Queen Nightmare Moon

by Makitk

Chapter 16

Nightmare Moon stood staring at the smaller grey insectoid in their midst, the Changeling having revealed themselves to their captors moments before. The other four captives were still ponies, and had expressions of shock on their faces - the closest to the Changeling having fallen over against their neighbour's flank in an attempt to scoot away from it.

Darkstar's dark aura had grown to twice its size upon the revealed threat, encompassing most of the space behind the Queen now, and Nightmare Moon could sense her sister's rage building. Her own was tempered somewhat by the Element of Kindness in her eye, but was nonetheless bearing down upon the Changeling with all the strength the Queen could muster.

"You DARE come to my lands and threaten me with conquest?!?" Nightmare Moon shouted at the interloper, her captains catching themselves at hearing their Queen's voice. As Merryweather and Evergreen started to whip their respective squads back to order, she took a step closer to the wicked grey thing before her.

"Where are these siblings of yours? Where is your army, for you better have brought one to back your words with force," she demanded, staring the Changeling down.

It peered up at her with those odd blue bug eyes of it, still grinning up as if it felt invincible even as she towered over it. "They're near," it cackled, turning for the treeline. "Come hence, my brethren!"

All eyes turned for the treeline, and weapons were quickly aimed in its direction.

Nothing happened.

The Changeling blinked with a growing frown. "Ehm, in Chrysalis' name; attack!?"

Nightmare Moon turned her eye down at the Changeling again and her horn started to glow. She forced the creature down against the ground with her magic, making it squirm while it buzzed its wings to try and escape her magical hold.

"Come forth! Attack! Kill! Destroy!" it cried out in increasing panic as it started to realize it was left to its own devices.

"It appears your 'siblings' have left you alone," the Queen commented, unfolding her wings and spreading them up-and-out at an angle to increase the shadow she threw over the squirming thing. She turned her eye to the other three. "Are you like this creature as well, or just led astray by it?"

One of the mares was crying openly and threw herself at the ground, whining out in a desperate howl; "We were led astray, Queen Nightmare Moon! Please, please don't harm us!"

The stallion in the center of the three of them let his head sink down to the ground as well, closing his eyes. While trying to appear strong, his knees were obviously close to buckling. "I beg your forgiveness, my Queen."

The third, a mare again, still stared at the Changeling with great fear in her eyes, and the Queen realized she had shut down mentally.

"Evergreen, get them out of my sight before I let my sister take out her frustration on them," Nightmare Moon commanded, motioning her left wing in the direction of the panicked mare. "Have the doctors look at that one."

She waited in silence as the three were led away, turning her full attention to the remaining Changeling. "Darkstar, join my side."

"Yes, my Queen," Darkstar stated coldly, walking up and over for her aura to encompass all the area now held secure by captain Merryweather's squad alone.

"This... thing... claims they are going to take my throne," Nightmare Moon spoke to her sibling. "How should we make it swallow its words?"

"Rip its wings off," Darkstar suggested with a wicked grin growing on her dark visage. "Then run staves through those holes in its legs and hang it above a fire."

"Tempting," the Queen mused, but shook her head. "Perhaps we could do something less physical?"

"Tear into its mind to make it experience its wildest nightmares?" Darkstar wondered, while the Changeling - still pinned to the ground by Nightmare Moon's magic - started to shiver in fear.

"Hmm, yes. Unless it tells us where to find that 'queen' of hers," the Queen agreed. "We must stop this invasion before Equestria is filled with this detestable spawn."

"I will never betray Chrysalis," it spat with its last shred of defiance. "You can do to me what you will; I am but one drone in millions!"

"Ah, but you are different from them in one respect," Nightmare Moon noted; "you are our captive, and we have an empty cart to keep you in for weeks while my sister tests the limits of what you can handle."

"Oh, I am liking that idea, my Queen," Darkstar quipped with a wider grin, her dark aura deepening to the point where it sucked all light away from around the three of them. Nightmare Moon could barely see the shadow of Merryweather a few paces away from her.

The Changeling fell silent, its bodily struggling and buzzing of its wings ceasing as it let the threat run around in its head for a moment. How big a threat was this Chrysalis, Nightmare Moon wondered to the silence that fell as a heavy weight onto her captive. How much weight did she have compared to her and her sister? The seconds ticked away as the Changeling pondered the same thing, weighing the threat of daily torture against what its own queen might do if it gave her position away.

Darkstar's aura helped the scales tip in Nightmare Moon's favour; her sister applying the pressure which the Queen herself felt ill-equipped to do herself.

"I'm a forward scout myself," the Changeling finally mumbled in defeat. "I thought I sensed our main force, which is why I dropped my disguise just now. They should have been here..."

Nightmare Moon tried to hold in the sigh of relief as her captive broke, running the information through her mind. "You looked like a pony before, and was called Sunmane by one of the others, if memory serves. How is that done?"

"It's something which comes natural to us," the creature explained, a green sheen passing over it until it looked like the white mare with red mane and tail again, a flame on her flanks. "We can pose as any other creature of roughly the same size as us."

"Infiltrators," Merryweather hissed, a shiver running through the nightpony's body. "How can we fight those?"

