The sensation of falling snapped Gusty awake with a start. She flailed her hooves but they quickly found solid ground. Viciously shaking her head she blinked rapidly trying to get a grip on her surroundings. It was dark in her bedroom and strangely there was no bed, but lots of dust. However, she was quickly drawn to the strange sight of Guardian Angel. He stood perfectly still as if he had been turned to stone, a hoof was extended out towards her. His eyes were dull, their normally attentive luster quite absent.

For a few more moments she stood staring at him in confusion. It allowed her to see a soft red glow behind the big stallion, and as she leaned around him she noticed a magical barrier in place, its soft hum finally noticeable upon seeing it. Beyond it, the silhouette of ponies could be seen standing in the doorway to her room. This all seemed strikingly familiar.

Was I dreaming? What happened to my bed? Am I still dreaming? Gusty’s questioned her perceptions internally. She unfortunately could not make sense of it.

The overwhelming urge to touch one of Guardian Angel’s open eyes pressed its curiosity into her head. She could not help but act on the sensation.

Cautiously she extended a wing up to his face, the sensitive feathers more appropriate to feel the eye. Worse come to worse, he would flinch and probably smack her as he came out of whatever trance he was in, a worthy price in Gusty’s opinion. After all she was about to poke him in the eye because she was confused and curious.

However, when she finally jabbed a feather or three into the jelly-like organ he did not move. For some reason she could not explain, this upset her greatly. Actually, it made her scared, scared for what felt like to her no reason at all. To comfort herself she cupped his face in her hooves looking at his high cheeks and the scar over his other eye. It looked as if he had just calmed down from showing off his true form. Closing her eyes, Gusty tried to let the warmth of his skin anchor her in place. She swore she could hear him calling out to her, but what he yelled was unintelligible.

The smell of stallion hit her nose in the next instant with the force of a tidal wave. She was afflicted with both a blush and vertigo. Gusty released his face, coughing out of reflex and covering her nose, she did not need that to be an issue right now. She needed to figure out what was going on, not get excited from the thought of sex. Momentarily, she cursed her female body before being distracted by the fshwoop! of what sounded like the magical barrier deactivating.

“Milord? Is everything alright?” called the voice of an unfamiliar mare.

“Uhhh…” Gusty replied. She had no answer to that question.

“Miss Gusty? You’re awake?” The unicorn trotted into the room, her cumbersome armor goofily jostling as she did.

“I think?... What’s going on? He’s…I don’t know: stuck,” she explained.

“Yes, we noticed Princess Luna was like that too. Then we saw you moving around, and with no magical vortex threatening to destroy Canterlot we decided to check on the operation. I was hoping you had some insight into what was going on, I guess not.” The mare pursed her lips and looked distant as she finished speaking.

That sent about a dozen questions into Gusty’s mind. A few memories of her dreams creeped their way to clarity as her thoughts finally panned to the right stimuli. The Curse had made its move. The emptiness she felt was the broken, but healing connection between she and Guardian Angel’s minds. At the moment she could not recall the rest of the details of her subconscious, but that mattered little. Luna and Guardian and come to rescue her to stop her from losing control of her mind and magic. They had managed it, but now, they themselves had become trapped. Gusty started to panic.

“We need to get Celestia here, now!” She declared.

“Yes, you’re right, I’ll send a runner n-”

“No time!”

Gusty teleported, mind focused so hard on her friend she barely even tried to think about where she aimed to go. Luckily, it worked in her favor and she found the mare. Before even the glittering golden sparkles of her relocation had settled she wrapped a hoof around her big white counterpart.

“Come on!” Gusty cried reactivating her horn immediately. She offered no explanations to Celestia’s questions. She would understand once she saw what had happened. That was when things got weird.

Stroking the mane of the unconscious Gusty Twilight. Luna remained transfixed, having no idea what had happened a moment before. It was strange, as if the world around them had bent and melded into something else. She may have freed the teal mare from the grip of the Curse but it seemed that there were repercussions to be dealt with. This sent worried thoughts scurrying through her mind. Luna knew they had yet to wake from entering Gusty’s mind, yet the mare herself had collapsed. That alone was troubling.

It could only mean two things. Possibly, the teal mare had awoken and was unaware of the fight for her life inside her own mind. The other option being that she had been ejected into her own waking consciousness, the ocean above this black pit where they now resided.

