The light that attacked the ponies eyes started to fade, on their hooves they could feel the soft carpet of the entrance and a faint scent of royalty and mysticism, once they could finally see in front of them a quick gasp from the Princess made Stormy turn his head to the place he was. From the outside, it looked ruined and destroyed, attacked without mercy by the flow of time, but from the inside.

“The castle, It looks just like it was when it was 1000 years ago, feels like it was yesterday that I left,“ said Luna, shocked about the state of her old home.

She was right, the bring walls, the curtains, tapestries and decorations, even the element of harmony pedestal, everything was intact and clean, when it was supposed to be greenish and with leaves, and the curtains were supposed to have holes or being torn, however they were intact, almost as if they were recently installed.

They were concerned but also confused, Stormy tried to open the door out of curiosity, since the double wooden door of the entrance was the only thing old in the room, just to find out via a hole in the door that the bridge had collapsed and the earth had shattered, leaving them stuck inside, plus the door didn’t move a inch when he pushed it, Stormy however noticed something that made him step away from the door.

“Princess, seems I was right, this is the last adventure,” Stormy said making sure he turned the volume of the radio to max.

“What makes you say that guard?” Luna questioned, walking towards the door.

“See for yourself Princess,” Stormy finished.

The princess saw how the monsters they have killed so many times were surrounding the castle, not only those, but also the Boss Monsters, almost as if they were an audience for something, Luna felt uneasy but quickly stepped away from the door when she saw the Glass Mares banging on the door, followed by Ceiling Fillies, it was clear, they were not going anywhere, so without any other exit, they must search the castle top to bottom, Mistshine is definitely there, at least that is what Stormy was thinking when he put a hoof into the castle.

From the main lobby, 4 different hallways welcome our ponies, 2 of them with stairs leading towards the second floor of the castle…, and in the middle of all, a big staircase leading to what it seems, another section of the second floor, both ponies decided it was better to start the search in the throne room, but just as soon as they passed the Elements of Harmony pedestal, the Posey doll jumped from came from out of the saddlebags and ran towards the second hallway to the right, the one with the stairs, Stormy and Luna followed the doll, while Posey only seems to giggle and fly gently now, they ended up in another hallway with 3 different paths, one had a picture of the Prime Minister of that era, the other one seems to connect to the Library, and one lead towards some rooms, seems they were the soldier rooms of that era.

“Why in the name of all apple sauce is that doll moving?“ Stormy said when noticed the doll stopped moving and fell on one of the doors.

“Maybe your brother is indeed here, look there,“ Luna said, pointing out a note on said door.

On the door there was a drawing of an old piece of armor, attacking a drawing of Stormy and Luna, while the iron pony was behind them, Stormy stored the drawing and opened the door, just to find it was a replica of the room he used to had in what it seems to be an old castle, before he moved towards his apartment that is, there was a Super Ponytendo, but most importantly, his Lunar Guard Insignia, that allowed him access to all areas of the castle, with exception of Princess Celestia and Luna bedroom however the insignia itself was very old and outdated.

“That’s a insignia used by the night guards of 1000 years ago,“ Luna saw the item and informed the stallion.

If that is true then he must have gotten that insignia before he even got to Canterlot that is when he remembered, that room he was in was not from Canterlot Castle, it was from The Everfree Forest one when he and the princess looked to the door, they saw a unicorn with torn clothes entering the room, leaving a bag he had on his back, from the bag he took out a blanket and lay himself on the bed that despite being 1000 years old still managed to withstand his weight, his mask was torn from one side, allowing both of them to see the face of that colt, it was Young Stormy ghost, his face had a little blood on it.

“I will sleep here tonight, Luna forgive me if I take your old castle,“ the ghost said, as he looked at the sky.

“T-that’s me when I was forced to flee from Manehatten,“ Stormy replied confused but holding his head.

Luna stood there thinking while the stallion seems to grunt in pain, if Stormy was living in the castle in his younger days, how come that neither her as Nightmare Moon or Twilight and friends see him? He could either be out or hidding?, or he was already living in Canterlot by the time?, when they exited the room, they noticed the doll was gone and the radio bursting into static.

A loud bang came from several parts of the castle, the monsters were coming for them and had entered the ancient palace, from the path to the library, Restrain Figures appeared, as soon as they noticed the ponies, they start spiting acid towards both the princess and the colt, Stormy made a moondust shield while Luna shot a magical bullet towards the monsters, making them fall to the ground, Stormy used his moondust magic effectively and pulled up one of the monsters towards him for a powerful blow with his pipe, once the monsters were not moving, the princess asked her companion something, to test if his fragmented memory was finally pulling itself together, she had to know.

“Stormy, the book of harmony was originally hidden here in the library,“ Luna mentioned as both ponies where getting closer to said place.

