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The four found themselves inside the visible part of Sunny's parents' home. It was a long room filled with a very long, wooden table. There were many chairs lining it, but judging from the amount of dust and lack of decorations anywhere, the room had never been used. Moon sneezed and wiped her snout with her foreleg while Honey set up several lamps on the ceiling, illuminating everything around in a harsh, orange light.
"There we go," the pegasus said. "Almost like the sun is out."
Moon glared at the parents while Sunny shrunk away beside her, and the awkward atmosphere started filling the room.
"Perhaps I should make something to drink," Geode suggested nervously.
"Sit back down," Moon ordered.
Geode grunted, sat back down, and leaned against his foreleg on the table. "Great. Now there's two mares yelling at me in my life."
His humor was met with an elbow jab by his wife which was reciprocated with an indignant expression.
"S-so," Honey started. "You want us to become part of the royal family?"
"Yes," Moon growled.
Sunny looked up at the ceiling. It felt like the whole hill was trembling with every word she spoke.
"And it's because I'm related to your late sister, then." She looked to the table and scratched the back of her head, ruffling her mane. "Why exactly would you want that? Even if we're related to her, we aren't alicorns nor have we ever lived in a place of nobility or anything 'rich' for that matter."
The alicorn gestured to the young unicorn with her wing. "I feel that having the direct family of Sunny -who has proven himself valuable- would be a welcome accommodation. I would have been able to evaluate your worth and then determine whether you would remain at my castle or be kicked out and lose your temporary status as nobles."
The awkward silence resumed, leaving the normal ponies to stare awkwardly at the table. Nightmare Moon was starting to get very annoyed.
"Can we cease this constant silence?" she demanded through gritted teeth. "It is becoming enraging that you have nothing to say."
"Well...when you're born in extreme poverty and the next day you're offered to live opulently in a royal palace, how would you react?" Twinkle asked weakly.
Moon scoffed. "I would accept it immediately, but more than that I would take what I am due, as I have already."
The old stallion waved Moon off, slightly bothered. "I mean if you were like us. That would be like feeding a pony who has starved for weeks a complete meal filled to the brim with all manner of food and drink. They would eat themselves to death."
Moon's face relaxed and she leaned back. "Aaaaah. I understand now. You fear corruption. You fear being overwhelmed by what this offer will change in your lives and if you will ever be able to enjoy this life..." She looked around and her face distorted slightly. Again..." she murmured. The mare thought for a moment, contemplating all her options. "You can't live in my castle right now. It isn't complete yet. You have ample time to prepare to come to the castle once it is completed."
"Your highness, my parents don't--" Sunny started before being interrupted.
"Are we obligated to be royals?" Honey asked.
"Yes," Moon responded flatly. "I will not have direct family members languish in squalor."
Geode looked at the alicorn, dumbfounded. "But it's been ten thousand years! There must be hundreds of thousands of descendants. Why us specifically?"
Moon tilted her head slightly. "Well, more like those two rather than you, since you aren't related as far as I can tell."
The stallion nodded. "Fair enough, but that didn't answer my question."
"Your son resembles my sister. I don't know how genetics function, but however it works made him look like her."
A sly grin formed across Honey's face. "And so you want a proxy of your sister, to replace what you lost, at least visually."
Sunny looked hesitantly up at the unflinching alicorn that displayed a scowl. He felt a bit of warmth in that briefest of moments but wasn't sure why. That was quickly dashed by what Moon responded with.
"Seeing her as subservient has its value, yes."
Honey frowned and leaned away, and Geode shook his head in disappointment. "And yet you still wanted direct members of your family to be nearby. You actively sought us out rather than try to pull the nobles to your side or ask the king to make you a duchess or a baroness or however those ranks work," the old mare grumbled.
Moon's eyes started glowing in rage. "I will not ask a peon to give me a rank below my status when it is I who should be ruling Equestria as its rightful ruler!"
"That time has long passed," Geode mused casually. "You no longer hold power in these times." He looked her straight in the eyes. "What will you do if no pony follows you? If no pony wants to obey you?"
