Nightmare Moon let out a gasp as she shot up into a sitting position. Her wings flared out behind her as she brought her front hooves to her chest, smacking at it.

There was nothing there. She was alive.

No. That was not it. Something did not seem right.

Looking up, she realized what it was. She was in the castle. Not Twilight Sparkle's castle, but the one in the dream realm. The same one that she had been in when she first met that shadowy figure that turned out to be Grogar.

Pushing up, she moved to stand, stretching out.

Did this mean she was asleep? No, she had taken a pretty powerful blast of dark magic to the chest. It had burned her severely. Perhaps Twilight Sparkle had been wrong. It could be that Nightmare Moon was actually dead in the physical world, and instead of going to the pony afterlife, she was sent back here instead.

Or perhaps she was not actually dead yet. It was possible that she was actually still dying instead. That she was unconscious from her injuries and that her body was slowly shutting down, the wounds and cold slowly getting to her. It was possible that she was here simply because she was not completely dead yet. That she was only here until her body finally gave out, at which point she would fade from the dream world like a dream would from a foal's mind as they woke up.

Turning toward the dais she walked up to it. There was still a rose colored shield sphere filled with swirling dark energy. None of the cracks seemed to have grown wider nor could she tell if more of them had developed. Reaching it, she lifted a hoof and touched one of the cracks. The dark blue energy seeped out, crawling up along her leg before sinking into her.

She felt a tingle of fear. Not her own, but another's.

No. Not simply another pony. Multiple ponies.

Turning away from the ball of energy, Nightmare flew from the dais and toward one of the walls. Mirrors started to appear in front of her, letting her see into the dreams of other ponies.

Three of them showed The Elements of Harmony: Rarity, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie. Rarity was in what looked to be the castle in Canterlot, standing in front of a large crowd. Not only was she not wearing one of her designer outfits, but she had no fur nor hair. Applejack sat in a patch of barren dirt surrounded by dozens of dead and rotting trees. All around her were headstones, including the names Granny Smith, Big Macintosh, and Apple Bloom. Pinkie Pie sat at a table in a room that looked like it was decorated for a party. She was the only one there, with a single cupcake that had one candle on it in front of her. Nightmare could guess the significance.

With a sweep of a wing, she moved the three mirrors aside to look at some of the others. They should be fine on their own. If not, the other three and Spike were there as well. Surely one of them would come up with some way to wake the three up from their nightmares. Besides, she was more concerned about what was happening in Ponyville.

One of the new mirrors in front of her caught her attention. In it was the familiar brown and white form of a little colt that Nightmare had met on Nightmare Night, Pipsqueak (who it turned out was actually a favorite of Princess Luna). He stood in an open field, up to his chest in snow, dressed in armor with a sword in his teeth. All around him were windigos and weird shadowy creatures.

He was acting brave, but she could feel his fear.

Placing a hoof against the edge of the mirror's frame, Nightmare pushed down on it, turning it into a doorway. Walking through the snow, she made her way toward Pipsqueak. As she reached him, she raised one of her wings, giving him shelter from the snow.

"So, my little guard," Nightmare said, "it seems that we meet again."

Eyes wide, Pipsqueak turned to look at her.

"Nightmare Moon? What are you doing here?"

"You are in my realm," she answered, "the darkest corner of where ponies dream."

"You mean I'm asleep?"

"Correct." Nightmare lowered her wing, placing it on Pipsqueak's armored shoulder. "Now tell me, where were you in the physical world?"

Pipsqueak shifted, thinking. As he did, Nightmare reached out with her free wing and made a sweeping motion. With it, the snow and monsters started to disappear.

"I think I was in Princess Twilight's castle," he finally answered. "I don't know why, but Dad seemed pretty worried. We weren't the only ones either. Seems like pretty much everypony was going there for some reason."

"So you decided to sleep?"

"I didn't get much last night. I was supposed to actually help with Winter Wrap-up this year, and I was just so excited."

"Very well then," Nightmare said as she took a step back. "I shall leave you to your rest then."

"What about the monsters?" Pipsqueak asked.

"You now know you are dreaming, my little guard," Nightmare stated. "As such, you have the power to shape it as you desire. Alternatively, you can let it return to the way it wants. Now, if you will excuse me, I have matters to attend to immediately."

"Do you need help?" Pipsqueak asked as he moved to walk with her.

"I am sorry, but this is not something that you can assist me with."

Plus, she did not want to have him frightened again.

So Nightmare Moon went through the doorway, leaving Pipsqueak to his dream and choice on what to do with it. She was certain that Cherry would be trying to keep up morale, and the adults would be trying to keep up a brave and optimistic face for the foals. However, if Pipsqueak was any indication, then the attempts were not going well and everypony was worried.

