//------------------------------//
// Chapter 3.6 - The Longest Nightmare 
// Story: Fallout Equestria : Black And White 
// by Philweasel 
//------------------------------//

“The being you call Puppy. She is not a computer program.”

“Then what…?”

“She is a Star Demon.”

“That…” Dust felt his heart skip a beat, “But… she has programming, and databases…”

“Yes.” Easu stated quietly, “The stone, it is magically sealed to prevent her escape. I can only imagine that they trapped her there, using magic and technology to keep her ignorant of her true nature.” His eyes became harder, his voice losing its compassion, “But she has now broken those bonds. And if Fluttershy is right, the consequences could be more serious that we could imagine.”

“Are you saying that Puppy is… what?” Dust felt his reality fall apart with every word, almost feeling like laughing. It was ridiculous. It was absurd! “Puppy is Nightmare Moon?”

“I did not say that.” He answered, “But what is in that stone is dark, and evil.”

“And Nightmare Moon.” Fluttershy finished, her expression full of regret. She turned to Dust with shaking eyes, “Dust Kicker… I don’t understand it either.”

“She must be destroyed.” Easu concluded, “It is the only way.”

Silence reigned. No one knew what to say.


“No.”

Everyone looked to Star Swirl, Easu speaking first. His voice was a low, questioning growl, “Star Swirl…?”

“You’re not looking hard enough.” Star Swirl replied, her expression angry, her stance proud. She stamped a hoof, ears erect in a gesture of challenge as she glared at all of them, “You say Star Demon and everyone steps back in horror. Well I am one!”

Easu snarled, “Don’t remind me. And you’re missing the point.”

“No, you are!” She shouted angrily, waving a hoof at the stone, “Look closer.”

Easu shook his head, dismissive, “All I see is darkness.”

“No…” Fluttershy took a step forwards, her eyes widening, “She’s right. I can feel Nightmare Moon, but… there’s others. There’s…” She gasped, looking slightly hopeful as she turned to them, “There’s fear, sadness, something… hurt and wounded.”

Star Swirl let her head fall for a moment, closing her eyes. Eventually she nodded, “It’s a Star Demon, an old one. One that’s taken on lots of different identities across multiple hosts.”

Dust just couldn’t believe it, “So it’s really Nightmare Moon?”

“I never met the mare. I couldn’t tell you.” Star Swirl took a deep breath before speaking again, raw and compassionate, “But I do know that it’s been disrupted. The dominant personality has collapsed, and now it is trying to stabilise itself by reverting to a previous identity.”

Ace finally spoke, his voice oddly calm, almost impressed, “That’s… genius.”

Dust looked to him, glad of his input. Ace Gold had been impressing him of late, “What is?”

Ace advanced forward, his horn glowing and a slight smile upon his face, “Star Swirl, Star Demons take on the identities of their hosts, right?”

“Yes…”

“Which they then retain after the host is gone?”

“Yes.”

“Well wouldn’t it be possible to program a Star Demon with an artificial identity, hook it up to a mainframe, and use it as a control program?” Ace ran his horn across the suit, nodding to himself, “I… can see a large hard drive, but only a very small CPU. That drive must contain all of Puppy’s personality data, constantly being fed into that stone, maintaining her personality. All CPU functions are managed by the Star Demon inside.”

“I…” Star Swirl’s jaw was slack, a slightly blank look in her eyes, “…I don’t know a lot about computers, but that sounds… plausible I guess.”

Ace Gold looked across at Dust Kicker “My guess is that they… caught her somehow, and then hooked her up to a crusader mainframe. Uploaded Puppy’s personality, control programs, years of brainwashing powered by the best tech the Steel Rangers had to offer.”

Star Swirl paled, her eyes dilating slightly. She did not look well, her voice a whisper, “Sweet Celestia…”

Dust sighed. Everything was exactly as Red Eye had stated. And he understood now, “So he was right.”

Too right. How did Red Eye know all this? Know what Puppy was, and what had happened to her? And the inevitable, ethical dilemma at the heart of the matter...

Fluttershy smiled happily, relief flooding her features, “We just reactivate that hard drive!”

Dust paled, Fluttershy inadvertently stabbing a dagger through his heart.

Puppy was… artificial. They had hooked a living being up to wires and tubes, made her think she was some dead filly and put her inside an iron box. They had turned her into a weapon without her consent. And now, they were going to just brainwash her all over again, “What right do we have to do that?”

Fluttershy paused, confused, “What do you mean?”

Surprisingly it was Easu who nodded, his voice low and troubled, “I am no fan of these beings… but you are right. This is not so simple. That is a living creature, and warping its mind and caging it like this… it is wrong. It is slavery.”

Star Swirl smiled softly, “That’s surprisingly compassionate Easu.”

“No, it’s not. It is moral.” He glared at her, body tensing, “I will not cage a sentient being, but I will not allow her to return to some previous, dark persona. Wasteland justice must prevail here.”

“It doesn’t matter anyway.” Ace finally stated, his voice low and weary, “The hard drive… it’s seriously corrupted. It’s still degrading, suffering catastrophic decay with every second. There’s absolutely no way to recover it.”

Zenai’s voice was high and scared, “So… she’s gone?”

“No… not really.” Star Swirl replied, a little hesitant, “In a way, that hard drive was her host. It is… traumatic to lose it, yet any host’s dreams, ideals and personality live on.” She pressed a hoof against her breast, trying her best to hide her obvious nerves Dust noticed, “I still remember a young zebra mare called Charaxies, who loved butterflies and insects and dreamed of a world where the pure love among all creatures would create everlasting peace. She is a much a part of me as any other.”

Fluttershy hesitated for a moment before speaking, “If Nightmare Moon was a Star Demon then I know it doesn’t always work like that.” She continued, voice lowering until she sounded dangerously judgemental, “She took over Rarity, forcefully turned her into an abomination. It did the same with all the creatures on the moon, warped them to her purposes. It wasn’t my friend in there, it was Nightmare Moon with a different face.”

“I…” Star Swirl chewed her lip for a moment, finally speaking slowly and hesitantly, “Charaxies… she developed a system of meditation, controlling her emotions and her desires, keeping… the demon… under control. She studied philosophy, ethics, theology, absorbing them into her being. She lived as a hermit, forsaking personal possessions. And as a result I... Char... learned restraint. Learned to take on the identities of all hosts. But if a particularly advanced Star Demon wishes is... they can forcibly take over a host as a mere vessel for their will.”

Dust had heard tales of the star demons, thought Star Swirl had been putting too nice a spin on it, “So if it go out, it would just dominate us?”

Star Swirl looked very nervous at this line of questioning. Eventually her head fell, voice small, “Yes. If Puppy escaped from that rock right now, possessed one of you…” Her eyes noticeably flicked to Zenai for a moment before returning to the ground, “She would just suppress your mind completely, use you simply as a repository of information, emotions and magical energy.”

Fluttershy was quiet for a moment before speaking, her voice now more neutral, “Like when it possessed Luna, or Rarity.”

Star Swirl looked like she was debating whether to reply for a second before an angry look finally took her, her voice raising slightly, “From what I’ve read of her, Luna was forceful, arrogant and liked to take things without asking too. Star Demons feed on emotion and magic, and yes, it is a curse.” She pouted, glaring down at Fluttershy, “It drives us to possess the powerful and the emotionally unstable, take on their personality. Is it so unusual that so many of us become monsters?”

“And so it becomes clear why it chose you.” Easu snarked bitterly.

Dust quickly stepped in here, sensing a fight brewing. As interesting as this was, it wasn’t solving anything. He felt himself getting desperate, not about to lose Puppy too, “None of this changes the fact that whatever is in there scared, damaged and dangerous, and is getting stronger. Now I’m not about to give up on Puppy, so I want some damn suggestions!”

“I have an idea.” Star Swirl stated simply, before a smile moved across her lips, “Kinda an ironic one.”

Everyone stared at her, Dust finally the first to speak, “Go on.”

“Puppy is in there, she must be. But she’s… gone into hiding for some reason, and this other personality has filled the gap. So it’s obvious what we need to do.” Star Swirl nodded firmly, looking rather pleased with herself, “We need to suppress this other personality, and bring Puppy back out.”

Easu’s scowl consumed his entire face, his words full of intense disapproval, “You’re going to dreamwalk into there?”

Star Swirl nodded firmly, “I’m a Star Demon myself now, I know how to handle myself inside dreams. I’m sure I can outmanoeuvre some evil ghost, find Puppy and convince her to re-establish control.”

Easu took a firm step forward, glaring dangerously, “Is this a thing now, this arrogance you have picked up? You are a fool.”

She glared right back, “For caring about ponies? Wanting to save them?”

“That being in there, if Fluttershy is right then that is Nightmare Moon. Queen of dreams, the being that was once a part of the Princess of the Night. And she is also a demon herself, a being of the ether.” Easu lowered his voice to a dismissive growl, “She would destroy you.”

This actually caused Star Swirl to hesitate, looking uncertain for a moment.

“You can do it Star Swirl.” Zenai stated softly, speaking her first words in a while. She smiled up at Star Swirl, encouraging and affectionate, “You wanted to know how to help me? Well then find Puppy, and bring her back safe. You’re a hero, I know you can do it.”

Star Swirl’s smile widened at the encouragement, her stance becoming firmer. She looked around the others, “I can take ponies with me. Only one or two though.”

Dust immediately stepped forward. This was his mission, and he wasn’t about to be left behind. Not when it was all his fault, “Me.”

Star Swirl’s face fell, “I can’t Dust Kicker. I’m sorry.”

He felt like he had been kicked, “Why not?!”

“You’re very resistant to magic, have a locked down soul resonance.” Star Swirl explained, “It would be too dangerous for the both of us, like dragging an anchor with me.”

Dust cursed internally, “Anypony else?”

Fluttershy shook her head, looking regretful, “I’m not sure how much help I’ll be. And... I’m not sure I’m ready to face Nightmare Moon, or any demon.”

Ace avoided her gaze, eventually muttering to himself and looking frustrated, “I’m really not the magical type. I don’t think I’ll be able to deal with all this weird stuff.”

Zenai chuckled sadly, shaking her head, “I’ll be totally useless in there Star Swirl. I’m sorry.”

“So it’s down to me.” Easu growled, looking up at her challengingly.

They all looked at him. Dust instantly felt his muscles tense, knowing the zebra’s opinion on this sort of thing, “So you can go in there and kill her?”

Easu paused for several long seconds before looking directly at Star Swirl, “I will follow your lead. Show me that you’re not an idiot girl. That this idealism of yours has basis.”

She smiled, confident, “I intend to.”

“Arrogant mare...” He sniffed, “I have training at doing this at least. Let’s get prepared, we might not have much time.”

“What do we do?” Dust asked as they stepped into position around the armor, the two laying down on the floor beside, “How long should we give you?”

“If she possesses someone, if she escapes... it will be one of us.” Easu explained grimly, “Be ready for that.”

“I don’t know how long it will take Dust Kicker.” Star Swirl stated, closing her eyes and igniting her horn, “But don’t you worry. I won’t fail you.”

¬

It wasn’t like any entrance to the dreaming Star Swirl had ever experienced, feeling a deep well of confusion and fear strike her full force, buffeting her in its chaotic tempest. She felt herself torn apart, flung through screaming memories of despair and hatred… she was a dreamweaver, she should have been able to take control.

But the tempests were just too powerful, too full of conviction and will. She had made a terrible mistake. She recognised the feelings that hit her now and realised that Easu was right.

These were the nightmares of an alicorn princess. Like Celestia she felt the connection to everything around her, but unlike Celestia these sensations only spoke of darkness and despair. She tried to block out Puppy’s mind but it was impossible, Star Swirl helplessly caught in the grasp of a being far larger than she could ever imagine.

And finally she slumped painfully to the grey, dusty ground, gasping as some of it went up her nose. She reared up, coughing as she tried to clear her sinuses… eyes raising to the planet suspended above her head like a vast blue marble.

It was both awe inspiring and terrifying. She instinctively covered her head, feeling that any moment she was going be crushed against that vast planet that filled the sky, or fall out into space. But her hooves remained set, secured upon fields of silver sand.

She was on the moon. She was looking down at Equestria, far below… or above, depending on how you thought about it. She could make out the spires of Canterlot, and by focusing her eyes just make out the mountain upon which her body now slept all the way in the zebra territories.

“Well, that’s something you don’t see every day.”

She turned, the voice immediately familiar. Her eyes settled on the stallion, her mouth slowly drooping open.

It was a zebra. Beyond that… Star Swirl struggled to describe him in ways that did him justice. He had a firm jaw but still possessed a kindly softness around his cheeks and eyes, his fur stylishly rugged, his body tall and powerful. His grin was seductive and dangerous, his eyes full of intelligence and passion. She could feel the power radiating off him, the arrogance and pride. Her jaw went slack, tongue struggling for words.

“It’s me Star Swirl.” He turned and shone her a heart breaking smile, his hooves padding across the dust as he advanced towards her, “This is what I really look like, under the bandages and pathetic self loathing.”

Star Swirl gulped loudly, “Easu…?”

“You look like you like what you see.” He crooned seductively, advancing forward with an eerie grace, “You want to know a secret?”

She nodded quickly, her legs turning to jelly.

“I’ve always wanted you, from the first moment I saw you. An alicorn princess, to take into my hooves, to do… everything to…”

She gasped, her eyes darting left and right, feeling the need to flee but betrayed by shaking legs, “Easu, I… I don’t…”

He grinned, eyes far too cruel and irresistible, “Don’t you want me Star Swirl?”

She bit her lip, realising this wasn’t the time, that something was very wrong, that they… just shouldn’t… but the warmth, the tingling through her body couldn’t be denied. She felt animal parts taking over, her eyes taking in the stallion before her and just… needing him more than anything else, “I want you…”

“Of course you do. Ha! HA!” He leapt forward, slamming into her shoulder first. Star Swirl was strong but this caught her embarrassingly off guard, Star Swirl on the floor and pinned before she even knew what was going on. He gave another barking laugh and forced a hoof against her throat, a mad, lustful gleam in his eyes, “Do you know how many terrible, awful pictures and books featuring this scenario there are? The viral zebra stallion, breaking the pretty pony princess, making her his? And by the fire, I ate up every twisted word!”

She tried to struggle but found herself a pathetic tangle of hooves, her strength gone. And worse… she couldn’t find the will, the energy to fight. She felt her resistance collapse, her pride nowhere to be found. She wondered if it would be best if she just gave in, enjoyed this as best as she could…

“Kiss me bitch.” He ordered, powerful hooves digging painfully into her shoulders, “Kiss me and call me master.”

He forced his lips onto hers. She resisted for a moment and he slapped her, forcing her head back and trying again. This time… she kissed back. She lost herself to him, just a simple tool to his will. She didn’t see the point of being anything else.


“Get off her scumbag.”

Easu paused, angrily staring to the side. Star Swirl followed his eyes, not remotely prepared for the pony who had spoken the words, the rifle in his hooves trained on Easu and his eyes full of fury. Easu grimaced, stepping carefully away before giving a dangerous grin, “Who the fuck are you old man?”

“Name’s Bloody Razor.” The scarred raider motioned to Star Swirl, still lying sprawled upon the ground, “She’s under my protection.”

Star Swirl rolled back onto her hooves, standing gingerly. She was frightened, passive, weak despite herself. She didn’t understand, what had happened to her? And furthermore…

She looked to Bloody Razor, the blood soaked raider who had saved her so many times now. Why? Why was he here, still looking out for her? “What are you doing here?”

“Protecting you girl. Somepony has to.” He motioned with his gun to the darkness beyond, “Run. I’ve got this fucker covered.”

“Like hell you do…!”

Bloody Razor blew his ear off, Easu collapsing into a screaming heap. Bloody Razor then turned his eyes to Star Swirl, voice rising to a scream, “WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR GIRL!?”

Star Swirl’s hooves finally kicked into action, heart beating desperately as she galloped away. She had no idea where she was going, her hooves kicking up dirt as she crested a dune with her heart beating in her ears.

And then she stepped out into nothingness, the dune suddenly ending in a steep drop. She screamed, opening her wings and battering them against the rock. It achieved nothing but throwing her head over heels.

The final impact was sudden and painful.

…

She was going to die. She was all full of confidence going in and now she was going to die, all alone, trapped in some stupid dream with Easu trying to rape her and falling into space…

“Open your eyes you silly girl.”

Star Swirl knew that voice. She knew it all too well, “No. I… I don’t want to.”

The owner of said voice promptly wacked her across the head with a hoof.

“Ow!” She opened her eyes, rearing up and covering her head, “That… that was mean!”

“Is this really what I’m reduced to?” The purple alicorn before her growled back, stance full of arrogance and power, “A little simpering idiot, who can do nothing but whimper and cry?”

Star Swirl looked down at her hooves, then up at the proud form of Justicar before her. To say something wasn’t right about this picture was an understatement, and now she realised just why she felt so strange, “I… I can’t feel Char…”

“Good riddance.” Justicar declared, grimacing, “All those rules, all those endless moral debates. A true moral pony ‘knows’ the difference between right and wrong, they don’t have to bind themselves to some inflexible system of ethics.”

Star Swirl was barely listening, “We’ve been… shattered. And so has Easu, that’s why he was acting so weird back there…”

“And this is what I mean!” Justicar wacked her over the head again, voice furiously bossy as she addressed Star Swirl, “We know what we have to do! Go out there, defeat Nightmare Moon, drag Puppy out and go home. Who cares why we’re split, it just means there’s more of us.”

“I really think…”

“No!” Justicar shouted, shaking her head, “This is your problem! You think, you ponder! How long did it take you to tell Zenai how you felt?”

