Hoof and Claw Versus the World

by Chythar


Act 2, Chapter 11 - The Whole Truth

Nightmare Moon and I finally had our first success in our campaign to take over the world. We just hoped that we could repeat it.


The next evening, I opened my eyes to a beautiful kaleidoscope of colors streaming across our bedroom wall. A glance towards the source revealed the setting sun streaming through a small stained glass pane inset into the top of the main window. I wondered to myself why I hadn't noticed that detail the night before. Deciding it was much too early to be awake, I snuggled up against the still-snoozing mare and closed my eyes.

And was immediately awakened by the soft and tender nuzzling of the Mare in the Moon herself. I opened my eyes to see her soft. teal eyes gazing into my very soul. She gave me a soft smile, then spoke softly to me.

"Time to wake up, sleepy kitty. We have a world to conquer."

Looking past the ebony mare, I saw that the room beyond her was now mostly dark so the sun had clearly set. I sighed internally and nodded to my Queen, although I would have been happy to sleep for a few more hours. Reluctantly, I crawled out of bed.

While we donned our armor, the Night Mare and I briefly discussed our plans for the evening. There really wasn't much to discuss. We were going to pick up an iPad at the Morongo Basin station, and use it to find the off-shift officers there. When we found them, we would enslave them. Essentially, a repeat of the previous night.

Nightmare Moon deemed the night to be dark enough, so we set off into the night sky. We made our way to our Morongo Basin station, which was about an hours' flight away. Our long and uneventful flight ended as we landed in the parking lot in front of the Morongo Basin station. Our minds were untroubled as we walked in the front door and greeted the officer manning the front desk.

"Could you summon Officer Eskridge, please?"

"Yes, Master. She is already on her way."

I counted about seventeen seconds before the double doors to the left of the reception desk opened and Officer Eskridge walked through. She was carrying what appeared to be an iPad in her right hand.

"Good evening, Mistress and Master. All the officers on duty tonight have shadow parasites and they are completely under your control."

She then handed me the iPad in her hand. I turned the device on, and a quick browse through Google Maps showed me that Eskridge had done her job well. Though I noticed some extra information that she had added.

"I see you've used different pin colors. What do they stand for?"

"The blue pins represent the officers that are on the day shift tomorrow, purple pins represent officers on the swing shift tomorrow, and yellow represents officers that have the day off tomorrow. The day shift should be asleep now, so you may want to start with them."

That's helpful.

"Overachiever."

"Well duh, Master."

"Shall we depart, my Captain? I am eager to start our evening's work."

"Sure, let's go."

The Moon Mare and I turned without another word. We exited the station via the front door then took to the skies to pursue the night's prey. As a precaution, we took Officer Eskridge's advice and visited the day shift first. The previous night's hunt was still fresh in my mind, thus that night's hunt went over easy. As expected, we met no resistance. If Nightmare Moon had any problems with anyone awake and/or hostile, she did not mention it to me.

Near daybreak, we returned to the Morongo Basin station to drop off the iPad. After we walked in the front door, we received a warm greeting from the officer behind the front desk. After asking for Officer Eskridge again, we were informed that she was no longer on duty as her shift had ended.

Too bad, I wanted to say goodbye to her.

I handed the iPad over to the officer behind the desk, then the Mistress of the Night and I left the building. With a strong flap of our wings, we took to the air and flew towards our home in the abandoned subdivision.

The next evening, we flew to the Central station and spoke with the Duty Officer to find out where the nearest sheriff's station was.


We quickly fell into a reliable and mostly predictable pattern. Working our way westward towards the beach, sheriff stations gave way to Los Angeles police stations. While our overall plan did not change, we had refined it a bit. From the previous station, we got the address of an officer from the new station that worked the night shift. The Mare in the Moon and I would enslave that officer before his or her shift started, then that evening get him or her to let us in to the station house undetected.

Now that we were inside the station, we quietly enslaved the officers on-duty that night. Then we got an iPad full of addresses and enslaved the officers not on duty while they slept. Following this process, enslaving all officers at any particular station took two days if our timing was good - three days otherwise.

As the days and weeks went on, we found our new targets were getting farther and farther from our current home. We then enlisted enslaved officers to help us find a new home nearby. Night by night, police station by police station, more and more of the Southland's local enforcement fell under Nightmare Moon's control.

I should have known things were going WAY too smooth. I was a black cat now, I should have known that I was unlucky.

As with the many before it, I chose a destination from the iPad in my hands. Upon landing, the Night Incarnate entered the officer's home by slipping through an open window while in her mist form. I leaned up against a wall and waited for the dark mare to complete her task.

Yet this time, the plan was changed.

