Discord soared through the air with his mismatched wings disguised to look like grand, feather-clad limbs not unlike those of pegasi, his magic keeping the two drunk Fantasians within hoof's reach as they lazily flew to the palace's upper windows. Along the way, they babbled incessantly about this and that, their conversations managing to extract a few chuckles from him.

"Why's the moon over there?" Natalie asked, looking past the palace to find that a crescent moon was just beginning its daily ascent into the sky from behind far-off mountain ranges.

"I think it's about time to go nighty-night," Matt replied, choosing to look at the streets below. There were many colored splotches out and about, though due to the rising altitude and thanks to the graces of the night he couldn't discern half of the colors, much less their placements or what the splotches in question were doing. "The fuck are those dots doing down there?"

"Likely heading home and closing up shop. It is getting late, after all," Discord answered with a chuckle, using his magic to tilt Matt's head up so he stared forward. They had crossed a bit of distance between themselves and the castle, with the third floor windows just yards away. In minutes, the two drunks found themselves in a guest room, having tumbled in through the window before their carrier dropped them onto the floor and floated next to their prone forms.

Natalie was the first to get up onto her hooves, her legs wobbling a bit and her form swaying ever so slightly as she dazedly looked around and took in her surroundings. "This our room?" she asked upon noticing that there were two doors present, one beyond the foot of the bed and the other sitting next to a giant open wardrobe of crystal that had a pony-shaped mannequin stationed inside.

"No," Discord answered, using a hoof to gesture to the door next to the wardrobe and he promptly vanished from sight in a puff of smoke before Natalie could ask whose guest room she and Matt had been dropped off in. Said door next to the wardrobe opened with the aid of a blue aura, from which two voices spilled out. They were both high in pitch, but one came with a distinct lady-like tone to it and the other sounded a little younger.

"I think it looks lovely on you," the lady-like voice complimented.

"This… this reminds me a little of the Valkyrie," the other replied. Natalie's brow rose, and she shuffled over to the door. Once there, she poked her head inside to find Rarity and Anna chatting in a bathroom, the latter wearing a black gown with strange silver markings on its back, and giant gold ribbons flaring out from between said silver markings. The former currently had her back faced to the drunkard, and she spent her sweet time eyeing the mare before her with a critical gaze.

The sable cloth had copper decorations that spanned the whole outfit down to the trimmings along the edges, swirling elegantly about and forming patterns not unlike that of dying embers. Anna also wore horseshoes, boasting a brilliant gold in hue that accompanied beaded bracelets that were set along her forelegs to further offset the ebony of the main garment. Fitted at the base of her neck was a necklace hewn of steel beads, with a small cross that had a silver trim and a charcoal black center.

The whole outfit sparkled, and so did its wearer, as if both were living crystal—the sheen only enhanced just how stunning the archer looked then. Natalie blushed at seeing her companion clothed in such an outfit, partly due to being drunk and partly due to stumbling upon the sight in question. "I wonder how long she'll wear it for. It just fits her so well, and it's so fucking beautiful on her…" she thought, a spark of curiosity igniting in her dazed eyes that intensified the longer she stared.

Anna was spinning in place as she talked, careful to avoid trampling on the end of her dress with her rear hooves, "And it doesn't draw too much attention to my rear end." Natalie noticed that her mane was done up in a singular ponytail, held up by red ribbons and baubles that were drill-like in shape. Though this left her bangs and forelock and crest to be swept aside and drape along her cheeks, the red still complimented her mane, and oddly enough so did the drill-baubles attached to it.

"Erm, yes, your superior's tank was part of my inspiration. I do recall seeing a cross-like indent on one of its sides, during my very first few hours in Fantasia," Rarity replied, nodding with a smile on her face. "Of course, I couldn't just let the dress ride high on your flank; you have… ah, a runner's build—wouldn't do you any good to run and trip with such an outfit on."

"Eh, yeah, that does make some sense," Anna replied with a nod of her own. She finished spinning in place, now facing Rarity. "And I guess it also explains the braided silver ribbons adorning my back, and the gold one close to my withers?"

