Queen Nightmare Moon

by Makitk

Chapter 4

Contrail's whining continued for several breaths, but Nightmare Moon realized something was changing in the magic flowing through her new child.

Opening her left eye so as not to become overwhelmed by emotions sent to her through the Element of Kindness which had taken position as her right, she looked over at the new Lunar Pegasus drifting in her hold in front of her.

Contrail's left eye was closed, and tears flowed over her cheeks, but her right eye was looking back at her Queen with its slit pupil parted open almost fully.

"W...why?" the mare stammered through her tears, and Nightmare Moon felt compelled to lower her onto her own four hooves and release her from her magical hold.

The Lunar Pegasus' forehoof immediately went up to touch her damaged eye, and the dark one's ears turned forward sharply as there was a sound of hoofbone hitting gemstone - much like when Nightmare Moon herself first touched the Element of Kindness buried in her eye socket.

The blue Alicorn opened her right eye and let herself watch Contrail as the other opened and closed her own eyes in turn, testing how much - if anything - she could see through the gemstone.

Having seen how the Element of Kindness was positioned in her own socket in various mirrors throughout the palace, Nightmare Moon took notice of the similarities, and differences, between their individual situations;

In both, the gemstones had turned to show a flat surface near the center, serving as a replacement for the original eye's pupil, with six sides to it. The slanted surfaces leading away from this gemstone iris were of different sizes, the two top ones, as well as the two bottom ones, smaller but elongating toward the four situated at the sides which led into the corners of the eye opening.

As Contrail looked around with it, her gemstone eye turned in perfect synchronisation with her regular eye, which now was a gold tone and had a slitted pupil - like the rest of Nightmare Moon's children.

There was a terrible tugging at her heart as she noticed the duality present on her own face, now on that of another, and Nightmare Moon rushed forward before she knew what she was doing, and pulled the Pegasus into a tight embrace!

"Ah," Contrail exhumed against her Queen's flowing mane, but then slowly let her head fall against the larger form.

The pair stood like that for minutes, while Nightmare Moon tried to come to terms with the sensations she was feeling. Not only did the Element of Kindness give her the realization that what she did had been entirely wrong, misguided by a sense of betrayal and need to retaliate agains what she perceived as a mockery against her person. No, there was a genuine sting in her heart, coming out now the Element of Kindness had free reign over her emotions again.

She did harm to Contrail as an individual pony. She changed the former daypony into a nightpony as she had intended to do to all ponies since she first took over control of the kingdom, and that was something she could rationalize away. But taking her eye went too far, and she knew it.

Her own eye had been removed by a spell of fate; simply standing in the wrong place as the Elements were propelled in various directions at great speed while Celestia and Nightmare Moon fought over them.

But this had been a conscious decision on her part. She had done this herself. There had not been any reason beyond petty ones, and she could not think her way out of those.

There was a careful hoofstep to her side, and then a low thud, and Nightmare Moon turned her head to peer at Celestia through the water leaking from her eyes. When had she started crying?

The white sister looked more pale than usual, and there was a mixture of shock and clear judgement on her face. It did nothing to help the Queen feel any better about her decision - on the contrary; she felt utterly worthless now.

There was a stirring of the smaller form standing against her, and both Alicorns broke their gaze upon each other to look down at Contrail as the Lunar Pegasus started to chuckle awkwardly.

"Heh... hah... hehe," Contrail started, having just her gemstone eye open and peering over at Celestia with it.

"What's so funny?" the Queen demanded, letting go of the smaller mare and taking a step back while looking her over with a raised eyebrow.

"She's pink!" Contrail suggested with a grin, pointing her right hoof in Celestia's direction.

This time it was the white Alicorn's eyebrow rising, and she shook her head slowly. "No, I am most assuredly white."

"You're white when I look at you with my normal eye, princess, but with this eye you're pink! It's the stupidest thing! Everything's pink this way!" Contrail explained, giggling more.

Nightmare Moon involuntarily opened-and-closed each of her eyes in turn, seeing the world (and Celestia in it) go from their normal colours to the pink hue which the Element of Kindness put over everything, then caught herself and opened both fully.

"Pink," she offered to Celestia, motioning at her own gemstone eye.

"But the gemstone before us was purple, was it not?" Celestia wondered, standing up and taking a step to the laughing mare. "May I see your eye for a moment, dear?"

Contrail grinned up and turned to face the fallen princess, peering at her with one golden, and one definitely pink, eye.

"It appears to be pink, sister," Celestia noted, and Nightmare Moon dipped her head lower to peer at it herself. "But it was purple before?"

"It could have been the light," the Queen suggested calmly. "You are used to the brightness of your sun, while we have had mainly twilight and darkness. This is also why I suggested you join us; we see better at night."

"You, yourself, suggested it was purple," Celestia scoffed, forgetting her place for a moment.

"I was led to believe it was the Element of Generosity, and my pink Elemental eye is not the best judge of colours," Nightmare Moon spoke back in a calmer tone than might have been expected of her.

"It could have been dirt?" Contrail added to the conversation, her eyes shifting between both larger ponies.

"Whatever colour it was before, it was definitely a magical stone," the Queen spoke calmly, reaching out with her right hoof to brush some dark blue hair off Contrail's face. "I felt its magic as I held on to you, my child, and if anything could change its colour at whim, it would have to be magical in origin."

"Maybe it's the Element of Laughter?" Celestia prompted. "She does seem far more cheery than I would be, had I been subject to a forceful joining with a gemstone against my will."

