“And there, we were all in one place
A generation lost in space
With no time left to start again…”

-Lyrics from American Pie, by Don McLean

Luna did not hesitate. That very night, she sent her sleep-mind to where Celestia laid and came to the dreams within.

As always, it felt like she was among the clouds. Weightless, shifting puffs of unfinished thought floated around her, uncaring of the intrusion. Inspired by the fears and loves of their host, they would sometimes twist themselves into dreams.

Celestia’s clouds were no different. Luna saw a black-robed demon appear in one, but all it did was scowl at her before dissolving into the formless sky.

There were few such clouds, which meant Celestia didn’t dream often. The air was still and stale, which meant…

Luna wasn’t sure what that meant. When ponies’ souls were in turmoil, it reflected in their dreams as violent winds and dark skies. She was less certain of what this arid stillness implied.

A puzzle, but one that would wait. Luna wasn’t here for the passing clouds.

Invisible to her, even now, laid the ground below. There rested the mother of those clouds. That thing locked away tight, by Celestia and all who ever lived. Rarely noticed, never fully realized, but there all the same.

“Cor Cordis,” they called it in the old tongue. The Heart of the Heart.

The soul.

Though her mission weighed upon her, Luna smiled as she flew towards it. “The soul.” How many debates and books had tried to plumb its mysteries? Perhaps it was a hard thing for ponies to grasp, but understanding came easily for one who had seen it.

“The Heart of the Heart.” Who a pony really is, beneath all the masks.

Luna had seen the thing many times, and always it came as a plain and simple pony. An old mare with a beautiful lover’s heart. A child who stood as a haggard soldier, his soul worn by conflict. And a content bursar, fat and cheerful on the inside – lazily clinging to routine, but pleased with his lot.

She even delved to Cadence’s soul once, with permission. A mischievous little filly at heart, determined to play as much as she could before adulthood claimed her.

Now, Celestia. Luna swallowed nervously as her downwards flight began to slow. A white light was growing beneath her. She would pass through it like a cloudbank, come to the ground…

…And meet her sister, face to face. Beneath the fake laughs and passive smiles.

Whatever she found, Luna swore she would embrace it. No matter how sickly or sullen, angry or even evil that Celestia was at heart, Luna would love it all. Maybe then they could be sisters again.

The light grew bright enough to blind her. She stretched her wings and slowed to a glide, coming to rest on the hard ground beneath.

Luna blinked a few times, and squinted hard. The light was gone, but the sky and floor were so painfully white that they all but blinded her.

She rubbed a hoof in her eyes, then slowly opened them. The light-spots were clearing. She looked up.

She awoke – sweating, paralyzed, eyes shot wide. A tenor scream was in the air, and it was hers.

Lying on her back, mouth wide in its cry, Luna only stopped as she gagged on her saliva. Gasping and sputtering, she rolled over and hacked wetly into her pillow.

A few good coughs, and she pressed her face into the bed. Blue eyes peered wildly outwards, their mind knowing nothing but mad terror.

Moments passed. Her whisper broke the now-silent room. “What?”

Luna rallied her thoughts, sifting through the jumbled memories. Celestia’s dreams. The light, then the ground.

She remembered blinking hard against the harsh whiteness around her. Squinting, she had taken a single, light-addled look at the soul…

“And here I am.”

She couldn’t remember. Try as she might, Luna had no idea what she saw. It was…

It was terrible, whatever it was. Come on, Luna, think!

Still nothing. Luna rolled onto her back and sighed, allowing a frightened shiver to run down her spine. But her jaw was set, and no more screams came forth. She knew what she would do.

She’d return. For Tia.

Luna cautiously approached her sister that morning, but nothing came of it. Celestia did not mention the intrusion, either unknowing or uncaring. Given her secretiveness, Luna guessed the former.

As ever, their chat was brief and impersonal. Celestia told Luna to play with her friends, smiled blandly, and went on her way.

The day passed at a snail’s pace. Luna flew and jogged to clear her mind, and could scarcely eat at the mealtimes. She nervously paced her room as the afternoon faded, only to race out for more exercise to speed the time.