Luna closed her eyes as another flash of light nearly blinded her. A vicious guttural roar escaped Guardian Angel’s jowls as she looked on at the battle again. He repeatedly hissed and shouted in his ancestral tongue, the phrases foreign to her. What she did understand was that he was angry. Extremely angry.

They were evenly matched. Her stallion unable to gain the advantage in this realm. The Curse cackled again, sending attacks at him though with little effect. Likewise, Guardian Angel’s raw will extended towards the beast crackling and burning the darkness it was comprised of, but ineffective at keeping it cauterized.

“You are lucky, Mytsn. If I could draw my powers into this realm I would suck your magic dry and let Gusty’s cheery attitude finish the job.” He suddenly switched into an understandable tongue. Luna immediately knew he was doing this on purpose, she watched him carefully.

“I am well aware of what you are capable of Spoiled One. I also know your weaknesses. The mare herself is one of them. And I am beginning to suspect that this child you’ve chosen as your mate is one too,” the Curse quipped with a disturbing levity, looking at her. Luna shuddered but remained silent. The mocking attitude on his face told her that her stallion had something planned and it was best not to ruin it.

“Oh, so she’s not my slave anymore?” Guardian Angel scoffed, “And she’s a child? You flatter me.”

“So you can hear what I say to Gusty. I had perhaps thought that business in the Baylands had been a fluke, a side effect of your time at my birthplace. I see now that I was wrong. If you could hear me all the way on the other side of the world before, of course you could hear me now. Damn that teal mare even in such a state she always has a new maneuver to pull.” The black blobbenly creature leaned back on its amalgamation of a posterior.

Momentarily, Luna was overcome with disgust while gazing at the monster. She had seen many horrors unimaginable across the many dreams and nightmares of Equestria’s citizens. However, this entity struck her because of one simple reason. Its eyes, its voice, its attitude, even its body, they were all a perversion of who Gusty was, it was a self-critical image taken to the extreme via magic and hatred. The beast went beyond scary and directly to brain-churning, nausea-inducing, cosmic horror without so much as breaking a sweat. Luna noticed a cold silence had fallen between the two other beings present. Both stared at her with an intent that was far from benign.

“Guardian Angel?” she questioned with concern.

He did not answer with words, instead he and the Curse strode towards her, thankfully he reached her first. He reached out and pulled her close to him, and as soon as his touch could be felt Luna lost all control.

He was all desire and power. His will superseded her own and she found herself throwing her body the rest of the way into his. It was everything she wanted, everything she needed. The only question that danced on her mind now was: why not sooner? She had been ready for this for years, it filled her with joy to finally, truly feel all of him. This intimacy was what she had always been so jealous of, and rightly so, however, the sensation dulled quickly.

It is a bluff. Play along. Came Guardian’s voice into her very soul just before he pulled away from her. Luna swooned.

He looked down at her, his eyes unfocused but blistering with contempt and lust.

“Tell this cur the truth, my pet,” he ordered and Luna instantly understood.

“But, master that will ruin your plans, are you sure I should?” she questioned back innocently, letting her voice sweeten to the point where she almost gagged herself. A surprised harumph overtook the Curse-the bitch. Mytsn meant bitch. The dwindling connection she shared with Guardian Angel nearly causing her to burst into laughter at the clairity it brought to the ancient tongue of the Shadow-kin.

“Color me impressed, Spoiled One. To be able to take control of an alicorn’s mind in a mere second is truly impressive. Perhaps you do deserve that title, oh Heir to the Shadows.” Mytsn nodded warily, her dark form stepping away from the stallion.

“Indeed. And like a proper heir, I intend to dismantle the pomps of my forefathers and create new, better ones,” Guardian hissed.

“Indeed,” it replied stoically.

“Do you still want me to tell her, master?” Luna peeped leaning onto her beloved to suck up a few more moments of him.

“No, no, no...If you did I’d have to hurt Pet. And Master does not have time to indulge his sadism. So I’ll tell Mytsn the truth instead.”

“Okay.”

The Curse’s face twisted in grim resignation. It looked between her and Guardian with equal parts fear and disgust. Evidently their acting was quite convincing, Luna found a bit of pride in that. In truth, she probably would have been quite pleased with whatever punishment she was dolled out. Then again, at this point, Luna was not sure whose fantasy was whose, instead stuck in the pleasure of the ideas.

“You have no need to tell me. You seek total dominion over the remaining alicorns. I know such from just this brief little example. You consider me an obstacle,” the entity glowered angrily.

