Prelude
Nightmare Moon had returned. It was spoken of in tales of her that when the stars align, she would be free. That day had arrived, and Celestia was NOT prepared. In fact, she was caught off guard when she had been informed about it, but feared not for her plan was still coming along and Twilight would have already found new element bearers to help her bring Luna back. Celestia expected it to not take long, and so flew to the Castle of the Two Sisters where she knew Luna, no longer controlled by the Nightmare, would be. She would be wrong on both accounts. While she sought to find her little sister, she was surprised to see Nightmare Moon AND Luna in Ponyville celebrating together. To say she was confused as to why or even how it was so was an understatement, and slowly her anger was building along with it.
Only later did Celestia find out that they did indeed go and use the Elements of Harmony in the Old Castle, but with the effects separating Nightmare Moon and Princess Luna as two separate entities. After some talking and heated debate, Nightmare, Luna, and the Element Bearers all agreed to calmly sort things out and convey the news as best as possible to the rest of Equestria beyond Ponyville. Celestia, however, went to silently vent all her emotions in privacy, and afterwards tried to focus solely on the fact she had her little sister back, as she reasoned she could tolerate Nightmare Moon until she had a way to rid her.
Three weeks pass by...
Princess Luna had many difficulties adjusting to society, as accounted for her absence.Moony, the nickname Luna gave to Nightmare Moon, did as well, but took it a bit harsher on herself. In their time gone, things had changed drastically not only socially, but also technologically. Advancements in medicine, science, education, economics, domestic and international affairs, and even military equipment and tactics. Social adjustment had been the hardest so far, with the language structure taking a drastic drop in literacy, and as such caused them to struggle to not use what Twilight deemed "Ye Olde Language". Within the last week, Nighty noticed that Celestia was not particularly in good standing with her as she expected, but it seemed more than it should have to her. Luna had taken notice only a few days ago and mentioned it over lunch with Celestia and her half sister present. Celestia, ultimately, would not have any of it, seeing the conversation as pointless and, ”A clear influence from Nightmare as she had done one thousand years ago.” She made that statement loud, and clear, afterwards dismissing herself early to go finish ‘urgent’ work. It did not look like a good future for the two left in the room, as the both exchanged worried or fearful expressions to each other.
More time passes, roughly a month...
"What do you mean you're leaving, Luna? I thought she was ‘no problem’ as you put it," Celestia shouted at Luna to almost Royal Canterlot voice level, attracting the eyes of many maids and guards outside the chambers. This had started when Celestia came by to talk with Luna about Nightmare Moon at the end of her day court. She had gone to Luna’s chambers, and was surprised to see her sister packing a small, leather case. When she asked why her little Lulu was packing clothing and other supplies, she turned an angry color of red when she told Celestia that Nightmare and her were leaving because Nightmare Moon felt unwelcome.
Luna swiftly returned a shout to her sister saying, "I simply mean that you see that Moony is unwanted here, so I am saying if that's the case then so am I, sister!" Luna practically hissed the last word out while pointing a hoof to Celestia’s chest.
"You are not leaving with that monster and that is FINAL Luna," Celestia finally broke down, letting a torrent of tears flow from her. She sobbed, walking to her slowly backpedalling sister. “Please, I can’t lose you to her again, Lulu. If I must, I will rid of her with more conventional means. Even if you hate me, you’ll understand why i did so sooner or later.’ Celestia kept moving towards Luna, a sad smile on her face. Luna wasn’t listening, as she turned to run for the doorway. She was about to call for her Lunar guards when Celestia suddenly tackled her.
“Sister, release thou grip! You are hurting me,” Luna cried out to Celestia, but Celestia wasn’t listening rationally anymore. Still keeping a sad smile on her face, she lit her horn. Luna didn’t need to know what she was casting, sending a blast from her horn quicker than her sister, and pushing her off a little harder than expected. Celestia stood up, but now she had a furious expression now.
