Chapter 7

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A pair of guards patrolled the Canterlot Gardens. They were specialized for this kind of work, their ashen coats blending into the darkness and shadows. Two pairs of golden eyes shone dimly into the darkness, the only sign of their presence. Their wings were not feathered like a bird's, but were made of skin like a bat's. These were Luna's personal assistants, and were a rare breed. Their origins were highly confidential, not even Celestia knew where they were from.

Some said that Luna had created them during her time as Nightmare Moon to be her own specially bred soldiers to carry out her bidding. The dragon eyes were a remarkable similarity. Others said that they had sprung up out of the ground, or down from the moon. But really, they were just ponies. Unlike other ponies, they usually lived in caves. Only a few came to the surface. Those that did usually were employed by Princess Luna to patrol Canterlot and other places. The work was usually exciting and worth leaving the caves.

Usually. The Canterlot Gardens were notorious for absolutely nothing happening. The statues never moved, and nobody ever bothered to steal them. The statues were so famous that the thief would be caught in a matter of hours of trying to sell them.

So the guards were surprised to find three little fillies asleep in front of Discord. The larger one looked to his companion, who shrugged in bewilderment. Their joking was forgotten and was replaced with confusion. What were these foals doing here?

"Luna!" The smaller one called. "You might want to see this."

A thin mist began to form at their feet, curling around the statues like the tendrils of a vine. Slowly, it crept towards their hooves, shimmering in the night air the way a snake crawls through a jungle.

"And you can knock off the dramatic approach." The guard said to the mist. "This is serious."

The mist lifted. "Ugh, fine." Luna materialized in a dim ball of light. "Where is your sense of humor, Private?"

"Why don't you ask them?" The private motioned towards the fillies. "I think one of them is hurt. Do they look familiar to you?"

Luna looked at them for a moment. "I believe I have seen them." She said after a while. "It was at the Nightmare Night festival. They were frightened by me, and they ran away." She pricked her ears forward. "They are dreaming." She noted.

"What are they dreaming about?" The larger guard spoke, his voice a soft whisper in the night.

Luna was silent for a moment, her eyes shut tight in concentration as she tried to enter their dreams. "I can see something, but I'm not sure what. It's very blurry and strange. Stranger than most dreams, that is."

One of the fillies, a pegasus, began to stir. Luna turned around and inspected her. "This one's dream has only just begun. Rise, young filly, and tell me what has happened."

The filly slowly opened her eyes. "Princess Luna? What are you-" Her eyes widened in horror and she shrieked. Luna looked behind her and her heart skipped a beat. A ghostly figure stood before her, hovering just above the ground. It was a horrible beast, and all too familiar. Discord stood before her in all his horrid glory. He grinned, showing all his teeth, and before Luna could react, he dive straight through the filly's skull, disappearing into her mind. The pegasus immediately fell back into a deep sleep.

Luna bared her teeth and shut her eyes, concentrating on entering the filly's subconscious.

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The world of the girl's subconscious was a forest, flickering between light and darkness. Discord was already taking a hold of her mind. Luna searched her memory for the filly's name. Scootaloo, that was it. She could see Discord holding her in his mismatched claws. She stepped towards them, but was stopped by an invisible wall.

"Discord." Luna said the name like it was a curse. "Let me in. The realm of dreams is my own, do not trespass into my domain."

"Ah, yes." Discord growled. "The mighty Princess Luna. I have no quarrel with you, and I would suggest we keep things that way. You do not wish to start a feud with a being with limitless power." He shoved Scootaloo to the side.

"And you should not form an enmity against the Princess of the Night." Luna lowered her head, pointing her horn forward like a weapon. "You know nothing of this world, you do not know what you are doing. Touch that filly any longer and the consequences will be dire. The material world and the dream world should not make contact."

Discord smirked at her. "Then it would appear that I have the advantage. Unlike you, I am not physical. I am the spirit of chaos itself. I do what I want." He spun a lazy loop-the-loop.

"I am warning you, monster." Luna growled. "I will find a way to stop you if you do not let her go."

Discord chuckled, the sound resounding around them. "I am the monster? No, my dear, the only monster here is you. I was made this way against my will. You, on the other hand, now there's a different story. Need I remind you of the time you made a stallion for yourself in hopes of finding someone who would understand your hatred of the daytime? Oh, you loved him, didn't you? Enough to give him an empire of his own. And then Celestia made you destroy him when he turned his citizens into slaves. You never did tell her that you made him, did you? Or what about the time you banished her to the sun?"

Luna gritted her teeth. "That is not of your concern. Leave the girl alone and I will let you leave safely."

Discord traced figures out in the dust. "But what if I don't want to go? I rather like it here. I can control everything I see and change it as I please." He held a rock and changed it into a rabbit. "Besides, I've done this twice already. I can find a way out as easily as you please."

