More time had passed. Amelio was in the void between dreams for probably her fifth time. She'd been sleeping far more often lately due to fatigue – she knew her time was drawing short. And because of it she was desperate to learn as many secrets as possible. Amelio was exploring the furthest reaches, trying to go beyond her boundaries of a moment prior, throwing all caution to the wind and becoming more and more reckless as she struggled to accept her upcoming death. Sim always carried her on his body nowadays, with Fear and the stallion trying to come to grips with losing their precious companion together. Fear and Sim constantly nuzzling together and weeping over what they knew was coming, Fear especially. He did not want to lose another special pony in his life. But there was nothing he could do.

Amelio always assured Fear that things would be okay when she was awake. That he would grow into a fine stallion one day. But it just wasn't quite enough as Fear hiccuped and sniffled, trying to hold onto her as much as he could, sometimes carrying her himself along with his plushie. Needing her in his life. He just... couldn't let go. But he knew, deep down. It was coming.

The void on the other hand, the liminal space as the book called it, was becoming more and more like a second home. She was powerful here. Becoming capable of so much. She had explored other dreams and gained a handle on the most difficult of aspects. She was finding entertainment value. And learning the deepest, darkest secrets of ponies was enthralling. But still, somehow she knew this wasn't all there was. There was something more out there. She didn't know if it'd be as terrible as some of the worst raiders, or those dreaming of lost loves ones, though she hoped it'd be beautiful like the dreams of non-feral ghouls who sometimes slept, their dreams of pre-war Equestria, despite the occasional nightmares of their radioactive transformation. Still, she knew there had to be something more, an edge, or something beyond. Neur was her only clue, and it was her inspiration to try and break the limits of consciousness. It was that, and a desire to find a way to persist long after death, even if it meant being in a coma for eternity. Perhaps she could even come back and visit her father and brother once she detached.

Either way, she'd come up with a plan. A daring plan, one that she didn't know if it would work. Amelio swam in the river of dream bubbles, closing her eyes and collecting as much energy from all the consciousnesses that she could. Connecting with each and every one of them. Drawing strength. When she opened her eyes the sapphire ellipticals surrounding her pupils became more pronounced. They gleamed, and had sharper edges. The orbits of planets were in her eyes as her sixth sense reached as far as it could. Searching, searching for something deep in the farthest reaches.

There was nothing.

At first.

As she concentrated harder she found something on the fringes. Something so far away, so distant it seemed impossible anypony could ever find it no matter how hard they tried. It would take days of searching just to locate it. But she sensed it, deep in the abyss. Lingering in liminal space. And she took off toward it, rocketing into the inky blackness away from the main stream, heading for where she did not know.

Amelio's curiosity had paid off. There was something out there. On the final frontier. Her lips pulled up into a snarl and her teeth grit as she giggled and snorted in ecstasy, so happy to have found another mystery. A dreambubble that was so far apart. It clearly wasn't a second stream, a second wave of consciousness. No. As she burst past the speed of light toward her destination she knew that something had pulled their dream bubble out of the wave of others to a safer location. A solitary refuge. And she was about to explore it! Amelio had never been so excited in her life. With all the feelings of death and despair lately, this felt like her one chance – she felt so alive. So full of energy even as she felt a little tired within the dreamscape. Her body would not hold her down forever, she was determined. But alongside that...

The filly had made a decision recently. Once her time came, no matter if she found a way to persist after death or not, her final act in life would be to give the remnants of her destiny to her father. She would give him back his life. His ability to make a difference. She would charge him up and give color back to his cutiemark. He would have that energy, the energy of an individual connected to a whole, once more.