I was startled by the click of a door lock and heard the door to the officer's apartment swish open on its hinges. I leapt to my feet and prepared for a fight, fearing that the officer within had somehow subdued my Queen. To my surprise and relief, it was not a human but Nightmare Moon herself who exited the doorway. Catching my eye, she beckoned me inwards with a wave of her horn.

Curious.

Once I had passed through the entranceway, the magic of the Moon Mistress quietly swung the door shut and locked it with a click. The Night Incarnate spoke quietly as soon as I crossed the threshold into the home.

"You may speak freely, Captain. I have already subverted the officer and placed the rest of his family in a deep sleep."

I did wonder why she invited me inside, but I figured she would tell me when she was ready. In the meantime, I decided to take a look around the apartment. The layout of the home did seem somewhat familiar, but I could not place where. There was no separate entranceway to the home, so the door opened directly into the back corner of what appeared to be the living room. Said room stretched out to my right, and a passageway on the other side of the room presumably led to the bedrooms and the bathroom. An opening in the living room wall just to my left revealed a table, a linoleum floor and some appliances - clearly the kitchen.

Directly in front of me, against the back wall of the living room were some bookcases filled with books and knickknacks. Off to my right was a fairly expansive living room, with a dark blue sectional couch, a brown leather easy chair, and a flat-screen TV leaning up against the far right wall. What looked to be kids' toys were strewn across the carpet in front of the TV. The living room walls themselves were painted some shade of off-white, and upon them hung a few framed pictures of people I didn't recognize. The carpet itself was a different shade of off-white, but appeared to be poorly taken care of. Or perhaps the discolored, trampled carpet was simply worn from age.

"Okay, what's up? Is something wrong?"

"I am not sure yet, Captain. There is something I wish to show thee."

The ebony mare walked past me into the living room. I followed behind her and tried to find something that was unusual or out of place. I saw nothing of interest on or around the couches as we walked past them, and the TV was off. But as soon as I saw the toys in front of the TV, a chill ran down my spine. At our feet and hooves were a number of My Little Pony toys, along with one of the castle playsets. Nightmare Moon used her magic to pick up two of those toys, the talking Celestia and the talking Nightmare Moon figures, and waved them in front of my face.

"Perhaps you can explain these to me?"

Shit. This is NOT GOOD.

"You need not speak, for your expression has told me enough. It is clear that you recognize these objects for what they are and whom they represent. I am also reminded of the fact that thou wert aware of my name before I spoke it to thee. I dismissed such knowledge as an aberration, but it is clear to me now that you have been withholding knowledge. I suggest that thou speakest up now, ere I become truly angry."

"I...I'm not really sure where to begin."

"As with all things Captain, start at the beginning. I hope for thy sake, thou has not been withholding knowledge that would have assisted us in battle."

"No, my Queen. Knowledge of these toys wouldn't have helped or hurt us in any way. If I thought that they might have, I would have told you immediately."

"You have been negligent, Captain. It is clear that this world is aware of Equestria, and of who I am. My sister could be on her way to confront me as we speak!"

Oh, is that what she's worried about? Then telling her should be easier than I thought.

"If that's what's got you upset, then you have nothing to worry about."

"I vehemently disagree."

I held up my hands in front of me, in hopes the gesture would calm her fury.

"Okay, okay. Let me explain. This world is aware of Equestria, but only as a child's fairy tale. Tales of unicorns and magic are considered to be the playthings of young children. Uh, I mean young foals. Most adults consider such stories to be a waste of time, not worthy of an adult's attention."

"Not worthy? How can the rich history of Equestria be relegated to mere foal's tales?"

"On this world, the only intelligent species are primates. We call ourselves 'humans', and no other species or creature on this world can speak or reason like we do. And you yourself know that there is no magic on this world. So, tales of magical talking ponies are considered to be impossible and thus left to the imaginations of young foals.

"Man, a lot of folks are going to be really surprised when you conquer them all."

The dark mare's earlier fury seemed to be quelled by her confusion.

"I...I am finding this knowledge to be troubling, at best."

"And that's why I didn't tell you anything about it. I was trying to find a way to tell you so it made a little bit of sense."

"I begin to understand your motives, Captain. Now, if these tales are considered to be the folly of foals how did you become aware of them?"

Explaining television and cartoons would probably confuse her too much. I think I'll try passing the show off as a series of books, like the Daring Do novels.

"Well, most stories for foals are written poorly. Many feel that foals are not smart enough to appreciate a good story, so they get lazy and write something simple. But the stories about Equestria were written quite well, in hopes that both foals and their parents would enjoy them. Word got around, and a small group of adults found that they also enjoyed these stories. And yes, I am one of them. I loved every story I read about Equestria, and often wished that the stories were real. If anyone had known that Equestria was real and not just a story, I would have heard about it."

