Chrysalis, Celestia and Loki alone, Luna decided she had best think of a new plan.

She disappeared into the night’s shadows, Chrysalis looking around wildly in an attempt to find her. Loki held a hoof up to halt her search, however, as he had something greater on his mind than finding Luna.

“Let her go. We have defeated Celestia, Discord and soon will finish cleaning up the other heroes of Equestria. We should consolidate our forces, then see if we can find and face her.”

Chrysalis sighed, “You mean my forces. And yes, I see your point,” she looked to the crowd with a wicked smile, “Very well, your marefriend may live for now.”

Loki looked down at the ground where bloodied equines lay about and where pieces of Changelings lay, not able to look anyone in the eye as he spoke, “You keep insisting there is something where there is not.”

He received a mocking chuckle in response, “Remember, my partner, love is something of a specialty of mine and it is radiating off you like light from the sun.”

Luna touched down at the farthest abandoned street she could from the ended brawl in a hurry, having made up her mind of how she could confront such a powerful force. Time was what she needed, which is why she began a powerful summoning spell the second she landed.

The princess was soon joined in a puff of smoke by the god of chaos himself, Discord. He was about to bite into a piece of white, pink and blue cake when he noticed he was not in fact where he thought he had been.

He tossed the cake away and looked to Luna, who “You rang? Seriously, what is with everypony having me come to handle their every whim and desire tonight?”

Luna ignored his annoyed state, “Discord, I need to ask of you a favor. This city is under siege by the Changelings and everypony else has been defeated. Celestia and Rainbow Dash have even been mind controlled into fighting against everyone else. Can you buy me the time I need to fix this?”

Discord shrugged nonchalantly as he conjured up a pair of gaudy sunglasses despite it being night, “I suppose. I could probably wrap the whole mess up myself, but I will do what I can.”

Luna spread her wings to ready her flight again, “Do what you please, but I would most prefer if you left the one known as Loki in one piece.”

“Oooh, I know just the trick!” Discord joyfully snapped his fingers and disappeared, leaving Luna alone in the dark street.

It took her a moment to lift off, as first the tears came.

Inside the new throne room he had lay claim to was a lounging Loki, who was waiting for the inevitable return of Luna. He had to wrap up the issue of her before he continue on with his plan, but the idleness was killing him. He had a schedule to keep after all and Luna had best fit into that for her people’s own good.

He stifled a yawn, having worked quite hard to keep his body masked the past week to hide how he was not sleeping. Luna would think he would sleep second and wake up first, but that was not the case at all. In reality he looked little better than he had at his absolute worst weeks back, and the lack of regular sleep was beginning to get to him.

Chrysalis was outside directing her forces while Loki kept Celestia by his side, knowing that Chrysalis too had the ability to control minds. He did not want to risk having the powerful goddess falling under his partner’s control, as he was expecting to be stabbed in the back at the first opportunity. Chrysalis wanted power for herself and her race, and he had no place in that after the invasion went through. Not that it completely mattered to him, but having a powerful bodyguard would not hurt matters much he reckoned.

A bright flash of light brought Loki out of his musings and his attention focused on the odd being that lay before him. They had a body similar to a dragon or serpent in overall shape, while they had a paw for one hand, a goat’s horn and many other odd body parts that did not look like they belonged together.

Loki manipulated his scepter to aim at the new arrival, having a feeling who this might be and not wanting to take them lightly, “Who are you, chimera?”

“Draconequus, actually, but I can see where the confusion comes from,” the being gave a mocking bow from where it hovered in the air, “The name is Discord, and I have to say that I’m not a fan of your remodeling. Less unconscious guards would make the place look a lot better in my opinion.”

Discord landed on the ground and began to walk towards Loki, eyes focused on the giant white mare beside him, “Come to think of it, I don’t think I’m a fan of you taking over my favorite pony to annoy. You can only find so many of these immortal beings you can rag on endlessly, after all.”

