Luna took a deep breath before entering the bowels of the Eclipse Caverns. Darkness enveloped her as she walked inside, and she outstretched her hand to touch the wall, guiding it across the jagged stone to find her way. Her horn shone its brilliant blue light, illuminating a short path only a few strides ahead; the darkness was so thick that it blotted out even her light. She turned a corner, hearing the stone walls behind her shake and rumble; the entrance had closed itself off, and she was now totally alone with just her own thoughts. At the end of the new corridor, Luna caught a glimpse of another light, a white, pure glow that crept around the next corner on her left. She slowly trudged across the flat stones beneath her hooves, descending down a gradual slope as she made her way. Like a curious child, Luna poked her head out to see the glow, however, the glimmer had retreated, compressed itself into a ball of light, secluded in a dark chamber of immense size. Her trials began here.

Luna reached into her pocket, grabbing the Eclipse Scroll and unrolling it in her hands. As she approached the light ahead, she cleared her throat, preparing to read the ancient text of the document. "Let the bright caress the dark, let the moon bring down its light, please rid the world of evil, says I, The Princess of The Night!"

The spec of light expanded, pushing away the cloud of shadows within the caverns until they were pulverized into nothing more than a mist, flattening them against the walls of the dome-like chamber. Luna stood in the center of the great room and began to whisper to herself ancient incantations, breaking the binding seals within the caverns. The light dissipated, allowing the shadows to return once again. Only this time, they organized themselves into a rectangular form in front of her, a door composed of pure shadow. She clenched her fist tightly, closing her eyes as she took a few deep breaths. She grabbed the ethereal handle, twisting it in her grasp and walking forward with her eyes still sealed shut. Luna felt the door close behind her, and as she opened her eyes, the world around her was altered.

She was in her bedroom, though, it was not like it was in the present day. It was the room she had as a young mare, a room that resided in a great temple, a temple she had forced herself to forget. This was where she and her siblings began their life alongside their first subjects, over ten-thousand years ago. This was the first trial of her journey through Fortnight Tower, the first floor of her subconscious; the memories that had been locked away for so long. Only she could venture into this realm; any mortal would be driven mad by horrific nightmares.

The walls were lined with shelves full of books; grimoires, ancient codexes, novels, tales of bravery and romance. They were all cherished memories of a time long before Equestria, before Nightmare Moon, before Discord. She was positively flummoxed by the vivid atmosphere of it all, and the form of the room seemed hard to comprehend. It was familiar, but something seemed so off about everything around her as if the fabricated reality would warp in the corner of her eye every time she would turn her head. She looked down at her hands, and to her surprise, they were translucent, ethereal, she had no physical form in this realm. She was but a ghost.

Luna turned as she felt an odd presence behind her, an aura all too familiar. As she spun around, her eyes became locked with dark cyan eyes. She was staring at her own face. Though this was a younger, less tired face, a face Luna longed to have after so many years. Her hair was short and non-spectral then, a neat assortment of wavy light azure locks. She did not have her crown or regular garments then, she sported the look of her ancient people, a gleaming white tunic decorated with golden lace and embroidered azure half-moons along the edges.

The young mare walked around Luna, though, she didn't seem to notice her presence whatsoever. Instead, she toiled away at her bookshelf, mindlessly humming to herself as she flipped through a text in her hand. Then, suddenly, the younger Luna's ears perked up as a knock at her door sounded, to which the older Luna paused; she recognized this memory. She had once considered it to be one of the happiest of her life. Now, it only stirred up waves of sadness within, like a roaring tide without an end.

"Luna...?" A sweet, gentle voice whispered through the crack in her door.

"Lothwick?!" Young Luna practically skipped over to the door with delight as she opened it, revealing the stallion on the other side. The young mare fell into his arms instantly as she saw his face. "Lothwick!" She then nuzzled up against his chest. "You've returned..."

Luna stood and watched, smiling through her tears as she saw his face, just within arm's reach. He had looked just as he always did back then; graceful, kind, warm in spirit. His eyes were green like a forest, his long chestnut hair shimmered like obsidian, and his sky blue face was serene and calm. His long indigo tunic was sleek and pristine, and his outer robe was made of red silk. She almost had forgotten such a face. He was the vessel that held her up, the savior who could free her from any peril, he was everything to her.

"I told you I would..." Lothwick smiled as he snuck an indigo rose in Luna's hair; his royal symbol. "Things in Ccrondil have died down now... we're at peace." Lothwick returned the young alicorn's hug as he stroked her hair carefully. "Which means..." Lothwick reached into his pocket and slid a ring he had crafted in Ccrondil just a few weeks prior onto the finger of Luna's left hand. "We can spend as much time together as we like. If you wish to be mine that is, my dear..."

