The forest was dark, shadowy, its canopy so thick that the sky above could not be seen. The only light was from the glowing red eyes of the trees as they watched with gaping, sharp-toothed maws. A wind moaned as it blew, causing leaves to rustle and branches to groan.

"Where's my horseshoe?" a voice howled from somewhere.

Nightmare Moon made her way through the forest, weaving around the trees and stepping over roots. Her eyes took in what little she could see, ears shifting with the changes in sound.

Standing in a clearing at the base of a hill, Nightmare looked up to see a silhouette in the now visible full moon. It looked like a pony, but the head was missing. The figure reared up on its hind legs, pawing the air and somehow neighing despite not having a head. Dropping onto all fours, it charged down the hill and toward Nightmare Moon.

Nightmare stood there and watched as the creature came closer and closer. The hooves thumped against the ground with each step, but the grass never moved. Even with the moonlight, no matter how close it got or where it was, the headless figure never looked like more than a shadow.

As the figure ran into Nightmare Moon, it vanished with a small "puff." Strands of fog twisted and whorled before fading away. A quick flick of the wings made the process all faster.

"Where's my horseshoe?" a raspy voice called out again.

Nightmare resumed walking, making her way up to the top of the hill. As she made her way higher and higher, ice began to form on the ground. First it was little spots that stuck to the ground like flecks of frozen dew, then it coated the grass completely, encasing them in a cold, crystalline form. Soon the ice gave way to snow, growing thicker until it was up to Nightmare's fetlocks.

As she continued to walk, windigos began to appear. The icy spirits flew toward and around Nightmare Moon, circling her. The wind picked up with their movements, making her mane and tail whip and fly back and forth.

Eyes narrowing and ears pinned back, Nightmare continued to walk. The wind stopped swirling and started blowing at her straight on. The howl of it filled her ears, making it impossible to hear anything else. Snow and hail blasted against Nightmare, sticking to her coat and feathers.

The ice, snow, wind, and windigos vanished, leaving Nightmare Moon standing at the peak of the hill alone. Ahead of her stood a great, black, stone castle. Thick storm clouds loomed far overhead, blood red lightning flickering through them with distant rumbles of thunder.

Continuing forward, Nightmare Moon headed for the bridge. She looked at one of the large square stone supports as she walked by, taking in the strange markings on it. Turning back to the bridge, she started crossing.

Below the bridge was a chasm. A thick, purple-gray goo swirled and bubbled in it. An eye floated up, looking at Nightmare Moon and the bridge. A mouth formed to one side.

"Smoo-oo-oo-ze," the goo bubbled out before the mouth and eye disappeared.

After making it across the bridge, Nightmare Moon made her way into the castle. Walking through the foyer, she picked her way around the rubble covering the floor. A portion of a broken statue head shifted, the eye opening to stare at her. There was the sound of stone grinding against stone.

Continuing on, Nightmare made her way to the throne room, and stopped.

In the spot where the throne should have been was a statue of Nightmare Moon. Not as she looked now, but as she had first looked, back when she had possessed Princess Luna. It even had her helmet and peytral, and although stone, the mane and tail had an ethereal look. The entire thing must have stood fifteen feet tall from hooves to horn tip.

Around the statue was a glowing dark pink aura. Moving closer, Nightmare Moon reached out and placed a hoof against it. The aura held, stopping her from going any further. Nightmare pressed more, but it did no good. Standing up on her hind legs, she put her front hooves onto it and let all her weight settle against the barrier. Still, it did not move.

With a sigh, Nightmare Moon took a step back from the shield around the statue. As soon as her front hooves hit the floor, it collapsed beneath her. Before she could even realize what was going on, Nightmare fell through the hole and into darkness.

Snapping her wings open, she managed to right herself and stop her fall. Nightmare started flying back up, heading in the direction she believed that she had fallen from. Unfortunately it did no good. Whether it was because she had guessed wrong or the opening had closed behind her, it was gone.

"Who's there?" a voice rasped out. Glowing red eyes appeared in the darkness, turning to Nightmare Moon. The eyes grew larger, and the air took on a warmth and foul stench.

"Who are you," the voice asked, "and how did you get here?"

"I am Nightmare Moon," Nightmare proclaimed, glaring at the glowing eyes. "And I answer to no dream spirit any more than I cower before harmless nightmare shadows."

"Dream spirit?" the voice asked before chuckling. "I am no dream, foolish pegasus."

There was a sound like chains rattling. Something touched Nightmare Moon. Even in the realm of dreams, where there was no physical form, it felt cold and slimy against her body. She pulled away from it, moving away from the red eyed entity.

"Do not touch me," Nightmare snarled out. "Do so again, and I shall tear you apart and scatter you across the dream realm."

The voice chuckled again, and again Nightmare felt something cold and slimy against her. A sickly purple light -- for lack of a better word -- began to fill her eyes. For a second she thought she saw something of the source. It looked like...horns?

"And tell me, Nightmare Moon," the creature said, the name being spat out with disgust, "how do you plan on doing such a thing?"

