"She just vanished!" Geode cried out. "Wh-where did she go? And what was that stone thing?"
Sunny sighed. "She teleported, and that golem was something that has been stalking us."
His mother raised her eyebrows in surprise. "She knows how to teleport? I thought that was a dead spell." She scrunched her lips. "Well, there are ponies trying to learn it and some have made their own versions, at the very least...They don't work too well..."
"Mom! Focus!" Sunny called out. "I'm very sorry for her behavior, but she's the literal goddess of the moon and the night, and she came to Snowfege almost a year ago."
Concerned, his parents moved over the table to sit next to him, surrounding him with their comforting presence. It was a much-needed moment of warmth that made the unicorn realize he had been extremely cold the whole time he was with Nightmare Moon.
"Why don't you tell us all about it," Geode suggested with a smile. "Oh, but at your own pace."
Honey nodded. "Go at your own pace. We just want to know what our son has been up to that he managed to get caught up in the doings of a ten thousand-year-old alicorn... and that 'golem' thing."
Sunny took a deep breath and acquiesced. He told them everything, from the mayor throwing him into the maw of the volcano to the would-be assassin that Moon had turned into a ping pong ball. The faces of his parents changed many, many times over the course of his tales.
Geode Twinkle was the first to talk after his son had finished his tale. "That...Really is something. I know I said 'ten thousand' a lot, but to actually have somepony from back then...I don't know how I could function." He looked to his wife and hugged her, which she reciprocated by wrapping a wing around him. "To know that all my loved ones, all my friends, everything that I knew, vanished in the blink of an eye." He took a deep breath. "I wouldn't even had time to process any of it."
Honey shook her head. "Just being in a coma and losing a year is tragic enough, but...She is very aggressive, and from her behavior when she was finally freed, I think she was trapped for a good reason. Perhaps she should have remained trapped in the moon."
Geode looked at his wife with absolute disgust. "How could you say such a thing? Trapping somepony forever is not a solution! If anything, it's just postponing the troubles, and look where that brought us?" His eyes darted between the mare's. "We have a literal deity that has all but kidnapped our son and has come to our doorstep! She even offered us positions of royalty..." The stallion had to double-take his own words. "On second thought, the end there doesn't seem too bad." Honey slapped him on the head. "Ow! What?"
Sunny cleared his throat to garner their attention. "She hasn't really done anything except throw her weight around and threaten ponies, but she hasn't really acted upon it. I think she wants to conquer Equestria, but whatever happened in the past has her trying to take it from the king and rebuild it." He shrugged. "It's what she said, anyways."
Honey furrowed her brows. "I don't know how that 'ruling family' stuff works, but I at least understand that this is absurd! She wants the love of a family so badly that she's trying to sweep us up in her mental anguish!"
"Mom, she has nothing! If I'm not around, I'm terrified of what she might do to the world..." Sunny's words trembled. "She is used to me, but I'm scared that, if I disappear or die, she'll destroy everything! I already saw what she could do." He looked outside the windows, unable to properly view the outside because of the ambient light. "I'm terrified of her potential." He tapped his horn. "Every time I'm around her, it feels like there's pure magic flowing around, and it grates against my horn. Imagine if she just let it all loose? At least I can keep watch over her and advise her."
"But you're just a foal!" Honey protested. "You don't have the knowledge or even experience for that!"
"I'm not a foal! I'm a stallion, mom! Who else is going to watch her? Make sure she doesn't do anything too stupid?"
Geode put a hoof on his son's shoulder and pushed him a little. "We can. We'll be able to watch her. We'll have to learn about that awful style of life, but just as you watch over her, we can watch over you." The stallion smiled. "What do you think?" he asked his wife.
Honey tapped the floor nervously then drooped her head in defeat. "You're right." She groaned and dragged a hoof across her face. "She might be ten thousand years old, but she wasn't here for most of it." Honey stared at the ground. "I just realized: If alicorns are real..." She looked to her son. "Then where are the other ones? Are they related to that golem?"
Moon returned, breaking the train of thought. As the three called out to her, wanting to know what happened, Moon ignored them and went into the cave to become surrounded by magic clouds and strange patterns.
"What is that?" Geode wondered.
"I don't know," Sunny answered. "I've found her doing that a few times, but I still don't know what she's doing. I think it's just a long spell."
Honey ground her teeth. "She's very rude. I hate ponies like that."
Geode shrugged. "Nothing to do now but go to sleep. Come, Sunny. We'll show you where you can sleep for tonight."
"Thanks, Dad," Sunny said.
Moon's eyes shot open and her magic pinned the intruder against the wall opposite her, shaking some of the portraits loosely attached to the wall. "Who are you? How did you get through my barrier?" she asked aggressively.
The figure faded through her magic, stunning the alicorn. "I am the alicorn of the moon and the night," the figure spoke out. Her voice was hard to hear, like she was speaking from within a deep hole. "I am Mond."
