Nightmare's Reign

by NorrisThePony


To Tartarus (VI)

Luna felt somewhat wary as she started down the dirt road, the trees towering beside her on both sides of the path. Their trunks were of a normal thickness, but they towered hundreds of feet into the air, without a single branch protruding outwards. Far above, they ended in a leafless group of several thick, silky branches that all drooped downwards, pointing at the earth below. Some of the trees were connected by what she could only assume were vines, although in certain places they seemed to group together in massive, web-like clumps.

Like the rest of the Underworld, the Everfree was flooded with an omnipresent humming sound, although Luna could have sworn it was louder here than it had been before. Similarly, and much to Luna's disdain, it was even colder here than it had been anywhere else. She was beginning to regret having left her cloak behind when she opened her portal to Tartarus. A think layer of fog hung over the ground, billowing up from the occasional fissure in the ground which led to some inaccessible cavern below the Underworld. The road ahead seemingly stretched straight ahead for an indeterminable distance; the heavy fog made it quite difficult to see for sure where the road ended or turned. She had considered flying above the path to speed up her voyage, but secretly she was in no mood to get to Tartarus as quickly as possible, even though she was anxious to finally have her final journey behind her.

"Nightmare Moon, you can reveal yourself again." Luna called, looking back at where Canterville had been, already lost in the fog. Not even Luna's own echo answered her, so she tried again. "Nightmare, we have left the guards behind! We are, once again, alone!"

"Oh, I wouldn't be so sure about that."

"Ha! I knew you did not posses the ability to go off on your lonesome!"

"Calm down there, Luna." Nightmare Moon murmured, sounding annoyed and slightly embarrassed. "You didn't seriously think I'd ditch you like that, did you? Nah, I just needed to make it look like you were going alone so those guards didn't tail us. I hate an entourage."

"Mayhaps you have an answer to my question then?" Luna said, stopping in her tracks and tapping a hoof impatiently. "Why you insist on helping me?"

"You're ALL questions, Luna. You ever notice that? Do you seriously think I have ulterior motives or something?" Nightmare Moon said flatly. Mid-sentence, she re-appeared next to Luna on the path, the fog swirling around her and giving her a surreal and mystical look.

"You're curious about all the wrong things, anyways." She added, removing her helmet with her magic and running a hoof through her stardust mane, which swirled wildly around until she managed to make it settle into a more consistent flow. "I tell you we're not alone in a freaky forest in the Underworld and it completely flies over your head."

Nightmare Moon brushed past Luna and continued on down the path. As she did so, she floated her helmet over to Luna and let it drop on her head, looking back and chuckling at the sight.

"You don't look half bad in that."

To Luna, it sounded as though this was some sort of cryptic form of apology from Nightmare Moon for her words back in Canterville. While she looked as cocky and narcissistic as ever, Luna got the impression she had at least partially succeeded in scaring her a little with the possibility of their parting of ways, even if it were clear Nightmare Moon had no trouble tailing her anyways.

Up ahead, Nightmare Moon was trotting along at a steady pace, occasionally disappearing and reappearing elsewhere around the forest, but usually preferring to stay close by. Luna glanced up at her companion with suspicion, although she intentionally maintained an apathetic looking expression in order to disguise it, staring at her hooves beating the ground. Obviously, this suspicion was nothing new, but the way Canterville's residents responded to her, with fear and loathing disguised as respect...what exactly was she...and what exactly did she want from her?

"So, where are you headed, Luna?" Nightmare called back, jerking Luna's attention to the road ahead. They had come up to a crossroads, neither road labelled with any signage to indicate their destinations. Nightmare Moon signaled to them with a hoof and quizzically rose an eyebrow at Luna. "You didn't have a problem ditching me, so I'm going to assume you know what you're doing. Lead the way."

"Very well." Luna said matter-of-factually, passing Nightmare Moon and continuing on her trek down the left. She had only made it several meters before she became aware that Nightmare Moon was still standing in the exact same spot at the crossroads and shaking her head slowly.

"Nope. Think. You're following the path blindly, without having any idea where it leads."

