//------------------------------// // The Royal Inspection // Story: Imperial Forclousure // by The Sound of Loneliness //------------------------------// Nightmare Moon was pleasantly surprised, a more and more common occurrence recently. Cadance promised arms... but what that actually entailed was far more than mere handguns and ammunition. As soon as she met the contact Cadance offered her, she and Celestia were led through warehouses and hangers with enthusiasm similar to what Rarity would have in a boutique at the season's opening. Innovative firearms, explosives, vehicles, even aircraft were shown to her by eager, changeling-dominated, staff. "Warrior-Queen" they whispered reverently as they were guided throughout the area. Perhaps she had chosen the wrong people to lead, she even allowed herself a thought. Then, as a dreary reminder, she noticed that every young soldier she saw was female; they were the last ones of their kind to be born. The innovative aircraft were what caught her most intense attention. There was one that she saw once already. It was a refined variant of what engineers in Manehattan built during her rule to improve troops' mobility, a machine using the large, vertical blade to hover and fly. But there was another machine, so much more interesting to her. Apparently, when she was gone, a new propulsion engine was invented. She never said it to anyone, but flying machines had a humbling effect on her. She could fly too, even faster than any machine of her time, but even she could tire. Great bombers of her Air Force never did. They flew thousands of times of what a pegasus could while carrying many tons of explosives aboard. When she saw the new jet engine mounted on a much smaller aircraft, she was convinced that the machine had entirely won the sky at last. The unparalleled speed with which the plane was propelled forward left her in a state of awe. The first such occasion in many a century. The plane climbed at a rate completely impossible for any flying machine or creature she saw previously and then dropped, gaining so much speed that Nightmare Moon saw air bending around it. She was told that it could fly even faster than that, faster than sound travelled. She believed them. "Impressive," Celestia said aloud. "Are you done sightseeing yet?" Nightmare Moon gave Celestia a mildly surprised look, "Wasn't it, you, who wanted troops?" "Not to stare at, most definitely." Nightmare Moon turned away. Celestia was right, of course, she was, "Major, enough with the devices. Show me your champions," she addressed the elderly changeling who was showing her around. There used to be a whole crowd of them; even her former Captain, whom she entirely forgot about, suddenly wanted to escort her around, which she allowed for a time; Nightmare Moon only asked for the highest-ranking changeling to come; she always hated crowds. "Champions?" the changeling was vividly surprised. "Do you wish to inspect troops, my Lady?" "Not troops. You must have some formation consisting of your best soldiers." "That would be the rangers, Lady." Nightmare Moon remembered this name, she read about them a few times in reports, "Now that is a name I didn't expect to ever hear again. Are they still the same as they were during our war?" "The personnel has changed." "I suppose..." Nightmare Moon fell deliberately silent. "Are they available?" "They always are, Lady. I'll pass the word right now if that pleases you," Major pulled on his remarkably tiny radio, that was pinned to his shirt. "Watchtower here, Lady wants to see Crossbow. Prepare for inspection. Out." Major then let his radio go, "Right this way, please." The soldiers that Nightmare Moon asked for looked like the most over-equipped company she has ever seen, and she still remembered the nights when warriors wore plated armor. The wholly female soldiers had numerous pouches and bags fixed on stings and hanging all over their white fatigues, filled with knives, radios, ammunition, grenades, canteens, shovels, gas masks, large mines, binoculars, entire tool kits, spare shoes; even their helmets did not escape the stuffing, where they had lighters, flashlights, cigarettes and yet more ammunition. Nightmare Moon hadn't even spoken to them yet, but she was already deeply disappointed. Truly, peace degraded troops like little else. One of the surest ways to spot someone who has no place on the battlefield is to see their equipment and this equipment clearly indicated that they, themselves, weren't even sure what they were going to do once they were deployed. She expected much better from changelings. "Well?" Celestia decided to put an end to the tense silence. "Words would be excrescent. Major, tell what they are meant to do," Nightmare Moon asked, suddenly feeling bored. "Independent action with minimal support, my Lady." "Minimal support?" Nightmare Moon heard proposals of something like this in the past. She promoted independence among her officer corps, but she struggled to imagine how they could be incompetent enough to leave troops without support. Regardless of whether it was a lowly infantry-pony, or a fully armed knight, all required support; be it: weapons and armor