"Oh, Lothwick..." Young Luna's eyes were filled to the brim with tears of joy, all whilst her older self watched with tears of anguish as she clutched the old ring in her pocket. Young Luna grinned as she dragged Lothwick inside her room, kissing him multiple times on the cheek. "Yes... yes I will be yours. And you shall be mine."

Watching from the other side of the room, Luna felt a chill run down her spine, a cold breath that breathed on her shoulder. She had felt this new presence before. It was hollow, detached, an ominous entity. The approaching stallion was unmistakable; his shadow announced his arrival like a trumpeter as it crept closer to the open door. Luna's eyes widened as the stallion came into view, a tall, regal looking stallion with a blank look on his face. He wore long green robes, and his posture was as stiff as a corpse. His horn was long and sharp at the end, and his straight, jet-black hair fell to his hips, nearly blocking his pale gray face. His sharp hazel eyes seemed faded, void of life, and his stiff face was tight and grim looking. His gray wings were folded behind him, occasionally ruffling themselves up to appear like a cape.

"Brother..." Luna watched in horror as the dark stallion turned his head to see his young sister in such bliss with her soon-to-be husband.

"My, my... isn't this lovely?" Leere smirked as he clapped his hands together a few times. "When shall you be wed?"

"Oh, Leere!" Young Luna laughed as she gave her brother a warm hug, which he returned. "We haven't decided... but you'll be there, won't you?"

"Of course, dear sister. I wouldn't miss seeing my own blood wed a stallion such as Prince Lothwick," Leere nodded, breaking away from the embrace; he often made it hard to discern whether he was being sarcastic or not. "Furthermore, I give you my best wishes, younglings..." Leere grinned— a ghastly, vile sneer. "Hopefully it shall last an eternity."

Looking back on the memory, Luna realized just how powerful those words were to her lover. Lothwick's heart sank at this very moment; he knew he was not immortal like his alicorn companion. At the time, Young Luna was too naive to see the concern on Lothwick's face, the genuine horror hidden behind his eyes. Like always, Leere had snared another mortal in his trap, and he never planned on letting go.

"Ah, it appears I must depart, you two... Celestia and I have pressing matters to attend to— a chess game," Leere's grin disappeared for a moment. "One day I'll beat her for sure, I just know it... ta-ta." And with a sigh, Leere walked away, leaving Young Luna and Lothwick alone, with a ghost watching nearby.

The realm then began to fade away, warping and twisting in odd directions. Luna panicked, realizing her ethereal form had no physical influence in this dreamscape. The opened door twisted and converged, and Luna turned back in horror as the forms of Lothwick and her younger self were ripped to shreds by the warping. Her only way out was through the door, and it was starting to close in on itself. She raced forward, phasing through tumbling bookshelves and other furniture; the door had now twisted into a wide hole with nothing but blackness on the other side. She jumped through it just in the nick of time; the reality behind her had completely torn itself apart.

She floated upwards, higher and higher in the darkness, until she flew through another hole in space, launching herself into a new dreamscape. She had landed back in her old room, only this time her younger self was not blissful like in the previous sequence, she was melancholic, weeping softly at the edge of her bed, her older sister consoling her. Luna remembered this event as well. This was a turning point in her life, a wake-up call to the misery in store. This was shortly after she had visited her ailing husband in Ccrondil. He had suffered from some kind of sickness that turned his fur pale and his hair white. In hindsight, Luna knew it was the first case of vampirism.

"He's-..." Young Luna was cut off by her own whimpers. "He's not himself... I don't know what's wrong with him! He doesn't recognize my face! He doesn't recognize anypony!"

"There, there, sister... we'll sort this out eventually. Leere's Sorcerers are trying their best to heal his condition." Luna knew the horrid falseness of Celestia's words; they both had no clue what Leere was planning. "We just need to give it time."

"You don't understand... he tried to sink his teeth into my neck! He's not himself! His mind is deteriorating!" Young Luna cried.

"I know, sister, I know... I'll go talk with Leere about this. Hopefully, he'll be able to fill us in on the details," Celestia tried reassuring her young sister, but she found the situation just as hopeless. "Please, have faith, sister. His spirit is strong, he'll pull through."

"No, no, no... Lothwick..." Young Luna was too caught up in her own sorrow to pay any attention.

The dreamscape began to break apart once more, contorting and caving in on itself, shredding into thin pieces of ethereal cloth. However, to Luna's dismay the door was shut this time, and it seemed that she had no method of escape. The bookshelves toppled down and dozens of books were scattered across the ground wide open. Thankfully, a dark portal began to manifest between one of these books near the bed. Luna stuck her hand through the small vortex, and it immediately widened as it sucked her body into the void. She fell downwards through the abyss at first, but then gravity seemed to invert, and she was tossed through yet another hole. Only this time, she did not end up back in her room like the previous instances. She ended up inside a strange quagmire of dreams— a pocket dimension fabricated out of her own subconscious mind.

