With Gilda’s broken voice and her words, Luna finally relented. She let her eyes close for a second, and relief washed her face. Then her hoof pointed at the horizon. “Learn. Understand.”

Gilda’s eyes, again, followed Luna’s leg to find a sunrise. The lifeless dark of the dead plains gave way to oranges and reds until the day exploded from the edge of the world. Its light washed over the badlands and the soothing warmth comforted Gilda’s still shaken nerves.

A quick glance showed her that Luna welcomed the light as much as she did, but her newfound anxiety made her focus on the horizon. There was something there Luna wanted her to see. Her eyes shifted nervously until she blinked a few times and squinted.

There was green in the distance.

Finally, Gilda’s beak dropped open again.

A herd of galloping colorful ponies carried the emerald grass in their wake. Like a wave of life that followed them. The broken clouds in the sky evaporated into a clear cyan so bright it hurt Gilda’s eyes. An army of earth ponies and unicorns tossed their heads in open gallop while their manes and tails trailed in the wind. Adults and foals together in a happy race with the pegasi flying above.

“I know that ponies do all sorts of weather and seasonal stuff… But...” Gilda mumbled. “But this…”

“In these primeval times, magic worked differently.” Luna explained, making a sweeping arc with her hoof. “It was much more powerful. Not even the most powerful spellcaster could summon life into being without the aid of impressively powerful artifacts and extensive knowledge of the workings of several complex disciplines.”

Gilda lowered herself at the edge of the cloud to watch the ponies running around and generally having a good time while the pegasi made daring pirouettes and danced in the sky. The grass spread wherever they went, but they seemed to have settled in the area. Small shrubs, many of them sprouting berries, became colorful marks in the sprawling grass field. After a while even small butterflies and insects seemed to have come out of them.

“Why?” Gilda Looked back at the princess who had sat by the edge of their cloud too.

“Because magic must flow, or else Harmony will cease to exist. It cannot ever become stagnant, or magic will cease to be.” Luna stared down at the laying griffoness. “The magic of Harmony must be shed into the world for life to exist. Everything has magic to it. It is how our world works. It is the soul of living beings, but it is also in every rock and every plant. Every pony-made object; every griffon-made object too.”

“And the reason for it is that magic cannot move on its own. It needs acting agents to provide it with purpose. Thus, you can understand why it is so much more powerful in the primeval eras of each cycle, just as the world is created.” Luna pointed at the sun. “It moves from the source unto the world and then back. When a creature is concepted, a soul will find its way from the Pool of Souls. It will animate that newformed being. It will shed its magic unto the world…”

With that Luna swept her hoof at the air and an image formed, not like the magical images from before, but as though Gilda was there and saw a light blue earth pony sitting in front of a spinning plate and he gave form to a vase with his hooves. The cutie mark of a flowerpot plain to see in his thigh. The image shifted though, and it showed a diamond dog jeweler with giant goggles and delicate tools making a collar of gold and pearls. It showed Master Galahault hammering at Gilda’s sword while he talked to Grunhilda. Finally, it showed griffons in the snow, building a gigantic wall with rustic cranes and other carving runes into the stone blocks.

Gilda frowned at the images Luna showed her and then back at the frolicking ponies below. “I understand… I think I do. Their… Destiny is to spread life into the world.”

“Ever since the first cycle of creation and annihilation.” Luna nodded. “Ponies were tasked with the maintenance of nature. All the way to our time we have retained that task. But as you can see… It is something much more dramatic as each cycle starts.”

“Because there is so much more magic that must be shed into the world?” Gilda gambled a guess.

“Correct.” Luna nodded.

“I understand.” Gilda shifted her head to look at different ponies down below. “But why is that a problem?”

“That isn’t the problem.” Luna’s horn shone its blue light, and the sun flew above them.

It flew above them countless times and Gilda saw thousands of sunrises and sunsets within seconds. Stunning and disorienting, she was forced to close her eyes, or the vertigo threatened to topple her from the cloud. She only dared opening her eyes again when the light and dark stopped their battle. She was greeted with a much different sight. The sprawling prairie covered in grass now had a river. Trees. Beautiful clouds populated the sky and pegasi flew around them.

Ponies galloped around and rolled in the grass. Others slept under the cover of the trees or grazed mindlessly.

It looked like a normal world. A living and breathing, complex world. A herd of deer walked by in the distance. Small bunnies distracted the grazing ponies, and a unicorn mare entertained the foals with flying sparks, pops and lights out of her horn.

Higher above, a griffon circled around. A large male, covered in dark brown and white, leisurely surveyed the ground as its head jerked with precision. Gilda knew what it was doing, and she grimaced, looking at the creatures below.

“You said that the Allmother created ponies so that they would make nature work, and then nature would sustain prey animals… So that the griffons could eat.” Gilda looked at Luna. “Right?”

“No.” Luna shook her head. “I said that they were created with an echo of the Allmother’s creation.”