The light grew stronger, blinding Nightmare Moon as it engulfed her. She felt like she was being torn apart.

Crying out, Nightmare Moon shot up in her seat, eyes wide and wings trying to spread out behind her. One slammed into the wall of the train car, sending a flare of pain through it. The other struck something, not hurting but causing a yelp of surprise. Her eyes were wide as she stared forward. Mouth wide and chest rising and falling, she tried to catch her breath.

"Nightmare?"

She jumped at the sound of her name, head darting toward the voice. Twilight Sparkle and her friends were all staring at her (even if some of them were trying to be subtle about it).

"Are you okay?" Twilight asked.

A tickling of her feather's drew Nightmare's attention. Her wings were still spread out as wide as they could get while in her seat by the wall. One of them was in the face of Chocolate Cherry. Pulling them away from the wall and earth pony, she gave them a quick flick before tucking them back in.

"I am fine," Nightmare stated. "Merely having my first experience with a bad dream. That is all."

Turning, she looked out the window once again, watching the landscape pass as they headed back to Ponyville. Whether the other believed her or not hardly mattered. What did matter was that they chose not to pursue the subject. So long as they did not ask more questions, Nightmare did not care what they thought.

A warm weight pressed against her side, drawing her attention away from the passing scenery. Tilting her head slightly, Nightmare looked out the corner of her eye. Chocolate Cherry had moved closer, now pressing gently against her. Cherry's head was still mostly forward, but Nightmare could catch a glimpse of Cherry's green eye looking out the corner the same as she was doing. Nightmare felt comforted by the contact and the warmth of the other mare's body.

Holding back the smile she felt, Nightmare let her eyes go back to the scenery. Her mind, meanwhile, drifted back to where she had been and what she had found in the dream realm. Parts of it made sense to her. Some creatures like the headless horse, the old mare, and even the windigos were simply harmless little things that had been dreamed about by so many that they sort of existed in a way. They would simply wait until some pony or other dreamed of them once again. Only, while frightening, they were essentially harmless. The creatures would frighten ponies, but never really hurt them.

Originally, she had thought that The Smooze that had surrounded the castle was the same kind of thing, but now she was not so certain. Especially after whatever it was she had found beneath the castle.

The castle itself was strange as well. It was a part of the dream realm she had never seen before, and one of the darker ones. At the same time, it did not seem to be much like the rest of the realm. It seemed too solid, too continuous and permanent. It was like it had once been a great place that had fallen into decay over time, not simply one that had been dreamed up as already collapsing. Plus it had that strange statue of her surrounded by magic inside. What was that? Was it actually her? More accurately, was it the part of her that had been separated when she had been incarnated? The magic aura around it did match Twilight Sparkle's. Perhaps if she were able to break through the shield, she would be able to regain some -- or even all -- of her lost power.

Then there was the creature she had found under the castle. It was not some harmless dream creature, nor was it simply a spirit of the realm as she had once been. But what was it? Perhaps a predecessor of what she had become after merging and possessing Princess Luna? If so, then it must have been defeated to be locked away in darkness beneath that castle like that.

Nightmare found herself grateful that it was. She shivered at the memory of its power touching her. It felt... wrong. In a way, it reminded Nightmare Moon of the magic that King Sombra had used on Luna to show her greatest fear. But this was... different. Darker. As strange as it seemed, she would even be willing to say "unnatural."

The air must have gotten colder or something, because she could feel herself shivering. Opening one wing, she wrapped it around Chocolate Cherry and pulled her closer. The warmth of the other mare seemed to help. Turning toward her companion, Nightmare Moon placed her head on top, letting Cherry's scent filled her nose. Slowly she closed her eyes, taking in the aroma.

The image of those glowing red eyes, that sickly purple light, and those strange horns filled her vision. It caused her to open her eyes again and fight back another shiver.

When it came to that creature, Nightmare Moon was of two minds. One part of her hoped to never see that thing again. To keep it sealed away and forget that it had ever happened. Another part wanted to find out what it was, where it had come from, and what it did. Perhaps she could even figure out a way to seal it away even further. Assuming she somehow managed to get her powers back.

Although there was another choice. As much as she disliked the idea, she could tell what she had found to Princess Luna. Luna still had her powers to manipulate the dream realm. It was possible that if she knew of the creature, she would have some idea what it was, and would lock it away better to protect the sleeping ponies.

A nuzzling against her chest broke her from her thoughts. Pushing the thoughts aside, she rubbed her chin against Cherry's head. It would take time for her to make a decision, and if she were to do something about it herself, Nightmare would need try and do some research. There was no need to spend the rest of the trip back to Ponyville worrying about it. Hopefully she would be able to get some rest after getting back to the castle, and then she would be able to consider it all with a clear head.

For now she would just enjoy the warmth and closeness of Chocolate Cherry.

Author's Notes:

This was the "point of contradiction" I referred to in the The Grand Galloping Gala (part 1) note. The Smooze referred to is not the one from Friendship is Magic, but the original G1 Villain.