“… I know. “ Stormy said, with a mysterious look in his face, his expression seems to reflect somepony deep in a hypnotic trance, before he spoke again just a few words. “I was the one that found it while I was exploring the castle.”

Luna was puzzled, what is happening to him?, all the way to the library he grew suddenly silent, only talking when there was something important in the area, as if the happiness had died on him in one full swing, once on the library, they could hear the sound of wings flapping, along with a faint sound of static, Stormy and Luna tried the main door, leading towards the garden area, but the door was broken, both ponies reviewed the ancient library, finding there was another door on the second floor of the library, Luna jumped and glided there and tried to opened it, but it was closed with a key, Stormy sat on a single chair, activating a secret passageway that lead towards a single room, in it, there were 2 cushions and a chair very big for a royal pony, there was a book in the middle of a pedestal, Luna went down and saw that book remembering a piece of her own past

“This book, It was my sister and my journal, it tells the making of this castle “ Luna said with a nostalgic expression.

“Tia Tia, let me write,“ a young Alicorn voice was heard.

“In a minute Luna, I’m writing first,“ a more grown up yet pink mane mare voice was heard

Stormy and Luna saw a ghost of now Luna’s own past, as Celestia was writing on the journal something, the ink in the desk was half empty, indicating she not only was writing, but also drawing something, like some sort of map, Luna was now the one suffering the memory flashback, while Stormy was the spectator.

“Although the hall of hooves is still creepy, the slide door trap is Luna’s favorite,“ Celestia said, giggling along with the young princess.

“ Yes it is!, come on is my turm, soon the Organ to the Outside will be finished, I can hardly wait “ The young princess wrote, as she also drawn the organ blueprints.

All the ghost disappeared, Luna was now fully aware of the meaning of both her and Stormy´s ghost, they are pieces of their own past, the castle itself was recreating the memories from their inhabitants, probably influenced by the limbo-like place they are in right now, the journal was there waiting for somepony to read it, Luna with a little nostalgia, opened it up, scrolling through the pages.

“Is still the same, just as we left it “ she said with teary eyes.

“But there seems to be a new page princess,“ Stormy quickly pointed and corrected the princess.

There was indeed an extra page on the book, it was a huge map of the royal castle, containing all the areas accessible, but mysteriously, there was something else, Mistshine cutie mark on one of the towers, more precisely, the one with lunar designs, Luna old bedroom, with a now clear picture of where to go, both ponies decided to go to the Royal Bedrooms.

Stormy noticed that there was a magical door in the secret room, when he touched though it faded, it was another one of the Castle Traps, a plant that spit gas appeared, throwing its gas cloud to the colt, Stormy fainted due to the effects of the gas, Luna cut the plant out with her sword, everything for Stormy at least, went dark for a while.

When he came back to his senses, he was alone again the castle lost the colors and to make matters worse his saddlebags were gone, he was unarmed, his magic didn’t work either, he was as vulnerable as a filly.

He was still on the secret room, when he finally could stand up a little ghost was next to him, making Stormy jump, in appearance, it was just like him but with white raincoat, as soon as he noticed that the stallion had woken up, it ran outside.

Stormy followed the ghost, reaching to a more secluded part of the Library, he then noticed something, all the hallways and doors leading out of the Library where barricaded, it was not possible to exit the library, he ended up in a staircase to the second part of the room, the ghost when through a bookcase, Stormy examined said bookcase, but he found that several books are missing, if he wanted to find what that ghost wanted to show him, he had to resolve the puzzle.

He searched the second floor of the library, finding several copies of some books he remembered having read at least one, there was a copy of The Adventures of Spider-Colt, which seems out of place in that castle, a copy of Practical Guide for Magic Control, a Copy of Moonlight Magic Vol 2, Elementary Discharge for Novices and lastly a book only titled The Mask of Pony, he took the books and returned to the bookcase, he noticed that in the Bookcase was a book that couldn’t be removed, Moonlight Magic Vol 1, this hinted the possibility of placing the books previously found in a specific order, he Placed the Vol 2 of the Moonlight Book next to the Vol 1, then the Practical Guide For Magic control in the third place, The Mask of Pony as forth, Elementary Discharge as fifth, and the Adventures of Spider Colt as last, a click was heard from the bookcase.

“For once I’m happy I paid attention this time, I usually fall asleep during magic classes at school.”

Stormy saw how the case split in half, opening towards the sides, revealing another secret room, that had only one pedestal in the middle and 2 windows with stained glasses on them, however the pedestal was the shape of a book, a huge book with ornaments.

