The Princess rushed from the living room of the apartment towards Gusty’s wails. Rounding the corner of the door frame that led to the bedrooms she had to literally leap over Amethyst. Luna briefly caught a glimpse of the tired and distraught looking filly, who stared on in horror towards the sounds of her mother’s yells not even noticing the alicorn jump over her. As she skidded to a halt near the open door of Gusty’s chambers, Bunker stumbled out of the room, his face twisted in pain, blood running down his shoulder.

“What happened?!” Luna shouted to be heard. Closer to the source of the disturbance, she could hear that Gusty’s cries were being accompanied by a mighty rush of magical wind. She already knew the answer, but her mouth had asked before she could stop it. Guardian Angel needed to hurry.

“The magic...it is like what happened in the Frozen North.” Bunker clutched at the rough wound of disintegrated flesh. “She started screaming in her sleep, I tried to wake her but…”

“You did what you could. Make haste. Take Amethyst and get your wounds treated. Make certain the posted guards know what is going on,” Luna ordered, biting down her fear with words.

“The guards already know. I’ll be nearby. Injured or not, that is mine wife in there about to destroy the Palace. If you need help I’m going to help.” The burgundy fellow turned and quickly limped off to the front of the hall, scooping up the little unicorn as he went.

As he departed, Luna hazarded a glance into the bedroom. Floating in a hurling ball of gold and ice colored torrents, Gusty shrieked, clutching at herself. Her eyes were locked open, but unfocused on the world around her. Instead she stared at an unseen horror. The furniture in the room had been otherwise destroyed, only the objects in the furthest corners of the room remained intact. The bed and the vanity were nowhere to be seen and all that remained was a partially destroyed lamp that was more and more threatened by the unnatural winds. That all seemed inconsequential to Luna, however; it was at this moment she came to truly understand what Gusty could do. Even with his description Guardian Angel had not done her power justice. And yet even while the mare was under extreme duress, Luna could see that a part of her was attempting to contain her mad magic, though she was slowly failing Gusty fought on.

The moment of clarity passed and Luna charged up her horn, ready to jump directly into Gusty’s mind. She knew in her heart that fighting the Curse alone would result in her becoming permanently trapped in the dreamscape should she be forced to retreat. However, it was her life against the lives of the entire city of Canterlot. Frustratingly, her stallion was still not present. Gusty had to be stopped, and it was only a short matter of time before her condition worsened and the hundreds of thousands of ponies were affected.

Quick, precise hooffalls stayed her entry into the room. She jerked her head to catch the motion of Guardian Angel stalking his way into the hallway. Luna nearly jumped out of her fur in surprise, he was not bothering to hide his fangs, or the faintly glowing cracks in his flesh along his legs. That alone made her nervous. Behind him a pair of heavily armored unicorns marched in slowly with their horns aglow. They did not wear Royal Guard equipment, in fact Luna had never seen armor of such make, it seemed to be mostly composed of padding. This further proved them to be ponies of his personal employ, the demon was taking every precaution. That scared her even more; it meant he did not expect this desperate rescue operation to succeed. Neither had she, but it was different when he took things pessimistically.

“The emergency evacuation system has been activated,” He stated sharply taking up a position next to her.. “Should we fail to contain Gusty, ensuring the safety of Canterlot’s citizens should be relatively easy.”

“You work fast, my love. It has not been even a full minute, tell me, have you been playing dumb? Did you expect this to happen?” Luna asked with scathing suspicion in her voice. Though she was mostly trying to hide her fear, she would not put it past Guardian Angel to have set up the whole thing like he had in the Baylands.

“Not today. And not under these circumstances. None of this would be happening if I had bothered to stop and think. But that doesn’t mean we don’t have protocols ready for the situation” He paused as he walked up to the threshold of the door, seeing the blazing sphere of magic and staring sadly at the now whimpering Gusty. He cursed under his breath and faced her.

“Can you reach her mind with your magic? I know she isn’t asleep but with a trance that powerful it shouldn’t be much different right?” he questioned quickly.