With a stifled groan of frustration, Luna kicked a rock off the road and looked around, thinking. This was the Everfree Forest, albeit a different version of it. Her destination was her own castle, which was found in the eastern reaches of the Everfree Forest...therefore...

"No. You are mistaken, Nightmare. This path is correct." Luna asserted, standing her ground.

"Heh. Whatever you say, genius."

Confidently, Luna strode on down the path, every bit aware that Nightmare Moon was still not following her, simply standing tall and watching her disappear with a blank expression. Ahead, the path was every bit the exact same as it was before, and with the disorienting fog, Luna could see no difference between it and the previous path prior to the intersection. Looking back, she could see that Nightmare Moon had also been concealed by the billowing mist, undoubtedly still standing her ground at the crossroads.

"Her mistake." Luna muttered. "It'd have to take one vastly different Equestria for entire directions to be...mirrored..."

Stopping dead in her tracks, Luna paused for a full ten seconds, before cursing loudly and turning back around, in a few minutes coming back upon the crossroads where Nightmare Moon was waiting, wearing a smug, told-you-so grin. Doing her best to avoid her patronizing smile, Luna stormed past and continued on down the opposite path without uttering a single word. Nightmare Moon followed compliantly this time as Luna led the way down the road to the west, which in all technicality was the eastern reaches of the Everfree Forest. The more she thought about it, the more confusing it got.

For a long while, the two simply walked, Nightmare Moon often making some pettish complaint about the cold or the fog, and Luna offering an agreeing mumble out of courtesy. One thing Luna noticed her companion doing frequently (other than complaining) was looking straight up, continuously examining the tops of the trees as if expecting something to be different. Something about the almost fearful way she was doing so eventually piqued Luna's curiosity enough that she simply needed to know what it was Nightmare Moon was hoping to see.

"Why are you looking at the tops of the trees?" Luna finally asked the next time Nightmare Moon stole a glance skywards.

"Hmm?" Nightmare Moon blinked innocently and directed her line of sight at the road in front of her, acting like she had looking straight ahead the whole time. "Oh, hopefully nothing. Usually nothing. That being said, if you see a tree without any branches at the top, tell me. Immediately."

"I...I'm sorry, but I do not quite underst—"

"You're going to regret me telling you, believe me. Look at the tree tops. Look at them very carefully."

Luna did as she was instructed, and craned her neck upwards to examine the slender and wispy tops of the trees far above, with their thick, mossy black branches arching downwards, and offering no shade against a sun that was not present anyways. She couldn't see anything out of the ordinary, other than the trees themselves. The only thing Luna saw any them do in the full minute she stared was waver slightly in the wind. Oddly, it looked like only one was blown by the wind, but that certainly didn't warrant any concern. Nightmare Moon, however, also noticed the branches shudder, and pointed a hoof at the exact same tree.

"There!" She whispered excitedly. "Did you see that? That one moved!"

"Yes, what of it? It was simply buffeted by the wind."

"Yeah?" Nightmare Moon chortled. "What wind?"

"The..." Slowly, in bitter, terrified realization, Luna realized that, in fact, there was no wind. There hadn't been since she first arrived, it was one of the first things about the Underworld she had noted. There was twilight, and perhaps the rectangular particles floating upwards could be called rain, but at no point had Luna ever been aware of wind...which theoretically there could never be anyway. Then...if there was in fact no wind...what had moved the branches?

"Count them, Lulu. Count the branches."

Once again, Luna did as she was told, focusing on one specific tree and counting each of the dainty branches. Eight. Eight long, dark branches connected to a mossy ball perched at the tree. Breathing heavily, she moved on to the next...and the next after that, fear gradually creeping its way down her spine until she realized why Nightmare Moon was so justified in her nervousness.

"Eight. They all have eight branches. And they're moving."

"They're not trees, Lulu." Nightmare Moon said, drawing the words out for dramatic purpose. "Please don't tell me you have a fear of spiders?"

"Surely you can't be..." Luna began, shivering and refusing to break eye contact with the immense arachnids above. Nightmare Moon gave an agreeing nod and once again resumed her walk, but Luna remained right where she was. Nightmare Moon hadn't been wrong; she certainly would have been better off without the knowledge that she was currently surrounded by tens of thousands of gigantic arachnids.