"Then find that way out now and be gone!" Luna leapt against the wall.

Grinning, Discord said, "Is that a challenge I hear? Very well then." He snapped his claws and walked through the wall. "A duel. I think we both know what the stakes are."

Luna nodded. "Let us begin."

The two circled each other, neither wanting to make the first move. Suddenly Discord lunged at Luna, then feinted to the left. She did not have time to cast a shielding spell. He rammed his head into her side. Pain exploded in her ribs, and Luna was thrown back a few feet. She quickly regained her balance.

They circled again. This time it was Luna's turn to attack. Lowering her horn, she charged at Discord, only to be met with empty air. She whirled around to see that Discord had simply dodged her attack. He laughed.

His claws glowed red with energy and he summoned a bolt of lightning. Luna leapt in the air to avoid the lightning, and felt the heat singe away some fur on her flapped her wings and hovered above Discord, then dived towards his face. Once again he took a step to the side and avoided her all together.

"Patience, dear." He twisted his body around like an owl. "We wouldn't want to waste your energy now, would we?" He tried to snatch Luna out of the air. Luna dodged his grasping claws and kicked him in the face. Discord growled with rage and grabbed his snout.

"I could do this all day," she said doggedly. She went in for another attack, her horn glowing with pale blue energy. She aimed at Discord and cast a paralysing spell. Nothing happened. She gasped in shock, her body quaking with adrenaline. It hadn't worked!

"No magic," Discord chided. He levitated a rock and threw it in her direction.

Luna barely dodged in time. "That looked like magic to me," She retorted. "Why don't we level the playing field?" She cast an earthquake spell, but once again nothing happened. Something was wrong. A powerful gust of wind knocked her to the ground. Luna hit the ground hard. She could taste the dust on the ground.

"It wasn't." Discord threw another boulder. "This is altering the subconscious."

Luna was hard-pressed to stay out of the boulder's way. "What!" She jumped on Discord's back. He simply flicked her off, more annoyed than aggressive. "Even I don't alter dreams so crudely."

"But you could." He said. Luna felt herself rising off the ground. Her heart raced out of control. He was lifting her without touching her!

"This is no fun," Discord complained. Luna gasped for air as invisible talons dug into her skin.

"It was never meant to be," she gasped.

Discord shrank down to her size. "That's not what I meant. You're not a challenge. I'm too big for you."

Luna glared at him indignantly. "I can take you down in my sleep."

Discord laughed heartily. "But isn't that what you're trying to do? How well is it working for you? Come on, down you go." Luna dropped down to the ground. Baffled, she rose to her feet. "No wings." Discord snapped his fingers and Luna's wings were gone. "We don't need to worry about magic. On this side of my wall it's impossible for you to use. Now our abilities are evenly matched"

Luna felt her legs trembling with exhaustion. Evenly matched? What a joke. But then he was so fond of jokes. "Just give me a minute." She panted.

The two creatures stared at each other for a while. An unofficial ceasefire had been called. Then Luna tackled the demon. The two rolled around on the forest floor, demolishing everything in sight. Suddenly Discord pushed luna off. He stood on his back legs and grabbed a stick. The stick turned into a cobra.

The cobra began slithering towards Luna. Luna scrambled away from the serpent. "No magic," She reminded Discord. "Even match."

"Not magic." Discord grabbed another stick. "Manipulation."

Soon Luna was surrounded by the creatures. The leaves crackled beneath their thick, muscular bodies as they came ever closer. Sweat poured down Luna's sides. Why snakes? How had he known about her phobia? The snakes began to form a circle around her.

"You're not fighting right," Discord whined. "You can manipulate her mind too, you know."

"I choose not to." Luna tried to find a way out of the ring of serpents.

Discord rolled his eyes. "So boring." He raised Luna. "I have better things to do. Wake up, sleepyhead." He tossed her off a cliff.

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Luna woke up with a jolt. She had dreamed she was falling off a cliff. Her heart raced and her body was covered in a cold sweat. It had been more than a dream. "Aargh!" She screamed. 'I can not believe you!" She marched up to the statue of Discord. "Come out here and fight me, fiend!" She demanded, seething with rage. Her guards stood a safe distance away and shared a look. What does one do when a princess yells at a statue? They wondered.

The stallion cleared his throat. "Your highness?" He addressed her. "What happened?"

Luna sighed and hunched her shoulders. When she turned around she bore a look of utter defeat. "She's his now. Celestia knows what hell will break loose if he corrupts her. There's nothing I can do now."

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Howdy, y'all! I hope you liked this chapter, because I'm not so sure it turned out well. That was my first time to write a fight scene. It's a lot harder than it sounds! So if you see something that can be improved, let me know. Please?

Also: Inception. Lots of Inception. If you haven't guessed yet, I freakin' love Inception.