“I see she has corrupted your mind too far in darkness. Don’t worry, dear sister,”the temperature had increased rapidly to where Luna was now sweating,”I’ll rid her with Holy Flame from you.” Celestia finished with wisps of steam building into roaring flames that replaced her flowing mane. Her eyes turned a deathly crimson, and her white coat turned a rich creamy color. Fangs extended from her snarl that adorn her features, along with her height gaining a foot, now towering over the slowly dread filled Luna. “And now I have the perfect means to do so, fiend.”
Nightmare's Perspective *Sometime after Luna and Solar Flare’s battle*
"Sister, I know it is difficult to have to do the reciprocal to our sister, but you mustn’t grieve on it. Tis’ not healthy to do so," I finished, placing a hoof upon my half-sister’s shoulder. She threw it off with her own hoof, glaring back at me.
"Do NOT talk to me of GRIEF, of all things Nightmare Moon!" I was taken aback by her sudden change in demeanor. I started backing away from Luna as she came closer, rage and hurt, so much hurt, filling her eyes. "You know as I do that YOU and I are separated, even then we were. Don't even THINK you can say that you understand grief when all you had was a phantom of a feeling as you laid dormant in my mind so many years ago," Luna spat as she only continued to close the distance between us. I began to tear up as she was too, but she quickly lost them and took on a darker look to her eyes. Just like she had when I took over a thousand years ago.
"Luna, please! We can talk about this, I know, truly do know, how much pain you are going through. I’ve seen those eyes before. Please...p-please, don’t hurt me,” I pleaded, no begged, her. It might not have meant anything, but-
I was cut off from thought as she struck a solid mass of magic through my Royal Chestplate I wore in place of my old armor. It was a much thinner alloy, so it was no surprise when the magic went through. What did...was she actually struck me, and I can’t recover from a wound like this. I looked down, then up and wheezed,“S-sister? Why…?”
"You have done enough damage. I should have listened to my sister when she told me you were a problem in the first place, along with when I claimed her immortality. But now,” she twisted the magic, making me clutch it and gasped,” that won’t be an issue any longer. Rest, dear sister, and join Celestia in the ever after.” That was the last words I took from her as tears streamed down her face, and my vision quickly blackened till there was no more. Then…
“No, not here again. Please not here!” I screamed, for I was in a most familiar place once more. I was back in Luna’s mind, but now with the addition of a small, confined office with straight, white walls, and no escape. “LUNAAAA!!!”
12 years after The Crack in Royalty Era
Queen Luna had had just about enough of this arrogant prick before her. Gold Stain was a rather snobbish landlord who had been going on about how a, "Peasant farmer had dared to buy my esteemed land for some meager crops with low yield." She sat, bored and leaning her chin on one hoof, and was waiting for him to finish his tirade. “And THAT is why we must stop him before he spreads his diseases among us with higher standards,” he finished while straightening his coat, closing his eyes and lifting his nose to the air. That only made her eye twitch in annoyance.
“So,” she started slowly,” are you finished being a child, and having a temper tantrum over what typically happens? A farmer buys land, supports the community and gets paid for it. I put you in place as a landlord for the sole purpose to make sure the land is cared for, and grows. That includes, and not limited to, farmers, citizens not peasants, and yes even the hard laborers that make the backbone of our factory workers. If this is an issue, I can simply have you removed. Do you wish for this?” Luna finished with her chastisement of him.
He snapped his eyes open and had a moment of anger before he answered. “Yes! I would like to have a much better title such as a noble! Thank you so kindly for-” Gold Stain stopped, seeing Luna fume at him. His ears went flat and he started to coward close to the ground. Her horn lit a dangerous Dark Blue, Black, and Magenta.
“No,” she started with her horn growing a little brighter,” I think I have a more permanent solution for you.” Her horn finally let forth a blast and blasted the noble. In an instant, his yelp turned to a howling laugh as he was turned to a grey fox. He froze and eyed himself with a dreadful expression. Queen Luna turned to her royal scribe and asked,”Say, Silver Tongue. Isn’t it fox season down at the hunting reserve? For the next two weeks or so if I’m correct?” Silver Tongue continued to record as she spoke to her employer.
“Yes ma’am, and actually will be closing in a few days. He might last long enough to try and survive the other creatures on the reserve,” she spoke as she held an expressionless face.
