Nightmare Moon over the Republic

by dramatic_spoon

The Future Soon

Ponyville

In a flash of light, Discord and the Element bearers appeared in the town square.

“And here we are, home sweet home.” Discord smiled. “Now that that’s over with we need to plan a celebration of some sort, in honor of you all. I mean it’s not every day that we get a brand new Elements of Har-”

“Um...Discord, sir?” Big Macintosh cautiously interrupted, “Is it really a good idea ta let Nightmare Moon go like that? I mean...”

“Luna,” Discord abruptly cut the stallion off, “That is not Nightmare Moon anymore.”
The draconequus sighed, “I know Luna fairly well, and I have confidence in what she will do.”

“But still, Discord sir, what if she…”

“Princess Luna isn’t the same person as Nightmare Moon, is she?” Lemon Hearts interrupted Big Macintosh, “The darkness in her heart has been purged, and that is what made her Nightmare Moon, isn’t it?”

“Yes.” Discord bluntly responded, “It is.”

“But still, is it not very irresponsible-”

“Or outright stupid,” Rarity butted in.

“- To let her wander freely, when we know that the Kingdom will welcome her return?” Lemon Hearts finished her question before giving Rarity a dirty look.

“I know Luna well. Even in the middle of the war, she still cared for the wellbeing of each and every pony in her kingdom. She…” Discord shook his head, chasing his thought away, “Well, we shall see. I must head back to Canterlot to take control of the situation.”

Discord vanished in a flash of light, leaving the stunned elements behind.

“What did he mean by that?” Dizzy inquired.

“…I don’t know.” Lemon Hearts shook her head, “Many of the books are rather vague about the exact personalities of the princess. All the biographies about them tend to be rather…bias, to say the least.”

“Well...”

“There they are!”

The group of ponies turned to look behind them. Roseluck lead Mayor Cheerilee and other ponies towards them.

“About time you showed up, Mac,” Roseluck grinned.

“Time Turner,” Mayor Cheerilee frowned, “You have a lot to explain….”

“Well….” Time Turner smiled awkwardly, “Where do I begin…”

A Week Later

The Mayor’s office

Time Turner shuffled some papers and looked over them.

“…Mayor Cheerilee, why exactly is there a…” Time Turner squinted, “Air Pirate attack budget?”

“A precaution.” The mayor responded, not looking up from her paperwork.

“But there have never been any reports about any pirates coming this close to Ponyville,” Time Turner frowned, “and why is there a…Rampaging farm machinery budget?” The stallion scratched his head.

“Applejack insisted on making one, so I humored her,” Cheerilee vacantly waved the thought away, “There’s no money in it.”

“Actually, it appears to have twenty bits in it,” Time Turner flipped the page, “from…an anonymous source.”

“Applejack.” Cheerilee rolled her eyes, “Take it out of that fund, and put it in the Air Pirate fund.”

“…Alright.” Time Turner glanced up at the clock, “Mayor Cheerilee, I will need to take my lunch break now, I need to meet with someone.”

“Right, right. Go on.” The earth mare motioned for Time Turner to go away. The stallion placed his paper work down, and trotted out of the office.

“….If he’s confused about the Air Pirate budget, I hope he doesn’t find the ‘Defense against an army coup budget’.” The mayor grumbled.

---

Time Turner trotted down the street, whistling to himself.

“Well, everything considered, this is much more fun than sitting around in Canterlot.”

“Hi Mr. Time Turner!”

The stallion looked behind him to see Grr-Ramph walking down the street, pulling a cart loaded with fruits and vegetables behind him, and Applebloom perched on his shoulder.

“Oh, Hello there Applebloom, Grr-Ramph.” The stallion greeted them.

“Greetings…Time Pony.” Grr-Ramph waved back.

“Close enough,” Time Turner shrugged.

“Purple Laver said ta call’m Gary,” Applebloom corrected the stallion.

“…Purple Laver speaks troll?”

“I think he thinks he does.” Appleblooms shrugged, “But he likes it, right Gary?”

The troll nodded in agreement, smiling.

