Welcome to My Nightmare

by mbrsart

Nothing Is as It Seems

The only thing that could explain the blood running down Luna's face was that she'd split her head while tumbling down the stairs. Her horn was intact, thankfully, and she didn't feel any broken bones. Still, she had no idea how profusely the would was bleeding. Strange that she didn't feel any pain.

Another thing that she noticed was that her leg was completely painless. She tested it and found it to be sound, not just for bearing weight, but also for pawing and stamping. She felt it carefully, and there was no evidence that her cannon bone had been snapped in two. The spell she had cast to heal it wasn't nearly to the scope that it would completely erase the break from history.

"This makes no sense," she sighed. Her voice echoed in the darkness, but she didn't hear her words coming back.

"Of course it doesn't."

"Who's there?" she called.

"Nopony," her voice replied. "But it makes perfect sense that, well, nothing makes sense." By now, the voice had changed. It was a voice that was all too familiar.

"Discord?" she gasped.

"Who else?" A thin apparition of the famed draconequus appeared before her. "Sorry about your sister."

"You son of a--"

"No, Luna, I really am. Nopony could be more upset over Tia's...over Celestia's death than me."

"You monster," Luna growled. "You broke her heart all those centuries ago! And for what, a little chaos?"

"Luna, please, I--"

Her rage flared hotter than the fires of Tartarus itself. "And thou hast the gall to claim that thou missest her the most? What about us? We were her sister!"

"Well, you weren't exactly on speaking terms with her over the last thousand years, were you?" Discord shot back. "You got jealous. You tried to take her throne. You don't think that broke her heart, too?"

"Silence!" she roared. "The greatest day of our life was when we trapped thou in that stone prison!"

"Say that again."

A wave of confusion hit Luna like a wall. What did he mean, "say it again"? He wasn't challenging her. He seemed like he was...pleading. "The greatest day of our life was when we trapped thou in stone."

"Exactly," the draconequus replied. "If I'm trapped in stone, then how am I here?"

"The spell was broken."

"But then I would be here in the flesh. As you can see, I'm just an image. Please, Luna, listen to me. I am a manifestation of your subconscious."

"Liar!"

"The last thing you remember before finding Celestia's body is watching her paint the sunset. That's because that was the last thing that really happened! Don't you understand?"

"No."

"None of this is real. Celestia is alive! In fact, you are asleep right next to her!"

"Prove it."

"I...I can't."

"If this is a dream, then how do I wake up?" She swung her head around and bit herself on the withers, wincing in pain. "See? That doesn't work."

"You must trust me, Luna."

The request was too much. There was no way in Tartarus that she was going to put one iota of trust in Discord. Her intense, burning hatred for him wouldn't allow it. Even if he was right, and this was some sort of nightmare, even if it meant her death, she would never give pass to such a fiend. She made her sentiments known.

"Sooner or later, you won't have a choice. Goodbye, Luna." The apparition vanished in a flash as the dungeon door once again opened up.

Inspector Pipesmoke descended, lighting candles as he plodded down the steps. His face was blank, though his body language dictated that he bore bad news. "Things are not looking good for you, Princess," he said, clearing his throat. "Our finest analysts were able to reconstruct the corrupt data from the security camera feeds. If nothing else, it incriminates you."

"What does it show?"

"It shows you, in a fit of rage, transforming into Nightmare Moon and impaling Celestia." He squinted at her. "Do you remember this?"

"No," she replied. "No, I don't. I don't remember anything from the time that she painted the sunset to the time that I found her."

"I've been doing some light reading on enhanced interrogation techniques, and I came across a book of spells. I found a whole slew of fantastic little tortures. I learned one that would make you feel like you were drowning, even though you weren't anywhere near water. Another bores into your mind until you either confess or go insane. My personal favorite involves dislocating your wings. One joint at a time."

"Stop!" she cringed, shrinking back as he walked closer. But the bars were no barrier, and he walked through them as if they weren't even there.

"But I'm going to be courteous and just use a standard memory spell on you. If the memories exist, it will conjure them."

He rushed forward and touched his glowing horn to her forehead. A flood of memories washed over her, playing before her eyes like a film.

She was a filly again, playing with her big sister in a sunlit meadow. She didn't have a single care, only gratitude for the love showed her by Celestia. She would never--could never hurt such a mare. How was it even possible that she, even as Nightmare Moon, could go so far as to murder her in cold blood? She still refused to believe it.

A young draconequus slithered through the grass toward Celestia, and then rose up, looming behind her, a look of mania in his eyes. Luna cried out, but she couldn't change what had transpired, what she had worked so hard to forget.

The draconequus tackled Celestia to the ground. But it wasn't how Luna had always remembered it. There was no shriek of surprise, no cries of pain. Instead, laughter. Yes, laughter, of all things! Her opinion of Discord had so twisted that she had been remembering wrong all these years.

