The room remained silent and everything held still. Even the dustmotes in the air seemed frozen in place. Nightmare Moon was taking in everypony's reaction, breathing in what should have been the scene before her as she returned to Equestria.
"An amazing facsimile!" the king proclaimed. He walked around the alicorn in awe, analyzing every detail of her body. "This is quite an amazing spell!" He poked her leg and pulled back immediately. "It's even tangible!"
"S-she's not a spell, your highness," Sunny stammered. He could see Moon getting enraged at being touched. "She's the real thing..."
Laughter came from the crowd, and eventually, a mare came forth. Her coat was a bright yellow sheen, and her mane and tail were both a curly orange with vertical yellow stripes going through them. Her tail was invisible underneath her dress, but her mane had been stylized as to look like several loops of hair were going through each other. Nightmare Moon found it gawdy. Didn't help that the mare's dress was stylized to look like a sunrise. The base was black, and above that layer was a lighter shade, then to deep purple, and then immediately transitioned to bright yellow colors. It made it look like she had waded through mud.
"You don't seriously expect us to believe that this...thing is really an alicorn? Why would one pop up out of nowhere just like that?" she scoffed and looked around. "We all know that if an alicorn truly returned, then they would go directly to the family they're related to, elevating them to prominence!" The others agreed. "So, while this is certainly a fantastic gift, I think you're insulting u-The King and Queen in the long run," she told the mayor.
"I was expecting that, so I had a soldier prepare an antimagic orb," the mayor stated quite smugly. The soldier in question came forward with an orb on their back. "This is the strongest dispelling weapon we have. Anypony caught in will find themselves unable to use magic for several hours, and all but the strongest spells will be dissipated instantly." He chuckled and stepped aside to let the soldier near. "Of course, the 'strongest' spells are cast by numerous very skilled ponies, and as the king and local military garrison can attest to, we don't have any sort of ponies of that caliber in our city."
The soldier gulped and threw the orb at Nightmare Moon's feet. It shattered and released a thick cloud that rose around her. She started coughing and waving the smoke away with a hoof.
"This smoke again? What for?"
"What was that? I didn't understand a word!"
"Sounds like old ponyish."
The nobles stood, jaws agape, at the alicorn still standing before them, unphased by the orb.
"Th-that proves nothing! It could still be a trick!" the mare angrily shouted.
"My family owns antimagic factories!" a stallion shouted in the crowd. He moved forward, sporting a prosthetic leg and a metal covering over the right side of his face. "That is genuine antimagic." He jabbed the mare in the chest. "I can assure you that, madame!"
There was a momentary elevation of sound from the ponies like they were unsure of what to do. Nightmare Moon smiled. This was the moment she was waiting for. She just had to exercise a significant amount of patience and restraint. She grabbed Sunny, passed him through the remnants of the cloud, then pulled him back out. The coughing stallion was then presented with a bowl of stew from the tables; a bowl he was meant to levitate. He focused as hard as he could, but his horn only produced sparks and left him exhausted.
"She is related to us! She is the alicorn of the north! Why else would she be here?!" a pink mare blurted out almost immediately.
"Nonsense! Her fur is dark and sleek! She is our ancestor, the alicorn of the black forest."
"Black forest?" Moon thought to herself. "How very uncreative."
Her eye twitched when one of them grabbed her foreleg and compared its color to his own. She shook them off with a flick of her leg, launching them all the way to the other side of the room. Judging by their behavior, they definitely saw it as her not favoring said family, and so continued to annoy her.
"Clearly, she's related to us! She goes dark during the night," another mare proclaimed. This one was as bright and yellow as ponily possible. She patted Moon on the shoulder like she was some kind of pet. "See? Docile as a newborn foal around me." She was lifted up gently in Moon's magic, stunning the unicorn. "She even raises me above everypony e--"
She was quickly smashed high into the ceiling then left to drop on the ponies below. These peasants had the audacity to touch her and even treat her like some pet. Nightmare Moon! The audacity!
