Crossing the border between states hadn't been a problem. Nightmare and her group found themselves in the waiting arms of the rest of the New Lunar Republic, though the five of them noticed an immediate difference. They were expecting to find thirty people, all dressed up in armor they had spent months making in anticipation for their chosen leader's arrival, but what they actually found shocked them.
The thirty people were now a bunch of pegasus ponies, each of them actually moving around as if they were used to trotting around like a pony. The caravan was full of vans, large trucks, and everything else that Thunder had said that they had waiting on the border for them. Nightmare was greeted by the full force of the New Lunar Republic, all thirty ponies saluting her as she climbed out of the van she had been riding in. She grinned, the republic was small and it was already ready for complete war.
"Discord has been busy," Thunder remarked, coming to a stop by his princess as a stallion, dressed up in what appeared to be a captains uniform, "Captain Stormtail, allow me to introduce Princess Nightmare Moon. Princess, met the captain of your army."
"Princess," the stallion said, bowing slightly before looking her in the eye, "It is a pleasure to see you have safely arrived at our humble stronghold. I see that you have captured the Element of Kindness on your way here, which is good since we have also captured an Element of our own."
"Is that so?" Nightmare asked, raising an eyebrow at the stallion, "Show me which of the remaining Elements is foalish enough to dare an attack on the New Lunar Republic. Allow them to meet the one they dared to hinder and let them know the punishment for their transgression."
Captain Stormtail whistled and two of guards, who none of the group had seen before, came forward with chains in their mouths, holding a struggling pony down. Christan leaned out of the driver side window in time to see the flash of pegasus wings and the figure of a cyan coated pegasus mare trapped by the chains appeared before Nightmare. He noticed the ruby colored lightning bolt, which was attached to a golden necklace around her neck, and he put two and two together.
"Ah, the arrogant and lazy Rainbow Dash," Nightmare happily said, almost as if she was a kid in a candy shop, "You should have taken my offer and become a Shadowbolt, but then we would not be in this situation at the moment. How about it? Will you reject my sister and join me in bringing about eternal night and my rule to Equestria?"
"Fat chance Nightmare Moon," Rainbow growled, struggling to get at the mare as the two guards held her back, "There's no way I'm going to let you take over Equestria. Me and my friends will blast you into the sky once we're all together."
"Cute." Nightmare remarked, rolling her eyes as she faced the captain, "I take it you have devised a way for us to transport the captured Elements of Harmony with us? One that would allow me to make sure we had them under lock and key, but would keep them as far away from me as I would like?"
"Yes, my Princess, we have," Stormtail answered, beckoning to one of the large carrier trucks near them, "Inside our six special holding cells that will allow us to hold all six bearers of the Elements of Harmony. It was where we were holding Miss Rainbow Dash while we were waiting for you and your companions to join us. Each is reinforced with specialized metals to prevent any magic from passing through the bars and they wont shatter no matter how much pressure is applied to them."
"Just a quick question," Nightmare spoke up, making the captain turn to face her, "Exactly how long have you been working on all of this?"
"Going on two weeks now," the stallion replied, keeping a straight face as he noticed the shocked expression on his Princess' face, "I have had plenty of time to consult our mages and build these cages in two weeks time, that is with some of the results coming up as unacceptable. The ten unicorns who currently make up your magical forces are currently on the outskirts of Las Vegas, watching Discord and waiting for your arrival. I take it you have somepony in mind to keep an eye on the captured Elements while we travel?"
"I do," Nightmare answered with a grin, turning to face the van she had been riding in. "CHRISTAN MILLER. Come out here and present yourself you insolent foal. And bring the Element of Kindness with you."
Christan scrambled out of the van, making sure that he didn't step on poor Fluttershy's wings as the two of them made their way to the six ponies. Should he have been shaking in fear as he approached Nightmare Moon? Maybe, but with everything she had done Christan wasn't going to admit that he was actually a little scared of her now. She had captured Rainbow Dash, which meant that he was going to have to enlist Queen Chrysalis' help in escaping with the two of them. It was a good thing he had his laptop with him, he'd be needing it to contact Chrysalis as soon as possible.
"This is the man that will be in charge of making sure the captured Elements remain locked up," Nightmare continued, "I assume that each of the six cells has it's own key that allows us to lock and unlock the barred doors?"
"Yes, each cell has a unique key to open it," Stormtail agreed, pulling out a keyring with six different colored keys on it, "Take this cyan colored key for example; it is tied to the cyan colored door that will forever remain as Miss Rainbow Dash's prison. As such the yellow key will unlock and lock the prison cell of Fluttershy and Fluttershy alone. The other four cells will remain vacant until we capture another one of the Elements."