"Discord, what are you doing here?" Celestia laughed. She kissed him on the cheek briefly. Again, Luna's hatred for Discord began to burn inside her. She wanted to warn her sister about events to come, but she had no control of her filly self.

"I have something very important to tell you, Tia," the draconequus replied. He sighed deeply. "May we speak in private?"

"Of course," Celestia replied. The two of them walked off to the shelter of a nearby tree.

Just as she remembered it, Luna sneaked through the grass and flitted up into the boughs of the tree to eavesdrop. She heard almost the entire exchange.

"...believe in destiny?" Discord asked.

"Of course I do," Celestia replied, smiling as Discord lovingly stroked her neck. "I know that you and I are destined to be together."

Discord smiled slightly. "Tia, I...I don't know how to say this, but I want--"

"I do!" Celestia squealed, leaping forward and placing her head on his shoulder, wrapping a wing around him.

"No, you don't. You can't. Because I want to end this." His words were labored, reticent. Not like she had always remembered it in her skewed reality.

Celestia gasped. "You want... How can you say that you want to break up with me? If you'd given some sort of excuse, I wouldn't have been as hurt, but...."

"Nopony has made me happier than you, but I've found my destiny." His next words were cold as ice. "And it doesn't involve you."

"How could you?" Celestia choked, beginning to sob. "You promised that you would love me forever!"

"Things change, Tia. You represent harmony; I represent chaos. It's who I am! There's nothing I can do to change it!"

"You didn't even try, did you?"

"You can't fight d--"

"Shut up! I don't want to hear another word about destiny! You knew this was coming, didn't you? From the very beginning!" Discord nodded balefully. "Then why in Tartarus did you let me believe that you could change? Why did you lead me on day after day with your kind words and your...empty love!"

"I swear to you, Celestia, everything I felt for you was real! I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you, but this morning I woke up and nothing was the same. My life was orderly, and I couldn't help but change it! I am Chaos! I am Discord!"

"You're damn fool, is what you are!" Celestia growled. "Get out of here! I never want to see your face again!"

"I'm sorry," he whispered.

"GET OUT!" Celestia bellowed, pointing her hoof at the horizon. As soon as the draconequus left, Celestia collapsed to the ground, tucking her hooves under her. She began weeping, sobbing, cursing herself for falling for a "duplicitous little snake."

Again the thought crossed little Luna's mind: "How could anypony hurt my sister like that?" It was then that she fell out of the tree.

She landed next to Celestia, who tried to dry her tears, but, realizing it was useless, let them continue. "How much did you hear?" she asked.

"All of it," Luna replied. "I wanna kick him in the face."

"No, Luna," Celestia chided. "He's right. We couldn't be together. What makes it worse is that I think he was Chaos from the beginning, and that he was building up to this very moment." The addition of the words "I think" to Luna's previously skewed memory surprised her once again.

"What will we do?" she asked.

Celestia took a deep, shuddering breath. "We wait. And when he comes after us, we fix him so that he can never hurt anypony ever again."

When the memory ended, Luna found herself back in the cell, again a fully grown mare. Inspector Pipesmoke's horn was still pressed to her temple, still glowing. "Anything?" he asked.

"Just evidence that I never could have hurt my sister. I loved her more than anything else in the entire world."

"Then we'll try again. Maybe we'll delve into the time you first became Nightmare Moon."

"No!" Her shout threw him against the now solid bars, and he slumped down. He shook his head and returned to her side.

"All right, fine. I'll try and call up a specific incident this time." He pinned her against the cell wall and pressed his glowing horn to her temple once again. Nothing happened.

"Anything?"

"No," she replied.

"Nothing at all?"

"Nothing at all. Not even blackness, which would represent the removal of a memory. The memory doesn't exist--I didn't kill Celestia."

Pipesmoke's horn immediately ceased its glowing. He stepped back, appearing defeated. But he shook his head and said, "Memory spells aren't admissible in court, anyway. The evidence piled against you is indeed mountainous. And somepony has to pay." He walked through the bars again and back up the stairs, extinguishing candles with his tail as he went.

Luna remained alone for an immeasurable amount of time. She tried to prove she was indeed dreaming by trying the standard lucid dreaming practices. She told herself she was dreaming, but to no avail. She tried conjuring a crumpet out of nothing, but nothing worked. She was able to circumvent the spell that blocked her own magic, but it took far too long. At long last, she gave up.

The voice of Discord once again echoed in the chamber. "I told you that you'll have to trust me," he sighed. "You can't control this dream."

"And why not?" Luna demanded. "If it's my dream, then I should be able to take control whenever I want!"

"If it were your dream, yes."

Her mouth fell open when she realized the ramifications of what he had said. "This...is yours?"

