As the surgeons were setting up for the operation, Luna tried to get more information out of the doctor. “Why does he need to go into surgery?! I thought he had more time?!”

The doctor sighed and turned to Luna. “I’m sorry Princess, I thought he did too, but it seems one of the pieces of glass is now resting on a major artery after being moved around some by us on accident. I-“

“You mean he’s in danger now because you put him in danger?!” Luna yelled at the doctor, but he remained calm and replied.

“Yes, we did, but know that we didn’t mean to Princess. We can still save him, but what I need you to do right now is to calm down and wait in the waiting room.”

“You dare order me, your Princess of the Night!”

The doctor sighed once more. “Please Princess, I didn’t mean to order you, I just simply meant that if you wish for Mr. Embers to survive this, then it would be best to go wait in the waiting room, as we need to concentrate as much as possible on helping him.”

“Please Princess-“ Knightly interjected. “Please listen to the doctor. He wants to save Lord Embers as much as anypony else. The others are already in the waiting room.”

Luna felt like her blood was boiling with anger, but managed to calm down enough to listen to Knightly. “Very well-“ She said in a well-mannered tone. “I hope to receive favorable news doctor, but for now, I’ll return to the waiting room and wait with the others.”

“Thank you Princess, that’s all I ask.” The doctor said as he bowed to the Princess, then turned back around and walked to the operating room where the other doctors and nurses were waiting for him to start.

After the doctor was out of earshot, Luna burst into tears, surprising herself, as well as Knightly. “Why did this have to happen?” She asked nopony in particular as she tried to wipe her tears away. “Why?”

Knightly put a hoof on Luna’s back and began to rub her, trying to calm her down. “Nopony knows your highness, but what I do know is that Lord Embers will survive this.”

Luna calmed herself down a bit and looked back at Knightly, who smiled back at her. “T-Thank you Knightly, I appreciate your concern.” She said as she blushed a little, causing Knightly to blush as well.

“I-It’s no problem your highness. After all, what kind of guard would I be if I only guarded you?” He replied as he smiled weakly.

Luna responded with a smile of her own and spoke. “Perhaps we should get going. I’m sure the others are waiting for us.”

“Of course, your highness.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Meanwhile, in Fiery’s mind, he had finally been able to begin dreaming, and began to dream about being in a fancy restaurant. There, instead of eating lobster, he was eating with a lobster, with a little top hat and a monocle, getting into conversation with it about their daily lives.

“I say-“ The lobster said with a stereotypical rich-person accent. “I do believe that this tea I’m drinking is quite excellent.”

“Indeed. I too enjoy this tea.” Fiery answered the lobster with an accent just as stereotypical as the lobster.

As the two continued to talk, a pony waiter came up with their food and placed it on the table. When Fiery lift the lid off his plate, his saw that what was to be a salad, was instead a dark blob. “I say, just what is this… this… stuff?” Just then, the black blob that was on the plate grew two eyes, and began to look at Fiery with a glare. “Why what the devil is th-“

The blob pounced at Fiery, knocking Fiery out of his chair and out of the dream, back into Fiery’s subconscious. Once Fiery regained his composure, he looked back at the blob which was continuing to glare at him with the two sinister looking green cat-like eyes. “What… What the fuck are you?!”

Next, the blob was able to grow a mouth, with a row of jagged teeth, and launched itself once more at Fiery, who got out of the way in time. ‘Wait a minute-‘ Fiery thought. ‘This is my mind! I could just trap it, couldn’t I?’

As Fiery dodged the next attack from the black blob, he thought about how he wanted to trap it, and soon enough, metal spikes grew out of the ground of the area that they were in and trapped the blob. “Ha! Serves you right… whatever you are! Don’t fuck with the best!”

The blob began to struggle inside the trap, but couldn’t get out. Once it knew it was trapped for good, it continued to glare at Fiery. However, as Fiery continued to taunt the blob, the blob had a trick up its nonexistent sleeve. It summoned what looked like a heart, and grew an arm to reach out for it. Fiery saw this and became confused. “What are you going to do with that?” He asked, only to feel a sharp pain in his chest as the blob began to squeeze down on the heart.

“What… What the fuck….?!” Fiery managed to say as he got on his knees and began to cough up blood. After the blob stopped squeezing the heart, Fiery could feel the pain subside as well. “What… What the fuck are you?!” Fiery called out once more, wiping his mouth from any extra blood that he might’ve coughed up.

The blob simply smiled.

“Not going to answer me….? I know you can.” Fiery said as he continued to breathe heavily. “You know you want to kill me for some reason…. You must have a reason, right….?”

“Kill you?” The blob finally answered in an extremely low pitched voice, still smiling as he did so. “You must be mistaken, my dear pony.”