Amelio finally reached the ostracized dream bubble, approaching closer and seeping into its gravity space. The orb was beautiful like a marble. There was a giant castle in it, and a courtyard. A bright, vibrant night sky full of stars and a moon. It was not her first time seeing these things. Ghouls had dreams of things like this too. She recognized this from her sleepy travels as Canterlot Castle. It was a giant, enormous, protruding structure on the side of a cliff face, with waterfalls dotting here and there. Fancy architecture all around with undulating spires and riveting, rippling towers. Jutting platforms made of marble and other materials. It was gorgeous, especially under the limelight of the moon, and the twinkling stars above. The castle made of lavenders, alabasters, and honey yellows. The grass and shrubbery in the courtyard garden being made up of the finest greens imaginable. So healthy and lively. More life than Amelio felt within her. After all, she was filled with no more than flickering embers and smoldering ash. She knew her time was coming. Amelio coated herself in dreamkiller and pierced through the dreambubble, coming out from within. She felt the air of a high elevation. So clear and crisp. It brew through her mane and over her body as she made her way down to the courtyard and alighting on the stone pathway, intricately carved blocks making it up. Amelio looked around, then up at the sky, literally gasping.

Above her the night sky was even more beautiful than ever before. There were so many stars, so many glistening spectral colors from nebulae and faraway galaxies that just stole Amelio's breath away. Comets streaked across at regular intervals. This was far more detailed than any night sky she'd ever seen before, as if other ponies had merely forgotten what midnight was capable of. So many celestial phenomenon graced her eyes and reflected back in it.

Amelio shook her head a little in disbelief before eventually wandering toward the castle entrance, no guards to speak of. No other constructs to inhibit her progress. Who could have created this? She was thankful she'd already gotten over the sensation she was going to fall into the unending skies in places like these from previous exposure.

As the filly moved toward the entrance, she wasn't surprised when everything around her melted away and something new dribbled into position like sludge. She was in the throne room. A place full of ornate yet simple stained glass workings on either side that let in moonlight. The designs were all of various simplistic shapes making up complex images, mostly suns and moons guiding little ponies toward... somewhere. Tapestries lined the hallway accented with a scarlet carpet with white rimming. Tapestries with unusual curvy designs and crescent moons topping them. On the edges of the hallway were recesses in the ground for water to flow through, water that came from further back, from six daises, three on either side, that trickled water down into the next. It was clean and pure. Up the curving slants leading to the back wall were two thrones with red cushioned backings, one smaller with a moon above it, and the other larger with a sun above it. And on either side of each were a grand arching door leading further in, backed by respectively decorated stained glass.

Beyond the majesty of the place, which had even more intricacies to it than she could take in on first glance, was a turgid scent hanging in the air. That of battery acid. It was tangy and burned the nose. It became more and more present the closer she got to the royal chairs in back. Amelio shook her head a few times, trying to dislodge the scent from her snout. She'd never experienced this scent before, but it reminded her of something. Either way, Amelio was used to seeing things like this, however not quite this expansive and detailed. If this dream bubble's engineering was so finely tuned than either the pony had a strong subconscious or they had multiple ponies working on it.

The owner of the scent revealed herself soon enough, stepping out from behind the moon-topped throne and staring down the long distance toward the entrance. The mare was tall but not quite majestic. If anything she looked rather sickly. Sticking out of her forehead was a sharp, conical horn revealing herself to be a unicorn. She had a lush, mulberry mane and tail that were thick and heavy, clumps of hair hanging on the sides and back, some of the front of her mane even hanging in front of her miserable, rose-colored eyes. She looked as if she had the weight of the world on her shoulders with her gaunt face and slumped posture. There was so much anguish in her gaze it almost forced Amelio to look away. The mare was covered in an exotically silver coat, and had unshorn fetlocks. Overall a huge mess. Her cutiemark however was the most interesting thing of all. A table saw placed between a split planet, sliced all the way through. A cutiemark of destruction. But Amelio couldn't discern just how destructive.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IhU_uTM9mBY

The mare's voice was sharp and slightly raspy, with a violent undertone to it. It spoke of a mare who was brutal and used to forcing other ponies into position. “What are you doing in the throne of my princess?”

Amelio lifted a foreleg and bent it at the knee. “I am Amelioreit Reverie.” She had begun using the correct pronunciation of her name now that she knew the full implications about it. She wanted to be proper after all. “I am the daughter of an overmare, and I am here solely out of curiosity. Who are you?”