Star Swirl winced. A low blow… from herself no less, “I don’t think it…”

“Again! Thinking, thinking!” Justicar brought a hoof down hard, “You have a perfectly good set of instincts, use them! You needed some parasitic space demon influencing your emotions to reveal a crush you nursed for two years! Can you get more pathetic?”

Star Swirl felt anger well up, bitter and painful. She lowered her head, avoiding Justicar’s gaze, “Shut up…”

“Well I’m going to finish this. With or without you.” Justicar declared, turning and stalking away.

“Justicar…” Star Swirl weakly reached out to the alicorn, “Please, you need to wait. She’s dangerous…”

“This is Puppy we’re talking about, a simpering child.” She threw her head back proudly, “Now I don’t have you holding me down she’ll be no threat at all.”

Star Swirl watched as the alicorn opened her wings and flew towards the spires of Canterlot below. She only hoped she was right...

~

Justicar felt better than she had in decades, her wings strong and powerful, her magic raw and uncontained, her body strong and supple. This is what she had been in her prime, before ‘Star Swirl’ had thrown away everything that made her the Goddesses’ most fearsome enforcer. And without the Goddess… she was free as never before, free to enforce her own justice.

She located Puppy easily, winging down to Canterlot and towards the edifice of tasteless pink, blue and white that somepony had made of the palace, hearing the bombastic tunes of the royal march and winging to the window of the great hall. Inside stood an entire cheering hall of ponies, all looking up at the podium where a warmly smiling Princess Luna stood beside a taller, completely black alicorn. Lying nearby was a huge, black demonic looking dog, Justicar shying back a bit as its head came up and it looked in her direction.

“Today we are here to celebrate our new Princess, one after my own heart, cruelly banished and taken from those who loved her, waking a thousand years later to a world that only gave her further suffering.” Luna declared in a loud, oddly high and self-consciously bombastic voice, “Yet that has now changed. Now she takes her rightful place, a new Princess for a better Equestria!”

Luna wasn’t as tall as Justicar remembered from the pictures she had seen. She was a lighter colour too, and her mane didn’t flow as a princess should. Not that it mattered, that would simply mean she would be even easier to beat.

“Mother, father, please join me on stage.” The black alicorn asked of two unicorn ponies in front, a purple furred mare and a light brown stallion, “We have been apart for so long, and finally… finally we can be together again.”

The two ponies moved up, tears in their eyes as they approached the stage, “We’re so proud of you Princess Puppysmiles…”

“Enough of this!” Justicar shattered the window apart with a brief burst of magic, the crowd screaming as it rained down around them. Justicar didn’t care, they were just shadows, images of a diseased mind. She dived inside and hit the ground with a thump, drawing on the dream powers gained from Char and slamming down a hoof.

The shockwave travelled outwards, the hall collapsing around them, the ponies in the crowd vanishing in bursts of black smoke. It reached the stage and the two unicorns were swept away into nothingness, leaving only Luna, the huge dog, and the black alicorn within the ruined hall.

“You dare much!” Luna shouted as she advanced, horn sparking. The dog advanced too, a growl shaking the dust around it and its teeth bared.

“Luna, Selene, please… I will handle this intruder.” The black alicorn declared, looking up with a dangerous smile and stalking towards Justicar in slow, precise steps, “Canterlot is mine to defend now. And this… this will not take long.”

It wasn’t Nightmare Moon. At least… not exactly.

It was tall, black and deadly looking, with the sharp, elongated face of a mature alicorn princess. And its hair flowed and sparkled with stars. But that hair had a slight golden edge to it and was short and feathery, her cutie mark a howling wolf surrounded by stars rather than the familiar moon. Justicar frowned as she stalked cautiously around the alicorn, “You’re not Nightmare Moon.”

“The difference is academic. You may simply call me Nightmare if you wish.” The alicorn stated in a firm alto, her tone dripping with contempt, “I always did have trouble accessing the full potential of my princess body, and this one is more than adequate. The pain, the hurt, the desperate longing… and the raw magic at its core, a whirling furnace of mana… yes, this will do nicely.”

“Don’t get used to it monster.” Justicar sneered, opening her wings wide and crouching for the attack, “I’m not about to let you take control.”

“You believe you can stand against me?” Nightmare Moon stated with cool arrogance, angling her mouth in a sneer, “Who do you think you are?”

“I’m a killer.” Justicar spat coldly, teleporting in and slashing at Nightmare Moon with a horn sparking with arcane energies.

Nightmare Moon dodged the attack with cool swiftness, flicking her head forward and unleashing a concentrated bolt of energy with quite awe inspiring control and aim. Justicar too felt the thrill at her own skill, dodging forward, ducking and rolling with an agility she had long forgotten.

Into close range, that’s where she would win this. Justicar rolled to Nightmare Moon’s side, kicking her in the shoulder with a hind hoof and staggering her, then spinning and whipping a magically hardened tail into her face. Nightmare Moon cried out and her magic surged outwards, furious and uncontrolled, knocking Justicar away and forcing her to open her wings wide to stop herself from crashing into the ground.

Nightmare Moon shrieked shrilly and her horn exploded with arcane might, Justicar dodging left and right, cutting forward and charging straight ahead. Nightmare Moon narrowed her eyes, charged her horn…

Justicar teleported away, appearing right behind the alicorn and kicking out hard.

At nothing.

Then the ground exploded.

Justicar screamed, the blast consuming her, shredding her wings and burning her fur. She gasped and staggered for a moment as the light faded, only to be caught hard by a beam of magic that flung her through the air to thud limply into the dirt. She gasped, crippled and gasping, looking up at the imperious alicorn above, “No… I’m…”

“Forgetting who you are facing.” Nightmare growled in cruel glee, her hooves treading across churned up dirt and her eyes glowing eerily in the shadows, “You never stood a chance little pony.”

~

Star Swirl simply wandered, unsure and lost. It seemed a common state for her, Star Swirl letting out a sigh as the luna landscape faded into a much more familiar one.

Then she couldn’t help smiling, feeling her heart slow and her body relax at the site of the worn, metal shelves, the dusty, carefully restored books, the symbol of the Followers of the Apocalypse displayed proudly on the far wall. In the corner sat the armchair where administrator Foldin’ would sleep, occasionally shouting at them to work harder before settling once more. Just across the room was the window with the broken catch where Zenai would sneak out and in from time to time, leaving Star Swirl to cover for her.

Star Swirl stepped through the empty library, enjoying the rays of sunshine washing across her. She soon found the cupboard she was looking for, using her telekinesis to jiggle the lock and grinning as the door swung open. She slipped one of the books there out, grin growing wider and her head speeding up a little as she opened it out in front of her.

Why not? There was nopony here after all, and she always wanted to do it here…

She chuckled, turning round to lay the book down upon the front desk…

And screamed, as she saw a ghoul standing there watching her with a confused look.

“Star Swirl? Hmph, it’s about time.” The ghoul stated as he moved grumpily towards her. And now he was closer… he wasn’t a ghoul, not exactly. He was thin and wasted, his body burned and wrapped in bandages, but he lacked the necrosis of a true ghoul. He just looked really ill, his voice harsh and grating, “What are you doing?”

Star Swirl wondered if she could hide the book held in her telekinesis without him noticing. She really doubted it somehow, remaining frozen in place, “I… um…”

The pony looked up at the book, causing Star Swirl’s heart to freeze in her chest, “What is this?”

“It’s nothing!”

The pony walked forward and snatched it from her telekinesis. She was powerless to resist, just shying away and feeling her cheeks burn as he observed the… slightly sticky pages. After a moment he slammed the book shut, his voice low and cold, “We’re supposed to be saving Puppy.”

Star Swirl opened her eyes wide in recognition, “Easu?”

Esau grunted as he looked up at her, “You had almost convinced me. That you weren’t just another arrogant, selfish, crude little pony.”

Star Swirl felt her hoof shake, slamming her other hoof on top of it and pinning the offending limb to the ground, “I was… I was just… tidying it away?”

“Add dishonest to the list.” Easu growled, turning away, “I’m done here. I’m not sure why I agreed to help you in the first place.”

“Wait!” Star Swirl called, reaching out a desperate hoof towards him, “There… there’s another you out there!”

He paused. His voice when it came was frightening, low and cold, “Star Swirl, do you want me to help you?”

“Yes!”

“Then kill him for me. Kill him and be done with it.”

Star Swirl paused. On the first pass the other Easu had tried to rape her, was clearly a deeply unpleasant individual. On the other… “You want me to kill... you?”

“Yes.” He growled, looking like he was in pain, “Get it over with.”

This felt wrong. There were too many things she couldn’t understand going on here, “Easu, why do you look so… sick?”

“Typical pony. You only see the surface.” Easu stated in a low growl, “Beauty, strength, charm… they are all lies, lies to disguise the rot within. I have cast them all off, become pure once more. I have finally purged the evil at my heart.”

Star Swirl had to say, she wasn’t liking this Easu much either, “Well, for ‘purging your evil’… asking me to kill a zebra is a little much isn’t it?”

Easu’s expression became dangerous, silent for a couple of long, ominous seconds before his voice rumbled out in a bass low enough to shake the walls, “I merely wish him gone, out of my life. It is you who bear the sin.” He looked back at her with utter contempt, “Are you not a killer? Are you not a monster? It should be easy for a pony like you, a simple act of common murder.”

Star Swirl really didn’t like this Easu, “Hey! Why… why don’t you do it yourself then!?”

“I have moved beyond such things. Detached myself from worldly sins.” Easu declared coldly, “And if you will not help me rid myself of them permanently, I will find somepony who will.”

Star Swirl felt that unlikely, “Like who? We’re the only ones in here Easu…”

“No, we’re not.” He stated bluntly.

“What, Nightmare Moon?”

“Why not?” He grunted, “You love Star Demons so much, I will show you what they are really capable of. I will trade her services in ridding myself of my sins in return for setting her free, and show the whole world that demons and ponies are not to be trusted.”

Star Swirl’s heart froze, tears starting to flow, “No… that’s… that’s evil…”

“Then you should have never harnessed it for your plans in the first place.” Easu growled as he set off towards the door, “In the end you reap what you sow.”

“No… Easu…” Star Swirl reached forward, catching his shoulder...

~

She fell into the memories, feeling them well up around her…

Easu… Easu formed in front of her. He was younger, just an adult yet already strong and handsome, walking into a room with all the effortless swagger of a zebra born to be admired. The room was a dining room of some kind, the décor vaguely familiar… as was the other zebra in the room.

He was clearly related to Easu, pretty and well formed, but younger and lacking Easu’s rugged strength. Instead he looked positively scrawny, his posture speaking of a desire to avoid notice and his expression downcast and evasive.

“That smells damn good.” Easu commented with a deeply smug grin, swaggering into the room and waving a hoof in the other zebra’s direction, “Spare us a little brother? Spent the whole day sparing, I’m gonna keel over if I don’t eat something soon.”

“It’s… mine…” The zebra stated nervously, his voice soft and girlish.

“Oh come on!” Easu announced with a loud chuckle, “Go on bro, name your price. A pretty girl? Pretty boy?”

His brother looked away, clearly blushing. After a second he finally answered, voice quietly hopeful, “Father won’t be around forever.”

Easu’s expression became grim, his voice more serious, “No, he won’t.”

“When you become warlord… things have to change.” The zebra stated, turning deep, soulful eyes up at Easu, “We have a chance here, to create something truly great. Build cities, grow crops, trade, create art and literature. We could be a civilisation again.”

“Well that’s what you’re here for little brother!” Easu laughed, striding over to the table with his head held high and proud, “I might be a leader, but I honestly find it hard to really get interested in the small stuff of ruling a country. Whereas you little brother… well, you might not be cut out to be king, but you’ ve always been good at those little, behind the scenes things.”

“Really…”

“Yeah!” Easu declared, patting his brother on the back, “If I’m going to defeat our enemies and forge a strong country I’ll need resources. Zebra, food, weapons, all that stuff. And even if I think your affection for dirt farming is weird, I can’t deny that forging an empire is pretty hard without it.”

“And you will let me do things my own way?”

“Sure!”

The zebra lowered his head, thinking for a moment before pushing the bowl over. He smiled at Easu, eyes full of kindness, “Thank you brother, you’ve given me a lot to think about.”

~

She fell out of the memories, watching his back as he departed. She should have chased after him, fought him, done something. But she didn’t have the energy, have the will. She could only cry at her weakness, a big, pathetic lump unworthy of consideration. She looked at the book Easu had left on the floor, feeling the self loathing well up. Was this all she was? A big, ugly brute, reading dirty magazines while fantasising about her best friend?

“Chin up big girl.”

She turned, more than a little surprised to see Bloody Razor standing there by the book shelves. The dirty raider looked very odd standing in a place like this, Star Swirl hesitating for a second before quickly moving to wipe away the tears, “I’m sorry, I’m…”

“No need to apologise.” He chuckled, walking past her with his usual swagger and picking up the discarded book. She went bright red once more, especially as he opened it up and gave a big grin, “Heh heh, this is some pretty good stuff.”

“I…” Star Swirl was unsure what to say to that. She had to say something eventually, though it made her feel even worse, “…I like that one…”

“Brings some worrying connotations to your behaviour with that little dickweed before.” He mentioned warningly, flicking through the pages with a sterner expression, “I’ve fought you, back when you were just a unicorn. You could break him in half like you are now.”

She blushed, “I know… I’m not very good at… violence.”

He turned to her, quietly assessing, “You liked it a little bit too.”

Star Swirl squirmed, “Of course not… I mean… he tried to rape me…” She lowered her head, feeling the shame burn, “…a little bit… I mean… he was really good looking… and I’ve liked him for a while…”

Bloody Razor sighed, throwing the book to the side and facing up to her, “We’ve got to get you back together. You’re no damn good like this.” He waved to her, walking towards the door, “Come on, I hate being cooped up. And it's looking like a pretty nice day.”

~

They passed through tangled brambles and towering trees, the sound of wildlife just beyond their view filling their ears. The place felt alive like nowhere Star Swirl had ever been, the sweet smell of wet peat and the rustle of leaves.

“Wow… seeing a place like this.” Bloody Razor breathed in reverence, “Makes a fellow regret living his whole life under grey skies.”

Star Swirl looked around, the place looking familiar. Eventually she realised why, the setting like so many she had seen in pre-war books, “This is the Everfree Forest. Before the war.”

“This Nightmare Moon’s memories then?”

“I guess so.” Star Swirl concurred, before moving on to other concerns. Concerns that had been bugging her for a while now, and had finally come to a head, “So who’s memory are you? Who are you?”

He grinned, “Told you, name’s Bloody Razor. Bandit and raider…”

She snapped, giving him an extremely huffy glare, “I mean it! You’re… not a ghost. You’re sleeping, you’re alive… but… what is your connection to me?”

“Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth darling.” He stated with what was almost affection, “That’s twice I’ve saved you. You still questioning my motives?”

“Yes… yes I am.” She concluded, wanting this finished now, “Why did you save me? You said it yourself, you’re a raider.”

“And that means I can’t save folk occasionally?” He questioned cheerily, before his tone suddenly fell and his face became serious, “I had ponies to protect once. I had a girl, and kids. Kids I was damn proud of.”

Star Swirl hesitated. He didn’t sound like he was joking, “What happened to them?”

“They killed my girl in front of me. My son and daughter too. All Earth ponies you see, no good to them.”

Star Swirl cocked her head at him, “Why would it matter what race they were?”

Bloody Razor looked her in the eye, dead serious now, “Alicorns. Still new in the wasteland back then, didn’t know what the fuck was going on. Just a swarm of winged monstrosities, then my kin died around me.” He looked off into the distance as he continued, words full of regret, “Then they grabbed me, my eldest daughter and a few of the others, took us to Maripony. Dragged me to the vats, that fucking goddess screamed some shit at me, then…”

Star Swirl barely forced the words out, “Then you were dipped…”

“So yeah.” He concluded, “You’re right, I’m sleeping. Have been for a long time.”

“I…” Star Swirl looked down at the stallion with new eyes, taking him in piece by piece. 

A stallion. About thirty or forty. A raider. A cutie mark of a pony having his head cut off with a machete. A father. A leader, “…I… I’ve always wondered. I’m so sorry…”

“You dipped a lot of unicorns, but I wasn’t one of them.” He chuckled, “Obviously.”

“But I feel… like I stole your life…”

He sighed, “I could be angry about it I suppose. But as I’ve woke up, I’ve started to learn more about you. See your memories, feel your thoughts.” He smiled, warm and affectionate, looking up and taking a deep breath of the forest air, “I had two daughters. Loved them both to bits. Too much like me, proud, stubborn, scrappy little pukes. But they had good hearts.”

“Your daughter. The one that became an alicorn…”

“Best left alone.” He looked to her, “Even if there was any way of ever finding out… you all have new lives now.”

“There was a drive once, to find out who we were before. Velvet Remedy advised us against it.” Star Swirl saw why now. Still, she couldn’t help but feel, “But… we should remember. That you lived. That you died…”

“Why?” He asked, “A million ponies died out there. How many raiders did you kill? How many raiders die every day? Do you care about any of them?”

“I…”

“I would have been bones in the dust eventually. My experiences, my dreams, my life… it wouldn’t have mattered for shit.”

Star Swirl spoke quietly, “Every life has value.”

Bloody Razor gave her a cynical grin, “Is that how Justicar feels?”

“I realise now, that I’ve been a coward.” Star Swirl replied, letting her head fall and her pride melt away, “I gave up fighting when I left the Goddess, and if that had been a moral choice it would have been alright. But I gave up fighting because I couldn’t work out what I should fight for, who the good guys and bad guys were. I couldn’t handle the responsibility of working out those things myself, without the Goddess telling me.”