"She is our ancestor, you feeble morons. Do you not see the nightly motif? To go so far as to claim she is the alicorn of the sun, or the mountains, or some northern sea thing. Absurd!"
The one who spoke was the matriarch of the family. Her mane was combed backward and held down with some form of oil, making it sleek and shiny. Her haughty stance and manner of speaking were only emphasized by the wrinkles on her face. One of her eyes was completely white, but she still seemed able to see through it.
"She is the alicorn of the night, and thus, related to us by blood! It is obvious enough!" She turned to face the others. "Bow, you idiots!" she spat.
Nightmare Moon gestured for Sunny to come to her with a wing, and he acquiesced.
"I want you to translate vital information to me when it is spoken, and translate everything I say to them," she demanded.
"Yes, your highness. That was the plan you devised long ago anyways," Sunny said.
"I hope that you would honor our family by becoming its head and making it the most esteemed family in Equestria and among the other nobles, to elevate us to the highest possible esteem amongst the royal family."
Moon raised a brow and cast a glance at the king and queen standing next to the mayor. Elevated amongst the peasants? In servitude to a lesser pony who had the audacity to claim leadership over what rightfully belonged to her?! Nightmare Moon stopped limiting herself and let her natural intimidation flow across the crowd. Her eyes glowed with a fiery hatred as she lowered her head towards the shaking mare who kept a stoic face as best as she could in her bowed position.
"You think I bore foals?" she whispered to the mare. "Me?" She chuckled, leaving Sunny to translate as best he could. "Is there a problem with your heads?" She put a hoof under the mare's chin and lifted it up. "Do I need to remove it and check to see if it's contagious?"
The matriarch's eyes darted between the alicorn and Sunny. "D-did we offend you somehow? If it's ab-b-bout m-my nephew, then it is alright! He will be firmly chastized and banished if--"
Moon raised a hoof and turned towards the king and queen. Despite her intimidating appearance and the miasma of darkness spreading from the orbs she set up spreading across the ceiling, the King and Queen did not flinch. The mayor was jittering with anticipation. What exciting thing was she going to do? Just claim the castle, he bet, and start a new nation! Maybe she'll become a vassal of the king, or something new just above nobility!
"Tell him what I want to say," Nightmare Moon ordered Sunny. "I won't be party to these fools and serve my lessers."
"I can't tell him that! He's the king!"
The unicorn caught a side-glare by the alicorn, shrinking under the ever-brightening, white eyes. He made a loud gulp and sheepishly approached the king. "I-I'm sorry, your majesty. This isn't by choice."
The king raised a brow, perplexed.
Nightmare Moon modified the magic on the ceiling to display the night sky outside. Several new astral bodies passed by, things she hadn't put there. They were yet again similar to the ones in her mane and tail, but she was at a crucial point and couldn't focus on that despite the noble's shock.
"How is she doing that? She was doused in the antimagic gas!" one of the nobles shouted.
"But that stallion couldn't do anything afterwards! Is it a trick?!"
"You, the so-called 'king'," she started. "You will be stepping down as ruler and letting me rule Equestria, exactly as I had planned thousands of years ago," she said calmly.
The nobles in the crowd started to protest, yelling at Nightmare Moon, but using the royal canterlot voice to have them cease their 'yipping', the throne room once again became silent.
"I am one of the original rulers of this place. Just because a few measly millennia have passed doesn't mean that my position as the rightful ruler has been forfeit. Equestria was only meant to be ruled by alicorns, specifically me," she declared. "However, I am a more benevolent pony on account of my..." She twisted her hoof around in a circle. "Current lack of knowledge of the modern-day Equestria, I have chosen to permit you to serve as my vassal until such a time that I am competent enough in cultures and languages of the pony folk to step upon the throne." She ended her speech with a smile.
