You know I am the cause of your hardships. I feel the chill of your touch, the shiver up your spine as you hold yourself against me. The way you cower in my presence, how you lower your gaze when I speak.

But the drug that is love draws you to me. I hurt you, yet you smile. I spit in your face, and you thank me.

For I am all you ever wanted, want, will want. I am the power you crave, the ambition that drives you to the brink of sanity.

You will peer over that ledge and into the abyss, and you will dive headfirst into my open arms. For you know the fear of losing that which you gave up everything to gain. You know the fear of ending up alone...

Don’t you, little Sunset?

I said: don’t you, little Sunset?

Yes. Good girl. You know that I love you.

I will become one with you. I will subsume your essence, and Sister will know my hatred remains as sharp as the day I refused her precious sun.

Come, little Sunset.

Embrace me.

I opened my eyes. The first thing I noticed were my forehooves. Or, what used to be my forehooves. They had grown these odd appendages, like the claws of a dragon but without their sharp talons.

What in Orion’s name was I? I shook my head. ’Twas not important. I needed to find Sunset Shimmer.

I stood in a courtyard of concrete and grass carpeted in leaves. Heavy clouds hung over a large building whose arms reached out as if to swaddle the courtyard.

’Twas then I realized this was the same place as Sunset Shimmer’s nightmare. This was Canterlot High, the very place Twilight had mentioned in her exploits.

I reached out to place my forehooves on the ground when I realized I stood on my hind legs. It took a moment to register, but Twilight’s words came back to me. I stayed upright and took my first step with only my hind hooves. I was rather unsteady, but I managed to reach the stair railing without incident.

Already I felt the lack of magic in the air, my disconnect from the dreamscape and the ponies slumbering within. I did not try forcing open the door, but rather considered my new forehooves.

I reached out, grasped the handle, and opened the door. ’Twas an awkward gesture, but I oddly enjoyed the manual dexterity of this body.

An open entranceway waited inside, lined with display cases and adorned with banners rallying around a group called the Wondercolts. I recalled Twilight mentioning Sister and my counterparts once. We were the principal and vice principal here. I followed the signs to their office.

Twilight advised I not ‘freak out’ over my new body, but she did not give such advice for Sister. ’Twas Sister sitting behind the desk, though, at the same time wasn’t. My not-Sister looked up from the manila folder lying open before her and raised a brow.

“Aren’t you supposed to be in the gym supervising the pep rally setup?”

“I… No. I apologize, um, Celestia, but I am not who you think I am.”

She laid the folder down. “What are you talking about?”

I raised a hoof (hand?), but lowered it. I wasn’t sure what to do with them, so I clasped them together and held them at my waist. "Do you recall Princess Twilight?"

Celestia stared at me a moment longer than was necessary. ’Twas uncanny how her expression resembled Sister’s, and just as apparent her mind wound through the same labyrinth before finding the conclusion she sought.

"You’re my sister from that other world."

I nodded. “Yes. I must speak with Sunset Shimmer. ’Tis urgent,” I added, at that scrying stare of hers. ’Twas the same she oft gave me during our rare games of chess.

“What do you need?”

Oh, dearest Celestia. Ever protective of her subjects, no matter what form she took. “’Tis in regards to lingering traces of Equestrian magic here on this side of the portal.”

She seemed to consider me a moment longer before pressing a button on a little box atop her desk. “Sunset Shimmer, please report to the principal’s office. Sunset Shimmer, please report to the principal's office.”

She gestured at the seat before me. “Please have a seat.”

“No thank you, Sis-er, Celestia. I would rather stand.”

She blinked, then leaned forward in her chair. She rested her elbows on the desk, clasped her hands together, and hid her mouth behind her hands. “What exactly is going on with this lingering magic?”

