Luna shook her head at the revelation that was made before her, out of literally everything that could have possibly happened had the events as they went down in history were among the worst that she could possibly imagine. It were events that not even Celestia herself could be knowing about until further information had been gathered. And the only way to do that was to actually send somepony straight into the fog of White Tails in order to come face to face with the nightmarish unicorn.

It would take a madman in order to do such a thing but Luna thought she would be having the perfect candidate right among her ranks. A pony who would be able to do the job and even tell the tale to her afterward. Content with the idea did the alicorn of the night rose up into the skies and propelled herself forward towards the castle of Canterlot.

Soaring through the night skies were her eyes locked upon the tower that was hers alone to be used as it connected straight to her bedroom. With one gentle touch did the hooves land upon the balcony and the horn charged itself just a little bit while the wings were being tucked against her body. After having done a couple of steps stood the mare back in her own chambers and released a deep sigh. The balcony doors were closed again as she took further steps into the room.

Only to stop at the door that would be leading her to the hallway and opened that door. "Would the fine gentlecolts tell her to come please? I have a mission for her that needs to be as soon as possible," she spoke up towards the two guards that were standing before her room. They both nodded to the words and without one of their own, left their posts in order to find the being Luna asked for.

The alicorn herself then retreated back into the chambers were she plopped down upon her bed and began to look over to the ceilings. Nothing seemed to be true at that moment in time for her and all of it was either a lie or the half-truth. Everything she had read, everything she had witnessed, everything she had listened to even, nothing added up at even one point of the why questions. But perhaps her little informant would be able to shine light upon the case.

An informant who arrived at her chambers not even five minutes later. Luna's eyes looked over to dark gray coated batpony before the words left her with a serious tone. "Over time I have tested you more than once. And every single test was done with great results my whispermare, but the task I'm about to be giving you now, is one that even puts your skills and abilities to the test." Luna turned her attention away from the mare and allowed her gaze to fall upon the world outside. A deep sigh was the thing that she released through her nostrils before the words continued to be spoken and the revelation to be made. "I want that you go to White Tails and get captured. Get as much information as you can and return to me with your mind in one piece. It won't be easy, but I'm having faith in you."

Without any other emotion had Luna turned herself back to the Whispermare and looked her sternly in the eyes. "Make sure nopony discovers who you are, nor that you speak the wrong words. One thing here falling out of alignment and we can all shake it. For this time, the fate of Equestria doesn't hang in the balance of the elements, but whether or not you can master your fears."

It was a task given by a princess and one that couldn't be refused whatsoever. So without a word did the Whispermare nod to the spoken words. Everything was clear to her and she turned herself around in order to execute the orders. "May the stars aid you in your quest." Luna whispered to herself after the batpony had left the room again. "…And Celestia has not find it out, not yet."

The days came and went as normal while the nightmarish unicorn herself sat upon the throne within the domain. With the eyes closed and not a single muscle moving in her body, it almost seemed like that she was nothing else but a massive statue. Yet she was still alive and kicking. Sunken deep into the pool of darkness that consisted out of her powers and frights, she was pondering her mind on more than one occasion to plan the next frightful attack.

For the nightmares that held Ponyville in its grasp for such a long time had been working out yet she never claimed it as her work. Hidden from the crowd was the thing that she wanted to be as it meant that she could be going her way. Fame and fortune through such things weren't the way she dealt with her troubles. For the unicorn was a lot more sinister and clever when it came to it. She would probably have been caught already if not hunted if she had made a public announcement that the terror was her doing.

And that was about the last thing she could be needing. But in her mind were the plans made to attack metropolis' like Los Pegasus and Manehatten. Even the royal city of Canterlot was actually a few times mentioned deep inside of her mind. So much terror she could be causing in such a little amount of time. Though caution was needed to do such a thing. Slow and steady had always won the race for her and it wouldn't be an exception any other way.

So many places where she could be striking her powerful spells of fight first, but there were only a few suitable places. If she wanted, with one powerful attack the entire apocalypse could be unleashed over the lands. But that was something for the eventual master plan, not for a simple attack. Another storm needed to be brewing itself in the skies if she wanted to proceed with her attacks. And that was about the thing she would be doing.

