"Stitch by stitch, stitching it together," Rarity sang under her breath as cloth and needles spun around her, but soon the words faded as she stepped back and looked at the gown critically. "No, no, no, this just will not do. Emerald? Whatever was I thinking?"

The jewels were quickly removed and sapphires where held up in their place. "Better, but not quite... Ah ha! Baby blue sapphires, of course! Rar- Moonlight my dear you are a genius." Once the gems were in place, she stood back once more and gazed at her work.

"It is... presentable..." A frown creased her brow. "But presentable is not good enough!" Her hoof stomp echoed around the room. "I strive for perfection, anything short of that is not worthy to passing through the front doors of this fine establishment. Anything short of that is not worthy to be sold. Anything short of that is a monstrosity in my eyes!"

Taking a shaky breath, the light blue unicorn glanced over at the clock and sighed. Five hours. Five hours she had been working on this dress and while it was a fabulous dress, it wasn't enough. The worst part was she was barely breaking even. Being a new comer with little money, her store was located closer to the mid class district than the upper class would traverse and without a name it was difficult attracting customers. She needed to start bringing in money and she needed to do it soon.

"Perhaps a break will help..." Rubbing her poor abused eyes, Rarity made her way towards the back where the crammed kitchen-slash-dining room-slash-lounge was located. Magically heating up some water, she was just about to start brewing some tea when the front door opened.

Taking a deep breath, Rarity fixed her most welcoming smile on her face before calling out in her most welcoming sing-song voice, "Coooooming!"

"Is this Lady Moonlight's store?" The mare in the doorway had a dark grey mane that was kept to the upmost perfection – silky smooth and shimmered lightly even in the artificial light. Her fur was a lighter shade of grey and much like her mane, it was obviously kept in perfect condition. Most striking was the pink bowtie she wore and the cello case on her back. Both had seen better days and were obviously well loved.

"It is indeed Lady Octavia, how may I be of service today?" Rarity added a small bow for good measure. It took all her willpower to not squeal in delight at the prospect of having the Octavia in her store and potentially wearing one of her dresses to a concert.

"Octavia please." The grey mare let her eyes wander over the dress that Rarity had just been working on. "I desire a plain dress to wear to a charity concert I will be playing at in three days time. My friend told me are you are rather ingenious with your designs and that your work is equal to that of the more expensive shops."

"You flatter me. I am a merely seamstress wishing to make a name for herself. Nothing more." A flush appeared, but Rarity hid it well behind a hoof before gesturing at the elevated platform in the middle of the room. "If you could be so kind I will get some measurements and sketch up a concept for you to look at."

Leaving her cello leaning against the wall, Octavia stood as directed and within the minute all the measurements were done. "Please stand up as you do when playing." Once more measurements were taken with a precision and speed that would have left most jealous. "Thank you Octavia, now would you mind answering some questions? They relate to the event so I can better tailor your clothes to fit the occasion."

"Of course Lady Moonlight."

"Please, Moonlight will do. Is the event a formal, formal-informal, informal-formal or informal?"

"The actual playing will be outside so on the informal side, though I suspect I will be expected to mingle with the upper class at the after party where potential donators will be conversing."

"Hm... I see... I assume you will desire something low key as to not distract away from the actual charity and so that it does not seem as though you are rich. At the same time you will want it to be practical, but still fit in the higher tiers of society. Will you be travelling on two or four legs for the majority of the event?"

"Two legs when playing otherwise four. It is unlikely I will have the privacy or time to change outfits in between."

Rarity smiled grimly as she mauled over her thoughts. "You have provided me quite the conundrum Octavia." Picking up a pencil, she began drawing with bold strokes. "We will want to keep your feminine curves and your bowtie is practically as much a part of you as your cutie mark when it comes to your public image. Long skirts are very much in this season, but to have one covering the front when standing up provides a couple of challenges."

The unicorn suddenly gasped. "Ideeeeaaaa!" The concept art was scrunched up and tossed off to the side and she started again, drawing with such a mad frenzy that Octavia glanced at the door nervously.