"Yes, the silver braids were based on the treads. I simply had nowhere else to put those ribbons; otherwise, the dress would have simply come out wrong," Rarity affirmed, using a hoof to gesture to the trim along the dress. "The copper trim and swirling pattern was just to add a little color, lest the dress look more like a funeral gown. The gold was to draw more attention to your front, instead of your back. How does it feel to wear it?"

"... comfortable," Anna answered, smiling for a few seconds—before her expression fell upon finally noticing Natalie peeking into the room unannounced. "Natz? You okay?"

Natalie nodded, before setting hoof into the bathroom and promptly losing her balance, resulting in a landing that sent her legs sprawling out. "I'm okay," she stated in a heavy slur.

"You don't look it. Your face is red and you're on the floor," Anna noted, at which point Rarity turned around just as Natalie gave a dejected sigh. She made to stand again, enabling the two whose conversation she dropped in on to notice her slightly warbling stance. "... are you drunk?"

Natalie nodded. "I have a reason," she mumbled.

"It better be a good reason. Otherwise, Lance will bitch until he goes purple in the face," Anna grumbled, a small frown adorning her muzzle.

"Remember Orange McShock?" Natalie asked, causing Anna to tense at the inquiry. When she got a nod from the gown-wearing mare, she elaborated, "He was at the tavern I got shitfaced at, causing trouble and just being a douchecanoe. He attacked me, and I retaliated in self-defence."

Rarity frowned. "That's… the only word I can think of to describe it would be horrid, to say the least. I can't even begin to imagine how it must have felt to… er, encounter a wanted pony that made headlines in the worst way possible," she groaned, ears flattening against her head.

"So," Natalie began, eyes languidly going back and forth between the two mares before stopping when she decided to change the subject, "what're you two doing?"

"Playing dress-up," Anna scoffed, rolling her eyes at her drunk companion. She shrugged and added, "Hell, I might even participate in the Faire dressed up like this."

"Looks good on you," Natalie noted with a nod. "Though that huge ribbon on your back makes you look like a present," she mentally added, languidly turning tail to trot back to Matt. She immediately stumbled over her own forehooves and fell with a scream, though a green aura caught her before the floor could give her a painful "hello" right to the face. She heard Rarity chortle behind her, and turned to look at said unicorn in question.

"Given that you're drunk, let me be blunt: you really shouldn't be trotting tonight," Rarity stated, raising a hoof and letting it twitch as it strayed no higher than her barrel. She set it down and trotted into the guest room, making sure to go around the drunk Fantasian who was floating in place without complaint. At least, until Anna used her magic to shove her into the room behind Rarity, being careful enough to avoid letting the two mares collide.

Around this time, Natalie turned to where the window was, and though she immediately saw that Discord hadn't returned, Matt still was very much present and he merely opted to lay down on the floor with his legs folded neatly under his form. The sod sent an amused, though flushed, grin at Natalie as she idly floated in the air while Anna trotted out of the bathroom to catch up. "Anna? That you?" he asked, eyes widening when he realized she was trotting around in a gown.

"Yep," Anna answered, turning to Matt for one second prior to glancing back to Natalie and then immediately doing a wide-eyed secondary glance to him thereafter. "Wait, you're here too?" she added upon doing said secondary glance, her pupils shrinking when she saw the glaringly obvious red that lingered on his face.

"No, I'm in Canterlot!" Matt replied sarcastically, his grin widening. He then rose to stand up on legs that didn't wobble as much as those of his currently-afloat colleague. He trotted over with slightly unsteady steps, stopping a few feet from the trio and looking Anna from head to hoof. "Wow, that's a nice outfit. Have you shown it to everybody else yet?"

Anna blushed a bit and shook her head. "Not Lance, but everyone else has seen me in this dress," she mumbled in reply, her tone between embarrassed and uneasy.

The answer caused Matt's brow to raise, and given the pink that now tainted the archer's cheeks, it began to make him wonder why. "Is Lance napping or something?" he inquired.

Anna, again, shook her head. "You and Natz should see him first," she stated, turning to glance pointedly at the still-floating mare. "Can you carry her? I don't want to be near Lance's room when he sees that you two look… ah…"

"Shitfaced?" Matt finished for her, this time garnering a mute nod as a response. His horn lit up and he took Natalie in his magical grasp, immediately dispelling Anna's own in the process. "Alright. We'll go see him." With that, he left the room and bumbled into the hall with his equally-drunk friend in tow, and upon glancing to the left found that there was just one guard with an orange coat standing outside an opened door a few paces away.

