Hot blood pooled on the stone, creating a sharp contrast in temperature to Luna's face. One side was exposed to the damp, chilly air of the underwater chamber. The other part was warmed as it laid in the shallow pool. The blood was just close enough for it to brush against her lips. The smell and feel of it induced an ancient hunger within her.

The first time she had tasted the flesh of a pony, in the heat of battle against a rebellious noble house, had been horrible. She was only using her mouth as another weapon, caught up in the haze of war. That is also what she told herself the second and third time she did it. Eventually she stopped spitting it out. Doing so would only be a distraction in a fight, after all. Then she had started burning the flesh first. She might catch unpleasant diseases otherwise. Then she had developed a way to turn her teeth into fangs, for more efficiency.

The place where her fangs used to be ached, similar to how, in ancient times, she had felt a phantom pain in the leg she had lost while fighting the dragons with Celestia. If poison and pain had not drained so much of her magic, she might have worked the transformation again now and changed her teeth. As it was, she could not even control her body enough to swallow the extra saliva she was producing.

“Are you hungry, Your Highness?” Willowleaf's quiet voice wormed its way out of her disfigured mouth and broke the long silence.

Luna was so strained from keeping her lids open for so long, her eyes burning and watering, that she could almost ignore her pupil's current skeletal form and envision her body the way it used to be. She had a soft, eternally fuzzy brown coat, framed by a wild, unkempt green mane, of which not a trace remained. Her tail had been so long that it used to drag on the floor, but now there was no hint of a tail under her robe. Still, Luna was able to graft the image from the past onto the present and, after nearly an hour of silence in the softly glowing chamber, that ability finally made the Princess deign to speak.

“I desire not the food of this place,” she whispered hoarsely from the floor, letting her tongue taste her blood as she spoke. “Speak your peace, my students, and let us be done with this farce.”

Nickle Waltz and Platina looked to Willowleaf, who took the cue to step forward, just at the edge of the magical barrier that held Luna. She cleared her misshapen throat.

“We need you to help us overthrow Princess Celestia,” she said, quietly but firmly.

Luna choked out a sore, painful laugh. “Never,” she said. “I would sooner starve to death in this unholy place.”

“I was afraid that would be your response,” said Willowleaf, “so I organized a list of reasons why you should. You can think about them while you're putting yourself through that pain meaninglessly.”

Luna waited silently.

“One. Equestria has become unstable and complacent under her rule. Another invasion, or another magical or physical disaster, and ponies will end up being ruled by something else.”

“A civil war is supposed to improve upon that situation, then?” Luna asked, letting her eyes drift upward to study the writing on the shining pillars between which she was imprisoned.

“No, but a strong ruler whom ponies revere as a warrior and savior could certainly hold it together much more effectively.” Willowleaf's eyes followed Luna's. “Which brings me to point number two. If you help us, we can help you solidify that role even further. As you may or may not have discovered, the treasures you sealed and hid before your banishment have decayed. We did that, in anticipation of a situation like this. We can restore them. Consider that.

“Encased in your armor, you would be invincible. With your crown jewel functioning once again, you could find the lairs of all sorts of fell creatures. It's one thing to save a town from an earthquake. It would be completely another thing to save Equestria from the entire Everfree Forest.”

“Release me, and I can do that more then adequately already,” said Luna.

“It will get worse if you don't cooperate,” Platina spoke up suddenly.

Willowleaf's eyes, though surrounded mostly by bone, still managed to express a glare. “Platina, don't—”

“You're the one who suggested being honest with her,” she shot back, talking over the other student's soft-spoken objections, “and I completely agree. That being the case, Your Highness, you should know that most of the 'monsters' of the forest are creations of Thin Mint and myself. Its environment was created by all four of us together. Both of these projects allow us to hide more effectively and, in the event that you refuse to help us claim the lives we deserve, they also serve as leverage. Because, you see, hydras, manticores, cockatrices, and timber wolves are but a taste of the horrors we can unleash upon Equestria, if you force us to do so.”

“Tell me,” Luna said, as she began to decipher the beginning of the binding spells that were written on the room's columns, “what lives do you think that you deserve?”

