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// Just as Calculated, Just as Planned 
// Story: So Where Was Princess Luna? 
// by Bitt_Player 
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	Princess Luna stood waiting at the edge of the forest. It had taken her hours to fly there, but she knew the one she was waiting for would take much less time to cover the distance between there and Canterlot. She had told her guards to remain in Canterlot -the wedding was likely to be over before Luna's work was done, and she didn't want them to miss it. Big public spectacles weren't at all Luna's thing, and she tended to make a mess of things when she tried to step into the spotlight. Luna was still getting letters from Ponyville looking for reassurance that Nightmare Night would still be observed next year.
Luna looked critically at the large 'X' she'd carved into the trunk of a nearby tree. She mentally went over her calculations again, more out of boredom than anything else. She had worked out every possible result of an attack on Canterlot, and -given her niece's odd behavior and Twilight Sparkle's arrival in the city, had determined one outcome that had a 99.9% chance of occurring. All that was left was for Shining Armor and Princess Cadance to do their part. This would happen very soon, Luna felt. Cadance was always so punctual.
Cadance was a very nice relative to have, in Luna's opinion. She brought a measure of sweetness to the royal family, and Luna had been very happy to meet her upon her return to Equestria. As for Shining Armor, Luna found him an altogether respectable stallion, and a much more satisfactory nephew than that pretentious Bluebood idiot. Had the royal family ever produced such a complete egotist as Blueblood? Luna reflected that her own behavior as Nightmare Moon had been truly awful, but Blueblood definitely held second place for most unacceptable royal, and she wasn't Nightmare Moon any more.
The night princess's musings were interrupted by a loud explosion from the direction of Canterlot Castle. Luna looked towards the castle and was pleased to see a pink sphere of magical power rapidly growing to cover the city. Just as calculated. Just as planned. A strong wind nearly blew Luna off her hooves as the pressure wave from the explosion reached her, but still Luna smiled. 
Seconds later, a horrible creature, like a combination of a princess pony, an insect, and Swiss cheese, slammed into the marked tree, her stomach striking squarely on the 'X', and fell to the ground. Miraculously, the tree suffered no harm. Just as planned.
Luna clicked her tongue, noting that she had miscalculated. The 'X' had been to mark where holey bug-pony's chin would hit the three. She had been thrown with slightly more force than Luna had anticipated. Still, this meant that the love between Cadance and Shining Armor was even stronger than estimated, and that was a miscalculation Luna was willing to live with. Her smile grew wider as she watched the bug-pony struggle to stand up.
"Chrysalis, Queen of the Changelings!" Luna greeted her cheerfully, "how delightful to meet you in your true form. We are the Royal Princess Luna of Equestria, although we suppose you found that out while you were pretending to be our dear niece". Luna was getting used to speaking Modern Equestrian, but she still threw in the royal plural when she wanted to be formal. Or annoying. This was a time for the latter.
"Glurg," Chrysalis managed, still trying to remember how to put her hooves under her.
"Well said," Luna replied, "so, Queen Chrysalis -can we call you Chrys? So, Chrys, it looks like you were defeated by the power of love and your minions scattered across the land. Does that sound about right?"
"Brgle," Chrysalis explained, finally getting her hole-filled hooves under her body and turning to the suddenly very difficult task of making her legs lift her. Just as calculated.
"We thought as much," the pony princess continued to smile at the helpless changeling monarch, "you know, it wasn't very polite of you. That whole business of pretending to be dear Mi Amore Cadenza and plotting that invasion of Equestria," Luna turned her smile into a wide, palsied grin, knowing it would unnerve Chrysalis, "really, not at all a classy thing to do".
Chrysalis managed to stand, staggering slightly. "So do... do somethin'... about it," the dazed queen muttered defiantly. She nearly keeled over, but managed to use her wings to stay upright, "plan's ruined. Changelings scattered. Made a fool out of me. Can't do worse than what's already happened". Chrysalis looked unsteadily, but defiantly, into Luna's eyes. Just as planned.
"You should know, we are going to take that as a challenge," Luna said primly. Her horn began to glow, and she added "now hold still, we're in for a wild ride. Feel free to scream". Luna's shadow rapidly began to spread, soon engulfing both royals, who vanished suddenly.
Chrysalis, to her credit, did not scream. Luna, however, suspected that this might be because she was still disoriented. Colliding with a tree at half the speed of sound tended to leave a pony a bit out of sorts for a while, as Luna knew from first-hoof experience. Changelings evidently reacted similarly. Luna saw that Chrysalis had her eyes tightly closed, and her smile grew wider. She knew she shouldn't be enjoying this, but blast it all, it was fun. Eventually, the queen opened her eyes and looked around.
"Where... where have you taken me?!" Chrysalis demanded, staring at the empty, lifeless landscape.
"Welcome, Chrysalis, Queen of Changelings," Luna said loudly and with great formality, "welcome to the moon!"
Chrysalis sat down heavily, mouth hanging open. "You... you're joking..."
"No, really, Chrys, it's the moon," Luna's adamant cheeriness was, she knew, grating every nerve the queen had, "here we spent one thousand years imprisoned as Nightmare Moon. Follow us".
Queen Chrysalis, seeing no other alternative, followed Luna across the barren surface of the moon, staring all around her for any sign of life, or even differently-colored rocks. After walking for hours, the changeling staggering occasionally, Luna finally stopped. Chrysalis stared. In front of the pair was a huge castle, which appeared to have been built entirely out of uncut rocks.
"What... what is this?" Chrysalis asked, stunned. The long walk had clearly gotten her accustomed to the emptiness of the moon's surface. Just as planned.
"This, dear queen, is what a pony princess can accomplish with a thousand years of spare time and nothing to do but move moon rocks around". Luna explained chipperly. Before Chrysalis could respond, Luna raised a forehoof and struck the ground. Her stomp released a pulse of magic through the ground, which reached the castle in less than a second and began a sort of localized quake, shaking the moon's surface all around them. As Luna and Chrysalis watched, the entire castle crumbled to dust above the quaking ground.
"We look forward," Luna continued as if nothing had happened, "to seeing what a changeling queen can manage," Luna put a foreleg across Chrysalis' shoulders and waved her other hoof towards the empty expanse, "this whole moon is yours now. See you in a millennium!" As the changeling stared at her in mute horror, Luna vanished in a flash of blue light.
Luna flew quickly through the twilit sky towards the royal gardens, where she could see the guests forming for the reception. She knew that Celestia, Cadance, and Shining Armor had between them managed to talk Twilight Sparkle into singing at the reception. That the unicorn's special talent was magic didn't stop her from having a golden voice, but convincing her to actually use it was always a challenge. To her delight, Luna landed just moments before it was time to start the music.
"Hello, everypony. Did I miss anything?" Luna asked jokingly. Celestia, the only pony who was in on the joke, gave her a knowing grin as Pinkie Pie and Vinyl Scratch started the sound system.
Just as calculated. Just as planned.