> Beyond My Grave: Night Terrors
>  by AnnEldest
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> A New Beginning
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It had been about a month since the incident with Dusty. Nothing much happened since then. The nightmares stop and I haven't seen any spirits, including, Dusty, which I was grateful for. I had gained most of my weight back since I started eating again and my mane was back to its flowing self. My mood had improved a lot better and I started to be nicer to ponies, which Celestia was thankful for. My wing was still broken but I was started to get used to it. I started doing my duties at the princess of the night again not too long ago. I was very pleased to go back into the dream realm and help ponies with their nightmares and raising the moon. I went through some hard times during though 3 weeks. I was losing myself as each minute passed. Up to the point that I wanted to die and end it all. 

But now, things were really looking up for me. I knew how to control my power enough to not let them come in my head when they felt like it. Of course, I knew it wouldn't last. I knew I wasn't strong enough to keep out all of the spirits. So I went to Shredder as much as I could so I could learn how to have better control of my newfound power. I would always wear a cloak so nopony would recognize me. I would go to the dream realm for a couple of hours and then I would go to him. I would leave really late at night so Celestia or any of the guards wouldn't notice me gone. It wasn't easy to keep it all a secret but nopony seem to notice anything. With that out of the way, it was really easy to focus on my life and start pulling myself together. I not only started sleeping better but was also not so scared of sleeping in the dark.

I also got myself to spend more time out of my room. Misty and I started talking to get to know each other a lot more. She was odd but nice. She did take after her grandmother. She talked a lot about her power and how she learned how to control it. Misty was five when she first learned about her ability. Luckily for her, her mother believed her. Her mother could also see them like me and so she helped Misty learn how to use her power. Over the last couple of weeks, we became good friends. It was like I said before. It was nice to have someone who understood me not as a princess but as a pony. And that was Misty. She really knew how to talk to me. It was felt weird at first but it was a good kind of weird. It was nice to make a new friend.

Discord and Spike had been doing better as well. Discord had been hanging out with more ponies beside Fluttershy. I heard from Fluttershy that Spike and Discord were hanging out a lot more and that Discord was spending more time out of his house. I was so happy that Discord was doing better. It had hurt me that Discord was badly affected by what happened to us that night. I blamed myself for what had happened. Had I not followed Discord that night, none of it would have happened. He told me some of the things that had happened to him. I was shocked that Discord had to go through all of that. I wished that I was there to help him. I wished I had spoken up sooner. But I didn't know that it was happening to him. Had I known, I would have said something.

Of course, he was doing better and that was what mattered now. Discord came by the castle some time to time and we just talked. We would sit outside and spent hours just gazing at all of the stars. It helped a lot to talk to someone who really understood me. He told me that Spike, besides him enjoying his brand new pair of wings, that Spike was reading into the supernatural and was doing research non-stop. Spike was trying to know everything about it. Spending days and nights just trying to learn all that he could.

"And I thought Twilight was bad," Discord would say.

I honestly thought that Spike was crazy. He saw what the supernatural can do to ponies and how dangerous it was. And yet he wanted to go towards it and not away from. I was worried about Spike. I did fear that Spike might go too far and get into some trouble or get himself hurt. I told Spike he should forget about it and get into something else but he refused. He said it was something he wanted to know more about and that nopony was going to stop him from learning. Spike said he was done hiding from it and he was going to face it. Discord told me not to worry about it. So I let Spike go. It was his choice after all, but I wasn't so fond of it. None the less, I was just glad that it was all over and we could all move on from what happened to us.

Things were slowly coming together.





I found myself back at Shredder's club. I waited till very late at night when I knew that Celestia was asleep. I went a couple of times a week. No one knew when I left or what I did there. No matter how many times Spike begged me to help him get in and asked me to tell him what Shredder and I did, I never said anything. I told Discord a little but not that much. It's not that I didn't trust them or anything, it was mostly that I didn't want to make a big deal out of it. I wanted what happened to us to be dropped and forgotten and talking about it wasn't going to help. I knew that I was annoying Spike by just trying to forget it. But I didn't want anything to do with ghosts, spirits or anything like that. I wished that he would understand that. I usually went to his club to learn how to control my power but tonight was different. He sent me a letter that he wanted to talk to me. That it was very important. I wanted to see him before I left the next day.

"So have you seen anything lately?" Shredder asked. He was at the same desk that he was in the first time I met him. I sat in a chair across from him.

"Actually, no. Not lately." It was the first time I ever answered that question truthfully to anyone. It was a weird but yet nice feeling.

"I see."

"So what was it that you wanted to talk to me about?" I asked.

"Well you see, you are learning really fast. Faster then I thought you would. I want to know what you plan to do next."

I looked at him, confused. "I don't understand."

"I mean with your power What do you plan on doing with it?" he asked. He grabbed a bottle of wine and pour some in a small glass. "Want some?" he offered.

"Thanks, but I can't drink. Remember?"

"Right. Your wing's still broken," he said.

"And always in pain," I added.

He gave a small laugh. "I bet."

"Well, it's not as bad as it was before. I think I'm getting used to the pain," I said. I wondered if that was true. Could one really get used to feeling pain? Or did they know how to live with pain? I tried not to put much thought into it.

"Anyways, your plans?"

"All I needed was to learn how to control it. To keep them out. That's it," I said bluntly.

"One doesn't just learn to contain it, princess. They learn how to use it," he said, displeased with my answer.

"Look, I never planned on using this. I told you what I needed help on," I said, a hint of anger in my voice.

"I understand that. It's just you spent your life just blocking them off. You know you won't be able to keep doing that?" He said.

"I know that. But what do you want me to do?" I asked.

"I was hoping you would," he paused. "Help them."

I stared at him, stunned at what I was hearing."The spirits? Help them? Help the spirits? You can't be serious."

"I am," he stated calmly.

"They have hurt me my whole life, Shredder. What makes you think they deserve my help?" 

I was starting to get mad at him. He couldn't be serious. There was no way. He knew all they had put me through. They attacked me, tormented me and even tried to kill me. Why would I even think about helping them? There was no way I was going to help them.

"Maybe they do. Maybe they don't. That won't stop them from trying. They will find a way to get to you. Even if you do choose to ignore them," he warned.

"I know that. But I didn't want this. I didn't want any of this. I didn't ask to born with this power."

He scoffed."You think any of us did?"

"What?" I asked.

"If you do, you're wrong. I wasn't so fond of it myself."

"Wait you didn't? But I thought-"

"You are very mistaken, princess. I didn't ask for this life as well. But I didn't run away. Running away is denying who you are," he pointed out to me. I did feel a little bad. I assumed that Shredder spent his life doing this. But even then, that didn't change my mind.

"Well, that's what you think. I think that nopony should ever live through what I did," I said. "Besides, I have a life. I have a job to do. I'm a princess. I go to the dream realm and stop ponies from having nightmares. I help get over their fears. That's what I do. Hunting ghosts...no. Spike may want to fight them but not me."

"You don't fight ghosts. You get rid of them or help them cross over," he corrected me.

"Hunting, fighting, helping, I don't care. I want no part of it!" I shouted. "You have no right to tell me how I should use my power!"

He took another sip of the wine."You're right. I don't."

I smirked."Of course, I'm right."

"I'm not trying to get you mad. I'm trying to say what's best for you," he said.

"I asked you to help me learn to control it and that's it," I snapped.

"You can't block them out forever, Luna," he said.

"You keep saying that as if I don't know!" I yelled.

"I'm preparing you."

"For what?" I asked.

"For them."

"Thanks for the concern but I can take care of myself," I snapped at him.

"Do you really want to go there?" He challenged.

"I know it was hard before. But I didn't know better. I didn't know anything then. I do now. So I'll be fine," I said.

"You know more about what you are. Which is good. However, it's not enough. You need to learn more about them." He got up from his chair and walked up to me. "Only then will you truly understand. I can't help you with that."

I looked at him with a sad face. I couldn't do what he wanted me to do. I wasn't meant for that life. Maybe some are but not me. This "gift" has done so much harm to me for my whole life. I couldn't risk going down that path. I couldn't risk getting other ponies hurt because of me. Not again. Discord and Spike went through so much because of me. I wasn't going to let anyone else get hurt by the supernatural realm. I wasn't going to suffer again because of them.

"I'm sorry. But I can't. Not after all that has happened," I said.

He stared at me for a moment before nodding. "Alright then." Was all he said

I got up from my chair."I have to go now. It's late." I headed for the before looking back at Shredder and said: "Thank you for helping me."

"It's my job to help those like you. If you need help, you know where to find me."

"Well, see you around." And I trotted out of the room.

"As always."
> A Quest To Be Reckoned With
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

I was in my room with Celestia, who had been trying to convince me to go with her to the Crystal Empire. For the last few months, Cadance had been very distant from everypony and had rarely ever came out of her room. Twilight had told Celestia that she herself had seen Cadance crying in her room, and when Twilight had asked what was wrong, Cadance gave no answer.

It was said that Cadance had postpartum depression. Of course, she denied it, but Celestia and Shining Armor weren’t convinced. I wasn't either, but I didn't do much to help her. I didn't know how to. I felt like pushing and pressuring Cadance wasn't going to help her. It never really helped me.

"Sister, I don't see why you want me to go," I said.

"Because, Luna, she needs all the support she can get," Celestia said. "You know it hasn't been easy for her lately."

"I know you and Shining Armor have been worrying about Cadance. I'm worried about her, too."

Celestia gave me almost a sad stare. "I just want her to know that we are here for her."

"I think she knows that," I said.

"Maybe, but Luna, she’s been distant from everypony. She needs us right now," argued Celestia.

"I understand that, but why do you want me to come?" I asked, still not sure of how I could be of assistance.

"I want you to help her," she answered.

"How can I help her, Tia?” I asked my sister. “I don't really know her."

"That's another thing,” Celestia stated. You’ve been back from the moon for years now and yet you two barely know each other."

It was true. I never really took the time to get to know her. It wasn’t that I didn't want to. It was just that I never really try to. She had Twilight, Shining Armor, Celestia and now Flurry Heart. Did she really need to get to know me? How would I even make a difference in her life?

Plus, I barely saw her. With her living at the Crystal Empire, I never saw her that much anyways. It's not like I had the chance to get to know her. Maybe Cadance felt the same way, but it's not like she had tried to get to know me, either. She would sometimes talk to me from time to time, but not all that much. I guess we never really thought of becoming friends? It kinda shocked me that Celestia spoke up about it now. She had never done so before. Maybe she finally noticed it?   

"What does that have to do with anything?" I snapped, hoping to get out of this.

"I would like you to get to know her. Maybe it would help her a bit. Maybe that's what she needs," Celestia suggested.

"What?" I asked.

"A new friend. Somepony she can relate to," Celestia explained.

I gave Celestia a concerned glare. "You say that as if that is a bad thing."

Celestia sighed. "I didn't mean it like that."

"It sure sounded like that!" I snapped.

"I'm saying you could help her. It's a great opportunity to get to know and help each other," she said with a calm look.

I gave her a look of uncertainty. "Still, I don't know..."

"I'm not asking a lot. Just for one week. That's it," Celestia said.

I finally gave into Celestia and signed. "Fine. I'll go."

Celestia smiled at me."Thank you. It won't be that bad. Trust me, it might do you some good."

I rolled my eyes."Yeah… maybe."

******

"So just like that?" asked Discord. It was late at night. Discord and I were on my balcony. He had been coming by to visit me more often since what had happened. I didn't mind it. It was nice, having somepony to talk to. He also seemed to listen to me better. He would still joke around, but he wouldn't laugh or make fun of me as much as he uses to. I liked talking to him. He always knew how to make me smile and laugh. I could see why he and Pinkie Pie got along with each other so well. They were so much alike.

"Just like that," I answered. 

"So what's wrong with her?" he asked.

"Not really sure. She’s just been distant from everypony, pretty much alone all the time."

"So she's acting like you," he teased.

I rolled my eyes. "No. She's just depressed," I said.

"What's the difference?" Discord asked gleefully.

"I don't act like that,” I defended.

"You do sometimes, Luna," he said.

"Everypony gets upset sometimes," I snapped.

"I don't," Discord bragged with a grin.

"Yeah, you do. You just hide it from everypony," I said.

"I do not." He crossed his arms, looking a bit offended.

"You want me to ask Fluttershy?" I challenged. 

"This isn't even about me," Discord said annoyed.  

"That's what I thought," I laughed.

"Why do I even talk to you?" Discord asked as he rolled his eyes.

"I keep asking myself the same thing," I said.

"I need better friends,” he said nonchalantly.

I laughed. "I'm a good friend, right?" I joked.

"Do you really want me to answer that, my dear?" he asked, looking at me in the eyes.

"I'm afraid to say yes," I answered.

"When are you leaving, anyway?" Discord put a clawed hand to his chin and stroked it.

"Tomorrow," I answered. "I just need to try to help Cadance and see what's wrong."

"That should be easy enough," he commented

"Let's hope so," I replied, not feeling so hopeful at all.

*****

I had tried not to think about what Shredder told me on the way to the Crystal Empire. I had just kept quiet and tried not to make it look like nothing was wrong. It seems to work, for Celestia didn't notice anything wrong. A part of me was mad that he was trying to tell me how to live my life. He knew what I been through. He knew that I wanted nothing to do with them. And yet he was trying to convince me to help them. Like Hell, I would. He had no right telling me what to do. He should leave me to decide on my own. But another part of me felt like he was right.

I didn't like Dusty at all, but I did feel bad for her. I knew she must have suffered a lot, and nopony could help her. A part of me wanted to help her. I could be the one to get her to cross over to the next life. But how could I? I didn't know how to use my power. I didn't know what they could do to me. All I had ever experienced was them hurting me. I had never seen one that wanted to help me, so how could I help them? What if they didn't want help? It seems better just to leave them alone. You don't hurt them, they won't hurt you… right?

Maybe it was best not to think about it. I tried not to focus too much on it. I needed to focus on the trip. Celestia wanted me and Cadance to get to know each other. I needed to at least try to learn something about her. Also, she had been acting upset lately. I knew myself how that felt and I didn't want her to feel like that. Maybe I could help her feel better and get to know her.

We trotted through the Crystal Empire up to the throne room where Princess Cadance and Shining Armor were waiting for us.

Well, here goes nothing.
> A Cry In The Night
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“It was very nice of you to come all this way to see us,” said Shining Armor.

“It was our pleasure. Right, Luna?” Celestia asked. I knew what she was trying to do. She would always try to pull me into a conversation when I didn't speak much.

“Of course, sister,” I answered, putting on my most sincere fake smile.

“It's always nice seeing you,” Cadance said. She then looked at me and noticed the bandages wrapped around my broken wing. “How are you doing with your wing?”

“Slowly but surely it's getting better. I just can't wait to be able to fly again,” I said with a smile.

“That's good,” she said. 

“Yeah… thanks. Still hurts like hell though,” I joked.

"Luna, language, please," Celestia said in a displeasing tone. She never liked it when I swore. She never thought it was proper for a princess to talk in such a way. Maybe she was right, but that never stopped me. I just rolled my eyes when she corrected me.

"It still hurts a lot though," I reworded myself.

"Better," Celestia said. Cadance giggled a little, trying to hide it from me.
 
“Flurry Heart has been wanting to see you,” Shining Armor said as he brought her to us. She was laughing and just being her little adorable self. Celestia and I gave out small giggles as we watched her. She was getting bigger, I could tell. Celestia then grabbed Flurry with her own magic and carried her. 

“Hello, Flurry,” Celestia said playfully. “Did you miss me?” Flurry just giggled in response. 

"She has gotten big," I said. “So, how have you been doing?” I asked them.

“Fine. Everything’s been fine here,” said Cadance. 

But I could tell that from the looks that Celestia and Shining Armor gave each other that they didn't really believe that. I decided not to say anything, for I didn't want to cause any problems. We didn't say much more to each other after that. I supposed that that was all I was going to get out for that night.

It was a quick trot to the dining room, accompanied by several greetings to guards and other ponies in the castle that evening. A familiar barrage of smiles and polite nods.

Everything had become rote, and I was prepared for another dinner of nothing of interest. It wasn’t that I didn’t care or wasn't worried about Cadance. It was that I didn’t believe that I could do anything. Cadance had all that was needed.

Celestia raised her, Shining Armor fell in love with her and Twilight was practically a sister to her. The four of them were always together. Then all of sudden, I just pop in the picture, out of place. There really wasn't any purpose for me, and if I'm honest, I didn't really feel like I belonged there.

In some ways, Cadance didn't really need me. Why would she? She already had everypony else. When you really think about it, it seemed surprising to me that everypony was saying she was depressed. She had everything that any normal Pony could ask for.

She had a husband and a loving beautiful daughter, with a sister-in-law who she was very close to. And though she didn't have a mother, she was raised by someone who raised her as if she was. Why would she be depressed when she had everything? How could someone who had everything they wanted feel like they have nothing?  

The grand table that we sat at was easily large enough to sit an additional dozen or so ponies, depending on their size. It was usually just the two of them dining alone, though. During the dinner, the topic switched to the guards, the other 3 doing most of the talking. The conversation around the table evolved from the story from story.

Cadence and I would occasionally give each other small glances. It was as if we were trying to find a reason to talk to each other, but none of us said anything. I looked very carefully at her. She didn't look like she was depressed. But what did I know?

When Flurry started showing signs of sleepiness, Cadance volunteered to tuck the foal in, and when nopony objected, she picked the sleepy foal up with her magic and carried her to her nursery. Celestia looked at Shining Armor as Cadance left the room.

"How have she been lately?" Celestia asked him.

He frowned a little. "She hasn't been herself lately, I'm afraid to say."

"I feared that you were going to say that," Celestia said.

"Is there a reason for her sudden sadness?" I asked. I personally wanted to know more about this. She seemed fine to me, but I wanted to know why they thought that.

Shining Armor sighed. "The birth of a baby can trigger a load of powerful emotions, from excitement and joy to fear and anxiety. But it can also result in something you might not expect such as depression. Usually first time mothers experience postpartum after childbirth, which commonly includes mood swings, crying spells, anxiety and difficulty sleeping," he explained very carefully to me. However, I knew most of this already. 

"I understand that much. It's called ‘Baby blues’. Typically begins within the first two to three days after delivery, and may last for up to two weeks," I said. "But it's been far more than 2 weeks now. Shouldn't she be over it by now?"

"Sister, you must understand that some new mothers experience a more severe, long-lasting form of the depression. Rarely, an extreme mood disorder called postpartum psychosis also may develop after childbirth," Celestia explained.

"But why?" I asked.

Shining Armor thought to himself. Trying to think of an answer. When he didn't say anything, Celestia answered it herself.

"There is really no known reasons for it, Luna. It's simply a complication of giving birth."

I nodded a little. "So she’s just been depressed then?"

"She's not herself, Princess. She been distant from everypony, including me and Flurry. She doesn't eat or sleep much. I'm worried about her," Shining Armor said sadly. I could see the emotion in his eyes. 

"I'm just asking. I don't really know what's been going on with her. I only know what I've been told," I shrugged a little. 

"I hope I answered some of your question," he said.

"Don't worry. You did," I said with a nod. 

"How long has she been like this?" Celestia then asked.

"2, 3 months I think," he answered.

"How long does it last?" I asked.

Shining Armor shrugged. "It depends on the pony and if or when they get treatment."

"Treatment?" I asked.

"We already know that postpartum depression usually occurs in the first 4 to 6 weeks after giving birth, and it is highly unlikely to get better all by itself," Celestia said.

"However, Cadance refuses to get any kind of help. She claims that she is fine,” added Shining.

"Maybe she is," I said.

"You wouldn't think that if you saw her the last few months or knew her the way I do," Shining said to me. I knew that he didn't mean for it to sound rude about it, but I took some offense to it. Only because I knew that he was right. 

"I'm not going to argue with that one," I said as calmly as I could say it. Celestia must have noticed me getting slightly annoyed for she tried changing the subject.

"Maybe we shouldn't talk about this now. Cadance will back any time now,” she said calmly.

"Why not sister? You are the one who brought it up first?" I asked.

"And now I'm dropping it," Celestia said more sternly.   

"Well, damn, Celestia you don't need to be harsh about it. We are just having a conversion," I snapped back.

"I'm not but you don't need to have such a mouth,” she said, looking at me with intense eyes.

“You know what? You're right. I understand," I said as I  stood from my chair. "But if you will forgive me, I am tired from the long trip here.”

“Of course, Princess,” Shining Armor answered.

I then turned to my sister. “Celestia, I shall see you again in the morning.”

“Of course, little sister,” she said, trying to stay calm with me. 

She didn't seem to be happy with me trotting away so soon, but I’d had enough for the night. I turned, and calmly trotted from the room, letting them turn back to their idle conversation. The door shut behind me, leaving the other ponies alone to finish dining with Celestia.

Head high, I walked along the corridor, passing many of the same guards who saw me going to dinner with another polite greeting. I walked past my quarters, heading up the stairs to the tower that overlooked the whole Crystal Empire and I trotted back to my guest chambers.

I trotted over to the window. It was an extremely dark night outside, with the moon offering most of what little illumination there was. The window was closed, so I unhooked the latch with my magic and swung it open. The cool night air drifted in. I stuck my head out and gazed at the surrounding landscape. 

The wind greeted me as I stepped out to observe the city winding down as the night settled into place. I spent the next few hours in my room reading or pacing. I just couldn't see anypony right now.

My mind went back to what happened to me and Discord. I tried so hard to move past it, but a part of me couldn't help it. They always seemed to come to me like flashbacks. It was like my mind didn't want to let it go.

“No! You can’t!” 

“Thank you for trying to help me. You too, Luna. I’m so sorry that I dragged you both into this. I should have never done so. I thought you two could help but it’s not worth this. I’m done running. It’s not your fault. It’s okay,” 

“Silver, you can’t go with-” 

“Luna, thanks for being my friend.” 

“I’m sorry…” 

“I’ll be okay.” 

“No…Let me take the fall.”

“Run.” 

“What?” 

“Run and never come back.”

.........

“Where do you think you’re going honey?” 

“Now let’s have some fun. Just like old times.”

“Luna?!” 

“Let her go!!!”


It was all just a reminder of what he did to us and what we left behind. I didn't have nightmares, but I still dreamt about Silver Blitz. Not as much as Discord did, but I did have some.

I hated that we left her with those monsters. We could have done something, but I was too scared to do anything. Now I have to live with that. I told Discord that we would find her, though, I had doubt that we would. 

"You know you won't get better with talking like that," a voice said. 

I smirked a little. I turned around and saw a light appear. It started with a slight shimmer, as if the air in front of me was being warped and twisted. Then, in a flash of pale, silvery light,  a pony appeared before me.

It was the same pony that I saw in the bathroom that one time. I know I said that I hadn't seen anything in a while, but I couldn't count this one as a spirit. Mostly because out of every thing I saw, this one was the one that I never could tell if it was real or if it was in my head.

Nonetheless, I had decided not too long ago to talk to just this one pony. Even if I didn't know if he was an actual spirit or not. 

"I know very well of that," I said to him.

"Then why talk like that?" He asked me.

"I don't know. I guess it still hurts," I answered. 

"It will for a while, you know that? You can't just forget about it," He warned.

"I know that,” I said. “I won't forget it. I am going to try to move one from it, though. I have a life to live and I don't plan on letting this stop me.”

"Only if you let it," He said.

"And I won't let it,” I answered.

"Good, but I must ask. Why are you speaking to me again? I thought you hated me."

"I am mad at you, but with everything that happened, I thought I might as well try to let some things go. I am still mad at you, but consider this as a start," I said with a smile.

"You love me, though?"

I was going to say something when I began to hear what sounded to me like somepony was crying. "What the hell was that?" 

"It sounds like it came from the other room. Might want to check on that,” he answered.

I trotted out of room and out to the hallway, trotting past some of the doors. I wondered if Celestia or Shining Armor had heard it. I went down the long halls, passing the guards who were most likely wondering what I was doing this late at night.

The corridor was dark with only the light of the full moon streaming through the windows outside, and everything was quiet.  I soon ended up at the door to Flurry's room. Maybe it was that she’d had a nightmare. I quietly opened the door a little with my magic and peeked inside.

Flurry laid still in her crib, sleeping peacefully. I began to close the door back up. That was when I heard the crying again. I looked back and saw Cadance standing over by a window looking outside. She didn't seem to notice me.  

She was covered in sweat and her blood was pulsing with adrenaline. Her eyes wet and her breathing fast. She was definitely the pony I had heard crying. She sat on the floor and kept crying to herself.

Now I knew what Shining Armor was talking about. This wasn't like Cadance at all. It hurt me to see her like this. I wanted to trot in and talk to her, but I didn't know what to say or how to help her. I watched her cry for a few minutes before I trotted in the room.

"Cadance?" I whispered.

She gasped and jumped a little when she heard my voice. She stood up and looked at me, surprised. "Luna?! What are you doing here?"

"I heard crying. Are you okay?" I asked.

"Yes… of course... I'm fine," she said, but I could see it in her eyes. She was crying for help but was too scared to ask for it.

"Why are you crying then?" I asked.

"I wasn't..." she lied.

"Cadance, you know you can tell me if something is bothering you?" I assured.

"I know what you're trying to do and I appreciated it but I'm fine.” She was trying to derail my focus.

"Cadance, you can talk to me. I know what it's like," I said, trying to get her to talk to me. I tried my best to not get mad at her. Yelling wasn't going to help anypony now.

"Luna, please. I'm fine. I just want to be alone right now," she snapped slightly at me.

"I just want to help you," I said.

"I don't need help, okay?"

"You sure about that?!" I snapped back at her.

"Please leave me alone," she begged.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you." I started to head to the door. I didn't want to fight with her. She seemed mad enough, and I knew I wasn't going to get anything out of her tonight. The best option was to just give Cadance her space and hope that she was better in the morning. 

She sighed a little. "I know..."

"Goodnight," was all I said before trotting out and heading back to my guest chambers. 

This was going to be a long week.
> A Step In The Right Direction
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

I stayed up late that night, thinking about Cadance. Though she was a little harsh to me, I did feel bad for her. I wanted to help her but how could I? She didn't want to talk to anypony. One thing I learned is that you can't help people that don't want to be help. I also wondered if I should tell Celestia and Shining Armor about what happened. I didn't realize how bad she was until I saw her in the bedroom. I guess that's what happens when you pay attention. I knew Cadance would be upset with me if I did say anything. I would be if it was the other way around. Maybe it was that she wanted help but just not my help. Not that I could blame her or anything. Like I said before, solving problems were never my thing. It was weird though. I didn't really know her and she was rude to me but I wanted to help her so much. I couldn't force her to listen to me. So the best thing for me to do was wait till she was ready to speak. That was if she wanted to speak to me. It took me a while but I went to sleep with that thought. 

I found myself standing in what was nowhere. It was all black around me. I trotted around a little to find out where I was and what was going on. I was alone. Where did everypony go?

"Luna," came the bloodcurdling growl. It sounded like it was coming from behind me. It sent chills out my spine for I recognized that voice. 

I turned around, only to find Shader standing there. His eyes glowing that same dark red with the lamp. I could hear the screaming coming out of it. The hook dangling of the chains that were wrapped around him. I gasped loudly. How was he here?

"No. It can't be," I breathlessly said.

"It's almost time Luna," he said.

"Time for what?"

"For me to return. Come with me now and I promised none of your friends and family shall be harm. Give me your powers and you will be rewarded," he said with a wicked grin.

"Get away from me. I'm stronger than you and you know it. Leave now or I use the Phoenix," I threatened him. We still had it but I didn't have it on me. I was for sure that either Spike had it or that he gave it to Shredder. We almost left it behind at Berry's house but Spike wanted to take it with us. I wasn't sure if that was a good idea but even I felt like it would be needed for something like this. Shader stepped back away from me. Even he knew that the Phoenix could hurt him. 

"I see how it is. But don't worry. When it's time, you will free me and then we'll see who really is the demon. Just remember what I have on you, Luna...my angel of darkness." I was confused and was going to ask what he meant. But then I saw a little filly came out from behind him. My eyes widened when I saw her. She was so thin and cuts and bruises covered her whole body. 

"Silver Blitz?!" She looked at me, clearly scared and frightened. 

He laughed at me. Then in one second, he turned into black smoke and dashed at me. I only had time to cover my face and scream.    


I woke up with a quiet gasped and breathe heavily. I put a hoof on my head. I hadn't had a dream like that in a while and never liked that. I would free him. What did he mean by that? What was he talking about? I took deep breaths. No, it was only a nightmare. I was still shaky from what happened to me and Discord? It was nothing bad. We stopped them and all was done. Everything was fine and I was safe. There was nothing to be afraid of.  I was scaring myself again. I got off the bed and trotted by a window. I opened it and let the cool air in. It felt really nice. It was still dark out. I looked at the clock on the nightstand. I still had some time left before I had to lower the moon. I took this time to look outside the window and viewed the night sky. I do this mainly when I am stress or really upset. Looking at the stars made me feel better. If only more ponies knew how beautiful it truly was. I stared at it for a for moments before laying back down. When its time, I got up and went by the window. I lit up my horn and let the sun bring light for the day. After that, I went back to bed. I needed to lay down for just a few more minutes.

About half after later, there was a sudden knock on the door. It was most likely Celestia wanting me to join them for breakfast. That and talk about last night. I figured she was still upset at me at my tone. I wasn't hoping she would not bring it up this early. There was another knock. I closed my eyes and groan. I wasn't ready for this but I got up and head to the door. I sighed. 

Here goes nothing.

