They say ignorance is a bliss. One can be happy not knowing the world beyond the doorstep of a house, the edge of a field, or walls of a city. To such people, this is their entire world, the only world they know and likely will know for the rest of their lives. They might think about the outside from time to time, but it concerns them little in their day to day life.

However, being aware of the outside can be beneficial, for knowledge is power. A larger world encompasses all things; by influencing just one thing, it's possible to change the tide of history. And yet, in such power, there is great sorrow and dread. Many atrocities were committed using it or in lust and hunger for it; cities destroyed, farms and fields razed to the ground, entire populations wiped out or brought to the edge of extinction. Lasting consequences always follow.

Such power must be wielded cautiously and responsibly, for this power can also be easily taken away. There always was and always is the fight, the struggle for the ability to change the world. Countries were born out of battles and died in revolutions or takeovers, societies rose and fell, persons became prominent and faded into obscurity. The unstoppable tide of history eventually got them all, for there is always someone willing to do anything to change the world for their own benefit.

Princess Luna knew it very well. Whilst she was born into royalty just like her sister, they did not became rulers until they were into their twenties with many achievements proving their strength to the world. The struggle for power and change erased their parents from the planet, and chaos rose; with chaos, its spirit awoken and terrorized the whole world in his twisted games of fun. Celestia and Luna then managed to defeat him and rise above all, earning their high place among others. And yet, one of the siblings was bound to fall, and it was by pure chance she was not destroyed like many others before and after her.

The nightly alicorn knew this cycle, knew this unending struggle for power and change. She had seen it all in her lifetime despite spending the majority of it on the moon in isolation, banished by her own sister. Now, Luna finally returned... and what did she see? The same thing yet again – nobility and politicians fighting for dominion over others, the masses struggling to live a life, and the few poor souls cast aside in the "perfect" society of Equestria. Corruption was ever-present even in those who were supposed to teach, help, and lead. A special talent each pony possessed did not guarantee food or shelter, or, in some cases, even life. The situation had vastly improved under Celestia's rule, no doubt, but certain things seemingly could never disappear.

A question arose – how could her sister not notice it? How could she not see what was so painfully obvious to Luna? Or did she notice and simply decided not to care?

No.

Such a thought was quickly banished from Luna's mind. Celestia couldn't become uncaring. Perhaps, she knew what was happening but couldn't bring herself to accept it. Or, perhaps, someone directed her gaze away from the unfortunate and the poor. If only her eyes could be made to open... however, Luna knew not how to help her sister, how to free her mind and allow her to see the bigger picture and the whole untainted truth of the world.

However, the lunar alicorn could start taking her first steps towards freeing her sister of that veil just like Celestia helped her free herself of the blinding hatred and deafening angst. She didn't remember her time on the moon very well, but it did teach her one very important thing – a clear mind is the key to staying true to yourself. And despite her nearly constant lack of quality sleep she had been experiencing for a while, she managed to keep it as sharp and as observant as ever.

In her investigation, she came across many interesting pieces of a larger puzzle; once put together, it could uncover the conspiracy to all. After meticulous searching and comparing different staff records, questioning witnesses, and tracing the events, she came upon the first piece of that puzzle. It stood before her, chained, quivering like a leaf in the wind – here he was, one of the guards partaking in the conspiracy, naked before her eyes.

Finding him was not difficult, for he was just a simple coward working for money, thinking he would never get caught. How typical for a criminal... and now he was here, held in place by four of the guards loyal directly to Luna.

In truth, any large plan had to have holes, for it is always difficult to keep track of every little thing. Nothing was too large to fail, and in fact, the larger something is, the louder it could fall if the underlying support is compromised. And so, this one thing Luna found, might as well have been the key to dismantling the whole conspiracy, no matter how much time it would take to accomplish.

She stood in front of the stallion, studying him with her eyes; his expression and body language betrayed him just as well as he betrayed his duty to her. There was no doubt about him, especially now. And yet, she felt no anger; it would be wasted on a simple pawn like him. All beings were susceptible to corruption for one reason or the other, and ponies were no different.

"I know what thou hast done, 'tis of no use to deny it," she began, speaking clearly, looking him straight in the eye, "I know thou wast the one who led Andromalius - the demon - to the forbidden section. Thou hast thus forsaken thine oath to the Crown and made thyself a criminal of high treason..."