Fiery smirked a bit. “So you can talk…. You little shit.”

“A little shit I may be, but I have gone through much just to have this chance Fiery Embers.”

“Chance for what….?”

“Let me go, and you’ll find out.”

Fiery shook his head as he managed to sit up right once more. “No way, you’ll just kill me.”

“Distrust me that much, do you? I’ve already said I wouldn’t.”

“Then why the fuck did you attack me?!” Fiery yelled at the blob, getting angrier at the second. “Just what the fuck are you?!”

The blob’s smile disappeared as it dismissed the heart it used to hurt Fiery. “Why should I tell you?”

“Because if you don’t, I’ll kill you in return.” Fiery threatened the blob, then began to concentrate to make the spikes that were keeping the blob prisoner smaller, making the prison become a tighter spot. The blob simply laughed and smiled in response.

“It seems I finally chose wisely.”

Fiery stopped making the spikes smaller and became confused. “What do you mean by that?” He asked.

“Tell me Mr. Embers, do you know what’s happening right now? Outside?”

Fiery was still confused. “What do you mean outside?”

“Why, outside of your mind of course. To be more specific, do you know what’s happening to your body at this moment?” Fiery shook his head in response, causing the blob to smile once more. “Well, I do.”

“What’s happening?” Fiery asked.

“Let me go, and maybe I’ll just tell you.” In response, Fiery began to make the spikes smaller once more, trying to crush the blob, who only laughed in return. “That isn’t such a bright idea Mr. Embers.”

“And why’s that?” Fiery asked as he continued to concentrate on the spikes.

“Because I’m the only thing that’s helping you stay alive right now.”

Fiery stopped with the spikes and began to glare at the blob. “What do you mean by that?” But he got no answer, instead, he only got a smiling blob.

A few minutes went by without either of them saying anything. Suddenly, surprising the blob, Fiery released the spikes, letting the blob go. The blob only laughed. “It seems your curiosity got the better of you Mr. Embers.”

“I kept my end of the bargain, now you have to keep yours. What are you? What do you mean you’re the only thing keeping me alive?” Fiery asked once more as he continued to glare at the blob.

The blob only smiled devilishly in return.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Celestia let out a heavy sigh, rubbing her temples with her hooves as she did so. The work from both her shift and from Luna’s had been piling up in just a day, and to make matters worse, she had heard about the surgery that was being performed on Fiery.

On the other side of Celestia’s study, sat Starry. She, too, was working on some of the work that she still needed to catch up on, and decided that it would be best to do so to keep her mind off of Fiery.

“Where did I go wrong Starry?” Celestia asked as continued to rub her temples.

Starry looked up at Celestia with a quizzical look. “What do you mean Celly?”

Celestia sighed once more and answered. “I mean exactly what I said, where did I go wrong? Wasn’t everything going according to plan? How could we have not seen this?”

Starry looked back down to her papers, depressed. “It’s not your fault Celly. You have no reason to blame yourself.”

“I’m sorry Starry, I didn’t mean to-“

“I know Celly, I know.” Starry quickly answered her friend. “Now, perhaps we should continue our work, hmm? Help us keep our minds off… you know…”

“Of course Starry, of course….”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“What are you?!” Fiery screamed at the blob once more, trying to get an answer out of it, but it proved useless.

“You really wish to know Mr. Embers?” The blob asked, making Fiery even more upset.

“Tell me or I crush you!” Fiery exclaimed as he managed to summon the spikes once more, trapping the blob again. “Now!”

Without missing a beat, the blob summoned the heart it had used earlier and began squeezing it again, making Fiery collapse to the ground, writhing in pain. “Make all the threats you want Mr. Embers, but I would easily be able to kill you before you had the chance to do any harm to me. The only reason why I haven’t done so yet is because you’re the only thing capable of helping me without rousing any type of suspicion from either the alicorns or the Elements of Harmony.”

“Y-You b-bastard!” Fiery called out as he grabbed hold of his chest.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On the outside, the doctors operating on Fiery were scrambling around, trying to figure out why his heart rate was going out of control.

“What’s happening?!” One of the doctors yelled out.

“I thought we got everything away from the heart!” Another one yelled.

“Nurse! Go get the defibrillator! We-“ But before the doctor could continue any longer, Fiery’s heart rate went back to normal.

“What… What the hell was that?!”

The head doctor shook his head. “I don’t know…. Come on, let’s finish up.”

“W-What about his heart?!”

“We hope and pray! We’ve been doing everything we can to keep this pony alive and we know nothing is affecting his heart! So until we can figure it out, we stay quiet about it and hope for the best!”

“B-But what about Princess Luna? What about her?”