As Stormy approached said pedestal he noticed that the first stained glass reflected several winds instruments, pipes, flutes, ocarinas, instruments that a group of special ponies used to perform in front of the princess, the second one showed a flute, turning into a little harp, Stormy noticed both instruments are on a cycle, with the figure of a Alicorn behind him and what it seems, 2 ponies facing a shadowy figure that was held by chains, he remembered something important regarding the room he was in.

According to the cover of the Book of Harmony Songs, there was a special song that used only a harp, maybe he can find that special song if he manage to recover his ocarina and turn it into a harp, he searched the room further as a memory was coming to his mind, one that made his head hurt badly.

“Hold on… this room… those windows… the pedestal…. “ Stormy roze as he said to himself with a terrible headache. “This is where I found the Book of Harmony in the first place… I remember now… this place… “

Just before he could end that sentence, he felt something falling on him; it was one of the monsters, the Plastic Mare, the one resembling Redhoof, why she was on there?, the creature was visible wounded as if she has gone through a lot to get to him, not only that but it seems she is suffering the same dementia as the other monsters in Ponyville, it was no longer the kind monster that tried to help him, she was going to choke him with her own hooves.

“R-Redhoof!, get off!, don’t do this!” Stormy yelled, trying to find strength to push the monster away.

“C…..an’t….sto….p….” That’s all Plastic Mare could say before her words were replaced by grunts.

As Stormy struggled, he could feel the creature becoming more and more aggressive, but her body movement was still of the mare he loved, he used this before losing air and kicked the creature against a wall, making her fall to the ground, the strength made several books and a bookcase to fall on it, including a closed scroll with a solar cutie mark, when he exited the secret room, he noticed that the pink ribbon he picked up from the university in Manehatten was on the floor, he picked up quickly with his hoof, the creature was still behind him, but almost dead, her back hooves in fact where no longer responding and she was bleeding, leaving a blood trace as it moved towards the stallion.

“R…..u…n…f..rom…me…” Plastic Mare begged, in a mix of grunts and monster noises.

Stormy turned back and faced the monster, her primal instincts kicked in and tried to bite him when he was near her, but Stormy felt terrible in his heart, Plastic Mare was indeed a link between Redhoof and the nightmare he is living in now. He approached even more to the monster, no longer afraid her, this allowed the monster to bite him on his hoof, were he was holding the ribbon.

“Aaahh!, I-I will not let you go this time,” Stormy said with determination on his voice.

“GROOOOOOOOOWL!!!!!” Plastic mare yelled, almost fully gone into the same madness that has consumed the other creatures.

“Redhoof!, Wake up your sexy flank this instant young mare!, you are not like this! You can bite all you want, or eat me alive for that matter!, that won’t make me change my mind!” Stormy yelled, holding her tightly and talking just like when she was alive.

The taste of the ribbon, mixed with his blood made her stop completely as if she remembered something, she looked at the stallion deeply despite her being blinded by the bandage, bandage that Stormy removed with careful touches of his free hoof, noticing that the monster no longer had her looks as she had on the university, at least not 100% in fact, she didn’t had her cyan eyes, they were pitch black now, just a tiny little dot of cyan could be noticed in one eye, while the other was in complete darkness, her tears were like a mixture of water and blood and her expression, although more rigid by the plastic of her face showed a total remorse, as if she was going to burst into tears from the pain she is enduring now, the edges of her eyes had several black cracks.

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry! I was not strong to protect you back on Manehatten!,“ he said to the monster, hugging her tightly.

“……………………..he…h” the monster didn’t reply, it was frozen, but she managed to smile for a second.

Since the monster was a homunculus of Redhoof, she couldn’t move or attack as long as Stormy held the pink ribbon, but seeing he is hugging her despite she was biting him constantly, made her finally break down and cry, her voice was noticeable in that aspect, as the colt left the room, Plastic Mare hugged him back and with the last of her strength pulled him towards her, kissing him deeply, in a mixture of blood and saliva, her tongue felt as soft as silk, her technique quickly wrapped her tongue with Stormy’s own in a twist that only lovers could share, she was able to communicate to him how she felt this way, her hooves slid slowly on Stormy’s body, keeping her weight sustained on his neck and torso, deep inside that decaying body, she was still his mare.

Plastic Mare cannot move from where she is from her injuries, so Stormy inspected the remaining of the library to try to find something that could hold her stable, he was planning on carrying her with him, a soft giggle could be heard from the secret room, Stormy returned to the first room and tried to access the room where the Royal Sisters Journal was, just as he entered the room he felt a shiver down his spine.

“STORMYYYYYYY!!!!” A high pitched scream pierced towards his ears, a monster scream.