She let a small pause take the place in the small dungeon cell. The stallion was silent, still shaking and looking away as if Luna's mere gaze could turn him inside out and boil him alive. In her younger years, when the heat of action blinded the reason of mind, she would perhaps consider something similar to bring results quicker. However, her banishment taught her another important thing – patience and focus.

"But 'tis not thee I'm looking for," Luna continued in the same tone, "Perhaps, if thou'rt cooperative, I shall... forget this incident and allow thee to willingly retire... prematurely. Of course, that meaneth no additional benefits to thy retirement, but I believe thou'rt willing to accept such a proposition," she insisted and then took a step forward, "My sister would otherwise be very displeased to learn that it was thee who showed Andromalius where to find the forbidden material he wasn't supposed to touch. She would simply throw thee in prison for... a long time," she looked at the stallion closer, "I certainly know how long the sentence from her could be."

Another pause of silence hanged in the air for a while as the alicorn simply stood and waited for her words to sink in as deep as they could. Simple blackmail would work finely on a simple pawn, for he had much to lose and nothing to gain by resisting her. He was the weak link among the conspiracy, and she intended to exploit it to the best of her ability. She could see he had taken the bait, and now she had but to give a slight tug in the right direction...

"So, I require that thou sharest every little thing thou knowest about the ponies - or anyone else - involved in thy... side job," Luna finally spoke, maintaining her calm tone, "Once we verify the accuracy of thine information and find uses for it... thou shalt be free to go, and thou shalt remember this time as consequences for thy poor decision-making. A life lesson that will not be forgotten, indeed."

The stallion was silent yet again.

"Well then, dost thou accept my proposition?" Luna spoke louder, emphasizing every word coming out of her maw. A simple question, and only two answers were permitted. An illusion of choice, of course, for the stallion could offer only one of the options if he had any sense in his mind at all.

"I, I do," the stallion stuttered out finally to no surprise from anyone in the room, "But... how long do I have to stay here?"

"As long as I require," the alicorn replied coldly, "So, 'tis in thy best interest to provide me with correct and useful information. The sooner thou getst it all done, the sooner thou shalt go back to thy life. I shall leave thee for now to let thee think thy next words carefully. I shall come back in the evening to hear what thou hast to say."

Satisfied with the outcome, Luna exited the cell and allowed her guards to unchain the stallion and let him rest. After all, it was not her intent to torture him physically – some mental pressure along with subtle magic could do the trick just as well, not to mention different psychological tricks she had learned over her lifetime. For now, all she desired was some sleep, and she hoped nine hours of it would be enough to regain all her strength back. After all, rest was required after this moderate success.

As she walked, deep in thought, she remembered her younger years. Passionate and strong, she found no place unless it was in the middle of action, no matter what it was. Sitting in place, reading books, was not her desire, for she strived to destroy the corruption she could see clear as day. Equestrian society was plagued by inefficiency, infighting, and petty competitions that brought nothing to the society at large. She dreamed of overcoming them all, to rid the society of all its sickness... and yet she failed, falling herself to a kind of corruption most deep. She came to hate her sister, hate the very subjects she sworn to bring to light, and she failed them all. At the time, the burning shame and agonizing rage came over her, and she was herself no more.

That was when she learned corruption couldn't evade even the strongest minds.

Despite her steady flow of clear thoughts, a yawn came over her, and a haze descended upon her mind. Days upon days of poor sleep and coffee-fueled research had worn down her body, and rest was certainly required lest she passed out at the most unfortunate of times. With another yawn, she made her way to her wing of the castle, slumping more and more with each step as sleep quickly came over her.

A sudden quiet laughter made her rapidly aware. Her eyes opened wide and she looked around, fear in her heart.

"Is there an issue, your majesty?" a guard stationed nearby asked, "May I be of assistance?"

"...No, 'tis fine," Luna replied after a short while, furrowing her brows slightly, "I shall be on my way."

As she walked, she couldn't shake the feeling that she was being watched. Not by a physical entity, however, but something else entirely. Or was it her sleep-deprived mind playing tricks on her? She wasn't sure. Her eyelids were certainly growing heavier and heavier with each moment she spent awake, so perhaps a good long sleep would clear her mind.

