In all her life, Sunset Shimmer has never met Princess Luna.

Back when she still lived in Equestria, Princess Luna was still trapped on the moon, waiting to return as the dreaded Nightmare Moon. And then she hid herself in the human world which had Vice Principal Luna, although she never actually knew if the two of them acted similarly. After all, Vice Principal Luna never grew jealous and tried to overthrow her sister.

What would she even do when she does overthrow Principal Celestia and became the new Principal? Made it so that classes would start in the evening? Sunset personally knows a lot of people who would love that.

In short, her picture of Princess Luna is coloured entirely by her letters with Princess Twilight Sparkle. She had imagined her to be loud and cheerful, with a rather playful and awkward streak. She also seems to have a way with children, since more often than not her fanmail would always come from foals and fillies who would love to hang out with her.

She never expected her first meeting with Princess Luna to go like this.

“Princess Luna?” Sunset Shimmer asked, blinking back her confusion “Is that you?”

“Ah, and here comes Celestia’s prized daughter,” Luna spat out the words as if they were poison “Come to teach me more about your beloved ‘Friendship’?” she made air quotes with her air and spat on the ground

The Princess of the Night was bound under heavy chains that circled her wings. She stayed in her one spot far from the light, attempting to hide her body as much as possible. It was a miracle that Sunset even saw her, too, considering the crystal wall that blocked the path to reach her. She was a prisoner through and through, yet Sunset could not think of why she would be left in such a state.

“What happened?” Sunset instinctively asked “I – I thought that you were purified! And – And then you were forgiven, and ruling again, and-”

A delightful chuckle escaped Luna’s mouth, sending a shiver down both Sunset and Redheart’s spines “Purified? Forgiven? Did you finally snap a nerve in that pathetic little mind of yours? Or is that how you insult ponies nowadays?”

“I think she-” Redheart stammered, but was instantly cut off when Luna slammed her hoof on the ground, making the sound echo through the cavern.

“Don’t play games with me. You might act all nice and humble, but you’re just as big of a reason that I’m here as she is!” her pupils dilated as Luna turned around, pointing her hoof towards Sunset “You came here to laugh, didn’t you? That’s why you’re acting all innocent and pure. You want to make me feel bad for everything that I’ve done! Well, do you deny these accusations?!”

Redheart took a step back, her eyes watering in fear. The only thing stopping her from fleeing was the knowledge that if she did that, then Sunset would be left all alone to deal with Luna. And she did not want to wish that upon anyone.

The room echoed as Luna slammed her hoof onto the floor once again, panting heavily as she continued to stare at the duo. Sunset Shimmer was starting to wonder if Redheart was right in her theory that the portal that led them here really was just a way to catch trespassers.

“I swear, when I get out, I will personally find every last one of you and gauge your eyes out. I will strip your skin off piece by piece as your loved ones watch, and then I will pour boiling water onto your exposed flesh. You will know pain far worse than anything that you could imagine! You will never be safe, not even in your dreams, you despicable waste of oxygen!”

Unable to hold back her fear, Redheart finally let out a gut wrenching screech that echoed and bounced off the walls of the caves, making them ring louder and louder forcing Sunset to close her ears in pain. Hearing Luna’s mad ravings terrified her, and all she wanted to do was escape.

“What is it that you seek me for?” Luna finally said, turning her face away from the duo back to her dark, gloomy side of the jail cell “Be quick. I have other matters to attend to.”

“Why do you think that we need you?” Sunset asked, opening her ears again once the screaming finally started to dissipate “Maybe… Maybe we just want a nice chat!”

“HAH!” scoffed Luna “So you’re telling me that you travelled into the deepest mountains of Canterlot, crossed through every single trap laid out, with no food on your self at all, just for a nice chat? My, I never knew you had a comedic side to yourself - unlike that Northerner.”

“Northerner? You mean Quickfix?” this certainly piqued Sunset’s curiosity “She was here?”

“Just a moment ago. Wanted some sort of spell to travel into dream worlds. She was awfully persistent about it, too. I dare say she was willing to kill for-”

“She wouldn’t!”

Silence filled the room as none of the ponies dared speak. A moment passed, and then another, and another, before Luna finally let out an amused chuckle. She pushed her mane back and cast a mocking glare at the duo, as if silently laughing at a joke no one had told.

“Sensitive topic, I see,” she bemused “Afraid that one of your own might not be as nice as you thought she was? Are you assuming that she might one day even end up as an enemy?”

