And With The Dawn Of True Peace

by Lord Drayvon22

A Less Than Friendly Conversation

Bright and early the next morning, Princess Luna reaches the Castle of the Two Sisters but is taken aback. What was before a ruin infested by vermin and bad memories has returned to being a thriving palace. Even more surprisingly, it is virtually identical to how it was 1000 years ago aside from some more modern architecture. If she didn't know better, she'd say that she had been sent back in time.

As she approaches the hardened oak entrance, she finds see two of her personal Guards before the entrance who immediately bow. "Princess Luna, it is truly an honour to see you again." The Night Princess is only slightly surprised to recognise them as those who took her to Ponyvile for Nightmare Night oh so long ago. Once Royal Guards become Lunar Guards, they gain longer life-spans that typically span several centuries.

Before she can respond, the speaker turns his head to the battlements. "OPEN THE GATE!" With a loud clunk, the gate slowly opens to reveal an incredibly faithfully recreated entrance hallway that the Guards then gesture to. "Queen Void will meet you in the throne room, your highness." After a respectful nod, Luna makes her way tentatively into the castle.

---

Queen Void calmly sits atop her throne, gazing expectantly at the throne room doors. For the time being, Penumbra herself is in charge since Scootaloo has taken the time to hang out with the other Crusaders until her presence is needed. As she collects her thoughts, the Guard stationed outside enters with a bow. "Presenting Princess Luna, former Diarch of Equestria."

Moments later, the Princess of the Night enters in awe at the restored architecture that perfectly replicates its former state. "I'm glad you like it. It took over fifteen years to get perfect."

Luna jumps slightly as she turns with a scowl to see the familiar dark Alicorn beaming down at her. "Which one of you am I addressing?"

The Queen laughs before turning into mist that encircles her former host for a moment before reforming before her. "Take a guess."

Recognising the mist ability as a sign of deep corruption, Luna looks imploringly at the Alicorn. "Please Scootaloo, fight this. For the sake of yourself and everypony in Equestria, please fight this."

She gets goosebumps as she realises that she can't see the Pegasus in Void's eyes before flaring her wings in anger. "You... You... You killed her!!! Nightmare, you'll pay for this I-"

"Oh, Scootaloo? Luna wants to see you."

Luna continues staring into the Queen's eyes but hears a side door open and is shocked to see Scootaloo enter, clearly an Alicorn. "Nice to see you again, Princess Luna. I hope you had a safe journey." Luna can't respond since she is much too shocked at the young Alicorn standing calmly before her. She had expected to find Scootaloo consumed and beyond all form of help or begging for help but here she is standing before the Princess happy as a lark. Scootaloo approaches with a cocky smile. "Surprised?"

Luna finally finds her voice again. "Please Scootaloo, this has to end. Nightmare Moon has done too much damage and destroyed so many lives. Look at what she did to Twilight and the others! Look at how she allowed Equestria's enemies in unchallenged!"

Scootaloo returns the look with a confident smile. "Everything we've done is in the best interest of everycreature. We've stamped out abuse, the economy has never been better, we're experiencing peace not seen in a millennia and we have turned our greatest enemies into our friends. I'd go as far to say that we've done a better job running Equestria than you and Celestia did."

Luna finds that, despite everything, she can't find a fault in her logic after everything she's seen. "But you're forcing ponies to become Dreads against thier will."

Scootaloo chuckles. "Go and ask Joe, Soarin, Spitfire or Cookie Crumbles and Hondo Flanks yourself. They'll tell you that they asked for the changes themselves. Joe enjoys making ponies happy too much to simply wither away, Spitfire asked so that she could help guide the future Wonderbolts, Soarin asked since he's been dating her for a while and Hondo and Cookie didn't want Rarity and Sweetie Belle to watch them die either."

Luna tries thinking of new ways to make Scootaloo see reason and finds her trump card. "But look at what she did to you. She destroyed any chance of you living a normal foalhood and now you've had to watch your friends die around you."

Instead of seeing Scootaloo stop with realisation, she finds herself unsettled by the filly's happy smile. "Hey, Apple Bloom? Sweetie Belle? Princess Luna wants to see you."

Luna is horrified to see the two Dreadified Crusaders emerge through the side door and stand beside the former Pegasus with what should be very warm smiles. "Welcome back, Princess Luna!!!"

Scootaloo sighs as she watches the Princess of the Night back away in horror. N-no, this can't be happening! She can't have! Not even Nightmare Moon could steep so low! I need help. She blinks away as the four other ponies in the room look on.

Seconds later, The Crystal Empire

In her haste to escape, Luna ends up locking onto a familiar magic signature and teleporting straight to them. Unfortunately for her, she also ends up muzzle to muzzle with Queen Chrysalis who happens to be enjoying some sunbathing after scheduling some rare time off.

Unfazed by Luna's sudden arrival, Chrysalis rolls her eyes. "Do you mind?!"

Recognising the familiar monarch even after all these years, Luna rears up and takes flight. "I might have known you'd be helping Nightmare Moon, Chrysalis. She gets Equestria and you get the Crystal Empire, home to all the love that you'd ever need."

Instead of her usual maniacal self, Chrysalis just looks at the Princess of the Night blankly. "You really have no idea, do you? Or do you just refuse to accept the truth? How pathetic." Even after all these years, though scaled back significantly, her biting comments and snide nature remain as strong as ever.