She didn't notice the alarms going off inside her head. Or, perhaps, it was nothing relating to being noticeable or not...

Soon, she reached her bedchambers; she tiredly pushed open the doors and then locked them behind her as she stepped into her barely-lit room. She yawned yet again and went straight to bed, not even bothering with taking off her royal regalia. Perhaps she would regret it later as the regalia wasn't even close to a comfortable sleep attire, but it was a problem for the future her.

As her head hit the pillow, sleep quickly overcame her, and her tired body finally relaxed. As she made her last sleepy blink, however, she was a pair of eyes looking at her from across the room. A dark shape zoomed in and whispered into her ear:

"I shall show thee the truth, my dear... Sleep, and thou shalt see."

The sound of a breath, the beating of a heart, the flow of blood, they could all be heard even in the most silent room. Such was the quietness when Andromalius opened his eyes, and yet it seemed they stayed closed. He blinked, and yet nothing changed – the absolute darkness remained. He could feel his own body, but nothing past his tail or hooves; it appeared he was simply floating in the air, although he wasn't falling. There was no wind, no feeling of the outside at all. Confused, he stood up and looked around, and yet nothing could be seen nor heard. The only scent he could catch was of himself, so even his nose couldn't help him find out where he was.

The hell stallion cautiously took a step forward and stopped; it felt like walking in place. No wind passed him to indicate that he moved, absolutely nothing changed. He wasn't even sure if he had taken that step at all. But of course he had – his memory couldn't lie to him about it... at least he hoped so.

The silence was then pierced by what could only be described as a lightning strike. A moment later, none other than Inanna appeared in front of Andromalius among the same blackness. A few moments passed as the two came to their senses.

"Uh, what are you doing in my dream?" Inanna asked slowly, looking around the lightless blackness, "I have a feeling I'm not just dreaming about you," she paused for a moment as she turned around and then back to Andromalius, "And I've never dreamt of anything this empty."

A feeling of danger creeped up, and yet neither of the two demons knew what to do.

"This is weird, it shouldn't be like this," Andromalius said, frowning, "And if it's a dream... I can't wake up."

"Okay, that's starting to creep me out," Inanna tensened, her voice concerned, "At least I'm now sure you're alive... but I guess something happened. Any idea what that is?"

To the hell stallion, Inanna sounded increadibly calm considering the situation. No playfulness and no panic either. Did she always think this way in her dreams or was there something else? However, he did feel pretty strange himself, so perhaps personalities shifted somewhat during dreaming. For now, he had no time to think about it in depth.

"I'm... in the castle that's in the middle of the Everfree Forest, I think," he replied, no longer certain if it was true or if something else happened to him. His thoughts were unorganized, confused even, and he didn't know why. Perhaps it was the nature of dreaming? After all, dreams are easily forgetful, and thinking clearly during sleep wasn't a thing one could achieve without dedicated practice. He believed it was called lucid dreaming, "I think I went to sleep, and now I'm here."

"Maybe you're just really tired or something, but that doesn't really answer why I am in your weird dream-"

And just like that, she disappeared without a sound or a visual clue. One moment, she was there, and then she wasn't. It took a small while for Andromalius to process it, but he stayed silent. Alarms were going off inside his head, but there was no one to fight and nothing to run to.

"The truth hath been made clear," a familiar dark voice spoke as a cloud of stars faded into existence; if he were in reality, he'd start to panic. For some unknown reason, his dream self was outwardly calm, albeit worried and alarmed on the inside, "Where one demon is, another followeth... and hidden, both strive to be."

Nightmare Moon stepped out of the starlit mist, her expression victorious with a hint of anger.

"None can fool us, not even thee," she spoke to Andromalius, "And now, Luna knoweth thy secret."

An image of Princess Luna appeared in front of the hell stallion, her eyes open wide with shock. Andromalius wanted to say something, to explain that it wasn't how it looked, but words failed to escape his maw. What explanation could he offer that wouldn't bring her wrath? Would any explanation even be believable at all, considering the sense of a certain darkness surrounding him? Nothing he could offer could even sound believable, let alone be believed.

"Thou hast never acted alone," Nightmare Moon continued, her voice rising, "The secret is unveiled, and now thou shalt face judgement for thy secrecy!"

A spell erupted from her horn, and all things disappeared.