Three Months Later ...

Brigade stood guard at the hospital room door. The sun was high and birds were chirping. For some reason the birds were only irritating him. To him it felt like years had passed since Acropolis and Rune shift had gone comatose. And throughout Brigade stood ever vigil guarding their door.  Coco had taken the night shift, when she wasn't giving briefings. In their absence Gumshoe and Coco had taken over the Lunar guard, and with Flash Sentry's and Brigade's help, it continued to function. Brigade had not taken Acropolis's condition lightly, he was plagued with headaches and fever dreams. He blamed himself for not noticing his friend slowly spiraling into madness and had shut himself  off to those around him. Glint and Chrysalis kept mostly to their swamp and the Doc had also made himself scarce. Trixie also took this hard, and had all but vanished into Starswirls laboratory. But no pony had even heard from Luna, a few days after the incident she sent out letters thanking her guards for their service. But after that she vanished all together, she couldn't even be reached over the Link. And Celestia's reassurances that Luna was fine did little to quell the suspicion.

"Brigade," Flash Sentry came up to him, "Still nothing?"

"No, they just sit there. Still eat, and what not, but." Brigade trailed off.

"I believe the phrase, the lights are no but no ponys home, is applicable." The Lieutenants attempt at humor fell flat. "Any word from Luna?"

"None."

"I see," Flash eyed the shield she had given Brigade. He never put it down, he held onto that shield like it was a child. "Well, keep me posted." He gave a quick salute and left Brigade alone. Brigade cast a sad glance at the door behind him where his friend and colleague sat, completely devoid of themselves.

"Not my field." A very tired looking Trixie replied to Glint, the bags under her eyes were almost the color of Twilight. She was in the lab getting some parts from Doc and Glint had just asked her a strange question. "Im not a doctor, im a scientist?" Trixie perplexed at her own field of study, which actually was everything.

"But, your all I got," Glint pleaded, "I can feel that they are in pain Trixie! We need to, save them, somehow!"

"And how exactly do we do that? Luna is the only Dreamwalker around and she's MISSING!" Trixie was shouting now. "So how exactly would I look into a," Trixie's eyes went wide, "comatose," Her pupils dialted, "mindscape?" She was whispering by the time she finished her sentence. There was a pause as the tiles in Trixie's mind slid into place, with a almost audible click.

"Mindscape, what are you?" Glint asked.

"Yes, we cant Dreamwalk, but maybe, the mindscape, I could rig the, and, that just might!" Trixie kissed Glint on the forehead and dashed out of the lab.

"That was odd." Glint commented as Chrysalis came up behind her.

"Nothing these ponies do surprises me anymore." Chrysalis coldly commented.

Golem sat at his desk going through the weeks reports. Running a asylum came naturally to him, even if it was still a secret to most. His natural ability to perceive ponies intentions and read their body language had come in handy in sorting the dangerous patients from the regular patients. It had been rather quiet in the Asyl, no riots, no fights, and all patients were accounted for and undergoing treatment. He put down his report and picked up a research paper Twilight had given him.

"Project Screw Loose," He read the title aloud, "A patient study, Dr.Stable. Hmm." He opened the paper and began to read. It detailed one of Dr.Stable's patients and her bizarre madness. As he read through the graphs of brain waves and behavior charts he started seeing similarities to moonstone madness, except this Screw Loose still maintained some rational thought. She is apparently aware that she is insane. The more and more he read the more he wanted to meet this Dr.Stable. Golem's own studies were limited, and few ponies had done research on psychosis or mental illness. And here is this small town doctor is doing research into mental illnesses. "I would very much like to speak with the Doctor."

"Sir!" A guard pony called form the door. "Trixie is here to see you, she seems more, excited, than usual."

"Ah," Trixie had been spending time with Golem lately in an attempt to help Acropolis and Rune, "Let her in."

"Golem!" Trixie appeared with flash at his desk, "What do you know about mindscapes?" Trixies eyes were wide.

"Not much. Why?"

"Damn! I had a idea about how to help Acro and Rune, well actually it was Glints idea, anyway. I read some books on the theory of mindscapes that Starswirl had done." Trixie explained.

"Did you ask at Canterlot medical?" Golem dead panned.

"Yes, and nopony there knew what I was talking about." Trixie flopped down into one of the chairs at his desk.

"Well, Im sorry I know just about the same as you, my knowledge on it is limited from papers I read from the library here. Which as you know is over a thousand years out of date." His eyes landed on Dr.Stable's paper on his desk, "But I think I may know of somepony whom can help."

AGORA!

"Gah!" Agora shouted at nothing in his study. His windows had long since be repaired and most of his collection had been restored. He was restoring a old vase and nearly shattered it with his magic from the fright.

WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?

"Master? Where have you been? Its been months!" Agora moves over to the domed glass and pulls off the cover. The black bit of bone had a slight red glow to it.

I have been recovering. How to word this? When Luna's guard was cracked, the psychic fallout forced me to take shelter.

"Well I am glad you have returned, Master." Agora went back to attending to his vase.

Have you made any progress in getting into the Lunar armory?

"Umm, no, But my nephew is good in with the Lunar guard now, but the armory has been placed on lockdown since Luna vanished." There was a pause, "But I've got information on several Lunar artifacts, so we have that going for us, which is nice." Agora smiled at no one.

