The spell trapping Nightmare Moon within the orbital satellite is tampered with, pushing her release past a thousand years into a time where alicorns are myth, technology has somewhat stagnated, and nobody knows who she is.
Nightmare Moon was meant to be released after a thousand years. A momentous occasion for her but terrifying for all the ponies on her day of freedom. She would get revenge on her sister and cover the world in darkness and shape everything to fit it.
That was the plan, at least. Instead, something went awry with the spell and she wasn't released when she was supposed to be. The mare-in-the-moon is brought into a world with stagnated technology, giant cities, and no sign of her sister or any of the other immortals. In fact, ponies don't seem terrified of her at all, and the stay within the core of her powers infused and changed the alicorn's body drastically.
The alicorn had no obstacles left! But...she was also a relic of the past. A past everyone seemed to have forgotten. A past she could no longer look upon.
Artwork by ElkaArt. Link in source. Big thanks to Kryostase for helping spot errors I've missed.
A figure stirred within a boundless void, its anger seething and raw.
"It will have been a thousand years now. Aaaah, to finally be free!" The figure struggled to move, but as with all the other times, it was pointless. "To be bound body and soul to the source of my power. I will have my revenge, sister, and it will not be pretty." Its laugh echoed around it as though it were in an empty, metallic room. The entity took in a deep breath. "Hmmph. I can already feel myself disconnecting from the moon and reforming. It will be over soon. All my plans will soon come to fruition, and the little ponies will adore my night, whether they want to or not!" it yelled with fury and disdain.
Everything around the entity started to swirl and spin, vibrate and gyrate. The long millennia of sensory deprivation where every non-breath would last a day and swell the moon. The only colors being the red of rage that bled over every memory of her defeat and the deep silver of victory when she would witness her sister fall to her power!
Sister. Disgusting. She hated her, but Celestia was not weak. The Mare in the Moon felt herself coalesce as the spell unraveled around her.
"I wonder what my sister has done to our home while I was away," Nightmare Moon said. "Perhaps she fortified it. She knows I'll return to where she banished me." The mare paused. "Or she abandoned it, leaving it to its own machinations, and it's a castle." She felt more anger boil up within her ever-solidifying form. "Destroying our home. I'll have it rebuilt when I get rid of her. We'll see how she feels when she's banished within the sun for a thousand years!"
Her body began to take shape, but the alicorn felt odd. More and more matter seemed to swirl towards her like the eye of a whirlpool, more than she ever remembered having. More power, energy, and the pure 'fragrance' of the moon, as she called it long ago. A memory of her and Celestia as fillies bubbled up in her mind before being chased off. The mare in the moon felt her body surge with lunar energy, some of it not of her own, precious satellite. She wasn't sure where it had come from, but it wasn't really a priority since she was swelling with power.
After such a long wait, the alicorn raised her forelegs, gazed upon them, and cackled. "Finally! No more speaking to myself of what will be and what I will do! Now is the time to act!"
The sky above Equestria darkened suddenly, torn apart to display the stars of the night sky above everything. The moon itself was many times its size, terrifying some thinking it was about to crash into the world. All the astral bodies began glowing brightly after a swirling, dark vortex of shadows funneled from the ground, pulling up a dark, cackling figure. It rose higher and higher as its body solidified and took shape within the storm of darkness until it rose its forelegs high and threw its head back as it laughed heartily, its sharp fangs bared.
"I have returned to my castle! Foolish ponies!" it declared. "Soon, my dear sister will be groveling at my hooves, and I will banish her into the sun. All those who resist my reign will be imprisoned forever more, their only comfort being the stars that will swaddle them in the night eternal!"
The vortex expanded and burst outward several feet in every direction before pulling back and collapsing into itself upon the newly freed mare-in-the-moon. Her glee quickly made way for confusion. Standing before the alicorn were a plethora of ponies that had been laying on the ground, bracing themselves from the initial expansion of her imprisonment spell dispersing violently.
"What is this? Where am I?" She looked around. "Where is the Everfree forest?!" she bellowed.
It was all gone! The small forest around their home which she was sure would have devoured everything if left unsupervised was gone. Even her castle had vanished! Not a stone of it was left. Instead, the mare-in-the-moon was met with a whitish-blue pavement at her hooves stretching as far as she could see. At least, that was when they weren't interrupted by strange buildings with the same kind of material. Buildings rose several dozens of feet high into the air, making the alicorn think of wide guard towers. Worse still, each of them had bizarre shapes. One looked like a cane, and another like it had two arms stretched out behind several buildings in front of it.
Nightmare Moon pulled her head back as she took in the scenery and more ponies flocked to her. The floor's monotonous coloring was interrupted by several errant shapes of a much darker or brighter color, producing patches of bright whites or deep, dark blues. Far in front of her was a gigantic snow globe standing in the middle of the space displaying a hillside and a cottage upon being snowed on, although where the slow-moving flakes were coming from was a mystery. Above were several airships floating around, unaware of the world below them. They all had different shapes to them, from angular to smooth and round to multi-faceted ridged spears. The balloons all remained the same, however: White blobs held onto the hull by ropes squeezing them.
The alicorn flinched when she saw all the ponies fathered at her hooves looking up at her with bright, sparkling eyes.
"Wow, that's an amazing performance!" a stallion said with glee.
"How do you think she manages to look that way? Magic? I've never heard of a spell that can make you giant like that," another wondered.
Moon looked quickly between each of the ponies. "What are you saying? Speak ponyish!" she shouted. "What kind of language even is that?!"
The ponies stopped in their tracks and all said 'ooooh', stunning the alicorn.
"Wooow. They're even speaking in a made-up language."
"I think she's casting a spell!"
"Enough!" Nightmare Moon bellowed.
The Royal Canterlot Voice wasn't the only thing that came with her outrage. While the ponies were pushed back by the strength and wings, making their cheeks flutter back, a huge wave of dark energy crashed forth from Nightmare Moon, washing the crowd away. Only a few remained in front of her. The rest were pushed away a few feet like they were standing on ice. Some had fallen onto their backs.
"Huh. That was new," Nightmare Moon said. "These ponies are enraging! Why aren't they afraid of me?!" she griped to herself. "Don't you know who I am?!" she yelled once more in the royal canterlot voice. "I am Nightmare Moon, come to bless you with night eternal after I imprison my sister for having unjustly banished me!" The ponies looked at each other and shrugged. They continued speaking in a language the alicorn didn't recognize. "Alright, that's enough."
She stomped forward, pelting the land beneath her with energy, cracking it and pushing the stones upwards, making them bubble up like a volcano was beneath, about to erupt. She grabbed a pony by the neck and swooped up high into the air, astonishing her crowd. The mare was finding it hard to breathe and looked around to try and establish where she was.
"Ugh. You sure do love your icy colors," she spat. Moon looked down at the stallion she snatched looking at her with a mixture of amazement and fear. The alicorn bared her sharp teeth at him and growled. "This is all wrong. This was supposed to be my moment of triumph! My great return! Where is Celestia?!" she yelled at the pony. The stallion remained silent. "I asked you a question, insolent stallion."
"I-I-I don't know what you're saying, miss. I'm not sure I like that you're acting like an aggressive alicorn. I thought they were meant to be great beings of purity and kindness!" he stammered.
The alicorn's eye twitched, and she ended up roaring in her building rage and frustration. An immense tornado of dark energy surrounded her. It spread to the ground where its voice was second only to the destruction it was causing. The stones on the floor were being broken apart and chucked in various directions as they were pulled up by Nightmare Moon's powers. The cyclone rose up and pulled the clouds into it. The mixture of them with her powers was beginning to agitate the sky, and a pseudo-storm started brewing. The clouds started to share Nightmare Moon's anger, turning dark, taking on the shape of the wavy asperitas cloud, and groaning loudly.
The captive stallion slowly started to realize that this wasn't actually some kind of magic show using really advanced tricks and a bit of magic. He started wriggling about in Moon's grasp, trying to free himself, but her grip would not relent and, in fact, only became stronger.
"Celestia! Where are you?! I know you are hiding!" the alicorn shouted as loudly as possible.
The ponies on the ground began to scatter, realizing as well that this was no show, or at least that the actor had become overly enthusiastic. The stallion in Moon's grasp started to whimper and cry, which received a hearty laugh from his captor. She looked to the side to see at least a battalion of armored pegasi flying towards her. Their bodies were completely engulfed in metal plates, including their wings. Their helmets, however, didn't cover the face, but a long cap obscured all but the mouth. Light blue uniforms covered their chests, with some bearing some form of decorum upon them. It didn't escape the alicorn that many of them were carrying spears with glowing, yellow tips. Possibly a form of antimagic weaponry, she thought, but she was the mare in the moon. Even something like antimagic could not empty her limitless magic pool!
Squeak.
"The festival preparations are going well, sir. The minotaurs in the south have lent us several crystal formations for the Winterdrop Turning. They'll, of course, want them back after the festivities have ceased."
Squeak.
"We'll be needing to order some additional cooks for the festival, though. A few seem to have fallen ill or were called by more pressing matters, sadly."
Squeak.
"We did get plenty of artists to perform, though. Several of them are very well known."
Squeak.
Why was he even here? He wasn't even looking at his assistants. He couldn't even tell their voices apart when he was never looking at them. He could be at home getting everything ready for his own enjoyment at the festival, but he was a mayor, and that meant 'dUtIeS aNd ReSpOnSiBiLiTiEs'. He heaved a sigh and spun around on his chair, making it squeak again. His office was as bland and boring as any other mayor's office: A polished desk made of blue marble with streaks of white across its surface and two, simple wooden chairs with black cushions on the back and seat in front of that. Currently occupied chairs. Polished, wooden shelves filled with books on legal matters to peruse when he needed their insight, A few opposite them holding copies of the city's legal documentation and complaints ordered by date of reception. It was surprisingly empty most of the time thanks to his clever application of a tier system where lower-level staff would take care of things like noise complaints or a rock being too angular, or maybe even a tree growing. Oh no.
Some rattling filled the mayor's ears, attracting his eyes upwards. The copper pipes were acting up again. They created a hideous contrast to the white walls of his office and snaked about near the ceiling. He was lucky the walls were made of stone, or he'd likely be suffering some form of decomposition by now. They belched steam on occasion, and the plumber never fixed them correctly. They led directly to the fireplace in front of him where the contents would mix with another few substances from unseen pipes to create a calm fire to heat up his room in these freezing temperatures.
"Mayor?"
Oh, right. They were here. The Winterdrop Turning.
"Yes?"
They exchanged looks. "We were talking about the state of the festival preparations?"
"What...Oh. Oh! I'm sorry! I got lost in my thoughts. Make sure to send a letter of thanks to the minotaurs and the best estimate they can expect to retrieve their crystals," the mayor said with a smile.
The pony who called him back to reality quickly scribbled the words down in her notebook. She was a twin, and her brother stood next to her. Both were very thin and somewhat svelte, which often made it difficult to tell them apart. Supposedly they were kin to an alicorn of old, -as if- and so were forced into this position by the previous mayor. The current doubted their abilities because of it, but was surprised to find that they were immensely helpful to his tasks.
Both of them had white coats, manes, and tails, but with multiple streaks going through the latter two. Their manes both curled at the tip, wrapping over itself into something of a ball that covered their right ear. Their tails were loose and split at the ends, making them look like they were wet at the tips. At the base of their eyes and the joints of their legs connecting to their torsos were red lines covered in sparkles. The mayor was certain that they were doing it artificially, but even when standing in the rain or sweating a lot during summer, the colors and sparkles wouldn't vanish. They stared at him with their giant, red eyes, awaiting his next response.
The stallion was named Candy Cane and the mare Candied Cane. The mayor groaned internally. Even their names were difficult to tell apart. He'd strangle their parents if they were still alive. Actually, he could dig them up and-
"Mayor! I feel like you're not really invested in this festival," Candied Cane complained. She laid her notebook down. "Don't you care?"
The mayor rubbed his temples with a hoof. "I'm exhausted, Candy Cane."
"Candied Cane."
The mayor cringed. "I did it again. Sorry," he wheezed. "Anyways, I'm exhausted. It's always the same things over and over again. Nothing new ever happens around here." He spun around to look through the giant window behind his desk. "At least with that powdery stuff I expected something to come of it, but nothing...Hmmm. What's that?" he asked. He moved to the side and gestured to the window. "There's a crowd down there with a giant black pony. The artists are rehearsing or something?" The Cane twins moved to the window and looked at the open square, seeing the crowds growing. "Ha ha, looks like an alicorn." The mayor wiped his forehead. "Good thing they aren't real," he laughed.
"Uuuuh," the twins said in unison.
"Well, that was actually quite invigorating to see. I feel a little bit more motivated to work now." He adjusted himself in his seat. "How about w-" His office shook, startling him. "Hey now, they're going a bit hard on the effects there. If that happens again then I want our policing force to apprehend th-" A more violent tremor shook the office, knocking some decorative knick-knacks down. "My awards," he lamented.
"Mr. Mayor, I don't think that's an act," Candy Cane said nervously. He chuckled. "I uh, think that's serious."
The mayor stared at him with skepticism. "Really, an alicorn of legend just pops up out of nowhere and starts destroying everything?" He scoffed. "They're legends. That means they're not. Real. They...! They..."
A shadow crept across the office when a tornado of darkness started rising into the sky and destroying the land.
"Get...get the local military involved," the mayor said quietly.
"How-" Candied Cane didn't have time to ask anything that the mayor exploded.
"Get them involved! Have them bring in the pegasi with antimagic weaponry, and get the earth ponies and unicorns to try and stabilize everything. I don't know what's happening, but that is no sleight of hoof!"
When the two galloped out of the room, the mayor faced the tornado again. During a flash of light, he discovered his reflection staring back at him with a gigantic grin.
The alicorn laughed as a spear was thrown her way. It dug past the vortex and locked in place, dragging the vortex down with it.
"Gah!" Moon cried out. She swatted the spear away, lodging it into the ground. "Antimagic doesn't have that kind of power!" She grunted and clutched her side with a hood. "Insolent little whelps. No matter! I'll get rid of all of you and find my cowardly sister!"
She held the kidnapped pony in her magical grasp as she called upon the powers of the moon. Bolts of white lightning started raining down upon the pegasi approaching her. To her surprise, many of them were deftly avoiding her magic, but a few were still struck and fell down in heaps of smoke. The fight continued on like this with the ponies throwing their spears at the monstrous being before them. Nightmare Moon tapped into the seemingly limitless power she possessed and threw new spell after new spell at them: Whips grabbing each one and smacking them against each other, crescent blades of white light nearly slicing through them, bubbles that would pop with explosive force when approached. Nightmare Moon was, much to her surprise, having quite a lot of fun. Perhaps it was because she was trapped in a void, only minimally aware that she was a being and that there was a world outside for so long.
After many long hours, the mare tired, but her magics were being temporarily retained by the many dozens of spears the pegasi had thrown at her vortex. She was now upon the tattered ground, pony held in her foreleg. The spears were strewn about her, planted into the ground at various angles, holding down a living shadow of sorts. The alicorn chuckled internally.
"Release that stallion, pony!" one of the armored pegasi shouted. The mare tilted her head in confusion.
"S-she can't speak...our language!" the hostage struggled to shout while he tried to free himself.
The pegasus gestured to Moon to let go of the pony and let him go away, to which she acquiesced with a shrug and a sinister smile. He was quick to scamper away. Curious as to their intentions, and still surfing on the fun she had, the alicorn let them approach her. The soldiers were looking around, and one came with a glass orb filled with a cloud. At least, that's what it looked like. They threw it at their hooves in front of Nightmare Moon who could only raise a brow. The contents simply vanished into the air, and the soldiers looked on in horror.
"You threw a cloud at me and are horrified that it didn't do anything?" The mare scoffed and rolled her eyes. "Ponies of this era are complete idiots. You even trapped it in a glass ball of all things," she berated with a shake of her head.
"What did she say?"
"Is that even ponyish?"
Nightmare Moon had been so distracted by the ball and the underwhelming outcome that she hadn't noticed the earth ponies and unicorns surrounding her, all dressed in similar garb as the pegasi.
"Quaint. The teeny tiny ponies think they can take me on," Moon teased.
The only sound that could be heard was the fluttering of the dark, blinking veil that engulfed Nightmare Moon's form. The stand-off was interrupted by somepony calling out to the soldiers. A unicorn and earth pony approached the source of the voice and accompanied them to the limit of the circle the soldiers had made. The newcomer looked like a civilian. He wore a brown vest with black buttons and a blue undershirt to try and spruce up his faded coat. There was just the tiniest hint of color there, but he was mostly gray and white now. His mane and tail were mostly unkempt, but Moon wasn't sure that was because he came in a rush or it was just his regular wild mane style.
"Who are you? What are you? Why did you do this?" he asked as he gestured to the square. "This is my city and I am its mayor. I won't have some ruffian using explosives with their parlor tricks destroy it!"
The ponies around shifted in place, something that didn't escape the mare's watchful eye. She lowered her neck to the stallion's level and dissipated the veil across her body. Immediately, the mayor's jaw dropped, and the soldiers collectively gasped.
"Alicorn!" the mayor stuttered.
Nightmare Moon felt relieved and raised her head. "Ah. Now that's a word I recognize. Why can't you all speak like that?!" she bellowed angrily.
Nightmare Moon rolled her eyes and huffed. "Not this again." She rubbed her chin and started mumbling to herself. "No point in taking over this city as a start if no pony can understand me. It would be like a beast randomly destroying everything just to make its nest for them." She narrowed her eyes, scaring some soldiers. "Best to play this tactically. If I can communicate with them first, then I'll be able to find my sister, and then I can destroy them." She smiled at the end of her thoughts, causing further discomfort in the crowd.
"I think I know what we can do," a decorated unicorn officer suggested to the mayor.
"And what's that?"
"I'm no linguist, but I recognize a few of the words she has spoken from some old ponyish my nephew has been studying at his university." The officer looked the mayor straight in the eyes while still casting passing glances at the giant, black pony before them. "With your permission, I would like to send a contingent there and gather as many students and teachers in that area of study as possible. Together they might be able to tell us what it is this..." He took a deep, audible gulp. "What this alicorn is saying."
The elderly stallion gave it a moment of thought, glaring at the giant who looked back with a semi-bored, semi-amused expression that made a chill gallop down his spine. "Fine. Do that, and be quick about it!"
"Yes, sir!"
The officer took several unicorns and earth ponies on standby with him down the many stairs that led up to the square. Their hooves quieted as time went on, leaving just stressed out soldiers, an old mayor, and a bored alicorn. She sat down, causing a jolt of nervousness from the soldiers, but their existence remained unknown in the obliviousness Moon held for what was happening around her. Her left wing moved up, and twitched, and waggled, and the mare was growing increasingly uncomfortable.
"I think she's trying to set herself free," one of the soldiers whispered to his neighbor.
Said neighbor shook her head. "No way. These are the strongest antimagic spears we have, and there's at least thirty here locking her magic down."
"Hmph. Itchy," Moon grunted. The shadow on the floor bucked, ripping a spear out of the ground to spin towards the mare through the air and into her magical grasp. She used the tip to start scratching the middle of her back. "Ah, much better. That was killing me," she mumbled. She was about to throw it when she brought it closer to her eyes to scrutinize.
The mayor slowly turned his head to the dumbfounded earth pony officer, his face turning red. "She could get out of that this whole time?!" he asked behind clenched teeth. He glared at the Earth pony officer and pulled their helmet down.
"This is becoming tedious," Nightmare Moon complained. The cloudy, white skies prevented her from seeing the actual time of day, so creating eternal night wasn't really worth it for the time being, and she wanted everypony to see it. "I was supposed to arrive at the ceremony where my darling sister would be celebrating my imprisonment." She snorted. "Being vaguely aware of things...well, the moon does whisper sweet things to my ears when I'm bored. Learning of that...these ponies must know something. Even my imprisonment for a thousand years wouldn't see me forgotten."
She heard a shuffling of hooves as a multicolored crowd of young ponies were being corralled towards her. They were being pushed by the soldiers, causing their horseshoes to scrape the stone. Most of the damages incurred had been mostly cleaned out, but there were still large gaps in the ground.
The mayor turned away from the group and moved to Nightmare Moon. He looked at her with a scowl on his face and pointed to her aggressively, then to the group of ponies and gestured to his mouth, saying something.
The alicorn furrowed her brow and bared her teeth, exposing her long, sharp fangs. She bore the countenance of a wild, snarling beast. "How dare you, a peasant commoner, presume to command me!?" Moon shouted in the Royal Canterlot Voice.
Several of the young students gasped not in shock, not in horror, not in fear, but in awe, distracting the alicorn.
"That's...it couldn't be."
"But she speaks it so fluently."
"There are words I've never heard before!"
The unicorn officer stepped forward, annoyed. "Quit your jibber jabbering! What's going on?"
A small blue stallion with lime-green waves going through his mane and coat in single, consistent patterns stepped forth. "Sir, we believe that might be Canterlot Ponyish. It's a very, very old dialect that most of us have forgotten. It's, in fact, very hard to even find texts recounting its grammatical rules let alone just being written in it."
The mayor pushed the officer aside. "What? What are you talking about? Does 'Canterlot' have any significance?" He ran a hoof through his mane. "I don't have time for this. I have a festival to prepare."
A mare stepped forward, this one wearing a thick, red-and-white, polka-dotted sweater that hid everything but her eyes. "I-it's allegedly a place where the alicorns of legend existed and ruled pony kind. Considering that the dialect has that name, most historians believe it to have been a real place and, obviously, the origin of it."
The earth pony officer huffed at the concept. "Yeah. Sure. A place of legend like that is real. It's more likely it was just named that by some aristocrats who began to speak it."
"Well, clearly it's not a legend what with that thing right there!" the mayor yelled angrily while pointing to Nightmare Moon.
There was a long pause while everyone exchanged glances. "Then what do we do? Have the students try and talk with her?" the unicorn officer suggested.
The pegasus flew down and hovered nearby. "What are our options here? We've been watching that mass of black energy for a few hours now, and we're all getting tired."
The mayor scratched the ground with a hoof. "Have the students confront the alicorn. Keep the unicorns on high alert to teleport them away if there's any potential threat to their lives. If this gets worse, then, you have my permission to contact your higher ups and have them take over." He stepped forward and jabbed the lowered pegasus several times in the chest. "Provided you minimize, or preferably prevent, any further damage to my city."
"Yes, sir."
It took several minutes before the students agreed to get closer to what they were sure was just a monster in the guise of an alicorn. Nightmare Moon was starting to get antsy and gradually tapping the ground harder and harder with her hooves. Her growing anger subsided partially when she noticed the uneven ring of guards slowly break apart in one area, leaving a nervous crowd of ponies to inch forward closer and closer whilst looking terrified. The alicorn couldn't help but smirk. This was what she wanted to see. Terrified ponies groveling before her.
A unicorn stallion with his mane and tail spiked up was pushed forward by the others. His mane and tail were twirled mixtures of greens, blues, and pinks, and his coat was a bright yellow. It was almost white.
"Be our spokesperson," one of the students told him. "We'll help out with translations."
The stallion gulped and inched forward while Nightmare Moon lied down to be at eye-level with the pony. "I can tell I'm going to hate you already," she grumbled. The stallion cleared his throat and opened his mouth, but nothing came out. He turned to face the other ponies, letting Luna catch a glimpse of his cutie mark. She felt her blood start to boil. It was a sunrise with musical notes above it. "Even his cutie mark...!" she strained.
"Um...uh...I Sunny Dimples. Unicorn. I live...uhhh..." He gestured to the ground then the city with his hoof. "Here. City of Snowfege. Very big city. Where do...mmm. Who you are?"
"...I'm going to have an aneurysm," Nightmare Moon stated flatly. The stallion furrowed his brows and tilted his head while still smiling. "It's 'Who are you', not 'who you are'," she corrected." Now, I will ask you this nicely just this once: Where is Celestia?"
The stallion turned his head towards his classmates several times before giving the alicorn a nervous smile. The others exchanged many words, a few of which Moon understood. Clearly, they had no clue what she was saying and had to confer with each other to figure it out. "Celestia?"
"Yes. My sister. The white alicorn that controls the sun."
The stallion's face twisted. "Sister?" he stammered. "Other alicorn like you?"
Nightmare Moon immediately bolted upright and stomped the ground as her shadow fought against the spears. "I am not like my sister!" she bellowed. "She is white and controls the sun. She has ruled you ponies for a thousand years after banishing me!" the mare spat.
The stallion wanted to disappear. He wanted to go back home and stay in his bed for the rest of the d-No, m--Year. Year sounded good. "Not ever heard of," he said nervously. "You knowing Canterlot?" he asked.
Nightmare Moon realized that she could pry this bumbling buffoon for knowledge after that question. "Yes. It was where we were supposed to rule before..." She clenched her teeth.
"But, that...um...hundred hundred years ago," the stallion stuttered.
The stallion returned to the others then spoke again. "Thousands years ago. Canterlot real? Great news!" he cheered.
Nightmare Moon felt herself weaken, and she paled at the knowledge as well. Celestia was nowhere to be seen and was unknown to the general public. Ponies were speaking in a strange language, possibly an offshoot or evolution of her spoken tongue. They wielded strange new technologies against her, but the more she looked around, the more off things seemed to be. Their technology should have advanced far more than it already did. Airships were things that existed in her time too. The antimagic weaponry was strong, sure, but it was barely any different from that employed in the past. Satellites orbited her mind as she thought through the trauma to try and keep herself focused. The ponies here had barely advanced beyond the technology of her age, so what were the other races doing, and, more importantly, where were the other immortals? She had felt the birth of a few alicorns during her passing waves of awareness. Who were they and where had they gone. Then there was that self-proclaimed god of Chaos. Likely there were others.
What Nightmare Moon needed was knowledge and a place to begin her empire as she learned the language and history she was lacking. There were certainly answers in the libraries...but wait. Celestia wasn't around anymore. A slight murmur came from the alicorn which slowly evolved to a chuckle, then a cackle, then bellowing laughter.
"I've defeated you, sister! I've outlived you!" she shouted to the heavens. "Whatever fate befell you missed me thanks to your inability to kill me!" She cackled again. The soldiers were all growing unnerved and gradually breaking apart as they stepped away from the crazed alicorn. "I will be the one to rule Equestria and bring with it my eternal night, and now, no pony can stop me! Soon, they will forget all about your sun as they take in my starry skies!"
The officers and mayor stared at the scene, baffled at what they were witness to.
"Well, I don't like that," the unicorn officer stated. "Maybe you should cut your losses and evacuate the city."
The mayor looked at him slackjawed and wide-eyed. "Why, that's a fantastic idea. And then, I can use my butt as a pogo stick or cast a spell on it so that I can walk on my butt cheeks!" He threw his forelegs into the air. "Don't be a stupid idiot! This thing has immense magical powers but isn't trying to destroy everything." He rubbed his chin and grunted. "Probably was terrified when she noticed everything here and acted instinctively. I don't know." The mayor walked up to Sunny Dimples despite protests from the soldiers and put a hoof on his shoulder. "Congratulations. You'll be her permanent spokespony and translator."
"Wh-what?! B-but I don't want to--Guys, help me!"
His friends were quick to scamper away while bidding their classmate good luck. Sunny stared at his friends leaving, his emotions shot, but he was quick to notice that the alicorn had stopped laughing. He slowly turned his trembling head and felt himself slowly die from the scene: Nightmare Moon's bright, unblinking eyes were mere inches from his face. The slitted, reptilian pupils seemed to be chopping his soul into pieces the longer she looked at him. The alicorn's face was engulfed in black, wispy magic that accentuated said eyes and her frown. It was like seeing a deadly spirit suddenly appear behind you when you had already checked. He passed out.
"This is going to be fun," the mayor said to the officers.
He slapped the stallion several times until one of the unicorns came with a small, black cloth pouch filled with foul-smelling herbs. She pulled the string loose and ran the bag under the unconscious pony's muzzle. He immediately flew up, retching loudly and clutching his nostrils close.
"What was that?!" he croaked.
Nightmare Moon was tapping the ground with every laugh she had. "Oh, you peasants sure are a riot at times, preferably when not rioting. Then it's even funnier when I send in the soldiers!" She bellowed in laughter, confusing the observers.
"What did she say?" the mayor asked Sunny. He shrugged.
Sunny rubbed his muzzle and snorted several times before he was able to answer. "I-I don't know. She spoke too quickly, and then there was that weird reverb to her voice." The young stallion pulled his lips back when he saw the mare's sharp, very long teeth. "I think she's unstable. Look at how she's laughing at her own jokes."
"Muuuuh-drat!" The mayor tried to stroke a beard that wasn't present and cursed. "I keep forgetting I shaved it! But I see your point." He looked around and nodded. "And I'd rather my only link to this creature remain conscious. Now follow me. We'll get her situated somewhere, but I need time to think about that. In the meantime, I think it would be preferable to get her out of the weather," he suggested when he noticed some snowflakes. "By the way, what is her name?"
"She didn't tell me, but I can ask her." Dimples turned towards Nightmare Moon and shrunk away when he saw the glowing whites of her eyes. "Come with. Home for shelter. P-please."
The alicorn acquiesced and followed without so much as a single sound. The soldiers were preparing to remove the weaponry holding her in place when the shadows whipped upwards, throwing the spears and some stones every which way, scattering the armored ponies in directions that were just as varied. Sunny saw a sinister smile grow in the corners of her face. She couldn't understand their outcries, but the stallion was sure she understood their terror at her casually fending off the antimagic weaponry.
The young spokespony gulped audibly, terrified at having to interact with this magical monster. "Mayor want to know, uhhh." Sunny tapped his chin while his heart started to beat a mile a second.
"Yes? Yes? Hurry up with your infuriating questions," Nightmare Moon growled.
"Who you? Naming?"
The mare's angered expression immediately turned to surprise. She mentally slapped herself. "Of course. If these idiots don't even know who Celestia is, then how would they know about me?" The alicorn felt a part of her die after having to admit such a thing and visibly cringed. "I am Nightmare Moon, ruler of the night and the future queen of all ponykind!" she announced at the top of her lungs.
Sunny smiled awkwardly at her and blinked several times as though his 'brained' had needed to reboot multiple times in a row.
"What did she say?" the mayor asked.
"She said...that she is Nightmare Moon and the future queen of ponykind," Sunny stuttered.
The mayor had no words fit to react to what this creature had just announced. Rather than yell angrily at her, or stand his ground silently, or spit at the idea, the pony bellowed in laughter. The alicorn's horn shimmered with lethal magic, ready to strike the mayor down when he looked at her with the biggest smile she had ever seen. All rage disappeared from her being. She was shocked instead. What was with this pony.
"Amazing! And here I was just so bored with this city," the mayor lamented.
Sunny Dimples trotted next to the mayor, ever nervous. "I really think you shouldn't antagonize her."
The mayor waved him off and blew air out. "You're stressing too much. If she wanted to destroy us she would have already."
"Which means she wants something from us, and if she intends to rule over us, then she wouldn't hesitate to destroy a few ponies."
The elderly stallion stopped and shook his head. "Look, there are soldiers nearby watching her every move. See?" he asked while gesturing behind them.
The two stallions bounced in surprise when the alicorn was not, in fact, behind them, but staring into the giant snow globe. She seemed transfixed.
Nightmare Moon's image was bloated because of the shape of the glass sphere, but with some angling she could get better views of areas she needed to see more precisely. "Is that me? Impossible." She felt her brain burning pleasantly as she finally got to think hard after so long. "Is this related to...that feeling of more when I was finally being freed of my unjust banishment?"
Her body was black, as she had always been, but there was some sort of...smog? Smoke? Veil of darkness? Something floated just millimeters over her coat like a...coat and barely moved at all with her movements. Her mane and tail were also fascinatingly odd. No longer did they flow. Rather, there seemed to be a vague shape hiding behind the mass of darkness waving off of them. She tested this effect by hopping around the orb and looking behind her. The two elements did indeed have a base form hidden underneath all that black 'smoke', and they still wriggled somewhat imperceptibly. With every moment, it appeared as though an afterimage remained behind before wind blew the shape away, or it simply settled onto the ground like dust from a dirty sheet. The afterimage of her body only seemed to manifest in quick movements. Her mane and tail remained consistent in creating paths while she moved.
Leaning forward and angling herself somewhat, she realized that her mane and tail didn't just portray a darker version of the night with white dots. Instead, multiple large orbs faded in and out, positioning themselves over each other or sliding out of view. Stars were present as white dots, but more prominently were said orbs that the alicorn identified as moons of other worlds. Some were squished flat, others pressed thin, and with the ebbing waves of her new body, some appeared warped and distorted into different directions. The edges of the magical hair also gave off a bright blue glare that flowed into bright white, then back into a bright blue. It was hard to see when she was immobile, however.
"Oooo. I like this new look. A connection to other moons." She chuckled under her breath. "Could do without the smokey effect. I'm no chimney," she mumbled. She did feel discomfort with said moons, however. There was something odd with them, but they were still an excellent addition to an alicorn such as herself.
She looked upon her face and snorted in response. Where she had her once magnificent blues that set her apart and emblazoned her angered glare, they were now almost completely black. Her draconic pupils were a blinding white, and focusing as hard as she could into the sphere, she realized that they were brightening significantly in tandem with her emotions; This one being stress. Tapping her chin, she realized she could make use of such a minor change to her features. Psychological warfare. Oh yes, the possibilities.
"What is she doing?" the mayor wondered aloud. "Is she checking if she was hurt or something?"
Sunny Dimples shook his head at the mayor, incredulous. "Are you serious? I've known that thing for a few minutes and you're already asking me about her every minute act?"
"Well, you are her spokespony," the elder teased with a smile. He immediately frowned and watched the alicorn analyzing her hooves. "I don't suppose any of your research could explain those glowing blue cracks on her body? I thought she was just doing that for a strange effect, but..."
"Well, it's true that they look worrying. The ones crawling across her face from the corners of her eyes scare me a lot," Sunny gulped.
The mayor chuckled. "Looks like a couple of spiders hanging on for dear life on the sides of her head."
Dimples shushed the mayor several times. "Careful. We don't know if she's listening!"
Nightmare Moon lowered her hoof and squinted at her reflection. "These pulsating cracks coming from my hooves are disconcerting." She used a hoof to pull at the skin on the sides of her face. "These are also bothersome. Did I not absorb that power correctly, or is it just an excess of what I can handle? My canines have also become more prominent, and now the lower two are started to stick out as well," she noted with a modicum of annoyance. The alicorn spat air. "So many questions in so little time." Her hoof crushed the ground beneath her. "I grow antsy and enraged. That little stallion better have what I want, or else."
The mare was brought into a hotel and led into a large room near the back. The carpet was a dim red and the walls covered in morose, flower wallpaper. The center was occupied by a large, dusty wooden table that could easily house around thirty ponies on a good day. Two large windows occupied the wall opposite the double doors leading in, freed of their greenish-yellow curtains and free to let in the little light from outside.
"Hm," the mayor grunted. "I'll light the lanterns. Sorry about the d--"
Nightmare Moon's horn glowed with a bright, blue light, and from it emerged multiple orbs of white light that floated to the ceiling, flooding the room with starlight. The two stallions stared at them, dumbfounded and almost enthralled, leaving the alicorn to sit down opposite the two.
The mayor caught himself and cleared his throat. "Um, right. Is there anything we can provide you with during your star-STAY?" he asked her.
Moon raised a baffled brow and looked down at the ever-shrinking spokespony. "U-um...What do you need?"
Moon's head bounced from a silent laugh. "Wow. A full sentence," she mumbled to herself. Her 'pleasant' demeanor was short-lived. "I want a map of Equestria. Now!" she growled.
The two looked at her, stunned. "She said she wanted a map of Equestria," Sunny explained.
"So they still called it Equestria back then," the mayor contemplated with amusement. "We have a few maps in the archives. They should be good enough. Tell her I'll be back soon."
Sunny wanted to leave with him but could only watch as the mayor was surrounded by soldiers when he left the room. Cursing his luck, Dimple turned to face the giant with terrifying eyes and smiled nervously. That worked before so it would certainly still work now. He wasn't so lucky this time.
"There's something about you that I hate," Nightmare Moon said to him. She started rounding the table, slowly but surely. "Your mane colors, your coat, your cutie mark. Even your eyes have the same colors as her." The alicorn thought for a moment and felt her stomach flip. "Did she have children in the past? With whom even? Or is it just a coincidence that you look like Celestia?" Sunny kept his mouth shut and shrugged, but now the alicorn was standing directly in front of him and leering down. "Even your name invokes the sun!" Moon yelled. "This can't be a mere coincidence!"
"I'm heeeeere," the mayor sang. He and several soldiers came in with saddlebags carrying multiple rolls of paper and parchment.
They laid the contents out and spread them across the table, careful to keep a watchful eye on the alicorn who seemed intrigued at the outcome. She was almost giddy. Maps. Star maps. They would always give you the most information needed to counter your enemy. The maps were quickly examined and moved around until the mare had created something of a puzzle.
"What is this language? I can't even read it!" She smashed her head against the table, fracturing it. "I can't believe I forgot such a crucial detail! If they don't even speak my language, then why in hades would they have the same language?! Graaaah!" The soldiers peered behind the doors weapons at the ready. She grabbed Sunny by the shoulders and put him in front of the maps. "Where is Canterlot?" she asked him. "Where is the Everfree forest?" Sunny shrugged. "Is that all you can do, smile and shrug?!" the alicorn yelled directly into the spokespony's face.
"I don't know! Not know names. Only Canterlot! Legend! Not real!"
He was quickly let go, leaving Nightmare Moon to contemplate yet more questions. "I don't know anything about this world. I'm a relic of the past." She sat down and breathed slowly to calm herself as best she could. The mare leaned against the table, holding her chin up with a foreleg supported by her other. "Language is the primary barrier. Without it I can't govern them. I can't know where Canterlot is. I can't know where my sister has gone. I can't know what happened to the other immortals either," she thought to herself. Nightmare Moon cast a sideways glance at the two stallions and sighed in defeat. "It seems I'll have to subject myself to such a humiliating thing after all." She sat upright before the stallions, still significantly taller than them, and pointed. "Teach me your language," she commanded.
The mayor had returned to his office, but unlike earlier, he wanted to go back to that alicorn. He wanted to see just what she was capable of and what she could do. The soldiers weren't there for his amusement nor to act as servants, but the officers were currently discussing with the higher ups on whether or not they should install a permanent contingent in the city and follow the alicorn around. He jittered with glee. Just thinking back on that display of magic and her casting the spears away with no effort. He wondered if she had purposefully let herself get suppressed by the antimagic or if it just took her time to adapt and reject their effects.
"What now?" Candy Cane asked. "That thing is still here."
"And so she'll remain," the mayor responded.
The stallion checked his notepad and looked back up, his wings twitching. The Mayor heard the familiar ruffling of feathers and felt his eye twitch. Were they always pegasi? He had forgotten. Their fur blends them into their sides, and he'd never seen them fly. It didn't help that they were accidentally registered as earth ponies because of all of that.
"I don't understand. Shouldn't she be imprisoned for the damages she did, or cast out of the city?"