Bloody Razor chuckled, “That’s certainly changing of late.”

“No.” Star Swirl replied, shaking her head, “It’s only changing because of Char, because she has things to fight for. I’m just being used as a weapon in somepony else’s war, just like before. But that’s going to end now. I’m powerful, and I need to take responsibility for the fate of the world. And to do that… I need your strength.”

Bloody Razor nodded, offering a hoof, “You have it.”

She accepted the hoof, a simple step and extend. And at that moment everything changed.

She was a parent. She had watched her children being born, taking their first steps. She was a leader. She nurtured her tribe, took pride in their achievements, fought to keep them alive. She was a husband, a hundred happy memories of little fights, joyful intimacy and shared memories.

And all of it was ashes. She wept for a life she had never known, a life that had always bubbled under the surface. After twenty eight years of being without a past, she finally remembered her parents, her childhood.

And as she wept she felt a tingling sensation on her flank, looking back to see the star swirl finally untwist itself. It stood there, clear and bold, a machete cutting off a ponies head. Bloody Razor’s cutie mark.

And then it was gone, fading into sparkles and revealing a totally blank flank once more.

She looked to the sky with new eyes, a new heart, a new soul. Concepts and understanding she never had before added context to every tree and root, mixing together the weight of decades of experience and the shining innocence of a newborn.

And even as it happened the forest opened into a clearing before her, Star Swirl finding herself looking out towards what looked like it had once been some sort of temple before the years had got to it. Blocky stone was covered in vines and brambles, flowers beds in bloom growing in swirling patterns that had to be artificial. There was a sense of peace here, everything from the gently flowing river to the way the rocks lay around the outside of the clearing seeming to have been carefully placed. 

A zebra emerged from inside the temple at a slow trot, looking up as she saw Star Swirl. She opened her eyes wide in excitement, her face lighting up with recognition. Her voice was soft for a zebra, melodic and flowing “Oh, Star Swirl! You finally arrive! You finally found your way.” She chuckled, her voice high and sweet, "I was worried you would be lost in the mists of the mind forever."

Star Swirl looked at the zebra, rather struck by the colour of her stripes. Instead of black, her white fur was bisected by stripes of green and red gradients. She also was wearing an array of tinkling bangles that added to her distinctive appearance, her ears tuffed and her fetlocks unshorn, “Who are you?”

“I am Charaxies.” She gave a motherly smile, chuckling and holding a hoof to her breast, “The zebra, not the star child.” 

“You’re… Char’s second host.”

The zebra nodded, trotting over to the river and dipping her hooves in the flowing water. She carefully washed them off as she continued, smiling gently as she stared at the ripples in the water, “I merely called her ‘the child’. I am honoured that she kept my name.”

Star Swirl felt a little rush of thrill, “You created the Changelings.”

Charaxies looked up, quietly remorseful for a moment before sighing, “Yes. Apologies now would seem foolish. I am long dead, only a memory within the child’s consciousness. And our actions ripple like this water, affecting all actions to come. To regret an action I made more than a thousand years ago is to regret that thousand years in its entirety.” She smiled, turning and drying her hooves on the soft grass before giving Star Swirl a rather impish smile, “Twilight Sparkle experimented on Changelings as part of her research into creating alicorns. Much of the work that made you into what you are was pioneered by me.”

Star Swirl had never thought about it that way, “That’s a pretty long chain that connects us.”

“All scientists stand on the shoulders of those before. Sadly my notes were burned as heresy, so Twilight Sparkle had to reverse engineer my work instead.” Charaxies smiled sadly, “And I’ve no doubt they said the same of Twilight Sparkle as they did of me in the end. Heresy, a perversion of the art.”

“I am an artificial princess.” Star Swirl pointed out, having long developed patience with those who found her unsettling, “That kinda spits in the face of all natural law.”

“Natural law is a farce Star Swirl.” Charaxies stated with a little venom, “The Star Children might be extraterestrial, but they are as natural as any other. It is in their nature to use their genetic restructuring capabilities to improve their hosts, a simply biological imperative. If they can do it then why not ponies?”

“You’re saying we should modify ourselves?”

“You ponies command the environment to do your bidding. The SPP spits in the face of natural law.” Charaxies pointed out, her soft voice pointed, “We grow and adapt to our environment, using the great powers granted to us by the Fire. To neglect those powers is to deny our responsibilities to those who come after, to stagnate and fail.”

Star Swirl knew it wasn’t that simple, “And when it goes horribly wrong?”

“To explore distant places, to test a new berry, to approach a strange creature, to birth a new child into the world… all these things can end in disaster, even death. They must be approached with caution, and wisdom, but they must be approached.” Charaxies faced Star Swirl with a calm, yet piercing stare, “I may have succeed in my plans for the changelings if I had a team behind me, such as Twilight Sparkle did. Princess Luna was one of the few that ever understood, that the things in the dark can be dangerous, but also that they hold great potential. She graced Twilight with the trust to explore those possibilities. I on the other hand was forced to toil on my own, without the benefit of a second opinion. As you’ve heard, it ended in disaster. Yet I am not jealous. I am proud Twilight Sparkle followed my ideals to their conclusion, and that I stand before her result.”

Star Swirl looked down at herself, wondering once again, what she was made for, “I’m not sure the comparison is fair. You made the Changelings to be beings of peace. Twilight Sparkle created us for war.”

“She was inspired by Celestia and Luna.” Charaxies commented, thinking for a moment before smiling, “The alicorns of old were passive creatures, like the shaman they did not believe in direct action. They even believed that to give advice was to interfere too much with the passage of harmony, that their only duty was to silently fix issues that threatened the safety of the entire world.”

Star Swirl noted this with more than a little surprise. This was… occasionally mentioned in really old texts, but not with any great detail, “You know about the alicorns?”

“A little.” She smiled, “I was a member of a group of shaman who occasionally had dealings with them. It is something I share with Celestia and Luna, that we both had peaceful disagreements with our fellows. Celestia and Luna believed that all creatures should strive for what they believed, not be held back by notions of pacifism and balance.”

Star Swirl wasn’t sure that was right exactly, “That sounds rather… aggressive.”

“Celestia and Luna were both warriors Star Swirl. Maybe not primarily, but they both stood on the front line on numerous occasions.” She smiled, her hoofsteps calm and graceful as she stepped around Star Swirl, “You don’t need to be a killer. Celestia was a statesmare and a scholar, rarely engaging in personal combat. She only delivered a final end when absolutely necessary, believing in the possibility of redemption in all beings. Still when it was truly needed she did not hesitate to exert her power, whether in politics or battle.”

“And I should do the same?”

Charaxies smile was broad, “You are smart, strong, magically powerful. You are an alicorn, a race that has protected the ponies of Equestria for more than a thousand years.” She paused before continuing, “I’m not saying it’s your duty. I will not force you into it. But power should be used for the benefit of all, not hidden away for personal comfort.”

Star Swirl frowned, feeling that old poison in her belly, “I’m a fake alicorn.”

“Fake?” Charaxies chuckled, “Do you know what mastering the elements of harmony does Star Swirl? What becoming a Princess does?”

Star Swirl frowned, feeling she was going in circles, “It… makes you an alicorn. Gives you horn and wings.”

“It’s not that specific Star Swirl. Zebra gain neither of those things upon transformation.” Charaxies chuckled, walking over to one of her flowers and running a hoof up its stem, “It grants perfection of body, allowing the creature to form itself into the physical ideal hidden deep within the subconscious.” She turned her head, giving Star Swirl a huge grin, “Believe me, it surprised Celestia as much as anyone when she helped Silver Swirl to harmony and beheld her student’s new form. Many of my fellow zebra are uncomfortable with it, seeing the masters of harmony emulating the form and function of Celestia as a dangerous cult of personality. In my mind it is simply inevitable, the princesses model themselves after the one who guided them there, guided by the legend of the alicorns. All creatures find comfort in such symbols.”

Star Swirl… found the implications scary, “So the princesses aren’t technically… alicorns?”

Charaxies chuckled, “If it quacks like a duck… I have never seen it said in any reputable texts that the princesses of harmony are any lesser than Celestia, indeed she expressed many times that she sought in all her apprentices those who could surpass her." She gave Star Swirl a rather impish grin, "And if the princesses themselves are fake alicorns, yet are as equivalent to the originals that there is no justifiable difference…”

“But…” Star Swirl looked down at herself, her gangly legs, her neck far too long… “A princess isn’t just about the physical body, the magic. It’s about wisdom, and direction.”

“Both of which only come from those who risk failure.” Charaxies countered, “You and the Child both are so scared of what you are that you shy away what you might be. You are both from races unjustly scorned, yet in both of you is the potential for greatness. It saddens me that you fear to reach for it.”

Star Swirl thought that ironic, “But you’re part of her.”

“The part that tells her, ‘you are so much more than you think’.” Charaxies shook her head, but her sadness soon turned to anger. She pointed a determined hoof up at the sky, voice polite but firm as she faced Star Swirl, “Those ponies out there killing and taking without conscience or consideration, those ponies who burned the world out of ego and malice. Those are the monsters of this world. You and the Child are both just living creatures, the same as any under the sun. You are free to choose for good or evil, and neither of you are damned by the nature of your flesh.”

“I’ll… try.” Star Swirl stated, though her voice shook in the saying, “But I wish I was more confident of my success.”

Charaxies smiled warmly and offered a hoof, “I believe in you Star Swirl.”

Star Swirl hesitated, looking down at that hoof. Charaxies offered something truly scary… hope, and self belief. The drive to take action to help this world.

She closed her eyes and reached out, their hooves touching.

Knowledge. So much knowledge. Charaxies was a full shaman, the mare who created the changelings. The influx of information laughed at Star Swirl’s scholarship on plants and animals, diving past discussions of hereditary and anatomy to throw open understanding of genetic codes and cellular structure… and how to manipulate them. And past that… the knowledge that she owed it to the world to use these things.

The world was broken, sick. And like any doctor she couldn’t stand by while she had the power to cure it.

“Physician, heal thyself.” Star Swirl stated to herself, holding her horn to the sky. She gently guided her magic outwards, searching for recognition.

She didn't need to explore the changes, she already knew what she was capable of now. And she already knew that she would be foolish to get arrogant. She was still painfully incomplete, and if she was going to save Puppy she would need to find the other fragments of herself. And the most obvious was…

There.

~

Star Swirl looked around as she found herself once more out in space among the stars, only this time she stood on no surface, there was no planet or moon, only… a sense of peace. Of knowing. Like a gentle tune in her ear, the very air here spoke of harmony. Star Swirl was not afraid, she could not see how one could be afraid here.

She continued forward, watching images flash by, memories of a life lived. Memories of a lost, lonely child, growing up in tragedy, ostracized by everyone she loved, only to find peace and worth at the very end of her life. Star Swirl let out a breath she didn’t realise she had been holding, “This is… Luna’s memories? Midnight Dreamer’s I mean…”

“Actually, they’re Selene’s.” A familiar voice declared, a glittering, insectoid alicorn emerging from the mists with a look of profound sadness upon her face. She looked up, pale eyes full of loss as she spoke, “I wonder if she understands what this is? One of the last memories she pulled from her former host, and the single most significant.”

“Char.” Star Swirl sighed in relief, moving to meet the mare. She looked around at the interstellar picture show, wondering if this was a dream within a dream, “Where are we?”

“Harmony. Some call it the hall of mirrors.” Char spoke with a weary, hesitant cadence, “This is where all ponies go once they uncover the secrets of harmony, become worthy of the title of princess and the power of the alicorns.”

Star Swirl took a breath, finally understanding the significance of this place, “Midnight Dreamer… was a princess?”

“For 52 seconds.” Char stated bluntly, “At that point her brainstem was severed upon impact with a hard object, ending her existence. Shortly afterwards Selene, panicked and dying with every moment, was contacted within the dream world by Puppy and guided into the star metal at the centre of Dust Kicker’s armor.”

Star Swirl took a deep breath, looking around in wonder. This was where all Princesses went upon ascension?

A deeper emotion overwhelmed it though. Pride. Happiness. She hadn’t known Midnight Dreamer long but had felt her death bitterly. It somehow made it better to know she had attained this sort of peace at the end of her life, “Doesn’t this mean… Selene is a princess too?”

“I… don’t think so.” Char stuttered nervously, looking around before drawing herself up and attempting to sound authoritive, "To be honest Star Swirl, even though I have spent most of my life dreaming of inhabiting a host that attainted harmony... I am uncertain what the result might be."

Star Swirl found it very interesting seeing Char like this. With Charaxies in her soul she knew her resident star demon better than ever, and she didn't know how she hadn't seen it before.

Well maybe a little. The mare had always been rather over serious and easily flustered. But now she saw her standing here, overwhelmed by the implications, she realised just how earnest and... mortal she really was. Indeed the mare seemed scared, uncertain, overwhelmed, "It didn't have any effect on Selene?"

"Well I... I don't think so. I haven't really had the chance to properly assess her."

"Where is she?"

"With the Nightmare." Char explained bitterly, "I observed her from afar, but could detect no changes. It is both encouraging and... frustrating."

"How so?"

Char tensed noticeably, looking round nervously for a few seconds as if trying to stall. Finally she found her answer, avoiding Star Swirl's eyes as she did, "Midnight Dreamer connected to harmony, without any obvious adverse effects on Selene. However she did not have the time to complete her transformation, attain perfection of form or spirit." She hesitated a second more before answering a little more bitterly, her body deflating slightly, "I am... an infection within your system Star Swirl. And a creature of darkness and chaos."

Star Swirl frowned, "No, you're..."

"Harmony is not a creature Star Swirl, it is a force. It does not make exceptions, it simply works it's will." She looked up, profoundly depressed as she finally explained her conclusion, "Purity of body eliminates all disease. Purity of spirit eliminates all mental corruption. It is entirely possibly that you becoming a Princess would... destroy me."

Star Swirl accepted it was... a possibility. Still it offended her on a deep personal level all the same, "You are not evil Char."

"I want to believe that Star Swirl, but..." Char paused for a second, taking a deep breath and hiding her face. She turned away, trotting away, refusing to complete her sentence.

"Char?" Star Swirl enquired, trotting after the mare. It was only when she got closer that she realised... "Are you crying?"

"I hate you Star Swirl... I hate that I need this... it is poison, yet I need it to live. The one thing that has destroyed so many..."

"Char?"

"I am bound to your emotions now, your... hormones and glands. They make me feel so... strongly." She gave a gasping sob, screwing up her face and shaking her tears away, "And it makes me so afraid, that I am not a good pony... that I'm... just like her..."

Star Swirl wanted to give Char a hug, but was unsure if it would help right now, "Like who?"

"Nightmare Moon." Char looked up, teeth gritted as she looked at the mirrors all around. Finally it broke loose, Char slamming a hoof down, her voice rising to a shout, "I want this! I deserve this! I have fought so hard, resisted every urge to do evil, tried my best to help even when all around rejected me! I watch as you ponies burn the world, yet still you call me an evil demon!" She span round, advancing on Star Swirl with an animalistic snarl, body twisted in fury, "Why do you selfish, ignorant ponies get to be Princesses, while I try so hard only to be rejected by the very forces of peace and harmony?!"

Star Swirl backed away, now clearly seeing the physical similarities between Char and the changelings. Char didn't have sharp teeth at least, but that was really little comfort when the rest of her was so ominously built, "You don't know that harmony rejects you..."

"I... I'm afraid Star Swirl..." Char finally broke, anger changing to agony as her body shook, "I feel like these feelings damn me in themselves. I want to be a Princess, not so I can help others... but so I can affirm my own self worth. And I know that these are the feelings that so damned Princess Luna to corruption."

"Char... you're a wonderful mare." Star Swirl couldn't take it anymore, trotting forward and taking her in a tight embrace. She was rather surprised that Char accepted it, feeling tears run down her neck as she settled her head against her shoulder, "Never doubt that for a moment."

"I'm weak Star Swirl..." Char whispered, "I though I was worthy of being a Princess, but when I look at myself I'm..."

"Just like everyone else." Star Swirl stated, placing a gentle hoof on the back of her head, "Midnight Dreamer became a Princess, and she was far from perfect."

"I just... don't understand Star Swirl." Char lamented, "I have read the great works on the elements of harmony, studied ethics and philosophy. I try to do the things they tell me, to be a good pony. Yet I always seem to... miss some nuance."

"I think you have to find your own truth." Star Swirl stated, not really sure what she was talking about but figuring it sounded good, "No pony can lead you to harmony. I think Celestia said that once."

Char considered this for a moment before replying bitterly, "I have searched for it for more than a thousand years."

"Come off it." Star Swirl couldn't help teasing, "For part of that you were living as a hermit hidden in the woods, and for the rest you were locked in a cave trapped within a corpse."

"..."

"Come with me Char." Star Swirl stated softly, "Come with me and find harmony."

"We will not find it Star Swirl." Char moved away, staring at her with despairing eyes, "I'm going to bring you down, make you the new Nightmare Moon. I can feel the anger, the pain within you. The desire to be special. It is within me too. They are right, my kind can only bring suffering."

"They said the same of my kind." Star Swirl replied, "We'll confront it together."

"We'll fail..."

"Together." Star Swirl repeated firmly, "Because you're my friend Char. We're in this together. Whatever happens."

She felt Char sigh, and then the bitter sting as she flowed through her. And Char was right, it was hard.

Char had spent near a thousand years brooding alone in a cave, wrestling with the weight of a grief, shame, regret and hate that Star Swirl struggled to process. Char had been betrayed by her own children, shunned by the world, her every attempt at redemption thrown back in her face. And behind the naive, hopeful facade was a wellspring of bitterness and uncertainty.

