Christan was still amazed that two complete strangers, police officers that were on duty, were willing to believe him when he had said that Nightmare Moon was really Allen, but transformed. That they were members of the New Lunar Republic, a sect hidden in society that prepared for the arrival of their patron and the eventual battle between Celestia and Luna or, in the case they had, Nightmare Moon. But while the two cops sat in the front of the van and Nightmare occupied the central area Christan sat with his back to the back door, which had been locked to prevent him from falling out.
Christan was beginning to regret choosing to follow Nightmare and her new allies.
Nightmare, on the other hoof, was using her magic to touch the mouse, as her new friends had told her what the strange contraption was named, and browse what appeared to be the internet. The strange lists full of words, explaining the various symptoms of diseases and pictures to show what they meant, and she found herself drawn to what appeared to be articles based on herself and her vile sister. There even were videos based on them, some of them being 'fan made' as the labels suggested and others being the real deal. She highly doubted that there were any real videos that showed the war with her sister, no matter what the links said.
"It's strange that I forgot to even ask this," Nightmare spoke up, her eyes scanning the links for nothing in particular, "but I have to ask anyway. What is your guys' names?"
"I'm Corporal Thunder Strike," the man answered, causing Christan to raise an eyebrow in confusion, "and my partner is Lieutenant Silent Wind."
"Why are you answering with pony names?" Christan asked, "Why not use your real names?"
"The two worlds are colliding you foal," Nightmare answered, her eyes never leaving the screen as she read the strangest story of them all, "Sooner or later more and more people are going to be turning into ponies and with us comes the eventuality of a complete and all out war. Celestia and her army will rise up and come after Discord, but when they do me and my army will crush them and Discord in one fell swoop."
"I hate to burst your bubble, but what happens if one of the other immortals arrives?" Christan continued, "What happens if, say, King Sombra arrives and throws your entire plan into disarray?"
"Then I will smash him into the ground his so wrongly worships," Nightmare growled, her anger mixed with confusion for the story she had read, "but I am confused. Why would the freaky party pony do so much harm to her beloved athletic friend?"
"Great, she read Cupcakes," Silent remarked, though she was surprised that Nightmare wasn't the least bit frightened by the story, "I guess you didn't care for it?"
"I am not scared of some story," Nightmare said, looking for another story to read, "I have seen greater horrors during the time of Discord and even then there wasn't much to frighten me. Now, anypony care to explain to me the importance of the Rainbow Factory?"
~Police Van, three a.m. the following day~
Christan was shocked that the police officers, or the Corporal and the Lieutenant of Nightmare's republic, had managed to get them packed out in the parking lot of a walmart. He would have thought that the cops would have come and given them a notice to move before officially making them leave, but as he found out there had been no one that annoyed them. So he allowed himself to fall asleep, which was tricky with two other human beings occupying the front area of the van and a fully spread out alicorn sleeping in the direct center.
By falling asleep him found himself in what appeared to be a mist covered landscape filled with tall oak trees and a silence that was unnatural. He had read stories and the comments about the abilities of Nightmare Moon, such as the common trait that she and Luna share with their connection to the dream world. That was where Christan believed he was in at the moment, the only problem was he had no idea how he was supposed to get out of the world without doing harm to anything.
He could have sworn that his own dreams were filled with things that made him happy, like the sun or the rain for instance, but he hadn't been expecting what he found. He suspected that the dream he was in was none other than that of Nightmare Moon, only because there was none other who had the power to do such a thing. Where he expected to find the dream reveal to him the secrets of Nightmare's past all he was was the mist, the one thing that shrouded everything from his view.
"My dreams are empty," said a voice from behind him, causing him to turn around and find Nightmare standing behind him, "There is nothing for me to dream about, leaving me to wander the dream world as long as I want until everypony stops dreaming for the night."