“What does it mean?” Gilda sulked at Luna before she turned to the griffon circling above the idyllic prairie. “The ponies exist because she made the griffons in such a way that they needed prey animals, right? I don’t see the importance.”

“The Allmother didn’t make the ponies.” Luna had a hard stare. “Harmony made them, and she had no love for anything other than her children.”

Just as the words left her beak the griffon closed its wings and fell in a dive towards the group of pegasi flying around the clouds. It cried and the deer reacted instantly. They bolted like their lives depended on it.

But the ponies didn’t.

Gilda let out a gasp watching the scene that unfolded. The pegasi even saw the griffon. He smiled and waved a hoof at him. Like they didn’t understand what was happening all the way until the griffon collided with one of theirs. A light caramel pegasus with clouds for a cutie mark that stood no chance. The thud from the impact almost hurt Gilda physically. She kept watching as they barreled from the sky and caramel feathers flew everywhere.

The griffon let the pegasus crash to the ground with a sickening crunch before he landed with his forepaws piercing the caramel coat. Ponies nearby neighed in fear and distanced themselves while the griffon screamed at them. Lowered heads and confused eyes, they backed away as though they too couldn’t tear their eyes from the sight of the griffon’s ripping open their friend’s flesh. His blood stained the feathers in the griffon’s chest and his beak.

Alarmed neighs. It was all they did.

“I don’t understand.” Gilda’s confused frown returned to her face and her beak hung open again, this time as she tried to understand the scene before her.

She searched the conversation she had with Luna for clues, because she was obviously meant to learn something from that. Luna stood next to her, patiently watching. And the griffon ate from the dead pegasus pony.

“The deer ran… Why didn’t they…” Gilda’s eyes glazed. “They were not meant as food. They are not prey. They don’t know how to react.”

“Irrational as it was, the griffon mind was still intelligent and easily bored.” Luna spoke, still staring at the feeding griffon and the dead pony. “They were curious by nature. They investigated. They looked for new things to know. And they eventually found a novel source of food.”

Luna hopped off the cloud and Gilda followed her. They spiraled downwards until Luna flared open her wings and the scenery changed. In a flash, it was night and the prairie lit with countless fireflies. Ponies laid and slept next to the river. Some milled about or grazed around their herdmates. Small fillies and colts slept with the adults and the only sound was the calming burble of the running water.

“But…” Gilda landed and looked up at Luna as she walked. “The ponies weren’t meant as food!”

“Their minds were gifted with free-will, Gilda.” Luna frowned at her. “Even if they understood that ponies should be left alone, there was nothing that forced them to comply.”

“But there is plenty of food!” Gilda sat and opened her forelegs. “Even in the middle of the ponies! What of the deer?!”

She pointed. Just in the immediate area she could see other prey. “Rabbits! Fish! I bet my tail there are snakes around!”

“Magic makes for tasty meat.” Luna tilted her head to the side a little. “And ponies have plenty of magic, even in our present time. In the newborn world… It was like a narcotic.”

A thunder sounded in the distance and ponies startled awake. Necks raised and huge eyes scanned the starry sky. Horns lit with magic and provided some light with magical chimes. Pegasi hovered above the grass. There was nervous neighing, shifting ears, and crying foals.

Thunder sounded again and panic began to spread with nervous stomping and challenging neighs. Unicorns shot magical lights into the sky and lit the whole area. Dozens of griffon-shaped shadows hovered above.

“Hunger turned to craving…” Luna stated.

The first one that plunged signaled the attack with a piercing cry and Gilda lost sight of details in the chaos that ensued. Flashing talons tore throats and panicked neighs turned to gurgling cries. Blood splatters were everywhere as hooves flew. Crying foals had nowhere to hide and if they were not trampled in the chaos, they were themselves turned to food.

“No!” Gilda cried and stepped back with nowhere to go in the middle of the carnage. Her tail tucked between her legs, but her rump stopped at Luna’s legs.

Feathers showered and magical beams crossed the air. Bleeding ponies and burned griffon coats surrounded Gilda as she turned in the middle of the chaotic brawl. There was no technique, no sophistication. Only savagery, anger, and fear.

“But ponies were not made for violence.” Luna added softly. “It is contrary to their nature. It was fear that drove them to fight back. And they still didn’t truly know how. They were easy prey, easy kills.”

Parts of the group scattered, but they didn’t run or fly long as griffons caught them and tore muscles apart with talons and beaks.

“Making friends didn’t work.” Luna whispered. “Running didn’t work… And fighting back only made it worse.”

The chaos of the fight subdued when there simply weren’t any more ponies left to kill and the griffons gave short chirps turning to their food. Finally, the griffons left. The emerald grass under the moon had turned to a ruby field of broken bodies. It smelled of blood and death. Filled with half-eaten carcasses and broken bodies, some were left untouched, and the only consolation was that not even the foals had survived.

“This is cruel!” Gilda cried. She held a limp little colt to her chest but didn’t dare look at the wound that ended his life. Her throat closed, and her beak clicked but her voice turned ferocious. “This is not hunting! This is madness!”

