Queen Nightmare Moon

by Makitk

Chapter 3

"We found it," a voice interrupted the twin sisters' actions in the courtyard, as a mare came skidding onto the palace grounds!

Nightmare Moon did not have to look at Celestia to know she had lost her sister's acceptance of the proposed act in that very moment, and instead just closed her gemstone eye to set her fury (or what was left of it) on the interloper.

"You have found _what_," the Queen produced in as icy-cold an exclamation she could produce, "a sudden desire to invoke your Queen's wrath?"

The mare, a lithe Pegasus with an auburn coat and bright pink mane and tail, slid to a stop near to the Queen and her sister, then unceremoniously let her front legs give out from under her.

The result was a sudden faceplanting on the Pegasus' side, and a step back by Nightmare Moon as the Queen tried to avoid a sprinkle of sweat flying off the smaller pony.

Nightmare Moon sighed as her pink eye opened and she set it upon the other in worry.

"Please tell me you planned that and I don't have to resucitate you before you can answer me?" she asked, trying not to let it show how she worried that the mare's face was now a flat pancake.

The pony in question pushed up from the ground on wobbly legs, a dumb grin on her face, and she turned her head to reach behind her, as if to reach for a pouch dangling to the side of her.

Finding only air, there was a visible tensing of muscles underneath her furred form and the pony stood as if frozen in time.

"Contrail," Celestia started softly, "think back to how you arrived here. Have you left anything with the quartermaster before rushing over?"

"I... might," the Pegasus mare mumbled softly, already turning to go back the way she came.

"You have got to be kidding me," the Queen sighed out, watching the mare bolt away from her and disappear through the main gate while wildly fluttering her wings.

"She has a tendency to misplace things because she focuses on the most minute details," Celestia explained calmly. "I may have been responsible for Stronghoof recruiting her into the palace guard before you took over, sister."

The Queen narrowed her eyes and flicked her tail in annoyance. "Remember when I said I would think about the value of your dayponies in my army?"

"She is a very good tracker, sister," Celestia suggested. "If anything, please give her the option of joining your nightguard before you discard her?"

"Define good," Nightmare Moon grumbled.

"She spotted a fly ambling over to one of our cakes while standing on guard outside the banquet hall," Celestia chuckled. "Remember the party two years ago where we went from the ballroom to the garden to have special items of food brought in by the bakers and I burnt my tongue on a hot bun?"

"You are talking of events Luna took part in, not me," the Queen scoffed, "but; yes, I do remember."

"Contrail aimed straight for the fly, forgetting that her wings catch a lot of air when she gets to speed. The poor dear lifted the banquet off the table by the vortices chasing her and, while she did catch the fly, was subsequently assaulted by airborne confectionary," Celestia explained, letting herself giggle openly at the memory. "It left quite the mess."

"And you're using this story in an attempt to have me keep her around?" Nightmare Moon wondered. "If she is that accident-prone, we should ward her from the palace grounds instead."

"She has her moments, yes," Celestia agreed, "but she truly does her best at her job. What other scout came back with the mention of having found something? For all you know she gathered all of the Elements in the time it took the others to get ready to fly off after her."

"I will give her this; she did say she found something," the Queen had to say. "What it is that she found is something I am hopefully going to find out before the night is over?"

"She most likely left it with the quartermaster, which is why I suggested it to her to look there," the white one of the twin sisters mused. "She might have simply forgotten to take it out of her travel bags in her eagerness to bring the news to you."

"That is another thing I will give her; she appeared very eager," Nightmare Moon decided. "Eager enough that we were almost splattered by her sweat, and I'm unsure if she meant to faceplant or if that was a bow gone wrong?"

"Most likely both, sister," Celestia offered.

"There she comes again," the Queen pointed with a slight nod of her head in the direction of the main gate, from which a huffing and puffing Pegasus mare came stumbling up, carrying a small pouch in her mouth.

"Mwfy Gueeh," she spoke while holding the pouch's strap between her teeth, "I ghoufh ghe egheghegh oh gheghehofhiphy!"

Nightmare Moon blinked once at that, then motioned to a spot on the ground in front of her. "First; drop that pouch here. Second; do we need to have some water brought to you? You look like you are about to collapse..."

Contrail spat the strap out of her mouth, the pouch landing in the dirt with a thud.

"No need, my Queen! I'm running on pure adrenaline here! I can go on and on and on and on forever if I have to!" the mare beamed, even if she stood trembling in front of the pair of Alicorns.