Another massive storm would be created and released over the pegasus capital of Cloudsdale. How, why and when were still needed to be answered, but she had the time to do just that. Or so she thought.

For when she wanted to continue pondering her mind on the skies had both Shadowfright and Shadowblood entered the throne room with news for her. News that usually brought her a sheer enjoyment. "My queen, the next load of test subjects has arrived for you. Nothing out of the ordinary with the exception of a batpony being among their midst." Fright spoke up to her after the two had assumed a deep bow before their queen.

Their wounds were still healing from the vicious attack laid upon them but it did act as a lesson they wouldn't be forgetting anytime soon. For in the days that followed wouldn't neither of the two even dare to think up for themselves, which in return meant only one thing. That they were as tranquil as they would ever be getting. Their sentient mind had been converted itself into a collective one like most of the forces in the domain.

A thing that caused the unicorn a perhaps even greater pleasure than anything combined. As it meant that she had the ability to gain the fullest of control over every last force in her command. All willing to do just one thing, executing the orders of their queen. And that mindset was the thing that made them just so dangerous.

"All of them have been transported over to the dungeon, my liege. All of them are awaiting your arrival with the fear in their eyes." Blood spoke up as his gem eyes kept themselves peeled upon the queen herself. Who on her own turn simple rose one of her forelegs up and waved to them that they needed to get out of the room.

The two of them understood the message luckily and they did the thing that was asked of them. Both Fright and Blood stood up from their bow and made a quick turn around before they would be leaving the throne room and thus her once more. Their hooves could be heard clattering against the crystal steps. The sounds were oddly harmonious and even unison to listen to, which was a thing that the unicorn did in secret.

Only after the two of them had left the stairs and merged with the shadows to let their wounds continue to heal further, did the unicorn open her eyes again.

Yet the sights that were revealed within them were everything but pleasant. Due to the strain she had placed upon her brain had every last blood vessel in her eyes become clearly visible. So next to the blue rims and the blue and green colored eyes themselves there was also the haunting red of every last vessel that was just as clearly to be seen.

It was something that caused the already haunting eyes to become even more demonic in appearance. It also happened to be a thing she didn't have any control over nor had any actual issues with. To a certain degree, she even seemed to be loving it whenever it happened as it caused even more fright to be falling into the eyes of her victims.

Her body slowly rose up from the throne itself before she descended from the steps and charged her horn lightly up. In response to the magical charge would the flames in the torches be lowered until they were nothing more bit a small heap of smoldering ashes. Ashes that were ready to be reignited when needed. Her hooves then gently carried her over on the staircase that would be leading her to the courtyard of her domain.

About the only place where she could be breathing in the fresh air of the woods and feel the feeling of being actually still alive. From time to time she felt herself more becoming like a machine that was running all the time to complete the goals. Not that she seemed to be caring, though Nightmare Rarity did prefer to be a living, breathing being

Either way, her eyes looked up to the sun that stood high in the skies and a smirk caused itself to be formed upon her face. All the plans that were racing through her head made her feel just so deliciously nasty and evil. All the torment that she could be inflicting upon those that were in the dungeon under the domain was truly something mouthwatering.

The head of the mare lowered itself down after a minute or two of just continues staring before it was given a look to the doorway that would be leading her downstairs and thus to the prisoners. A deadly crackle left her throat as she had the plans ready right before her.

None of the prisoners would be escaping her powers that day. Though the interest had been mostly peaked in just one pony. The batpony that seeming was delivered at her door. Never in her time of reign had one of those rare types of ponies even been spotted in the woods. "Maybe they are onto something. Lulu, you are still as stupid as ever. Hmhmhm, I will enjoy breaking your little servant," the unicorn chuckled up to herself.

An observation made rather wisely by the unicorn as the batponies were only seen in the service of the princess of the night. Perhaps even long before the game Luna wanted to play had begun, it had already ended in the advantage of nopony else then the nightmarish unicorn.

Yet at the time there was nothing that happened to be clear and it could be actually anything that laid down there. There was only one way to actually discover just what was going on down there and that was to witness it with her own eyes. A thing she would be doing with more than anything else in that moment.

With a set of heavy sounding hoofsteps had Nightmare Rarity arrived at the cell in which the batpony was placed and the eyes looked calmly into her direction. But with only the back being visible, she could only guess the face. The gray coat and the wings were something already spotted, not to mention the purple haired tail.