Sunny felt confident in the response she would give. Even though Moon was exceptionally aggressive and displayed moments of cruelty, she behaved like somepony who had learned from their mistakes in the past and was trying to not repeat them. That said, looking at his parents, it was clear they knew how to push Moon's buttons. She would kill them if they pushed her any further.
"Whether they like it or not is not my problem. The king has already sent would-be assassins against me and your son, so he has defied my decree." Nightmare Moon stood up, her ethereal form glowing with spite and anger. "I have nothing to do with those who won't accept it. They may leave Equestria if they wish."
"But what if they don't want to leave?" Geode asked.
Moon scoffed. "What do I care? They either accept it or they accept it. They have no other choices in the matter. This is my land, my Queendom, my people."
"Princessdom sounds a bit...weird..." Honey noted.
Nightmare Moon nodded. "Yes. I was thinking of changing my title to 'Queen'. My idiotic sister refrained from taking such a title since she felt it would make us seem older and wiser than we really were, along with other stressful moments that come with the position."
"How drôle," a raspy voice commented.
Everyone turned to see a strange entity standing in the doorway; It was vaguely pony shaped, albeit lumpy and uneven. It only possessed three legs and was made of multiple pieces of stone glued together loosely by a weak binding spell. Its 'eyes' were a single white light sitting in the middle of what was meant to be the head.
"Is that one of your creations?" Honey asked.
"No," the alicorn answered.
"What?"
"Revealing yourself before others again?" Moon commented.
The golem wobbled back and forth and side to side in its attempt to approach her. "Blasted golems. That alicorn of mountains never did get the spells right." It scoffed. "Why even need one of the mountains specifically?" Several small stones fell from its body as it sputtered incomprehensible sounds. "More proof that alicorns serve no purpose."
"What are they saying?" geode asked Sunny. "I don't recognize the language."
"It's old ponyish, from Canterlot," the unicorn answered.
His parents stared at him, dumbfounded. "You mean the whole thing was real?!" they stammered.
Sunny stared at his parents, displaying a mix of anger and confusion. "Wh...What in Hades were you even doing, talking to her, then?"
"W-we thought it was just a noble pony or just a game you were playing or something! We didn't think an actual alicorn would be here!" Honey defended. "Why would we believe, at any moment, that an alicorn would be here?"
Geode laughed nervously. "We kinda just told our son that we don't trust him, Honey."
The mare brushed off her husband's realization. "Don't be silly. We trust him but not that far."
"Shut it!" Moon and the golem bellowed together.
The area trembled from the combined voices.
"Why are you here yet again? Why not just possess one of these three like you did before?" Moon asked the entity. "Your little group is becoming quite aggravating."
"Group?" the golem repeated quizzically. "There is no group. They left centuries ago. There is no one left."
The alicorn narrowed her gaze. "Then you're the only one doing all of this? If it's just you, then how are you doing all that you are? How are you manipulating ponies into believing I'm not real?" She thought deeply, and her eyes widened. "How are you speaking my language, and what did you mean about 'centuries'?"
The golem looked at the three ponies staring at him before answering. "The group is gone. No one left. Your existence damages the future of ponies. Getting rid of you should have been simple. Assassins would have made quick work of you, but you have too much power. Your form warped since you were last seen millennia ago. That isn't normal. It's dangerous. More than usual."
The angry alicorn stomped the ground, cracking it under her hoof. "Reveal yourself at once, that I may be rid of you!"
The golem trembled and the light in its head started flickering as it began to fall apart. The volume of its voice changed erratically as it spoke. "This accursed alicorn magic. Forced to use it when it wasn't wanted in the first place!" It looked to Moon as its body was quickly turning to rubble. The golem attempted to point at her, but the leg crumbled the moment it was outstretched. "You're ruining everything. Can't have you stay any longer."
"I will find you first and rip you apart, creature."
The golem collapsed immediately afterwards, leaving the room a silent mess. Feeling a prick in her magic, the alicorn teleported outside, leaving the family behind. For most ponies, being outside meant bad vision and danger, but for the alicorn of the night, it couldn't be any brighter.
"There."