Down his spine he knew something happened, the scream however, was familiar to his ears, even distorted, it came from the second room secret room where the Plastic Mare was, Stormy worried and ran towards said room, he couldn’t explain it, but he had a lingering hope that he could save what’s left of her soul, when he got to the room again, he got splattered with warm crimson blood, he was late because he just witnessed how the Skeletal Mare was attacking and ending the Plastic Mare life not with the sword, but with her scythe.

“Not again, no no no!, REDHOOF NOOO!” Stormy yelled and jumped into the creature featherless wings, crying.

Plastic Mare tried to extend her hoof towards Stormy as he was trying to fend off the creature, but to no avail, Stormy screamed and screamed hard from the top of his lungs, lost in that memory limbo for a simple reason, that single hoof motion, was the same when Redhoof died originally, she was extending her hoof towards Young Stormy at that time, as a last plea for help, but also to advise him to hide, a last effort to protect him, to repay him for his kindness in his fillyhood, even at the cost of being burned alive and stabbed, and all Stormy could do was hold his head with his hoofs, cry and scream, his mind was getting tortured to the point where he just reacted in blind rage.

The Skeletal mare, having finished with her victim, saw how Stormy grip was lost and shake him off, Stormy landed next to Plastic Mare corpse while the creature lifted her Scythe towards the broken colt, Stormy closed his eyes and hugged Plastic Mare corpse, a quick image flashed before his eyes, of him in the same position holding Redhoof burned body, the strike came in as fast as the Skeletal Mare could perform it, the blade entered Stormy chest, making him scream and fall from the second floor, a crack was heard and everything faded to black.

A few moments passed, he felt like it was an eternity, and a soft voice was calling him over and over again to wake up, he opened his eyes, just to find himself again on his old room, where he rested on the Everfree Forest, with Luna to her side on her side.

“Oh thanks the moon you are ok, you were unconscious for a long time “ Luna said with relief in her voice.

“How long was I out exactly?“ Stormy asked with teary eyes, neither pony noticed the pillow was wet with tears.

“I wish I had a clock to tell you but I don’t, all I know is that you were attack by a Toxynne Plant, a native plant of the forest, their gas is very poisonous, is a miracle you still here,“ The Princess said with a relief as she stepped up.

“You carried me here? Princess? “ Stormy questioned a little surprised.

“Yes.. I have and I explored the library a little, I found a secret room on the second floor hallway, that’s where the book of harmony used to be, that’s where you found it correct? “ The princess replied, and asked the colt for answers.

“Indeed“ that was his only answer, he started to remember another memory of him discovering the book and performing the songs, there was a reason why he felt tired at performing them “the first time“ , a rush of memories were coming to him, memories even Luna could see in plain sight, as they saw this new information, he found that he had forgotten the songs a long time ago, so when he played them again, in this nightmare world, his body and mind were not prepared as they did in his childhood, however, he also saw, how he did not perform the dangerous songs on the book but learned them by memory, once Stormy got himself up he checked the book quickly, remembering and checking each song acquired so far, after that, the colt closed the book and felt on his head a huge headache.

Luna advised him that he had something in his hoof, the colt checked his hoof and had the pink ribbon from Redhoof on it, along with the hole made by her teeth, he smiled as he stored it on his saddlebags.

Both Ponies now reunited stepped out of the room, and head back to the library, Stormy guided Luna towards the secret room he have found, inside there was a more that notorious bloodstain, inside it was a piece of cloth with something written on it and a scroll, Luna took it since Stormy was a little frozen the cloth say “She is not what it seems, use your heart love“

Not what it seems?, Stormy mind was trying to resolve the riddle in that message, it was the Plastic Mare that wrote it in her dying breath?, or the Skeletal Mare?, or maybe something else?, the place where the book of harmony used to be, had the book missing, Stormy took out the book, incomplete, and placed it on the pedestal, a light earthquake happened on the basement, as if a wall or something was moved, the Princess suggested to check the basement, but before they moved, Stormy reviewed the scroll on the floor, it was a transformation spell, more exactly, to transform wind instruments into a lira, Stormy stepped in the middle of the pedestal, and performed the spell on his ocarina, the ocarina obtained a light blue light, as it transformed into a Blue Lira with wind designs all over it, the scroll contains also the reverse spell, so he put it in practice and transformed the Lira back to its Ocarina form, learning the transfiguration spell in the process, once done, both ponies moved towards the basement.

As expected, several rooms on the hallway were unable to be accessed, or the doors were actually on the floor, allowing the ponies to see the interior of the rooms, some of them were empty and with holes that falls into a endless darkness, other however, had something that could only be seen by a little hole, one in special, had a huge Posey doll, bloodstained, pointing out towards the hole, with bloodstained hooves, making Stormy flinch for a second, but remembering the doll mysterious connection with Mistshine, so he looked towards the direction that doll was pointing, and opened the opposite door to that room.

