Stormy and Luna exited the tower, not before the princess equipped herself with her own saddlebags, Stormy tried to use the same spell he used on his raincoat to make the space larger, but Luna stopped him stating that the saddle was already enchanted, since she always used it when purchasing a lot of games and gaming equipment.

The silence on the tower was almost eternal, as they went down, the stallion decided it was a good time to get some answers, specially considering the radio has been silent all this time, so no monster presence is around them. He quickly asked the princess about her nightmares, she went instantly quiet, seems he pushed in a nerve. Once the stallion opened the door leading towards the gardens, Luna saw the state of her home with a full clear picture, as clear as the lantern can make it that is; the sky was black as the darkest coal with not a visible star at the horizon, the ground was sticky, as if the dirt had absorbed a lot of rain, which contrast with the withered grass.

Between the dirt and grass, they were able to see some holes on the ground, these holes allowed them to see the same type of fence that was in the archives, their only protection from a large and big bottomless pit, Luna by instinct started flapping her wings to keep herself floating, Stormy had to break the silence as soon as the princess started to freak out.

“Princess… what are you doing?” Stormy asked with a tired look

“Can’t you see we are standing on a fence?!” Luna replied, hovering herself.

“Princess, there are worst things that worrying about falling to a bottomless pit, I will sound rude by saying this, but please, stop flying unless is really necessary, as you can see,“ Stormy said preparing himself putting pressure in his back hooves.

Stormy started to jump several times on the floor, Luna covered her eyes with her hooves, not wanting to see him make a hole and fall, but if there was a moment of irony during all the ordeals Stormy had to pass, is that for this time, logic didn’t applied on this weird dimension, the fence withstood his weight without any issue, the fence was sturdy enough to bear with his height, Luna saw this and calmed herself a little.

“Don’t scare me like that!” Luna said to her companion, almost yelling.

“Sorry princess, but I had to show you.” Stormy apologized as he smiled kindly “the fence is the least of our problems, right now we have to get out of the castle, is not safe when that siren sounds” Stormy replied to her, as he let a sigh of concern.

“Do you have an idea of where to go? Or if there is any place that is safe from this-“ Luna was trying to find words to describe their situation. “-this”

“Hell?” he interrupted, finding the only word appropriate for the issue.

The princess was right, they didn’t have any leads if there was any place safe after what Stormy had encountered so far, but his recent travel on the Archives flashed on his head, he remembered that, when he was about to die, somepony gave him a first aid kit, probably his brother, and he remembered that those kits are only available at hospitals, Stormy quickly took the map from Canterlot Capital, Luna looked at it with him, the map had several big X in a lot of roads outside the castle.

“I guess I found where to go next,” Stormy replied, he used a little magic to mark the map on the hospital in specific.

“Forgive me if I ask, but what are you doing?” Luna asked, seeing Stormy drawing a circle in a specific building.

“When I was on the archives, I was about to die and I lost consciousness, but suddenly I heard somepony come and gave me a First aid Kit” Stormy said, telling the princess his recent experience

“What?, there is somepony else alive?, but you said-” Luna was confused, but asked anyway a question she have been holding up. “-is someone you know, right?”

“Yes, you will call me crazy, but I know what I saw Luna.” Stormy paused, before taking out the notebook were he had the drawings of his brother. “I think it was my brother, Mistshine.”

Stormy last words stroke fear in his spine fast, as his mind was rewinding, his second mission quickly came into view and his brotherly instinct started to kick in, who else but his little bro could have give him the kit?, but why he is here?, what kind of sick torture was this?, if his bro was alive, he had to go to the Canterlot Hospital as quickly as possible, he won’t last long with all the creatures running wild on the streets. Stormy was only hoping that the princess will understand his decision as he made Mistshine´s cutie mark on the Canterlot Hospital in his map, Luna of course, was able to see how this stallion was worrying for his bro.

“Here, this is Canterlot Hospital, the best there is, my bro has to be in there,” Stormy said to the princess, his face showed a huge concern.

“We must pass the castle to get there, but if this X means the road is out, that means I can get there flying.” Luna said, opening up her wings and looked at her guard, implying a suggestion. “I can go to the hospital and make sure he is ok though.”

“No Luna, we cannot go separate ways, that would be a bad idea in this situation.” Stormy said, visually afraid. “trust me on this, monsters become more dangerous during this dark time, we must exit the castle and then find a way to get to the Hospital”

“Is your brother that important to you?, then why didn’t you went there first and and then come here?” Luna questioned Stormy.

Although the princess appreciates his efforts in the name of his duty, Luna did have a point, and left Stormy cold and frozen in place, why he didn’t have gone to Canterlot Hospital first?, it was not far from the castle, until that moment, he never though about it, in fact he set his priorities wrong, the shiver in his spine only grew worse, just the possibility alone that his little bro could be trapped in this kind of hell alone was enough to send every last ounce of bravery in the stallion down the drain, Luna could easily see this as how the stallion magic started to flash in and out.

“Yes, is very important for me-” Stormy replied to the princess, trying to hold his fear back “that’s why I have to find him.“

“If that is the case Mr Brave, I will help you out” Luna said, stepping up.

“Princess, I-” Stormy said, before being stopped by the princess of the moon.

“Is more that clear you won’t leave me alone here, and neither will you leave Canterlot without your brother, however, your mind seems to be fragmented, so I better stick around before you lose your mind, either way, we will going to be together in this mess.“ Luna said, being a little optimist before smiling kindly but keeping her royalty aura “perhaps we might even find a way out of this.”