Maybe if she knew a little more about what was going on, she could come up with some way of helping. That was, if she was not dead or about to vanish from the dream world. If either were the case, at least she would have some idea of what was pending. Perhaps -- if she actually was stuck here -- she could give the information to Luna, so that she and Celestia could do something about the matter.

Now she had an idea on whom to speak with. She just had to hope that he was still unconscious and dreaming.

Flaring out her wings and stomping a hoof, the mirrors shifted and moved, whirling past her and disappearing. Soon, only one remained, and it showed nothing but blackness.

So, he was unconscious, but not actually dreaming.

Stepping through, she shifted the pegasus' dream world. The darkness gave way to a great wasteland, the sun burning down ferociously from above.

"No," she said to herself, dismissing it. "He won't know he's asleep and dreaming. If the place is too different, he will suspect something." She shifted, looking around. "But, if we can convince him that he is still awake, that his life is actually in danger, then he will more than likely cooperate."

So she needed some place that was actually near Ponyville, some place that would be intimidating.

Stamping her hoof again, Nightmare Moon created a massive chasm in the ground. Adjusting it, the chasm became sheer cliffs, leading far down. She waved her wings, covering everything in a thick layer of snow. Tilting her head, she listened. Once the sound of rapid rushing water hit her, she smiled and gave a nod.

The pegasus then appeared beside her, his wings bound tightly at his sides and all four of his hooves tied together.

"WAKE UP!" she bellowed, lighting flashing behind her and thunder booming after the statement.

The pegasus gasped as he "woke up," jumping the best he could while in his bound state.

"Wha-wha-what's going on?" he asked, tugging at his bonds.

"My time and temper are both very short," Nightmare stated as she moved to loom above him, baring her fangs. "So I shall make this simple: tell me what you know about Grogar, or I throw you into Ghastly Gorge where you either will freeze to death or get eaten."

"You would-"

"I have already torn out the eye of one of your associates, and the ear of another. Right now the town that I call home is in peril." She leaned in close, her teeth nearly touching his nose. "Do not for one minute assume that I will have any sort of crisis of conscience over your death when it could very well help me save even one of the ponies that I care about."

The pegasus gulped.

"Now," Nightmare growled out, "start talking."

"He's supposed to be some sort of king from thousands of years ago," the pegasus blurted out. "He had us resurrect King Sombra to see if the ritual would work and to distract Twilight and the others. Once that worked, he then had himself brought back from wherever he was."

"Why is he attacking Ponyville?"

"Because he wanted to destroy you. He saw you as some sort of threat to him. Plus, he said something about building an army."

"What kind of army?"

"I don't know."

"You haven't been very helpful," Nightmare Moon huffed. "Is there anything else you can tell me that might just save your life?"

"He mentioned something about Tambelon?"

"What?"

"Tambelon," the pegasus repeated. "He mentioned it a couple times. I think it's where he used to rule."

"Tambelon," Nightmare said softly, "was a legendary kingdom. The stories say that it was ruled by a necromancer and was banished to the shadow world many millenia ago."

"What's a necromancer?"

Nightmare did not bother to answer. She had already taken off, running for the entrance back to the castle. Her mind was reeling at the revelation, everything suddenly falling into place.

Grogar was going to use the windigos to freeze Ponyville. Not just to cover it in ice, but to actually kill all the ponies that lived there. Then he would have an entire town that he could raise to create an army of the undead. If he was smart -- and all things considered he probably was -- he would then repeat the process in another town, then another, and another, making his army of undead ponies grow and grow. By the time he got to Canterlot, he could have hundreds of thousands in his army, if not millions. There would be little even the princesses could do against such creatures in those numbers.

And all starting with Ponyville.

"Cherry," Nightmare whispered before jumping through the doorway to the castle.

She was not going to let that happen. Maybe it was too late for her to actually do something, but she at least had to try. Nightmare may not have gotten along with most of the ponies, but she did not want to see them all dead. Especially Cherry. She also did not want to see all of Equestria turned into a frozen wasteland ruled by a mad goat and filled with animated corpses.

What she was about to try had not worked before, but it was pretty much her only chance.

"By all that is good and hopeful in the world," she said as she ran for the dais, "please let this work."

With a hard flap of her wings, she took off. Her front hooves pointed out in front of her as she flew toward the shield, aiming for it. Her body tensed as she got ready, ears pulling back, eyes narrowing, lips pulled back tight. She kept trying to add more speed, more energy, more power, more will, to her movement.

Nightmare Moon struck the shield.

It shattered around her, breaking away into thousands of shards before vanishing.

Nightmare Moon struck the mass of dark blue energy, and was engulfed by it.