Mike yelped as he fell on the hard and unforgiving marble floor. After a loud thud that nearly deafened him, he lay still for a few moments, his eyes closed as he came back to his senses. Rubbing his ringing ears, he opened his eyes. He was a little surprised by what he saw.

"This doesn't look like hell..." he muttered in confusion. After a few moments, a realization hit him. He could talk! What he didn't know was that his mouth didn't move as it should. Instead, he only emitted low growls, not really matching the words he spoke, absolutely desynchronized with them.

Mike discovered that he was in a large spherical room. The walls were painted like cloudy skies at dusk, and a single tapestry hung on the wall; the tapestry showed a large shooting star surrounded by smaller ones, and all of it was on a blue background. The marble floor of the room was covered by a decorated soft magenta carpet. Near the wall, a decorated fireplace was situated, filled with logs; although the fireplace wasn’t burning. There was also a large window, which showed a panorama of a city that Mike didn't recognize yet.

There was a large, comfortable-looking, pillow-like bed of purple color with a large golden pillow in the room's center. Behind the bed, a tall door of dark wood stood, closed.

"Where am I?" Mike asked aloud. however, he didn't receive a response. Instead, he realized that he felt very tired.

Not wanting to burn down the room, he tried to make his flames disappear. Surprisingly to him, they obeyed his will this time, and soon Mike extinguished his flames. With a tired sigh, he dropped on the floor, not having any energy to go anywhere, not caring about anything at all. Feeling the weight of the current events, he slowly released a long sigh.

Dark thoughts clouded his mind. He understood that there was little to no chance that there was a way for him to return home, to return to the life he was used to. It was apparent that he blew his chance when he disobeyed Nightmare Moon and so he paid the price. He knew he did the right thing, but for whom? Definitely not himself, he realized.

A single tear rolled down his cheek when he failed to contain his emotions. His consciousness shut down, he fell asleep right where he appeared in the first place.

Shortly after seemingly defeating the Nightmare, Celestia and Luna returned to the Castle of Canterlot. The Princess of the Night was very tired, so she went to bed right away. Celestia, on the other hand, had dinner first and then went to her bedchamber to enjoy some proper relaxation after a tiring and taxing day. She loved reading books during her free time. After the night's events, she was happy to have some time to herself.

Entering the bedchamber, Celestia sensed that something was not right. There was a scent of recently burning fire that came from behind the door to the bedroom. Warily, the princess of the day walked to the door and creaked it open, a slight frown present on her face. She stifled a startled gasp when she saw a Horse of Tartarus in the room.

Slowly, Celestia walked into the room, closing the door behind herself. She pointed her horn at the infernal equine, preparing to cast a spell as she recalled something that would help her in the given situation. Meanwhile, the Horse of Tartarus was sleeping rather peacefully, unaware of the powerful alicorn that was in the same room with it. The chest of the creature rose and fell rhythmically, its nostrils flaring accordingly.

Unfortunately, Celestia made a wrong step, and her horseshoes clinked against the marble floor. The creature's ears twitched, it opened its eyes, and soon it was staring at the alicorn.

The two stared at each other for a long time. Celestia was afraid to do anything, and Mike was unsure of what to do: he could either fight or stay where he was or maybe even try to flee. Having almost no strength, no will to move, he lay there without as much as shifting. He sighed and blinked, another tear rolled down his cheek. He thought that the mighty alicorn had come to finish him, to kill him. He didn't know how to protect himself from her, all he could do was to ask for a painless death.

"If you came here to kill me, do it quickly," he said emotionlessly.

"I... I... No, I won't." Celestia replied nervously, taking a step back. She didn't expect the infernal creature to speak nor to ask for something as horrible as murder. After gathering her thoughts, she asked: "Who are you?"

"It doesn't matter." Mike sighed. "I just want to get home."

"Home?" Celestia tilted her head in confusion, even though she was still wary of him.