The princess words were more than enough to calm Stormy tormented mind a little, but his heart had to contain his joy of having the princess traveling with him, both ponies stand up from the ground and moved towards the inner part of the castle, when they entered the kitchen and returned to the main lobby, the aspect of it is not that different form the one of the Archives, Luna tried the front door but it was locked and sealed shut, Stormy approached and tried the Canterlot Castle Gate key as before, but the key turned into ash as soon as he tried it on the door, so much for going out via the front door.

“What is the meaning of this Stormy?” Luna asked with certain confusion as the ashes moved upward.

“I don’t know, it was the right key, unless,” Stormy replied, he looked at Luna as she turned around to face him as well.

“Unless it is protected by a magic spell,“ Both ponies said at the unison.

“Great, now I lost the key to the exit, because it was not magically protected, I am open to suggestions now.” Stormy said with a certain degree of annoyance.

“Well, I heard there was a spare key to the castle front doors on the Throne room, and it was magically enchanted by my sister” Luna said, looking at the door that leads to the throne room.

“Then, let’s go and get it “Stormy got ready

Both of them galloped to the Throne Room in the 2F, but this time the door was sealed shut with a magical spell on the keyhole, Stormy believed that he could dispel the magic by playing the Princess Lullaby, Luna made a bubble shield to protect herself from the effects of the song as the stallion played it, the notes of the peaceful song played in the distance, echoing in the metallic walls, but nothing happened, the spell was not weakened in the slightest.

Seems finding the required keys to access certain places is a thing now in the “other” Equestria, Stormy grew frustrated letting out an annoyed growl, specially considering he was inside the throne room in no less than 15 minutes ago, however, with few options available, the ponies decided it was best to explore the twisted castle, the radio let out a very faint static sound, as a Ceiling Filly felt from the roof to the ground, asleep, seems the song at least slept the creatures on the hallway to the throne room. This sadly didn’t helped on the lobby though, as another ceiling filly dropped from the heights and fall towards Luna, Stormy swing his pipe performing a spin attack to knock the creature out, but it responding by quickly stabbing the princess wing base while backing up his face, making the attack miss.

“Aaaahh!!, get off you foul beast!” Luna demanded, as she charged an electrical spell.

Elemental type of spells are usually considered arcane magic, or forbidden spells, few unicorns can actually execute them, let alone use them to their fullest, thankfully, Luna being a born alicorn and one of the 2 Royal Sisters of Equestria made the arcane magic looks like foalsplay, she let a powerful electrical current in the shape of a bubble that electrocuted the creature, shocking it out cold, the screws on their head just made things easy for the princess to barbeque the monster, with it’s last strength, the ceiling filly gave one last stab to Luna’s left wing before the strength of the spell send it’s burned corpse against the wall, Stormy was a little afraid at this display of power, and he though attacking the monster with a pipe was crude, then again, things are not precisely what somepony would call normal or even rational for that matter.

“Stormy Brave!, that thing attacked me!, what is this place?” Luna said a little scared, but quickly regained her senses “No pony had ever tried to hurt me out of pure malice, these creatures doesn’t look like normal ponies.” she said, keeping her injured wing closed, hiding the fact it hurt a lot.

“I know princess, I know.” Stormy replied, looking at the princess injuries. “That’s why we need to keep moving, and I have to get my bro out of here, in the meantime, open your left wing Luna.”

“Beg your pardon?” A quick look from Stormy eyes gave away what he was doing, he levitated a little his raincoat and using the metallic walls of the twisted castle he cut a piece large enough to be used as a makeshift bandage, Luna did not wanted want to question him though, after all, he is a guard, she believed he was doing this due to his duty, she extended her injured wing, letting her wound very visible, it was on the base, very close to the main joint and the nerves controlling the wing, so extending it for long periods of time could be and issue, she was a little embarrassed to see a guard patching her up.

“Thank you Mr Brave” Luna replied

“Don’t mention it Luna” Stormy smiled, he felt a little blushed “and please, Stormy will do just fine, right now we have to find the throne room key so we can get the Canterlot Gates spare key.”

“We can try the great hall where the Grand Galloping Gala was held” Luna suggested the next place to check.

“I tried that door already, the door leading to the hallway is locked and I cannot open it.” Stormy said, recalling he was not able to find the key to the Outer Hallway.

Luna suggestion was not bad, but without the key, entering the outer hallway was out of the question, Luna however, was not happy with that and went to the door, she twisted the doorknob and the door opened, leaving Stormy with a complete disbelief face.

As they both advanced on the hallway, Stormy advised the princess she needs to find a weapon in case she needs to save her magic, since Luna already have a lot of magic herself, she decided to go with a wooden plank that had a nail on one end as a melee weapon, unlike Stormy she doesn’t need to worry about recharging her magic constantly, she cast a spell on her weapon, a renovation spell to make the wooden table last longer. They checked the meeting room, for their advantage, there was a better weapon for Luna, it looks like a guard’s spear, she took it and both ponies decided to go for the inner gardens.

“The inner gardens circle around the Great Hall where the Grand Galloping Gala was held.” Luna said, entering first to the gardens.

“Oi, wait for me!” he yelled, trying to catch up.

Inside the gardens, they found out 2 hopping ponies, Luna was scared as soon as she saw the creature twitch and jump around, she had saw others ponies nightmares and dreams, she has seen the creatures most ponies cry in fear on their dreams, but all those dream monsters pale in comparison to these ones, manly because she was awake, a hopping pony jumped towards Stormy, he used the spell he learned on the magic scroll on Shinning Armor room, and charged the pipe with his magic, the blow strength was multiplied, strong enough to send the creature across the gardens maze, the second creature attacked the princess, she used the wooden table as defense, the creature lay a bite to it it, and the nail trusted on it’s tongue, getting it stuck, allowing Luna to counter attack, she swung the table, making the creature lose it grip and receive the nail end, however, it was not enough to kill it, she prepared her horn and charged a magical blast, since she is a alicorn though, the blast ended up not only ended up killing the creature, but also blew a hole on the garden maze, allowing them to actually reach the hall back door fast.