"What are they doing?" Luna whispered, trotting to catch up to Nightmare Moon.

"I dunno. Watching us?" The sarcastic tone in her voice was unmistakable. "Waiting for a chance to strike perhaps?"

Playfully, Nightmare Moon unfurled her wings and started hovering several feet above the path.

"Maybe I'll go and ask one! Come along, Luna!"

"Why are they here? It does not make a shred of sense!"

"What fun is there in making sense?" Nightmare Moon laughed in a mocking tone, bringing her hooves behind her head as if they were horns. "But seriously. Let me answer your question with another question. Why are you so afraid of spiders?"

"I'm not!" Luna blushed. "I just don't like them!"

"Luna, come on. The Everfree Forest, at least the first few miles of it, is intended to place your most irrational fears as an obstacle for you to surpass. So, obviously you are."

"The story is thoroughly embarrassing, and it is founded on memories of my sister which fill me with guilt."

"Alright, alright. Irrational fears are called irrational for a reason, I guess." Nightmare Moon sighed in disappointment, lowering her hooves back down on the earth and folding her wings against her side. "I don't want to hear your incessant whining anyways."

"Aahg." Luna eventually said.

"I beg your pardon?"

"Aahg." Luna repeated. "He was a foe me and my sister faced in passing, long ago."

"Really? A spider I presume?"

"Indeed. A quite voracious one at that. I don't think this forest is populated by creatures I fear, I think it's populated by memories I regret. He killed three members of our royal guard that day."

"My goodness. Well, circle of life I suppose."

Luna gave Nightmare Moon a filthy look and shook her head in disapproving disgust.

"What about them? Are they hostile?" she asked, unable to clear her mind of the potential danger hanging overhead.

"Looks like they're dormant." Nightmare Moon observed, not sounding entirely sure. "And they're pretty high above us anyway. We should be fine."

Luna gasped in relief, allowing herself to relax a little and turn her attention back to the road ahead. The same redundant, straight path leading her deeper and deeper into the forest. Admittedly, the fog was starting to get on Luna's nerves, too. The sheer mystery of her surroundings filled her with an almost claustrophobic sense of discomfort. Hopefully, she cast some light from her horn, which helped only slightly.

"Not a lot further." Nightmare Moon assured, leaving Luna baffled how she knew where they were if the forest looked exactly the same. She concluded that Nightmare Moon was probably just saying that so it looked like she knew what she was talking about.

"So, what do you intend to do when we reach Tartarus?" Luna asked, hoping to pass the time traveling with a bit of idle chitchat.

"I haven't given it much thought. Probably go find some other sad sap of a pony to bug." Nightmare Moon grinned mischievously and rose an eyebrow. "Are you making conversation with me, Luna?"

"I suppose I am."

"That's a first." Nightmare Moon pointed out, still grinning. "Does this mean you no longer carry an unbridled hatred against 'every fiber of my being?'"

"N...I...I don't know."

Seeing the evident discomfort in Luna's reply, Nightmare Moon tried something different.

"Will you miss Equestria, Lulu? This is your last hurrah, after all."

Already, Luna was beginning to regret saying anything at all. She had thought conversing would help pass the time, but it would seem Nightmare Moon mistook her actions for some invitation to ask her the most personal of questions, or else some form of apology for her past hostility. In reality, she felt no obligation to make amends with Nightmare Moon, and while she no longer hated her, the refusal to consider her anything more than a companion almost overpowered Luna's desire to continue the conversation. Nevertheless, she answered.

"Of course. But I'd prefer to leave it forever than rule it under the despair I plunged it into."

"So, Tartarus is an appropriate alternative?" Nightmare asked quizzically.

"No, but Celestia ruling Equestria is an appropriate alternative to me."

"Assuming you succeed." Nightmare Moon pointed out. "If you fail, then you've created an even bigger mess."

"Which is why I must succeed." Luna said, aiming for a confident tone of voice but still unable to keep the fear out of her voice. "Your knowledge about Tartarus would really be beneficial, Nightmare. Especially about this 'Lord of Tartarus' King Sombra spoke of. Is there anything else I should know? "

"I imagine there's TONS you should know! But, unfortunately, I'm not the one who can tell you."