I opened the door with my magic. "Sister, I was going to apologize about last night dinner-" Only for me to see that it wasn't Celestia but Cadance. She stood there holding Flurry heart in her hoof. It shocked me. What did she want? Why did she want to talk to me? "Oh. My apologies. I thought you were Celestia."

She smiled at me. "Based on what I heard last night, I'm glad that I'm not right now." I laughed at that.

"Nice to see you in a better mood," I said.

She looked down at the floor. "Yeah. About that...I came to say sorry about last night. I was so mean to you after you tried to help me. That was wrong."

I wasn't expecting that from her. I assumed that we were just never going to talk about again and just let it go but here she was feeling bad about it. "It's okay, Cadance. We were both not in our best moods yesterday."

"You sure?" she asked.

"I'm sure."

She sighed. "I still feel bad."

"Don't feel bad. You're okay," I assured her. "Where's Celestia and Shining Armor?"

"Shining Armor, I think is still asleep. He was when I left the room. Celestia, I don't know. I just woke up and grabbed Flurry and went to you," she said.

"Really? You must have really wanted to say sorry," I said.

She chuckled a little. "I did but I actually wanted to ask you if you would like to do something with me." I didn't see that coming. It's been years since I been back and never once did she ever ask to spent time with me. This was new and shocking. 

"What? You want to spend time with me?" I asked.

"Yeah. Just you and me...and Flurry." Flurry let a laugh. "Like now."

"Now? Shouldn't we talk to the others?"

She shook her head. "No. I don't want to. They'll be fine without us for a few hours. I just want to do something with you. Come on. It'll be fun."

I was speechless. "But what would we do?" I asked.

"I got a few ideas. Now are you in or not," she jokingly pouted.

I thought about it to myself. This is what Celestia wanted me to do so it might please her enough to not bring up last night. Also, it might be good not just for Cadance but for me, as well. Maybe this was what I needed. Some time to just go out and do something fun that could help put some ease to my life.

I gave her a smile as I nodded. "Sure. Let's do it."
> A Small Gift
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The morning was supposedly spent with us walking around the Crystal Empire. I was listening to them when I realized how little I actually knew of it. It was really nice to actually see more of it.

We got something to eat and then started walking around in the market. Cadance was actually really nice. I mean that in a way that she didn't seem depressed at all. We talked and laughed about old times and memories and shared some things about us to each other.

I do not know why, but it seemed like she wanted to talk with somepony for a while. I guess that she really wanted to do something normal without them thinking something was wrong. Though I knew something was wrong with her, I didn't point it out nor made myself look like I did know.

The benefits of knowing how depression felt like you knew how to handle people that were depressed themselves. Maybe that's why Cadance came to apologize to me. Not that I cared, I was enjoying myself and enjoying spending time with her and Flurry Heart.

She was really adorable, just like her mother. I hate to admit it, but I was actually kind of glad that Celestia convinced me to do this. Maybe she was right. Maybe this was something that we both needed. At least I knew that Cadance was happy.

By the time we reached the market, it was about 11:30, so we spent a few hours doing random things. We trotted down the alley; going from booth to booth, seeing the interesting and weird merchandise they were selling. 

"So when did Shining Armor start thinking you were depressed?" I asked.

"I don't know. A couple of months ago," she answered.  

"Do you know why he thinks that?"

She sighed. "Honestly, I don't know and would prefer not to talk about it right now."

"Right. Sorry," I said.

"It's fine. I'm just not in the mood to talk about it."

"I can't help but feel bad,” I admitted.

"You have the right to worry about me after last night," she said sadly.

"Yeah... What was that about?" I asked, forgetting that she had just asked me not to talk about it.

"Luna!" She sightly said annoyed. 

"I know but I think I do have the right to have some knowledge about last night,"  I responded.

"...I'm scared," she said.

"About what?" I asked.

"It's hard to explain," she said, trying to avoid the conversation.

"Talk to me, Cadance."

We sat down at a bench and she placed Flurry next to her. Cadance kept her head down, deep in thought. I wanted to say something, but I didn't know what. It was clear that there was so much so wanted to say to me. I decided to wait and give her time to speak. I wanted her to speak on her own time, not on mine. 

"I want to know… I don't know," Cadance said. 

"Cadance, you shouldn't have to worry like this. You have so many ponies who care and love you. You should never be afraid to talk to somepony. We're all here for you," I explained to her. 

"I know… I just really don't want to talk about it, please," she begged me. I sighed, admitting defeat.

"Okay. As you wish," I said.

"Thank you," Was all that she said.

There was so much that I wanted to say to her. So much that I wanted to know and ask her. But I knew I couldn't. There was no way she would tell me. If she wouldn't tell Celestia or her own husband, I doubted that she would tell me. It's not like we were close or anything. Though spending time with her was nice and all, that didn't make us friend. I decided to try to change the subject before it got us into another fight. The last thing that I needed was for her to be mad at me. I sighed as I looked down at Flurry.  

"What's it like being a mother?" I asked. 

"It's never easy," she sighed but not in a bad way. "But always worth it. You'll see when you have kids."

I scoffed jokingly. "If. I doubt I'll ever have kids."  

"That's what they always say."

"I assure you that will never happen," I said. 

"You never know," she teased me.

"Oh please. I do know," I said. 

There was a small moment of silence between the two of us. The last we were alone together, we were fighting with each other. It was a weird moment for both of us at that moment. We made little eye contact with each other. It was never just the two of us for this long. Flurry Heart must have noticed this, for she went between trying to get us to talk. It made me wondered if even she had noticed that something was wrong with her mother. Did Flurry know that Cadance was feeling this way? I hoped for her sake that she did not. We both looked at her and laughed a little.

"I think she's on to us," I joked.

"She's one smart filly," Cadance said.

"I can tell..if not too destructive," I said. 

Cadance laughed at that. It was then I started to hear arguing. I lifted my head and saw that there were two small foals fighting with each other. I couldn't tell what they were fighting about, just that they were. They weren't doing anything physical to each other. Mainly, they were just screaming at one another. Cadance got up for her spot when she saw this. She handed Flurry Heart to me.    

"I'm going to see what's going on with them. Watch Flurry Heart for me?" She asked me. I grabbed Flurry and nodded my head. I saw cadance then trotted over to them and start talking to them. Once again, I couldn't hear them. I looked at Flurry Heart who was laughing and smiling at me. This was the first time I held her like this. 

"Hello, Flurry..." I said calmly. I sat her down next to me. She grabbed my hoof and pulled it. She was trying to get me to move. It seemed that she was getting bored. "Sorry but we have to wait for your mother," I said. She groaned madly when I said that. "Sorry, but you're going to have to wait," I said again. 

Flurry crossed her arms and pouted causing me to giggle a little. She then lit up her horn and in a flash, she was gone. My eyes widened open when I saw that she was gone. I got up from my seat and looked around, trying to see where she went off too. But I couldn't see her. Mostly due to the large crowd of ponies. I saw that Cadance was still talking to the children who seemed to be calmed down now. I didn't want her to find out that I just lost her child. To be honest, I was far more worried about what Flurry Heart could do more than anything else. I knew that she had a lot of power for somepony her age. I knew I needed to find her before she could do anything too destructive I ran into the market area while I called out for her. I needed to find her fast before I was too late. It wasn't even two minutes and I lost an all power destructive alicorn baby. This was why I could never be a mother. If Cadance wanted proof, was here it was. I couldn't even watch a baby for a few minutes without losing them. The fear thoughts looped around in my mind until there was no room for anything else. Everything in my head was trying to show me that all will be okay, but I didn't believe that at all. I tried to stay calm and took deep breaths but it wasn't working. My breathing became more rapid, more shallow. The thoughts were accelerating inside my head. I wanted them to slow down so I can breathe but they refuse to stop. My breaths came in gasps and I felt like I was going to blackout. I panicked as I roamed throughout the market. My heart rate quickly surpassing the rhythmic beat coming from inside.  There was no sight of her and was I getting really worried. What if I couldn't find her? What was going to tell the others? Shining Armor was going to be so pissed off at me. I didn't even want to think about what Celestia was going to do to me. 

"Flurry? Flurry Heart, where are you? Oh shit. Shit. This can't be happening," I cried to myself. "Flurry Heart. Please come to me." I ran and looked at every stand I saw. I kept looking for her but no matter where I looked, I couldn't find her. I ended up back to where we were seated before I lost her. I soon stopped trotting and tried to relax. I closed my eyes and sighed. 

"What am I going to do?" I whispered to myself.

"Need help?" I heard a male voice from behind said to me. I groaned when I heard that voice. I knew who it was. I turned around as he stood there with a smile. He was enjoying watching me suffer. 

"Really? Now you come to talk to me?" I asked angrily. 

"Well, last night you said you wanted to talk to me. Talk about a flip-flop," he joked.

I sighed impatiently. "Look, I have no time for this. I have to find Flurry Heart. Before Cadance does." He laughed as I was walking away. I turned around and face him. 

"What's so funny?" 

"You are."

"What?" I was confused. 

"It seemed to me that your nightmare last night got to you."  

He then pointed behind me. I slowly turn to where he was pointing at and saw Flurry flying around a stand that was selling what looked to be old toys. It wasn't even that far from where we were seated. I stood there shocked and in disbelief. "She was there the whole time?! How did I miss that?"

He chuckled. "I don't know but it was funny to watch." 

I looked at him madly only to see a few ponies looking at me weirdly. They were whispering back and forth to each other. I quickly looked away from them. They must have noticed me talking to nothing or at least to them it was nothing. I shook the feeling off and tried to ignore them.  

"At least I found her," I said as I trotted to her.

"Umm, I found her, actually." I kept trotting away from him without saying anything. I didn't need anypony else seeing me like that. "What? Not even a thank you?"   

I bumped into some tables and into other ponies. But I didn't stop until I got up to Flurry. She was now playing with some toy when I got to her. I grabbed onto her with my magic and pulled her to me. I hug her so tightly; so relieved and glad that I found her before anypony else did.   

"Oh, Flurry. Thanks the stars that I found you." 

I then looked at her with a serious face causing her to frown. "Don't you ever do that again to me. I was so worried about you. I didn't know where you were." I said not knowing if she even cared what I was saying to her. For a moment when I looked at Flurry's eyes, I saw Silver Blitz when we first met in the woods. I remembered seeing her so happy when I told her I was taking her home. Then I saw her scared, covered with blood from my nightmare. I gasped sightly and shook my head. No. I wasn't going down that path again. I moved on from that and I wasn't going to let some nightmare bring me down. I took a deep breath and smiled at Flurry. "But I'm glad that you're alright. Now let's find your mother."

I was about to leave when I noticed an older elder pony trotting over to me. He had black bread and a dark blue coat. "She's with you?" he asked sternly. He didn't appear to be so happy at me.

"Ummm yes. She is. Sorry if she did anything," I apologized.

"No, she didn't. I just came over here to fill in for my granddaughter when I saw her flying around. I didn't know if anypony was watching her," he explained himself to me. I felt so bad. I didn't want to tell him that I lost her and was looking for her. So I just smiled and nodded.

"No. No. It's all good. I'm watching her. She's all good and taken care of," I said. 

"I'm only making sure." He didn't sound so convinced. 

"Well, it was nice talking to you. I'll just be on my way," I quickly said. I turned to leave. I wanted to get out of there as fast as I could when he stopped me. 

"Princess, the toy please," he spoke calmly. 

I didn't know what he meant by that at first. It wasn't until I looked at Flurry when I realized that she was holding a small toy. With my magic, I pulled the doll away from Flurry to get a closer look at it. The doll was an antique and was old. The doll itself was an earth pony with its mane made from ropes and strings and its eyes were old buttons. The coat was a dark dusty purple and the main was dirty brown. The cutie mark appeared to have withered away with age leaving only scrapes behind so I couldn't tell what it was. However, besides that, the doll itself did seem to be in decent conditions. But it was the smile it gave that was the real attention grabber. It was unsettling and possed a personality in an uncanny way. Plus the teeth of the doll look very real and very lifelike. I had no idea why Flurry Heart was even messing with a toy such as that. It didn't look kid friendly. 

"Sorry. I didn't realize that she had this." I handed it back over to him as Flurry reached out her arms to grab it. She started pouting again as I took it away from her. He smirked when he saw this.

"She likes it," He said.

"I don't see why. It looks unsettling," I said.

He shrugged as he grabbed the doll. "Those dolls were really popular when they first came out. They stopped making them years ago. Now you can only find them at antique shops. They are usually in better conditions than that, Princess Luna."  

"Well, for an old toy, it looks like it's in decent shape. I mean even the teeth look real," I said.

"They are real."

"Wait, what?!" I looked down at Flurry Heart. "Why would any reasonable child want that?!" 

"Kids are unpredictable with small minds which can't be understood half of the time," He explained. "That is the reason I have to force myself to endure every day of my life at least."

"Is that even legal?" 

"I guess back then it was," He said. "Whatever sells I guess."

I had heard enough at that point. I decided that it was time to leave and find Cadance. "Come on, Flurry let's go find your mother," I said. She lit up her horn and teleported in front of me. 

"I think she wants the toys, princess," He said calmly. 

"Flurry, why would you want that? It shouldn't even be called a "toy." She crossed her arms and gave me a mad stare. She wasn't taking no as an answer. I sighed heavily and rolled my eyes. 

"Fine. How much is it?"
> A Whisper in the Dark
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

I soon trotted back to where I was at before and sat down. I couldn't believe that I actually bought that thing for her. Were they even going to let her keep it? Regardless, I was just more pleased that I found her before Cadance did and got Flurry Heart to be quiet. I sat down with her and thought to myself. Seeing Flurry Heart smiling and laughing made me think of Silver Blitz. My dream the night before still taunted me. I knew I was making it a bigger deal than I needed to but how could I not. All I could think about now was Silver Blitz. I remembered being on the ground next to Discord; watching her being attacked. I could have gotten up and fought back. I should have done something. I was too weak to do anything. All I did was let the ones I loved get hurt.

No, I thought to myself. I'm not going down that road...not again

"Luna? Flurry?" I saw Cadance trotting up to us. "Where were you? I was looking everywhere for you."

"Oh. I'm sorry. Flurry got bored. So I took her to a few shops here. We didn't go that far," I said. I left out the part where I lost her child. She didn't need to know that much. All that would do was just cause more stress for her and she didn't need that. Also, I knew they would never trust me with a baby again.

She took a deep breath. "Okay, just next time tell me."

"Of course. Sorry again," I said.

"It's fine," she said. "Hey, what do you have here?" She was talking about the toy that Flurry had.

"Oh, just some toy that she found and seem to like a lot. I thought I would be nice and buy it for her," I said.

"Okay. That was thoughtful of you. Let's just get back before Celestia and Shining Armor get worried about us," she said. I got up and handed Flurry back to her.

We got back with little to no notice. It was as if we never left. We both went to Flurry Heart's room. Cadence sat Flurry in her crib, who was still playing with her "toy". If you could call it that. Cadence and I both looked weirdly at it as Flurry played with it.

"I still don't get why she loves it so much," Cadance said.

"You got me there but if it makes her happy what harm is there?" I said.

"It's strange..."

"What?"

"She's never this calm," Cadance said. I looked down at her and just shrugged. It's not like I knew anything about babies. I just assumed kids just tend to be quiet after a while. They can't stay wild forever, right? They have to run out of energy eventually. At least I hoped so.

"I don't know. Who knows? But if it is the toy, then I think I just gave you and Shining Armor a blessing. Even if that blessing is creepy as hell," I joked. Cadance just laughed at that.

"You're probably right," she smiled.

There was a knock on the door. We turned around and saw Celestia standing there.

"Morning sister," I said.

"Morning you two. I thought I might find you here. We missed you at breakfast," Celestia said.

"Sorry about that. I was with Luna," Cadance said.

"Oh, you were?" Her eyes brightened up.

"Yes, sister." I put a hoof around Cadance. "She wanted to spend some time with me. So I decided why not? We hung out all morning. We had a great time. Really, we did." I was trying to let Celestia know that I did as she asked and spend some time with Cadance.

Celestia smiled at me. "I'm glad you both had fun."

I smiled back at her. "Me too." And I meant it.

"Look. She even got Flurry Heart a toy."

"Well, that was nice of you, Luna," Celestia said impressively.

I chuckled a little bit. "Personally, I think the toy is kind of creepy. But Flurry Heart likes it, so I guess it's okay," I shrugged.

Celestia came over to the crib. The moment she saw the toy she flinched. "I can see why. Are you sure that it's safe?"

"It's a doll, Tia. What can it do to her?" I asked.

"It's fine, Celestia," Cadance backed me up.

There was still doubt in her face but she nodded anyway. I assumed it was because me and Cadance agreed on it. Plus, Flurry Heart did appear to like it a lot.

"Alright, if you're sure."

Cadance and I just smiled at each other and chuckled at Celestia's paranoia. This was going to be a fun week for me. We spent the rest of the day with Celestia and Shining Armor. The four of us mainly just walked around the castle and talked about various things. I was happy to have spent time with them and to make Flurry so happy with her "new" toy even if it did creep us out. I knew that Cadance was happy to have spent time with me. Celestia was even pleased that I actually made an effort to be friends with her. Maybe Celestia was right. This week could have actually been successful and beneficial for me. After dinner, I said my good nights and I went off to bed. Leaving Cadance alone.

I got myself into bed after lowering the moon. A scroll then appeared in front of me. It came to no shock to me. I already knew who it was from. It was from Discord. If he couldn't come to me, he would occasionally send a letter just to see how I was doing. I knew that he and Spike had planned a guys night out tonight. So I figured he was busy doing that. At least, his mind was preoccupied with something positive for once. That and Spike was focusing on something else other than spirits and demons. I would like to say that I felt like he sent the letters to be a good friend to me but I always thought that there was more to it. A part of me believed that he was also waiting for me to reply that I found something out about Silver Blitz.

Either way, I felt better when I received one from him. I opened it up and read it. It was nothing important. He was just seeing how my little "mission" was going. I replied back saying it was going pretty well.

Somepony then knocked on my door. I got up from my bed and open the door for them with my magic.

"Shining Armor? What is it that you want?" I asked. I never expected him to need anything from me. It didn't seem like it was bad for he was smiling and seemed excited about something.

"Thank you. You are a miracle worker!" He said.

"What did I do?" I asked him. I was very confused. I didn't save Equestria or stop a war or anything.

"Just come with me." I rolled my eyes and followed him. He led me to what I realized was Flurry Heart's room. We walked up to the crib and saw that she was passed out asleep.

"She is knocked out. I don't know what it is with that creepy ass toy but it put her to sleep. This is the quickest time she ever fell asleep. She was out in two minutes," He said.

"Wow, I can see that. Well, I did tell Cadance that I might have given you a blessing. I guess I didn't expect it to be that much of a blessing." I laughed and gave him a tap on the shoulder. "Hey, what do you know? I just did your job for you. If I would have known all it took was a toy, I would have given it to you guys sooner. Sleep well tonight, Shinning Armor." I laughed again as I headed back to my room. I felt really good about myself and went to sleep peacefully.





It was passed three in the morning.

Cadance was trotting around the castle, trying to past the time. She couldn't fall asleep, so she decided to quickly go and check up on Flurry Heart. She trotted into Flurry Heart's room only to see her on the floor playing with her new toy. Cadance sighed. It wasn't the first time Flurry Heart did something like this. With her magic, she picked up Flurry and the toy and place them both back in the crib. She still had no idea why she was so fascinated with it. Life of a baby she guessed. She knew she would never understand the mind of a child. Even if she was one at one time.

She started the process of putting Flurry back to sleep. It took a few minutes to put Flurry back to sleep. But even then, she couldn't stop looking at the toy. It made her child happy and she loved it. Cadance didn't mind that it was weird looking. The only thing was that the toy gave her an uneasy feeling. She couldn't put her hooves on it but it just made her feel off. It had an uncanny unsettling feeling about it. Cadance picked up the toy with her magic and placed a hoof on the cheek of the doll. Suddenly, she felt as if somepony was watching her. There was no one else around in the room. Eventually, it got so bad she had to step outside the room and out onto a balcony to clear her head. The air was soothing and refreshing. It made her slightly relaxed and calm.

After a while, the wind started to change. The air seemed to fall still as no breeze could've been found. Cadance looked out towards the starry sky. She felt something ominous in the air. Something was wrong and she just knew it. However, she couldn't tell what it was. The wind began to pick up far more violently. She had to cover her face from the strong breeze as it swept across the skies. She quickly went inside and tried to settle down. She felt so anxious when nothing appeared to be wrong. She just tried to relax and calm herself down a bit.

She went to back to Flurry as a small precaution. All seemed fine as Flurry was still in her crib with her stuffed doll. She was awake again playing with toy. She was having fun as normal. Cadance took a deep breath as she started to find peace within herself. She began to trot off as she noticed something odd. Flurry had her attention to something in the room. She kept smiling and laughing at something, but Cadance only saw a window in that direction. She found it odd but then again it wasn't the strangest thing little Flurry Heart has done. She trotted out of the room slowly, trying to ease her mind. She was just outside of the room when she heard an unfamiliar voice.

"My precious baby", the voice said. It was soft and caring. The sound of a mother's voice.

"Flurry? Hello? Is somepony in here?" Cadance whispered as she turned around to see the user of the voice.

What she saw was nothing close to what she was expecting. She was taken away when she saw a large mare with long dark purple hair with black streaks in it. Her coat was also purple with a pink rose as a cutie mark. The mare had Flurry in her hooves and was rocking her. Flurry seemed to enjoy her company as she laughed and smiled at her.

"Flurry Heart!" Cadance alarmed as she ran towards the door.

The mare looked up at her with rage. A huge gush of wind then flew at Cadance causing the door to slammed in her face and send her several feet backward. She slammed her head into the wall as her vision nearly went pitch. She sat up and touched the back of her head. It was stained with blood as so was her nose. She stumbled to her feet as she ran to the room. She pounded on the door as it was still looked. She screamed for Flurry over and over and pounded till her hooves felt broken. She eventually used her magic and bust the door open.

Cadance rushed into the room to find the mare still playing with Flurry. Cadance ran towards the mare.

"My baby!" the mare yelled as she ran and jumped through the window leaving Flurry on the floor.

Cadance scooped Flurry up in her hooves as she ran to the window. She looked out of it but there were no signs of the mare anywhere.

All that was left was a stun Cadance.

Flurry now sat in the chair as her mother paced the floor. Large bandages wrapped around her head. Her father, captain of the royal guard, sat there by their side as he waited for a full report. Moments later, two guards walked in and stood in front of him. One was a blue and white-haired Pegasus with a white coat and the other was a red-haired earth pony with an orange coat.

"Sir we checked the entire perimeter. There was no sign of her. No eyewitnesses and nothing at the scene. Whoever the mare was, she's long gone."

"I want you to double check, triple check if you have to. I want to know that my wife and child are safe. Look, what she did to Cadance. Find her. We'll have double the guards on watch at all times." Rage and concern were most present in Shining Armor's voice.

"Yes sir, right away," the guard said as he trotted away with the other guard.

The rest of the night was pretty restless for Cadance. She couldn't get the mare out of her head. The look on her face as she called Flurry "my baby".

She laid on the floor next to Flurry Hearts crib as she watched her sleep. Cadance walked over to the window where the mare jumped out of. She was out of it; remembering her face, detail by detail.
She shook her head as over thinking about started to give her a migraine. She rubbed her head with one of her hooves and decided she had to get her mind off of things.





Come to me, Luna.

My angel of darkness, it's almost time.

Come. Come take your place.

No, brother. You won't have her.

Not this time. Wake up, Luna.

Wake up!

There was a loud bang on the door as I sat up from my bed. I rubbed my eyes, trying to wake up. The door flew opened as my sister ran in concerned.

"Luna, are you alright?"

"I'm fine, Tia. Where's the fire?" I asked sarcastically. I was never a fan of being woken up by somepony.

"Now is no time for your attitude. I came in to check to see if you were alright, okay?! We have a problem," she snapped at me in a harsh tone. Now I knew something was wrong. It was the only time she would be sharp at me.

"What's wrong?"

"There was an intruder. It attacked Cadance and try to kidnap Flurry Heart!"

My mind completely went blank. I was beyond shocked at what I heard. I was about to ask if she was all right when I saw a pony approach behind Celestia. I thought it was Shining Armor but it wasn't. It was a young, large mare with long dark purple hair with black streaks in it. Her coat was also purple with a pink rose as a cutie mark. She was looking at me with a knife in her hoof and whispered:

"My baby..."
> A Battle Within The Mind
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Seeing that mare standing there behind my sister gave me a fright that I thought would be long gone by now. I only saw her for a few seconds but it was enough for me to know that whoever attacked Cadance last night wasn't something alive anymore. The worst part was that I knew that but nopony else. How could I tell them that? None of us could sleep for the rest of the night after that. I managed to sneak away from everypony for a few minutes. It gave me enough time to go to my room and do what I needed to do. I locked the door, hoping no pony would interrupt me. 


Dear Discord,

It's me, Princess Luna. I know it hasn't been that long since our... event but I think I might need your help. Cadance was attacked last night by somepony. And I think it was a spirit. I saw it shortly after I was informed about the attack. I don't know what to do now. You are the only one I could think to turn to. I don't expect you to help me. I understand if you don't want to. I just thought I could ask.... 



I stared at the letter. He was the only one who knew about my power and was the only one I trusted with this. We also made a promise to each other that when we saw anything that was supernatural, we would tell the other about it. I didn't want to go break that promise. Another thing was I didn't know anything about this kind of stuff. So I had no idea what to do to stop her from hurting Cadance. I also didn't want to face this alone again; not if I knew somepony who could help me. I lit up my horn as I continued writing. The more I thought about the letter, the more memories came back to me. I kept thinking about how much he went through to save me. I would be dead now if it weren't for him. I could never repay that debt to him.    


"We have to save Silver Blitz.” 

“No, Discord. We can't. Didn't you hear what she said? She wants us to leave and just don't look back. That's all she ever wanted for us. We can’t help her.”

“No, we can't ju….” 


My horn dimmed. I couldn't drag him into this. Not again. He nearly died saving me and this was going to be my thanks to him. I crinkled the letter and threw it across the room. It was time to go back to the others before. I headed for the door.  

"I'm sorry..." I said to myself when I found the door unlocked. I knew that I locked it when I first came in here.  

"You should be sorry." 

I gasped when I heard the voice. I quickly used my magic to pin whoever was behind me. I threw them onto the wall with my hoof pressed to their throat.

"Nice to see that Shredder has taught you a few fighting moves," Discord smirked at me. I scoffed and let him go. 

"Dammit Discord! I told you to not sneak up on me like that!" I yelled.

"Didn't mean to scare you. Now I know why not to. I'm just lucky you didn't have a knife," He joked a little. 

"Why are you even here?" I asked him.

"I need to talk to you about something," He answered. 

"This isn't the best time to talk. I'm busy right now," I said annoyed. 

"So I heard. What's going on anyways? Why is everypony freaking out?" Discord asked.

"Cadance was attacked last night and they don't know who it was," I said. 

"But something tells me that you do know." 

"What makes you say that?" I asked as I stared at him carefully.

"Well, that." He turned and looked across the room. I didn't know what he meant at first until he teleported across the room and picked up the letter. Discord uncrinkled the letter and started reading it. I gasped and ran to him. I tried taking the note away from him.   

"Hey, give me that!" I lit up my horn trying to take it from him. 

"Stop Luna!" He snapped his fingers and teleported away. 

"Discord, don't!...shit." I knew he wasn't going to be happy with me. He came back a few seconds later with his arms cross. Just as I thought, he didn't look so happy at me.

"Looks like somepony is going against their word," Discord said madly. 

"I was going to tell you," I defended myself. "I was just going...umm." I honestly didn't know what to say to him. 

"We had an agreement, Luna."  

I sighed sadly. "I know. I know. I just don't know how bad this is. And if it is bad, I don't want to drag you into this again. I can't have you go through anything like what happened to us."

"We talked about this."

"I get that. But you nearly got killed and I couldn't protect you."  I trotted to the window and used my magic to open it. I laid my head down on the window sill as I felt a small breeze hitting my face. I looked outside as the birds flew by and whistled their morning song. "If anything were to happen to you...I could never live with myself."

Discord went up to me from behind. "I still have nightmares about it. About her."

"I know you do. I had some dreams with her as well. I just don't think about it too much." 

He said, "I try not too. Don't always work out. "

"Discord, why are you here?" I repeated myself.

"Huh?....oh right. I had a strange dream last night that I thought you should know about. Unlike you, I actually planned on keeping my word."

I rolled my eyes. "What was your dream about?"

"That was the strange part. It wasn't what I dreamt about, it was who I dreamt about."

"Okay, who did you dream about." 

"It was about Cadance."

"Wait what?" I asked. 

"Yeah I dreamt about her but that wasn't the scary part."

"What was it?" I had a feeling that I wasn't going to like the next thing he was going to say. I knew it wasn't going to be anything good bur even then, I wasn't prepared for he said next.


"A voice told me that something was going to kill Cadance."
> A Cry For Help Part One
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Wait, what?" I looked at him confusingly. My brain stuttered for a moment and my eyes taking in more light than I expected, every part of me goes on pause while my thoughts try to catch up with what Discord was telling me. 

"So now hearing that Cadance was attacked I see that we might have a problem," Discord said. He walked over to my bed and sat down. I stayed by the window, looking outside and occasionally made small glances at him. It was hard for me to make out any words. I didn't know what to say to what he was telling me. The thought that somepony wanting to hurt Cadance was frightened.

"I don't understand."

"Let me start from the beginning. I was just wondering around in some weird open field, minding my own business and causing chaos and such." 