Nightmare Moon snapped her head sideways at the sharp sting at the end of her sister's words, and stared her down with a dark glare. "I do know I did wrong, sister! This accursed stone does not let up from hurting me to tell me that! I am relieved it may be the Element of Laughter; at least my child seems to see the humorous side in this fault of mine?"

"Oh, I'm kind of okay with it, actually?" Contrail piped up, but Nightmare Moon's hoof went from stroking some errant hairs of the Pegasus' mane away to getting placed against her lips.

"Shush, child," the Queen huffed, then returned her attention to Celestia. "You have no idea what it is like to have to be both strong AND kind! I have to be one or the other, not showing any weakness, delivering the strong visage for my children to adore while also fighting this stone's suggestions of how to make their lives better!"

"Why fight it at all?" Celestia threw back, shaking her head in worry. "Sister, you are constantly on the edge of reason and insanity, and all I am doing is to help you become a good ruler; to make your reign one ponies will speak of in good ways, rather than becoming a nightmarish thing to flee from."

"It is in my name," Nightmare Moon spoke flatly.

"But you grew from it, even in these short few weeks," the white sister offered up with a small smile. "You are capable of so much greatness, and I want to help you where I can."

There was a pause in conversation as the Queen, Nightmare Moon, stood with her odd eyes locked upon Celestia's, and both sisters' thoughts were their own.

On one side was the former princess who had governed more than her darker sister had, who had been at banquets where she had been lauded for the decisions she had made (together with her sister), who had been revered and was still spoken of in hushed tones in this changed realm even now.

On the other side was the Queen, dark and imposing, fighting her own demons while trying to grasp a firm hold on the kingdom she now ruled alone. There was a pressure constantly riding on her back; the need to do this on her own, but at the same time there was the realization she was struggling to maintain her composure now she was hampered (or helped, one could say) by the gemstone merged with her.

Standing almost between these two Alicorns was a newly formed Lunar Pegasus, still overcome with wonder and confusion at her new lot in life; Her formerly feathered wings were now bare skin, the muscles connecting her fingers still feeling relatively the same, but there was a definite change in how the folds between them felt as she moved them, or even while they were resting at her sides. Her auburn coat had changed to a dark blue tone which was almost dark enough to be considered black but with a blue sheen to it. Her mane and tail had been changed to a light grey tone from the light pink they had been, and her, now tufted, ears were peeking up beside the grey hairs her Queen had brushed in place again moments before.

The biggest change had been the sudden, painful, loss of her left eye. It had changed everything about her; she only had one good eye left with which to focus on the smallest of things happening around her, even if it was now slitted and could suddenly see a whole lot better in this twilight around her. Especially with the sun slowly setting in the West, returning the realm to the darkness her Queen loved so much.

The focus in her left eye was different. She could focus it on objects in the distance as well as with her right, but there was a pink hue over them and the edges did not seem as sharp. There was a small blur effect over just about anything she looked at, but not so much as what she saw when looking at Nightmare Moon or Celestia. Something about them made the blur effect ten times worse. It was upsetting Contrail as she had no idea what to make of it.

Nightmare Moon was the first of the two Alicorns to move, and she let out a deep sigh. "If it truly is an Element of Harmony I shoved into my child's eye, she should remain close to us."

Celestia perked her ears up at that. "What do you mean, sister?"

"I am sending out scouting parties to retrieve the remaining gemstones, only to unite them again," the Queen continued. "It makes no sense sending her away again now she has found one. Especially now it is a part of her, in the way ours are a part of us."

"What are you suggesting to do?" Celestia wondered, setting her eyes on the Lunar Pegasus between them.

"It's not a suggestion; I am ordering that she will be given quarters in the palace, close to ours, and be assigned the duty of personal aide to the both of us," Nightmare Moon decided.

"To the both of us, sister?" the white mare queried, trying to figure out what was behind her dark sister's decision.

"You brought her to the palace guards, told me an anecdote about her, genuinely cared for her as I made the mistake of applying force to her transformation," the Queen listed in a soft tone. "I can't separate you from her. You don't govern with me, but I won't keep you from having friends or servants of your own."

"That is surprisingly," Celestia started, smiling up.

"I swear, if you say 'kind', I will have you thrown in the dungeons," Nightmare Moon grumbled darkly.

"I meant to say generous, sister. It is surprisingly generous of you," her sister chuckled.

"Don't let it get out or I will be expected to give everypony gifts," the dark sister mumbled, turning her attention back to the Pegasus mare. "You should get your belongings from the garrison and meet with maester Fleetfoot. He will take you to your quarters and inform you of your duties."

Contrail smiled up at that and brought her right foreleg up to place her hoof at the side of her head in a salute. "Yes, my Queen!"

The two Alicorns watched as the Lunar Pegasus turned to speed away from them without first placing her hoof back down on the ground, fell to the floor, and then scrambled up again without pause. Her wings spread out from her sides and she gave them a few errant flaps to judge their wind displacement compared to her former feathered ones as she ran, then pushed off fully and barely managed to hold herself upright as she flew over the courtyard's walls in the direction of the garrison.

"I half expected her to spin out and crash into the walls," Nightmare Moon spoke idly. "She is going to make life in the palace all the more difficult for us."

"The word you're looking for, sister, is 'interesting'," Celestia chuckled.

Comments

[tsaukpaetra]

well that's one way to make someone a bearer of Harmony...