“If I am honest, I don’t know for certain. But, I was about to try anyway. It depends on how powerful the Curse is.” She responded with the same haste. Time was of the essence, the quicker they applied a plan the quicker this would be settled.

“How long will it take you to charge the spell?” He looked up at her horn. “Not much longer right?”

“About twenty more seconds.”

“That will be pushing it on my end, but here it goes.”

Guardian Angel took a step into the fury of the magical wind. Luna lost her focus momentarily as all the flesh on the extended hoof was blown away in an instant leaving only bone and sinew. Her stallion loosed a low growl his face twisting in a perverse pleasure.

“It looks like I’m going to have to try like I mean it this time. Cast your spell once I reach Gusty.” He rolled the barely functional appendage around as it regrew to normal. Luna balked confusedly gawking at him as he smiled widely, mania sparking in his eyes..

“I’m getting pretty worked up tonight, so if we survive this-I figure I should let you know...I’m going to wreck your whole fucking world.” He stated such with the sort of carnal intent that made the alicorn nearly lose her balance from its implication.

Then he stepped into the whirlwind, blood splattering as he went, but his body held strong as it lit with flame. Luna stood there blushing, spell charged just after her coltfriend had fully entered the sphere. For a moment she was unsure of the details of what Guardian Angel had arranged but she recalled the emergency contingency as she came back to her senses. Simply the plan was to break the Curse’s grip on the mare. Then once the Curse was preoccupied, cast a number of the meager calming spells, she had come up with, on Gusty to give her some time to stabilize. Once that was done she was to use one of the mental defense spells she and Celestia had been practicing for the last month at Guardian Angel’s request. All the while he was supposed to be keeping the dark entity away from the fragile remains of Gusty’s mind.

In theory, it made sense but without any way to practice the plan or even metaphorically engage their minds in this duel against the odds, there was no way to know if it would work. Things in the Astral Realm were not so cut and dry as the contingency planned for, Luna knew this, so did Guardian Angel. Unfortunately, this was their only option. Worse, without the magical link that had been keeping Gusty stable the last two months there was no way of knowing if when they managed this far-fetched feat if it would even make a difference past this evening.

“Princess, be on your ready! As soon as you cast we must raise our shield! Our timing must be swift. Lord Stormwalker expects there to be a large magical reaction once he reaches Miss Gusty,” shouted the female unicorn behind her.

Luna only heard the mare enough to steel her nerves and focus on her stallion as he made his final approach. She had stopped counting seconds shortly before the unicorn’s proclamation. Guardian Angel took another step, the winds of the unleashed magic tearing at him ever more fiercely. Close to his quarry now, he slowly reached out a hoof, his eyes glowing red-hot from the exertion. Luna aimed her horn, looking down its length, timing when he would touch Gusty and attempt to enter her mind. She ignored the sudden onset of questions she had about that, if she lived through today then she could bother him about it.

Just as the tip of his hoof reached the fur on Gusty’s chest Luna cast her spell. It shot true, ignoring the blustery wind of the berserk mare and encasing her teal body with Luna’s more blue magic. As the world around her faded into darkness she could feel the magic from the errant mare erupt outward. The unicorns screamed with a determined fury, but slowly their voices faded away and she was not jostled back into the waking world from the magical burst she had felt coming. Success!

Arrayed before her as she opened her eyes was the blustery ocean of Gusty’s mind. In the deep waves below her danced vague images of the many past lives the mare had lived each flirting with spur of the moment desires. Only a few islands of cohesive thought and memory stood stagnant amongst the motion of the waves. Shimmering, cycling images of Zeccaran, Guardian Angel, Bunker and Amethyst, and curiously a new image. It was of Gusty herself smiling happily back at Luna with an surprisingly genuine splendor. Perhaps the mare had finally decided to live life instead of suffering through it. If that was the case, once the Curse was finally removed, Gusty would have lived the biggest comeback story ever written in all of Equestrian History.