Flash Sentry beckoned the two with a hoof. "Your… uh, general wishes to speak to you two," he said with a small frown on his face. Both ponies mutely nodded and came up to him, silently going around him into another guest room to find a cloak-wearing Lance sitting on the floor in front of the bed with his eyes immediately falling onto the two the moment they entered.

Lance blew out a heavy sigh, looking at Matt and Natalie for what felt like a long while before shaking his head. "I understand," he said simply, taking in the wavering stance of the stallion and the fact that the mare was still afloat in a golden aura.

Matt's brows rose, and Natalie looked at her superior with widening eyes. "Understand… what?" Matt asked, blinking as the pegasus continued to seemingly study them. Another few minutes of silence passed before he got a reply.

"Why you two got shitfaced. Discord told me all about it a few minutes ago, and Shining personally dragged a wanted somepony to me before taking him to the dungeons himself," Lance elaborated with a curt nod. "Just… don't get drunk again before the Faire. Go on and get some rest—you two need it. And be sure to take painkillers in the morning."

Matt and Natalie exchanged wide-eyed glances, then they turned to their general. "That's an order, now get to it!" he barked, and they mutely nodded to him before exiting the room and heading to their own. Lance watched them as they left, still sitting in front of the bed without budging an inch. He stood up after a few additional seconds had passed and trotted to the door to close it, before turning around and using a hoof to pry off his cloak.

A chill raced down his spine as soon as the cloak fell into a heap upon the floor, and his wings shuddered as if they were getting goosebumps. Lance turned to his extra limbs and smiled fondly at them, seeing a set of shivering bald pink limbs with multiple and elongated finger-like digits instead of steel and copper laden upon his back. Between the wings, along his midsection where metal covered him, was another bald pink with very loose bits of orange coat sticking here and there stubbornly.

"It's been forever since I had feathers…" he murmured to none in particular upon spotting a very small and budding blood feather, complete with feather sheath, sticking out of his left wingtip. His smile broadened, even as he shivered again.

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Spike watched as Matt and Natalie flopped on a bed the moment they entered the guest room he was in, both propelled by a golden aura that all but ensured they didn't land anywhere else. "You two look like you've crashed and burned," he noted, only to be met with a scoff from Matt and a dismissive wave of the hoof from Natalie.

"We're drunk," the latter groaned, her eyes screwing shut.

"You're what? Did you drink tampered-with punch or something?" Spike asked, a brow raised.

"No," Matt huffed in reply. "Pure booze."

Spike's brow fell, and his eyes went half-lidded as a frown formed on his face. "Great, drunken Fantasians," he mumbled sarcastically under his breath. His shoulders slumped when he heard a snore come out of Matt's mouth, and he made his way out of the room while muttering, "At least they're asleep. I'd rather them snoozing than doing who knows what else…"

Shutting the door behind him with a claw on his way out, he took in some deep breaths and, gradually, his frown eased but did not fully recede. "Calm down, Spike," he chastised himself. "Just be glad they didn't do anything other than hit the hay…"

He took a few more deep breaths when he heard the sound of a door creaking open that was immediately followed by hooves on crystal, and he turned his head to glance at both sides of the hall. Upon turning to the right, he spotted Zecora emerging from the room directly next to the one he'd left.

"Spike, what is the matter?" Zecora asked, taking in Spike's still-lingering frown before forming one on her own muzzle. "Did you happen upon some unpleasant chatter?"

Spike shook his head. "No, Zecora…" He sighed deeply and gestured to the door behind him with a claw. "Mr. Black-and-White and Miss Creamcoat decided to get drunk."

"Drunk, from what?" Zecora pressed, her brow raising. "What drove them to get into that rut?"

Spike shrugged and shook his head again. "I can only guess," he replied. "They've fallen asleep, though. Let's leave them alone." Zecora nodded and trotted back in the room she came into the hall from, and the drake followed her to find Twilight laying on the bed with a book plopped in front of her, in addition to having a purring NoLegs perched on her head. "Hey, Twilight."