“’Tis what I wish to discuss with Sunset Shimmer. I am not entirely certain of its nature." ’Twas technically a lie, but I deemed it necessary to withhold that information for the time being. This Celestia was skeptical of me, and I did not wish to ruin my chances of gaining an audience with Sunset Shimmer.

The door opened behind me. “You needed me, Principal Celestia?”

Sunset shimmer stopped halfway into the room upon seeing me. Perhaps it was the way I held myself, or maybe she retained some affinity for Equestrian magic. But one look and she knew who I was.

I took a step forward. “Sunset Shimm—”

“I told you to give the book back to Twilight.” She balled her hands into fists, but even though she maintained a brave face, she leaned away from me. “I didn’t say I wanted to talk to you in person. What are you doing here?”

“You must listen to me. I know why you still have these nightmares. I can help. There is still a piece of Nightmare Moon inside you. I don’t know how or why, but—”

“No, you listen to me,” she said. Her voice trembled, and in her eyes swam the fear of a cornered animal. Had I my powers over the dreamscape here, I feared what images I would have seen when I blinked.

“You have no right to invade my dreams like that. Not then and not now. I don’t want anything to do with this. I don’t want anything to do with you. Leave me alone.”

I grabbed her by the shoulders. She flinched as though I were about to strike her. “Listen to me, Sunset Shimmer. I—”

“That is enough!” came Sister’s voice.

I stepped back instinctively.

Sister’s doppelganger had rounded on the desk and stepped between us. In her eyes shone that protective fury she held close that fateful night I fell.

Behind her, Sunset Shimmer stood with head bowed and hands held close to her breast. She stared terrified into the distance.

“I don’t know how you do things back in your world, but here on Earth and especially in my school, we do not manhandle students like this.” She pointed at the door. “Go. Leave.”

Sunset Shimmer looked away. She leaned against the wall, one arm hanging at her side, the other holding it. She looked as though the terror of the moment had ended, but the scars were ever present.

I bowed my head. “I am sorry. I did not mean to cause alarm.”

I looked at Sunset Shimmer. “Sunset Shimmer. You do not have to love me the way you did before. You do not even have to trust me. All I ask is that you allow me the chance to right my wrongs. I cannot bear the prospect of somepony hurting for my mistakes. And if you still wish to never see me again afterward, I will gladly grant you that wish.”

She turned away, still leaning against the wall. She squinched her eyes shut.

I turned for the door. “If you change your mind. Please. Do not hesitate to find me.”

I left that cold room and colder farewell. The late autumn winds bit through my clothes, and I shivered as I came to the portal. I gave the school one last glance over my shoulder and sighed.

I stepped through and found myself once again in Twilight's castle. It seemed that either time flowed faster in the other world or the journey through the portal lasted longer than an instant, for I saw the thin crescent moon hanging outside the high window. Sister must have raised it for me in my absence.

Twilight lay dozing amidst a bundle of pillows in the center if the room. A book lay open beneath her hoof, and a blanket lay half draped over her. She had been waiting for me in case I returned early.

I smiled and pulled her blanket up over her shoulders. “Sweet dreams, young Twilight.”

I lingered there a moment, endearing myself to that mare. She was a true Princess of Friendship. She would make a fine ruler one day.

I came across Spike on my way to the castle entrance, and he told me Twilight had prepared a room for me. He insisted I stay, so I acquiesced and bedded down for the night.

I spent the long hours of sleep drifting amongst our subjects’ dreams. I played my part in defending them from their nightmares, but all the while my mind lingered on Sunset Shimmer.

These nightmares were rote, predictable things. Little could be said for the ease of overcoming them, but they lacked the same urgency. Or, perhaps Twilight was more correct than I initially thought:

I needed to save Sunset Shimmer, just as much as she needed saving.

When I deemed the dreamscape quiet, I set off in search of her dream.

The stars and nebulae that composed the dreams of our subjects, much like their true stellar counterparts, followed relative orbits through the dreamscape. One could know which cluster of stardust or shining star belonged to which ponies and where to find them if they paid attention.