“…. If she finds out…. Celestia help us all….”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Fiery felt that his heart was no longer being squeezed, and looked back up at the blob with seething anger. “You son of a bitch….”

The blob began to laugh. “Oh how I haven’t had this much fun in quite some time! True that alicorn and pegasus were fun to play with, but they gave up much too quickly!”

“What… What the hell are you talking about?!”

“You mean you still haven’t figured it out?” The blob asked with another smile. “You surprise me boy, I thought you’d figure it out by now.” The blob said with a small chuckle. “But are you really desperate to know who I am?”

“No… I’m not… But I might as well know before I kill you!” Fiery screamed as he leaped to the blob, only to have it move out of the way.

“Tsk, tsk, boy. You should know better than to jump head first at your target.”

“Why….” Fiery softly said as his face was planted firmly on the ground.

“Excuse me?”

“Why are you doing this?!” Fiery screamed as he lifted his head from the dirt he created.

“Too many questions, so little time….” The blob said with another smile before speaking some more. “But, perhaps I can tell you the answer to one of your questions, before I end this.” The blob said with a slightly more grim smile this time.

“Who….”

“Who am I?”

Fiery slowly nodded, ready to strike again at his next chance.

“Well, I suppose I can tell you…. I’m what remains of what you call… The ‘Nightmare’” The blob answered. Fiery froze in place, not knowing what to say. “Surprising, no? After all, with what the Queen and King said, you must have surely destroyed all of me, right? Unfortunately for you, that’s not the case. Thanks to the wounds that pegasus, or, I suppose I should say unicorn made, the smallest amount of his blood containing my power seeped into you. Sadly, it was only just enough for me to get into your body, but luckily, you aren’t really putting up much a fight, now are you?”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Back at the hospital wing, the doctors had done everything they could have with Fiery and placed him back in a larger room to himself so he could be closer looked upon by the doctors in case anything went wrong.

All the others were in the room, watching over Fiery, as Luna continued to talk to the doctor. “So, did you get everything out?” Luna asked, and the doctor replied with a nod.

“Yes your highness. There shouldn’t be anything else inside of him that would pose a danger.”

“I see…. Thank you doctor.”

“It’s no problem your highness. We will keep a close eye on Lord Embers, in case anything goes wrong.” He said with a bow, and then walked away, leaving Luna to sit alone in front of the door of Fiery’s room.

She sighed and put on a large smile for the ponies inside. As she walked through the door, she spoke up. “Hello everypony.”

It wasn’t very much though, as it was just Octavia, Vinyl, and Frostbite. “Good morning Princess.” Octavia answered with a sigh, then looked back at Fiery. “They say that’ll he’ll still be asleep for quite some time, but they don’t know if that’s even right or not.”

‘Perfect.’ Luna thought as she walked up to the bed. “Do you all mind if you could leave for a bit? I need some time with Fiery.” She said in a cheery mood.

The other ponies took this as strange and began to question her. “You alright Princess?” Frostbite asked.

“Of course! Why would you even ask?”

“Well, you just seem sort of… cheery… that’s all.” Vinyl added.

“And why wouldn’t I be? I mean, didn’t Fiery survive the operation?”

“I-I suppose… but wouldn’t that-“

“Then I can be cheery! Now, if you don’t mind, I’d like to spend some time with my beloved for a few minutes, then you all can come back in.”

The ponies gave each other worried glances, but then all sighed and decided not to push it any further. “Very well Princess. If you need any of us, we’ll be just outside.” Octavia said as she began to walk out of the room.

“Of course dear, wouldn’t imagine it.” Luna said with a large smile, then watched all of them leave before letting out a heavy sigh of relief. “Alright, need to move quickly.” She quietly told herself, then walked up to Fiery and placed her horn on his forehead. “Now…. Let’s see what’s in Mr. Embers mind….”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The ‘Nightmare’ blob and Fiery had been battling it out for a while since the blob first leapt at Fiery, and they were both becoming tired. Fiery had thrown everything he could think of at the blob, only to miss. The blob, would constantly leap at Fiery, only to miss in time. At one point, the blob thought of using the heart, but Fiery had been able to capture it and keep it away from the blob the entire time.

“G-Give up, you… you son of a bitch…!” Fiery cried out, only for the blob to chuckle in return.

“Only when I receive my prize will I stop!” The blob yelled as it leapt at Fiery once again, only for him to roll out of the way.

Fiery thought that if he could just keep maneuvering out of the way, that the blob would give up at some point, but with each dodge, that dream seemed to become smaller and smaller. Again, the blob leapt at Fiery, and Fiery dodged again, but only to trip on an imaginary rock. ‘Why the hell did I put rocks in here?!’ Fiery thought to himself as he was going down.