However, what drew Luna’s attention the most was the severe lack of conscious action. Normally, even while sleeping a pony’s mind had some activity on the surface level, but this was much too desolate. Gusty was no exception and she was supposed to be awake. Though hallucinating her mind should have been able to focus on the torment that afflicted her currently. This current locale was only motion, never settling on any of the many and rapid thoughts. Luna came to realize in the moment that she had no idea what was truly happening to Gusty. Nothing was consistent, it was as if the mare had left her mind entirely.

And much to Luna’s chagrin, it made seeing the scars on the mare’s mind too easy. The seascape was marred by black icebergs once trapped in golden moorings now bounced about the waves. Their presence the mark of the Curse; tendrils that jumped about treacherously, threatening to overtake the waking thought-islands with their vile magic. Likewise the remnants of the ancient protection spell lie strewn about. The pieces of the piers shattered into large foggy yellow glass fragments that were jabbed into the seas at odd angles. Their positioning created whirlpools of unimaginable depth casting down deep into the belly of Gusty’s memory. From where Luna floated she could hear distant voices of ponies long dead, but they were pleasant memories. It made her wonder if perhaps breaking the protection spell had truly been the wrong decision.

“Hello?” she asked to the maelstrom after a time, wondering if perhaps Guardian Angel had been successful.

The sudden presence of power made Luna turn towards her left, towards the image of her significant other. Stepping out of the memory/urge of himself, her stallion slipped onto Gusty’s personal portion of the Astral Plane as if he had always belonged here.

“Strange...she’s...not present? No wonder I couldn’t get her to respond.” He looked around the area not noticing Luna or the boiling water as he walked atop it unhindered. “Though that’s what I get for inferring how this works…”

“Hey! Are you blind or something?” she chastised.

“Luna? Yeah I can’t really see. I really can only feel, sorta hear? I don’t exactly have the right magic to dreamwalk,” He explained, his face turning in her general direction.

“Realistically speaking you shouldn’t be able to project any of your magic outside of your body. You are able to with Gusty, I assume, because of whatever spell she cast to link your minds together. And the nature of that magic still eludes me to this day.” She floated up to him on her ethereal winds, not nearly so foolish as to touch the churning waves below.

“Well...anyway, I made it here. So let's take advantage of it. Can you locate the Curse? I can feel it, but it’s as if it is far away, deep below us,” He commented.

The Astral Plane did not actually contain any physical matter, only the magical projections of pony consciousness and subconsciousness. Dreamwalking was merely the ability to translate the happenings in the sleeping realm into something understandable. The concept of distance was not one of the things that translated easily. What Guardian Angel was doing now was a perversion of the process, much more force than finesse.

He was not wrong with his observation, however. Deep below them, past the oceans of thoughts and memories there was more to Gusty. Once hidden by both vile and fantastical magic, further down than any other pony than she had ever encountered, was a special portion of the mare’s subconscious. She could only describe the place as Gusty’s core. The last vestiges of a pony broken and harmed by everything she had onced loved. Luna had come close to reaching it recently, it was how she and Zeccaran had relieved the awful memories of the Shadow-kin. She had never dared to stride there, but Guardian Angel had. Shuddering again she looked at him with concern. He noticed her discomfort regardless of his blind eyes.

Luna could only assume through their combined will and proximity in the material world that fateful day he had seen it. Walking the shrouded halls of the teal mare’s mind and looking the Curse in the face. Though he had not known what it was at the time those actions had cemented his fate. It was where his determination to save her came from, and he would see it done against all odds. Because he met the true Gusty then and he had fallen in love.

“Do not fret.” She spoke more to distract herself from the thought of him with another mare than to instill confidence. “I am the master of these domains. I shall take us to the culprit.”

“I know. It just seems like a chore to find them. See? This is how you know I didn’t plan this!” he pursed his lips.

“Hush. I was only teasing before.” Luna pressed a hoof against him. He jumped in surprise before his eyes waxed dreamy.