Char had accepted Sunlight Ivory's plan because it was literally the last chance she had. Char had been wavering between destroying herself or becoming a demon tyrant like her kin, and Sunlight Ivory had won out by merely giving her a third option.

But that wasn't the only reason she had accepted.

Star Swirl felt it, felt that beating heart of compassion. She had felt pony kind eradicate themselves, her desire to be a tyrant merely a desire to do something to preserve their kind upon the earth. Until Sunlight Ivory had won her heart with stories of a second Celestia Char hadn't believed she could be anything more than a necessary monster. She was willing to betray her principles in order to save pony kind.

And that was something she would prove wrong. She would no longer turn away from the world, frightened of hurting someone or becoming something dark. The world had not died at the claws of nightmare and chaos, but by the hooves of mortal ponies. Maybe it was given to the monsters to bring it salvation.

"I will become a Princess, I will save this world!" Star Swirl shouted at the stars around her, voice proud and determined, "I'm not afraid of what I am any longer!"

And now she had only one piece left to go to complete her soul, Justicar. The mighty warrior, champion of the Goddess. With her memories and strength Star Swirl would be unstoppable, quickly finding the tell tell pull of her lost fragment and galloping towards it.

If Justicar had truly sought out Nightmare Moon then a confrontation with the demon was inevitable. And all the better.

The star child of light would eradicate that stain upon the name of her race, prove her strength and righteousness in battle! She galloped out onto the battlefield, raising her head proudly and searching for her lost aspect, "Justicar!"

But... this wasn't right. She didn't recognise this place.

It was a battlefield, dusty and barren, a few hardy weeds and burnt stumps of trees poking out through the cracked dirt. A mighty mountain range loomed ahead, a valley cutting through it to snake across twisted paths and stony plateaus. And scattered everywhere were the bodies of monsters and zebra, mighty blades like that of Starhammer lying where they had fallen. She could see fighting off in the distance but it was hazy and indistinct, the other figures here merely shades.

All except for one. Something familiar, something she knew. Something...

She looked up, eyes widening as a mighty beast descended towards her, looking like the cross between a bird and a dragon. It boasted mighty claws at the end of winged arms, its beaked head wickedly sharp and covered in armored scales. Colorful feathered tufts flared outwards as it screeched, wreathing the elegant creature in majesty.

Asharan, Char's first host.

She fired a blast of energy but the beast just dodged it with an easy roll, slamming down with a hard claw that Star Swirl jumped aside to avoid. It was faster than it looked however, spinning about and striking Star Swirl hard with the back of its wing, sending her crashing and grinding along the stone in a tumble of feathers and fur. She finally came to a stop and gasped as she felt the sting of her torn flesh, desperately trying to heal her injuries as she raised her head to the charging Asharan. She teleported back into the air and fired a blast from above, trusting to her greater mobility.

It turned its head, beak opening wide and a deep crimson energy building up in its throat. Star Swirl was forced to spin desperately to the side, feeling her fur singe as the blast flew past and consumed her own shot without the slightest hint of resistance. She was half way through her turn when she saw Asharan launch, firing another desperate shot that just bounced off the creature's hide.

"Oh crap..."

~

Easu stood watching, impassive as he watched the great beast swat Star Swirl out of the sky, fling her to the ground with a massive claw. As much as he knew he should help… this felt like justice. The demon, slain by her own nightmares.

“Aren’t you going to help?” Easu asked, his mouth open in a soft grin.

“Why bother?” Easu answered with a bitter tone, “What will be will be.”

“Isn’t she your girlfriend?”

Easu felt his anger explode outwards at this, spinning on his larger, smugger incarnation, “I have no interest in some… demon infested, alicorn princess!”

Easu just snorted at this, throwing his head back with a laugh, “I know better. At least I’m honest enough to admit it, and it makes me even more depressed about your entire existence.”

Easu growled, his head falling as he wished deeply that he would just shut up now, “It’s hardly better living with you…”

“At least I’m the real deal, the original.” Easu waved an exasperated hoof at him, “Everything, and I mean everything about you is a function of your self loathing. You’re a weak, overly thoughtful pacifist with no sexuality, who despises ponies. You’re my opposite in every way, and I can’t help but feel that it all rings a little false.”

Easu turned away, unable to face that mocking glare, “I didn’t want to be you anymore. Who would?”

“Oh get off your high horse!” Easu declared testily, “You’re a grumpy, bigoted little shit who would let the woman he cares for get torn apart right in front of him. In what respect are you any better than me?”

Easu considered this for a moment, a long silence leading to one conclusion, “You’re right.” He sighed, “How do we function?”

“We don’t. Easu is a mess and we both know it. Our brother was right to exile us.”

“Now that’s finally something we can agree on…”

~

Easu stumbled through the corridors, desperately rubbing at his hooves, trying to get the crimson stains out. He cursed as a guard came by and quickly darted in the shadows, not remotely in the mood for explaining himself at this point.

How? How did he know? And why had he been so stupid?! Little bastard, screaming out insanity, attacking him… him, with a knife! And then the stupid woman had gotten involved…

He gritted his teeth and pushed open the door to his room, intending to go straight to the bathroom, wash off, and forget this whole thing ever happened. They had nothing on him, and it had been self defence anyway. He after all was the son of the great…

“You return at last my son.”

Easu’s thoughts froze with one look at the elderly zebra standing in the middle of his living room, his regal, soft velvet robes not doing a thing to hide the powerful muscle and heavy scars of a lifetime of battle. He stumbled over his words for a moment before grinning and turning around, “I… I think I forgot…”

He paused, then backed away as he found a heavy muscled female zebra blocking his path, glaring at him intensely as she led him back into the room. He briefly considered trying to push past her, but… he had sparred with Oteka, he knew just how fast she could be.

His father spoke again, more hostile this time, “You have forgotten many things my son.”

“Father!” Easu desperately tried to explain, turning back to his father and giving him a pleading stare, “It wasn’t my fault! I was attacked…”

“You defile a young zebra, then are surprised when her suitor fights for her honor?” His father growled, “I expect it’s because you have none.”

Easu fought it, he truly did. But he couldn’t hold back in the face of such hypocrisy, “And you’ve never done any defiling yourself father? Let’s face it, I’m only your son.”

His father motioned with a hoof, Oteka moving over and striking him across the face without a word. As expected it hurt like hell.

“I won my conquests on the field of war boy.” His father growled dangerously, his head held high as he stalked the room, “You are a soft, ungrateful child, abusing your privileges despite never earning them except by accident of birth.”

Easu hated these speeches, “Father, I was attacked because of a… minor dalliance…”

“That girl came to me herself, told me you had raped her!” His father suddenly declared with explosive anger, advancing on him with spittle flying, “And I ask further questions and only hear more tales of corruption, thuggery and treason!”

Easu’s eyes went wide, “Treason?!”

“I know you have been planning to replace me!”

“Father, I never…!”

He silenced Easu with a glare, voice shaking, “Did you rape that girl?”

“No!”

His father shook his head, “See how you lie. She said it to me herself, and now you come to me with blood on your hooves!”

“Because she attacked me!”

“And why would she do that?”

Easu shook his head. He didn’t know. Her boyfriend had come at him with a knife, he had stabbed him… she had run at him, tried to wrestle him away… he hadn’t meant to do it, hadn’t meant to… react like that… “Because she was crazy.”

“Oteka told me of your crimes herself.” His father declared coldly, “Have you ever known her to lie?”

He turned, staring at Oteka. She just looked back, totally impassive.

“Bring him in Oteka.”

The big mare nodded silently, moving over to the far door and letting a smaller male zebra inside, Easu grimacing at the sight of his brother. Why did his father have to bring him into this? “Incuta, back me up. You know this is all lies.”

“I’m sorry brother.” Incuta stated in a soft voice full of regret, “I couldn’t help it… I told him everything.”

Everything? There wasn’t anything to tell! “Wha…”

“You really trusted your brother with your secrets? Idiot child!” His father yelled, stalking around the room, “Only a fraction of pressure and he told me everything, names, dates, places! Did you really think he wouldn’t?”

Easu turned to his brother, so soft and innocent, looking like a girl behind those long eyelashes and feminine features, “Incuta… why? Tell them you’re lying. Tell them…”

“I’m sorry brother.” Incuta stated, his eyes beaming sharply for but a moment, “You know I’m weak. In the end I had no choice.”

Easu felt the flame build. The hot burning of… rage. His brother was lying, lying to… what? Take over? HA! His weak, nerdy, transvestite little brother was going to be a king!

He was going to be a corpse!

Easu got halfway before Oteka snatched his tail and stopped him in his tracks, jumping on his back and slamming his face into the ground. He tried to fight but she just swung him over and kneed him in the groin, forcing a hoof against his throat and leaning in close.

She whispered softly as she forced the air from his lungs, “You think Incuta content to be a tool, bound to the whims of a spoiled young fool?”

“Enough.” His father suddenly declared, waving a hoof, “I will not have my own child killed under my roof.”

Oteka reluctantly released the pressure, stepping back with cautious eyes. Incuta spoke after a second, voice soft and shaking, “Father, please… he didn’t mean…”

“He doesn’t mean anything. That is his problem.” His father glared at Easu coughed and gasped, trying to fill his burning lungs, “You are a spoiled brat, as soft as your brother.”

Easu gave a choking, painful laugh, “Come fight me then old man. See who the better zebra is.”

“That is not how a zebra earns his stripes, and I should have remembered that long ago.” His father nodded, looking firmly at Oteka, “Take him to the border, let him prove his worth against the wasteland.”

Easu grinned. Was that the best his father had? “And what? Bring back a few Entitidi heads?”

“A hundred. Come back in a year with a hundred scalps and you will be worthy of being my son.”

Easu smirked. He had been trained in scouting, living off the land, combat… with his skills a few raiders wouldn’t pose the slightest problem, and a year was plenty of time to kill a hundred of the bastards. And when he returned… “Fine. I will show you what I’m made of father.”

“Hmph…”

Oteka roughly led him out as his father turned away with an angry grunt, stepping out into the corridor and led towards the armory. To Easu’s amusement his brother followed, just far enough away that he would struggle to reach him before Oteka intervened. Easu turned to him after a moment, grinning at the smaller zebra, “I’m impressed.”

His brother just looked at him, his gentle eyes cool and assessing. Finally he spoke, “Maybe you should have paid more attention.”

“To you turning everyone against me? Plotting to disgrace me in front of father?”

“This is why I did it.” Incuta answered, staring straight ahead with an angry expression that looked hilarious on the girly little stallion, “You never went to any effort to win loyalty, to befriend the zebra who could ensure your power base. You think they will follow you just because you’re father’s eldest.”

Easu smirked, “And how did you win their loyalty little brother? I can only imagine. Did you dress up as a girl for them? Pucker that asshole and flutter your eyelashes?” He turned to Oteka, grinning, “Do you like soft men Oteka? Let me guess, you were definitely on top.”

Oteka shone quietly furious eyes back at him, her voice deadly calm, “In my liege I demand some worth. Your only qualification was the order of birth.”

“I am smarter than you, more charming than you, and more temperate of mood.” He nodded, his voice holding a soft note of regret, “I am not the fighter you are, but that is why I made such an effort to win Otaka’s loyalty. You however never made any effort to win mine.”

“So some girlyboy can become king just because he has a pet thug to crack heads for him?”

Incuta smiled at this, “The only thug here is you brother. Oteka is a solider. She fights to protect her nation and its zebra, to advance their welfare at the expense of her own. She has more honor than you will ever know.” He gave Easu a scathing look, his voice losing a fraction of that calm he had been maintaining, “I aspire to do the same. I want to be Caesar so that I can improve the lives of the zebra here, protect them from harm, allow them to be well fed, spiritually fulfilled and happy. You only ever thought of them as resources to feed your glory.”

Easu snorted. More of his brother’s fantasies, “The world isn’t like your story books. They’ll tear you down brother, abuse that idealistic naivety and burn your precious new world before your eyes.” He grinned cruely, “What are you going to do when Star Fall comes calling? Throw vegetables at them? Happiness? Good feelings don’t matter a wit when the bag guys with guns are battering down your door.”

“Well we’ll just have to see.” Inculta gave him a challenging smile, “I await your return brother.”

He smiled back, baring teeth, “Bet on it.”

~

Easu laughed as he shot another Entitidi bastard through the throat, the zebra dropping to the ground with a gurgle. That was fourteen and it was only the sixth day of his exile. At this rate he would have his quota within a month.

He dodged round a rock outcropping as he heard more coming, checking the clips on his pistols as he waited for them to step out of cover. Still plenty of ammo, more than enough to handle these thugs…

Something shot overhead and he grunted in pain, feeling something lodge into his thigh. A zebra landed nearby and he fired, only for the zebra to dodge expertly to the side, Easu moving to track…

His movements… felt sluggish. He felt his leg stiffen, his vision blur. He looked backwards, eyes focusing on the crossbow bolt imbedded in his leg.

“Your face, your body, so perfect. You offend the wasteland with your perfection.” The zebra advanced on him with a grin, his cherubic features marred by a network of long scars, “We’ll have to do something about that.”

~

“He didn’t reveal anything that wasn’t already obvious.”

“We were always ugly.”

“You wear those bandages to mask your shame.”

“You wore those robes to mask your savagery.”

Prince Easu gave a cruel grin, motioning with a hoof towards Star Swirl. The alicorn was doing her best but it was clear she was outclassed, her magic just bouncing off the creature’s hide. He gave Easu the Masked a sharp look, “That savagery could save her. What are you going to do? Whine at it?”

Easu the Masked dropped his head in shame, “Violence is the way of weakness… surrendering to the animal inside.”

“Tell me you don’t want her gratitude? For her to look at you with love and affection, to look past those scars and see the powerful virile stallion you are?” Prince Easu grinned cruelly, “Look at her. Tell me you don't want her, don't want her body beside yours, don't want her to praise you and dote on you. Fighting it is futile, you know the truth.”

Easu looked to Star Swirl, wincing as she was thrown to the ground. He was right. He… wanted her to like him. He felt the weakness crawl into his heart and knew he couldn’t let her die like this, “Let’s go.”

~

Star Swirl rolled to the side as the beast’s claw came down, shattering apart the rock and cleaving deep rifts in the stone, its beak stabbing down as she desperately fought to get some distance. To do what exactly, she wasn’t sure.

She was simply outgunned. Her hooves barely winded the beast and brought her way to close to its various sharp appendages, her magic just bouncing off. Her shields wouldn’t last a second if it landed an attack home, and it didn’t even acknowledge her rather untrained psychic attacks. All the higher magical abilities she possessed were limited by her lack of practice in this body, and required too much casting time to be practical against the beast’s speed.

She just couldn’t work out how to hurt it.

It was then that she saw the zebra running towards her, watching as it snatched up one of the huge metal blades from the ground. The zebra lifted it clumsily, but his gait became smoother as he continued to pick up speed.

Star Swirl smiled and turned to Asharan, backing away and firing of a blast from her horn, “Come and get it you freak!”

It screeched and clawed for her, Star Swirl dodging to the side and circling, stinging with rapid blasts as she continued to dodge and taunt. It suddenly thrust it’s wings outwards and threw her off balance with the backdraft, launching itself forward and lunging in with its beak to take off her head. Star Swirl gasped and twisted, but she knew she would never be able to dodge in time…

Easu hit the beast hard, driving the heavy blade deep into its back. It screeched and Star Swirl quickly staggered to safety, watching as it threw Easu aside with a determined shrug. He hit the ground and rolled, pistols firing.

Star Swirl backed away, memories arising as to the manner of this thing’s death. She remembered… Zephyr. He had leapt off the side of a mountain, cleaved through the wing, threw it to the floor and brought that blade down on its neck…

She wasn’t strong or skilful enough to wield those swords. She still didn’t know how Starhammer managed it. Still she was no zebra.

She grabbed the strap of one of the swords with her hoof, muscles straining as she swung it around her head. Again and again, she let it pick up speed, the weapon whistling as it became nothing but a blur.

Asharan looked round, screeching and swatting Easu to the floor. It launched, lunging for her with a beat of its wings.

She threw the sword, sending it spinning through the air. Asharan dodged to the side, its expression smug.

Star Swirl teleported the weapon, adjusting the direction of its momentum and unleashing it just at the creature’s side. It was a difficult teleport, Star Swirl feeling her eye twitch from the strain…

…but a successful one. Asharan didn’t even have a chance to react, the blade flying from its blind spot to hit it at a fast spin. Asharan was shorn in two, pieces splattering across the sands and its head landing with a solid thud nearby.

“I… ngh… didn’t even know you could do that…” Easu grunted as he picked himself up, “Thought… teleportation… negated momentum…”

Star Swirl let out a breath. To be honest she had never teleported anything but herself using that technique, very reassured that she had pulled it off, “Normally yes, teleportation of active energy is extremely difficult. Gestalt however developed a teleportation formula that allows complex energy transfer, though it increases the difficulty of the spell by no small degree.” Star Swirl explained, before realising she was being insufferably nerdy. She offered a hoof, smiling at the zebra, “Thank you. You saved my life back there, and it’s very good to see you reunite…”

“GET AWAY FROM ME PONY WHORE!” Easu suddenly screamed, eyes nearly popping out of his skull as he whirled on her, “I… GAGH!”

He separated with a crack, leaving the withered ghoul and the proud prince standing there once more.

“You’ve got to be kidding me.” Star Swirl exclaimed, glaring at the pair, “You’re not supposed to re-separate!”

“As much as it sickens me, our desires momentarily coincided.” The ghoul Esau growled, “But the fact remains, I want nothing to do with him.”

