//------------------------------//
// A Challenger 
// Story: Supersymmetry 
// by Europa 
//------------------------------//







Nightmare Moon


They took turns ruling.

When the sun hovered in the sky and cast its searing rays upon the world, Solar Flare ruled from her throne in Everfree while Nightmare Moon went incognito, assuming a disguise and mingling with the populace so as to take the measure of their feelings. After all, while she and her sister made their rule crystal clear, public opinion was important to them. What was a ruler if their subjects weren't satisfied? Even if sometimes they had to make it clear they should've been satisfied with something.

And naturally, during the night, they switched. Nightmare Moon sat on her throne and Solar Flare assumed a mortal form to mingle with the little ponies. And so they swapped, year after year, cycling like night and day.

Nightmare was already in disguise. She had any number of options available to her by sealing off all but one of her types of pony magic. She knew from past experience that Solar Flare preferred to use a unicorn disguise, and while magic and flight were both abilities she enjoyed, Nightmare Moon herself was much inclined to earth pony form; sealing off her earth magic made her feel so weak and frail, as if the slightest gust of wind could knock her over.

And so, Queen Nightmare was currently a regular, uninteresting mare known as Sea Shells, with a mostly aquamarine coloration and the cutie mark of an anemometer, bearing faux-leather saddlebags inscribed with her cutie mark. Nopony ever paid her any mind, and the banks would never investigate the fact that, despite never working a day in her life, Sea Shell would never want for bits. Obviously Sea Shells wasn't a real pony, that would just be too much of a headache. But she served Nightmare well all the same.

It was interesting to hear what was being said about the revelation of another Equestria. Some were chomping at the bit to invade it, and she could surely understand that view when the 'others' had harmed their 'beloved Queen Nightmare'. Mostly, however, the population was indecisive on the issue, with an undertone of interest. The newspapers, with headlines such as 'Queens make contact with alternate Equestria' explained it well. And that was just the first few hours after the fact.

Nightmare Moon made her way towards a dark alley, a rather specific one that had two Coronal Guards and Twilight Sparkle waiting outside of a secret passage that lead from the castle, with several wards erected around it to keep nosy ponies away. It was the same one she and Solar used to sneak out, so seeing Twilight there wasn't a big surprise. She trotted right up to the mare and offered a smile. "Hello, Twilight."

"Um, hello?" she asked. Nightmare dispelled her illusion, rising to her full height in a matter of seconds. Now that her coat was once again black, the scorching sun's rays became rather intense on her hide. Twilight jumped. "O-Oh! Right, I didn't know it was you. So... how are we going to go without getting swamped? I mean, I know you can do that, but for me - "

"I'll make a disguise for you," Nightmare explained. "Which of the races do you prefer?" she asked, lighting up her horn with an aura of darkness.

Twilight took a moment to think it over. "Um, unicorn if you don't mind, I'm more used to it."

She nodded. "Then take a deep breath." Twilight do so, and Nightmare Moon projected her magic at her, finding the magic inside Twilight, sealing away the pegasus and earth pony magic, as well as placing a five-senses illusion to hide her wings, rework her coat colors, change up her mane and cutie mark... there.

Nightmare Moon smiled. "There. You are now a unicorn named Pale Light. Your cutie mark is a sign of your skill in astronomy."

Twilight looked over herself, noting her ghastly white coat, gray mane done up in a ponytail, and her starscape cutie mark. "Huh," she remarked. "Princess Luna can do something similar, but I didn't think you could do it to somepony else."

She shrugged her wings and sank back into her earth pony disguise. "I've had a lot of practice. Come, we are old friends since fillyhood from Harvest Brook, here in Everfree to sight see. I've already been here before, so I'm also leading you around by the fetlock. Guards," she said with a nod in their direction. "you are dismissed."

They saluted. "By your leave," they said in unison. They pulled aside a seemingly random set of bricks to expose a tunnel, trotted in, and then the unicorn among then closed it with his telekinesis.