“You have come to the correct conclusion. You are the key, the linchpin to my subjugation of Gusty. The last hold out before she falls sway to my charm and then...my will.” Her stallion stalked towards the Mytsn his tone turning cold and poisonous, leaving her to stand there alone. She narrowly kept herself from betraying her freedom-of-consciousness with a shiver of dread. Luna had momentarily been overcome with fear at the change in his words and presence, she could not tell if he was acting.

“And so you seek to undo the work of my creators to further your own designs. You did not mince words before. Unfortunately, I refuse to give up without a fight.” The curse turned away, shifting her attention away from them.

Immediately, Luna noticed Guardian Angel’s tail flick twice to his left. That was the signal. How she knew the signal she did not know for certain. Perhaps he had imparted more knowledge to her in that instant when their minds touched or perhaps he was controlling her. She did not know and she did not care at least not at the moment. If it lead to the destruction of the dark malice that kept her stallion so preoccupied she would see it done with a fervor. She began charging her horn, readying the mental protection spell again, but not to cast on the sleeping Gusty, and instead to cast on the Curse itself. Hopefully that would isolate it, separating it the rest of the way from the mare, into the waking world. Once that happened, Guardian Angel could consume it and it would be finally over!

“It is sad that you could not be brought to reason. I suppose I’ll have to leave and absorb your power in the waking world before you can escape this place.” Guardian Angel stamped a hoof dejectedly. The beast before him turned about, eyes narrowing in suspicion as she closed the distance to him. He remained still and inflamed his eyes never losing their mania and she put her face against his.

“You’d be foolish to do that, I would simply attach myself to the soul of your chosen mare. You would be sacrificing her mind and will just for the salvation of the teal harlot I occupy.”

“And why not? Her body will still live. Besides, she already fell prey to me. Even without her mind or soul I can still use her for whatever I like either way...and it gets you out of my way. ”

Luna’s heart caught in her throat. Before she had been unsure if this was acting. This time she knew he was serious. She could feel it. Those words were deadly powerful, as strong as the gravity they caused in her hooves. Unable to move she stood frozen, staring at the two creatures that were deciding her fate.

“My my, how rather ruthless of you…” The Curse’s eyes turned briefly from Guardian and met hers. A smile spread the beast’s jagged lips before the area was filled with coarse laughter.

“You almost had me convinced that you’d do it. But, you had her charge her spell just a bit too early. You almost had me!” It giggled with a terrible glee.

Guardian Angel loosed a particularly vicious growl. He lunged forward his mouth clamping down on Mytsn’s neck with startling efficiency. It did not seem to care and only laughed more.

“Go ahead, Luna. Shoot me! I’m ready for it. It will only send me into a different part of Gusty’s mind for me to wreck!” The beast mocked.

So she did. She blasted the Curse with her spell and all of her fear. It shrieked as the force of the blast tore some of its flesh off as it was pulled away from Guardian. Otherwise, save the dark kerchief of magic stuck in his fanged mouth it was expunged from Gusty’s subconscious for the time being. With its exit Luna studied her stallion who fumed from his failure, an uncomfortable silence between them.

Eventually she found the words she wished to speak. But, when she looked up at her lover she found them catch on her tongue. Never had she been filled with more doubt and apprehension about their relationship than this moment. Not even when she had watched him fly off towards the Cave, knowing he had not been himself in years. What had just happened felt so certain, so real that Luna felt tears on her eyes before she could think.

“You heard me when our minds touched right? Luna?” he asked softly, worriedly.

“Yes...but…” She whimpered in response. Guardian Angel crossed over to her and immediately wrapped his wings around her. Luna silently sobbed into them for a moment, hardly feeling their minds partially meld.

“I’m so sorry.” He whispered into her ear. “I can feel your emotions. What I said felt real didn’t it?”

She could only nod in response. Their contact was doing little to comfort her. In fact, she was fairly certain it was making things worse. In a fit of fury she slammed her hooves against his chest her words returning to her.

“You bastard! You evil, no-good lying bastard!” she shrieked. He did not respond other than to hold her tighter.

“I’ve touched the minds of many ponies. I’ve learned much from my duties in the realm of dreams. And I know a part of you would have done it. You would have sacrificed me for her! And then just animated my empty body for your own carnal desires! You fucking monster!”