“Sweet Celestia!” Stormy exclaimed, looking at the hole “What kind of magic spell was that one!?”

“Come on; is just a simple magic bullet spell, but what kind of creatures are these?” Luna said, as she saw the remaining hopping pony corpse

“I have nicknamed them Hopping Ponies due to their primary method of attack, hopping towards someone and biting them, and trust me, I don’t want them near me, let’s continue,” Stormy said as he replied to the princess question.

Both of them got into the Great Hall and started search for a key or something, but all they could find was broken glass and damaged instruments, as Luna was searching for the key on the stands and tables, Stormy was searching on the instruments stand, he found out something in the piano, it looked like a page, he read it, it was not a page from the Book of Harmony page for once, it looked more like a riddle, he looked at the piano, some keys had blood in them, Luna tied open the door that leads toward the another sections of the castle gardens, but it was locked, Stormy tried to follow the riddle on the page

“When the silent moon glows with grace, the path to heaven shall become visible,” that was written on the page.

“Stormy, this door is locked, but-” Luna said, she noticed something odd on the door, or more precisely, the lack of something. “-this door don’t have any kind of visible keyhole”

“I bet my PonyCube that we can unlock the door with this piano” Stormy said, sitting on the chair, ready to play it.

“Wait!, you have a PonyCube?!” Luna gaming instincts seems to have activated for a moment.

Stormy noticed that there was some keys on the piano that were not stained, he touched them and the piano didn’t emit a sound, playing the keys in a specific order was already hard, since the riddle itself didn’t mentioned a order in the first place, if they cannot figure out the appropriate order they are going to be stuck there for a while, even Luna tried, but the door didn’t open, Stormy frustration grew more, until the point he literally tried a random order going from the E key to the G and back to E, from right to left, a soft click was heard, the door had unlocked, both ponies with a relief face, opened the door leading towards the last section of the castle gardens.

Contrary to the gardens maze, this section had a withered aspect, not only that, but it seems like the whole place hasn’t been taken care of for the last 1000 years, Stormy and Luna walked forward hoping that nothing will jump from the bushes and attack them, the radio silence provided a weird feeling of comfort, after few minutes walking, they reached to that it seems a kiosk, it was very dirty and had some cracks, indicating the passage of time, but something was off, there was a blood trail leading towards it, inside the kiosk remained the pieces of a broken pony statue that had a sad expression, as pieces of it’s marble body were scattered inside the damaged building.

Stormy had a bad feeling about the place, heck the forest alone was so dark that both, his and Luna illumination spell only manage to let them see where they were going, and yet, the kiosk despite being broken was easily recognizable, once the radio began to emit static though, the guards supposition was confirmed, a new creature was coming out of the kiosk.

“MMppsh!! MMPS?!?!? MKKPPSOHHH!!!” the creature voice yelled, although muffled, the high pitched voice indicated it’s gender.

This monster was clearly a mare, it had horrible scars all over her body, it had no mane or tail, except for some very few lines of actual hair, it also didn’t had a cutie mark, instead of it, it had a huge rip where the marks use to be, the blood on it was clotted, not matching the blood that coming out of her eyes, that one was still fresh, the creature had a brownish coat color, finally, besides the scars, it had glass lunged into its left side, her hooves muscles were exposed on one of the hind legs and the front legs, on the others, part of the bone could be seen, the mouth seems to be stitched up, preventing the creature to scream loud, it had a broken horn and featherless wings, indicating it was a decayed alicorn, all of that combined with what it looked a black broken tiara made a very pitiful display.

Luna nearly jumped from the creature gaze, when it open its eyes, only darkness could be seen, it walked slowly towards Stormy and Luna, Luna fired a magic spell, but the creature seems to dodge it despite her state, Stormy attacked with the steel pipe, the creature was hit, making her move to a side by inertia, the creature reacted and tried to stab both ponies with her broken horn, Stormy dodge the blow while Luna used her wooden table as shield, making the creature get stuck, Stormy took advantage of this and charged another magic blow, freaking out and realizing the change of strategies the creature tried to unstuck itself, but Luna renovated the wood on her weapon making it tighter around the creature horn, giving enough time for Stormy to attack, it was only after Stormy managed to deliver the blow that this “Glass Mare” as Stormy nicknamed her was free from Luna’s weapon, Stormy magic was running short, the creature jumped to trust her horn on him, Luna intervened, tackling the monster, the creature grew angry and turned around, hitting Luna table with her sharp bones of its wing, Stormy attacked again with his steel pipe, but seems the creature had a lot of endurance, for something that looks like something out of a failed surgery practice.

“What’s up with you giving the creatures names?!” Luna raised her voice to her companion, not enough to reach canterlot voice levels of high.

“Perhaps because I need something as of reference if I encounter another outside of it, every creature so far has something that stands out.” He defended himself, explaining his motives before looking at the creature one more time. “I saw that glass and it was the first thing that I-“ he stopped, an idea just came to his mind. “Luna!, hit the glass on her left side!”