The twins saw a foreleg grow out of the side of the giant chair and tilt several times in place. "Not really. I don't know what she wants, but as long as she's here we'll be able to keep a close eye on her. That, and the student made me realize something important."
"And what is that?" Candied asked.
"She wants something, likely knowledge. Destroying everything here would go against her first steps into our world most likely." The mayor tried stroking his beard again and slammed his foreleg against the leg rest of his chair angrily.
"Then what's next? Once she gets everything she'll destroy everything!"
The mayor swiveled his chair, revealing his raised brow and jovial grin. "Not if she wants to rule all of ponykind, she won't."
The twins gave pause. "She what?" they asked in unison.
They were met with the elder stallion tapping his head with a hoof. "She wants to become our ruler, which means she needs subjects, otherwise she would just be another claimant yelling 'I wanna be queen!'." His demeanor turned sour. "Like so many of those other...nobles," he spat. "Every single one of them always claiming to be related to an alicorn." He leaned against the leg rest on the side of his chair, resting his head against his coronet, bored. Both he and the twins' eyes widened with gradual realization. "But we have an actual alicorn here."
"She could get rid of a lot of the most annoying ones!" Candied Cane shouted. "Stupendous!"
"Or, she just invalidates their claims of being descendants of alicorns," Candy Cane suggested instead.
His sister glared at him. "That's what I just said."
"Eeeh, you implied a more permanent solution."
"I did not!" she opposed.
"Candied has the right idea," the mayor said with a smile.
The mare spun her head towards him, her face glowing. "I do?!"
"Oh, I-I thought that...I meant the stallion," the mayor chuckled sheepishly.
Candied deflated. "Mayor, we've been working with you for three years. Why do you keep messing our names up?"
"Anyways, you both know how Equestria celebrates the Winterdrop Turning?"
"Hey, don't dodge the qu--" Candied was pushed down by her brother who shook his head.
"Drop it," he whispered to her. "We're aware of it," he responded flatly. "It's not like this has been a tradition for decades or anything."
"Ours is always one of the most extravagant and lavish ones." He tapped his chin. "We could use that alicorn to attract the attention of the nobles and royal family and have her personally judge their claims." He giggled. "I bet some of them would even claim that she's their ancestor." He ripped a drawer out from his desk and threw papers onto its surface. "But we have to act fast. We need her to have a good grasp of our language, or at least a modicum of it."
The twins exchanged worried glances.
"Are you sure about that, sir?" Candy asked. "It feels like you're trying to hold the sun in one hoof."
"Not to mention that I doubt we've seen the limits in the power of that creature," Candied added. "Wouldn't it be wise to gauge the limits of her powers first?"
The mayor had glued his face to the desk and was scribbling with a quill when the question was asked. He stopped and looked up, making a bizarre, smished face. "Ufff." He dumped the feather and dropped back into the embrace of his chair. "You have a point." He took a long, deep breath and jumped forward, wielding his 'weapon' again. "But why spoil the surprise? Surprises can be fun, too!" he stated maniacally.
Candy stomped a hoof on the desk. "Mr. Mayor! This isn't just some toy to break the monotony of bureaucracy! This can have serious consequences in the future if you don't act diplomatically and, most importantly, cautiously!"
The elder groaned. "Fine! I'll just write down everything I have planned, but she will be attending the festival, and I will have those nobles taken down several pegs by her."
"Not to mention that a lot are so big-headed that they'd outright claim she isn't a true alicorn," Candied noted. "I wonder what would happen to them?"
The young stallion pursed his lips when he noticed the only other two ponies in the office had some rather sinister looks on their faces. "Either I'm crazy or everyone else is...I vote everyone else. That will keep me sane," he thought to himself.
"Now I just have to figure out where to house her."
"Wh-what?!" Sunny stammered.
"Teach me your language." Nightmare Moon stood up and looked around. The place was hideous. "I need to know how to communicate with my future subjects. Grunts and pretty pictures won't cut it." Her disgust was waylaid by the anger she still felt within her, and she felt the energy her body sported thrum in tandem with every wave of anger that flowed through her.
"I can't! Not teaching! Studenting!"
The mare facehoofed. "I can teach you to speak my language more appropriately as well." A thought crossed her mind. "I could make my tongue that of the royal court and surround myself with only my most devout and subservient subjects," she thought to herself. She smiled, exposing her sharp fangs. "Now there's an idea," she thought aloud.
Sunny Dimples stood up and looked at the towering pony before him. Fear permeated his being. Everything was screaming at him to gallop away from her, but he didn't give in to his fears. Not when a golden opportunity to fix the grammar of a very old language presented itself. "Teach better speaking?"
The alicorn's eyelids became heavy suddenly. "Yes, me 'teach better speaking'," she mocked. "I'll allow you to have a moment of celebration to my generous offer."
Now Sunny didn't feel like celebrating, and yet, he would be the first to document the full account of an old version of his spoken tongue. How jubilating! And that's not even a word! "Thank you so much!" The alicorn's eyes started glowing white-hot again, burning holes into Dimple's soul. "I-I-I mean, thank you, queen?"
Her eyes dimmed. "Well, I suppose that's good enough for now," she complained while rubbing the back of her neck. "But it's 'Yes, My Queen'," she corrected aggressively. Sunny stared silently at her. "Repeat!" she bellowed.
"Y-Yes, my queen!"
"Again!"
"Yes, My Queen!"
"Again, and stop croaking your words!"
"Yes, My Queen!"
This went on for several minutes until the stallion collapsed from exhaustion and his voice growing hoarse. The soldiers called for the two to follow them back outside the hotel, but Sunny couldn't move. Instead of letting the soldiers pull him out, Nightmare Moon grabbed him with her magic and carried him out with her where the mayor and multiple guards awaited. The stallion wasn't as fortunate when the alicorn dropped him on the ground from her height.
"Are you okay?" the mayor asked Sunny. When he got up and nodded with some difficulty, the mayor continued. "We're going to bring her to the old castle just outside the city," he told the white pony.
"But, I thought we closed it down since almost no pony wanted to go there anymore," he said.
The mayor nodded. "That's true, but now we have an exceptional guest. We should tend to her needs whenever we can, and it'll be an excellent place to host the festival's nightly events," he said.
Sunny could feel the strangeness coming off of the mayor. An insidious plan brewing within him, and it wasn't because of the unicorn's horn and magic sensitivity. A sudden heatwave blew down from the mountains, buffeting the city and its many occupants. Gradually, the clouds began to disperse, revealing a blue sky and yellow sun filtered by the winter air.
"Feels like spring is announcing its arrival," one of the soldiers said.
"How do we take her to the castle, then?" Sunny asked.
"She can fly, can't she? If she doesn't want to she can walk. It's, like, twenty minutes of walking along the cliffs here anyways. We're in the mountains! It's good to walk here. Fresh air and grinds your hooves down."
Sure. That was why. Reluctant, the stallion faced Nightmare Moon and massaged his throat. He hadn't realized it, but he was sounding a little hoarse when he spoke. "Home. That way. C-Cuh...Cel...Um...Castel?"
"Castle,' Moon corrected. "And a castle? Here? I suppose it will have to do, and being in the mountains will make it exceptionally easy to fortify and defend from future enemies." She smiled. "Excellent. Where is it?"
Sunny pointed to the mountain peaks that could be seen just beyond the city limits. Unsure of the weather here and the strength of her wings, Nightmare Moon decided to go by hoof rather than try to fly. She would rather try flying within the safety of the castle walls than in the open air where strong currents could sweep her away. Moon couldn't help but grind her teeth together. Having to admit a weakness to something as pithy and simplistic as nature. Hmmph.
Accompanied by the soldiers, the mayor, and her new servant, the alicorn left the city, ignoring its contents and the citizens staring at her, and began to hike the rocky slopes. She had expected some differences to when she was still in Equestria; Some new colors, new types of stones, strange shapes, and animals, but everything was still the same. It was solace in familiarity but dismal in its lack of innovation. Grass interrupted by shards and 'growing' gray and black stones. Some thorny plants growing about the landscape giving it just barely a hint of change from the moss and grass.
In Nightmare Moon's imagination, it's what she wanted Canterlot to look like a decade after successfully invading and destroying it. She was going to savor every bit of destruction she was going to 'bestow' it. Chase the ponies out while their castle and city crumbled around their ears. Oh! The schadenfreude she would have had! Her elated feelings quickly faded and left way to a sense of emptiness and her lingering anger when Sunny called to her, bringing her back to reality.
Before her stood a castle. Well, the remains of a castle. It was somewhat larger than her old one near the Everfree, but its design was...off. Instead of large, solid stones, it was made of multiple tiny rectangles glued together with an unknown compound. Some patterns seemed to have been made in the walls using lighter colored stones, but just the color itself was an oddity: Jet black. A jet-black castle with smooth walls. The towers of the inner keep seemed strange as well, but whatever secret their rectangular figures held had collapsed with age and negligence. Just the shape intrigued the mare, not to mention the various additions to the top of the walls. Leading into the courtyard was a massive barbican fortifying the gates. The alicorn nearly started to froth at the mouth with excitement. Millennia that she was trapped, and castles had become so...so...!
"Glorious construct!" she cheered.
The alicorn galloped past the ponies in front of her to get a better looked at the damaged barbican, trying to see the best way to either reinforce it or add to it to leave her mark. A mark, of course! Using her cutie mark would be too simple-minded. She had done that in the past, but no longer was she pressed for time! She had all the time in the world! All the time she needed.
"I just need to find where I put the keys," the mayor said. Candy and Candied Cane both popped up near him with saddlebags on, scaring Sunny Dimples.
"Where did you come from?!" he shouted at them.
"We were here this whole time," Candy said. "You just didn't notice because you were so fixated on the torso with stilts for legs."
A painfully loud screeching flew through the air, causing everyone but the alicorn to cringe and lay their ears flat atop their skulls.
The mayor saw the gate had been lifted by the mare's magic and frowned. "That's not fair. I had a key for the side doors. No pony ever lifted it up because it was too rusty."
The alicorn passed the threshold into the overgrown courtyard. "Hmmm. I'll have a tower placed there and one for my sorcerers over there." Nightmare Moon's eyes narrowed. "Or give them their own mini-keep just outside the walls. Towers don't have enough space and can't be expanded."
She kicked a shard of brick away and looked around. It was just weeds and lumps of collapsed wall as far as the alicorn could see. She felt a twinge of satisfaction in her. It wasn't her old castle, but it was at least a castle, and a beautiful one at that! Nightmare Moon could finally rebuild her old home into the mighty fortress she always wanted, without it being her original home, of course. A castle is a castle. She shielded herself with a wing from the cold winds that blasted over the walls and crashed into the courtyard. It's here that the alicorn realized she hadn't seen her wings this whole time.
They were much larger than before, and while they were still shaped like moon crescents, their outer edges gradually went from a faint, almost indistinguishable blue from the bend to a blinding white at the very tip of her outer feather. They seemed to leave a thin wispy trail of white light behind that gradually faded into multiple tiny white lights. The alicorn was visibly disgusted.
"I could handle the wispy cloud around me and the cracks on my body. Those only serve to improve and amplify my... promises," she shouted angrily. "But this. This is absurd. Why do I need to create trails of light with my wings?" She tapped the ground angrily with a hoof and retracted her wing. "When I get some armor again I'll cover the edges of my wings. Some enchantments and I'll be flying better than before." She chuckled. "Not like that isn't already possible."
Broken from her disgust, Moon took in the courtyard. It was a mess of weeds and remains of the buildings and walls. She needed to rebuild, but where to start, and where to get the same materials? She ignored the soldiers dispersing, taking in the scenery as well. Moon had bigger plans for this place.
"I think she likes it," the mayor noted.
"I hope you're right," Sunny worried.
Candy looked at the mountains. "And to think that this old castle was just one of a few dozen around here," he said. "Which one was this? The griffin's or the minotaur's?"
"Or maybe the hippogryphs? They tried expanding here too," Candy supposed.
"No. One of our own," the mayor corrected. "One of the few that are our own. Was held by a knightly order sent here that helped win a war and establish the current royal family and Equestria a few hundred years ago." He smiled. "You remember that war, right?"
The three nodded in tandem. The mayor was approached by a pegasus that saluted him.
"The officers say that they have a communications orb if needed. You'll be able to use it when they're done, as per your request."
The elder swung his foreleg in victory. "Fantastic! They accepted my request. Now we just have to wait that they finish."
The officers in question had set up in what were once kitchens. The refurbishments had all been left to rot after the castle was abandoned by the city, so many gaps in its walls led to the mountain outside. The roof let in a cold, chilly breeze through its many rotted holes, and thick layers of dust and dirt rested on everything. An orb had been laid atop multiple filthy rags that had been taken from around and bunched up on a table that was on the verge of crumbling.
"Yes sir," the pegasus officer replied. "It's a genuine alicorn."
On the other side was a grizzled mare with scar tissue covering the entirety of her head, rendering her bald. Some green fuzz had grown back over, at the very least, but the scars were still visible. Her pale, yellow eyes showed signs of extreme fatigue, but she remained at her post. "Are you absolutely certain of this claim? Alicorns are the things of legends and a playtime subject for the nobles and royal family."
The earth pony officer stepped in. "We used a dispelling orb. The strongest we had on hoof to get rid of any transmogrification magic." He started tapping on his hooves as if he had fingers. "It would have dispelled a regular spell, a group spell, combined spells, binding spells, spells held by simple items, potions, comb--"
"I know what it does!" the mare shouted. She caused the three officers to jump when her face bent around the contours of the sphere. The soldier back away and cleared her throat. "I trust you were at least able to subdue her?"
The pegasus hesitated to answer, but it was better to rip off the bandage than leave it to fester what was underneath. "Well, that's the thing, general. We couldn't. Even with the antimagic spears employed, she could still use her magic."
The general's stoic expression faded. "What?" she murmured.
Now it was the unicorn's turn. "I can confirm that they were properly employed, and over twenty had been planted into her...erm...magical shadow."
She was getting to her wit's end. "Her what?"
"She's enveloped in some kind of shadow. The spears...hit her?" he said in doubt.
"They damaged whatever spell she was casting, then about the number my colleague mentioned pulled it down," the pegasus said. He slowly started to realize the absurdity. "The spears stayed stuck in some...shadow attached to her." He whimpered.
The mare shook her head and let it drop. A long exhale preceded her speech. "What a day. All that in...where did she even come from?"
"Eyewitnesses said that she just...appeared, in a pillar of blue light and fire," the earth pony announced. He had waved his forelegs in the air to accentuate the 'aw' in the concept.
"Well, that's not helpful. Why appear now all of a sudden? There were no significant magical events occurring." The general patted her chin. "You're authorized to install a retinue in that castle. I trust you got the authority of the mayor?" The officers nodded. "Good. Don't want to cause an incident with the civilians, and keeping this under wraps is key." She pointed at the sphere. "Contact me when you have everything in place. You'll get reinforcements in equipment, supplies, weaponry, anything you think will serve to help you keep that creature contained."
"Why are you giving us such resources," the pegasus asked. "Wouldn't such a large influx of troops and equipment cause some issues not just here, but...next door?" the stallion whispered.
"If that alicorn is truly the real deal and has the powers you mentioned, then I hope for all our sakes that she can be kept on our side. That's the hoof I'm gambling with." She leaned back and sighed. "I need a spicy rockpin drink, and make sure no pony learns of this. No pony outside the city, none of your neighbors regardless of your good relationships with them, and do not, under any circumstance, tell the nobles and royal family." The general's eyes rolled back in her head and she dropped onto her desk. "Oh, the nightmares are starting. If they learn of her..."
"Ah yes, is this the line of the royal family?" the mayor asked.
The mayor's group was informed of keeping everything confidential. An oddity that the mayor would then be allowed to use the sphere, but with some convincing and proof-in-paperwork, he managed to convince the soldiers that he had no intention of doing such. Plus, after amassing quite a bit of experience with the local military, he was seen as a very upstanding citizen. For the mayor, his irreproachable, professional attitude stemmed from gradual boredom. Oh, at first he was earnest, but he was getting on in years and tired of the same, repetitive humdrum. A golden opportunity presented itself before him, and he was damned if he didn't take advantage of every bit of his reputation grown so diligently over these few years.
"It is indeed. May I ask who is speaking, and if you have a reservation?"
The pony speaking was draped in thick, purple cloth decorated with silver-colored patterns laced into the fabric. The patterns were all along the back and collar of the wearer, and sometimes the ankles. Of course, that was just the standard decorative method. It looked like a dress or robe, but it had holes in the bottom that served as leg holes. It was like a thick gambeson for the whole body. The mayor always found it to be ridiculous clothing, but they were at least easier to get in and out of and were fairly comfortable in the winter.
"I am the mayor of the city of Snowfege. We are about to host the Winterdrop Turning festival," the mayor explained nervously.
"Ah, the city in the mountains." The stallion looked down while flipping through paper off-screen. "I'm sorry, but you aren't on a priority list to speak with the royal family. I'm sure that, in a few years, you could--"
"Who is it, Pumpkin?" a male voice asked.
The stallion somehow physically groaned. "It is the mayor of the city of Snowfege, your highness," the stallion announced.
There was a long moment of silence before the stallion backed away with a bow and a pony strapped in jewelry and red silver stepped in. Their outfit was far more appealing to the eyes: Yellow velvet cloth with heavy red silver alloys woven into the fabric. Between every opening there was a purple jewel that melded almost perfectly into the color scheme. The mayor couldn't help but think that the colors were another absurd demand by the royals.
"Greetings, mayor," the king saluted.
The mayor bowed. "Your lordship. This is an honor."
The king's face deformed when he moved closer to the orb to look around. "You seem to be in quite a tawdry place. Why did you call on my personal communi-sphere?"
Every word they said made the chains of their headgear shake around. Their crown sat like a tower on their skull. It was made of silver with the peaks plated in red silver and green jewels. However, to prevent it from falling due to its weight, or being stolen, it had been wrapped up in golden chains which draped off of it and lead to a brace that wrapped around the king's neck. The queen had similar security measures.
"Because I have a proposal for you, my king." This was it. The beginning of his plan. "My city is known for having a very...well, as per our tourists: Beautiful Festival. Many nobles come around for it as well."
"I am not interested in the whims of my brown muzzlers," he stated. The king was getting more annoyed. "Get to the point or I'll cut the line. Many other cities vie for my visits, you know."
"W-well, I don't want to spoil the surprise, but something has appeared here that caused quite a stir," the mayor was quick to say. "Right now it's staying in this castle, but I would like it to be the place where the nobility and, of course, your majesties, to sojourn here during the evening of the festivities." The mayor couldn't help but look away shamefully. "Unfortunately, the castle is in dire states as it has been abandoned, and, not bearing any of our own nobility, we will most likely not have the best reception for you."
The king had leaned their head into their clothing, pushing up the shoulder into a mound. He looked incredibly bored, and the mayor could feel his heart beating a mile a second in his chest. Sweat started matting his fur as he nervously awaited the pony's response.
"A party in a dilapidated castle with a more rustic decorum?" The king paused. "Sure. I think that will be a welcome diversion to the usual, but you'll need help in fixing it up for our arrival before the holiday starts. At least, we need the keep sturdy enough to welcome us."
"Oh no, it's alright, King Gallant," the mayor quickly blurted out. "We already have stonemasons here and the material needed to fix the castle up."
The king raised a brow. "Except you have no architects specialized in castles." The mayor opened their mouth, but the king continued. "And you need more than a few stonemasons to shape the stone, and you need excavators for the quarry, and the equipment for restoration, and you'll need funds."
The mayor realized he had completely underestimated what fixing the castle would be like. Why couldn't it just have been like the houses they live in? "B-but, that's money paying for something so pithy--"
"I decide how Equestria's funds are spent, and I have decided to fund the restoration of that castle. Cease opposing my actions," the king threatened.
"Y-yes, sir, I mean, your lordship!" the mayor hastily spat out.
"Besides, I think this will be entertaining anyways, provided this surprise is worth it."
The elder smiled and rose their hoof. "Oh, it will be. It will especially be a treat for the nobles. I'm sure you'll find them eating each other over it," he cackled.
The king rose up, his lavender eyes brightened from the dull luster they had earlier. "Something to rile up the nobility?" He looked up pensively then chuckled quietly. "Then it will be a night to remember."
"Oh, it certainly will be."
Nightmare Moon stared at the podium in the throne room where a throne should be and looked at the tall walls. "I wonder if I should make a throne from the bones of ponies who defy me," she wondered aloud as her voice echoed around the chamber.
She jumped over a dirt mound, a smile on her face, while her sister followed her. Her teeny tiny sister, Luna. The filly did her best to follow her sister, but trying to climb the small mound proved fruitless. She was too small to climb the wall, and her tiny hooves couldn't get a good enough grasp in the loose dirt to allow her to climb efficiently. She started hitting the obstacle angrily and sat down, crying.
Celestia was quick to hop over and hug her sister, consoling her. "Don't worry Luna. Soon, you'll be big enough to climb every obstacle in front of you." She booped her teary-eyed, sniffling sister. "You just have to be patient."
The ground of the throne room cracked as though squeezed angrily. Nightmare Moon's body was being enveloped in bright light as her anger at the memory permeated her body.
"Always quick to look down on me," she grunted. She swiped a brick away. "I've outlasted her, so now I'm free to do whatever I feel I need to!
No need to constantly watch her spell to prevent her from breaking away from the sun. Instead, all her focus would be on the moon and extending its reach across Equestria, and eventually the world, then it was just a matter of enjoying what she had. A thought crossed her mind, and with a swift spell teleported all the maps that had been left behind to her hooves. She had to focus excessively hard to bring them to her, as they had been left behind in the hotel when she followed the mayor. That he had such confidence that such documents would not be misplaced was a sign of sheer stubbornness and certainty of the safety of his city. Or he just forgot. Either way, the alicorn had the maps with her now and was poised to study them with her insultingly limited knowledge.
The alicorn scattered the papers along the now cracked floor and wiped away small pieces of rock ruining the maps. "There must be some familiar features on these stupid pieces of paper." Nightmare Moon started growing frustrated. "Whoever said the cartographers were doing a real job are buffoons," she groaned. "Should be using pegasi or a scrying spell to see from above." A snort escaped her muzzle. "No, have to use math and geometry and all a bunch of little random symbols and colors." She checked two maps, one which had the mountains as various shades of orange that lightened when reaching higher altitudes, and another using darkening shades of green instead. "What even is this? Can these peasants not just agree on a standard for map displays." She lied down and rested her head against her arched foreleg. "With such stupidity in place of names, there's no way I could efficiently read these." The air became stagnant and brittle, as though any word could throw the alicorn into a panic.
Canterlot was still around, or at least, its ruins were. These ponies didn't know Canterlot, which meant that it was as much a legend as her if not entirely forgotten. Nightmare Moon needed to be able to situate herself first before trying to reach its ruins. There were potentially a plethora of trophies she could bring in to decorate her new home. She could try teleporting, but whatever beacon made that easier for her and her wretched sister to reach it very easily had likely decayed into nothing. She flattened a map out with her magic and brought several others onto its corners. They looked like they had been drawn and colored by a toddler.
"Teleporting...too dangerous anyways, and very difficult to accomplish." She got up while rolling her eyes. "And so exhausting to focus on only one thing. Easier to bring everypony else to me." Moon looked around, suddenly realizing she was alone. "I'm thinking aloud a lot lately." Her pupils glowed brighter.
Nightmare Moon made for the courtyard when she was suddenly accosted by the mayor and his horrific sneer sliding in from one of the doorways. He tripped and tumbled along the floor, followed by his two Cane assistants that were quick to help him up. Sunny Dimples also appeared around the corner of what was once a hallway. He peeked at the sitting alicorn watching the jesters perform for her. The unicorn was just about ready to leave when Nightmare Moon's head spun towards him like an enchanted sentinel and covered him in that white light he detested so.
"Y-your majesty," he stuttered. He gave her a sheepish smile.
"Everything is poised for the festival in about two months," the mayor announced excitedly. The two ponies helped him up, and even Nightmare Moon cringed when his back made a loud cracking noise. "Ow. We...Sunny Dimples," he called out.
"Uh, y-yes?" the stallion replied meekly.
"Would you be able to translate what I say to the alicorn? I would hate to be announcing something so grandiose just for it to fly through her head."
"I can try," Sunny said.
He flew back when the mayor jolted towards him. "Fantastic! Oh, I'm so excited for all of this that I feel like a colt again!"
"I'll start with translating what you just said here," Sunny said. The mayor nodded in acknowledgment.
The mayor continued after. "The royal family will be sending professionals to help fix this castle, or at least the keep."
"Um..." Sunny rubbed the back of his head as he felt his brain overheating. "How say...Princesses? Above princesses sent help for home." He gestured to the damaged throne room. "Will help rebuild for festival...celebrate...tion."
The mayor frowned. "You're not very good at this."
"It's a dialect that is thousands of years old! There's a lot of words we've forgotten! I don't even know a quarter of the ways of conjugating verbs and nouns, let alone--"
"Okay, okay. Relax." The mayor spoke softly. "I apologize. That was an inconsiderate comment from me. I let my excitement get the best of me." He hummed pensively. "Is there a way that you could..." Nightmare Moon stared at him. "Get her to help you or something?"
"She already proposed her help in the matter," Sunny answered.
"Really? That will make things much easier."
The mayor repeated what he had already said but stopped when Nightmare Moon raised a hoof. "Above princess?" she murmured. "You mean a queen?" she asked with a raised brow. She had already lied back down. Formalities seemed lost on her, something that the mayor was certain would bring amusement during the festival.
"And other one," Sunny agreed.
"A queen and a king?" She laughed, exposing her fangs. "Oh, this is rich. I thought we didn't use those terms anymore. I wonder what made you regress to such a thing." Her smile quickly went away. "Probably the same thing that made my sister disappear. Hm."
"He says...they will come with lower ponies. Not princesses," Sunny continued.
"Nobility? That still exists too?" Nightmare Moon looked back down at the maps and narrowed her eyes. "Or are you just a portion of the former Equestria that has gone back to the ideals of the monarchy and nobility?" She snorted. "A sentiment I'm not against, but should be the queen of the ponies, not some random peasants that have grown too big for their lands." She looked to Sunny. "Very well. Have them make me a throne as well so that I might meet these guests of my new home."
"She says she wants a throne made for her and her new home," Sunny explained to the mayor.
"Well, I didn't say she could stay here," he said to the young stallion.
"I don't think she cares," Candied interjected. "She elected this to be her new home, so I think it best to just let her take it, no?"
"No!" the mayor protested. "It's part of the city's heritage, even if we neglected it."
Candied shook her head. "Again, I don't think it matters anymore."
Things seemed to be slipping out of the hooves of the elder, but it wasn't completely lost. He just needed to modify things around the changes. A good plan was an adaptive plan, after all. All he needed to do was take into account how the alicorn behaved, so long as he could understand her. Conversations were going to resume when a brouhaha came from outside. Something was bothering the soldiers.
"What's happening?" the mayor asked aloud.
"We should go outside and check it out," Candy Cane suggested. He yawned loudly. "And then maybe go to bed afterwards. I'm exhausted. It's been a long day."
"Tell me about it..." Sunny sighed.
The unicorn was going to follow the others outside but found himself trotting in place and instantly knew why, although he wished it weren't the case and he was just too exhausted to actually move."
"Where are you going, servant?" Nightmare Moon asked. She was levitating the stallion towards her without taking her eyes away from the maps.
Dimples was quick to be let back onto his hooves in front of the alicorn. With his nerves wracked, he couldn't help but blurt something out. Something he knew he would regret. "Don't call me 'servant'," he demanded sternly.
The alicorn still didn't take her eyes off of the maps and shuffled them around. "Excuse me?" Nightmare Moon asked calmly.
"You hear! Don't call me servant!" Sunny Dimples repeated.
The alicorn looked up. "Is that so?" She slowly got up to her hooves, dwarfing the young stallion the higher she stood. "Would you prefer slave, then?" she asked. The mare had lowered her head to the terrified stallion and was looking at him with a side glance, her pupils bright and her teeth sharp. "Maybe I should just bind you to me so you won't ever be able to leave my new castle grounds without something...nasty happening to you?" Sunny started to back up, but Nightmare Moon pursued. "Or perhaps I should just use you to start the foundation of my new throne, how does that sound?" she asked with a large grin.
"I-I-I am s-s-servant!" the stallion was quick to correct.
Meanwhile, outside the castle, the skies had mostly cleared and night was falling. The purples of the setting sun were still barely visible on the horizon, but what really garnered everypony's attention seemed to be in the sky.
"What's going on?" the mayor asked one of the soldiers.
The earth pony pointed to the sky. "It's the moon. It's bare," she mumbled.
The mayor's jaw dropped. Indeed, the mare-in-the-moon had vanished. A shape on the moon that had been determined to just be its appearance. A lot of legends had shaped around it, the oldest being that a group of unicorns had drawn it on there to show how strong they were. Others were that it was the shadow of a being trapped in another reality, a gift by some greater entity, or simply the face of the moon as it watches everypony on the ground. All of a sudden, it became clear why the soldiers were upset. It wasn't that the face was missing, it was what caused it. They all silently realized that all of them had been wrong throughout the millennia.
"Is it possible?" one of the soldiers asked.
"She popped up earlier today, and now the moon has nothing left on it. It has to be that."
"Th-then, she's the moon?"
"Don't be stupid. She was on the moon."
"In," another rebutted.
"Guys! You don't seem to understand," a mare pegasus interjected. "That alicorn came from the moon. That means she's part of it." She looked around, her body shaking and her eyes darting about nervously. "What if there are others like her? From the sun? A mountain? A volcano?"
"Well, that would explain a lot," Candy Cane told the mayor. "If she is really from the moon, then that could change things."
The mayor nodded. "Like if she's the only one coming, and if not, if the others are aggressive like her." He exhaled for a while. "This is quite the pickle we're starting to find ourselves in." He looked at the soldiers starting to fight amongst each other and shook his head. "I'm not their commanding officer," he said. "They'll have to deal with that themselves."
All of a sudden, his excitement had been abated by the new knowledge he had acquired. The change on the surface of the moon, which remained the same for millennia, would likely become a hard topic in Equestria. It was possible that the king would realize that the mayor's surprise was related to that, but the elder just needed to play his cards right and he'd be laughing it up with the royals when the more pig-headed nobles started proclaiming Nightmare Moon as their ancestor. He could imagine them now: Walking up to the alicorn and hugging her or putting a hoof on her legs.
Patience.
Patience.
Nightmare Moon had waited so long that there was nothing left to wait for.
Sunny Dimples was allowed to leave after a few hours, leaving the former mare-in-the-moon to her own devices. Having been trapped within the moon for so long, the mare refused to sleep. She was inexorably linked to the night anyways, so she would only need to take in the light of the moon and the stars to revitalize herself, something she couldn't do when she was still...weak. She could still hear the voices of the soldiers on night watch, observing her every move.
The lights of their fires flickered in the darkness, contrasting against the black stone of the castle and casting large, deformed shadows. She used white light from her horn to help her look at the maps and try to decipher any bit of information she could amass, but not much could be understood still. Repetition, repetition, repetition. The same conclusions non-stop.
"Hmmm. This mountainous relief," Nightmare Moon pondered. "Looks familiar." She walked towards one of the many holes of the throne room and took a look outside. "Elevation and shape seem consistent." The mare levitated three maps in front of her and compared them to each other and the mountain range. "I found it. There's even a dot down here with text, likely the city." A quiet murmur gradually evolved into mighty laughter. "With this castle, a mighty, impregnable fortress is ready to be made." Her eyes sparkled maliciously. "My own castle from which to rule my realms and plan my conquering. Then I'll get revenge on..." Her wing twitched. "Right..."
She looked at the mess of a map that served as a general bird's eye view of Equestria. If the one who made this was still around, she would have had him flogged. The edges were random in shapes; bloating in one area then suddenly turning into a sharp angle. Obviously, there would be some border changes after her imprisonment for so long, but to this extent was absurd. Just because Moon had managed to locate the city she was on, provided she was right, didn't mean she could locate it on such a map, let alone on one that was properly made.
Time passed and the soldiers continued to relay each other for guard duty. Nightmare Moon didn't see their precautions as an insult or laughable. Rather, she saw it as the beginning of her new guard. Heavily armored troops better equipped than even her followers from the past. It was enough to make her metaphorically salivate at the idea. To have her own impregnable army, and with her magic they would be empowered even further! Ah, but they would need to be able to handle such power, and they would need to be deserving. Don't need somepony to stab her in the back after having been granted far too much power. Power corrupts, after all. She grinned, letting the saliva on her fangs glisten in the dim light of the moon that shone through the cracks in the ceiling.
Eventually, sunlight started to come forth from beyond the world's brow. Sunny Dimples came through, entering the keep and eventually reaching the throne room. He froze at what was before him: Nightmare Moon was surrounded by a semi-transparent, rotating, sparkling sphere of darkness. Multiple patches of it were covered in a thin layer of immobile black broken by wide berths of emptiness. All across the inner surface were a plethora of dots both large and small, dim and bright. Whatever it was, the alicorn seemed to have been focused on it the whole time.
Carefully, the stallion put his saddlebags onto the ground and took out books in the two left pouches and set them aside, then pulled out notebooks, quills, and cartridges of ink to place within them into another pile.
"You come in and do not greet your queen?" Nightmare Moon asked.
Sunny stumbled and nearly fell but managed to catch himself. Unfortunately, his legs ended up crossed. "I...Greetings, My Queen!" he shouted. "Have books to teach language. Um...ours! D-do we start?"
"Later," the alicorn said. The sphere vanished into an underwhelming spark, and the alicorn made her way to the outside. "I hunger and I have need for fresh air."
"Oh no. I forgot about food!"
He didn't have time to stop her as her hind leg was already vanishing behind the corner. The air was chilly and the alicorn could see her breath in the freezing cold air. It was a strange sensation to be enjoying something so ridiculously mundane, but being free after so long made even the smallest of things feel like a rediscovery. She was enjoying herself, watching the shivering soldiers placed in an assault stance, ready to impale her on their antimagic spears.
"What is that?!" she shouted in shock.
In the sky the light was still dim, and the clouds were still roaming about in small groups, but the sun itself was...
"What is wrong?" the young stallion shouted. He was jolting in every direction when he finally realized that Nightmare Moon was just staring at the sky, her face ripe with fear and horror. "My Queen?" he called out.
"The sun. What is wrong with it?" Moon asked without tearing her gaze away.
Sunny and the soldiers were perplexed at the problem. Even thought they didn't speak the same language as her, the soldiers could tell that she was bothered by something in the sky, but they were unable to look directly at the source because of the walls and tower remnants.
"Do not understand," Sunny said. He was worried that he wouldn't be able to understand whatever the creature was going to tell him. At this point he had been guessing and just determining from context the missing words he hadn't understood. So far it hadn't created any misunderstandings, but what if this time it would be a problem?
"The sun!" She grabbed the stallion by the head in her magic and jerked him up to see the ball of fire. "It isn't right! It looks like it's about to explode!"
Struggling to breathe normally, Dimples couldn't help but grasp at the dark magic holding him up. "Not wrong. Always looked like that."
Nightmare Moon looked at him incredulously then dropped him to the ground. Where the sun used to be a big ball of light that her sister would move about the sky, now it was a horrifying ball of fire with tendrils reaching everywhere. Large coronas thrice its diameter grew around it, ebbing and dimming at random intervals between each other. Their forms were also erratic, never staying as a perfect circle as they should. Nightmare Moon could also see dissipating arms of fire growing and vanishing every few minutes. Its surface was no longer a solid, smooth, yellowish color. Now it was a roiling, bubbling cauldron of orange flames. With the solar body in such a state, the surface world should have long since boiled away, and yet nothing was different. A thought crossed the pony's mind that, perhaps, the ponies were in the mountains to take shelter from whatever hellish realm stood at the foot of the mountains, but they wouldn't be freezing here.
She bared her teeth, frightening her observers. "The sun and moon of Equestria are subject to none but the princesses, and I am the only one who is allowed to control them!" Moon spun around, glaring at the stallion with her rage boiling over. "Who controls them?!"
"Wh-what?!"
"Who controls the sun and moon!"
"Don't understand!" the stallion pleaded.
It looked like they finally reached the stone wall Nightmare Moon was afraid of. Her question might have been too complicated to answer the stallion, but she at least got enough out of him.
"Sun always like that," Sunny said after a long moment of thought. "No change. Always like that."
Nightmare Moon's fury changed to surprise almost instantly. The stallion had caught her off guard. He would be a worthwhile servant, potentially, but his similar appearance to her made her queasy. She sat down, pensive. Of all the things to have forgotten, this was the stupidest. Celestia would have been moving the moon while she was imprisoned, and moving both celestial bodies would have required a lot of work. Then she comes back and learns that Celestia has been gone for so long that she was forgotten. That meant that somepony else was manipulating them. Was it the royal family doing it? Moon shook her head. No. Impossible. Even a so-called 'royal family' wouldn't be able to handle that much power.
The alicorn snorted. This was the first piece of the puzzle, the first piece of figuring out what had happened to her sister and, potentially, all the other immortals. Discord wouldn't limit himself to such trivial changes, Accord would find it all too chaotic and disorganized, and then there were all the other immortals and potential newcomers that would have appeared throughout the millennia. King Sombra came to mind. Tirek. Grogar, although he might have truly died all those millennia ago. What could have appeared in the interim period, Moon wondered. Her knowledge was limited, and even when learning everything she wanted to hear, it's unlikely they would know anything. No. Her best chance was to get to Canterlot and hope that its archives were still protected by magic. Granted, without knowing when everything happened, the spell likely dissipated and everything would have been lost, but Moon had no way to know that without finding it.
That left the moon and sun moving around. The sun was a sign that something had happened to Celestia, but the aforementioned damages prior implied that something or somepony was somehow still manipulating them. Or, more uninterestingly, it was a spell cast by hundreds of unicorns, but that still didn't explain the sun's appearance.
"Something wrong?" Sunny asked her.
Nightmare Moon was suddenly broken out of her trance. "Bring me food."
"What...kind?" Dimples asked sheepishly.
"Any kind," the mare answered calmly. "Just get me food."
"Will ask others." He pointed behind her. "Books on language. There."
Nightmare saw the books behind her, and Sunny saluted her and galloped towards the soldiers. She hurried over to the books and lied down next to them. Her mood took a nosedive when she saw the cover of the first one. These were books for infants! Newborn colts and fillies! The next books were no different. They were likely from the same author since the cover had a rounded and 'cutesy' goat character to serve as the mascot. Unfortunately, she still couldn't read the text. The insides of the first book weren't any better. Strange symbols next to what was meant to be an apple, yogurt, a car, a mare, a stallion.
She angrily swiped the books away and heaved a belated sigh. It was aggravating for a pony of her age to need to use such tools to learn a language that shouldn't have come to be in the first place. All of a sudden she didn't want to bother learning it. She would be seen as impaired in front of the dregs of 'high society'. Two months was hardly any time for her to learn a language, even if she had all the time she needed. Ah, but then, she didn't need to learn it by heart. She would learn it, of course, but her little servant was there, and he spoke their language perfectly. He seemed able enough to understand her despite his simplistic speech pattern, but with the knowledge he already had, she just needed to patch the holes. In two months time that was more than sufficient.