In the cell itself was the batpony hopelessly trying to find a way out by digging itself through the dark crystals that made up the entire domain. It was also an action that her to not get as far as she probably would have liked. "Feisty one, now aren't you?" Nightmare Rarity spoke up before another devilish grin formed itself below her muzzle. "Turn yourself around so I can see your face."

Almost on command did the pony stop the hopeless digging and lowered herself back on all four of her legs. The wings were carefully tucked against the body and only after that she allowed herself to turn around. In the eyes of the unicorn fell the face of desperation, a look she had seen countless times over but something about the looks of that mare caused her to become even more interested. Almost as if that mare tried to fool the system as a whole.

The eyes of the unicorn stared back into the deep yellow rimmed eyes of the batpony as a strand of mane fell before one of them. It was something that caused the unicorn to snicker almost immediately. For all of the sudden did the glances went deeper into the eyed and the more the truth of the situation was actually becoming clear as crystal.

"Oh now this is going to be the joke of the century! You got any idea in how much trouble you have gotten yourself here little one? Just how much trouble you got your little princess into, hm? Hahaha! Oh I'm going to enjoy dissecting your brain while you're still alive. You, shall never see the full moon again, I can assure you that right here and now," the unicorn spoke up in a sadistic tone not only as a threat to her, but also to witness if her suspicions actually had been true or not.

The batpony on the other end didn't seem to be getting even the slightest of clues on the matter and began to shiver deeply from the words. A genuine fear filled the eyes but something told the unicorn it was all an act. She couldn't quite put her hoof unto it yet, but who was to say she couldn't be doing it through time itself. "Do, or do you not, work for the royal lunar guard, foal?!" she suddenly spoke up in a raised voice.

The batpony herself shook her head rapidly from side to side in response to the question. "N-No miss, I do not. N-Never did and n-never wanted to either." It was the first time ever that the pony spoke up and her ever so sweet sounding voice seemed to have been unfit for any being in any of the military branches. Though perception was the perfect deception.

"Lair!"

"I'm telling you the truth here! I, I never joined them, I never wanted to join them! I declined every single time they would be asking me to join them. The guard or the army just aren't my thing of living!" The desperate tone of the mare spoke up towards the darkened queen. The purple maned batpony then began to whimper while prayers were being mumbled inaudible for the nightmare.

A nightmare who had been listening deeply to the words and couldn't help it but to chuckle even darker after her mind had processed the received words. "Oh now this is a quite little something now, aren't you?" she spoke up with a sickening grin clearly visible upon her face.

Other prisoners who had dared to look up from their crawled up position and watched with a set of frightful eyes to both the queen as well as the batpony. Something wasn't going to be right and if it didn't, they all would be in the crossfire no matter what. The only thing that they could be doing to prevent the massive pain, was to just crawl back into their little hidey holes and stay away from both the queen and the batpony.

They wanted to live and not die of frights just yet. Though the scurrying motions weren't missed by the unicorn who on her own, glared with her eyes over each and every last one of them. Yet her prey was standing right before her which meant that she needed to find a way to crack the batpony and the manner of doing so had been hidden within the words spoken against her.

"You said that the guard or army were not your thing of living. But what if the thing you do for a living, is espionage eh? Whether they admitted it or not against you, they are at war against me. And in war, information is the most crucial piece." Nightmare Rarity spoke up in a sickening tone. She was actually getting her enjoyment out of it, but the patience had been wearing thin as well upon the batpony.

Usually the ponies would have cracked within the first ten minutes yet the batpony seemed to be made out of a lot more sterner stuff. "Got nothing to say upon that matter, spy? Heh, perhaps I shall leave you here to rot like the rest of them. Or maybe I will conduct a little experiment upon your head first. I haven't decided yet, time will find out just what your disgusted fate is going to be."

With that had the unicorn turned herself away from the batpony to leave her in the cell by the others. Though the batpony herself wasn't stupid either as she had been looking at the shape of the queen her face for all of the time and eventually found a match in her internal database. The heads didn't exactly made a match but close enough for her to speak up a single name out into the air. "Rarity."