I followed the trajectory of Sunset Shimmer’s orbit, though I could not find her blazing star. I struggled to feel her tether amidst the others, and I feared it an omen.

I felt something touch my shoulder. I turned, curious, but I floated alone in the void. Something disturbed my body in the waking world. I lit my horn and pulled myself from the dreamscape.

A warm, orange glow bled through my eyelids. I opened my eyes and sat up. There before me stood Sunset Shimmer, a magelight spell at the tip of her horn.

“Sorry,” she said. “You... didn’t wake up when I knocked.”

We shared a moment of silence. In her eyes, I saw a fledgling hope emerge from its shell.

“Twilight said you were here. She said...” She rubbed a hoof along her foreleg. Her eyes landed upon everything but me until a final moment of courage brought them around. There was hesitation, but also trust. Twilight must have convinced her to give me a chance. “You… You can make the nightmares go away?”

My heart fluttered at the opportunity, and I sat up in full. “As sure as the stars in the sky.”

A smile found its way to her face, but worry bid she bite her lip. “I-I’m sorry for how I acted back there. I—”

I placed a hoof to her lips. “Shh. Say not a word. I understand your hesitation.”

I rose from my bed and stood beside her.

She took a step back, and a brief fear flickered in her eye. But a moment’s resolution showed on her face, and she stepped forward again.

“Are you sure you’re willing to do this?” I asked. “I know you do not trust me. I will not be offended if you change your mind.”

She raised a hoof as if for stepping, and she searched for something in the crystal beneath her hooves. She looked at me with those wide eyes of hers. There was understanding in them.

“Twilight told me about the Tantabus,” she said. “I… I trust you.”

Oh, how my heart sang to hear those words! I flitted my wings, if only to maintain my composure. “I am glad to hear it, Sunset Shimmer. I…”

I considered the tiny smile on her lips, the slight peak of her brows. She knew nervousness, but her tether thrummed with hope. She saw a light in the distant dark of her mind.

I gestured toward the bed. “Please, make yourself comfortable.”

She hopped into bed, and I pulled the covers over her. I gathered my magics to my horn and touched her forehead. “Sleep, Sunset Shimmer. I will join you shortly.”

She closed her eyes, and relaxed her head onto the pillow. Her mouth hung slightly open. Hers was a deep sleep that knew momentary peace.

I brushed her mane out of her face. I had forgotten how beautiful she was. It pained me to think I had once used that fact to corrupt her thoughts and play to her emotions.

No more. I was no longer that monster. I would right my wrongs and see her to that paradise she desperately sought. I closed my eyes and wound a thread of magic from my horn to hers.

I stood in a featureless plane of dark orange. ’Twas natural for dreams to begin amorphous, colored by the waking emotions the dreamer last experienced. Dark orange was a foreboding color, one of hope yet of presaged violence. Blood would be spilt by dream’s end.

The world drew itself to life as if beneath the pen of a master artist. I stood in the entranceway of Canterlot High. A presence materialized behind me, and I felt Sunset Shimmer’s tether pull taut ere I turned.

She stood in human form, mind empty as her soul fully took seat within her dream body. She blinked and looked around. “Where am I?”

I wanted more than anything to emerge from beyond the veil of her consciousness and hold her close. But I knew the Nightmare prowled somewhere in the shadows. If I were to best it, I would need every advantage I could find. So I waited, invisible, for it to show itself.

It did not take long. The room darkened as if a blanket of clouds hid away the moon, and a guttural laugh rolled in from the dark.

Sunset Shimmer staggered away. She raised her hands in front of herself, eyes up and into the high ceilings that began rising beyond sight. “Who’s there?”

My heart hammered in my chest. I felt its presence long before I saw it, the ghostly chill that ran up my spine like ice water. I turned toward the left hallway, and there I saw the first tendrils of its mane slithering toward us.