Luna stood at the edge of a large platform of rock, suspended in the realm of chaos and anarchy; there was a war going on around her. Miasmas of purple, black, and blue danced around the platform like a nebula, warring with one another for dominance. Luna marveled at the realm for a moment, caught up in its chaos. Was this really going on inside of her? She stood there, perplexed and caught off on a tangent of self-reflection. Perhaps all the troubles she threw away had grown too much, perhaps her mind was ready to burst at the seams like she feared it would. Regardless, she had to make sense of it all. She couldn't let her own thoughts destroy her like it did with Lothwick.

"Was it all you expected?" A familiar, wicked voice called out to Luna, a mare.

Luna turned, and her mouth hung open in horror as she stared on at the Mare on The Moon. "No, not you..."

"You thought you'd be alone in this realm?" Nightmare Moon snickered from the other side of the rock, wearing her dark malefic armor like she had long ago, her robes composed of nightmares, and helm of shadows. "No... I've been here for a long time."

"What do you want...?" Luna asked firmly, though, her voice was layered with trace amounts of doubt and anxiety.

"To be free, Luna. Isn't that what every creature desires?" Nightmare Moon cackled to herself as she sat down on the shifting ground.

"You aren't anything more than an alternate personality— a spawn of all my regret and resentment... you will never be free," Luna stated, confident she had silenced her doppelganger.

"You see... that is the extent of our truth, Princess Luna. I'm not you. I never was..." Nightmare Moon grinned, resting her chin on her hand. "I am a child of your own kin— created by Lord Leere as his contingency plan."

"What?" Luna's heart skipped a beat.

"You didn't think I was just some illusion, did you? Just some... thought or idea? No... I'm a parasite, Luna, a void implanted inside of you by Leere himself. I'm just like my brother, you see. Alptraum is my brother. We're both pockets of nothingness— vacuums of endlessness that draw in all that is. My brother and I fed off of your anger, your doubts... your fears..." Nightmare Moon stood up and began to loom over Luna. "My brother infected Lothwick with ease, as he was mortal. It was easy to feed off of his fear of death. He became the Sorcerer of Fear. However, you are a complicated case... you are an alicorn. You were a three-stage plan, Luna. Stage One was simple, all I had to do was whisper into your ear, tear you apart just like my brother, Alptraum. It was I that made the decision to lock Lothwick away all those years ago, not you. I used your grief as a tool. Stage Two took time and patience. I corrupted you over centuries, slowly absorbing all of that negative energy, manifesting into the being you see before you, taking over this subconscious realm... so I suppose I do owe my self-awareness to you..." Nightmare Moon continued, pacing about the stone platform. "Your banishment was simply the icing on the cake..."

Luna digested her words with difficulty, but they ended up strengthening her resolve. If she was to rid Lothwick of Alptraum, she had to rid herself of her own nightmares first. "And Stage Three...?"

"Hmm... now, Stage Three is more of a gamble than anything..." Nightmare Moon smirked, tapping on the crescent moon symbol attached to her chest piece. "The Stone of Fear is within Lothwick's chest, it is his heart. However, there is a shard missing from the stone, and thus, it is unstable." Nightmare Moon ripped the crescent piece from her armor, holding it out towards Luna. "This is the piece you require, the piece your smiths used to forge the Eclipse Blade. However, you of all ponies should know what this piece is. This was never a shard... it is a separate stone all in itself, spawned off the original."

"I am aware... if I fuse it with Alptraum's heart, it will be incompatible. Both stones shall be obliterated in the process." Luna stated, recounting her past knowledge.

"Then you must also be aware of the reality of killing Sorcerers and smashing their stones...?" Nightmare Moon added, tilting her head to the side curiously.

"Yes... killing them will not halt my brother's return. It would only make it harder for him to conquer this world once he does inevitably return." Luna bowed her head in shame.

"Oh, that's rich!" Nightmare Moon sneered with delight. "Does anypony in Equestria know that besides you and your sister?!" Nightmare Moon waited for a reply, but she received none. "What a joke! You'll be only mildly inconveniencing my father, and you get to kill your husband too! Hahahahah!"

"Still your tongue, foul demon..." Luna grimaced as a blade of magic manifested in her hand. "I'm sick of looking at you."

"Heheheh... finally..." Nightmare Moon slapped the shard back onto her chest, summoning a blade of pure shadow. "You know the rules of the duel, yes...?" Nightmare Moon was given no response, but she explained anyways. "If you are victorious, you get the shard and I'll be out of your life for good. However... if you lose, I take your body and lock you in here, forever. Are these terms acceptable?"

"They are..." Luna nodded, preparing her blade. "Let us begin."

"Let's!" Nightmare Moon shrieked as she charged at Luna with her blade held high.

Author's Notes:

Nightmare Moon and Alptraum: One in the same? What will happen to Luna in the next chapter of Shanghai'd? Stay tuned to find out!

As always, I hope you enjoyed! See you in the next chapter!