His utterance caused Twilight to look away from her book, and she smiled at Spike. "Hey," she replied.

"What'cha reading?" Spike asked, running over before jumping on the bed. Twilight folded the corner of the page she was on with her magic, then grabbed the book in her forehooves and slammed it shut. She was hovering it over him as he began bouncing on the mattress in an attempt to see a glimpse of the book's title. "What is it, what is it?" he demanded.

After a minute of teasing Spike by withholding the book, she plopped it on the bed and opened it to the page she was on, which had been marked by the folded corner. He peered over and studied the papers, spotting several illustrations of pegasus wings that had been plucked and bound with odd protrusions sporting runes. "Is that…"

Twilight frowned and nodded slowly. "An ancient spell, in one of the spellbooks supposedly credited to Starswirl that Shining found in the Empire's library," she answered. Her horn glowed, and in a flash of violet light a filled piece of paper appeared that gently floated to the small drake, who carefully grasped it in his claws. Spike looked at it for a moment, seeing runes and notes, then turned back to the opened book and paled upon finding that the runes on both entities were the exact same.

"T-Twilight… the runes in the b-book… they m-match the p-paper's set," Spike stammered, eyes widened as he looked between the two entities again.

"If I hadn't had that book that was filled with ancient rune translations… I wouldn't have been able to free Lance's wings with a counterspell. Whoever cast this spell on him was a knowledgeable pony—not to mention horrible in every sense of the word," Twilight murmured, sighing heavily. "Who'd be cruel enough to ground a pegasus in that manner, and why?"

Spike spent a few seconds composing himself with another wave of deep breaths. Once he had gathered himself, he replied, "I'm going to bet the unicorn who did it cared about nopony else but themself. Or themselves, if there was more than one unicorn who did it."

Twilight shrugged, and NoLegs turned to Spike and meowed before hopping off of her head. "Well, whoever did it, good thing they're still stuck on Fantasia," she said, her mouth twitching at the corners.

"Does this mean I need to make another special brew in a few weeks' time, just for him?" Zecora chimed in, garnering the attention of the three on the bed. The zebra smiled as she added, "Regardless of whether or not he drinks such a concoction, his prospects of flight will no longer be slim."

"That's true," Spike agreed with a nod and a small smile.

NoLegs shook his head with a mew, waving his tail in a dismissive manner with a frown forming on his fuzzy face. Twilight turned to him and asked, "What's wrong about Lance drinking a potion?" to which the cat replied by making a series of retching sounds after using his magic to conjure the image of a translucent bundle of herbs.

"He wouldn't be able to hold it in his stomach, not one bit?" Zecora asked, her smile fading when NoLegs made the bundle of plants disappear with a nod of his head. "What about with glasses of water; would liquid keep it in his pit?" This time, the feline shook his head with a sullen meow leaving his mouth.

"Well, I guess we'll just have to let his feathers grow out as they normally would," Twilight sighed, turning to Zecora with a slight frown on her face. "Besides, taking into account the fact that his wings were hexed to begin with, I wouldn't expect him to just take the potion and down it. All things considered, I think he'd hate being having what few feathers he may grow back plucked a second time just to make a brew."

Zecora nodded and smiled again. "At least, his curse has been lifted at long last. We needn't rush him so fast." With that, she cantered over to the bed and rose a hoof to tenderly pet NoLegs, who purred at the touch. She looked at Twilight as she pet the cat, adding in two more bits all the while, "I'm amazed that this feline is able to use spells and understand us at our level of collective knowledge. I ponder how this can be; it's as if he were one of the animals who reside at Fluttershy's cottage."

Twilight shrugged again and made the paper she handed to Spike vanish in a brief flare of light. "My best guess? He's as smart as us—considering he can use magic like nopony's business, I think that having such intellect's a quirk at the very least," she stated, raising her own hoof to rub NoLegs's back. "After all, knowledge is kinda required to perform even basic levitation."

"But not everypony can make things levitate, Twilight," Spike piped up. "Were you able to levitate things before you got your cutie mark?"