“There is nothing cruel about this, Gilda…” Luna’s magic took the lifeless colt from her paws and held the griffoness in her legs. “They were animals. They didn’t act out of cruelty. Instinct drove them to kill. Even if they would not eat… This is what predators do. They’ll kill more than they need, and in the chaos of combat, anything that isn’t them must be killed. At best they will carry surplus home. They will feed their cubs. Griffons were so sophisticated they understood feeding their elderly and disabled. If there had been enough time, they would have become rational. They would have become civilized. Any griffon of our present times would look at this and be angered at the wastage. At the lack of sophistication. They would call it cruelty too... It feels wrong.”

“What is the problem then, Princess?” Gilda looked up at her and could barely see the blue alicorn through her tears.

“Souls have memories…” Luna spoke softly, looking down at her. “Every single one of these carried a soul. Every griffon carried a soul. They might not have remembered it the same way we remember our breakfast or when we talked to a friend, but the mind is born out of the soul as much as from the body. These memories shaped their decisions moving forward.”

She paused for a second before she spoke again. “There was no cruelty, for there was no morality. But there was plenty of anger. Fear. And yet, the ponies had to return. They were summoned here by the failing nature that required their magic. And they had no free-will to refuse.”

As Luna spoke, Gilda freed herself from her embrace and calmed herself, listening to the alicorn.

“While the ponies had their Animus Imperative, the Allmother created your souls and minds for free-will, she instilled yearning and desire to drive you.”

“Griffons make their sense of self from suffering and pleasure.” Luna explained calmly. “You lack something; therefore, you suffer. In order to make that suffering stop, you take steps towards achieving that which you yearn for. And when you succeed, you are rewarded with pleasure. It drives you forward, and it makes you justify everything, because it will be worth it in the end.”

“Practically, there is little difference, as ponies will perceive the failure to achieve their destiny as suffering and will seek to fulfill it to make the suffering stop and will experience joy at succeeding. The superstructure of the mind is the same, after all. The difference is that griffons will develop their yearning as they experience the world, and it will be self-reinforced because of that. It is different from the pony’s set-in-stone motivation. It makes griffons… Dangerous. It is much easier for a griffon to decide that another’s suffering is worth their success.”

“That is why this happened.” Luna nodded to the battlefield. “Without the varnish of civility, taking is too easy. Predators will always hunt those that can’t defend themselves. And that is not cruelty either. It is the economics of life.”

“I am sorry I have shown you this…” Luna whispered. “But understand… When the ponies attacked the Stormy Eyrie in your nightmare, it was not an act of cruelty. It was pure desperation.”

“Yes…” Gilda looked down at her forefeet. “It didn’t stop here… I suppose it only got worse.”

“It escalated.” Luna spoke softly again. “Harmony reacted…”

Gilda frowned. “It couldn’t do anything about the griffons because they had free-will, right?”

“Ponies were not rational, but they instinctively understood the world.” Luna pointed with a hoof as the night turned to day and the prairie was back to the deceptively picturesque sea of yellow grass turning green. “And while their mind was not collective, they were good at cooperating. And were still intelligent enough to learn.”

Earth ponies grazed and dug the ground with their hooves. The dead bushes returned to life and borne colorful fruits. Pegasi brought the clouds and coaxed the river back to life with their rain. Unicorns pruned the bushes and made everything pretty. They helped the birds make their nests and shared the fruits they kicked out of the trees with the other animals.

A large herd of buffalos walked in an elongated line, passing through the grasslands. A flock of birds crossed the sky.

“Making friends didn't work. Running didn’t work. Fighting back didn’t work… Their instincts turned to their mighty creative magic and to the only things they understood. The cycles of day and night that dictated the rhythm of life and gave them comfort. The bonds of mates that shared in the power of creating new life. The unifying safety of companionship that held herds together.”

“Their simple minds cried for help the same way they would when they fell, or hurt themselves. They expected their friends to come and help.” Luna looked up to the sky and Gilda did the same, to the bright orb of light that made the day. “And Harmony responded…”

A pride of griffons jumped off a cloud and circled in the sky with short and sharp cries. The ponies around Gilda and Luna started neighing. Angry hooves stomped the ground, and the foals ran beneath their mothers. Some pegasi dropped to the grass and covered their faces with their wings, while others took flight with challenging snorts. Unicorns shot warning blasts of magic above.

Luna kept staring with Gilda. “Earth ponies coaxed the plants out of the ground. Pegasi made it rain. Unicorns made beautiful plants…”

The day turned a thousand times brighter with a flash and a resounding boom like a cannon had fired. A griffon fell from the sky but could barely be recognized as a griffon anymore. The other griffons spiraled off course before they reoriented themselves.

A golden flash and a crack announced the arrival of a powerful and elegant beast. Pristine white and with a pair of mighty wings she flapped as she turned with surprising grace. A stunned griffon hadn’t even understood what had happened. Her long and sharp horn came ablaze with golden light and unleashed a beam of magic that cut it in half.