"So anything you actually do in real life then?" I teased.

Discord groan in annoyance. "That's beside the point. Anyways, I was just walking around when I saw Cadance."

"Doing what?" I asked. 

"Nothing. She was just standing there. It seemed like she was afraid of something." 

"What makes you say that?" I trotted over to the bed and sat down next to him.

"The look on her face," he answered. "She then starts trotting away. A voice in my head told me to follow her. That something was wrong. So for some reason, I did. I followed for a bit until Cadance went into a house. "

"Okay. What happened next?" 

"When I walked into the house, we were all of sudden in the Crystal Empire. I could tell because we were in Flurry Heart's room. I see Cadance goes up to the crib and looks at Flurry. She was still sleeping. I tried talking to Cadance but she didn't respond," he recalled.

"What did she do next?" I asked.

"Nothing at first." Discord looked at me a little scared when asked that. He thought carefully about what to say next. "Well, that's when shit gets really bad?" 

"Bad how?" I asked carefully.

"She kept whispering to herself. I couldn't tell what she was saying. Then this light came out of nowhere. I covered my eyes and when I could see again, Flurry was gone."

"And Cadance?"   

"Was dead on the floor. There was this mare that was looking down at her. Before I could say anything, I woke up. That's it," He completed his story.

My eyes and mouth were frozen wide open in an expression of stunned surprise. What I was hearing quite unbelievable, shocking really. My mind was sent reeling, unable to comprehend or process the images it was being sent by my eyes.  

"Dead?" He only nodded. Then a thought came to mind. "Another mare was present?" 

"Yeah. She was-" He started to say before I finished for him.

"A large mare with long dark purple hair with black streaks in it. Her coat was also purple with a pink rose as a cutie mark."

He looked at me weirdly. "Exactly. How did you know that? You dreamt it too?"

I shook my head. "No. That was the mare I saw last night after Cadance was attacked."  

"Oh. I see." The pieces were slowly coming together in his head. "So we both saw the same pony last night?"

I put a hoof to my head and sighed. "I think we might have a problem."

"And not a normal one either. Dammit! I thought we were done with this shit!" Discord said annoyed.  

"You don't have to help you know?" I pointed out to him.

"And remember the last time what happened when I didn't?" 

I hated to admit it but he was right. If he dreamt about that, there was no way he could run away from it. The dreams wouldn't stop for him. If anything, they would only get worse. It was what happened last time for him. I thought I was helping him by keeping him away not knowing what he was going through and that he couldn't. He tried but they wouldn't let him go. 

"So what do we do now? It's not like we're paranormal activity experts," I said. I trotted over to him.

"No, you're right. But luckily I know someone who is," Discord said with a smile. 

"Spike?"

"Bingo." He snapped his fingers at me. "Now let's go because I actually want to sleep tonight."

So the two of us went over to Twilight's castle. Luckily for us, Spike wasn't too hard to find and wasn't busy. He was in the kitchen getting his usual gems to snack on. He was shocked to see me and him together. We told him we needed help and wanted to speak in private. He knew right then and there that this was nothing good. He led us to his room and he locked the door. He then asked us what was going on and what was wrong. I told him about what happened to Cadance last night and Discord told him about his dream. Spike stayed quiet and listened until we both were done speaking.  

"I see what you're saying," Spike said as he sat on his bed with a bowl of gems. He popped one in his mouth and swallowed looking deep in thought. "Well, if you were any normal creature, I would say that you have some serious issues to get over. But since it's you, I know how bad this could be."

I looked at Spike noticing the anxiety slowing building inside him. It had only been a short time since our last encounter with that side of the world. I knew the memories still slugged around in the young dragon's mind.

"So?" Discord said ready to continue. He flew all around the room as we all talked. 

Spike looked towards the ground thinking. It was obvious that he wanted to have a full proof plan this time, unlike the previous time.

"Well, it's hard to tell what exactly your dream is trying to say. I mean clearly, it involves Cadance being dead or at least in danger but it's not clear on exactly how or more importantly why. Do you know why this is happening?" Spike tapped his foot still in thought.

Discord and I both shook our heads "no."

Spike sighed. "Of course you don't."

"Hey, it's not like we asked for this," Discord snapped at Spike with his arms cross.

"I know that. It's just you aren't really giving me a lot to go on," Spike explained. 

Just then before anything more could be said, my horn lit out a large flame and out popped a scroll. 

"Who's it from?" Discord asked.

"That's what I'm going to find out."

I picked it up and skimmed through it. It was hard to read as my mind was elsewhere. My brain picking up only on words here and there. The basis of the letter was that Cadance wanted to speak with me and requested my presence. I knew this wasn't a coincidence. Something was bothering her.

"What is it?" Spike asked picking himself off the ground.

"It's from Cadance. She wants to see me. She says she would like to have a meeting with me more or less". 

Spike and Discord stared at each other clearly having the same thought.

"You think it's something bad, like my dream kinda bad?"

As badly as I wanted to, I didn't want to jump to any conclusions. If something bad would have happened then we would've known about it. I didn't want to start throwing the ghost stories at anyone yet so I figured that is best to count it as something normal.

"I don't know but I should go and find out," I said standing up off his bed."If there is something going on with her then it'll be best for me to be there anyway."

"Well no argument there," Discord said as he started snapping a coffee cup into existence.

I turned my attention to Spike. "Also, could you not tell Twilight or your other friends about what happened last night. Celestia doesn't want to cause any problems until we know what is going on." 

Spike nodded. "Sure thing, Luna." 

"Thank you," I smiled. 

Spike took another handful of gems when a thought came to him. "Wait a second, you didn't tell Celestia what you saw?" Spike asked. 

Suddenly, I felt exasperated and said to myself, Not this again. "There is nothing she can do to help us," I answered. 

Spike spoke with his mouth full of his gems. "Okay, What about Cadance?"

"No. Not yet. I don't know if I should tell her," I said. 

"Maybe you should," Spike pressured me.

I shook my head. Spike never understood my reasons for keeping Celestia out of this. He always told me that I should tell her the truth about my powers. No matter how many times I would tell him why I couldn't, he never stopped trying to get me to tell her. I wished that Spike could understand as Discord did. Of course, it wasn't all his fault. He hadn't been in my head and saw my nightmares as Discord did. Spike didn't know half of what happened to me as a child. I never fought with him about it. I just simply shrugged it off and changed the subject. That would usually end the conversation there. 

I stomped my hoof hard on the floor. Discord looked down at me as Spike backed up away from me. "Look, I don't have time to talk about this now. Can you just send me back to the Crystal Empire, Discord?"

"I don't know, can I?" He joked.

"Really?" I gave him a hard glare.

Discord laughed. "Of course I can. Just trying to lighten the mood a little here. In the meantime, what are we gonna do about my sleeping issue? The last time nothing was done, I was stuck always going to murderer's houses. I would prefer that not to happen again."

Spike smiled in excitement as he was clearly looking forward to something. "I have a little something we can actually do for that. Probably can't stop it but definitely give us some answers."

Discord gave Spike a concerned look. "I don't have a good feeling about this. Why do I feel like this is going to lead to me reading a book?"

I rolled my eyes and laughed a little to myself as I left the boys to have their fun. I was a little more concerned about getting to Cadance. I didn't know how much she understood about what was going on with her. For all I knew, she did know it was some kind of spirit after her. But I didn't know. All I did know was that I didn't want her to be left alone.







It was later that afternoon and she had requested a meeting with Princess Luna to discuss the issue. However, nopony seemed to know where the Princess of the Night had gone to. Nopony had seen her since that morning. So Cadance sent a letter to her in hopes to speak with Luna. It was going to be some time before she arrived since Cadance didn't know when or if she would come to her. So Cadance went to the restroom to take a shower. She turned the knob to the shower and plugged up the drain. Cadance had decided that a relaxing bath was just what she needed. Steam filled the bathroom making for a nice warm cozy atmosphere. Cadance walked up to the mirror and wiped it clear of the fog covering it. 

She looked at her reflection and stared off into thought. She pondered on her thoughts for a bit before snapping out of her trance. She then turned the water off and went into the relaxing warm bath. She closed her eyes as she laid and let her body relax. She took a deep breath as she tried to let the tension from her body go.

“Cadance.” Her name was called from an unfamiliar voice. It was soft and her name was followed by a long ominous echo, an uncanny echo.

Her eyes popped open as she looked for the source of her name. She looked back and forwards as she expected to see A guard or at least Shining Armor. No pony was to be found. 

“Is some pony there?” she said as she stood up. 

She began to walk forward as the same mare from earlier jumped out from under the water and at her. Cadance fell backward as she screamed. She looked up to see no pony was in the room with her. 

She hurried out of the tub and slipped as she tried to frantically get out. Her head smacked against the tile floor. The room started to spin as she stumbled to her hooves. She touched her head as blood ran down it again. 

She looked in the mirror as she noticed something else. Written in the fog on the mirror were the words:


My Baby


Cadance looked at it closer as she started to breathe heavily. Suddenly, without warning a loud knock came from the door. Cadance screamed as she jumped in fear. 

“Princess Cadance, Princess Luna is here to see you,” the guard informed her.

“Thank you I'll be right out,” Cadance responded. She turned back to the mirror and noticed that the message on the mirror had vanished. She was lost of words. She had no idea how it went away just like that. "What's wrong with me? Am I going crazy?" She asked herself. 

She trotted to the door and let Luna in. She needed to talk to her now. She didn't know why but she felt like Luna was the only one who could help her. Maybe even understand what was happening to her. Luna always was an expert when it came to the pony's mind and fears. Surely, she could know at least something about this. At this point, talking might be the best thing for her to do.  






We sat down on two chairs that were by an open window. Cadance told me more in detail what happened to her last night. And of course, she mentioned seeing the same mare that Discord and I saw as well. As she spoke, I debating in my head if I should tell her that I saw the mare too. I wanted to but I wasn't sure if that was the best idea. It's not like it would help anything. At the same time though, I didn't want her to feel alone and crazy. I knew all too well how that felt. She didn't deserve that feeling. 

"That sounds horrible, but they still don't know who it was?" I said shifting in my seat. I already knew the answer but I had to play along until I knew for sure what I was going to do about this. 

"No, I didn't recognize her at all. Nopony seems to know who she was," Cadance responded.

"That's ummm terrifying," I said.

"I don't know what to do," Cadance said.

"I'm sure that we will figure it out," I assured her. 

Cadance was avoiding eye contact with me. A heavy silence settled over the two of us, thicker than the uneasy tension in the atmosphere. Unsettled eyes glanced unceremoniously around and tried to avoid catching other glances that passed by. I once again shifted uncomfortably in my chair and she grasped her sweaty, nervous hooves. I felt painfully out of place at that moment. Cadance thought to herself. It was obvious to me that there was something on her mind that she wanted to let out to me.

"Okay, Luna. I'm going to ask you something and I need you to be completely honest with me," She said after a while. 

"Sure. Ask away," I said.

"Did you see her? The mare that I saw?" She then asked. 

I looked at her shockingly. "What? Why would you think that?"

She shrugged. "Well, after I was attacked, you didn't say a lot. You looked scared. More scared than I was. Then all of a sudden, you just leave this morning. I guess I just thought that meant something. Maybe you knew something I didn't."

Words left me. I stared into those bright purple eyes burning with desperation. I couldn’t will my lips to move. My mind was blank and my eyes wide as I stared at her in horror. I had to say something! I searched my mind for something reasonable to say. Should I tell her now? What could I even say to her? I thought about what happened to me. I didn't want to lie anymore and I didn't want to push everypony away again. I told myself that I would be better after that. I couldn't leave her alone but was it best for her to know the truth?

"I mean I worry about you. I don't want anything bad to happen to you," I blurted. 

Her ears dropped. "So that'll be a "no" then?" 

I couldn't lie to her. Not to Cadance. I had my reasons for Celestia but Cadance never wronged me like that. It was strange. I knew that Cadance would believe me. Not just that I saw the mare but also with me being a psychic. Yet, I was afraid to tell her. I didn't know why but I didn't trust anypony with this secret besides Spike and Discord. Not that I was given much of a choice with those two.   

So instead I just said: "If I see anything out of place I will inform you." I stood up for my chair and made my way to the door.

"Wait, where are you going?" She sounded a little mad at me but I didn't let it affect me that much.

I stopped in place. "To my room. I wish to think alone right now." 

Cadance scoffed at that. The anger from her eyes showed the scared child within, the girl who was taught to fight and starved of the love she craved. I could see the pain beneath it all. 

"Celestia is on me for being alone and yet you are always running away from everypony else. Don't you think you do that enough already?" 

Anger boiled deep in my system, as hot as lava. It churned within, hungry for destruction, and I knew it was too much for me to handle. The pressure of this raging sea of anger would force me to say things I do not mean, or to express thoughts I had suppressed for a while now. 

"Not as much as you or anypony else in this damn country," I  scolded. Then I trotted out of the room leaving a speechless Cadance behind.

I trotted down the halls with my head down. I was at first going to go to my room but at the last second decided to go check on Flurry. Something told me to go to her. Last I heard she was in her room with Shinning Armor. I trotted to her room and softly knocked on the door. There was no answer. I knocked on it again. Still no answer. 

"Shinning Armor, are you in here?"

I opened the door and trotted in. The room was empty. I went up to the crib and saw Flurry Heart playing with her new toy that I got her. She looked at me and giggled. I smiled at her. 

"Hey, Flurry." I lean in closer to her. "You are not even scared even after all that had happened to your mother. Did you see her last night?" I whispered to myself. I wasn't expecting a real answer from her. Since she was a baby and most likely didn't understand what was going on. Yet she must have known what I meant cause she nodded her head "yes". 

My eyes widened. "Wait, you did? You saw the mare last night that attacked your mother?" 

She nodded her head again in response to my question.

"You did? Oh my." 

Flurry then turned her head to look behind me and clapped her hooves together. She had her attention to something else that was in the room. She kept smiling and laughing at whatever it was that she seeing.

"What are you looking at Flurry?" 

I began to hear footsteps from behind. My body froze up as it came closer and louder to me. Flurry didn't really seem to not mind and looked like she enjoyed it as she laughed playfully at whoever was behind me. My mind already knew who it was. I was afraid to look. My breathing became more rapid. I managed to get the courage to turn slowly around to see for myself. As I faced the other way, the mare that I saw was standing right in front of me. Even closer than I first excepted. I jumped back and cried out. I bumped into the crib causing it to move back.

The mare looked at me with an insane smile. Her whole body was twitching. She lifted up her hoof and point at Flurry Heart who was still laughing. 

"My baby..." 

I shook my head at her. "No. She's not. She's not yours."

She growled at me. "My baby," She hissed.   

"What do you want with Cadance?!" 

"My baby," She repeated herself. She trotted closer to Flurry's crib. I stepped in front of her and pushed her back. She stepped back a couple of inches. 

"No. You need to leave. Leave Cadance alone!" I yelled at her. 

"SHE'S MINE!!!"  

Her skin fell off and her face became black. A huge gush of wind then flew at me, sending me several feet backward. Pain exploded on the back of my head as the wall struck me forcefully. My body slammed hard against the wall; stars flooded my vision as I fell back onto the floor. My vision was blurred as I tried to stand back up. My head throbbed with a staggering ache. 

I tried lighting up my horn in an attempt to stop her. But just like last time, my magic wouldn't work. My magic was useless.  I watched in horror as she trotted to the crib. She went up to Flurry and picked her up. 

"My baby...come now with me," She said happily. She rocked Flurry in her arms as they both started to disappear. Flurry wasn't scared at all. She just laughed with her as she laid in her arms. 

I got up and stretched my arm out. 

"Noooo!"

My hoof then suddenly lit up a bright blue aura and shot out a big blast that hit her. She dropped Flurry to the floor and flew back away from her. Flurry screamed loudly and started crying in fear. The mare laid on the ground just inches away from the door as she groaned in pain. I took advantage of the opportunity and ran up to Flurry. I picked her up and held on tightly. 

"It's okay, Flurry. I got you." I tried calming her down. I ran passed the mare and left the room. 

I ran down the hall making sure I got far away from her as I could. I needed to protect Flurry from that monster. I bumped into tables and other guards, who all gave me weird looks. I looked behind me not realizing that somepony was emerging from a corner and I bumped right into them. There was a loud "oof" as we hit each other's head and fell back. I landed on my butt but was able to still hold onto Flurry Heart without letting her go. I got up from the ground and saw that I had bumped into Celestia.

"Luna, I'm so sorry. I didn't see you there," Celestia apologized. 

"It's okay, sister. It's my fault. I should have looked where I was going."

"Why do you have Flurry Heart and why were you running?" She then asked.

"I guess I got spooked from last night event. I saw that she was alone in the room and I didn't think it was wise for her to by herself," I explained. Flurry wasn't crying as loudly as before but was still shakey.  

Celestia grabbed Flurry from me and started rocking her to calm her down a little. "I was watching her while Shining Armor works with the guards to find out who that mare was. I only left to use the bathroom and help him out with something. I was gone only a few minutes."

"Okay. Just don't leave her alone at all. Have somepony keep an eye on her," I insisted.

"Of course," Celestia agreed. "Speaking of being gone, where were you this morning? Nopony knew where you ran off too."

I knew that Celestia was going to ask me about that. Luckily, I already thought of an explanation for my sudden absence. "Oh that. I just needed to get away from the chaos for a bit. 

"Now Luna, that's fine and all but next time inform me when you want to leave," she said.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to alarm you or anything but I can take care of myself."

"I know that. I never said that you couldn't. But until we figure out who that mare is, we all need to keep in touch with one another," she explained to me.

I didn't want to argue with her so I nodded. "Okay. I will."

"Thank you."

I turned my head away from her and sighed. My mind was still having trouble comprehending what just happened. Not only I saw her again but it tried to take Flurry Heart. I barely was able to stop her long enough to protect Flurry. 

Celestia trotted to me and put a hoof on my head. 

"Tia, what are you doing?" I asked. I pushed her arm away from me.

"Luna, you're bleeding!" She gasped. She showed her hoof that was now covered with blood.

"I am?!" I rubbed the back of my head and saw blood on my hoof. It must have happened with I hit my head on the wall. "I didn't even notice."

"Come with me now. Let's clean it up and see how bad it is," Celestia said. 

I followed her from behind. I stared at my hoof and realized that it was slightly black as if some of my fur had been burned. Taking a closer look, I saw that it was burned. How did that happen? The only thought that I could come up with was from the blast that I shot the mare with. But how did I do that? Magic couldn't work on the dead. There was no way that I could be able to do that. Yet, somehow I did.

It's almost time...

I stopped and look behind me. There was nopony but the guards who were talking to one another. They pay no attention to me. I faced back to Celestia and continued following her. I stared down at my hoof as I trotted.

Luna...what did you just do?
> A Cry For Help Part Two
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

After the little fight between Luna and Cadance, night had struck the sky. Cadance was tired and decided to head to bed. She first went out on the balcony and look up at the darkened sky. Cadance stared at the stars admiring their beauty. They were bright and lit up the darkened sky. One thing that Luna did right was always made each and every night just as beautiful as the last.

She soon trotted back inside to her bed. She wasn't overly enthusiastic about spending a night alone without Shining Armor. 

She has spent nights without him before, but after the two incidents, she experienced she wanted anything but to be alone. At last, he had to go, so he left many guards in his place. He had ordered an extra watch and an all-night patrol. She should've been safe, but she still felt anxious.

She lay down and tried to ease her mind with little success. She stared at the darkened ceiling as all she could see was the mare's face and voice as she spoke those words. Luna was also on her mind. She couldn't help but feel bad about their fight. She really didn't want things to end like that. But Luna was right. She was no better than her when it came to being alone. Everypony had been trying to help her but she pushed them all away. 

She thought hard about it until her head became numb. Her thoughts overwhelming her. She had enough of the day and she welcomed the peaceful night. Her eyes became heavier as her consciousness drifted off.

After about 2 hours of sleep, Cadance woke up to the sound of Flurry Heart crying. Her eyes wandered around them. She soon realized that her wandering eyes were all she could move. She tried to move her body, but it was in vain. She was completely paralyzed; glue to her own bed. 

She tried and tried to move anything, but nothing would budge. She tried screaming for help. Only to be able to let out nothing more but a whisper. Was she dreaming? She hoped that this was a nightmare and that she would wake up soon. Soon after some time, something caught her eye. In the dark corner of the room, a tall outline of a figure could be made out. 

The figure walked and dragged one of its legs along the floor. Cadance tried to scream with only a loud grunt coming out. She began to breathe heavily as the figure approached her.

It leaned over the bed and stared at her face to face. It was the same mare as before but something was very different about her this time. Her face was covered in blood and some of her skeletons showed through. Her hair was long and wet with dripping blood. 

Cadance continued to struggle as she was faced with certain death. The mare just stared at her with a face made of pure rage.

Flurry’s cries could be heard from the hallway. The mare looked up towards the source of the cry and then back at Cadance. She then smiled with a mouth full of jagged teeth.

“She's my baby!” the mare's demonic voice yelled.

Blood oozed from the mare's mouth all over Cadance. The mare even opened Cadance's mouth allowing blood all in her mouth and down her throat. Cadance still couldn't scream, she could however move. She started flaring her arms and body in every direction. She started banging her head against the wall behind her and bouncing the bed up and down.

One of the guards heard the commotion and ran into the room. He found Cadance on the bed panting heavily and coughing.

“Princess Cadance, are you alright? What's wrong?” The silence was the guard's only response 

He stood there for a long moment without saying nothing. Then all of a sudden, Cadance screamed as loud as she could. The guard ran up to her side of the bed where she was laying at.

"Are you okay, princess?" 

Candace didn't answer. She only stood up from the bed and trotted out of the room without saying a word. With Shining Armor still keeping watch at night, Cadance didn't know what to make off the episodes she had been experiencing. She hasn't told anypony about them. She was scared about what they would think. She hardly knew what to think.

She kept a close eye on Flurry Heart since everything seemed to be centering around her. She wouldn't leave her alone and often tried to stay away from the castle; always keeping Flurry Heart with her at all times. She thought to be out and active would help her clear her head.

At last, she knew she would have to eventually return to the castle. Something was different about it though. It had a dark eerie feel to it. She always felt as if she was being watched. The eyes that stared down her neck didn't feel friendly though, just angry or envious.

It was early in the morning. Cadance was cleaning up Flurry Heart's room as Flurry played with her new toy on the floor. She picked up mainly toys and reorganized the shelves. She did everything she could to keep her mind distracting. It helped that Flurry wasn't acting up at all. She was always calm now and hardly caused any destruction anymore. It was still strange to Cadance but at the moment, she didn't mind it.  

It was while she was cleaning when she noticed a stain in the corner of the room. The stain was pitch black and almost looked like mold. Cadance instantly graved a rag and sope and tried to clean it. It wouldn't come off though. No matter how much she scrubbed, the stain refused to leave.

She eventual was forced to face defeat when she heard Flurry laughing. She turned expecting to see Flurry Heart on the floor playing. However, that wasn't what she saw at all. In fact, Flurry Heart was nowhere in sight. Cadance signed and called her name as she walked out of the room. She wasn't freaked out as Flurry Heart often wondered about without warning or anypony knowing where she was. 

"Flurry, where are you?"

She looked everywhere she possibly could; calling her name over and over. She never got a response. She went down to the library and even all the way up to the tippy top of the castle. Cadance found no trace of her.

She went back to Flurry Heart's room hoping she would be back that. Nothing. It was then she started to get worried. She had no idea where else Flurry could be. 

"Flurry?"

Just as she was about to fly off to search, she heard a little laugh. It was Flurry Heart's and she knew it. She called out her name and heard it again. She looked around but saw no sign of her. She searched around trying to pinpoint the source of the laughter. She walked past a corner as she heard the laugh once more, clear as day. She went up to the wall and called out Flurry Heart's name in a question. Flurry’s laugh could be heard. Cadance knocked on the wall and continued to call her daughters name. Cadance was relieved to have finally found her. She figured flurry must have teleported in the wall accidentally.

As Cadance tried to find a way to get to her, she heard something else. She heard another ponies voice. She got closer to the wall so she could hear better. As she got right up to it she heard a long drawn out voice.

“My baby,” Was what the mysterious voice said.

The voice was familiar to Cadance and it made her go into a panic. She screams and started to pound on the wall trying to get to Flurry. She kept hearing the voice over and over as Flurry Heart continued to laugh. She pounded and pounded as hard as she could on the wall. She continued to scream as well. 

The eventually started to crack and bits of it flew everywhere. She tore open the wall and even started using her teeth. At last there she was, Flurry Heart. Sitting inside the wall all by herself. All that remained was writing in red that said” my baby”.

“Leave her alone!!! You hear me?!" Cadance yelled at the top of her lungs. 

There was a loud roar from the wall. Cadance began to back up with Flurry Heart in her arms. She needed to get out of there and fast. She turned around to leave only to see the same mare running at her.

“Princess Cadance?!” She yelled at her in question.

Cadance screamed and ran away from her as fast as she could. Everything was slowly becoming blurry for her. She didn't know what was happening to her. She kept on running until she could hardly see anything. She stopped running as the world around her kept spinning faster and faster. Something warm went down her head and into her eyes. She fell to the floor and let go of Flurry. 

She then blacked out.
> A Troubled Mind And Soul
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

I couldn't scream. I couldn't run. I couldn't even breathe. It hurt my head as everything happened around me, ignoring me. I felt lost in the darkness, with only fleeting glimpses of bright, white light to break up the confusion. Two black silhouettes could be seen as they spoke to me and each other.

You are running out of time.

It's almost time, Luna.

There is nothing to be afraid of.

You will join me. Come to me. Come to me, Luna. You can't change who you are meant to become. 

Come to me. I will protect you. You'll be safe. Take my hand.

What?! No! She’s mine, brother! Stop! No!

Wake up!

Wake Up, Luna!

WAKE UP!!!!!!!




"Luna, wake up!" 

I groaned as I opened my eyes. Celestia was hovering over me.

I rubbed my eyes and stretched my arms. "What is so important that you had to wake me up so early, Celly?" I yawned.

Celestia looked at me with a sad look in her eyes. My ears dropped.

"What happened?"

"It's Cadance." 

We quickly made our way to the hospital. Shining Armor talking to the doctor while Celestia was next to him talking to a guard. I was holding on to Flurry Heart. For the time, she didn't have the toy that I gave her. While I was waiting on the other two, I looked through the window into the room that Cadance was in. 

Seconds later, she looked through the window too. We made small eye contact with each other. She was so afraid. Deep down I knew who caused this. It was getting worse. My head racing. Discords dream seemed more of a reality than ever. Cadance was truly in danger and I felt so powerless to stop it. 

I lifted up Flurry so Cadance could see that she was unharmed. Cadance's face brightened a little and was relieved to at least see that Flurry Heart was safe and sound. That was all she cared about at the moment. What most likely didn't make her so happy was the millions of questions that were racing through her head.

I stood by and listened to Celestia, Shining Armor, and the doctor discussed the issue. They were all very concern on who the mare that Cadance had claimed to have seen multiple times now. No one had seen anything, but the real issue came with what the guard had seen. It made everypony have their eyebrow raised just a little.

"Here, Shinning Armor. Take Flurry Heart." I handed Flurry over to him. He grabbed ahold of her and continued talking to the doctor.

I went by the door and was the first to trot into the room. Cadance had bandages wrapped around her head and hooves. The bright light hurt her eyes and she squinted against it. Her body felt very comfortable. She looked incredibly weak and her face looked very pale. 

She shifted her body and looked further to her right. She struggled to keep her eyes open. 

She groaned. "Where am I?"

"You're at the hospital."  

"I am?"

"The guards told us that they found you on the floor passed out," I said.

She covered her face. "Something is happening to me. I feel like I'm losing my mind and I don't know what to do!" Cadance cried. 

"Cadance, you are many things. Being crazy isn't one of them," I said as I hugged her. "Now tell me what happened to you."  

She never got the chance to answer me though. The moment I touched her something very strange happened. 

The colors of a thousand saris swirled in my mind like so much water going down a celestial plug hole. As they billowed and spun in the unseen breeze they left colors behind, until all that was left was a world like a beautifully painted page in a children's picture book. It was like a series of mixed flashbacks all played in one second. 

I saw Cadance being attacked in her bedroom by the mare that I saw. A huge gush of wind then flew at Cadance causing the door to slammed in her face and send her several feet backward. She slammed her head into the wall as her vision nearly went pitch. 

“She's my baby!” 

“Leave her alone!!! You hear me?!" Cadance yelled at the top of her lungs.

There was a loud roar from the wall. Cadance began to back up with Flurry Heart in her arms. She turned around to leave only to see the same mare running at her.

“Princess Cadance?!” 

All of the noise disappeared in an instant. It was like being stuck in another reality. Then the stain had vanished like it was never there in the first place like the whole thing had been a visual joke.

My eyes open like two flashlight beams, though my eyes were open I can't think of why; my heart is pounding, mind empty. It's as if a hypodermic of adrenaline has been emptied into my carotid. I strain into the utter darkness, breathing rate beginning to steady. I looked at Cadance speechless, trembling. What just happened? What did I just see?

"Luna, are you okay?" Cadance asked suddenly. My ears perk up as I turned to face her. It was then I had realized that she said something to me. 

"What?" 

"Are you okay?"

"Yes...I'm fine...did you see that?"

"See what?" She raised an eyebrow.

"Nothing. Nothing at all," I quickly said. 

By the look on her face, I could tell that she didn't know what I was talking about. She leaned forward closer to me. 

"What did you see?" She asked more sternly. 