The mare loosened up a bit as she began pacing between the thrones, her muscles rippling somewhat with each step. “I am Acute Sway. But you can call me Saway. That is my real name as far as I'm concerned.” She gave a small nod, as if to confirm that was how things were. “I don't know how long you've been asleep, or how you found this place, but I myself have been asleep for a very long time. I don't know how long.”

Amelio cocked her head to the side. “What are you doing here?”

It seemed Saway had not had a guest in awhile, and thus was very forthcoming with the information. Besides, it couldn't hurt too bad to be loose-lipped? “At one point, before Equestria was sundered into ruin, I wished to destroy the world myself. See it toppled and wrecked. Completely annihilated.” She shook her head. “I believed it was my talent at the time, even if now I see the true meaning behind such a vicious cutie mark.” She swept a foreleg out to the area around her. “Nowadays I remain here, with my Princess of Death. I aid her and protect her, and in return she gives me life. And together, we give each other companionship.”

Amelio was at a loss for words if she was being entirely honest. A mare who wanted to destroy the world? Just for the sake of it? No, there had to be more to her than that. She could sense as much. Saway was wracked with guilt and pain. She had seen things. She understood the nickname, sort of. A combination of her cutiemark and the last part of her actual name. If anything the real name also made sense. In a weird way. “Why did you want to destroy the world?”

Saway smiled bitterly, twisting her head from side to side. “Cutiemarks were everything in pre-war Equestria. Held on the highest pedestal, yet most ponies never even understood their true meaning. They just assumed. Everypony told you to follow your destiny, a lot believing in that so blindly they would allow anything to befall them. But I realized...” She shook her head again. “No it doesn't matter. That is all in the past now.” Saway looked back to Amelio. “I'm sorry to say but you must either leave, or suffer the consequences.” There was a look of fear in the mare's eyes, as if she still couldn't believe a mere filly had found her way to this dreambubble. In fact, she couldn't.

Amelio was rather insulted by the insinuation she was a danger. She felt Saway's fear and took it personally. The filly was close to dying, she knew it. She didn't want to leave. She wanted to explore and learn more, and she was going to divert attention away from her upcoming death by solving mysteries. Besides, sleep was her domain now. “Fine, if that is how you wish to play it. Come at me.” Amelio adjusted her positioning, lowering to the ground, getting ready for a fight. She was unabashedly defiant.

Saway started to rise up off the ground, a cold hard darkness surrounding her body like a shell, another body. It wrapped around her barrel and neck. It was full of moving shadows, inky black darkness and bruise-blues. Splotches and ripples. It had a pair of hands and two tendrils for legs. The sight was rather abhorrent, especially those gleaming, pure yellow eyes that pierced everything about her. They were chilling. And the equine face was bordering on uncanny valley.

Amelio lifted an eyebrow in concern. “What on Equus are you?”

Saway smirked as the nightmare head came down over hers like a helmet, fusing their eyes together into a creepy amalgamation. “Nightmares are fused to my core, it keeps my consciousness alive.” That explained the look of avid, abject horror in her shrunken eyes. “We must protect Luna. We are Nightmare's Way.”

Amelio's first act of the battle was to start firing off dreamkiller lasers from her horn, collecting up the energy and unleashing it in powerful bolts at the collection of nightmares and pony as it rushed at her. It didn't seem to do much of anything to the monster though, just creating small dents. Amelio threw herself to the side when the monster came close enough, having reached back and thrust one of its clawed hands out to try and skewer through her. The sight of those gleaming talons seared into Amelio's retinas.

The monstrous Nightmare's Way dug its tendrils into the ground, creating holes in the floor and causing cracks to web out from the puncture marks as it quickly about faced, lunging at Amelio in an attempt to gash her soul from her body.

Amelio jumped backwards, finding herself shrouded in moonlight from one of the stained glass windows. She barely had a moment to spare before Nightmare's Way followed up with a combo, slicing and dicing through the air, slashing at Amelio to try and remove her from this dreambubble and wake her up. However as the limbs passed through the moonlight, the shell keeping the monster corporeal started to worble and deform, the whole thing wavering. Amelio caught it right off the bat but realized she needed to put distance between her and the monster.