“Hmm, well then Mr. Stain, consider yourself lucky if you do survive our hunters out in the White Tail Woods. I heard we have an excellent hunter out there by the name of “Teddy’ Rough Rider. Have fun!” Luna finished with a teleportation spell on Gold Stain to send him off on his new life. “Now then, we have a few more minutes of court?”
Silver was quick to reply, ”Yes, your Highness.” Luna smiled at that thought. Only a few more nobles or, hopefully, citizens to address and she would be done. She always found talking to some of the citizens was very calming, and was a nice change of pace to the normal noble who thought they were hotstuff and could scandal or even at times extort her. She called forth the next in line, and was surprised, but not upset, to see the head of the Medical institution in Ponyville, Doctor Redheart, alongside the Head of the Lunar Guard, General Sonar.
“Ah Redheart and General Sonar Ear, to what do I have the pleasure to meet both of you at the same time?” Queen Luna addressed wearing a warm smile. They returned it with a quick, low bow and a smile of their own, but not so wholeheartedly with what they had to bring.
Sonar was the first to speak, saying, “Queen Luna, it is an honor to be before you. I have a report that is most urgent. I came as quickly as I could when I had the report myself from the good Doctor here.” She pointed a hoof to Redheart, letting her speak up.
“Your Highness, it is with so trouble that I inform you of an incident of sorts-minor, but still something to take account of. During a military exercise not far from my office, there was an explosion that shook the entire facility. When I went to investigate, I saw an odd glow emanating from the forest where the exercise was taking place. Not long after, we had some victims with severe magical burns enter into the hospital, but it had signatures that I didn’t recognize. We ran them through and picked up a large amount of dark magic.”
Redheart looked up from the folder she brought along and saw a worried face from Queen Luna. She gestured for her to continue, so she searched for where she left off. “Uhm, well, we also discovered that not all of the signatures were dark. There was a trace of potential changeling magic as well. We couldn’t quite be sure since a lot of it had come back as corrupted data when we ran it through our machines, but we have some consistency that tells us that it is true.”
She stopped, so the General took the opportunity to speak up. “Queen Luna, we have not known changelings to be this far north of our borders, let alone have any magical interference within our lands. I suspect maybe it was a small border skirmish, but that leads to the conclusion that they are the aggressors in this case, and we need to take action. What are your thoughts, your Highness,” Sonar questioned, looking to Luna and awaiting an answer.
Luna hummed, sitting up taller now and looking back at the two. “The patients, how many and how long had they been burned before they got there?” Doctor Redheart handed the report and showed the parts that Queen Luna had asked about. 26 stallions and 24 mares, a decent sized platoon. How did such an incident happen where an entire platoon had been wiped out,” Luna thought to herself. “Is this everyone who was at the exercise? If so, how did an entire platoon get knocked out? Surely someone would have taken notice, yes?”
General Sonar gestured for her to flip the page. What she didn’t tell Luna was the burn marks of the victims would be on that page. As she continued to flip, a few wounds looked more severe than the rest, and then she came to the end with a more detailed aftermath report. ‘4 confirmed dead, 46 wounded/being treated, 7 missing.’ She looked again, over and over, at the underlined section. Seven. Seven missing mares and stallions. Luna looked relatively pissed now. “General Sonar, how did seven soldiers go missing on a training exercise incident? If you do not get me answers soon, then I’ll be personally seeing to this myself, and i will make sure this is thoroughly sorted out. Am I clear?”
Sonar held a stoic face, but behind it she was feeling herself begin to panic a little. “Yes, your Highness! I’ll see that we get this fixed right away,” she quickly said, swiftly dismissing herself from the throne room to carry out her orders. Queen Luna turned to Redheart.
“Well Ms. Redheart,” she began,” see to it you keep a close telegrapher to you, i want to know if anything changes in an instant. Oh, and if something else is to happen outside of this situation that needs my personal attention as well.” Luna dismissed the Doctor, and she hastily retreated in a similar fashion as Sonar did.
The whistle on both sides of the throne room door signalled the end of the day shift and of day court. “Oh, thank the moon! Well Silver Tongue, I hope you have a wonderful evening. Today has been quite eventful! Oh, and don’t forget to stow away the court recordings before you leave,” Luna called out to her scribe as she was heading out the private door behind the dias. She hurried out and was making her way down the narrow hallway leading to the Lunar section of the castle.