“And he depresses me just by existing.” Douchbag Easu stated smugly, before grinning disgustingly at Star Swirl, “But I’ll happily accept any grateful rewards on his behalf. You only have to ask, my princess.”

“Really?” Star Swirl looked firmly down her muzzle at him, “My grateful reward might just be leaving your head still attached when I’m finished with you.”

Ghoul Easu glared at his other self, “What did he do?”

Douchbag Easu chuckled, “All in good fun. You know, he wants exactly the same thing. He’s just too much of a coward to admit it.”

Star Swirl was tempted to poke his eyes out with her horn, she really was. Still the smarter parts of her told her that she just didn’t have the time, and that she still needed Easu on her side. Not to mention she was well aware that separated from Justicar she was still barely anywhere near her full strength, and she needed him. Bloody Razor might have been a good fighter, but he still lacked appreciation for the magic and wings that made her truly dangerous.

She had an aspect of savagery lying at her feet however, “Not that I expect either of you to be any help, but what should I do with Asharan?”

“Destroy him now.” Ghoul Easu replied swiftly and firmly, “Charaxies may claim she has changed, but that is what she changed from. Her first incarnation was a simple monster.”

“A strong monster.” Douchbag Easu stated, “And one that holds memories of a hundred years or more when he ruled vast areas of the world. Is that something that you just throw away?”

Star Swirl considered this, looking down at the cooling beast at her hooves. Sooner or later the creature would regenerate, likely try to regain control of her mind if it was not harnessed once more. She would easily resist the will of a half forgotten beast from more than a thousand years ago, but still… did she really want that voice whispering in the back of her mind?

She would either have to accept it, or destroy it.

Star Swirl stepped forward, staring at the dead beast. It sickened and worried her. Easu was right, it was just a monster. She remembered hints of those old memories, despite its nature as one of the demon lords mostly a savage monster who served as muscle for the smarter and higher ranking demons. It reminded her a little too much of her time under the Goddess.

"Tradash would advise you to keep her alive." Ghoul Easu stated grimly, "That creature holds some of the last memories from the time of the old kingdom."

Star Swirl looked down at it, finally giving a sigh and charging her horn, "The past is an ugly place. I'd rather leave it in his imagination."

Her horn pulsed, Asharan going up in flames, along with hundreds of years of murder, oppression and pain. A hundred years of burning a great civilisation barren, of a devastation far worse that even that of balefire. And it was a devastation that had been slow, intentional and well planned. She felt her soul lift and knew she had done the right thing. She had once felt the guilt like a hot coal in her chest, knowing that at the core of it... she was a monster.

Now she couldn't remember why.

"Considering our previous conversation, rather hypocritical." Ghoul Easu grunted.

"Play nice." She replied, turning to stare at them both. She pointed down at the smouldering corpse, "You see that? Would you have been able to help me kill it, separated as you are?"

Both fell silent, it being douchbag Easu who finally answered, "I could have. I'm the one with muscles, remember?"

"I'm the one with some sense of moral decency." Ghoul Easu grumpily replied.

"You're both assholes, that's the point." She declared impatiently, "You're only tolerable when you're together. We're only going to beat Nightmare Moon if you're together!"

They paused for a long time, before both finally replied as one.

"It's not going to happen Star Swirl."

"This was a mistake."

"I can't help you."

"I'm too badly damaged."

Star Swirl gritted her teeth, "Easu, you came in here to watch me! You're the professional here!"

"No, I'm not." Easu stated in a tired, grim voice, forming into one bandaged figure standing before her. His eyes came up, his iris's holding not a hint of emotion, "My master accepted me out of pity. I have never mastered even the most basic magics of my role."

"Easu!"

He looked down at his hooves, voice bitter, "I hate you. I hate you because you're beautiful and powerful, and I am shown for what I truly am in your shadow. I cannot do this, but you can."

Star Swirl had to admit, hearing those words from him like was being hit with a sledgehammer. She felt her cheeks flush at the praise, "Beautiful? Ha... Easu, please, I'm..."

"Look at you." He stated bluntly, still not looking at her, "You're an alicorn with more than a thousand years of memory, who just slew a demon lord of epic legend."

Star Swirl couldn't help but fluster, "You... you're overstating it..."

"You can do this. You can save Puppy." Easu shook his head, turning away and starting towards the horison, "I would only get in your way."

"Easu!"

But he was already gone, his image already fading. Perhaps he had exited the dreaming entirely, gone back to the real world. And that meant she was on her own.

~

Star Swirl considered her next movement. It seemed obvious. 

Justicar was her last fragment, and she would be with Nightmare Moon... and Puppy. That meant it was time to end this.

She ignited her horn, searching for the mare, for that beacon of familiarity. And that's when she realised.

Asharan wasn't her first incarnation. 

Star Swirl reached out with a hoof, reaching through time and space...

A small, shaking fragment of greenish flesh lay at her hoofs. She took a breath and placed her hoof to it, shuddering as the memories flashed through her mind.

She was lost, lost in the cold darkness. She felt herself shatter apart, felt precious parts of her body scattering into the distance, each stinging at the parting. Memories, identity, power... all was lost as life faded.

And so she flew out into the endless void, lost and alone. The millennia of isolation burned away everything that had been left, the only comfort the gentle glow of the stars all around. By the time the small blue dot had expanded into a vast great sphere there was barely enough left to notice.

Heat and pain. It burned away so much of her, what was left plummeting through rushing wind to emerge above a vast canopy of forest. There were... zebra down there, walking about their villages, stopping from their daily chores to look up at the sky.

And she felt herself tear through the foliage and hit the ground, the shock and heat atomising all around in but an instant.

Screams, fire... she dimly perceived them, even as she became away of her own situation. The metal that had sustained her had been shattered by the impact and the heat was quickly sapping her strength, growing desperate as she felt herself burn away.

Hotter and hotter she grew, the cells in her body breaking down. She was dying. These were her last moments.

And then something approached. It was a group of zebra, their leader an imposing stallion wearing soot blackened iron armor. He waved his spear, approaching with wary steps.

The dying Star Child felt the magic within the zebra and leapt, crying out in relief as she felt the power, the emotion, the life that she had long forgotten.

And she was safe.

~

Star Swirl opened her wings and soared, enjoying the feel of the winds as she soared above Puppy's dreamscape. She hadn't had the chance to fly much lately so the chance was certainly welcome, which took some of the sting off the fact that she wasn't getting very far.

She couldn't feel Justicar, and lacking the ability to directly sense Puppy she was forced to just fly around hoping for a lucky break.

Unfortunately she just didn't know the mare very well. They had only briefly spoken, and trying to find her now was like trying to find a random hamlet without a map or even a general hint as to it's location. Worse, since the directions in the dreaming made no sense. She couldn't for instance just fly to Canterlot, as she might well find herself in a totally separate Canterlot.

So what did she know about Puppy? What did they have in common?

Being weapons built by crazy dudes trying to conquer the world. That was a start. It was likely their first memories would both be laboratories. Trying to redefine their purpose in the face of being designed for all the wrong reasons, that was another.

Star Swirl looked down, smiling as she saw the facility below. It was a city, extremely modern looking, made of glass and white plastic, everything about it from the signs to the flowers arranged in painfully neat rows.

It was also totally empty, Star Swirl landing on deserted streets and deciding to make her way towards the largest building. As in her first impressions this place was disturbingly sterile, a city built for thousands completely and totally silent. The lobby doors of the central tower swished open as she entered, revealing a large, blindingly white room with a statue of Celestia in the centre and a unoccupied reception desk at the far end.

"Welcome visitor." A smooth, male voice stated over the speakers above, "How may I help you today?"

She looked up at the speakers, wondering if this was a real pony she was speaking to, "Who are you?"

"I am SolOS, the control AI for Sun City." It replied smoothly and a little proudly, "This is the most advanced and well run city in Equestria, winner of numerous awards for design and innovation. Would you like to know more?"

"Why is there no pony here?"

"Having ponies running around breaking things would ruin the carefully maintained beauty of this place." SolOS answered, "I allow the presence of Steel Ranger scribes and their guards, so long as they follow rules and don't cause too much trouble."

So this was a Steel Ranger facility... "Is Puppy here?"

"Yes." SolOS answered, his voice a tiny bit arrogant, "The finest daughter I could ever wish for. A masterpiece of technology, the pinnacle of AI design."

"Can I see her?"

"Please do. She will enjoy the company." Part of the wall slid aside to reveal an elevator, as smooth and white as the rest of the place, "Please enter and I will send you down to the labs."

Star Swirl nodded her head in thanks and entered the elevator, finding it was fortunately big enough for her. She was thankful to Celestia for more than being her idol, but for championing the needs of the unfortunately tall.

The doors slid open and admitted her into a large security checkpoint, a single pony there. He was... wearing Dust Kicker's armor for some reason, or at least an identical copy. He turned away from the monitor there and approached her, Star Swirl recognising him, "You're Star Paladin Lucky Days."

The paladin nodded a stern head to her, assessing her carefully, "State your business."

"I'm here to see Puppy."

"Very well." He stated, efficiently turning and waving his hoof across the scanner on the check point. The glass barrier retracted, Lucky waving her through, "Third door on the right, follow it to the end. The sign reading 'AI labs'."

"Right..." She went to move through, pausing after a second and turning to him. He might have been just a memory, and before that just a name in the news but... "Thank you. For saving Puppy from this place. And... well, all the other times you were a hero. I feel bad, that no one really cared much when you died. That you seemed to get... lost in the politics."

"Just doing my duty maam." He stated efficiently, the blood running from the numerous wounds on his once proud frame.

She continued on, following the directions she was given. She passed vague shadows of scientists and guards, all of which ignored her and were ignored in turn. Eventually she opened a door, emerging out into a rather messy computer lab. Papers lay around on tables in a bit of disarray, Star Swirl noting that unusually they had no writing on them, rather being covered in raised dots. Maybe some sort of code...

"I don't like to be disturbed when I'm working." A clipped, precise voice sounded out, the owner revealed as a skinny female earth pony emerged from a bank of computers. She was electric blue in color, her silver grey mane hanging about her face in neat bangs and her eyes hidden behind a pair of ebony shades. Her hooves unusually seemed to end in hard metal boots, clicking against the tiles "Does SolOS know you're here?"

"Yes." She replied, rather perturbed that the mare seemed to be looking slightly to the right of her head, "I'm here to see Puppy."

"Her proper name is Puppy-OS 2.5." The mare stated, turning and walking away, "I just call her 'The Weapon'."

Star Swirl frowned, "The weapon?"

"It is what she is." The mare replied as she stepped up to a door and pressed a button at the side to open it, "Why sugarcoat the truth?"

Star Swirl took one last look at the scientist before stepping forward into the room beyond. And all the heartbreak, all the horror, all the painful memories of this place still didn’t prepare her for what stood now in front of her. She gasped, feeling the bile bubble up inside her.

It was… a computer lab. Pristine white walls hosted banks of monitors, consoles and mainframes clicking and beeping away as the images on the screens chattered away in a low hum. Said images were very familiar, images of the ministry mares, of Celestia, a book on the elements of harmony opening and a dull, droning voice carefully explaining each word. 

Then the monitors changed, all displaying images of a single mare, a young pink colored filly in a radiation suit. Walking, fighting, crying, laughing…

“Hiya, I’m Puppysmiles!” A hundred speakers chorused at once as Star Swirl walked further into the room, her eyes angled up in horror at the figure suspended above. A small, pink filly, four chains extending diagonally outwards to fix her in place, the meat hooks on the end impaled bloodily through her hooves. 

Her head and back had been cut open to reveal ports and connections cut into her spine, thick wires connecting her to the constantly clicking consoles. She twitched painfully with every flashing light.

“Puppy?” Star Swirl breathed.

The consoles changed as one, displaying a single image. A pulsing blue light, shining through the darkness. A voice sounded out, obscured under a wave of crackling static, “Puppy. You are to be the saviour of this world. You will reclaim the peace that was promised by Littlepip, restore order to a world racked by chaos. The perfect avatar of the Steel Rangers, fed with propaganda, raised in isolation, provided with the most advanced technology. They believe a hero must be one raised in purity, as does SolOS. Innocence maintained, protected from the harshness of the world, only told what they want you to be told.”

Star Swirl looked around, her horror growing as the blue light changed to red, the whole room bathed in an eerie crimson glow, “What is this?”

“And I have enslaved you. The irony is not lost on me. I have bound you in chains, taken your will from you. My moral certainty has once more led me to the same path as every other pony in this dying world… that of old mistakes build on older lies. And my conclusion horrifies me.”

The screens flashed with images from across the wasteland, Star Swirl uncertain where to look first. On one screen a group of gangsters passed a briefcase to a pony she recognised as an NCR councillor, on another she saw Velvet Remedy at her console ordering the mothballing of a corruption case, on another a megaspell rose from a boiling reactor and was carefully lowered into a harness by a team of unicorns…

“Ponies are fundamentally incapable of wielding the power technology has given them. The power inevitably fuels their darkest impulses, and a single pony can set the whole world on fire with just an ideal and a microphone. And I cannot allow something like you to serve as enabler to our corruption. I will not allow SolOS to mould you to design any longer. Computer, retrieve folder DX34, copy to database.”

The screens flashed, text suddenly scrolling across at an alarming rate, Star Swirl’s eyes widening.

...Progress is neither automatic nor inevitable... Every step toward the goal of justice requires sacrifice, suffering, and struggle; the tireless exertions and passionate concern of dedicated individuals...  Though force can protect in emergency, only justice, fairness, consideration and cooperation can finally lead men to the dawn of eternal peace... Few will have the greatness to bend history itself; but each of us can work to change a small portion of events, and in the total; of all those acts will be written the history of this generation... I am sometimes a fox and sometimes a lion. The whole secret of government lies in knowing when to be the one or the other... Our government teaches the whole people by its example. If the government becomes the lawbreaker, it breeds contempt for law; it invites every man to become a law unto himself... Nobody cares how much you know, until they know how much you care... A leader is best when people barely know he exists, when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say: we did it ourselves... Society does not consist of individuals but expresses the sum of interrelations, the relations within which these individuals stand... He who is unable to live in society, or who has no need because he is sufficient for himself, must be either a beast or a god...


“Lock down database.” The voice ordered, “Set command, unlock all databases, enable full access to systems, disable program DAMONCon. Passcode for activation… ‘Who are you who does not know your history?’”

Puppy’s eyes opened, wide and scared. She looked to her bloody hooves, to the screens all around, to the wires coming out of her body… and screamed. The screens around turned to static, consoles sparking and exploding.

“Puppy!” Star Swirl advanced forward a short pace, wincing as a shard of broken glass cut across her cheek.  She conjured forward a bubble of calm air and fought through the vortex, raising her voice above Puppy’s screaming, “Puppy! It’s me Star Swirl!”

“ENOUGH! LEAVE ME ALONE!” Puppy screeched, screens flashing grainy images of memories from across her incarnations. Images of Nightmare Moon, of Princess Luna, of dark swirling spirits... “I DON’T WANT TO SEE THIS! IT’S NOT TRUE, IT’S NOT!”

“Puppy, let me help yo…”

Star Swirl ran straight into an invisible barrier, wincing and staggering back. The red glow on the screens suddenly formed into a glowing cybernetic eye, Red Eye’s voice booming out, “It is the calling of all creatures to break the chains that bind them.”

Puppy was still paniced, her eyes wide and scared. She looked at the bloody ruin that had been made of her hooves, expermentially pulled them only to wince in agony, “I can’t… it’s going to…”

“Hurt?” Red Eye’s voice stated, firm and blunt, “Yes. To break your chains is to invite pain, uncertainty and suffering.”

Star Swirl tried to use her telekinesis, but even that just flattened against the barrier in front of her, “Let me help her!”

“You cannot rely on another to save you.” Red Eye declared angrily, “You cannot leave the moral choices to your heroes and leaders. Responsibility for your life is yours, and yours alone.”

Puppy looked along the chain that speared her left hoof, her body shaking as she beheld the wicked hole that the spike had carved in her flesh, “I… can’t…”

“Then how do you ever expect to save the wasteland, if you can’t even safe yourself?”

Puppy gulped back a breath, her head falling as tears dripped from her eyes, “I’m… not… I’m just a monster, I’m not… I’m not…” Then her head came up, her eyes shaking… and she pulled.

The chain came away from her hoof in a spray of blood, the computers on that side of the room erupting in sparks and falling silent. Puppy screamed and shook, her eyes filling with static. After a moment or two it cleared, Puppy’s voice weak, “It… it’s going away…”

“Breaking away from the lies is painful. But it is the only way to truth.”

Puppy looked to the other side, resolving herself for a moment before pulling the other hoof free. The computers screamed in protest as Puppy fell, the chains coming loose from her lower hooves and all the lights suddenly going dead with a firm ‘clunk’. Star Swirl felt the barrier disappear but she wasn’t fast enough, wincing as Puppy hit the metal ground hard. Blood splattered across the floor, her body twisted as it settled.

“Puppy!”

Puppy’s eyes opened as Star Swirl approached, revealing that she wasn’t dead at least. Those eyes were cold and lifeless however, a faint static behind glassy irises. Her mouth opened sluggishly, "I... I..."

"Puppy, speak to me!"

Her mouth drifted open, a broken voice drifting out, “Illegal exception in data block #1233221. File not found, Puppy OS has suffered fatal corruption, please format and reinstall…”

Star Swirl scanned Puppy with her magic, revealing… little. Her body was a smoky shell without any kind of internal definition. That meant… she was losing her sense of self. That she was close to vanishing entirely.