"I'm sorry I lied to you about being a figment of your imagination. I'm right here, alive and well, trapped in this prison of stone. I have no idea how you got here, but I guess I should say welcome. Welcome to my nightmare.

"You see, when Celestia designed the spell that would encase me in stone, she built punitive measures into it. Every night, I am tormented by witnessing her death in some new and heart-wrenching way. I've been framed dozens of times. It's often a rogue faction from the hinterlands. A recent appearance was even made by Queen Chrysalis. She seems to be a regular now; she's responsible this time."

"So my sister has been torturing you for over a thousand years?"

"Constantly."

"How can you get me out of the dream, when you yourself are bound to it?"

"I have no guarantees. You could just face execution, and that would wake you."

"I'd rather not."

"Then trust me."

"I'd rather die."

"Then let them execute you."

"No!"

"Then trust me!"

Luna roared in frustration. "Why are you so difficult?!"

"Because I am Chaos?"

"Dammit, that's what I'm talking about! You are the only one to ever break my sister's heart. You promised her the world, and you gave her the cold shoulder. That jerk Pipesmoke made me relive that day, to see Celestia distraught, to hear her sobs! Is he one of your creations?"

"No! His purpose is to make you see what you lost! No, to make me see what I lost. I'm so sorry that you had to relive it, too."

"Are you saying that you have regrets?"

"I will answer all of your questions if you agree to trust me so that I can get you out of here."

She gritted her teeth and huffed at the ground. "Fine."

"Even though this dream is Celestia's creation, it couldn't exist without some elements of chaos. The bars are not solid unless you think they are. If you believe you can walk through them...." He materialized in front of the cell and knocked on the bars to prove their solidity. "Observe." A moment later, he walked through them just like Pipesmoke had. To prove he was indeed material, at least in the dream, he put a hand on her shoulder, which she quickly shrugged off. "Try it."

Luna walked toward the bars, but they were as solid as ever. She swore at him and put a hoof to his face, glad he was more than an apparition after all.

"Do it again!" he pleaded. "Just pretend the bars are made of cake."

Her stomach growled. "I hate you," she sneered, and she walked toward the bars. They gave a little bit. And they smelled good. Her stomach growled again, and, in disbelief, she licked one of the bars.

It was covered in buttercream frosting.

She turned her head sideways and took a bite out of the bar. It was a delicious, warm, moist chocolate cake, or so it tasted. Not only that, but it didn't make her feel sick to eat more of it. She ate until she was satiated, and the bars were gone enough to walk through. Rejoicing over her victory, she turned around to taunt the empty cell, and found the bars still in place. She tapped one with a hoof. "Solid," she marveled.

"I told you to trust me."

She sighed in exasperation and asked, "Where to next?"

"We have to escape this dungeon. It will be no easy task. The guards will try to kill you on sight."

"If I'll just wake up, then what would it matter?"

"If you die, you'll wake up screaming. If you find the exit--and there is one--you will wake peacefully."

"And you know this...how?"

"I've used the exit. Once."

"When you broke out of prison?"

"Actually, no. I won't say anything further; I've said too much already. Follow me, and for pony's sake, don't move unless I tell you to!"

He crept up the stairs, and she followed him. He passed his head through the door and peered out for a few moments, and then he said, "The coast is clear." He opened the door, and light flooded the room, hurting Luna's eyes. She forced them open and continued following, but when she came out into the open, she felt a hand press against her. "Hold here. I'll take care of the guards."

"What happens if you die?"

"I'll try not to." He slithered down the hall, and she heard shouts from the guards. But soon, Discord returned and motioned for her to move. By now, her eyes were more used to the light, so she could actually see where he was going.

When they rounded a bend, she shrieked in horror at the sight of blood. There, on the marble floor, lay the bodies of two royal guards. One had a lance through his heart, and the other's neck was bent in a way necks weren't meant to bend, an empty stare on his face. "You killed them!" she gasped.

"This is a dream, remember. They are my internal security force, manifestations of my subconscious. I didn't kill anypony."

"Manifestations don't bleed!"

"Watch." He snapped his fingers, and the bodies vanished.

"You could do that trick whether this was a dream or not," she growled.

"Look, what happened to trusting me? I'm trying to get you out of here. What does it matter if a few nonexistent ponies get lanced? You must understand that I would never have harmed them unless I was certain."

She forced herself to accept his explanation. If he was right, then he hadn't hurt anypony. But if he was wrong, she would somehow ensure that he paid for his crimes. "So where is this exit?" she asked.

"It changes location supposedly randomly, but I've discovered that there is a definite pattern. But finding the exit is not the hard part; it's getting through. It's the most heavily guarded gateway in this entire dream world. And it's not guarded by mere Royal Guards."

"Who guards it, then?"