Finally, finally, Celestia retired for the night. Luna didn’t waste an instant in charging to her own room. She carelessly shrugged out of her regalia and leapt to the bed, already beginning the spell that would let her sleep-mind wander.

A wry smile struck her face. It was strange indeed to be plunging back in after the disaster last night. But at this point, nothing was worse than the anticipation.

She hoped.

Once more, into Celestia’s dreams. Through the sky and towards the light. Luna steeled herself as she went through, coming again to the white landscape below. She landed, braced herself, and opened her eyes.

She saw it. The “what” that had sent her fleeing in blind, animal madness. Few sights could truly horrify the night princess, but she knew that thing – that thing that might be Celestia – would haunt her own nightmares forever.

It was terrible and piteous in equal, massive measures. The sky, the ground… they weren’t white, they were part of this thing that was white. Decayed plaster had replaced it all, pocked with clicking gears and whistling vents. A thousand quills on metal arms worked along its exterior, laying writing to a thousand scrolls.

A monster. A grinding, rusting, clockwork monster. Above her, behind her, before her… it was terrifying for its alien hugeness.

And even that was nothing compared to the head.

The being formed a mountain before Luna, and that’s where the head was. It was of normal size for Celestia, jutting out from the plaster at a right angle. It twisted and turned like a snake, allowing it to look any which way. But the neck was plaster, so whenever it bent, pieces cracked and broke off.

The head was plaster, too. A perfect image of Celestia’s smiling face.

Except for the eyes. Luna shuddered, remembering. Those were what maddened her the last time. There was blackness where Celestia’s eyes should be. Not a hole in the plaster, or black paint or anything else. Just two orbs of nothing above that eternal, hollow smile.

The voice was exactly Celestia’s, though its mouth remained still. “Do you need something, Luna?”

Luna shook her head wildly, teeth grit. No. No! This is all wrong! There should be a pony here. Not this.

Not this! Please not this!

Tia!

“Sister!” Luna cried, fighting down her panic. “Come out of that! You are not a machine, you’re alive!”

The Celestia-thing’s smile remained unchanged. Its plaster head nodded, causing flakes to crumble from the neck. “I know I am, dear sister. But how are you? Are you adjusting well? Are you making friends?”

A rusted claw – cold and lifeless – reached out of the machine and tussled her mane. Luna recoiled at the contact, shaking violently away. “Tia, come out this instant! You are not a machine! You are…”

Luna gasped, sobbing out the last word. “Not.”

The machine’s voice cooed, like a concealed chuckle. “That’s nice of you to be worried about me. But I’m fine. I’m more worried about you.”

“This isn’t about me,” Luna snapped. “It’s about you!”

“It’s not about me,” The voice responded. Always calm, always kindly. “It’s never about me.”

Luna stomped a hoof into the plaster floor, voice shattering as she spoke. “Tia! This! Is! About! You! Now stop avoiding it!”

“You seem upset.” It said the obvious, reaching the claw up to stroke her cheek. “Is any pony being mean to you? Are you lonely? I know Cadence lives far away now, but you said you liked Twilight Sparkle. Do you miss her? You can visit Ponyville again if you...”

Luna didn’t hear the rest. She just fell to her knees and cried, thoughts hammering through her head.

Tia… what happened?

What did I do to you!?

She threw her head back and neighed mournfully, ignoring the warm whispers of the machine voice, and the loving touch of its lifeless claw.

Luna departed in tears. She flew up through the clouds, ignoring the half-formed dreams around her.

In her sorrow, she didn’t see that one particular dream ignored her in turn.

Had she been thinking clearly, Luna might have noticed that something was amiss. But maybe not – even for a dream, the thing was tiny. All that yet existed was a drowsy, idle awareness that it was waking up.

Its bleary senses gradually sharpened, taking note of the dreams around it.

Ponies.

The first conscious feeling was of pleasant surprise. Ponies were a new thing for it, and that was good. Something interesting. Something fun.

It smiled, a small one at first. Then the smile grew, and the other mouths joined in.

Author's Notes:

Next to come tomorrow, ideally.

Thanks for reading.