In response to that name alone did the queen herself came to a standstill and she turned her head slowly back towards the dark gray coated mare. Not a word was spoken by her though. All she did was to release a massive burst of steam through her nose and a grumble from her throat. Whatever she had done, the mumble of that name alone was more than enough to get the queen angry more than anything else.

The name spoken by the batpony literally fell in the wrong throat hole of the unicorn and after having exhaled the cloud of steam, the mare came up with the worst kind of torture there would be for the batpony. "You lied against me in the first place and now you are having the very guts to say that name right after I turned myself around from you? You're worth nothing to my eyes. I should kill you right here and now. But I won't. Remember what I said about your brain?"

Suddenly it were the eyebrows of the gray coated mare who opened themselves widely as she couldn't believe the words. "N-No! You can't, you can't do this to me! Not to a mare like me! Y-You're a mare as well, d-don't you know any sympathy?!"

A huff of annoyance was the first thing that was released by the unicorn before she tore her eyes away from the mare again and continued to walk towards the staircase. "Sympathy, is a thing that I have never shown to anypony, so why should I be doing it to you?"

"Because, because you're still a good mare deep inside of you. Just touched, by the wrong hooves," the batpony replied to the queen who did came to a stop to listen to the final set of words. Perhaps she had done it. Perhaps she had dented the shield of the mare enough to make a little crack into it.

For Nightmare Rarity did turn herself around and gently hung her head in an almost defeated manner. The feelings of relief were already flowing through the yellow eyed pony as her lips cracked a gentle smile. Though she couldn't be further away from the truth as it happened to be. For every last bit of hope, was meant to be destroyed in that place by her personally. And that time, wouldn't be any acceptation whatsoever.

"Maybe." Nightmare Rarity started as she stood before the cell and closed her eyes for a second or two. "You are right with your words." Then her eyes opened themselves again and they looked straight into those of the batpony herself. The sheer sadistic nature of them was revealed in just one glance and it caused the other mare to actually take a step backwards in both surprise and fear.

Then were the forehooves of the unicorn placed upon the bars with a smirk of utter insanity as she spoke her next words in a sickening tone of joy. "You know what these are deary?"

The question itself was rather unexpected for the purple maned batpony as she struggled a couple of times to make an actual reply to those set of words. Nothing that she could come up with, seemed to be able to help her outside of the most obvious answer that there was. "N-No, I do not know that," she spoke up before her own head hung itself downward and the eyes closed.

She started to fear the answer that was about to come. The mare literally prayed for the best, but expected the worst. In her ears she caught the chuckle of the dark unicorn before the words followed suit. "The wrong hooves!" Only to have them followed up by a massive snicker of insanity as she then turned away and seemed to disappear from the dungeon.

With the words still being drilled inside of her mind, the batpony had not a clue of on how she could be reacting to it, if she even was allowed. "I, I am sorry princess, but I failed you as your whispermare," the batpony spoke up in a soft whisper to herself. "But, she is too strong even by my standards. Face to face…is a horrible thing to be witnessing." Even though she knew that Luna herself couldn't hear the words they still gave her a little bit of comfort.

That was until the two commanders of the nightmarish unicorn literally were out to get her. The door of her cell was being opened and the muscular Shadowblood was the one who managed to not only capture her but also to drag her over to the door at the end of the hallway. "Hey! L-Let me go you brute!" was one of the thing that she shouted to them was trying to kick each of her legs to him.

Sadly enough for her, it didn't seem to be doing that much of a job as every single attempt was just neutralized by his sheer strength. The Whispermare wasn't built for actual fight but for sneak. An ability she had little to nothing on at the moment. Fright on the other end had been standing behind the two of them all of the time and walked forward with a chuckle while he opened the massive wooden door.

The two stallions brought the mare over to the table where all the tortures usually happened and strapped her tightly to it. No amount of force in her body could even get one of the things loose. Trapped like a rat it felt to her and after the two stallions had closed the door again, she was literally just that. But little did she knew, that things were about to get a whole lot worse.

For in front of her was a swirling and massive vortex from which the unicorn merged with the physical realm again and smirked deeply towards the captured pony. One of the forehooves was being placed upon the cheek of the pony and it calmly started to stroke it as if she tried to comfort her. "So that is what you are, now aren't you? A little whispermare. I thought Luna would have learned after the first few attempts, but then again, she's as dumb as box of rocks." Nightmare Rarity almost snickered to her prisoner while the horn charged itself up.