“Got you!” The blob yelled out, leaping towards Fiery once again. Right before landing on Fiery though, a green beam came out of nowhere and knocked the blob out of the way. Before the blob could get up, it heard a voice it thought it would never hear again.

“Well, well, what do we have here?” The voice asked, as hoofsteps approached the blob.

“Y-You!” The blob called out in fear. “H-How did-“

“Easy, really.” The voice answered. “My little sister said she thought that you would be still alive, and wished for me to check it out. It’s a good thing that I came too, otherwise I don’t know if I could have the heart to tell my little sister that her beloved was gone…. Ha! That’s a laugh.”

“Y-You bitch! W-When I take control of him, I’ll make sure you’ll regret the day you crossed me!”

“Oh please, you’re nothing but a little worm right now. You’re nothing compared to me.” The new pony said with a smile as it walked over to the blob and stopped right in front of it. “Now, if I do remember, it was your taking control over my little sister that resulted in this hole right here in my hoof when Celestia asked me for help…. Really, the things she does and gets away with using blackmail….”

“Y-You wouldn’t dare!”

“I wouldn’t dare what? Are you insinuating something dear ‘Nightmare’?”

“W-We can team up! You and I! Both of us are outcasts, not wanted by this world!” The blob said, fear in its voice. “J-Just please! Don’t kill me!”

“You know, usually, I would take you up on your offer, but sadly I cannot do that today. As you see, it won’t be long before mommy and daddy return home, and it wouldn’t be good for me or my babies if they found out that I helped their enemy, now would it? Besides, they had me born just so there would be something to balance out the good in this world. Without me, this world would be overrun with…” The pony shivered. “Sappy, lovey, dovey, sunshine….”

“E-Exactly! T-That’s why, t-together! W-We can take this world over together!”

“Mmm, tempting offer… but, denied!” The pony exclaimed as she slammed her hoof down on the ‘Nightmare’, silencing it forever, a few more stomps to follow for good measure. After finishing the ‘Nightmare’, the pony looked back at Fiery, who laid exhausted, hearing the entire conversation.

“Who… Who are you?” Fiery asked, breathing heavily as he did so.

The pony walked up to Fiery and took a good look at him before answering. “Don’t think I’m doing this out of the goodness of my so-called ‘heart’, Mr. Embers. The only reason I came here and helped you today is because Celestia threatened to tell mother and father about my latest… bullying, of my sisters and niece…. That, and I must admit, I am curious as to who the stallion is that stole my baby sister’s heart…. I must say, you’re much more handsome then I thought you’d be.”

Fiery smirked a bit as he continued to look up at the nonexistent sky. “Thanks… I’ll take that as a compliment….”

“Again, don’t read too much into it, child. I assume since the ‘Nightmare’ is gone, you’ll want to wake up?”

“Yes please….”

“Well too bad, I don’t have that kind of power. You’re going to need to do it on your own.”

With that, the pony disappeared with a flash, leaving Fiery all to himself once more.

“…. Fuck.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Alright guys, chapter 37 finally done. I’m sorry if it seems short or rushed or something you wanted isn’t in here, but I was sort of short on time, thanks to work and all, and also kinda couldn’t think of anything. I was going one way, then thought it was stupid, yadda yadda yadda. Anyways, again, sorry for it being short. Until next time I suppose. (In all honesty, depending on the feedback I get, I’ll probably end up rewriting this chapter before going on to chapter 38, but until then, say goodbye cause I ain’t coming back for a while! Yay Diablo 3!.)

Alexy Pajitnov created Tetris while working at the Academy of Science Computer Center in Moscow. Almost immediately, a nightmarish licensing struggle between the Soviet government and a number of interested European game publishers ensued, cutting Pajitnov out of the picture. By the time it was released in the U.S. by Nintendo for the Game Boy, the man who actually built the game had earned next to nothing from it while the Kremlin raked in millions from royalties. Eventually, however, Pajitnov would land in the U.S. himself and co-found The Tetris Company. Formed in 1996, the company now owns the trademark rights to Tetris and routinely goes about shutting down unauthorized clones.
-CrADHD

When Tetris was first released by the Russians during the cold war, it was so popualr in the U.S. that some people thought it was a form of Russian mind control.

-UraniumSpoon

The song used for Tetris is a famous Russian folk song from the nineteenth century called “Korobeiniki”, not to be confused with “Korobushka” or “Katusha/Katyusha”[This song was made in 1939 and later the BM-8, 13, and 31 rocket artillery system was named after it, known by the Nazi’s in World War 2 as “Stalin’s Organs” because of the distinct sound the rockets made when they were launched, especially in barrages.]

-Poodicus