"Why not?!" Luna snapped, startling both herself and her companion with her sudden, peeved hostility. "Ahem. Sorry. Why can you not tell me?"

"Because I don't know. Obviously." Nightmare Moon scoffed, annoyed with having to say it out loud. "I know I'm dashing and clever, but I'm not omniscient."

"Have you been there though?" Luna asked, pondering the contradictory nature of her question. Both Sombra and Nightmare Moon had both confirmed that Tartarus was a realm from which return was not allowed.

"Well...yes. Let's just say I'm supposed to be there." Nightmare Moon said, and Luna could tell she was taking great caution in choosing how she worded her sentences. "I...checked out early."

"You escaped." Luna translated, finally making sense of what the ponies guarding the Everfree had said, and why Canterville's residents were so terrified of her. "I've asked this before, but I need an answer. What are y—"

"Luna, shh!"

"No! Not this time! I int—"

"No, seriously, shut up!"

Her eyes growing wide, Luna could tell from Nightmare's urgent tone that she wasn't simply skirting around answering her question, she had seen or heard something which sent her into a fearful silence. Compliantly, Luna, too, fell silent, looking forward in an attempt to see what it was Nightmare Moon had seen. However, so thick was the fog that even a distance as short as twenty feet was almost completely obscured.

"What is it?" Luna whispered as quietly as she could, half expecting Nightmare Moon to shush her again. Instead, she pointed a hoof upwards. Luna followed it and instantly understood what it was that had Nightmare Moon so freaked out. Rising skywards into the sky was one of the many trees, but this particular one had the distinction of not having any branches on the top of it, so that it looked like a giant wooden post soaring into the sky. The true gravity of what she was seeing sent shivers down her spine.

"What do we do?" Luna said in a hushed tone.

"I don't know..." Nightmare Moon began, finally turning away from the forest to face Luna. "Your horn! Put out the light, you idiot!"

Luna cursed and quickly stopped casting the light spell that she had forgotten she was using in the first place.

"Okay." Nightmare Moon began, her breathing quick and fearful. "Damn spiders. Uhh, well, I don't see a choice, we gotta keep moving."

"Is that thing looking for us?"

"I don't know, I don't know!" This was the most nervous Luna had ever seen Nightmare Moon behave. "I hate not knowing!"

Suddenly, she whipped around and grasped Luna, bringing her muzzle inches from Luna's face and glaring at her with wild eyes. It looked to Luna like she had just noticed something, and that knowledge had terrified her even more than her ignorance.

"Get off the path. Fly if you need to! I'll catch up, just go!"

"Wha—"

"Get off, I said!" Nightmare Moon gave Luna a harsh shove into the forest and motioned wildly for her to continue. Luna hesitated just long enough to see that Nightmare Moon was still standing in the middle of the path, straightening herself into a defensive position and not budging from it. Seeing Luna still watching her out of the corner of her eyes, Nightmare Moon bared her teeth and silently mouthed the word 'go.'

Reluctantly, Luna turned and sprinted through the rows of trees, the path instantly disappearing in the fog. Blindly she ran, until she was sure she had left enough distance between herself and the path that she could continue running in the correct direction. Readjusting her course, Luna tore forwards, skirting around trunks of trees and all the while keeping a close eye around herself for any signs of life. With dismay, she noted that two more trees were lacking of any foliage at the top, and she imagined she would have seen others if she had the time to look more closely. In the deeper reaches of the forest, thick, durable looking spiderwebs covered more and more trees, sometimes so dense than Luna had to leap or even fly over them. Without the aid of her magical lighting, it was rather difficult to spot them in the twilit shadows of the forest.

"N...Nightmare..." Luna called out between her panting as she ran, desperate to know what in Equestria that mare had planned. As she expected, she received no reply. Whatever it was Nightmare Moon intended to do, Luna knew she had purposely been sent away so she would not witness it. If she did not have any reason to still consider her untrustworthy (which, she had plenty of) then she certainly would now.