to replace broken ones, or provisions to feed on the march. "They infiltrate behind enemy lines and operate independently to disrupt enemy supply lines and communication," he explained with practiced monotony. "My Lady," he quickly added with an apologetic dip of his head. "Hmm... I see. They use the element of surprise and attack undefended walls while also funneling information to their own lords. Shed about half of this baggage they are carrying, and I could see them taking a long march required to fulfill their purpose," Nightmare Moon said without even pretending to sound interested any longer. "This is just for demonstration purposes, My Lady. Their equipment is configured depending on their mission," Major quickly excused the appointed flaw. Well, at least the Major had some understanding, at least of how to make convincing excuses. "And what of their skills?" "They are specially trained," the Major said shortly. Nightmare Moon sighed, "Let them speak for themselves. Which one of them is an officer?" Normally it was easy to tell, but recently, by her standards, low-ranking officers began wearing the same uniforms as their subordinates. It was undignified, but she had to recognize the necessity. It won't stop an assassin's blade, but it might ward off a carefully aimed shot. "Second Lieutenant Mandible, My Lady." "Call her. I want to hear from her what this pawnshop they carry around is and what they plan to do with it once they are in the field." The Major sighed and turned back to the line of quietly standing soldiers, "Second Lieutenant Mandibule, report to the Lady the answers for her questions." A single changeling stepped out of line and marched evenly to Nightmare Moon. She then sharply saluted, "Second Lieutenant Madibule, permission to speak, My Lady," she said with a surprisingly clean, for a changeling, voice. "Granted." "Our equipment is designed to be durable and redundant. We are meant to carry it with us in the field and establish caches in the operations area to be used as needed. We only carry the barest necessity into the combat phase of our missions. My Lady." Unexpectedly for herself, Nightmare Moon found herself humbled. It seems Cadance was right, for once. She has indeed fallen back too much in her ways, "What are you trained in?" she asked nonetheless. "We all went through basic infantry training, as well as survival training, heavy weapons operation, air insertion and sniper training. My Lady." "Your experience?" "None, My Lady. We had no opportunity to exercise our skills as Princess Mi Amore waged no wars in your absence." Nightmare Moon didn't answer. She never really expected to see a large experienced force at her disposal, when Cadance offered help, but commanding completely green soldiers wasn't in her plans either. They were simply unfit to be thrown on the frontlines. They were changelings, not ponies, but even changelings could snap when they saw too many of their siblings killed in a short amount of time. Yet, still, these were likely the best she would find. "You would do," Nightmare Moon said grimly. "Major, have the Lieutenant and her platoon do extra exercises. Focus on their natural infiltration abilities. Also, requisition a field hospital, a cargo plane and a few of those dragonflies with fuel. I wish them to be prepared to fly if we call them." Major looked disappointed for a brief moment before responding, "It will be done, My Lady." "Come," she said to Celestia. "We still need to plan on how to approach this situation we have on our hooves." Celestia looked at her slightly surprised, "You want my help with planning?" "Not planning. I want you to be aware. Teleport us back to the Palace, please." Celestia made no objection, weaving the spell and doing as she was asked. In a blink, they were back in the chambers Cadance had given to them, large enough to have a room for all three of them; but Nightmare Moon didn't need that much space. The lowborn of her court got more modest rooms, befitting of their position. "I need to think," Nightmare Moon told Celestia, drifting off to a corner she found pleasing to coil in. "Should I apply myself to something while you do?" "Do as you see fit," Nightmare Moon threw back without even looking, too tired to have patience for Celestia as well. "That is quite novel. I think I will," Celestia picked a log from the stash by the fireplace and tossed it in. She then effortlessly ignited it. Looking around, she scooped a few pillows before lying down by the fire. Letting out a content sigh, the Princess of The Sun closed her eyes. Nightmare Moon looked at the display; not completely sure if Celestia was teasing her, but eventually decided to stop brooding altogether. "How does it feel?" she asked aloud. Celestia opened an eye, "How does what feel?" "The fire, the pillows. I find that the more time passes, the less I remember of how the world feels." Although she did not lie, the answer wasn't the primary reason for her question. It was a rare moment when both of them were alone and without any immediate task to do. Celestia stared at her with one eye for a while, before looking at the fire, "Like a warm embrace," Celestia eventually humored