“Just tell us the spell you gave her!” Sunset bellowed. She was not going to allow anyone, no matter their status, to insult any of her friends

“Insolent brat,” Luna merely scoffed as she turned back to her corner “Has your mother not told you? These chains drain magic. I couldn’t have taught her any dark magic even if I wanted to. And trust me, I do. I’d like nothing more than to see the light in your eyes slowly disappear as you agree that I am the true ruler of Equestria. Oh, the look on Celestia’s face when she sees her greatest warriors succumbing to the darkness will be just marvellous!”

“Can… can we please leave?” Redheart softly tapped Sunset’s shoulder, reminding the mare that she was still there “I don’t think she’s going to be very… cooperative.”

Sunset considered the option for a few seconds. Surely Dino had brought them here for something, although they have no idea what it actually is. Maybe the pony they’re looking for is deeper into the caves? Dino isn’t here, after all. But then again, Quickfix did come to visit Luna. But since she couldn’t teach her any spells, then that must have been pointless as well.

“Sunset…”

“We don’t have any other leads right now,” she calmly explains despite her frustrations “If we ever want to even have a chance at dealing with Morpheus, then this is it.”

“Hm?”

The two mares turned to look at Luna, who’s ears perked up at the mention of the God’s name. Sharing a puzzled look, they inch closer towards her crystalline wall, waiting for the former Princess of the Night to speak. When she did not, Redheart was the first to raise her voice.

“What do you know about my father?”

“That old sod is your father?” Luna sounded unimpressed, with a slight hint of disgust in her voice “I know plenty. Although, that would explain a lot about what that insufferable Northerner was asking about…”

To say that the two mares were speechless was an understatement. Sunset, utterly surprised that they finally had a lead on where to go next, slumped on the ground with a tired grin on her face. Redheart had been much more direct, ramming herself onto the crystal wall with such ferocity that even Luna was taken aback.

“What do you know?!” Redheart’s face was plastered against the wall, her pupils wide and her naturally timid demeanour totally forgotten “How can I save dad?!”

“… The things I…” Luna mutters to no one in particular before returning to her cold self “Do you really expect me to tell you anything after everything that you’ve done to me? I’m more inclined to see you all fail by the hands of that delusional demon!”

“But we’re not this world’s Sunset Shimmer and Redheart!” Sunset had appeared next to Redheart “And if we don’t find a way to defeat Morpheus, all of our worlds will be doomed!”

“So you’re saying that there you came from a different world, entirely unlike our own?” Luna snorted, laughing at the thought “If you can prove that, I might consider helping you foals out.”

Just as Luna turned around to face the two mares in the eyes, she was quickly taken aback. Claws had suddenly emerged from Redheart’s hooves, and she slowly, painfully, scratched the crystal wall with them. Despite all odds, the claws scratched through the crystals, causing a sound to pierce through all three of their ears which sounded like the sound of nails on a chalkboard, except ten times as loud. Sunset, who’s ears were already starting to burst from all the onslaught of sounds she’s heard today, knocked Redheart down with her forehoof in an act not unlike punching.

“What are you trying to do?!” she screamed, still holding her ears in pain “You could have made me go deaf!”

“I was trying to prove that we were from different worlds...” Redheart softly answered as the claws disappeared “I’m sure your Redheart couldn’t do that, right?”

“You could have done anything else! And I thought I told you to stop doing that in case that really is Redheart’s body!”

“I… I was just trying to help…”

“Enough!” Luna shouted, still rubbing her ears in pain “If it gets you two out of my sight, then I will tell you everything I know!”

Sunset tried to smile, but she was in too much pain to do it properly “So you’re saying you believe us?”

“You annoying little maggots! Even if you are lying, I don't care!I just want you gone as soon as possible!” Luna’s rage had reached a boiling point, and it was only the knowledge that she couldn't murder the two mares that stopped her from doing anything insane “You want to know about that fake god, then shut up!”

Silence.

“… Good,” Luna scoffed, still panting from her rage

The three of them stood silently as Luna tried to collect her thoughts. She had no reason to lie to them, even if it would be amusing to see what they would do with said false information. However, she herself knew that lying to them would cause more trouble even for her. She would probably never be able to escape her prison if what they said was true.

“I first met Morpheus while I was still on the moon,” she finally said after she had finally calmed down “I still had my magic, although it was certainly much weaker compared to when I was on Equestria. I could still enter the dreams of ponies, but I only existed as a spectator who could only watch the ponies dream. But then he showed up.”