Twilight turned to Nightmare. "So, what should I call you when you're like this?"

"This persona is known as Sea Shells, but we're old friends, so call me Sea. Got it, Pale?"

She nodded. "Okay. So, what did you want to show me?"

Nightmare considered it. "It's about lunch time, and I know a good restaurant to go to. You'll like it."

'Pale Light' turned a a shade of green. "Oh no, I just got off from lunch, I couldn't possibly go eat."

"Then I'll eat both our meals, I skipped breakfast today anyhow to prepare the press conference," she said evenly. Then, switching to a significantly warmer tone of voice, she said, "Come on Pale! I'm hungry, and I've heard good things about this restaurant over on Golden Street!"

Twilight rolled her eyes, but followed after Nightmare and got into character. "Alright, Sea. Nopony around anyway." They trotted out of the alley and Nightmare, by memory, aligned herself towards We Bake Things, one of her favorite places to get lunch outside of the castle. They passed by the commoners trotting on the streets as they moved further and further out from the castle, its spires looming behind them like some great beast.

"You'll like it," she insisted. "Their toast and salad is to die for. Especially when they bake their croutons in garlic oil... mm!"

"Okay," Twilight said warily. As they trotted through, Nightmare Moon noted that they passed what she had researched to be the residence of Tough Cookie. She'd need to check on him, or at least his identification in the citizen registry, but that could come later. For now, she had a foreign dignitary to entertain. 

Pushing through the crowds, the duo soon arrived at We Bake Things, a simple little shop on the outside but warm and comforting on the inside, lined with bricks, unlit fireplaces, and faux-fur rugs. The fireplaces meant that it usually had better business during the chill of her night, but it was quite famous even during the day. They trotted in, and were soon greeted by a rather simple looking unicorn stallion, who gave them a winning smile that didn't quite reach his eyes.

"Hello ladies! What can I get you?"

"A table for two, please," 'Sea Shell' said.

"Of course," the stallion said, taking a moment to smooth out his blue uniform. "Right this way, ladies." He escorted them through the restaurant, and while Nightmare moved gracefully, she saw out of the corner of her eyes that Twilight was somewhat uncoordinated in her new form - it wasn't that different - and had to put visible effort in not colliding with other ponies. Around them, ponies pecked at their meals and made polite conversation with each other. A mare and a stallion gazed longingly into each others' eyes over a slice of dessert. At another table, two ponies just out of colthood sat side by side with what looked like technical schematics in front of them. The entire restaurant was filled with life and energy.

Before long they were brought to a round table made of stained glass arranged in random shapes, colors and sizes. Nightmare sat at one of the table, and Twilight at the one directly across from her. There were already two menus out. "Somepony will be along momentarily to take your orders, ladies. Welcome to We Bake Things, where we bake things."

Nightmare took out her menu and began scanning out, and Twilight did the same. "So, um, Sea, what do you recommend?"

"Well, the tomato soup is really good. They don't just sell baked goods here. Oh, also they roast their salad and even give the croutons once over, gives them a delightful, spicy crunch that is truly to die for."

"Hmm," Twilight said, poring over the menu. "Alright, I think I know what I want."

Spotting a dish that involved hay, Nightmare Moon also knew her order. And so began the tense, silenced-filled wait for somepony to come by and take their order. It was a thestral mare in a red vest with a cute little name tag, the bright colors clashing horribly with her pale grey coat and dark blue mane. She stopped before them and offered a wide smile, the kind Nightmare Moon had come to recognize as signifying that she wasn't faking it; the two of them arriving was genuinely the highlight of her day.

"Hi there!" she piped. "My name's Gloom Shade, and I'll be your waitress for today! Are you two ready to order?" she asked, taking out a notepad and pencil from her mane and holding them, balancing with her wings.

"Yes," Twilight said as she scanned her menu. "I'll have the avocado soup with buttered toast, and just some water to drink." The unicorn folded her menu in her now-white magic.