"How could this have happened? How is it that there are stories about Equestria, yet none know that it truly exists?"

"I don't know, my Queen. Before I met you, I thought you and your sister were just figments of someone's imagination. Beautiful figments at that, but still figments."

A blush stole across her muzzle as my off-handed compliment struck home.

"Flatterer."

"Have you ever known me to be anything else?"

I found myself engulfed in feathers and pressed to Nightmare Moon's chest in a warm hug. She turned and nuzzled me as our armor clanked and squealed slightly at the metal-on-metal contact. After giving me a brief squeeze with her wing, she released me to stand by her side once again.

"Never change, my Captain."

"Is that an order, my Queen?"

A warm smile spread over her muzzle.

"Aye."

Opting for a dramatic answer, I formally bowed to her.

"I shall do my best."

Just as I rose from my bow, something smacked me hard on my right shoulder and nearly knocked me over. The force of the blow made me stagger a couple of steps to my left before I could regain my balance. Looking up, the grin on the Mare in the Moon's muzzle told me she was highly amused at my antics. But she hit me with her wing, so she was still mad at me.

"Ahem. Anyway, back to our discussion. I don't know how this world knows about Equestria, but a book I read a while ago had an idea that I really like. The writer called the idea 'World as Myth', and it goes something like this. Sometimes when a writer thinks of a story, he or she sees something from another world or universe instead. Maybe they only see characters, maybe they see whole stories or battles. But to them, what they see is not real but merely ideas from their imagination. So they write what they see in their mind. I can only guess that is what happened in our world, someone 'saw' Equestria and wrote a bunch of stories about it."

Setting the Celestia toy down upon the carpet, the Mare in the Moon brought her namesake toy closer for inspection. Slowly rotating the large Nightmare Moon toy in her magic, the real-life mare stared at the toy as if to discern some deep seated secrets within.

"I suppose."

She pressed the button set into the cutie mark of the toy, and the toy spit out one of its catch phrases.

"My star barrettes are fabulous!"

In disgust, the Moon Mare dropped the toy onto the carpet. Then gently kicked it over with an armored hoof for good measure.

"Yeah, no one knows why such a stupid phrase was put in there. It's just not...you. Maybe the toy maker thought foals would be too scared of the real you."

"Aye, foals should be afraid of me! Yet, this...THING makes little sense."

"Well, the toy maker wants to sell toys. And it's usually difficult to sell scary toys to foals."

Not waiting for the mare to reply, I decided it was time to change the subject.

"Anyway. Back to the stories about Equestria. I can tell you that the stories are probably going to be vastly different than what really happened. The first story is centered around your return to Equestria, and your eventual defeat by the Elements of Harmony. The Elements turned you back into Princess Luna."

At the mention of her former name, the Night Incarnate visibly flinched. Hanging her head low, so low her nose was nearly in the carpet, she spoke softly to no one in particular.

"So that is how it was supposed to end."

The mare clearly needed some comfort, so I stepped over to her side and placed a hand on her withers.

"How did you escape?"

Her head still low to the ground, Nightmare Moon spoke more to the floor than to me.

"My sister's protege' had just discovered the sixth element, the Element of Magic. I knew then that the battle was lost. I tried to teleport away, or change into mist and drift away in the wind, but I could not. My magic was being blocked somehow, possibly by the Elements themselves. As the bearers summoned the Rainbow of Light to punish me, I...panicked. Before I could do more than twitch however, the Rainbow had already surrounded me and threatened to consume me whole.

"Just then, the connection to my Moon was restored. I tried to teleport there, to escape my fate. Yet something went wrong. The teleport began just as the Rainbow of Light engulfed me. The magic of the Elements seared me, twisted me...and CHANGED me in some way. Their magicks left me screaming into the void just as I was pulled away to safety. Some time later I awoke, seemingly safe upon my beloved Moon. I rose to gaze upon Equestria below, but it was not Equestria that I saw. My spell had been changed somehow. It successfully brought me to A moon, but not MY moon.

"Banished yet again. Yet I was not bound to this moon, I found I could leave at any time. And leave I did."

Nightmare Moon slowly brought her muzzle up off of the floor as she continued her tale.

"Even if this was not Equestria, was I not the Mare in the Moon? Without Celestia on this world, who would stop me from conquering the planet below?

"NOPONY."

A stomp of her hoof accentuated her determination.

"Yet upon entering this world, I found it populated not by ponies but primates. No magic but strange chariots that pull themselves. I needed a guide to this world, and an army to fight it.

"You know the rest."

We both let the silence stretch on for a short while. When it was clear that the Night Incarnate had nothing more to say, I spoke up.

"Was there anything else here we need to do here, my Queen?"