“He was quite powerful, I can say that. He claimed that he was a God of Dreams, but I could see him for what he truly is; a Demon, and a fairly pathetic one at that. He didn't even have his own form; he just used this one Unicorn's body. He took pleasure in messing around ponies’ heads, giving them nightmares whenever possible. He could see me, as well. But alas, all he did was laugh at me and my inability to do anything but exist. Although, he doesn’t always appear. Only once every few months, if I’m not mistaken.”

“So he’s already had contact with Equestria before…” Sunset tapped her chin “Did he have any motive?”

“Nothing I could think of,” Luna sneered “As far as I could tell, he was doing it because he can. But I could be wrong. I never took the time to get to know him. Why do you ask?”

“He’s kidnapping people from various dimensions and placing them in this… dream world, I guess,” Sunset added “They were all asleep there. Well, everyone but this world’s Sunset Shimmer. Darn it, I hope she’s still holding up fine…”

“Perhaps he wishes for his own world, and his own subjects. After all, what is a God without followers?” Luna asked, followed by the two mares nodding “So you wish to return to that dream world? I have a spell that would let you go there, but that is all. If you wish to defeat him, then you have to use your own strength for that. I told the Northerner the same thing, if you wish to know.”

"We'll take it!" Redheart piped up

Luna chuckled darkly "Ah, yes. This will be your introduction to dark magic, old magic. If you take this spell, you will be one step closer to the dark side."

"I've had my share of dark magic, thank you very much," Sunset remembered the time she had stolen the Element of Magic "I don't think it would corrupt me as easily as it used to."

Smiling to herself, Luna walked in front of the wall and used her hoof to scratch out words on the ground. Sunset’s eyes followed along, softly muttering each word that the former princess managed to write. Several times, Luna had to scratch out several words that she had written wrongly. But to be fair, she was trying to write upside down and backwards for the two girls outside to understand.

“eris edd nasmaerd fom laereht ne po” Sunset finally managed to read the spell “So it's a spoken spell, huh? This is gonna be hard.”

“It is an old spell indeed,” Luna dusted the words away “I would show you how to use it if I were outside. But then again, I would have scorched your eyeballs if I were outside as well. Now LEAVE!”

"But-"

"OUT!!"

The mares blinked before nodding their heads and slowly walking away. As much as they had wished for more information, especially on how to defeat Morpheus, they had to take what they had and go with it. Sunset, too, still had questions she wanted to ask Luna. What was she doing here? What did this world’s Elements of Harmony do? How could Celestia leave her here alone without any sort of company?

Now was not the time to find those answers, however.

Back at the jail cell, Luna watched the two ponies leave from her corner in the jail cell before disappearing around a corner, just like all of her former guards when they saw smoke filling the prison. Cowards, the lot of them. There was far too much shouting for her to make out what was happening, so Luna merely assumed that a fire had broken out. Leave it to Celestia’s guards to leave her as soon as the situation was dire.

Alternate worlds, demons, and powers beyond her knowledge; there was far too much that she did not know of. She could have easily gotten the two of them to release her. But something inside her told her that she shouldn’t. Were her sister’s attempts at teaching her the magic of friendship finally working? No – she simply didn’t want that damn demon getting in her way when she finally managed to get out and continue her conquest of Equestria.

“Smarmy little swines, all of them,” she muttered before lying on her back, wishing nothing more than to have a good night’s sleep

“He’s a Demon…” Redheart finally broke the silence “Dad… he got the wrong flower…”

Sunset looked at Redheart quizzically.

“One of the last steps of that unholy summoning ritual my dad made,” Redheart answered despite not being asked “I… always wanted to be a nurse, so one of the books I read up was on herbology in case I needed to make medicine. The flower dad used was Demonsbane, I could tell. It looks exactly the same as a Spiritrite. The only difference was the colour…”

“Redheart, if you aren’t ready to talk about it, then you don’t have to,” Sunset placed a knowing hoof around the Earth pony

“No, no, I’m fine,” she reassured Sunset “I’ve had centuries to deal with the truth.”

Sunset’s eyes grew as wide as dinner plates at Redheart’s casual remark. Her? Centuries old? But she didn’t even look like she was past her twenties! But then the reminder that she could have been using the body of this world’s Redheart came to mind and all she could do was gape. Today was just full of impossibilities, wasn’t it?