Loki charged up the scepter’s energy to fire, a blue aura forming around its tip, but withheld the attack as he spoke, “I have no time for you. Begone.”

Discord teleported himself beside Loki, wedging in between him and Celestia, and wrapped an arm around the green Alicorn, “Oh come now, can’t we talk? I don’t think Luna would be happy if you were to harm her sister’s best friend.”

Discord tapped his hand to Loki’s head once in an attempt to use his own mind altering abilities on him. As Loki’s color did not fade to grey, Discord tried again. Nothing happened besides Loki snarling, causing Discord to rub his chin as he pondered the issue, “You know, usually that works.”

“I don’t have time for your games.”

The scepter’s power blasted Discord away from the throne, only for the chimera to recover midair with a yelp.

“That smarts!” Discord brushed himself where the strike hit him on the chest, “And to think Luna had such great things to say about you! And to think I believed her to be a good judge of character-”

Loki fired another blast, also willing Celestia to do the same, “Be silent!”

Discord avoided Loki’s attack and smirked, “You ought to work on your aim-” he did not, however, anticipate a second attack from a different position due to his terrible lack of situational awareness. As he crashed on the floor Discord groaned, “Wait, what the Celestia was that?”

“Celestia, actually,” Loki snarked as he prepared to fire another blast at the intruder.

“Now that just isn’t playing fair-”

Loki snorted as Discord collapsed on the floor, having been struck with Celestia’s full power as well as Loki’s own, “Hypocrite.”

Asgard’s wayward prince looked about boredly as the room quieted. He had done his research, and he needed to wait for a specific time to use that mirror of Celestia’s. Having her under his control gave him access to its whereabouts, as planned, and now he just needed to make sure everything was set the way he wanted it by the time it opened.

He could wait, even if there was too much suspense for his liking.

In the abandoned castle in the Everfree Forest, Luna found herself retracing where she had been years back when she had been defeated by Twilight Sparkle and her allies. A specific spot in the room, actually, where she was absolutely certain after visiting Loki so often that she would find something.

“I know you still lurk about, shadows. Come out!” Luna yelled inside the room where her own plan for conquering Equestria was thwarted. How that felt like a lifetime ago to the Princess, who now was here with the opposite intention in mind.

Nothing responded, but Luna knew better.

Luna called out again, “Those Elements could strip you from me, but they could not eliminate you entirely. I would have perished long ago if they were that powerful.”

Surely enough, the shadows within the room twisted and moved until the revealed the form of a creature Luna was quite familiar with. It had once been her skin for over a millenium, transforming her into Nightmare Moon and granting her its power.

Power that she now needed, despite the risk that presented.

The creature addressed her with a voice similar to the howl of the wind, “Your familiar did not notice us during his long stay. You did, however. How?”

Luna approached the creature and stared it down, “I once shared a body with you, I think I can tell when you are in the same room.”

“What then have you come here for? To finish us?” it questioned, readying to vanish into the night once more. It, however, knew it could not flee successfully. Not after how it had been wounded to the point of death by the Elements of Harmony, so it simply limped on in the shadows where it was defeated.

To its surprise she shook her head no, “To join with you. I need your strength once again. Only now I intend to save Equestria.”

The being narrowed its yellow glowing eyes within the opaque darkness that formed it, “How the tables have turned then. Why would we assist you in such a noble goal?”

“I have no care for what your personal opinions and desires are. You will join me or you will be destroyed. And I know just how much you care for your own skins to let that happen,” Luna held a hoof out to the creature as she narrowed her own eyes at it, “I will not let you control me once again. I will suppress you, but would you rather live on here for eternity, unable to recover from what was done to you?”

With a burst of speed, Luna found herself having the darkness of the creature wrap around her once again. She had no expected it completely the last time this happened, and so it was able to impress its will upon her own, but now she was ready. She would not give in to it once more.

She would become the true Nightmare Moon one last time if it meant she could end this.