Luna could feel how deep her words cut him. She knew exactly what to say and how to say it to make him hurt. To make him hurt how the last few minutes had hurt her, that was what she wanted. The alicorn knew she should not blame him, that all of this was part of what they had agreed on moments before when their minds had linked. Sadly, Luna could not help but feel that he had manipulated her at that moment. At every moment, ever since they had started dating. However he had a response, she felt his words coming before they made his lips.

“That part of me is dead. It’s been dead since I linked minds with Gusty.”

“Well it seems to be alive and well to me!”

“Luna, you know what I say is true. I couldn’t continue like I had been. You know that.”

Perhaps she was being petty, or perhaps the stress of the fight had gotten her more fatigued than she realized: Luna did not believe him. She wanted to be sure, without a doubt, without him touching her, without the influence of his mind.

“Let go of me!” She demanded and he did. Standing up and moving away from her he looked down at the ground.

“I’m glad I can’t see your face, otherwise I’d feel even worse than I already do,” Guardian murmured. Luna pushed the momentary pity she felt away, determined to completely separate their beings from one another so she could properly judge what he said.

“Speak the truth,” she eventually commanded. Her emotions still rolled angrily underneath her logic, threatening to overtake her again. Luna wished the stakes were less dire. If he was sincere then only one great evil needed to be vanquished. If she could not find a reason to trust him then she had literally been sleeping with the world’s most horrible monster. A beast that was set on total domination of everything she cared about.

“In a different life...I would have done it. That’s the truth.” Guardian paused his face pinched and forlorn. “And that different life only ended three years ago. But, I could never make that sacrifice now...never. Luna you’re...I’m sorry.”

He fell silent. His eyes betraying his own self-loathing. Looking down at where the unconscious Gusty lay to his left, he heaved a hefty sigh. Luna waited for him to continue, holding her emotions in check. As hard as she had tried she could still feel what he felt and her heart screamed for mercy, but her mind demanded she ensure her safety.

“You’re right. I am a monster,” he whispered. “I always have been.”

“I’ve done such terrible things. Atrocities against dragons...murdered ponies, that while they many have deserved it, they had no way of defending themselves. The Griffons. All of it...that quest for vengeance… it reawakened a part of me that I had never truly dealt with. The hunger for power...for control. You were there for all of it, you never left my side and I was willing to throw you away because I felt like you had slighted me. Because I thought it was your job to tell me that I was wrong, and that you needed me. I was both cruel and a fool. I know I’ll always be a fool. Sometimes I think I still might be cruel too.”

He paused, his face looking much older for a brief moment. “I can make no excuses. And I don’t have the right to ask for forgiveness. I thought that plan would work and I failed. I hurt you. I failed Gusty. I failed the world. I didn’t mean to make you feel like this.”

“Please...even if you can’t forgive me. We still have work to do so there will be a world to go back to once we are finished.” Guardian Angel looked up at her his sharp slitted-pupils’ sheen just barely betraying his regret.

For a creature like her lover, this realm showed all, there was no hiding even the deepest thoughts or emotions. He could not see or truly hear. Guardian felt, absorbed, and emitted. The fact that he could fight the Curse to a draw was a miracle, a testament to his mental fortitude. Likewise this unliving experience proved the display of such compelling sentiments could not be faked. It was why she had believed his ruthless declaration in the first place. A part of him would have done it; that was why it had felt so real. Did he or did he not have intention of following through? Luna was no longer knew that answer.

Luna broke her stoicism and let her fear resurface, tears streaming down her face.

“We w-will have to revisit this,” she started, voice cracking. “I had thought you had made more substantial progress from those times.”

“For what it is worth: I thought I had too,” Guardian Angel replied not looking at her.

His words did not have the impact she thought they would. Her heart felt cold and tired, begging to have this nightmare end. However, as they sat there apart Luna pushed herself toward him begrudgingly. She was uncertain if it was a blessing or a curse, but she knew she still loved him, even in this moment. Luna blamed her soft heart, its romantic ideals, and her petty desire. There needed to be a discussion bigger than the two of them once they got Gusty stabilized. Leaning against him briefly, she let the silent but powerful message of her emotions reach him. She was still willing to try and make it work, but she no longer trusted him the way she had before. He would have to prove to her that he was more committed to amending his ways.

“We must make haste. There is no telling what that beast might do to Gusty’s waking mind. Especially since it is no longer bound by that containment magic,” She stated pulling away.