“We have had enough of studying magic and power simply to continue existing,” said Platina. “All it has brought us is fear and loneliness. We want to live. We want to enjoy the security, comfort, and luxury that should be due to your most loyal subjects. And we can't do that with Celestia in power. Her dogmatic arrogance would lead her to kill or imprison us on sight.”

“She would not be wrong to do so.” Princess Luna scowled. “You have caused much suffering and strife in the service of your own selfish desires.”

“That isn't true.” Willowleaf raised her voice high enough to interject. “While it is true that we want something close to normal lives, it's also true that we've given up... a great deal of ourselves to return you to your home and to see you in your rightful place as ruler of this land.”

“Without inquiring of me first.”

Just the first sentence of the jumbled mix of dialects on the pillars was taking a long time for Luna to decipher. Even if she hadn't wasted so much of her energy in a blind fury, dispelling their wards would be no easy feat.

“We can't help that,” Willowleaf said. “We thought you would be pleased with us, judging from the fact that your last command, a thousand years ago, was for Thin Mint to create ways to destroy Celestia, should you be defeated.”

“I was a different pony then,” Luna muttered, “and that command was one of the greatest mistakes I have ever made. It cost her life, and the blood is upon me.”

“We don't hold that against you,” said Willowleaf reassuringly. “She was important to us, but not as important as you are.”

“Mint would certainly be useful right about now though,” Platina remarked.

Luna looked to each of her four—three—students in turn. There was an earnestness to their expressions, including Nickle Waltz's demented smile, that caused her heart to ache. She could feel the pain in her chest over the screaming of her wounded hooves.

“This is madness,” she said, staring hard at them. “Are you not powerful enough to do this yourselves? What of the Elements of Harmony? What of me, after my usefulness is at an end?

“We have thought through all of that,” Platina said dismissively.

“And what we didn't consider,” Willowleaf said, “you can certainly help us with. As for those questions specifically, do you think ponies will accept us as their rulers? We need somepony with legitimacy and experience.

“The Elements of Harmony are a danger, but they can be beaten. There are many ways to do so.

“And we don't mean you any harm, now or in the future. You're not just a tool to us. Why can't you see that?”

“Because I am lying in mine own blood, trapped in an agonizing magical shield that you created, after being tricked here by a valued and trusted friend. While in this state, you are asking me to betray the one being I love most in the world. I shall not help you, neither as a tool, nor as a ruler. Begone.”

“Your Highness, listen—”

“Get out!” Luna's shout was accompanied be a sprayed mix of blood and saliva.

Platina and Willowleaf bowed low, scraping their horns against the stone floor, the most profound gesture of obeisance a unicorn can make. They turned to disappear down the doorway they had entered by, but stopped short when they realized that Nickle Waltz wasn't following them. In fact, he had stepped closer to Luna. With a sparkling, mystical warding symbol floating in the air above his head, he walked right through the barrier until he stood above the Princess.

“Waltz, what the hell are you doing?” Willowleaf's voice nearly reached the volume of a shout.

“I told you he would do something like this,” Platina remarked sardonically.

The smile had drained from his face, then filled almost instantly with a look of sheer dread. Up close, Luna could see that he was sweating and trembling. He knelt down to the floor, leveling his wide eyes with hers.

“Damnit Platina, would you please contribute something besides “I told you so” for once?” Willowleaf was saying in the background.

Platina snorted derisively. “If I didn't happen to be right so often, maybe.”

“I may be wrong sometimes, but at least I have original thoughts sometimes too!” Willowleaf rushed back to the barrier. To Nickle Waltz she said, “Get out of there! She's still dangerous!”

Platina planted her rear in the doorway and looked on dispassionately. “Original thoughts, which you then delegate to others, because you know you'll screw them up.”

“Trouble in paradise, my student?” Luna whispered to Nickle Waltz.

He flinched at her words, but then shakily reached toward her. He delicately cradled one of her bleeding hooves in his.

“Let go of me,” Luna said, her face darkening. “I may be weakened, but I am not yet so weak that I can not slay thee.”