Both ponies attacked and focused on the creature left side, a swing from the steel pipe made a loud crash as the glass shattered and the pieces went inside the monster, a look of extreme pain missed with fear could be recognized on the mare face, but quickly that fear turned into anger as the glass grew red, the broken horn shined with the classical magical aura, the creature was capable of performing basic spells despite having a broken horn, sadly, these spells are dangerous, not because of the pony strength, but because when a unicorn horn is broken, performing a spell is risky as the remains of the horn cannot channel the spell properly, causing a magic bounce, these magic bounce effects usually injure both the caster and the target, as expected, the creature intended blast ended up exploding in a magic bounce explosion, causing both ponies to back off a little dizzy, the creature took this chance and attacked Stormy first, Stormy let out a grunt as the creature horn pierced his torso a little, having enough he used his pipe to attack with all his magic to the creature “weakspot” causing it to finally die due to its injuries, the radio slowly faded into silence, as the princess recovered from the magic bounce and healed Stormy wound, restoring a little of his magic as well.

“Thanks Luna, this one I didn’t see it before” Stormy replied, a little relieved “nice way to use the wooden table as shield “

“T-thanks…. I learn it from a game” Luna said a little blush appeared on her face “ Anyway, if the creature came from that kiosk, maybe a key is in there “ Luna affirmed

Stormy when to check the kiosk, as a matter of fact , Luna was right, a bloodstained broken key was on there, next to a green apple, Stormy ate apple to recover a little amount of his magic, the key was broken and unusable, but it reads “Castle Dungeons“, so this was the key from the dungeons, Stormy already wasn’t liking the looks of this, Luna knew the castle more that him, so when he showed her the key, she tried to repair it, but it was way to old and rusted, just like the rest of the garden.

“Everything looks like it was 1000 years ago, if only we could back up time, but, I know by a fact we cannot make up for lost time,” Luna said, looking a little exhausted.

“Wait, time?” Stormy said, taking out the Harmony songs book.

“It´s been 1000 years since I seen that cover, you did well into bringing it with you,” Luna stated, looking at the book with an air of nostalgia.

“True, but I think I can fix that key, if you lend me your magic that is,” he said, searching for the right song.

“Sure, what do you need?” She asked, as she saw how Stormy levitated the book and took his ocarina out.

“Please lend me the enough magic to perform this song.” He said, holding the book open on the song of time.

The Song of Time was the song he found when he exited the archives, at first he thought it was a useless song but if the Princess Lullaby worked on a door, why couldn’t the Song of Time restore the key back to is original state? Normally that song would be playable but the magical effects won’t happen due to his lack of magic, but with Luna at his side while he was playing it, transmitting her magic to his horn constantly to allow him to perform it, he had little to no trouble to apply the effects, it was one of those weird moments of calm in the middle of a hellstorm, the withered plans started to recover their green color as well as the kiosk, the pony statue smiled as its pieces hover in front of the ponies, rebuilding itself, the end result was a rather happy mare statue, on its hooves, the key now whole rest. Once the song ended, Stormy picked up the key, it was restored completely, Luna looked at her companion with caution, for her, nopony in current age, unless is Twilight Sparkle or Celestia, or even herself, can perform the ancient songs “something must be off with this stallion,” Luna thought to herself as they both returned to the castle.

Stormy asked the princess what happened, but she didn’t said anything, she just limited herself to say that she is honestly surprised a unicorn can perform the songs, but she also guided Stormy towards the dungeons entrance, after all, they still need to find the throne room key, the entrance to the dungeons was, from the Castle Garden, going to the Royal Main Hall, then the Guards Tower, and next to it, is the Armory with the Dungeons entrance, Stormy noticed that Luna did not wanted to proceed though once they were in front of the gate.

“Stormy I’m sorry, but I will not go there,” Luna said, with a visible disgust on her face.

“Why?” Stormy questioned “is due to the metallic echo in the armory you heard earlier?” Stormy remember Luna’s words when he came to the castle

“No, is not that, but-“Luna was having problems in saying her reasons before steeping back “-you see the dungeons according to my sister are where the most evil and dangerous ponies face their fate, she told me to never go down there, I despise criminals a lot, if go down there, I could end up finding something I really don’t like besides, only you the guards are allowed there.“

She was right in something, even since he became a Lunar guard, he had access to the dungeons, but he never actually had to go down there, most of the time, Noirstar or Shinning Armor takes the ruffians he catch red-hoofed and take them there, this was actually the first time he had to go to the dungeon, of all the worst times and places to explore, it had to be twisted castle dungeon, this was going to be the worst of all experiences he had so far, Luna could enter the Armory with him, but she could not enter the dungeon, both ponies entered the Armory first, most of the armors were damaged and rusted, they could not be used as weapons, but there was something to use, it was a rusted but solid steel pipe, around 1 meter long, the same long as Stormy’s pipe, but unlike the other pipe, it looked more old, and it had a sharp end, Luna picked up, to use it as weapon and replace her wooden table, she will keep it for defending though, both ponies inspected the area, and there was no metallic echo this time, it was time to split up, much to the white stallion disapproval.

“I know Luna you won’t go to the dungeons, so here is a suggestion, can you wait for me on the main Lobby?” Stormy asked the princess, staying close to the dungeons might be a bad idea.

“I will, but how will I detect the monsters?” Luna questioned, although she have a millennia of combat experience, these creatures so far have proven to be quite sneaky.

“Hmmmm here,” Stormy said as he took out his radio from the saddlebag.

“The radio?, but what abou-” Luna was going to protest but she was silenced by Stormy hoof, making a boop on the princes nose.

“You have seen it already, this thing emit static if a monster get closer, by some reason these creatures seems to hunt me specifically, so I will know when I get the creatures close” Stormy said, trying to reassure the princess.