“Alicorns killed griffons.” Luna concluded with a frown. “And suddenly, the hunter was hunted.”

“Fighting didn’t help…” Luna said while a confused griffon lunged forward with her talons, but her paws burned and disintegrated when she touched the creature. A kick with the fore hooves shattered bone and Gilda was glad she was too far to see the result. The other griffons turned and flapped their wings as fast as they could, but the creature flew faster, and her hooves pummeled the griffon mid air until it stopped trying to escape. “Running didn’t help either.”

“It was a creature filled with fear and sorrow.” Luna explained when the white alicorn kept hovering in the air, watching the remaining griffons scatter away. “It lacked a rational mind, it lacked civility. It only understood that she must protect the herd and that griffons were the problem. She wanted the griffons to stop hurting them, but when they didn’t. So she used the tools Harmony had given her, and made them stop.”

“Wow…” Gilda mumbled. “I don’t know what to say.”

“There is nothing to be said.” Luna started walking on the grass and Gilda followed. “Only that emotions are stupid. That craving begat fear, fear begat sorrow, and sorrow begat violence. Then violence escalated.”

As Luna walked, she opened her wings and Gilda startled when the scenery changed. A herd of yaks ran in panic towards her. The snow did little to slow them, but they passed around Luna and Gilda, fleeing the griffons that attacked the rear of their stampede, swooping down at them.

A storm of sharp crystals showered over them and tore the griffons to shreds as a pink alicorn flew overhead.

“They learned more powerful magic. They learned that if they wished for it, reality would change to serve them. They started protecting the other creatures. Maybe because they recognized their pain. Maybe simply because they hated the griffons.” Gilda kept walking with Luna as her wing swept open and the world around them changed again. “Griffons had to fly far to find food they had difficulty bringing back to their nests. But the alicorns couldn’t follow them everywhere. Eventually, too many griffons lived in the Stormy Eyrie and they spread to other areas of the world and that made it difficult for the alicorns to protect prey animals.”

Luna and Gilda stopped before a cave where a griffon had nested. A large, orange and fiery yellow griffoness flared her wings and hissed. A purple alicorn walked past Gilda and Luna into the cave.

“So, they started attacking griffon nesting grounds.” Luna scowled.

But before anything happened, Luna’s horn shone, and she shot a bolt of magic to the sky. It exploded and showered the world with blue light that changed it again. The sky had turned red above a wasteland of dead trees and dry riverbeds. A red star shone in the sky, angry and bright. More like a wound in the world than the life-giving source of light it was supposed to be.

The white alicorn had changed. She was covered in blinding light for armor and her mane of pastel colors had turned to an inferno of flames. She led a multitude of hooved animals among ponies. Her ears were pulled back flat against her skull and her purple eyes seethed with fury. The others followed her and in turn more ponies and other animals followed them.

“The hooves animals recognized leadership in her and they rallied when she called.” Luna sat in the dirt with Gilda next to her. “But, the griffons too, when cornered and afraid, called for help. And she came…”

The Harpy was perched at the top of a mountain, looking down at the approaching creatures. Hundreds upon hundreds of griffons stood with her. Cries and chirps echoed around her, and her grey eyes glistened with hatred.

“How dare the prey fight back…” Luna spoke with a stern voice, her own ears pulled back against her head. “Two different ideals the world was too small to accommodate.”

The Harpy cried and her talons dug deep gashes in the stone. She jumped and her wings caused a blizzard to raise. Griffons followed her and sharp cries echoed in the blood red sky. The white alicorn galloped, jumped and flapped her wings. A host of strong pegasi followed and the other alicorns flew too and spread to attack from different angles with flights of pegasi trailing them. Earth-bound creatures pressed their steps and horns flared up with magic. They galloped towards the entrance to the valley.

The ground thundered and shook before Gilda’s shocked eyes. That sort of thing was just not meant to happen. It started like something reasonable. Ugly and unpleasant, but simple and reasonable. It blew to ridiculous proportions. Predation had turned to a war among gods with the mortals caught in the middle.

A beam of golden light barely scorched The Harpy’s feathery chest right before she collided with the white alicorn in a blasting shockwave. They fell in a mess of hooves and talons mimicked by the others around them.

Darkness enveloped them and Luna let her head hang. “You know the rest.”

Gilda shook her head, also hanging low. “I don’t understand… Doesn’t the Black Sun restart everything? Why didn’t it happen all the same again?”

“The Black Sun…” Luna started. “Is triggered by a large amount of magical energy returning to the source. It reaches a threshold when strange magical effects happen. The normal flow of mana is reversed and that causes a cascade magical failure of the structure of reality. Without magic, nothing can exist. And what magic remains is funneled back to the initial singularity that created our world. Then it begins again.”