"Garlic hay with baked carrots, and a glass of Red Soil Wine," Nightmare said.

Gloom Shade jotted those down in her notepad, then stuck both back in her mane and gave them a soft grin that let her fangs poke through. "Thank you, your food will be right out. May I take those?" she asked, motioning towards the menus. Twilight lit up her horn and gave them to the thestral, who tossed them onto her back. "Thank you, enjoy your stay!" she chirped, then turned around and happily cantered away, humming a peppy tune.

Once they were alone, Twilight cleared her throat. "So, did you hear that announcement about another Equestria?"

Suspecting where the other disguised alicorn was going with this, she nodded. "Oh yes, I did. Exciting stuff."

"Huh." Twilight flopped an ear convincingly. "So have what've you heard about it? I want to know what everypony thinks before forming my own opinion."

"Well, a minority wants to invade that other Equestria for daring to foalnap Queen Nightmare. But again, they're the minority, and few are so devoted to them over an event that their great great great great grandparents weren't around to see." Twilight nodded. "Most ponies are curious, like me." She winked. "And of course some of them don't want anything to do with them."

"Hmm, so a pretty good spread. I'm not sure, I'm pretty curious about their history, seeing where it diverges. I've already got a pretty good idea myself, though if I'm right there may be more than one."

"Oh?"

"Yes, I hear rumors that there was a thing the other Equestria used on Discord and Queen Nightmare, and the fact that it isn't in our world may be of note, just as the difference between the queens and their princesses."

"Hmm, perhaps, but we don't exactly have the resources. Anyway, I seem to remember Princess Twilight saying there were four alicorns in her world, counting herself. Can you imagine it, four? That's twice what we have here! Wonder who they are," she said hintingly.

"Huh? Oh!" Twilight looked left, then right. "You wouldn't happen to have any paper, would you? Something to write with?"

"Hmm, let me see." Nightmare reached into her saddlebags and fished around inside. "As a matter of fact..." She pulled out a stack of papers and a pencil. "I do!"

"Perfect." Twilight levitated them over and began writing on it furiously, then passed it back over for Nightmare Moon to read.

Celestia, Luna. Myself, ascended recently, realm still undecided. Cadance, former pegasus, ascended years before me, realm love. Ruler of Crystal Empire along with her husband and my brother, Shining Armor; unicorn.

Cadance then. How curious, the Crystal Empire? She'd heard Luna and Celestia briefly talking about it, back when she was in Luna's head but had not yet taken over, but that it was still a sovereign nation in the other world? Most curious. She'd have to inquire about that later.

It was only a few minutes later that Gloom Shade returned, expertly balancing a plate in her hooves as she flew at low altitude towards them. With clearly practiced ease, the thestral placed their orders on the table and landed. "Alright, there is your soup, water, glass of wine, and your hay. Is there anything else I can get for you two today?"

Twilight shook her head. "No, thank you."

"That will be all," Nightmare said stiffly.

The thestral nodded her head and, with a cheery smile, said, "Alright, just flag me down if you two need anything!" Then she trotted away, oozing cheer with every step.

For the time being, conversation cut out as the disguised queen and princess dug into their meals. The food was, as always, remarkably good. Not quite as good as the food in the castle, but for a restaurant it was quite spectacular. As Nightmare ate, she considered the existence of this 'Cadance'. Was she fully immortal or not? Twilight wasn't, not yet at least. The lack of ethereal mane was proof of that. And ruling the Crystal Empire as a separate nation? Curious. Likely they still possessed that Crystal Heart with all its unknown origins and powers. It wouldn't be too harmful for Nightmare herself, but getting close to it had a fair chance of disrupting her dark magic.

If she ever came close to it. Speaking of which.

"So Pale," she said. The 'unicorn' looked up from her soup with a start. "I recently got myself tangled in some thread, but I somehow didn't notice until you came here and pointed it out," she explained. "I just wonder, did the same happen to you, and how should I go about cutting the yarn?"