“The fact you said that is not reassuring you know?” Luna replied, worried about the stallion

Strange or not, Stormy was one of the few alive ponies Luna has seen at the moment, but she had to agree in something, most of the monsters seems to aim to him specifically, so she can afford the extra help with the radio. The Alicorn quickly exited the Armory, seems she was really frightened of the dungeons… perhaps something happened down there?, Stormy also exited the armory and used the dungeons key to open the big metallic door.

“Welp, here goes nothing,” he said, slowly descending the metal staircase.

By the looks of things it was better to use the lantern for now, whatever it was on the dungeon, he was going need every last drop of magic he could use, as he turned the lantern on and pick it up with his mouth and continue forward he could notice the sounds of his own hooves on each metallic step, as for the place itself, it looked far more rusted than the rest of the castle, and most walls had a reddish color, some rocks were still attached to the walls.

Once he reached the cells, a nasty smell kick in, it was almost the same as the one from the kitchen dishes, but far more stronger, most of the cells had the locks destroyed and could not be opened, inside the cells, bodies of decomposing ponies tied up to the beds were visible, most of them showed several wounds, indicating torture by stabbing or electrical shocks, also, there was a old fashioned guillotine in the far left of the room, along with a whip and a butcher’s knife?, what kind of dungeon is this one?, there was one cell block however that caught Stormy Attention, it was a very big one, one out of 3 empty cells, on the wall it had a plate that reads “Maximum Security - Tyrants against Equestria - “, inside of the middle cell, rested a statue, it was a draconequus statue, it didn’t took too much of a second to recognize who was it, it had two notes attached on it.

“This is Discord, Spirit of Chaos as Disharmony, due to some problems, we had to place him in the dungeons until further notice, if you need more information, ask the princess Celestia,“ said one of the notes.

“That’s a note is from Shinning Armor, I would recognize his horn writing anywhere, so he did carried Discord over the castle dungeons meanwhile Celestia put him back on the Royal Garden, wait, holds your horses, why she keeps him here?” Stormy questioned Celestia decision; he felt a page on the statue base. “Wait, there is another page here.“

The other page, reads “Elegy of Chaos” and just by the name of the song, Stormy felt a shiver on his spine, sadly, the materials make it a page from the book of harmony, the song description says that could control other ponies or even create copies of yourself to do different task, including attacking others, but the longer the effect is used, the more the user gets corrupted, it was a double edge song and the amount of magic was huge, Stormy stored it on the book and place them on his saddlebags, there was no way he will be playing that song, at first he believed the songs were mostly helpful, he was not expecting a double edge song.

Stormy continue his searching on the dungeon for the throne room key, there was a passage that leads to another cells block, it reads “ Thieves “, but next to the word it was written “your section“ in bloody letters, Stormy swallowed a little scared and walked on the block, could somepony have been there waiting for him? Most of the cells had the doors busted, but from one, a Ceiling filly hopped on Stormy back, it had the cyan suit again, the stallion moved his body to shake the creature off, he succeeded in making the creature lose its grip on him, Stormy prepared a magic blast and hit the monster, it took 2 shots to kill it, as Stormy was drawing near the end of the hallway, he manage to see 3 cells open, one had a energy drink and what it looks like a drawing, knowing it was another one of his brother clues he examined it.

In the drawing, there were 2 sad ponies in front of a grave, he took the drawing and stored it on his notebook. The other cell contained bandages, so he could treat his wounds or Luna’s if need it, as for the final cell, there was a shiny object there, it was the key to the throne room, he finally found the key but what in Equestria was doing there?, as soon as Stormy entered the cell and placed the key on his saddlebags, a loud metallic clack was heard, like when you close a gate really strong, the stallion turned around, only to find the door to the cell locked, he tried to open it, but it was surrounded by barbed wire, he could not open it, Stormy moved the lantern to see more deeper in the cell, the was a message on a plate, it reads “Reserved for ------- The Thief of The Night“ the name of the criminal could not be read, Stormy tried to call Luna with his ocarina, but despite him playing the song, it wasn’t responding, he looked up, only to find the metallic section of the cell had magical lock symbols, the cell itself was magically enchanted to prevent magic usage, he picked up his steel pipe and place it on his back, he could not break the door with a pipe of course.

“Trapped like a rat, I never thought I will see THIS side of the dungeon“ Stormy said to himself trying to keep his spirit up “oh well, even here there must be a way out, I just going to have to find it.”

Stormy started to search the cell, there was some drawings made on the walls, they looked like the fillies, but nothing out of the ordinary, there was a hole in the wall, not big enough to escape, he tried to see in it, only a big empty space was inside, when he used the lantern to try to see more deeply, something seems to reflect the lantern light, the hole was big enough to try to reach it with his hoof, so Stormy extended it, and tried to reach a object it was there, once he got it and pulled it out, he entered in shock, it was a Posey doll

“yaaaaaaaaay,” The doll said when her belly was pressed.

“Wait, this is Mistshine doll!“ Stormy panicked, as he saw on one of the doll hooves Mistshine signature.

A metallic echo started to sound, drawing closer to him, Stormy slowly turned around, holding the doll tightly, it was kind of hard to see, but he manage to see a silhouette of a big pony that with each step it made the metal of the floor emitted a loud sound, it didn’t helped that its weapon was leaving a bloody trail, Stormy freaked out, it was the Iron Mask Pony, he didn’t had anything to defend himself besides his steel pipe, but there was no way he could move or dodge inside the narrow cell, as the silhouette raised its weapon, Stormy jumped to the rusty bed, the pony weapon broke the cell door with the wire, Stormy started to scream as the creature grabbed him, and took him out, Stormy closed his eyes, waiting for his ultimate death, but he just felt a slap in his face, as the lantern felt from his mouth, he could see the pony holding him, it was Princess Luna, much to her disappointed, to see his guard being scared to death

“Stormy, pull yourself together!” The Princess raised her voice, trying to calm the guard out.