"You don't dream?" Christan asked, wondering why the Alicorn of the Night and Dreams wouldn't dream of anything at all. It literally made no sense at all. "What did you do for a thousand years before you returned to Equestria? You must have slept most of the time away and during all that time you must have dreamt at least once."
"You wish to see what I dreamt about during my thousand year exile?" Nightmare nearly shouted, the sky darkening just a bit before she and it calmed down, "Fine...allow me to show you what I had been dreaming about for all that time. Be warned, what your about to see if not for the faint of heart."
The area shifted until the trees were the same as the ones from the Everfree Forest, the sky filled to the brim with black smoke, and the once grand towers of the Old Castle of the Alicorn Sisters stood there in all their glory. Several monsters, like a manticore and a cockatrice for instance, roamed the open area while pegasi preformed in the skies. Christan noticed a dozen unicorns practicing battle magic, the type of magic that involved tossing magic at ones enemy to harm them, and the same amount of earth ponies working on suits of armor.
Christan could feel the magic in the air spike, he could literally see the magic fill the air as two streaks entered the sky and landed on the two balconies of the two towers. On the right tower stood a very familiar dark blue coated alicorn mare, one dressed up in light silver armor that held the emblem of the moon on it. Her light blue eyes scanned the crowds of ponies and beyond, looking for the potential hazards that could hae threatened the kingdom at the time.
Standing on the other balcony was a tall, elegant white coated alicorn mare, adorned with what appeared to be the grandest golden armor of the age. Her mane was just one color, the prettiest pink color that Christan had never before laid eyes on in his entire life and suspected that none other had ever seen before. Her eyes showed the brightest light he had ever seen, one that let other know that she mare knew what she was doing and displayed the years of experience she had.
Christan was gazing upon the original alicorn sisters, the original Princess Luna and Princess Celestia before the two went to war against each other for the brief moment of history.
"Now you see what I once dreamt about," Nightmare continued, reminding Christan that he wasn't alone in this vision, "I once dreamt of the old days, the days before I let the words of hatred enter my heart and corrupt my very mind until I became the mare before you. In these days Celestia and I rarely spoke to each other, save for the occasional greetings and good nights whenever we switched roles.
During this time I was ignored by the citizens, they having chosen to sleep during the night and let my creations fade away when the sun rose the following morning. When I tried to talk to my sister she always told me that too much night time would cause great harm to the whole of Equestria, that crops would wither and die in due time. That ponies would die if I took too much time to be recognized. But she failed to understand that all I wanted was just another hour or two for my subjects."
"Maybe you can teach me about the night some time," Christan said, hoping to lighten the alicorn's mood so she didn't go all evil on him.
"Maybe," Nightmare agreed, staring at the younger version of herself while speaking.
"Do you regret what you have done?" Christan asked, risking a look back at the evil mare, "Turning into such a creature, twisting yourself from a peaceful mare into a monster, and fighting against your sister?"
"You...you are a foal," Nightmare angrily snapped, turning her back on him as the vision faded into nothing, "I have shown you something that I would have never shown anypony else in all of Equestria. I have shown you the days that I have relived for countless years until my release. These are but the beginnings of the days I choose to relive, the surface of what made me remember my plans and fueled my hatred. Right now I have no reason to trust you, Christan Miller, as you have questioned me at every turn of my journey to defeat Discord thus far.
Keep this up and I with have my new guards...dispose of you in a manner that they deem fit."
Christan snapped awake not a second later, drenched in sweat as his mind recalled the threat that Nightmare Moon promised him. He doubted that the police officers would consider killing him, considering they weren't that evil in their hearts, but considering that they were willing to follow the rules of the New Lunar Republic he was in danger. As far as he could see if he stayed with Nightmare and her guards he was likely to end up dumped somewhere far from home, but if he chose to play along he might see the end of all this disaster.
Though he tried to fall back asleep until morning arrived Christan felt the eyes of Nightmare Moon staring at his soul, even though the mare was asleep the entire time.