Sipping at her coffee, Twilight studied the maps on her desk. Well, the dramatic thing to do would be to send him to the complete other side of the world, but would Princess Celestia really be that dramatic? She ran a hoof over the Saddle Arabian desert. It would most likely be… Her hoof stopped in the east. ...Right about here.

There was a moment of silence as she questioned her own idea.

“Damn it!” Twilight groaned. She took one last sip of her coffee before teleporting the mug away. “Why is Princess Celestia acting so strange?! I normally wouldn’t have any trouble with scribing, but without knowing her intentions I have no idea where Cloud could be!” She began pacing back and forth.

After a few moments, a Lunar guard entered Twilight’s study. She stopped to look at him, and he nodded. This again...

Quickly teleporting into her bedroom, Twilight pulled up her mattress, revealing a satchel covered in numerous glowing runes. She grabbed ahold of the satchel, opened it up and took out a glimmering potion. Closing her eyes, Twilight drank the potion and darkness surrounded her.

Twilight’s eyes opened in the dream realm. Before her stood Princess Luna, a solemn look upon her face.

“Princess,” Twilight bowed, “why did you summon me?”

“I’m afraid I have grim news,” Princess Luna swiftly replied. “I alerted you that I was to enact an emergency plan of mine. It seems that the plan has failed.”

Twilight gulped dryly. “What do you mean? What was the plan? You told me that it had to kept an utmost secret, and-”

“I could not risk telling you at the time.” Princess Luna closed her eyes for a moment and their surroundings became the ancient castle of the two sisters. “Before my banishment, I planned for my defeat. Well,” she scoffed, “Nightmare planned for her defeat.”

“Princess, there’s something I don’t understand. You always refer to yourself in third person when talking about the time you were Nightmare Moon. Why?”

Princess Luna closed her eyes for a dramatic pause. “I was never Nightmare Moon. What Ponies call ‘Nightmare Moon’ was an affliction of an ancient spirit which corrupted my entire essence. Upon its invasion of my body, I was no longer myself. I had become a shadow of my former self; the darkest of dreams…”

Twilight paused, digesting the information. “So when I and rest of the Spirits used the Elements of Harmony-”

“-You were cleansing me of an illness. So to speak.”

Twilight chewed her lip. “I see…”

“Regardless, this is not why I come before you.” The ruined castle around them seemed to light up somewhat. “Nightmare developed a plan of action. Are you familiar with the concept of storing magical energy in objects?”

“Yes, thoroughly. My personal magic lessons with Princess Celestia involved magical history and theory. Energy crystals were a popular magical technology which slowly became obsolete.”

“They…?” Princess Luna frowned. “This is worrisome. No, they should not have become obsolete. One thousand years have passed since he-” She stopped herself and shook her head. “I digress. What is important is that I was in possession of an energy crystal. I stashed it away, deep within the castle dungeons with the hope of keeping it a secret from my sister. It seems that I was successful; one of my subordinates found it safely within its hiding place.”

I see where this is going. “You used your energy crystal the same way Princess Celestia used hers to send Cloud away?”

“Correct. I am impressed, Sparkle; few realise that my sister wears such a crystal around her neck.” She paused for a moment. “I indeed used the crystal in the same manner to send a guard of mine to retrieve him.”

“But, Princess, couldn’t you have just used the crystal to bring him back?”

“No.”

“Oh, okay.”

There was a pause.

“Continuing on: I sent her to the Saddle Arabian deserts, the most likely place for my sister to banish a Pony, under the orders to bring him back. However, far too much time has passed since she departed - she should have become in range for me to enter her dreams by now. I fear the worst. If your mother’s research proves to be correct, Cloud shall be vital in putting an end to whatever my sister is scheming.”

“Forgive my rudeness, Princess, but why is this the first I’m hearing of this?” Twilight frowned “I think I was in the right to know about this. We’re helping each other, after all.”

The Princess frowned back. “Do not mistake my request of your cooperation as a partnership, peasant. Your status as a Spirit of Harmony aside, you are not an equal of my sister nor myself.”

“So this whole time I’ve been giving you information...?” Twilight growled.

“Your information is mine by right, whelp! You are merely means to an end, do not think yourself higher.”

The was another pause, this one tense with anger.

“Then I suppose this ends our meeting, Your Highness.” Without waiting for a reply, Twilight cast a spell of waking, freeing her from the dream realm.

Though he was not unconscious, Cloud was not much better off. Blinded by pain, he hadn’t the slightest idea where his assailant was dragging him. He could make out the feeling of the sandy street beneath him, and over the tinnitus hear the busy streets. Few passers by, if any, seemed concerned about his situation - being dragged by the neck with a coarse, rope-like object.

After what felt like an hour, though he could hardly tell, he finally stopped.

“Ah, my little project returns!” A familiar male voice exclaimed. Where do I know that voice from…?

“Yeah, yeah,” an equally familiar female voice replied, “where’s the payment? We had a deal.” I can’t remember this one either… Damn, my head is killing me!

“That we did, though I did not expect Mr. Calculation here to be the one Mr. Masterless would send. It’s quite an irritant, if I’m honest.”

“Not my business. I just want what you promised.”

“What I promised is back where you found him.” The male voice sounded annoyed. “I would have thought you smart enough to discover it.”

“The only thing in that shack was this idiot and load of dust. Aside from your tomes, there was nothing else there at all.”

“That’s impossible!” The male gasped. “Unless-!” Cloud heard a shuffling sound, as if someone was searching through a saddle bag. Next, he felt a strange heat running up and down his body. “Damn… Damn it!” Something was kicked.

“You mean he’s…?”

“Yeah, he’s the one. Damn it…!” The male spit on the ground. “Fine, take him with us.”

“Hey! Our deal was-!”

“You’ll get your reward when I carve it out of him!” After a moment, he huffed in anger. “Take him to the caravan, we leave tonight.”

“Fine, but if you even think about double-crossing me-!”

“I would sooner kill you than cross you, Ms. Do. Now take this fool to the caravan.”

Knowing he was in danger, Cloud tried desperately to do anything. He wriggled and groaned, only managing sparks from his horn. After only a few seconds of this, a kick to his head finally knocked him unconscious.