“It is the overwhelming loss of life. Large amounts of energy that are released from the world. Consider that the ponies cause large amounts of magical flux to ingress upon the world and that many of them died. A powerful being such as The Harpy would carry overwhelming amounts of energy into the world. And when her body failed…”

“I still don’t understand.” Gilda showed a sad frown. “How does any of this help us now?”

“Who is to blame for what happened, Gilda?” Luna waved a hoof, but Gilda just stared sadly at her and shook her head. “The answer is no one. But both sides will point hooves and talons to accuse.”

Luna turned to look, and Gilda turned too at a life-like image of The Harpy. She sat in the dark with a slight frown, staring at nothing. Luna pointed a hoof at her. “She thought that was normal. She was the only truly intelligent being, but she thought it was normal. She believes that conflict drives existence. She believes there is no improvement without suffering. Her twisted love for griffons made a world where suffering is expected, and her children should reign uncontested. That there should be strict and rigid social rules, and that privilege is the right of the strong. Freedom that overrules ‘the system’ if you are strong enough to yield it.”

“That might make right.”

Then Luna turned and pointed the other way to show Celestia, also sitting in the dark and staring at nothing. “She didn’t understand anything at that time, but those experiences molded her soul. My sister today believes that union will defeat any obstacle and that creatures should be free to live however they want to as long as they don’t break the law which is equal to all. That privilege will erode the trust in the system. A system that forbids freedom above it but will accommodate all the freedoms that it must.”

“That right makes might.”

Luna waited a couple of seconds before she spoke again. “Did you notice a pattern?”

Gilda nodded and spoke softly. “Yeah… In our version of the world, it was the griffon empire against the rest of the world. Because Mother Harpy would not accept dissent. She needed griffons to band under Grigor to kill Celestia.”

Gilda frowned more deeply at Luna. “But why? Doesn’t the Black Sun erase everything?”

Luna nodded. “Notice that once restarted, the world didn’t evolve the same way. How does that happen? There are bizarre time dilation effects and time magic behaves unpredictably. The Black Sun actually connects all the beginnings and all the ends and that allows information to bleed into the next cycle. I believe that the Black Sun is a failsafe.”

Gilda nodded with a small smile. “Like one of those fuses that stops a magical machine if something goes wrong?”

“Yes!” Luna grinned happily. “Celestia believes that the Black Sun, terrifying and mysterious as it is, is proof that we live in a world that conspires in our favor. It stops a path not meant to be and gives us another chance.”

Luna frowned and took a professorial posture, rubbing her chin with a leg. “The fact that events don’t repeat means that something survives annihilation. And I think I know what it is…”

Gilda just glared at her and waited for Luna to spill it out already.

“Soul memories.” Luna declared with a huge grin. Then she turned sheepish. “And that is why I put you through this. I needed you to understand the graveness of the situation. The brutality and the savagery that forged the hatred that she and Celestia share. I needed you to understand that griffons and ponies are not the problem.”

The princess pointed at the two images of Celestia and The Harpy, back-to-back. “They are! They are on a collision course, and it will send ripples through the entire world.”

“I showed you all of that so that it would be marked in your soul. Because we have a problem… She can’t know you talked to me.”

Gilda grimaced. She didn’t even want to think about what Mother Harpy would do to her if knew.

“I will erase your memories.” Luna spoke with a measure of resolve. “I hope that instead of succumbing to her madness, you will help her find sanity. Because these memories that have been etched into your soul will edge your mind in the right direction and she won’t notice.”

Suddenly Luna stared up with her mouth hanging and her ears perked to attention. “She’s coming.”

“This is the turning point!” Luna declared, raising her snout. “Either you will continue the path you were, and she will engulf you in her madness… Or you will be her anchor to sanity.”

Luna conjured her crystal thing and whispered. “Are you ready?”

Gilda took a deep breath. “I am.”

Luna focused on her crystal artifact. Her horn shone and Gilda was left waiting. She couldn’t feel anything. It was unsettling, but nothing seemed to be happening.

***

Gilda sat on the fancy chair Luna had offered her. She was distracted for a second. What were they talking about? She had a strange feeling that something was amiss, but Luna’s babbling made her focus on the Princess again.

“And so, griffons summoned the Allmother to the realm of the living. Bound to a body, she was destroyed when Sol-Estia fought her in the Stormy Eyrie and her body failed.”

Oh, right. Luna was telling her how the ponies created their goddesses to help them. Or something. Gilda wasn’t sure and her head felt a little light.

Luna smiled at her, for some reason, and kept on talking. When the Black Sun was almost triggered again, Discord killed the pony goddesses in a similar way. But since the process of the Black Sun didn’t complete, their souls were stuck in the system of birth-death-rebirth. And they were eventually reborn as new beings. I inherited Luccenotturna’s soul. Celestia inherited Sol-Estia’s.”