After awhile, Luna skidded to a halt to catch her breath, whipping around in every direction constantly to make sure she was alone. She had no doubt she could easily dispose of one of those spiders with a blast of magic, but it was likely that her light magic was what woke the first one; if she used a particularly violent and destructive magic spell, she'd probably wake the whole forest. A dozen spiders were no problem; a thousand would most likely spell her doom.

Suddenly, Luna heard a quick, sharp, snapping sound from somewhere deeper in the forest, as if something had just stepped on and broken a twig. In the completely motionless atmosphere, it might as well been a cannon blast. Whipping around to face the direction of the noise, she was greeted with nothing but fog. But, after squinting harder, she could have sworn she saw something else moving. Something big. Four glowing red lights came and went through the mist, and she concluded this must be the eyes of the great arachnid beasts now stalking the forest.

Taking several cautious steps backwards, Luna did her best to calm her exhausted panting and slowly tiptoed in the opposite direction of the unseen beast. Hopefully, if she didn't make a sound, it would not hear her, and would instead pass her by completely. Holding her breath, Luna continued to watch intently, her ears picking up only the deafening sound of silence. While she wanted to flee, any sudden movement would undoubtedly expose her presence, leaving her with the touchy choice of either fighting back or attempting to outrun the creature, both of which might create even more trouble for her. The glowing red eyes were only sometimes visible as the arachnid stalked through the trees, but they were certainly growing brighter by the second, which could only mean one thing. It was approaching.

Eventually, the thing crept forward; first, a concentrated area of the fog changed to a radiant red, and then the the arachnid itself slowly became visible as it entered directly into Luna's line of sight. Immediately upon seeing her, it froze and took several long strides forward, before ceasing its walk and staring at her blankly. Standing on eight tall, pointed legs resembling a sword's blade was a thick, hideous, hairy sphere, with no signs of an abdomen which seemed to contradict the thick webs decorating the forest. Other than the eyes and legs, it had no other features on its body.

Which made Luna all the more surprised when it spoke.

"Nightmare Moon." It said, its voice a deep, genderless drone. "You are Nightmare Moon."

Luna blinked several times, not quite trusting her ears that it had in fact, spoken.

"You will answer." It said, resuming its intimidating approach. "Are you not the one they call Nightmare Moon?"

"No, no I'm not." She managed, still gawking in disbelief. The whole situation simply reeked of something Discord would think up, so ridiculous was it in concept. She wasn't even really frightened as much as she was bewildered, and curious as to how and why Nightmare Moon was so popular in the Underworld. Seemingly every creature she encountered responded to the very mention of her name with fury and distrust, and yet here she was traipsing to Tartarus with her. "My name is Princess Luna. I do not mean any harm with your...species, I simply desire safe passage through the Everfree."

"You lie. None but Nightmare Moon would have the desire, nor means to commute to or from Tartarus."

"Wh...who is she?" Luna asked, now staring straight up at the beast towering above her, all the while internally calculating which route would offer the safest and swiftest escape.

Apparently, what she had intended as a question aimed to finally answer her doubts about her companion had somehow been interpreted as an insult, because the mighty arachnid said nothing in response, instead raising one of its sharp legs and bringing it down hard on the ground directly where Luna would have been standing, if she had not broken into a sprint split-seconds before it did. The ground where it hit exploded in dirt, but she was not around to see that much. Instead, the Princess of the Night tore through the trees for a short distance, before spreading her wings and taking to the sky, beating the air frantically as she left the earth below.

"Nightmare Moon!" She bellowed at the top of her lungs, scanning below her for any signs of life. With mild amusement, she noted that she had taken off so fiercely that she had already cleared the fog level without noticing. While she was still not above the tall trees, she was high enough that the path below was lost, so she purposefully altered the angle of her flightpath so that she was once again descending. Reaching a more suitable height a little above the path, Luna flew along, hoping to catch sight of where she had left Nightmare Moon on the road.

Suddenly, a large mass passed by in her peripheral vision, followed by another, and another. She whipped around to see dozens more of the arachnids descending towards the earth from every corner of the forest.

