1000 years ago Princess Celestia was forced to banish her sister Princess Luna after she became Nightmare Moon. However unbenounced to her Nightmare Moon was banished to a distant planet where she now plots her revenge with her ally Megatron
After her feelings of jealousy for her sister boil over Princess Luna becomes Nightmare Moon and seeks to overthrow Celestia, only to be banished by the element of harmony. However the elements did not send her to the moon like they should have, instead she was sent to a far off planet known as Cybertron where she encounters it's rulers, the mighty Megatron and his Decepticon army. Now the two of them are plotting together and awaiting the day when the banishment is over and the portal to Equestria reopens.
Cover art, which also is what gave me the idea, belongs to IronRaptor. Check them out on DeviantArt
Nightmare Moon cackled in front of the moon as she looked down at her work. "I ACTUALLY DID IT I BEAT MY FOOLISH SISTER!" she yelled as she continued laughing and looking down at the part of the castle that her sister's lifeless body had fallen into after she blasted her. Suddenly her laughter was cut short as her sister, Celestia, suddenly flew up out of the wreckage and was now floating parallel with her.
"Hmm back for more then. WELL FINE!" said Nightmare Moon angrily as she took aim and fired her magic at Celestia once again, except this time Celestia countered her attack by firing her own magic. Nightmare Moon was about to laugh at the futility of Celestia fighting back when she saw that not only was Celestia's beam overtaking her's but it was rainbow colored instead of her usual yellow magic color. It was at that point that Nightmare Moon realized where exactly Celestia landed and what was stored their. She screamed, "NOOOOOO!" as the Elements of Harmony overtook her and blasted her into the sky.
Celestia watched as her sister was being carried away by the elements energy. She went higher and higher into the night sky until the rainbow beam that surrounded her seamed to crack the sky itself open creating a portal that Nightmare Moon went through. The portal then closed behind her as Celestia now flew alone in the night sky and used her magic to lower the moon and restore the sky to it's proper state. "Oh dear sister, I hope that wherever you have gone you will find peace and that one day when we are reunited you will accept my friendship," she said as she glanced down and tears began to fall from her eyes.
Meanwhile thousands of light years away the portal reopened above a strange metal planet and the rainbow beam rocketed Nighmare Moon to it's surface.
When she hit the ground it formed a crater around her where she sat and thought for a moment about what just happened. "How ironic dear sister, using the very weapons that we used to liberate the land from Discord to banish me and make yourself the soul ruler. Deep down you are no different then he was, always wanting the glory for yourself!" she said with anger in her eyes, "I swear that when I see you next sister I shall pay you back in kind and you shall wish that my blast had finished you off like I believed it had."
It was at that point that she finally looked up at the world around her and her anger melted away into confusion at the alien landscape she was seeing. "Hmmm interesting. When the elements struck I thought they would simply turn me to stone like they did with Discord but clearly that has not happened," she said as she looked around more. "Strange there are so many lights around here and yet none of them seem to be magic driven," she then closed her eyes and performed a simple magic detection spell to confirm this before a look of shock came over her as she said, "In fact I don't seem to be sensing any magic at all here! What kind of place could this be?"
She then began to step out of the crater and instantly felt a cold sensation on her hooves, to which she looked down and commented, "Metal ground?" she then looked around in all directions to try and understand this better before saying, "And it seems to be going as far as I can see. So clearly it isn't some sort of road. Who or what would do this to there land?" Just as she said that though she heard what sounded like several large creatures approaching and, not seeing anywhere to hide, she used a cloaking spell to make herself turn invisible while she attempted to gather more information about what was going on before she took action.
What she saw next made her glad that she had taken the cautious path of hiding as from over the horizon came what appeared to be three large bipedal metal golems that started walking towards the crater she was originally in. She was beginning to think that these had to be some kind of mindless monsters looking for food when to her surprise one of them spoke.
"Lord Megatron the strange light seemed to crash around here. I am detecting several strange energy signatures emanating form the area," said one that was various shades of purple with bits of grey on its legs and arms and who, unlike the others did not have a face and instead only had a yellow light that seemed to blink with each word it spoke.
"Fhhh. You and your damn science Shockwave. I'm sure Lord Megatron doesn't care what kind of energies the thing has. We just need to find it so we can destroy it. Right master," said one that had a red torso with white and blue limbs and a black and gray head with red eyes as he looked back at the third one, apparently this Lord Megatron. It also had red eyes like the second but its head and body were various shades of gray with bits of blue and red on its torso and arms while it's lower torso and lower legs and were solid black. She also noticed that it had what appeared to be some kind of cannon mounted on it's right arm that, while it seemed no larger then any cannon she had seen the royal guards use she, still got the feeling that she should be cautious of it.