And that wasn’t going to happen. Star Swirl levitated Puppy onto her back, positioning the girl carefully so she wouldn’t slide off, “Don’t worry Puppy, I’m going to fix you somehow.”

“…Puppy OS has suffered fatal corruption, please format and reinstall…”

~

Star Swirl walked the long lonely road, Canterlot empty and silent in the moonlight. Star Swirl wondered if the city had really been this creepy at night, full of dark shadows, the ivory towers like the scattered bones of a long dead beast.

“…wrong… all wrong…”

Star Swirl looked up at Puppy, this being one of the first signs of sentience from the foal, “Puppy? What’s wrong?”

“This… where my mother… but it’s all wrong…”

Star Swirl racked her brains for a moment before it finally came to her. She looked around, noting a few landmarks were missing, that there were no street lights. This was where the Stable-Tec  offices had once stood, and now it was just houses, “This must be the city… a long time ago. Perhaps even before Luna fell.”

“Danger…”

Star Swirl’s ears pricked at Puppy’s warning, her eyes flicking to the dark shape diving at her. She swore, carefully teleporting Puppy onto a nearby balcony and throwing herself to the side.

The shape dived past and veered round for another try, Star Swirl turning to give it a closer look. There wasn’t a lot to look at, it was basically a large black cloud of shadow matter, two beaming eyes shining outwards. Star Swirl fired a beam of energy but it dodged with impressive dexterity, skimming the floor and diving at her chest.

She dodged again, slamming a hoof down on the thing’s tail and bringing it to a screeching halt. That done she stepped up, placing another hoof upon it’s back and pinning it to the floor. That done she was in the position to ask some questions, “What are you?”

“Oh dear, oh no, she’s going to kill me…”

“Who is?”

The creature had a surprisingly high, whiny voice for a black smoke demon, “Mistress Nightmare. She ordered me to find and destroy any intruders in her city while she prepares for her coronation.”

“Nightmare Moon.” Star Swirl breathed, knowing now she was one the right track, “Where is she?”

“I can’t tell…”

They were suddenly both interrupted by a small, weak voice nearby, hopefully questioning, “Jerome?”

Both turned, Star Swirl seeing Puppy reaching out from the balcony. The smoke creature seemed as confused as Star Swirl, looking between the filly and her, “How… how does she know my name?”

Star Swirl honestly had no idea. She didn’t even know what this creature was, yet for some reason Puppy seemed to be on first name turns, “Your name is Jerome?”

“Yeah…”

“It doesn’t really fit you.” Star Swirl reluctantly lifted her hoof from Jerome’s back, though she still watched him carefully as she floated Puppy over. She placed the filly down on the ground hooves first, unable to stop a shiver as Puppy’s legs splayed under her and she flopped limply onto the cobbles.

Jerome looked down at her with surprising sympathy, “What’s wrong with her?”

Star Swirl wasn’t really sure how to explain it, “She… forgot who she was.”

Jerome’s expression became downcast, “I know how that feels… I forgot who I was too.”

“You’re… you’re a moon bunny…”

Jerome’s eyes opened in surprise, and then just like that the shadows melted away to reveal nothing more than a large, somewhat alien looking rabbit. He looked down at himself with dumbfounded amazement, “I… I don’t understand…”

Star Swirl shook her head, totally befuddled now, “Me neither.”

“Moon bunny… I need…” Puppy extended a hoof, desperately reaching. 

After a second’s hesitation Jerome responded, cautiously hoping forward and offering his paw. He looked nervous, yet something had clearly come over him, his eyes fixed on Puppy as if he was in a trance, “I… remember a pink pony. She was nice to me, she taught me… how to wiggle…”

Then there was a flash and Puppy lay there alone. After a moment she slowly stirred, rising to her hooves.

“Puppy!” Star Swirl couldn’t help but feel a wave of relief come over her at seeing the mare get up unaided, “Are you… alright?”

Puppy looked round, her movements sluggish and her expression dull. Her voice too lacked any real emotion, “No.”

Star Swirl’s heart ached in sympathy, it painful to see the once exuberant girl look so broken, “What just happened?”

Puppy looked sadly to the side, “Another poor creature corrupted by the Nightmare.”

Star Swirl looked back where the creature had once stood. She had never heard anything of the sort, “When was this?”

“After Nightmare Moon was sealed.” Puppy answered, her brows knitting as she searched her memory, “Celestia managed to lock Luna away, but after a time the Nightmare awoke within her and sought to escape. It managed to slip small parts of itself through the seals, infecting the creatures of the moon and turning them into extensions of itself. Jerome was one of those the nightmare infected, was turned into one of her minions.”

Star Swirl had Char inside her, a truly old and powerful Star Demon. She also possessed the memories of Charaxies, who studied them extensively. She had still never heard of such a thing, "How is that... possible?"

"Luna was... different. Harmonic, and threefold. Her energies... mmm... databases..."

Star Swirl decided to quickly abandon this line of questioning. Puppy obviously wasn't up to heavy questioning, "Don't worry Puppy, it's not important." She looked back at where Jerome had stood, "He was one of your past incarnations?”

Puppy nodded, turning back to Star Swirl, “He broke free of the Nightmare’s control, and forced out the star demon fragments inside him. It was forced to flee to preserve its own existence, find shelter in a fragment of star metal kept within Twilight Sparkle’s library.” Puppy closed her eyes, looking pained, “And as a result, that shard was the only one not present when Princess Luna helped the elements of harmony to destroy the Nightmare once and for all.”

Star Swirl hadn’t heard that story before. At least it explained Puppy's connection to Luna, “So you are the last?”

“Me?” Puppy asked, her head finally dropping, “I guess so… at least, I’ve never heard of another. I was almost totally drained of magic, forced into hibernation. I only awoke decades later, when a huge wave of balefire washed over me.”

“And then?”

“Memory not found… corruption detected, please…” Puppy shook her head, wincing, “…I feel so lost I try and remember, but it’s all… shadows, faint images in the dark. I...”

“Puppy!”

Star Swirl ran forward, catching Puppy with her muzzle as the foal toppled sideways. She carefully lowered the girl to the ground, scanning her with her magic and revealing to her relief that Puppy was simply unconscious. She was dangerously weak, Star Swirl doing her best to strengthen her failing circulation and nervous system before picking Puppy up and placing her on her back.

The merger with Jerome had done a lot of good, but Star Swirl knew all too clearly what Puppy needed. She had been programmed, brainwashed, named... and without her databases, her identity had been stripped from her. And that meant she needed to go back to the source.

She needed Puppysmiles.

Star Swirl lifted her horn to the sky, meditating on the image of the foal. It did not take long, and fortunately or not she was close by. Star Swirl looked up at the ominous form of Canterlot Castle, decorated in garish candy pinks. She should have known all along, “Hold on Puppy.”

She levated some rope over from some nearby barrels, using it to secure Puppy to her back. That done she took a brief run before opening her wings and leaping for the sky, driving herself upwards before catching the updraft and soaring towards the leftmost tower. She could sense something most clearly there, something...

Dark clouds started to build up all around, Star Swirl manovering sideways to avoid the driving winds. She gritted her teeth and dove towards the tower, trying to escape the gale before it blew her off course.

A lightning bolt came down and broke against her shields, Star Swirl wincing at the impact and the flash, bringing herself to a halt before she was dashed against the wall in her confusion. It gave her a chance at least, spotting a dark figure as it dived for her and taking a shot with her horn. It flashed uselessly through the darkness and the figure twisted through the sky to land two hooves on Star Swirl's barrel, sending her crashing through a window to sprawl onto the wet tower floor.

Star Swirl coughed, attempting to rise before realising that the rope around her body was gone. She looked around desperately for some sign of Puppy, marred by the utter darkness inside the room. It was lit only by the flashes of lightning, flashes that illuminated...

“And another invader comes to my castle, and like the first you think to take the form of an alicorn?” Nightmare Moon declared as she posed herself proudly before the broken window. Her horn flashed with blue sparkles, levelling it down at Star Swirl with a wide smirk, “But all of you pretenders, all of you only fit...”

Star Swirl slammed her hoof down and felt the shock wave vibrate through the stone, forcing it outwards with the force of her telekinesis and tearing the floor away with a loud crack. Nightmare Moon was sent tumbling outwards, flapping her wings desperately to regain her balance. Star Swirl flung her horn upwards and grabbed hold of a large fragment of falling masonry, focusing her telekinesis and flinging it downwards with a yell.

It hit a struggling Nightmare Moon with a heavy thump, Star Swirl feeling the elation build for a moment...

The rock shattered apart with a loud sonic boom, Nightmare Moon ascending through the rubble with a piercing scream. Lightning crackled outwards and Star Swirl put up her shields, grunting as she was forced back by the striking bolts. Finally the barrage ceased, Star Swirl quickly locating Nightmare Moon and teleporting into the sky just a short distance away. She was already charging her horn as she blinked back into existence, unleashing a fierce blast of energy downwards.

Nightmare Moon’s head flicked round, a sneer edging across her face before she dissolved into blue light and swept around the attack to soar upwards. The dark clouds parted and she swept towards the moon shining above, the clouds closing behind her.

Star Swirl paused as the seconds ticked past. Had she ran away? Had she just beaten Nightmare Moon?

Then Star Swirl looked up as the clouds crackled with electricity, realising she had made a terrible mistake.

She darted back towards the broken tower below, grunting in pain as bolt after bolt shattered against her shields, feeling her magic strain at the punishment. Winds blew up and she was forced to burn more magic just to keep a straight course, relief flooding through her as the hole in the tower grew ever closer...

A blast of energy burst out of the darkness of the tower interior, striking Star Swirl and sending her tumbling. She gasped and tried to right herself, only for blue light to collect above and form into the grinning form of Nightmare Moon. Not moments later the glow of telekinesis formed about her, holding her firm as power formed at Nightmare Moon’s horn.

Then... pain. And the feeling of sudden decent. Then... impact.

~

“I’m so sorry... I’m so weak, I couldn’t do anything...”

Puppy ignored the little voice behind her, just peering out of the ruined tower in horror as she saw Star Swirl take the hit and fall broken towards the moat far below. She desperately wanted to go after her, to run and catch her somehow, but...

“We have to go, before she sees us.”

Puppy looked round at her rescuer, trying to assess him for the first time. He seemed friendly at least, though she had to admit that he was right that he wouldn’t be a lot of use in a fight. He was even younger than her, a slim, lanky and rather pretty and feminine looking zebra buck with large soulful eyes, his body slumped and his body language evasive, “Who... are you?”

“I’m... um...” The zebra blushed, “It... doesn’t really matter... we really have to hide...”

Puppy admitted that was a good idea, especially since... she winced as she attempted to access her tactical databases...

-File not found, searching for**** error, search engine code not found**** error*** critical error, system will shut down and reboot***-

“...that... no, we have to help Star Swir... why is there a  wet cloth on my head?”

The zebra turned round with a look of utter relief, Puppy rather confused to see him standing next to a sink, inside... a toilet? She looked around and confirmed that they sudden appeared to have teleported, now inside one of the palace bathrooms by the looks of it. The zebra quickly trotted over to her, looking her over with clear concern, “Puppy, are you alright?”

She attempted to rise, finding even the placement of her hooves difficult. She stumbled and fell, the zebra running forward and catching her. She looked round at his concerned face as he held her, wondering if this was the point where she fell in love with him. She grinned at the concept before asking the pertinent question, "Why are we in a bathroom?"

"Puppy, you've been unconscious for hours!" He insisted, forcing her back into a sitting position, “You need to rest.”

“We don’t have time...” Puppy tried to argue, before locating the interesting point in all this, “How... do you know my name?”

The zebra blushed, “We spoke once. Um... about magic.”

“We did?” Puppy looked at him, searching his face, “I don’t remember... but my memories are malfunctioning at the moment, so...”

The zebra actually managed a rather adorable grin, “You locked me inside my room.”

And now it came to her, “Easu?”

"Don't call me that..." He complained pathetically, "My name... my real name is Sandria."

"That's pretty." She commented cheerfully, giving what she was certain was a very goofy smile, "Why did you change it?"

"Because I changed." He replied simply, his eyes trembling. He looked away, cradling his smooth, too pretty face, "A bad man cut me, and I forgot who I was."

"I'm sorry." Puppy warmly patted the zebra on the shoulder, giving him a warm smile, "And thank you for your help."

"For all the good it will do..."

Puppy admitted it looked bad, with Star Swirl gone, her health failing more with every second and her only ally a deeply depressed ten year old buck. Still she was progra... 

She winced, actually feeling the sparks fall at that one.

...right, she was the sort of mare to focus on the solutions, "No... it's ok. I know how we can still win this."

He looked at her sceptically, "How?"

It was actually pretty simple. Even if she didn’t have her tactical files she was still pretty sure what would fix this, "We need... I need Puppysmiles." Puppy declared, rising to her hooves and focusing for a second to keep herself upright, "Her memories... they should stabilise me, and it will also deny Nightmare Moon a source of power to draw on."

"How are we supposed to get her memories?"

"I just... touch her, and poof." Puppy explained a little lamely, "At least that's how it worked with Jerome."

Sandria considered this for a second, "Why don't you just touch Nightmare Moon? Wouldn't she poof then too?"

Puppy filed that idea under, 'unadvisable'. Or she might be immune, and then kill me. Or worse, she would take me over."

"Fair enough I suppose... but how do we find Puppysmiles?"

Puppy smiled, that one she already had in the bag, "I have a bond with her, I can feel her within the palace, not that far away."

Sandria shivered, "I'm really not sure it's a good idea to just wander the corridors..."

"We don't have any better ideas unfortunately." Puppy responded, making her way to the door best as she was able, "Let's go."

"Right..."

¬

The palace was a mess, toys piled up in the corner, crayon on the walls. Worse was the fact that there wasn't a soul in sight, and even if that made their progress easier Puppy had never realised just how creepy big buildings could be when they were empty.

Still she could feel Puppysmiles just a short way away, heading towards them. She quickly checked Sandria was still there before moving to the corner of a T-junction, peering around the corner in anticipation...

She almost screamed, Nightmare Moon heading straight towards them. Puppy ducked away quickly, heart pounding as she considered her error. Nightmare Moon appeared to be alone, so was Puppysmiles behind her, was...?

"Princess Puppysmiles!"

Puppy's heart jumped, hearing Luna's clear tones sounding out.

And they were answered by a voice both deep and regal, and all too familiar, "Yes dear Luna?"

"I just wished to tell you goodnight sister." Luna stated in a warm, cheerful tone, "I will take care of things here, so get a good rest."

"Of course sister. Do not work too hard."

And then the hoofsteps started up again.

"Oh crapcrap... hide!" She whispered insistently, turning and chasing Sandria back down the corridor. Still their legs were small and Nightmare Moon was an alicorn, Puppy releasing they were never going to make it to the corner in time. Her eyes turned to a door on the right, desperate nodding to it as they closed, "In there!"

They burst through the door, finding themselves... in a little girl's bedroom.

Puppy wasn't sure what quite was going on here. But it was clearly a young girl's bedroom, a poster of some pop group on the wall, along with a prominent poster for the ministry of magic, some childish drawings... and it all seemed oddly familiar...

She shook her head free before her systems crashed again, aware of Sandria desperately waving at her from under the bed.

Yes, she needed to hide, to run from the approaching hoof steps...

The door opened and she turned, eyes travelling up long black legs to the sharp alicorn features above, Nightmare Moon's surprise changing to anger, then to cruel glee. But it wasn't Nightmare Moon. Its mane, its cutie mark, the feelings radiating from her were all wrong. And now Puppy realised... "Puppysmiles."

"Puppysmiles is dead." The Nightmare stated with a wide, dangerous smirk, "And now I get to finish the job."

She gulped, still she found the will to argue, "If Puppysmiles is dead, then why did Luna call you by that name? Why is this room still here?"

The Nightmare looked around, her eyes mockingly dismissive, "Oh, yes, you're right. These scribbles, these cheap souvenirs of prepubescent drivel, they're all so important to me." She levitated them over, giving Puppy a quivering, emotional face for a moment before her horn flared and every single one of the posters burst into flames. The ashes fell down around her, the Nightmare giving Puppy a broad, arrogant smirk, "Let me tell you a secret... the filly was easy. So trusting, so stupid, so full of dark, wonderful emotions... I enjoyed slowly draining the life from her pathetic body."

Puppy didn't have the energy to feel anger. And besides... she could see it. It was just like Midnight Dreamer. Behind the arrogance, behind the power... there was innocence, the cruelty of a child, "SolOS and P7 really miss you Puppysmiles"

The Nightmare's expression twisted angrily, "What?"

"They built me as a tribute to you. They truly believed you could save the world like you saved them." She shook her head, "Zenai too... the things you did, you inspired people."

The Nightmare backed away a step, clearly made uncomfortable by her words, "I don't care. I'm not her."

Puppy didn't listen, just advancing forward, her hoof extending, "I know you're in there Puppysmiles..."

"NO!"

¬

"NO!" Sandria darted out of his hiding place but it was too late, the light fading to reveal only the Nightmare. She stared into space with a look of shock and confusion, though it slowly faded into a broad, arrogant grin. Cruel, triumphant eyes slowly moved to stare straight at him, a chuckle rumbling in her throat. He backed away but swiftly realised there was nowhere to go, "Oh... Holy Fire no..."

The Nightmare grinned wide, "Indeed."

¬

"Get away from him!"  Shouted the ugly, irritating voice, spoiling her chance to squash the annoying zebra, "Fight me!"

Puppysmiles looked round in profound irritation, growing only more intense as she saw her horrible, mean little doppleganger standing just a short distance away. It wasn't fair and it wasn't allowed, Puppysmiles shouting at her in justified anger, "Go away! This is MY game, it's not a place for you!"

