"Wooooommmmm," Nightmare Moon hummed, waving her front hooves in front of her face. "Woooommm." A grin spread across her face as she let out a giggle. "I am Nightmare Moon. Fear me. For I shall eat all of your breakfast foods while you sleep." She then laughed fully. "The pancakes shall last forever!"

"Nightmare?"

Nightmare looked up from her front legs to the door. Chocolate Cherry and Twilight Sparkle stood there, looking at her in confusion.

"Cherry!" Nightmare squealed out, grinning. "Twilight! My friends. I'm so glad to see you."

"Did you just say you were glad to see us?" Twilight asked. "Wait. Did you just call me your 'friend?'"

Cherry moved forward first, getting closer to Nightmare. Her eyes narrowed and ears twitched as she got to the side of the back, looking at Nightmare up close.

"You're high," Cherry declared.

"High?" Nightmare blinked and stared at Cherry a moment, letting the word sink in. "I don't think I am." She turned to look down at the bed. "At least no more than I was when you left. The bed is just as far from the floor as it has always been. I think. Can they raise it?"

"Yes," Twilight answered, "but that's not what Cherry means. Have they given you some medication recently?"

"Indeed," Nightmare replied, clapping her front hooves and kicking her back ones. "They said that my blood pressure was high enough and I was sufficiently stable for them to provide me with a new painkiller. It is a most wonderful thing. I can feel no pain at all."

She turned her attention back to Cherry.

"They also brought me something simply incredible with lunch. It was this jiggly red square with bits of fruit in it. They called it 'cherry gelatin.' It was quite delicious. And fun to watch. They way it would wiggle back and forth. Almost had too much fun to eat it. Didn't really taste like cherries though. Wiggle wiggle wiggle. Jiggle jiggle. We need to get some gelatin when I get out of here. We could even try it with that whipped cream you have. I have been wondering what it would taste like on things other than you. Oh, perhaps you should buy some whipped cream for Twilight so she and Big Ma-"

"Nightmare," Twilight cut in, her face taking on a deep pink. "Cherry said that you have something important to tell me?"

"I did?" Nightmare asked, blinking. It was hard to think, to focus on any one thing.

"Yes," Cherry replied. "You said you realized what was going on when I mentioned The Alicorn Amulet was stolen."

"Ah, The Alicorn Amulet," Nightmare sighed out. "Imagine if I had managed to get a hold of that while in possession of Luna. I probably would have been truly unstoppable then. Although there's the matter of how it would affect my personality. Would it affect me? I mean it probably would now, but would it have then? Would it have affected Luna? Would I have to battle it for control of her? What would happen if three different personalities ended up trying to assert control?"

"Nightmare," Cherry said gently, "sweetie, I need you to focus, okay? What did you want to tell Twilight about it?"

"Oh, just that the attack on me and theft of The Alicorn Amulet are connected to her notes on the ritual used to make me mortal being stolen from Canterlot," Nightmare answered. "You know what we need? A place that makes and serves pancakes all day long." She let out a gasp. "Maybe I'll do that. Open my own restaurant that specialized in pancakes."

"Why would you think that the book, the attack on you, and the amulet are connected?" Twilight asked.

"I don't know," Nightmare answered with a shrug. "It just sort of came to me when Cherry told me about The Alicorn Amulet being stolen."

"So, why would they want your blood?" Chocolate asked.

"Something to do with the ritual," Nightmare suggested. "I was made from it like this." She looks down and pokes at her stomach. "Do you think I'm getting fat? I don't eat a lot of actual sweets, but I do like sweet stuff." She looks up again. "We should have a special meal when I get out of here. Which I would like soon, by the way. I don't like hospitals."

"So if you're right," Twilight said slowly as she considered it, "then they probably took the amulet to help give them enough power to work the spells."

"It was supposed be powerful enough to overthrow the princesses," Nightmare agreed. "If Sombra was right about it anyways. We should visit The Crystal Empire. I haven't seen it in over a millenia. I wonder what it would be like now."

"Hold on. What was that about Sombra?"

"What about him?"

"You just mentioned him," Cherry pointed out. "When you were talking about the amulet."

Nightmare let out a huff and rolled her eyes.

"Well of course I did," she stated. "He was the one who made it after all." She paused and tapped her chin. "Or... was the one that had it made for him to use. Was never really clear on that. Although to be fair, nothing was ever really clear when it came to King Sombra. He never really talked much during the battle. Tended to laugh or ramble about ponies and crystals. 'Rar rar. Foolish ponies. Grr grr. Crystals.'"

She paused, letting out a yawn.

"I think this stuff is getting to me."

Stretching out she laid back down, looking up at the ceiling.

"You ever think about how those little dots in the tiles look almost like stars?"

"Alright Nightmare," Twilight said. "You go ahead and get some rest. I should go and send letters to Celestia and Cadance about what you think." She gave Nightmare a gentle pat before heading for the door.

With Twilight gone, Nightmare Moon turned to Chocolate Cherry. Reaching up, the bed-ridden pegasus took a hold of the earth mare's cheeks.

"Has anypony ever told you that you're adorable?" Nightmare asked, pulling Cherry closer while squishing her cheeks.

"You have," Cherry said as she took a hold of Nightmare's hoof. "Several times in fact. Just not while you were stoned."

"Well it's true," Nightmare insisted. "You are just an adorable little mare, CC."

"CC?" Cherry repeated.

"And as sweet as your name," Nightmare continued. "Maybe foolishly so. Chocolate... cherries... electric onions... pink seashells..."

With a chuckle, Chocolate Cherry leaned down and kissed Nightmare Moon on the forehead.

"Sweet dreams," she said gently. "Hope you feel better. Love you."

"Love you too," Nightmare mumbled before falling asleep completely.