Twilight flinched and turned to the drake, a shudder running through her for a few seconds. "I could barely lift a page with levitation…" she mumbled.

"And did you have a lot of books?" Spike continued. When Twilight nodded, he sent her a fond smile and reached over to hug her neck, laughing like a child playing a game of tag. "Knowledge isn't the be-all, end-all, though it does have its benefits. You should know that better than anypony else, Twilight."

"That's my number-one assistant," Twilight chirped, wrapping her free leg around Spike. "You're right; knowledge isn't everything there is to the world—ah, worlds, I mean."

"Twilight, do you know any healing spells?" Zecora asked, garnering a slow nod from Twilight. "I've got a… client with a busted wing, and I promised to see her become well."

Twilight broke the embrace with Spike and ceased petting NoLegs. "It's something not even your potions can fix?" she guessed, looking the zebra in the eye.

"I have yet to attempt, because I do not have a functioning cauldron," Zecora admitted, frowning. "I may need some assistance, should things go awry with my promised concoction."

"... and whose wing do you want healed?" Twilight ventured, her brow raising.

"Sarah's bones need mending, her left wing must be in tip-top shape," Zecora began, her frown deepening. "She wants to partake in jousting this Faire, which… can give more than a nasty scrape."

Twilight's brow lowered, and she too frowned. "... oh," she replied tersely, connecting the dots in her head.

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A starry expanse, one teal with multiple splashes of color, went on seemingly without end. Princess Luna trotted along it like it had solid ground, and to either side of her spanned a series of separate wooden doors that appeared to lead to nowhere, all aligned as if she were in some extraordinarily elaborately decorated hotel's hall. All of the doors had added flairs; some boasted flowers, some sported various foodstuffs, and others still had clouds to name a few.

Many doors appeared to be bright, seemingly glowing with light that wasn't there. Others, meanwhile, had desaturated and splintered, or looked to have a shadow overhead that blotted out much of what they had on their frames. She strode on silently, ignoring the whole expanse of various entrances that were present.

At least, until she came upon a door of rich, burnt oak that had four different and distinct flairs adorning its form. Small pictures, each abstract and set against a background color, met her gaze. She could recognize an arrow on one, a pentagram on another, a triad of feathers on the third, and a manji on the fourth whose overall meaning made that entire picture's confusing.

In addition to this, heavy chains barred her path, and each line that overlapped another had extra reinforcements in the form of large black pad-like locks that went between the links and secured them together. When she rose a hoof and nudged one of the locks, a coldness greeted her outstretched hoof and chills immediately ran up her spine. She retracted her limb without hesitation, causing it to rattle slightly before it went still.

Her horn glowed, and a teal aura surrounded the door. The chains and locks disintegrated, as if nothing more than lumps of dried mud, and two of the marks vanished. Immediately after, another blackened door rose next to the first in an empty spot Luna hadn't noticed, before the first two marks that vanished appeared on its frame in addition to more chains and locks. "Mayhaps I could get something out of just two instead of all four," she murmured to herself, eying the remaining marks on the door she magically prodded at.

"Bladerune, Starcovert, prepare thyselves," Luna murmured before opening the door and attempting to stride inside when an invisible force just pushed her out and the obstacle slammed right in her face. More chains sprung up from the expanse around it, binding it tightly and forming more locks just to keep the shackles in place. "What the…?" She blinked, her eyes widening as she processed what had just happened.

So, after a few seconds, her eyes went from wide to narrow and her horn glowed again. Only this time, the locks and chains did not yield to her whims; instead, they rattled violently in place, growing louder and louder until her ears rang. She ceased prodding at the barrier when it got too loud, her magic dispelling as her concentration wavered. When she did, so too did the locks and chains cease their cacophony.

Luna staggered back a bit, shaking her head in an attempt to gather herself. Her ears aching, she turned to the accursed locks and growled when a black substance started oozing out of the keyholes, dripping quite messily onto the invisible floor at the bottom of the frame and staining the door in the process. She turned to the adjacent door with the arrow and manji on its face, and it also sported locks that seemingly bled from their link scaffoldings. "... still not ready for my aid, I see," she sighed, her wings drooping slightly. "I guess the chains are staying, for the time being."