Christan only nodded as the two guards and Stormtail led him right up to the truck that held the cells, his nerves almost making him wish he could escape with the two poor mares. He watched the stallion open the cyan and yellow colored doors, which were located in the back area of the truck, and ushered both Rainbow and Fluttershy into their cells. He quickly locked both of the doors and tossed the keys to Christan, leaving him with two trapped ponies in the barely lit area.
"Great," Christan heard Rainbow say, "Back into this dull cell with no windows and nothing to read. Damn the New Lunar Republic, they could have at least given me a book or something instead of assigning me such a dull person to watch over me. Sure, they want to contain my pure awesomeness, but isn't this 'unbreakable' cell a little too much?"
"C...come now Rainbow Dash," Fluttershy loudly whispered, "Christan isn't like those meanies. He doesn't...doesn't like the methods of Nightmare...Moon and her allies."
Christan sighed and took a seat on the chair that happened to be right next to Rainbow's cell, which was the last cell in the truck. As he sat down he looked over at the mare and got a dirty look from her, indicating that she couldn't believe that he wasn't in league with Nightmare Moon and hadn't sprung them out yet. She might not like him, but at least Fluttershy knew that he was on their side for the moment.
"I'm going to get some reinforcements to get us out of here," Christan said, pulling up the chat menu he had with Chrysalis from the previous time they chatted, "Give me a couple minutes and let me see if she's still online, otherwise we might be in trouble."
Queen Chrysalis, I realize you asked me not to respond to you in such a manner again, but, not knowing if you have any other means of communication, I have dared to do so again. I need to tell you something that you will deem important.
Christan took the next three minutes to research any strange happenings that were related to the other ponies and any new pony sightings. Changelings had attacked King Sombra in the heart of Seattle, which was now becoming his new twisted Crystal Empire, but had fled the moment he had done something to the Crystal Heart. Chrysalis was already on the move, attacking her enemies while they thought that they were safe from their rivals. It made Christan wonder if the New Lunar Republic caravan was as safe as they thought they were. Then he noticed a reply to his post and prayed that the Changeling Queen was in a good mood.
As much as I recall telling you not to contact me this way until you had made up your mind I will admit that the tone of your post has my interest. So tell me; what is it that you have found that you deem to be important enough to contact me now?
Nightmare Moon has captured both Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash. At present she has two of the Elements and she plans on imprisoning the other four in cells that will keep them there until she says so.
By the might of the Swarm. It is a good thing that we are already close to your location, as we will be bombing the encampment before they have a chance to move any further. I trust that you have thought about my offer and are willing to throw your lot with whoever you believe deserves your allegiance more? Right now the Dark Mare has the beginnings of an army that will cut it's way through whatever stands in front of her, the Mad King is corrupting the very heart of the area he has arisen in, and the Solar Rump has not yet arrived.
Am I to understand that the three of us will be secured by some of your guards when you attack the caravan?
I will not let any harm come to the Elements of Harmony, as they are the only means of actually defeating Discord and Nightmare Moon without a long, drawn out fight.
One second, someponies coming.
Christan looked up from the laptop in time to see one of the guards, one of the two ponies who had brought out the bound Rainbow Dash, approach him. He didn't like those two guards, didn't trust them as far as he could throw them, so whatever the stallion guard had in mind he knew he wasn't going to like it. He made sure to set the laptop on the floor next to him, the screen facing away so the guard didn't figure out what he was planning on doing.
"Why do we need such a fragile thing like you guarding the captured Elements?" the guard asked, making it clear he had something dangerous in mind when he glared into Christan's eyes, "You squirm the moment somepony like me comes along and distracts you, as if your afraid of getting your hooves - or whatever you call those things- dirty. I should just bash your head into the floor and take the keys so these two can never escape."
"You can't do that," Christan replied, catching the stallion by surprise, "Nightmare Moon will figure out what happened if you did and you would be in a complete world of trouble. Would you like to acquire your master's ire at the fact you went behind her back and took out the one she appointed to guard the Elements? She could erase you from the world or cast you out of the very republic you have sworn to defend and for what?"
"You will die Christan Miller," the stallion promised, his voice oddly cold as he stared deep into Christan's eyes, "The name is Tempest and in the coming days you had better watch your back. I will be the one, out of hundreds of the Princess' followers, who will put you in the ground."
As the insane stallion, now named Tempest, turned and left the holding area Christan picked up the laptop and read the last couple of lines. He also noticed the newest post that was a direct response to what he had quickly posted before Tempest had bothered him.
I am a Queen you insolent foal. You will not tell your future Queen to wait a moment without giving me a valid reason for leaving the chat suddenly. I demand that you reply immediately.
Sorry about that. I was just being threatened by a pegasus stallion by the name of Tempest. How long until your Changelings bomb the caravan?
Within minutes actually. I take it you are willing to allow us to escort you and the captured Elements to a safe location and to get you as far away from the insane Nightmare Moon? Maybe even change sides until your true ruler decides to make an appearance?