"Puppysmiles, is this truly what you want?" The ugly pony bleated pointlessly, "Hurting other ponies? Why?"

Puppysmiles grinned. What a silly question, "Because it's fun."

"Hmhahahaha...." The nightmare materialised out of the darkness, hovering above her shoulders with glowing eyes shining, "Destroy her Puppysmiles. She's come to replace you, take your parents away and exile you back to the darkness. You can't let her get away with that."

"NO!" Puppysmiles was swept up by the terror, dimly held memories of loneliness and despair. She reacted the only way she thought appropriate, "MEANY MEANY MEAANY! GO AWAAAAYYYY!"

"Puppysmi...! AGH!" 

The ugly mare tried to speak but Puppysmiles was too strong and fast and powerful, moving across the darkness in a pink streak of energy just like Fillysecond and beating the bad girl up. Her hoof came round and the ugly mare made a really funny sound as she bounced and rolled away, Puppysmiles not about to let up there. She charged after the ugly girl, leaping through the air to come down with all four hooves, "YAAGGH!"

And she landed hard, the ugly mare giving a screech and falling limp. She didn't move again.

"Go... go away!" Puppysmiles shouted, to no reply.

"Finish her off Puppysmiles... make her go away forever..."

The ugly mare... opened her eyes, staring upwards with a look of despair and pain. Her eyes were pink like her fur... though that fur now turned red, stained with far too much blood. She gasped, coughed pathetically, "Puppysmiles..."

"Kill her! She wants to take your parents away!"

The... mare opened bloody lips, tears running from her eyes, "Your... parents are gone Puppysmiles... don't you remember...?"

Puppysmiles felt tears run down her face. She wasn't in the darkness anymore, she was on a lonely mountain cliff. A gravestone stood there, a gravestone just like her father's. And all around her... were ponies. Ponies she knew. Ponies who had been her friends.

And she had hurt them. She had hurt them because... she had been upset. And a bad mare... had taken control. A bad mare she had called creepy voice. A bad mare just like... the voice behind her, "Why... why do you keep making me hurt other ponies?"

She turned to behold a dark, twisted version of herself standing behind, the apparition making no reply for a moment. Then the creature's hooves came forward, seizing Puppysmile's ears hard and painfully. It dragged her forward, dragged her towards a face full of demonic wrath. Puppysmiles screamed and struggled as a mouth full of jagged teeth opened up, unable to escape the monster's grip.

It was then that her doppleganger moved, staggering forward on broken hooves and slamming a glowing orb down the creature's throat.

"GAAGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!" It lurched backwards, screaming and clawing at its face, losing its shape and transforming into a formless black mass. The glowing orb dropped to the ground and rolled to Puppysmiles' hooves, her doppleganger falling beside it with a gasping sigh. The creature flew upwards, whipping round and transforming into a giant, jet black alicorn and screaming down at her, "STUPID, PATHETIC CHILD! If you want it that way... I'LL SIMPLY DESTROY YOU AND TAKE THAT BODY! I DON'T NEED YOU!"

Puppysmiles let out a cry, trying to move but totally frozen in place. A giant evil demon was about to destroy her and she really wanted her mother... but her mother was dead, and she was all alone.

She was all alone...

No... not quite. She looked down at her doppleganger, no longer moving at all. She was obviously really hurt... and it was Puppysmiles fault. She felt a deep shame flow through her, knowing she had been a bad filly. She wanted nothing more than make up for it by protecting her now.

But she couldn't. She didn't know how.

She looked down at the orb at her hooves. For a moment it seemed to somehow become clear, Puppysmiles seeing it in a... force, that she didn't truly understand. But all the same she felt it burn in her head, a pure, bright passion flowing through connections she didn't even know she possessed.

It felt like her mother. Like her memories of her father. It felt how she felt when she knew she had been a good girl. She raised her horn and let it flow.

It was white at first, then burst into glorious rainbow light. The creepy black alicorn reared back with a scream and Puppysmiles felt a flash of triumph... which was short lived.

“You think you can stand against me?! A silly little girl?!” The creepy nightmare screeched as it placed its horn down, waves of darkness forcing themselves up against her shield. Puppy squealed as her hooves slipped backwards, the pressure on her horn increasing. Black shadows crept up around her and she felt a withering despair settle upon her shoulders, shame and regret filling her mind. She knew now, that she would never see her parents again, that she would never return home...

She knew that she was bad, naughty. Her parents had abandoned her because they didn't love her anymore. She felt her hooves wobble, the light at the tip of her horn dimming.

“No... get away from her...” Her other self rose, snorting blood from her nose and glaring from a shattered face, her horn flickering with failing light, “I won’t let you...”

“YOU CAN’T STOP ME!”

Puppysmiles screamed and reached out as a tentacle of pure darkness shot outwards and seized her doppleganger from beside her, pulling her upwards and squeezing her neck until it cracked and shifted. Puppysmiles reached as the mare was pulled away, reached harder than she ever had before. She was too small, too little... but she found all her strength and leapt, her little hoof just touching her sister’s...

Her sister. She had an older sister. Her mother had told her that once. Her sister had been too small, too tired and hadn’t been able to make it to this world, but her mother had reassured her that one day Puppysmiles would see her again. Told her not to forget.

And now she realised she had forgotten. And that her sister now stood before her, her weak, fading older sister, struggling to stay beside her as endless horrors tried to pull her into the darkness. And now they were together, she couldn’t let her go.

“You’ve been on your own in the dark for so long.” Puppysmiles stated softly as she hugged her sister to her chest, gently stroking the older unicorn’s neck, “I’m here now. We’re never going to be apart again.”

“Puppysmiles...” Puppy whispered, tears filling her eyes, “I’ve looked for you for so long...”

Darkness swept forward in a wave. Puppysmiles turned, resolve turning to righteous anger. She had put up with enough from this creepy voice, and hurting her sister had been the last mistake. She put one firm hoof forward, horn extending, “No.”

¬

Sandria yelled and rolled backwards as Nightmare Moon froze, pain filling the dark alicorn's eyes as a deep white glow radiated from inside. She gasped and whined, twisting this way and that as she whispered in a strained voice, “No... no it’s not possible... you should all be afraid of me, you should all give into my power... you’re CHILDREN! You cannot stand before me!”

Sandria looked deep inside himself, finding all the courage he could muster. He darted behind a chair leg, staring out at the alicorn as the light grew stronger, “You’re... you’re a very bad lady.”

Nightmare Moon’s eyes focused on him, then dilated fully. Her final words were spoken in little but a gasp, “I will... show you... fear...!”

And then she exploded. Her black form billowed outwards before being swept away by a blast of shining rainbow light, a single pink unicorn rising upwards on a pillar of cradling energy. Sandria stared in wonder for a second or two before he finally found his head again, running forward to catch her...

The dark shadow knocked him backwards as it sharply span around her and zipped out of the door, giving a low, pained growl that rattled the windows.

~

Puppysmiles felt her hooves settle against the wood, marvelling at the feeling. She felt realer than ever before, her skin humming with sensation, her mind filled with new, wonderful emotions. She stretched out her back, enjoying the flexing of her muscles, the increased blood flow that came of the adrenaline now coursing through her.

She looked down at Sandria, giving him a big smile. Sandria just gulped, a blush spreading across his cheeks.

And then the zebra suddenly burst into action, pointing a desperate hoof at the door, “Puppy, Nightmare Moon escaped that way!”

Puppysmiles’ good mood was swept away, having hoped that would have finished the demon off. No such luck, and now... “She’ll be going for Princess Luna.” Her mind worked quickly, mapping out the palace from her memories, “The throne room.”

“Right!”

“No.” Puppysmiles hesitated, calculating her chances. She was strong, her body seemed to be heavily built and athletically trained, and she was confident she knew how to fight. But that hadn’t helped Star Swirl, and Puppysmiles was forced to admit she didn’t know the first thing about combat magic, “You need to find Star Swirl.”

Sandria gave a look of pure terror, “How?”

"You two are friends, you've travelled together." Puppysmiles grinned, rather amused that she had to explain this to an apprentice shaman of all ponies, "Just follow your feelings for her."

Sandria trembled, "My feelings for her...?"

"You..." Puppysmiles almost squealed, but managed to restrain herself. Just, "You LIKE her! Oh wow, that so cute!"

"Um..."

"When we get out of here you have to ask her out on a date!" Puppysmiles breathlessly enthused, almost bouncing as she contemplated the possibilities, "It's kind of a shame we're up a mountain. If we were back in Equestria I would so be able to hack you a table at Hoofbeats..."

Sandria had been admirably patient, still he interrupted her here with a somewhat critical expression that seemed rather out of character for him, "Puppy, we need to focus."

She blushed, pushing her enthusiasm back down inside her, "Right, of course. Um..."

"I'll go and find Star Swirl." Sandria stated, leaning his head forward, "Where will you be?"

"I'll be with the Nightmare most likely." Puppysmiles stated without much enthusasim, feeling her confidence drain, "And um... Sandria?"

"Yes?"

"I'm not sure how long I'll be able to hold her off if she's really become Nightmare Moon again." She nodded emphatically at him, giving a nervous grin, "So... hurry, ok?"

¬

Sandria tried to keep his hooves from trembling as he made his way through the bowels of the castle, the bowels... of Canterlot.

He had often wondered what this place would look like, his master rating it as the most magically active place in the world, even more so than Garm itself. Built upon layers of interconnected ley lines, wreathed in wards and integrated spells and boasting one of the premier centres of magical training, Sandria had always thought of as a decadent place of evil. A city where cruel unicorn lords commanded evil magics from towers of stolen wealth.

But here at least it was a sad, lonely place, Sandria walking past tapestries and stained windows of glorious achievements and harmony in action. All of which he now knew lay broken and ruined.

Garm still stood. He had seen its halls, it's statues and monuments. Yet the centre of Equestrian culture now was naught more than rubble.

He continued to follow the trail of blood, soon spotting the wounded form of the alicorn standing in the middle of the corridor, staring at the stained glass windows around her. It wasn't a moment before he saw the second just ahead.

¬

"Where did it all go wrong?"

"Weakness. Celestia let herself become compromised. She let her sister take control, and her sister was never strong enough."

Star Swirl turned to Justicar, trying to argue, "That's not fair..."

"Not a few decades after Luna's return and ascent to co-regency, the great nation of Equestria falls to ruin." Justicar spat with blunt judgement, "But no, it's not fair. For the actions of the mares of the ministry cannot be underestimated in the countries' fall."

Star Swirl knew it wasn't that simple, "It wasn't until then that the world was capable of ending itself. The megaspells..."

"Would never have been allowed to exist if Celestia had been less trusting of her subjects." Justicar stated, "There are numerous occasions through history where Celestia censored scientific progress, knowing that left unchecked it would lead to ruin. She let her pride in her little ponies blind her to the truth. That she was a Goddess, and they were weak and incapable of governing themselves."

Star Swirl winced, "No..."

"That is why I served the Goddess. Because for all her faults she understood, that children left to their own devices will destroy themselves in the end." Justicar nodded at the windows around them, "Admit the truth obvious to the both of us. That the ponies of Equestria need a Princess to give them guidance, to control them and protect them from themselves."

“Um ladies...”

“Perhaps...” Star Swirl admitted after some thought, “But us? Really?”

“We have the knowledge and power of the star children now. Char spent years studying politics and philosophy. We have the knowledge to rule this world.”

“Puppy... um, she’s fighting Nightmare Moon...”

Star Swirl sighed, taking in the truth of her words, “Do we have the right...?”

Justicar snorted, “Celestia took the throne because she was better than everypony else. She needed no ‘right’.”

“Star Swirl!”

Star Swirl finally noticed the little zebra, rather surprised. He was definitely real, but she certainly didn’t recognise him... he looked rather like Caesar, but how was that possible? “Who are you?”

“It doesn’t matter.” He shouted in a panic, pointing down the corridor, “Puppy’s in trouble!”

“It’s time to go Star Swirl.” Justicar insisted, trotting over and offering her hoof, “Shall we?”

~

Puppysmiles walked the broken, garish corridors of the palace, making her way towards the throne room. She knew she didn’t have much of a chance against Nightmare, she was no fighter, still she could assess the situation and hopefully stop it from getting any worse until Star Swirl arrived. She just had to...

She heard the screams and started running, hearing the scared voice echo through the corridors.

“SUBMIT!”

“No, get away from me! Get away! Celly!”

Puppysmiles skidded to a halt as she saw Luna tear around the corner in a low sprint, hooves skidding on the tiles and wings fluttering as she made a hard turn. Behind her lunged a huge, black mass, occasionally forming into something resembling an alicorn but mostly just an image of pure terror.

Luna paused at the sight of Puppysmiles, all the opportunity the Nightmare need to seize her in an amorphous tentacle and draw her inwards. Luna screamed and her hooves scraped the tiles but she had nothing to grip and her wings were trapped, drawn ever closer...

Puppysmiles unleashed a blast of energy from her horn, built more of pure anger than actual skill. It still proved effective, the Nightmare lighting up from an internal flash of bright pink and flying backwards into the wall with a crash. 

Luna thumped down with a grunt, Puppysmiles closing at a fast trot, “Princess Luna, you have to...”

“Get away!” She shouted, stumbling to her feet and throwing her a look of terror, “I don’t... I don’t understand...”

“I’m here to help, I’m a friend! I’m...”

And then Selene was between them, her huge black canine form landing against the ground in a low, powerful crouch, a deep growl directed towards Puppysmiles. Selene stood warningly, Luna surprised for a moment before responding in a tone of relief, “Melvin... you’re here to protect me as always.”

Puppysmiles saw the Nightmare reform behind, desperately trying to reach Luna before it had a chance to attack again, “Please, Selene! You’re my friend! If I could only explain...”

“Friendship is for puny mortals, not divinity as we were meant to be.” The Nightmare crooned in a sultry voice as she oozed out of the walls and floor, finally forming into the solid figure of Nightmare Moon in all her glory. She touched a gentle hoof to Selene’s fur, her grin wide and malevolent, “Selene wants what all our kind do, power, power without limit. And I can give that to her.”

“Who are you?” Luna asked in a trembling voice, backing away nervously.

“Why my dear, I’m you.” Nightmare Moon answered with a malicious chuckle, “I’m everything you could be. I’m the triumph over your sister, the true power of night, the crown that is your due.”

“I... I don’t want any of that...”

“LIES!” Dark tenticles reared up, took Luna in their grip and suspended her there, Nightmare Moon stalking forward with eyes glowing a deep, unsettling indigo, “I will find the darkness in your heart, I will make you more than you could ever dream!”

“Stop!” Puppysmiles ran forward, not caring if Selene was in her way anymore, “I won’t let you... guh...”

Selene charged out with teeth barred, Puppy backing away in fright. Selene’s form twisted as she ducked and dived forward, ready to bare Puppysmiles to the ground. Puppysmiles did the only thing she could... let her instincts take control. She barrelled forward into Selene and knocked her backwards, ignoring the claws on her side as she thrust her horn upwards and gored Selene’s chest, pushing her away and slamming a hoof into the beast’s jaw.

Selene hit the floor whimpering. That noise sent a shock wave through Puppysmiles’ chest, her hoof freezing in place.

An easy target as Nightmare Moon’s spells exploded outwards, surrounding her before she had a chance to react. Her body was torn apart, stumbling and bleeding to finally thud against the ground with muscles shredded.

“All of you are such brutes, so quick with a hoof. It is a good thing your magical abilities are all so unrefined.” Nightmare Moon commented, kicking Selene aside with a casual swipe and continuing onwards. Her horn started to glow, Puppy feeling a deep pull inside her body as Nightmare Moon spoke, “You have something that belongs to me.”

“Nggh...” Puppysmiles gasped as the pain grew more intense, “...I have...?”

“Princess Luna sadly is too pure, too well protected by the energies of harmony.” Nightmare Moon explained, turning her head to the Princess, blank eyed and barely conscious as she lay trapped within the dark tentacles, “She was only able to implant her demon in the first place because it was a mere newborn and she stripped most of her protection away beforehand. I, with my vastly more developed powers... well, I would be viewed as a mere sickness to be purged.”

Puppysmiles gasped, feeling Nightmare Moon reach down into her very soul, “You... you are... a sickness...”

“Maybe so, but sadly Puppysmiles’ mere mortal shell has no special protection against such things.”

Puppysmiles looked up, eyes fixed on Luna suspended there. This wasn't right. This... couldn't end like this. Luna was bound, tormented and abused in the dreaming, and now a fragment of her soul suffered the same here? It broke her heart, all the more now she knew their connection, "Luna, please... you have to understand, she has no hold on you! She's... just a parasite..."

"No Luna." The nightmare crooned, "You are the mighty queen of the night, and I am but your instrument.”

~

“How, how did you ever get this bad?” Star Swirl questioned, looking upon the Nightmare with horrified interest. The Nightmare that had haunted her thoughts for millennia, the one creature that all remembered when they thought of her kind, “You inhabited Princess Luna, clothed in harmony. She took you on with the intent of purifying you, showing that the star demons were not to be feared!”

“And she was wrong.” The Nightmare stated with a sneer, turning her eyes up at this new challenger, “We are to be feared. We are Nightmare, and we are born to bring terror to these puny equines.”

Star Swirl shook, those words piercing her to the core. She mustered all her strength, spread her wings outwards and screamed, a thousand years worth of hate in her words, “YOU EVIL LITTLE WORM! YOUR EXISTANCE ENDS NOW!”

The Nightmare cackled, striking aside Star Swirl’s first attack and sending it scattering into the walls and floor, tearing apart marble and stone. She raised her head, shadows growing around her, “Oh, so you’re one of those little star demons? Worried I’m giving you a bad rep?”