“Right. See you up there,” he replied. He looked at her but his face was an empty mask.

He blurred upward in flash his form more a silhouette than solid as he went. Luna charged up her horn, spell on the ready and she was quickly on her way as well. Unlike Guardian her movement was instant. As she cleared her eyes she again floated above the churning ocean of Gusty’s waking thoughts.

An icy pain pierced her heart and a dark chuckles filled her ears. What’s better than one broken alicorn? Two broken alicorns!

In a panic, Luna looked down at her chest to find a long tentacle extending out from it. The inky appendage snaked its way back to its owner who laughed madly. Fear engulfed the mooney mare and for a moment the whole of her perceptions darkened to black and chiding remarks of years long past echoed into her skull.

Oh Lulu, such a bad little pony. No wonder he favors you! Chuckled the Mytsn as it forced her through some of her memories.. Luna liked that name better. It suited the terrible creature. And it was that thought that steeled her nerves.

“You know nothing of my heart, beast,” she seethed. “You are nothing compared to the darkness I faced every night for over a millennia!

Horn and fury blazing Luna blasted spells at the black creature, eyes closed. It shrieked in surprise and pain. Slowly its grip on her lessened as she struggled against it. Suddenly as if it had been grabbed and tossed the Curse’s influence was cast away. She opened her eyes to find Guardian Angel’s fangs pinned into the creature as he drug it away.

“Was I dreaming? What happened to my bed? Am I still dreaming?” Came Gusty’s voice over the top of everything around them. Luna stifled a gasp. The mare was indeed awake, those words were her thoughts.

“Begone foul beast!” Her stallion shouted. Shifting her gaze to him, she watched as the amalgamation was thrown across the sea a mighty distance away, its body bouncing off the surface as if it was hard and not an evermoving mass. Recovering, it darted off, disappearing behind one of the great golden moorings that was not wholly destroyed.

“Gusty! Gusty, godsdamnit!” her stallion cried, ignoring the inky beast’s escape.

“It’s no use trying to get her to help. We will have to think of a way to contain the Mytsn on our own, before we try to make our escape. Let’s just hope she has enough wits to summon my sister.” Luna shouted out quickly.

“That’s not what I’m worried about!” he yelled back. “If the Curse is targeting you, then it won’t just do it in here.”

“What do you mean?” She galloped over to him as she spoke.

“I’m fully reconnected with Gusty at the moment, remember? I can feel what it intends to do, what it plans to use her for. The Mytsn is going to have a go at you in the real world using Gusty as her puppet!” Guardian Angel hissed angrily, more at himself than at any pony else

Luna looked up at the purply sky that made the ceiling of this realm. Images of the Palace flashed before her. The distorted but understandable sounds of pony’s talking reached her ears, Celestia stood in view her face worried, horn aglow. The whole realm around them darkened to black save the few floating memories, the golden, broken shards of Gusty’s magic and the light of what the mare could see. A low terrible, but delighted laughter rolled from seemingly everywhere, just like Gusty’s voice had before.

“Oooooh, you are just too good at this, my Lord. It’s too bad you have no way to stop me~!” The Curse singsonged.

Luna watched Gusty’s line of sight direct itself over her sister’s shoulder and towards a doorway. The view seemed to focus in on the portal and as it did a blue curl of fur and wings laying contentedly on the floor. Realizing she was looking at herself Luna momentarily balked at her sparkling mane and sleeping face. It had been an eternity since she had looked at herself through somepony else’s eyes, simply put each pony had their own view of the world. She felt both flattered and surprised that Gusty thought of her as beautiful as she did.

The moment was cut short by the hiss and hum of summoning magic. Now hanging closely in the image was Gusty’s old beat-up sword. The clopping of hooves and the laughter of both the mare’s waking body and the Mytsn echoed over the area. A vague distance away Luna could hear Guardian Angel cursing, the sound of something heavy being slammed against metal accompanying his every word. However, she was transfixed, locked in place as she watched her own death play out.

“No! What am I doing?!? Luna is my friend!...The Curse! It’s trying to control me! Not yet! Not yet! Come on you two, figure something out!” Gusty’s thoughts boomed commandingly. The motion of her sight stopped and her sword was cast aside.

The darkness faded to a light grey with patches of purple in between and the ocean of thoughts and emotions could be seen again. Luna released a breath she had been holding, her moment of helplessness over.