They lashed out like whips to snare Sunset Shimmer by the ankles. She fell backward screaming and kicked at them, but she could not break free.

The Nightmare stepped forward from the shadows. Black fog rolled out from its underbelly like dry ice as it took long, predatory steps. It had changed since last night. No longer did it appear as my former self, tall and slender, but rather ’twas a body that I likened to the muscular form of a panther. Its wings dragged across the ground at its sides, and it set its heavy jaw square with her beneath white, featureless eyes. Its mouth opened like a jagged gash across its face, and out rolled a long, ichorous tongue.

Before it could take another step, I cast aside the veil of her consciousness and entered her dream in full. “Unhand her! You have violated the sanctity of Sunset Shimmer’s dreams long enough. Submit, demon.”

It stopped and regarded me. A surge of magic thrummed along Sunset Shimmer’s tether, as if a gangly talon plucked it like a string.

In a bassy, demonic voice, it spoke without moving its lips. “You have failed. She is mine.”

I sensed the potential coiled like a viper within its breast. ’Twas stronger than before, drew power from the turmoil I had caused Sunset Shimmer this eve.

I lowered my nose and flared my wings. “I am Princess Luna of Equestria, Keeper of the Untamed Forest, Wielder of the Elements, Daughter of the Seven Tribes of Harmony, and Regent of the Heavens. You will not harm her.”

It lowered its head and smiled at me. “You are wrong.”

Without another word, it turned toward Sunset Shimmer. It leapt on top of her, and there was a blinding flash.

Sunset Shimmer screamed. She writhed on the floor, and then rose into the air. Her eyes glowed white, and she landed gently on her feet.

Her jaw hung slack, her head lolled to the side. She stared into the distance with blank eyes. Black, spidering veins pulsed beneath the skin of her face, arms, hands. A croaking death rattle rolled out from her throat.

I stepped forward on instinct, but when I realized what happened, I staggered back in horror.

It… joined with her?

This was unheard of. I had seen dreams corrupted by nightmares, subconscious landscapes twisted into depictions of hell and the eldritch alike. But I had never seen a nightmare conjoin with the dreamer themself.

This was bad. The dreamer’s body within a dream was the manifestation of their very soul. As such, the dreamer was sacred within the confines of their dream. But this sort of corruption reached deeper than the surface, had bound itself to the foundation of her being. I could not leave her like this, nor did I know the state of mind she would awake in should I fail.

I had to separate them somehow.

Sentience returned to her in some capacity. She stared at me with wide eyes. Tears rolled down her face. She staggered forward with an arm outstretched.

“Luna...” Her voice barely registered over my thundering heart.

I rushed to meet her. “Sunset Shimmer! What has it—”

She touched me, and her hands were like fire.

My skin hissed, and I cried out. I pushed her away.

The dream shifted. We were no longer in Canterlot High. Blackness stretched all around us.

She crumpled to her knees and held herself by the shoulders. She wept, and black steam wafted from her back. “Please... It hurts.”

“Hold fast, Sunset Shimmer. I will wrest this demon from thee.”

“You said you’d help me.” She looked up at me, a snarl on her face. “You said you’d make me the greatest unicorn in history. You said you would love me the way She never could.”

I stepped back. There was a disconnect in her words. She spoke of the now and yet not. These were both her regrets and fears given voice. The Nightmare spoke through her.

I stood my ground. “I said many things, Sunset Shimmer. I said many things that hurt you, that made you do things you wished had never come to pass. That was the evil that held me prisoner, as it now holds you.

“But that was the past. You have overcome your failings as I have. You are stronger than your former self.” I fanned my wings and stood tall, but the dream shifted yet again. The darkness around us did not change, but it felt as if we fell deeper into it all the same.

Her tears turned black, and color drained from us both. She stumbled to her feet and backed away. “I gave you my magic. I gave you my heart. I gave… I-I gave you…”

Her face twisted in horrified disbelief. She clutched the sides of her head and screamed.