Inside, they found a single hole on the ground, a sewer pipe with a key attached with duct tape to it but with the corpse of a Restrained Figure, it’s acid was still flowing.. dropping little drops in the hole, but enough to burn a pony piece of flesh, neither Stormy or Luna could get the key out if , even with levitation magic, the key will melt instantly by the little drops of acid falling from the corpse, if they don’t find a way to prevent the acid from melting it, they could not take it out, they must find a iron bucket or something similar to hold for a moment, leaving that room for later, they reached the end of the hallway and went to the basement.

The first hallway was the “hall of hooves“ creepy as expected, the disembodied pony legs holding the torches made it uneasy for both ponies to pass through there, as they felt that the hooves could choke them if they get too close, also, several of the hooves were with the lights out, so they had to turn on their flashlights, however, there was one hoof a little loosen from the wall, that picked Luna attention, she lifted the hoof, and ended up, on the other side of the hall, a trap, Luna used a levitation spell, as she remembered that trap, however, what she didn’t remember, was that the floor had spikes, with skeletons of previous victims, Luna got a little distracted by this and felt to the spikes to her surprise, she went right through them, hitting herself with the hard floor.

“Princess!, Luna!, are you there?, can you hear me?“ Said Stormy, hitting the stone hall with his hooves.

“I’m ok,. just a little shaken,“ replied the princess, getting herself up.

There was a shinny object that let a little spark when the light on Luna’s lantern shinned upon it, it was a little key, only labeled as C, Luna took it and placed it on her saddlebags, Stormy LED flashlight was visible by a hole on said wall, Luna instructed the stallion to get back, as she pulled her hoof out of the hole and lowered the hoof again, making her be back at the hall of hooves hallway, both ponies, relieved to be together again, continued to explore the basement, where the earthquake happened, there was a part that now was screaming danger in all known pony languages, a hallway full of old ponies armors.

“These where the armors that both, my sister and my guards used in the past, they look shiny and new,“ the princess made a comment at the armors state.

“What’s with the creepy scenario back then?, where you trying to give everypony a heart attack? “ Stormy also commented a little scared.

“Nope, but they were intimidating, so criminals would think twice before dealing with the guards,” Luna commented, smiling at the guard expense.

“20 Bits these armors will come to life and attack us,” Stormy said as he walked in further into the hallway.

They walked a little further into the hallway exploring the depths of the castle, Stormy was held down a moment despise his walking, he could see the princess moving ahead of him and he started to cough, he looked back, only to found he is being held by his tail by one of the armors, he screamed and as a reflex action, he attacked with his pipe, this alerted the princess, she turned around and saw other armor removing from its pedestal and moving towards the colt.

She tried to intervene, but a third armor held her, Stormy let again a magic surge, turning his moondust magic on and forming a spiked bubble, piercing the chest plates, this allowed Luna to shoot the creatures with a light based magic, killing them quickly, the third armor raised a axe to attack her, Stormy shot a magical bullet but the creature repelled it with the axe, launching it towards him again, Stormy dodge the blow, as for the princess, she also attacked the creature with the sword, a clang was heard , the axe blocked the blow, this armor was more smart than the other ones, however, it armor was really sturdy, it needs to take more than a sword to piece it, Stormy could easily pierce it with a moondust spear, due to the magic surge, but Luna was more calm and collected, that’s when she heard a chainsaw being turned on.

“Move! “ Stormy said with a smiley expression.

He swing the chainsaw directly into the armor neck part, chopping the head part off, leaving the shadow behind it, seeing her chance, Luna let a powerful light blast to the creature, killing it, the rest of the armor felt to the floor, Stormy had a idea, if the armor was that sturdy to withstand swords, they could use the helmet to stop the acid for a moment and take the key out of the sewer pipe room, Luna took the helmet and stored it on the saddlebags, as they went ahead and explore the remaining of the basement, they found a little storage with energy drinks there, on their way back up they found a room that they previously didn’t pay attention, on the roof, was a piece of wall, so this is the secret room the earthquake from before unlocked inside on the room was an organ that nopony had played in ages.

“Is the Organ to the Outside, with it we can control all the traps in the Armory Hallway, Throne Room, Hall of Hooves and the Second Floor Hole traps “ Luna stated almost to a happy extent.

“Seems you remember perfectly this thing,“ Stormy replied a little sarcastic tone.

However as soon as both came inside… a soft sound of the organ was heard, and almost instantly, large iron bars appeared from the floor, blocking the entrance, the reason, one of the 2 ornaments next to the organ was pressing one of the keys with its spear, the other ornament was holding also another spear, they both moved towards the ponies with the same armor as the other monsters, Stormy shot a blast towards one of them, but its “partner“ covered it, Luna and Stormy had to fight these monsters as a team, as they both attacked at the same time in a symmetrical fashion, despise the other shadow monsters they have faced before, this fight was unavoidable.