“P-princess?!, what in the name of Equestria are you doing here?” Stormy seems confused that Luna actually had gone down to the dungeon, but relieved to see her there

“You took too long to retrieve the key that I came down here, I encounter some, unpleasant things” Luna voice sounded quiet at the last part

“You almost gave me a heart attack, I thought you were the Iron Mask Pony,” Stormy replied, sighing a little.

“Iron Mask Pony?, that’s the nickname you give to that creature?, what kind of monster it is?” Luna questioned his companion

“I don’t have a clear picture but as far as I have seen him, he is invulnerable to magic, he doesn’t feel any pain, I hit him several times with a pipe and it didn’t work, and-” Stormy remembered the pony the iron mask had killed. ”it killed the Archives receptionist.”

“And he is after you, Is it not?” Luna understood perfectly, the reason why Stormy was so afraid of facing that creature.

The two ponies returned quickly to the main lobby, on the way there, Luna looked at Discord Statue, almost as if she was making sure he wasn’t going to break free, thank Celestia he didn’t, Stormy still was trying to figure out how Luna knew that the Iron Mask Pony was following him, once Stormy and the Princess reached the second floor of the castle main lobby, they put route towards the throne room, Stormy levitated Posey doll, the little toy had the key to the throne room, that’s why it was reflecting the light when Stormy shined the lantern light on it.

Stormy used the key on the door, it opened without any problem, inside the throne room looked far worse than what Stormy found when it was daylight, for starters it was really dark, partially due to the fact that, just like the windows on the throne room reflected daylight, the stained glass here seems to absorb the darkness of the exterior. The pictures on the stained glass that told the travels of the Elements of Harmony were covered in blood, and most of them were switched, the one showing Spike victory on the Cristal Empire, was replaced by the little dragon unconscious and King Sombra with a blood-soaked Crystal Heart on his mouth, and the one with the Mane 6 Defeating Discord, was changed and it was by far the most perturbing one, it had both, Stormy and Luna in it, Luna had her battle armor while Stormy had a strange white aura or dust surrounding him, behind them was Twilight Sparkle sadden by something, that something was Discord he was floating above them while he held some puppet threads, those threads leads towards the remaining elements of harmony, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Applejack, Even Rainbow Dash, all of them were grey colored, Luna felt like she was seeing a bad dream, almost as is she has seen this scenario before

“T-that glass, it is,” Luna could not find words, she was utterly confused.

“That is would have happened to Twilight if Celestia didn’t send to her the old friendship reports,” Stormy answered, looking at the image of himself with that white dust.

“How did you know that?” Luna asked, looking at herself and her battle armor, she remembered she has not used that armor ever since she fought Sombra.

“Pinkie Pie told me, after the fight with Discord I was returning off a trip to Fillydelphia, I stopped by Sugar Cube Corner and Pinkie told me everything,” the stallion replied with an air of concern.

“So, these window states that we would end up facing Discord?” Luna looked surprised to her companion, why him of all ponies would face discord in an alternative reality?.

“Eeyup, and it seems that we would had to face the other girls as well,“ Stormy said, relieved that it didn’t happen that scenario, but still looking at the glass. “But what’s up with that dust around me?”

“That’s moondust magic.” Luna said with knowledge, making a ball out of air, this ball was made out of a shiny magic that looked like tiny stars. “Is a magic that only ponies that were born under a full moon can actually perform, however, even with that, actually using it is almost impossible, because although the magic is available for the pony to use, they must have survive the magic surge as babies.”

“Then does that means that in that picture I…” Stormy was quick into catching up what Luna was explaining.

“I’m afraid so, maybe that explains why you can perform the ancient songs,” Luna replied with integrity, as she picked Stormy Book of Ancient Songs and levitated it around her and opened it, aiming at the stallion.

“Princes, what are you doing?” he nervously asked, but slowly pulling out his pipe.

“Just checking my theory, please forgive me,” Luna said as she opened the page in the Elegy of Chaos.

Stormy was not liking where this was heading, Luna started to sing as her voice mimicked the notes of the song Elegy of Chaos, however, the effect was not aimed at Luna, it was aimed at Stormy himself, he could feel how his limbs were going numb, why the princess was doing this?, was he correct in the assumption this Luna was a monster disguised as her?, all he could make out before passing out was the word “test”, over and over and over again as he faded into a deep sleep.

When he came up though, Luna was not present; Stormy quickly jumped and checked on his saddlebags, the book was there, by some reason he could feel a lack of something, he made sure nothing was missing, even his ocarina was there, what happened?, did the Elegy of Chaos just cause blackouts?, that’s not what the song said.

“Hello?, Luna?, Anypony?” Stormy said to the emptiness, but nothing replied.

He checked his surroundings, he was in the throne room, it looked exactly the same as it did before he lost consciousness, but something was off, the stained glass windows, the one that depicted Stormy using the moondust magic was blacken out, the “moondust” was a black and red fog surrounding him, chocking him out, Stormy by instinct fired up a magical blast, just for the stained glass figure to reject it with a bubble shield. Stormy started to suffer a headache as a creature was coming out of the window.

“AAAAAAAH!!!” he yelled as hard as he could.