Twilight tapped her chin. "Well, Sea, it did happen to me as well, but I did it on purpose with my own yarn, so I could retrace my steps. Don't know about yours though; my friends back home thought you were going to do something with it, but.... "

"I have no intentions," she confirmed. "Though if I were to - "

"Okay this is just too frustrating!" Twilight snapped. Light swirled around her horn, then around them. "There, privacy field. So you didn't know about your tether to Luna, and you aren't planning to go back, right? You don't know how to sever it either, though it might be prudent to do so just in case something happens - "

"Relax," she insisted, cutting off the younger pony's tirade. "Let me take a look." Nightmare Moon focused her magic inwards, around the nearly-black purple magic that tethered her to the moon and stars. Sure enough, there was a tiny little line of her magic streaking off into nowhere. So small that, if she hadn't been focused on finding it, Nightmare Moon would never have noticed it at all. She followed it, and a fair distance away her magic simply cut off. Watching it in her mind's eye was quite alarming; she had a connection back to the world where she had lost a thousand years of her life, and Nightmare hadn't even noticed it?!

She took a moment to relax herself. It was inert for the moment, and she doubted that her counterpart would be anymore willing to poke at it than she was.

"Well, there it is," she said. Nightmare took her fork in her right hoof and twirled some hay onto it, before lifting it to her mouth and taking a bite. Delicious, as always.

Twilight gulped down her soup, then took a bite of her toast. She paused, her eyes widening, then devoured the rest of the toast in two large chomps that prompted Nightmare to raise a brow at her. Already had lunch, Nightmare scoffed to herself. The other alicorn chuckled and, using a provided napkin, wiped away the crumbs stuck to her muzzle. "You were right, Nightmare. This is really good." She took a sip of her drink.

She chuckled quietly, gently swirling her glass of wine. "Well of course I was. This is my home, it's fitting to know your home. Now Twilight, tomorrow you will be meeting with the delegates of the surrounding nations. It would perhaps not be harmless for you to inform me of anything important about your home, lest it come as an unpleasant surprise?"

The 'unicorn' tilted her head and hummed. "Oh! This came up after the meeting, but I had to explain to your sister about our version of Discord."

Nightmare Moon's insides did an uncomfortable flip-flop at the mere mention of that vile serpent. "What about him?"

"He's reformed," Twilight explained. "He still gets up to mischief every now and then, but nothing too severe or cruel. Apparently he came to your world to check up on me. I don't know where he is now, but if you see him please don't try to kill him."

She gave her a deadpan look and set her wine down. "Discord. Reformed." Nightmare looked closely at Twilight, searching for any sign of deception. Finding nothing, she leaned back in her seat. "Merciful heavens, you're serious. How did you even do that?"

"Actually, it was my friend Fluttershy who reformed him." Nightmare blinked. "Um, the Element of Kindness." She nodded in understanding, and motioned for Twilight to continue. "She befriended Discord and, without him even noticing it, reformed him to use his chaos magic for the good of Equestria. Recently he came here to check up on me - he gave your sister quite a scare." She shrugged. "I haven't seen him since, but if he teleports next to you please don't hurt him."

She frowned, but nodded. "Very well, I will attempt to exercise restraint." They continued to eat. "So, I was thinking that once we were finished here we could return to the castle. Before she knew of your nature, my sister intended to give you over to me, and I could use somepony to help out with my schedule; there is reason to believe it will become quite chaotic in the coming days and weeks."

Twilight considered this, and nodded. "I'd love to, give me something to be occupied with. And maybe we could discuss your merger with Luna; from the timeline, I suspect that King Sombra had something to do with it, so if we can figure out what dark magic he used - um, I'll explain who he is later - then maybe we can open a stable, um." She stumbled over her words. "A stable gate between our worlds without you and your sister merging with the princesses."

