Oestridae set me down amidst a group of changelings gathered around the Ascension Lab’s entrance. I leaned against Oest as I considered my words to address my followers.
“For those of you who have any doubts about what we must do, what’s down there,” I pointed with a hoof at the opened aperture, “will remove any doubts. The plan was to spare Chrysalis, to demand concessions from her. I know now that the only way this ends is death. Or, something far worse than death.”
“You’d kill your Queen-mother? Your treachery knows no bounds!”
I looked over to the row of captives still bound up, now all of them were awake. The one who spoke up was one of the Praetorians that Oest originally took out.
I was too exhausted to muster the energy to be angry at the unnamed henchmen/henchling.
“And show these Praetorians just how their loyalty is ultimately rewarded. Show them just how kind and merciful their Queen is. My changelings, we will not have time for another meeting before the invasion, so I must leave it to you to spread the word of what you will see down there.”
I pushed off Oest and limped over to the exit of the vault. Oest tried to follow me out but I stopped him.
“Phasma–”
“I’ll be fine. Make sure these Praetorians are shown what’s down there, and if they still won’t stand with the hive, find a secure place to keep them. I’ll handle the paperwork side of their disappearance. A bit of good news I suppose, we just got five more names to put on vault guard duty.”
“You’ll never get away with this, traitor!!” The particularly stubborn Praetorian with the now staunched broken nose said.
I turned in the doorway to address our captives.
“Praetorians. I offer you a chance to fight for a just cause. The question isn’t whether you want to be a traitor or not, but instead whether you are loyal to the Queen, or to the hive itself. How can we be the traitors when we’re the ones fighting for the survival of the hive? Down there you’ll see just how far Chrysalis will hurt her subjects to fulfill her own ambitions.”
“Just what is down there?” A Lodge member asked.
“Chrysalis’s rewards for those closest to her.”
‘Experimenting on eggs and royals, that’s pretty damning evidence that Chrysalis’s ambitions are not necessarily the hive’s ambitions. If she would stoop so low as to mutilate the most dedicated changelings as well as the unborn young ones, who’s to say that she really cares for the hive?’
I left the vault as the Lodge members began the process of flying the still bound Praetorians down the shaft. Looking to my left, I saw God-Splitter was still wedged into the wall. A tug on the tethering-enchantment on its handle ripped it free, creating even more cracks in the abused wall.
I put the hefty head of the war hammer on my shoulder and started the long journey back to my warm bed, all the way at the top of the hive.
However, when I reached where the vault’s hallway meets the end of the main throughway of the lower hive, the sound of hooves on the hard ground made me freeze.
‘More guards?! Shit, if it’s Praetorians, this is very bad news–’
“–about what you’re going to do after. That’s the key.”
It was a feminine voice, one I had heard before.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a blur moving. As I spun on my hooves to see what, it seemed to vanish. Whatever it was, it was heading to the grate at the end of the great hallway.
The one that led to the sealed passage to the Underhive.
“.... Procho? Princess Procho, can you hear me?”
“–nothing.”
I heard the sound of the grate swinging shut with a clang, and the sound of hoofsteps ended.
“Hello?”
‘What was… That was her leaving on the expedition, wasn’t it? Is that it, I’m hearing the beginning of her journey? Why?’
“My Prince?”
I jumped at the sudden question from behind me, quickly spinning around and brandishing God-Splitter.
A changeling put his hooves up and backed up a few paces.
“Whoah, I did not mean to startle you, My Prince!”
‘Just a Lodge member…’
I lowered the hammer back onto my shoulder.
“My apologies. It’s been a long day. You’re the changeling on watch?”
“Yes, My Prince. Has the vault been breached?”
“Indeed it has. A Praetorian patrol found us all the way down here. What happened to our forward eyes and ears?”
Her ears lowered.
“I’m afraid the shifts just changed, My Prince. They must have snuck in through a small gap in our watch.”
“Then see to it that that gap is fixed. Discovery now would be… We cannot afford it. We....”
“I’ll see to it, My Prince.”
I rubbed my eyes, and restarted the journey back to the main hive spire, though not without stealing a glance back at the Underhive grate.
