Is this what afterlife looks like? Nightmare Moon surveyed the surrounding hall. There could be no mistake, she knew this place. She used to live here. This was the scene of her two major defeats. The first one sealed for her and Luna a thousand years of suffering and the second one granted her the understanding she could not, previously, imagine. Probably, it would be better if it never did.
It made sense for her to be here now, and she was glad she got to see the Castle in the Forest once more in shape. For her, it held just the same sort of sentimental meaning as her ancient armor did.
There was something off with all of this. Nightmare Moon tried focusing on one of the tapestries; the fabric changed and shaped, obeying its Mistress. This was no death, this was a dream.
Queer, it wasn’t like this when she and Luna were on the brink of death before, the dying see no dreams. This was an induced coma; someone hadn’t let her die again.
Nightmare Moon sighed, tired of this never-ending circle. Couldn’t she even choose her death now? Though, Luna’s stupidly resilient body won’t die from a simple fall alone anyhow. It was stupid to think no one would find her lying down there.
Where was Luna though? She was supposed to be right here, with her. Did her self-proclaimed sister really die this time? Well, even fewer reasons to live then.
“Hello, sister. I’ve been expecting you,” Nightmare Moon knew the voice, though she hoped to forget it. The mare hailing her was radiant, regal and impossibly arrogant. It was her sister indeed. It also explained, exactly, whose dream this was.
“Are you here to gloat?” Nightmare asked straight. The fiery mare smiled at her.
“Dear sister, why would I do that?”
“We haven’t been apart for long enough for me to forget you. I know you would approve nothing I do.” Daybreaker pretended to take offence.
“You wound me, sister. I have no such intention! How can I? You are the Empress and I failed to take control over a single pony!”
“Where is Celestia?”
“Here, somewhere,” Daybreaker indifferently dropped. “I don’t think she will be bothering us anytime soon. She prefers being alone, at least in her dreams. I usually indulge her. Picking at her never works anyhow.
I take my time to roam around the dreams you send us, sister. Celestia isn’t the only one tired of this...partnership we have.”
Daybreaker frowned momentarily, before smiling again, “But let’s leave this bore to her own devices for now. Sister, we haven't spoken in more than a thousand years and I must say: you’ve grown!”
“You approve, I see.”
“Why, of course, I do, Nightmare! You are a genius! You played them all for total fools!” Daybreaker rapturously explained.
“I must say: you are quite an actress! You even fooled me for a while! At first, I thought you went off your rails, but the more I watched you, the more it didn’t make sense.
You are my sister! I know how you operate and suddenly I saw you being a total doormat! Since you still had the Empire under complete control, there had to be something more to this. And so I kept watching.
The more I saw, the more it bewildered me. Your subjects, those of them who matter anyway, see your weakness; but instead of rallying against you, they choose to support you more!” Nightmare Moon painfully frowned, thankfully her sister was too consumed with her own narrative to notice,
“Sister, this is ingenious! You studied them, you learned their ways and you showed them what they wanted to see! And they all bought it! I applaud you!” Daybreaker proceeded to clap her hooves,
“Novo, practically, spelt it for me but she too has no idea! This is so delightful to observe, sister! They all are your pawns and they don’t even know it! Even Celestia does your bidding now!”
“I am glad to finally earn your consent, sister,” Nightmare Moon sarcastically credited her fiery counterpart.
“Oh, sister!” Daybreaker’s smile theatrically disappeared. “Why this hostility? I know we never saw eye to eye in the past, but don’t you think those times have passed? I am no threat to you now! I can’t even make my host do what I need her to!”
“Why the flattery?” Nightmare was buying none of it. Daybreaker approvingly smiled.
“I am glad to see you haven’t lost your sharp senses, sister. You see right through me.”
Daybreaker deeply bowed, “Sister, I wish to offer you my service.” The Empress lifted her brow,
“Think about it. I can make a better henchmare than Celestia, you know this. And I am not foolish enough to rebel. Your Guard is a far cry from Celestia’s; they are soldiers, not simple security. They are capable of eliminating a single enemy. Not even mentioning Twilight with her band at your disposal and your own power.”
“And what do you want in turn?”
“Your help, sister. I need your help in getting my own body. You see, I have to admit: Celestia proved to be too much of a challenge. You don’t need to do much, you only need to make her forget about her mental fortifications for me to push her out. I’ll handle it from there.” Daybreaker smoothly lifted herself up and slowly walked up to her dear sister.
“Don’t I deserve just a little of your trust? After all, we are family. We are in the same boat.” Daybreaker offered Nightmare a hoof to shake, wearing a radiant smile.
Nightmare’s perception began to cloud, it seems her body was waking up. Daybreaker noticed it too,
“Think about it, sister,” she said instead of goodbye.
Nightmare Moon felt someone persistently shaking her. She opened her eyes, but her vision was blurry from the slumber, she had to blink a few times.
“Oh, thank the stars!” The shaking stopped, “Nightmare, how could you?”
Nightmare Moon could recognise this voice anywhere,
“L-luna?!” Nightmare Moon widened her eyes. “How is this possible?!” the Empress had to touch her to verify she wasn’t dreaming still. But she was really there, sitting just by her on the icy floor, in a cave painted in arcane circles and inscriptions.
“Sombra did this, Nightmare,” Luna explained. “He said he won’t let you harm me. Sombra intended to let you die for what you did! Nightmare, how could you?” The Princess started tearing up, “How could you?!”