“Anyway, we gotta get all of this ta the restaurant before it’s too late, Bye Mr. Turner!”

Applebloom and Gary waved goodbye and continued down the road.

“Well, it’s nice to see that he’s doing so well.” Time Turner chuckled to himself.

He continued down the street, passing other ponies.

“Look out!”

Time Turner leapt to the side, barely dodging an out of control Scootaloo. As Time Turner glanced up, he noticed the pegasus filly had been taped down to her scooter with a very crude motor propelling her along. Sweetie Belle and Dinky Doo passed by, chasing after her.

“Sorry Mister Time Turner!” Dinky called out as she ran past.

“…I don’t even want to know.” The stallion got back to his feet. A tall cream-colored unicorn mare with a streaked blue mane and three deco stars as her cutie mark skidded to a stop.

“Mr. Turner, did you see…”

“That way.” Time Turner pointed in the direction that Scootaloo and the others went.

“Thanks!” the mare thanked him before taking off.

“…Well that was interesting.”

Time Turner continued along his way before stopping at the Ponyville Café. The Maître d’ looked up at him and smiled.

“Ah, they were waiting for you.”

“Yes, well… work.” Time Turner shrugged.

“Right this way.”

The Maître d’ led Time Turner through the restaurant and towards a table. Sitting around the table, Rarity, Big Macintosh, Dizzy Twister, Lemon Hearts, Thunderlane and Clagan continued to make small talk.

“Ahem,” the Maître d’ coughed politely, catching the others’ attention, “As the last of your party arrived, I will return shortly to take your orders. Would anypony like a drink?”

“Water’s fine for me.” Big Macintosh responded, Rarity and Thunderlane nodded in agreement.

“Red wine,” Clagan stopped to ponder, “No, it’s too early for that, ginger ale is suitable.”

“Tea is fine,” Lemon Hearts responded.

“Tea for me too,” Time Turner added, as he took a seat next to Big Macintosh.

“Coffee, and lots of it,” Dizzy sighed as the Maitre d trotted off, “I really need that.”

“You could always take a break, Dizzy.” Big Macintosh chided her, “Cup Cake ain’t gonna tell ya ‘no’, is she?”

“I’m talking about Scootaloo and Dinky.”

“Erm…I hate to bring this up, but I just saw them on the way here.”

“What?” Dizzy perked up, “I left them with Alley Way.”

“Scootaloo was tied to her scooter with some sort of motor on it,” Time Turner meekly responded, “Dinky and Sweetie Belle were chasing after them, and Alley was chasing after them.”

“…So that’s where that motor went.” Rarity grumbled as Dizzy groaned and slumped onto the table.

“Hmm,” Clagan chuckled, “You have made some quite interesting friends, Turner.”

“‘Interesting is simply another way of saying ‘One of a Kind’,” Lemon Hearts quoted.

“‘I don’t want to be interesting, I want to be good’.” Clagan countered.

“‘Whatever you are, be a good one’.” Lemon Hearts smoothly responded as a waiter returned with their drinks, “Thank you.”

“…” Clagan firmly stared at Lemon Hearts as she took a sip of her tea. After several more tense seconds, he broke out into a warm smile, “Very good. It’s been a while since I met somepony with such a vast knowledge of quotes.”

“It is part of my job,” Lemon Hearts returned his smile.

“Ready to order?” the waiter asked.

“Apple and Rhubarb pie.” Big Macintosh stated.

“Daisy and Sunflower sandwich.” Rarity replied as she took a sip of her water.

“Rose petal sandwich with hay fries.” Time Turner beamed.

“Onion and spinach crepes, please.” Dizzy pushed her cup towards the waiter, “Also can I get a refill?”

“Oh, uh, just the Apple and hazelnut pudding,” Thunderlane stated as the waiter picked up Dizzy’s cup.

“Carrot and goat cheese quiche, please,” Lemon Hearts added.

“What is your special, young stallion?” Clagan inquired.

“Well…I would probably suggest the zap apple turnovers, sir,” the waiter scratched behind his leg, “Its zap apples, a little honey, cinnamon, brown sugar…”

“Stop right there, I will take that.”