“This brings up a difficult question… Is Celestia Sol-Estia? Am I Luccenotturna?” Luna’s ears fell to the sides of her head. “I can’t say that I know the answer to that question. I don’t believe that I am, but I may be wrong. Our souls work differently. Celestia believes that she is Sol-Estia, but that she is not the same. In a similar way you are not today the same you were when you were younger. She believes that as the most intimate part of her being is that of the Goddess, she is Sol-Estia, but in a different form. And most important of all… In another time. In different circumstances.”

Right… Right. She was talking about souls and different circumstances… Luna kept staring at the magical images too, and it bothered Gilda, but at least she was delivering information.

Luna’s ears were already flopped to the sides of her head, but her eyes were teared a little. “The Celestia I know would not ever condone what happened in that dream. The sight of the injured mother holding her dead cubs greatly disturbed you. It abhorred me too… No intelligent creature would believe that sort of thing would ever be acceptable.”

“Was it real?” Gilda kept her stare on the princess. That was important.

“It was…” Luna grinned at her. “That is what happened, several cycles of creation, destruction and re-creation ago. I don’t have memories of that time, though. Only Celestia does. And obviously, something else has them too.”

“Could…” Gilda frowned, and Luna encouraged her to speak with a patient nod. “Could griffons have called The Harpy back when they were suffering because Discord tried to end the world? As the ponies did?”

“Theoretically, yes.” Luna nodded again. “That is what happened in that vision… Griffons summoned the Allmother and that allowed Sol-Estia to destroy her.”

Luna made a small pause. “But Celestia looked for her. She was not there in Grigor’s Empire. She did not survive. Once she died, as you witnessed in that nightmare, her soul would have been taken to the Pool of Souls, but the Black Sun ended everything. And she didn’t return. Celestia supposes that she had her chance, but the stewardship of the world was given to another.”

Gilda’s stare aimed at the floor and her frown intensified. Did that alicorn ever shut up? There was something strange about that whole conversation… Gilda tried to think about something, but she couldn’t find a question she wanted to ask. Wait! Yes! Celestia wouldn’t have found The Harpy, because she hid after she abandoned Emperor Grigor! But Luna shouldn’t know that… And she clearly didn’t!

Luna waited a second before she spoke again, and her head motioned to the magical images. “I can literally see you are questioning all that has happened to you. I have seen your memories and I know you believe The Harpy has returned and that you are special. But I think that you are wrong.”

That got Gilda’s attention again and Luna went on. “I visited several griffons tonight. I have reasons to believe that there is a strange Nightmare attacking their dreams.”

Gilda frowned. She was angry. Was Luna trying to convince her that The Harpy was a Nightmare? A freaking Nightmare?!

Luna kept showing her magical images that made little sense to Gilda. But she could read the pony ideograms in attention grabbing red and urgent blinking.

Akh Class Harmonic Violation – Dream Loop Disruption

“This usually means a Nightmare is actively attacking your dreams. But what it really means is that something is disturbing the normal functioning of the body-mind-soul triptych that reflects the Akh of your soul. The part that relates to the intellect. It’s a disruption of normal mental processes involved in the experience of dreams. But you are not ‘actually’ dreaming now. You are conscious inside your mind. These processes shouldn’t be in use… This means that something damaged your ability to dream.”

The Harpy had told Gilda she’d done that. To protect her from Luna, and that she would share her dreams with Gilda. That was probably why Gilda had the dreams from beyond the Black Sun.

“This is consistent with something introducing dreams into your mind. I think this memory of the Black Sun was shared from another soul…”

Luna’s figured it out. She knew that The Harpy had returned and that she had contacted Gilda. The griffoness tensed herself in her chair. Wait. No! Luna thought it was a Nightmare! That was good! The secret was still intact, even with Luna poking around in her head!

“It’s a narrative the Nightmare is feeding you.” Luna gave Gilda a strange sad frown that seemed fake. “Your entire race may be under attack from a particularly nasty Nightmare since that time and I never noticed because the whole secrecy may have served to hide its activity. It’s sucking mental energy out of you, creating this narrative about the griffon Goddess because it knows that many within your race feel abandoned.”

Gilda smiled inside… Luna wished that was true.

“Everygriff, from The Lion himself to his soldiers may be under attack from this Nightmare and if you let me study it, I can find a way to stop it. Before it can enter their Palace of the Self and start claiming lives. It may grow so powerful it will manifest in the real world!”

“I am trying to help you, most of all.” Luna gave a concerned frown. “You are in danger, and you must listen to me!”

Gilda’s frown only deepened. “Why are you so nervous, Princess?”

Suddenly, three polite knocks resounded through the crystal walls. Thunder cracked outside and both of them stared at the open door to the hallway.

“Well then…” Luna gave her a serious stare and her ears perked forward. “The Nightmare followed you here. It’s trying to enter the most sacred part of what makes you, you. If it does, it will have unrestrained access to everything. Now you must decide who you’ll believe.”

Luna put an earnest hoof on her chest. “Me, or whatever is outside.”

Gilda didn’t respond, she already knew who she believed. She simply hopped off the chair, then down the dais, walking towards the door out of the Throne of the Mind. Slowly speeding up her gait before Luna might do something.