Finishing off the first draft, Rarity critically evaluated the drawing. The top was a simple vest with zip (purely for aesthetic reasons rather than actual use) and was adorned with three small gems on the bottom right hand side. The bottom was a tad more complex. While on all fours the skirt would drape down and over much like any other dress, but while standing up it would flow down just off the ground and underneath it would be a pair of shorts. A tad on the uncouth side she had admit, but with the way the dress would flow behind her in the wind, it would still look gorgeous.

Passing the drawing over to Octavia, Rarity watched her expression from the corner of her eye as she set about cleaning up the table. First came surprise then curiosity before finally settling down on intrigue. But Rarity already knew Octavia would commission the dress from her, it was in the way her mouth curled up slightly in the corner and the way she scrutinized it far longer than necessary if it was to be rejected.

"The design is most interesting. I do not believe I have seen anything like it before." Octavia smiled and nodded her head. "I will pay two hundred bits now and another two hundred at completion."

The unicorn's jaw dropped. That was more money than she had ever been paid. More than what she had earned in a week even back when she was in Ponyville. And that wasn't even considering the amount of fame and talk it would bring to her humble little shop.

"Very well Octavia. Please come back tomorrow in the afternoon and the garment shall be ready for you to try on."

Rarity barely heard the door close as fabrics began swirling around her in a mass of color and sharp needles. It was an organized frenzy, she knew exactly where each piece of fabric went, their exact color, their exact material. She could see it in superimposed on the mannequin she was using. It felt like some invisible hoof was guiding her movements and whispering tender words of encouragement in her ear. Nothing else existed.

"Halt!"

That single yell snapped Rarity out of the zone and her anger flared. Walking over to the door, she flung it open with all her magical might and stepped out mouth half open in a yell, but the words died on the lips. It was night. When did that happen?

Rubbing her eyes, she took in the scene in front of her. There was a pony facing the wall, spray can held magically in mid air with a picture of Celestia's cutie mark on the wall and behind the unicorn was a guard pony. They were located in an alley off to the side, with rubbish bins littered on the street, no other ponies were about and the only source of artificial light was from her house. Stepping back inside, Rarity closed the door and peaked through the gap in the window blinds. Without a second thought, she grabbed the lid off a nearby trash can and flung it at the guardspony causing him to stumble forward slightly. But that was enough for the unicorn to buck with enough force to send the poor guard onto the ground in a heap.

Once the vandal was out of sight, Rarity rushed forward and knelt down by the guard, shaking him urgently. "Sir! Sir! Are you alright? What happened?" Rarity put on her most worried expression. "To think how far Equestia has fallen for such a noble guard such as yourself to be assaulted in the middle of the street."

Helping the pony onto his feet, Rarity guided him into her home, but the guard quickly shook her off and stood up wobbly. "Thank you for your help ma'am, but did you see which way the criminal went or who helped him?"

Rarity shook her head and channeled her inner Fluttershy to give the armored pegasus a shy smile while hiding half her face behind her mane. "No sir... I'm... I'm terribly sorry."

The pony hesitated, but at the sight of the cute, shy unicorn in front of him, he simply nodded his head in understanding. "I understand ma'am and thank you for your help. If you ever need anything or run into trouble ask for Icebreaker and I shall come to your aid." With an elaborate (but not unsightly or mocking) bow, the pegasus walked over to the half finished graffiti and sighed before trotting off.

Rarity suppressed the urge to run into her house and instead walked in a slow and graceful manner and gently shut the door behind her before letting a face splitting grin appear. Not only had she managed to make a large sum of money and almost finished Octavia's dress, she had also managed to get on the good side of a guard. And then there was the matter of that hooded unicorn. A bit of probing, some eyelash fluttering and she was sure she could find out everything the guard ponies knew about the group and potentially set up a meeting with the faction as well. Or at least get a note to them somehow.

And most importantly, she was out of that horrid cave in the Everfree.

"Luna!" My voice floated into the endless void and was swallowed up whole.

"Welcome Twilight Sparkle." The midnight blue alicorn strolled up beside me and laid down. "We have been expecting you. Would it be wrong of us to assume you wish to know about the Nightmare?"