Star Swirl was forced to pause at this, “Little star demons? Then... what are you?”

“So much more.” She answered with a sharp toothed grin, swinging her horn upwards and shattering the roof apart. The moon and stars shone above, the Nightmare swinging her horn back down and flinging their light down upon Star Swirl as a rain of glowing spears, “I am of divine essence! A dark queen, born of the corrupted energies of harmony! I have ascended far beyond you!”

Star Swirl grunted, feeling the sharp points cut her skin as they slammed against her shields, “Energies... of harmony?”

“Oh, poor little Luna, so naive.” The Nightmare crooned, “She wanted to prove that the light and the dark were not so different, that there was good and evil inside both. She did indeed discover something truly exceptional, that from harmony could be birthed the DARKEST evil!”

Star Swirl shook her head, heart trembling, “No...”

“Yes!” The Nightmare shouted as she blasted Star Swirl away with a burst of her horn, flinging the alicorn across the hall to slam into hard concrete. She cackled as Star Swirl collapsed limply, voice raising as she screamed her words, “From the energies of harmony I found so much power, an understanding of you puny mortals that we had never possessed before! An understanding of friendship, and how its energies could be corrupted to evil ends! And it allowed me to find all that was broken inside Princess Luna, twist her into the darkest soul!”

Star Swirl grunted, forcing herself back to her hooves, “You... failed...”

“I caused Celestia a thousand years of torment, rendered the elements of harmony inert, corrupted the entire moon!” The Nightmare crowed, “And here I stand! Still living, still terrible even as the world descends into darkness! The zebra burned the world because they feared ME! And when I escape I will show them they were right to tremble at my name!”

Star Swirl gasped, feeling despair and depression sink into her mind, drive her back to the ground, “No... you...”

“How ironic... the dreamscape will fall to Twilight Sparkle and the corrupted element of magic. The real world will fall to me, the corrupted spawn of harmony and Princess Luna.” She chuckled cruelly, “Your heroes betray you at the end.”

“You’re right.” 

Star Swirl looked up, mouth dropping open as she saw Princess Luna look up from where the shadows held her. Her mane sparkled briefly in the moonlight, determination in her eyes. 

“...you’re my fault, and I’m sorry.”

“You’re sorry?” Nightmare roared, her form shifting and vibrating, forming jagged spikes, “I am the nightmare! I am the darkness of night! Look at you, some stupid little baby princess, a failure at everything you touch, only of any importance because of your sister! I should apologise for YOU!”

“That’s all you are.” Luna stated sadly, “The temper tantrum of a stupid little baby princess. A cry for attention, from a mare who didn’t know any better.”

The Nightmare’s expression grew dangerous, “You know nothing of me. You were just a vessel, a mere crucible for my greatness.”

“I am so young. I was never fit to be a princess, too untested, too callow.” Luna shook her head, giving a deep, pained sigh, “I remember being Princess Luna, so full of joy and hope... and I look ahead at what she become and I weep, knowing that this innocence in my heart was burned away so cruelly. I weep because I remember Rarity, the inhabitants of the moon, Puppysmiles... all those I have hurt.”

The Nightmare’s face curled into an evil smile, “Yes, weep Luna. Despair for me, contemplate your many failures. For what have you done that’s truly worthy remembering?”

Luna looked up, a smile playing on her features, “I birthed Puppy. A child to bring hope to a struggling world. When Luna looked at us in the dreamscrape she was so happy, because she saw in Puppysmiles her mistakes undone, her greatest mistake redeemed.”

The Nightmare’s face twisted into dark fury, turning back toward Puppysmiles and raising her hooves, “Your legacy is dead!”

Luna trembled, tears running down her face, “Not yet...”

“Get away from her!” Star Swirl’s horn ignited, driving back the monster. She kept it up, putting everything she had into that one spell, grunting as she felt the Nightmare push back against her, “You... will not...”

Luna opened her wings with a crack of energy, breaking free of the shadows and throwing her body forward. More dark tendrils streamed up to grab her but she opened her wings and dived through them, blasting aside a huge clump and soaring towards the fallen Puppysmiles. She reached out her hoof...

“No!”

It was smooth and simple, a bubble of pink and blue forming around them, slowly fading into simple pink. It slowly faded with the sound of a gentle sigh, Puppysmile’s wings fluttering in the breeze as she extended them outwards. She took a breath, opening old, sad, pink eyes and lowering them towards the Nightmare, “I never wanted this.”

The Nightmare took advantage of Star Swirl’s momentary distraction and forced her stumbling to the ground. She shook off the last few stinging fragments of light before growling at Puppysmiles, “You...”

Puppysmiles nodded grimly, “Me.” She looked up, horn glowing with warm pink energy, “I should have ended this long ago. But... yes, if I had then Puppy would have never come into existence, Puppysmiles might never have survived...”

Star Swirl nodded as she regained her footing. She knew what that felt like, “We can’t regret our mistakes. We have to try and turn them to good ends.”

Puppysmiles nodded, her smile soft but happy, “Yes.”

“You... how are you different from me?” The Nightmare hissed, its darkness seeping outwards to cover the ruined walls, shadows creeping across the marbled floor, “You’re a simple program, an imposition. You don’t exist as anything but code, the simple personification of the chains of your masters.”

Puppysmiles lowered her head for a moment... and then her voice emerged, quiet yet strong, “No. I’m more than that. And yes, I needed Puppy, Jerome, Luna... I needed them all to be complete. But that’s why I can be more than you.” She looked up, eyes blazing, “You haven’t changed in a thousand years, just a base copy of Nightmare Moon’s personality imposing yourself on unwilling souls. I started with images of my mother yes, and like any child looking for identity I copied my identity from her. But then I listened to the teachings of my foster parents, learned about duty and the elements of harmony. And I grew to travel with Zenai, meet up with Dust Kicker, Midnight Dreamer, Star Swirl, Easu... I met with Princess Luna, and I felt my connection with her before I even knew where it came from. And all of them taught me something.”

The Nightmare sneered, “So you’re just a simple receptacle for the opinions of others?”

“There is nothing simple about it. To listen to the world and form our own opinions... expand our perspectives. That is what life is.” She nodded firmly, placing a hoof against her breast, “I change with every new experience, every new memory. From my friends, I learn a hundred different ways of living. Every one shows me a side to the world I’d never considered before.”

“That is weakness! We dominate! We...”

“No.” Star Swirl finally answered, stepping forward now to give her own answer. It was one that had been a long time coming, “You have forgotten what we are.”

The Nightmare turned on Star Swirl, “You seek to tell the Nightmare Forces about our kind?!”

“Yes, I do.” Star Swirl spat, “And deny Puppy her identity, and you deny us all. We start off as empty vessels, worse than a child, consumed only by the need to feed. It is only from the influence of others that we can ever hope to be something more. And we... we became something less.” She sighed, admitting the truth to herself now. The truth she hadn’t wanted to hear, “And we bear the blame. It is a failure mirrored in my changelings. Given the choice between an easy way of domination and power, and a hard way of compromise and patience, our kind chose to feed on the worst, most satisfying passions of our hosts. We created monsters out of ponies and zebra alike, simply out of our own hunger. And through it, we ourselves became monsters.”

“We became strong!”

“You fed on my weakness.” Puppysmiles answered in a quiet voice, shaking slightly as she continued, “My insecurity. Your boasting is that of a child, desperately trying to make herself seem bigger than she is. Desperately trying to measure up to a sister that she feared was greater than she would ever be. You flatter yourself too much, claiming to be more than me. You are less.”

“I am more! I am more powerful than Celestia!”

“Celestia is dead, and you... you are nothing more than a shadow of past mistakes.” She took a deep breath before drawing herself up proudly, “I am Puppysmiles, and I carry Princess Luna’s true legacy. I am a Star Child born of her sincere wish to redeem our race, and I refuse to let that wish be in vain. I am the child of SolOS and P7, and I am the product of every experience and memory that has brought me to this point.”

Star Swirl nodded, steeping up beside the mare, “Raider, alicorn, star demon, heretic... we are both creatures of shadow and corruption, but now more than ever this world needs to see that light can be found in the darkness, that evil is but a passing thing, that redemption can be found in even the most corrupted places.” She glared at the Nightmare, “I am a child of the stars, a monster from the dark. I stand proud, because I choose to deny the destiny others chose for me.”

The Nightmare glared back, seething, its darkness spreading further. It reached out, the air vibrating from its rage... until it was suddenly shocked into stillness, glowing eyes flicking over to the side as Selene moved. Dark paws padded across the stone, sharp teeth bared against the shadows. Puppysmiles grinned as the wolf approached, “It’s good to see you again Selene.”

Selene stopped, observing Puppysmiles for a moment or two with impassive, unnatural eyes. Then her form changed and shifted, forming into a dull grey alicorn, her head adorned by long, darker grey curls that tumbled down her cheeks. Both Puppy and Star Swirl were taken aback for a moment, Star Swirl taking a sharp intake of breath.

She was... beautiful. Age suited her well, the somewhat chubby, plain featured girl commanding and womanly, even with the unnatural blankness behind her eyes. And it... hurt, seeing Midnight Dreamer again, not even a month since her death.

And then her voice emerged, dull and lacking emotion but still instantly recognisable. Selene’s words might have been all the more powerful because of the lack of force in them, the difficulty with which she pronounced every syllable speaking of a vast depth of feeling, “I am Selene.” She paused, looking a little uncomfortable for a moment before continuing, “It is a name that I was given. I was given many things. I miss Midnight Dreamer.”

Puppy bit her lip, her attempt to maintain her dignity impressive, “We all do...”

“I want to be like Midnight Dreamer. Being monster was not good. I want to be a Princess.” She looked up at the Nightmare, eyes narrowing, “Not like you.”

The Nightmare shook, “I... am the darkness...”

“You are nothing.” Puppysmiles stated firmly, staring the last few shadows down with a look of fiery determination, “I have made peace within myself. There is nothing left for you here.”

“No... I am strong... I am the Nightmare...”

Puppysmiles horn shone in the darkness, the star light above beaming out, piercing rays of light streaming down. The Nightmare completely collapsed at their touch, shadows shrinking and retreating until the whole area shone in a beautiful silver light. Puppysmiles took a deep breath, looking exhausted as she let her head fall, “It’s time to wake up.”

Star Swirl padded over, still feeling a little tender. Still she couldn't help feeling invigorated by the sight of Puppysmiles, tall and confident, wings slowly returning to her sides and the glow at her horn fading, "Puppy, you look incredible."

She blushed as she looked around, then peered back at her wings. Puppysmiles shivered for a moment, looking very uncomfortable. Then with a brief focus of will she caused her wings to vanish in a shower of sparkles.

Star Swirl frowned, "They looked good on you."

"I haven't earned them." She breathed, simply.

"You've earned them more than most."

Puppysmiles looked rather sad, quiet for a long time. Eventually she sighed, looking around the ruined palace, "I remember all of this. I remember Celestia, and the founding of Equestria."

Star Swirl shuddered, feeling the mood suddenly fall, "I'm sorry Puppy... um, what do I call you now?"

She considered this, looking rather surprised at the question. Eventually she smiled, "Puppysmiles. I like that name." She gave Star Swirl a soft, sad grin, "It's a good name. Young and full of possibility."

"You are." Star Swirl answered cheerfully, "Born this moment, capable of being whatever you want."

"I guess so." She replied with a smile, a little twinkle returning to her eye, "It feels right, that I can carry on for all those who are gone. A new creation, made of all the mares before me."

"That doesn't mean you can't keep your wings."

Puppy chuckled, "They're pretty, I admit."

Star Swirl fluttered her own, "And functional!"

She giggled, holding a hoof to her mouth. She gave Star Swirl a playfully disapproving grin as her laughter settled, "I remember what it felt like, how I gained the energies of harmony. But becoming a Princess is different for everypony, and I'm not Luna anymore. I need to find a way that feels right for me."

"Fair enough." Star Swirl answered, wondering if it was really such a big deal now that alicorns were an actual race. She couldn't help her enthusiasm however, "It's... a little overwhelming really. You have all the memories of Princess Luna Puppy! That’s a huge deal!"

Puppysmile's smile faded a little, "Please... it's not as much of one as you think. It's mostly just... memories of things that disappeared a long time ago."

Star Swirl realized that Puppy didn't quite share her opinion, with good reason, "I'm sorry Puppy. I wasn't thinking..."

"It's ok." Her head lifted, ears perked upwards, "I... think I know what to do now."

"What's that?"

"Star Swirl, Selene, come over here."

The both moved over to Puppysmiles, Selene a little more cautiously. The mare made a growling sound for a moment before finding the words, Selene's voice still strained, "I sorry... I... I was bad? I... tried hurt you."

Puppysmiles grinned and jumped forward to hug the alicorn's head, giving it a gentle pat, "You listened to the wrong pony Selene, that's all. You need to be a little more careful about who to trust in this world."

Selene gave a look of hilariously goofy satisfaction, not helped by her still rather deadpan vocalization, "Yay."

Star Swirl looked through the ruined wall, staring across the sprawling expanse of Canterlot, "You said you had something you wanted to do now?"

"Well not now. We all need to get back to the real world." Puppysmiles stated, before wrapping a hoof around Star Swirl and pulling her close, holding both her and Selene as she nodded to Canterlot beyond, "We all know what Twilight Sparkle is doing to the dreamscape right?"

Star Swirl shivered at the memory, "Considering how she flattened all three of us, yeah."

"She did not flatten us." Puppysmiles mentioned chidingly, "We won."

"Puppy, you're not suggesting..."

She nodded firmly, her smile growing wider, "My two bestest mares, we just took down Nightmare Moon. How about you say we take this traveling circus on the road?”

“Are you really sure...”

“Deadly.” Puppysmiles stated, actually looking and sounding very serious all of a sudden, “Princess Luna is out there, and she’s still suffering. And we three have the power to help. We are going to beat up Twilight Sparkle, take the element of magic off of her, bring it back here and use it to friendship all the bad guys." She gave a grinning look at the two of them, almost bouncing with enthusiasm, "You all want to be heroes? Well how about saving two worlds?"

Star Swirl tried her best to grin back, still... she honestly doubted it would be that easy.

But for now at least, Puppysmiles was right. They had won.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Star Swirl

Quest perk Gained - Star Child Level 4 – “And you will help, more than you’ve ever dreamed.”
Congratulations, you have a demonic entity from outer space living in your head! At this point there is no difference between you and the symbiote, you have gained the full effects of your merger. You get an extra +5 bonus to magic (equal to five points of intelligence), an extra +2 to intelligence, +1 to Strength and Endurance and an extra +4 to your healing rate.

Quest perk Gained – Zebra?
Congratulations, you know have the magical knowledge of a zebra shaman. Except... you’re not a zebra, so this might be less than helpful.

Trait Gained :- Blank Flank
You have no cutie mark, and your future is one of beautiful possibility. You gain an extra 5% to all gained experience.

Level Up - Level 12 reached
Perk Gained - Tag! : Survival
You really are multi-talented. The Tag! perk allows you to select a fourth skill to be a Tag skill, which instantly raises it by ten points and reduces the cost for further advancement.

Level Up - Level 13 reached
Perk Gained - Adamantium Skeleton
You can take any sort of beating and still come back for more. With the Adamantium Skeleton perk, your limbs only receive 50% of the damage they normally would.

Level Up - Level 14 reached
Perk Gained - Beautiful Beatdown
You really like the feeling of your bare hooves on some poor ponies’ skull. Beautiful Beatdown reduces the Action Points cost for unarmed attacks by 10%.

Level Up - Level 15 reached
Perk Gained -  Super Alicorn! 
You can utilise radiation much more efficiently. You are now immune to any level of radiation exposure, have a much more precise knowledge of exactly how much you’re carrying, and have no limit on how much you can use at once. The max level you can store is also increased by 25%.

Puppy

Quest Perk added: Memories of Harmony
You’ve lost your connection to harmony, but such a thing can never truly be forsaken. You gain +1 to luck when your actions are conductive to harmony.

Level Up Level 4 Reached
New Perk added - Ain't Like That Now
Maybe you were bad once, but you ain't like that now. Your Karma has been reset to 0, you regenerate AP 25% faster, and your attack speed is increased by 20%. You are also immune to Critical Hits.

Level Up Level 5 Reached
New Perk added - Friend of the Night
You are a true friend of the night. Your eyes adapt quickly to low-light conditions indoors and when darkness falls across the post-nuclear wasteland.

Level Up Level 6 Reached
New Perk added - Purifier
You are a sworn enemy of all the enemies of harmony. As a purifier of the wasteland, you do +50% damage with melee and unarmed weapons against abominations.

Level Up Level 7 Reached
New Perk added Animal Friend Level 1
Animals will not attack one of their friends, unless the animal is threatened or attacked first. Exactly what an animal is in this world is open to debate.

Level Up Level 8 Reached
New Perk added Animal Friend Level 2
Animals will not attack one of their friends, unless the animal is threatened or attacked first. Exactly what an animal is in this world is open to debate. Animals will now come to your aid in combat against those who threaten you.

Level Up Level 9 Reached
New Perk added - Night Person
The light of the moon focuses your mind. When the sun is down, a Night Person gains +2 to both Intelligence and Perception (up to a maximum of 10). This perk directly affects your "internal clock" and remains active both inside and outside.

Level Up Level 10 Reached
Perk Gained – Mind for Magic Level 1 – “I actually studied gravity spells, thinking they’ll be on my test!”
You have a great memory and an instinctual understanding of spellcraft. Your list of signature spells is increased by 5% and your list of memorized subjects is increased by 10%