"As always Starscream you are a short sighted fool," said this Lord Megatron to which the one called Starscream shrunk back in fear before it continued saying, "From understanding comes power and from power comes conquest," it then turned back to the purple one, apparently named Shockwave and said, "Shockwave can you further analyze these energies and determine where the light is now." After hearing this Nightmare Moon couldn't help but think that this Lord Megatron was not only these creatures leader but a quite good one at that. But any further thoughts about this where soon interrupted as the one called Shockwave stepped forward.
"Yes Lord Megatron I should be able to get a lock on it by analyzing it in my photon ray form," said this Shockwave creature as a curious thing began happening to it. It crouched down towards the ground and began folding in on itself as new parts of it seemed to come from various folds as it moved. When it was done it looked almost nothing like the creature that once stood there, aside from the purple coloration. It appeared to be some sort of weapon as it was a glowing barrel that rested on some kind of stand and it had a clear piece of glass with a target emblem on top of it that would likely make firing it at a far off target easier. Though clearly this was not a weapon, or atleast it was not being used as one currently, as the barrel on it simple pulsated purple for a few moments. Then to her surprise ,despite its new appearance, the creature was still able to speak as it said, "Hmmm interesting." It then did the strange process in reverse and returned to being the bipedal creature she originally saw once again. It then spoke once again saying, "The crater over there seems to be emanating energy not all to dissimilar to a space bridge. That must be what brought this thing here as for the thing itself I am detecting an entirely unknown energy emanating from right there," it said pointing directly at where Nightmare Moon was hiding.
Her cover now blown she decided to decloak and face these creatures head on. She looked at them and said, "I do not know what you all are but if you think you can destroy the Princess of the Night so easily then you are surely mistaken."
These creatures then looked at her confused before the one called Starscream stepped forward saying, "Oh for the love of Primus... it's just a worthless little fleshling creature," it then moved both its arms parallel with her as she noticed it had rods mounted on the sides of them that began to glow purple as it said, "I tried to tell you Shockwave this is just a waste of our time."
It then fired beams from the rods at Nightmare Moon but she easily jumped out of the way of its attack and seeing the danger the creature's strange weapons posed she then took aim and fired at them producing a large cloud of smoke and sparks from each of them as the creature lowered it's arms and had a look of pain cross it's face.
Soon though its face started to contort with rage as it looked at her and said, "Blasted little creature. PREPARE TO DIE!" It then raised its arm preparing to strike her before the one called Lord Megatron grabbed its hand causing it to look at Megatron in confusion saying, "Lord Megatron what are you-"
He was then interupted as this Lord Megatron gave it a very stern look and said, "Wait Starscream don't," it then looked at her as a smile came to its face and it continued saying, "I rather like this creature. She has a certain fight to it that you are surely lacking." It then walked up to her and bent down to be closer to her eye level saying, "Now what is your name little creature?"
Refusing to be intimidated by anyone she repositioned her hooves sternly apon the ground, looked this creature in this eyes and confidently said in her Royal Canterlot voice, "I AM NIGHTMARE MOON THE PRINCESS OF THE NIGHT AND RIGHTFUL RULER OF EQUESTRIA." As she said this she noticed that this Lord Megatron was moved slightly back by her words, which was very common when one used the Royal Canterlot voice directly in someones face, but she wondered how the creature would react this as it seemed to have somewhat of a temper.
Instead of getting angry though the creature smiled and began laughing saying, "Well well well. It looks like you do have quite abit of strength to you."
"Well of course she has strength my Lord. After all you just saw how she damaged me," said the Starscream creature.
Lord Megatron, she decided to stop referring to this one at least as creature as it was now showing some form of respect for her and seemed to deserve some from her as well, then looked back at the Starscream creature, who had yet to anything worthy of her respect, and said, "It doesn't take much to damage you Starscream," it then looked back it her and continued saying, "Nightmare Moon as you probably heard from my name is Lord Megatron and I am the leader of this planet called Cybertron and you are clearly not from here. If you would like you may come with me to castle Darkmount and you can tell me how it is that you arrived on this planet.
Nightmare was stunned for a few moments at hearing that she was not only no longer in Equestria, but she was no longer on her home planet of Equis at all. Feeling somewhat lost at her now even more unfamiliar surroundings she then looked back at Lord Megatron who seemed to being nice to her. Part of her thought that he might be trying to trick her, but she wanted to trust him anyway as while she couldn't yet explain why, other than the fact that he seemed to be a capable leader, she saw a portion of herself in him that she couldn't quite place her hoof on. She looked at him with a stern face and said, "Very well, but if you attempt to harm me like that fool over their did I will not hesitate to rip you to pieces."