"Well... er..." I smiled sheepishly and nodded. "Yes actually. And, er, sorry for yelling so loudly before."

She waved my apology away with a hoof. "It matters not. You want to know if what the Nightmare said was true." Luna tossed me an enigmatic smile. "Even though you distrust everything I say."

My hoof slammed into the ground. "Just tell me if what she said was true or not!"

"Why do you need my verification? Do you not know Celestia well enough to trust your own judgments?"

A growl escaped and I lowered myself down into an offensive casting stance. "Tell. Me."

"We can see why the Nightmare enjoys riling you up so much. You get the cutest facial expressions when annoyed or angry. Now sit, sit. Please, the tale is a long one, going back to the birth of the alicorns. Has Celly told you story to you? No? We are not surprised. It is an old tale and one that begs more questions than it answers."

"Shouldn't it be in books though?" Tapping the side of my muzzle with my hoof, my head tilted ever so slightly to the side as I thought about it. "I didn't notice it before, but it is weird that I've never read it in any books. Celestia always commented that we don't remember our own birth, so why should she remember hers..."

"That excuse is still working?" Laughter filled the air. "Oh dear, we never expected it to last so long. Well Twilight Sparkle, do you wish to know the truth?" At my flat look she grinned. "We shall take that as a 'yes' then."

Settling down, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "Let us ask you this Twilight Sparkle, have you ever wondered why ponies say, "Gaia have mercy"?"

"Tradition?"

"Another question then, do you wonder why the number three is considered lucky? Or why there are three types of ponies? Do you know why ever pony is taught the translation of Solar, Luna and Terra despite it being old Equestrian? Even the land, sea and sky are a triplet. Everywhere you look, the number three is present. It permeates through the very fabric of Equestrian society on every single level."

My mouth was suddenly dry and as much as I wanted to bolt from the dreamscape, my hooves were rooted in place as my curiosity reared its ugly head. There she sat, totally calm while implying there was a third alicorn. A third princess. The mere thought sent a shudder through my body. The mere thought lit a fire in my mind as it raced through all the books I had read, trying to see if there was something I had overlooked that hinted at such a thing.

When Luna next spoke, her voice was tingled with sadness. "She was the first alicorn, our oldest sister. Created on the first day, she bought life into a desolate land and cared for them as a mother cares for her babe. We three sisters were given the task to rule over the land fairly and wisely. Gaia was to nurture the body and guide their souls to rest. Celestia was to guide them and be the shield that would protect all. And I was to nurture their soul and act as the sword. For the first one thousand years we were not rulers for we lacked the experience. It was a an age filled with mistakes and disharmony as we struggled with our duties.

"For the next three hundred and sixty four years we watched over our ponies in secret. You see Twilight Sparkle, we are not born as you ponies are, we came into this world fully formed and adult. As a result, we needed to learn the finer points of emotions and being a pony. And then disaster struck. It was the first time we experienced a tsunami on such a magnitude. So many of our little ponies died and afterwards we had to deal with famine and disease as waterways became contaminated. We asked and pleaded with Gaia, we wanted to know why such a disaster occurred when she controlled the weather, sea and land. Do you know what she told us? She said, "Nature must take its course. The same way a pony must die, so these disasters must take place. It is the natural order of all things.""

Luna threw back her head and gave a bark of laughter that was too similar to Nightmare Moon's for my liking. "We didn't question her. The earth was her domain. And then a hundred years later a drought came. A ten year drought that killed more than half our pony population. We pleaded with our sister to give our ponies some rain. A bit. A cup. Anything. She told us it wasn't right – that the natural order had to be preserved. Again and again it happened. Each and every single time thousands would die when she held the power to prevent it. That lead too many fights and more than once things came close to blows.

"It was only natural for Celly and I to being talking behind her back. Our ponies were suffering and we wanted to help so much. And then things exploded. I remember the exact day, the exact weather, the exact moment it happened too. When I close my eyes, I can see it with absolute clarity. Celly and I were in the throne room, talking about the latest cyclone and venting when Gaia walked in. She accused us of being traitors, of wanting power for ourselves, of wanting to kill her. No matter what we said it would not dissuade her from her attacks. In the past we never used lethal spells against each other, but that night war spells were being flung around without a second thought. She even pulled Discord into the world, but that is another story. She meant to kill us and we responded in kind."