Before any more could be said, Celestia and Shining Armor trotted into the room. I took this as a chance to back away from her. I sat on a chair next to the door which was behind them all.

"Thank goodness you're alright," Shining Armor said.

She looked up at Celestia who had a worried look on her face. 

"What's going on? What happened?" Cadance asked.

"I was hoping you could tell us that," Celestia said walking closer to her.

Cadance looked at the ground pondering on what actually happened. She remembered everything right down to every detail. How could she forget? Then the next question came, what in Equestria was she gonna tell them.

"The guard gave us a brief description of what he saw. It sounded very concerning, so I was hoping you could shed more light on the matter Cadance," Celestia's words echoed in Cadance's mind.

I felt so bad for her. What was she gonna say to them? She couldn't tell them the truth. She most likely barely knew what was the truth herself. Seeing her laying there so hopeless, forced to answer questions that she didn't understand herself, reminded me of myself when I was a young mare.  

She looked up at Celestia with near tears in her eyes.

"It was that mare again, the one from before. She tried to take Flurry Heart from me. I barely escaped," Cadance said with tears in her eyes. Celestia softened her glare and I started to cry quietly as I watched this all unfold. 

"Is Flurry Heart okay? I need to know that she's alright," Cadance studied.

"She's fine." Shinning Armor handed Flurry over to Cadance. "Are you sure it was the same mare?"

"Yes, I'm sure!" Cadance snapped.

"Cadance. Nopony saw her," Celestia said calmly. 

"What?!"

"A guard told us they heard you screaming in your room. But when he spoke to you, you didn't say anything. He said that you just got up and left," Shining Armor explained. Cadance cheeks turned red and her eyes went to the floor.  

"Is that true?" Celestia asked.

"Look, I know this sounds crazy but someone is after me. She wants to kill me and take Flurry Heart. She always following me.  She left a message for me in the bathroom. It said she wanted Flurry. I mean, it's gone now but it was there," Cadance cried. Shining Armor and Celestia gave each other a concerned look. Cadance noticed this.

"What? I'm not making this up!"

Shining Armor put a hoof on her lap. "I'm not saying that. I know that you wouldn't lie to me but I'm very worried about you, Cadance. The doctor told us you suffered a panic attack." 

"No. It wasn't that. It was the mare. She knocked me out," Cadance said.

"We found nothing about this mare you speak of. Nopony but you claim to have seen her. Are you sure that you didn't just scare yourself?" Celestia said.

"I didn't scare myself, Celestia. I know what I saw. I saw her try to take Flurry."

Celestia looked away from her. "I don't know what to think about this."

She growled. "Are you serious? I'm not crazy. I know what I am talking about!!" She yelled. 

Flurry flinched and teleported by me. I picked her up and held on to her. Nopony seemed to had noticed this but me.  

"Calm down Cadance," Shining Armor said.

"No. Don't tell me to calm down!! How can I be calm after everything that happened?!"

"We're trying to help you," Shining Armor said. 

"No, you're not. You're trying to say that I'm crazy!"

"I am not, Cadance. I tried talking to you. I tried getting you to tell me what is wrong but all you did is pushed me away and locked yourself in your room. You never once tried to open up to me." Shining Armor began to lose his cool. "I know the last few months haven't been easy for you but you been well overbroad the last few days!"

Cadance got up in his face. "You don't know what I been through the last 2 days. You haven't seen what I have!"

"And now I'm even questioning what you actually been seeing!" He yelled back.    

"Enough!" I stood up and yelled at both of them. They quickly went silent and turned their attention to me. "Yelling at each other isn't going to fix this."

"Luna's right. It's not good for anypony," Celestia agreed. She finally realized that Cadance was no longer holding onto Flurry. She saw me with her. Celestia trotted up to me and grabbed Flurry Heart. "She shouldn't be hearing this. I'm going to take her back with me to the castle now." 

She trotted out with Flurry Heart leaving the three of us behind.

Shining Armor sighed heavily as he calmed himself down. He then headed for the door before looking back to say one more thing. "Cadance, I don't think you're crazy. I do want to help you. But I can't unless you let me." 

He then trotted out. 

I stayed in my seat not making any sound or movement. Cadance and I said nothing and made small glances at each other. None of us knew what to say. I could see more tears form in her eyes. 

I thought about earlier that night. While she was being tormented by this thing, I had been sleeping while trying to find out what had happened with my "magic actually working" on the dead thing before hearing the news about Cadance. Now I didn't know what to think about whatever it was I saw. Strange things were happening to me and Cadance. 

If only I knew how to help her. I felt so horrible. The last time I had talked to her, I wasn't the nicest... I was actually kinda jerk looking back at it. Cadance needed me and I needed patients no matter what I felt.

I was so scared for her life. What I saw and what I know she had been seeing, I could image all too well what she was going through. I still had the horrible memories racing through my head.

Finally, I went up to her and hugged her, trying to play it cool. 

"Are you ok?" I nearly shudder. 

"As well as I can be I guess. I'm just glad that Flurry Heart is alright." Cadance wiped her tears. 

I wanted to say so much to her, but I had to think before I just started blurting out nonsense. "We're gonna find whoever is tormenting you, Cadance. I swear." 

Cadance looked up at me starting to cry again." I just feel so helpless. I fe-feel like I-I-I'm going in-sane." The words were slurred as she shuddered. 

"You're not going insane, Cad..."

"No, you don't understand the things she can do, t-th-th the things I've seen." Her interrupting words only slurred more as fear look over her mind. 

"Cadance. I under...." 

"No, you don't! No one can understand!" Cadance again seemed more scared than mad.

I used my magic to move her face close to mine as I wiped her tears. I looked at her in the eyes. I was gonna tell her something without actually telling her what I knew or what happened to me before.

"Trust me. I understand all too well what you're going through. More than you can possibly imagine. I'm going to help you."

There was hope in her eyes. "Really?"

"Yes, I am here for you. We'll get through this together."


Meanwhile

"So did you tell Luna?" Spike asked Discord. They were now in the kitchen where Spike was going to get more gems. There was a rolled-up scroll in his claw. 

"No. Not yet. I was but then all of this started," Discord answered. He watched as Spike flew to the cabinet to get a bowl.

"Well, I guess I can't really put that one on you then," Spike shrugged.

"Don't worry. I'll tell her soon."

"Good. Well, anyways, next item in business..." Spike flew up to the counter and unrolled the scroll. He laid it out on the counter for Discord to see.   

Discord was wide-eyed as he looked at the layout before him. "Spike, are you sure this is safe?" 

"Trust me, Discord. There's only a small chance that one of us could die. Now you're gonna have to help me with these ingredients," Spike chuckled with an innocent smile.

Discord look at himself in the mirror where his copy Discord self, C.D. appeared with a phone in his paw. He was already dialing the numbers in to make a phone call. 

"Well, I'll call the mortician. We'll be needing an extra large coffin this time".
> The Dream Team
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Spike had the floor lined with candles. Each candle having an uncanny bright light. They didn't seem to be in any pattern just randomly spread out. 

Discord watched as Spike read a book as he whispered to himself. Spike walked back and forwards moving things and making certain areas on the floor. 

Spike looked up at Discord." Ok, we're going to need five phoenix feathers, two hydra eggs, and six dragon scales", Spike said as he held out seven of his scales in his claws. 

"Spike, what exactly are we doing"? Discord crossed his arms and raised his eyebrows." You do know what you're doing right"?

"Discord, you're gonna doubt me? I didn't let you down before."

"Yes, that's true but this seems like it's gonna involve messing with dreams, and that didn't turn out the best with the last creature who attempted that ."

Spike looked up at him with a sarcastic look. "You care to try this spell out yourself?" Spike asked as he lifted the book to Discords arms. Discord looked at the book with what looked like scribbles to him. "Then don't doubt my knowledge of the supernatural. I'm an expert".

Discord rolled his eyes, hearing the enormous amount of pride in the young dragons voice.

"So, about those items I needed"? Spike held out his claws. 

Discord snapped his fingers and a mailbox with wings flew into the room. It flew over Spike and started coughing. It seemed to be coughing on something. After a few moments and a lot of coughing later, it puked up the items that Spike had requested onto Spike's face. He was now all wet and stank wasn't so pleasant.

"Oops, sorry Spike he recently picked up a terrible cold and can't seem to shake it". Discord said handing the mailbox a box of tissues.

"Oh yes, I feel really bad for him,'' Spike said wiping his face. His flat sarcastic voice made Discord chuckled. 

They laid out all the items on the floor. Each item was carefully set on one of the markers Spike previously put on the ground. He drew a circle in the middle of the room. 

"Alright, I think we are all set," Spike said gazing at the scene." Now, all we……," Spike was cut off but the sound of his bedroom door opening. 

Twilight stood in the doorway shocked at what lay in front of her. The candles, the feathers, the scales, it was all a bit of a shock.

"Spike, what is all this"? Twilight said as she walked forward. 

"Hmm it's…," Spike quickly searched for a lame excuse. "It's for…umm..." 

"A research paper."

"Ogres and Ogliets"! Discord said as at the same time as Spike.

They both looked at each with the realization of their mistake.

"A research paper for Ogres and Ogliets!" They said in unison. 

Twilight blink in awe at the situation. She always was kinda weird about what would happen with the guys and that game. She was just gonna do the same thing she always did when she found herself in that situation.

"Well ok then, I'll just leave you two with whatever this is then." She quickly shut the door followed by the sound of hooves trotting away.

"Well, that was close. We gotta do this fast before she comes back," Spike said looking over the book again. 

Discord laid down on the circle as Spike directed him. Spike moved the items around him in an order that the book presented. 

Discord watched in curiosity at Spike's moments. He had to admit, Spike looked like he knew what he was doing. Now he still wasn't happy at where he was sure the situation was heading to. 

Discord looked up at Spike as he stood right above him." So, what's gonna happen here exactly?"

"Well, I'm gonna try to force you to have the dream again but this time it'll be far more in detail and I'll be able to see it". 

"Yup, kinda figured it was something like that." Discord's voice was less than stellar at what he knew was gonna be another joy ride for him." Well, here goes nothing I guess. Let's do this".

Discord was laying in the middle of all the candles and items. His eyes were closed as spike sat beside him. He looked through the book, skimming through the basic instructions. He then lit all the candles and made a small cut on his hand. 

The blood mixed with the candle to make a familiar blue flame. He used the flame to make a symbol on Discords head. It kinda looked like two fireballs colliding. He then put the same symbol on his head, and on the floor in front of him.

"Okay, Discord I need you to remember your dream", Spike said putting the blue flame on the floor. 

"Right cause I could forget a dream….. nightmare…..night terror like that," Discord made sure the sarcasm was strong in his voice. 

"You will be surprised how much one can forget in a dream." 

"Like what?"

"For starter, nopony really remembers the beginning of one."

"And how do you know I will remember more?"

"Just do it. I need you to remember every detail you can." 

Discord began playing back his dream in his head. He remembered every horrifying part of it which made it easy for him to playback.

"Ok, just keep doing that over and over. You feel yourself getting sleepy. You don't know if you're awake or asleep anymore." Spikes voice began to enter Discords mind. "You remember what it felt like, what the air smelled like, what you could hear. It all came together so it felt so real for you. Now I need you to hold on to that, and……… wake up!" 

Discord woke up to the sound of Spike clapping, but he wasn't in the castle anymore. 

He looked around and saw a crib. There were toys all over the floor. He noticed the crystal walls and crystal decorations.

"This is Flurry Heart's room." A familiar voice emerged. Discord Jumped back to see Spike standing right behind him." Well, what do you think Discord? Am I good or am I good?"

Discord calmed himself down. "Ok, didn't expect to see you here. I'm usually alone on these things."

Spike smiled. "Ya, I decided to tag along with this one." Spike started looking around.

"What did you do exactly?" Discord asked.

"I put you back into your dream. Well, it's more like you're exploring your dream cause it's not gonna repeat it just let us look around it." Spike thought to himself wondering if that explanation made sense.

"How'd you know how to do that?"

"Umm well I kinda might have used it before," Spike chuckled.

"Wait you've gone into some ponies dream before?"

"Umm…..that's not important right now Discord. What's important is that we find out what your dream meant."

Discord rolled his eyes as he could only imagen what story could be told. "Fear not to Spike your secrets is safe with me."

They made their way out to the hallway. They looked down both hallways trying to decide which way to take. Spike looked at Discord.

"Well, what do you think?" Spike asked.

"I don't know."

"Well you're the expert on this kinda thing," Spike said with a hit of sarcasm.

"I'm not an expert. I've just done this before. More than I would have liked."

"Well then do the same thing you did before." 

"I can't," Discord snapped back

"Why not?" Spike asked

"Cause before there was a clue or a hint". 

"Like wh…"

Before Spike could finish they both heard someone humming. They turned to see the purple-haired mare disappear around the corner at the end of the hallway.

Discord leaned down closer to Spike." Like that," he whispered.

"I...don't remember this..."

"Come on," Spike said.

They both took off running to the end of the hallway. When they arrived they were met by an old broken down wooden door. It looks as if it had been rotting for many years 

Discord turned the handle and slowly opened the door. A loud slow creak followed the door till it was fully opened. They looked at each other, neither wanting to go in. 

The room was not of the Crystal Empire, but somewhere that Discord nor Spike had not seen before. The room had metal shelves full of old run-down junk toys. There were spinning tops, balls, board games, card games, and wagons. Above all, there was nothing more prevalent than dolls.

The dolls were old wet and creepy. Some were clowns others were ballerinas. No matter what they were, they were all old raggedy creepy dolls. It was even more creepy that most of them didn't have eyes or limbs were missing. Empty eye sockets stared back at Discord and Spike.

They kept walking slowly as the scene made a shiver run down their spine. They hated the room and even a small gust of wind was enough to make both of them jump. 

They eventually came to a halt as they came to a wall. The wall had small holes in it. When they looked threw one of the bigger holes, close to the floor, they saw the purple-haired mare.

She was still humming the same tune as before. She was in a nursery holding something in her arms. It was hard to make it out but it was easy to guess that it was a baby. She sat it down inside a wooden crib she continued to hum as she held up a doll to the baby. 

The doll appeared to be special to the baby as it laughed and grabbed it. It held it tightly in its arms as it quickly fell asleep. The mare, which was the baby's mother, smiled as she watched her baby sleep. 

Before Spike or Discord could commit on anything, they heard a loud crash come from inside the room they were is. They both jumped back as they grabbed onto each other. They looked around but saw no disturbance of any kind.  They quickly jump back off each other. 

The sound of a mare crying could be heard. They look back at the hole to investigate. The mother mare was now laying on the floor balling her eyes out. She held onto the doll as she screamed out. Tears flooded the floor.

"What's wrong with her? What happened?" Spike asked.

"Look," Discord said as he moved Spike's head in another direction.

The site was horrible. The baby was now pinned against the ceiling by its hooves and its guts hung down almost to the floor. Blood rained down as the baby started to whimper.

Spike gasped as he grabbed his mouth. "Sweat Celestia" was all he could whisper.

"That's about as far from her as you can get actually," Discord whispered.

They looked back down to the mother mare who continued to cry. She kept crying out " My ba-baby, my sweet-eeet baby. She's my baby, my baby my baby my baaaaaaby." Her words were slurred as she stuttered. 

Spike started to cry as he backed up. Discord was soon to follow. They looked at each other in total shock.

"What happened here?" Spike cried.

"I'm not really for sure but it's beyond horrible," Discord said rubbing his head. 

"What are you doing?!" A voice yelled from behind the wall. 

They both looked threw the hole to see the mare staring right at them. She had blood flowing down her eyes as she stuck up in all directions. She didn't let them respond as she lunged at them breaking through the wall. Spike and Discord fell back as they screamed.

"She can't have her, that crystal heart pony, she's my baby. My Baby!!!" She screamed at the top of her lungs making an uncanny echo.

They both scream as her hair wrapped up Discord and lifted him into the air. Spike got up to run only to trip on a sign. He groaned in pain as he moved the sign out of his way, but he stopped when he saw what it said on it.

Discord couldn't scream as her hair choked him. He gagged as he tried to escape. She brought him face to face with her. She screamed in his face. Discord closed his eyes readying himself for the outcome.

"Discord wake up!" Spike yelled.

Discord opened his eyes back in Spike's room. The candles were all burned out and the items all but ash. Discord grabbed his chest as the fear was still all present. Spike fell back on the floor breathing heavily. They looked at each other in horror. 

Discord looked into the mirror that appeared with C.Ds face in it phone still in his paw. 

"I just got off the phone with the mortician. I told him we needed an extra-large coffin and apparently, we'll be needing an extra small one as well."
> A Voice In My Head
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

You are mine...come to me, Luna. I know you can hear me. You can't run from me.


Everything all around them was nothing but an empty void.

"Let me help you," Discord pleaded with her. Spike hid behind Discord's back as he too was crying. 

"We can all still walk away from this," Spike cried out to his lost friend.

"Don't make us hurt you."

"Sister, it doesn't have to be this way..." Celestia shouted. 

But the one who was hurt the most came from the eyes of an unexpected friend. He was never much of a cryer. He has been upset but never to the point where he cried. He never even cried about his parent's death. But seeing all that the two have been through and where they are at now, it killed him too much from inside. Seeing Luna in so much pain and too far gone from them and it was all his fault. He could have done something to stop her. He could have saved her but it was too late now. Everything and everyone would all soon be nothing but ashes and it was nopony else but his fault. His mistake was going to cost the lives of everyone and he could have prevented it if he wasn't too afraid to help her.

"Luna, please! Don't do this!" He began to tear up. 

Luna smiled venomously at her sister and her friends as they gave her pleading eyes. Her eyes turned into a red with green auras.   

"I've already made up my mind."

"LUNA, NO!!!"


Stop! Stop this now, brother. You can't have her. Luna, wake up. 

Wake up!!!!




My eyes opened as I woke up from a short nap. I told myself that I wouldn't sleep for that long. It was hard for the rest of the night. I was scared of what else could happen to Cadance. She was afraid that something bad would happen to Flurry. For what I saw, it seemed that it was Cadance that was in danger more than Flurry Heart. I stayed with Cadance at the hospital for the rest of the night and well into the next morning until I was sure it would be okay for me to leave her. I had to make sure that whoever that mare was wouldn't come back to hurt her again. 

What did she want with Cadance? Why was this happening now? I tried thinking of anything that could come to mind but nothing stood out to me. During the night, I took the time to draw a picture of the mare to the best that I could remember. I knew that she had to once be alive. Somepony had to have known her. At least one pony had to know her. 

Throughout the night I watched her sleep, wondering what I should tell her. She still didn't know that I had seen the mare as well. Spike said that I should tell her and now I was thinking that maybe he was right. Maybe if I had said something things last night would have been different.

I didn't think that I would be back in this mess again and so soon. It wasn't worse or anything but there was so much we didn't know. And now something was happening to me. I still didn't know what I did in the bedroom or last night at the hospital. I sent Discord a few letters to tell him what happened but so far he hadn't responded. I knew he was busy working with Spike so most likely he couldn't respond to my letter. It looked like I was on my own again.  

I met up with Celestia at the castle when it was time to lower the moon. None of us said anything to each other as we did our part in bringing the day to life. So much was going on with Cadance and we had no idea what to think about it. 

Slowly, to take the place of the moon in the sky, the sun gradually rose up from hiding behind the same horizon and into the sky, lighting up the land more and more as it rose. We both stayed quiet for a moment and basked the growing sunlight that cast upon us.

I was the first to speak up. "How much longer is Cadance going to stay in the hospital for?"

Celestia sighed a little. "The doctors want to keep her for another day."

"Okay," I noded. "She'll be fine?"

"I don't know, Luna. So much is happening and I don't know how to explain it all," Celestia said.

"You do believe her, right?" I asked.

"Of course I believe her. I know she would never make something like this up," Celestia answered me.

"So what are we going to do?"

Celestia thought to herself before looking up at the morning sky. "I don't know, Luna. I have no idea."

I shrugged. "I guess that's an answer."

"For now at least," Celestia nodded.  

I said nothing to that respond. I turned and trotted off. I was heading back to my room when I heard somepony calling my name. I turned around and saw Shining Armor trotting to me.

"Shining Armor?" I stopped trotting.

"Hey, umm how's Cadance? Celestia told me you stayed with her all night," He said.

"She was fine when I left and yes I did stay with her. I didn't want to leave her alone," I said.

"Do you know anything that Cadance is talking about?" He asked me. He seemed unsure of himself anymore. Like a part of him wanted to believe his wife but yet had troubles doing so. 

I handed him a picture of the mare that I drew. "I don't know a lot but I know this is the mare she was speaking of."

"What's this?" He asked as he grabbed the picture with his magic.

"I drew a picture of the mare based on how Cadance described her," I explained myself.

He examined the picture for a few seconds before giving it back to me.

"Do you have any idea who that maybe?" I asked, hopefully.

He shook his head. "No clue. I never have seen this pony before."

"I was afraid you were going to say that," I said sadly. Then a thought came to mind. 

"Wait, who's watching Flurry?" 

"Don't worry. Celestia has her," He answered. 

I gave a breath in relief. "Okay...good." 

"Anyway, thanks for staying with Cadance. It means a lot to me. She is really opening up to you."

"I'm glad to help her in any way that I can."

He smiled and started to trot off. "I'm going to go back to the hospital to check on her. I'll see you later."

"Okay. I'll be in my room if there is anything you wish to discuss with me," I said.

"Alright. If I find out anything, I will let you know," Shining Armor said.

I watched him turn the corner and disappeared. I trotted back to my room. I opened the door and went into my room and sent one more letter to Discord to see if he would write back to me. I waited for a few minutes for him to sent a letter back to me. Sadly, one never came to me. I sighed. I should not have been that surprised. Even with Discord knowing the truth about me, I still felt alone. He told me that he would be there if I needed him. Well, where was he now? I guessed it was just another empty promise that was given to me. Nopony could help me. I had no one to go too. I hugged my knees and looked at the picture I drew of the mare. 

"Why do you want Flurry Heart so badly?" I asked knowing very well nopony could answer to me. 

My ears perk up and I began to feel weird. At this point, I already knew what it meant. Now I can't explain this feeling all that well. But you know when a pony says "I feel like I'm not alone" when nopony else is there with them? Well, it's somewhat like that but only stronger.  

"It seems someone is having baby troubles again," A voice whispered in my ear sounding worried. 

I turned to the source of the noise, raising myself from my bed and stretched for a second before finally giving it my full attention, smiling slightly. He stood back the bed smiling back at me before laying down right next to me on the bed. I laid my head on his shoulder.

"You really need to stop doing that?" I said to him.

"Stop what?" He looked confused at me.

"Coming to me at the worse possible times."

His deep, quiet laughter vibrated through his chest as he laughed at me. "I'm your father. It's my job to do that."

I rolled my eyes and scoffed softly. "I wish you could have done your job when you were alive."

"You think I don't wish that?" He asked.

I sat up from the bed and stared down at him. "You would have been with us all those years if you did." 

He rubbed his eyes. I couldn't tell if he was wiping tears or simply just rubbing them. "You're still mad at me for that?"

"Of course I am still mad. Who wouldn't be?" I snapped.  

"And yet here you are still talking to me," He pointed out.

"I guess I was hoping for some closure," I said. 

"And have you gotten it?" He asked. 

I slammed myself back onto the bed. My head slamming hard against the pillow. "No, I haven't. It's kinda hard too when you don't know what you're talking to is real or just another voice in your head."

He nodded his head and chuckled. "Fair enough. I'll give you that one."

"Thank you. I just want to be normal."

"No offense but were you ever?" He asked. I gave him a mad look.

"You know what I mean," I snapped.

He laughed. "I do. Makes me wonder, though," He put a hoof to his chin."How does Cadance feel knowing what she's seeing could be in her head?"

"I know how she feels," I said.

"You do?"

"I feel that almost every day. Mostly when I talk to you," I paused. "Sorry."

"No. No, you're fine. I mean you're right. She has every right to feel crazy right now. And yet...you know that she isn't. Something you always wanted before." He gave me a hard glare.

I groaned. "Father, I get it. I know what you're doing."

"Then why don't you do something about."

"What can I do?" I asked.

He gave me a look that was saying "You know what."

I groan loudly. I got off from the bed and went by the window. "Fine, I'll tell Cadance." 

"Good girl but why are you afraid?"

"All those years of being called crazy and believing it...everypony thinking I wasn't good enough because...I can't go through that again. I won't. Even if I have to go through it alone."

He sighed sadly. "Luna..."

I turned back at him. "Yes, father."

"Don't be mad at your friend. This is all new to him too. Give him time."

"You mean Discord?" I asked. I stared at the sky as the morning birds sang their songs welcoming the new day. "I know. It's just I can't do this alone. I don't want to."

"You won't be alone. Trust me," He said.  He smiled at me. "You're going to have to put a little faith in your friends again."

He sat up and went by the window. He put an arm around me and hugged me. I once again laid my head on his shoulder. It had been a long time since we were like this. It felt different not being mad at him. We could have been like this when he was alive. We should have done more. I should have said more. Behave more. I should have said that I loved him more. Maybe then things would have turned out differently. Maybe he would have started to believe it and see how much we cared about him. He could have helped me when I needed him the most and I could have helped him when nopony else would.   

"I know it's hard for you. You didn't deserve any of that. But I know it will get better. I promise." He kissed me on the forehead. 

"And if it doesn't?" I challenged.  

"Then...you're fucked."

I smiled and laughed at that. He always knew what to say to me.

"Oh my. You said a bad word," I said in a fake hurt child voice.

He laughed. "I'm dead. I'm sure the grim reaper wouldn't mind me saying a few harsh words."

"Me either...Me either..."

I noticed that the spirit was no longer by my side. He always left too soon from me. I was used to that though. I went back on the bed. I laid my head on my pillow and sighed. Why couldn't I be normal? I knew how to control this but I didn't want it. But there was nothing that could be done about that.

The bedroom door then flew opened as Shining Armor ran into my room. I say up quickly. He looked like something had scared him.  

"Luna, we have a problem."

"Shining Armor, what seems to be the problem?"

"It's Cadance. I went to go check on her but she wasn't in her room," He said frightened.  

"She's not at the hospital?" I asked, confusingly.


"Luna...Cadance is missing."
> A Chase Down Below
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Spike got off the floor and wiped himself off. He rubbed his eyes and cracked his back. He then ran over to a shelf in his room leaving Discord there to watch him, not knowing once again what he was up too. He pushed a small hidden button on his wall which opened a small secret cubby hole on the wall. This was where Spike kept his most prized and secrets at so that nopony including Twilight could find or know about it.

I guess even a dragon has secerts Discord thought to himself. 

"Spike?" Discord asked as he watched Spike. "What in Equestria was that?"

"It was your dream Discord,'' Spike answered quickly, not even turning his head. 

"But you were there with me. How'd you even do that?" Discord asked standing up.

"I started reading up on a lot of dream "techniques" even since our last incident. You can thank Luna for that one."

Discord shooked his head in disbelief. He knew that Spike had done a lot reading about this kind of stuff for a while now but he didn't realize how far he went. "So that was you in there? Like it wasn't a dream version of you or anything?" Discord walked up to Spike. 

Spike pouted loudly. "Yes, unfortunately, it was. And for the record, that was the most horrible experience I have ever had. Don't expect me to do that again."

"Trust me when I say I never even expected myself to do that again, yet here we are." Discord through his hands in the air. He groaned at the thought as he snapped his fingers using his magic to make a table on the ceiling. He sat down on one of the chairs, which was a giant frog, and started eating an unknown substance. That Spike didn't dare to ask what it was. 

"What are you doing anyway?" Discord asked.

"Well, clearly there is a story to be told about everything we just saw. We need answers." Spike continued to look throw his cubby hole.

"No argument there. Do you recognize anything we saw, cause I sure didn't." Discord continued to eat.

Spike shook his head as he wasn't sure he had ever seen anything like that. He was always kind of in the background. Seeing the dream first hand was a new and rather horrifying experience. He knew it wasn't going to easy seeing what Luna went through when going to pony's dream but he didn't expect it to be that real to him. 

How do you do it, Luna?  Spike thought to himself.

Discord took a final swallow before he spoke again, "So how do we explain anything we saw. I didn't recognize where we were or anything." 

"Neither did I but I did see a sign that could point us to a start." Spike finally pulled out a notebook from the cubby." I need to write it down before I forget it."

"Forget what? What did the sign say?" Discord asked

"That's the thing. I don't know. It wasn't any symbol or language I've ever seen," Spike said as he continued to write it down.

Discord snapped his fingers, making a cup appear. He drank the cup before speaking. "So what makes you think it was anything important?"

At that moment Spike got done with what he was writing. He looked back up to Discord and showed him what he had done.

The picture was clearly rushed but small marks and labels painted what it was supposed to look like. It was seven dolls in a line with their hooves locked together. They had symbols above their heads. Then there was some kind of writing at the bottom. One of the scribbled drawn dolls was circled green. Discord flinched at the unusually drawing. He had no idea how this was supposed to help them. It just made him more confused at what he was actually looking at.

"Well, this looks... awful," Discord scoffed.

"Well, you see the one I circled," Spike asked pointing to it.

"Yes, so what? What about it?" Discord snapped.

"That's the doll the mare was holding. I'm guessing it was her baby's doll."

Discord looked at the picture remembering the scene. The mare crying holding on to the doll as her baby was hung from the ceiling. It's insides hanging. It wasn't much to go on but it was a start.

"So what do you have in mind? How does this help us?"

"I have no idea what the sign says, but if we find out then it could help us put us in the right direction. Plus I might have an idea who could possibly read this."