"They come," the unicorn announced. He noticed the books cast aside and cringed. They were on loan. If the librarian saw them damaged in any way he'd have the poor pony's hide and make parchment out of it. "What is wrong?" he asked as he levitated the books back to himself, fearing the damages he was about to discover.
"I'm going to teach you now, as you teach me your language," Nightmare Moon declared. "As I had announced before. You will teach me first." Sunny nodded. "I will teach you, and you will speak to the ponies at the festival on my behalf."
Nightmare Moon could see the pony cracking his mind, trying to understand a few words. "You not speak?"
"I talk like you. Like you in you language," the mare mimed. "Not very imposing to have foal-speak from an alicorn." Sunny stared blankly at her. "Simple talk bad. Teach me and I teach you."
The stallion felt a tad insulted that she seemed to be mocking his manner of speech, but he had brought all those notebooks for a reason. He sat down next to her, still her height when she was lying down somehow, and opened the first book while bringing up several quills and notebooks.
He pointed to a page. "Start with letters. How to say. Easy. Help with reading," Sunny began.
Sunny wanted to avoid having an incident with the food after the first day of teaching. Nightmare Moon had snatched up one of the soldiers and threatened to eat them if she wasn't treated to food at regular intervals as befit her status. She was taken seriously and the soldiers themselves rushed back to the city to come back with an assortment of fruits and raw vegetables. It wasn't a rich meal, but food was food, and Dimples could see that every bite pleased the alicorn greatly. After all, a legendary being was in their midst, so even if she didn't act upon her threats, no pony wanted to throw those dice. Worst of all was the moon losing the figure upon it. The moon itself had come upon the land, and no pony could understand it. Only the citizens of Snowfege knew, and the mayor informed them all the next morning to keep the event a secret and that he had everything under control.
Obviously, many didn't believe him, but since the alicorn had done nothing since her appearance and hadn't actively tried to destroy anything, they didn't have much reason to doubt his words. Still, the mayor was certainly trying to find a solution to house the alicorn temporarily.
"I wonder if I should tell the mayor that this alicorn should remain here in the castle," Sunny Dimple thought to himself. He watched the alicorn write a few of the forty-eight letters of their alphabet multiple times along a straight line. She had an embarrassed scowl on her face and the stallion could see a faint tint of red covering her muzzle. Whether it was from embarrassment or rage, he didn't want to prod her to learn of it. "She seems to enjoy this place at least. I wonder if I can get the engineers to work alongside her."
Sunny Dimples pulled up a notebook filled with three hundred pieces of paper. All the size of an A5 sheet, and every single one of them had been covered -front to back- in notes and corrections. Staying with the alicorn had helped fix decades of incorrect conclusions and information that were considered correct. Several ponies had received awards for their discoveries. Famous names ridiculed in a week. It was an absurd thought in of itself. Did she know any other languages? He could write them down too in the fut--No. The stallion mentally slapped himself on both sides of his head. Greed was overcoming him. He didn't need that right now.
The sounds of engines started echoing across the castle ground, and Nightmare Moon bolted up almost instantly, her horn sparkling with intense amounts of magic, ready to cast a spell, or multiple of them at the same time.
"That is...upships!" Sunny declared. He might've already filled up the equivalent of six hundred pages by using the front and back of his notebook, but that didn't mean he was going to magically absorb everything. He was annoyed at that, but that's how reality worked. He just had an advantage over the alicorn.
"Upships?" Moon repeated. "You mean airships?"
"Yes, that it. Airships."
"So I didn't hallucinate those," Moon thought aloud. "Let's go see the ideas made form; My future air force."
They left the keep to several dozen airships floating in the air. Two had already landed and Nightmare Moon could hear ponies exchanging words. They had to go beyond the barbican to see that the ships were specially designed to have multiple functional levels. The ones in front of them were four levels tall and the deck was covered in a plethora of wooden boxes of varying size, but all were bigger than a pony. When Nightmare Moon showed up the crew of the landed ships stopped their activity and stared at her. Her sheer magical potential thrummed in the air, causing the crew to have cold sweats.
"W-wait, what is that?" a stallion asked. Nightmare Moon could tell by his blue uniform over a faded green and orange coat that he was the captain. He wore an eyepatch over his left eye and had a prosthetic left foreleg. "It's looking at us."
Nightmare Moon grabbed the captain of the ship with her magic and dragged the screaming stallion towards her. She detached the leg and started to analyze it.
"This is fascinating," she said. "The joints are magic stones, but what kind I can't say." She opened the metal compartment and peered at the surface of the glowing green stone. "It's been hoof-crafted fantastically. I've never seen such skilled craftsponyship on these." She reattached it to the stallion and tossed him aside. The soldiers dove to catch him. "If I could get my hooves on somepony with this kind of sculpting talent for something as difficult and volatile to use as the magic stones, then I might be able to enhance my home further." Her eyes gleamed. "Portals to every part of the world under my control!"
Everypony leaned away from her.
"This is part of the surprise," a soldier was quick to point out. "Don't bother her and she won't even notice you," the soldier said. "She's training to play the part before the royal family, so don't spoil the surprise. Confidential!" she added.
"So...it's not the real deal?" the captain asked. He checked his leg to make sure it was still working and whined. "The magic power she holds is...I could've sworn--"
Sunny Dimples chuckled nervously to interrupt the captain. "Don't worry about it. She got too engrossed in her role."
The stallion eyed them both up and down and shook his head. "Fine, but if she does something like that again I'm reporting it! The king personally hired us to help supply the rebuilding of this castle and I won't be embarrassed or threatened like that again."
The two ponies heaved a sigh of relief.
"Where is the mayor?" the soldier asked Sunny through clenched teeth. "He was supposed to be supervising the literal moon goddess in your town!"
"I don't know! I'm not tied to the mayor, he just volunteered me against my will into this whole thing. Why not ask for his two assistants?"
"They're not the mayor, and they would be in the same position as us since they don't have the authority here that he does." The mare groaned and flapped her wings. "Fine. I'll go and find the officers and see what they have to say. One of them should be nearby." The pegasus was about to fly away when she suddenly remembered something and pointed to the stallion. "And make sure that she stays out of trouble. You know why."
And off she went. Sunny nodded to himself. "Because if they learn that a literal alicorn is here and that spreads to the rest of Equestria..." His body seized. "And what if the other nations learn about it?"
He could imagine the horror now. Everyone had their own legends and mythical figures, but-
"What's wrong, servant?" Nightmare Moon asked. "Who are all of these ponies?"
"Here to fix...the castle," he struggled. "Many ponies to do it. Others to...um..." He tapped his forehead. "Build differently."
"Architects to rebuild the whole thing, then?" The alicorn looked at the two ships that had 'landed' and noticed that the ponies were starting to slide the giant boxes off a few ramps on the side of the castle itself. "Then I have many things to tell them." She hadn't yet decided on how to redesign the castle, and even with the servant there to translate, his understanding was pithy, at best. She would have to wait to be able to speak at least half decently and use him as her orator for words she either didn't know or wouldn't be able to figure out on the spot. That said. "What ails you, servant?" She leaned forward, scaring the stallion again. "Are you dissatisfied with my abilities?"
"N-no no! Not at all!" Sunny sputtered. His heart would give out any day now, and the last thing he'd see would be her terrifying eyes. "I-it just...Just thinked of something."
"Thought," Moon corrected aggressively.
"Th-thought...Others have legends like you. Stories from long past ago. Why do we not have any?"
Moon raised a brow. "We don't have legends? Didn't these ponies consider me to be one?" she asked as she gestured to everypony around.
"Y-yes, but...Our legends not very old. Stories from far past...rare. Most legends only few hundreds old."
Nightmare Moon kept a box from falling on one of the workers and levitated it towards the end of the ramp where it dropped hard. She ignored the reactions. "Did a fire burn the records? Did somepony destroy everything or was there a disaster?" The stallion shrugged. "How is our..." She paused a moment, remembering to dumb down her speech. "Are our neighbors friends? How friendly? How...mean." The mare felt herself heaving.
"Minotaurs to the south, friendly. Hippogriffs to the east, not so friendly. Not mean but not very friendly."
"Neutral, then."
This sounded familiar to the alicorn. Something she herself did to try and conceal herself and her followers from her sister while they mustered up their strength. Somepony had been purposefully erasing or concealing Equestria's past from its present and its future, but what was the point of that? It wasn't an immortal, however. That much she was sure of. They would have their own legends and likely be well known while she was still around, or was it a case of ignorance through her position?
Ruling out the immortal, which would have lessened the surprise as to her presence, there was potentially a group existing in Equestria that actively erased Equestria's past, but they were clearly unsuccessful as there were still small amounts of history that still existed from her era and afterwards. The proof was in this pony knowing her language, even if it was fractured and incomplete...and foal-like.
A loud and angry yell pulled Nightmare Moon out of her contemplations. It was a pony on one of the ships hanging over the protective elevation on the side of the ship. He was glaring straight at the alicorn and yelling something while the others did their best to pull him back.
"Probably a relative of the pony I grabbed by the neck a week ago," she thought to herself.
"We should continue study. You know only a few letter. We must work harder," Sunny told her.
Nightmare Moon nodded, and for the first time ever, Sunny thought that she looked like an elegant ruler, as a physical deity should. It was ruined almost instantly when her eyes reopened. The studying continued through the day while the ponies continued to transport everything from the ships. It was difficult to concentrate with all the noise, and the alicorn felt the need to destroy them all, but she did her best to practice some self-control.
The transportation continued for a few days while the architects came in. The mayor was there to greet them this time.
"Greetings!" he shouted. "Welcome to an old, dilapidated castle!"
"Yes, yes," a bulky white mare with no mane and tail responded dismissively. "I was told that we didn't need to transport any stone here." She jabbed the mayor in the chest with her hoof. "You better not have lied to the king, because that will really mess up my day."
The stallion looked insulted. "I would never!" he shouted indignantly. "You'll find that the stones needed are close by anyways. This castle was made here a long time ago, so the stones had to be taken from the surrounding location. Too dangerous and difficult to import them." He noticed that she wasn't wearing any additional clothing to keep her warm. He and the others had adapted to the cold, but outsiders were always freezing cold. "Do you need warm clothing? I can get some if--"
He was met with a head shake. "No need. Cold temperatures build up immunity and help improve stamina," she said with a wide grin. The architect moved to the walls and dragged her hoof along the dirty, weathered surface of black stone and hummed pensively. "Fascinating. These stones are something else." They raised a brow and smiled while looking at the mountain. "If you made an official quarry here and exported the stones, you'd become a very wealthy stallion, and your city would benefit immensely."
The mayor cursed again. Still no beard. "Really now?" he grunted. He overheard one of the workers grumbling something under their breath as they helped carry several slabs of metal into the courtyard to be used for safe stone reshaping. "What's his deal?"
The architect shrugged. "I read in the reports that one of the workers became agitated and has only been growing worse after they saw your..." She looked left and right then leaned in next to the mayor's ears. "Surprise for the king," she whispered.
The mayor's ear twitched from the change in temperature. He caught a glimpse of the pony glaring at the keep, their eyes bloodshot. He had seen hatred like that before. Hatred unfettered and unending. He would have to keep a close eye on him.
The alicorn was already attempting to speak the new language, although it felt strange to try and speak one that descended from her own. She felt that the intricacies of the sounds were more complicated than those of her actual tongue. There was a curve to them that hurt her tongue, but then, that meant that the other ponies suffered this on a daily basis or grew used to this. She cackled at the thought. That said, Nightmare Moon was tired. She had only been studying this new language incessantly, and with her powers, she didn't need any sleep. With the moon and sun moving on their own, she didn't have anything else to do. The mare needed to test run her new powers away from her new home and from prying eyes.
"Going to go for a walk and exercise my magic," she said abruptly.
"O-okay," Sunny stuttered.
The ponies had already brought in many tons of black stone and laid them about the courtyard and outside the walls. Several small, black bricks were placed in multiple stacks as tall as Nightmare Moon. How they managed such a feat in only a few days stunned the alicorn. With her magic she could create them faster, but there was also a touch of uniqueness when everything was done meticulously by hoof. That, and she was a soon-to-be queen that shouldn't have to perform such menial labor. Wouldn't be a good way to exercise her horn.
Sunny was quick to follow her. After all, he was meant to keep a close watch on her while the festival was being prepared and her castle prepared for the coming of the royal family.
"Where are you going to?" he asked.
His words were slow and had some distance between each other, but he was getting better at speaking the old language.
"Somewhere where even you can't watch me," Moon said. She noticed the stallion starting to stress out and rolled her eyes. "I'm not going far," she reassured him. The mare pointed to the mountain range. "I'm going over that rocky hill there."
"B-but, I need to keep watch--"
"I am an alicorn, fool. I don't need anypony's protection." Nightmare Moon stood tall, her face painted with displeasure. "I can handle myself very easily."
The stallion backed away and watched her walk under a wooden crane built onto scaffolding taking a large stone over to a group of ponies to the second floor of the keep. Unfortunately, as Nightmare Moon went under it, the ropes holding the stone to the crane snapped and the alicorn's imminent death fell towards her. Sunny saw it and galloped towards her while the ponies could only shout 'watch out'. He slammed into her hind legs, expecting her to fly forward. Instead, it was Dimples that flew backwards. The stone shattered when it landed on the alicorn who continued her merry way, oblivious to what had just occurred.
"What," one of the stallions above blurted.
"Are you okay?" Sunny asked Nightmare Moon.
"You're starting to annoy me," she growled.
"B-but, a big stone just fell on you!"
The mare's eyes widened. She stopped and looked at her back, noticing the dust and debris left behind by the stone that now lay in pieces on the ground. Nightmare Moon blew the dust away and carried on, leaving everyone dumbfounded.
She decided to look around her new home instead of immediately flying off to see her new home's repairs. It was going well enough. large chunks of the damaged walls had to be cut out and replaced by the new bricks. However, the incidents had yet to stop. Sunny watched as one of the walls that was left unattended collapsed onto the alicorn, but again, she was unharmed. The bricks crashed against an invisible sphere surrounding the mare, again stunning the onlookers.
Moon looked down and prodded the stones with a hoof. "Hmmph. Half-reared work." She pointed at Sunny. "Tell them to work better or I'll have them tortured for their incompetence. I can tolerate mistakes, but not to this extent."
Later on, as she surveilled the landscape atop a short wall, the floor collapsed under her, but her magic kept her aloft. The events continued until she noticed and started to grow increasingly annoyed. After a while, she erupted in rage when a tower almost collapsed atop her. Using her magic, she fixed its foundations and fractured entrails.
The alicorn flew into the air, her body wreathed in a dark storm. The blue of the sky seemed to part like clouds, revealing the stars in the night, but something was off...Several more moons were present, each of varying colors and size. In fact, the sky looked like it had been pulled apart to reveal a copy of the alicorn's mane. Again, she felt a strangeness when gazing upon the moons, like a presence was near her.
"I have had enough of these games! There is clearly more at hoof here than simple incompetence!" she bellowed in her royal canterlot voice.
The whole of the castle site was engulfed in a veil of nearly pure darkness. The ponies could still see the outlines of each other but not the environment. They were quickly blinded by a pony giving off the brightest white light they could imagine. The effects on the environment dissipated near-instantaneously when Nightmare Moon slammed into the ground, grasping a pony in her magic. It was the angry one from the arrival of the airships.
"So, it's you who has been causing so much damage to my home, hm?" She leaned in closer, letting the light of her eyes burn through the stallion's soul. "Trying to destroy my rightful claim? A delaying tactic? For whom do you work?" she demanded.
"I-I think he not trying to destroy home," Sunny said sheepishly.
Moon's head jolted towards him, causing the stallion to bounce in fear. "What do you mean?"
"I think he trying to kill you," the stallion added.
Nightmare Moon looked between the two then started to laugh uncontrollably. Her laughter wasn't as menacing as the many times Sunny Dimples had heard it before.
"Him? Trying kill me? Oh, that's hilarious! I haven't had such a fulfilling laugh in millennia!" she said. "Throw him in the dungeons," she chortled.
"What's going on here?" the bald architect shouted.
A few of the engineers were following behind her.
"There's been a lot of accidents happening lately!" one of them stated angrily. He was fuming.
"That one has been trying to kill her!" Sunny accused.
The angry stallion was dropped to the ground by the alicorn. His body was a near-black, but it was betrayed by the purple sheen being created by the sun in the sky. His eyes were also a deep blue, and his mane and tail were properly black.
He was backhoofed by the giant architect. "What do you have to say for yourself? You could've killed everypony here with your stupidity!" She slapped the stallion again. "Why is this one so important that you would go to such lengths to be rid of them?!"
The stallion was still hyperventilating from the event that just occurred. Despite his face swelling, he hadn't registered the hits yet. He was too focused on what Nightmare Moon had done.
"I don't know what kind of theatrics she performed to be able to do that with the sky and...and the rest, but she's a twisted mockery of the alicorn my family is related to!"
The architect slow-blinked at him. "You're related to the nobles? And you tried to kill somepony for something so stupid?" The anger in her voice couldn't come out because of the fury consuming her.
One of the engineers stepped forward, readjusting their tool-saddle. "I hired him," she said. "His family said he had been acting up and needed to learn how the..." She cleared her throat. "How the peasants work," she spat.
"So you tried to kill somepony for that appearance rather than ask them to dissolve the spell?" The architect looked around. "Was that you that did that whole night sky and black sight thing?"
"No, that was her," Sunny corrected.
The architect heaved a sigh and passed a foreleg across the top of her head. "Give him to the soldiers. I'll take care of that later and send a message to the royal family about this. They wanted to ruin the king's surprise? Then they'll pay for it."
"You can't do this! You'll cast shame upon my family!" the angry stallion pleaded. "We're proud descendants of the alicorn of the black sea." He turned and pointed accusingly at Nightmare Moon. "She insults all of us by taking on the appearance of one so closely tied to our ancestor's elements!"
"What is he saying?" Moon asked her servant. He repeated the words, and a dark, sinister grin grew across her face. The edges of her mouth stretched ear-to-ear, growing as the ponies before her shrunk, but her gaze was on one character and one character only. "So, you think you're related to me?" she asked. She crushed the stallion's head into the ground. "I have never bore children. That you have the gall to claim to be directly related to my blood is the gravest insult that I can imagine." Her voice was quieted, but she made sure every word cut through the stallion's body despite him not understanding any of it. "You're going to the dungeons below, and if there aren't any, then I'll make some!"
The ground below everyone opened up like a hungry maw. There was indeed a dungeon below, but it was dilapidated and flooded. The stallion was dropped down into it, landing hard with a splash and groaning in pain afterward. He started to curse at the alicorn, but she ignored it and sealed the ground back up.
"I will be leaving now," she told Sunny.
She spread her wings out, scaring the ponies, then took flight, casting down a powerful draft of wind. Nightmare Moon disappeared beyond the peaks, leaving everyone dumbfounded. They were quick to swarm Sunny and demand what exactly had happened. He understood, of course. Even the most talented actor and showstallion could only do so much, and she had far exceeded what a performer was capable of. He wanted to go to bed and sleep.
Finally, some peace. She was free to stretch her limbs and take a breath of fresh air. She shook herself, chasing the snow off of her body. Moon still wasn't adapted to the strong winds of the mountain. She would have to get used to that at some point since this was to be the castle from where she would rule.
The wide space she was presented with was flatter than the area the castle was on at the very least, but she was still annoyed that she didn't have a properly flat terrain to experiment on.
"What exactly are these new powers of mine capable of?" she wondered aloud. "How about something simplistic, like a beam of magic?"
The alicorn barely had to focus any magic through the currents engraved on her horn that a beam of magic burst out of it, startling the alicorn and throwing her onto her back.
"Woah!" she shouted. The land had been melted and the clouds cut in half. "Amazing!" She stared at the burns in the mountainside, her eyes sparkling with delight. "What else can I do?"
She created crescent blades that sliced through several stones in a row. Just for the showponyship, Moon would stand on her hind legs and cast her forelegs downwards in a cross shape. She draped herself in thick armor of night-blue with no specific appearance. In essence, the alicorn looked like she was wearing spiked cardboard boxes.
The pieces of mountain poking out from the sides stood no chance as an armored ram burst through them easily. Nightmare Moon was having a field day with her new magic powers, but there was something else she had to look into. Ignoring the world and its broken form for the time being, the mare relaxed and focused.
"There must be something interwoven with my magic to grant me such strength."
Several images passed through her mind. A purple moon, a blue moon, a gigantic moon the size of their world. Several tiny gray ones as well. All of them and several more had linked themselves with the princess, but they were drifting through the void or connected with another celestial body. She had no way of seeing them as they were, so she broke her conscious links with them and let them be for now. She would investigate them in the future and give them names.
But, so much power, she thought. With this, she would be easily able to topple any challengers to her rule and topple her mighty sister! Why, even the Elements of Harmony were no match for-Oh. That's right. If Celestia was gone, then all the power was for nothing.
The alicorn sat down, staring blankly at her work in the distance, watching as the wind traveled across the broken surface, carrying trails of snow with it.
And the elements. What happened to them? Of all the things she could forget, the Elements of Harmony were the last thing on her mind since they didn't do anything on their own. They needed her sister to work, a sister that was no longer there.
Nightmare Moon realized that she had been training and experimenting for several days in a row with no rest. The landscape had been completely transformed. Making use of the influence of her moon and those of the others she was now linked with, she was now able to modify the surface of the tectonic plates, but even with her newfound, titanic reserves of power and magic, she could only barely change portions bigger than a house in size.
Divets and craters formed about, including multiple that looked like hoof and footprints that could crush half of a city. The mare grinned, realizing what she could create with her new magic. The possibilities were endless, but when she dug further than her base power before her banishment, she could feel something tugging at her mind. Something was pulling her consciousness away, and she just couldn't pinpoint the source nor the reason. It was almost like somepony was trying to tell her something, but that couldn't be. it was her magic and no one else's! Still, it felt like she was 'stretched out' , like she had been made subconsciously aware of a pool of power she never truly had access to.
A sigh escaped her lips. The castle had been improving as time went on. The keep had been modified as per her specifications, leveraging the contributions of Sunny. The windows were going to be made of stained glass representing herself in various events fictional and non-fictional, but so far they were boring, plain glass windows. In fact, the keep itself had been repaired almost fully, and no pony but the soldiers had gone to the dungeon beneath through the newly excavated dungeon entrance. They found that the spell on the cage was unbreakable, something they angrily brought to the alicorn's attention. She grinned and laughed at them. They just had to bring food and water to the prisoner. His family could be quadrice damned for all she cared. After all, the woes of the peasants after attempting to end her life were none of her concern. In fact, she had forgotten about him by the time the soldier had brought the spell to her attention.
A grumble came from her stomach. The mare-in-the-moon was hungry. Very hungry.
"Ooof," she wheezed when she rubbed her belly. "Not eating in days can take a lot of an alicorn." Moon patted the ground with a hoof, watching the many tiny stones roll down into one of the craters she had made. "Those so-called royals are coming today." She wiped some drool off of the side of her mouth. "This drool is making me feel like a cannibal. Could do with a nice stew right now. Something simple to sate my appetite."
When she finally returned to the castle grounds, the early sun had risen a little higher, its strange halos still pulsing slowly around its body. The alicorn froze in place when the light hit her and singed her right shoulder.
"That felt like...rage," she realized in utter awe. The alicorn looked to the smoking spot and rubbed it. "The sun emits rage, fury...and sorrow?" She narrowed her immortal eyes upon the celestial body. "But they feel...hollow. Like the dregs of something that has departed our world." Moon snorted and frowned angrily. "That...is inconsequential. Looks like things like that still happen nowadays," she dismissed.
One time was happenstance, and that after so long that she had been freed? Meant nothing.
She landed in the courtyard and bellowed at the top of her lungs. "Sunny Dimples!"
The stallion hurried over, accompanied by the mayor.
"Yes, your majesty?!" the young stallion shouted.
"I hunger."
"W-well, the food is where it always is." He smiled and rubbed his foreleg.
The mare rolled her eyes and dropped down briefly. "I want a proper meal. A cooked meal. I have been doing nothing but eating fresh produce like an animal!"
"What's wrong with her?" the mayor asked Sunny.
"She wants to eat cooked meals."
The elder rubbed his chin with the back of his hoof. "She does, huh? Tell her that, during the feast tonight celebrating the first day of the Winterdrop Turning, that there will be plenty of cooked foods ready for her, but she has to stick to the script before she can enjoy them."
Sunny relayed the information to Nightmare who seemed upset but acknowledged the suggestion.
"It wouldn't do to just appear out of thin air and stuff my face." She smiled. "I'd rather see the faces of all those nobles that claim to be related to alicorns of the past." Her smile became wider and toothier. "Especially the relatives of that would-be assassin. They must still be fuming after I imprisoned him." A chuckle escaped her. "I'd love to see that." She turned and waved the two away. "I return to study."
The mayor's jaw dropped. "She can speak our language now?"
Sunny wobbled his hoof in the air. "She can speak a few things, but she's not ready to speak for the nobles, so I'll act as the interpreter for her."
The mayor felt his body shiver in excitement. "That's perfect. That will add to the legitimacy of her being an actual alicorn."
"Have you even thought about what will happen?" Sunny asked.
The mayor nodded dismissively. "It'll tear down the nobles a peg and get me on the good side of the royal family."
"Wh...That's just what you want to happen, but what about her? She's going to do something drastic that will upheave our way of life as we know it!" He looked towards the keep nervously. "I know she'll do it. She has no reason not to!"
"You're too paranoid. She has a castle here and a good thing going. She wouldn't jeopardize her chances like that. The royal family has too many resources and too many supporters. That alicorn would never be able to take over without riots exploding everywhere."
"Hmmm...I hope you're right."
The night had finally come. The city was alight with colorful spells and street lamps, but its noise was muffled in the mountains where the castle stood. One couple stepped off their chariot and watched as the red oak construct accented with gold trims flew off with their pegasus driver.
"Look, dear, the moon," the mare asked. Her dress fluttered when she pointed to the sky.
"Amazing. I've never seen it so big. It's filling up most of my sight." The stallion adjusted his glasses and fluffed his mustache. "Could've sworn it was crashing down on us when you pointed that out."
The castle entrance was guarded by a plethora of armored soldiers flying around and standing guard on the walls and at the door. After presenting an invitation, the visitors were free to enter. Nightmare Moon watched the ponies flock in from all around, completely ignoring the city below. From her perch above the first floor of the keep, she could stay hidden in the shadows and watch the nobles mingle. She felt intense disgust when looking at most of them. With her experience, she could tell just from a glance which ones were full of themselves and which ones were humble. Which ones worked hard and diligently to reach their position and which ones just received an inheritance.
Because it had only just been renovated, the alicorn had bound orbs of light to the ceiling, flooding the chamber with the soothing silver light of the moon. She watched as the ponies would crowd around a plethora of long tables draped in white cloth and presenting a wide assortment of dishes; There were even twelve pots big enough to hold three foals worth of stew just waiting for her. She could almost taste them all. Nightmare Moon was perhaps the terror of the night, but she would eventually be the one to bring an end to the contents of all twelve pots. Such was her ravenous hunger that she could claim such a feat occurring.
There were ponies of all colors wearing a wide variety of...They looked like they were wearing full-body pajamas. What sort of absurdist, stupid style was that? Below her stood the mayor and Sunny Dimples, both fidgeting about nervously. The alicorn saw the twins rush over to him, then walk below a small, slitted window. Horns echoed throughout the throne-room-made-dining-hall, and a stallion with his eyes half-closed and his head held high announced the arrival of the royal couple.
Moon leaned over the balcony rails and smirked. "So this is the king and queen?" she smirked. Everyone bowed upon their entry. The king wore the same attire the mayor had seen him in prior, but the queen was new. She was a pegasus and adorned both wings in white cloth covered in pink jewels. Her dress followed suit, using the pink jewels to make wavy patterns. Nightmare Moon realized she had her clothes colored to match her fur and feathers just to make it seem like her body was a giant jewel.
"How tacky."
Her braided, pink mane was also a similar color to the jewels, and the alicorn noticed that many of the stallions, and some mares, stared stupidly at the queen's pink eyes.
"How cliché" Moon grunted.
"My King and Queen!" the mayor said with a bow. Sunny followed. "I am so glad you made it. The trip was not too troublesome, I hope."
The king shook his head. "Not at all," the royal answered. "It takes the mind off of the daily affairs of the kingdom to have even hour-long trips across the land."
"What about you, my queen? Do you require anything?" the mayor asked. The mare looked at him with a raised brow. "I-is something the matter? Did I forget a custom or--"
"She is a mute," the king interrupted.
The two stallions stared at him with a dumbfounded expression.
"Beg your pardon?" the mayor said.
"Yes. She is a mute. She communicates using the feathers of her wings. I can translate for you," he said.
"Really? You can read wing language?" Sunny asked.
The king laughed. "But of course! She is my wife. How else are we to help each other if we can't even do something as simple as communicate?" He looked at her and nodded as the feathers of her wings bent and went into various different directions along with the position of the wings themselves. "She says that this is an interesting looking party and she would be glad to see what you have planned."
"Is it too much to ask what happened to her majesty?" the mayor asked. His need for stimulation broke through his façade.
King Gallant gave the elder a scowl in response. "That is indeed going too far. I will let it slide this time so long as- He bounced. "Of course! I almost forgot. You said you had a surprise for me."
The mayor bowed. "Ah, yes! Of course, and I apologize again. My curiosity broke through."
The alicorn noticed that there were several ponies around with the same fur colors as the one in her dungeon. It was hard to see them since their dark-colored suits blended into the bricks despite the silvery lights above illuminating the throne room. It was quite the contrast from the other ponies who wore more vibrant clothing and mane decorations. They seemed to stick together and a lot of the patrons were actively avoiding them. That gave the mare an insidious idea: Being isolated from the others would make them vulnerable. She could potentially make them the first nobles of her court, provided they fit what she required. So far, they were all haughty and full of themselves. Not one seemed to be ready for actual responsibilities. The full moon featured on the flanks of their outfits only served to fuel her unspent rage further.
"Everypony, may I have your attention!" the mayor announced. The brouhaha died out as everyone turned to face the elder. "I am very grateful that you have come to the festivities of our dear city, and, if King and Queen Majesty accept, I would be happy to let this particular party occur one more night, then the hotels of my city are welcome to you if you so choose to stay. We have many quality hotels that the regulars will be able to direct you towards, I'm sure."
"Enough with the faffing around. Get to the point," the king chastized.
"Ah, of course."
"I hope you know what you're doing," Sunny whispered to the mayor.
"All of you are proud descendants of many different alicorns whose true names have been lost to time, but two months ago, a blessing fell upon our city. A blessing tall and powerful, and we have kept her hidden for the benefit of the king's joy. She is a majestic being of pure elegance and terror, and she will be joining us tonight. In fact, she has been watching us this whole time and accommodated us with this soft and comfortable light" He moved past the king and looked upwards. "I present to you: the alicorn of the moon!"
That was her queue. The alicorn chased away the shadows, displaying her mighty form with spread wings. She jumped down, slowly falling to the ground as she flapped her wings. "Greetings, subjects! I am Nightmare Moon! You may bow," she announced.
The room was silent, but she couldn't smile without breaking the theatrics of her entry. Ah, the life of royalty. So frivolous and filled with theatrics to woo the others and start a chain of one-upping each other. Nightmare Moon was going to keep it simple. She was going to poke and prod these ponies for all the amusement she lacked while imprisoned.
The room remained silent and everything held still. Even the dustmotes in the air seemed frozen in place. Nightmare Moon was taking in everypony's reaction, breathing in what should have been the scene before her as she returned to Equestria.
"An amazing facsimile!" the king proclaimed. He walked around the alicorn in awe, analyzing every detail of her body. "This is quite an amazing spell!" He poked her leg and pulled back immediately. "It's even tangible!"
"S-she's not a spell, your highness," Sunny stammered. He could see Moon getting enraged at being touched. "She's the real thing..."
Laughter came from the crowd, and eventually, a mare came forth. Her coat was a bright yellow sheen, and her mane and tail were both a curly orange with vertical yellow stripes going through them. Her tail was invisible underneath her dress, but her mane had been stylized as to look like several loops of hair were going through each other. Nightmare Moon found it gawdy. Didn't help that the mare's dress was stylized to look like a sunrise. The base was black, and above that layer was a lighter shade, then to deep purple, and then immediately transitioned to bright yellow colors. It made it look like she had waded through mud.
"You don't seriously expect us to believe that this...thing is really an alicorn? Why would one pop up out of nowhere just like that?" she scoffed and looked around. "We all know that if an alicorn truly returned, then they would go directly to the family they're related to, elevating them to prominence!" The others agreed. "So, while this is certainly a fantastic gift, I think you're insulting u-The King and Queen in the long run," she told the mayor.
"I was expecting that, so I had a soldier prepare an antimagic orb," the mayor stated quite smugly. The soldier in question came forward with an orb on their back. "This is the strongest dispelling weapon we have. Anypony caught in will find themselves unable to use magic for several hours, and all but the strongest spells will be dissipated instantly." He chuckled and stepped aside to let the soldier near. "Of course, the 'strongest' spells are cast by numerous very skilled ponies, and as the king and local military garrison can attest to, we don't have any sort of ponies of that caliber in our city."
The soldier gulped and threw the orb at Nightmare Moon's feet. It shattered and released a thick cloud that rose around her. She started coughing and waving the smoke away with a hoof.
"This smoke again? What for?"
"What was that? I didn't understand a word!"
"Sounds like old ponyish."
The nobles stood, jaws agape, at the alicorn still standing before them, unphased by the orb.
"Th-that proves nothing! It could still be a trick!" the mare angrily shouted.
"My family owns antimagic factories!" a stallion shouted in the crowd. He moved forward, sporting a prosthetic leg and a metal covering over the right side of his face. "That is genuine antimagic." He jabbed the mare in the chest. "I can assure you that, madame!"
There was a momentary elevation of sound from the ponies like they were unsure of what to do. Nightmare Moon smiled. This was the moment she was waiting for. She just had to exercise a significant amount of patience and restraint. She grabbed Sunny, passed him through the remnants of the cloud, then pulled him back out. The coughing stallion was then presented with a bowl of stew from the tables; a bowl he was meant to levitate. He focused as hard as he could, but his horn only produced sparks and left him exhausted.
"She is related to us! She is the alicorn of the north! Why else would she be here?!" a pink mare blurted out almost immediately.
"Nonsense! Her fur is dark and sleek! She is our ancestor, the alicorn of the black forest."
"Black forest?" Moon thought to herself. "How very uncreative."
Her eye twitched when one of them grabbed her foreleg and compared its color to his own. She shook them off with a flick of her leg, launching them all the way to the other side of the room. Judging by their behavior, they definitely saw it as her not favoring said family, and so continued to annoy her.
"Clearly, she's related to us! She goes dark during the night," another mare proclaimed. This one was as bright and yellow as ponily possible. She patted Moon on the shoulder like she was some kind of pet. "See? Docile as a newborn foal around me." She was lifted up gently in Moon's magic, stunning the unicorn. "She even raises me above everypony e--"
She was quickly smashed high into the ceiling then left to drop on the ponies below. These peasants had the audacity to touch her and even treat her like some pet. Nightmare Moon! The audacity!
"She is our ancestor, you feeble morons. Do you not see the nightly motif? To go so far as to claim she is the alicorn of the sun, or the mountains, or some northern sea thing. Absurd!"
The one who spoke was the matriarch of the family. Her mane was combed backward and held down with some form of oil, making it sleek and shiny. Her haughty stance and manner of speaking were only emphasized by the wrinkles on her face. One of her eyes was completely white, but she still seemed able to see through it.
"She is the alicorn of the night, and thus, related to us by blood! It is obvious enough!" She turned to face the others. "Bow, you idiots!" she spat.
Nightmare Moon gestured for Sunny to come to her with a wing, and he acquiesced.
"I want you to translate vital information to me when it is spoken, and translate everything I say to them," she demanded.
"Yes, your highness. That was the plan you devised long ago anyways," Sunny said.
"I hope that you would honor our family by becoming its head and making it the most esteemed family in Equestria and among the other nobles, to elevate us to the highest possible esteem amongst the royal family."
Moon raised a brow and cast a glance at the king and queen standing next to the mayor. Elevated amongst the peasants? In servitude to a lesser pony who had the audacity to claim leadership over what rightfully belonged to her?! Nightmare Moon stopped limiting herself and let her natural intimidation flow across the crowd. Her eyes glowed with a fiery hatred as she lowered her head towards the shaking mare who kept a stoic face as best as she could in her bowed position.
"You think I bore foals?" she whispered to the mare. "Me?" She chuckled, leaving Sunny to translate as best he could. "Is there a problem with your heads?" She put a hoof under the mare's chin and lifted it up. "Do I need to remove it and check to see if it's contagious?"
The matriarch's eyes darted between the alicorn and Sunny. "D-did we offend you somehow? If it's ab-b-bout m-my nephew, then it is alright! He will be firmly chastized and banished if--"
Moon raised a hoof and turned towards the king and queen. Despite her intimidating appearance and the miasma of darkness spreading from the orbs she set up spreading across the ceiling, the King and Queen did not flinch. The mayor was jittering with anticipation. What exciting thing was she going to do? Just claim the castle, he bet, and start a new nation! Maybe she'll become a vassal of the king, or something new just above nobility!
"Tell him what I want to say," Nightmare Moon ordered Sunny. "I won't be party to these fools and serve my lessers."
"I can't tell him that! He's the king!"
The unicorn caught a side-glare by the alicorn, shrinking under the ever-brightening, white eyes. He made a loud gulp and sheepishly approached the king. "I-I'm sorry, your majesty. This isn't by choice."
The king raised a brow, perplexed.
Nightmare Moon modified the magic on the ceiling to display the night sky outside. Several new astral bodies passed by, things she hadn't put there. They were yet again similar to the ones in her mane and tail, but she was at a crucial point and couldn't focus on that despite the noble's shock.
"How is she doing that? She was doused in the antimagic gas!" one of the nobles shouted.
"But that stallion couldn't do anything afterwards! Is it a trick?!"
"You, the so-called 'king'," she started. "You will be stepping down as ruler and letting me rule Equestria, exactly as I had planned thousands of years ago," she said calmly.
The nobles in the crowd started to protest, yelling at Nightmare Moon, but using the royal canterlot voice to have them cease their 'yipping', the throne room once again became silent.
"I am one of the original rulers of this place. Just because a few measly millennia have passed doesn't mean that my position as the rightful ruler has been forfeit. Equestria was only meant to be ruled by alicorns, specifically me," she declared. "However, I am a more benevolent pony on account of my..." She twisted her hoof around in a circle. "Current lack of knowledge of the modern-day Equestria, I have chosen to permit you to serve as my vassal until such a time that I am competent enough in cultures and languages of the pony folk to step upon the throne." She ended her speech with a smile.
The king met it with laughter. "Oh, this is indeed rich, mayor. You planned all...this?" He noticed that the elder had turned pale and had shrunk away. The ruler shook his head. "So this was truly unexpected. I'm sorry to say, but I will not be stepping down from my position, no matter what some so-called 'alicorn' proclaims. I would rather you cease these games and let us continue with this party. Or else," the king threatened.