Anything good?

"Oh, my yes, dangerous, volatile, and rather kinky." Agora gave a small but evil chuckle.

Lovely.

Fluttershy and Twilight stood on the train platform as the train rolled in. It was a cloudy day, everything was grey, the skies looked liek at any moment they would open up an rain. Despite being her least favorite clouds, Rainbow Dash's skill with storm clouds was exceptional. It was fitting though, a depressing sky for a depressing trip. Dr.Stable climbed up onto the platform with nurse Redheart close behind. Brigade emerged from the train, behind him Acropolis was rolled out in a wheelchair being pushed by Trixie, and behind her was Rune Shift being pushed by Spinneret. Golem followed them out carrying several bags of various research materials. Brigade and Dr.Stable traded silent nods as Twilight and Fluttershy took over pushing Acro and Rune.

Fluttershy had rearranged Acropolis' house to accommodate for their care. Medical devices from the hospital and from Twilight's lab lined the small homes walls, and in the middle sat two small beds. They laid the pair into their beds, hooked them up to the equipment and the group left to talk treatment at the hospital, leaving Brigade to stand guard.

The fire crackled in the shallow fireplace as Acropolis tried to warm his hooves against it. The building he was in looked just like his child home,except decrepit and falling down. Every building looked like his child home in various state of decay. The wind whipped through the dark forest, making the horrific trees creak and bend. Making noises trees shouldn't make. He was used to trees acting a bit off as he lived near Everfree, but these trees made him uneasy. He reached into the makeshift pack he had made and pulled out some strange shaped berries. Popping them into his mouth, he made a sour face as he swallowed.

"Gah, after three months they never taste any better." He spoke aloud to no one. Looking around to make sure no pony was watching he pulled out a sleeping bag he had made from collected materials. "I should get some sleep," The sound of twigs snapping stopped him dead. Stowing his bag he quickly snuffed the fire. Falling silent his ears perked, listening for anything. This forest was dangerous, strange creatures, and monsters, but there was one thing he was running from. One thing he never seemed to escape.

"Acro~" A crackled male ponies voice echoed through the trees.

Buck! It found me! Acropolis thought as he quickly put on his pack and ducked into a nearby nook. He could hear it's hoof-steps as it got closer. Heavy plodding steps, as if it was stomping as it walked. It entered the derelict house and Acropolis' vision. It was a twisted vision of himself, in the Lunar armor. Except its eyes were voids, and its body was covered with gashes and wounds. Its wings were mangled and its armor was digging into its flesh, making it bleed as it walked. I've got to get away from it!

Acropolis!

What? Who? He looked around, the only other creature around was his demonic doppelganger.

Do not let it touch you!

"ACRO!" It shouted, the trees themselves seemed to shake with its voice. "MAKE US WHOLE!" It turned and began to look for him up stairs.

Go! Now!

Here goes nothing! Acropolis dashed out from his nook running past his doppelganger and out into the forest.

"COME BACK HERE ACROPOLIS!" It screamed as it attempted to give chase. Acropolis quickly outran it, he kept running until the house was no longer in view. His run slowed to a trot and looked up at the moon above him, the mare on the moon greeted his stare. Its expression matched his own, pained.

Her own hoof-steps echoed down the empty school halls. The vast and completely empty Magic school stretched out before Rune. Its barren halls stretched out before her. The once comforting halls have turned sinister in the oppressing darkness. There was no flames in the torches, no bulbs in the sockets, her only light was the natural light from the moon and her light spell. Her spell cast strange shadows off the objects in the halls, shadows that seemed to mock her. But the shadows and darkness were the least over her worries. She moved into one of the vacant classrooms, they were ll the same. She should have been in the scribe hall but instead she was in the research labs. Scattered papers and discarded pen wells littered the tables and floors, she had read all of them methodically. They all read the same, notes on torture and diary pages of somepony torturing Rune. Initially it was unsettling to her, but after three months of wandering this school, she only had one thing left to fear.

"Its never different is it?" Rune asked aloud to the empty room.

"Rune~" Its tone was sweet, like the call of a lover, but it had a sinister undertone.The voice echoed in from the empty hall.

"Damn it! It's near." Rune quickly ducked under the desk and dispelled her light spell. She could hear the door swing slowly open as it entered, she had only gotten a good look at it once, but that was once to many. It looked like her in her Lunar armor, except her eyes were gouged out and barbed wire was wrapped all around her body. As it walked it left a bloody trail behind it. It came to a stop in front of her hiding spot and looked around the room with it's vacant eyes. Rune covered her mouth with her hooves as its rattled breathing wheezed in front of her.  

"Rune!" It shouted spewing blood onto the floor in front of it.

Dont let it touch you! A voice called out from nowhere.

What? She thought, looking around for the source, Whos there? It began to move around the side of the table.

Now! Run!

Damn it! Rune quickly scrambled out from the desk and dashed out into the hallway. Its scream followed her as she ran through the darkness. Eventually she made her way into the domed courtyard where she stopped for a minute to catch her breath, looking up she saw the moon in the sky with the mare on the moon looking back at her. She noticed that the expresion had changed, the moon itself looked like it was in pain.