Luna followed her to the circular room with the ‘tree’. The Princess had a strange noncommittal tone as she talked. “Stop. Don’t. Come back…”

Gilda turned and kept walking backwards. Her wings sagged from her side, her tail hid under her, and she frowned like she did when her mother was angry at her. “I am not stupid! You want griffons to be meek and easy to control! That is why your sister let Griffonia devolve into the mess it is now and at the same time protect the hippogriffs!”

“This is a baseless and foalish accusation.” Luna followed Gilda all the way through the corridor and became more serious, as though Gilda had struck a nerve. “The northerner griffons disseminate an ideology of hatred against hippogriffs, and that is the only reason they are protected. And it is also the reason Queen Novo has instituted the blockade of commercial ships going to Griffonia. Not to mention that Celestia already dealt with that. The situation in Griffonia is bound to improve within weeks!”

Gilda’s insecurity turned to anger, and she scowled at the princess. “Liar! That is all you do! You tell my kind that you know what is best for us, but you want to declaw and keep us soft and weak!”

“If you open the door I don’t know if I can push it out.” Luna pleaded as Gilda turned to the door and broke into a galop. “You’ll be lost forever! I won’t be able to return and help you! And if it learns how to infiltrate the minds of other griffons, I may not be able to stop it.”

“You wanted us to forget our mother!” Gilda’s blood boiled at her anger, turning again to face the princess. She shouldn’t say it, but… Screw it. That stupid grassbreath was píssing her off saying The Harpy was not real! “You don’t care what happens to us! You don’t care if griffons are suffering! You don’t care that our corrupt politicians have bled our nation dry! That is why you helped Grover lie! Ghadah died in a burning stake after Grover’s soldiers had raped her and her sisters! It was all because of you!”

“No!” Luna cried and flared her wings. “After the war Celestia worked with Empress Geneviere! The very reason that Ghadah was there was because the Empress had sent her to recover her sisters! Celestia’s agents in Griffonia assisted countless stranded servants of the Emperor escape to the northern lands! It is one of the reasons the northerner traditions were protected after Grover reunited the kingdom!”

“Liar!” Gilda’s feathers ruffled and her fur stood. “As far as you and your sister are concerned, they would’ve done the same to me! I would’ve died in a dirty alley after those monsters were done using me, like they used Ghadah!”

“We failed you, Gilda!” Luna insisted, slowly inching forward. Hoof after hoof. “I admit… Things happened in a way that they shouldn’t have! But Celestia had the best intentions! And they will change moving forward from this! I promise you!”

Three knocks sounded again. Slower. Gilda stopped. Her angry frown turned to a curious one, with her eyes growing wide and her beak hanging as she noticed something. And she gave Luna a wicked grin. “Why don’t you stop me?”

Luna’s frantic expression showed her a frown of annoyance. “I can’t!”

She flapped her wings nervously and gave Gilda a nervous stare. “I need your permission to do anything here. I need your permission to enter griffon minds… I need you to trust me, at least to give me your permission implicitly. Or I couldn’t even protect you from the normal nightmares. As I said, your kind is different from ponies.”

Gilda’s grin turned fierce with a low laugh of someone who had won a game.

“You need my permission to enter… You can’t do it on your own, much like the Allmother needs griffons to devote themselves to her… Because my griffon mind was made with free-will at its core. That was why she needed the Emperor and griffons to trust her entirely. All your power, and you still are all dependent on one choice.”

A small part of Gilda's imagination pictured the great white and black griffoness squealing in delight at her realization. Swollen with pride that her child understood something so important.

Then she laughed. “This is awesome! The might of the gods; it bends to the free-will of mortals.”

“Please, Gilda.” Luna insisted. “I wasn’t aware that there was something wrong when I first met you. Let me help you deal with your problems with the law.”

Gilda’s smile grew cruel, and Luna hardened her stare. And still, it frustrated her that Luna wasn’t at all scared. Because she knew what that thing was trying. The alicorn probably thought that she was born yesterday. No. Gilda had chosen a side and she was more than convinced that was the right side.

“Along the way I learned an important lesson, princess.” Gilda paused for a second. “My problems aren’t with the Law. It is with dirty, corrupt politicians you and your sister allowed to take over Griffonia. Call it respect for our independence if you will… But now, after all that’s happened, there are sides to be taken.”

Gilda took a small breath and squared her glare at Luna. “And one side wants me to go back to being a nobody no one cares about. That was betrayed by the system and would be left for dead in a dirty alley after some thugs violated her. Maybe one or two would cry for me.”

Finally, Gilda’s scowl became fiercer. “The other side has given me a new life and I was reborn with a purpose and power I would never have been allowed.”

Gilda stopped for a second. No. It’s not about sides. It was about what was better for griffons, and Mother Harpy was best for griffons. Even if she was wrong in some things.

Luna smiled again, but then she became serious once more.