"W-What are you going to do with me, now you know the truth behind it all?" was one of the questions that the Whispermare dared to ask.

"Oh nothing all too bad, just some regular procedures as I do with each of them in here. Except on a magnitude not seen before. You're going back to your little mistress and explain in detail to her, why it is a bad idea to pursue me." After those words were being spoken was the massive charge of the horn being released into the open world. A charge that went straight from the unicorn her horn into the head of the Whispermare.

What followed were screams of complete and utter agony while the entire room lit itself up in the blue coloring of both the magic and the lightning flashes. Pleads for her dear life were being made as well but the nightmarish unicorn listened to none of them.

Both of the commanders on the other end heard the screams as they were about to go onto the stairs and leave for the surface. They looked at one another with almost the same expression upon their faces and nodded gently. Not a word was spoken in between the two of them before they just ascended upon the stairs.

While the screams of pure and utter agony filled the entire dungeon, all of the other ponies who had been curled up in an attempt to actually forget the screams, found themselves surprising caught up within their agony. None of them could actually explain just what it was that caused them to be going towards the bars and actually hoist themselves up from it. But they just did it. Some declared themselves crazy while others though they were being controlled by the unicorn her magic as actual puppets.

But with the magic still indoctrinated in their minds did all of them constantly look over both of their shoulders as they felt something staring at them from the darkness. The eyes and ears never seemed to stop twitching as the fears of the ponies were seen in almost every last corner of the dungeon. Something that wore their minds out even more than they could have expected.

None of the captured ponies knew what was going on behind that door, none of them knew just what kind of sickening experiment the unicorn herself was conducting behind those walls. All that they did know was the fact that it was terribly to be the Whispermare at that moment in time.

Their own lines that separated both mind and reality were blurred out of not shattered and the least that she could be doing, was the same to her. Even though some of the captives had the burning desire to yell, none of them actually had the guts to do so. They were all just too afraid of the consequences that would follow for them all if even one of them did it. Some didn't know just how much more they were able to take before they would literally die from their frights.

A saddening fact where each of the ponies had bound itself to. Though it didn't mean that some of them didn't whisper to one another. Whispers that were faint about the actions that could be happening behind the door and words of courage. For those were the only two things that actually kept the ponies alive more than anything else in the cells.

Some wished for it to be over already while others could only pray on the princesses that they would be released from the hell they had gotten into with their sanity intact. Wishful thinking at its finest, but it was all they had. And even within their eyes, something was better than absolutely nothing.

Yet even among the captives themselves there were still a few of them who didn't wanted to hear the yelling of the mare and thus stayed in the dark corners of their cells. Appearing like nothing but ghosts of a distant past as they laid calmly on the ground with their hooves covering their ears. Even though they looked calm, they were everything but. Their hearts were racing like mad while the eyes looked in every direction every second. Those were the ones that were truly terrified for their lives.

Those were the ponies where everything could be happening with. Those were the group who had been there the longest and against all of the odds had survived test after test from the queen herself. They were simply waiting for their time to come and to actually die of either their fright or of the massive amounts of magic that she would be casting upon them during the tests themselves. But even that was just wishful thinking. As death would be the easiest way out.

Few had managed to keep their sanity so intact that they would be able to survive longer than a week with their mind unbroken. But usually it would take a day or two for a pony to break. With meals shifted throughout the day and not a single clock of light of the sun and moon to indicate what time it was, the captives were left in the dark and lost their track of time itself.

Even for the Whispermare had the torture to end eventually and since the unicorn found it a shame to kill of her beloved subjects in the first run had the lightning of the horn become less and less until it was complete discharged. With a massive grin visible below her muzzle, the unicorn stroked the cheek of the crying Whispermare with a sickening comfort. "You fear a lot of things in life, don't you. But the thing you fear most now is not a thing, is not one of the ponies you have spied upon it. It's the one where you just gave yourself too without any thought that went through your head. The thing you fear the most, is me, correct?"

There was only one thing that the crying batpony could be doing and that was to give her a confirming nod. Out of everything that lived upon the face of the lands and everything she had seen, it was the queen for whom she literally just had thrown herself for that was the frightening to her.

