Darkness, complete and utter darkness. Luna stared at the landscape, a familiar visage of grey dust and craters all around. Above the ground were millions of tiny stars, and among them, a bright orb, home to all life, from ponies to gryphons, from changelings to… Humans.

She looked down, gazing into the eyes of a man. She watched him as he leaned over the tiny table and picked up his cup of tea, which was tiny in comparison to his callused hands. He daintily sipped on the liquid, then set the cup back down on the table. With his hands on his lap, he coughed, then shot a piercing stare at Luna.

“Do you ever get tired of this view?” he asked. “Wouldn’t you rather dream of being on there?” He pointed at the planet. “There’s more to see.”

Luna picked her own cup, sipped on it, then set it down. “I would not be dreaming of it if I did not like it, Silverback.”

“Just call me Jack, Princess.” He looked over at the planet. “I’ve seen many like it, all with a few different designs. I wish I could show you.” Jack smiled warmly. “There’s a lot out there to see. I hope you’ll get to do that one day.”

“You sure did not make that easy for me…” Luna muttered.

“I know…” Jack sighed. “I’m sorry. Do you forgive me?” he asked, sipping on his tea.

“Why would I?” Luna asked, frowning. “You almost killed me.”

“Because you’re the last thing in my checklist,” Jack mentioned, chuckling. “The last thing I need before I can truly be at peace… is you. Your forgiveness.”

“Stop asking for it every hour, then,” the mare stated. “Maybe after a thousand years I’ll give you what you need.”

“Fair enough,” Jack said, smiling. “I have all the time in the universe.”

The two fell silent for a few minutes. Silverback closed his eyes and sighed. “Do you have any idea of what’s happening over there?” He pointed at the planet.

Luna’s ears flickered at the unusual question. “No… Why?”

“Should I tell you?” Jack asked, his voice fluctuating strangely.

“I…” the Princess muttered. “Yes? What’s wrong?”

“They’re going to die,” Jack’s voice turned feminine. “All of them.”

“Silver… Jack?” Luna asked, grimacing. “Are thou alright?”

“Do you remember me?” The man’s figure disappeared like sand in the wind, only to be replaced by a bright spirit. Luna watched as the light flickered, dancing through the darkness, forming what appeared to be a tall, white alicorn made entirely out of light.

Luna frowned, looking down, only to find herself floating in the darkness. “Wha-...” She stared at the spirit, beginning to break into a cold sweat. “Are… You?”

“Eons ago, when we created you” the mare began, her stare burning into Luna’s mind, “we told you to take care of your world. Do you remember?”

“Y-yes…”

“They were not supposed to happen, Luna.” Her eyes grew brighter, almost angrily. “They threw everything out of balance. And you know what I said? I said it was a welcome change, but then the others locked me away, and now they are going to kill, them, all.”

Luna coughed, tears beginning to stream out of her eyes. Her jaw was locked tight, and she felt a droplet of blood fall from her nose.

“I do not have enough power to do anything yet,” the mare continued. “But they must be stopped. They won’t stop until everything is clean. I wish I could reach the humans...”

The Princess’ vision began to fade, her head throbbing and her nose bleeding like an open wound.

“They are willing to throw away everything we have built, over a simple, unpredicted accident. We must stop them, Luna.” The mare leaned in, staring into the Princess’ bloodshot eyes. “We must kill the old gods.”

“She’s waking up!”

Luna opened her eyes and began to scream, thrashing each of her limbs wildly, pulling off the cables connected to her body. She looked around, finding herself lying on a hospital bed inside a plain, white room.

“When did she start bleeding!?” a pony nurse rushed over to her, trying to hold her down. “Get some anticoagulants!” Luna grabbed her by the neck and began choking her, staring into her with her own, bloodshot eyes. The nurse’s eyes bulged out as Luna leaned in.

“GET. ME. CELESTIA!”

“Are you sure she’s alright?” Celestia asked, trotting briskly through the halls of Canterlot palace. She looked down at the nurse, her eyes watery.

“We-... We’re not sure yet,” the nurse muttered, tears still dripping from her eyes. “She just… She just woke up all of a sudden and started screaming…” She shivered. “She started choking me, and told me get you, Princess…”

“That doesn’t sound like my sister…” Celestia uttered. She slowed to a halt in front of a large, ornamented door. The nurse stopped just a few feet behind her. The Princess looked back at her, raising an eyebrow.

“I should go…” The nurse coughed, rubbing her neck. “I should go get a cold pack…”

Celestia nodded at her, then turned to face the door. With her hoof, she carefully pushed it open, walking into a white room. The doctors inside looked at her worriedly as she glanced over to her sister.

Luna lay still on her bed, connected to various machines and serum sacks, looking out through the window and into Canterlot. Her breathing was steady, and her nostrils were plugged with bloody cotton.

Celestia took a few steps towards her sister, always bearing a warm smile. Once close enough to the bed, she lay a hoof on it, then recoiled as Luna shot her a burning stare. Celestia’s breathing stopped as she felt her own heart skip a beat, eyes widening as she found herself staring into Luna’s bloodshot orbs. The lunar sister spoke, never taking her eyes off of Celestia’s, “Leave us alone.” The other ponies in the room stared for a second, then hurriedly made their way out of the room, closing the door behind them.

“Luna…” Celestia whispered. “What happened to you? Are you alright?”

“No…” Luna finally took her eyes away from Celestia. “I almost died, sister. Twice.”

“I… I don’t agree with what Silverback did, either,” Celestia said, looking down.

“It is not him I have a problem with.” Luna chuckled sarcastically. “I was dreaming, in my own realm, but something came in.”

“Something got onto your dream?” Celestia asked, shaking her head. “Impossible, you’re the only one that can do that. Maybe you just… slipped?”

“She came into my dream and spoke to me,” Luna continued. “Her power was so strong it nearly killed me in my own dream.”

“Who is ‘she’?”

Luna gazed back into Celestia’s eyes. “Threadess.”

Upon hearing the name, Celestia’s eyes widened. She felt her heart skip five beats this time, all while her ears flopped down. She couldn’t close her eyes for several seconds, still trying to process what her sister had said. Her hooves went numb before her legs gave out, falling ungraciously onto the floor. Her entire body began shaking, breaking into a cold sweat. She weakly looked back up at Luna. “I thought… it’s been so long…”

“The world is coming to an end, sister,” Luna muttered, looking up into the ceiling. “Do you remember what they told us? When we were created?”

Celestia swallowed a knot on her throat. “We were to manage this world, bring harmony…”

“It is all out of balance now…” Luna continued. “The humans were an accident, they were not supposed to appear. Threadess… She told me the others are going to cleanse the world, rid it of everything. It’s over, sister…”

“But…” Celestia muttered, hooves shaking. “We have to do something, warn the humans, maybe!”

“I am not sure of anything, anymore,” the other Princess added. “The humans will fight them, that is sure, but can they win?”

“I…” Celestia felt a tear come out of one of her eyes. “They’re strong, maybe strong enough to resist…” She weakly stood back up. “We must do something! We cannot let them do this!”

Luna looked back out the window.

“If we do not fight, then we will be extinguished. All of us.”