"Dammit." She spat, as more and more of the disgusting eight-legged monsters infested the forest. Another one dropped down right beside her, so close that she actually had to pull off a sloppy, improvised barrel-roll to avoid being struck by it. Unfortunately, the maneuver left her disoriented for just long enough for her left wing to graze a tree in passing, sending her on a wild spiral earthwards that, despite her sudden attempts to recover caused her to crash into the dirt harshly. The sky above was a mess of insects and webbing, and Luna wondered if it was perhaps safer to stick to the path than to potentially endanger herself flying.

Breaking into a sprint, Luna tore onto the path and promptly continued her journey across it, making it a short distance before skidding to a halt and whipping her neck backwards at the opposite direction.

Nightmare Moon was still in the forest.

"Nightmare Moon!" Luna screamed at the top of her lungs, not caring that doing so would tell the arachnid beasts where she was. "Where ARE you?!"

No answer. Luna swore under her breath and tried again, switching to her Royal Canterlot Voice, which, coupled with her screaming at her full extent, was enough to shake the earth slightly.

"Ah..L...Luna!" Nightmare's voice came, muffled slightly, some of her words obscured as if by distance, but undoubtedly her. "You're alright. Good. Did you make it out of the forest alright?"

"No! Where are...what is going on?!"

"I heard you, and I'm communicating telepathically, the way I always do. Its from a greater distance so I imagine there's some distortion."

"Where are you?!"

"I should be asking you! What are you still doing in the forest?!"

"Looking for you!" Luna seethed, looking worriedly around at the still empty path, the forest of branch-less trees crawling with movement on all sides. The occasional arachnid stalked across the path, and every time, Luna tensed and prayed it did not see her.

"Luna, I'm fine! Get outta there, for the love of—"

The rest of what Nightmare Moon had to say was lost in the distortion, but it was all Luna needed to hear. One last glance backwards showed her that one of the spiders had wandered onto the path and spotted her, and was now creeping towards her on its grotesquely tall, hairy legs. It was all the motivation Luna needed to take off at the fastest speed her legs could take her, but not before unleashing a sudden flash of light that blinded the arachnids stalking after her.

The forest was now a universally crawling body of insects, but Luna could see some sort of clearing ahead. Dashing forward with new-found enthusiasm, she tore past the insectoid beasts standing in the path, sometimes swiping their appendages at her but missing each time. Luna whispered a silent thanks to the adrenaline pumping through her veins as she bounded ever closer towards the clearing ahead, which looked to Luna like she was running straight towards a blinding sun that obscured whatever lay beyond.

Tearing through and leaving the Everfree behind her, Luna let out a triumphant cheer and slowly cut off speed as she came into an immense clearing of tall yellow grass. Directly ahead of her was a river of still, sparkling water, completely motionless and calm, not a single ripple to be seen. Turning around, she started with surprise to see that the forest was gone, completely gone, in its place a seemingly unending expansion of the clear field she was standing in. Overhead, the sky was clear and starry, again with no trace of a moon or sun. The odd black ascending rectangles were gone, and the eerie humming noise had ceased completely. The only thing of any note on the ground other than the river was a ramshackle wooden archway that Luna must have come through. Slouched against it, the whole thing leaning dangerously, was Nightmare Moon.

"Took you long enough." She muttered, straightening herself up.

"Yes, well, I had a little run in with a literate arachnid, who seemed to mistake me for a lying, tyrannical demon by the name of Nightmare Moon."

"Why, how rude!" Nightmare gasped, before assuming a voice that was quite obviously supposed to be a parody of Luna's. "And, oh so untrue! Such words of blasphemy I've never had the misfortune of hearing!"

Rolling her eyes and blowing her hair out of her face, Luna turned on the river ahead and examined it more carefully. It seemed to stretch on to infinity in one direction, any source completely impossible to see. The other end, however, seemed to drop off suddenly a few miles down, the wheat field also ending just as abruptly. Peering over the edge of the water, Luna saw that it ended in a waterfall which made no sound, disappearing into an abyss of black, which was also doted with the tell-tale pinpricks of starlight.