The creature coming out of the mirror was none other than him, the coat colors were darkened though, and his cutie mark remained the same, and was wearing the same items as him, a doppelganger in every sense of the word, the only thing different was it’s red eyes, almost demonic, indication who was the copy, the creature took out his pipe to smack Stormy with it, Stormy despite the pain blocked with his pipe and stepped back.

“Oh, and here I though this was going to be easy,” the copy said, taunting the stallion.

“Shut up!, you are not me!, you are just an mistake, Luna made you,” Stormy retaliated, trying to taunt back the creature.

“True in a way, perhaps she was tired of having to deal with your whining,” the copy laughed

“W-wha?” Stormy stood cold, he had felt for the taunt.

“Oh come on, you, your constant cries and the freak out you had at the dungeons, is clear she do not longer want you as her teammate, she wants someone faaaaar more stronger!, and that’s me!, the best version of you!” The copy smiled sickly as he used a chocking spell.

Stormy ended up finding the hard way that the copy had similar moves with him, but some of them were his own, starting with the chocking spell, that is a forbidden spell, he remember seeing the name on the archives, he admitted he was tented to learn it so he could suffocate the creatures to death, but he contained himself, but it seems this copy did learn it. The chocking spell forms a bubble on the pony head and takes away all the air, Stormy could not see much due to the red magical aura of his foe, he felt like if he was back into his nightmares, drowning in the pools of blood, he tried to swim, but to no avail, and much to his doppelganger pleasure.

“Squirm you coward! If you are really a guard of Canterlot, you have to be the most coward pony in the kingdom if you have this fear in you” the copy yelled with its echoed voice.

“MMPSHR!!” Stormy was yelling, but the lack of air silenced his screams.

Stormy only had one choice, he used his brother doll, if the copy is anything like him, hearing that familiar toy might stop him, enough to disrupt it’s focus and free himself, he pulled the doll out and pressed its belly.

“Yaaaaaay” the sound came from the Posey doll

“w-wha?” the copy looked at the doll and stopped a sec.

It was his chance, with the focus of the stallion broken, Stormy used his steel pipe and threw it towards the creature head, managing to hit it, this cut the spell short and allowed him to not only recover his breath, but also, reply to the creature with a magical blast.

“You think you are the best version?, ha, you are just a copy, and when I end you I,” Stormy stopped, he was feeling a blood lust, he could recognize it because, just like in his initials nightmares, he was pressing his teeth hard, smiling sickly.

“I can feel it, hehe, you want to kill me, then kill Luna for doing this, smack her head against the walls, come on, feel it more,” The copy stallion said, recovering fast.

Seems the doll saved him for a moment, but he would not be able to use it, the copy casted a fire spell that burned the doll out of Stormy´s hooves, a fire spell?, but that is elemental magic!, arcane magic, he could not be able to execute a fire spell, Stormy and the copy attacked at the same time, each one using it’s own weapon, Stormy pipe swings clashed against the one of the copy, every spell Stormy tried, the copy did the same and returned it, however, each successful hit made the copy back out, like disappearing, just to reappear behind the stallion and attempt to buck him, the more Stormy doubted himself, the more control the copy had, but the more Stormy damaged it, the more darker the copy becomes.

“You are starting to look like an Armored Shadow,” Stormy attempted to taunt the doppelganger.

“Those names aren’t creative you know?, You will never win Luna’s sympathy with that” the copy taunted back.

Stormy blushed a moment, but this provided the copy with enough space to attack and hit stormy face pretty hard with the pipe, Stormy started to grow impatient and on purpose dropped his guard, the copy felt for this and attacked with his horn, successfully stabbing Stormy torso, Stormy despite his injury tighten up his muscles to trap the creature, risking that the copy might use a blast to free himself, Stormy decided to attack and hit it several times in its head with the pipe, the creature was fully dark now, but retaining Stormy silhouette.

“Aaah, finally got you,” Stormy said triumphant.

“Grroos,” the copy yelled, but smiling.

A heat was coming from the copy’s horn, it was preparing a fire spell to burn stormy from the inside, he quickly relaxed his muscles and backed out, he was running out of magic, so he decided it would be best if he sleep it, he pulled his ocarina out and played the Princess Lullaby, whatever Luna casted on him it will go away if she falls asleep right?, well, as good as the idea was, the song did nothing, in fact, the ocarina didn’t sound, Stormy looked down, there was a sticky black stuff on the holes, preventing the notes to come out.

“Welcome to a taste of moondust magic for you,” said the copy, as he lifted his horn, the magical aura now changed to a black aura.

Stormy sadly was not prepared for this, the sticky black substance glued to his face and started to envelop him, was this what the moondust magic is about?, wasn’t that magic supposed to be white?, Stormy tried to free himself, but his horn got covered as well, canceling any incoming magic, leaving him glued to the ground, the copy with a sick smile started to beat with his pipe an immobile Stormy.

Stormy could not do anything, he could feel how each blow hurt a lot, how the cold steel broke some of his ribs, his hooves, even his lower back, Stormy was quickly loosing conscious again, he was bleeding a lot from his mouth, but the sticky black stuff seems to absorb it, Stormy never felt this afraid in his life, each hit just seems to power up one thought, “I’m going to die”.

“Heh, you finally gave up, don’t worry, I will make sure to give Luna your regards, after all, if you have a crush on her, might as well state it.” The copy said, aiming at Stormy neck. “only… you are not the one that will be talking to her.”

Stormy felt a hard blow on his neck, this was enough to send him to the floor, unconscious, but not happy with it, the copy started to tease Stormy body, as if he was searching for any place he haven’t hit yet. Deep within Stormy mind however, some voices seems to keep the stallion mind from falling down, Stormy himself couldn’t make most of it, but when he tried to pay a little bit of attention, they became clear, one was a mare voice, but not just any mare, it was his big sis, Sunnybreeze.