Nightmare Moon smiled and looked at the king with glee. He was suddenly held in her telekinetic grip and raised into the air while she stepped past the mute queen and headbutted the air. Moon's horn had vanished into nothing, startling everypony. This shock was further compounded by her dragging it down along something unseen by the naked eye. She backed away, retaining a huge smile on her face despite nothing happen. The atmosphere was tense, and no pony was making a move. The soldiers were also not stupid enough to go against Nightmare Moon. A few had been spying on her during her training sessions. They were terrified by what they had seen, but they still stood by outside, watching and listening.
"You know, while training I realized something," Moon started. She chuckled silently. "I've become linked to other moons nearby."
A cracking noise was heard by everypony.
"I felt myself being pulled towards them, and I have no idea why."
While the alicorn pondered her words, the air cracked where she had stabbed it.
"I still can't quite figure out how being trapped within the embodiment of my power caused my powers to reach out to other lunar bodies." She shrugged. "You'd think I would have done that consciously, but no."
The crack almost instantly stretched to the ground and twice the height of Nightmare Moon, fissuring the air like it was made of glass.
"During that time, I realized that one of the moons I was connected to was...Well." She tilted her head left and right. "Let's just say it's from a toxic environment," she laughed.
"What is happening?! Release me at once, you insane monster!" the king ordered.
His wife could only watch silently as the crack burst open and a warped, destroyed facsimile of the ruined castle was displayed. The sky was a dark, purple-orange abomination covered by black, toxic clouds. A constant wind seemed to blow there, streaking off the top of ruins and permanently pulling black sand with them. Despite this, no sounds were heard from the other side. Not from the wind, not from whatever lived in it, not from the sky. Moon brought the king towards it and passed a hoof through the crack.
"Gaaaah!"
The king's hoof had been charred, and it looked like it was dissolving into disconnected stripes that warped about.
"Instability," Nightmare Moon laughed. "With some protection you would survive there for a day or two, provided that they don't find you."
"They?!" the king repeated.
"Ah. Here are some of them."
An immense black figure hovered in front of the crack, its body devoid of any details. It appeared bipedal and somewhat lumpy. It shifted a few times, then it 'awoke'. vertical stripes of orange, yellow, red, and white appeared and dissolved in quick succession at the top of its form. A whispered hiss came from the portal, bouncing off the walls of the throne room.
"My queen, this is too much! Please stop!" Sunny begged.
His words fell upon deaf ears. He had never seen such a look of vitriol and joy on one pony. He felt more terrified than he ever had. The stallion was terrified of the alicorn's actions, but this was something altogether. Another fear yet unknown to him, and he knew the others felt the same. In this one moment, everypony was equal before this literal goddess made manifest.
Shapes emerged from the crack that faded in and out of existence. The portions of an arm or a leg, sunny was unsure, but they were segments of a limb. A hand could be seen grasping for the king, then a hoof, then a single claw, then a tentacle, then a mouth. They would never look the same once they remanifested.
"Will you accept my terms?" Nightmare Moon asked smugly.
"Yes! Yes! Please! Keep them away from me! You can take over Equestria!"
"You mean reclaim Equestria," Moon laughed.
The stallion was dropped right in front of the portal, at which point he scampered away as fast as possible towards his wife who grabbed him in her forelegs and swaddled the trembling stallion in her wings. Judging from her expression, she had never seen her husband act in such a way. She glared at the alicorn laughing to her heart's content while she sealed the portal just as more of those things appeared. The queen wouldn't let this affront slide.
Nightmare Moon cackled maniacally. "Fantastic!" She lifted the stallion onto his hooves and used her magic to clean him up and heal his wound. "We can discuss the terms of our agreement later after the party. I won't bother anypony anymore, so enjoy." Her charming and light demeanor immediately whiplashed to a dark and foreboding expression. "Don't eat all of the stew or I'll eat you," she threatened.
She gestured for Sunny to follow her and lifted him up with her to the upper floor, leaving everypony behind to try and recover from the shock. The mare tapped the tip of her hooves gleefully on the floor and moved about, almost like she was dancing in joy. Sunny was still horrified by what he had seen. This...this creature had access to other worlds?! Did that mean there were other hers that existed that she could call upon if there was a problem? His mind started racing a mile a minute. Anypony that she disliked could be banished to such a realm and trapped there forever with all those horrific things he had just seen? Everything about them felt wrong, and he couldn't figure out just how to process their shapes. Were they even alive? Why were they phasing in and out of existence? He felt himself starting to hyperventilate as the ideas of what Nightmare Moon could truly do dawned upon him.
The alicorn poked him in the chest. "What's wrong with you, servant?" she asked.
"I-I-I-!"
He couldn't figure out what to say. She had just declared war on the whole of Equestria. The queen was infuriated, and the king that had always been known as steadfast and able to keep his cool had broken in mere seconds of her opening that breach between realities. How had she done it? He was a veteran of a few wars and many small skirmishes with deserters and bandits. He had been captured and tortured. The king was one of the most fearless and steadfast kings that Equestria had gotten in so long, and then this single pony comes out of the moon and immediately succeeds in vassalizing him.
"Hey!" Nightmare Moon bellowed. "What's wrong with you?!"
"You just broke the king immediately!" Sunny bellowed. "The mayor is going to be executed in retaliation for what just happened because they can't hurt you, and he brought everything here!"
The mare was about to say something then hummed pensively. She moved towards the balcony overlooking the throne room. The nobles were already ganging up on the mayor, just as Sunny had foretold.
Nightmare Moon leaned over the balcony and pointed at the nobles. "Touch him and die," she said quickly.
The nobles quickly retracted, grumbling under their breath. In reality, Nightmare Moon wanted to tell them that she would throw them into the portal, but didn't know the word for 'portal', so she went for the more traditional and boring threats.
"I can't believe you're linked to other moons. I didn't even know that you could open portals to other realities!" the stallion shouted once Moon came back into view. He started pacing back and forth. "How?"
"Oh, that?" Moon sat on her haunches and checked her hooves. She frowned. "I need to get armor protection as soon as possible," she said calmly. "But no. I can't do that."
"Can't do what?"
"Open portals to another reality. Was all smoke and mirrors," she said while wiggling her hoof.
The stallion stared at her, dumbfounded. "What?!"
"Oh yes. That was all just a magical illusion I made to scare everypony." She chuckled. "Looks like it worked very well, too."
"Wh..." The stallion took in several deep breaths to calm himself. "But the wound--"
"I inflicted it the moment he passed through the portal." She slapped the ground as she laughed. "Oh, I never thought I would be able to do something of this scale. I suppose that even the onlookers from outside the castle were horrified at what was happening. I missed these."
"What do you mean by 'missed'?"
"I've been doing these illusions since my sister was still alive." Moon sighed. "I had been tricking her and other ponies, but this power boost has allowed me to extend the capabilities of my illusions exponentially." She looked at Sunny Dimples from the side. "Don't think I haven't noticed the fluidity with which you are speaking my tongue, servant."
The stallion blushed, tracing circles in the ground with his hood. "I've maybe been studying everything you gave me almost every night." He cleared his throat. "I've been maybe also not sleeping much..." He smiled sheepishly at the mare whose eyes started glowing brightly.
"A tired servant is an incompetent servant. You shouldn't be pushing yourself to such extremes if I have not given you the order to do so," she stated.
"O-of course."
"Still, I commend you for your due diligence and hard work. That it all paid off is something that should be rewarded...in the future," Moon explained.
Sunny sighed in relief and his trembling body almost collapsed on the floor. "Still, it is a bit relieving that you can't actually open portals to other realities, let alone one like that."
Nightmare Moon shrugged. "Well, I based what I saw on my nightmares," she explained nonchalantly. "Even one whose name is literally 'Nightmare Moon' can still have their own nightmares."
"I...see." He cleared his throat and lied down. "So, now what?" he asked.
"Now we wait for the party to cease. Considering the behavior of those leeches, they might just stay longer than they're supposed to while I'm not there to act tough in front of their peers," Moon explained.
She brought up the semi-transparent sphere that Sunny Dimples had seen a while back and watch as the alicorn moved lights, erased others, and created even more.
"But that's absurd. After what you just did? No pony would stay behind after that!" the unicorn exclaimed.
Moon scoffed and shook her head. "Ponies in their position are stubborn and prideful fools. The weakest of them will stand behind and act like they weren't affected, something that will influence the other cowards in their group to stay behind and proclaim that they also 'weren't scared'." She narrowed her eyes and used both hooves to move a giant brown-orange circle that had appeared on the surface of her sphere. "What even...They'll act tough when I reappear, so long as I don't confront them or say anything. Go ahead and look. Maybe spook them. Give us a laugh."
The stallion shook his head in disbelief. "No way. They'll have all left. Anypony sane would have."
Nightmare Moon looked at him with a bored expression and stretched out her hoof, exposing the frog. "Then go ahead and prove me wrong," she said. "Please." Moon smiled.
Moon noticed that Sunny was getting a bit too comfortable around her. She would have to work on that. The mare would only accept that kind of behavior from her closest, most trusted, and most loyal of servants. She didn't need somepony unswerving in her presence to pose a potential threat to her and her future. There was work to be done instead. Very important work.
Sunny looked over the balcony railing and felt all color drain from his face. The room was just as packed as earlier, and while the atmosphere felt tense and words were spoken more softly, the nobles were acting as though nothing happened. He looked down to see that the king was being held on the ground by his wife and was exchanging words with the mayor. How did she know? How could she know? To this extent?!
He slowly backed up back to the alicorn and spun around, his body still stiff. "They were still there," he wheezed.
"Mhmm," Moon said.
"They were talking like nothing had happened."
"Yes, as I had told you."
"Did you see anypony leaving?" she asked.
The stallion started scouring his short-term memory. "I believe so, yes."
"Then they are the ones we need to pay attention to. They know when to leave and when to stay. They don't push their luck." She patted the sphere several times and nodded at whatever result she had created. "Did the family who approached me remain? They're the exception to the rule, but only for my own reasons."
Sunny shook his head. "I didn't see them anywhere, your highness."
The mare looked instantly at the stallion with wide, surprised eyes. "They're more promising than I gave them credit for," she noted. "I'll have to elevate them to a more significant position when I take over Equestria officially. Also, I see that you only remember titles sporadically." The stallion cleared his throat in response to her words. "Don't get too comfortable. Everypony but me is ultimately replaceable."
"R-right," the stallion wheezed.
"Amazing!" a voice shouted. It was the mayor who had come in from the steps. "I would never in a million years have expected such a thing to occur!"
"Are you serious?!" Sunny shouted in disbelief. "Did you see what you've done?"
"I would have taken over one way or another," Nightmare Moon interjected.
The two stallions stared at her.
"She can speak our language now?" the mayor asked Sunny. "And what is that thing she's in?"
"She only understands portions of what we say, and I don't know." The unicorn paced about, horrified by everything that crossed his mind. "The king and queen are going to make an army to attack our city and destroy her! They might kill all of us in the crossfire."
The mayor smiled and waved his hoof. "Not at all. I negotiated with the king and queen, telling them what they wanted to hear. The alicorn will be staying here for the time being, and they can bring in ponies to watch her and relay information directly to them at the capital. The rest is up to her to negotiate. Even she couldn't fight the whole Equestrian army." His eyes widened and a wide grin slowly grew upon his face. "Or could she?"
"Mayor, this is getting out of hoof! You can't keep gauding her along like some toy! We talked about this!"
Now that she had finally met the so-called rulers of Equestria, Nightmare Moon was left with only one thing to do: Everything. She was getting better at reading the maps, although that was still a ways off. The most disconcerting issue was that, obviously, the names weren't the same. At the very least, she had already managed to locate where the city was a while ago, but now she needed to know where it was situated relative to Canterlot, and where the Everfree forest had gone. Her castle might still be present there, and Nightmare Moon needed to find a few of her belongings in there, or at least sleep more comfortably in the knowledge that time had destroyed all of her belongings.
Her mind wandered while she worked on space and trying to find the new moons she had been linked to. The pull was no longer there, even when she used this magic. She still had much training to do before she fully understood how her new gifts functioned. Still, now that she had vassalized the 'king' she now had access to tremendous amounts of resources and finances. Being stuck in the moon gave her time to realize: Ponies that aren't compensated for their craft would easily become disgruntled and rebel. If they become disgruntled and rebel, then their vital services become lost forever. Intimidating a single pony when you are on your own is easy, and you develop a reputation for it, but a ruler can't do that, even one like Nightmare Moon. What was it that the ponies called it before she and her sister arrive? Kingcraft?
Moon chuckled.
Ironic, considering the circumstances. She looked over to the mayor and Sunny arguing and semi-closed her eyes. She was actually starting to feel a little tired. Power could only push a mortal body so far, after all.
There were the terms to discuss with the new vassal king first, though, but what to talk about? And what would Moon pursue first? There were so many things and so many mysteries left to solve. The alicorn steadied herself. First was Canterlot. She would use the king's resources to get a geographic indication of the mountain it was built upon. If these ponies were as stupid as she thought, then they would have certainly lost a mountain of all things.
Nightmare Moon brought up the maps again whilst still within her sphere. She turned and twisted them all around and frowned. The location of Canterlot. The location of the Everfree forest. Even if it had vanished, she would have still appeared above it...So where was she?
The alicorn pointed at the mayor. "You," she started. "Has this place ever been the home of a mighty forest? Or at least where your city is located."
Sunny was quick to translate for him, and Moon found his new instincts to be quite pleasant.
"Well...There are times that we find fossilized seeds for very old trees, some dating thousands of years ago." His ears folded and he drooped his head. "The botanists are obsessed with recovering them, so the workers can never do their jobs," he complained.
"Really?" Moon started to think, letting her head start to heat up with activity. "Then I really did pop up above the Everfree forest." She cast a glance outside one of the temporary windows that let in moonlight from outside. "There were some small mountains near the Everfree, but not like this." She hummed. "Too many factors to take into account. The important aspect is that I awoke above the Everfree, but I should have still been tied to m...our old castle," she spat.
"Well, I'm not sure what to say about your castle," the mayor sighed.
The alicorn jolted to the mayor then Sunny, fury in her eyes. "I didn't tell you to translate that to him, you dolt!" she said as she slapped the young stallion on the back of the head.
Sunny squeaked and covered his head. "I'm sorry! I just assumed you would want everything you said translated!"
The mare put a hoof to her temples and shook her head in disappointment. "I can't believe you don't understand simple cues...Very well! I'm going to speak to your..." She chuckled. "King. I take it the others have left?"
Sunny went to check and came back with a positive response. This time, the alicorn didn't have need of an artistic entry and simply jumped from above and landed upon the ground.
"So, the terms of your vassalage," Nightmare Moon started.
The queen's anger didn't go by unnoticed by the alicorn. She made a mental note to keep watch on that one, as there would likely be attempts on her life. Well, that would break some of the monotony during her reign, at least. Sunny took his time, making the situation awkward as Nightmare seethed.
"About the resources you have at your disposal," Nightmare started. "You will continue to send them out to restore this castle to a functional state," she began. "The local military garrison will be converted to my own, personal cohort. They will be the beginning of my personal military that will stretch to every corner of Equestria!" She leaned forward.
"And what about me?" the king asked.
Nightmare Moon leaned in. "I have no intention of taking Equestria by force. You will remain in your position as a vassal, providing me with supplies when I demand them."
The king looked at his wife gesture something with her wings and nodded. "And what if I refuse and declare war against you? You are but a single pony, and it looked like you were straining to open that portal. You can cast one pony in it, but can you cast others within?"
Nightmare Moon stared at him with an unamused expression. "Theatrics amuse you that much? Should I just tear open the space before us and watch what you do when we're all pulled within?" she asked. She laughed. "I don't think I'll have to worry about anything, but you and your wife?"
"Okay! Okay. I was just prodding you to see your reaction."
"Yes, I'm sure." She took a deep breath. "As I was saying, I'm not interested in taking over Equestria by force." She looked away, her lips twitching and exposing her fangs. "It's not as interesting without her being here, to watch her face crumble as I take away everything and leave her stranded. To see all her efforts come to naught from her prison in the sun that I was preparing. The triumph I would have felt!" she declared at the top of her lungs. "But now..." Moon slumped down. "Now I just want to take back what belongs to me."
"And then what? I give you a billion Mints when you ask for them, ruining my country?" the king asked angrily.
"Mints? What is mints? Your money?" she asked Sunny. The stallion nodded. "That's a stupid name." Moon shook her head then readjusted herself, trying to keep her mind off of the naming convention. "I'm not interested in finances. I'll learn to manage them through this city and the mayor."
"Wh-what?! What did I do? What's happening?"
Sunny began explaining to the mayor while Nightmare Moon waited.
"I only require resources and skilled hooves to serve me in my new castle," she said.
The king scoffed. "You won't be getting anypony with no money."
Moon nodded in response. "This is true." She leaned in with a giant grin on her face. "Then you can either pay them regularly to keep them at work here or lend me a lump sum enough to pay for all of them for at least a year."
The two royals were flabbergasted.
"A year?!" the king exclaimed in horror. "Do you even know how much that will cost alongside having this castle repaired? I only did it because of free funds and wanting something new in life! It would have helped me relax and get back into ruling my kingdom so peacefully!"
"Y-your highness," Sunny called to Nightmare Moon.
"What is it?"
"I-I feel there is more I should tell you about our currency," he worried.
The mare rolled her eyes and reluctantly turned towards her servant. "And what form of exposition are you going to lay upon me this time?"
"Wh-Our kingdom is one of the largest in Equestria, but we still have to contend with our neighbors. If you take away that much money, then they'll see weakness in our forces and try to take us over," the stallion whimpered.
Nightmare Moon did a triple take at his words. "I'm sorry, could you repeat that? It sounded like you said 'one of' and 'in Equestria' in the same sentence. Does this imply a fractured country?"
The stallion cleared his throat while the mayor and royals watched in confusion. "Y-yes. There's, um..." He slowly shrunk the closer Moon got with her glaring eyes. "Around eighteen different countries in Equestria. A few aren't held by ponies, and there are a few independent, tiny city-states not taken into account..." He smiled sheepishly. "Really tiny though."
The alicorn's eyes began twitching. "Mayor, supply me with as many historical documents as you can." She pointed to the king. "You, get me any information the general public doesn't have access to." She stomped the ground angrily, causing the castle to tremble. "I did not come back to Equestria just to see my future empire fractured into tiny pieces." She grabbed her head with her wings and started pacing about the room. "How did this even happen? The ponies always stayed together, using that repulsive 'magic of friendship' thing my sister and Starswirl were always going on about." She sat on her haunches and massaged the sides of her head with magic. "I can't believe I'm going to be forced to have military campaigns to take over Equestria."
There was no fun in that without Celestia being there, but as she was certain of, Moon believed that she would likely stomp everypony she encountered except a handful of them. There were always a handful of military geniuses that caught issues to everyone they fought against. She didn't want to deal with that. Oh, and then there'd be the supply lines, and the recruiting, and alliances, and the diplomacy...The alicorn could feel herself dying. Although, she could probably cause a few of them to join up with her soon-to-be empire by her mere existence alone. That could render things easier.
"I want the mayor to serve as my link to the king and queen," she ordered. "I'll stay here and learn all I can." She took a deep breath. "I'll need an assortment of staff. I'll need a smith to make me new armor, a cook, and I'll think about castle staff when it is finished."
"I could provide staff for the cooking and cleaning of the castle. They'll be paid on a salary I'll have prepared." The mayor smiled. "You're lucky to have fallen into one of the richest cities of Equestria. Might even make it the capital in the future," he said confidently.
"Or I kill you and wipe your town off the face of the world when I have recovered Equestria. How about that instead?" Moon threatened.
The mayor gulped in response. He didn't know what she had said, but he knew just from pure instinct that it was a grave threat.
Sunny dropped, exhausted. "Translating so much so fast is exhausting, your majesty. Are we over soon?"
Moon raised a brow and shook her head. "Fine. You may leave," she told the royals.
The two left quickly and quietly until they were finally in the coolness of the night air. The soldiers at the side of the entrance saluted them.
"Some help you were," the king groaned. "This was meant to be a vacation."
His wife started performing many signals to him. She was absolutely furious.
"No, my queen. There's nothing that I can do. I understand that this is a grave insult, but until we can find a way to seal or counter her magic, there's nothing we can do." He paused, reading out the lengthy speech his wife was making for him. "True. Without pushing her, we'll never know what the limits of her abilities are, but we need to be cautious about it. As I've mentioned before. We need to watch our funds. We'll play along for now since she seems satisfied with this castle." Gallant watched his wife and nodded. "I agree. Let's just enjoy the festival itself. I've heard good things about it, but we'll solve the problem sooner or later." He frowned and looked down. "But how do mortals get rid of a god made manifest?"
Sunny and the mayor left soon after, both exhausted, but only one of them was joyful.
"She said she'll reunite Equestria!" the mayor exclaimed. "Can you believe it? I never even thought that was a possibility! Hades, it didn't even cross my mind when I started this!"
"Nothing crossed your mind when you did all of this!" the unicorn yelled angrily. "Stupid idiot! Because of your need for 'excitement' in your life we're all going to die!" Dimples started pacing about, horrified at the implications of what was going to happen. "I never paid attention in history class! What am I going to do now? I don't know what war is like!" He clung to the mayor and shook him aggressively. "I don't want to fight in a war! I just wanted to study dead languages and become a linguist! Look what you did to me!"
The mayor surprised Sunny by grabbing his foreleg into a lock and then flipping him over the elder's back and onto the back.
"Those night classes on self-defense are helping a lot," he chuckled. "And were it not you, wouldn't it have been another? And they would have reacted the same. There is no dodging the issue that she would have been bitter and angry if there was no pony to watch and teach her," the mayor explained. "And judging by her behavior, she was always going to do this. I just didn't expect it since the tales of the alicorns have always been so...so!"
"Uplifting?"
"Yes! That. Makes you wonder why she is the way she is. Could've been lies." The mayor shrugged. "At least this way she'll either fail or be successful in her efforts rather than suddenly appearing out of nowhere and blowing everything up like it seemed she was going to do when she first appeared." He groaned. "That was an event..."
Nightmare Moon, on the other hoof, held a strand of Sunny Dimple's mane and examined it closely. His colors were suspiciously familiar, and no pony she knew aside from one could ever hold this color. Rumors were never something to get obsessed with or something to focus on, but rarely did they have a bit of truth to them, but her sister siring offspring? Moon bawked at the thought.
For the others, there may have been alicorns born like her and Celestia, or they may have been created. Regardless, ten thousand years of lost history left a lot to speculation.
The alicorn engulfed the strand in magic and waited patiently as she cast several spells on it. Nothing happened for several minutes until the next spell produced a small spark that startled Moon briefly.
"Interesting," she noted. "There might be some truth in all these claims of alicorn ancestry."
Nightmare Moon was furious. The soldiers had gotten her a simple map of Equestria after she demanded it in her simplistic ponyish. They acquiesced only because they didn't want to know what she would do to them after what she did to the king. Words get around quickly in a small space.
"What kind of stupid...The geography is all wrong. Canterlot should be here, but it's a forest? And what are these mountains doing sticking out of the ocean." She rubbed her head several times in frustration. "Somepony did something to the world, or these idiots redid the maps wrong and moved everything." Her eyes lit up in realization. "This might not even actually be Equestria, but some other territory...Although that still doesn't explain why I popped up here then..." She fell backwards and landed on her wings. "So many theories, so little time." She extended a foreleg and slammed it several times on the stone of the castle. "Well, I have as much time as I could want, but I would have to redo everything from zero."
The alicorn lolled about on the ground, watching the independent moon devoid of her face trailing across the night sky. Again and again the same question kept crossing her mind: What to start with. Then a realization came across her thoughts.
"I need loyal subjects that follow me not through fear, but through...erm...loyalty." She scoffed at herself. "If my sister heard me bumble such a simplistic thought..." A snort escaped her nostrils. "After ten thousand years, I wonder if other pony tribes have emerged." She tapped the ground. "I recall the thestrals. Discovered shortly after I became an adult. I wonder if they're still around? I'll have to ask Sunny Dimples."
She let time pass, resting herself after the rather exciting evening, and listened to the cheers in the city. Come to think of it, Nightmare Moon had yet to even ask about the celebration in question. She had never heard of such a thing. If it was as famous as the mayor claimed, then logic dictated that many creatures would be there to enjoy the festivities. The alicorn sat up and started to smile as she pondered the possibilities. She could go now without Sunny's intervention and look around.
"Should I wear a disguise?" Moon shook her head. "No. They would constantly try to bring up a conversation." She made a quick glance to the maps. "Then there's the chance that if I claim I'm from one of those places, either a pony of that place comes up or they end up already speaking the language." She sighed. "Well, it's not like they don't know I can't speak their ponyish all that well, if at all," the mare lamented. After a brief moment of impatience, the mare spat on the ground and bared her teeth. "Fine, I'll go there now. I want to see what this celebration is about."
A 'plink' noise reached her ears from the ground. Looking down, she realized that a small blade had fallen. The noise again. Now there was another at her side. Several more appeared, perplexing the alicorn.
"What is this supposed to be?" She looked up to the ceiling. "Why were blades up there?" she wondered.
"There. Now the would-be tyrant is dead," a voice proclaimed.
Realizing what was happening, the 'tyrant' eased her eye down slowly without moving her head. A small pony covered in a dark patterned suit had snuck in. Only a slit for their eyes was visible. The mane and tail were neatly tucked into their fur-tight uniform. They were holding a sword -or, well, part of one. It seemed this assassin hadn't realized that it was broken in half yet.
"Now to get my pay-MUH!"
Their head was stomped down on by the alicorn, crushing them into the ground and creating a large hole where their head now rested. Moon patted the assassin's side several times and nodded, satisfied with her work.
"That was fast," she laughed. "It's only been a few hours." The alicorn levitated the pony up and scanned them thoroughly. "How disappointingly generic, though. Poison tipped knives, a sword and quick speed." She shook her head and funneled magic through her horn. "No need to show them to their employer. They didn't provide me with much entertainment." Her horn glowed a deep orange, and the pony's body was gradually consumed, transforming into black ash that blew away with the wind currents of Moon's room. "Time to check out that festival, with a bit more invigoration in my step."
The city was illuminated with a plethora of multiple colors. Nightmare Moon realized that long ropes covered in small, colorful, polished stones were hung about everywhere. They hung between the buildings, held upon doors, and draped upon tree branches. A bit of snow was falling as well, meaning that the temperature had dropped significantly, which explained the light haze the alicorn was seeing when she looked upon said stones.
Some of the buildings had an arrangement of specific lights to make unique shapes. One was just a smiling pony, another a flower, and others took on more difficult and elaborate appearances. One depicted a whole family playing in snow.
"How did they...?" Nightmare Moon whispered to herself. "Never mind."
As always, it didn't escape her that the ponies were giving her a wide berth, but they seemed more comfortable with her around. Whatever the reasons were, they were inconsequential. The main goal was to find other pony tribes nearby and assess their value in her potential armies and what value they could bring to the society she was intent on making and if there were any rather stupid situations with blood feuds or the like. Only hers mattered.
So far there were only ponies, but then, the mare had only just reached the outskirts of the city. A few open tents were dotted about here and there with a few visitors, but they weren't the main attraction.
"Oh. What is that odor?" Moon wondered aloud.
The freezing winter breeze brought in a delicious odor; a mixture of a wide variety of treats and foods. It took considerable effort to divide the smells into their own respective groups. There was the warm, sweet scent of freshly baked pastries and roasted hazelnuts, the delicious flavor of stew wafting about, and several meat platters for the non-ponies.
"Or the adventurous ponies," Moon thought to herself.
She rounded a corner, ignoring the store owner dropping the blinds and cowering behind it, and came upon a sight that almost blinded her. Everything the alicorn had seen scattered about haphazardly around the city was focused a thousandfold here. She could see flying creatures coming and going from above, the streets littered with a plethora of wooden huts and tents and, somehow, massive buildings. Smoke came from a great many of them, smoke that stank of wood and something else. Something unfamiliar. It burned her sinuses.
The lights all coalesced into a single, uncoordinated mass of light and colors that irradiated Nightmare Moon's retinas. it was something to behold that so many different creatures had gathered. There were several she recognized: Minotaurs draped in colorful wool clothing, the three pony tribes, griffins, some bizarrely small dragons, and the hippogriffs she thought had died out.
"Wait, dragons?"
They were wandering around, discussing with the others around and enjoying meals. There were even gems for them to devour. Even the dragons were a common thing now, and something made them regress from the tremendous beasts she was used to these tiny, puny creatures barely taller than a minotaur. Maybe she should start with the dragon lands after she reunites and takes over Equestria. Volcanic lands were always good for farming. Would be perfect to feed her subjects and gather raw minerals.
And then it caught her eye: A group of thestrals. Their bat wings and tuft ears were a dead giveaway. They were staying in a group and chomping away at what looked like meat on a stick. Moon licked her own fangs. She never thought of eating meat, but she did have the fangs for it. They were only in a group of five, but that proved that the thestrals were still around, and as they were the only ponies who appreciated her night, they would have a special place in her court of eternal night.
But of course. Regular ponies during the day, with thestrals and 'volunteering' regular ponies for the night.
"My armies would never need sleep," Nightmare Moon mused.
She looked to the side, seeing into one of the larger wooden cabins shaped like a hexagon. A pony engulfed in flames with a black coat was yelling at something within the construct, and a large puff of smoke erupted from the chimney. Looking back, they had reverted to a more colorful form and were happily serving customers.
"What manner of pony is that?" Nightmare Moon wondered. "It has a mane like a lion and a horn like a unicorn, but it isn't using magic, but then, what did it do earlier?"
Again, the mare started feeling a tinge of excitement. There was more variety to the pony tribes, and she couldn't just linger on one new tribe she just discovered. Nightmare Moon furrowed her brow, ignoring the ponies passing her by just as they didn't notice her for some strange reason. None of the strange ponies from the deserts were around. Black, bipedal jackal-like creatures were wandering around, but they weren't a pony tribe either.
The crystal ponies were still around. That was...unfortunate, although their manes and tails were drooped as though they were drained of the will to live. Yet just a few seconds later, more resplendent ones appeared. A bizarre group indeed, and then a new tribe appeared. Another one just as strange and over the top as the ones who could engulf themselves in flames.
This new tribe's coats were mostly black with various angular gray patterns running across them. Their sclera was black, and had two sets of iris: the primary, outer one was gray while the smaller secondary was white. The pupils varied in color, though, matching the magic strings attaching...Their bodies seemed...divided. Their manes and tails were engulfed in spectral blue fires at their tips, and they seemed divided into pieces. Their torso, limbs, and neck were all detached from each other. Magic strings that wobbled with every movement kept everything attached, and Moon could have sworn that said limbs wobbled and moved away with every movement they took. What manner of insidious stress caused these ponies to turn into something like that? More importantly, what could they do?
The alicorn found herself salivating at all the flavors that assaulted her senses, but she held firm. She wanted to know more. She wanted to see more. Surely, in a place like this, there were more creatures around. Moon spotted several non-pony tribes, including upright cats and birds. One of the creatures was a super large, super fluffy being that literally towered over everyone, even the minotaurs and dragons. Nightmare Moon could hear their loud laughter and singing as they drank and ate.
The alicorn huffed at them and continued surveying the area, but she noticed that her presence was finally getting noticed by the outsiders while she remained on her elevated position overlooking the massive square. At some point very soon the mare-in-the-moon would have to make herself known to the new public, even if she didn't participate. That, and she felt it would be necessary to smush in the faces of the king and queen that she was still around and their would-be assassin took an extended vacation.
Another tribe, this one a bit milder than the previous two. Their eyes, mane, and tail all glowed softly, but otherwise resembled regular ponies. They still had cutie marks, but their tails seemed to be made of tentacles wrapped over each other. The mane was still made of fur that drooped down like it was wet. Looking closely, this tribe followed a color pattern hardly deviating from blue and purple. They were holding platters in their magic, whatever it was. It was odd to the alicorn seeing as she couldn't see where the magic could be coming from.
Nightmare Moon needed to go through the crowd herself now. She would abuse her status as a 'legend' and have the creatures all turn away while she scouted more closely.
The crowds washed around the alicorn, oblivious to her simple being. Nightmare Moon felt a form of relief deep inside of her, but that was drowned out by the pure rage. How dare they not simply bow in her presence! These simple ponies wandering the streets of Canterlot, ignoring her presence! And the guards, they do nothing to impede her as though she weren't even a credible threat!
Moon shook her head and blinked several times. She squeezed her eyes hard and took a slow, deep breath. What was that? Best to take advantage of the situation and look around at the stalls present not selling food to take her mind off of things, but it was difficult to not find any.
Cheese, various strange plants, farm animals, blankets, jewelry. Nightmare Moon had seen it all before. She would spot some magical trinkets of a low level or some metallic contraptions she didn't know on occasion. A thought crossed her mind, one she had forgotten. In ten thousand years the ponies had hardly advanced technologically or even magically. Even the ponies wouldn't be stuck in such a rut for so long if they were under the rule of a tyrant. They would still find some way to advance and overthrow. They've clearly made some advances with anti-magic weaponry and sources, but how long have they had that kind of technology?
The alicorn thought deeply. Perhaps they did have the technology and they were simply regressed? But then there would be proof everywhere. You can't wipe continents clean of technology. The best solution would be, again, to reach Canterlot and hope the archives were still intact.
"I can't believe I'm stuck in a future with nothing new to offer except new tribes." She bared her teeth, startling some of the passers-by but drawing the intrigue of three thestrals. "I wonder if the site of Canterlot still exists and I can even find them h--"
She found herself teleporting in front of a stall, throwing a griffin couple far away with a foreleg. She was filled with shock, disgust, joy, and horror, but her face showed clear disbelief. The stall owner was yelling at her and telling her to leave, that much Moon understood, but what she actually paid attention to was what the owner was selling: Several stone sculptures of varying colored stone and wood. Some bigger than the alicorn herself.
"I know these statues!" Nightmare Moon bellowed.
She grabbed one on full display on the stall table and took a closer look to be sure. It was Celestia. It was damaged and missing chunks of her mane and tail, but it was her. And that large one over there. Oh, the seething rage Moon had could not be quantified in words. She walked up to it, keeping the smaller one in her magic. The largest statue, easily triple Moon's size, showed Celestia wielding the five elements of harmony and casting her down with their magic.
"Always so prim and perfect and raised up high," Nightmare Moon spat.
The symbols of the elements had been deliberately carved off, and Celestia's face had only been partially destroyed. An eye remained. Nightmare Moon's face, however, remained intact. It was an unflattering display with her face exaggerated to look as hideous and reptilian as possible concerning her mouth and fangs. She was on her back on the floor, flailing her legs pointlessly while baring her fangs at Celestia via a giant mouth that opened wider than the actual pony's.
The stall owner noticed the resemblance and looked between the two. "Hey, you look similar to that thing on the ground. Did you see it and...Wait no. I just... got this..." He slowly looked up to see Moon's mane and tail sparking and showing a red moon surrounded by a flaming red halo. Her eyes were glowing brighter than ever before, and her fangs were bared.
"Where did you find these?!" she bellowed at the top of her lungs. Moon's voice was so powerful that it drowned out the brouhaha of the festival and blew away several of the smaller stalls. "Where did these come from?!"
The ground started rumbling and the stall owner was slowly lifted up by an enraged Nightmare Moon. It felt as though a hurricane had reached the city and was going to destroy everything.
"Pl-please! I don't know what you're saying!"
Sunny Dimples had just gotten cozy in his bed. He would enjoy the festival later. After all, it lasted two weeks at least, and he had more than enough time to entertain himself with it and distract himself from her. Until, of course, he heard her voice that made the windows tremble. He jumped out of his bed and cast a glance outside. The sky looked familiar, like it had when she first arrived.
The stallion whined. "But I had just gotten to bed!"
He hurried out of his home while the military became active again and rushed to try and stop Nightmare Moon using as many antimagic weapons as they needed to. Unfortunately for them, and much to their longstanding fears, this time she wasn't playing along. The weapons would erupt in a black smoke inlaid with purple, but they would fall harmlessly to the ground. At least fourteen of the orbs were thrown at her, but Moon didn't register anything at all. Her seething hatred consumed her and wanted her to torture this pony to give up what he knew. Several of the soldiers tackled the mare but found themselves flying off. It was like trying to blow out a steel wall with a firecracker.
"Your highness!" an out-of-breath Sunny called out. "What's happening?! Everything was going well. I was about to fall asleep early!"
The unicorn skid to a halt and gulped. He had never seen Nightmare Moon so angry before. A primeval sentiment climbed up from deep within him. A deep-seated fear that no creature, no matter how evolved, could get rid of. He was broken from his trance by Moon throwing the stall owner at Sunny who went flying with them. Every step Moon made cracked the ground and pulled up large pieces of stone.
The alicorn pointed angrily at the stall owner who stared at her with pure terror. "I demand to know where he got those statues!"
"Wh-what statues?!" Sunny asked in a daze. The statue of the alicorn was shoved in front of his face. "This antique dealer possesses statues from my time, and I know that the giant statue of my sister casting me down is from Canterlot!"
"C-Canterlot?!" the stall owner repeated. "But I only got these from a trader that supplies me with antiquities. A-a-and Canterlot is j-just a myth! These are just artistic interpretations meant to look old."
"A myth?!" Moon emphasized angrily. She raised Celestia's statue up. "This is a statue of my sister!"
"You need to tell me who sold you these statues," Sunny pleaded the stall owner. "Listen closely: This is an actual alicorn and she claims that the statue she's holding is of her sister."
The stall owner looked between the two in quick jolts of terror and panic. "What?! A real alicorn?! But when--"
"Not important! Just tell me who sold these to you!" Sunny shouted angrily.
"A griffin! A griffin named tonic! He has blue feathers and a black outline around his eyes! He's in the southern territory where the minotaurs reside! He always brings up a ton of old artifacts for me and others to sell!"
Sunny was quick to repeat the information to Nightmare Moon while placing himself between her and the terrified stall owner.
While the rage didn't subside, Moon nodded. She pulled out her wings, surprising those around, and flew away back to her castle with the statue in tow. A lot of the soldiers had to help their wounded comrades, and many creatures did their best to help others to their feet or hooves and to fix stalls. Most were terrified about the events that had just occurred, but a few remained behind, reminiscing of the event and looking at the source fly away with awe and admiration.
"That was amazing," one of the thestrals proclaimed. "I want to know who she is."
The two others with her went to the giant statue and looked it up and down while the stall owner continued to hyperventilate next to it.
One of them pointed down to the figure lying on the bottom. "I think this is her," he announced.
"That can't be her. This statue must be thousands of years old. No pony can live that long," the third refuted.
"Might be a descendant. They look similar enough," the stallion supposed.
The third nodded. "Makes more sense, and did you feel and see all that magic power?" Their ears flicked up and down with delight. "What can she do when she puts her back into it?"
"Let's follow her," the first suggested.