She turned her head towards the sound of a hoof-fight. There by the glowing mooring where it had disappeared the entity fought her stallion. They continued to wrestle as she bolted over, moving on instinct of survival alone.

Celestia! You have to bind me or something-do anything! I’m losing control, the Curse-it just made me try to kill Luna. It knows that they are trying to defeat it, it's like she said, it's alive! Damnit, I should have just believed her to begin with! Gusty’s words came to her as if she had spoken them herself. The sensation gave Luna the chills before warming her heart. The teal mare was managing to keep her safe even while she was losing it. She might just turn out to be worth all this trouble.

A snarl, a wail, the sound of flesh impacting stone: the accompaniment followed Guardian Angel and the Curse as they tumbled over one another, biting and kicking. Luna pushed herself and ran towards them faster. It seemed the great golden pillar of broken magic was much further away than she had anticipated. It grew and expanded into a mighty tower as she approached. As she slowly neared the two demons other voices could be heard murmuring.

“Mother, could you perhaps be more gentle with that comb? I prefer to keep my mane on my head and not scraped off on the ground,” complained the voice of a long dead alicorn filly.

“Well if you didn’t go running through the briars all the time I wouldn’t have to do this!” Gusty giggled over a few pained grunts of her ward.

Now close by, Luna realized the words were coming from the golden tower itself. Whatever Guardian Angel had done to break their magic continued to prove catastrophic. These memories belonged in the sea below her hooves, why they were now trapped inside the remnants of the mare’s spell was anypony’s guess. However, the moment gave Luna inspiration. If powerful memories had found their way into the moorings then perhaps the Curse could be temporarily held there as well. It would provide excellent support for she and Celestia’s stabilization spells. Not to mention give her a moment to escape back into the waking world without having to take a portion of the monstrosity with her into her mind.

“Guardian Angel, I have an idea!” she cried horn charging as she spoke.

“What is it?!” he hollered back between pinning and getting pinned by the black entity.

“Yes, do tell mooney mare!” The Curse barked in its momentary advantage.

That was all Luna needed to say. For all his faults, her stallion would be able to read what she had planned just by her body language. Quickly, as she dashed over to the great golden pillar searching for a way inside, to see the memories that she could hear within. Unfortunately, the cursory glance yielded no results, she would need an uninterrupted dreamwalk to find out the pillar’s mysteries. Something she would not be getting. Brute force would be the method used to trap the Curse inside the magical remnant. Scuffle behind her and a growl caused her to tense just enough to not be crushed by the sudden impact of the two combatants bouncing off her backside. Still it smooshed her nose into the structure before her, leaving her quite upset.

Good plan. I’ll keep the Mytsn distracted. Whispered Guardian Angel’s words into her soul as he slugged the other beast with a potent right hoof.

Luna went to yell at him for invading her privacy but realized that would give away her only advantage of surprise. “Watch it you big idiot, how’s my plan gonna work if you knock me out!” she shouted instead.

“Poor dumb-dumb. He’s going to ruin his only chance! Hahaha!” cackled the Curse. Meanwhile she countered the stallion’s overzealous attempt to give her a full buck with a tentacle lash to his front hooves that knocked him down.

“Pshh!” Luna spat. “He’s already gone and done that. Besides, I don’t understand why he’s holding back at this point. He wounded you quite severely back in the Frozen North. He should be able to do it again.” She moved around their fight, circling to put them between herself and the mooring.

“Maybe it's because this time I can’t focus my power on a single point!” Guardian Angel growled. He flipped up from the ground, neck and mouth moving like lightning. His fangs sank deeply into the Curse’s “neck” eliciting a yelp of pain. He drove her forward and into the pillar of gold, just like Luna had hoped he would.

However, before she could make her move the dark entity put up a desperate struggle before a chilling bout of giggles darkened the sky of Gusty’s mind again. Luna snapped her head towards the viewport to watch the movie of the material plane. At first Celestia was all that appeared there, her worried face looking directly at Gusty, her horn glowing with the pale-yellow that was her magic. With a stiff jerk, the mare’s eyes flicked over to Guardian Angel’s body, still rigid and standing in place. Her sword hefted in her levitation she strode towards the stallion. A sudden red shield-bubble blocked her path.

“You know. You might hold me by the throat in here, but two can play at that game!” The Mytsn proclaimed between pained squeaks.

In shock, Luna watched Gusty’s sword swing down and shatter the shield in a single blow. In the next motion the levitated blade whipped around wildly, but the mare did not move.