"Hmm, I do have quite the knowledge on dark magic. When we have the time, Twilight, that'd be a great idea." She wasn't quite sure about opening a permanent path between their worlds, given what was on the other one, but if the danger of their alternate selves could be nullified then the other world could offer great benefit. In fact, if their Discord was reformed, and they could ally with him... yes, it was looking like a better idea by the second. Nightmare was looking forward to that.

Soon, they finished their meal and Twilight popped their privacy ward. Nightmare flagged down the waitress, the cheery thestral bouncing over to them. "Hey there, everything okay for you two ponies?"

Twilight nodded. "Oh yes, it's very good. May we, um, pay for the check?"

She nodded vigorously. "Mmm-hmm! Lemme just get that for you!" Gloom Shade bounced away, and then shortly returned with a slip of paper tucked under her left wing. "That'll be twenty seven bits, please."

"Of course." Nightmare leaned over with her head and flipped open her saddlebags. She fished around inside with a hoof, and soon produced the bits and gave them to Gloom. "Here you go."

The thestral snatched them up with a wing and put them into one of her uniform's pockets. "Thank you, you mares enjoy your day." With a nod, she trotted away humming.

Nightmare looked at Twilight. "Okay, Pale. I should probably lead you around Everfree, let you see what it's like, before we go home." The more Twilight liked their country, the more favorable it looked compared to her prior conceptions, then when she inevitably returned to her world - a thought that disquieted Nightmare Moon - then the better a report she would give their counterparts, and the less likely Twilight would be convinced to turn the Elements on them.

Nightmare Moon was in no mood to be struck by the Elements a third time.

They got out of their seats, leaving the plates for the restaurant workers to clean up. They walked out of We Bake Things, and Nightmare began to wonder where to go next. "So Pale Light, where do you want to go next?"

She tilted her head. "Hmm, is there an astronomy center, or something of the like? I'd love to see what sort of star formations Queen Nightmare has come up with in the past."

Nightmare smiled and gave a little dance. Lacking both her horn and wings the balance was a little off, but the impression was still there.

"Of course! It's right this way."

And of course, showing off her skills would only make getting on Twilight's good side all the easier.


***-_***_-***-_***_-***-_***_-***



Tough Cookie


With a long, languid yawn, Tough stretched and rolled over in his bed. It was so soft, so warm and inviting. He didn't want to do anything else. Of course, his younger-by-one-year brother, Anvil Head, had other ideas.

"Rise and shine, wakey wakey!" he boomed in his deep voice. Tough Cookie cracked open an eye to look at the gray, pegasus-shaped annoyance. "Up you get, it's past lunch! You've slept in long enough, bro!"

He groaned and dutifully got to his hooves, drearily blinking the sleep out of his eyes. "How'd you get in?" he slurred. "I locked my house."

Anvil punched him in the fetlock. "That's what you think, Cookie. Besides, what sort of brother would I be if I let you sleep in and miss work? I got your back, bro."

"It's my day off," he deadpanned.

"Yeah yeah." Anvil took to the air and flew behind him, pushing him towards the bathroom with his forelegs. "Now, you go and freshen up while I check on our lunch."

Lunch? Was it that late already? Maybe Anvil had a point in getting him up. With sleep slowly releasing its grip on him, Tough Cookie became increasingly aware of the hole in his stomach that suggested he had slept in big time. He made his way into the bathroom and stared at himself in the mirror. He brought up a hoof and pulled down below his bloodshot blue eyes, then let the skin go. Tough tried to tame and smooth over his bedmane, but the brown fibers simply didn't want to obey him today so he let both his mane and tail settle into the tangles that came with sleeping in.

After getting himself cleaned up, he trotted out into his kitchen. Anvil was acting unusually peppy and helpful; he was cooking? Something was up with his brother. His kitchen was a large room, with shelves stocked with all sorts of oats, bread, hay, cereal and the like, one of those solar-powered microwaves that sat unused in the corner, and several ice boxes with no ice in them. Anvil Head was fluttering around the mahogany table, shifting plates this way and that, two of which had buttered pancakes on it.