“Why? Did… Did I do something wrong?”

“No, no, of course, not!” Sunset stuttered “It’s just that… I never would have imagined…”

“Yeah, well… it’s not something you normally talk about, is it?” Redheart laughed solemnly. Just then, an idea popped into her head. An idea so crazy it might just work “Hey, what was that spell again?”

Sunset tapped her forehead, recalling the words that Luna had told her and told the mare. She silently praised herself over her good memory “Why do you ask?”

Redheart stopped in her tracks, her eyes closed in concentration. It took a few seconds before Sunset finally realised what was going on. She barely even had any time to react before Redheart spoke the words. Memories of Unicorns back in her old world using spoken magic came gushing into her head as a horn grew on her forehead. When her eyes opened, they were glowing white.

Magical energy, amplified tenfold with Redheart’s own ability to create at will, swirled around her horn. However, not having studied magic at all, she quickly lost control of the magic and it came gushing out like a dam bursting and releasing all of its contents. The energy connected to a wall as a zipper emerged on it. With every second of excruciating pain, the zipper pulled downwards, revealing a word much too familiar to Sunset’s liking; the misty dream world that she had visited twice now.

Just as suddenly as it appeared, the magic dissipated leaving behind a portal that led directly to their destination. The horn on Redheart’s head also shrunk, more and more until all that was left was a small bump not unlike a bruise. Redheart rubbed her head in a daze before coughing, spluttering out blood onto the ground.

“Redheart!” Sunset lay next to the mare, holding her close to her chest “Why did you-?! How did-?!”

Redheart’s body seized up, making Sunset jump. She curled up into a ball as her body started shivering. Her body glowed a pale blue as something started to split itself from her. Redheart twisted and shook in pain as the blue glow finally broke itself free from her, and then it took form. The form it took, though, was far from perfect.

It looked exactly like Redheart, but bits and pieces were missing from the full body. An eye, parts of her skin, patches of her mane, most of her left foreleg, a large chunk of flesh from her ribcage, all leaving behind black holes of nothingness. If Sunset had breakfast this morning, she would have already puked it all out.

The two of them made eye contact. One look at Sunset’s terrified expression and the spirit knew exactly what had happened. She gazed at her own body before shrieking and zooming away into the caves.

“Wh-Wha…?” Sunset blinked

Her confusion was quickly overshadowed by the mumbling on her chest. Redheart slowly woke up, blinking and yawning as she stretched her body.

“Where… am I…?” Redheart rubbed the back of her head as she slowly got back onto her feet

“Redheart?”

“Hmm?” the nurse looked at Sunset Shimmer, the gears in her head slowly turning “Ah, Sunset! No, wait, you’re… you’re the other one, right? Shimmer, right? What am I doing here? Last I remember, I… Oh no.”

“What? What’s wrong?” Sunset asked as she got back onto her hooves

Redheart pushed Sunset aside and started pacing around the room, checking around every corner in absolute fear. She stopped in front of the large zipper portal on the wall and tried to close it, but to no avail. She tasted something on her lips and panicked. It was blood. Wiping her mouth clean, she started to look for her medkit, only to realise that it was not there.

“What’s wrong?!” Sunset was starting to panic as well “Which Redheart are you?!”

“What are you talking about? There’s only one of me,” Redheart stuck her head through the portal, only to quickly pull it back out “Interesting…”

From inside the portal, a trickle of mist started leaking out. More and more smoke and mist filled the room, making Sunset inch run towards Redheart and the portal. She remembered Luna, still imprisoned within her crystal jail cell. Was she going to be all right? What about the other Redheart? More importantly, were they going to be okay?

Graao! Gaaaorg!

A small metal dinosaur jumped towards them, and Sunset grinned. She had totally forgotten about Dino. The raptor leaped onto Sunset’s mane and started biting her ear, but she did not care. She was just glad that it was there with them.

“One of Quickfix’s inventions?” Redheart asked before a thought came to mind “Wait, you were with her and Shade! Where are they?!”

“Talk later, run now!” Sunset answered, pushing the nurse into the portal.

Sunset followed right after, praying that the other Redheart was following as well. As soon as she stepped through, the zipper started to close back up. She prayed and prayed, but it seemed like her wish would not come true. With only a few seconds left before it close off for good, a blue ball of light squeezed right through the opening and collided with Dino, causing it to fall.

And with that, the portal closed.