Dreams of the Damned

Chapter 3

Celestia,

Don't worry about me. I’ll hopefully be back within two days if everything goes to plan. I’ve taken a squad of guards with me, so i'll be fine. Sorry, I can't tell you where i’m going, as this is something I needed to do myself. If i'm not back within two days another letter will appear on my bed detailing my location.

Your sister,

Luna

“In this solemn field of silence

I can barely feel the pain

Blind and deaf to all the violence

And I’ve always felt this way.”

She had failed. The assault has failed. They had known they were coming. But how? Her head pounded. The moments ever since the assault had started had all been a blur. She shook her head to clear her thoughts, but ended up just getting hit with the butt of a rifle again. She struggled for a moment, but just ended up exhausting herself. Whoever was singing in the slightly demonic high-pitched voice that seemed to come from everywhere wasn't helping any.

“On the wind the smell of misery

Fear and death perfume the air

It begins again in mystery

And I always end up there.”

“Always unsuspecting

So easy to lure them away from

All the angels within.”

Seriously, who was singing? Where even was she? Last she remembered they were about to launch an assault on the secret compound she had found in the woods. She remembered things going wrong, and then…

Ah, they must have captured her. That was it, she remembered now. That explained why she was being dragged down a flight of stairs instead of walking down them like a normal pony would.

“I am running

From something I’m becoming

Unstoppable

And I’m coming from the something that I’m

Running from

Becoming one

Always running

Like something might be coming

To follow me

And I’m running from the something that I’m coming from

Becoming one.”

She tried to cast a simple spell, just to test out her magic, and found that something was blocking it. She could feel it spewing up inside her, but she just couldn’t release it. They finally stopped carrying her down the stairs, and when she looked up, although her vision was blurry, she could just make out the entrance to the prison.

The large steel doors of Containment filled her blurry vision, and as they got closer her stomach filled with dread. There were two white uniformed guards, one a griffon and the other a pony, standing next to the door, and one of her escorts handed the griffon a piece of paper. The Griffon scanned it, and then glanced up at her.

“That her? You sure she’s still alive after the White treatment?”

“I am

Letting go of all I know...”

“Oh, trust me, she’s still alive. Was struggling all the way here.” The guard who had handed her the paper said, taking the paper back.

“From this buried well of consciousness

I can barely hear the rain

Everyone becomes anonymous

All their faces seem the same.”

“Just checking.” The Griffon said, stepping backwards and pulling open a hatch in the wall, revealing a red lever. “You know what the White treatment does to you. Don’t want another corpse down here for them to play with.”

Another?

The second guard chuckled. “Well, if she is alive, how much longer do you think she will be?”

“Always unrelenting

Descending into our own nightmare

From this twisted fantasy.”

“Falling far away from

The Beauty of Annihilation

Do the faceless face fear?”

“Depending on who finds her first, I’d say anywhere between two minutes and four very painful days.” The griffin grinned, looking right at Luna when she said it. Luna shuddered. The guard pulled the lever, and a loud alarm began blaring as the doors slowly opened.

“Take off that muzzle, I want to hear her screams.”

Luna gave a soft cry as the pressure around her mouth gave way and she was pushed forward, into the prison. She turned back toward the open door, only to stop when the barrels of four guns were pointed at her. “In you go, Princess.”  One of the guards said, grinning evilly. Their laughs could be heard over the alarm as the door closed, submerging her in darkness. The singing continued as she was grabbed by another guard and led down a hall, the music slowly getting louder.

“I am running

From something I’m becoming

Unstoppable

And I’m coming from the something that I’m

Running from

Becoming one

Always running

Like something might be coming

To follow me

And I’m running from the something that I’m coming from

Becoming one.”

“I’ve become

Something they all run from

I want you to be gone

But I know you’ve just begun

Why am I numb

To everything I have done?

There’s no going back for me

Becoming has taken its toll on me.”

The strangest thing was that the pony alongside her didn't seem the hear the music, and if he did, he did not react to it. It seemed to echo from everywhere, but as they continued moving, it became louder. Luna became more afraid every second. Who knew what kind of horrifying creatures they had down here?