The king met it with laughter. "Oh, this is indeed rich, mayor. You planned all...this?" He noticed that the elder had turned pale and had shrunk away. The ruler shook his head. "So this was truly unexpected. I'm sorry to say, but I will not be stepping down from my position, no matter what some so-called 'alicorn' proclaims. I would rather you cease these games and let us continue with this party. Or else," the king threatened.
Nightmare Moon smiled and looked at the king with glee. He was suddenly held in her telekinetic grip and raised into the air while she stepped past the mute queen and headbutted the air. Moon's horn had vanished into nothing, startling everypony. This shock was further compounded by her dragging it down along something unseen by the naked eye. She backed away, retaining a huge smile on her face despite nothing happen. The atmosphere was tense, and no pony was making a move. The soldiers were also not stupid enough to go against Nightmare Moon. A few had been spying on her during her training sessions. They were terrified by what they had seen, but they still stood by outside, watching and listening.
"You know, while training I realized something," Moon started. She chuckled silently. "I've become linked to other moons nearby."
A cracking noise was heard by everypony.
"I felt myself being pulled towards them, and I have no idea why."
While the alicorn pondered her words, the air cracked where she had stabbed it.
"I still can't quite figure out how being trapped within the embodiment of my power caused my powers to reach out to other lunar bodies." She shrugged. "You'd think I would have done that consciously, but no."
The crack almost instantly stretched to the ground and twice the height of Nightmare Moon, fissuring the air like it was made of glass.
"During that time, I realized that one of the moons I was connected to was...Well." She tilted her head left and right. "Let's just say it's from a toxic environment," she laughed.
"What is happening?! Release me at once, you insane monster!" the king ordered.
His wife could only watch silently as the crack burst open and a warped, destroyed facsimile of the ruined castle was displayed. The sky was a dark, purple-orange abomination covered by black, toxic clouds. A constant wind seemed to blow there, streaking off the top of ruins and permanently pulling black sand with them. Despite this, no sounds were heard from the other side. Not from the wind, not from whatever lived in it, not from the sky. Moon brought the king towards it and passed a hoof through the crack.
"Gaaaah!"
The king's hoof had been charred, and it looked like it was dissolving into disconnected stripes that warped about.
"Instability," Nightmare Moon laughed. "With some protection you would survive there for a day or two, provided that they don't find you."
"They?!" the king repeated.
"Ah. Here are some of them."
An immense black figure hovered in front of the crack, its body devoid of any details. It appeared bipedal and somewhat lumpy. It shifted a few times, then it 'awoke'. vertical stripes of orange, yellow, red, and white appeared and dissolved in quick succession at the top of its form. A whispered hiss came from the portal, bouncing off the walls of the throne room.
"My queen, this is too much! Please stop!" Sunny begged.
His words fell upon deaf ears. He had never seen such a look of vitriol and joy on one pony. He felt more terrified than he ever had. The stallion was terrified of the alicorn's actions, but this was something altogether. Another fear yet unknown to him, and he knew the others felt the same. In this one moment, everypony was equal before this literal goddess made manifest.
Shapes emerged from the crack that faded in and out of existence. The portions of an arm or a leg, sunny was unsure, but they were segments of a limb. A hand could be seen grasping for the king, then a hoof, then a single claw, then a tentacle, then a mouth. They would never look the same once they remanifested.
"Will you accept my terms?" Nightmare Moon asked smugly.
"Yes! Yes! Please! Keep them away from me! You can take over Equestria!"
"You mean reclaim Equestria," Moon laughed.
The stallion was dropped right in front of the portal, at which point he scampered away as fast as possible towards his wife who grabbed him in her forelegs and swaddled the trembling stallion in her wings. Judging from her expression, she had never seen her husband act in such a way. She glared at the alicorn laughing to her heart's content while she sealed the portal just as more of those things appeared. The queen wouldn't let this affront slide.