her. Nightmare Moon pondered in silence on the meaning of the answer, perhaps it indeed was. "How does it feel, to die?" Celestia asked back. "Agonizing, I suppose." "You suppose? An uncertain answer." "In the moment, I barely felt it. I felt more joy than pain. It was at that moment I finally realized that I was free. Freedom, true freedom, is something we can only experience once in life. I was finally free of my endless responsibilities and work, of cares and desires. I could finally have a moment to enjoy life for what it was. I remember taking my last deep breath over Canterlot streets. It was cold, mountain air with a light scent of spring blooms. I never thought that air could be so delicious. It truly was a moment to die for." "You make death sound pleasant." "But life is such torture, Celestia. Compared to life, death is the sweetest of caresses. No one deserves to live forever." Another long silence ensued. Both mares only listened to the crackling of the fire. It was pleasant, Nightmare Moon supposed. She didn't feel the warmth of the fire, but the atmosphere itself made her feel an altogether different kind of warmth. "Sometimes I wonder how much I've truly missed in life," Nightmare Moon admitted. "I looked at Twilight and her tender relationships. I was so jealous." "Is that why you indoctrinated her? Was your hope that she would show you the same?" Celestia asked flatly. There was no deliberate sting in the question, Celestia simply wished to know. "That is not a simple question to answer," Nightmare Moon sighed. "I only wanted her to stop hiding behind her daily routines and continue doing what made her and everyone around her happy. It benefited both of us, and our ponies. I gave her a job, it was not ideal, but it gave her something productive to do. You being here now is her achievement." "You never told me why you wanted peace. You have won, have you not?" Celestia said hollowly. "I told you on the very first night. Celestia, I made a terrible mistake that I wished to rectify. Why didn't you fight? Why didn't you stop me as you did all those years ago?" Heavy silence set in the room. "Were you afraid?" Nightmare Moon finally asked. "Yes," Celestia admitted, her words came forced. "I was." Nightmare Moon didn't need any more. Of course, it was so obvious. "Yet you will fight now." "It's the only choice. If I won't, everything I worked for would be for naught," Celestia quickly pulled herself together. "I suppose it would be," Nightmare Moon did not press, although she was confident that both of them knew that it wasn't all. "So then, when we have our subjects back, what comes next? Will we be going back to our usual feuding?" "If you wish to know the future, you should ask the young seer," Celestia said harshly. "I do not wish to know the future, but how you wish our future to be, Celestia. So, please, indulge me." "Well, to begin with, I would have to sort through a great pile of paper," Celestia sighed. "Then I would have to appoint trustworthy ministers, then, in a decade or two, maybe I could say that we returned to what can be considered acceptable state of stability." "I suppose," Nightmare Moon agreed. "And what of Thestrals and my sisters? What part in your design shall they play?" "Nightmare Moon, has it ever crossed your mind that not everyone could be made to embrace harmony? I tried teaching those bat-winged fanatics. Bringing them into the fold does no good, their very presence destabilizes the society." "Hmph, some harmony you have in mind. Truly, only those who are complacent enough are good enough," Nightmare Moon did not hide her contempt. "I've learned my lesson from experience," Celestid chided. "It seems not, you have not. Celestia, why do you keep giving your enemies reasons to hate you?" The Sun Princess frowned upon a brutally straight question. "No wonder they 'destabilize society', as you put it. They quite frankly hate you. First, you send their only protector into exile and then you turn on them for the crime of standing with their sovereign. They never knew who exactly they followed, but even if they did, they would side with Grogar himself if it meant hurting you." "You left me with no choice!" Celestia blasted. "Do you think I am happier for having had to expel them?! They did not stop after you were gone! They continued marauding and attacking anyone who would side with the Sun well over a century after you were exiled!" "Such loyal subjects!" Nightmare Moon said with unmasked delight. "They've been sacking and burning villages and towns whenever they had an opportunity! What was I supposed to do?! Let them?! I had to uproot one of the pony tribes entirely and send them to scurry elsewhere from their ancestral home because of you! You are the one whom they are meant to hate!" Celestia was left breathing heavily after her burst. Nightmare Moon said nothing and allowed her to recover. It was a shame this had to be the time they shared this discussion, a while back it could have changed something. "Celestia, do you think your sister is ready to rule?" Nightmare Moon finally asked. "Luna always was," the answer came almost instantly. "She was the one who thought otherwise."