Luna meanwhile is considering her next move, knowing knows just how powerful Chrysalis was during the wedding. She defeated Celestia with little effort after just a few days of being exposed to Shining Armour's love. How strong must she be after a full century of constant feeding? "How are you even alive, Chrysalis? You're at least a hundred years old."

Chrysalis lets out a familiar cold laugh. "Unlike ponies, Changelings can't die of old age. The love we absorb constantly rejuvenates us so our bodies won't break up. We can die only from brute force, starvation or the ascension of an heir in the case of a Queen. I was already three hundred years old during my coup. As you can imagine, it works wonders in creating a lineage and helping other creatures with thier problems."

Trying hard not to let her discomfort show, Luna takes a look around. All around her, undisguised Changelings go about thier day as ordinarily as if this were any other day of the week.

She is unsurprised to see the Crystal Ponies and many other species talking happily with the Changelings from what just be coercion or a trick. But then why can't I sense any fear or forced emotion? They feel and are acting like neighbours and old friends, not indentured slaves. And if they're disguised Changelings then why maintain the illusion when there is nopony else around besides me? Chrysalis would have no trouble defeating me.

She is cut off by a proud laugh from Chrysalis. "It's nice to not have to force ponies to give us what we need. Even better, my role is merely administrative rather than a desperate monarch."

Luna rounds on the Queen. "I'm just supposed to believe that you've turned over a new leaf, Chrysalis? After everything you did to Princess Cadance's wedding? To Celestia? That was barbaric."

The Queen replies with a foul look. "Tell me 'Princess' Luna, if your subjects were starving and the only way to save your entire race from extinction was to do unspeakable acts, would you sit by and watch them die slowly and painfully?"

Luna is outraged. "At least I never brainwashed and kidnapped a royal couple on the lead-up to thier wedding day during an attempt to conquer the world." Chrysalis gives her a doubting look before rolling up her towel and standing. "And where the hay are you going?!"

The Changeling Queen rolls her eyes. "Home. Unlike certain Princesses, I still have duties to attend to. In the meantime, I suggest that you go and speak to Cadance." With that, Chrysalis walks away as Luna glares after her.

A few minutes later, the Crystal Palace

After being admitted, Princess Luna soon finds herself outside of the throne room where she can hear Void's voice as well as Princess Cadance and- No, he surely wouldn't have. I know he was desperate to keep Cadance company but he would never...

Swallowing her pride, Luna enters after being announced to find Void, a Dreadified Rainbow Dash, Cadance and a figure that makes her stop. A very clearly Dreadified Shining Armour shoots her a sheepish smile before she is almost bowled over by a pink mass. "Auntie! You're back!" Luna returns the hug, using the younger Alicorn's magical signature to determine that this truly is her niece and not a disguised Changeling or a shadow clone. It's nice to have some constants in this world gone mad.

Before long, she breaks the hug and stares at Shining who shifts nervously. "You know, Luna. It's rude to stare at your hosts after they invite you into thier home."

In all the excitement, Luna forgot that the current ruler of Equestria also happens to be in the room. "So this was your game all along then, Void. Take over an innocent filly by manipulating her feelings, dispose of me and Celestia, corrupt the Element Bearers so they can't oppose you, turn your host's friends into Dreads to keep her compliant, and turn the co-ruler of the Crystal Empire into a Dread to prevent an uprising. You haven't changed, you've just gotten more underhanded."

Despite the disgusted tone in Luna's voice, the smile never leaves Void's face though Cadance is visibly frustrated. "Why must you always assume the worst about her, auntie?"

The look on Luna's face could peel paint. "She says that she means well, she says that she has made Equestria better but look at what has happened." She gestures at Void, out at the Changeling guards and then at the Dreadified Rainbow Dash (looking ready to slam into Luna) and Shining Armour. "She can say whatever she wants but actions speak louder than any words. I can't oppose you now but, when Tia returns, we won't make the same mistakes as last time."

Cadance sighs disappointedly. "Why do you refuse to accept the truth?"

Luna looks at her niece sadly. "Because I've experienced Nightmare Moon first-hoof and I know what she is capable of. Everything she does, she does for her own gain and any positive impact to any-pony else is either entirely accidental or manipulation. There isn't a single redeemable part of her entire being."

Void sighs in defeat before Scootaloo materialises with a friendly look. "Princess Luna, I feel like we could do with a few minutes to clear our heads. Would you care for a trip around Equestria?"

Luna allows herself a slight smile; Maybe, isolated from Nightmare Moon's influence, I'll be able to finally get through to Scootaloo. If I can get her to fight from within, Nightmare Moon will be unable to fight as effectively. "Sure."

With that, they teleport away as Cadance looks on forlornly. "Why is Aunt Luna so unwilling to accept the truth?"

Void lowers her head sadly. "When I bonded with Princess Luna a thousand years ago, jealousy festered within her. Among... other reasons, she saw her sister as getting the glory for victories against the likes of Sombra, Discord and Tirek and felt that she ruled over an astral body that nopony cared about compared to the Sun. These were of course untrue as I saw from her memories that Celestia was trying to make her feel just as appreciated but her resentment ran too deep."

Taking a moment to remember the past, Penumbra continues. "Losing somepony very important to her led to my bonding with her but my inherent darkness and her anger combined to create Nightmare Moon. I was stuck with her as my host until Twilight and her friends purged me from her on the fateful night of the Summer Sun Celebration. Unfortunately, it left me near death as nopony wanted to bond with a foreign presence after what happened with Nightmare Moon and I soon faded away without some-creature to sustain me. A year later, I was saved by the Nightmare Forces but you know how well that ended."