The chains rattled as Nightmare Moon paced in her cell, staring out between the crystalline bars at the approaching pony on the other side. “Finished conferring with your friends, I see.” Nightmare Moon leered at her. “Decided what to do with me yet?”

“Not yet,” Twilight admitted, glancing to the side. “We still aren’t sure if it is safe to remove the Elements from the Tree of Harmony.”

“Hmph. Returning me to the Moon?”

“Well, no. We’re hoping to cleanse you of the nightmare.” Twilight walked up to the side of Nightmare Moon’s cell, resting her hoof on one of the bars.

Nightmare Moon cackled. “Of course you are. Of course. Certainly not trying to banish me to the Moon once more. Wouldn’t want me to resist, now would you?” She slammed her hoof into the bar of the cell, but it held fast. “Well, I must say. Your castle of ‘friendship’ certainly has well-made cells.”

“It still kind of creeps me out that it came with those,” Twilight said, dragging her hoof across the crystalline floor.

Nightmare Moon scowled at the smaller alicorn. “It annoys me to realize that my counterpart in this world fell to someone as soft as you. Though I suppose you did have some help.” She tilted her head up, staring up at the ceiling, as if she could see through it. “That brother of yours, and that pink princess are quite formidable. Not to mention your student.”

Twilight shook her head. “Actually, Cadance and Shining Armor didn’t even help me defeat you. And I hadn’t even met Starlight yet. It was actually me and my friends who found the Elements of Harmony and—“

“Yes, yes.” Nightmare Moon scowled. “My servant Rarity mentioned that you recognized her, and you seemed to recognize Rainbow Dash as well. Friends of yours in this world, I presume?”

Twilight frowned. “Yes.”

“Well, at least you have [i]some[/i] eye for talent.” Nightmare Moon returned to her pacing as the chain links clinked against the floor of the cell. “And what will you do if your precious Elements can’t be used, hm?”

Twilight’s eyes slid across the floor before she lifted her head, her eyes hardening. “Then I would do everything within my power to try and bring you back to us. Luna, you don’t have to be this way. You know your sister loves you.”

“Lies!” Nightmare Moon reared back on her hooves before slamming her front hooves against the bars of her cell. “My sister always mistreated me! I was always lesser in her eyes. That is why, in my world, I banished [i]her[/i] to the Moon! She will be no more than a bedtime story, as I was!”

“Celestia created the tradition of Nightmare Night to make things easier for you, Luna! She wanted you to come back and ponies not to think of you as some sort of monster, but something fun!”

“Hah! A likely story.” Nightmare Moon sneered.

“Luna, she—“

“And cease calling me by that name! I am Nightmare Moon, not the lowly Princess Luna.” Nightmare Moon ground her teeth together.

Twilight squared her shoulders. “I’ll call you by your true name whether you like it or not, Luna.”

“Hmph.” Nightmare Moon turned away from the bars. “If I had known that spell you used would draw me into a castle full of powerful ponies, I would never have come.”

“It is good for you that you did,” Twilight said, licking her lips. “Things don’t have to be this way, you know. You could throw off the nightmare, and we could go back to your world and free your sister and—“

“Hmph. I know what waits there. She won’t forgive me, not after what I’ve done.”

“She would. Celestia loves you.”

“And how do you know, hm? I’m sure she had a very sad story for you after you returned me to the Moon. ‘Oh, how I loved my sister. If only she knew her place.’”

“Actually, she returned me to my place, ruling by her side.”

Nightmare Moon’s head jerked around at the sound of that smooth voice. “No, it cannot be.”

Luna stepped out of the stairwell to stand next to Twilight. “Any progress?”

“None, I’m afraid. She doesn’t seem to want to let go.”

“No! You cannot be real!” Nightmare Moon slammed her hooves into the cell bars a third time. “My sister would never forgive me!”

Luna sighed and stepped towards the cell. “Perhaps I should try.”

Nightmare Moon screamed.