The filly grew a pair of changeling wings and flapped them, speeding away from where she'd just been cornered and making her way to the thrones.

The clawed creature crashed into the wall, causing glass to shatter and the walls to crumble. Falling down upon the mare. Nightmare's Way provided a parasol to protect its host from the shrapnel raining down around them.

“So, you think you are invincible, hm!?” Amelio called out as Nightmare's Way rose into the air and rearranged how its arms were built, turning them into a combination of those and wings, taking off after Amelio.

Amelio wrenched her body in the air, doing a loop de loop, barely avoiding the charging monster that flew right under her. The filly was in control. Gathering up three spells at once into her horn. Concentrating on three different things at once as she hovered.

Nightmare's Way hit the ground, screeching across it, crashing into one of the dishes of water and causing it to break apart on contact, water spilling everywhere and soaking the ground and carpet. The monster let out a vicious screech and threw itself into the air, soaring like a bullet straight for Amelio.

Amelio's charged spell, the charcoal magic surrounding her horn, was leveled at the beast as it came straight for her. Amelio bat her wings one final time and lifted into the air slightly. She put her hooves against the creature, performing a reverse stomach throw. Aiming her horn at the beast's back at the same time. In one fell swoop she unleashed dreamkiller, telekinetic bullet, and a light spell all at once, the plasma seeping off her horn in one deft movement and bursting out the tip like a lightning bolt.

The bolt jammed into the creature's back as Nightmare's Way flew right under Amelio again. There was a hideous scream of agony as the spell burrowed into the creature, getting in deep. The shadows sizzled and popped, white flames bursting to life and burning away more and more of the shell. Saway's body went flying through the air, hitting the ground. She couldn't catch herself with her hooves, causing her to tumble and roll, nearly breaking her neck as she eventually lost momentum, only her physical body keeping the shadows from being ignited deep inside of her. Saway writhed on the ground, screaming for mercy before going limp, her chest heaving.

Amelio was also breathing deep, floating down to the ground and resting. She caught her breath, smiling victoriously before making her way over to Saway, using telekinetic force to pin her to the ground and keep her from moving.

Saway was shriveled up, her form completely bare of shadows. She looked weakened and like she could barely hang on. Her face was screwed up in pain as she looked at her conqueror with terrified eyes. “P-please... Spare me.”

The filly looked deep into those rosy eyes of Saway's, glaring at her. Amelio realized then and there she could be a murderer too, because she considered killing Saway once and for all, her chest rising and falling rapidly before calming. The filly felt uncomfortable about that fact. Saway was staring at Amelio with unhinged horror, her life and 'afterlife' flashing before her eyes. Amelio could feel it intimately. Her gaze was hard. “I am going to die soon anyway. I could kill you and take you down with me.” Her voice was as cold as ice. A frozen anger. She recalled her brother and his regret. Amelio's eyes narrowed and lidded, then she tilted her head up snootily. “But I am not going to.” She considered telling Saway she deserved to rot, but didn't have it in her. She would not hurt Saway like that. She was already defeated.

Amelio considered kicking dust onto Saway's body, but decided against that too. The mare might have contemplated destroying the world, but she didn't know everything about her. Just that she was in pain and had guilt just like her brother. Amelio instead gave Saway a nod of acknowledgement and hurried off to the thrones as her wings receded, moving up the curved slopes to get into the moon door. After all, Saway had said 'Luna' and luna was another name for 'moon.'

The room around Amelio liquefied and dissolved once more, the one ahead of her permeating into existence with ease. Truth be told in dreams things often just switched like a camera cut, but due to the filly's experience with dreams the transition was all the more apparent. Where Amelio came into was nearly indescribable. A long corridor that spanned probably thirty yards. And it seemed to never end no matter how far down Amelio went. It was lined with swirling columns topped with recesses filled with colorful plants, stained glass windows depicting moments during the war, special battles, Equestria's past conquered foes, the six ministry mares, and strange items that Amelio didn't recognize as the Elements of Harmony. The middle of the hallway was lined with magenta, but overall everything were various shades of blue.