“So this is what your mind feels like…I was right to resist the urge to reach out to you before,” he murmured. Almost in a compulsive motion he nuzzled his face against hers. Luna balked, heart nearly beating out of her chest as she finally caught but a brief glimpse of what he felt like. He was more than even she had imagined.

“Y-yes. I do hope I-I live up to your standards,” she stammered trying to recover. He always had a way of making her completely forget her jealousy. Luna had often felt the need to kick herself for not dreamwalking with him all those years ago when they had completed the cleansing rituals. She had been too ashamed from rejecting him to do it, reminding her she had been a fool on both counts. Still, the current little moment of togetherness might have just been worth it. Right now, his eyes and thoughts of love only dwelled on her.

“Your mind is very set in the past. Much more than I thought. But relax. Now is not the time for such thoughts of inadequacy and self-pity. We have a world to save. And I’d like to fulfill a few of those dreams...” He whispered into her ears, all too aware of her thoughts.

“Right.” She looked about still blushing as she considered the gravity of what they were about to do. “But, where to start...Going that deep into Gusty’s mind is going to be extremely dangerous.”

“Yes. We do stand a chance of becoming trapped. It will take our utmost focus to avoid losing ourselves in the depths of Gusty’s mind. However, the method of reaching our destination does not matter to me. I can force our way there, or you can trailblaze the best path for me and I will follow. Take your pick; this is your rodeo,” Guardian rolled his shoulders. His eyes hardened. Though they were unable to focus on the images she could see, the sharp glint in them made her pity the dark entity once he found it. He was tired of it interrupting his life.

Luna paused, considering her options. In the recent instances of exploration in Gusty’s mind she had found no strong evidence of the Curse. It had been subdued, retracted, waiting for a moment like today. Even its icebergs had been smaller and still, not moving about with malice as the were now. Their corruption danced its harsh chastisement across the seas of Gusty’s mind, its words upsetting even to Luna. When it had been in full power, the last few years it had been trapped within the golden ruins around them. The combination of reparation magic and curse magic had blocked her from exploring Gusty’s mind beyond the flitting desires at the surface level. Reaching the subconscious in any capacity had proved too dangerous or impossible.

However, with those obstacles removed her recent analysis of the entity’s previous behavior showed it had been trying to use Gusty’s deepest thoughts and conscious memories to subdue her. Its objective to subvert her existence by playing on her fears and sense of self-loathing. It was a magical and psychological embodiment of the suffering the Shadow-kin had inflicted upon her. That had been obvious the first time she had seen those memories. Then the path forward was clear, they had to go to that deep core collection of emotions that made up the mare, and apprehend the Curse at its source.

Turning and grabbing one of Guardian Angel’s hooves she started to cast her trademark spell again, to go even deeper. “I’ll lead the way.”

And down they fell, in the controlled fall that Luna had practiced to perfection. Next to her, her stallion remained silent, his thoughts and expression inwards. Memories of the dark times passed them by, screams of the dead wailing false accusations at Gusty. The mooney mare pulled herself close to her coltfriend, her mind trying to fray from the horror. She would never get used to the terrible things the unfortunate Gusty had experienced, nor how the curse had twisted them into a symphony of pain. Such things were not meant for the likes of any sane being, especially not the smells, or the fear, or the horror. When their hooves finally alit on the hard, dark surface of Gusty’s last bastion of subconsciousness it became obvious she had made the right choice, however.

“I can feel her. She’s here. It is here too.” Guardian moved away from her with purpose. Luna nearly lost him in the inky, dismal realm they now stood in. A cacophony of images briefly danced over her eyes before she could refocus, it caused sweat to pool on her brow.

“Wait!” She cried dashing after him in the darkness, words of worry and fear on Gusty’s voice drifting around them in a quiet chorus. “This place is delicate. Too many wrong moves and Gusty will not be able to recover.”

“Oh, I figure I used my one wrong decision already today. I won’t be doing any harm to Gusty I can assure you.” His voice was harsh, words nearly cutting away the darkness around them alone.

