//------------------------------// // Students Follow Their Teacher // Story: Fractured Moon // by DefiantPosition //------------------------------// Nightmare Moon wakes up after a good and long sleep. Slowly she get's out of bed and makes her way to the balcony to raise the sun. As much as she would love to have the night last forever, she has learned about her previous at conquering Equestria and unfortunately for her most creatures and plant life require light, and she has no intention of being a queen of ruins and corpses. But that doesn't mean that Nightmare Moon doesn't promote nightlife. In fact she has implemented many policies to make nighttime activities more appealing, like giving tax reductions to businesses that are are open after sunset and subsidising nightclubs. As she stands on the balcony she takes a good look at her empire. Even in the darkness Nightmare Moon can clearly see the skyline of Canterlot in the distance. It all looks so peaceful, no evidence of the civil war remained. The view reminds Nightmare Moon of what she fought for and what she is still trying to create, a better world for all creatures. But this better world Nightmare Moon is trying to create is encountering some small bumps in the road that could if left unchecked turn into insurmountable mountains. Ever since Nightmare Moon took over Equestria she hasn't had a lot of time anymore to travel into the dream realm, but every once in a while she takes some free time to take a quick look into the dreams of her subjects to identify possible treasonous thoughts. Last night Nightmare Moon discovered that there is a lot of distrust between three very important members of her administration. And that Rarity of all creatures even tried to spy on Starry Glory. "Why would Rarity think that his course of action is in my best interest?" she wonders. It bothers her that for the life of her she can't seem to find an answer. Worst of all is that Nightmare Moon knows she can't just fire them both because she considers them very close friends and because such a move would alienate large parts of her population, and although she is the strongest alicorn even she can't fight an entire nation by herself. Also technically speaking they weren't plotting against her but each other. So she has to find a more subtle way of dealing with them. But how? "It will have to wait for later." Nightmare Moon thinks to herself as she focuses her magic on the sun. Controlling celestial bodies is a very difficult task even when one has a cutie mark for it. They are not only very big and very far away, they are also out of view so one needs to have a very good understanding of where they are. Nightmare Moon closes her eyes and thinks about where she left the sun. Once she finds it she slowly but firmly releases her magic. Her eyes are still closed but she can feel it traveling over the horizon and grabbing the sun. Slowly but surely she lifts the massive object above the horizon, at first it travels slowly but as it gets momentum starts moving faster until it reaches the correct spot in the sky at which point Nightmare Moon let's go of her magic. As the sun illuminates the landscape Nightmare Moon is suddenly hit with an idea. "Of course! My sister must know how to handle these kind of issues. She has governed these lands and the creatures who live here for thousands of years. Surely she must have encountered similar problems." She realises. Nightmare Moon doesn't like the prospect of visiting Celestia again. Especially not to ask for help as it would basically be her admitting defeat to her sister, admitting that she can't handle being ruler. But Nightmare Moon also realises that if she doesn't solve this problem than there wouldn't be anything to rule over. Begrudgingly she has to admit to herself that it is better to admit being a bad queen than being no queen at all. Nightmare Moon begins making her way down towards Celestia's private prison. She is completely lost in thought, a single question keeps lingering in her head. How am I going to ask her? Before she has a chance to answer that question she is confronted by the doors to Celestia's prison being right in front of her. The guards open the door and Nightmare Moon nervously walks inside. She starts sweating profoundly and it suddenly feels like it is a hundred degrees Celsius inside. There are soo many other things Nightmare Moon would do rather than being here, like becoming a living pincushion for Rarity, but she knows that there is no turning back, she has to do this. When Nightmare Moon is inside she charges her horn for a light spell but before she releases it Celestia speaks up. "I see that the great and benevolent Nightmare Moon has decided to grace me with her presence one again. For what have I earned this great honour?" She spits with enough venom in her voice to kill a full grown dragon. Nightmare Moon shuffles in place not quite having figured out what to do yet. After what feels like several hours Nightmare Moon is finally able to formulate a respons. "I need you help sister." She simply states. Celestia's ears perk up but she continues to stare at the wall instead of Nightmare Moon. "And why would I help you destroy that what I have build?" She answers still sounding angry but with less venom than before. Nightmare Moon takes a deep breath before answering. "Because if you don't then many innocent creatures could die." This seems to have catched Celestia's attention because after hearing those words she stands up and faces her corrupted sister. The look on her face is one of both anger and sadness. After remaining quiet for about a minute Celestia begins to speak. "Fine. I will help you, but not because of you, but to save my ponies from whatever you did that caused this." Celestia answers. "Some members of my government are distrusting of each other which is already a bad thing, but one of them for reasons unclear to me has somehow decided that in order to protect me she needs to spy on her colleagues. You must have dealt with similar situations. How did you solve it?" Nightmare Moon asks having decided that being honest probably has the highest chance of giving her the answer she needs. A huge frown appears of Celestia's face. "You really can't see why your followers behave this way? You are more gone than I thought, if there was even a small part of Luna left in you then you wouldn't need to ask me this question." Celestia speaks sadly. "I never had to deal with those kind of issues because I always taught kindness and peace to my little ponies, so with a few exceptions that is how they solved their problems because that is how I taught them to solve them. You on the other hoof have taught them violence so violence they will use and unless you change you teachings no creature can change that." Celestia finishes. Nightmare Moon snaps, a part of her is even screaming for her to kill her sister right there right now. She comes to her sister for help she even admits her failure and all Celestia does is insult her and blame her for what are clearly Rarity's and Starry Glory's actions. She violently stomps her hooves on the ground shaking the entire room. "I will not tolerate your petty insults! If you refuse to help then I will do it myself and I will do it better than you ever did!" Nightmare Moon yells before storming out of the room. As she ascends the stairs a part of her wonders why she keeps up with Celestia's behaviour or why she even keeps her down here. Killing her would not only be the most practical solution considering Starry's continuing campaign to punish her for her crimes, it might also finally teach Celestia not the disrespect her. But every time she thinks of doing it there is this quiet voice in the back of her head pleading her to not do it and for some reason she can't help but listen. There is of course still the issue of Starry Glory and Rarity. She didn't get the answer she needs so now she has to do it all herself. Suddenly Nightmare Moon's serious face turns into a small smile as she keeps ascending. She has an idea.