And the response that she got, was something that caused Nightmare Rarity to crack even a deeper smile of insanity. Gently did the unicorn merge herself with the shadows and she left the room to go to the tower that held her chamber. Leaving the sobbing Whispermare right there crying for everything in her life. "I regret everything, I regret everything I've ever done," she whimpered to herself in a repeating session to herself.

Even when the two commanders came back in order to place her back in her cell she continued to repeat it to nopony but herself. After the dark crystal cell door had closed itself again and was locked did the purple maned batpony crawl almost instinctively over to the darkest corner of the cell and curled herself up into nothing but a ball of fur. She already had a broken spirit and it was only the beginning of the end she would be facing.

All the other captives also returned to their original positions in their cells as they began to patiently await when the unicorn would return for yet another session of literal torture.

While all of it was happening, was princess Luna herself gazing upon the stars through her telescope that stood on the balcony of her chambers. She hadn't expected to hear something back soon from her informant and was actually already frightened that the worst of the worst had happened. She knew the force that had taken over Rarity better than anypony as it was her who helped to create it. Still didn't she had not a clue of what the manners of working happened to be of this new force.

Yet she was removed from her very process of thoughts and calm stargazing as a knock upon the door did its turn. It wasn't the usual knock of Celestia nor one of the guards from what she heard. With curiosity did the alicorn turn her head over to the door that was inside her bedroom and charged her horn slightly to open it. "Come in."

The pony that she would be meeting, would be one that would cause all of her feelings to be turned upside down as nopony else then Twilight Sparkle herself, appeared on the balcony. Taken by a genuine surprise from the visit, Luna didn't truly knew how to react to Celestia's prized pupil. "Twilight Sparkle, I, I have to say that this visit is something rather unexpected for me. Is there something I can help you with perhaps?"

Twilight gently shook her head as an initial response before the words left her own mouth. "Nothing really that you could be helping with princess, I just want to get to you know better. See the mare behind the crown, if you catch my drift."

Once again it wasn't something that Luna had actually expected to hear from the mulberry unicorn as she was struck by the second surprise of the evening. Though the third time always happened to be the charm and even in the case of Luna and Twilight, it wouldn't be any exception.

"This certainly is something rather unexpected. You wish to know me how I am in my times off now don't you? Well it is actually a first that somepony is actually interested in that, I can guarantee you that right away. But as you can see, gazing upon the stars that are in the skies, is a much preferred hobby of mine actually. It calm me down from the matters I receive in the dreams of many ponies."

Twilight listened with the greatest of care to the spoken words while she also took the mental notes of them. She wanted to remember them for times that they were possibly needed. "I see your highness, it's actually something I love to be doing as well but it usually doesn't calm me down. It more excites me in a way."

It was a composition of words that caused the lunar princess to crack a chuckle before she gently shook her head with a set of closed eyes. Though when they were opened again was the horror seen in the fullest of glory. For in the corner of her right eye, the eye that caught the moon just barely she could see the shadow of something. A shadow cast as if a massive light had been placed on it and a figurine was placed before that.

Luna instantly became worried and turned her entire head over to the thing for a second, only to realize that it was just the moon she was looking at. The shadow had just disappeared before her eyes. "Are you, alright, princess?" Twilight asked carefully with a tilted head to the lunar mare.

Who on her own turn looked back to the unicorn and gave her a small nod to calm her racing thoughts down. "Yes, yes I am. Just a little bit spooked shall we say. But anyway, you wish to look for a bit through my telescope? Want to see the pillars of creation for yourself?"

Twilight herself gladly took the offer and before Luna even knew it were the violet rimmed eyes of the unicorn already staring down the thing. But she, she never dared to look at the moon from the corner of her eye again.

All the way back inside of the domain of the nightmarish unicorn, she had collected herself, as well as her personal guards, in the courtyard and the gates had opened themselves widely. The only thing that they saw were the massive banks of fog that hung before it yet none of them cared. They were in the need to get out of the walls of the domain and get some fresh air for themselves. Or that was the thing that the queen herself wanted to do the most.

As for the savages, they were just out there for some fresh meat. Any kind of meat that they could be finding within the woods of either White Tails or Everfree. In the dead of night did the nightmarish unicorn and the deadliest forces she had under her go out for a stroll.