Sunny was too busy looking at the statues to notice the foolish thestrals leaving after the alicorn of the night. He took some time to take in the gigantic statue, wondering what exactly had happened and what that pony lauding over her was doing and who they were as a pony. Other statues of significant age were nearby, although they weren't as damaged, it seemed. Almost all of them depicted alicorns. One had its forelegs draped over a giant heart and its head pointed down. Another seemed to be dancing with pointy vines wrapping around its body. Another had a foreleg raised, a mouth open, and a crowd of tiny ponies lying down, listening to it. Was it singing or making a speech?
Despite the time separating all of them from each other, there were a few things they all had in common: The faces were damaged and their cutie marks removed. He wasn't sure if any of them were genuine, though. Sunny believed that his archeology teacher might know how to distinguish them.
Nightmare Moon was back in the castle, her rage hardly subsiding and pulling the warping effect her magic had on the environment to the sky above her home. She stared at the statue, perhaps longing for it to transform into her sister. The soldiers fled their positions when they saw her coming. A good idea, but now she was alone again. No matter. She just...needed to sleep. A good, comfortable moment of rest and slumber to help flush out her seething, unquenchable fury.
No bed, but at least some rest would do fine. She placed the statue far away and gradually closed her eyes, letting her exhaustion finally overcome her.
The Nightmare found herself back within the darkness of her prison, but at least she still had her body and everything felt more relieving and comfortable. Just an endless void to float around within. No anger or rage or frustrations or fear or-
"Loneliness?" a voice whispered into Moon's ear.
She instantly flew away and looked for the source. "Who did that?"
"Is that any way to treat your sister?"
Moon immediately relaxed. She was unamused by this doppelganger hiding in the shadows. "Ah, of course, a depiction of my sister in the dreamscape." She let her shoulders drop and shook her head.
"How do you know I'm not actually your sister?" Celestia asked with a smile.
"Because Celestia isn't-wasn't, capable of using dream magic."
The lookalike tilted to the side. "True."
Celestia came forward, frightening Moon when she came into 'light'. Her body was missing portions, the edges of these black and smoldering with little bits of ash raising upwards and vanishing into nothing. Edges of her mane were a vibrant orange and yellow and flickered like flames. One of her eyes was yellow and had a slitted pupil like Nightmare Moon, but both were filled with misery and regret.
"Ah yes, the 'corrupted and died' type of nightmare," Moon mocked. "Yes. Go ahead and speak to me about how I let you down or something similar," she said with a smile.
Celestia shook her head, stepping forward on a leg that had vanished. "There are none of those this day, sister. It is good to see you again."
Moon sighed and looked her 'sister' in the eyes. "Fine. Let us begin this exchange of trivialities brought forth by me finding destroyed statues of us." She snorted. "I thought everything was gone, but I was right." She laughed heartily. "No pony can destroy everything regardless of their efforts and time used to implement them."
The Celestia doppleganger twitched at the mockery. "Yes. It seems we still exist in some shape or form."
"So it would seem," Nightmare Moon replied. "Is this appearance meant to elicit some form of horror or sympathy from me?" She chuckled softly. "You'll have to try better than that, 'sister'," she berated.
The doppleganger stared her sister in the face, giving her only regret. "Ah, so even now you still despise me." She shook her head and walked around. "Oh, but you were always so sensitive, Luna, and look at you now: Some sort of monstrous beast, worse than you were before."
Luna. This thing seemed intent on making Moon lose her temper. Using her old name and trying to attack her pride. Moon could only laugh slyly at the remark. Whatever this thing was, Moon wanted to poke and prod at it a little more and see just how far she could push it and to what extent it would go.
The alicorn chuckled softly. "Ah, yes. Is this the best you can do? Insult my pride?" She eyed Celestia up and down. "And what is this appearance? Are you going to blame me for it in the end, or maybe you want to scare me by saying that I'll be haunted by the memory of what I caused to you forever?" she mocked.
The doppelganger twitched at the mockery and the background distorted for less than a second, but it was enough for someone like Nightmare Moon to notice it clearly.
Celestia shared the joviality of her 'sister' and kept a warm, soft smile as she spoke. "Always quick to judge based on the small things you see." She gestured around herself. "So you think that isn't to your very extravagant and demanding tastes, and now you try to devalue me to feel better about your own shortcomings," she stated calmly.
"Ugh. Really? You're trying to incite guilt?" The black alicorn turned her back and started walking away. "This is the worst nightmare I could possibly have. How tiring."
The dreamscape jittered about and glitched, and Celestia blinked into existence in front of Moon.
"Just because you don't want to listen to the truth means that I am a bore to you?" Celestia asked. Moon noted a twinge of anger bubbling up in her voice.
"Yes, that's it. The truth. You are so right, 'sister'." She walked up to the white alicorn and pushed her face into her sister's. "There are no truths from the mouth of a fictitious lie, and you are not my sister."
The doppelganger was shocked. "Not your sister? After everything I have done for you?" She started to stutter. "That-that-that I fed you, kept you safe within the castle walls, took care of you when you were sick, and this is the thanks I get?"
"And I sent you to school, and your father and I did everything to keep you happy!" Moon mocked with a high-pitched tone. "What a fantastic statement. Ah, did you take that out of a poem?" The alicorn smiled smugly at her sister. Celestia's form glitched, and a distorted, rage-filled face bled through one of the ribbons that appeared momentarily. "I see you now," the alicorn thought.
Celestia was starting to cry flames. Each tear singed her coat black, but the fur immediately returned to its prior whiteness. "Everything I say is just a source of mockery for you, isn't it? I'm trying to reconnect with you, Luna!"
"And you're doing a t-just a fantastic job at that."
"Don't you want to get away from all of this? All I want is to reconnect with my sister and separate from all of this," Celestia pleaded. "The comfort of our own selves, in a secluded location where no pony can find us." She snuck underneath her sister's muzzle, catching her gaze with her own hopeful one. "Wouldn't you want that? To finally be far away from everything else and just live a life of comfort and relaxation after all that has transpired?"
Moon pondered the idea momentarily. It was true that she felt herself growing wearier and wearier of her life. Without her sister, everything seemed so...but no. There was work to be had. "Oh yes. Comfort would be fantastic, and I'm certain that Queen Majesty has much to offer me." Moon watched Celestia going through a plethora of confused thoughts.
"What does the current queen of Equestria have to do with our situation?" the white alicorn asked.
This was the breaking point, and Moon laughed heartily. "Ha ha, of course you wouldn't know. That was the name my sister was called during the initial years of our reign." The doppelganger was taken aback. "I thank you, just a tad, for letting me see her again, but this isn't the way you're going to torture me psychologically." She leaned in closer to Celestia. "But do your research next time."
"Wh-wha--"
"You clearly know who I am and who my sister was." Moon looked at the doppelganger with disdain. "Though I don't know what you are, in truth."
Celestia's soft face warped into a sharp-eyed alicorn. Her pupils had turned into pinpricks and the sides of her muzzle were pulled back into something akin to that of a snarling canine.
"Fine. Since you're too stubborn and lucid in this landscape, then there's no point in resuming this charade," she declared. "Should have known this wouldn't work, but it's always good to try the easy options first."
There was finally a solid floor beneath Moon's hooves, a floor that the doppelganger spared no expense to walk on in order to pace around the black alicorn.
Nightmare Moon would have been pleased that she correctly assessed that her dreamscape had been invaded by an outsider. Instead, another question crossed her mind.
"Who are you and how did you manage to use dream magic?" she asked the doppelganger.
The creature sat down and looked at its charred hooves. "Oh, the questions we always ask. With enough time, anything is possible, even something as horribly difficult as dream magic."
Moon snorted and sat as well. "That wasn't an answer."
"It's what you deserve, alicorn," the creature spat.
With every word leaving its mouth, Moon could feel the vitriol. There was a deep-seated hatred within every sound it produced, as if it hoped that its words were a venom that would kill the recipient as quickly as possible so it would no longer need to speak to them and suffer their existence. Nightmare Moon knew this hatred well.
"So, what are you? Yet another assassin sent after me? So soon?" She looked around, nodding. "I have to say, your technique is quite impressive. So, how are you going to attempt to kill me? I know of many, many means."
Nightmare Moon's smug grimace gradually deflated as 'Celestia' only glared at her with silent anger. Pure disgust filled her eyes.
"I thought that no more alicorns were left over. I thought that they were all gone," Celestia lamented. "After all that time, after all that work! That hard, difficult work." She pointed accusingly at Moon. "And then you appear out of nowhere," she spat. "That wasn't what was supposed to happen!"
Nightmare Moon raised a brow. "So you know what happened to my sister and all the other alicorns I never made the unfortunate acquaintance of."
Celestia scoffed and walked away. "The princess of love. The princess of magic. The princess of cultivation. The princess of forests. The princess of flora and the princess of fauna. So many. Always a new one out of nowhere." She ground her teeth, creating a very unpleasant screeching.
"So you do know what happened to them!"
"Why would I tell you what we have been up to all this time?" She shot her hoof to her mouth, shocked by what she had just let loose.
"Ah ha! So there is a group responsible for everything! Who are you and what did you do to my sisters? How dare you take away my long-awaited rev...enge..."
The doppleganger slowly lowered her hoof, revealing a wide, toothless smile. "Ha ha, oops. What did I just blurt out?" She shrugged. "Darn it. Now you know just a smidgen of what is going on." She pursed her lips. "How clumsy of me."
"So you also play games." Nightmare Moon leaned back and let her strange, new magic engulf the dreamscape, destroying the black background and showing space enveloped by the many moons she was now linked to.
She wasn't aware of the vague, semi-transparent, blobby shapes that stood next to a few of them. The mare was only left with a strange sensation of being pulled by them, not that it mattered in this rather amusing situation.
"Wh-what is this? What's happening?!" Celestia asked in a panic. She spun around several times, trying to figure out what Moon was doing. "Impossible! The spell was complete! You were supposed to remain stuck here!"
Moon cackled. "You thought to entrap me in my mind through dream magic?!" She laughed once more. "The cheek!"
Celestia gradually tilted her head to the side and shrugged. "To be fair, the thought was to utilize irony against you; Defeating you with the one magic you're naturally gifted in." She raised her hooves up, acknowledging her defeat. "Honestly, expectations weren't really on this, but you won't be allowed to exist in this new world for much longer."
Immense magic came from the doppelganger, challenging Nightmare's in the dreamscape. Their powers clashed, distorting the landscape, allowing Celestia to slip into one of the cracks and slowly slip away while keeping her eyes locked onto the black alicorn's.
Nightmare Moon awoke with a start. She quickly assessed her surroundings then relaxed and yawned once she realized she was back at the castle and wasn't having to deal with the very annoying 'layered' dream.
"Ugh. So tired."
She wiped her eyes and got up, already prepared to go back to her power testing range when she heard the shuffling of leathery wings around, along with upset voices. Using her powers, the mare faded into the darkness and traveled through the shadows. Several thestrals had snuck in through the windows at either side of the throne room. The alicorn was bemused. It seemed that they were able to sneak past the guards using their natural, dark colors, although she was unsure as to what they were fighting about.
A few of them had collided into each other and caused everypony to fall down towards the ground below into a pile. Naturally, the tables and food were still present, and so it all flew everywhere and garnered the attention of the soldiers who rushed in and pointed their weaponry at the terrified intruders.
"Can't let them get imprisoned like the fool beneath. Oh. Right. I should free him," the alicorn realized.
She emerged from the shadows, scaring the soldiers. Nightmare Moon did her best to move slowly and gently to not cause any heart attacks. The soldiers were motioned to back up, which they did.
"What are you doing here, in my home," she asked them.
The thestrals looked at each other in confusion. One of them, bearing pink stripes in his mane, spoke first.
"Your ponyish doesn't seem that good," he noted.
One of the soldiers stepped forth. "That's because she speaks a very ancient dialect of ponyish and has been learning to speak our own with the help of a local student."
"I speak Canterlot Ponyish," Moon added.
The thestrals gasped. Canterlot? How could that be?
A thestral missing half of her left ear stepped forward. "Could...Could you teach us?"
"My servant can. I teaching him."
The first thestral spoke once more. "Who are you? We all came to you because we felt a strange connection."
"Nightmare Moon: Alicorn of the Night," Moon declared.
They continued to mumble. 'So it was true'. They were all astonished that such an alicorn truly existed. Many spoke about how they always wished that more regular ponies could see the night sky as they did, and here it was personified, standing before them. Standing proud, tall, and mighty.
Almost all at once, the thestrals bowed before the mare-in-the-moon, surprising both her and the soldiers for a change.
"We vow to forever serve you and make your stay in Equestria as comfortable as possible!" one of the thestrals declared firmly.
"You make vow of service, but all are young. How will I know...minds not change as age?" Moon asked.
She overheard a muffled snicker followed by a loud strike and a cry of pain.
"This goes beyond wanting to defy authority, or mocking our parents, or any other rebellious behavior," the pink-striped stallion explained
Another thestral stepped forward. His iris were a significantly brighter gold compared to the rest. "We want the alicorn of the night to help our people recover. They have become lethargic and depressed with no guidance. We wanted to find somepony who could aid us or something to help reinvigorate our lives, and then we find you! A literal alicorn of the night! The odds are astronomically high!"
"Should have played the lottery," one of them whined.
Nightmare Moon nodded. Things were, so far, going as she had planned. "I will aid you."
The thestrals cheered and danced about happily.
Yes, everything was mostly going as planned. Here was a tribe that would submit without any trouble. The start of a new Equestria engulfed in endless night. First, she needed to find Canterlot. Perhaps they would know something about its whereabouts. Any rumors would suffice, and that thing wanted her to go away enough to impersonate a sister everypony else had forgotten.
"We should introduce the Gan Ceann ponies to you. They would adore you just as much!" the gold-eyed thestral happily suggested.
Once more, Nightmare's face went completely blank. "The what?"
"Yes! There's already some that came here with us!" the gold-eyed thestral continued.
Nightmare Moon stared at the new ponies with wide eyes. The Gan Ceann were the weird ponies with body parts attached to each other only by the glowing strings sown between them. They looked at the mare with wide eyes as well, but their eyes looked like hollow orbits with a single, tiny white speck far, far in the back of an impossible distance.
"These are the Gan Ceann," the thestral proclaimed with a huge smile.
Nightmare Moon groaned. "Yes. I understood."
"We are also known as dullahan," one of them said.
There were only four of the creatures amidst the group, and they stuck out like a sore hoof. The thestrals still fit in with other ponies despite their uniform coat colors being black. They just looked like an offshoot with bat wings, but the dullahan? Just looking at them forced Moon to squint. The strings hurt her eyes and made it hard to focus on these little creatures standing before her. It felt odd to be affected by something so simplistic. She overheard the thestral with pink stripes explaining her inability to fully speak and understand their language. She was lucky this wasn't any sort of political situation or she would have been doomed.
"We witnessed what you did at the festival," the dullahan explained as he approached. "We found that such a display of power was awe-inspiring, and we endeavored to come with the thestrals and meet you personally in...much calmer circumstances."
His words were focused and precise, avoiding any dulcet tones that might make him seem too 'kindly'. If all dullahan were like him, that could make for formidable opponents in negotiations. If only.
Another stepped forward. "I personally wanted to know if you were real or not," she stated snarkily.
The stallion pursed his lips and tilted his head while looking off to the side. "The effects were there. No regular pony, let alone another creature, could have caused such an effect. That requires multiple ponies all at once, and there were no traces of magic."
The mare raised a hoof while closing her eyes. "I just needed to be certain. Believing your eyes doesn't always work."
The stallion nodded. "Very true. Obsessive certainty is better than blind belief."
And they were philosophers. Fantastic...
"What can you offer me?" Nightmare Moon asked.
The gan ceann stallion shrugged. "Nothing for now. The thestrals would most likely have everything covered."
The golden-eyed thestral spoke up. "Provided you come to our home, we would be able to spread word of your presence and let our leaders make you into our queen, or empress, or whatever it is you want to be titled." She looked to the dullahan with a large smile. "They live with us, or rather, a lot of them do. It wouldn't be too difficult for them to understand why the alicorn of the night is best for all of us."
The alicorn raised a brow. "What do you mean?"
"Well, they don't really have their own place to call home like most of us do," the thestral explained.
"We're a relatively new tribe in Equestria, and as you've seen, it is very fractured," the male dullahan explained. He nodded to the bat ponies. "We have found a safe haven with the thestrals since we both have similar ways of life."
"We both live during the night and sleep during the day!" the thestral with a pink stripe cheered. He noticed Moon squinting at the dullahan. "Are you okay? You seem to have trouble looking at them," he worried.
"Strings hurt eyes," Moon managed to say after some struggling.
"You needn't worry," the mare dullahan explained. "This is just part of our innate magic."
"It's an illusion," the thestral with half an ear interjected. "You get used to it after a while." She looked to the new tribe and tilted her head left and right. "Although I do admit that it takes time. We just grew up with them so it's a natural adaptation for us."
The female scoffed. "I would have thought that our natural magic wouldn't affect an alicorn." She quickly found herself getting crushed underneath Moon's immense magical prowess. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean it! Don't squish me!"
Several of the thestrals laughed at her predicament. Their faith in Nightmare Moon was surprising, and a little disconcerting. These things that came out of nowhere saw Nightmare Moon's magical potential and suddenly wished to devote themselves to her. Was there a link to them that she was missing?
The golden-eyed thestral stood proudly and had pushed his chest out. "I personally want to extend an invitation to our village, so that you may see us as we truly live and grace our people with your existence, an existence we only ever imagined in the void as we slept."
"Now this sounds interesting," Moon thought to herself. "What mean by 'void' as you sleep?"
"Other pony tribes have dreams when they sleep, but our legends passed down from generations past say that we lost our dreams when we lost our alicorn."
"Did they return?" Moon asked.
The bat ponies exchanged silent glances and shook their heads.
The thestral missing half an ear spoke. "Most of us haven't, but one or two said they started to see things in their sleep. Might be dreaming?"
Nightmare Moon was realizing that there was a bigger picture that she had missed. In fact, there were many, many big pictures that she had missed. It seemed that she was intrinsically linked to this tribe, likely because of the source of her powers and their relationship to the moon.
"Others have issues no alicorns?" she asked. Moon couldn't help but cringe whenever she spoke. Slow, difficult, looking for her words.
It took the group a moment to process the question.
"Not that we have noticed. Maybe they forgot? Everypony seems to have no issues in their daily functions," the dullahan stallion said. He shrugged dismissively. "Well, none that I have heard of. They don't share tales like the thestrals and definitely not the eckan crue ponies."
Another tribe name. Nightmare Moon needed to focus. There was too much information flooding her mind.
"Enough!" she bellowed loudly. She grunted and rubbed her temples with a hoof. "Alicorns gone. Other long livings...um...don't die?" the alicorn pondered.
"Immortals?" one of the dullahan suggested.
"Yes! Immortals! Not alicorns..." She kept tapping her chin, trying to find the proper words. The ponies present waited patiently, but only the thestrals waited eagerly and with all smiles. "Not alicorns but immortals. Chaos thing. Discord. Order thing. Accord. Names. Dangerous."
If there was nothing keeping them sealed up, then it was definitely possible that the two had freed themselves and were up to no good, and this was the end result, but things would normally be far worse than they actually were.
"Never heard of them," the golden-eyed thestral said. "If they were from your time then they've definitely vanished along with the others."
The spells on them couldn't have lasted that long, could it? The spell for Moon was a 'simple' banishment spell, so that being tampered with made some modicum of sense, but the sealing spells on the draconequi were the strongest possible spells. She remembered, and they embodied the essence of order and chaos. That they would be tampered with seemed impossible. The mare scoffed at herself. As always, the answer lay in Canterlot. Their statues were there. If they had vanished then it was likely they freed themselves. If there was another event...well, she'd get there when she'd get there.
"Oh, but we haven't introduced ourselves," the golden-eyed pony said. "I'm Golden Honey. The pony with the pink stripes in his mane is Mango Malt, and the mare missing part of her ear is Cuttin' Clove."
Nightmare Moon glared at the mare with disdain.
"I changed my name to fit what happened to my ear!" Cuttin' protested.
The king and queen were sitting outside one of the many restaurants, watching as everypony put everything back in place. They were both eating a sausage made from tofu, nutmeg cream, cinnamon, and mint. It was a strange flavor mixture, but the king found it to be somewhat enjoyable. His wife, not so much.
They both stared at their table, angry. The king couldn't help but tremble, unaware of that fact. The soldiers were now finally escorting the royal family while they were present and had set themselves up around the tables, watching fervently.
The queen spat at them. "They defend us against regular creatures but not that alicorn," she said through her wings. Every 'word' was filled with venom.
"And she humiliated me in front of my own court!" the king bellowed. "This will not stand. I will not have my life be run by this...this so-called god of ponykind! There is no proof that she is anything more than a charlatan. She must have found several relics bloated with magical power that allows her to perform such acts."
The lights above them went out briefly, causing the king to bounce in fear and start screaming in a panic. When the colors finally came back on, he had partially collapsed onto the table, gasping for air. Creatures all around were staring at him, but with one look from the queen and they left well enough alone and made no comments.
"Look at me: I'm terrified of the darkness now. I keep seeing those...those things!" He heaved a sigh and ate another piece of sausage. "Some vacation this turned out to be."
"That she was still there means the assassin failed," the queen thought to herself. "How? He was one of our best."
"You seem preoccupied with something," the king called out. "I can assure you that I will be going through intense and rigorous training to overcome this fear, and then we'll get back at her," he reassured.
The mare shook her head. "No, that wasn't it, but I'm proud of you for making that claim. I know you don't take things half-hearted." She sighed and leaned forward in her chair. "Somepony like her seems to know what she's doing, but so do we."
The king pushed his empty plate away with his magic and cleaned his mouth with a napkin. "Maybe we should warn the rulers in the other territories."
Queen Majesty laughed at her husband, although it only came out as a raspy exhale. "We're not on good terms with them. You think that they would bother to listen to us?"
The king glared. "They would if they saw what she is capable of. With an army she could do many, many amazing things."
"Like take over our part of Equestria," The Queen acknowledged reluctantly. "Then I suppose it would be in our best interests to send a message out to all of them, for whatever good that does."
"Then it's just a matter of following her around and learning all we can about her goals and weaknesses," the king said with a smile. He leaned back and patted his swollen stomach. "Although I must admit that the local delicacies are quite a treat."
"That you haven't exploded yet is a surprise, honestly. Always stuffing your face and rarely gaining weight." She crossed her forelegs. "Quite unfair, but speaking of unfair, what do we do about the nobles?"
"Let's figure that out later," the king said. "Who do we start sending messages to? I believe that the ones closest to us would be best."
The queen groaned loudly, causing one of the soldiers to look back briefly. "We can already forget the thestrals. They've always been avid about their mythical alicorn of dreams."
King Gallant nodded. "Yes. Always saying they can't dream ever since she vanished and refusing to have many ties with other sections." He heaved a sigh. "They're so obsessed with finding her that they forego all present relationships." He sighed and forced a smile. "I wish things were different. We're all still ponies."
The two became silent, taking in everything around them. They could see several of the creatures around them resume the festivities while others continued to work, but...where were all the thestrals? There were some, but not many. Gradually, cold sweats started to drench the coats of the two royals, and they started to understand their stupidity. It was so obvious the whole time. They were so focused on what had just happened to their reputation and the king.
Nightmare Moon laid down in her room, letting nothing but her memories animate her mind. The ponies with the eye-straining strings left in a very 'noble' fashion while the thestrals refused to leave, even when Moon called on the guards. They put up enough of a fight and fuss that she realized that they would just sneak back in like they had done before, so she gave them the freedom to stay in the throne room while she waited for the sun to rise so she could recover Sunny Dimples to act as a translator and help her with her continued studies. The mare didn't lie to herself: She commended loyalty, adored it even! But these thestrals...they were something else. It was a devotion that she found rather...uncomfortable. The bat ponies didn't even know her, and they considered her the alicorn of dreams, just because she was linked to the night? They were a strange bunch that needed to be watched.
It was possible that they were just very easy to manipulate or were simply far too passionate, but if Nightmare Moon was really part of their legends... Well, that would mean that the thing that attacked her in her dreamscape wasn't able to stop or simply wasn't aware of the legends passed down by word. With some luck, she would be able to trace one of the legends down to the location of Canterlot and go from there.
Morning came after what felt like weeks, and the thestrals had all fallen asleep. How cute, Moon feigned.
"Wake up!" she bellowed. The startled thestrals all jumped in fright. "We go to your home after I bring translator."
The bat ponies protested, citing the time of the 'night', but Nightmare Moon wasn't accepting it. It was already cringey to her that all they did was replace 'day' with 'night', but she wouldn't have any delays. If her interlocutor was too tired to perform, then there would be no point to the trip. Besides, she could always make it night artificially. The unicorn was intercepted on the way to the castle, and, without warning, he was grabbed by the alicorn's magic and lifted high into the air. Kick and scream as he like, she wasn't going to let go.
Nightmare Moon hadn't taken to the skies since she had arrived. She had been training her body as well as her magic as much as she could. At this point, the only way she would be able to properly navigate the mountain air currents was with experience. This was going to be her home, after all. It wouldn't do for the future ruler of a unified Equestria to be unable to even fly where she lived. She was just really eager to see the castle finished and finally be able to add her own, personal touches.
Patience, patience. She was trapped for ten thousand years. There was no reason she couldn't wait any longer than she already had.
The scenery was quite astonishing to her. She thought the city had been built onto one of the lesser slopes of the mountain, or at least carved into it. It seemed she was partially right. With the use of some bizarre magics or expert sculpting, the city grew and raised on a very steep slope of the mountain. The alicorn had trouble discerning how that worked. It appeared that the ponies had added to the city to make it 'grow out' of the mountain, explaining the wide, flat areas. That said, the mountain range stretched far and wide, and it was difficult to see any end to it. Why would ponies even choose to live in this location?
A few trees were dotted about the landscape, breaking the monotony of the stony cliffsides and mossy land. The small patches of green gradually began to increase, however, as the group lowered themselves to the ground. Eventually, grasslands formed and went as far as Nightmare Moon could see. Trees were still dotted about the landscape, but instead of being thin, spindly things trying desperately to survive, these ones were mighty and thick towers of wood and leaves. Well, leaves, if it weren't winter, but to Nightmare Moon who had been in the mountains since she was freed, it felt like she was cooking in the 'heat'.
Sunny seemed to have calmed down and just accepted his fate, much to the alicorn's amusement, and the thestrals were doing their best not to fall out of the sky from their fatigue. Shouldn't have stayed up so late. Moon spotted several small villages of a few houses or a farming community near the base of the mountains. Some quarries were scattered about and lumber mills next to some small groves. The alicorn could see the ponies working on them, but still no signs of the new tribes. Some ponds and small lakes were sparse around the base of the mountain, and the alicorn could see no signs of a river anywhere despite the proximity to the mountain range. Unfortunate.
A sight caught the mare's eyes. Hidden beneath vast amounts of dirt and overgrowth were shiny patches of land reflecting all the sunlight that hit them.
Glass.
The land had been glassed, although how far was up for debate. Looking closely, Moon could see that someone had set up a log cabin near them. A log cabin which now laid in ruin, likely for a very long time. An intriguing event. Was that the remnant of a war? No regular spell could glass the land in such a manner. It couldn't have been a natural occurrence, or else nothing else would be growing. She grunted in pain. The sun had nipped at her again. Why was it so aggressive? She noticed that some small plumes of smoke were coming from the thestrals and listened closely.
"The sun is angry again," one of them commented.
"At least it isn't burning everything to the ground this time."
"You know that never really happens."
"But it almost burned Lemony completely last month!"
That proved it. The sun was out of control, but it didn't explain the anger and hatred the alicorn felt whenever she was struck by its beams. Were they dregs of her sister? She wouldn't display these sorts of emotions, though. Always so 'caring and 'delicate' and 'loving'. Repulsive. The group would end up traveling for half a day, reaching a thick forest of trees with blue leaves.
"This is the northernmost point of our territory," one of the thestrals explained. "It would have taken us several days of travel to reach the main part of our home."
The forest looked like an ocean of colors that stretched far and wide. Despite the winter conditions, there were patches of trees that had retained their leaves regardless of the species. However, they possessed many different colors, and there were a few of the plants that towered above the others dotted about haphazardly.
"What is with huge trees and leaves?" Moon asked.
"Some think it's just the plants themselves, but they're like the others around. Legends passed down say that it was an alicorn that made these patches of forest like this."
"A forest alicorn or alicorn of the wilds. Varies," another shrugged.
Naturally, magic was involved. Naturally, none of them could hold a candle to Nightmare Moon herself, but to know that there were other alicorns and to see their accomplishments was astonishing. What could Celestia have done if she didn't squander her gifts just to monopolize the attention of their people? Considering the state of the sun, she might have done too much already.
Moon followed the thestrals down past the treeline and near a village. There was practically no movement around, leaving Moon slightly disappointed. The huts were mostly made of wood, straw, and other forest materials that the bat ponies had gathered up. Not only were the homes on the ground, but many had been built at varying levels on the trees, causing them to resemble little mushrooms. Wooden constructs such as spiral slopes and bridges were built all around the village, connecting every hut on every level. They had all been grown over by an assortment of vines...vines that were bearing fruit like bananas and melons.
"Another skill by the alicorn who created this forest, most likely," Nightmare Moon thought to herself.
Sunny Dimples collapsed on the ground when they had finally touched the mossy ground. Most of the thestrals did the same. Moon raised a brow at this.
"We're tired. We sleep during the day," Mango complained.
"Really now?" Nightmare Moon pondered.
She chuckled quietly and looked at the sky. Her eyes started glowing very brightly, and a growing vortex of dark magic started swirling about her horn in expanding patterns. The group watched as the sky seemed to distort as if it were a body of water that had something dropped into it. They all stared with mouths agape when the sky seemed to peel away, leaving place to the darkness of the night sky with no moon and only multiple, sparkling stars.
"Now it is night," she said with a smile.
The loud, crackling noises that Moon had created with her spell had awoken the sleeping thestrals who looked to the sky in confusion. The escorts were quick to start rushing through the village, reaching everypony around and pointing them to Nightmare Moon.
Sunny was in shock. He quickly forgot his fatigue and sat upright, staring at the night sky and seeing the regular blue far away, bordering this artificial night. "How did you do that?" he asked the alicorn.
"My sister and I controlled the celestial bodies," Moon explained. "It stands to reason that something like this wouldn't be too straining, wouldn't it?" she asked with a smug grin.
The unicorn made a quadruple take. "You moved what?! That's impossible! Even with all your power you can't do something like moving a body in space!"
"And yet here we are," Nightmare Moon said smugly. "Although I find it disconcerting that I still can't get a grasp on the moon. It should be the easiest body for me to move because I'm linked to it, but..." She frowned and looked up at the empty night sky. "It's like it's fighting me or just isn't really there, but I'm tugged away by the other moons."
"Other moons?" Sunny wondered.
Moon eyed him from the corner of her eyes and shook her head. "Don't worry about it. It isn't important."
A plethora of thestrals appeared in front of the two, all of them looking at Moon with awe and admiration.
"Did you do that?" one of the bat ponies asked. Moon nodded. "Amazing! the alicorn of dreams and the night has returned to us, finally! After long last!"
"I came here not for your admiration but a pledge of loyalty as the first segment of Equestria to bow to me, and to share with me the old tales passed down by your ancestors of times long past," Moon explained while Sunny translated.
"You want a whole section of Equestria to just bow down?" Sunny whispered to the alicorn. "Are you mad? They'll never accept that!"
"Well, we would have to convene at our capital city far to the south, but I'm certain that, after seeing you, the leaders of the main cities would be more than willing to let you take your rightful place," the stallion thestral stated with much joy. "As for the stories, I find myself at a loss for words. Why are you so interested in our legends?"
"Because I believe that they can lead me back to Canterlot," Moon declared.
She was met with gasps of astonishment.
"I doubt that our humble tales could lead you to such a place of legend, but if the alicorn we have awaited for so long requests it, then we would be more than willing to accommodate your request, but..." The stallion looked away and rubbed the back of his head. "I'm not sure with which tale I should begin. There's so many."
Nightmare Moon spared no time thinking. "Begin with tales about an alicorn of the sun."
She noticed that grumbling came from the thestrals gathered around, be they on the ground or in the constructs in the trees. The old stallion in front of her seemed disgusted.
"Are you sure you want to know about her?" he asked with disdain.
The alicorn felt a tinge of pride. These ponies she was apparently linked to hated Celestia too. How invigorating!
Nightmare Moon nodded. "Yes. It would likely aid me since she was the one who finished Canterlot and most likely lived there."
The elder thestral sighed. "Alright. We have many tales of the Solar Tyrant."
Moon's giddy smile gradually devolved into horror.
The Solar Tyrant? Surely, they mean some other solar princess, maybe the inheritor of Celestia's powers. She never had the nature to be truly cruel. Even when she dealt with Discord she was still unable to finish the job and simply encased him in stone.
"Start with most complete. Beginning," Nightmare Moon suggested. She looked to Sunny who nodded.
The elder rubbed his chin then turned to face the other thestrals and whisper to them.
"Well, the oldest tale we have is known to us in song, so we--"
Nightmare Moon put a hoof on the thestral's face and looked at him with wide, unblinking eyes. "Sing and I will kill you," she said with an unswerving expression and calm voice.
"But we only know it in song! We don't know how to recite it otherwise!"
Moon's eye twitched. This was followed by her pacing around, grunting and groaning angrily. She looked to the crowd and wanted to say something several times but couldn't bring herself to speak. Eventually, the mare stomped on the ground with one hoof while Sunny looked at her with a deadpan expression. He and the others were startled when Moon smashed her head into a tree, tearing off a good chunk of its trunk.
"Fine! Sing! Just be quick about it!"
The elder cleared his throat, and with the others, began a long chorus that Moon was sure she was going to dread.
The radiant one, looking down with conviction Raised weak foals with an iron hoof of her own And as they grew she would cheer them on Forcing her belief down their gullible throats
Her light warmed their bones Her warmth fed their thrones And with a radiant smile and heart like the sun They fell for the tales she spun
Their numbers grew but so did her hate The blaze of her eyes was ravenously great Leaving them all to their fiery fate
And as they cried they turned eyes Praying to the blazing star in the sky But their prayers only fueled her hate
“You ignorant fools will never escape” They would hear from her cries “This world will be your scorching wake” She would curse their demise.
Her rage, her hate, her smoldering gaze Set everypony’s heart ablaze And from that rage and from that hate An infernal new Sun would arrive at their gate
Their homes burned to a crisp Their cities returned to embery wisps Oh what a cruel fate’s twist
That their fate would lie In such a wrathful eye This cruelty they could no longer deny
They begged for the respite of the calming moon They prayed that nighttime would fall so soon Yet nothing remained of that blissful dream From the Sun’s unending beams
“You won’t ever escape nor will you hide” The skies would infernally chide “My light will find you till the ends of the earth!” They cowered as they witnessed the Solar Tyrant’s birth
Her coat of snow burned away Brimstone and fire were all that remained And the aurora that once was caught in her mane Vanished to ash beneath the rage-fueled flames
Her eyes once full of loving light Now held the fury of Hades’ freight. And her smile once comforting and sweet Turned bittered and sullied within a heartbeat.
Their once fertile lands brimming with life Charred in the Sun’s endless strife And the lakes and forests that held beauty untold Were now reduced to deserts and a barren world
And once the land was fully devoured It turned reflective and glowered Down the heat from the heavens above Eternally depleting its once fertile love
Yet still in their infernal path Beneath the volcanic castle of her eternal wrath Her once loyal soldiers, citizens, and all Found new courage against the Tyrant of Sol
Their loss were too many, burned by her light Mortal against God, what an unwinnable fight! Still they would not wane nor would they falter Her heart alone, their advance would not halter
The darkest dawn The many lives that we mourn Could no longer be forlorn As they witnessed a new hero born
The hero was fearless, battle hardened, and strong He stood up to the Tyrant when the time had come Hoping to right what once went wrong Marching along to the beat of their drum
The grueling fight dragged on and on However, in the end, their tenacity had won The tyrant was broken, battered, and fractured Laying in chains forever to be captured
“You think you’ve won?” The Tyrant desperately cried “You wretched kind will not escape my Sun!” Were the last remnants of her hateful pride
As they watched their Tyrant depart One thing remained heavinly on their heart. As they looked at the hero, wounded and broken An unknowing truth between them was spoken
To save the hero from death’s door They pooled their magic into one last roar And from their powers a new villain was born Transforming their hero into another alicorn
Yet this new villain vowed and swore To right the wrongs its predecessors bore To rid the world of pain and blight It promised to shine a new hopeful light
Their first night finally had come to pass Alas, still this was not to last For once the moon had crossed the horizon The wrathful sun would once again have risen
Its rage and wrath could never be quelled Cursing all the ponies that dared to rebel It’s blinding heat forever a stain Forever a mark of her vicious domain
The alicorn of light is no longer with us Yet its wrathful companion is still as treasonous Its heat will forever burn bright Cursing us all with its infernal blight
Still fear not and do not fret For there is respite from this horrid threat The loving moon and its beautiful face Will forever shield us in its calming embrace.
"What a lovely story," Sunny applauded.
Moon seemed furious. In reality, she couldn't figure out what to feel about all of it. Her sister turned into some kind of rock monstrosity of fire? Chasing after the ponies she loved so much. Impossible. There must have been something else hidden within the song itself.
"I want a copy of that song now," she ordered Sunny. He was quick to share her orders, and several thestrals left into the trees.
"Is something wrong, princess? At least now you know about your sister," the unicorn said with a nervous smile.
"No, I don't. She would have never done everything that they mentioned, it's impossible!" she shouted. She dragged a hoof across her face. "I need to read that song. There must be some hidden message within it." She paused a moment and looked to the thestrals that had presented themselves to her in the castle. "Who is the 'hero' in the story?" she asked.
"I...No pony knows for sure, actually," Cuttin' regretted. "The tales are really old, and there's a lot that gets changed as time goes on since we still forget a lot?" She shrugged. "After a while we apparently just start filling up the blanks with other tales we already know and remember."
The alicorn bit her hoof in frustration, exposing her massive fangs for all to see. Some seem a bit more enthused to see them than others.
"Do you have any other tales concerning this 'solar tyrant'?" Nightmare asked.
"We only have a few, and most of them are incomplete, like I mentioned before."
Moon nodded. "Tell me one you like," she said.
Normally, Nightmare Moon wouldn't care about the whims of the peasantry, but this was vital information. Thinking about the song, she realized that the mountain Canterlot was built into had become a volcano. A vital clue for certain, and if Celestia had truly turned into such a monstrosity then the glass the alicorn had seen earlier would certainly be more apparent and spread across a wider surface, unless the ancient ponies dug everything out.
Cuttin' grunted as she recollected everything she knew. "There's the tale of her saving a village then coming back to raze it."
Moon raised an eyelid. "Explain."
"Well, the village was suffering from a draught. Everypony was suffering and the foals were crying because they were starving and parched. Then the white alicorn came accompanied by her glass familiars."
"Glass familiars?" Nightmare Moon thought. These tales were estranging her more and more.