Stormy focused on one of the creatures, while Luna focused on the other, Both ponies shot a magical blast, the creatures block it with their weapons but surprisingly, the one Stormy was facing blocked the attack with a black dust, similar to his very own moondust, while the one Luna was facing, destroyed her attack with a blue flame, simulating a solar flare, it didn’t took long for the princess to put the pieces together.

“Uh oh, they are using moondust and solar flare magic, these ornaments must be monsters that use as model a Sun Guard and a Lunar Guard, “ Luna said, as she recognized the attacks.

“Please for the love of Equestria, tell me you are kidding me,“ Stormy did not liked at all the princess previous comment.

Both monsters saw they opportunity and combined their attack, making a powerful purple blast containing the black dust, Stormy moved Luna out of the way and ducked, the blast hit the wall behind him, the dust dispersed over him, stating to suffocate him, he could feel the dust, covering his nose and mouth, entering his lungs, he never imagined the moondust magic could be used in such cruel way, torturing the target, Luna intervened and scattered the dust with her magic.

Stormy took a quick gasp of fresh air and stand back up, he noticed the two monsters where working as a team, so he decided to pick Luna again and use their “Machine Gun“ Technique, what they didn’t except is that the creatures actually copied the same technique, shooting a rain of blue fire magic, mimicking a flamethrower, with the flames coming towards them, both Luna and Stormy dodge to a side.

“These things are coping our moves which is not funny“ Luna said to her companion.

“I know, there must be another way to, wait.i got it, I will handle the one with the solar flare, you take care of the moondust one, “ Stormy said deciding to change target.

Luna simply nodded, trusting what her companion had in mind, Stormy knew they where facing evil manifestations of the Solar Flare and Moondust Magic, however, facing Moondust Vs Moondust prove to be useless, so he decided to give the enemies a taste of their own medicine and used his moondust magic in the form of a smoke ball, the Solar Flare creature attacked with blue flames, but the moondust reacted to it and started to absorb the air on the attack, “suffocating“ the flames.

“Heh, to think I learned this from a monster” Stormy said sarcastically towards it’s foe.

Without its stronger magic, Stormy saw a opening and attacked with his pipe surrounding it with his magic, the creature received the blow In full, the dust crawled to the creature head, choking him, just like the Moondust Ornament did to him.

As for Luna and the moondust magic creature, since she was the Princess of the Night, she remembered that she could nullify the effects of the moondust for a time, she used that ability and shoot a light based magic, which the opponent mimic the attack with his own moondust, the foe magic faded as expected, and the light magic continued towards her enemy, once the hit was successful, the foe dropped its spear, same thing with the solar flare one, Stormy and Luna saw their finishing blow chance, and delivered one last attack with their weapons, Stormy broke the skull of his foe, with his steel pipe, while Luna stabbed the creature with the Sword, eliminating both creatures, once they were dead, as if some sort of trap was deactivated, the iron bars retreated, and the organ was able to be used.

“That was actually hard, you think that they---” Stormy was suggesting something.

“I’m thinking the same thing, the stronger the monsters are, the more desire they have to kill us,” Luna finished what Stormy was thinking, as she got closer to the organ, seeing as the ornaments were now broken on the floor.

“What are you doing Luna?” Stormy questioned, without dropping his guard to the broken ornaments.

“I will stay here and operate the Organ to the Outside, signal me with the Winds of Friendship song to activate it, that way you can reach areas of the castle that both of us couldn’t go,“ The Princess stated, sitting on the organ ready to play.

“Understood Princess, but please be careful,” Stormy was already worrying about the princess but obeyed her orders.

Luna gave Stormy the Ancient Guard Helmet and the C Key, Stormy galloped towards the room in the 1F where the corpse of the Restrain figure was, once there, he used the helmet to hold of the acid drops, it was working, until a certain extent that is, Stormy could feel within his magic, the helmet was starting to melt, so he pulled up the key quickly, the duct tape was already very worn out, the key label reads “L”.

If Luna was in problems, Stormy could use the Prelude of Friendship Song to teleport to her location, however, now that he obtained the L Key, he moved towards the second floor, where the Throne Room was, on it, the thrones looked perfectly ok, neat and tidy, the carpet was soft to the touch, but also, Stormy could visibly see a Ghostly Luna in the mini balcony, next to her throne, however her expression was very unwelcoming.

“Not another step“ the ghostly Luna said.

“Uh oh, if my history lessons are right, this must be,“ Stormy seems to knew this event, he was shielding himself with a bubble shield.

“Did you really expect me to sit idly by, while they all bash in your precious light Tia?“ Ghostly Luna Said addressing to a Ghostly Celestia coming from behind Stormy.