Lord Megatron simply smiled at this and said, "I wouldn't have it any other way," as he began walking in the direction he had come from with Nightmare Moon now in tow.
The one called Starscream glanced over at the one called Shockwave with a "can you believe this look" on it's face but the one called Shockwave seemed to trust Lord Megatron more than this Starscream as it simple began following the two of them leaving the Starscream to follow behind all of them as it muttered, "Uhhh this shall not go well for me."
As Nightmare Moon cautiously followed behind Megatron she made sure to take in her surroundings thinking, "Even if this doesn't work out, I can at least try and learn enough about this world to make it on my own and hopefully find a way back home.... that is if I can even call it home anymore."
She didn't have much time to think on that though since as soon as they cleared the horizon she was awestruck to see a dark metal castle that appeared to have a near impossible amount of spikes littered throughout it.
Megatron simple looked down at her with a smirk as he said, "Impressive isn't it... not long ago this was a library but I've converted it into the fortress you see before you."
"I see..." said Nightmare Moon before she composed herself saying, "I must take notes from when I construct my own castle in Equestria."
Megatron chuckled at that as he prepared to move forward again, but was quickly halted as Nightmare Moon said, "Tell me though, why would you choice a library for your seat of power, surely the previous ruling bodies building would have been easier to fortify."
Starscream stiffened and become nervous at that as the logical Shockwave seemed to only flinch for a moment before returning to normal.
Megatron looked down at her with a slight bit of rage on his face, the first rage he had directed towards her which caused her to step back slightly on instinct before planting her hoof firmly and meeting his steely gaze with her own. The two sat like this for a moment before Megatron simple said, "It's best not to ask questions of one who is being so generous towards you."
She stared at him for a moment before thinking, "Best to drop this for now, but this is far from over," as she simply nodded before the two continued walking.
Starscream breathed a sigh of relief before leaning over to Shockwave as he said, "What's so special about this creature? I feel like he would have instantly slagged one of us for saying something like that."
"Perhaps he would have slagged you," said Shockwave as he continued walking.
Starscream groaned as he said, "See this is why no one talks to you," before quickly jogging after them.
As they approached Nightmare Moon quickly caught sight of two more creatures standing in front of the entryway, clearly guarding it, though something seemed off about them. Firstly they appeared to be totally identical to each other both being simple grey with a red visor instead of eyes and cannons on the ends of their arms. Cannons that quickly found themselves pointed at Nightmare Moon.
Just as she began to think that she was being lead into an ambush Megatron spoke up saying, "Shockwave! Order the Vehicons not to target our guest!"
"As you command my lord," said Shockwave as his yellow eye briefly turned red before the Vehicons lowered their weapons and went back to their statue like stance.
Megatron groaned as he walked through the door saying, "Surely we could spare some troops for guard duty, I don't like relying on these mindless drones."
As they walked Starscream smirked as he said, "Oh I don't know, I think there's a certain charm to them, after all they obey whoever is at the top of the chain of command without question."
"And if I wanted that you wouldn't be functioning right now!" said Megatron.
This caused Starscream to cower slightly as he said, "Yes, or course my lord."
Nightmare Moon chuckled at that as she said, "You certainly know how to treat the rabble, though I question why you would let one such of him have such close counsel."
Starscream briefly opened his mouth to protest, but was quickly cut off as Megatron chuckled in return as saying, "Oh I've found that even the most unrefined of rabble can be useful if applied correctly."
Soon the group arrived at a large throne room as Megatron approached what appeared to be a black obsidian throne saying, "Shockwave, report to your lab to further analyze the data from the crater, Starscream ensure the Seekers are ready for their morning survey," the two went off to follow their respective tasks without a single word as Megatron sat down and looked at Nightmare Moon saying, "Now then, tell me how it is that a princess of another world has found herself stranded on my planet."
Nightmare Moon approached him slowly as she said, "Very well... I suppose it's the least I can do if you intend to provide me shelter." She sighed as she said, "I was not born a princess, rather I was simple a pony who while having power beyond what others could dream of, was simply content in spending the days away with her sister."
Megatron briefly flinched at that but quickly recomposed himself as she continued saying, "That all changed though when a wicked beast by the name of Discord took over our land, subjugating the ponies to his mad will, and doing whatever he pleased!" She grit her teeth in anger at that before she continued saying, "Neither I nor my sister could stand it, but sadly we could never hope to stand against his power on our own... thankfully we had long since become aware of a set artifacts know as the Elements of Harmony."