At the very end of the hallway, when Amelio finally got closer, she saw two figures. One was a unicorn with a curved horn, mint green mane that was giant, thick, and curly, and a similarly messy tail. Unimpressed gaze, and absolutely mottled coat of gold and pale yellow. Drawing closer Amelio noticed something strange about the ancient-looking, wrinkled stallion. His eyes were an incredibly bright pear green. But the odd part were his pupils. They were draconic-looking; slitted. The stallion was talking to the second figure, a figure who was taller than him by a couple heads.

Luna was grievous, so much so Amelio literally had to look away in order to take a break from the sight once she got close enough to see her. She looked like a desiccated corpse, like all the moisture had been sapped from her body. She was emaciated beyond belief, appearing as if she could crumble away into dust and blow away on the wind with the slightest touch. Still though, she was an incredibly majestic alicorn with lancing horn, frazzled feathered wings, beaming aqua and cyan eyes, and a stunningly commanding presence. Covered in a dark blue coat of fur that looked unhealthy, with some patches of it missing. The worst part of it all though were her mane and tail. While they were extraordinary displays of her starry night, having twinkles of light scattered through the aurora-like magical navy blue hair, it was all slightly grayed and both mane and tail were in tatters, nearly shredded apart. Like strips flowing off of her as if it were alive. With holes here and there like a changeling. When Amelio looked back at the figure she audibly gasped, causing both of them to look up and toward her. Luna was simply ghastly, symbolizing just how far she'd fallen, and how much the pink cloud had damaged her.

The golden stallion looked back to Luna, in her eyes, before turning around. A green aura surrounded his horn and a spell was unleashed, a dart of light firing in front of him and opening up into a giant portal made of pure swirling darkness that the unicorn left through.

Luna held herself tall and regal, looking back to Amelio as the filly drew closer. She narrowed her eyes and tilted her head up slightly. “Clarum somnium,” she whispered. As she spoke louder, her voice became just as authoritative as her presence. “Who are you, why are you here, and what happened to Saway?” The sound of her voice was loud and in charge, full of royalty. However, there was a sample of terror laced in it. Luna was clearly apprehensive. Amelio could feel it.

Amelio noticed that behind the mare who was twice as tall as her was a tri-hued door of lavender, pink, and indigo with a sun in the center. It was framed with gold. It reminded Amelio somewhat of a vault. She could see bright light seeping out of the cracks. The door couldn't be fully locked it seemed. The filly steeled herself and held herself with dignity. “I am Amelioreit Reverie. I defeated her. I am here to sate my curiosities and understand why this dream bubble is separate from all the others.”

Horror penetrated Luna's features. She sounded uncertain, her voice wavering. “You did not kill her did you? Once her dream self is gone she is dead for good.”

Amelio shook her head, yet smiled brightly. Confidently. “No. I would never do something like that. Are you really a princess of death though?”

Luna's eyes narrowed. “I guess you could say that, little filly. I am in fact Princess Luna.” The mare gave a gentle, weak smile. Full of unsuredness at the fact a mere filly had found her in this place of refuge. In her sanctuary. And managed to defeat one tainted by nightmares. “You do not look like a raider.” Luna was clearly scared of Amelio. “However, I am sorry to say that I must fend you off and seal you from this place before you find my treasure.”

Amelio glanced behind Luna, looking at what Luna was probably referring to. “What is your treasure?” She didn't have much opportunity to ask though as without warning the glass windows lining the hallway took on a reflective sheen, becoming mirrors. Only Amelio's form was not reflected in them, only Luna's. And just as suddenly, while Luna's body was taking on a gentle shimmer like a star, the entire air around the two of them was becoming dark as night. Creeping into every crack and leaving Amelio unable to see anything aside from Luna (including her reflections) and the door ahead of her. Everything seemed so far away and distant. The filly immediately rose her guard, getting into a battle stance.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRyDsZTzC_k

The only warning as to what came next were the signs coming from Luna's soul. Amelio dove forward as one of Luna's reflections seared past her, cutting through the air. Coming out of the mirror and nearly grazing Amelio's flanks with one of her wings. “What in Tartarus!?” Amelio squeaked, quickly about facing, then spinning in a 180 once more. Suddenly she was being assaulted by multiple copies of Luna. Amelio only dodging and weaving out of the way of each due to her sixth sense. The copies had no reflected soul but the main body gave off intent. The original body stayed far away and let her fractal counterparts do the work.