“S-sister,” Stormy tried to move, his body had problems responding.

“You know bro, when you were born, there was a beautiful full moon on the sky” Said the big mare “ and you giggle very cutely when dad showed you the moon”

“For real?, does that mean I can became a Luna Knight?” Said a little colt voice, his own voice.

“Yes brother, you will, you maybe even met Luna, that is if she is still the Princess,” Sunnybreeze said to the younger stormy, recalling Nightmare Moon old tale.

“She is still the princess!, and I will become her knight!” said the little white colt very enthusiastic.

“I….I remember now. Thank you big sis, you were always watching over me right?” Stormy said to himself, smiling. Luna herself said that only unicorns born during full moon are capable of using the moondust magic, if there was a moment to make that magic wake up is has to be now, otherwise that copy will walk around as him, he focused, and focused on the main reason he decided to became a lunar knight.

He student diligently day and night to be able to get close to the princess, he had a crush on her, it was easy for Noirstar to notice it per example, after all, he is a changeling and crushing on somepony give a lot of love energy, another memory came into mind as he was focusing to bring the moondust magic out, the more he focused, the more one question seems resist and remain in his head, which was “Would you forgive Luna for this betrayal?”.

The stallion though very carefully, didn’t he doubted about the princess the first time he used the Winds of Friendship song?, he pressed his teeth and tried to step up, his horn seems to start to fuel with his inner desires, with his soul, he knew that in his heart, he would still forgive her. At that very moment, a new happy memory seems to fuel him up, this one was about his friend, Noirstar, when Stormy found out he was hungry, perhaps, very deep down he felt he was a changeling, and yet, Stormy sat next to him, shared some laughs and even trained together, he still consider him a friend. All those positive thoughts were more than enough to unlock his own moondust; the white magical aura surrounded his horn, forming the same ball Luna made previously.

“Wait, is that?” the copy said, as he saw how the moondust magic exit the black puddle.

“Ready for a rematch?” Stormy said, as despite all his injuries, he managed to get his head out of the black puddle.

The copy attacked with his pipe, Stormy only have one shot, he closed his eyes and surrounded himself with the magical aura, as soon as the creature jumped, he unleashed his magical bubble shield, but the moondust filled the bubble with a defensive spikes, successfully impaling his doppelganger, the bubble shield was more than enough to remove the remains of the black surge.

“Grraaaah!!” the copy yelled in pain.

“I will never use this song unless is in extreme dire situations, now, disappear!” Stormy yelled, as he increased the power of the moondust magic and made the creature be wrapped up in a sack.

Giving the creature a taste of his own medicine, Stormy wrapped the creature in his own variant of the black surge, causing the creature to suffocate, the siren went off in the distance, as the world seems to change, Stormy could see how everything was getting restored and the light was returning to the throne room, perhaps not as quickly as somepony would expect, he could see a speechless but teary eyed Luna at the side of the room, she had seen everything during the fight, and worse, heard everything, including the crush thing, he smiled kindly to the princess before fainting from his injuries, his expression pretty much said it all, he forgave her.

“No!, please, for the love of Equestria!, open your eyes!” Those were Luna’s words, a plea to Stormy to wake up.

The Princess ran towards Stormy and moved him several times to try to get him to wake up, dropping the book next to him, sadly nothing was working and everything around them was loosing its twisted version and it was returning to the “ normal “ version of the castle, but Stormy was just laying there, fainted, Luna was starting to cry, why she had to use that song?, why she had to be so distrustful?, she could almost hear Nightmare Moon voice mocking her in her mind as a side effect from using it, and yet, she cannot avoid feeling guilty, after all, Luna have the skill to see other ponies dreams, and Stormy ones were no exception, she knew what Stormy tried to say to her during training sessions, as she remember seeing the dreams of a young colt when she was still exiled on the moon, during her exile, those dreams were her only way to see Equestria, and to still keep hope that when she returns back to normal, no pony will fear her, on those dreams, the young colt always was near her when she was needed him, she took interest on this and every week or so, she saw Stormy dreams, how she could be so blind?, each of Stormy dreams were not filled for desires for him only, like rule the word, or being super powerful like most ponies in Equestria, instead they were filled with the best of wishes for her, trying to convince that she was still loved in Equestria, even though she was still Nightmare Moon, she still had somepony that truly believed in the goodness of her heart, and she betrayed him and almost got him killed.

“Please!, don’t die!, don’t leave me alone!, I don’t want to be alone again! I’m Sorry!, please wake up!“ Luna yelled, desperate.

“He won’t wake up” a familiar voice to her whispered to her ear. “You did this, just like 1000 years ago”

Behind Luna, her own shadow manifested, the side effect of using the Elegy of Chaos finally started to kick in, showing that even an alicorn was not above the consequences of their actions, Luna little “test” caused her own shadow to manifest in what she fears the most, although it was just a puff of smoke, she could clearly see her dark cornflower blue coat color, her laugh was impossible to miss as she wrapped around the princess, trying to take over again, the princess reacted and tried to fly, but her previous wound prevented it.

“You were never above the consequences dear princess,” the dark mare voice resonated within Luna’s mind.

The princess quickly felt how her strength was leaving her, until she blacked out as the black smoke engulf her completely, the ancient songs book rested right next to Stormy ocarina, however, nopony can’t use them to wake them from their own mistakes, as both ponies remained unconscious on the floor of the throne room, a very distant faint laugh came from Luna’s mouth.

Author's Notes:

Sorry for the delay guys, work again getting in the way

i will try to be more active