Megatron slightly perked up as he said, "Elements of Harmony you say?"
Nightmare Moon nodded as she said, "Yes, a set of six gemstones that only those with a righteous heart can use... at least that's what the legends say, though I have serious doubts about that now!" She huffed in rage for a moment before she continued saying, "Discord never even saw it coming, in an instant he went from ruling us all like a god, to a decoration in the castle garden."
"So I'm assuming that's when you two first took over then?" asked Megatron.
"Yes, Discord's reign had fractured the original leadership beyond repair so my sister and I became the defacto leaders, at first I thought it was only temporary until we could reestablish order and they could elect new officials. As time went on though they began to rely on us more and more and that's when we realized that even if we did allow them to hold an election, we would be the ones they elected. And so we fully settled into our new royal lives and for a time I actually started to enjoy it," she smiled briefly before that smile was replaced with a scowl as she said, "But Celestia wasn't as interested in sharing the power as she claimed. I watched as the citizenry praised me and came to me for advice less and less, until Celestia virtually ruled by herself anyway!!" She began to pace as she said, "Which must have been Celestia's plan all along, she didn't do anything to stop it after all... so that's when I decided-"
Megatron interrupted her saying, "That if your land could only have one ruler then it should be you."
"YES EXACTLY!" said Nightmare Moon as she continued saying, "After all I was the one who didn't even want the power in the first place, so I of course wouldn't be as quick to abuse it and horde it as she was, I trained day and night in secret honing my power and transforming my body into a living weapon to strike her down and claim the throne... unfortunately sister must have known this and rather then training herself to face me mare to mare, she simply used the Elements of Harmony to banish me HERE!" She slammed her hooves down cracking the floor as she began to breath heavily at that.
Megatron smiled as he said, "My my, you really did have your rightful place taken from you."
"Thank you!" said Nightmare Moon as she continued to breath heavily before calming herself and saying, "Now then if you truly feel my plight then you will tell me what you did differently."
Megatron sat upright as Nightmare Moon continued saying, "Do not take me for a foal Megatron, I saw how you reacted to my tale, you've lived through similar events... the only difference is you actually took the throne and I demand you tell me how or else I am leaving!"
Megatron tensed at the words for a moment, any other creature who dared speak to him like this would find themselves a corpse on the floor before they could even get out the last syllable but this one... he sighed as he said, "Well I suppose I owe you that much... after all, we are two of a kind you and I."
"I thought so," said Nightmare Moon as she approached with a smirk.
Megatron briefly checked the sensors on his throne to confirm no one else was nearby before he looked down at the creature before him saying, "Like you I did not start my life as a ruler, I didn't even start my life as Megatron... I was a simple Energon miner not even given the right to have a name. Day in day out I risked my spark so the aristocrats could sip Energon without a care in the world... that is until one day."
"What happened?" asked Nightmare Moon.
"The thing any idiot could have told you would happen eventual the mine dried up... sure there may have been a few pockets if we dug deeper but no where enough to justify our existence, and so the superiors decided to gather us all up in a room as a large bot stood behind our manager, as he flat out told us that we where deemed useless and that our lives where coming to an end, it was then that the large bot stepped forward and aimed his fusion canon," Megatron briefly shuddered as he grabbed the weapon mounted on his arm remembering that day before he continued saying, "In an instant I found myself running towards him and before I knew it my drill was embedded in his skull as his body went limp and life less. The manager reached for a pistol he had on his hip but I quickly grabbed the large bots fusion canon and strapped it to my own arm, killing the manager before he could even pull it out of the holster."
Nightmare Moon watched as the hulking creature before her, actually seemed to be trembling at the memory as he continued saying, "As I looked down at their lifeless bodies and knew I did that, it made me sick to my circuits.... I stared at the blood stained fusion canon I had just fired... the first time I'd ever fired a weapon in my life and I didn't know what to do next... I didn't know how I could go on with feeling like I was then."
Nightmare Moon stepped forward saying, "You did what you had to do save everyone."
Megatron simply looked at her and chuckled saying, "You've never killed have you?"
"Well... no I," said Nightmare Moon.
Megatron interrupted her saying, "Well... it gets easier the more you have to do it, to the point where you actually can believe that you had no choice, but those first few... no matter how much time has passed, no matter how much you tell yourself it was the right thing... those first few still weight on your soul like a vice."
Nightmare Moon didn't know what to say as she simply looked down before finally speaking up saying, "So then, why are you still here if you felt so bad about it?"