"Nay, our task is done here. And you have given me much to think about."

The rest of the evening was uneventful. We were able to visit and subvert the rest of the officers on our list without any further My Little Pony-related incidents. I did have one more close call a few weeks later, though. This home had different My Little Pony toys than we had seen before. This young fan had several of the toy-only princesses, like 'Princess Gold Lily' and 'Princess Sterling', toys that had the brony community up in arms in late 2014.

I explained to the Night Incarnate, as the bronies were also well aware of, that many of the toy ponies did not correspond to the stories from Equestria. Someone decided that 'princess toys sell better', so several more princesses were created so more toys could be sold. The ebony mare seemed to accept this explanation, and moved on without comment.

I let out a short breath I had been holding. Nightmare Moon had said nothing about the Equestria Girls dolls also lying on the floor. Perhaps she did not recognize them, perhaps she decided they were irrelevant. Regardless, I was glad that I did not have to explain the presence of a 'Vice Principal Luna' doll hiding behind a castle playset.

Back to the evening where I had learned how Nightmare Moon had arrived on my world. As previously mentioned, the rest of the evening was uneventful. However, instead of our usual banter Nightmare Moon was quiet throughout the rest of the night. She barely spoke to me, merely going about our tasks as if on automatic. I guessed she really did have a lot to think about. Learning that she had by chance escaped the dissolution of her dark self would shake anyone. Once the last officer dreaming the 'savior' dream fully accepted her shadow parasite, we took flight back to our current home.

We landed on our bedroom balcony not long before the sun threatened to poke its nose over the horizon. Doffing our armor, as we did every night, the Moon Mistress and I climbed into our shared bed. And as we also did every night, we moved in close to each other to snuggle for the night. I was pressed up against her, facing her barrel with the Night Mare's forelegs wrapped around my shoulders.

While this position was incredibly comfortable, and the night's work dull yet tiring, I found that I could not sleep. Something was bothering me, a question in my mind I just had to ask the dark mare. I sighed internally and decided I had to talk to her to get it over with. I just hoped the question wouldn't piss her off.

"My Queen?"

"Hmmm?"

"May I ask you a question? Though I'm not sure how to ask it, I don't want to upset you."

"Hmm.

"Does this have to do with our discussion earlier at the Guard's home?"

Guard? Ah, yes - the policeman.

"Yes, my Queen."

Shifting slightly in the bed, the mare pulled in a deep breath and let out a long sigh.

"You may ask."

"Alright. Um, so you were once Princess Luna. You became Nightmare Moon, and the Elements were supposed to turn you back into Princess Luna. So that has me wondering, what exactly ARE you? Did you capture Princess Luna, take her form, possess her body? I mean, I guess I don't really care that much. You are who you are, and I like who you are."

I nuzzled her chest softly and placed a kiss on that same spot. I hoped she would be willing to tell me what I wanted to know.

The Mare in the Moon did not respond right away. She rested her muzzle atop my head while she took a few moments to collect her thoughts. I could feel her muscles tense a bit, like she was bracing herself for her response. Or was she worried how I would react to what she had to say? Regardless, I did eventually get the answer I sought.

"I am Princess Luna."

Pushing me away slightly so she could look me in the eyes, my Dark Queen's slitted aqua orbs glistened as they met my own.

"Nightmare Moon is not a spirit, demon or magical construct that has possessed me. It is merely a name I chose for myself, nothing more. I wished to change my life, cast aside the old and start anew. Thus, I needed a new name."

Pleased with her answer, I leaned up to kiss her softly.

"Shame, Luna is a very pretty name."

Returning my tender buss on my lips, the Night Mare smiled warmly.

"Perhaps, but I did not think so when I summoned the dark magicks that changed my form. I was so angry at my sister, I wanted to change everything about me: my coat, my eyes, my name. The only part of me I left unshaped was my cutie mark, though I did change its color.

"Perhaps I was too hasty when I tossed my old life away. Do you truly find my old name so beautiful?"

I nuzzled her briefly.

"I do."

"Then you may call me 'Luna' when we are alone like this, when we remove our armor and grow comfortable with each other. But only then."

Princess Luna looked up and around the room. I did the same, and saw the glow of the morning sunlight reflecting around the room.

"It appears that the sun is rising, it is time for us to rest. No more questions for now."

The former Princess of Equestria used her magic to close the window drapes to once again plunge the room into darkness.

I snuggled in just that tiny bit closer, then pressed my muzzle up against her warm hide and closed my eyes.

"Good night, Luna."

I then fell quickly and deeply into slumber.


Luna watched her Captain sleep for several moments before tenderly resting her head upon his. Her forelegs pulled him just a bit closer while he slumbered, then whispered four tender words into his ear.

"Good night....my love."