It had been some time since the sun last shone; Equestria was buried beneath a blanket of snow and ice. The realm was dying, as were its denizens. There had been no harvest that year - the sun had vanished in spring - and the larders were almost bare. In the wilderness, countless creatures had set in to hibernate without their winter stores, and trees stood barren.
The snowfall served its new mistress well. Coating every surface in sparkling white, the moon’s light was reflected throughout Equestria, and Nightmare Moon could easily pick out every pony who dared to move through her world. Not that she had much to worry about. Her sister had been missing since that fateful day, months ago. She chuckled to herself; that word had ceased to hold any meaning.
The realm was secure. All the land was still, and silent, reverent beneath her starry canvas.
She watched the little ponies abandon their homes, seeking out the ancient comforts of cave and bonfire. Entire towns had vanished into mountain and burrow, the buildings torn down to provide fuel. Acres of farmland, unable to bear fruit, saw their way into the flames. Their dreams of a future were a caustic fume, a haze that burned the lungs and stung the eyes. She marveled at the devastation.
She never imagined her victory could be so complete. One by one, she saw the lights go out behind the ponies’ eyes. With a brooding satisfaction, she watched as they would walk out into the snow, unwilling to go on, and lay down to die. Each one became its own grave marker. The earth was too hard to dig, and the lack of weather - the factories had fallen some time ago - preserved each abandoned corpse in the cold and the dark.
Oh, she could end them all, she mused, but it was so much more satisfying to watch them lose hope. Still, there were holdouts. Some ponies mined deep into the mountains, seeking heat and safety. Others tried to coax what they could out of the torchlight and weak soil within the caves. It wouldn’t be enough, but they worked on, tirelessly.
Even across the frozen wilderness, some ponies trudged, wrapped deeply in protective clothing, or glowing with warming magic. They would tear down houses, or raid cellars, and in some cases, bring snowbound ponies back with them to the nearest warmth. Even in the face of all this, the ponies would sacrifice themselves to save one another. And for what? They were all doomed.
Her mood suddenly dark, Nightmare Moon stretched out her wings and soared into the night. A new constellation was in order, she thought. That would take her mind off the waiting. And so, she set to work.
She was still absorbed in her craft when five ponies, carrying a litter between them, set out from a cavern near the blasted lands, and towards her old home. She never saw them traverse the tundra, or what it was they carried.