"The Four Horses and their army."

Luna swallowed the lump of fear that formed in her throat. The Four Horses were the stuff of legend, the prophesied bringers of the Apocalypse. They were the rulers of all chaos. Moreover, they were invincible. "How do we get past them?"

"You're going to have to trust me."

Her anger once again came to a boil. Trust was something that was hard to give, especially to somepony so duplicitous. She still didn't believe his explanation that the guards he'd killed weren't real. She couldn't fully buy that there was an exit to this hell, much less that it was guarded by the Four Horses. They were just an old pony tale; everypony knew that.

But again, she realized that she had no alternative. With the body of evidence against her, it would be next to impossible to clear her name. She sighed and said, "Lead the way."

"That's more like it," Discord said with a smile. He reached out and took her by the chin. "Don't you worry your pretty little head," he said, switching to baby-talk. She wrested her chin from his grasp and glared at him. "No need to be surly."

"I am not the foal you remember."

"No, I understand. You're much closer to the young mare who teamed up with her big sister to trap me here. I don't harbor any ill will; you did what you had to do. And you had no idea what I've been going through for the last millennium and a half." He began walking down the hall. "It just doesn't seem right." He paused. "Does it, Luna?"

She averted her eyes from his insufferable form. To allow herself to feel remorse for Celestia's chosen method of punishment was to allow Discord to gain a foothold. And that was something that he could not have, prison or no. "Just take me to the exit."

"First, I have to figure out why you got entangled in this mess. I have my theories."

"Like what?"

"You see, in order for a pony to exist in this world, they have to somehow gain access to my thoughts, to my dream. Queen Chrysalis...no, I've said too much already."

"Are you saying that she's been regularly gaining access to your thoughts?"

"Oopsie."

"Is she...practicing?"

"Who knows? Maybe she just figured out that, by using my dream, she could kill Celestia with impunity. Either way, she somehow and for some reason brought you into the picture. Maybe to see if she could get away with framing somepony."

"But why me?"

"Yes, why you?" He began pacing back and forth, stroking his tufted chin thoughtfully. "She's shapeshifted before, into various preprogrammed characters.... No, she had to have been the one to bring you here. And there's only one reason I can think of."

"What reason is that?"

"She's practicing."

Luna's heart sank. Not only was Queen Chrysalis the most powerful foe Celestia had ever seen, but if she had found some sort of proving ground, things could get much more complicated. And with Cadance and Shining Armor away, defeat was not only possible, but probable.

Discord was at her side, a concerned look on his face. "This is why it's so important to get you out of here. So that you can make sure this doesn't happen in reality."

She once again turned away from him. It disgusted her that he seemed to care what happened to the throne of Equestria. "If a pony has to be inside the dream to exist in it, then why is my sister in it?"

"She's the only exception. Her clone, the one she burned into my synapses, has only one purpose, and that is to die. She can't speak, move...." He huffed and stood. "Come on, we need to go."

She lay down, tucking her legs under her, and watched as Discord walked away. She had no intention of following him; she didn't care how she left the dream. A lance to the heart was a lot easier than trying to mend the wounds he'd left all those centuries ago. Even if it meant waking up screaming, it was worth it.

"Luna!"

She refused to open her eyes. Her sister's voice was fake; she knew it deep inside.

"Luna, do what he says!"

Still she refused.

"Luna, you're running out of time!"

"No," she said resolutely. "I'm getting out of this dream, and I'm doing it my way."

"Luna, please." This time the voice was closer. She felt somepony nuzzle her, and she opened her eyes. Standing there was a translucent apparition of her sister. Alive and well. A tiny gasp escaped her lips, and a tear rolled down her cheek. "Luna, please. I know you don't want to trust him, but he's your only hope. I've been watching you sleep, and the pain from the injuries you sustain in this dream carries over. Somepony altered the spell, and I think it was to try to kill you. If you die here, your heart will stop in reality. Luna, I want to see you again. And until you get to the exit, all I will see is an empty shell."

"Why haven't you tried to wake me up?"

"Believe me, I have. This was brought on by a spell, and only the ending of the dream will end that spell."

"I still don't want to follow him."

"And that's because you don't trust him. But do you trust me?"

She looked up at Celestia's face. It showed concern and love. And genuine fear. "Yes," Luna whispered.

"Then go. I will help you as much as I can, but you have to reach the exit yourself! Go!"

She heard steel-shod hoofbeats echoing in the halls. She quickly checked herself over with magic to make sure her right leg was healed. Then she took off at full gallop after Discord.

Comments

[stinkyFeet]

"I wanna kick him in the face." I loled. Dialogue is much better this chapter, or maybe I'm just more into the story.

I hate Pipesmoke, treating Luna that way. I guess it's no worse than what Celestia did to Discord though. I hate them both.