"What is this place?" Luna said in amazement, in sheer disbelief by the unexpected beauty she had never imagined could exist on the road to Tartarus.

"Y'know, I've thought about that a lot while I was waiting for you." Nightmare Moon replied. "This is my first time being here, too."

"Really?" Luna asked. "But you've been to Tartarus, no?"

"I...I've never made it this far with a living pony." Nightmare Moon cryptically confessed. "Which...which means you're the first mare other than myself to set eyes on...whatever this is."

"Have you been in the water?"

"Pfft, no! I'm not stupid!" Nightmare Moon scoffed, as if it were obvious. "I did find out that your magic won't work here, though."

"What?!"

"Try for yourself."

Sure enough, when Luna tried to levitate Nightmare Moon's helmet off her head, she found that her magic simply refused to co-operate. She was not even able to make a single spark leave her horn. All the while, Nightmare Moon was still standing in the same spot, looking bored and disinterested.

"Why did you leave me in the forest?" Luna asked, rearing on her, forming a determined glare. Nightmare Moon had skillfully dodged every question she had asked recently, but not this time.

"Ah, y'know, sentient, literate spiders. Brought about by your irrational fears, designed to guard the gates to Tartarus..." She said, shrugging. "I wanted to have a word with them. I wasn't met warmly, so I set off post-haste for Tartarus, knowing it wasn't very far."

"A word? Concerning what matters?!"

"Concerning you, of course." Finally moving from her lazy slouching by the wooden archway, she paced towards Luna, before poking her in the nose with a hoof and chuckling playfully. "I wanted to make sure I could trust you! Y'know, ulterior motives and the like."

"Hilarious." Luna grumbled sarcastically, pushing her away and sitting on the ground facing the wide river in front of her. "I presume we must cross this river?"

"Now?" Nightmare groaned, falling to the ground belly-up and looking up at the stars. "But it's so nice here! Don't you ponies get tired or something?"

"Well...I suppose. What I really am experiencing is hunger." Luna confessed. If she'd known her journey to Tartarus would be such a long ordeal, she would have come much more prepared. But as it were, she saw no other choice but to hurry to Tartarus as swiftly as possible. Nevertheless, the promise of a rest in what was surely designed to BE a rest between the Underworld and Tartarus, was promising. The river wasn't going anywhere, and one last hour before sacrificing her life for her sister did not seem quite so unreasonable. Still sitting and facing the unknown shore, Luna let out a long sigh and closed her eyes.

"I shall die tomorrow."

"Yeah?" Came Nightmare Moon's tired, detached reply.

"It... is strange, to think of it with such certainty."

"Not really." Nightmare Moon said, sitting up. "Everything dies. Even alicorns like you."

"Yes, I suppose. And yet, the strangeness lies in the...organization of it all. As if it is some divine schedule that I must comply with. I do not feel frightened, or worried, or anxious. I simply feel unfulfilled."

"What a cheery topic."

Sighing again, Luna decided she would do better to just refrain from ever trying to carry on a serious conversation with her. She was just about to propose they get moving when Nightmare Moon spoke.

"I wish you weren't going to do this to yourself, Luna. But, I can't change your mind. For your sake, I'm sorry about that."

"I appreciate your sentimentality." Luna breathed, watching as it rose into the cool air like mist.

"Call it what you want. Celestia's lucky she has a sister who would sacrifice everything for her."

"No, she's unfortunate to have such a corrupt mare for a sibling." Luna denied. "You speak as if I am going to my death as a hero, when the truth is that I am simply paying the price for my own past sins."

"Whatever, Luna." Nightmare Moon practically snapped, crashing back on the ground with a dull thump. "I tried."

With one final sigh, Luna, too, brought her head down onto the grass, looking up at the galaxy above, at the celestial canvass not quite unlike the one she had done so much to have plastered across Equestria's inky night sky. She would have seen beauty in it once, but now she just saw the same bitter vision of Celestia being struck by her magical assault, tumbling down and down to earth—

"I am ready to move on." Luna announced, rising, ignoring Nightmare Moon's protesting groans. One last river. That was all she needed to cross, and then she could finally rest knowing she had redeemed herself.

"Let us finish this once and for all."