"You killed her?" I suddenly collapsed onto the ground.

"No. We subdued her. There was an insanity in her eyes that we had not seen before. It was a parasite feeding off her disharmony and twisting her thoughts... or rather, that is what we thought. We figured that if we could cut away that aspect then things we return to normal. What we did not realize though, was that the disharmony was a part of her. She let it into her heart and let it twist her. Every pony is capable of evil it seems, even an alicorn."

She took a shaky breath and to my surprise there were tears rolling down her cheeks. "So we cut away the disharmony and in doing so we split up into three aspects – disharmony, harmony and the mortal vessel."

"The Nightmare, the Elements of Harmony and a mortal pony," I whispered, eyes wide with shock.

The Princess of the Night nodded her head sadly. "Exactly. The darkness faded during the split so we thought it was destroyed. The Elements endured. The pony died and we hoped that ponies were reincarnated at death so we could see her again, but if she was, we never found her. Every one hundred years we would search, but nothing ever turned up. Then on that night one thousand years ago, I heard a voice speak to me. It was Gaia. She spoke to me and whispered in my ear. What the Nightmare told you was true. Celestia was not a great ruler, but she wasn't that bad. The parties, the pranks, the jokes – she knew when to throw them and how to throw them. Though occasionally it would get in the way of her royal duties or make a volatile situation worse, but those occasions were few and far in between.

"The Nightmare twisted the jealousy we felt towards Celly and convinced us she was gathering public support so that she could overthrow us. An outright battle between the two of us though would have destroyed Canterlot so the Nightmare convinced us to let her in. With the power of two alicorns we would win quickly and efficiently. Of course, letting her in turned me into Nightmare Moon and here we are."

I sat there, eyes wide with a stunned expression plastered over my face. That story was insane. Completely and utterly insane. That... that... that alicorn wanted me to believe there was a third princess that Celestia had split into three fragments one of which was the Nightmare and the other which were the Elements. Nothing in any of the books I had read alluded to such a fact. Not a single paragraph or line or word or even a subtle hint. There was absolutely nothing backing up her claims.

Worst of all, I believed it.

That one single simple fact meant one thing and one thing only. I was officially insane. After all, I was believing an impossible story told to me by an alicorn that may have been created by my enemy. Okay, I wasn't insane, I was downright stupid. Twilight Sparkle, protégé of Princess Celestia, is now officially the dumbest pony to have ever lived.

"So is it even possible to destroy the Nightmare?" I probed.

She opened her mouth to speak only to pause for a second and close her muzzle. Licking her lips, she eventually replied, "We do not know. The Elements will definitely have an effect if it hits, but whether that's the two parts destroying each other or not is another matter. If the Vessel still existed then maybe we could try drawing all three parts together, but we do not know if ponies are reincarnated or not upon death. But from our knowledge of the Elements, they should purge the Nightmare from our body."

"If we can get her to stand still for long enough and if we can get enough power," I muttered under my breath.

"There will always be complications," said Luna. "But does our answer satisfy your curiosity?"

Looking up at the sun, a small sigh escaped. "If I manage to save you and get us out of this mess, I want to hear the full story sometime. It answers my questions, but even more have cropped up as a result, but that's nothing new."

To my surprise, Luna's laugh was oddly youthful as though she poured her entire body into it. It was the same type of laugh Pinkie gave. A type of mirth I had never heard from Celestia in all my years as her student. Soon I was joining in and in those brief seconds where joy ruled my entire being, I forgot about Nightmare Moon. I forgot about the torture, the eternal night and even the fact that Celestia was nowhere to be found.

"Maybe... just maybe once this was all over, we could be friends?"

The laughter suddenly stopped and the Princess gazed over at me with an inscrutable expression. She spoke in a voice so soft, I thought it was the wind.

"That would be... nice."