Suddenly, it was silent. No, not silent, just very quiet. Luna had to listen very hard to hear the chorus repeat itself.

“I am running

From something I’m becoming

Unstoppable

And I’m coming from the something that I’m

Running from

Becoming one

Always running

Like something might be coming

To follow me

And I’m running from the something that I’m coming from

Becoming one.”

“I am running

From something I’m becoming

Unstoppable

And I’m coming from the something that I’m

Running from

Becoming one

Always running

Like something might be coming

To follow me

And I’m running from the something that I’m coming from

Becoming one.”

Then the singing picked up again, although not as loud as before.

“I am running from the other one

And the other ones

I’m running from

And becoming one means I’m running from

All I am…”

Finally, it stopped, and so did they.

There was the distinct sound of a rusty metal door opening, and she was tossed inside a cell, before the door was closed and locked. She groaned. Today was just not her day.  

She looked around her. Yep, still the same old dusty, moldy, rotten, wet, pretty much everything horrible you could think of cell she remembered from a week ago. She sighed, and lay down on the floor. How was she going to get out of this? She had no magic, she was stuck under tons and tons of rock, and while she had left a note to Celestia, it wouldn’t appear for another two days, and who was to say that they wouldn’t capture her as well? It was hopeless.

"I was never one to give up so easily.”

“Out of all the empty cells in this entire place, I had to be put next to you. You would think they did it on purpose.”

The sound of chuckling echoed. “Well, if you can imagine it, there aren't many empty cells in this place. The few there were available were filled up by your soldiers.”

“Please, just go away for right now, my head hurts and I can’t think straight, I think I may have been tortured, so I need time to regain all my senses.”

“Oh, they must have used the White treatment on you. I understand, that things a bitch. I’ll leave you alone.”

She opened her eyes, and turned her head toward the cell cell across the hall, where she could see Vessel standing there, watching her. Nightmare seemed more… casual, than last time. She wasn’t speaking like, well, Nightmare Moon would, and more like a normal pony would, namely, herself. Finally, she chuckled, despite herself and the situation.

“What's so funny?”

“I never knew I had such a horrible singing voice.”

There was a few moments of silence, before the voice of Nightmare burst into laughter. Not terrifying, evil laughter, but real laughter. “That was just for atmospheric effect! Although being stuck in the moon for a thousand years and then coming back for, like, an hour, and then being sent into a horrible dungeon would cause anyone’s singing ability to go down.”

“Man, this is all so weird.” Luna said, rolling onto her back.

“Having a friendly conversation with your disembodied evil alter-ego?”

“Yes, and the fact that we're talking about singing. Like, really singing? That's like Pinkie Pie level of randomness to be talking to a evil version of myself about.”

There was a quick moment of silence. “Pinkie Pie, the pink, happy, jumpy one?”

“Oh, right, I guess you wouldn't know the Elements of Harmony besides the few moments you spent with them before they blasted you into oblivion. Yes, Pinkie’s the pink, jumpy, happy, random one, like you said.”

“And then there were Rarity, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Twilight Sparkle…” Nightmare said, listing off the remaining Elements of Harmony. Luna nodded affirmative.

“What… what are they like? The Elements of Harmony, I mean?”

“Well, first, there is Rarity, who is a fashion designer, and…” She trailed off.

“Yea?” Nightmare asked.

There was silence before she inhaled sharply. “Nightmare, I believe the drugs they gave me have just worn off, and I am now in extreme pain. I’m going to pass out now.”

Nightmare didn’t even have the time to respond before Luna slumped to the ground. She just blinked. “Well, that happened.”

Luna groaned and sat up. “Ugh, my head really hurts…”

She looked over at the cell across the hall, where Vessel could be seen asleep against a wall. However, the pony who shared her body was not.

“So, I suppose you're going to want answers now.” Nightmare said, standing next to her.

Luna groaned and sat up. “Ugh, hold on, I haven't had my morning coffee yet.” She clapped her hooves together. “Servant, bring me my coffee! If you can believe it, i'm not exactly a morning person.”

