I feel the need to warn you, this one...is really, really bad.

Several heartbeats passed before Twilight realized what Celestia had said. Her vision almost seemed to skew, as she blinked, trying to figure it out. Unconsciously, she took one step away from the princess of the sun.

"W-what?" she whispered.

"She was getting a little too close. Just a little. I would have sent her to the moon again, but I haven't had an alicorn in so long, and..." Celestia glanced into the room that held the tortured Nightmare Moon, offering a tiny shrug. "That other form of hers is so irritating. I felt that it was time for a more permanent solution."

"What?" Twilight repeated, feeling dull and slow. "I...Princess, we have to help her."

"No, no, it's alright, Twilight." Before she could react, one of Celestia's spiny wings was cupped around her, pressing her forward. Almost unconsciously, she tried to dig her hooves into the stone floor, tried to stop herself. But the white alicorn was stronger than she looked. Strong enough to force her into the room and the cloud of red stench that filled it. "Come. I have an idea for a lesson."

"But-I-I don't-" She couldn't think, not with what was left of Princess Luna/Nightmare Moon laid out in front of her. Oh, goddesses, what had done this to her? Why? Twilight closed her eyes and swallowed hard, trying to keep from throwing up all over her hooves. But images were burned into her mind-the walls of the exposed intestines twitching with smooth muscle, patches of black rot on tissue exposed to the air, the stomach bulging with and punctured by shards of iron. Had she (now she really was going to be sick) been forced to swallow those?

"Really, Twilight Sparkle, how do you expect to learn anything if your eyes are closed?" Celestia chided gently. Twilight felt the buzz of magic on her eyelids, and then they sprang up, outside of her control. "Now, note the iron. When it comes to unicorns, it's simply a magic inhibitor, but it's almost a toxin to alicorns-"

"Princess, what are you doing?" Twilight blurted out before she could stop herself. Tears were blurring her vision and her stomach was doing barrel rolls. Maybe it wasn't a good idea to open her mouth, but the words kept coming. "Can't you see how badly she's hurt?! You have to help her! Use your magic, maybe we can still save her-what did this to her? What happened? I-I'm going to..."

She dropped her head and her stomach lurched, but nothing came out. Celestia sighed in exasperation.

"I can see that I have a lot of work on my hooves," she muttered. "Alright. Fine. We'll come back to Nightmare Moon later, when you're better able to appreciate my work."

Twilight stumbled away from her on shaky legs, barely able to believe what she was hearing. "Your work?"

"Twilight, Twilight, Twilight." Her voice held a motherly tone, one that was familiar and horrifying in these conditions. The purple unicorn felt the tips of knife-sharp feathers brushing across her back, and she shrank away from the touch, shuddering and confused. "I thought you would have studied for this. That maybe you would have some idea of what was coming."

"I've f-fallen behind on my st-studying, Princess," she choked out through force of habit. "S-sorry."

"It's quite alright, Twilight. Everything will be okay," Celestia soothed. "Just...step...back."

There was a gentle push. Twilight moved one of her hindlegs, involuntarily, just to keep her balance. She felt a patch of floor sink beneath her hoof. And then there was a squeal of gears and springs, a rush of air, and-

"AAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!"

Metal spikes had closed around her leg with all the speed and strength of a dragon's jaws. They were sunk deep into the meat, rending muscle and splintering bone, and the pain, dear Celestia the pain she couldn't think it was a red cloud in front of her vision she was throwing up oh goddess OH GODDESS MAKE IT STOP-

"I think you understand now," Celestia whispered over Twilight's half-insane screams. "I'll heal you. If you do well on your first assignment."

Her forelegs gave out, and she collapsed to the ground, sobbing and retching and unable to even form coherent thoughts. The weakened knee joint of her wounded leg bent too far and snapped, cap disintegrating and tendons popping like rubber bands, but she barely felt it. There were iron fangs sunk into the very center of her leg, and the muscles and tendons that they were embedded in knotted and spasmed around the edges. Twilight could barely see through agony so white-hot it filled every cell in her body, took up every part of who she was.

"Get up," somepony that sounded like Celestia snapped.

Golden magic, tinged with red, encircled her torso. Without warning, she was jerked viciously upwards. She screamed, so loudly that it hurt, but it was such a small hurt against her leg. The spikes tore down, ripping muscle like tissue paper and eventually forcing bone fragments out through the soft bottom of her hoof. She felt her skin tearing jaggedly, like construction paper in the hooves of an unruly foal. She felt the iron jaws close almost completely above her hoof, where the tissue was so thin and soft, but the force dragging her upwards didn't hesitate for even a moment.

The hard part of her hoof was ripped right off with the sound of wet meat tearing, and blood gouted everywhere. It fell through the cold metal fangs and clattered to the floor amid other scraps of flesh from Twilight's ruined leg. She couldn't do anything but scream. And when she felt something pop in her throat and only a thin, thready whistling, accompanied by an ache that brought tears to her eyes, was produced, she couldn't even do that.

The force holding her up vanished. She fell hard, snapping off some of the bone shards protruding from the bottom of what used to be her leg. Blackness flickered around the edges of her vision, but of course, she didn't fall unconscious. That would have been too easy.

"Get up, Twilight."

She rose. She didn't know how, but did. She stood on three hooves, a waterfall of blood gushing from the lump of shredded meat that had once been attached to the fourth.

Please let me die, Twilight thought numbly. But somehow, in the back of her mind, she knew that that wouldn't happen. Celestia wouldn't allow it.

"Follow me."

She had no choice.

"I think you're really going to like this..."

First of all, let me apologize for how long this took...seriously, it should not have taken this long. But a big thank-you to everyone who read, everyone who reviewed, and everyone who favorited! You can't imagine how much that means to me, and I really hope you'll keep telling me what you think. I'll try to be a little better about posting chapters regularly. Say-once a week, on Saturday? How does that sound?