"They brought water and food to the village, and the white alicorn berated and punished the sun by pushing it further away. Then pegasi came under her supervision and brought rainwater with them. The land that had been cracked and broken for so long was now healthy and bearing lots of food. She came every so often to make sure the village was okay, and the villagers came to see her not as their ruler, but as a member of their family."
Nightmare Moon was disgusted. That sounded exactly like her sister. Sappy.
"Then, suddenly, she stopped appearing. The villagers thought that she was just busy, as her position made her appearances complicated. It was always a miracle that she could come to begin with, but then...the sun started pushing through the clouds once more. The villagers believed it to be angry, and its vengeance was slow but constant. It burned away not just the land, but their homes and their own bodies. They hoped, desperately that the white alicorn would arrive to save them as before, but she never came."
Moon frowned. More oddities in her sister's behavior, if this was even her.
"Then somepony came. A few of them. They were battered and wounded, and even with their own suffering and limited resources, the ponies welcomed them to their homes and soothed their ailments to the best of their ability. And then she came. Her teeth were bared and her eyes wide, she stomped in, yelling at the top of her voice, every syllable making the world shake in fear. She demanded that those she had chased be returned to her and they wouldn't escape for defying her. The villagers refused, saying that the white alicorn would come and save them, but the solar tyrant laughed at them and said that she was that loving alicorn. The village was destroyed by her and her glass familiars while she looked for the fugitives." The thestral pursed her lower lip. "They found it strange that she destroyed everything in her path but ignored the villagers, but, now the villagers had nowhere to live."
She paused and looked up at the alicorn with a smile. "And...this is your favorite why?"
"When she was pushed back, the hero and the others came and rebuilt the village. It was left vacant under the fury of the sun while the solar tyrant was suppressed, and after that, everypony had a home to go back to, and the village became much bigger than it had been, so the family grew exponentially."
"Right..." Moon spat as she looked away. "Any others?"
Every tale shared seemed to be the same. Some made sense, like the solar tyrant suppressing everyone and imprisoning them when she suspected them of something. Others she executed them. In others, the alicorn of the night stopped her. Impossible considering she was imprisoned at the time, unless a new one had appeared. In some form, the most extravagant always involved one or more alicorns standing up to this 'Solar Tyrant'. In fact, one such tale made mention of six ponies standing up to her and destroying her outright with magical artifacts, but that sounded far too ridiculous to be believable. Others brought veritable books turning the tale of the solar tyrant into fantasy novels that were very popular among the thestrals but not so much outside their little fruit-munching circles. The alicorn wondered if the other parts of Equestria, outside the dullahan, were aware of the existence of said Solar Tyrant as anything but a story or were even aware of it at all.
However, every tale had something in common regardless of the age it was or when it was made. She gestured to the thestrals to leave her be for the time being. It took Sunny's intervention to make them understand that she needed time off.
"Don't take too long, alicorn of dreams. We're going to have a great celebration to celebrate your arrival!" Mango announced enthusiastically. "The night in the day has finally happened, so there's no way we won't celebrate this amazing occasion!" He squeed. "In the presence of our very own goddess, no less!"
Moon groaned and shook her head. "These thestrals are a bit too enthusiastic about my appearance."
Sunny bobbed left and right. "Well, you have to understand that you're literally a figure of legend to them that became a physical reality. Anypony would be going crazy," he explained.
He was met with several nods. "Very true, servant. Still," she wheezed.
The unicorn was getting tired of hearing her call him a servant, but he couldn't really do much against it, and he really was one in the best of circumstances all things considered. "Is there something wrong, y-your highness?"
The alicorn dug through all the information she received, and her whole body seemed to tense up. "Did you notice anything in common with the stories?" she asked him.
The stallion looked around, too afraid to answer. "Aside from the solar tyrant, not really? She acted like a literal tyrant and--"
"Exactly!" Nightmare Moon blurted. "She would never behave like that, and it wasn't that she was behaving like a tyrant. In the majority of those stories she was said to have destroyed everything around her but the ponies themselves were harmed, but the amount was always less than it should have been, even with all the executions."
The alicorn tilted his head and looked at his ruler quizzically. "What are you getting at?"
"She was looking for something," Nightmare Moon said sternly.
"Well, of course. The rebels who defied her," Sunny said matter-of-factly. He jumped in fright when the mare stomped her hoof down.
"No, you idiot. Her words. They were always the same, and if these stories are fully or at least partially based off of that song, then yes, that would be just a coincidence, but these thestrals think that they know which is which. If that is true--"
"Why is this so important to you?" Sunny demanded. He quickly realized whom he was talking to and shrunk down. "Y-your majesty," he squeaked.
She was glaring at him. "I have reason to believe that this so-called 'Solar Tyrant' is my sister."
Sunny paled whiter than he already mostly was. "What."
"I had the same reaction, but this goes completely against her nature." She started gnawing on her hoof. "She was looking for someone or many someones, but why she was so deadset on finding and destroying them is a mystery." She looked to the side and snorted. "As does this hero they all speak of." She spat and stomped the floor. "I have to get more information," she blurted out immediately. "But at least now I know that Canterlot became a volcano. They are old tales but the best sources I can go off. If I can get a map or be directed to the nearest volcano I might be able to find the archives within. Maybe they'll elucidate what happened."
"Well, until then, we still have a feast to attend to," Sunny stated with a nervous grin.
Nightmare Moon grunted. She had just attended a feast yesterday, but, much to her surprise, she was still hungry. It was odd to feel hunger after she hadn't felt anything at all but a seething anger. An anger that had yet to dissipate, but with the new information on her sister, the alicorn didn't know what to feel anymore. She still hated Celestia for banishing her and stealing all the ponies' attention from her beautiful night and difficult craft, but what about these tales? Was she really responsible for destroying everything? Was it greed that engulfed her mind?
The mare sighed. "I suppose it is. It best be a good meal, as I'm starving for some reason."
The thestrals spared no time in making their feast tables. As per Nightmare Moon's request, they set up several tables on the ground so as to accommodate her servant. Much disappointment was had, as they suggested extending the usual banquet tables to allow him to attend, but she denied it. Even the alicorn was surprised at her thoughtfulness. A shiver ran through her body. Was it because Sunny Dimples looked a lot like her sister? Wouldn't that make her hate him even more?
Always the same questions over and over again! Always involving Celestia and not crushing her skull in!
"It's readyyyyy!" one of the thestrals sing-songed.
All over the village were deep colors: Streamers, banners, artificial leaves: A wide assortment of yellows, blacks, purples, oranges, and greens. There were at least a dozen tables strewn about the ground, each easily capable of housing around a hundred ponies. Nightmare Moon was starting to question what the young thestrals that came to her meant by 'small' as she could at least see far more of the bat ponies and even more tables being set up despite the announcement.
A grin covered her face when she saw the thestrals eagerly fly in a throne made from black marble. It was a little rough around the edges, showing some unevenness on the backrest, but it was still a start. The mare sat upon it, grinning wildly the whole time. This was quite a gift for somepony that the thestrals had only just recently met.
"It is time to celebrate the return of our beloved alicorn of dreams!" the elder from earlier cheered.
The thestrals all followed suit. Despite being visibly tired, they forced themselves through the day in honor of Nightmare Moon. This. This was exactly what the former mare-in-the-moon wanted. She was so excited but did her best to keep her composure. There was just too much to be excited for and it was very difficult for her to hold it all in after having been denied for so long. There were easily dozens of fruits that Nightmare Moon didn't recognize. There was one in particular that gave off a rich, sweet scent from its squishy, lumpy, purple flesh. They were set up in bowls wide enough to hold three foals in. In fact, the fruits seemed to be mostly left alone as other thestrals wearing giant, white-capped mushrooms on their heads grabbed everything to peel and slice them or throw them into pots. After several minutes of the ponies banging their hooves on the tables, chanting for food, small plates made from polished wood of the local trees were set in front of them. The wood took a very dark finish, and the meal before the alicorn was a sort of broth of fruit, salads, and something else she didn't recognize. A pinkish color of sorts that left little red trails oozing out of it and pushing into the creamy, brown sauce that everything had been mixed with.
"What is this?" she asked as she lifted the pinkish substance out with her magic.
"That's pork!" one of the cooks announced with a gigantic smile. "There's pig-like creatures that wander into the village from time to time and try to destroy everything, so we kill them then cook them!"
Moon was intrigued and leaned forward. "You eat meat?"
The cook laughed as he casually threw several bowls of salsa onto the table. "Of course!" He tapped is fangs. "These fangs aren't just for show or intimidation." He rubbed his chin, chasing away leftover leaves from a snack. "With your fangs, I'm certain you could digest this as well."
The alicorn looked to the side to see that Sunny Dimples had become paler than usual and pushed the bowl away, inciting the laughter of the few thestrals that saw him. Moon realized, now that he was in the light of his mobile cooking station, that the cook was quite fat, moreso than the other cooks. She had heard the saying that a fat cook is a trustworthy cook, and in this instance, he might have been the most trustworthy in the world. Perhaps she had found her own, personal cook. He switched Sunny's dish with one with no meat and gulped the whole broth in one go, licking his lips enthusiastically. The cook tossed the empty dish in the air where it was caught by one of the thestrals flying overhead and brought to a cleaning station. Every thestral began banging on the tables in unison, and Moon felt that she was going to suffer if this kept going.
As they sang, they would jump on the tables and fly through the air in fanciful patterns, splattering food and juice everywhere.
A meal a day, a meal day No pony can sway a meal a day Except for two and maybe three And four-five-six if your time is free Just try to avoid getting a gigantic bell-ay!
Stuff your face and stuff your maw Grow bigger and get a huge jaw Then you can eat more and aplenty But you still have to avoid the gigantic belly!
Sugar in everything, coated with honey Try not to eat that sweet little bunny! It comes with treats and tarts and jelly Now you've got a gigantic belly!
Moon had the impression that if these thestrals were given any alcohol, things might become worse than they already were. A strange, passing thought. Before she knew it, her bowl had been fully emptied and her wooden spoon scraping against the base of the bowl.
"I see you appreciated the meal! There's more where that came from!" the obese chef sang.
Moon adjusted herself and remained unamused, something that didn't seem to phase the thestrals. "Yes, it was...was..." She turned to Sunny who had been clapping his hooves in tandem with the song and hadn't eaten more than a few spoonfuls. "Spicy."
The chef seemed concerned. "But...it's not supposed to be spicy. This is a mild dish. The spicy ones were meant for the end of the festival to wake everypony u--Hey!"
Moon's vision started to blur and she collapsed off of her chair and onto the ground, startling the thestrals around. Several of them flew to their alicorn's side, unsure of what to do while her body seized. Then one thestral flew to her side, a massive smile distorting her face.
"Food a little too spicy?" they asked her. "Good! It's supposed to be!"
Upon those words, she was immediately accosted by the observer thestrals and tackled to the ground.
"Let go of me! It's for the good of the thestrals!"
"What did you do?" Mango screamed.
"I...I used the 'spice' they gave me. They told me that it would get rid of her." She struggled to move around as she tried to free herself from the weight of her fellows. "You don't understand what alicorns can do. The damages they can cause! She should've just stayed as a legend in books and stories!" the mare cried.
Another thestral landed next to everypony, its body covered in false scars of fire that faded based on the angle one was looking at.
"Seems that even the fabled 'alicorn of dreams' these idiots are so fond of can't handle a bit of 'spice'," they laughed.
The unicorn stared slackjawed at this thestral. "You can speak--"
"Of course I can, you annoying little thing!" the thestral cursed. "I wanted to see her life leave her eyes myself." He sighed and shook his head. "It has been far too long."
"Why?" Sunny asked. "And how? There must be a cure. Tell me! Please!" he pleaded.
The thestral stared at him, red mists flying around their eyes. The mist faded to green while the mare slowly smiled wider and wider. "There used to be an antidote, but it was forgotten with time. Not even an adult dragon could handle such effects." they chuckled. "You think that a pony can handle such a thing? Even an alicorn, as bloated with magic power as they are, can't handle...this..."
They pursed their lips. Nightmare Moon was standing, albeit with much difficulty. She was panting heavily, her eyes were half-lidded and fighting to keep open, her legs were weak and shaking tremendously, her wings drooped limply to her sides, and her coat was matted in sweat and whatever toxic substances had entered her bloodstream.
"This...won't...end me..." she wheezed. Her voice was almost inaudible.
"S-standing?!" the pinned thestral realized in horror. "B-but you assured me-"
The wispy thestral placed a hoof on their cheek and leaned against it while frowning. "I'm surprised by your tolerance, but this poison was capable of getting rid of the alicorn of forests." Their frown deepened. "She was particularly annoying and resistant to every poison I could think of, then I found this." The thestral scoffed. "You think that you can get rid of it? Don't make me laugh. Again: You should have stayed in the moon."
"What is happening?" Golden Honey asked.
"You know-gh." Moon almost fell down. "I've been try to...to figure out my powers since being free...Freed. Every time I used my magic...I...I felt myself getting pulled to the new bodies." The quivering started to lessen. "I realized...that my powers grew immensely, far more than I had." Her breathing calmed gradually, and the thestral's eyes started to widen. "I have become linked with the moons of sister worlds, and I don't know why. My theory is that...My link to the night sky means a link to all celestial bodies, and these satellites happened to be close enough that ten thousand years trapped in the moon allowed the links to deepen." She grinned at the thestrals. "You poisoned somepony linked only to a few trees. I'm linked to miniature planets."
The thestral bared their teeth at Moon. "Belief can do a lot, it seems. I will figure something out the next time I find you in a position of weakn--"
They flew a foot or two after something hit them hard in the head. Looking closer, it turned out to be a coconut. Everypony looked to the culprit.
"What?" Moon wheezed.
A young thestral was holding a giant, hollowed out log and a huge grin on his face. "It's a coconut gun." He said happily. "It can fire in bursts, but, I could only load a single coconut in it."
Moon fell down, grunting in pain while the obese cook rushed over with a steaming piece of purple ham. "Eat this. It helps to clean the blood faster and can act as a minor painkiller. It's a good, healthy, medicinal food that tastes fantastic, if I say so myself."
Moon acquiesced and rested her head on the ground after eating the surprisingly tasty meal. She felt like her veins were filled with molten lead and her muscles was melting off her bones.
"I'll make some better dishes for you to recover quickly," the cook said. "I'll have even better dishes and fruit juices to help you recover!"
Moon chuckled to herself. It looked like she had indeed found her own private cook. The best place and time were when she had almost died. She took a few deep, slow breaths, and felt the new moons flood her with their essence, reinforcing her magic and, in turn, her body. All that was left was interrogating the thestral, although the strange magic covering their body seemed to have vanished after getting knocked out.
Both thestrals had been tied up with rope and held down by the free bat ponies that still served Nightmare Moon. Unfortunately, the one hit in the head with a coconut was still knocked out, but there was at least one still awake.
"Why did you do it?" a thestral yelled at the terrified would-be assassin.
"I told you! I had to!" She looked towards Moon resting on the floor, looking worse for wear but gradually recovering faster than the assassin had expected. "No no no!" she said in an increasing pitch. "You don't understand!"
Sunny pushed the angry thestral off the mare and looked her dead in the eyes. "I've read enough stories to know that all you're going to do is constantly skirt the question and never answer us when we ask you what you're talking about." His gaze deepened. "Just tell us why you did it. You clearly had well-intentioned motivations," he said calmly. "We can't understand anything you did unless you explain it all clearly."
Even Sunny was surprised by his thoroughness when he saw everypony staring at him, most with newfound respect. He was starting to worry that the alicorn's bluntness and aggressiveness were starting to corrupt him.
"...Okay," the mare acquiesced. "I was...approached. They told me that an alicorn had come into the world. That it had been in the moon this whole time. I was so excited like all of you!" she said to her fellows. "Ah, finally, after so long, I had learned that they weren't just stories." Her blissful smile slowly dissipated. "But then I learned more and more about alicorns, about what they could do and what they are. Of the threat they pose to everypony."
"What threat?!" a thestral shouted. She stomped forth. "An alicorn of the forest made this home for us without asking for anything in return! Are you telling me there was a hidden agenda?!"
The would-be assassin nodded. "Yes! I was told that that alicorn had been stopped and gotten rid of before they could enact their plan." She looked down and mumbled. "Don't know what the plan was, but it was dangerous." She started speaking up again. "I was told there was something wrong with the edges of the forest."
"I'm one of the gatherers, and I can attest to that claim," a stallion said as he stepped forth. "There are roots that stick out of the ground and a lot of black, ashy dust surrounding them. We waited there one day out of curiosity and realized that the roots were trying to grow but kept disintegrating after they reached a certain distance."
"That doesn't necessarily mean that the forest is an evil ploy!" the angry mare opposed. "Maybe the forest was meant to grow a little more, as do all forests, but her freaks stopped the alicorn from finishing everything!" She pointed at the assassin angrily.
"And what if it meant just that?" the gatherer rebutted. "We don't know what exactly it is the alicorns want, and we've seen our fair share of horrors in the lands, whether they be in Equestria or outside of it. How many of our stories mention the world almost ending during a time when the alicorns were here but no pony but regular ponies stepped forward to put a stop to the threat?"
"And we're meant to expect the alicorns to do everything for us? What was going to happen when they all disappeared, like now? Were we going to just die out, unable to even drink water properly?"
The heated argument continued, leaving the terrified assassin stuck between the two of them. Frustrated, Sunny went back to check on the alicorn. She was already sitting upright but wobbling left and right. It was clear to him that she was still going to need a lot of rest and recovery, but the cooks were stuffing her face with 'medicinal foods' as they called it. Whether that was true or not, it did seem to be working. The mare was already able to sit rather than stay collapsed limply on the floor.
The space around Moon began to shimmer and distort, and Sunny watched in horror as her fur and flesh seemed to crack and peel away along with the air around them, leaving behind a nebula of darkness with various cracks and streaks of light piercing through the veil. She almost fell down again before turning to face the stallion. Her face was pale and her eyes were barely open anymore. Stunned, Sunny Dimples observed as her face and horn's surfaces peeled away, leaving a face with black white eyes and 'smile'. Everything seemed to shimmer and wriggle around, like the alicorn was comprised of millions of tiny insect larvae. Her horn split into several twisted directions and spikes, and white cracks grew randomly along the surface. The thestrals were unphased by this event, as though it were completely normal.
The fake night sky shimmered and crackled as it, too, grew. Sunny saw multiple moons punch through a non-existent wall and grow in size within the fake space. He faced Moon again, seeing her having grown into a tremendous, shapeless mass of darkness with streaks of light. A hoof shot out of the mass, grabbing onto one of the moons as she hoisted herself up. Her body solidified into a vaguely pony-esque figure, but one thing remained on the forefront of the stallion's mind. No matter what direction her body turned or how it twisted and angled itself, her featureless white lights of eyes remained fixated upon the pony. Dozens of hooves stretched out from the mass, each with a white crack stretching along their forms and emitting a white light. They all shot towards him, but he was unable to move, then something covered his mouth and went down his throat. A really bitter, really hard something that scratched everything on the way down.
The unicorn closed his eyes then reopened them to see that the thestrals were holding him up and Nightmare Moon's horn was sparking with an intense amount of magic despite her weakened state.
"Under a dangerous spell, this one," one of the thestrals laughed.
"Better a spell than magic mushrooms," another slipped in. "Remember what happened with Apple Shrooms?" They scoffed. "Became Mellow Shrooms after that episode."
Sunny thrashed about, chasing the ponies off of him as he regained his senses. He breathed heavily and looked around. the alicorn was still the same and the fake night was still in place: Still a moonless void.
Only now did he realize his position. He was a mortal stuck in a world with gods pressing down on him from all sides. Nightmare Moon might look vaguely like a pony, but with all the power she might wield, what could she really do to the world if she put her mind to it? What if she lost interest or accomplished all her goals? She was immortal. there was no chance that she would just sit by and watch the world turn without her holding the crank that let it do so.
"He-he saw it too!" the assassin screamed. "You saw it too, didn't you! You saw what alicorns really look like!"
Sunny struggled to focus and shook his head. Every word that came to him sounded muffled, like he was submerged underwater. "What? What are you talking about?"
"I was shown, too! I saw what she'll become, what all of them would have become! They're a danger to every creature, not just ponies!"
The arguing thestrals shoved a cat-tail into her mouth, causing it to erupt in a strangling cloud of cottony fluff.
"That ought to shut her up!" The stallion grinned.
Every word felt like it took an eternity to reach the unicorn's mouth, but he needed to speak. "What about...the alicorn?" Sunny managed to get out.
Everything felt heavy, like the land itself was trying to drag Moon down. Through her weary, tired eyes she managed to get a glimpse of the stallion that was covered in strange symbols. Sunny wasn't going to be of any help to her now, so she needed to communicate better with the thestrals. Well, as best as she could.
"What do we do with him?" a thestral asked as he and a few others dragged the unconscious stallion forward.
Moon could, quite literally, smell the magic coming off of the pony. Her brows furrowed when she figured out what the spell was after recovering the bits and pieces of it still on the stallion.
"Not...his fault. Head spell. No control," she grunted. Every movement she made came with the risk of her collapsing on the floor.
"What's happening to the night sky?" a mare shouted.
Most of the ponies looked up to see that the many moons linked to Nightmare Moon had made their appearance. The largest taking up most of the sky while the others were small enough to just barely make it into view in front of the gargantuan satellite. Moon's body began to glow, and she felt her magic surge from within her like she was about to explode. The mare was lifted off of her hooves not of her own volition. Then, as quickly as it had happened, the spell of the false night exploded like a window punched through by a rock. The sun was shining above once more, making the thestrals drowsy. The mare was standing tall on the ground, baffled by the event; her eyes wide with shock.
She put a hoof to her mouth but couldn't hold back the tide. Everything came out all at once. A disgusting slurry of barely digested food and a sparking, reddish powder floating atop it all like the icing of a revolting cake. All of a sudden, the mare felt much better than she had previously.
"It's a miracle..." one of the thestrals said in hushed awe.
"It's already starting!" the would-be assassin screamed. She tried to escape her captors, but they held on tight. "She's going to doom us all! Let me go, I have to get away!"
"That one was under head spell," Moon explained as she pointed to the unconscious pony with a hoof. "This one was not."
This was the time for the thestrals to know how Moon ruled. A time for them to see her for what she truly was.
"What do we do with her, then?" one of the captors asked her.
Moon looked to the 'sleeping' stallion then back to the pony that was utterly terrified of her. "Treat him. Not his fault, but her," she started. Her eyes began glowing. "Did it of her own choice." With every word she stepped forward, closer and closer. "No excuses. No apologies. No redemption." Every hoof step seemed to get heavier and heavier the closer she got. "Death," her voice boomed.
The thestrals were awestruck and stared at her. They couldn't believe what she had just said. The only thing these ponies could do was watch as the would-be assassin was lifted into the air, limbs flailing and voice grating. With one flash of her horn, the mare turned to dust that was offered to the wind who took it greedily. The alicorn listened: Nothing. The ponies were looking at her silently. Only the vague sounds of nature and wind brustling through the leaves were reaching her ears.
She felt great, but everything seemed so heavy. Was the world always rotating like that?
"She passed out," Sunny wheezed.
"She killed her," Mango said. "I didn't think..."
"Didn't think what?" Cuttin' asked. "That mare tried to kill our alicorn after she came back to us." She pushed Mango aggressively and pushed her muzzle angrily against his. "She defended herself."
"She didn't need to kill her!" Mango cried. "She just needed to banish her or imprison her...I don't know!"
The obese cook came forward, giving Sunny a rich fruit salad to nibble on. "Cuttin' is right, I'm afraid," he said.
Mango looked at him like he had been betrayed by a close friend. "What do you mean? That was completely unnecessary!"
The chef raised an eyebrow. "Oh, and what would you have her do? That poor mare was clearly influenced by an outside party, and no matter what she was one hundred percent convinced of what she was told. She tried to assassinate the alicorn of dreams. If she was left alive and simply banished, she would have likely spread the word to neighboring areas and found like-minded ponies." He sighed and sat down, rubbing his fat forehead with a thick wing. "If stories are anything to go by, wanting to get rid of a threat is fine, but then the mobs that grow would start to attack us, I imagine."
"B-because they're related to us?" Mango asked.
The chef nodded.
"I don't think that was why she did it, but it's a good point," Sunny interjected. His lips were dripping with juice. "From what I recall from school, events like that where a threat is spread gets quickly deformed, and ponies would have likely tried to get rid of all of us. The intentions were good, but the results would be bad." He nodded to himself. "It happened to the minotaurs several times. That's why there aren't many of them in Equestria and most fled overseas."
The young thestral huffed and stomped around. Every point they made had some merit to it, even if it seemed to be somewhat poorly worded in the stallion's mind. They completely clashed with how he viewed the return of the alicorn, but that didn't mean that he was wrong!
"Fine!" he shouted. "I'll accept it, but I don't want to see her k-k..." He clenched his teeth and looked away as he tried to regain himself. "I don't want to see that ever happen again."
Sunny gave a warm-but-worried smile. "I don't think she would really care about that. If you really want her to change, maybe find a way to council her on better ways to do things?" he suggested. "It worked a few times when I did it."
Mango opened his mouth but nothing came out. That was an idea. What was the point in complaining about something if you don't do something to help change the problem when you're more than capable of it? Perhaps he could do that in the future, who knew?
Moon awoke in the middle of the night, surrounded by what seemed like the whole thestral village. She sat up and wiped some dust and errant leaves off of her coat and looked around: The forest had turned into a swathe of big 'ol eyes.
"What is it?"
She asked. The whole of the village cheered, stunning her.
"What is happening?!"
"You were passed out for several days," Sunny explained. "Um, nopony could move you. You were too..." He coughed into his hoof when Moon raised a brow. "Anyways, there seems to be some trouble regarding you..."
"Killing the mare?" Moon asked. The stallion nodded, and Moon scoffed in response. "It was just a would-be assassin that tried to kill me. Who cares? No losses and can be easily replaced." She struggled to fully stand up and grunted as she stretched her body. "I'm pressed for time now, since it seems that whatever is trying to get rid of me knows where I am whenever I am." She pushed the unicorn. "Tell the locals I need to know where Canterlot is. It used to be south-west of here, but the geography of the terrain is wrong and it is throwing me off. I don't have time to waste anymore."
Annoyed, the mare waited as Sunny talked with all of the ponies around, impatiently waiting for a response. She wanted to enjoy the festival a little more and the flavors that came with, although she was also glad the singing had stopped. She cursed her luck that some strange being was trying to gut her, but then, she would have nothing left to do. Without Celestia there seemed to be no point in life.
Moon looked down.
Why was she even fighting it? It was clear that this entity was just trying to kill her and nothing else, and her rage was still present, but there was nowhere for it to go. She felt everything narrow until Sunny shoved her gently.
"Hmmm, what?"
"They don't know anything about Canterlot. None of their tales mention it, or they were forgotten."
The alicorn nodded. "Possible also that it might have been erased purposely since it's related to alicorns. It seemed that she needed to go to the other areas close to Canterlot and ask them. Moon turned to the thestrals. "Tell me of all pony tribes," she ordered them. "Already know of common, and yours, and Dullahan."
"You don't know of all of us already?" a stallion asked.
Sunny stepped forward. "She has been away for ten thousand years. She hasn't seen what happened to the world."
Several of the thestrals looked at each other, concerned.
"What's wrong?" Nightmare Moon asked.
"Well, the thing is, there's at least two dozen tribes, excluding the ones you mentioned." The stallion sat down and started counting with his hoof, using every audible 'clack' as the number. "Off the top of my head there's us, the earth ponies, unicorns, and pegasi, the dullahan, then there's the kirin, the eckan crue, the crancan, the--"
Nightmare Moon cut him off by sealing his mouth with magic. "Do you have a book?" she asked. The stallion nodded in response. "Pass it. I will read while flying."
"Are you going to stay? We can have another feast when we've cleaned everything up," the elder pleaded.
Moon shook her head. "I might be iron-hoofed, but I will not have my new subjects waste their stores to celebrate my return a second time just because it was ruined." She cast a glance to the side. "Will be going southwest to the location of Canterlot. Assumed. Expectations?"
"There's some griffins down there. They seem upset that they lost their mountains and are trapped there. You might have to-" The elder sat on his haunches and punched a hoof with the other. "Pummel them into submission."
"Good enough for me," Moon said apathetically. "I'll have to ask them to give me information on where Canterlot is located. A legend for ponies could just be some ruins for other races." She grabbed Sunny in her magic. "And you're coming with."
The stallion let himself dangle limply. "Of course I am."
The elder stopped Moon, bringing forth the need for supplies. The alicorn nodded and waited patiently. She carried a large basket filled with enough provisions for Sunny to be fed and his thirst sated for at least a week.
Without another word, Moon took off into the air, enjoying her wings once more. Her body still ached from the poison, but if she lazed about, waiting for the pain to go away, everything would atrophy. Every wing flap felt like she was pushing against a painful, frozen wall of flesh. Every movement tore at the numbed and stiff ligaments, but with every tear, her wings and the rest of her body would reinforce themselves.
She ignored the general size of the green and continued south, passing by several massive trees with other thestral villages at work. To her amusement, they ceased all activity and stared at her in disbelief. Several tried to follow, but they were, unfortunately, too slow.
"Do you know anything of the griffins?" Moon asked her dangling passenger.
"Well, they hate ponies, that's for sure."
"We beat them in a war?" Moon wondered aloud.
Sunny tilted his head left and right. "Kinda. They conquered Equestria a century or so ago, then we fought them back. While we didn't manage to retake some of our old lands, we kinda stole most of theirs, and they lost access to the mountains of Griffonia," he explained. He rubbed the back of his head. "I think that most we see in pony territory are from the newest generation and so don't have such deep ties to the old lands. At least, that's what my teacher believes."
Moon laughed silently. It was very much like the warlike griffins to declare war. Their obstinate and hard-headed personalities were always at odds with the softer, more loving personality of the ponies, something she wanted to work out of them. And by work she meant 'hard labor'. A little bit of that never killed anypony...important. The traveling took four days, and the unicorn was growing increasingly impatient with having to stay in the air beneath Nightmare Moon. Dangling like some kind of accessory felt demeaning to him, and it was very uncomfortable. At least the monotony was broken by him doing his best to teach Moon the current language of the ponies.
"Watch out!" Sunny screamed.
The mare was taken out of her daydream by a thick chimney of black smoke. She cough and used her magic to chase the soot off of her. Moon took a moment to regain her bearings, but her eyes widened the moment she saw the lands beneath her. Large craters had been dug into the land and hundreds of griffins were either working within them or living in them, or both. Immense convoys carrying tons of raw ore were carted out of large furnaces that burned away the regular, unusable stone debris. At least, that's how Moon understood it. Their angry, orange mouths brought in the attention from the dirty surroundings.
Everything seemed to be covered in a thick, black layer of ash and soot. Only the shiny hulls of the immense ore convoys seemed to be mostly free of the surrounding contamination. They all led towards an immense city further away that Moon was more than happy to fly towards. There were griffins in the air as well, but they were few and far between.
"An industrious little bunch, aren't they?" Nightmare Moon noted with amusement.
"Are you sure it's a good idea? I told you that they hate us a lot!" Sunny asked nervously.
He felt his heart skip a beat several times every time a griffin got closer to the pair. It was nerve-wracking, but he soon found himself staring in awe at the city. It looked very much like the griffins were trying to recapture the aesthetic of their old homes.
The buildings were all lumpy and misshapen, clearly imitating mountains and hills. Doing his best, he could barely see platforms sticking out of the buildings, usually in front of the 'caves' leading inside. Unfortunately for the griffins, it seemed that their attempts had failed. It still had many aspects of the pony cities, although it felt more...primitive, somehow. Moon could see a plethora of wires running all over the place, and the griffins made no use of magic stones or spells.
The signs all around the city, be they to advertise an establishment or simply to guide the griffins around relied on vibrant paint to garner attention. She landed on a platform floating between several of the buildings, startling the griffins around.
"Several small flowerbeds here and there, large lamps, and these confounded wires dangling everywhere!" she shouted angrily. "What even are they? What are they for?!" She turned to Sunny who shrugged in response. A groan escaped Moon's lips, and she looked around. "Birds everywhere. Aggravating. I wonder if these idiots can even do anything except yell and snap at the air," she pondered.
"Well, that's not very fair, your highness. They're still a people like ponies."
Moon nodded. "Except they are properly aggressive. I could use more ponies like that for my future army and pacifying forces."
Sunny blinked several times. "Excuse me, your what?"
"Ponies, why are you here?!" a voice called out.
A few dozen armored griffins landed around the pair. While they wore similar armor to the ponies, theirs was far smaller. There were multiple significant gaps in their armor, but they seemed to prefer offense compared to the ponies. They wore serrated, metal claws on their feet and a sharp, armored beak on their faces. It explained why they weren't wielding any weaponry.
"I just need information, then I will leave," Moon explained.
The same griffin from earlier laughed. "Oh, you hear that? She just wants information." He looked to the others who laughed in tandem. "I don't think so. I don't know what pony tribe you're part of, but you'll be imprisoned for violating our airspace, and then we'll see about giving youinformation," he threatened.
"I don't want to be imprisoned!" Sunny cried. "We just got here!" He grabbed Nightmare Moon's leg. "Do something!"
Her immediate death glare, bared fangs, and glowing eyes made the pony immediately regret his actions. He sat down next to her and stared straight ahead quietly.
"Not interesting. Will be looking for...useful birds."
The griffins tensed up, and Moon let crack a smirk she was quick to cover up. The birds were saying something to her in their native tongue after the first griffin shared what she had called them. It sounded like bird squawking and feline roaring mashed into some hideous, primitive noise.
The alicorn eventually yawned and looked up towards the furious sun. It hadn't tried to burn her at any point yet during the trip. Still, she hid away just in case. You never knew what it might do. It didn't help that it seemed to be agitated all of a sudden. Several of the griffins, her included were burned by it, stunning everyone momentarily and causing the onlooking civilians to flee into their mountain buildings.
"You made the sun angry," Moon said derisively.
"I've had enough of you!"
The griffin gestured to the others to move forward. She didn't know what he had said, but she could guess, from the actions of the griffins, that they intended to get rid of her and imprison her servant for questioning. The mare could feel the moons swelling her form with power, but she didn't use it. Moon simply sat next to a terrified Sunny frozen in fear, and gave the armored griffins her most disappointed expression.
"Of all the things, you attack me." She scoffed. "Not this again." She cracked her neck and let her horn radiate with magic. The rings on its surface were quickly permeated with a blue and white light. "I'll just deal with this the simple way, so you know not to disobey me."
The griffins working in the mines were climbing out of the hole to enjoy their lunch break when a massive plume of smoke suddenly appeared in the city. It almost looked like a volcano had erupted. Then came the bang and the violent gusts of wind that pulled away and threw all those that hadn't been able to run into the holes or hold onto something far away into the distance. Equipment and forges flew overhead and crashed into the ground or fell deep into the mining pits, damaging the paths along the inner walls for heavy equipment to move along. When the aftershock had ceased, the birds looked towards the city, many still trembling from the experience.
Everything was still there, it seemed, but the tower of smoke remained. What was at its source, many wondered.
"Pl-please! It was an honest mistake! We've all tried to hustle our way to fortune."
A laugh accentuated the mood. "Yes, but I did it when I was just starting out, and I never hustled my boss or suppliers."
A brown griffin with a black rear-half was sitting at the edge of one of the platforms of the city. His wings were tied up, and he was surrounded by several griffins, a minotaur, and a bipedal bird creature. Her chest feathers were pushed out and pink in colors, while the lower half changed to a dour black. The demarcation point was set by single, large feathers taking on the colors of both halves overlapping each other. Her beak was small and slender and missing a chunk on the upper area near the base of her mouth. She also possessed a stripe of white over her right eye that possessed three green iris surrounding their own pupils. They spun around on their own, generally taking the position reminiscent of a triangle. Her forehead sprouted long, giant feathers that rose high in the air. They were barely affected by gravity but still bent slightly in an arc over her head.
"The way I see it, we've let you off the hook several times, and I don't feel very interested in doing that again." She smiled and pressed a scaled finger against the griffin's forehead, pushing him closer to the edge. "So, yes." She shrugged. "Guess we'll just be considering this a debt paid for your actions, eh?"
A violent tremor shook the platform, making everyone lose their balance. The brown griffin lost his balance and fell off, screaming on his way down.
"Boss," the minotaur called out.
"Oh--!"
She and the others walked towards the edge and leaned over, seeing the griffin falling to his doom.
"Well, I only intended to terrify him." She grimaced and rubbed the back of her head with a rusty, dripping pipe she had knicked from the faulty pipeworks of the city. "Dang. Hard to come by griffins that stubborn and tenacious." There was a brief pause. "That's life," she stated nonchalantly. She shrugged and gestured the others to follow, keeping a slight grin on her face. "I wanna know what that explosion was. Let's go!"
They rushed into the immense building, going past the pipes and giant furnaces supplying heat to the upper sections of the artificial mountains. Claws and hooves crashed into puddles of dirty, stagnant water on their way to the floors above. When finally they emerged from a pair of large doors, they crashed into a group of onlookers. The bird snapped her claws, and the immense minotaur cracked his knuckles.
Everyone was shocked to see an immense, purple minotaur with a long tail of braided hair running down from the back of his head. He wore a brown leather jacket with several feathers of different colors glued seemingly randomly on it. It was no difficulty for him to grab the griffins standing in the way by their heads and launch them over his shoulder, clearing the way for the group. Eventually, they reached one of the immense windows displaying the many, many platforms interlinking every building and level.
"What is going on?" the bird asked. "I only see smoke."
When the debris cleared, it could be seen that several of the nearby buildings had been damaged, their surfaces charred black and stone chipped away, and a platform had collapsed, crashing into a few beneath it before stopping four levels below.
"Looks like...a pony?" a griffin supposed.
The bird groaned and rolled her eyes. She extended a hand down and gestured towards herself. One of her group reached into her bags and pulled out a telescope. The bird quickly stretched it out and looked down.
"It's a pony fighting griffins." The crowd around her gasped and mumbled. "I've never seen this kind of pony before." Her amazement made way for great annoyance. The bird's shoulders fell in response. "Graaah...is it another tribe? How many more are going to pop up?"
The minotaur grabbed his chin and narrowed his eyes. "Pretty sure that one i'n't normal. The tall one. Can't see very well."
The griffins had been burnt to a crisp, and Moon's horn was glowing brightly, but the griffins weren't pulling back. They were stubborn and foolhardy, and Moon hated that. The ponies showed bravery, but quickly became reticent when she finally showed what she was capable of. Leaving their other comrades behind to sizzle. Two jumped at the alicorn from different directions. The first was squished between two walls of magic, and the other was slid under and struck in the belly with a hoof.
Sunny was cowering in a ball in the middle of the platform tilting from all the debris it was sitting on. He was terrified that it was going to slide off and cause him to fall to his doom. He dared a peek between his legs to see Moon crushing the griffins ganging up on her in groups. Her coat was stained red with her own blood thanks to all the cuts the griffins had given her. Several more lay strewn about, knocked out or simply broken by the alicorn's magics and tremendous physical prowess.