Nightmare Moon was taken aback. This was an alicorn, but her body was...broken. She was a full head shorter than Moon, and her body was wreathed in darkness and white dots that blinked in and out of existence. A trail of silk-like cloth grew from the middle of her chest and flew at her sides like waves. Her mane and tail were completely black and looked pockmarked in some places. They produced a strange black substance that 'dripped' away from the pony and into the air. In fact, her whole body was subject to that. A hole was in place of her left eye, and her cutie marks were gone. She was mostly black and white, save for her right eye that was a golden yellow.
"I am the only princess of the night!"
Mond shook her head. "I am sorry your highness, greatest of all of us alicorns of the stars, but that is not true."
Moon relaxed and stood tall, raising a brow at the shorter alicorn. "Flattering me, spirit? How is it that you are here now?"
"All of us that remain are simply linked to you, being the first of us."
Moon looked up the roof, imagining the many, many moons reflected in her tail. "Are you the ones that I have to blame about my magic?"
The ghostly alicorn tilted her head, hurt. "We didn't mean any harm. We didn't choose this position. Much less to be trapped in this state."
"Then why are you here?"
Mond heaved a sigh. "When you were banished for a thousand years, your sister took care of moving the moon, but magic could only be satisfied for so long. When you never came back, things started to become unbalanced, and so I became chosen by lunar magic. I--"
"Impossible!" Nightmare interjected. "The moon only obeys me!" she bellowed angrily.
Mond nodded. "Yes. It only obeys you, thus each and every one of us brought with us a new moon, independent of yours. We always had our own moons to work upon and from which to take our power." She scratched her head, producing more of the strange liquid. "Then they came," she growled. Her hooves dug angrily into the ground. "They wouldn't abide the existence of alicorns, so they did everything to ruin our lives and everything we stood for. They made some of us crazy. They broke our flow of magic and caused us to burst from the inside-out. Some of us fought back and warped the landscape."
"Just like with my sister," Moon muttered.
Mond nodded. "The princess of the sun. Just as it will obey no other, the original moon obeys only you."
The solid alicorn snorted. "I only see one moon in the sky at night."
Mond stifled tears as best she could, but her voice still trembled. "We lost sight of our moons when we were...ending, but we never lost our connection. We have spoken with each other, and evermore have we felt something tugging at them from the original moon. Most of us didn't know what to make of it, but when we passed, we became connected to you, Princess Nightmare Moon." She smiled weakly. "Our moons have disappeared from the night sky. I don't know if they were ever truly part of Equestria. Perhaps they were simply created when we came to be, or maybe they were pulled from elsewhere and returned afterwards." Mond gave a warm smile. "You're connected to them now, regardless, and our spirits have felt comfort and joy, knowing that you have them with you forever."
"You reveal yourself to tell me something so...mundane?" Moon said with disbelief. "You have been stuck to the moons?" When Mond nodded, Nightmare shook her head in disappointment. "I thought you were going to give me something of value."
Mond frowned, and her form became hard to focus on. "We wish to protect the first alicorn of the night from them. To keep our moons free from their nefarious influences. We will keep your own soul and moon protected. Your soul and the first moon's existence are things to be treasured."
Moon grinned. "Aaaah. Vengeance. A worthy cause." She smiled widely, exposing her fangs. "I think I'm warming up to you."
"We are more, but the others chose me, being your unofficial successor, as the one to approach you."
"Then do you know where that foal that keeps attacking me with possessed is located?" Moon asked.
Mond shook her head. "No. All alicorns have searched after them at some point or another, but they could never be found."
Nightmare nodded to herself. "Do you have any memories of other immortals, like Discord and Accord, then, successor?" she said sarcastically.
The 'successor' didn't appreciate the sarcasm but let it go. "Yes. They were around when I was alive, along with your sister. They caused all manner of catastrophes in their feud of order versus chaos."
"Then...you would be able to tell me about my sister and those times in the past?" Moon realized.
Her guest shook her head. "I was born after Celestia disappeared. I'm sorry. I only know of Discord and Accord keeping each other in check. Our memories are also very hazy of our time as the living. Given time, with your aid, we might be able to alleviate you of all the time you lost."
Nightmare Moon sighed and nodded. "I have no choice, then. Very well. Firstly, I must tend to my potential allies: the changelings."
Mond put a hoof to her head and grunted in pain. "I...feel like I'm meant to remember them. I can...only remember vague parts of my life outside of my moon."
"Don't strain yourself. I will not have another pony, even a spirit, so invested in the glory of the night harm themselves for the benefit of other creatures," Nightmare stated firmly. "Go, spirit. Coalesce your mind."
Mond looked at Moon with a weak smile. "Thank you," she said before dissipating.
The alicorn looked around. When she determined she was finally alone, she snorted with bemusement. "Now there's ghosts. What is wrong with this world's magic?" She crossed her forelegs and contemplated several possibilities. "I feel as though it's being stifled by something, but freeing magic could impede my plans to retake the entirety of Equestria." She exposed her fangs in a snarl. "This Equestria is becoming more and more tedious as time goes on."