“Gilda, you are delirious! You are making a choice you can’t come back from.” Luna warned. “Come to me, and we will help you deal with the things you’ve done. I will help your friend and I will make sure Celestia grants you leniency. Saving you is more important than anything that has happened because of this whole ordeal.”

“And with your help I can protect the minds of griffons from this Nightmare!” Luna rolled her eyes.

“It’s not a Nightmare! You know very well what it is!” Gilda screamed at her, before turning to the door.

“What if she is? An illusion?” Luna spoke louder and stomped a hoof on the crystal floor. “A fragment of a memory in griffon minds. An illusion you covered the Nightmare with. You wanted your mother back. You wanted to belong somewhere. You wanted power! Whatever she is, your delusions of grandeur are blinding you to the fact that you are being manipulated! She’s made you into a pawn in a very dangerous game!”

Gilda heard every word, but she refused to listen. And so, she stood on her hindlegs and pushed the double doors, unfurling her wings as the doors opened. They swung open slowly and the smell of lightning entered with a wet and gray cloud that surrounded Gilda with its wetness. It marked her silhouette of open forelegs and wings stretched wide against the flash of lightning and the silhouette of a larger griffoness entering through the door.

“Come Mother. I was confused and I was foolish. But I understand everything now! Let’s take back our world! I’ve had a great idea: let me give you Griffonia! I will bring it back under your mighty wings, kicking and screaming if it must. I will be your Swordmaiden of the Shaddani, and I will help you have every griffon soul, as it was meant to be since the first griffon cried in the Stormy Eyrie! I will be the Chosen of The Harpy and I will bring you their heads if I must. But they will be yours!”

Finally, she turned back to Luna, sitting on the floor with a triumphant smile. However, Luna’s expression disappointed Gilda yet again. She expected to see terror, pure fear. Something, at least similar to what that poor griffoness in her dream experienced. But the alicorn remained calm, and all that urgency seemed to have vanished from her. The only reaction she allowed were her ears pulled back flat against her skull while sitting on the floor. At best, she frowned.

“Well done, My Child.” Lightning seemed to take hold of the crystal structure and lit it in tempo with her voice. It rumbled like thunder in counterpoint to the melodical High Griffonese she spoke. Passing by, she caressed Gilda’s crest with her paw and walked past her, towards Luna.

Her ruffled feathers and posture made her look much larger than she already was. The wet and rough feathers made her threatening and terrifying. Her talons clicked the crystal floor with every step and the crystal lit with every breath she took. Her white tail swung from side to side, whipping the black tuft around. The light reflected in her stormy grey eyes under a fierce scowl.

Luna stood her ground, locking eyes with the great griffoness while Gilda walked at The Harpy’s side..

“Of all creatures,” The Harpy smiled cruelly, closing her forepaw around Luna’s neck. “You ought to be the one who understood perception is relative, Luccenotturna.”

Luna gave her the most infuriating, and at the same time most outrageous of smiles. Then she poked her beak with a hoof. “Boop!”

And then she disappeared.

The Harpy was left behind, cocking her head and looking cross-eyed at her beak. It turned to a greatly displeased scowl. But turning, she smiled at Gilda. “Worry not, my beautiful child. She will not be bothering you anymore. We are now connected, and I will guard your mind from her.”

She sat before Gilda and held her shoulders, pecking softly at her forehead and holding her to her wet chest full of fluffy feathers. “You are beloved to me. I have always rewarded handsomely those that have served me, and you will be no exception. Give me back My Children, and I will shower you with all the gold and luxuries you can imagine. You will see as your enemies crumble before you; and your allies will rise to see it is your favor that makes them precious to my eyes as well.”

Gilda chuckled. “She thinks you are a Nightmare.”

The Harpy frowned. And then she spoke slowly and carefully. “I do not know what Luna is playing at, but she knows what I am. Maybe she did not truly know before, but now she does.”

Gilda looked up at her and something clearly bothered the Allmother. But she didn’t have the heart to ask what she was thinking. She simply chuckled again and smiled as best as she could. “Maybe… She wanted to confuse me. She wanted me to question you? Like Celestia did with King Grover?”

The Harpy smiled and her black paw stroked Gilda’s crest. “Hush… Glorify my power before our cold enemies in the North that your name will shine as a beacon to My Children. I will worry about Luna, and you must complete your journey. The further you are from the border, the safer you will be from The Sisters. But remember the threat of the Windigos. Do not let your guard down.”

“Now, rest…” Her voice trailed into a soothing whisper.

Gilda woke in her bed, next to Grunhilda, still snuggled to her chest. The sounds of the party had subsided, but still went on and thunder echoed in the distance with Aya Harpyia’s promise. She smiled and held Grunhilda, scooting an inch closer in the cold of the night with a whiff of the smell in Grunhilda’s crest before sleep took her again.

Gilda sat in the corner holding a bucket of hand sanitizer in her beak. "..."

In front of her the great black and white griffoness frantically rubbed her paws on her beak.

"SHE BOOPED ME!" <distressed birb noises>