Luna had left the Day and Night sections of the castles as she knew that not everypony would be open to entirely 180-ing their sleep schedule. After the ‘Crack in Royalty Era’, as most news headlines put it, she established a new system to help her manage the ever growing nation. She made a 4-way party system. Executive, Monastery, Judicial, and Representative branches. The Executive, Queen Luna herself, was the head of it all. Any and all decisions made by other branches was up to her to accept, deny, or call a revote on. It also allowed her to take command fully of the armed forces to make sure she could keep a tight grip on the army to protect the nation in times of need.
Next was the Monastery. After the fall of Celestia, religious uproar had swept the nation, and she needed to act fast. She put forth the construction of a Monastery to bring together the heads of the major ideologies and religions of the nation. It was made up of Celestians, Lunar Seekers, Peace Keepers, and the Grunts. Celestians made up those in favor of Celestia as a deity, Lunar Seekers Luna, Peace Keepers those of an old Goddess believed dead named Tyr, and the Grunts of a mad God named Discord. She built the building and had made a very complex, yet understandable agreement with all sides that a monthly meeting with all four were to talk of any conflicting issues, and every once a year with Luna herself present.
Then came the Judicial. The only purpose was to make sure the actions of all branches, themselves included, were upholding the law. The other purpose was to rid of ridiculous or outdated laws and to permanently remove them, or replace them. It was then viewed by the Representative branch, then finally to Luna herself. If she voted no, then it went back to the Judicial and then the Representative again. If they all vote yes again, then it was removed/replaced anyways, but if one of the branches should vote no then it was then disapproved. The Representative branch was composed of multiple leaders that the area voted 75% or higher for to represent them. Each area contained an Agriculture, Landlord, Financial, Labor, and Education representative, with an occasional 6th member for the Aristocrats. Most laws thought up and proposed either came from here, or the Judicial with a rare one coming from Queen Luna herself.
As convoluted as it was, it kept balance to things and let some stress roll off her shoulders. She didn’t expect to run the country by herself and knew she’d need help, and so these branches and different agencies along with advisers allowed her to run things smoother. The last thing she needed was a full out rebellion on her hands. With that pesky thought now settling in and not going away, she kept going till she reached the other hidden door leading to the Lunar Quarter with her chambers just around the corner to the right.
She made her way down the hall and around the corner, seeing the shift of guards from a warm gold to cool blue on her short journey. She finally made, and started to feel a slight buzz from the back of her mind. She knew what that meant. A damn headache, one that persisted every now and then. That was, till it spoke and she realized it was a different type of headache. “Hello, Nightmare Moon. decided to be a bother today?”
She could hear her yawn in her mind, “Mmmmmm, yes and the term is tonight. Don’t worry, i won’t be too much an issue if your daily friend Mr. Brandy has anything to say. Usually, and he won’t tell you this, he is the usual reason that when I speak up you have these damned headaches,” Nightmare Moon finished with a hiss to her tone, and Luna knew why. Ever since Moony decided to speak up, she has taken up drinking to drown her out, which leaves a hangover that both of them feel, but at least it shuts her up Luna always thought.
“Uuuuuugh, pleeeeease just leave me be for one night? I can’t rest with you back there and these drunken nights are starting to become more noticeable by staff, so I’d very much appreciate a silent night for once, please,” Luna groaned out, heading towards her bed of Pegasus Clouds.
“Hmmm, no. No, I don’t I will. Hee hee, it’s fun to watch and it gets soooo lonely in here from time to time. You should let me have a little con-” Nightmare stopped as Luna’s horn glowed and Luna heard her scream in the back of her mind. She smirked, knowing Nightmare wouldn’t try to talk for a while after that shock. Finally, she collapsed on her bed and was out cold. Her only fleeting thoughts went back to the report. She wonders if she’d have to take a trip to the Badlands to have a ‘sit down’ with the Queen of the Changelings.
The only conclusion she came to before she finally fell to unconsciousness was this. “That’s future Luna’s problems for now.”