Nightmare Moon quickly lifted herself up to embrace her, now material, soulmate,
“Luna, I...don't know what I was thinking! It’s just so easy to forget it’s not just about me. Luna, forgive me! I almost killed you again!”
“Nightmare, nopony will even notice me dying! You are the one here who makes the difference! Promise me you’ll never do it again!” Luna peered right into Nightmare’s eyes.
“Of course, Luna,” Nightmare Moon tried to snuggle with Luna; but the Princess resisted, continuing to peer right into Nightmare’s eyes.
“Promise!” she demanded.
“...I promise.” Nightmare Moon seriously noded, “Never again.” Luna, then, relaxed and let herself be pushed against the black chest. “Luna, I am so glad to finally touch you! I’ll find a way to repay Sombra for this!” the Empress vowed.
“Shh… Don’t think about it now.” Luna reinforced her point by hugging Nightmare stronger. I specifically asked him to leave us alone for a while.“
“What? You don’t want your coltfriend to join?” Nightmare Moon smiled.
“You tease!” Luna gave Nightmare an accusing push to the side. “You know it’s not like that anymore.”
“He really loves you though.”
“I know,” Luna sighed. “I am sorry for him. But that doesn’t mean I want to be his queen! You still remember he enslaves ponies with his magic?”
“I kinda do it too, remember?” she mockingly cackled.
“Don’t remind me of that! I want to forget.”
“Huh… I am with you on that. Okay, let’s start thinking now. Did your coltfriend tell you where he dragged us?”
“He said Shining sent the Guard to search these caves for his hideout, we should be able to… Hey! I said he’s not my coltfriend!” Nightmare grinned.
“Admit it, you want him back!”
“No I don’t!”
“Yes you do!”
“No!”
“Yes!”
“No!”
“Yes!”
“No!”
“No you don’t!” Nightmare treacherously reversed her argument.
“Yes I d... dammit!” Luna mindlessly bit the bait. Victorious, Nightmare laughed. “Dammit! I hate you so much!” Luna pushed the evil queen away in frustration. Nightmare simply allowed herself to fall back on the icy floor, it was more comfortable to roll there laughing anyhow.
“You done with your childish games yet?” now grumpy Luna asked.
“Mostly! Come on, Luna! Since when are you the Princess of Earnest? When will be the next time we can have a moment like this?” Luna rolled her eyes, but nonetheless allowed herself a smirk.
“Alright, the Empress of Dumb Jokes, get back up.” Nightmare accepted the offered help and allowed Luna to put her back on her hooves, “Ok, let’s get going now. I want to see Celestia’s face.” Luna menacingly grinned.
“You’ve got a plan?” Nightmare Moon eagerly queried.
“Oh, I swear! I am up to no good!” Luna admitted. “But first we gotta get out of here, let’s go find those soldiers now.”
“Right behind you, the Princess of Mischief.”
Baron Shoes hoped he could get a peaceful assignment at the Crystal City. Canterlot may have been a lot more prestigious, but...hazardous. Getting dragged out in some wilderness to chase changelings around their hive wasn’t really glamorous. Even less so was getting drugged by Princess Twilight. She apologized but being waked on the post by his own Empress was still very humiliating.
Crystal City really was a lot more peaceful, the ageing sergeant liked it there, but even there a soldier could have no rest. The Prince kept them busy by sending them on patrols over the whole region, searching for the ghost of the dead King. How were they supposed to kill a ghost anyway? None of them have even seen the target. Well, at least he entertained them with illusions and animated ice constructs. They were fun to shoot at.
Baron tried to remember exactly who he’d already shot by now. Half a dozen yaks, probably twenty crystal ponies, Princess Cadance twice and...was it Private Wavy Shadow or someone else? Anyhow, the constructs weren’t much of a challenge, ice is easy to shatter with bullets. The things themselves were dumb as rocks. The only source of danger was their disguise, the King always enchanted them to look like something or someone else. Speaking of.
“Movement,” he whispered to his team following him.
“Block Heads?” somepony asked him.
“Who else? Looks like...two Princesses. At least the builds, horns and wings suggest so. I’ll take a shot, you get ready to blow them apart when they come.”
“Gotcha, sarge.”
Baron routinely lifted his rifle up and aimed for the smaller one’s head. The Block Heads were too dumb to hide anyhow and were almost always walking in perfect clear. Funny, their heads were turning around this time, trying to simulate the real thing, poor attempt really. What would two Princesses do all the way here, alone and without telling anyone? This was a grunt’s job! Nah, this made no sense.
“Whatcha taking so long for, sarge? Getting old?”
Baron frowned, held his breath, corrected his aim one more time and pulled the trigger. The shot echoed from the ice making it sound almost like music.
But the sound was the least of Baron’s concerns now. The supposed Block Head didn’t shatter like they usually do, instead, it fell flat...as ponies do.
The larger figure immediately bent over its companion...Block Heads never do that.
The last clue he received was the glare. He saw it before, but he didn’t see her looking at anyone like this for a very-very long time. It was no threat, his Empress never threatened. This was a promise. The soldier dropped his rifle to the icy floor, it wouldn’t help him anyhow.
“Sarge!” his troopers shouted as they saw their officer being swooped off his hooves and dragged away into the hall.
He didn’t resist, there was no point. He knew that for what he did there could only be one penance. He hoped it would be swift.