An amber aura appeared around his horn. She prepared to summon all the energy she had left to defend herself. His aura floated out a bundle of gauze from inside his robes, which he began to magically unwrap.

“Do not bother,” Luna said, pulling her leg away from him. He stood still, but the floating bandages followed her movement. “I shall heal naturally soon.”

The cloth must have been enchanted, because a soothing coolness spread upward from her hoof as the gauze was slowly, shakily wrapped around her. She stopped resisting, but kept up her suspicious glare. At the edge of her vision, she saw Willowleaf watching the scene and chewing what remained of her lip nervously.

“This means nothing,” said Luna. “Thou art a monster, Nickle Waltz. Thy sins were great even before my banishment. I can scarcely imagine what evil thou hast wrought in my absence.”

“I know that,” he said. “I am a terrible pony.” He didn't stutter, precisely; each word was fully formed and clear, but there was a halt between each one, as if he were constructing it from a faded memory and struggling to make sure it sounded like it was supposed to. “No, not a pony at all. But I don't kill and I don't let things die. If I see a wound, I heal it.” He blinked and exhaled a long, shaky breath. “I'm sorry,” he added.

Luna watched as her wound was expertly bound, and did not object when he moved to her other hoof. He worked with concentration and swiftness through his fear, but something about the way he had said “I don't let things die” gnawed at her gut. She held her tongue though, trying to focus on the magical healing sensation that was coursing through her body. No one else spoke the whole time, and so the chamber was filled with tense silence until the bandages were done being applied.

As soon as her student was done with his ministrations, Luna leaped up from the ground and wrapped her forelegs around his throat. She fluttered up into the air, which allowed her to squeeze her legs around his midsection, putting him in a hold from which she could push the air out of his lungs and then block his throat. She put all of her dwindling strength into making sure he could not escape, but the effort was wasted. Nickle Waltz was not resisting. She looked at his face, and saw there a placid, vaguely euphoric smile. Luna came close to faltering at the sight, but it was too late. She had made her move, and now she had to press it.

“Release me,” she commanded her wayward subjects, “or I shall tear his head from his body!”

“Princess Luna, please,” Willowleaf said slowly. “I can tell you've been through so much since you returned to Equestria... Don't add killing another of your most faithful followers to your burdens.”

“What wouldst thou know of what I have been through?” Luna demanded. “Nothing makes sense anymore. This world seemeth the same as mine, yet it is not, and so much of that is my fault. My beautiful home hath become a dangerous jungle. My dear sister knows me not, and mayhap never will again. Everything I trusted and believed in hath abandoned me. I have attempted to kill. I have killed! I tried to keep true to my virtues, my instincts, and the love of those around me. And... and look where it has brought me...” Her limbs went limp, dropping a gasping Nickle Waltz to the ground. His smile faded as he scampered back outside the forcefield. Luna kept hovering in mid-air, her head dropping as her eyes welled up with tears.

“Yes, I see where it has brought you,” said Willowleaf. “Back to us, whose love is true.”

Even the cold, distant Platina nodded, along with her two compatriots.

“We will release you,” the half-skeleton of a pony went on, “on one condition: that you swear not to harm us. And when I say 'swear'...” Her horn glowed, as did those of the other two, in a pattern of magic that Luna instantly recognized: they were somehow starting to cast the powerful oath spell that she had created and used on Thin Mint. “I mean swear. Do that, and then let us eat and talk as mentor and pupils, at least... if not as friends.” Horrible though Willowleaf's rotten smile was, it was so hopeful and sincere that a few undignified tears began to escape from the confines of Luna's eyes.

“Thou askest too much,” Luna said, cursing herself as her voice cracked into a painful croak. “My duty, my deepest desire, is to defeat evil like this.”

“Your duty, if it ever truly existed, is to a country that no longer exists,” said Willowleaf. “You just said that this world is not the same is yours.”

“But if you ruled,” Platina said, “you could make it so once again, if you wished. You could slay all the dragons you like, so long as the three of us stay safe. We may be terrible by Celestia's standards, but we have no desire to wreak the kind of havoc a dragon attack or changeling invasion could.