Discord smirked. He already knew where this was leading up to. "Do I know who and how?

Spike chuckled with guilt.





The idea was pretty stupid, but it was an idea and it did go out exactly how they expected it to go. Caught by dragons, beaten by dragons and kidnapped by dragons. Just another normal day of sneaking into Shredder's bar. There stood Shredder looking down at Discord and Spikes beaten down bodies. He sighed. He thought he wouldn't have to deal with those two so soon. 

"I thought that after the last time you two would have figured out that trying to sneak in was generally a bad idea."

"Yes, we know, but we needed the fastest way to see you and this turned out to be it," Spike said cracking his back." We need your help badly."

"You should know that I'm a very busy creature. You can't expect me to drop everything to come to your aid," Shredder said.

"No, we don't need anything big like that. Nothing like last time. All we need your help on is reading something." Discord explained hoping that would convince him enough to help them. 

"You need my help reading? Reading what exactly? I figured you were old enough to read Discord," He teased Discord with a calm voice.

"Well, there's a lot you don't know about me. Like the fact that I don't read gibberish," Discord said as he held up Spike's drawing. 

Shredder grabbed it as he looked at both of them. He really didn't want to get too much involved. He had too much on his mind at the time to add anything else to his agenda. However, he knew if they needed help that meant Luna must be dealing with something not alive as well. He took a seat at his desk and looked over at the chaos that was the drawing. It came from Discord he thought at first sight. It was hard to make out everything and he couldn't make sense of it. He did, however, recognize the strange writing on the drawing. 

"So can you read it? Spike asked.

"I mean Discord needs to work on his drawing skills, but yes I can read this." He pointed out the strange language." This is what you two were asking about, correct?"

"First of all," Discord said standing up." Yes, that's what we're here for. And second of all, I'll have you know that I am an exceptional artist. Spike drew that."

"Oh, I see. " He turned to Spike and gave him a friendly smile. "Well then, not bad Spike. For being completed in a short amount of time, it's rather densely drawn," Shredder said enjoying Discords annoyance.

Discord rolled his eyes." Ya, ya, whatever. So can you tell us what it said or not?" Discord scuffed. 

"Of course I am able to. To answer your question, it's just an advertisement for a Smiley Sally Doll."

"What in Equestria is that?" asked Spike.

"Without going into details, it's just a really old doll brand that shut down a very long time ago. They used to be popular for their unbelievable stories."

"Like what?" Spike asked. 

Shredder opened a drawer and pulled out a book. It was covered in dust from age and not being used. He blew on the book causing the dust to be blown toward Spike and Discord. Discord coughed as Spike covered his nose so he wouldn't breathe the dust in. When Shredder thought the book was cleaned enough, he opened it and turned to a page in which the dolls were shown on. He set the book on his desk for Discord and Spike to see. 

"One of the most well-known ones is that a witch made the dolls to cruse any bad parent or child. If a parent abused a child in any wrong way, they would suffer a consequence. Some were more damaging than others. Others say that the dolls could be controlled by the spirits of past dead children. In fact, some even say that they were made with a dark spell so that a parent could control the emotions of the child," Shredder told them. "Of course those are just stories. None were ever proven to be true. They are no longer made however they're quite valuable now."

Spike and Discord looked at each other. They knew that it was the type of doll that the mare had. The problem was they didn't quite know how that could help them.

"Well, that doesn't exactly help our current situation," Discord said starting to walk away.

"Wait, Discord maybe it could," Spike said turning to Shredder. "Where does this language come from?"

"Not in Equestria. There are certain places just outside of Equestria that do however speak it."

"See, Dizzy, if we go there then maybe it can lead us somewhere."

Discord rolled his eyes. "I told you before not to call me that."

Shredder held his hand put. "I must warn you though, these places aren't very friendly for Equestrians," Shredder said getting up from his chair. 

Discord put his hands in a snap position. "We dealt with those before. I think we can handle it. Just tell us exactly where we're heading."

He put both hands on his head as if he was getting a headache from all of it. "Wait, seriously? You are willing to get up and leave so unprepared with the lack of any proper information just like that?"

"Absolutely, it's not like Cadence has limited time and is in danger right now?" Discord said sarcastically.

"I don't know, Discord. I'm just not looking forward to traveling out of my home to an unfamiliar place," Spike spoke was a scared tone and agreed with Shredder.

"Ya, I feel the same trust me. But I don't want things to hit the fan. Let's just go and get back. It'll be easy and quick. We do need to get back to Luna soon. She does need our help too."

"Just as I figured," Shredder said to himself as he sat back down.

Spike thought about it and sighed. "Okay, let's do this."

The trip was easy and quite fast. Discord simply snapped his finger all the way out of Equestria. They ended up in a desert, hot and void. The town they were looking for lay just way out in the desert. 

It wasn't a charming town. Shredder warned them that there was a lot of trading and selling. The problem was that people would try to sell them as well. There wasn't any laws or rules or anything. It was filled with stands and shops from head to toe. Everywhere they looked, something was being sold.

The houses were plain, colorless, and they stacked up high on top of each other. In the distance they saw a large old wooden windmill, it was charming. 

Spike didn't like the scenery at all. He was speechless and very uncomfortable. It was very different from his home town and it made him feel out of place, like a polar bear in the jungle. Discord, however, was perfectly fine. Sure it wasn't Equestria but at his age, he had seen the ins and outs of just about anything. He used to dry old crusted places. He knew the horrors that Equestria was fortunate enough to live without. He felt right in place.

Surely many there would have loved to get their hands on either of them. A growing dragon could've gone for a lot out there. Discord was practically a diamond wrapped in gold and silver served in a giant platinum bowl. He was very valuable, and he wasn't oblivious to it at all. His magic served as his means of protection though, many were very clever there and could've possibly found a way around it. Of course, he too knew this, so he was watching every creature closely. He was looking for con artists, the smart ones that would have posed a threat to them.

Shredder had given them a bit of instruction on where they would want to look. He had told them about an old store that had been around when he had lived there. The store's sign had the same language written on it, so it made it easier to locate. 

They looked around observing the "beautiful" cute. Many creatures took interest in them.

"How much for the winged lizard?" One creature asked.

"I'll trade you this snake for the chameleon." Asked a random griffin. 

Discord has been offered drugs for a bit of his magic. He had respectfully declined. It was nothing compared to when some creature asked him if he wanted "a good time" for a price. He once again respectfully declined.

They weren't in Equestria anymore. This was the badlands. 

"Alright, where exactly are we heading Discord? I can't take it anymore. If even one more creature wants to buy me then I'm gonna start throwing pun…. Fire."

"I thought it would be easier to find our way around here. There's no labels or signs or anything. How does anyone navigate around here?"

"Well, I bet someone would be more than glad to tell us, for a small "donation". You could cover that right?"

Discord rolled his eyes knowing that it was the truth." Ya ya, let's just go and get this over with." Discord scuffed.

They walked up to a random stand where a lizard-like creature was selling food. It wasn't normal food, however. All of it was fresh, like freshly killed fresh. Body parts were spread out all over the table. Many were hanging. 

"You two lads looking for a decent meal?" The lizard asked." We have griffin, chicken, alligators, sharks, snakes, buffaloes, and for are special we have unicorns."

Discords eyes went wide open. He was discussed. The lizard put some unicorn mean on the table. It was more than enough to make Spike run away to throw up. Discord froze staring at the carcass of the poor purple unicorn before him. He had to hold his mouth to help with his nausea.

Discord looked at a mirror behind the stand. In the mirror stood C.D who still held a phone. 

"So the mortician has it all set up. The problem is that he's not sure how you're gonna get buried once you two are in your coffins. He offered to help put your coffins into your graves himself, for a small "donation" of course. What do you say, Dizzy?"
> A Strange Place
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

They were in a strange land, with strange people, but most importantly strange food. 

"Well, this is just, awful." Discord complained." The food here sucks!"

"Seriously Discord," spike said angrily." That's what you're worried about right now? Not the fact that some creature just tried to serve us our own friends?"

"Yes I admit that it was less than pleasing to have to see that image, but it's just like eating any other thing to these creatures. I'm upset because the rest of our options sucked. We've come a long way to get answers. The least this town could offer in return is a decent meal." Discord responded as he looked through a menu he made appear." Looks like we'll have to settle with a crummy alligator."

"No thanks, I'm really not hun…." Spikes growling stomach interrupted him." Well actually I am hungry but It doesn't matter, because after seeing that I'm not trusting anything here."

"Oh nice, this is where I come in." Said the French narrator from Spongebob Squarepants.

"Wait for what how…." Spike didn't even get to finish his sentence.

"Five minutes later." The French narrator narrated. 

"Dang, these alligator tacos are the bomb." Discord murmured as food feels out of his mouth. 

After everything that had been going on Spike and Discord really hadn't had time to rest or be at ease for a while. Being able to sit down, kinda relax, and actually eat something was a  blessing for them. 

Spike had felt much better after getting something in his belly. Even he had to admit that the tacos were amazing. He had rarely seen an alligator, but he had known quite a bit about them. What he didn't know was how delicious they were. 

They were still at the stand were the gruesome unicorn scene had occurred, but it had passed and pike was way too hungry to not eat.

Spike had ordered seven tacos while Discord had ordered twelve. They scarfed all of them down in nearly ten minutes. For drinks, they had gotten some kind of red nectar drink. It was sweet yet smooth and light like water. It was the nectar of the gods. 

"Ahhhhhh," spikes relaxed voice echoed."I feel way better after that. That was one of the best meals I've ever had."

"Yup, that hit the spot," Discord said finishing up his drink. 

"See what did I tell you two?" The lizard creature asked with pride."You want a decent meal you come here. Nowhere better to go when you're starving." The lizard cared a strong particular accent."Others will charge big bucks for trash, but I sell you good food for a good price."

"Yes, you do. No argument there." Discord said with a burp. He snapped his fingers and a bag full of gems and diamonds appeared." Keep the change, my good sir. Bad idea." Discord snapped his fingers and a small black dragon appeared."He'll help you out from getting robbed. Trust me I pity whoever tries."

"Well, I gotta admit that's just what I needed." Spike said with clear relief."So, what's next on our to-do list?"

"Well, I asked Trench about where we could find this store that Shredder was talking about. He said it was located right next to the big windmill."

Spike looked up at Discord." Wait who's Trench?" Spike asked.

"The cook who just made us the best meal ever. Now pay attention please," Discord said in a rush." He said the store had closed down some time ago but it's still there just collecting dust."

"Next to the windmill?" Spike said pointing to the obvious large windmill in the distance." Well, that's comforting."

They made their way to the windmill with surprisingly little resistance. Sure they had a few jerks stop them but as soon as Discord would make Spike turn to is awesome looking unrealistic giant knight form, they were quick to back off. Spike the Knight was to be feared. 

They arrived at the old broken down the store. It was covered in rotten wood and moss. The store wasn't collecting dust, it was straight up hoarding it. It had been neglected for many years.

Strange drawings were lining the outside of the building. Broken windows greeted them at the entrance. Discords eye was caught by the door that was full of scratches. Claw marks scared the floor.

"Well, this is the place," Spike said with a nervous gulp. 

"Charming," Discord responded.

They walked inside the store. A familiar sight greeted them. Large shelves made a maze in front of them. The shelves were covered from top to bottom with old toys, especially old raggedy dolls. 

They both got uneasy as memories of Discords night terror came rushing back to them. They could remember everything from the dream and the store was a perfect match.

"Well at least we know we have the right place," Discord whispered with regret.

The very walls seemed to hold anguish. The rusty streaks down the wall seemed to tell a sad story within them. Something dreadful had happened there, and the very atmosphere reflected it. 

The building was overall in good shape. It was just old. Rusty metal, rotten wood, and old smelly toys, but there was nothing that quite suggested a tragic event had taken place. Besides the toys uncanny ability to make their spines quiver, there wasn't much to go on.

"Well this place has to be the creepiest store I've ever been to," Spike said as he picked up one of the dolls." These things are just made of creepiness. I can see why nobody wants to go here. 

"Ya, I'm sure that's the only reason why, "Discord said as his claw went across a strange yet familiar symbol.

"A pentagram," They both said in near unison. 

They both were fully aware of the "eyes" looking down their backs. The "eyes" that had not looked away since they had walked into the store. 

The pentagram was very carefully carved into the wall and was even glazed over. Discord noted the horrific fact that it was unusually hot. The rest of the walls were pretty cold, so it raised a clear red flag. Discord, however, chose to ignore the fact and decided to keep it to himself. A part of him felt that if he didn't say anything then perhaps nothing more would come of it

Looking around some more, they eventually came to the wall were Discords dream had taken off. They both could not have forgotten the treacherous sideshow that was what seemed to have been some sort of glimpse of the past. 

The room was more put together than it had been in the dream. That was probably mostly because a deranged mare hadn't attacked them, yet. 

"Hey Discord," spike called from across the room." Come check this out".

Discord walked over to Spike as guesses ran through his head on what he was being summoned for. He tried to expect the worst so if it was something gruesome he wouldn't have been too surprised.

"What is it?" He asked with hesitation.

"Does this look familiar to you?"

Spike held up a sign that "somewhat resembled" his drawing. It was clear that Spike had severely rushed to jot down all the details he could. He had missed many details as the sign was decorated on a ridiculous level. 

Spike held it up to his drawing. The major details matched up decently well. The biggest of all was the writing. Spike had perfectly copied nearly half of the words on the sign. It was an impressive feat in itself.

"Yup, we're definitely in the right place." Discord said 

"Well I remember tripping on this so, I know right where we had our "encounter"." Spike didn't seem so thrilled. 

He walked over to the wall that had a familiar little hole in it. They both looked at each other, preparing themselves for what might have been another nightmare. 

They looked through the hole and to their surprise, it was just another room full of toys and old shelves. It was not at all what Discord and Spike had expected. They had expected a terrible nightmarish site, but it was quite the opposite. The room had no signs from Discords dream. 

"So now what?" Asked Discord." What exactly are we looking for here?

Spike continued to look around. He didn't know what they were looking for. The whole thing had been a wild guess, but he knew that Discord's dream had to have to lead them there for a reason. 

"I don't exactly, to be honest," Spike said still not looking at Discord. 

"Well, then I have no idea…" Discord was cut off by laughter.

They both had frozen in their tracks as they turned towards a dark long hallway. It too was lined with shelves but the laughter only added to the disturbingness. Neither of them said a word as they were too scared. 

The veil of silence was only pierced when one of the laughter could be heard again in the same direction. Spike had begun to walk towards the hallway.

"What are you doing?" Discord whispered aggressively.

"I guess I'm gonna try to check it out."

"Are you kidding me? That's like the worst thing you could do. I think this is a clear sign that we should get the heck out of here."

Discord paranoia was obvious and made total sense to Spike, but it didn't change his mind. He was there to find answers which meant that he was probably gonna have to get his claws dirty. 

"Of course it's the worst thing to do," Spike admitted. "But that's exactly why I'm doing it."

"Hah?" Discord responded.

"I've kind of got the picture that if we were gonna have answers then we were gonna have to jump right into the eye of the storm. So, this seems like our only option." 

Discord began to follow Spike. As bad of an idea it was, it was the only thing that seemed like it wasn't gonna make the whole trip a waste of time. With a large gulp, he started walking down the hallway. 

Discord snapped his fingers at his side just the check the obvious. His magic didn't work, shocker. That confirmed what he already knew. 

Spike's attention was drawn to a door that had many scratches on it. He could see that bugs were crawling in and out from underneath the door. He slowly opened the door.

Discords attention was drawn to a strange doll that sat on one of the shelves next to a black door. He picked up the doll as it somehow seemed familiar. He thought as hard as she could. He searched through his memories for several moments until he found a match. It was the doll that the mother mare had in his dream.

Spike had walked into the strange room. He discovered that the door didn't want to stay open. It was heavy and every time he tried to get it to stay open it was quick to shut again. After a few tries, he managed to get it to settle about halfway.

He looked around the room. It was full of empty boxes and course more shelves and creepy toys. Luckily there weren't any dolls, mostly old metal toys, like spinning tops. What stood out was the stairs that led into a dark abyss

Discord was starting to think that it was the same doll and it raised many questions for him. The laughter could be heard again, but this time it was much closer almost in his ear. He jumped back as he looked down both ends of the hallway. It was empty.

"Spike?" Discord called. "Spike?!"

Spike was looking down the stairs trying to see if he could see anything. It didn't take long before he realized that is was gonna be in vain. As he got ready to head back, the door had latched shut. Spike gasped in surprise as he ran to the door. He pulled on it as she tried to turn the knob. It too was in vain.

"Discord help!" The little dragon cried. "Discord opened the door. Please, I'm stuck."

Discord called for Spike but there was no answer. Not even a peep of noise, except for one. The laughter came again. This time it was followed by a black shadow rushed past the hallway. Discord went into full panic mode as he realized that something horrible was unfolding and once again he was alone.
> A Horrible Place
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Alone, a feeling Discord knew all too well. He hated the feeling. It was the one thing he most scared of. He feared abandonment more than death itself. At that moment he knew that same old feeling once again.

Spike was nowhere in sight. He stood frozen in the middle of the hallway. He stared down the hallway trying to grasp the situation. The shadow rushed past him once again. He jumped a little as he started walking forward. He knew that the situation was heading to a very familiar place. 

Spike had given up on the door and Discord hearing him. It didn't make sense he had only walked away a couple of feet to the room. Discord should easily be able to hear him. Although nothing in that moment made any luck of sense. He walked over to the dark staircase.

It seemed to have no end. It just went off to an endless abyss. He hesitated a lot before finally giving in. He began to slowly walk down the spiral stairs.

Discord had walked to the end of the hallway to see a large red door. Old and nearly hanging on the hinges, it held its fair share of history. It brought back some memories that weren't all too pleasant. None the less Discord knew that sometimes (more than often) history repeated itself. He opened the door to another large room with shelves.

Spike followed the stairs to a large room. It was by far the most horrifying room he had ever seen. Mannequins were filling the entire room. The mannequins represented a vast amount of different creatures. None of them appeared to be ponies but he did recognize a few that were dragons. He stood frozen in his tracks as he had regretted his life choices.

Discord was regretting his life choices as he walked through the room. He normally would have been smart and walked out of the building right away. At last, he had gone there for answers and he wasn't going to leave without them. His drive was put to the test as he heard the sound of claws scraping against the ground.

Spike jumped back as he saw one of the mannequins move. He started walking back up the stairs, but a voice stopped him in his tracks. 

"Why have you come here? No one ever comes to this place?"

Spike turned to see where the voice had come from. It was soft and light. It sounded like it came from a child. Spike searched around the room for any signs of life. His gaze froze and fixed itself on a little doll that was under a very suspicious light.

"Hello," Spike called. "Who's there?"

Spike was hoping that nothing would answer his rhetorical question, but life never really worked out like that. The doll began the walk forward. Spike gasped as he turned to run up the stairs. He was halted by a baby, a very familiar baby. 

Discord was horrified at the sound of claws scraping against the walls. One of the toys turned on and started playing a chime. He started to walk backward, deciding that it was time to leave. He tried to open the door only to find that it was stuck. He pulled and pulled on it to no prevail. He started snapping his fingers just hoping he would get lucky. It was all in vain.

As he tried to pull on the door something had touched his head. It ran down his face and onto the floor. Discord rubbed the remaining of it with his paw. He looked at it only to come to the horrible conclusion that it was slobber. He looked up to make another horrible discovery. The door wasn't locked. Something was holding it closed.

Spike was face to face with the baby pony he and Discord had seen in the dream. The one that was hanging from the ceiling with its insides, well not in its insides. 

"You at-large, th-the," Spike could hardly speak. 

"Why did you come to this place?" Asked the little pony.

Spike stood there staring at the pony for a moment before he mustered the will to speak.  " I-I came here for you. I want to know what happened to you."

The pony's eyes went wide. She looked at Spike in curiosity.

"What do you mean? I have always been here," The pony said.

"No, you haven't. You're trapped here but there was a time when you weren't." Spike said with caution." What happened to you?

The pony looked down to the ground. It walked forward past spike. The pony walked over to the doll and picked it up with its mouth. Spike walked over to the pony. He started to realize that the pony wasn't there to hurt him. Perhaps it was just that it had been a long time since any creature had walked into that place. 

"How long have I been stuck here?" The pony asked.

"Honestly I have no idea," Spike replied with regret.

The pony sat the doll in front of pike. Spike picked it up looking up to the pony." What's this for?

"My mother was going to give that to me on my birthday, but she was never able to."

"Because you…"

"Yes because I…." The pony was unable to finish." She always wanted me to get rid of my old doll but I loved it so much. That doll your holding was going to be her way of finally getting me to let it go."

Spike looked up at the pony then back at the doll. He got how the pieces came together. The doll from the dream was the doll the pony was telling him about. The doll that the mother mare was holding as she bawled her eyes out. The questions that still stood was what exactly happened to the baby pony, where was the doll, and how did it all connect to the mare that was attacking Cadence. 

"What happened to your doll?" Spike asked.

The pony shrugged its shoulders. "I guess my mother kept it, but I don't know where she is."

Spike knew the sad answer that she probably wasn't alive anymore. While he wasn't sure about it he knew that the odds weren't stacked in her favor.

Spike then had to ask the hard question. He thought hard about his choice in words before speaking.

"How exactly did you...umm you know... passed away?" Spike asked at a very slow and steady pace. 

The pony actually didn't seem to mind the question. It just looked up at spike and sighed. "I really don't remember to be honest. It's been so long since I woke up in this place. All of the memories from before have faded away now."

"I'm so sorry this happened to you," Spike said almost crying. "I wish I knew how to help you."

"It's okay," the pony said with a small smile." I'm just glad that someone has actually come to care about me. I thought everyone had forgotten about me."

Spike put the doll back on the floor. He started thinking, trying to put the pieces together. He started to wonder, what if the mare that was attacking Cadence was the pony's mother. He had never seen what Cadence had seen, but what Discord's dream could have been the true origin of the mare. All of it seemed to be fitting together.

"You should go now," the pony said picking up the doll. "My father won't be happy to see that we have visitors."

"Your father?" Spike asked.

"Ya, he's trapped here too. He was with me when I passed. It's the one thing I do remember. He's always mad though. Also screaming wishing he could leave this place. The last time someone from the outside came in here he hurt them badly. I don't think they ever left."

"Wait wait?" Spike asked in horror." Well, where is he."

Discord screamed at the creature that stood before him. It crawled on four legs and had a long tongue. It looked semi like a pony with no skin and its rib cage showing. Its skull mostly showed with bits of flesh still hanging on

Discord ran away from the door as the monster jumped at him. Bearly missing him it slid on the floor and crashed into the wall. Discord continued to run, jumping over shelves and a large wooden chest. The monster ran crashing through the shelves.

Discord eventually made it to another door. It completely fell on the floor as Discord rushed passed it. The creature continued in pursuit. Discord almost tripped over every shelf on the way.

"I don't know," The little pony said. "He always hangs around upstairs."

Spike then got the idea that perhaps while he wasn't in danger, there might have been a clear reason why Discord didn't respond. 

"I'm sorry but I have to go. My friend might be in trouble with your father," Spike said as he started running towards the stairs.

"If you see him then use your breath. If you wonder why it's so dark up there, it's because the light hurts us," The pony responded as it played with the doll. 

"Light, hmm?" Spike smiled." Now that's something they can't take away from me."

Spike ran up the stairs as fast as his young dragon legs could. It surely seemed as if there were double the amount of stairs as he went up them then when he first went down them. Spike was gasping for air when he got to the top. He limped to the door nearly falling on the floor. He turned the knob and pushed on it. To his surprise, it actually opened. He popped his little head out into the hallway. There was nothing site. He walked out into the hallway and began to run as he called for Discord.

Discord's heart was pounding as he ran for his life. The monster was still in pursuit of him. He was astonished by how large the building truly was. There seemed to be no end as he ran past shelf after shelf. He eventually got far enough away from it that the creature lost sight of him. Discord look advantage of that by sliding under a shelf.

He looked around in search of the monster as it looked for him. He covered his body with dolls and other toys. When the creature approached him, it didn't even notice that he was there. It walked right over him. Discord waited till he saw it get farther and farther from him. 

He quickly but quietly uncovered himself and got up. He ran in the opposite direction and straight to the door he originally came from.

He tripped over one of the shelves. That's all it took for the monster to locate him. It jumped up to the ceiling and crawled over to him. Discord screamed as he got up to run.

Just then Spike barged through the door to see Discord running and a horrifying monster chasing him. 

"Discord!" Spike yelled." Get down!"

"What?" Discord yelled back." I'm not stopping!"

"Just get down, now!" Spike yelled as he sucked in some air.

Discord quickly got the hint and jumped to the ground. Spike let out a large flame from his mouth. The flame flew several feet and quickly reached the monster. It shrieked as it jumped back. It roared in pain as it covered its eyes. Then it jumped up through the ceiling and disappeared. 

Discord looked up at the hole in the ceiling and then back at Spike.

"How did you know that would work?" Discord asked as he started shaking.

"Someone told me," Spike said as he sat down to finally catch his breath. 

Discord looked up at spike in utter confusion. He had so many questions racing through his head. He had called for spike many times all in vain. Yet Spike stood there telling him that he had been talking to someone else as Discord was being chased by a demon.

"Where in the name of sweat Celestia have you been?!" Discord asked almost shouting.

"You know I was gonna ask you the same exact thing." Spike said as he stood up." I see you met a new friend."

"I hear you met a new friend." 

"Ya about that. Maybe we should both explain how we came across our new friends."
> A Familiar Place
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Spike was ready with the light. He and Discord were back to back with each other. They were being stalked by a monster and it was hungry for blood.

They had spent a great deal of time explaining each other's situation. In the end, though they didn't have much time to process everything. The monster was close by and it was waiting to strike.

"So you're saying that this thing is the father?" Discord asked, clearly not want to believe it.

"Ya apparently," Spike responded but not looking at Discord.

They needed the light to fight him. Discord was right next to Spike as he was the only weapon they had. They went back to back so it couldn't sneak upon them. 

Spike kept his face forward ready to fire at anything that moved. A few movements from bugs nearly made him shot his fire.

"So what do we do cause now all we are is sitting ducks right now," Discord proclaimed. 

"Well, light is the only thing that can hurt him so that's at least a good thing," Spike said as he picked up a piece of wood from the ground. "We need to get out of here."

"And how do you propose we do that. Some of us can't breathe fire without our magic."

Spike smiled at the fact that he was more powerful than Discord for the split moment." Yes, I know I am the most useful right now but you don't need magic to hold a torch."

Discord turned to see Spike holding the piece of wood that was wrapped in old rags. Spike blew fire at it and set it ablaze. The light ruined itself across the room as it looks dominion over the dark. Discord smiled as the light quite literally warmed his heart. 

"No offense to Luna or anything," Discord said with a chuckle."But the Dark can seriously suck. The light is just a blessing."

The creature jumped at them only to be pushed back by the sharp piercing swords of light. The fire felt as if it was right up against its skin. The creature hissed and retreated unable to bear the bullets of light be shot at it. 

Discord and Spike ran through the store being cautious of every crevice that could've held darkness. The creature was stalking them hiding in the darkness and shadows created by the light.

"Watch it!" Spike yelled as he caught Discord as he almost fell down a large hole.

"Where did that come from?!" Discord asked as he continued to run.

"I don't know. Why don't you go back and ask it?" Spike responded in sarcasm.

They continued to run through the store that seemed twice as large as before. Many obstacles lay in their path. Spike searched the area trying to remember where the exit was. Discord kept looking behind them to see where the creature was. 

The creature jumped out in front of them and run up to Spike. Discord threw his torch right at its face. It was inches from Spike's face before it was hit by the piercing flames. It shrieked as it clawed at its face. 

"Sweat Celestia that was close!" Spike screamed as he checked himself for any wounds. 

Discord picked up his torch and continued to run. "Where are we going? This place doesn't seem to end." Discord stopped and did a 360 turn.

Spike looked around realizing that Discord was right. They weren't getting anywhere running around clueless. 

"Discord, I need you to throw me up into the air."

"Wait why."

"So I can see where the stupid exit is. Otherwise, we're gonna die here."

Discord didn't hesitate much. He picked Spike up off the ground and threw him into the air. Spike went a good 10 15 feet up. He quickly looked around for any signs or the door. His eye quickly caught a glimpse of the red sign above the door that said EXIT.

"I see it. I know where it is,” Spike said as Discord caught him.

Spike jumped from Discord’s paw and ran towards the exit. He had the path memorized in his head. All the studying Twilight had made him do become useful once in a while.

Discord steadily followed the dragon still watching their six. He turned to see a glimpse of the creature following them before it disappeared back into the darkness. 

"We have company!" Discord shouted as he walked backward.

"Doesn't matter we're out of here."

Discord turned his head to a beautiful sight. The red EXIT sign greeted them. The rushed passed the door nearly tripping over each other. They were back in the main hallway.

They ran to the main room they had first entered. It was a glorious sight for both of them. Supposedly the old toys didn't seem so bad to either of them. They would have rather hugged and kissed each individual toy than face the monster that was following them.

"Discord!" 

Discord turned to see Spike being dragged back down the hallway. Spike was blowing fire at the creature but this time it powered through it. It shrieked as it let go of Spike a few times but it quickly grabbed a hold of him again.

Discord had to make a choice. He looked at his torch to see that it was nearly out, so what could he have done. He looked back up at Spike and then he knew exactly what to do.

Spike watched as Discord ran out of the store, leaving him behind. Spike felt a sharp pain in his heart seeing this. How could he leave him behind? 