Tough Cookie made his way over to the table and took a seat, an action that Anvil soon duplicated. "You never cook," he mentioned. "What's got you in such a mood that you decided to cook?" He took a bite.

"Well, there was a big announcement by the queens earlier. You are gonna want to hear this."

Tough Cookie's hooves stopped, the fork holding a slice of pancake on it inches from his mouth. Great, the queens. The damn tyrants who ruled with a stranglehold over all the land, even those beyond Equestria. "What was it?" He put the pancake slice in his mouth, but it didn't taste as good anymore.

"There's been a first contact made with, and you're not going to believe this, another Equestria. Apparently Nightmare Moon was accidentally abducted to there for her absence, and one of their rulers has come over here. One 'Princess Twilight  Sparkle'," he explained, making air quotes with his wings.

His ears perked up. "Really? Another Equestria?" That was... worrisome. Raising public awareness of how wicked the queens were was difficult, especially since they'd had centuries to cement their rule and the loyalty of the masses. He was lucky to have what assistance he did. Tossing in another Equestria, another planet, into the mix was just going to make things even worse. "This is bad."

"Actually, this is great! Apparently, they're ruled by princesses; no title of queen. The princess let slip that they possess powerful magical artifacts before Solar Flare shut her up. You get what I'm saying?"

"These... magical artifacts? They're in the other world aren't they?" He scoffed and put another piece of food in his mouth. "I dout da queensh will efen ophen up a path." He swallowed. "Especially if these artifacts are there."

Anvil wrinkled his snout when Tough spoke with his mouth full. "I don't know. Fast told us he had a little run-in with her in Canterlot; from what he told me, she didn't know about the queens when she came over and might not be their biggest fan. Think about it, the other Equestria's highest rulers are called princesses, not queens." The  dark gray pony put a hoof to his chin and began extrapolating, putting his cutie mark - a red dot pointing to a purple dot with an arrow - to good use. "They must be much humbler, then. Probably kinder as a result, they may even sympathize with our cause. If only we could get to them." That was a long shot, but Tough Cookie wasn't the one with a deep-thinking cutie mark.

"You think the queens will open a path," he said. Anvil was always the idea stallion, coming up with plans and such about how to get at the queens. Tough was the one who could get people at least briefly listening to them, and their good friend Fast Track kept the guard from catching up to them. "Well they might, more territory to conquer and trade with I suppose, but will they take the risk?"

"We should hope so," Anvil said. "And if they don't, maybe we can get close to this 'Princess Twilight' and ask more about whatever those artifacts are."

"Alright," he said. "I'll head out now, ask around, see what I can get together." He quickly finished up his breakfast and down the glass of milk his brother had prepared.  "What're you doing today?"

"I've got some work to do for the company," Anvil said. "They want to find the rate of pegasi who run into thunderclouds in April, but that's not for an hour anyway."

Tough Cookie nodded and moved away from the table. "Well you have fun with that, I'm gonna take my day off to ask around, see what everypony's heard about this 'other Equestria'. Maybe I'll find a rumor that's true."

"Go for it. You need anything just swing by, I'm always open for you bro."

He nodded. "Gotcha." Tough Cookie left the kitchen and went into his expansive living room designed for three ponies. He picked up his amulet from closet, a green crystal brooch with its central amethyst enchanted by the crystal ponies, a gift to him from Fast Track that would disguise him. Slipping it over his neck, the magic washed over him and changed his cutie mark from a red flag into a simple avocado. His brown coat turned a hideous shade of rotten green, the magic washing down his withers and over his legs, and then he was properly hidden.

"Time to snoop around," he muttered, stepping out of his home into the streets of Everfree. At times it was hard to remain on track, to remember his eventual goal of unseating the queens or at least making them relax their harsh, unforgiving policies. After all, practically the entire planet was under their policy, and who was going to challenge them? What force on the world could hope to challenge two goddesses who could slay the demon of chaos?

And now the answer was clear. No force on their world could.