“Of course, we would prefer to find some way to undo the damage the Elements of Harmony did to your mind, but our research has offered little possibility of that path. So barring that, we do believe that some sort of compromise is possible. If you're willing.”

The three of them looked at her with a note of desperation. She wanted to scream at them to go away, if only so they couldn't see her cry. But it was too late. The damage was done, and she was trapped, in every sense of the word. She carefully laid her body back onto the ground, noting that her wounds were now cold and numb, free of pain. She sobbed quietly, her face buried into her legs. Though closing her eyes meant that she would probably lose sight of the apparition of Thin Mint, that no longer concerned her. There was no one to hold her this time, nor did she want there to be. This was hers alone to bear.

“I know the reports said she was emotionally unstable,” Platina whispered, “but this is ridiculous.”

“Show some respect,” Willowleaf countered acidly.

Luna could barely hear their comments. She was so tired. It wasn't until she closed her eyes that she realized the full extent of her exhaustion. The tears burning against Luna's singed face started to feel different somehow. Her whole body felt different. Lighter. She realized that her mind had cleared and she had fallen into a trance, or a dream. She felt the familiar touch of an Element of Harmony on her spirit and, in her struggle to reject its influence, she found herself both experiencing the vision and looking upon it from the outside.

She was soaring through a vast blue sky. The tears had turned to raindrops that gathered on her coat as her body flew through the occasional perfectly fluffy cloud. It was hard to tell at first, but she was moving fast, so fast that she was repeatedly passing the sun and moon in their orbits. The surface of the planet was an indistinct green, brown, and blue blur, and the sky above was a whirling mess of light. Just when she thought a pattern was developing in the blurs, she or they shifted course, and everything changed.

There was no stable point of reference. She felt dizzy and lost. Luna tried to slow down, but her wings were not her own. No slowing. No stopping. Always forward. How could she stay true to anything, with the world going by so quickly?

A tiny pink butterfly floated next to her. Was it keeping up with her, or was she flying so fast now that she was circling the earth back around to it over and over? It offered no answer. Instead, it danced around her body, drawing her eyes in loops and twirls. She laughed, and grew so distracted by the butterfly that she crashed into the sun.

If she had been fully into the trance, the pain might have rendered her unconscious. Instead, the searing inferno of the star served to force her back onto her feet, standing bolt upright, wincing, and grinding her teeth. With short, shallow breaths, she took control of the agony, passing her consciousness from head to tail along her nerves like one might roll a fine wine around one's tongue. The fierce flame of the sun in her mind did not feel good, but it was real, invigorating and comforting. It was just the shock she needed to begin to focus on her actual surroundings again. Odd that it should come from a waking dream.

Her trio of captors looked stupefied, and also small and distant, like the ground she had been soaring above. And down here, locked below a vast lake in a cold, stone dungeon, nothing could be more distant than the sun. Luna felt caught between them, but at the same time, apart from them, as if watching the scene from outside of her body.

I am beset on both sides by plans that are centuries old. If I have any hope of extricating myself from them, then I must do something neither side will expect. I must make them struggle to keep up with my movements. But what...

Luna immediately thought of the end of her vision. She knew exactly what. If her aimless, floundering actions over the past few months had arranged enough pieces within her grasp, there was one thing that could flip the table. Most of her resources would probably side with Celestia, in the end, but she could use that to her advantage as well. But first things first: getting out of my prison.

“Very well then,” the Princess pronounced, “but I have a condition as well.”

“I beg your pardon, Your Highness,” Platina said, as nicely as she could, “but you're hardly in a position to bargain.”

“Wrong,” said Luna. “You three need me far more than I need you. Be not concerned though. My condition is not onerous.”

The apprentices shared a brief look.

“Why don't you tell us your condition,” Willowleaf said, “and then we'll go from there.”

“If we are going to perform this terrible deed,” Luna said gravely, “then we are at least going to do it properly. What this means is that I shall swear not to kill any of you, but you and I shall also swear to kill no more ponies. None must die to execute my plan, not even Celestia.”

“What?” asked Platina, suppressing a laugh. “How are you to usurp control of an entire nation without at least some death?”