At this point I don't see what choices I have left. Its either stay here and become the forgotten guard who happens to be defending the Elements of Harmony or join an army of shapeshifters who are actually doing the right thing. Just tell whoever is coming for us that the back door will be unlocked and I'll be waiting with the Elements.
As soon as the post was up Chrysalis broke the chat, leaving Christan to stare at the screen and wonder if he truly made the right choice in turning on Nightmare Moon. The main reason he had stayed so long is because he thought there was a shred of his old roommate inside the vile mare, but the last couple of events said otherwise. Allen was gone and Nightmare Moon was at full power, which made Christan wonder if the other poor people who had become villains were going to disappear as well.
"Not to be rude or anything, but could you please share with us what the plan is?"
Christan looked up to see Rainbow Dash staring at him from behind the bars of her cell, making it clear that if he wasn't with Nightmare Moon then he had better spring them loose while nopony was around.
"I've been chatting with Queen Chrysalis and she's agreed to help us escape," Christan replied, selecting the yellow key and releasing Fluttershy from her cell, "She's going to attack Nightmare Moon's location soon and she has agreed to take us under her wing so we can use those Elements against Discord. I, honestly, don't care if you like the Changelings or not, but I am not leaving you here for Nightmare Moon to find after the attack. The three of us will be escaping the moment one of her guards comes for us."
Rainbow glared at him, but her gaze softened when he opened her cell and took the chains off of her, allowing her to move freely once again. That was before they heard something explode outside and felt the truck rock just a bit, threatening to send them into the same cell. They could hear the sounds of ponies creaming for their artillery, which made Christan's blood run cold, but he sighed when he realized they couldn't use the guns and were resorting to something else. Then the door burst open, almost as if magic had torn it right off of it's hinges.
A black coated pony, one with small fangs in his mouth and pure green eyes, popped himself into the truck, looking around for any signs of something. It gave Christan the chance to realize that the pony was a changeling, maybe one of the ones sent to recover him and the Elements. He was wearing what appeared to be a dark blue suit of armor, one that allowed him protection to the head, his chest area, and his hooves.
"Christan Miller and the captured Elements I presume?" the Changeling asked, climbing into the truck in an effort to make sure he wasn't discovered by an enemy, "The Queen asked that I escort the three of you to safety."
Christan nodded to the ponies and the four of them exited the truck, Christan turning back to pick up the discarded multicolored keys. If he was leaving then he might as well make sure that the prison cells Nightmare's forces had constructed would be a complete waste. The outside was clearly a mini war zone, the fact that the New Lunar Republic was having itself blasted to pieces by the Changeling Empire.
There were hundreds of Changelings swarming the area, bombs raining down on the republic as they tried to get some weapons that would even the odds against the swarm. It was clear that among the rulers of Equestria that Queen Chrysalis was the one in control of where the war was currently heading. She had already attacked King Sombra, even though it had resulted in failure due to him cheating, and now she was beating Nightmare Moon, who was nowhere to be seen at the moment. Before they were spotted Christan and the three ponies fled to the north, allowing the sound of the explosions to cover any noise they made and the dust to cloud their enemies vision.
Christan was sure that he was going to have to consider taking Chrysalis up on her offer to join her force, because if Princess Celestia wasn't to show up then he had to choose another ruler. Nightmare Moon was out of the question, she was already insane and was likely going to skin him the next time they saw each other. Discord was the reason everything was happening and Christan knew that the God of Chaos needed no help in the manner Christan knew the other rulers would accept. Sombra...he was concentrating on rebuilding his empire and corrupting the minds of those around him, so he was out of the equation. That left Queen Chryalis...Christan only hoped that Princess Celestia would arrive soon so he wasn't allied with a bunch of Changelings for too long.
~Las Vegas, that same instant~
The light pink haired woman, after a long day of keeping an eye on Discord, finally sat down at a empty table when she felt a pain in her heart. She only felt something like that whenever someone, or somepony, had chosen to forsake the Solar Empire and take up the banner of one of the other rulers. She had lost another soul, one of the couple dozen she had felt the last few days, but she couldn't let it get to her. She looked up to be sure her target was still there and sure Discord was on the other side of the bar, his back turned on her while he drank his wine and watched a poker match.
He was blissfully unaware that Princess Celestia had indeed arrived in the world, taking the form of the woman she was now so she wouldn't draw attention to herself. She needed the Elements present so she had a hope of defeating Discord, which was why she continued to keep her human form on. Until she either slipped up or revealed herself there was no way Discord would ever figure out that she was as close to him as she was. The only thing to do was wait until Twilight and her friends arrived, which meant a lot of gambling and shadowing Discord until then.
She only hoped that they didn't arrive too late to stop him.