‘Why do I only hear her voice if there’s five of them trapped down there?’
The rest of the walk went by without note and when I finally arrived at my room, I fell asleep the moment my head hit my bed.
The darkness withdrew from my vision like inky black tentacles.
I was standing in a throne room that stood in stark contrast to the one near where I was sleeping.
It was a vaulted stone room, the walls had windows with real glass. Simple gold and red banners hung at several spots between the windows. At the far end from the door stood twin thrones, one blue and black, the other yellow and red.
Over the blue throne, a banner marked with the moon hung. Over the yellow, a sun banner.
Unlike the hive throne room, this one was half destroyed.
The gold throne was utterly demolished. The grand ceiling above me had collapsed, a starry night sky shining through. The walls were not in any better of a shape. The banners above the thrones were torn and tattered, some parts staying together by mere threads. A great gaping hole in the masonry stood between the banners and thrones, revealing a moon, one wreathed in a rippling black aura, similar to my first encounter with Nightmare Moon.
Speak of the not-devil, and she will begin to materialize right next to you as she enters your dreams. Yeah, that’s how that phrase goes.
“This is where it happened,” Nightmare Moon said after a moment of looking around, eventually settling her gaze on the hole in front of us.
“Where what happened?”
“Where Princess Luna cast off her allegiance to Princess Celestia, and became the greatest Alicorn of all, Nightmare Moon.”
“That sounds like one hell of an origin story.”
Nightmare broke her stare with the moon to look down at me.
“Hell? An archaic term, even by our standards. Thou art a curious one, Prince Phasma, but thou distracts us from our surroundings. This is the Castle of the Twin Sisters. Those are the thrones of Equestria.”
“No.”
“N– What?”
“The throne of Equestria resides in Canterlot.”
“Your distant kingdom once again falls short when it comes to information. This keep is the center of our great kingdom.”
“The capital is definitely Canterlot. Perhaps your sister moved it during your thousand year imprisonment?”
“... We shall see the validity of what thou say once We return, Prince Phasma. Nineteen days till Eternal Night. We have waited so long, yet only now doth the hours drag on. We take it that your army shall march upon Equestria on schedule, several moons from now?”
“About that…”
Her eyebrows furrowed as she squinted at me.
“We will be at Canterlot, the capital, the day you arrive back on Equus, having secured all the land south of that.”
“We do not believe We have heard thou correctly, thou claims to be months ahead of schedule?”
“The invasion of Equestria was always planned to reach Canterlot on the summer solstice. I originally lied about that in case you could not be trusted. We will join forces in the city, and take out Princess Celestia, your sister, and Queen Chrysalis, my mother.”
Nightmare leaned and sat down on her haunches.
“We did not expect such expedience on thy part. Thou continue to surprise us. What other secrets doth thou withhold?”
I scuffed a hoof on the ground.
‘Better start working on what comes after the invasion.’
“We should talk about our deal. You get the throne in Canterlot, and Equestria by extension.” She nodded. “We, my species, will need something in return. We need pony prisoners.”
“Pony prisoners?”
“The reason why we are invading in the first place. Your ascension to power is sure to cause some ponies to dissent, so instead of just offing them or putting them in prison, just hoof them over to us. They’ll never cause you problems ever again, and we get what we need.”
“And what is it that thou gets from these prisoners?”
“A sustainable food supply. We’re not eating them in the traditional sense, but we are… using them. We need magical energy, and we collect it in the forms of emotion.”
“... Most curious. This requirement of thine is easily accomplished. Now We know your reason for coveting the throne, yet We have neglected to share ours. That is, after all, why we started this conversation.”
She swept a hoof across the room, gesturing to the entire rubble-filled scenery.
“Nine hundred and ninety nine years ago, We crossed blades with our sister. For centuries, she had basked in the glory and adoration of our subjects, leaving me to dwell in the dark. For centuries, We endured our duty without thanks or rightful respect. Eventually, We decided that a change was in order. Our ponies did not appreciate the effort We put into carving the night sky, so We sought to correct this misunderstanding.