"Sit down, at least," Nightmare Moon suggested, motioning with her right hoof. "You are filling me with worry that you may fall flat once more."

Contrail promptly fell down on her rear end, wriggled some to get her tail out from under her, but then beamed up again. "Yes, my Queen!"

"As you said; eager," Celestia chuckled.

"I will consider it," Nightmare Moon grumbled to her sister while turning her head to look at the pouch on the floor. She reached out with her magic to open it up, her curiosity at what might be hidden inside rising to an apex.

"It's the Element of Generosity, my Queen. I found it buried in a crater in the middle of a field," the Pegasus spoke up, just before the Queen's magic could pull the stone from the pouch.

"Yes, I see," the dark twin agreed, bringing the purple gem up to float in mid-air between the three of them. "It's not the Element of Magic, which I had hoped for, but it is a start."

Celestia stared at the gem in wonder, then raised an eyebrow. "This is the Element of Generosity, is it?"

Nightmare Moon huffed at her sister's query and brought the gem closer to Celestia. "It certainly looks like it, or do you not trust your own dayponies or eyes?"

"I am asking, sister, as we have that exact gem in the vault," Celestia noted.

A flash of surprise passed over the Queen's face, which was quickly followed by anger.

Nightmare Moon closed her pink gemstone-eye and set her proper one on the Pegasus mare before her.

Contrail only had to give a quick glance up to realize the Queen's rising fury was aimed at her, and the poor mare fell flat on her face again... this time being on purpose.

Trying her best to become one with the ground she lay on, the Pegasus shuddered as the dark Queen's words bouldered over her:

"What is the meaning of this?!? Do you intend to deceive me by bringing worthless replica stones to me?!? Do you take me for a fool???"

Nightmare Moon's voice rose to a shrill tone as she shouted, the Element of Kindness barely tempering her fury.

Celestia knew better than to interfere at this point, lowering her head as well to show her submission and loyalty to her hot-headed sibling.

The Queen rose up to her full height and a flash of lightning split the sky behind her in twain.

"I have been far too lenient with you dayponies," Nightmare Moon decided, staring down the cowering Pegasus as well as she could with only one opened eye.

"It is time," she continued, breaking into an eager evil grin, "for me to stop listening to my sister's advice. She truly is too _good_ for me."

Contrail let out an almost inaudible whimper as she felt the Queen's magic envelop her and subsequently lift her up into the air with a rough jolt.

Nightmare Moon brought the Pegasus up to eye height, then poured her dark magic into the mare's form, infusing Contrail with the Essence of the Night.

"I will get to you next, sister," the dark one hissed through clenched teeth as she witnessed yet another of Celestia's dayponies transform into one of her children.

"I know, sister," Celestia sighed.

"As for this fake gem," the Queen mused, "maybe I should apply it to this; your favorite klutz? What do you say, sister? Perhaps an eye, like my own?"

Celestia started and quickly moved to stare straight at her sister, her concern painted on her face. "W...what? You don't even know if the stone is magical at all!"

"For all I know it could be set with an entrapment spell waiting to turn me to stone when I make physical contact with it," Nightmare Moon voiced her paranoia.

"Then test it on me," the white sister pleaded, "but don't take her eye! She works as a tracker for pony's sake!"

There was but the briefest moment of hesitation on the Queen's part, but Contrail's transformation into a leather-winged Lunar Pegasus was nearing its completion.

If the stone was not imbued with any magic at all, her new child would need the remaining transformative energy to repair the eye that was to be lost.

Nightmare Moon closed both her eyes, even as she forced the unknown purple gemstone into Contrail's left eye socket.

A sharp pain shot through her heart at the loud howling erupting from the mare, but she had done it; even with the Element of Kindness trying to convert her, she had managed to wound another.

She truly was the dark Queen the insecure Luna buried deep inside of her needed her to be.

Comments

[Kairee]

It's a good premise, but you have a contradiction between the last two chapters.

The Element of Generosity, found in a stack of damaged clothing in Celestia's dresser - and now closely guarded in the palace vault.

"It's the Element of Generosity, my Queen. I found it buried in a crater in the middle of a field,"

It may be a good idea to come up with an outline for future chapters to keep from running into this sort of issue going forwards.

[Cross Lament]

I'm liking Contrail; hopefully she sticks around.

[Makitk]

7885831
Oh, expletive... you are right. I'm going to fix that ASAP.

Edit: Fixed.