"As any other threat; identify, isolate, eliminate," Darkstar replied. "Can I tear into it now, sister?"

"Not yet," the Queen decided, releasing the pressure from the Changeling's back. "We see you now, creature. We will keep you with us, under constant supervision. If you answer our questions willingly, you will not be harmed. We are creatures of darkness ourselves, and this is your one and only chance to prove we can co-exist."

"Chrysalis won't accept that," the creature mumbled, looking down with its red pony eyes. "She's out for full conquest now Equestria lies in ruins."

"Do we look like we lie in ruins to you?" Nightmare Moon demanded while rising to her full height in her polished set of armor. "We are simply undergoing a transformation which will make us stronger in the end."

"A transformation? Fitting, considering our prisoner's ability to shift shapes," Darkstar chuckled.

The Changeling was far out of its league, remaining flat on the ground by choice now, still holding its renewed disguise as the redheaded mare. "I'm only doing as ordered," it whined softly.

"Merryweather, secure the prisoner. Make sure there's two guards on her at all times," Nightmare Moon ordered. "If she changes looks, feel free to call upon my sister until it returns to this appearance."

Darkstar's aura withdrew and she cast a surprised look at her sibling. "What, you won't let me play with any of them now?"

The Queen peered sideways at her sister. "If we find this 'force' of which Sunmane speaks, we'll see. For now, I need you to restrain yourself."

Darkstar seemed to struggle with this, fighting the desire to fight the decision and tear into the interloper anyway, but the gemstone on her flanks started to glow and she settled on a peaceful expression. "As you wish, my Queen. I will look forward to that."

Nightmare Moon took note of the response, then turned back to the Changeling. "Keep that form. Answer our questions. If you do that, you will be fed and allowed to live. If you try to escape, try to wound another, try to pose as somepony else, I will let Darkstar do as she wants to you."

A shudder went through the prisoner, and she let out a soft whimper. "Okay..."

"Merryweather?" Nightmare Moon queried, and the captain moved in with two of her guards who took the prisoner between them and marched her off to one of the carts without further prompting.

As soon as the Changeling was out of earshot, Nightmare Moon turned back to her sister. "We'll need to move more cautiously from now on. Even faced with this... creature, I could not get myself to harm them. Can I trust you to take care of any Timberwolves we come across?"

"With pleasure," Darkstar returned. "You're only hampered by your continued fight against the Element. If you gave in to it, it won't keep you from doing what must be done anymore."

"Like how were prevented from releasing your pent-up anger just now, sister?" the Queen noted to her sibling. "I saw your flank glow."

Darkstar turned her head away, looking off into the distance at that tall mountain spire set against the dark horizon. "The alternative would have been more devastating. You're aiming to learn about our enemy, not destroy your only lead. I can see that."

"So you kept yourself from destroying this Sunmane creature out of your sense of loyalty," Nightmare Moon mused.

"Exactly; the Element is a part of me, it helps me see the full picture," Darkstar agreed quickly.

"Let me make an observation, sister," the Queen started with an amused smile. "Your wings are still trembling."

Darkstar glanced back at her wings, folded at her sides, and focused on them until they stopped trembling. "So? They do that sometimes."

"You're full of energy; you need a release," her sister continued.

"Perhaps," Darkstar muttered evasively.

"See that tall mountain off in the distance there?" Nightmare Moon whispered, facing it herself. "Blow its top off for me?"

Darkstar turned to face the tall spire herself, focusing her eyes on it. "But that's miles away!"

"Closer to us than our sun and moon, respectively," the other chuckled. "Are you saying you can't focus your energy on something this close by?"

Her dark sister narrowed her eyes at the challenge put to her, her horn sparking up briefly. Off in the distance, the very tip of the tall mountain exploded in a burst of pitch-black energy which briefly darkened the night's sky to the point where the stars disappeared from sight, like an inverted flash.

Nightmare Moon smiled at the sight. "Did that make you feel better?" she asked sideways, but then twitched an ear as a low rumbling sound rolled over the lands like the sound of thunder after a flash of lightning.

"It did, yes," Darkstar agreed with a nod of her head.

"Next time, sister, don't load up so much energy; you will need to release it again eventually," Nightmare Moon chided her sibling. "Celestia taught Luna that when we grew up. I would have thought you remembered that."

"The darkness consumes such thoughts," Darkstar mumbled in reply.

"Don't I know it," the Queen chuckled darkly. "My bout with it was a raging flashfire which consumed all of my rationality. It's been at a low simmer ever since my eye was taken during my fight with Celestia."

"Would you rather it had continued to burn you?" her sister queried, turning to face her Queen properly.

Nightmare Moon closed her eyes to run that thought through her mind. It was true that the Element of Kindness had ceased the consuming nature of her darkness, allowing her to see reason through the haze it brought to her mind. Even if it flared up on occasion, it was quickly brought back down to a manageable level when she had intended to harm other beings. Only when she used it constructively was it allowed to continue to burn and release outward.

Maybe there was a point in her sister's insistence she merged with her Element after all... if it allowed her to more easily manage the darkness within her herself, more intuitively perhaps, she might end up being a more stable ruler in the end...