"Discord!" The little dragon screamed out for help.

Spike was dragged further down the hallway and eventually, it was unable to bear the pain. It grabbed Spike’s face and pinned it to the ground. This left Spike completely helpless. He knew that he was done for. His friend had abandoned him and he was gonna die there. The creature roared as it showed all of its jagged teeth. Spike let out one final scream; preparing himself for death. 

"Hey ugly."

The creature looked up to have its face splashed with some liquid. The liquid went all over its body and blinded it for a moment. It wiped its face-off to see Discord standing there with a large can. It took it a second to realize that the can said gas on the side of it. 

“Discord?!” Spike was shocked to see that Discord hasn’t left him behind after all. 

Discord had thrown gas at it. It looked up at him a growled as it started to walk forward. It stopped as Discord pointed down. The creature looked down only to realize that he let go of the dragon ever so slightly. It was just enough for Spike to let out the littlest flame he could.

The creature instantly was set ablaze. It flew back as a million little shaped needles of fire stabbed into its body. Everywhere the little needles pierced, even its eyes. Spike didn't wait to see the light show he went back to Discord and they were both out of there in seconds.

They stood there panting as they looked at the old store. They had never been so glad to see the sunshine.

"Praise Celestia!" Spike shouted as he started to "kiss the sun". More less the ground that they were standing on. "Light, oh wonderful sweat amazing, glorious, divine light. How I missed you."

"So what just happened in there exactly. Like what exactly was that abomination."

Spike looked up at Discord as he realized what they still had work to do. He was ready to be home and in bed sleeping by that point. But at last, he still had the help Cadence and Luna. 

"Can we get something to eat now I'm starving? Being chased by a monster from Hell makes you hungry. I could even eat a whole pony now." Spike said as he dragged his feet.

"Wait, like for real?" Discord asked as he dragged his feet.

"No, not really. Well….. I don't know actually."

The exquisite feeling of food in his mouth made Spike almost pass out. Discord had ordered three meals just for himself. They practically inhaled their food. Trench did make delicious alligator tacos.

"Man boys you two have been through a lot haven't you?"

"What do you mean?” asked Discord.

"Trust me I can tell when someone is stress eating. Or they're relief eating."

"Well I'm sure relieved that I'm alive right now," Spike said as food fell out of his mouth."And getting such delicious food."

"Ahh see I knew it. What have you two been up to hmm?"

Discord chuckled as continued to stuff his mouth."Well, we went into the old place you told us about and let's just say it was less than a stellar experience."

"Ahh, I see. Ya, that's to be expected from a place like that. No one ever goes into that place and those who do usually don't make it back."

"So you know about what's in there?" Spike asked.

"More or less I guess. I've heard things but I never have seen anything because I never wanted to go in there. I'm not that curious. What's ever there can stay there."

"You're a smart lizard Trench,” Discord said. “We were lucky to make it out of there in one piece. We only went there to help a friend."

"Ahh, I see. Well, I hope it was worth it."

"Same here," Spike muffled, mouth still full of food.

"So anyways what can you actually tell us about that place, Trench? What exactly happened there?" Discord asked

The lizard looked at him in deep thought. “Not much really. I don't know to be honest. I never looked into it."

"Do you know anyone who would?"

"Sure, I know just about everyone here. They all love my cooking."

"I can see why," Spike muffled again.

"I do know a cat who looked into that place a while back. He even went in there to get something from it."

"Did he see anything?" Discord asked.

"No, he was in and out, wasted no time. But before he went in there, he came to me about reading a bunch of files about the place. He was looking for the layout so he could navigate in and out as quickly as he could."

"I'm guessing he wasn't the only one who wanted it,” Discord remarked as he finished his drink.

"I guess."

"Do you know where we could find this cat?" asked Spike.

"Capper is his name? But you’re out of luck with him. Ya, he's not around right now. I haven't seen him in a while."

"Capper?" Spike asked. "That name sounds kinda fam-“

"But you know what?" Trench interrupted. "I do have the files still for the place."

"Well, then I'm sure we could work something out." Discord held out a paw full of gems.

"Just don't let any of this get back to a little rascal named Vergo and you have a deal." Discord and Trench shook on it and they exchanged goods. Then he walked off to deal with other things.

Spike looked back at Discord. "By the way, Discord back there when I was being attacked, why did you leave me?”

"I didn't leave you," Discord said in offense." I went out of the building so I could use my magic. Where do you think I got the gasoline from?"

Spike's eyes went open. He hadn't thought about it, but it all made sense. “Oh, now I get it. Sorry, I just was so scared and I really thought you ditched me."

"Spike I am offended that you think I would leave a member of the Ogres and oglets club behind. I only have so many nerd friends you know."

"No, I'm sorry your right. I should know better. You're a softy now who actually loves his friends,” Spike said as he hugged Discord.

"Now now let's not get sappy here. If you were any other friend then I might not have been able to save you and that wouldn't have been my fault. So let's just move on shall we?"

Spike chuckled at Discord sad attempted to hide his sappiness. “So now that you have your magic, we can go back to Equestria. I mean who knows what Luna has been up to?"

"Well just wait till she hears about what we've been up to." They both laughed as Discord snapped his fingers.

"I'm on it." Said the French narrator from Spongebob square pants. "A little while latoor."

It didn't take them long to make it back to Equestria, though it was a bumpy ride. Soon they were back at Crystal Empire.

"Seriously I don't get where that voice is co…."

"It's good to be back," Discord interrupted.

Discord turned to see CD standing in one of the reflections of the castle window. "It looks like I can call the mortician and cancel your appointment."

"Discord?"

"Ya, what is it, Spike?"

"You really need to read this file. It's not pretty."

Discord looked at the file and instantly noticed a picture of a pile of dead pony bodies. It was gonna be one of those stories; Discord’s favorites.

Discord looked back up at C.D. "Nevermind, I told him to cancel your cancel. Looks like we'll still be needing him."
> That Same Place
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

I was running down the halls of the castle. I had just come back from the hospital after being told that Cadance was nowhere to be found. I went there myself to see and sure enough, she wasn’t in her room. Shining Armor had his guards looking for her outside of the castle while Celestia and I did our own search inside. Nopony seemed to know where she had gone off to. I looked in room after room. But I couldn’t find her. Since Shining Armor was busy working with the guards, I offered to watch over Flurry. I held on to her tightly not keeping my eyes off of her for too long.

My first thought was maybe the mare did something to her; which only made me fear for her even more. It had to her. There was nopony else that could have done this. If the mare did have something to do with Cadance going missing, I needed to find her fast. But how? Without Discord’s help, I was left to do this on my own. 

I looked down at Flurry. “I know you most likely won’t know this but is there any chance you knew where your mother ran off to.” 

Flurry blinked and pointed up. She then started laughing all of a sudden. Her eyes seemed to trail up at the ceiling, following something. I stared up to see what she was seeing but saw nothing. I looked back at her, confused.

“You see something?” I asked her.

Flurry nodded her head happily. It took me a moment of careful thinking to understand what Flurry Heart had meant. My eyes widened at realizing this. I knew what I needed to do.

“This gives me an idea,” I said to myself.  

I thought maybe if I was alone with Flurry in her bathroom, the mare would appear to me. She seemed to always show up if Cadance was alone with Flurry, mainly in her bedroom. I didn’t know if it would work but it was worth a shot. 

I went back to Flurry Heart’s room and slam the door behind me. I walked up to the crib and placed Flurry inside. Her eyes were still on the ceiling. I tried seeing what she was but I didn’t see anything out of place. I groaned loudly in anger.  

“Alright you damn mare, where are you? What have you done with Cadance? I know you can hear me?! Stop hiding and face me!!” I yelled loudly in the room. 

There was no answer. I kept yelling louder and louder hoping that I would get an answer of some kind. But no response came. After a couple of minutes, I gave up on it. I knew I wasn’t going to get anywhere with it. Flurry Heart wasn’t even staring at whatever it was anymore. She was playing with the toy that I gave her with not a care in the world. At least she was happy. It did give me something to smile about just knowing that she wasn’t scared. However, I still had no idea where Cadance was and I had no clue what to do next. I lowered my head and signed heavily. It was hopeless.

“Luna?”

I gasped and turned around; my horn already lit up as I shot a blast at whatever was behind me. When the smoke cleared, I saw that it was only Discord and Spike. Discord had made a shield around them to protect them from the blast. It was like he knew what would happen and was already prepared for it. Spike was hiding behind Discord who now was scared out of his mind. Seeing them made me feel a little better. I was slightly relieved that is was them and not anything that could kill me or Flurry Heart. 

“Well, t-that was u-unexpected,” Spike said.

“Nice to see you too,” Discord said madly. “You really need to stop doing that.”

“Well, you need to stop coming from behind me,” I defended as I rolled my eyes. “Never mind that. Where have you been? I send letters to you and you didn’t reply to any of them. I got worried that you didn’t want to help me anymore.”

“No, it wasn’t anything like that. I was busy,” Discord said.

“Doing what?!” I asked.

“Running for my life,” He shrugged. I just stared at him and blinked.

“Ummm what?” I asked, confused.

“It is a looooong story,” Spike added in.

“I’m afraid to ask what you two did after I left,” I said flatly. Discord and Spike turned to each other and chuckled a little.

"You see, we went to find some background on our situation and well we found some,"  Spike explained.

"Well, at least there's some good news for once," I said. “Everything is turning so shitty pretty quickly. So I will take a win anywhere that I can. What did you find out then?"

"We found a dead filly who talked to me, its dad who tried to kill us and nearly succeeded, and a building that basically is scorched in death. Also, a great place to eat if you're ever traveling out of Equestria and a file that I'm pretty sure explains Discord’s dreams."

I was a little taken aback by everything he had said. I tried to process everything at once but my brain was not having it. So I summoned it up basically to dead filly, dead evil dad, hellish building, something about eating, and getting a file. Then a thought hit me. They left Equestria for this?

"Wait what the… wherein Equestria did you go?"

"Nowhere in Equestria," Discord corrected me. "We went outside of Equestria to a place with really good food."

"Wait a second. So while I was here dealing with this deadly spirit and worried sick about Cadence, who could be dead right now, you two were out of Equestria eating?!" My voice almost reached a scream.

"Whoa cut us some slack, Luna," Spike said angrily. "We stopped to eat after we got done running for our lives."

"Why were you running for your lives? Where did you go?" I asked, my patience running out.

"Like Discord said we went somewhere outside of Equestria to try and figure out Discord's dream. While we were there we went into an old building were let's just say we weren't very welcomed by the horrifying demon that tried to kill us."

I looked at Spike then back at Discord who just shrugged. As vague explanations went it wasn't terrible. There were still a lot of questions I had but my mind was flooded with thoughts of Cadence. 

Somewhere outside of Equestria, to get answers for Discords dream, monsters and demons attacking them, so the basics. I could work with that not like we had a lot of time.

"Wow you two need to be supervised sometimes," I said 

"Yes, we know that already," Discord admitted as he rolled his eyes." Now do you want to know what we've put together so far or not?"

That question, the obvious question that I had been waiting for the entire time to be answered. At that point, it became pretty clear to me that perhaps Discord didn't truly grasp the weight of the situation. He didn't feel the weight that drilled into my chest. 

"No, Discord I don't want the info you have that could potentially save my niece’s life."

Discord looked surprised at my response. It's just then that I realized that he didn't know my situation anymore than I knew his. 

"Ya that's right Discord," I said more rudely than I probably should have." Cadence is missing and I'm really scared for her life. Whatever this thing is that's after her, really wants to hurt her and I don't think you understand how bad that is. So yes if you have any useful information to share, then please do something more useful with your life."

Spike and Discord stood there staring at me. I could feel my breath shaking my body. I had forgotten to breathe during my little lecture. I honestly didn't care if I was being rude. I knew they had been through a lot more than I realized, but like I said, I didn't care. 

I could tell there were probably a million things that both of them wanted to shout out, but to my surprise, they held it back. Fighting was pointless, and I knew that but I couldn't help but feel like they had left me to deal with all of it. It probably wasn't true but it's how I felt.

"So it turns out that the building that Discord and I went to was an old toy store owned by a mare by the name of Rosetta and her husband. Rosetta went on to have a baby," Spike explained." Long story short the baby ended up getting murdered, by if I had to guess, its father, Iron blood. That's actually who attacked me and Discord. We don't know why he did it but it didn't go over very well with Rosetta. Three days later she went back to the store and murdered Iron Blood and pretty much everyone else in the store. The authorities ride it off that she went insane, which is probably right on point. They don't know how she died but Rosetta's body was found behind the building."

There was a slight pause as Spike went through everything in his head again." Ya, that's about the ins and outs of what we got."

I thoroughly thought about his summary, trying to pick out any details that could help us. The store was serially a huge eye-opener. It was clear that the mare attacking Cadence must have been Rosetta from Discord's dreams, but it still wasn't clear how this had anything to do with Cadence.

"Is there anything else?" I asked 

Spike looked out in thought." No, I'm pretty sure that's all to it."

"Are you positive? There's no other little detail that it mentions?" 

Spike nodded.

"Nothing extra about the scene or her death that could help us?"

Spike nodded slowly then he stopped. He looked back over the paper and began reading it out loud." Ya, all it says is about the scene is just how gruesome it was. And all it says about her death is that she had no markings or anything that explained her death. Oh and that she was hugging a doll quite tightly, but that's it."

"A doll?" I asked as I walked over to him.

"Ya, it's probably her baby's doll. While we were there, I talked to the daughter and she said that she had a doll that she used to play with all the time. I guess her mother took it after she was killed for obvious reasons.”

I looked over to Flurry's crib as she played with her toy. A doll. A doll, that was a pretty significant detail. A doll of a filly that a mother loved because it was the only thing she had left of her child. A doll that her spirit could perhaps hang onto as a result of not letting go. A doll, just like the one that I bought for Flurry Heart. It started to all come out me as to why this was happening.

"Ya Spike," I signed." I know what doll you're talking about. Actually, I kind of know exactly where it is."

"Wait really?" Discord said finally breaking his silence. "How do you know?"

I lit up my horn and used my magic to lift up Flurry Heart who was still holding on to the doll. Discord and Spike looked surprised as the sight of the doll. Spike took a step back, shaking his head. His mind didn't want to believe it. I sat her down after a few seconds.

"Cause I'm pretty sure I'm the one who got it for Flurry Heart."

I collapsed to the floor putting my hooves against my head. The mare was stuck to the stupid doll that had been with Flurry Heart since it had all began. The reason she loved Flurry was cause she missed her baby. Well, that or she thought that it was hers. Either way all it meant that it was my fault and that I'm the one who brought it upon Cadence. 

I smacked the floor in anger. I had to fight back my tears a little as guilt began to pour into me. All that time people were starting to think Cadence was mad, but instead, it was because I had doomed her from the start. All I wanted to do was take the mare by the throat and tell her to haunt me and to leave Cadence alone. Cadence was the last pony who deserved a fate like the one she was in. Especially, me and Discord deserved that fare more than anypony.

"You did what now?" Spike said as he ran up to me and held my head up. "Luna, what are you talking about?"

"I bought it for Flurry at some stupid sale or something, I don't know. I just wanted to do something nice. Celestia was on my ass about getting to know Cadance so I thought it would help. I didn't know I was gonna kill my niece over a damn toy." My throat began to hurt as I fought harder to hold back from crying.

Spike sat back as he too finally put the final pieces together. I couldn't see his face as mine was buried in my legs, but I heard him say. "Oh sweet Celestia, now it makes sense." 

Discord walked up to me and held my head up. At that point, holding back my tears were in vain. I could feel it run down my face. 

"Luna come on this isn't your fault," Discord said with his rare sweet caring voice.

"Luna you had no way of knowing that the one doll you so happened to buy was haunted my an obsessed, psycho, rotten demon pony mother thing." Spike came up to me and hugged me. "I get it ok, I’m sorry for not being here to help you. This isn't your fault though, not even a little.

I wiped my face as I finally looked up at them. They were right that I had no way of knowing but how could that justify that I still technically brought damnation upon my niece and her baby. In that moment, I just wanted to curl up and die.

"Wait," I sniffled. "If she wants Flurry Heart so freaking badly cause she lost her baby, then why is she focusing so much on Cadence? Why didn't she just take Flurry and left?"

Spike let go of me and looked at me pondering on the question." Well, my only guess is that she wants to be able to truly take care of "Her baby"." I flinched a little at his phrase. "Unfortunately, she needs Cadence to do it or at least her body.

"Well dang," Discord said as he weirdly looked into a mirror that was randomly in the middle of the window. I looked into it only to see nothing but his reflection. " That is just some messed up ghost crap right there."

Discord looked at us then back into the mirror. His eyes followed something and he seemed to change expressions. It was as if he was talking to someone and whatever they had sad was bad and Discord surely didn't like it.

"What are you doing Discord?" I sniffled.

"Oh umm nothing," he chuckled." Do you know what C.D stands for?"

"Umm no?" 

"Then it's not important," he said as he looked back into the mirror." I'm just thinking about morticians."

I was far too confused to put any sense to what he had said. That was Discord for you I guess he never really made sense. However, he was probably on the right track. We probably would need a mortician of some kind in the end of this.
> A Turn For The Worse
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The story was finally put together. We had the information we needed to get what was going on. The mare or Rossetta wanted Flurry Heart as her baby, or she really thought that it was her baby. Either way, she needed Cadence to live out that dream. My only guess at that point was through possession. Cadence had been missing and I was pretty sure I knew why. 

"So what do we do then?" Discord asked as he leaned up against the wall. 

We were in a tight situation. We had the final story put together, more or less, but we really didn't know what to do. Cadence was still missing and we didn't have any leads on how to find her.

"Well obviously we need to find Cadence," Spike said flatly. “But I really don't know how we're going to do that."

All the magic in the world wouldn't help us, mostly because magic didn't work on the dead for some reason.

I finally got up off the ground and wiped my face clean. I still felt so bad about the whole situation. Cadence didn't do anything wrong, yet she was the one paying for everything.

"So you don't have any ideas?" I asked Spike 

He looked down at the ground. I could tell he was deep in thought. His eyes showed no sign of conscience, but there was no sign of defeat either. Spike loved Cadence and there was no way he was going to give up. He began to pace back and forth desperately searching for an answer. I could hear him mumbling to himself going over every detail. His eyes started to follow a pattern as if he was reading something. Then he suddenly stopped and looked up at Discord.

"Wait a minute, I might actually have an idea," Spike said as he jumped up. “Discord had no way of knowing what was happening with Cadence, but his dream was still connected to it. Almost like it was trying to warn him.”

"You know you're actually right," I agreed, “But what does that actually mean?"

"It means that Discord can connect with people even though they have nothing to do with him in that moment. Maybe he can do the same thing again."

Discord and I looked at each other in somewhat disbelief. It sounded like simple magic, something that was pretty common. But although Twilight or any of his friends could probably pull something off as simple as that, we all knew what Discord could do was much different. Magic didn't work on the Dead; a written in stone rule slash fact, but this Discord's dreams could.

The plan wasn't solid nor was it completely thought out, but with such little time improvising was our only option. 

Spike told us we needed to go back to ponyville. I grabbed Flurry as Discord snapped his fingers and took us back to Twilight’s castle. Spike frantically search every shelf he could. Several books came flying off the shelf. We were in his bedroom where apparently he had a secret Library of Supernatural Intel. I was surprised that  Spike hide it as a secret at least from Twilight, but I knew from experience that openly admitting or talking about that sort of thing didn't always work out. I could have judged a little dragon but at the moment I was very grateful for him.

Actually, as I stood there watching him, I chuckled to myself. I hadn't realized how much Spike actually had done for me in the last couple of months. Without him, we would have never been able to put an end to Barry Tarts. And without him and Discord recklessly going off by themselves trying to look for answers, then we would have never been able to put the pieces together. I took that for granted and I hadn't realized that before but in that moment I couldn't have asked for a better partner.

His frantic search went on for quite a while until an ocean of books covered the floor. I looked over the witness Discord quite shocked at the sight before him. I have to admit that I too was quite shocked. Most of the books had a rather creepy demeanor to them. This included some with skulls and real bones on them and others with what hopefully wasn't real animal skin. I'm more than anything wanted to know where in Equestria he got all of them, but that would have to wait for Less dire time.

Eventually, his search ended as he finally holds out an ominous purple and black book with an odd symbol on its cover. As far as the books came it wasn't that creepy nor was unsettling like some of the others. He quickly opened the book and frantically began skimming through the pages. It didn't take him long before he found whatever he was looking for.

"Aha," Spike shouted as he jumped for joy. "Luck has finally turned our way, my friends. We have exactly what we need."

"What what is it?" Discord asked as he took the book from Spike.

"I think, no I'm positive I can use this in Discord’s dreams to locate Cadence. Actually, doesn't seem like it's going to be very hard at all."

"Wait really?! Are you for real?" I asked in disbelief.

"Yes actually,” Spike said with a hint of pride in his voice. “Let's get started, shall we?"

Discord laid on Spike’s bed ready for the inevitable suffering, he most likely would have to endure. I sent helplessly on the floor next to Discord only able to watch. Unfortunately, I wasn't going to be very much helpful for the situation so I could only wait and watch. Honestly, that wasn't the worst thing in the world at that time. For the first time, I was okay with not being able to contribute as long as the one who was contributing could save my niece.

Spike laid out a display of candles and markings on the floor. In the middle of all of it Lane the book open to a particular page with a figure floating up to a cloud. I skimmed the words of the page for a moment trying to grasp what it exactly was. I was only able to get a few ideas of what the page was. It clearly was some kind of spell or ritual that allowed someone to manipulate the dream realm in some way. The idea when said out loud didn't seem very promising, but I knew that Spike had apparently done it before with this Discord and no doubting Lee could do it again.

"All right Discord," spike said as he gave a nervous look to Discord." You already know the ins-and-outs of how this works so let's try to make it as smooth as we can okay."

"Yeah yeah let's just please get this done and over with so we can save Cadence’s life."

Spike nodded his head and went to the middle of the room to the book. All of the candles seem to respond to this as they started to burn much brighter than before. The atmosphere turned darker and sort of thick, and it kind of freaked me out a little. Sure I had been through worse but this was coming from Spike of all creatures.

Discord was no longer in his body. He aimlessly stared down at his own sleeping body that laid lifelessly on Spike’s bed; a familiar to him at that point. He wasn't scared of it anymore, but he was still scared of what awaited him. Spike hadn't told him what to do Discord was pretty Clueless and didn't even know if he could find her. Nonetheless he knew he had to at least try. He closed his eyes and focused on the sea of darkness before him. He tried his hardest to imagine Cadence’s face in front of him.

Did he let everything go all of his fear, all of his regrets, and even for a second a bit of his chaos? All that mattered than that moment was Cadence, and all that filled the ocean of darkness was Cadence. Suddenly, he felt a dark presence. It certainly wasn't Cadence, it was something far more dreadful.

Discord opened his eyes to see Cadence in a dark room. He looked around to see that the walls were quite familiar. He then knew exactly where she was.

Are good luck had finally caught up with us and Spike’s plan had worked. We knew where Cadence was the only problem was we didn't know how to draw her out. Discord saw in his dream that she was no longer herself and neither was Rosetta.

Rosetta had brutally lost her baby many years ago and now she had the opportunity to get if back in a way and she was going to take it at all cost. In some ways I could understand why but it made no difference to me. She wasn't going to take my niece away from me nor her baby.

We went back to the Crystal Empire and we were ready to finally face the monster that had been tormenting all of us. We didn't know how to exactly get rid of her but we were more concerned with actually finding her. We never really discussed it but I knew that we were going to have to improvise when the time had come.

The plan we had for drawing her out was using the very things she wanted. I took Flurry Heart and sat with her in the middle of the dark lonely hallway. I looked down at both ends to see that I was completely alone. We had no idea this crazy plan was going to work but it was indeed our only plan.

I had Flurry Heart’s favorite toy and used it to play with her. I intentionally made sure that the laughs could be heard very well. I continue to play with them for what felt like a lifetime until I finally felt the atmosphere turn dark. I could feel the temperature of the room drastically drop along with envious eyes looking down my neck. I could tell that she was coming but I was still scared of what I would see.

I glanced over to the corner where I could see a glimpse of Discord’s tail hanging out. I looked to the adjacent wall knowing that Spike was there. If they hadn't been there I would have been totally scared out of my mind but I was still scared enough.

I heard the horrifying cries of a mare in distress. It was followed by several claw sounds. I tried my best to continue playing with Flurry Heart; pretending I heard nothing. But as the cries got louder, it became increasingly harder. Eventually, after the eyes seem to have come from right next to me, I saw Discord’s tail give me the signal. 

I stood up engraft Flurry Heart with my hooves, not being able to use magic, and slowly turned around. I came face to face with my own niece. I stepped back and screamed in surprise. 

Normally, I would have been happy to see her but this was the one time that I wanted to be as far away from her as I could.

Her face was now a dark gray. Her mane had a shade of black on its end and her whole body appeared paler as if someone drained the color out of her. Her eyes were pitch black and filled with nothing but dreaded anger. I no longer saw Cadence. I was seeing something truly evil.

I gasped at the sight and took a few steps backward. I could feel my legs started to shake as my body filled with adrenaline.

"She's my baby," the pony growled. Her voice didn’t even sound like Cadence anymore.

I quickly had to prepare myself for the worst possible outcome; not really knowing what that was. By doing so, I eventually realized that I couldn't be scared. I had to be strong for Cadence. I forced myself to stop shaking and took a few steps forward. I came face-to-face with her. I stiffened my body and showed no fear in my eyes.

"Then come and get her you bitch."
> A Final Plan
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

I turned and ran as fast as I could to get away from her. She was quick to follow. I passed the corner that Spike and Discord were at. As she followed me, she too passed the corner but instead of running past it she was met by large net that entangled her. Discord and Spike then revealed themselves. Discord ran up to her and began covering her within that as quickly as he could. Spike followed.

The possessed Cadence screamed and shouted as she tried to break free. I turned around and began trotting back towards them. Flurry Heart began to cry over the commotion. I started rocking her, telling her that everything was going to be okay.

"Shhh. It's okay dear. It's going to be okay. Don't cry please."

Flurry Heart only continued to scream louder. As the mare heard the cries of Flurry, she stopped screaming and slowly stood up. She let out one long growl before she gave one big yanked on the net, sending Spike and Discord flying several feet across the floor. They let out a grunt on impact.

"Discord! Spike!" I screamed out their names as they were launched.

"That's my BABY!" She yelled out.

My niece's body begins to twist and turn in unnatural ways. I could hear her bones cracking as they moved in ways they were never meant to. The clicking sound of her jaw followed by an eerie growl send shivers down my spine.

I began to back up scared of what was about to come. Her eyes turn a dark pitch black as her teeth begin to grow. The trail of blood grew thicker, paling her skin to a translucent white. With each tick of the clock I wanted her heart to stop, just stop, to watch her eyes become glassy and vacant.

Suddenly Cadence was nothing more than I demonic twisted body of hatred.

She let out a large ferocious roar that seemed to shake the very walls. Flurry Heart only continued to cry and scream as she too could no longer recognize her own mother. I spent no time to scream or to grasp the situation. I turned and then I ran. I looked behind me only to see her in quick approaching me. I could hear the sound of her claws digging into the ground followed by the uncanny sound for breath.

The plan had taken a turn for the worse. Of course, we didn't have much of a plan, to begin with. We had a vague idea of how to save Cadence but, to be honestly capturing her with our main objective. We weren't quite sure what we're going to do with her when and if we actually succeeded. That flawed thinking was starting to show.

The Crystal Empire had never seen so unfamiliar during the chase. The walls seem to be filled with fear itself and the atmosphere was thick and heavy making it all that much harder to breathe. In a small attempt, I tried to use my magic only for it to be in vain. Of course, I knew my magic never worked around her kind or at least only specific of the magic kind did.

I took another look behind me only to see an empty hallway that took me by surprise. I stopped for a second and looked around. I looked above me in front of me and behind me. There was no way she could have disappeared so quickly without me knowing. I wasn't going to stand around to find out though so I continue to run. I then ran passed the next corner.

All of a sudden, she jumped out around the corner and landed on top of me. Losing my grip on Flurry Heart, she went flying several feet; she landed hard on the ground and rolled for a bit before stopping against the wall. I knew that she was deeply confused about why her magic wasn't working as it seemed to be a crutch for her in her life. Every time she got upset her magic would show it but not this time.

Cadence started biting at me like a ferocious wild dog. Without my magic, I could only use my hooves to try to keep her at bay. She began to claw at my face and my neck. I could barely hold her back.

The warmth from my own blood began to fill my body. She went for my throat as her jaw extended much further than it should have been able to. I put my hooves in the way in an effort to prevent the neck from being sliced open as my hoof took the full force of her bite. I screamed as I felt her teeth dig deep within my flesh. I heard the crunch of my bone and shoulder as she began to whip my arm back and forth. I used my other hoof and began punching her in the face.

She released my arm as she roars in my face. Her claws began another series of assaults as blood spewed everywhere. All I could do was scream in fear and pain. My grip was getting weaker. She was going to kill me. I was going to die by the hooves of my own niece. And worse of all, she wouldn't know nor wanted any of this.

Then out of the blue, I felt her weight being lifted off of me. I stood up and saw Discord tackled her to the ground. She tried biting him but he quickly dodged and put a rope between her mouth. He then tied around her head disarming her demonic jaw. Spike followed with a bottle of mysterious liquid.

"Discord hold her still," The little dragon yelled.