So, she ignored the two doors and glanced around to the other ones that she'd neglected to check, finding another hoofful that stood out. One was metallic blue and black, another black and glossy blue, a third pure grey with flecks of gold that had gems embedded in the door. Another sported a halberd, and there was a splintering one that was white and red.

Luna prodded at these doors, frowning when more chains and locks sprung up to barricade them and keep her out. What's more, these new locks also started seemingly bleeding, staining the doors and invisible floor in further hues of ugly black. "What manner of dreamscape tampering is this?" she asked aloud, as if another soul were present. It was then she noticed that, out of all the doors that possessed these accursed shackles, one stood out like a paw that boasted a tiny splinter.

The white-and-red door's locks and chains were red with rust, further accentuated by a thin glossy layer of frost. Luna blinked, then looked at the other sets of shackles and found that they had a metallic gloss with no rust, even though they oozed a bizarre substance that they should not have been able to produce. She turned back to the rusted ones and experimentally prodded at them with her magic to find that, no matter how much she rattled them, they did not bleed—not even as the frost coating them melted away.

Luna rose a brow and continued to jostle the rusted manacles, yet the only thing they produced were a series of dull rattles in response. "Hello…" she murmured, her magic starting to tug on the chains, the door creaking in protest as its binds endured the magical fondling. Luna pulled some more, pouring more strength into her spell, and when she did the chains almost instantly snapped and clattered to the invisible ground, dragging their locks with them. The door opened on squeaking, rusted hinges, swinging in a gale that wasn't there.

It was as if the obstacle itself was inviting her in. Daring her to enter that which was beyond. Luna trotted inside without hesitation, though she stopped briefly when the door slammed shut behind her and the locks and chains simply reformed to barricade it again from the inside. She turned to look at it, and sighed. "This is quite odd," she noted, prior to turning around to absorb her immediate surroundings—or distinct lack thereof.

All around her and that door, a dusty expanse stretched as far as she could see. For miles and miles around, it was barren loose soil that created little clouds of dust every time the wind blew. She looked up at the sky, finding a lilac moon that was large and full, which gave the much darker navy sky and the land below a distinct purple tint.

Luna's wings flared as she returned her gaze to ground level. "Who would dream about a place like this?" she asked, some small part of her expecting an answer, though she received none save for a small dust devil that danced right past her. Her wings flapped repeatedly, kicking up dirt, and she just became airborne when something stood out in the far distance.

There was a blue light, one that dimmed constantly, as if it were about to go out. She still saw it as it flickered, before it then grew vertically upwards. "A beacon? Here?"

An ethereal, masculine voice echoed all around the desolate place, "Go to the light, Princess."

Luna frowned, but she forwent complaint and started flying to the odd light in the distance. Minutes ticked by, then they became passing hours—or it certainly felt like it, at least. The light did not seem to broaden even slightly, which would have indicated she'd gotten closer to it under normal circumstances. "Just how far is it, surely it can't—" she stopped speaking aloud when a noise emanated from far away. Then another, and then another, carried by winds that fueled the dust devils and brushed against her ears as she kept flying.

Her eyes widened when the cacophony became clearer with every yard she passed over, pupils shrinking when the light in the distance faded entirely. It sounded like a million cicadas calling for mates, only higher-pitched and much more frequent. She stopped for a minute, still hovering, as yet the distant symphony continued unimpeded. Her wings beat faster, and she was once again on the move, going as fast as she could in an attempt to figure out what was going on and stop it if need be. Hours came and went, yet still the source of the awful orchestra eluded her.

Another light flashed in the distance, this one much closer, but when it did things fell absolutely silent save for still-flapping wings. Luna looked around, though aside from the light and lack of sound, nothing changed—until it caught her eye. A distinct hole in the ground that was only a few paces away nabbed her attention, and she flew to it before peering inside.

In the bottom of the hole, there was a still and utterly emaciated long-eared, black-skinned changeling with spines running along the back of its head and webbed filaments that grew from the tail. Its horn was broken off and its wings were nothing more than scattered tatters that littered the scene. It was curled into a fetal position, with a front hoof outstretched, and it possessed eyes that had gone black. If not for the light of the moon, she couldn't have been able to tell what it was. "Hello?" Luna asked, her voice echoing into the hole. The changeling did not stir.