Amelio didn't hesitate as she continued to waltz in the hallway avoiding the copies, drawing power from the dream bubble itself, drawing power from Luna herself and pulling it in. Coalescing strength as her telekinesis built up in her horn. Tremors surrounded Amelio as incredible power collected within her. The room started shaking before Amelio released all the built up pressure with a scream. Telekinetic force surged outward, channeling through the entire room. It bashed against the walls and knocked the weakened Luna off her hooves. But the primary purpose was a success. The mirror windows, all of the ones in the hallway burst apart at the seams, breaking into thousands of pieces that crashed against the floor and scattered apart into even smaller shards.

Every reflection worbled out of existence until only the real Luna was left trying to push herself back onto her hooves. “Im... Impressive.” She acquiesced. “But can you keep up your struggles to the end?”

Amelio stood tall, squinting at Luna as her shimmering body began to ebb and flicker, flaring light outward and creating many shadows that rushed toward Amelio.

The strange thing was, Amelio felt another power deep within the dream bubble. Pulling on the shell's power itself had revealed it to her. She hesitated, trying to latch onto that other source of power, that distant strength she couldn't quite clarify. As she tried though, the shadows lashed out at her, whipping from every side. Amelio tried to slide away, jump over, and duck under loads of whipping tentacles but before she knew what was happening they were striking and bashing against her. One hit, two, and more again and again battering and bruising her. The sound of physical shadows striking flesh, muscle and bone resounding through the air.

Amelio was at a loss for anything to do. Once the first one happened she was being comboed like it was nothing, her body was going limp. Was this the end? She tried to move, tried to do anything, but was swiftly being juggled in the air, incapable of anything. She looked toward Luna whenever her flipping, tumbling body allowed her to. She was giving off light like a light bulb. The shadows seemed to be receding away from her, not harming her. Was this place just as dangerous to her as it was to Amelio? She tried to catch her breath, having been winded by the... tenth hit? The skin under her fur becoming blemished with contusions. Then the next one struck out at her, right across the head, making her brain jostle, which hurt more than it ever should. She could feel all of it, spittle going flying. Amelio's horn lit up with a black aura, dark as the shadows assaulting her, and tried to cast a spell. A modification of the telekinetic bullet. She pushed energy into her horn and released it in a wave, enveloping her and rippling through the air, batting away the tendrils.

Then Amelio hit the ground in a heap. It was hard to get herself moving, but she forced herself to her hooves and rushed at Luna, slapping away the tendrils she could barely sense coming with a telekinetic force, panting hard and limping.

When Amelio managed to make it to Luna she lunged, rearing back a forehoof and throwing it forward into a shocked-looking alicorn, right into her chest. It connected hard, and it caused the mare to spit up blood as she nearly collapsed to her belly.

The tendrils lashed out at Amelio again and wrapped around her, coiling around her belly, constricting around her neck, and binding her legs, holding them all tight and squeezing down, dragging her away and trying to strangle her as Luna heaved and shook from the pressure of the punch, taking a knee, her eyes full of horror at the filly who'd managed to hit her. She was terrified beyond belief.

Amelio wrestled and struggled, writhing and wriggling on the ground, trying to get free. Her eyes rolling into the back of her head and face turning blue. She had only one opportunity! She needed to grab hold of that power behind Luna and use it for herself! Amelio closed her eyes and focused as much as she could through sheer will, forcing herself to remain peaceful, even as she was growing weaker.