"I'm trying. Just hurry up!" Discord yelled back. She began to fight Discord clawing at his arms.

Discord surprisingly seemed to take the pain as his grip did not lessen. He held her down as Spike began to pour the liquid on her face. I heard her scream followed by the sound of a sizzle. She clawed at her face and pain. Boils began to appear all over her face as if acid had been poured on top of her. She clawed Discord in the face causing him to jump back. She kicked him off of her and began rolling on the ground. He got up and went back to her. He pinned her down with almost no trouble. It appeared that whatever Spike used on her made her weak.

"What was that?! What are you doing to her?" I screamed in horror.

"It's rusted iron dissolves in water and superheated by dragon's breath by your truly," Spike said proudly as he held up the bottle of liquid.

"It's normally harmless to anyone who's not a ghost," Discord said as he examined his arms.

It was pretty scary on the vast knowledge Spike had brought the supernatural, it was super helpful but still scary.

I looked down at my own arms to see them covered in blood. I could feel long streaks of blood going down my neck and past my chest.

"Rusted iron repels ghosts, but we just enhance its effect," Discord said as he brought out a rusty iron chain out of nowhere.

He wrapped it around Cadence. She screamed even more in agonizing pain as it began to burn her. She couldn't break free and the chain managed to completely subdue her. Spike helped me to my feet and helped me trot over to Cadence. She continued to scream as she frantically tried to escape. Discord held her down. We all surrounded Cadence in disbelief at the monster that was before us.

I looked around to find Flurry Heart curled up in a little ball crying in the corner. I felt unbelievably bad for the poor little pony. Her mother was a monster and she no longer had her magic to help her. She had to feel so helpless.

"Flurry, don't cry your ok. It's just me, Luna."

Flurry looked up at me with tears in her eyes. She screamed as she curled back into a ball.

"No, honey, it's me. I'm not gonna hurt you."

I looked down at my blood-soaked chest. I didn't want to get her cover in my own blood but without magic my options were limited. I went up to her and slowly hugged her. I looked down at her and met her little innocent eyes. She uncurled herself just enough to cling onto me. I felt bad knowing that my blood couldn't have been too comfortable for her but I was happy that she seemed better in my hooves.

I held her tightly and sat down. My neck and hooves began to terrible burn. But I choose not to let it affect me too much. I sat there staring at Cadence as she continued to scream. Discord was still holding her down as Spike sat next to him. I sat in my own thoughts. My niece was possessed, her daughter was going through hell, everyone was thinking that Cadence was crazy, and I was the one who had to buy the stupid toy that started all of this, to begin with. I was tired, cold, and was fed up with all of it. Cadence and Flurry Heart didn't deserve any of it and I was gonna fix it. I had too...

"What do we do now?" Spike asked.

"I don't know. Isn't there something you can do to get ghosts out of creatures?"

"Discord, that kind of thing takes years of practice. It's nothing I can do."

Spike's words echoed a bit in my head.

Its nothing I can do.

Well, that's why improvise was a thing.

"Then we're gonna do something that I know we can all do," I said.

Spike and Discord looked at me with worried faces. I could feel my rusty breath. My voice had serially expressed it.

"You guys said that you met her real baby and his heartwarming father right?"

Discord looked at Spike with serious concerns.

"Yes… we did," His dragged on his voice almost made me chuckle. We had dealt with that before and we all knew that the painful crappy road was typically the right one. "What are you thinking?"

I chuckled, "I'm thinking to screw this. Let's just give the bitch what she wants; let's take her to her baby."

Their mouths dropped open as their eyes widened in disbelief.

"No no no, this is a horrible idea." Discord's protest told me that we were on the right track."Please don't make me do this."

I had a theory that, once again, on paper, it seemed pretty solid. If we could somehow get Cadence to the old store were the Rosetta had lost her baby, maybe we could get her to move on somehow. It was the only lead I had with limited time. The only issue was that we couldn't safely travel that far without Rosetta being "asleep". I had proposed that in order to keep her asleep Discord could try to somehow connect to her again. Like going into her dreams just using different magic than he was used to. It was going to lead to another fun adventure for Discord, but it was all we had.

He signed heavily. "Give me a minute."

He snapped his fingers, only to be reminded that his magic didn't work. He then walked out of sight. Spike and I looked at each other.

"Where is he going?" I asked.

"Don't worry about it. We had a feeling we might have to go back there. So we had a small plan prepare of our own," Spike explained to me.

"I don't hold a strong hope for this plan," I said.

"Well you shouldn't," Spike responded. "Now come help me with Cadence. If we're taking her back to her house we need to get here out of the castle before anypony notices."

While Discord was off to who knows where Spike and I carefully dragged Cadence out of the castle. We ended up gagging her to silence her screams. I had Spike sent a letter to Discord, telling him where to meet us at. Discord was gone for about 20 minutes before coming back with a small surprise.

"So you all ready to do this?" Discord said.

"YUP!" Big Mac frantically agreed as he pulled up to the castle with a large covered wagon.

"What?! This is your plan?" I asked angrily.

Spike shrugged. "I did say not to hope for that."

"What?! It is the perfect means of transporting a demon possed pony. Besides I don't trust you to move her without proper backup," Discord said.

"Hey!" Spike retorted. "Did you forget who saved you back at the house?"

"Umm did you forget who saved you as well? So we're even!" Discord fought back.

"That's beside the point."

"Okay then. You think you can stop her?" Discord challenged Spike.

That left him speechless. Spike groaned and crossed his arms.

"Fine okay...we might need some backup," Spike agreed.

"Excuse me!" I shouted, causing them to stop talking and look at me. "Did you both forget that my niece is possessed?!" I shouted.

They both jumped and gave a quick glance at Cadence.

"Oh...yeah," They said at the same time.

Discord then laid down next to a Rosetta possessed Cadence. She continued to scream and howl as Spike and I held her down. Spike had a bottle of another mysterious liquid. Apparently, it could put someone to sleep near moments after inhaling it.

Discord closed his eyes and gave us a thumbs up.

"I'll see you on the other side."

We were still holding her down, waiting for Discord to work his magic.

All we could do now was hope and pray that the plan would work and we could save Cadence.
> The Final Place
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Discord was in a strange place that he did not recognize. It was dark and gloomy with bits and pieces of voices and sounds coming from every direction. He looked around trying to make sense of his surroundings. He walked forward until he finally saw something. He could see the Crystal Empire, or at least a darker gloomy version of it. The sky was black and purple-tinted. There were only faceless ponies walking the streets. Discord tried to ignore and avoid them at all costs. He walked up to the castle and up to were the Crystal Heart stood.

There he saw two familiar ponies. Cadence and Rosetta were both on the floor unconscious. Rosetta was glowing quite brightly. Cadence was mostly gray with little of her color left. Discord walked up to them and picked up Cadence.

Seen her lying there in pain and fear reminded him of Luna. It was almost an identical situation. He slowly approached her with the same dread feeling in his heart as feeling back at that murderous house.

"Cadence, wake up. Come on we need you, you can't let her take you." Discord continued to shake and slap her.

"Cadence, please. Your daughter needs you. Flurry Heart needs you. She loves you so much and she misses her mother."

Cadence showed no response at Discord's attempts.

"Please you have to remember her love for you. I know you're stronger than Rosetta."

Discord put his hand on Cadence's head. He began to think of Flurry Heart and the few times he spent time with her. Suddenly, without warning Cadence began to glow and her color came back.





I sneakily trotted with Flurry Heart to her room. Before we could leave, I had to get Flurry somewhere safe. I had to be quick before Celestia saw me. I laid her gently in the crib. She looked up at me scared. She was mostly calm down but was still shaking.

"It's going to be okay," I said. "But you can't come with us. Your mother would want me to keep you safe."

She flew up to me and hugged me. I hugged her back tightly as I tried not to cry.

"We're going to save her. We know what we need to do," I said. I didn't know if she could fully understand what I meant and what was happening but she was hurting too. She knew something was wrong.

She sat herself down in the crib. I put a hoof on her cheek.

"Celestia or your father will be here soon. I love you, Flurry. I promise she will be okay."

I took one last look at her and smiled brightly. She was truly adorable. Such a blessing for any mother to have. I told myself she would be safe now. Nothing could hurt her now. She'll be fine. I had to talk myself into believing that.

I left her in the room and returned to the others. We had work to do.

Spike and I dragged Cadence's unconscious body out to the wagon. Big Mac had a long journey ahead of him.

Spike and Discord had told him a little bit of what had happened to them with what was going on. Spike also told me that they told him a little bit about Barry Trat. I was somewhat irritated and annoyed at this. It was something that I had hoped we wouldn't share with others.

He also told me that despite what they did share, he knew nothing about my involvement nor my powers. But it still didn't please me so well.

Spike could tell that I was slightly angry but he didn't let it affect him that much. I too decided to brush away my anger for there were other things that I needed to worry about. This could wait until later when all of this was over and I could talk to them about that.

He had agreed to take us anywhere in Equestria we needed to go. Unfortunately, for him, we weren't going anywhere in Equestria.

We had used the chain to tie her to the floor of the wagon. The gag was still safely securing her mouth. I hated to do it to her but we had to take precautions. We road out of the Crystal Empire with no troubles. We left in the dark so it was pretty easy to get by without being noticed by anypony.

The next ten minutes were pretty much Big Mac, Spike and me going over what exactly we were gonna do when we got there. We didn't have much to go with and Spikes undetailed description of the town and store didn't help us much either. We had limited time and extremely very few options.

As we continued to discuss it, we were all taken for surprise. Cadence randomly woke up in a panic causing Spike to let out a small scream as I jumped back. Cadence seemed to be scared and confused. She tried to stand up only to be stopped halfway by the chains. She began to struggle as she tried to break free. Muffled sounds came from her as she tried to scream. She seemed to be struggling out of fear instead of anger.

Spike got up and walked over to her. He slowly approaches her with caution.

"Ummm Cadence is that you?"

"Spike what are you…?" I trailed off.

I was stunned as she started to cry. Spike turned and looked at me to make sure we were on the same page.

"Whatever Discords doing, it must be working." Spike smiled as he got closer to her.

"What do you think you are doing?!" I shouted.

He started to grab the chain and began to release her.

"She looks normal now. I think it's okay to let her go."

"Are you crazy? That is absolutely a bad idea," I protested.

I immediately pushed him away from her. He lost his

balance and landed hard on his butt. He seemed like he was confused by my response. Maybe he expected that I would want to release her as well.

"Why? It's Cadence, Luna. She's really scared right now. Just look at her."

She was struggling and crying as she tries to get away. From an outside perspective, our intentions didn't appear to be as innocent as they were. I hated what we were doing but to keep her and her daughter safe, this had to be done.

"Spike, we don't know who she is right now. Even if we assume that it is her, we don't know how long she would stay like that. Trust me, I hate this situation just as much as you do, but this is the only way we can help her."

I saw the shame in Spike's eyes. What hurt me most was that I knew that it probably was her. He looked down at Cadence as she continued to cry. She was scared as she struggles against her bonds. She looked at us confused and shocked. She cried out for help. She wanted an answer. But it could've just been a trap. It could've been the spirit trying to trick us.

Unfortunately, I couldn't take any risks at the time. So I had to bury my emotions. Spike sat down in front of the wagon trying his best to ignore the pain in his heart. I knew that he was because I was trying to do the same.

"Cadence, I'm so so sorry," I cried to her. Tears flew down my face. "If it is you, we know how to stop her. We're going to help you but you're going to have to stay like this for a while. Just until we know you're not a danger to any of us or Flurry Heart."

I did this to her. She was in so much pain and it was all because of me. I should've never come on this trip. I knew my sister meant well but all I seem to have done was cause her more burden than before. We were supposed to help her and I made it worse for her. I wanted to help her. I wanted to take her pain away and put it all on me. Many ponies deserve a fate such as this but not her. She never heard or done anything wrong in her entire life. So why was it her that had to be in so much pain?

I remembered the promise I made to her at the hospital. I told her that we were going to get through this together and I was going to save her. By the stars in the heavens, I was going to keep it. I made a lot of mistakes in my life and I have broken far too many promises than I should've. But I was going to make sure I kept this one. Even if I had to died to keep it, I would.

"I promise that we will help you. It's going to be okay. Just give us a little more time," I pleaded to her.

The despair in her eyes was so noticeable as she stared back at mine. She was still crying but yet through her panicking and confusion she nodded to me. It was as if she actually understood what I was saying. I could only hope that if it was her indeed, that she knew that I was doing everything I could and I wasn't trying to hurt her.

I put a hoof on her mane and gave her a small kiss on the forehead.

"I'm so sorry I did this to you. I'm so sorry," I whispered.

I sat back and wiped my tears away. Now we just had to wait till we got to where we needed to go.

I wasn't used to long journeys like this. Having magic and wings made travel rather quickly. Even when I couldn't fly, I always had my magic, but this was definitely a long journey. I had to do everything I could to take my mind off of the situation. Cadence had started to scream and cry as loud as she could through the gag.

I didn't look at Spike but I knew he was mirroring my actions. Face towards the corning and thinking about anything you could to keep your mind out of the moment.

Eventually, slumber did make its way to Cadence. That or she had lost control and was possess again. At this point, it didn't really matter. We could never really know what we were seeing in her eyes.

I had watched the sunset and rise again. I, of course, rose and set the moon. It was then when I started to think of my sister. I wondered what she was doing. Was she worried about me, looking for me or just carrying on with her day?

I tried anything to keep my mind unfocused. It was then that I had wondered. Rosetta had Cadence's body to her control, but she never flew or used her magic. Magic never seemed to work around the dead, was that a reason. Or perhaps was it because she didn't know how to use it, but that didn't explain the flying (of course that didn't seem to work very well around the dead either). Either way, I didn't get an answer. I was just trying to make a mental conversation with myself.

But I couldn't help but wonder…

"Spike?"

"Yes?" He didn't sound like he was really in the mood to talk but I couldn't blame him for that one.

"When a Spirit has possession over somepony do they have all of their abilities that come with it?" I asked.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean like because Rosetta has control over Cadence, can she fly and use magic in Cadence's body?" I explained my question more. "Since Cadence can fly and have magic."

He thought about my question to himself for a moment.

"To be honest, I'm not really sure. Many paranormal investigators have struggled with this."

"What do you mean?"

I knew that he would know far more about this kind of stuff than me. I didn't know how much he knew of it. I knew he has done the research and read books about it but that doesn't make you an expert on things. However, I was about to be taken for a ride with Spike's knowledge of the supernatural. For soon I would find out that he knew much more than even I figured he would.

"Sometimes it appears that the spirit has very little control but others, such as our case, it seems to have all the control. I guess it depends on what is possessing them and how much power they have."

I sighed heavily and looked up at the night sky.

"I was just wondering was all."

"I know," Spike said. "But really, does it matter if they can? Spirits have their own abilities that are far more powerful sometimes than their hosts. Just look at everything Rosetta has done. Does she really need Cadence's magic and wings?" Spike added in.

"That is a fair point," I agreed with him. "But magic can't be used on them?"

Spike put a claw up to counter that statement.

"That's true but however there are exceptions to that rule. Spirits being one of them. Another is the type of magic that traditionally referred to the use of supernatural powers."

"Like Black magic?" I asked.

"Yes, correct," Spike said. "Or natural magic, Spirit magic or Necromancy. Things like that."

He saw my confusion and disbelief look. He saw my face cringe a little as I was trying to hold a bit of laughter in. It sounded unbelievable to me. It seemed that he had noticed this and grew a bit annoyed at it. But I wasn't going to hide the fact that it all sounded stupid to me.

"What? Those are real things," he snapped.

"Spirit magic?" I asked doubtfully.

"Spirit magic is a powerful form of witchcraft that called upon the aid of the "The Spirits". It was commonly used among witches as it was considered a major source of power."

"So you could use spirits to help you?" I joked.

"You can use Spirits to give you powers when needed," He spat out as he rolled his eyes at me.

His cheeks were red with anger. I just covered my mouth so I wouldn't laugh as he explained himself. That would have just been a little too rude on my part.

"And Necromancy is a practice of magic involving communication with the dead. They do this by summoning their spirits or raising them bodily," he then said to me.

Spike made it clear he wasn't so pleased with my lack of knowledge of these things. But also annoyed that I was joking and laughing them off as meaningless jokes. It just sounded too out of place to be a real thing. But he claimed and was fully dedicated to this and sworn that they were real.

"Natural magic?" I almost laughed at the sound of it.

"White magic!" He yelled. "The counterpart of black magic. The practice through healing, blessing, charms, and incantations," Spike explained as he threw his arms in the air in anger. I couldn't help but laugh slightly. "White magic is often also referred to as "natural magic" since its ties to traditional Paganism."

"Alright, any other strange magics out there?" I was on the verge of just bursting out laughing at this.

"Well, we got the witch doctors," he answered.

"Is that the kind of magic Zecora uses?" I asked.

"I think so but most ponies would identify her more as a Herbalist than a witch doctor," Spike said.

I only nodded to say that I understood him.

"I'm sorry. It just sounds a little silly to me I guess."

Spike shrugged and leaned back. "It's not as funny as it sounds. You will soon figure that out."

That's what I'm afraid of...

"Spike, there's something that I need to tell you," I said.

"What is it?" He asked.

"I used magic when Rosetta was around."





As Spike previously stated, whatever Discord had done, it had definitely worked. He was now being chased by Rossetta who had a less than stellar greeting for him. He was running past all the faceless ponies. He turned back to see Rosetta in quick pursuit of him. Her skin was dark gray and her eyes will Pitch Black.

She screamed in anger and frustration as she kept yelling out to him.

"I'm going to shred you to pieces!"

He had no doubt in his mind that she was telling the truth. He ran as fast as his legs could carry him. He ended up going into one of the houses and shut the door behind him. He found the nearest furniture to them and barricaded the door. He quickly searches for a place to hide as the door begins to shake as she pounded on it furiously.

Discord focused on his heartbeat. He tried to count each beat the best he could. His hand covered his mouth as he lay on the cold hard crystal floor. His heartbeat was all he could hear.

The sound of hooves began to emerge from the distance. They had more of a clicking sound to them and came in multiple waves. A normal pony hoof was one consistent sound, but not these hooves. The sound he heard was the sound of claws tapping the crystal flooring.

He knew that she was looking for him, but he also knew that he had to keep her occupied for as long as he possibly could. He wasn't for sure exactly how but he did manage to get Cadenced back. It was good in the sense that it meant that Spike and Luna could potentially talk to her, but it was bad in the sense that he had to deal with her.

Her hooves passed the bed. Discord tried his best to ignore them as he continued to count his heartbeat. By counting them, he kept his heart at one steady beat. His breath was steady and soundless. He was completely silent just as he wanted to be. She looked threw the entire room and surely she would make her way to the bed.

Now all Discord could do was just lay there and prepared himself.

She made her way to the bed and quickly looked under it. Before their eyes could even meet, Discord screamed as he pushed up on the bed. He stood up and flipped the bed onto Rossetta. She roared as she clawed at the bed trying to get to him. He pushed the bed up against the bed before he ran out of the room and slammed the door shut.

He ran outside into the road and back towards the castle. He made his way to were Cadence's body was. She was still glowing and had her color back. Discord stopped and put his hand on her forehead.

His vision was no longer his own; he saw through Cadence's eyes. He saw her chained up in a wagon scared out of her mind. She had no idea where she was or what was happening. Afraid and alone.

He took him had off as he heard a loud crash. He turned to see his old friend running after him. He got up and ran towards the castle. He realized that he had to buy Luna and Spike way more time than he had originally thought, and he had no idea how he was going to be able to.

"Guess I'm going to need that mortician after all…"





None of us had slept that night. Halfway through the night, Spike road on Big Mac and tried his best to navigate. He said it was hard for him since he didn't travel there on foot or by train. Discord had teleported them there in an instant. That must have been nice. We had to take the long way by foot since Cadence had an unwelcome guest.

Big Mac was struggling as the hot desert heat weighed down on him. I was sweating up a storm and even the dragon was grasping for a drink. Spike had reassured us that we were heading in the right direction.

As bad as it was, I still hardly moved from my corner. I still tried to distract my mind. Thinking about the heat honestly was a great help with that. Big Mac was practically crawling across the sand.

At last, after about twenty million years, we had finally made it to our supposed destination.

"We're here, we're finally here!" Spike yelled out.

He ran out of the wagon and started jumping in the air. He started kissing the ground over and over as I got out of the wagon. I rolled my eyes at the overdramatic dragon's reaction.

"Spike, we still have to make it to the store, and we still can't eat or drink anything so stop celebrating."

"Never say never, Luna. I know of a place where we can get the best food in all of not Equestria."

"Spike, we don't have time for this," I said.

"Remember, we can't really do anything if we're dying from dehydration."

I hated to admit it but he was right. We were all practically crawling for life. If we were going to face anything, then we needed a refuel.

The town was a total dump, and residents weren't any better. Many of them walked right up to us and offered to buy one of us. Others made more interesting offers but nonetheless, it was all just horrible. Spike had warned me about the town previously but I was still taken aback. The only good part of the town proved to be a little food stand that was owed by a lizard named Trench.

"That was just what I need, right big Mac?"

"Eyup!"

Finally having some food to eat was amazing. The feeling of a drink rushing down my throat was the best feeling in the world.

"Just couldn't get enough of me could you a little dragon?" Trench respectfully nodded in agreement.

Admittedly the food was unbelievably good but my mind was still only focused on one thing. I sat there playing with my food for a bit, listening to the guys blabbed on to their new friend. All I could think about is what Kate Cadence was going through and what now Discord must have been going through. I knew he wouldn't have been too happy if he knew what we're doing right now but I only stopped because I knew we had to. Still, I tried to imagine at that moment what Discord was doing





It felt like a lifetime had passed by. Discord tried counting the minutes but you would always lose track after every time he had to run for his life. Stalling that's all he had to do but for most of the time that involved running for his dear life. The Crystal Empire was bacon fast with a surprising amount of rooms in cubby holes that he could hide in but even at that, the Castle had never seemed smaller to him.

He didn't know how time worked from dream to reality but all he hoped was that the waking world moves much faster. If the time between them was equivalent then Discord knew he would never make it through the night. He had already stalled for what felt like an eternity. At that, he had forgotten what is Mission was and his new mission was to Simply stay alive. He didn't know if he was going to be able to even do that.

He looked around the corner to see his pursuer stalking around. Her claws dragged across the floor as she searched for her prey. Discord leaned os back against the wall as he tried to collect his thoughts.

Dang it Luna you better have one heck of an excuse for why in Equestria you're taking so long. 

Discord knew that there probably was some good reason.





I sat my cup down on the counter. I let out a loud burp as some of my tension came out. My hunger was finally satisfied, but my desperate need for sleep was not. Finally sitting down to take a break really revealed just how tired I was. My body and mind carried so much tension that it kind of hurt to let some of it go.

We had little time to relax, but it was short-lived. We all sighed in defeat as we dragged ourselves out of our chairs. Big Mac practically crawled his way to the wagon. Spike road on his back and it appeared that to Big Mac he weighed a ton.

"Yup, she's still in here," Spike called to us as we trailed closer to the wagon.

We hid the wagon near the stand so we didn't have to worry about anyone "stealing" Cadence. Trench let us use a large tarp of his so we could cover it up.

"So now that you've had something to eat and had time to rest, where is her stupid baby." Spike looked up at me with a face that had a clear warning attached to it. He walked slightly past me and pointed at a large old windmill in the distance. I looked sharply at the old building almost with a hatred for it." Then let's give this bitch what she wants."

The travel was easy and honestly pretty smooth. Big Mac was a big stallion and It apparently intimidated a lot of the creatures. I was curious why it didn't work the same when we had first arrived, but I wasn't going to complain.

The store was smaller than I expected. They made it sound like a humongous maze with no end, but I wasn't getting that at all. The building was quite small and sad. It clearly had been neglected for many years. The odd part was that despite its less than appealing charm; I really wanted to go into it. The was something pulling me to it.

"Well, this is the funhouse of hell," Spike introduced. "It has everything from creepy dolls to little ghost children to creepy demon monsters. Oh, yes sir it has the whole nine yards. What do you think Big Mac? Are you eager to be the first in line."

"Nope nope nope nope." Big Mac walked back behind the wagon and sat down. He wasn't going in with us and he clearly was going to take a stand about it.

"Okay, then I guess that just leaves you and me, Luna. What do you say?"

"I say that I would've not said that last part if I were you," I said. Spike chuckled guiltily and turned his glare to the ground.

"I say, you're forgetting about somepony," Big Mac reminded us. Spike and I turned to the wagon.

Cadence grunted as the light pierced her eyes. She had been in the covered wagon for hours on end. Her eyes couldn't take the light at first. Big Mac helped he chained her hooves together. I could tell he was really struggling. He really didn't truly understand what was happening, and I wasn't really sure what Spike had actually told him.

He was watching Princess Cadence be chained up and taken against her will. She cried as we carried her out of the wagon. Big Mac really had to fight to keep himself together. I felt bad for him and it was then that I wished Spike would have just kept it between us. I had gifts and knew about things most ponies never had heard of, but I kept it all to myself. I never shared it with anyone. I knew that if I did the same thing would happen; ponies would get hurt in one way or another.

Big Mac carried her through the front door despite his protest earlier. We unchained her hooves but kept the one around her neck. I slowly removed her gag and slowly stepped back. Cadence started coughing as she gasped for air. She hadn't been able to close her mouth ever since we put it on her back at the Crystal empire. She started to gag and bent over as if she was gonna puke. Nothing but buts of desert sand came out. She looked up at us and opened her mouth. She tried to speak but only succeeded at making faint whispers. I then bent over and pulled out a cup that we had taken from Trentch's stand. I put it up to her mouth and tipped it over for her to drink. She gulped the whole thing down in a second. She took a long deep breath before she started to cough again. She then took a long deep breath as she looked at all of us in horror.

Her eyes seemed to search the ground as if she was thinking. Perhaps she was searching for an answer to all the questions she must have had.

"Luna, what is going on?"

Her voice, the sweet innocent voice of an angel. How I had yearned to hear it again. I had a lot to explain but no time to explain it.

"Listen Cadence I…."

"No Luna, I meant, what is inside of me?" She started to breathe hard as she held back from crying again.

Our eyes were locked to death others. I could see all of it in her eyes. I didn't know if she remembered anything or if she had a clue of what was happening, but she knew that at that moment all that mattered was that there was something inside her and it needed to be expelled. I nudged in response.

"Something very angry and very jealous, but don't worry we're gonna give the bitch what she wants."

Cadence seemed taken back by my response. She was confused at what exactly I meant by it, but I didn't have any time to explain. I turned to the rest of the store that was lined with the creepiest dolls and old toys I had ever seen.

"So do you want me to take you to her baby?" Spike asked as he started walking towards a hallway.

"No," I answered sharply. Spike turned to me in confusion. "You can go get the baby. You said something about its Dad, didn't you?





Discord was almost out of options. He had hid everywhere he possibly could. He had to resort to old fashioned running. He was running up a long set of stairs that went on forever. He looked behind him to see Rosetta still in pursuit. He was starting to rethink his meaning of persistence. He finally made it to the top of the stairs. He was in an open room that had no windows. He could the whole Empire from where he stood. He looked over the edge to see that he was on the very tippy-top of the castle.

He certainly didn't have anywhere to run. It was a dead end. He turned around as he heard the sound of claws scraping the crystal. He was a sitting duck and the hunter was rapidly approaching.





Spike had gone into a room and down a flight of stairs. Big Mac stayed in front with Cadence. That left me to go meet the father. I walked down the long hallway past the room Spike had gone into. As I walked I went like something was wrong. I felt such sadness just oozing from the walls. I could hear the echoes of screams and cry. Something terrible had happened there, and it started to slowly unfold before me.

I made my way to the end of the hallway to a large door. Spike said that beyond the door was a demon with a serious blood lust.

I froze for a moment before I pushed the door forward and walked in. The room was nothing special. It was the same as the front. The only difference was that it had a hallway that trailed into a bigger part of the building. I was surprised to see that the building had a whole another section to it. From the outside, the building seemed way to small for any kind of storm, but that proved not to be the case.

I walked over to the hallway and peered around the corner. Sure enough, it was more piles of junk, but it was way bigger than I had expected. I heard the echo of another cry in the distance, followed by the screams of youngins. I seriously wanted to know what horrible event took place there. Before I could think any more about the matter, my head was drenched by something. I backed up and wiped my eyes from the sticky substance. It took me a few moments before I realized the horrifying fact that I had been drenched in saliva. I slowly looked up.

Spike wasn't kidding when he said demon monster. The pony like the monstrosity that chased me really lived up to its name( well technically it died up to its name but it sounds better the other way). I ran out of the room and back towards Big Mac. I turned behind me to see its pony peels back skeleton face only inches from me. Its jagged teeth were overgrown and hung out of its mouth. I screwed as I continued to run back towards Big Mac.

"I know where your mother is. Would you like to see her?" Spike asked





Discord was out of options and out of places to hide. He didn't know what to do. He backed up to the edge as Rossetta made it to the top of the stairs. She roared as she saw him. Discord looked down from the ledge. He heard a scream echo in his head. It sounded like Luna. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

He opened his eyes and once again he could see through Cadence. He didn't know exactly how his abilities work or what he was doing to get them to work, but he was grateful that they did. He could see Luna in the distance running from a familiar face. The same creature that tried to kill him and Spike was trying to kill her. He remembered that the creature was the father of the baby; the husband of Rosetta. He didn't quite know what deranged plane Luna had going, but it was stupid and chaotic. He really loved it.