A figure stood in the darkness, watching the house. Now it was panicking after Moon disappeared.
"So this is where you were hiding."
The figure was caught in magic and illuminated by Moon's raging eyes. She was quick to drop the prisoner, however. It scampered to its hooves and backed away from the alicorn, as though that would help. Moon frowned.
"Why are the changelings spying on Sunny's family?" she asked the insect. "Answer now or I'll rip you to pieces," she threatened while her horn began glowing brighter.
"I wasn't spying on them! I was following you!" the changeling blurted. "T-the queen said that she wants to meet with you, but at our hive." the changeling started shaking violently as the light of Moon's magic slowly encircled it. "Pl-please! It's true! She thinks you might have knowledge of past queens!"
The magic dissipated. "You lost your past as well?" The alicorn looked to the side. "I thought they were only interested in the ponies and didn't care about other races." She lowered her head to meet at eye-level with the would-be spy. "And why should I believe you? How do I know this isn't some kind of trap? You intend to kill me or harm my aide and his family?"
Perplexed, the bug leaned to the side to look at the ponies speaking with each other in the house. "You care about them? But I thought alicorns didn't care about any but themselves."
Moon chose to ignore that comment. "You didn't answer my question."
"How would we even know how to kill you in any way? You're a literal god! We've seen it ourselves!"
The alicorn snorted in response. "Then what does your queen want with me? An alliance, as I suggested beforehoof?"
"I don't know!" the bug screamed. "I'm just a hive worker! She said I was going to be used as frontline fodder since I can be easily replaced..."
There was a long, painful silence afterwards, leaving the bug to gradually depress into the ground at the announcement of those words. They looked around briefly, realizing that their yelling might wake up the neighbors, but nothing came of it. The silence was broken by Moon laughing heartily.
"That sounds exactly like the changelings I have heard so much about! Very well. You've convinced me. I will depart at dawn. I have some affairs to take care of first." She looked to Sunny's home and grumbled. "These ponies are too accustomed to my sister's cycle than that of the beautiful night."
"Then I'll...stay here?" the changeling suggested. It fiddled with the holes of its forelegs nervously.
"Yes."
Moon turned briefly but snapped back onto the changeling and struck its chest with a spell. A small flash of white light left the mark of a white circle on the bug.
"That is to track you in-case you try to leave or do something...else, that you shouldn't be," Moon warned. "Don't make me disintegrate you, okay?" Moon asked with a soft tone and a false smile.
Her face had twisted into a rictus grin that unnerved the bug, but they stayed put, too scared of their new mark to even move. Now Moon was free to do as she wished. She would speak to Sunny and his parents when the angry sun rose once more. Until then, she had more training to do with her newfound magic potential.
When the alicorn returned into the house, she ignored the three voices calling out to her and entered the cave. It was dark and quiet here. It would be the next best place to work on her magic outside of her castle. She lied down and let her magic flow around her, just as the guards and Sunny had seen her do previously. The three wouldn't be able to reach her. All was comfortable.
Just two beings within the artificial cave.
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Good chapter.
End of the story or end of the first book? Because this has been a really fun story to follow. Hope your new way of writing works out for you.
Poor bug, but yay the message was passed along.
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The book. I did a poll a while back for which story I should write next and the majority chose Left Behind's sequel.
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Thank you.
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Tip don't post the final chapter until you don't have the first one of the sequel ready to post so we can jump right in after it
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Huh. That's a good idea. I hadn't even thought of that. I'll get the sequel ready, then.
11265754
Wonderful! Must’ve missed the poll!
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I left a comment a few chapters back talking about my theory about Celestia either being driven insane by changeling magic or that she was replaced by a changeling and the sun rebelled when it tried to control the celestial object.
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I saw. It was well thought out.
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Oh good, I didn't think there was any way you could satisfactorily wrap this up in ~5k words.
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Easier to follow that way too, I don't have to catch it on the front page to know it's out.
I like how while Nightmare Moon has grown, she hasn't completely overcome her issues.
It adds a touch of realism to this story.
The
Sooo... What happend to the Alicorns? All murdered? If yes, by who?