It was as if Amelio was a miner taking a pickaxe to a rock, because once she swung it one last time and cracked open the stone, pure gold revealed itself to her.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uS2GUseyIHI

And when that happened Amelio felt a surge of power. She tried to direct it into her horn but she couldn't direct it anywhere. It stimulated her changeling nature and forced a transformation the likes of which she had never felt before. With an explosion her body molded into a far taller version of herself, nearly as tall as Luna, with long flowing locks of topaz hair rather than amethyst. The ellipticals in her eyes having enlarged to the point of completely overtaking the violet nature, now they were pure blue. Turning green as wisps of gold energy flowed off of them. Her horn split into branching black antlers, flecks of charcoal energy flaking off of them. Her cutie mark had grown, a multitude of deltas spanning her flanks and barrel, and reaching to her legs. All of them glowing with power. It was like the light of the moon and the abyss itself were all radiating off of her body, giving everything a bright sheen, petals and wisps of the magical energy flowing off of her.

The shadows that had burned away and were now trying to lash back out at her and grasp her again were stopped by the nearly blinding light being emitted by the filly... Mare? It was hard to tell. Amelio looked down at herself, in all her unrefined beauty, then back up at Luna who was taking steps away from her in fright. She clearly wanted to run, but she had nowhere to run. Still, she had one more... One more thing up her sleeve. Her horn took on a colorful aura as she cast one more spell.

Amelio rushed at Luna, but before she could get there she was vaulted off her hooves and farther back, all the way down the hall, her large body clipping against the floor and rolling across it, nearly breaking her neck in the process as she tried to get back onto her hooves, sent all the way back to the entrance from the gust of pressure. But she didn't stop, she steeled her body and narrowed her eyes and galloped back to where she'd been. All while in the encompassing shadows pricks of light began to appear. Before Amelio knew what was going on they were falling, like comets trailing right for her. She wove to the side, then another. More just kept appearing and cascading down toward her like pellets. When they managed to connect they stung like a bitch, burning away parts of her body like it was never there at all. Scraping against her and pulling off flesh. Amelio snorted and decided to put the energy she'd acquired to good use.

With a little channeling of transformative magics Amelio felt her body recede and compact into a large albino snake with golden eyes. Amelio, now in a far more proper form for dodging these bits of light, slithered across the ground, over glass shards and toward her target. Winding closer and closer, nearly swimming over the flooring as sprites of light fell to the ground and melted away like snowflakes.

Luna saw the transformation and felt a pang of fear the likes of which she'd never experienced in her life. It was true she was a far cry from the alicorn she once was but this was... impossible. A mere filly shouldn't be capable of this. Was she even truly a pony? The presence of Luna's consciousness should have been more than enough to stymie any major dream transformations.

Was Amelio a changeling?

The idea scorched Luna's entire being with terror. “WHAT ARE YOU!?” She screamed in the Royal Canterlot voice as her enemy drew nearer. “STOP! I CONCEDE! PLEASE!”

Amelio didn't stop.

There was no ceasing at this point. She was in the heat of the battle. She was still a filly. And she was going to show Luna where she went wrong.

Luna tried to gather more power from her sanctuary but couldn't. It was out of power to give. All that was left was the power allowing everything to remain. Luna tried to back up, seeing her millennia-long life flash before her eyes, even in her sleeping state. She shook her head from side to side as Amelio, like a snake, launched herself at Luna. Amelio's body transformed back to normal as she tackled the alicorn, driving her to the ground and pinning her with a hoof, rearing another foreleg back, about to strike Luna's face into submission. Until she was dead. But she hesitated as she panted, energy cascading off her body.

A light shimmered on her hoof where her body connected with the alicorn.

Suddenly things became far more clear. Luna understood the filly's determination to see things through to the end. “You will die soon?” It was more of an impressed statement than a question. “I can feel it. There is something wrong with your body.”

Amelio grit her teeth, her lips pulling back into a furious snarl. She was angry at Luna for holing up in her dreams like the Enclave holed up in the clouds. She considered once more killing the alicorn and taking that treasure for herself so she could try to beat whatever was killing her. “Why should I not take your treasure for myself you coward!?”

Luna actually flinched more at the words than any of the physical threats Amelio posed to her. “Yes, I probably deserve to die for being a coward.” The admission stung. Amelio could tell. Luna had clearly thought of this many times. “But if you were me you would have done no different.”