“What do you intend to do? We can’t see them. Even I can barely keep myself oriented in this soup.” Luna shuddered. A sudden bout of pain and fatigue had washed over her body. However, it was not her suffering, but another’s, and with it came the sickening presence of the Curse making her gasp.

“This.” Came Guardian Angel’s voice. Luna did not realize he was answering her question until a beam of white shot out from him like a the lense on a lighthouse.

The magic sped forward, erasing the the darkness where it went. As its trail dulled Luna spied vibrant colors, images of flowers and full fields of wheat. She tracked the projection wondering what he aimed his malice at, hearing voices of children and friends of eras long past reach her ears . Suddenly, the pleasantness of those memories was destroyed by a blood-curdling screech. The noise was followed by a harsh hiss and snarl, Guardian Angel’s magic had found its mark. The Curse knew they were here now, it seemed the first step of their plan had gone well. Luna just hoped they would keep it that way, she had many questions to ask once they were done.

Time had ceased. Light had ceased. And life? It was trying to end itself too, but found that its tormentor refused to grant it this mercy.

Pain. Pain. And more pain.

Who was she, again? Why did she allow this to happen? Wasn’t somepony supposed to come save her? Why did it matter to her? Why did it matter to her tormentor?

Hazarding a few haggard breaths the mare looked around herself again. The dark entity before her stood smiling with glee.

“Not so tough without your armor I see. You always were weak. If you were strong, you would have stopped me. Would have stopped them. Could have saved your kin.” It reared back, lunging putrid tentacles at her with hatred.

The blows hurt, but that was not the worst of it. Sharp piercing suffering stabbed its way into her temples. Whatever the beast had done to her, it went beyond simple slaps and torture, it was trying to destroy what was left of her mind. It wanted control, total control.

“That hurt you worse than I expected. How delightful! Your spirit erodes ever more swiftly, and soon you shall be mine!” It hissed with joy.

It was not allowed to win. The entity’s words fanning the tiny and shrinking flame in her heart. She just had to hold out. If she could gather her strength, and keep it on the ready, she could fight back no matter how hopeless it seemed. The mare knew that thought was pointless, but at this point spite was about the only thing she could still feel besides suffering.

The mare responded to the taunts of the creature by spitting in its general direction. The creature laughed at her haughtily, remarking how her defiance meant nothing, her fate was already sealed. The laughter gave way to a sudden shrieking and bright light danced across her vision. Shocked, the mare struggled to make sense of the situation. It seemed that the beast before her had been damaged by the interloping light. However, as soon as it had appeared the color and warmth disappeared, making her wonder if it had ever happened at all until her tormentor cursed aloud.

“The blood-traitor! He’s here! But this is too fast! Did he...did he do it all on purpose?! D-does he seek to trap me? The Curse stammered.

Another blast of blazing fire shot through the empty expanse, not hitting the entity directly, but still grazing her. She hissed in anger splattering spit from her uneven jowls as she did.

“Nae! He is just lucky and persistent! Then I shall take him by surprise. To me, you foul oath-breaker!” proclaimed not-her as it shifted its body back and forth in a dance.

The mare stared on in confusion. The area around her seemed to darken to such a degree that even the unnatural glow of the Curse’s eyes winked out.

Wait, the Curse...then this is… this is my mind! Gusty’s awareness came back in an instant. Now that the entity no longer focused on her the dire situation became clear. For now she had held out, and though she could hear Guardian Angel calling out to her, it still felt like he was screaming from across a great chasm..

Shit, how do I move? How do I get out of here? What do I do? Can I fight? No. Even I’m too hurt to move...But this is my mind i should be able to control things! But how? How do I break free?! I don’t know, I don’t know! Damnit, hurry up flyboy, I need you!

Oh, he’ll come my dear, he’ll come.