“Leave that to me.” Luna's horn started to shine. “Cast the spell, and I shall complete it with my oath not to kill you. Let that be proof of my sincerity, and let it show that you can trust me to fulfill your purpose.”

“I'd say that's a good starting point, at least,” Willowleaf said. “I would very much like to release you from there safely.”

Nickle Waltz, Platina, and Willowleaf resumed casting the spell, weaving multicolored patterns of magic through the air like a trio of jugglers, passing shining fragments and phrases back and forth among each other. They had actually improved upon Luna's work, making the process more efficient and less taxing. In some small way, she was proud to see that little accomplishment from them.

The strands of magic started to wrap around her soul. She fought back panic as they rattled around her like chains, threatening to bind her forever. Be bold.

When the time came for speaking, Princess Luna struck a confident pose, grateful that her body had been numbed to the point where she did not even wince when she stamped her broken hooves against the stone. “I, Luna, swear upon pain of death, that I shall not kill thee, Willowleaf, nor thee, Platina, nor thee, Nickle Waltz, unless you should ever attempt to kill me. If this vow is sound, let the spell be complete and my life be bound.” As the words exited her mouth, they gained a smoky, ethereal substance and joined the swirling jumble of shining symbols in the air.

They thought for a moment, scrutinizing the symbolic shapes that Luna's words had taken for hints of deception. Satisfied, and somewhat surprised, that Luna intended no loopholes to exist in her vow, they nodded, and the glowing glyphs bound themselves to the smokey manifestation of what she had said, then everything blinked away in a flash of moonlight. In that instant, the metaphysical chains which she had felt winding their way around her closed in and locked tightly around her mind, blocking off entire avenues of action, and putting a dangerous warning barrier around even thinking of those avenues. It was done.

'Tis justice indeed that I now know what this feels like, she thought somberly. Luna closed her eyes and hung her head, ashamed and afraid of what she had just done. Mother, please forgive me. I wish I could say that this would be the last time I would dishonor thy memory, but my work there hath only just begun.

She heard a faint sizzle in the air and glanced up. The barrier that had surrounded her no longer buffeted her mystical senses with waves of power. Tentatively, she stuck one of her undamaged hooves out where she had been made so painfully aware the shield was, and felt nothing. With a couple steps forward, she discovered that it was gone.

Luna's erstwhile apprentices bowed to her, including Nickle Waltz this time, and she acknowledged them with a nod of her head.

“Thank you, Princess,” Willowleaf said. “You have no idea how much this means to us.”

Luna looked at her blankly. “I am hungry,” she said, ignoring the comment. “Take me to the surface.”

“We have food down here—” Platina began.

“'Tis not pony food for which I hunger.” Luna carefully began to walk toward the exit, awkwardly favoring her forehooves so that she would not risk damaging the magical gauze on them. “I also need rest, and I must sleep under the sky, not in this dismal place.”

They acquiesced with a minimum of reluctance, which surprised Luna, walking beside her as they went down the glowing stone passage. When they reached the portal which Luna had come through with Zecora, the students worked together to create a bubble of air which would not only provide them all with air, but float them safely to the lake's surface with no swimming required. Luna was relieved. She was worn out and cold enough already.

Once the party's magic bubble broke the lake's surface, Luna spread her wings and started flying to the shore.

“Don't try to escape, Your Highness,” Willowleaf said softly. “Please.” Her horn, along with those of her companions, was glowing brighter, preparing to unleash any necessary spells.

“Fear not,” Luna shouted as she landed on the solid ground of shore. “I am with you now, and you are with me.”

They dismissed their spell, splashed into the water, and swam quickly after her. When they finally caught up, Platina and Willowleaf gaped at what Luna was doing, while Nickle Waltz watched with both horror and curiosity.

One of the mid-sized forest animals, perhaps a raccoon or a badger, that had returned to the area was being roasted with purple fire, which was contained by the turquoise aura of Luna's magic. She dismissed the fire and immediately bit into the animal's hot, charred flesh, accompanied by a growl from her and a sick ripping sound from the meat. The apprentices turned away quickly. Platina gagged.

“Of all the terrible things you have witnessed and performed,” Luna said, through a mouth full of cooked meat that had once been, and still looked like, a living thing's body, “this is what crosses the line?”