“Luna, I will not fight you!, You must lower the Moon!, it is your duty!“ Celestia demanded with authority on her voice.

“There can only be one Princess in Equestria!, and that princess will be ME!! “ Ghostly Luna said, as she began to transform into Nightmare Moon “From, now on, my name is Nightmare Moon!, I have but one royal duty now to destroy you!!“

Stormy saw in first row seats her transformation into the Nightmare Moon, just as she was able to see his past, the moon slowly covered the sun, making a eclipse, the shadow casted by it was absorbed by Luna powerful magic and her physical appearance started to change, her fangs were sharp and her mane was so big and powerful it was more than capable of producing lighting.

By instinct Stormy dodge Nightmare Moon first magical blast, but when he dodged, he entered up in a hallway, pieces of debris fallen on him but thanks to his bubble shield he was unharmed, all the noises and blast stopped suddenly when he stepped up, when he came back to the throne, everything was normal, however, there was something new, a object that can only be recognized by the gems sparkling on their ornaments, circling around the plate they were posted in, it was the Elements of Harmony Pedestal.

First found in the lobby, where the elements were before Twilight and their friends took them, Stormy decided to inspect the elements gems, as he touch them however they passed right into his hoof, these gems were an illusion that quickly disappeared, leaving the pedestal empty, so this wasn’t the real ones, the real one must be the one on the lobby, Stormy checked the throne where Luna used to sit on royal duties, and he noticed it was very comfortable, as he sit however, he played the Winds of Friendship song, Luna on the other end, activated the organ, the results quickly came in, sending Stormy towards the back garden in a quick spin, it was a little rough landing though, making him roll several times, until he stopped when he hit a rock, he could see he was outside the Castle, in the Everfree Forest again, along with the fog that was more than visible this time around.

“OW!, Luna, was that trap always that hurtful?! “ Stormy said, dizzy as he got up.

“Sorry, Tia and I never fixed that emergency exit, if you enter by the window you will be instantly back to the first floor,“ Luna explained using the ocarina as a radio.

“How does that take me there?“ Stormy questioned surprised at the little window capability.

“Is a long hallway we made to take directly to the first floor, from there is where the Chief, the Staff of the Castle and the Dungeon Keepers entered to went to the dungeons,“ Luna informed her stallion.

The dungeons, again, not another dungeon, the communication with the princess was cut short when a loud bang was heard from the stairs next to the stone that stopped Stormy rolling, he went down the stairs wondering what he was going to find this time, when he was halfway, through the fog, he could see a foal drawing on one of the stairs, this time it was him, his “sister” Pinkie Pie, both holding a balloon shaped blue jewel, by some reason, that drawing, made Stormy smile again as if a beacon of hope was in the pink pony drawing.

“Oh Pinkie Pie, You know I had always considered you a big sister, no matter what happened; I wish you could lend me a hoof in this situation right now. Where you are now I wonder?”

The further he descended into the stairs, the more hard it was to see in front of his own hooves, he could trip if he ran, after he reached the end, he noticed a very wide but circular area, with several fences, that served as a limit to each area of that “basement“, there was a door named “Royal Kitchen”, another named “Armory”, and finally one that read “Warehouse”, all of them with wooden doors, however there were two caves on the far east side of the round courtyard, both of them with Iron doors, one was obviously had the name “Dungeon” written all over it, and another one with no name, but protected by a special lock that seems to resemble a musical box, Stormy noticed another group of stairs that seems to go up to the forest, but they were destroyed, so it is unable to be used to climb up, Stormy decided to check the Kitchen first.

Inside, the stone cooking place was very poor illuminated, due to the obvious fact of being a cave, however it had its advantages, like a huge stone oven, several frying pans and a freezer to keep the food cold, but as he inspected the drawers, he found several cupcakes materials, intact, not corrupted, nor strawberry blood, just regular cupcake materials finally!.

“About Celestia damn time!, Im hungry for something normal to eat after all this mayhem.” Stormy said smiling as big as he could.

He was feeling a little hungry, so since there is nothing that has gone bad on this dream like castle, Stormy decided to bake a few cupcakes for Luna and him, from the back of his mind, Pinkie song was rigging in his head, he started to mimic it, like he used to do as a little colt, bringing a smile to his face, as if Pinkie memory was the only thing that could make him happy, bouncing over the table, as he prepared the mix, levitating some bowls and ingredients with his magic.

“All you have to do is take a cup of floor…add it to the mix… now just take little something sweet not sour…. A bit of salt just a…. WHAAAAAA!!! “

When he opened up the fridge to get the sweets and the lemon, a pony head was on the same bowl, however, the head was fresh meaning one thing, the Skeletal mare was close however, Stormy had the feeling he had meet the face before, in fact, it felt so familiar, but he couldn’t place his hoof around it, also, the mane from the creature was covering its face.