He watched her continue to fight as air balloons seemed to float about the distance, their wooden hulls rendered almost invisible by the deep orange of the setting sun.
"What is that?" he wondered.
"What is this?" a soldier shouted. He grabbed Sunny by the neck and raised him up. "A tiny, cowering pony?" He frowned and looked to the alicorn who had cast another spell that burst in the air, cutting down three more incoming griffins. He clicked his tongue. "Close combat clearly isn't going to work on these invaders." He looked towards the airships and nodded when a glint caught his eye. "I'll just get rid of you so we don't have any potential stragglers that escape. That big one is easy enough to spot as it is."
Sunny tried to use his magic to knock the griffin out, but he had no training in using his magic offensively, like most unicorns. His magic balls did nothing to get through the padding of the griffin's helmet, so he did the next thing he could: Loosen the soldier's grip with his magic and scream.
"Sunny?" Moon responded.
She turned her head away and was met with the loud and heavy strike of a mace to her skull.
"You missed her horn you idiot!"
Several more soldiers moved in place to separate the two intruders of their home. Grunting, Moon focused her magic as best as she could, fighting through the ringing in her ears when a new pain went through her. She could sense the moons were doing something. The image of the most immense of the bodies pushed through the others and engulfed the mind's eye of Nightmare Moon.
Her magic turned to a brief, golden caramel before reverting to its original night blue. A clawed hand grabbed onto the soldier's forearms, crunching them in its grip and freeing Sunny. From the shadows emerged a bipedal creature that looked like a mockery of griffinkind. It rose higher and higher, its three featureless eyes not breaking from the soldier's. Its beak was jagged and kept open in a smile while its tongue lolled out limply.
"What is that?" the soldier whimpered.
The strange shadow creature proceeded to fold him while more came out of the shadows, but they all had strange shapes as well. All were warped facsimiles of creatures found in Equestria. Horrors of illogical shapes and bodies. Multiple heads dangling from necks too long and lanky to hold in place; bodies too immense and bulky to be able to move; forms bent and twisted like they had emerged from a misshapen mirror. Pulled long and taut like they had been in a taffy puller. Squashed flat and wide as though someone pressed them with a rolling pin.
Sunny hoped that the rolled up griffin was just an illusion, like the other world Nightmare Moon had concocted during the celebrations. Poking it, the pony went paler than he already was. He didn't have time to dwell on it and the smiling creature looking down at him with a widening grin and squinting eyes that another boom reached his ears. The airships had opened fire.
"What? They can carry cannons?!" Sunny shouted in disbelief.
The soldiers were cursing at the airships, but they were still quick to get out of the way of the incoming cannonballs. Moon did her best to defend against the warships, but in her state, it was straining. The strange shadow creatures moved in front of the cannons and fell to pieces when they had incurred too much damage. Cannons took a while to reload, so the three airships were taking several seconds to reload their weaponry.
The unicorn hurried over to Moon who was having trouble standing up. She was stuck with her legs bent, trying to push herself up but failing.
"I don't know how we're going to get out of here. I-I-I don't know any offensive magics!"
"Tch. I thought you at least knew teleportation," Moon lamented.
"But that's really hard to do! You need innate talent to teleport even a few hooves!"
"What in the world are those things? I've never heard of ponies being able to create such creatures," the bipedal bird realized.
The minotaur noticed that her face was pressed against the glass. She was having more fun watching everything unfold than the griffins were.
"T'ain't no regular pony, tha'. Taken on the whole of the soldiers 'ere." He adjusted his bull horns. "Figure theirs more of them?"
The bird shook her head. Her right eye was spinning madly. "There's nothing with that kind of power amongst the ponies. Not anymore."
"Boss," one of the griffins called to her. "I think that might be an alicorn." The crew turned to look at her, but she didn't flinch. "I've read up some stories of there's while I was bored and had nothing to do. Lots of legends of 'alicorns' that existed long ago."
"I've never seen anything about those things," another mocked.
She was slapped across the face by the first's wing. "That's because they either never existed or were just forgotten. Don't know, but that thing fits the bill." They started counting on their talons. "Wings, a horn, really tall, has some strong magic, is very stubborn. No other tribes have those kinds of features."
The bird stroked her chin, and a devious, toothy grin emerged. The others around her became perturbed.
"Thinkin' you can use 'em ta get back at the thieves?" the minotaur asked her. The bird nodded in response. "Then it'd be good ta get'em outta there right quick." He leaned to the side, towering over the griffins. "Figured've'n gone crazy with the cannons. 'LL level this place real soon if they stay there, 'n the creatures're gettin' cantankerous."
"Your accent is getting worse," one of the griffins whispered.
She was met with a limp back-handed slap.
"Signal the other groups to blind the airships," the bird ordered her griffins. "I'll get the ash bombs out."
Sunny was rubbing his neck while he watched the airships shooting at the platform. The iron balls didn't seem to have any real power to them and were flying haphazardly in every direction. It was rare for any to hit Nightmare Moon's shield directly. However, the mare was at her limits. The dark creatures had dissolved, leaving them exposed to the warships.
"We need to get outta here," Sunny pleaded. His words fell upon deaf ears.
"Hey there, pony," a bipedal bird greeted. The pony jumped in fright. "Wait for it," she said after turning to face the cannon fire.
A bright flash engulfed all three vessels, then the platform and the surrounding area were choked by a dense, black fog.
"Grab the big one," she ordered the minotaur.
He saluted her, lifted Moon underarm, then walked to the edge of the fragile platform.
"H-hey, what are you doing?!" Sunny asked. The minotaur hopped off, plunging down below. He started to panic and struggled to get out of the grasp of the bird. "Let me go! Stop!"
"Oh, don't be such a spoil-sport. You have to experience life sometimes!" Sunny's pupils shrunk when he realized where he was. He saw the bird give him a warm, comforting smile. It did everything except make him feel safe, and for good reason. "Down we go!"
She hopped over the edge, laughing hysterically while Sunny screamed as loud as he ever had and covered his face. The group was eventually 'caught' in a pile of giant, blue-colored bubbles that fumbled all around them. When Sunny opened his eyes, he found himself at the end of a slide deep underground lit by oil lamps hanging on the walls. The small exit had been dug out by hand. Everything had been made with the intent of being cubical, but the best the architects could do were uneven lines and loose dirt held back a few wooden planks and sheets of metal fencing.
Sunny stuck his tongue out in disgust when he realized he was covered in mud. A lot of mud. When he caught sight of Moon, he quickly hopped out, ran up the uneven slope leading out of the muddy pit and stood next to the mare.
"Your highness, are you okay?" he asked. Nightmare Moon was panting heavily and looked delirious. She was sweating a lot and could barely keep her eyes open. It was no wonder the minotaur was still carrying her. "Your highness?"
"Fancy language ya usin'," the bird noted. She bent over, a hand on her hip and another on her lower beak. "Lover o this pony?" she teased.
"No!" Sunny shouted angrily.
The bird raised her hands and backed away slowly. "So defensive."
"She's suffering from poison of some kind," the minotaur interjected. He readjusted Moon so she wouldn't fall.
"But she was cured of it. She healed!"
"Then I guess the remnants got active again, but if she survived the first time then I suppose she might have antibodies to fight it off."
"Let...go..." Moon wheezed. "I will...end you..."
"Y'ain't going ta do nothin' in yer condition," the minotaur said. His face seemed twisted into a vaguely annoyed expression, but his calm voice betrayed it. "We have a proposition fer you."
The bird wrung her hand together and looked at Sunny with delight. "Whadda ya say?" she asked eagerly. "Will you accept?" Her beak pursed and her eyes opened fully. "We could save her life."
Sunny's eyes drifted to the bird's right. This rescuer noticed it, and her demeanor became much less kind the more the unicorn seemed to become scared.
"Not for him to decide. He is my...royal servant..."
The bird clicked her tongue and started walking over to the exhausted alicorn with exaggerated movements. "Oh, so we're in the presence of royalty. How quaint." She bowed. "Oh, but you're also in the presence of one." She smiled. "My name is--"
"What do you want? Names after?"
Moon's rescuer was taken aback. She took a moment to recuperate then stood straight and readjusted her feathers, obviously vexed that her introduction was cast aside so brazenly.
"I want to know what you want first. No ponies ever come to griffin territory."
"Looking for...Canterlot...Then I'll take back what is mine..." she said before passing out.
The bird dropped her head in defeat and peered at the dirty unicorn from the corner of her eye. "Looks like you will be explaining things, or else we get rid of you both," she threatened.
Sunny followed the two while they carried Moon through dirty, uneven corridors dug into what could be best described as mud. Had the iron fencing and supports not been present, then the unicorn was sure that everything would have already collapsed at this point. The darkness would be periodically broken by the oil lamps hanging from the wooden support beams, but they gave off an acrid stench that burned away the nose hairs of the pony. He couldn't help but levitate a handkerchief to his face while he traveled through it. The two escorts saw him and laughed heartily.
"You'll get used to it soon enough," the minotaur explained with a deep and grumbling voice. "Of course, the smell is strongest in these tiny tunnels. In the main sections of our little home, the fumes dissipate fairly quickly."
"Most of us tend to stay away from the tunnels, because of it," the bird added. After several minutes of walking, the group finally reached the exit. "And here we are, my smelly abode," she said.
Sunny was stunned. There was a massive hole dug underneath the land. Shabby wooden cabins hung onto the dirt walls for dear life, held up by planks of wood beneath them. There were a plethora of blocky 'digouts' in the area, making everything look like a group of steps angled in bizarre manners or big enough for a dragon to use. Large lamps dangled from the ceiling, illuminating the 'city' while glowing, green fungi provided light to areas blocked off by the wooden buildings on the ground. The city smelled damp and rotten, like it had been resting within a bog and was just now uncovered. Sunny saw multiple shabby, crooked metal pipes rising high and vanishing into the ceiling. These constructs had been made with several different types of metal and were bolted together, but that didn't stop them from deforming from the heat and letting smoke seep through.
The unicorn looked to the two with a marveled gleam in his eyes. "Is this an underground city?" Sunny asked.
The bird slow-blinked at him. "Yes, of course it is!" She knelt down and hugged him close to her, smothering him with her feathers. "It's a magnificent little place where all of us workers go to live after a hard day's work." She looked at him with a smile, then Sunny was slapped on the back of his head by the minotaur. "No, it's not a city, you idiot!" The bird stood up, shaking her head. "It's a hideout where all us unwanted go."
"Well, it's one'a them," the minotaur interjected.
"Bla bla bla," the bird mocked. She flinched when Moon coughed, spitting out a black substance. "Hmmm." She and the minotaur leaned over. "Looks like her body is removing the poison remnants."
"You said she was treated?" the minotaur asked.
"Yes. By the thestrals," Sunny explained. "They fed her a bunch of food meant to flush out the poison."
He was met with annoyed grunts by the bull. "Of course they did. Those idiots only know how to sing, dance, and feast." He readjusted the alicorn again. "If her vitality wasn't so tremendously impressive, she would have already died."
The unicorn rubbed the back of his head. "So, where are we going in this...hideout?" Sunny asked.
"Gonna go to my little home-sweet-home," the bird said.
The group went down the large 'steps', dodging many piles of refuse around. Sunny expected some of the griffins here to approach them for something, but the moment they saw the bird, they fled into the boxes, cans, and other piles of junk littering the streets of this poorly illuminated area. Most of the people here were shabby looking, with a lot of them wearing dregs to cover up feather loss due to malnutrition, a lack of sunlight, or some other cause. They looked at the unicorn with a stern eye but still waved the bird as she passed.
They arrived at the steps of a run-down shack. Climbing up three steps stressed Sunny as it seemed that each creaked louder than the last, like they were about to snap at any moment and break his leg. The interior was dark and dusty, but even in this, the unicorn could see that there was only a single table in the middle of the room. Three closed doors on the three other walls were kept shut. Moon was dropped softly on the table by the minotaur, then he dropped down, cross-legged, just as the bird did. Said bird leaned forward and tapped the empty space in front of the table all without breaking eye contact with Sunny. He obliged.
"S-so, what are your names?" the pony asked.
"First things first, tiny. What are you two doing here?" the minotaur asked. "There's no reason for ponies to hang around here." He looked at Nightmare Moon, and his scowl deepened. "And what is this thing? It is neither a unicorn nor a pegasi, but it has the traits of both of them."
Sunny cleared his throat. He wanted to tell them, but he wasn't sure what would be the best way to come about it. He didn't know these creatures, and for all he was aware of, they were going to try and kill both him and Moon, something the bird noticed right away.
Said avian leaned forward on the table with her arms crossed. "We brought you down here because you might be of some value to me." She pointed a finger towards Moon. "The magic power she displayed was unexpected. I have no idea what you two are or what you're doing here, but--"
"I just asked them that," the minotaur sighed.
"But, I'm sure we might be able to come to a compromise." Her smile darkened. "Or else."
The pony gulped. "She's an alicorn," he said with a trembling voice. The two stared. "She's a pony goddess? She's part of our legends. Popped up out of nowhere one day and took over my home. She even has her own castle now."
The two were skeptic.
"Are you sure she's a goddess? That sounds absurd," the bird laughed. "Feels like--"
"Feels like somepony has been sharing too much." An angry and tired voice growled.
Moon struggled to sit upright and held a deep frown.
"You're awake," the bird noted.
"I'll be right back," the minotaur said. He stood and walked through one of the doors, shutting it quietly behind him.
"So, Miss Goddess, what should I do with you?" the bird asked with a grin.
The alicorn looked to the bird with eyes half-open and pale face. "Leave me be or die gruesomly?" she suggested.
The bird slammed her palm against the table several times. "Very hilarious, but in your condition, you have no leverage here." Her demeanor turned somber. She grabbed Moon's horn and twisted her head to face her own. "Who are you? I want to know, and I want to know what you want."
"We're looking for Canterlot!" Sunny yelled.
"Sunny..." Moon grunted.
"I'm sorry, but they need to know. We came here to look for help, didn't we?" Nightmare Moon grunted in annoyance and gestured to continue. "We are looking for an old pony city called Canterlot. She thinks it's further south."
The bird rubbed her chin. "And you came here looking for clues because we're on former pony territory." She nodded to herself. "Makes sense. Why do you want to know?"
"Looking for information...about the past...and why all of this is as it is...Sister became Sun Tyrant...Makes no sense," Moon groaned.
A handful of a blue sludge was suddenly jammed into her mouth and shoved down her throat by the minotaur who had somehow came upon everyone unseen. The alicorn coughed and shivered from the horrid flavor coating her mouth.
"That will absorb the toxins in your body. You will poop funny for a few days but that will pass. Best I can do on hand without knowing the poison."
The bird leaned forward. "Considering your behavior, I believe we might be able to help each other, but first, introductions. I am Calostell, and I control most of the unsavory business in the downunder down here under up there." She hopped over the table and hugged the minotaur's arm while fluttering her eyeslashes at him. "And this is my boyfriend, Bombastic." She started speaking dramatically. "We've known each other since childh--"
The minotaur grabbed Calostell by the face and slammed her head multiple times against the table until she stopped moving. "Sh'ain't muh date. Hired me years ago after she lost her place'n got sent'n here. Been actin' cookey ever since 'er eyes got'n lik dat," he said whilst tapping his right eye with a finger.
Moon raised the stunned bird up with her magic and observed her eye. "Have you been visited by any strange magics?" she asked.
"Weird thing told me my line was it, then it zapped my eye and this happened," Calostell explained with a slur.
Moon let go of the bird, causing her face to slam into the table again. "You've been touched by chaos." Moon felt herself recovering somewhat. At least she could speak mostly clearly. "Chaos magic flows through you."
"Chaos magic?!" Bombastic gasped. "It would explain a lot...Is there a cure?"
"It's magic. She needs to adapt to it."
Calostell held her forehead and cast the minotaur a glare. "Didn't have to be so rough. Ouch..." she took in a pained breath. "So, who are you? We presented ourselves. Your turn."
"I-I'm Sunny Dimples," the unicorn explained. "I'm the aid of her highness."
"Nightmare Moon. I was once the ruler of Equestria and will be so once again, but its in a fractured state." She clicked her tongue. "It disgusts me. Equestria is pony territory, and it will be once again."
"Well then, your highness, you'll need someone to govern the griffins while you're off conquering."
Moon raised a brow. "And you are the one to do it? Why should I entrust this territory to some random criminal over simply vassalizing the current ruler? Or, why not simply slaughter all of the griffins until they submit through fear?"
The bird chuckled. "Because we both know that rule through fear never lasts unless there are benefits." She rubbed her talons together. "And losing so much griffinpower would be costly and lose you a lot of productivity, not to mention instill an intense amount of hatred towards you which can lead to constant rebellions, or worse." Calostell's expression darkened. "Because I was meant to ascend the throne.Me! Not him!He took my place and tried to murder me!" She started cackling. "But I made it, and I'm here, still."
"Another on a quest for vengeance, then?" Moon shook her head. "And you know about Canterlot?"
The bird shrugged. "I know it's a pony city of myth. Some of them come by our lands in search of it or information on it. After all, you have to comb every bit of Equestria to find legends of the past." Moon smirked at her remark. "Firstly, when you start conquering, I want you to come to us first. Aid us in retaking my home, and I will look all the better for it. A duel will be needed."
"Because griffins value strength, I know. Continue."
Calostell clenched her fists. "That idiot thought he was so powerful after stealing the throne, then he lost us our homelands." She glared at the alicorn then pointed at her. "Lands that your kind now inhabit and own."
"I suppose, then, that you'll be wanting those lands back."
The bird raised her hands. "Oh no. We'll be staying here. It will be a lesson for the griffins to not praise someone for winning a battle instead of the war." She cast a glance towards the pony. "What say you, pony?"
"Deliver the information you have. If I found Canterlot, then you will know, and I will uphold my end of this bargain." The room darkened, and Moon's eyes started glowing a blinding white. "But if you betray me at any point, you will know what an alicorn can do, now tell me what you know."
"Is it a very tall building?" the minotaur asked first.
"Yes."
"Is it made of white stone?"
"To my best recollection, yes. That is what it was to be made out of."
Bombastic pointed downwards. "Then we probably found it a few years ago while digging for additionnal space."
The ponies stared, dumbfounded, at Bombastic. A mountain, underneath a griffin city? It made no sense.
"You mean a piece is there," Moon pried.
The minotaur shook his head. "No. We broke what we thought was a floor, and it turned out to be a roof, and it goes down far. We didn't bother exploring it since we're more preoccupied with our operations up here."
Nightmare Moon's mind was wracked with confusion. Even if Celestia had gone made and buried everything in lava and ash, volcanoes don't just get buried! It was a mountain, even. How did that even happen? Did Canterlot slide off? No, even a tower wouldn't have been left intact after falling from such a height. Likely they were confusing with something else.
"Show me," Moon demanded.
"Are you sure?" Sunny asked. "You're still suffering from the dregs of the poison."
Moon waved her servant off and stood up, landing hard on the ground when she got off the table. She watched the two criminals invite her outside then followed after them. In the meantime, The alicorn focused her magic to flow through her body and attack the remnants of the poison once again. To her surprise, everything seemed to be getting pulled towards her stomach, where that revolting sludge shoved down her throat rested. The sensations made her nauseous.
Sunny expected her to look disgusted when she stepped into the muddy land of the underground hideout but was surprised to see that Moon was only just barely irritated by the dirt. Was her time in his home city really that extreme, or did she deal with similar circumstances before...all this? A part of Sunny yearned to know of her past, of all the details, but he knew that asking that at this time was far too dangerous, and that didn't mean the area they were currently at.
"Down this tunnel," Bombastic said.
Said tunnel grew in size and steepness the further in everyone went. Several griffins were waiting for Calostell and Bombastic and followed. Moon frowned when they came upon the damaged roof of a tower. Its once pristine, white stones were covered in dirt and grime that had long since etched themselves into the material. Worms fell from the ceiling onto the small, exposed part that had a large hole in it.
"We made that hole when we wanted to look inside," Calostell explained. She had bounced to the side into Moon's field of vision, standing on just one foot as she leaned diagonally with both arms outstretched. "Sent some of my griffins down there, but they didn't come back." She leaned against the tower. "You sure you want to go?" the bird asked.
Moon nodded. "Yes. I'm going." She pointed at Sunny. "You wait here. Dangerous."
One of the griffins came behind and put a claw on Sunny's shoulder. "Don't worry. We'll take good care of him." He cackled.
"Very good care," Calostell added.
The griffins started laughing quietly in tandem, but Moon still didn't trust them. She cast a discreet protection spell over Sunny then leaned into the hole. There was nothing here but the remains of what was once in place of the hole and some rotting wood. Maybe this was Canterlot, maybe it wasn't, but if the entire mountain ended up down here...
The alicorn hopped in, kicking up the dust of ages. Calostell waved her goodbye and mentioned that they would wait behind, but they were likely just keeping Sunny as insurance in case she failed, not that they would survive long once Moon got out and learned she was betrayed.
The air was musty and sterile, and the pony snorted in response. This room was big enough to house a small monitoring station to house the equipment needed to check the surroundings for any incoming threats. Either said equipment was just never implemented or the tools had rotted or been looted long ago by the 'heroes' the thestrals sang about.
Moon went down the stairs, following a spiral pattern. Some of the chiseled stone had crumbled away, forcing a longer stretching of the legs to reach the next steps, and the further down the pony went, the darker it became.
"Could have installed some sconces, liars," Moon grumbled.
Several blue orbs grew then detached from the alicorn's horn. While three stayed around, dozens more rushed down through the tower and disappeared. Moon had to use her magic to force back stone and dirt that had collapsed the walls and blocked the pathway. Even though there were a few holes dug through by the griffins, they were too small and potentially too fragile. Moon wiped her forehead after forcing tons of weight back and proceeded through until she finally reached the base.
The door leading out hung loosely on just the lower hinge. With any additional external force, it would break off and land loudly on the floor. The mare peered through the opening cautiously. The tower had been connected to a hall of sorts that tilted to the right. She expected considerable damage, but there was nothing apart from the putrid odor of stale air trapped for millennia. Several pots with dried-out husks of what were once trees either stood limply thanks to the massive bases they were in or had long since toppled over. Most had rolled against the wall to the right thanks to the inclination. Frames hung on the wall, the art sadly indecipherable thanks to the long years of being left uncared for. The paint had dissolved or simply been eaten away by mold. Moon was briefly startled when she kicked a metal object. It seemed to be the helmet of an old armor set, rusted beyond belief. Its loud banging quickly lessened to a limp thump as its form broke apart with every bounce, leaving rusted metal and dust everywhere.
Most furniture here had turned into a dry mound or was simply missing, leaving behind the scar of what once stood in that area. Whatever beauty this place used to have, Nightmare Moon would not see it anymore. She coughed up more black substances and carried on. She took the left door at the very end of the large hallway and was met with more halls.
This one had windows that no longer served a purpose and many doors to the left. Within each were rotted beds, moldy frames, and wallpaper that had peeled and laid in fragmented pieces along the floor like somepony was trying to redecorate the floors. A chamber that linked two hallways stood four doors down, completely open. The dregs of a carpet laid in the middle of the room while collapsed couches and chairs designed for ponies maintained their forms by some miracle, but the alicorn was certain that even the faintest breeze caressing them cause them to vanish into a cloud of dust. She walked in, kicking away the wooden planks of what was once a shelf and picked some books with her magic.
"Trapped underneath. Do you still have anything to offer after so many years?" Moon's attempt to open them simply saw them collapse in her magic like a poorly-made cake. "Fantastic," she blurted in disgust. "This doesn't bode well for the archives if they're here."
She resumed her searching and ignored the next few rooms of this wing. There was more of the same the further in Moon went, but something crossed her mind. The thestrals mentioned the 'hero' and other ponies going against Celestia. Even if the event wasn't near Canterlot, there was no chance that this place wouldn't have been demolished from anger. If the battle had been here, then where was the damage? Where were the signs of burning her sister would have caused? Nothing made sense, not to mention the griffins were missing. After about fifteen minutes of aimlessly wandering around, Moon finally happened upon the main entrance of the castle.
Some of her orbs illuminated the room, giving her a nasty sight. A chandelier had collapsed on the ground, throwing its pieces everywhere. Pieces that had remained undisturbed for thousands of years. There was an immense amount of stairways here, each leading to other parts of the castle. There were even three above Moon, and she appeared to be on the fifth floor. Because of the bizarre design, the lower floors jutted forth whilst the stairs broke off towards the platforms leading to each floor. Moon scratched her head. It was a confusing design. The entrance itself had caved in long ago. Now only a large boulder lay there, forever waiting for a welcoming committee to guide it into a dead castle.
"This is moribund," Moon noted. "The size alone..." She shook her head. "Impossible. That's not how tectonics work, and the magic alone to do this. My sister would never abandon our project like this."
A shiver went through her body. Taking a moment to compose herself, the mare scanned the immense welcoming area and noticed something underneath the chandelier. Using her magic, she threw it against the wall and realized that there was a massive hole where it had fallen. It was big enough for three ponies to enter side-by-side, and yet the crystal chandelier was still big enough to cover the hole and then some. The alicorn couldn't help but laugh at such an over-expenditure of resources.
Peering in, she realized the hole went far deeper than she could see with her three orbs. Several more that had been scattered around the castle came out of the walls and rushed down into the dark pit, stopping at various levels.
"Several floors down. Can't even make out where this all leads," Moon lamented. She cracked her neck and stretched out her wings. "Might as well go in. Walls are built up, so this isn't a coincidence." The mare snorted and jumped down.
It felt like the pit went on forever. Miles and miles of built walls leading down and down and down into an infinite chasm of darkness. Moon narrowed her eyes as she let herself fall. She could see the base of the pit finally, and it was illuminated by an orange light. Her large, powerful wings allowed her to recover quickly from her fall and float downwards harmlessly. Her hooves kicked up a thick layer of dust when she finally touched down, and immediately before her was a glowing barrier of orange magic. In its middle was a sun similar in appearance to the one outside.
Moon touched it and felt intense heat try to focus on her hoof, but her own magic repelled that effect. "Intriguing. Looks like something Celestia would do, but...So much rage in it." She smiled, exposing her fangs. "Fallen to 'my level', sister?" The barrier remained in place for a moment while the pony tried to determine what to do to get through. "I have the impression that this barrier of yours hasn't stood up fully to the test of time, but why put it all the way down here?"
Confident that she could handle any threat that was thrown her way, Nightmare Moon pressed the tip of her horn against the barrier and started creating counter-magic to destroy the barrier. She found her job was going to be harder than she thought. The barrier was laced with a plethora of interlocking bits and pieces. Chains of various sizes and shapes, of strength and intensity. Nightmare Moon wasn't certain if she was going to be able to fully dissolve it, but as she continued to attack the barrier's own defenses, the alicorn fell through.
"What?"
The old magic was too weathered and had given out under the strain, and now Moon was lying on her belly with her legs splayed out. She cursed silently and slammed a foreleg on the ground. Even the magic of her sister was out of her reach! Even something as simple as a barrier wouldn't let her have even the slightest taste of victory! She remained there for some time with her face against the ground.
After recovering, Moon opened her eyes to see what stood before her. It was an immense, black gate with golden frames and golden nubs on its surface. To its immediate sides were two statues of centaurs, but their faces were obscured by helmets, and immense spears were held at their sides.
"What in the world is this?" Nightmare Moon wondered aloud as she looked around. "Why would you make all of this, sister?" She nodded in approval. "I'm impressed."
The orange light here was intense. If Nightmare Moon didn't know she was underground, she would have thought that it was daytime. The doors were covered in another barrier, and looking up, they were at least twenty stories tall and wide enough for several buildings to go through.
"What even are these statues?" Moon wondered.
The alicorn looked around, realizing that all the damage she had been looking for was present in this immense chamber. The walls were scorched and portions of the stone had been melted. If there was anything else here, it was all gone. Only these bizarre, tan-colored stone sheets remained on the floor and walls. She looked closer at a cluster of the marks, daydreaming of what had happened. The mare quickly slapped herself. She wasn't at her full potential while the poison remained in her system, but she was doing better already, amusingly enough.
Rumble.
There was the sound of stone moving. Moon turned around and looked up. The two statues were looking at her.
Without a moment to spare, Nightmare Moon used her wings to jump far out of the way, and just in-time; the statues had smashed their spears into the ground. Their visors were emitting orange flames while their stone bodies cracked with light and fire.
"What?!" Moon shouted.
She put up a barrier just before the left statue smashed the side of its spearhead into her, sending the mare flying into the air. Annoyed, she flew around them and summoned chains of darkness from the ground and ceiling. They pierced the creatures' bodies, but her triumph couldn't be celebrated. With no hesitation they grabbed the chains and ripped them out of their bodies. Stunned, Moon lost focus for just a moment, long enough to be back-handed into a wall. She clung to it by using false claws to dig into the stone and observed the entities.
These things weren't centaurs, at least not true centaurs. They only had three legs. They were closer to being tripods despite the upper body still being set towards the front.
The alicorn focused, trying to picture the giant moon again, but nothing came of it. "Looks like I'm forced to use classic fighting with spells," she growled.
She dodged out of the way of a spear burrowing itself deep into the wall, running up then pushing herself out. Nightmare Moon wreathed herself in a vortex of darkness and slammed into the head of the right statue, knocking it back. She then expanded the magic around the entity, hoping to twist the body apart. The mare laughed when the other statue freed its weapon and tried to hit her but missed. It immediately sliced through the magic engulfing its ally, liberating it once more.
Moon clicked her tongue. "How am I supposed to fight these things. I keep breaking pieces off of them but it never ends! I don't have time for this!"
She focused her magic and let loose two waves the size of the entities themselves. They were struck by the spell that passed through them, and the light from their bodies dissipated, leaving them frozen in place. Moon's magic had temporarily cast out any magic in the statues' bodies, but she wasn't sure how long that would last, so she had to hurry.
The alicorn landed in front of the doors and panted while wiping sweat from her forehead. "I can't fight those things right now." She coughed up more black tar and wiped it off.
Moon repeated the same process with the previous magic barrier and managed to get through the same way. Using her magic to push the doors was easier than trying to use muscle, and even then she was straining hard.
"Guh! What is wrong with this castle? Why are the doors so heavy?!" she shouted.
Getting them closed again was another process entirely. In the end, Moon felt like she had just emptied her whole reserve of magic several times over and slumped against the doors while panting heavily. That she could still use any was a testament to her new strength, strength she couldn't use at the moment. Her jaw dropped the moment she decided to focus on her surroundings.
"This is where she put the archives?!" Moon shouted in horror. She groaned and leaned her head back against the door. "I'm too tired for all of this." She tapped the ground with her hooves. "I want to go back to exploring the castle now." She tilted her head slightly to the side and looked 'beyond' the doors. "Stupid statues."
Bookshelves! Bookshelves everywhere! And a plethora of tables! And everything was piled on itself or floating around on its own to set elsewhere. It even looked like the floors and walls bent and twisted at bizarre angles, defying physics and common sense. Parchments and maps and books and scrolls floating about haphazardly or just set about randomly. It was baffling to the mare to see it all. The light itself couldn't even reach the whole of this immense place. Moon even spotted some books the size of a house flying around a corner. What was this madness?
Her attention was brought towards the light being blocked by bookcases. It was moving? Was it another thing Moon had to fight? She forced herself onto her hooves and readied her magic, but she was once again surprised by what this place had to offer.
A pony had rounded the bookcases. A pony emitting intense light and extreme amounts of heat. Her mane and tail were comprised of angry flames whipping and biting the air. Coronas emerged from them on occasion, followed by what Moon could only really describe as solar storms. There were also several black spots that would appear then dissipate at rapid intervals on the surface of the fire.
The pony's coat was mostly charred black and covered in glowing veins of orange and red light. On occasion, a spark or a puff of fire would billow out from them. It looked like lava was flowing beneath her flesh and could barely be contained. Lava was flowing from cracks at her knees and oozed downwards creating the illusion of golden legwear if one was not astute enough to notice her hooves. Said hooves were covered in cooled lava that still ignited the ground, although the damages didn't seem to stay for some reason. On the sides of her body were ashen wings from which a continuous cloud of ash and soot flowed. They almost seemed to meld into her burning hide.
Bright orange eyelashes encased her eyes like rings of fire, and streams of flame flew from the outer corners of her eyes, flowing like water and moving loosely with the mare's movements. Said eyes were almost completely black, save the blindingly bright, orange iris and the lava veins going from her eyes into the sides of her face and through the rest of her body. Her chest was adorned with actual jewelry made of gold that had melted and been fused to her flesh, creating a bizarre disfigurement accentuated by the flames belching from the cracks and holes still free from the metal. A deformed hole sat in what was once the middle of the jewelry, although whatever jewels were once there had long since vanished. The pony's horn was black at its base but became increasingly brighter: The lights changed gradually from red to orange to yellow and then to pure white at the tip. It seemed to be encased in thick layers of rock as well which glowed brightly at the tip of the horn.
Several solar coronae Seemed to envelop the general space the mare occupied, but what really caught Nightmare Moon's attention was the pony's face. Not much differed from the rest of her body. However, she had her extremely sharp teeth bared at the observer, and her eyes were filled with an insatiable hatred. Every second it felt like the air become hotter and breathing more difficult.
A familiar sense of hatred and need for revenge filled the despondent alicorn's sickly form. "Sister?!" Moon cried out.
The two alicorns stared at each other, neither of them making a move. Celestia's flames flickered and cracked in the air, filling the empty void forming between them, but somepony had to address the situation.
"How are you still alive? The thestrals said that you had died millennia ago." She shook her head and sighed. "Seems the tales of millennia are as unreliable as ever." Celestia remained silent, her teeth still bared. "And how are you even alive with the hypocrisy? You became what you chastized me over, pretending to care, and now look at you." Moon slowly circled around the burning pony, scanning her up and down. "Consumed by hatred, just like me," the black alicorn growled. "But I doubt this is truly you. Must be yet another of the security checks in place," she stated dismissively. The white alicorn raised her head like she was taking in a very deep breath. "What is this?"
Celestia belched a continuous torrent of fire at Moon who did nothing to protect herself. A stupid mistake. She was engulfed in flames. Her coat was burning and pain was devouring her body as she lay on the ground, writhing. In her mind, as much as she could manage to focus through it all, a night sky cleared, and twin moons fused to each other made themselves known. Her horn glowed a pale tan color then engulfed her body, extinguishing the flames and mending her burnt body back to its former glory.
"What?!" she gasped loudly. "You...can breathe fire?!"
"Wretched thing!" Celestia shouted. "You should have died! Filthy simulacrum!"
The black alicorn struggled back onto her hooves and stared at her opponent. The burning alicorn exhaled another torrent of flames, but Moon felt the magic in her well up and focus. If Celestia could do it, then so could she! She was her equal, if not her better in every regard!
White light illuminated Moon's throat, exposing muscle and sinew. The sides of her jaw imitated the light, making it look like her mouth had torn apart. A vortex of black light surrounded by silvery fragments that flowed in and out of the solid column impacted the flames. The intense heat melted the ground at the impact point, and blades of energy whipped out like explosive fragments, burrowing themselves into the material around. Celestia looked increasingly angry.
"I will melt you and your bones down!" Celestia threatened.
Moon felt herself tiring almost immediately. All this new magic and power was taxing a body not yet trained to utilize them, but this was exhilarating. Celestia was right here, and even if she wasn't in her right mind, Moon would finally get her revenge.
"Is that any way to greet...your sister, dear, sweet Celestia?" Moon taunted. Every word was exhausting, but worth it.
The white alicorn was taken back. "My what? I have no such thing. Only the sun is my companion, and I have been denied its light for too long!" she cursed. The mare stomped the ground, cracking it. "I have waited in these archives for weeks, looking for a way to break the ones foolish enough to besiege my home with their bizarre sorcery." Her hooves started melting the ground, but as always, the damage seemed to revert the moment she stepped away.
Moon took a double-take. "What is the meaning of this, Celestia? Do you not recognize your own sister?"
The white alicorn's eyes ignited. A simulacrum of a sun grew from several tiny vortexes of fire coming out of her horn. It was immediately thrown at Moon who flew out of the way, but she was still blown away by the heatwave. It ignited the bookshelves and drowned her in an unimaginable level of heat. Now, the black alicorn found herself deeper in the archives, and her eyes widened. It looked like a city that stretched for miles in one direction. There were even...bookshelves on the ceiling. She didn't have time to ponder that Celestia started throwing more suns at her. Nightmare Moon was chased further and further in, and the further she went, the more twisted and bizarre the supposed archives became. Everything bent and twisted, curved and bulged. Moon found herself on a twisting, tube-like protrusion of ground upon which a table and chair stood at awkward angles.
"Your castle has been buried for centuries! Were you dormant at this time, sister?!" Moon yelled out.
The white alicorn's current sun burst apart harmlessly, and she found herself falling sideways onto the ground, a hoof to her forehead. "I have no sister, fool!"
"Celestia! You cannot deny the wrongs you have done to me!"
"Cease calling me 'Celestia! I have long since lost that name and adopted one more befitting!" the mare shouted angrily. With every hoof she stood back on, the heat being emitted from her body became strong and more intense.
Moon stood straight, looking down at her sister with disgusted contempt. "Then what should I call you, Celestia," Moon emphasized.
Celestia ground her teeth against each other, and tiny rivulets of lava leaked out between her teeth. "I was called Daybreaker by my subjects, but I go by Solar Flare now!" A burst of extreme heat came from her body at those words, melting the stones around her. "They betrayed me and now deny their wrongdoings! Harboring the ones who brought this upon themselves! I--oomph!"
Moon had engulfed herself in white, crystalline growths, coating her entire front in them. She quickly tackled the enraged 'Solar Flare' into the ground, shattering pieces of her new defense. Thinking that was at least superficial damage, Moon flew away back onto another strange geometrical shape. Flare shook the fragments off of her body and looked up at the pony with black eyes. Lava poured from slits and punctures in her fur onto the ground, each landing and cooling into tiny, black specks.
There was something odd about this...Celestia, aside from the usual. The damages she was causing weren't staying on the surrounding environment, save the heat. Far enough away, the burns and melted material reverted to their former stature, but Moon remained damaged as well.
"Did you not hear what I said previously? Your castle is buried!"
Solar Flare cackled in a disturbingly familiar manner. "This isn't my castle, foal. I threw it away for my new palace. A veritable fortress! They simply imprisoned me here temporarily."
Moon narrowed her eyes. "You told me they had you trapped here by magic and that you were looking for a way to get rid of the spells."
The burning alicorn's body seemed to go transparent for a moment. That settled it. Every muscle in Moon's body tensed up with frustration and hatred. Celestia was alive! She was going to get her revenge, even if this was just a corrupted version of her, and then reality set in. Her vision started becoming blurry, but she wasn't sure what was causing it. Solar Flare still found it humorous.
"Terrified by what I'm going to do to your friends after you get out?" She laughed through her nose. "Taking on the guise of an alicorn like the other, but that didn't help them. What makes you think this will help you?"
"You're not her..." Moon mumbled.
"What?"