“Right.” The waiter trotted off.

“Well then, Turner, how do you like your job?” Clagan turned his attention to his son.

“It’s…interesting. The financial situation is very…odd, and it seems Mayor Cheerilee has me spending most of my time cleaning up the budgets and other problems left behind by the last mayor.”

“…Yeah, electing Sunny Rays was a mistake on our part,” Dizzy sighed.

“That is good to know.” Clagan nodded, “As for our situation, since I have no doubt that you will ask, it is…”

“Not ideal, I would assume.” Dizzy Twister finished, as the waiter returned with her cup of coffee, “Thank you.”

“Put politely, yes,” Clagan sighed, “While the Kingdom still hasn’t acted, we still have our military on guard, and there are all the reports,” Clagan groaned.

“It seems everypony and his mother has seen Luna flying around, we’re still trying to sort out which ones are legitimate sightings and which are the products of overactive imaginations.”

“…And Discord?”

“Sulking. Whatever he expected to happen hasn’t happened yet,” Clagan shook his head, “While I do trust Discord…there are limits to my patience.”

The waiter returned, and quickly placed their food down.

“...Oh, right, before we start, can I ask you something, Lemon Hearts?” Time Turner inquired.

“Yes?”

“You kept saying that you would tell us why you knew that reanimation spell and spoke Trollish after everything was over, so…” Time Turner trailed off, “so why?”

“…are you familiar with Conscious River?”

“The author of the ‘Doc Daring: Mare of Bronze’ novels?” Time Turner blinked in confusion, “Yes, I am. My little brother is a fan of them.”

“So are Scootaloo and Dinky.” Dizzy took another sip of her coffee

“Applebloom an’ Carrot like ‘em.”

“I’ve read a few myself,” Rarity admitted.

“So did I,” Thunderlane added, “But what’s that have to do with it?”

“…Who do you think she is?” Lemon Hearts chuckled.

“…Wait, you’re Conscious River?” Time Turner stared at Lemon Hearts, his mouth hanging open.

“Indeed.” Lemon Hearts replied as she levitated a forkful of quiche to her mouth.

Dizzy spewed her coffee onto Big Macintosh and Rarity in shock, as Thunderlane and Time Turner stared at her.

“Interesting ponies, indeed.” Clagan chuckled.

Comments

[dramatic_spoon]

And with that we are done.

I'll make a blog entry to answer Questions and discuss more about this latter.

Just post the questions here, and we'll see what comes up.

[Taldaer]

I really enjoyed this retelling. It was different enough to make it feel fresh, but it also had enough of the old left in it to make it feel familiar. Too bad it didn't seem to get the exposure it deserved.

[dramatic_spoon]

2706739

I think it may be because it is a very radical departure from other AUs.

The Lunaverse, Flipside, Rainbooms and Royalty, The Manehattanverse and even that Cadanceverse keep the same basic structure and background.

This?
Discord is heroic, and the government is a Republic of all things.
Probably turned some people off.

[Themaskedferret]

Cute stuff, hope to see more of these guys.

[Not so New Brony]

Well it's definitely an interesting prequel though I was thrown off by the alicorn abomination in Matters of Rules. I saw parts(pun sort of intended) of the remaining mane 6 appeared in it's ...er construction led me to believe they're gone. That was a red herring I followed until I read your journal. I forgot how certain ponies are similar to each other.

Aside from Luna's culture shock as well as Dinky's parentage. Will the other background ponies like Science Pirate Lyra and Admiral Bon Bon have their backstory explored in future stories ?

[dramatic_spoon]

2745187

The Faux Alicorn was intended to be Vinyl/Raindrops/Berry with hints of Braeburn and other background ponies.
Since Berry Punch showed up, it became just random background ponies no one cared about.

As for other stories, I have ideas for a Hearts and Hooves day episode, and ones centered on other background ponies, so we'll see.

[dramatic_spoon]

3069617

Clagan is the one of the words that served as a basis for the word "Clock".
He's also influenced by the First Doctor.