This was not the time for baking a cupcake, then again the oven and the wate, against all logic, works, he had 2 options, continue to bake or continue searching for more clues for his brother, he checked his saddlebags for an answer. Besides the bandages and the apples he only had the energy drinks as food, perhaps making a cupcake or two won’t kill him right?, besides, he was halfway through, he took the severed head out of the fridge and took it outside, he continued to bake, when a loud fleshy bang was heard from outside, he opened the wooden door, just to find a blood trace from the bowl to one of the caves with iron doors, he returned to the kitchen and pulled out the recently backed cupcakes, they smelled just like the ones Pinkie used to do, he stored them in a little box and then placed it on his saddlebags, exiting the kitchen.

On the outside, the radio started to burst into a faint static, the severed head was no longer on the bowl, it was now next to a tree, that served as a division between the Dungeon and the other cave, Stormy had a bad feeling, so he decided to avoid the tree and traveled to the Armory instead.

On the Armory, there was not much to be seen, just a couple of old pony armor from Pre-Luna Banishment, the same one as the hall in the basement, however, the room was very short, more short than the one on the Canterlot or the Archives Armory, there was 2 mannequins, one with armor on the far side of the armory, and one almost right next to the door, without armor, both white colored.

“Huh, they look like the ones Rarity uses to display her clothes back in Ponyville.”

The first one corresponded to a female mannequins, but didn’t had anything special to it, when he moved around the corner to check the male one he heard a scream and a loud thud, as if something was throw to the floor with great strength, when he turned around to check, he could see a silhouette of a clothed pony in back robes, exiting the room, but also, there was a blood trail leading towards the door, already making Stormy uneasy the female mannequin was now missing it’s torso.

Outside, the torso from the Armory was next to the severed head, however, the torso now had a cutie mark, a disturbing one, it was a red spot with a rope and a butcher knife, Stormy stepped away again and checked the storage, it was very short, but he found a apple, and several hooves for displays, 4 of them were actually real hooves, Stormy didn’t touch them, instead, he levitated them, he was already guessing what he had to do with them.

He took the hooves to the torso and head of the pony outside, as he suspected, they matched the cuts in the torso, the radio was still emitting the faint static, Stormy decided, just as with Redhoof in the Manehatten Hall, make a burial for the unfortunate victim, he felt it was the right thing to do, he used a powerful blast to make a hole on the ground, and he deposit all the pieces there, making a quick grave for the pony, in the base of the tree it was.

He tried now the dungeon cave, strangely enough, the large iron door was broken, and the cave was collapsed, seems visiting the dungeon is not possible, filled with relief, he tried the other cave, with the musical box lock, the lock itself had a lever, to move the music box, it played a few notes but it was broken, the sound was a little distorted and seems to have a input command, a command to enter a song.

“Oh great, a musical puzzle, why it couldn’t be a picture puzzle?”

The distorted notes made hard to Stormy to think what song was it, he played the Minuet of Everfree, since the castle was located in said forest, however, as the song took effect, a little earthquake happened and his magic turn against him, the vine he created started to choke him, he used his moondust magic to repel the vine and cut the magic of the song shot, with the effects gone, he noticed the lock had now a red light, 1 out of 3, he tried another song, this time, he tried the Equestria Soul Song, this time the song started to work, making him feel stronger, but again, the environment threw in a message, a huge rock was falling towards him, Stormy dodge instantly, as the rock hit the floor, breaking itself on impact, now a second red light was on the lock, Stormy mind now understood what those little red lights meant, there are mistakes and if he makes a third mistake, the lock will no longer be able to open, to make matters worse, each time he input the wrong song, something happens to him, there is a high chance that if he mess up a third time, he could be killed.

He concentrated, thinking about the notes of the song, taking his ocarina for the third time, he played another song, this time, it was the Princess Lullaby, the notes starting to sound accordingly to the music box, the lock started to change, the lights changed to green, the lock released the large metal doors, as he felt peaceful for a moment, and relieved that he used the right song this case, once the doors were opened, he enter the cave.

Inside the cave, there was not much to be seen, except a single tree, a silver tree that irradiated light and harmony, driving the fog from outside away and had all the jewels on its branches, also, they had Celestia and Luna cutie mark on it, the sole presence of this tree made the colt feel calmed and also seems to drive a sense of security to him, Stormy was no fool, he was in front of the Elements of Harmony, the real ones. They shinned, as welcoming the colt to that sacred place.

“The Elements, why are they here?, they shouldn’t be with Twilight in Ponyville? Or better yet, what are they doing here!?“