“Sister, of course, resisted. She had grown accustomed to the fame and admiration unrightfully bestowed upon her, and so she resisted change. We fought and when she learned she could not defeat me in combat, she used the Elements of Harmony to imprison me,.”
“The Elements of Harmony?”
“An ancient artifact of untold power. She should not have been able to wield them, yet she did.”
“Ah, a Deus Ex Machina. So she used this artifact then you’re suddenly imprisoned for a thousand years?"
“Our greatest weapon, turned against us. In days long past, the both of us wielded the Elements together. Then, sister dearest sealed my tomb using it!”
'Great, now I gotta be on the lookout for a Deus Ex Machina, as if I didn't have enough on my mind.'
“A thousand years on ice would make me want to kill whomever was responsible, that much is certain.”
“Indeed. We have been pondering on what thy story is. Prince Phasma, for what reason are we bringing an end to your forebearer?”
“Chrysalis… I never trusted her. An odd feeling at the back of my mind, always second guessing her words. Not that she was trustworthy to begin with, she loves mysterious threats and being unchallenged in her rule. But I constantly asked myself if we are immortal, then how come none of my siblings were around? With too many unanswered questions, I secured a pact with you, Nightmare Moon, as a backup plan, in case her tyranny would potentially be my end. Yesterday, every single one of my fears were validated.”
“We see thou art as ominous as thou claims thy mother to be.”
“Heh, it’s easier to show you rather than to describe it.”
With that, I changed the scenery. The Castle melted away, replaced by the cold hallway before the Ascension Chamber. Nightmare’s hooves clanged on the metal floor and she circled around, getting her bearings in the small hallway.
“Ah yes, a cold hallway. A perfectly reasonable motive for matricide.”
“I’m getting to that. This is one of the three most secure rooms in the entire kingdom. The other two are at either ends of the hallway. The one behind us is the storage and entrance to this place, and that door down there is why I am showing you this.”
As she sauntered over to the closed door, I hesitantly followed. Just because I had control over everything in my dreams did not mean I wanted to go back in there.
“I found out that some of my siblings rebelled, and were, quote, ‘reprocessed.’ I did not imagine what Chrysalis had been up to. How could anyone guess at what she did?”
“Thou already had our attention, Prince Phasma. Now, thou caught our interest.”
She pushed the door open and entered the glowing green chamber. I followed in after her, at a much slower pace. When I walked up next to her, I saw that her eyes were flicking between the different vats.
“These… art thine siblings? Their cadavers were used in an experiment of some sort?”
“Cadavers? They’re still alive, Nightmare Moon.”
“Impossible!” She scoffed, before getting closer to one of the Princesses. It was the red princess, the one who ceased to exist halfway down her barrel.
“We are experts at magic healing, any injury short of death can be fixed by a submergence in the magic-imbued liquid you see these royals are in. Furthermore, royals are apparently very hard to kill.”
“Thou art certain these ponies still live?”
“Not ponies, and yes, I know it for certain. I also know that they will never wake up. The one exception to our healing is trying to heal the brain...”
She broke her stare at the princess to stare at me instead.
“The brain?”
I pointed to the book sitting in the middle of the room.
“The oldest book we have. It was written thousands of years ago, and it details the process of Ascension. Lots of religious phrase this and medical terminology that, but the pictures were quite clear. Every single one of my siblings in here was lobotomized and used as a magical artifacts, for lack of a better term.”
'Battery would be more accurate, but electricity doesn't exist here.'
Nightmare’s jaw dropped, and slowly raised back up.
“Pony artificers have stayed well away from blood magic. Even our knowledge in this field is lacking...”
“This isn’t blood magic, it’s our magic. It’s hard to explain, and most knowledge was lost over time.”
“This is vile, Prince Phasma. Not even We are wont to stoop to such butchery! Our millennia on our moon was spent sleeping and waiting, but We have a chance at life once again. Thy kin are denied a chance at ever waking! We see why Queen Chrysalis must die, for she is worse than Princess Celestia!”
I turned around and pointed to the empty vat behind us.
“Which brings us to why I want her dead most of all.”
“... Thy intended tomb?”
“What else could it be?” I sighed, “One way or the other, royalty will die during this War For The Sun.”