“Sunset Shimmer, please! I know what it is like to be alone. I know how it feels to be misunderstood and cast aside by those you love." The tears started down my cheeks. I could not hold them back. "But the past does not control you. I know the good in you, and I wish to be a part of it. But I cannot if you do not fight back against this Nightmare! Do not allow it to consume you. You must fight back!”

I felt the Nightmare reaching deeper into her, its corrupted roots digging through to the center of her being. If it infected her fully, I feared what would happen—what I might have to do.

She shook, her body finally slipping out of her control. Her eyes went blank, and her jaw fell slack. She was lost in the abyss of her Nightmare. She could not save herself.

Compassion bid I step forward, and I felt something I had not expected.

The Tantabus stirred within me. It reached out to her, like the opposite pole of a magnet. I knew what it wanted, what I had to do.

“I cannot take back what I did to you,” I said. “But I can take that which still hurts you.”

I wrapped my hooves about her despite my boiling skin and pulled her close. When my bosom touched hers, our hearts beat as one, and I kissed her.

I subsumed that fire, drank in the pain and countless years spent in darkness.

Sunset Shimmer placed trembling hands on my chest. Her fingers curled inward, she dragged her knuckles down my chest, and she relaxed to release all that plagued her.

I knew the touch of doubt, the taste of greed, the hunger of ambition. I felt the hatred for authority, the emptiness of love unrequited.

I drained every last bit of the misery I had inflicted upon her and let it rest in the seat of my soul.

The Tantabus flared to life. It craned its stellar head toward the firmament of my being, and it rose to face the maelstrom.

I squinched my eyes shut, refused the tears that wanted to run free and douse the fire they could not reach. I pulled away from the kiss and pressed my forehead against hers. When I breathed, I felt the war raging in my breast ebb and flow, as if I were breathing in the noxious fumes of her personal hell.

The pain was unbearable, and I grit my teeth, unsure how long I could hold it in. I felt a hand caress my cheek.

Sunset Shimmer stared into me. In her eyes shone fear—not for herself, but for me.

I felt the seedling of Nightmare within me, the lingering malintent the Tantabus had yet to wrestle under control.

I pulled free of her before I lost control and hurt her—or worse, set the Nightmare free. I wrapped my wings about my chest and fell upward through the veil of her consciousness.

Faintly, as if from across the span of the dreamscape, I heard, “Luna!”

I opened my eyes.

All was quiet. Somehow during sleep, I had gotten into bed. I had been known to sleepwalk from time to time whilst guarding the dreamscape, but I had never done so in such a manner.

Sunset Shimmer lay curled up in my grasp, our hooves intertwined. Her head rested in the crook of my neck, and her sweet breath warmed the fur of my chest.

I took a deep breath of her mane. She smelled of rainfall and sunflowers.

The Tantabus slumbered in my breast. I felt the cohabitation of its foe, Sunset’s misery finally at rest.

I closed my eyes. I did not search the dreamscape for her star. I did not look inward for the thrum of her tether. Rather, I listened for her soft breaths in the silence, felt the warmth of her fur against mine, the beat of her heart.

’Twas a moving experience, to feel her next to me. I hadn’t felt this way in millennia. I pulled a hoof free of her grasp to brush her mane out of her face.

She wrapped her hooves about mine and pulled it close. She mumbled in her sleep, “Don’t go…”

I smiled. I kissed her on the forehead and rubbed my muzzle against hers. “I am not going anywhere. Rest now, dearest Sunset. I will hold you til the dawn.”

I knew her asleep, but the little smile that graced her lips was worth my weight in gold. I closed my eyes and let the rhythm of our hearts carry me to sleep.

And in her warm embrace, I dreamed of the wind in her mane and sunshine upon her face.

Author's Notes:

Special thanks to Cold in Gardez for his review of this chapter.

Onward and Upward!