Her horn glowed and her teal magic grabbed the entity and slowly lifted it up, but as soon as it rose a few inches above the floor its head came loose and detached itself from the rest of its body, tenderly landing and rolling away until its horn stump connected with the wall. Luna gaped and dropped the body, backing off a bit to process what just transpired. She turned away from the hole, only to notice another one close by.

She went to it, but found nothing more than the paling head of another long-eared changeling with spines, this one also without a horn. It had its muzzle pointing to the sky, seemingly staring vacantly at nothing in particular, looking more like a skull whose skin didn't rot. A flare of blue caught her attention from the corner of her eye, and she turned to it and away from the head in the hole. "Do you not seek answers, Princess?" the ethereal voice echoed again as the light once more flared miles away.

Luna glanced around in an attempt to find the source of the voice, but alas she couldn't find it. "That I do," she answered, turning back to the light.

"Then follow the light," the voice replied. Luna complied, and she once again began flying to the glow that was still out of reach. Once more, the cicada-like chorus began, this time getting louder as she pressed on. The Princess passed over more holes, each one littered with different body parts that once belonged to individual changelings, but she remained focused on the light that only now seemed to be getting larger.

Then the holes stopped cropping up below her, which gave way to many, many bodies being left strewn all about here and there, some in piles and others just scattered after having been torn limb from limb. The amount of bodies started off small, but as she flew onward, Luna began counting more and more corpses until there were so many that she could barely see the soil beneath what could only be described as a massacre.

The light flashed in front of her, and she slowed to a stop as it momentarily blinded her in blue. She blinked to get the monochrome haze out of her eyes, finding that she stood at the edge of a small circle of dirt that had two entities facing off amidst the sea of bodies.

One was a shadowy creature whose features she couldn't make out even in the moon's light, and the other was a black, emaciated and hornless changeling that stood defiantly. The lone changeling hissed and flew brazenly towards the shadow, but the black entity just ghosted out of the way and stretched a limb to smack its changeling adversary hard enough to completely throw it off the mark and send it to the ground.

The assault made the changeling ooze green fluid and scream, and it stood up once more with the substance dribbling down its chin. It glared balefully at its opponent with blue eyes that had black forming at the corners, flared its wings and took flight to attack once again, only to end up taking another assault that sent it careening to and then landing right in front of Luna with a sickening snap. It groaned pitifully when it attempted to raise a leg before the limb fell and the changeling went completely still. Its eyes turned black as night within seconds, like lights shutting off, with fluid still oozing from its maw.

Luna gaped, finding that this changeling had a bright red carapace and wings, in addition to a mane and tail comprised of thin hair that were the same color instead of spines and webbed filaments. "Pitiful drone," the shadow hissed. "What changeling just flies to her death when all of the others before I have also fallen?" With that, it vanished before the Princess could look at it a second time, only to have her attention snagged by the lone drone as a blue light enveloped her form.

It went into her ears, mouth, and nostrils before fading and pulsing through her like rippling waves. The pulses grew and grew, until the entire corpse was covered in what seemed to be pure power. Light erupted from the cadaver, almost blinding Luna again, and the Princess used her wings to shield her eyes as it flared constantly. A few minutes passed before the light was fading back into a dull ripple that stretched upon every inch of the recipient.

Only when the blue glow finally ceased rippling across her body did she haul herself up on twig-like, shaky legs. The drone immediately paled, her black skin blanching and blanching until it was hideously white while the red parts of her darkened to a maroon with a slight grey tint. She steadied herself and looked up at Luna with a familiar torn grin that stretched from ear to ear and oozed with green fluid.

Blackened eyes betrayed twin sparks of azure, and a hollow voice came from the maw of the changeling, "What are you staring at, Princess Luna?" A second passed before she realized who she'd just addressed, and then the changeling asked, "Wait, how the fuck did you get here?"

Luna donned a smile and wrapped a wing around Katie. "I have the power to enter and exit dreams as I please, my little guest wraith," she chirped in reply. Her smile fell as she added, "Though… this is certainly one of the more horrid nightmares I have stumbled upon."