“My my, she’s fighting me much more fiercely than before. Too bad I have her strength gauged from when she saved you, Luna.” The monstrous blackness’s beady blue eyes sparkled with glee.

The mare of the moon’s blood turned cold. Her stallion’s words were the answer, albeit on the attack and not the defense. She would need to focus all of her magic in single burst, at a single point. There was no other way to temporarily banish the Curse into the ancient containment magic. Unfortunately, that would immediately drain her. She would be just as trapped as the dark entity until her strength recovered. Guardian Angel would have to guide her out, and that meant she would have to trust him to not possess her. Although right now, Luna was still pretty apprehensive of that choice. Yet, it was the only choice to make if they were going to solve this problem and they were so close already.

“Damnit!” Echoed Gusty’s voice across the rolling waves. “Damnit, no! He can take it but I mustn’t give in! It will be like going back before! I don’t want this! I can’t go back to my old self! Fuck! I’m so close to being actually happy!”

“Oh, sweet child, did you think you could trust him?” This time it was the Curse’s voice that boomed across the world. It toyed with Gusty as the scant second ticked by and Luna readied herself. Meanwhile the apparition Guardian Angel held just laughed more and more.

The Princess did not need to charge her horn to unleash raw magic. She did not hold back. She let the full force of her new sorrows and anger push her forward. The magic she released was a beam of pure white. It extended outward in a wide ray that hit both Guardian Angel and the Curse. While the stallion did not shriek, the entity certainly did. As her vision darkened Luna caught the end of the spell carrying the dark beast into the golden realm beyond Gusty’s waking mind. Gritting her teeth in a desperate attempt to retain consciousness Luna felt the press of wings against her barrel.

When her vision reached clarity again, Luna found the unfamiliar face of the unicorn mare from before. A splitting headache forced her eyes closed immediately and she groaned angrily.

“Princess Luna is back!” The mare’s hooves clopped excitedly away from where she lay curled in a pained ball. It had been an eternity since she experienced mana burn. She attempted to sit up but immediately found hot wet rush down her snout and onto her hooves.

“Sister!” Celestia’s hooves clipped over in a rush. “You really should be more careful. You’re bleeding form your ears and nose!”

“I’ve survived worse. Help me stand. There is still much to attend to,” Luna clutched at her temples as she spoke. Without much protest her sister helped her up, the hum of some muscle relaxing magic followed before she could request it. Her elder summoned a few cool cloths and wiped her face and ears, their soft touch almost better than the magic. She thanked Celestia and the two solar sisters carefully re-entered Gusty’s bedroom. Though Luna had been only laying out in the hall, the world inside the room seemed like a different place.

Most notably blood was pooled about the majority of the stone floor. In the midst of it, Gusty sat on her plot, breathing as if she had just run a marathon. The blood was clearly not her own, Luna knew the almost sweet smell of demon blood all too well. The thought made her heart ache. Even with recent revelations she did not want to see Guardian Angel hurt. After all he had not actually done anything, his words may have been vile, his emotions worse, but he did not act on them. It was the only reason Luna had not come out of the Dreamscape swinging

She found his face blank as he stood like a statue. From his neck and from his chest slow but quite steady flows of ichor continued to grow the pools at his hooves. It seemed that not until Luna had found herself in the waking world did Gusty come back into control of herself. The Princess of the Moon hesitated to ask if her teal counterpart felt well; it was fairly clear she did not. Besides it far more troubling was Guardian Angel’s continued absence from the material plane. If he had gotten trapped, then the magic that made up his body and soul was still focused there, and the wounds would not heal. Even for a beast as powerful as he, the blood loss he was taking would prove lethal in short order should he not regain consciousness.

Just as Luna was to suggest the beleaguered party of soldiers and alicorns do something to help him, he gasped loudly with a gurgle. Taking to a fit of coughing he spat out more blood, but the wounds on his body quickly closed. Eventually he retched out a large and rather disturbing clot making Luna blanch herself.

“You punctured and flooded a damn lung, Gusty!” he hoarsely declared. The mare did not notice his words, her face distraught and distant as she looked at him.

“Are you alright?” Celestia was the pony to ask.

“Yeah. Cut it pretty close though.” He cleared his throat and spat, his voice becoming more normal. “I’m just glad we managed to contain it. About everything else has gone wrong today.”

“That somehow is underselling it, don’t you think?” Luna snarked bitterly.