“No, it's fine,” Platina said, breathing deeply and trying to recover. “I knew you ate meat back in our time, but I had never seen it before. Forgive me.”

“There is nothing to forgive,” Luna said, crunching as she ground the creature's bones in her teeth. “I simply found it interesting, in a rather dark manner.”

After less than five minutes of wet, frenzied feasting, barely anything but bone remained. Princess Luna sighed contentedly and performed some easy stretches with her legs and wings. She peered up at the sky, still full of stars, but with the faint glow of pre-dawn surrounding them.

“I am going to sleep now,” she said quietly. “You may rest here as well, but do not disturb me.”

A deep, dark sleep overcame Luna almost immediately after closing her eyes. Not even dreams dared to intrude upon her.

The Princess of the Night awoke languidly and without hurry. As she dully pulled the moon up from beyond the horizon, she rolled onto her belly, flexing her wings and popping her neck. She noticed that the bandages on her feet had been removed, and the hooves had healed completely. The rest of her body, and more importantly, her magic, were also well on their way to recovery, thanks to her satiating meal the night before. She saw that her saddlebags and cloak had been removed too, but, basking under the white brilliance of the full moon, she did not much mind.

“We found the jewel you used to wear in your crown,” said Willowleaf, who was resting alone in the grass several yards away. “I hope you don't mind, but we took the liberty of repairing it, as a token of our good faith.”

The small marble gem floated over to Luna, surrounded by her student's black telekinesis. It was now free of cracks. Only the normal black veins remained on its smooth surface.

“We left that cloak intact though, aside from washing it. It's drying over on that branch.”

“Where are the others?” Luna asked as she took the jewel in her own telekinesis.

“We decided to take shifts watching you,” said Willowleaf. “They are sleeping not far off. Shall I go get them?”

“Yes, go,” Luna commanded, then put the crown jewel in place on her tiara.

With an immensely satisfying click, the gem stayed in place in the center. It melted and molded itself back into the crown's design, creating tiny, irregular strips of pure white, encased and en-caged in the black metal surrounding it. She set to work using it immediately, neither knowing nor caring if her apprentices had returned to see.

It was strange and difficult to try to push her power through a focus again, since she usually let her magic spill forth from her, raw and unfiltered. After a few failed attempts and some cursing, she finally got a basic far-seeing spell channeled through the jewel. The effect was phenomenal. Whereas normally she would only have gotten the most vague impressions of her target area, such as whether or not anything was moving there, and whether or not any magic was present, with the aid of the crown jewel, she saw the ruins of her castle even better than if she were there. In addition to huge visual detail, down to the tiniest blade of grass, she could clearly and distinctly make out the kaleidoscopic lines of magic that coursed through the place, without having to cast a magical sight spell on herself first.

“Huzzah!” she shouted triumphantly, despite herself.

“You're welcome,” Platina said laconically from behind her.

“Spare me thy dull wit.” Luna scowled, and scowled deeper when she felt her cheeks flush. Thankfully, she was facing away from the returning students. “I have much work to do. I mean to find any and all places where the blue, amorphous monsters known as 'gels' hide, and I mean to do so tonight. There is a score to be settled.”

She turned to face them, her features severe, imperious, and dangerous, an effect that was only enhanced by the caked blood and tears on her coat. The solid, dark ring of dried entrails around her mouth completed the look.

“While I am doing so,” she said, “fetch unto me as much writing material as you can find. There is an announcement that I shall have to make to all of Equestria once I have finished my bloody work in this accursed wood. I must do what Celestia refused to do and finally claim our birthright for myself. Though I want it not, and though to take it would be to spit in the faces of my entire family, the time hath come. See that you are prepared.”

“What does that mean?” the quiet pony-lich asked, voicing the confused looks the other two had. “We're pretty well-versed in history and matters of royalty, but we can hardly prepare for something when we don't know what you're talking about.”

“Then sit on your rears and wait for my announcement. You will be the first ponies to hear it.” As confident as her voice seemed, the ashy bitterness in the tone was unmistakable. “I shall give us what we deserve...”