"Because of them, I looked down at the other miners who now looked at me as a leader, it was for them I decided to carry on and even though most of them are gone it is for them I do everything I do today. We managed to survive by joining a nearby gladiator arena, where I was given the name Megatron after a great warrior in Cybertron's history. Very soon I found myself the champion of countless battles and I used that fame to tell my story to all of Cybertron and point out the corruption of the council that ruled over us," said Megatron, as he smiled as he then said, "After which I suddenly found myself being confronted by a young librarian by the name of Orion Pax. He said he could help me get my word out to others, and that together we could change the face of Cybertron... I once thought of him as my brother."
Nightmare Moon paused as she could tell where this was going as Megatron's face contorted in rage saying, "That was my first mistake, the very second we got an audience before the council he cast me aside, claimed I was a dangerous revolutionary simply because I wanted to hold those who ordered my death accountable and punish them accordingly. Before I knew it he was granted the Matrix of Leadership and Orion Pax was now Optimus Prime, leader of the Autobots."
"I'm starting to see how our stories are similar," said Nightmare Moon as she unconsciously place her hoof on Megatron's leg in an effort to comfort him.
Megatron was slightly taken aback by this but continued saying, "Thankfully my loyal followers, the Decepticons, stood by my side and together we waged a war to claim the planet for those who worked to maintain it, after countless cycles of fighting we finally managed to infiltrate the Autobots base where I killed Optimus myself," megatron stopped for a moment as Nightmare Moon swore she almost saw a tear in his eye before he continued saying, "I thought about claiming the Matrix of Leadership for myself, but I never really agreed with it. It takes more then a shiny bobble to make one a leader and so I smashed it to pieces and ordered Shockwave to dispose of the pieces in a way they could never return, now we rule over a fair and just Cybertron where no bot will be terminated simply because they don't serve a function, with our only real concern being a handful of Autobots still scattered around the planet."
"I see," said Nightmare Moon as she thought, "That does bring up a concern... while I doubt I will feel too guilty about ending Celestia after all she has done, her guards are likely going to want to avenge her... will I truly be prepared to end them as well?"
Before she could think too much on that the door opened to reveal Shockwave and Starscream had returned as Shockwave spoke up saying, "My lord, my analysis is complete."
"And Thundercracker is leading the survery, that idiot can at least get something that simple done," said Starscream.
Megatron barely paid attention to what Starscream said as he turned to Shockwave saying, "What have you found?"
"As previously thought the energy was similar to a Space Bridge, though unfortunately it was impossible to determine its point of origin, there is good news however," said Shockwave.
"And what would that be?" asked Nighmare Moon as she stepped forward in interest.
"It appears as though the energy is going to remain and build up in the area, eventually reopening a Space Bridge back to said point of origin," said Shockwave.
Starscream groaned as he said, "Wonderful, we're going to the planet of annoying quadrupedal fleshlings.... just when is this going to happen so I know when to pretend to be malfunctioning?"
"If my calculations are correct it will be roughly a megacycle," said Shockwave.
Starscream whistled at that, before looking down at Nighmare Moon saying, "Well little one, if there's any concelation we promise to kill the great great great great grand child of whoever took your throne and make your planet a part of the Decepticon Empire."
Nightmare Moon looked confused at that as she turned to Megatron saying, "What does he mean?"
He sighed saying, "I'm afraid that you will not live to see the portal to your home reopen as if memory serves a megacycle is around one thousand of your fleshling years."
Starscream chuckled at that as he said, "Too bad you pathetic creatures don't live as long as us."
Luna simple chuckled back as she said, "Oh I can assure you I am not as weak as any of the fleshlings you have encountered before, I shall live to see that day with ease."
"I highly doubt that," said Starscream rolling his eyes.
"Keep disrespecting me creature and I shall outlive you regardless of whether or not I'm telling the truth," said Nightmare Moon.
Megatron once again chuckled at this before saying, "Very well then, Shockwave prepare a bed chamber for our new guest, and Starscream why don't you go out hunting and see if you can find some food for her?"
"B-but my lord, organic plants and animals are few and far between, it could take me countless kliks to find anything," said Starscream.
"Well be quick about it, I am rather hungry," said Nightmare Moon as she followed after Shockwave.
"H-HOW DARE YOU COMMAND ME! WHO GAVE YOU THE RIGHT!?" said Starscream in indignation.
"I did," said Megatron with a smirk. "As of this moment she is to considered my right hand and has the right to command you and anyone else unless I say otherwise."
Starscream grit his teeth saying, "Y-yes my lord," before heading out of the room thinking, "Alright I don't know why Megatron likes this little pet so much, but I think it's time she had an accident... fleshlings are very fragile after all."