Amelio knew she couldn't say that either way. She knew one pony who might be able to, but he wasn't here right now. “So why should I not take it for myself? I want to live like you have lived! I want to continue helping ponies, leading them in their dreams! Why do you get to be so special you coward!?”

The words stung more the second time than the first. But Luna kept her calm, even as her voice wavered. “The power is solely used to keep consciousness within the dream realm alive. When I die it breaks apart. Where the nightmares are a darkness, this treasure, created by ritual, is light. It is a spell to transcend death, only to be used when one is literally at death's door. It is dangerous otherwise, able to leave a body a husk for all of time.” Luna shook her head. “If it even works. Transcendi Mortem.”

Amelio caught her breath, her body still aching from all the hits she'd endured. She relented though. She'd not heard of this spell. Could only the princess of the night, a princess of death, had heard of it?

“It is a spell built by myself. Meant to save ponies on the battlefield, but it was never implemented. Before I died to the Pink Cloud I used it. I created a power source for myself where my consciousness could continue to thrive. All I had to do was tie myself to it forever. Then I transferred my dreambubble from the stream to here. If you cast the other half of the spell after linking yourself to it, you may be able to live in death.”

Amelio sighed, relaxing a little despite herself. Still holding Luna against the ground. “Why do you not help the wasteland more?”

“What I have been exposed to here has been beyond my worst nightmares. Not a day goes by that I do not regret the atrocities that have been committed by ponies and zebras alike, the atrocities that led to the wasteland. Because there are no limits in dreams, I imagine the things I have seen here are so much worse than in reality. No Tantabus could ever torture me as much as being close to other ponies in this dreamscape.” As far as Luna knew, Celestia was also dead. After all, how would she know of a pony that had transferred her soul to a machine and no longer slept? “After all the damage I have witnessed, I can not bear to see my little ponies once more. I was blinded by war lust and became the very thing the zebras feared I was. It was a self-fulfilling prophecy by all of us.”

Amelio recognized the Tantabus spell from the book. It was a way to create a personal nightmare for yourself that would allow your subconscious to grow stronger, or be used as a way to remind yourself of your failings. Amelio knew if Fear could, he would use one to remind himself of the ponies he killed for all of time. “Is there no way I can convince you to help your ponies again? Or to hold night court or... Or something?”

Luna shook her head. “You would never understand the amount of regret in me. The hurdles I would have to overcome to do something like that. The emotions I have felt. You are pure, Amelio.”

Amelio frowned, stepping off of Luna and allowing her to get up. “I know I may not be able to understand, but I know somepony who can. And I may be able to introduce you to them. But first I need to learn this spell. I need to prepare myself.”

It may not have been guaranteed to work, but Amelio would try her damndest to survive after death.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WG9zlui8wfE

Author's Notes:

This chapter didn't exist in my original plans and was a sort of... Second-to-last second addition.

Acute Sway is actually a villain from another story I started crafting like four or five years ago but never published because it was just way too out of date. I also changed her colors, she was originally black and white, with nondescript eyes and a horn made out of crystal. Cutie mark was the same as it is now, and part of her story was realizing what her cutie mark truly meant. Whether it was to destroy the world or just to shatter creatures' worlds (their preconceptions), and if she would decide to follow through with that talent or not. Either way, I had a pretty large background thought out for her that I might get into another time if anyone's ever interested in hearing about it.

The other pony talking to Luna was Nyx, and I don't know if I'll ever elaborate on him, but he's in the same corner as Saway in that I created him for a roleplay as a villain. Just not a villain in the same way. In this continuity, I'm not making him a villain though.

As for Amelio, there are quite a few songs I associate with her. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hyh4NvaHm_0 This is one. Amelio is so much like the moon. You only see the side of her she chooses to let you see, and hardly anyone sees the dark side. But no matter what, what you see is what you get. There's no inherent mystery aside from what makes it tick, but once you understand that, everything becomes clear. The three words I primarily associate with her are 'imperfect,' 'gorgeous,' and 'peaceful.' Where Fear gains power from strong emotions, Ame gains most of her power from peace and tranquility. I hope that's clear in my portrayal of her. While we're at it, here's one more song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3WJKiUW3kOI