Discord opened his actual eyes and looked up and, Rosetta. He looked back over the edge and then back at Rosetta. He smiled at her and bent over into a running position." Come on Rosetta, let's finish what we stepped back shocked at the fact he said her name." That's right I know who you are and what happened. I know what you want." Discord smiled as she growled at him." You want your baby? Then come and get it. Rosetta charged at him and lunged right at him. Discord jumped at her and they collided. Both of them went over the edge and they took a fast way down.

They landed hard on the crystal ground. Discord was shocked to see that he was still alive. He rolled over in pain as he looked over to Cadence's glowing body. He started to crawl towards her body. His legs went completely numb and his arms felt like jelly. He crawled towards Cadence. Rosetta stood up and turned towards him. Her neck was broken and her arm was twisted. She cracked her neck back in place and twisted her arm back. Discord made it to Cadence's body. He looked back at Rosetta and made eye contact with her. She growled at him as he put his claw on Cadence's head. Discord smiled as he closed his eyes. Rosetta ran towards him and jumped on him. She grabbed him by the neck as her mouth opened to reveal an ocean or razors. She went for his neck and Discord screamed.





Discords scream echoed throughout the old store. I was quite shocked to see him next to Cadence with an all to familiar face. It was Rosetta in the flesh. She was on top of Discord ready to rip his throat out. Her face was twisted with huge teeth. She looked up at me and her face returned to normal.

I stopped in my tracks, even though I was being chased by a monster. The creature chasing me seemed to be as shocked as I was. It stopped right next to me and started to walk forward towards Discord.

"Discord?" Cadence asked more shocked than me.

"Did I drop in at a bad time?" Discord struggled to say as he was being choked.

"YOU!"

We all turned to Rosetta as she spoke in anger. We had all heard what she had sounded like but this time her voice was somehow different. She let go of Discord and stood up. The monster looked as shocked as it looked scared.

"You took everything from me," she said as she pointed to the monster.

The creature turned to look like a normal pony, it was an earth pony. It had a dark blue coat with a red and white mane. Its hair was short and stood straight up. Its cutie mark was two swords in an X formation.

"Well well well, my little whore finally came back to me. Even in death you always come back to me." His voice was dark and sinister. It was smooth and calm.

"I'm not scared of you anymore, Comet."

Comet, we finally had a name for the beast. He looked up in amusement.

"You should be."

Comet ran forward and lunged at Rosetta. They went flying across the floor. Their forms returned to their monstrous demonic version. They roared as they dug into each other. Rosetta dodged a huge swing from comet and went underneath him. She lifted him and slammed him against the ground. The floor cracked under the sheer force.

"I killed you once before you bastard, and I'm gonna love to do it again," Rosetta roared. "But this time I will make sure I send your sorry ass to Hell."

I ran over to Discord who was coughing. He sat up and crawled over to Big Mac who was up against the wall. I leaned up against the wall and I pulled Discord next to me.

"How in Equestria did you manage to pull this of Dizzy?"

"To be honest I really couldn't tell you. I don't have a clue how my abilities work but they somehow worked while I was there." Discord duked as a large piece of wood flew at him. "What about you? It seems you guys have been busy. By the way, how you doing Big Mac?"

"I've Been Better," Big Mac said as he curled up trying to avoid getting hit.

"Ya well she wanted her stupid baby so that's exactly what I did," I pointed out.

"Where's Spike?"

"Getting her baby. Not quite sure what's taking him twenty years."

Discord looked down the hallway and then back at the fight. "Well, this seems like one great family reunion. They really seem to love each other."

I rolled my eyes." Ya, I don't know if you ask me a little couple counseling might not hurt."

"Something tells me that we now know what happened here."

I looked up and Discord as he stared at the two fighting.

"Rosetta really isn't the demon we've been thinking of. She's really just a loner who had an abusive partner. She felt lost and had nothing until she got pregnant. Her baby was finally something good and so she fell in love with it. I don't know who but I guess Comet didn't like the independence and happiness that baby brought her, so he did what he could. He took her baby away from her. After that, she snapped and killed her oppressor and perhaps even herself. Now all she wants is her baby."

"No kidding. I think she made that quite obvious now," I said.

"Eyup."

I turned to see the two of them fighting. She really was fighting out of vengeance. He had taken everything from her and all she wanted was for him to finally be gone for good.

It was then that I felt a weird sensation. I turned to the hallway where it seemed to be coming from. Discord seemed to share the same sensation. He looked down the hallway and then back at Rosetta. He looked at me and nodded. I nodded back in agreement as we both knew what it was.

Discord walked closer to the two beasts trying to destroy each other.

"Hey Rosetta," Discord yelled as he waved his arms. Both of the creatures turned to look at him." You want your baby? Then come and get it."

Spike came barging through the door carrying a little pony. He froze in shock at the scene before him. "Did I come at a bad time?"

Rosetta gasped as she saw the one thing she had wanted for a very long time.

"My baby," she said slowly.

"Perfect, now I can kill both of you. That's my baby bitch."

Rosetta screamed as he pinned her against the ground. She struggled to get free as he laughed at her. She continued to struggle to try to get to her baby.

The little pony jumped down from Spike's arms and ran towards its mother. "Mommy?"

Rosetta froze and looked over to her baby's voice. She looked back at Comet and slowly started to push him back. She growled as her eyes started to glow.

"That..is..my… BABY!"

She screamed as she clawed Comet in the face sending him flying across the room. She got up and ran over to him. She picked him up and slammed him against the ground. She flung him around like a rag doll. she through him up to the ceiling and then stuck her claws straight through his back as he landed.

He gasped as blood rushed from his mouth. He looked at his stomach to see her entire arm went through him. He started to laugh as he leaned his head back. His eyes locked onto mine before they turned white. His body turned to mist and faded away. Rosetta stood there vicarious.

We all stood there starstruck. We had just witnessed something truly extraordinary. Rosetta started to cry as she turned to her baby. They ran to each other and she scooped her baby up into her arms. She hugged her baby with all her might. She returned to her normal pony state as she and her baby started to glow. Tears poured down her face as she continued to hold her baby. She spun around a few times before finally coming to a rest. She opened her eyes and looked at us.

She smiled as a large tear rushed down her face.

"Thank you. Thank you so much."

Her body began to glow incredibly bright. The light intensified until we couldn't look at it anymore. When the light finally dimmed, there was nothing left in its place. Rosetta was gone and so was her baby.

"Can someone please explain what the heck was all that about?" Cadence asked.

Big Mac took the chain off of Cadence. She sat down next to me and Discord; just as starstruck as the rest of us.

"Luna, please I wanna know everything you know about this, I want to know why I was chained up and taken somewhere I never even knew existed, and I want to know where my daughter is."

Discord walked over to Cadence and put his paw on her shoulder.

"Listen, Cadence, we'll explain everything on the way back, but first can we please get out of here."

We walked out of the building together sort of the same way we had walked in. The sun was bright and lit up the store in a way that it hadn't before.

Discord yawned as he cracked his back. "Man I can't wait to get back home. This whole ghost situation is ready tiring."

"Wait what, ghost?" Cadence asked in total shock.

"Come on Cadence, I know you've drawn that conclusion a long time ago. Surely, you couldn't explain your tormentors' actions and abilities. It all adds up doesn't it?" Spike sat on the ground quite confident that she understood him. Cadence sat next to him and put her head on his shoulder.

Discord stood and stared back at the store. "Hard to believe where this journey has taken us. I thought we were done with all of this, but we were drawn right back into it."

I walked next to him and sat down. "Ya it seems like someone else needed help, and so we were forced back into this shit. Lucky us."

"Well, we were the only ones who could help her, you know?"

"What do you mean help her? She doesn't deserve anyone's help after what she did to Cadence."

I knew very well what he meant but I wasn't ready to let go of what Rosetta had put Cadence through. I wasn't going to just forgive her for it.

"Luna, it isn't like that. She was lost and scared. Her life sucked and her death mirrored that exact thing. She wasn't a demon she was a lost scared mother. She needed our help to move on from this darkness, and only we could've done it. That's why we were dragged into it. Cadence was just unfortunate collateral damage. None of it was meant to happen, and none of it should have happened."

Spike walked over to us. He sighed as he too pieced everything together.

"Yup, it really is a tragic set of events. An abusive husband who killed her only child. She killed him and then she dies only to have to continue the torment in death. She was confused and angry because her whole life was bad. Not much to show for and all she had good in her life was that child," Spike said as he fell flat on the floor. "No wonder she wanted it so badly."

Discord walked over and sat next to me "Well, would you look at that? Turns out, in the end, she really was just a lost mother looking for her baby."

I groaned and rolled my eyes.

"Ya ya so sweet, I guess. Whatever...she's still a bitch."

 
> The Starting Place
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Cadence was welcomed with open hooves. Shining Armor cried as he held onto her. Cadence had never seemed so happy than when she got to hold her daughter. Celestia had noticed my absence and contacted Twilight when she hasn't heard a word from me.

So now we had to give an explanation to not just Twilight but to all of Equestria. We hadn't really discussed what we were going to tell everyone when we got back. The ride home wasn't as long as the ride there. Discord had a bit at Trentch's stand, and then we took a shortcut home. With no ghost or spirits around it only took the snap to get home.

I sat next to Spike and Discord as we watched the family reunion. It was a glorious sight to see Flurry Heart and Cadence finally together and finally safe. Flurry seemed happier than she had been in quite some time. Honestly, I never wanted that moment to end. Seeing her back with her family and truly happy was enough to make even Big Mac cry.

"Well, would you look at that," Discord said making a handkerchief appear. He handed it to Big Mac. "It looks like all of our hard work paid off in the end."

Discord was right. Throughout the entire journey, I was dreading it and wishing we could just quite. I hated that I had to admit to myself that I thought about giving up a few times. It was worth it in the end. All of the pain blood sweat and tears had finally paid off. I smiled as I also remembered the look on Rosseta's face. She was a mother, just like Cadence, and she couldn't rest without her baby. We had helped her be at peace and even managed to help her face and beat her true abuser. There wasn't more I could have asked for.

"So what's going to be our story?" Discord asked.

"Oh crap, I forgot that. We would have to find a way to explain this to the rest of Equestria," Spike said as he started to pace.

"We could try telling the truth," suggest Discord sarcastically.

"Nooooope."

"We have to say something. My sister isn't going to let any of this go. Nopony will," I said.

"Yes, sweet Cadence everypony's sweet darling," Discord wrapped his arm around Cadence as lights and confetti flew around her. "No one can stand to see her get hurt." Discord's eyes started an actual river of tears.

He wasn't wrong. Cadence was the incident one out of all of us. Equestria loved Cadence and everyone adored her. The whole event left everyone who knew Cadence starstruck. I had no idea what lame story we were going to have to come up with.

Shining Armor looked at me. "Thank you, Luna."

I only gave a small smile to him.

As Shining Armor and Cadence talked to each other, Celestia went up to me. Partly in relief, partly in anger.

"Luna are you okay?" She asked.

"I'm fine Celestia," I assured her.

"I was so worried about you. I was looking for Cadence and then nopony didn't know where you were," Celestia said.

"I didn't mean to worry you. I was looking for Cadence." It was all I could think of to say at that moment.

"You didn't say anything to me or anypony. I sent you so many letters and you didn't reply to any of them."

"Tia I didn't mean-"

"No Luna, stop right there. It's my turn to speak," she snapped at me. Her voice was stern and cold. "I let what happened last time go. I thought maybe if I did, things will get better. It seemed like for a while that it did but now this happened. I'm not ignorant, Luna. I know something is going on and I want to know why you won't tell me. I want the truth, sister."

I opened my mouth to say something. Anything to calm her down but no words came out of my mouth. I stood there speechless. They were so much I wanted to say but I couldn't. I just stared at the ground so I wouldn't have to look at her anymore.

"I'm sorry."

I heard Celestia groaned and shook her head. We heard a laugh and stared over at Flurry. She was laughing in her mother's arms. She knew that her mother was okay and everything else was over. I smiled at the sight. I was happy that I was able to keep my promise to her. We both looked over and saw how happy Cadence and Shining Armor were.

Celestia stared at the ceiling and sighed. I then gasped as she grabbed my arm and forcefully pulled me closer to her. She put her head by my ear and whispered:

"For the sake of everypony else, I won't say anything for now but later I expect an explanation. And when we get back to Canterlot, we will talk about this and what happened at the cemetery. I won't take no as an answer. Not this time."

She stared dead cold at me. I started shaking a little. For the first time in my life, I was actually afraid of her.

"I hope that I made myself very clear."

My eyes went back to the floor and I nodded my head.

"Good."

She let go of me and stormed off. It was clear that she had a lot to think about. I hated when she was angry at me. I didn't like feeling that I let her down. Especially, since that was all I been doing now.

I somewhat felt bad for her. However, she did cause some of this to herself. Maybe if she had treated me differently back then, I wouldn't have to be scared to talk to her now. I knew it was selfish of me but it was true. She didn't deserve to be left clueless about it all but at the same time, she didn't deserve my trust either.

Discord went by me and wrapped an arm around my shoulder.

"What are you going to do about her?"

"I don't know. I'll worry about that later," I said.

We waited till nightfall when everypony was asleep before we gather everyone. Cadence was already up and ready. She tucked Flurry Heart away and met up with us afterward. Discord teleported us to his house where we would have privacy. We all knew what we had to discuss.

"So Luna all of this is real? All of this supernatural ghost stuff is real?"

I looked at Cadence not sure how to respond. She was flipping through one of Spike's books. It had an X on the cover made of bones.

"Yes it's all real, it's not a fairytale. Demons, monsters, ghosts, they all exist. I can see them and Discord can dream of them. Well, he can like crossover to their realm by sleeping."

Cadence looked at me with a blank face. "Wait what? He can go to…" Cadence fell back as she tried to process the information.

"Yes, you see magic is completely useless around the dead, that includes mine," I said.

"However, there is a kind of special magic that does work. We don't know what it is but mine allows me to have cool weird dream power, and Luna can see and feel the dead while the rest of us can't," Discord added in.

Cadence turned her attention to me. "So you're like what a Ummm..."

"A psychic. That was how I saw the mare that was taunting you. I'm a psychic and nopony knows including Twilight and Celestia. The only ones who know are the ones in this room," I told her.

Her eyes widened at that.

"And I plan on keeping it that way," I added in sternly.

"How is this possible?" Cadence asked as she flipped through the book.

"Honest Cadence, I really couldn't tell you," Cadence looked up at me. "It something I had to come to terms with, but when it comes to making sense of it, I've given up."

Cadence sighed as she realized that we weren't much more knowledgeable about the supernatural that she was. I felt bad that I couldn't give her a completely solid answer, but I wasn't an expert on anything that we went through.

"All of you deal with this kind of thing often?"

"Well this is our second case," Spike explained proudly. "But you pick up a lot of these things."

"Case? So this is like a hobby for you?"

Discord made a sword and shield appear. "I wouldn't say hobby, more like a side job where we protect the innocent." Discord swung his sword around as ghost flew around him. "Kinda like ghost knights."

"Why didn't I know about this? Does Celestia know, or Twilight?"

"I did just say they didn't know about my powers."

"Do they know anything?" She then asked.

"No. I don't believe anypony believes that the supernatural even exists." Discord pulled out a clipboard and put a pair of glasses on. "It's not really a proven fact to most for some reason.

"Well, are we going to tell them what really happened to me then? I mean they'll have to believe us right?"

"NO!" I Immediately blurted out.

Everyone looked at me surprised at my sudden outburst. "We're not going to tell them about any of this."

"Luna…"

"Discord no, are you kidding me? Do you think if Celestia found out about this she'll take it well? What about the rest of Equestria?"

Cadence walked forward. "Luna I'm sure if I talked to Celestia then she'll listen."

"No Cadence we can't. She won't understand what me and Discord are. She'll totally flip. Besides, I'm done getting ponies involved with this. It only has gotten my friends and family hurt."

Discord looked at the rest of them as if to say I told you so. I knew Discord wouldn't argue with me. We went through a lot together from our last encounter with Berry Tarts, so he understood where I was coming from. Spike seemed to except my rant as he just continued to flip through his book. Big Mac walked over to Spike and sat next to him

"Eyup."

Cadence was the only one still standing. She looked at me as if she was waiting to see if I had made my case.

"You really just want to keep this quiet; making up some lie and just move on?"

I nodded in response. She sighed looking me dead in the eyes.

"So what are you going to tell them cause I'm not going to risk anyone else any harm. That includes your daughter." I made sure she heard that last part.

"Ok I get it," She snapped.

She stood for a moment and thought to herself. She tried processing everything in. After a minute, Cadence walked over to me and hugged me tightly.

"Luna, I'm forever grateful for what you did for me and Flurry Heart."

"Cadence…" I started to say.

"Luna, let me finish."

I sighed quietly and nodded my head.

"I just want you to know that you don't have to take this one by yourself." She looked me in the eyes.

"I know Cadence but please I hardly understand this crap myself. You saw what these things can do. I'm not gonna drag anymore into it."

This time she was the one to sigh in defeat.

"Okay, I won't tell your sister, Twilight or Shining Armor about this or about your powers. I won't tell anypony what happened. I understand you're just trying to figure it all out. I guess I can come up with something. But if you end up in this situation again, I'll be more than happy to help you any way I can."

"Thank you, Cadence. I'll take you up on your offer one day."

I hugged her tightly. For a moment, we refuse to let each other go. We cried but this time it was in joy instead of fear or grief.

"At least one thing good happened this week. Celestia wanted us to get closer and we did."

She chuckled. "Yeah. I guess we did do one thing right."

She broke the hug and faced Discord.

"I think I should head back before Shining Armor wakes up. I wouldn't want to cause a panic again."

"Yeah, we wouldn't want that," Discord said. He got his fingers ready to take her back.

"Cadence!" I called out to her. She looked up at me. "Please get help. Don't end up like me."

She smiled brightly at me.

"For you and Flurry Heart."

Discord teleported Cadence back so she could handle things on her end. I didn't know what she was going to tell them but I was glad that we had come to terms. Spike and Big Mac were next to go as they were excited to finally go home. Discord and I were the last two remaining.

"So another one come and gone hmm?" Discord had a large smirk on his face like he had made a point or something.

"It's not a case Discord, it's a horrible problem that happened to my family that we had to fix."

"Ya, so that makes it a royal case then," Discord said as he made a crown and slammed it with gravel. "Strange though. I remember a time where you didn't want to get involved with any of this. You wanted it to be your last time."

"What makes you think that I still don't want this to be my last time? I don't enjoy these gifts Discord, and you can't say you do either."

"Well ya, I didn't spend nights hoping and wishing on stars that this would become a reality, but I'll live with it. You, on the other hand, wouldn't have had it any other way."

"What are you talking about?" I asked.

"I'm talking about how you are so worried about your abilities and others and trying to see it negatively. You can't pretend Luna that you're cursed with this thing when you are glad you have it."

"Discord, I didn't choose this. If it was up to me then I wouldn't have it even after knowing this shit even exist. I didn't have a choice and now I have to live with it. That's why I didn't want Cadence to tell anyone else, so they don't have to live with it either. Plus, they would all think us mad anyways.

"Sure they wouldn't be our number one fans but you don't dread this like you're letting on."

"And what makes you say that?"

"Because I saw your face when Cadence had Flurry heart in her hooves. Your eyes just lit up when you say how happy she was."

Discord was right. I felt my body release some of its tension. I looked at that same smirk as it crept over his face. He was right and he knew it too.

"I know Luna because it's the same look Fluttershy gets when she helps out animals. She loves what she does because she loves to see their happiness in the end. I know you're not quite like Fluttershy but you're not totally different either."

Discord had made his point and it was followed by a large cocky smirk. His case was set in stone and I really didn't have anything to go against it. I started to chuckle in defeat. The tension left my body completely as I let out a long sigh.

"Discord is there something you have to tell me?"

"What?"

"I have been meaning to tell you this for a while. I told Spike but he said that you'll know more about it."

Discord looked carefully at me. It appeared that he had a clue about what I was going to tell him.

"Go on."

"While I was waiting for you, I got attacked by Rosetta. She almost took Flurry but something happened. I was able to use magic to stop her. But it wasn't mine. It was something else," I told him.

"A blue orb?" Discord asked.

"Yeah exactly. Wait...h-how did you know?"

"Because if you remember, that's the same color orb I shot at the creature when I was trying to save Silver Blitz," Discord said to me.

"I think I recall that."

I thought back to that moment and it came to me. Discord ran up to them, trying to save her and the orb shot out of him. Just like me, it came out of nowhere when we were both trying to protect someone we loved.

"Dang Dizzy, what the heck are we?"

"Eh crazy ponies, psychopaths, the whole nine yards. I kind of like it though, it sounds like some chaos on the horizon."

"Whatever we are, it can wait for another day," I said exhausted.

"Fair enough, my dear," Discord laughed.

"You really think there's more in store for us?" I said already knowing the answer.

"Are you kidding me?! We're practically supernatural magnets now."

I laughed at his remark. Sure two incidents were more than enough, but it wasn't anything to run home about. That was more around Shredder's field.

"Magnets, what do you mean? We've only had a serial killer and a lost mother to deal with."

Discord gave me a large-toothed smile. I instantly didn't like it.

"Well you see, before Spike left, he gave me something."

I sighed in response. "What is it?"

"It's a little tip about a case someone asked about. Someone else might need our help you know?"

"Discord you know this isn't like a full-time job? We can't just drop everything to do this."

"Ya I know but maybe we can just, I don't know, check it out for them and let them know that everything is alright. What do you say?"

I laid on my back and groaned as I realized where he was going with all of it. He wanted our little team we had formed to be an actual hobby. I really wasn't into the idea fully, but the more I thought about It wasn't that bad. I was stuck with my ability and I knew these things would keep coming at me. I thought it was something I could look into.

"You really want to make this a thing Discord?"

"Well if you don't want to help them, then I could just send them a letter and tell them that we have better things to do."

"Shut up, let's just go talk to Spike about it."

Discord jumped up and snapped his fingers. A large train appeared in the room. Another Discord popped out of the front of the train.

"All aboard the Supernatural Express."

I rolled my eyes and laughed as I jumped into one of the train carts. Discord jumped in after and the train took off.

"I think big things are in store for us, Lulu."

That was certainly not the path I thought I was going to go down, nor was it the most preferable one, but I was content with it. The situation could have been a whole lot worse than what it was. So I considered us lucky. As we rode the train to Spike I couldn't help but think how familiar it was.

Discord and I had a supernatural problem and so we were off to Spike to get help. It was funny really. We had been to many places. Some familiar places, some that were horrible, strange, and some that seemed like it was our last place.

In the end, however, we just ended back to the starting place.

The End
> The Final Chapter
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Epilogue

Somewhere in an unknown place in the sky, stood a snake-like East Asian dragon with four legs that was gold and white. He looked down at the world below him with a smile. His work here was done. It was time to move on.

Wake up Luna! 

Wake up!!






It was late in the dead of night. Everything was quiet and peaceful in the mountains. 

Despite the chaos and troubles that happened daily all over in this world, this was the one place that remained peaceful. No creature was for sure on why that was. It just was untouched.

The bull-like creature that so many have come to know as Shader flew down with two henchmen behind him. One was a diamond dog. The other was a Sarimanok, a female Draconequus. The sarimanok walked up to Shader. 

“They’re late.” 

“Fear not Eris, my dear. Sabrina will show up. She always does,” Shader spoke calmly. 

This time it was the diamond dog who spoke up.

“You know what they will do, Master. We will be sent back many years of progress.“

Shader chuckled. “There wasn’t much progress we had done, to begin with, Canight. Trust me after tonight, things will be different. I have a plan.” 

Canight rolled his eyes and stepped back.

As if on cue, another set of creatures step down. This time stood a dark purple dragon satyr hybrid with dragon-like wings and an ocean blue slightly mixed in with red hippogriff.

Shader smiled. “As I stated before, she always comes.” 

Canight only growled at the sight of them. 

“My Lovely beautiful Sabrina, where has your husband wandered off to now?” Shader sarcastically remarked.

“Ollie couldn’t attend tonight,” she replied. 

“The next time you encounter my brother please inform him I wish to not be interrupted while I work,” he spoke with slyness in his weird blended double voices; light and soft, almost like a whisper and the other were deep and loud.

“The thing is that he told us to tell you just that, Shader,” the hippogriff said.

“He can come here and tell my master that himself,” Canight growl.

“He’s right, Sabrina. You can’t keep fixing my brother’s mistakes.“

“What you call his mistakes is what I call his greatest achievements. Face it, he has done far more than what you will ever do,” Sabrina defended. 

“What you call his accomplishments is what will be his downfall,” Eris said. 

Sabrina smiled brightly at her. “Haven’t you already met yours? It appears to me that you have.”

“Enough! All of you!” The hippogriff stepped in. 

He stepped in between the two and stared at Shader and Sabrina.

“We all agreed that this discussion was necessary. So let’s just focus on that.”

“Oh look at Cyrus always wanting to be our little peacemaker,” Canight mocked him. 
 
“Yes, for it is far better than war.” 

“Fine,” he said in defeat. 

Cyrus made it clear that they needed to make it quick. They didn’t have much time left.

“Very well then. What do you have in mind?” Shader asked. “My brother and I appearance in Luna’s dream seemed to have caused some mishaps here in the Nethers. I think we all can agree that it is wise to not cause any chaos down here.”

“The answer is obvious, Shader. You and my husband can’t persuade to Luna personally anymore. You have to let her choose her own,” Sabrina said.

He growled which causes very ground to shake. 

“You know he can’t stop doing that. You two have the advantage on Luna,” Eris retorted. 

“This isn’t about being fair! It’s about making sure nothing bad happens that could potentially cost too much collateral damage that we might not be able to fix!” Cyrus yelled out to them.

“But the Legend stated and by Ollie’s own words that she must prove her worth first. And she has done nothing but causes evil,” Canight pointed out to them. 

Sabrina walked angrily up to Canight’s face. 

“You seem to have forgotten what evil truly is.”

Canight lifted his paw and aimed right at her. Black smoke started to come out of it as his eyes became red. Sabrina took a few steps back.

“Oh darling. It seems that you have. But I can remind you quite easily.” 

“Canight enough. Let me handle this,” Shader said.  “I will leave her alone on one condition.”

He walked up to Sabrina who was much smaller than him. He was twice her size. 

“You must put the curse on her. After falling to Nightmare Moon, she already has proven to be a failure. In order to prove she’s worthy of that power, she has to overcome it.”

Cyrus was immediately shaken by his enemy’s offer.
 

“Sabrina you mustn’t. You can’t do that,” he protested against it. 

“Done,” she spoke without hesitation whatsoever.

“What?!” Cyrus yelled. 

“If you and my husband leave Luna alone, the curse will be placed upon her. It will not affect her moral body but when her power starts getting activated, she will feel like she has been throwing in the depths of the underworld.”

Shader clapped his hands and approval and joy.

“Good. That is what I like to hear,” he cheered. 

“I will only agree to this if you let the girl go through. You don’t have any rights to hold her,” Sabrina added in.

Shader simply just laughed at this request. A huge gust of wind could be heard as it passed by them. His lamp began to light up and a small white orb could be seen leaving it. It flew by them all for a moment before shooting up in the air and disappearing. 

“Consider it done, my dear. If I’m not allowed to mess with Luna, the girl has no use for me to have anymore.”

“Where did she go?” Sabrina asked.

“Where they’ll be able to find her,” he answered as his lamb began to dim back down to its original darkness. “Now it's your turn.” 

Sabrina’s claw lit up as she aimed at a random direction. In seconds, a big bright golden orb shot out and flew across the horizon.

“There. It has been done. Now we all must return before we are seen,” Sabrina stated as she was already ready to fly off.
 
Shader turned away from her and began to walk off. 

“Come along, Eris and Canight. We have work to do since the rules have changed now.” 

“Shader!” 

She called out to him. Shader stopped in place and turned around.

“You fed her lies but she will not believe them.”

He chuckled. “No but her friends will and they will break her because of it.”

“Luna is getting stronger every day; physically and emotionally. You won’t be able to trick her again.”

“No but maybe SHE will. Every day must come to its end.”

Then they all disappeared in the void that was the Nethers. Cyrus walked up to Sabrina and put a claw on her shoulder.

“We must leave now. We have to inform Ollie of what happened here.” He spread his wings as he was getting ready to take off. 

“Of course.” 

“Do you have hope that she will turn out like Selena?” Cyrus asked. There was a bit of doubt in his voice.

“No,” she smiled. “I have hope that she will turn out even better.”

They both flew into the air and went into a void that was up in the sky. All they could do was wait and see the outcome of their decision from tonight's agreement. 




 

I woke up with a gasp as I jolted up from the bed. I wasn’t afraid. I was more shocked. Tiberius jumped onto the bed and clawed up to me. He wanted to make sure that I was okay. I petted him to assure him that nothing was wrong. 

“Bad dream?” 

I saw my father standing by my bed. He stared at me with the same childish smirk. I was beginning to wonder if I was too lenient on him. 

“No. Just strange ones that don’t make sense,” I said. 

“That was my second guess,” he joked. 

I laughed a little. I got out of my bed and headed to my window.

“Ready to deal with Celestia today?” He asked sarcastically. 

“Not really.” 

I used my magic to open the window. It was time to lower the moon to help my sister bring forth the day. A day that I was not looking forward to. There was no doubt that Celestia was planning on coming into my room and demanding answers. I didn’t want to fight with her but that was most likely going to happen. I had to prepare myself for that. I lit up my horn and began lowering the moon. It was when the moon was halfway down when a thought came to mind.

Who’s Ollie? 



To be continued...