New pain erupted around one of Gusty’s lower ribs. The fiery suffering seemed to literally pull the air out of her lungs as it drug down towards her abdomen. She felt something break and the torment was too much for her to contain. Screaming and gasping against her will, unable to remain quiet. Gusty struggled against her binds in an attempt to hold pressure against whatever wound she had been given. Her efforts were futile, but as she struggled a new feeling found its way into her heart.

Rage.

Pure, unbridled, rage.

Gusty knew that rage belonged to Guardian Angel. He was no longer holding back, and the connection between their minds seemed to swell like a riverbank whose dam had burst. The pain seemed to dull and for a brief moment she relaxed, her mind swinging back into consciousness for only an instant. She saw her room, what was left of it, a hardy red shield bubble of magic and the silhouettes of ponies in the dark.

The moment was dashed when another shriek echoed into her skull. As her vision cleared the scene before danced with vague lights and scuffles of battle. After a moment she made sense of the two bodies. One of burning fire, lighting up the area around her, the other of dark ink, seeking to extinguish the light.

“Gusty focus!” Came Princess Luna’s voice. The elder alicorn turned to look at her.

“We have limited time. He can’t keep this up forever.” The mooney mare’s horn sent out several small light-blue beams of magic and Gusty felt her bonds loosen then disappear.

However, as she slipped down from the rack her heart still raced. None of this felt right. It was as if the world was crashing down on her and its weight was going to destroy her. Gusty felt her breaths shorten, her mind racing, forgetting, spinning, she did not understand. She looked between the beings around her, those that fought and the kind looking blue mare whose face pinched in concern.

“You must fight it, Gusty! Stay with us, please!” she cried to her, but the teal alicorn had become too distracted by the fight between the two entities of dark and light. She strode toward them ignoring her attendant unable to look away. What was she supposed to fight anyway?

Nowhere to run this time, beast! snarled the Light.

You are out of your league blood-traitor, I am this realm. The Dark hissed back.

Gusty clutched her temples her vision blurring.

Suddenly it was she that fought the Light. He whipped an attack at her, flaming wings slashing her stomach with ease. When she looked down she saw only the darkness.

What is happening?

“Vile beast! Release her!” the blue mare from before rushed over, drawing her attention, her horn firing spells into Gusty’s new body. Somehow this made her afraid, even though the magic did not hurt.

She’s his slave. Don’t listen to her. The blood-traitor’s wench tells you only lies! That voice that was not quite her own said into their most inner ear.

This isn't right. Why didn’t that hurt? This voice...it isn’t mine-is it?

“You’ve survived for over two-thousand years battling it alone. Its weak now and you have help. Don’t give in! Only a few more moments please!” the Light’s voice was muffled as it spoke. Meanwhile it looked on-no, Guardian Angel looked on, his hooves raised, ready to pounce, determination burning bright in his slitted eyes.

We are not separate, my dear. You and I. I and you. It is one and the same. They do not know how close we’ve become. Cooed the malicious voice. This time it became her voice.

Feelings of fear and anger suddenly gripped her heart. If it was her own or if it was her companions Gusty did not know. It did not matter either. It was enough to remind her that it was not over yet. The Curse might be free to move but it was still injured, still trying to seek every advantage. She could hold out until they found a way to remove it. She had to hold out.

No! I am not you! They are right, you won’t break me this easily! She snarled back. Gusty steeled her mind, holding fast to the image of the mooney mare and the inflamed demon standing before her in the dreamscape. Her thoughts traced to Amethyst, Bunker, Celestia, Pixie and Zeccaran, their happy faces strengthening her resolve. Instantly, the room lit with roaring flame as if candles had touched a gas cloud. Guardian Angel and Luna were silhouetted briefly before one of Luna’s spell pierced the inky shell that surrounded her. The entity that held her captive exploded away from her with a shrill squeak and a flash of white light that quieted the flames to a bright, but normal level.

Then there was pain like she had never felt and the world faded black. Her last sight the horrified faces of her two saviors. The laughter of the Curse ringing forever in her ears.

Next Chapter: Act 4: Chapter 8 - The Depths Estimated time remaining: 7 Hours, 37 Minutes