“Luna I…” Guardian Angel stopped speaking and just looked away. It was at least obvious he felt remorse. He began speaking to the armored mare from before.

“Sergeant.”

“Yes, Milord?”

“Signal the all clear and have the emergency portals deactivated. There is no need to start the evacuation, the situation has stabilized.”

“Of course. Do you need us for anything else?”

“Yes. Send in the magic transfer team. Luna could use a bit of a boost before we bother to place the extra failsafes.”

The unicorn nodded and quickly departed with her counterpart. The room fell silent as the immortals stood about, and in Gusty’s case, sat. Luna felt too hurt and tired to say anything. She wanted some way to know if Guardian Angel was controlling her. Any proof to show he as not would make her feel significantly more comfortable. Frankly, it would not take much, she wanted to believe the good part of him much more than the bad part. He would suffer all the same until she got what she needed to feel safe again.

Done with the quiet the stallion grunted. He motioned for Celestia to rouse Gusty from the floor. Her sister did as he requested and prodded the teal mare’s nose until she calmly stopped Celestia’s hoof.

“Sorry. I just don’t know how to deal with myself right now.” Gusty stood as she spoke.

“Not to worry. I believe Luna and G.A. were successful in their endeavors. Although I’m detecting a sour attitude coming from both of them,” Celestia commented before casing a wary glance between the two of them.

“You could say that.” Luna did not manage to bite her tongue nor control the venom in her voice.

“What happened between you two?” her sister’s voice was rife with concern. She could smell conflict and almost certainly wanted her say in it. Luckily for her, Luna was more than willing to oblige, she just had to wait on the transfer team to get her some magic back.

“I made some pretty idiotic mistakes...” Guardian Angel stopped speaking his nostrils flaring. “I smell blood.”

“Well, I mean-it’s kinda everywhere.” Gusty gestured to the room ironically. She beat both of the solar sisters to the punch.

“Alicorn blood.” His eyes moved over to Luna, scrutinizing carefully.

“You mana burned yourself? Godsdamnit. Why did you do that?!”

“I was angry. I’m still angry.”

“That’s no reason to hurt yourself!”

“Everypony else was doing it so I figured it must be fun!”

“It is most definitely not fun! I feel awful!”

“Oh, sure you do. Just wait until I explain to these two what you did.”

Guardian Angel frowned but remained quiet. He did not have a comeback for that and that put a selfish smile on her face. Meanwhile, Gusty and Celestia kept looking between them with worry on their faces. Neither made a move, presumably because they were trying to see if the fight would continue.

The magic transfer team arrived before they could continue bickering. The two dozen unicorns wasted no time setting up their channeled spell. Luna barely had time to ask questions about the procedure, she had not ever had ponies transfer magical energy into her before. Suffice to say the simple explanations she received did not satisfy her concern. The team displayed a great deal of apathy and just shot her with a strange beam that produced a low resonant tone. Her apprehension quickly disappeared, the magic immediately alleviating her headache and sore body. By the time they were done every last unicorn had fallen over in a deep slumber, but Luna herself felt only slightly fatigued, a vast improvement. She would have to thank them later.

“Gusty, Sister. You are coming with me. I need some ponies to vent to after we cast the additional containment magic. Guardian Angel, clean up your mess.” she waved a hoof at the strange state of the room.

“Going to the Northern Conference Room?” he asked.

“I was. Why? Do you plan to come defend yourself?” Luna nearly snarled.

“Better to face the music sooner than later...I’ll be along.” His voice was hollow as if his mind was locked on other thoughts that were somehow more upsetting than what had happened this morning.

“Let’s go.” With a teleport’s flash and a refusal to look back, Luna brought her small council of confidantes to her desired location. She drew a breath and started her angry tirade; hoping, perhaps, that hearing her own fury might justify the rage she felt. If not, hopefully it would lessen its effects and let logic prevail. Meanwhile her horn burned hot with the spells she had been practicing at the request of stallion she no longer trusted, her sister doing the same. Her rant continued as the magic flowed and started doing its job, evident by the slowly relaxing Gusty Twilight. Ultimately, as she described her story to her companions Luna ignored all else. She did not care which path would be presented to her, whichever presented itself first she would take. Guardian Angel was going to bear the brunt of her wrath either way.

.”

Next Chapter: Act 4: Chapter 9 - Just Between You and Me Estimated time remaining: 7 Hours, 7 Minutes