"I'm not from here. I want to go home, back to my normal life." the former human replied, the dam in his mind breached as he spoke about something he didn't even know if Celestia knew about it or not.

"...Where is your home?" she asked after some consideration, seeing that the situation wasn't escalating into what she would expect from such a creature. She slightly lowered her guard, her horn no longer pointed straight at the Nightmare.

"Do you know a place called the USA?" Mike asked, then received a confused shake of her head. "Planet Earth?" another confused shake. "Fucking hell..." he dropped his head. "Shit... There is no fucking way..."

"Who are you?" Celestia repeated her question, warily stepping forward.

"Does it matter?" Mike snapped angrily. "It seems like everyone here wants to know or get something from me! First, that Nightmare Moon wanted me to do something for her in return for a way home for me. Yet here I am — I didn't get what I really wanted!" he forced a breath out of his nostrils as they flared. "This is not what I wanted at all! You have no idea what I've experienced today... I don't know who or what I am anymore! Are you happy now?! You got your answer! Now, get out of the way, I want to get home!"

Mike roared, got up on his hooves, and dashed to the door. Celestia yelped and jumped aside, avoiding him. The door was closed a little, but the impact with Mike made it swing aside with a loud and deafening thud.

The several Solar Guards galloped into the room but were quickly knocked aside by Mike as he rammed them without stopping. He ran past them and down the halls, not caring for anything.

Luna was disturbed from her sleep by the loud sounds that came from outside her bedchamber. Rubbing the sleep out of her eyes, she exited her room and went into the halls, confused. Her eyes widened as she saw a galloping Nightmare. It saw her too and narrowed its eyes, sensing that Luna was Nightmare Moon through some sort of connection that the two were barely aware of. A wall of flames rose around Her and the Nightmare, cutting off any chance of escape. Panicked shouts could be heard from behind the roaring flames as the Nightmare slowed down, soon coming to a stop mere meters away from Luna.

The nightly alicorn suddenly remembered the creature. Her eyes shrank to pinpricks, she gulped loudly. She knew that the creature was very angry at her, and with a good reason. Knowing she had little power to do anything, Luna just stood there, seemingly frozen in place despite the flames heating up the surroundings.

"NIGHTMARE MOON!" Mike roared, getting closer to Luna. She tried to back away from him but stumbled and fell, caught up with her own legs as she frantically tried to back down.

"I’m not her!" Luna yelled in fear, cowering. She felt intense fear towards Mike, and she knew that she had wronged him.

"I feel that you are her," Mike growled. "Don't lie to me!"

"I... I... I can explain! My true name, my real name is Luna!" she trembled in terror as the flames and the creature reflected in her eyes. "D-don't hurt me, please!

"If you have something to explain, do it now! I don't like those who invade my head." Mike told her, barely containing his anger. "Take your time, Nightmare Moon."

After Luna's explanation of how she became Nightmare Moon and why she acted badly back in the forest, Mike was puzzled. He didn't know what to do, how to act. Surely, Nightmare Moon was bad in his eyes, but her story left him with a difficult choice. He calmed down significantly and just stared at a wall, thinking about her explanation.

"...And I..." Luna spoke, shaking nervously. "I did wrong and I must fix my mistake. I offer thee all the knowledge about Equestria that I and the books have. It will help thee to settle down here... I truly apologize, but the place thou namedst doth not exist. I can't bring thee home, but I can do something else for thee, something helpful.

"If... If thou let me go, I shall help. I can offer thee a job as well, to pay for what I've done in coins. Thou... Well, I mistreated thee, but I still can help thee. I see thou needest assistance, and I can lend thee a helping hoof. Dost thou accept?"

"I don’t really have any other options." Mike thought aloud, then let out a deep sigh. "Princess Luna... I suppose I agree."

The flame wall around the two disappeared, revealing at least twenty guards and a very displeased Princess of the Day who had heard everything that was spoken between Luna and Mike.

"Luna..." Celestia spoke, sighing, her hoof held up as to prevent the guards from taking action. "I hope you know what you are doing."