Nightmare just rolled her eyes. “Hardy har har. And you don't even like coffee.”

“You're right, I don't. I guess you of all ponies would know that. Oh, speaking of which, first question; what do you remember? Like, do you have all my memories, or just the ones from when you were Nightmare Moon?”

“When we were Nightmare Moon.” She corrected her. “And… yes. I retained all of your memories when I got expelled from your body. Including… Sombra.”

Luna hung her head. “Yes… I figured as much. Ok, second question; you said you retained all my memories when you were expelled, meaning that after you were expelled you would have thought that you were Luna, because your memories told you you were. How did you figure out that you were Nightmare and not Luna?”

“Well, as I said, I did retain all your memories, but it took awhile for them to come back. The first thing I remember is floating over the Everfree forest, not knowing who or where I was. I floated into Ponyville, and that's when the memories started returning. But it was when I floated up into Canterlot that I finally figured it out, because I saw myself, meaning you, and that's when I figured it out. I must say, it's very distressing to see yourself in the third person.”

“So how did you end up here?” Luna asked.

“It was about two, maybe three weeks after I figured it out. I was flying above the woods when my body started to get pulled in a direction, and I basically ended up here, trapped inside a pony who is a prisoner inside some horrible dungeon with demented freaks wanting to take over the world. They managed to summon me with some kind of machine, and they sealed me inside Vessel here so I couldn’t escape. They performed some experiments on me at first, but then I guess they forgot about me and left us down here to rot.”

“So, what do you know about the guys who captured us? They seem very well funded, but they obviously don't work for Equestria, and they have technology that years ahead of Equestria.”

Nightmare shook her head. “Being trapped down here, I don’t have much information, but I do know that the group who runs this place is called The Horizon Pact, or simply the Pact for short. I don’t know who funds them.”

“Well, so much for finding out information.” Luna leaned against a wall, but then looked at Nightmare. “I just realized something.”

“What?”

“You act more like my friend than a evil pony who wants to cover Equestria in eternal night, and I think I know why.”

Nightmare raised an eyebrow. “Please do share, I've been wondering that myself for awhile, but I only have theories.”

“Its simple… You’re not Nightmare Moon. But, in a way, you are.” Luna said, pointing to the shadow alicorn.

“What?” Nightmare asked, confused.

“Think of it as me having Multiple Personality Disorder. When Sombra got sealed away, I was angry, but my personality prevented me from acting on that anger, as I wouldn’t hurt my sister, no matter how angry I was, and there was nothing dark magic could do to change that. So, it got into my subconsciousness and suppressed the personality that wouldn’t hurt my sister, and copied it, but changed it slightly so that I could hurt my sister, and let that control my body, resulting in Nightmare Moon. But then when the Elements were used against us five years ago, it removed the second personality, you, and let the first personality, me, regain control of the body.”

“But that still doesn't explain why I don't think and act evil.” Nightmare Moon pointed out, somehow keeping up with Luna’s explanation.

“Actually, it does. The E.o.H. didn’t remove the-”

“E.o.H.?”

“Elements of Harmony.”

“Ah, ok, carry on.”

“The EoH didn’t remove the dark magic influence from my mind, it removed it from yours, before expelling you. If someone did a magic scan on me right now, it would show that while my mind has been exposed to dark magic, it's not as high as if they scanned you.”

“So you're saying that i'm a version of you who would attack her sister, but i'm not Nightmare Moon because I don't have the dark magic?”

“Exactly.”

“So i'm basically a clone?”

“Um… I guess, yes.”

“Wow, thats… pretty big. But it's strange, because that's pretty much what my theory was as well.”

“Well, you know what they say…” Luna winked. “Great minds think alike.”

“I would so hoof-bump you right now if I could.” Nightmare smirked.

“Wow, you pretty much are my clone, aren't you?” They both chuckled.

They sat there in silence, each watching the other for awhile, Luna rubbing her head.

“So... where would one go to find some grub around here?”