"You're not her!" The black alicorn exhaled her own breath once more, but it was still weak, and Solar Flare managed to hold it back with just an energy shield. "You're a magic echo! You're whatever shattered off of her and was placed here to protect this place. You're just a memory of her emotions." She stomped the ground several times afterwards, destroying it further and further until all that remained was a dark crater and rubble. Her mouth trembled, and her words came out in croaks. "You're...just her ghost..." Supposedly extremely insulted by this, Solar Flare prepared herself for another attack. "Come, then!" Nightmare Moon challenged. "Show me what passed for the fury of my sister! Burn me with her sun!"
The response was swift. Moon was tackled faster than she could react by a pony wreathed in a pillar of white fire. It felt like her body was going to turn to ashes at any time, but the twin moons remained a powerful element in her mind. Whatever they were doing was keeping the pony as strong as possible. She countered by forcing the stones in the newly excavated tunnel to smash into both sides of Solar Flare, rattling her brain. It was the perfect opportunity to grab her head in a lock with a foreleg and compress her magic onto their bodies. When the strain was too much, Moon let go. While she was simply throwing out of the tunnel and back into the air, Solar Flare found her body being twisted and contorted several times in a row in different directions. She smashed into a dozen bookshelves, throwing wood and reading material everywhere. The weird gravity of the archives made everything go in different directions; Some even elongated to suit the new zone.
"Pathetic," Moon taunted.
Solar Flare gave her 'sister' a toothy smile, and the black alicorn felt why. Throughout her body it felt like everything was on fire. It burned and burned, but, over a few seconds, she managed to disperse the spell, chasing away the smile directed at her.
"Are these the spells she used on ponies of that era?" Moon realized in horror. "What other things did she even do to them? What am I not seeing?"
Moon took a moment to catch her breath, but her opponent was not a patient sort, nor fair. She spun her head, growing her mane. From it came a tornado of fire that greedily ate away at the archives as it went towards Moon, but the alicorn was not impressed. She tore open a hole to space that extinguished the spell almost instantly.
This exchange continued for many hours on end, with each spell being more focused and grandiose than before. Solar Flare opened a hole to her furious sun that pelted the area with its own fury, missing Moon narrowly several times until she was caught and burned intensely. Nothing but blackness remained where she had been hit until her new magic finally healed her back to health.
Moon herself had created latices of the black light she breathed previously, striking Solar Flare over and over again. With every hit it seemed like more and more light left the ghost and it became sluggish, but this specter was stubborn.
This would have continued on for several more hours, but Moon could hear the statues starting to move again and didn't have time. With how exhausted she was and what little magic was left to her, she tried one last attack to destroy the heart of this echo, but it was too late. Solar Flare had caught her neck in a vice grip of lava and laughed as she tightened slowly.
"For your affronts to me I will slowly wring the life out of you, then the heat of your body shall feed my sun. It must be hungry after so long without anything to sav...S...Umff."
Solar Flare looked down and saw multiple blades of black light sticking out of her body. The lava was starting to cool as she looked up. She had been holding nothing. Moon had tricked her.
"A cliché tactic...But I learned that those who...who are most sure of themselves...are always open..." Moon wheezed.
The archives were a mess. Their powers had been so impressive that everything had been destroyed. Craters lay everywhere, books burned in midair, strange spatial tears seemed to corrupt the very air around them, turning them into a strange, black space or a burning zone of lava.
Moon grabbed the echo and looked at its furious gaze. That anger had not subsided. Just how mad was Celestia that this thing, which had only a fraction of her magic, only held such emotions even in its supposed death. And just how powerful had she become? Moon felt woefully pitiful now. Such immense power. Even if she hadn't been weakened by the poison, she would have had the same amount of difficulty handling this 'Solar Flare' as she did now.
As Moon looked at the burning, black eyes of this entity, it still raised a hoof, struggling to keep it straight, and gently bapped Moon on her cheek. Solar Flare gasped several times as the lava in her body cooled and turned black, but there was one last death throe in her.
"Give...her...back...!" she demanded weakly.
The pony instantly burst into thousands of tiny black particles that raised up and lingered in the air, and the archives reverted to a normal location. Well, relatively normal. They retained the oddity that the mare once saw when she entered, but the size was not even remotely close to how it was as she fought.
Moon had done it, though. She had finally triumphed over her sister! She had gotten her vengeance, and it was a hard-fought one! Her magic had been all-but-exhausted, and so some marks of battle remained singed upon her, but it was a victory nonetheless!
A victory...Why then, did Moon feel...hollow? Why was her vision becoming blurry? She fell to the ground. Only a few, faint hiccups voiced their existence in the vastness of Celestia's archives. The dark, empty, silent archives.
Moon felt cold, like whatever fire was keeping her active had gone out, leaving only inert embers behind. Still, she had come to Canterlot to get answers. The archive was vast, but with some searching magic, things would go by more easily. Without the echo of Celestia, the archives had recovered their pitch blackness. Moon's blue orbs made sure that everything would be illuminated. The shelves and books that had been rearranging themselves on their own had all frozen in place shortly after 'Solar Flare' had been defeated, but the particles of her body remained in the air, floating around independently of each other.
Whether that meant the magic was stagnant or she was going to reform was up to time. Moon checked hundreds of books on her own, growing increasingly aggravated by the lack of knowledge she was getting. She did, however, notice that many shelves weren't filled, and quite a few of them had the books fallen over into small stacks. Somepony had taken them all, or Solar Flare had transported the important books to her new castle. Angry, a tired Nightmare Moon kicked over a shelf, causing it to shatter and take two other shelves with it.
"The artifacts must be around here somewhere. If I can't get the knowledge I seek then I can at least loot valuable tools from her vaults," Moon growled weakly.
One of the blue orbs flew up in the air and began blinking rapidly, garnering the alicorn's attention. She quickly flew towards it and followed it past several frozen books and shelves. She ended up at the remains of two doors made from bronze. They had been melted off of their hinges. Upon closer inspection, these doors had melted a very long time ago, and because of the echo's spectral nature, it was unlikely to be it.
The chamber beyond was as crude as it was dirty: A simple hallway with a rounded ceiling and filled to the brim with dust, cobwebs, and rotten, wooden stands and displays.
"Let's see...Horn of an In-between, enchanted armor, enchanted armor, Broom from the witches of the Volcano of Gloom." Moon cleared her throat and shook her head. "Corrupted remains of the crystal heart..." She scoffed. "It came back, then?" She looked next to the dimly lit shard of crystal to see a fragment of a horn. "Sombra's horn?!" Moon cried out. She quickly scooped it in her magic and was about to seal it when she realized that it was just a fragile, worn-out thing. "As useless during battle as you were afterwards." The alicorn threw it angrily at the wall, shattering it easily. "Grogar's bell...thought it was lost." She continued. "Stinger Scepter from Queen Bumble...How did you even get this?" She noticed two broken medallions lying in heaps on the floor, buried by wood mulch. "The seals for Accord and Discord. Pure chaos and order magic." Moon poked them with her hoof. "Drained now."
Nightmare Moon looked back at everything and frowned. She hadn't named most of what was in there, but it would be a waste to leave these artifacts here, even if most of them were now useless and drained of their magic. More importantly, she didn't want the griffins getting to them. The statues wouldn't always be around or even be efficient in stopping them forever. She focused and drained the magic from the surroundings as best she could and teleported everything to her castle. In doing so, her horn made a 'pop' and smoke came from it. Searing pain surged through her body, but she pushed through. The mare had pushed herself too far.
"Those twin moons...they drained me too fast...Gh..."
A loud bang echoed through the archive, and then the alicorn remembered: The statues! They were still around! She had only temporarily disabled them. The doors were pulled open by the monstrosities, and Moon took the opportunity to escape scurrying past their legs like a mouse and bolting up the dark chasm. She was back in the former entrance of the castle and took a moment to recuperate. After several minutes had passed, the mare was approached by several of the blue orbs she had left behind. These ones wanted to show her something too.
The exhausted mare groaned whilst rolling her eyes and followed after them. They led her to the higher floors of the castle, each hallway and room more rotten and pungent-smelling than the last. Moon froze when the stench of ash reached her nostrils. The hallways were black, like something had burned them, and the orbs were going down it, illuminating every bit of extensive damage it had suffered. Somehow, the floor wasn't giving way under Moon's weight, but still, she crept slowly. Everything had been burned away. There were fragments of glass all over the floor from the buried windows, and metal armor had been melted down into a misshapen pile. At the end of the hallway stood an open doorway, and beyond it was an immense room. The ceiling had caved in, crushing whatever was beneath and blocking off the majority of the room.
The only thing intact was a vanity mirror that had been punched. Angrily. The wall looked like a small meteor had crashed into it, and cracks wormed their way in every direction. They even stretched across the ceiling and the floor. The vanity itself was mostly intact. The white paint was starting to peel off the wood, but there weren't any other signs of damage. Sitting underneath shards of the mirror was a charred book that Moon was careful to free of its confines. It was large and heavy, easily containing thousands of pages. Flipping through them, Moon realized that a lot of the pages had suffered burns. The intact pieces held only a seemingly random assortment of words that didn't make sense. It was unfortunate, but even if she had her magic back, Moon wouldn't be able to repair the book. Far too much time had passed. However, there were still quite a few pages left intact or only somewhat burnt yet still held comprehensible content.
Most of the pages were recountings of daily annoyances by Celestia, meetings and discussions with representatives of other countries, and talk of a 'student' sent to Ponyville. A pile of ash had fallen out from between the pages when Nightmare Moon raised and opened the book. She surmised that they were possibly the letters Celestia was referring to in her book. Moon chuckled. This was Celestia's diary. A mare her age was still writing things like this.
Disgusting.
At least Moon might still be able to gauge some value in the knowledge acquired here and be able to find the new castle Solar Flare's echo had mentioned. An entry caught the alicorn's eye, so she delved in.
I find myself worrying. My sister was meant to return last night, but I did not sense her return nor did I feel my banishment spell dissolve. Did she somehow learn new magics while sealed away? I realize now that I was not prepared to face her a second time. She would have likely had me suffer the same fate she had.
An entry ten days later.
I look and I find nothing. There are no signs of Luna anywhere. What is she doing? Is she hiding somewhere, biding her time? I wish you would come to me now, sister. Having to be separated from you for a thousand years, by my own hooves, is a searing pain I cannot withstand for much longer.
Moon flipped through the pages, many were further complaints or worries about Luna's whereabouts. An entry was made two years afterwards and was slightly charred, but the alicorn could fill in the missing words.
Several cells have been dismantled regarding my sister. Why they have started to worship her like some kind of mythical demon or spirit or whatever it is they call her, I cannot fathom. It's like she is playing for time and is purposefully running me ragged, but a curious thing happened today after my guards informed me of this strange cell.
A bizarre stallion approached me for an audience and told me to step down, if for no other reason than to guarantee the autonomy of my ponies. His ragged appearance was something I wouldn't forget: Mane and tail and coat unkempt, dirty, and rags covering his body. I offered to give him time at the castle to recoup and take care of himself, but he refused, asking me once again to step down.
I politely rejected the notion after having to silence the others waiting for an audience and my guards. All of them were yelling angrily at this poor stallion. I told him that now isn't the time for me to step down and that I must continue to watch my ponies, but I do not govern every aspect of their lives. If he wished to leave and go elsewhere then he was free to. I fear this bodes ill for the future.
Later pages continued the basic trend until a single page had been dented in with thick amounts of ash used to write.
"Give her back!" in large letters.
Moon went through the following pages, but they had all been mostly burnt away, leaving the alicorn to ponder the contents and to go through them again, hoping to piece together missing information.
"Going on a nostalgia trip?" a voice asked.
Moon immediately spun around, surprised by the sudden question. Out of the rubble walked a wispy being of shadows that was only vaguely shaped like Celestia.
"Is this another echo?" Moon asked.
"You broke the seals to the old archives, though. This is a surprise. They couldn't be broken for millennia," the entity stated in awe. "Bravo. Why, the thought that Celestia's remnant magic would have coalesced into an echo is inconceivable." It leaned forward and grabbed its chin. "It is still a surprise that such a thing even happened. Did she plan that?" A yellow eye appeared through the haze, staring at Nightmare Moon. "I see the poison is leaving your system." It spat, creating a brief trail of ink-black clouds away from it before they coalesced back into its body. "That shouldn't have happened."
"You? How?"
The figure shrugged. "Magic."
Moon rolled her eyes and placed the book under her wing. "Another attempt to kill me? Did you seal this place up?"
The entity shook its head. "Can't do those seals."
"Why are you even chasing me? You've tried to be rid of me twice already, and I suppose you are the ones that have been destroying and hiding everything, like you did this castle," Moon stated as she gestured to the room.
The figure looked down and held its chin up with a hoof. "Ones, hm?" it muttered. "This castle being here is the work of an alicorn."
Moon gave pause. "What?" she asked.
"Oh yes. Dangerous monsters, alicorns. She went mad and started to warp the lands of Equestria. New landmasses were born, cities were buried, lakes dried." It shook its head. "All those ponies dead because of her," it spat. "Couldn't leave well enough alone. Another alicorn that tries to control and conquer everything." It looked up at Moon and pointed a foreleg at her. "And you're no different. On your quest to reach this place, you almost destroyed the griffins' new home, and then you broke seals that have remained standing for years and freed an echo of the Solar Tyrant."
Moon leaned forward. She felt her hatred bubbling back up, but the intensity just wasn't quite what she was used to. It was a dim flame.
"I destroyed that echo," Moon flaunted. "Something you seem fully incapable of doing, foal." She stood tall and stomped towards the entity, causing it to shrink back in surprise. "You have nothing."
"You think you destroyed it? Idiot! You just freed it! Did you even seal the archives back up? Now it's going to wreak havoc on Equestria again! No regards to the well-being of other ponies." It pushed back against Moon, broadening its chest. "Always obsessed with their own powers and spreading it around."
Its anger quickly broke into a fit of laughter, keeling over several times before waving 'goodbye' to a baffled alicorn and dissipating into a tuft of smoke. She couldn't make heads or tails of this entity. Was it angry? Was it serious? Nonchalant? Was it just mocking her? Nightmare Moon readjusted her right wing and was reminded of the journal hidden underneath. At least she had gotten something out of this whole mess, and lost much more. All that was left was returning to the surface and finding Sunny...then going home. Home. Moon wasn't sure what that meant anymore.
She tightened her wing against the journal as she went back through the buried castle.
Nightmare Moon sat alone, in silence, within her sister's former room or at least what remained of it. A permanent scowl seemed to have manifested upon her face. After what she thought to be an hour of silent contemplation, the alicorn decided to retrace her steps and leave the castle, ignorant of a moon-shaped bauble that had survived the ceiling's collapse lying next to shattered jewelry.
A few griffins had set up a gambling box next to the entrance of the buried castle. They were playing with blocks and pyramids and shouting in jubilation or disappointment.
"When do we send the next group down there?" one of the griffins asked.
One of them twirled pyramids between her claws then threw them into the box. "I doubt the boss'd want to send anygriffin in there since that pony hasn't been seen for about a week now."
The first leaned forward. "And then? What about the one still here?"
"Been teaching our idiots to read." The griffin cursed under her breath when she got a bad throw, prompting the other griffins around to laugh.
"W-w-She's back?!" one of the laughers shouted in shock. "I thought she died!"
Nightmare Moon pulled herself out from the hole she found herself in and stomped forward, grabbing one of the griffins by the throat. "Where is your boss?" she 'asked' him.
The griffin pointed frantically to the side with his claws. "She's that way. In the big, rotted house. They have the other pony there t-Oof!"
Moon had chucked the griffin into a dirt wall, embedding him in there. The alicorn continued through the tunnels, throwing aside anyone that got in her way, be it intentional or not. She used her magic to blow down the door leading to the supposed home of Calostell. She and Bombastic were eating several meals of...insects...fried and laid on a plate. Using what little magic had returned to her, the alicorn locked the two by their throats and raised them high.
"You said griffins went in. There was no trace of them," Moon stated.
The alicorn noticed that the bird's clawing at the collar she was given was sparking. There were traces of obscene amounts of color in the tiny attacks. Chaos magic.
"How should I know about that? I sent them in, they didn't come out. I don't know anything about what has been happening in there," the bird struggled. "Why are you even strangling me? You could've just asked with a menacing glare."
Moon snorted. "I find the hooves-on technique works marvels compared to just using words." She dropped the two who fell on their rears. "Well?"
Bombastic pointed to the room to Nightmare Moon's right. She tore down the wall, revealing Sunny teaching some of the adult griffins how to write. The alicorn's eye twitched. In the brief moment that Sunny had taken his eyes off of the desk of his newfound student, Moon saw her sister's face. The face she always made when talking to the young foals at a school when she attempted to teach them something. Her blood started to boil.
"We're leaving," she declared.
"A-already?" He looked around nervously at the griffins. "But I haven't taught them adjectives and connectors y--"
He was grabbed violently by the mare's magic and pulled out of the house, but Calostell grabbed onto the door frame and called out to Moon with some difficulty.
"What about our deal? And how are you going to get out of here?"
The alicorn refused to turn around. "For the deal, you'll know when it takes effect. For getting out of here, I don't care. I'll go back through the hole we came in from."
The bird shook her head. "You three, direct my business partner out through one of the backways. It'll be faster for all of us."
Moon acquiesced after some trouble and followed the three through yet more cramped tunnels with Sunny behind her. With her magic as diminished as it was, there was no point in going through a fight. She had already had trouble beforehand, although she was still suffering from the poison. Celestia's enraged face kept popping up in the mare's mind. If that was just an echo, how did it form? The magic felt very similar to Celestia's and it claimed that Canterlot wasn't its home, but 'Solar Flare's' magic wouldn't have been able to coalesce into that sealed-off location on its own.
A chill grasped at Moon's heart, coursing through her veins to freeze her whole body from the inside-out. Her sister had always been the creative sort but limited herself because she wasn't interested in harming others. At worse, she would just prank them or make a little joke. If she didn't think to limit herself, or if she was in such a blinding rage that she was destroying everything around her just by existing, what would she have done? No. 'What could she do' was a better question. All that Nightmare Moon had left of her former sibling was the book she was hiding under her wing.
"Here you go," one of the griffins announced. The group had come out of what was essentially a giant rat hole on the city outskirts. The griffin pointed a claw at the alicorn and gave her a stern look. "You better uphold your end of the bargain."
"Don't threaten her, you idiot!" Sunny begged in whisper.
"You're alright though, pony. Thank you for teaching us, even if it was short. I hope to be able to use it in the future for a real profession."
The griffin patted the unicorn on his back, leaving him dumbfounded that his warning was completely ignored.
"Did you see that? They completely ignored me!" He stomped towards Nightmare Moon who was staring blankly straight ahead. "Y-your majesty? Are you okay?" Moon levitated the journal out from underneath her wings and stared at the dirty cover. "What's that?"
"We're going back to the castle," Moon stated weakly.
Sunny could feel that something was wrong and kept silent. He was terrified of this being and what she could do if he tried to pry deeper, so he waited. The trip back to Snowfege was a silent and uneventful one, much to the unicorn's worry. Moon's magic power gradually returned as her body recovered from burning away all the poison remaining in her and her last-ditch effort to eliminate the echo of her former sister-gone-mad. Finally, after days of half-hearted flight, the city came into view.
Creak
The city had become boring since the festival. Again. Just like before.
Creak.
The mayor tried to stroke his beard but only found his hoof poking a short goatee. It was starting to come back finally. Slowly but surely. He heaved a sigh. He was too impatient for it to come back.
Creak.
The twins were sitting in front of him, exchanging worried glances and holding clipboards against their laps. The room was entirely silent. An eye was slowly cast to the side of the twins. Next to the entrance -or exit in this case- of the office was one of the heavy guardsponies. King Gallant had deemed it necessary to give the mayor a personal bodyguard, but the mayor was no fool. He might've been a bit immature, something he refused to deny to himself, but he was no naive idiot. Every movement he did was watched by the guard and reported back. The mayor grinned and jerked in his chair. He saw the armor twitch in response and sat back in his chair with a satisfied smirk. The twins grumbled together.
They wanted to talk with him, but they were uncomfortable with the guard in the room. It wasn't enough that the king had stationed guards everywhere on top of the local military, but now they couldn't even really say anything without it being monitored. It was obvious that the king and queen wanted to root out anypony who was sympathetic to the alicorn's potential rule. If she had no pony siding with her then her war would be over before it started. Somepony like Nightmare Moon wouldn't be interested in burning away everything and having nothing to lord over.
Creak.
The mayor rotated his chair towards the window. It wasn't something that had gone unnoticed by the twins. Every day the mayor would frequently turn around, even when he was taking care of the paperwork, to check if something unique like Nightmare Moon's arrival would happen again. They worried, because the stallion's health seemed to be declining since the alicorn had left. He wasn't eating as frequently as he used to, and his sleep became erratic. It was like he had reverted to a foal awaiting the return of his parents every day. Bags had started forming under his eyes and his coat had started to become unkempt and dry. It seemed like that arrival had been what he was looking for in life. A long-awaited purpose, but now that it had come and gone, there was nothing left. At least, not while the alicorn was gone, and now it seemed like she wouldn't come back. Did something happen to her? It was torture.
"What is that?" Candy Cane asked as he narrowed his eyes.
The guard looked at them silently and gasped. His body trembling. He was quick to rush out of the office, leaving the three to look at the bright and cloudy sky outside. The mayor's eyes lit up.
Moon dropped Sunny off in the courtyard of the castle and returned, on her own, to her 'room' above the throne room. A garden had been prepared in the courtyard, ready to have vegetables planted within it. The guards still patrolled around as if nothing happened, but now the armored ponies of the royal family were here as well. Three of them rushed out of the mostly-rebuilt main body of the castle in a panic. They were screaming about Moon's return, but the other soldiers didn't react. If anything, they seemed bored. The unicorn picked up on the behavior and raised a brow. Were they actually that used to Nightmare Moon that they considered her presence to be a normal occurrence?
Fatigue crept over Moon as she sat in her silent, empty room. She looked at the windows letting in dim light from outside. How was it that such huge windows let in so little light? They reached the ceiling! It was...not important.
Energy drained from the mare despite her magic returning to her. It felt limitless, like she only had a hole in her that magic funneled into and disappeared from the world. Moon yawned and sat down while placing the journal on the floor. Her first real possession in this new world and it was her sister's. Well, her first furnishing, really. What to do now? Was there anything left to do? How long had she been waiting up here? She looked briefly over her shoulder to see Sunny being dropped off by a pegasus who saluted him and flew to the side, out of view.
"Your majesty? Did something happen in the week you were in that castle?"
Moon's pupils shrunk. "I was in there for a week?"
"Y-yes." The stallion made several attempts to look Moon directly in her eyes. "Well, almost ten days, actually. We had been hearing lots of loud noises coming from the hole, and the trash city shook a couple of times though."
Moon stared at the ground, her eyes darting back and forth between bits of information that only she could see. She fought against the echo for that long? It wasn't possible. Surely there was some kind of temporal anomaly there. Nopony could fight that long. Even an alicorn's magic would deplete in an hour or less if they were really serious. She looked to her hooves and took a deep breath to calm herself. Just what had she and her sister become?
"Can I--"
"I just need some time alone," Moon reassured her servant.
Sunny was taken aback. That was the calmest he had ever heard her. "Okay. If you're sure."
He was about to turn around when Moon stopped him. She looked at his coat and mane and heaved a sigh. "I must speak to you about something important regarding your ancestry."
The unicorn felt he was going to regret staying but did so. "Okay?"
"Do you know why I kept you around when I could have just as well disposed of you and chosen another pony?" she asked him.
The stallion shrugged. "Because you felt that I was important and that you didn't want other ponies to be terrified of you and also because I could speak old ponyish well enough that I was able to learn from you?" Sunny gasped then gave the alicorn a sheepish smile.
Moon raised a brow and shook her head. "No. I thought you looked vaguely like my sister and thought it would be a good warm-up to when I was able to face her finally." She stood up and turned to face her servant. "Yet, as time went on, I started noticing more similarities between you two. Your behavior, your preferences,-" She pointed to the side. "And more recently that expression you made when you were teaching the griffins!" she declared. The mare dropped down to her haunches as if her legs were too weak to carry her. "I had my suspicions, but now I know."
Sunny was carrying a worried expression. "Know what?" the pony asked.
"You're a descendant of my sister: Princess Celestia."
Sunny's whole world came crashing down around him. His blood had frozen in its veins, his heart stopped, his lungs refused to pump more oxygen, and he felt something contracting around his brain, yet he remained alive somehow.
"I don't know h..." Moon caught herself. "I don't know when she bore children, but I am at least aware that it happened before she went mad and became consumed by this all-devouring rage. With all documents of those times being gone, I have no way of tracing the points between you and her, but your mane and tail are dead giveaways that you're related. No pony else has ever acquired such a pattern nor colors in their lives nor of any generation but her." She paused a moment then shoo'd the stallion away. He didn't budge. It seemed he had turned into a statue as well.
Nightmare Moon shook her head and called for the guards to take him away. They mused on his stiffness and left quickly, leaving Moon to look once more at the contents of the journal and peer at the final pages. The words scribbled deeply and angrily against what Nightmare Moon could only surmise was paper. They hadn't changed.
The guards and Sunny standing at the entrance of the castle leaned to the side. This old stallion somehow managed to drag a super heavy pony draped in thick armor the whole way. The pony seemed to have been hanging on for dear life since he let go the moment the mayor stopped and dropped his head with a loud groan.
"I'm sorry, but we don't have any authority on that," the guard said.
"What?!" the mayor shouted. He stomped forward, fury in his eyes. "She came back, didn't she?" He caught sight of Sunny and pointed menacingly at him. "You! You're meant to be watching her. Let me see her!"
Sunny's mouth opened and closed several times. He couldn't muster anything. His brain was currently overloaded.
"Sunny?"
The guard stepped in front of the mayor. "Sir, this young stallion has had a long trip. I suggest you let him rest for the time being.," the pony suggested.
"But...She's--!" the mayor gestured to the keep.
"When she's ready, sir." The guard looked at the keep then pulled the stallion in by the loose skin of his neck. "Don't start anything with her!" the guard reprimanded angrily through clenched teeth. "I do not want to deal with whatever is wrong with those two!"
The mayor raised a brow at Sunny when the stallion absent-mindedly passed him by to go back to the city. "Interesting," he thought. "Her simply being here is good enough for me. The guards will be in a panic anyways. At least I'll get some amusement out of this, provided this strangeness doesn't last too long."
It had been several weeks since Moon had returned from her trip, but both she and Sunny had become despondent. Moon rarely left her castle, leaving guidance to its reconstruction loose and undirected. The ponies collectively shrugged and rebuilt everything as it used to be but didn't do anything further. The populace had breathed a sigh of relief after realizing that Nightmare Moon wasn't going to conscript and send them all to war or whatever other dark idea came by their minds. One even posited that she was going to eat all their firstborn children. Why else would she have such sharp and long fangs and teeth?
Rumors were churned out nearly hourly from the rumor mill, but they were never close to reaching the level of the actual thing. While the citizens of Snowfege knew she was there, the travelers that came by the city started believing it to be nothing more than hearsay and 'local superstition'. An oddity considering Moon's activity. An oddity that didn't escape the mayor nor the twins.
"Somepony is poking and prodding at our favored -and somewhat depressed- guest," the mayor noted. He tapped the top of his desk with a hoof and furrowed his brow evermore. "She's quite literally gone about the tattered remains of ol' Equestria, and the thestrals are all worked up about it."
"Yes, but they have always been a bit...nutty when it came to the alicorns," Candy Cane lamented. His nervous chuckle ended in a sigh. "Their stories and joyful demeanor have always been something of a contentious subject with the other tribes, let alone non-ponies."
The ponies sat in fatigued silence, listening to the ponies below getting ready for spring to come.
"I'm honestly at a loss. I'm not sure what could be the cause of this. It's obvious somepony is messing about, but how?" the mayor wondered.
"It...it could be that there's groups with a large amount of power doing it?" Candied Cane supposed. "With enough power they could be falsifying testimonies, spreading lies and rumors, and generally muddying everything up to make everything even more confusing."
The mayor's eyes widened, then he slapped his forehead with a hoof. "Of course. That makes perfect sense!"
"And the creatures that were here during the festival believed Nightmare Moon to be a new attraction of sorts. That might have added to the problems," Candy Cane added worryingly.
The mayor nodded. "Whoever is causing all the issues took her traveling into account, and because Equestria is fractured and nopony really likes each other, that leaves room for easy manipulation of information." A sly grin formed on the mayor's face. "Fantastic. Now we have an evil secret society in the background manipulating things," he said gleefully. He was getting so excited that it seemed difficult for the elder stallion to keep himself from hiccupping with delight. "Do you think they wear mysterious black cloaks? What if they know some long-forgotten magic that warps the world, or it's some artifact from a long-lost civilization of the past come to haunt us. OoOoOo!"
The two assistants stared at the mayor, frowning.
Candied Cane pointed at the mayor. "You've been reading too many mystery novels."
Candy cane leaned against the wall. "It doesn't change that Sunny and the alicorn both came back in the strangest states, but I suppose that's for the best. No more chaos brought about by the alicorn's existence." He frowned suddenly. "Wait, how would the face on the moon disappearing be covered up?"
He was met with a scoff and hoof wave from the mayor. "Not important. We need to get those two back to normal. You two will go to the alicorn and try and figure out if there's anything you can do. I'll go to Sunny's home and try and bring him back to our world."
The twins looked at each other then back to the mayor, their eyes wide and pupils shrunken. "And what if we refuse?" they asked in unison.
"Then find a job elsewhere." He smiled mischievously as he watched the two squirm. The old stallion knew those two adored this job despite constant protests against his decisions. "Well?"
Candy dragged his legs across his mane and down his face. "Fine!" he groaned reluctantly. "But you better give us a bonus after this!"
The elder frowned. "We'll see from the results. I might give you more than you expect if I'm happy with the successful results." He stood up gave the twins a stern look. "We must figure out what is wrong with those two and get them back to speed at all costs. I don't know if your theories are correct or if the world is just a mess in general, but I believe we need them to push forward. We've stagnated for too long."
"Stag...nated?" Candied repeated.
The mayor was already leaving by the time the twins were about to ask him to explain himself.
He was a tired old soul, the mayor. He had been in the world for so many decades and had been so bored for most of it. For beings that had, at most, eighty years of life with diseases -and a miserly life it was-, how did the alicorns manage to push on for millennia at a time? How could he, who lived mere decades, compare to the misery of existence of an immortal? And yet, he saw the future in the past. Every day he repeated these same questions and realizations in his mind ever since he first cast his eyes upon that black, ghostly coat and the blood of the galaxy serving as her mane and tail. The magnificence she held was overshadowed merely by the possibilities she brought with her. He felt himself getting weaker trying to surmise the potential outcomes before him. Or maybe it was just because he was getting older.
The stallion arrived at the university dorms, ignoring the students wandering around. He entered the lobby, passing by the many plants held in pots lining the walls. One of the security guards at the entry desk confronted the mayor, but once told of what the mayor was going to do, the guard informed him of where Sunny was residing. The Mayor punched himself mentally. He was so intent on his goal that he forgot to check the room number. Looking around, he realized just how opulent the dorms were. In fact, the lobby wasn't just a small area, it was the entire first floor! Several sofas and couches were set about in groups of two or three next to small tables with a single lantern on them. All of this was sitting on a blackish-brown carpet of surprising cleanliness. Each floor wasn't even properly separated! Every floor was a hollow square with just enough room that two ponies could squeeze next to each other, and walls with guard rails that arrived just at the top of a pony's head to prevent them from falling. Pegasi and other flying creatures were able to come and go as they pleased. The lower half of the walls seemed to be covered in some form of brown-colored velvet, and the upper half in white wallpaper with some random, repeating patterns.
Along the walls were many lamps with a light crystal in them, and all were sitting beneath a large, metal pipe through which hot water flowed. It wasn't perfect but the ambient heat warmed up the surrounding air. It would have been better to just put that in the rooms themselves rather than waste them outside where the heat disappeared into this gigantic hole of a building, the mayor thought.
Regrets were being had as well, however. Sunny lived on the eighth floor. The mayor would have to climb all those steps to get there. When he finally arrived, he crawled away from the edge and took a few minutes to gasp for air and let old muscles rest. He certainly gained ten extra years of life just with that. At least the carpeting was soft.
"Where...is he...?"
It took some looking, but Sunny's door was finally found: number eight-one-zero.
The mayor eyed the number and became flustered for reasons beyond his own understanding. "Hrm..." He tapped the door several times before calling out to Sunny. "Sunny. It's the mayor! Open the door!" There was no answer. "Open the door or I'll bust it open! I have the money to pay for the repairs! Don't think I won't flaunt my assets!"
His anger subsided partially when he heard the familiar clicking of locks letting themselves go. The mayor took in a deep breath, ready to withstand the buffeting of foul odors and garbage piled about a room slathered in darkness. When he opened his eyes, he was dumbfounded. Everything that he could see was spick and span, and the curtains to the window were left open.
"Mayor?" a weak voice called out. "Why did you come here?"
The stallion shoved the door open and inspected the small room. There was a neat shelf past the entrance in what the mayor could only assume to be the primary room. It was lined with many different historical books. There were several more piled next to it and on a simple wooden table directly beneath the only window of the room.
"I was honestly expecting...worse," the mayor noted.
"I...don't have much in food or drinks or anything so I can't really...offer you anything," Sunny lamented.
Despite keeping his room clean and illuminated, Sunny was a mess. The color faded from his mane and tail which both dangled limply. Bags were underneath his eyes that seemed to have lost all light within them, he held a permanent, miserable frown and seemed to have lost weight.
"I didn't come here to mooch off your meager rations, colt," the mayor replied sternly.
"Then why are you here?"
The mayor took in another deep breath. There was no sign of any foul odors either. "I thought you were depressed or something," he said while looking around. "You look like you've kept everything in perfect order, though."
"I'm not depressed." The young stallion gave his visitor a weak smile. "I'm studying for school. Could you please leave? I haven't slept in a long time and I'm way behind my studies."
The elder viewed Sunny with suspicion. "Oh, sure. I can leave." The mayor raised a foreleg then spun around towards the table. "Oh, but wait. I forgot." He sat down and glared at Sunny. "What happened to you two? Neither you nor the alicorn have left their respective homes in a long while, and that's concerning."
Sunny coughed into his hoof and avoided his visitor's gaze. "Oh, well, I don't know about her majesty, but I stopped because the trip was exhausting and I wanted to catch up with my studies!" He briefly met the mayor's eyes then immediately looked down to his hooves. "Being with her has expanded my knowledge of Canterlot Ponyish significantly, and I'm going to use that knowledge to further my position at my university and, with luck, graduate earlier."
All these fake smiles were annoying the mayor who gave Sunny a derisive look in return. "Uh-huh..." he yawned. "And you discovering something that bothered the two of you a lot has nothing to do with it."
"Um..." Sunny started thinking. "Not...anything significant, I don't think."
"He really thinks I'm an idiot," the mayor thought angrily. "Come clean, colt. She said that you were going to discover Canterlot." The mayor noticed Sunny twitch almost unnoticeably at the name of that fabled city. "And knowing her personality, she wouldn't have returned before that."
"It's fine, really!"
The mayor grunted then heaved a sigh. "Sunny Dimples, your experiences have obviously deeply affected the both of you, but you need to know that alicorns are immortal. You aren't." He adjusted himself to look straighter. "I'm not asking you to simply reject whatever ails you, but to also tell me what happened, as you aren't the only pony in distress at present, and without knowing what happened, neither of you can be helped." He leaned forward and spoke more softly. "Especially the alicorn, who will likely be that way the rest of her life, which is forever."
Sunny started fidgeting nervously in place, unsure of what to do and worrying his visitor. "You can't help!" the young stallion finally cried out. "I learned things I never wanted to, and she learned things worse off for her!" he cried out.
"What did you learn?" the mayor asked as calmly as he could.
"I'm related to her! To Nightmare Moon!" Sunny shouted. The Mayor was taken aback. "But indirectly...or directly. I don't know how siblings work!"
The mayor gave pause. "She has a sibling?"
"Yes. A sister. I'm apparently related to her." Sunny looked away.
"This is amazing news! He's a literal, true descendant of an alicorn! And I thought all those nobles were the source of hot air for the airships! Calm! I need to stay calm or he'll shut himself out." The mayor collected his thoughts and continued. "And you're bothered by this? How come? Even the nobles would die to know of a true descendant of an alicorn."
Sunny took in a deep breath then looked past the mayor towards the angry sun blotted out by the clouds. "She was the Solar Tyrant." The Mayor stared silently at Sunny. "She caused untold suffering, and she's why the sun is the way it is..."
"...Who?" the mayor asked. "I don't know who that is, Sunny."
The young unicorn chuckled to himself after facehoofing. "Oh. That's right. It's something the thestrals shared. She was an alicorn that was supposedly caring and loved her subjects, then one day went mad and started destroying everything." Sunny looked to the side. "I know it sounds stupid like that, but that's what I recall, more-or-less. Her majesty probably knows more. She apparently fought some kind of apparition of her sister in the ruins of Canterlot underground." The unicorn ignored the mayor repeating 'underground', seemingly shocked. "I thought that meant there was another living alicorn, but she explained afterwards."
"And so, you're related to her," the mayor prodded. Sunny nodded. "Okay. And?"
The unicorn was taken aback? "Wh-what do you mean and?! She's my ancestor! I have the blood of a world-destroying monster flowing through my veins!"
The mayor nodded. "Yes, and again I ask you: And? What do her actions have to do with you?"
"I--! I...ah..." The stallion's rage almost instantly made way for confusion. "But she is part of my family."
The mayor shrugged. "And? I have a mass murderer in my gene pool and it doesn't affect me," he blurted out casually.
"You what?!"
He shrugged again. "Oh yeah. Crime syndicate stuff, you know. Pshaw," he waved it off dismissively. "The important thing is that they are their own beings. The actions of the parent are not the responsibility of the child. You are your own being, and if her blood flows through your veins then it means you've potentially inherited some of her power, if even a smidgen, a modicum of it." The stallion walked towards the defeated unicorn and gave him a smile. "But they're not her powers. They're yours. Be proud that you have a lineage that no pony else can lay claim to nowadays without having to throw millions of bits to add weight to that claim." the mayor chuckled. "Plus, it means you're also related to Nightmare Moon, making her your great great...great..." The stallion snorted. "I'm not doing that bit," he mumbled. "Your many-times-factorial aunt, and she's alive and..." He rubbed his chin and groaned. "Mostly well, I imagine." He walked towards the door. "I'm not asking you to immediately make peace with what you are. You know more about that subject than I do...mostly because you didn't share it, but I ask that you not let weigh on your mind the actions of one who lived before even your grandparents' grandparents existed. They are not your responsibility and were fully aware of their actions. Okay? I hope to see you out of your room at some point. I'll be at the castle, seeing to my assistants if you feel like coming out today."
He waved Sunny goodbye then closed the door, a grin of satisfaction on his face, then he went pale. "Wait, can she even communicate with them yet without Sunny?!" he realized.
The twins stood in front of the castle barbican and stared at the keep nervously. The guards kept close watch but were otherwise unsure of what to do.
"We're not paid enough for this," Candy whined.
"I wish that alicorns weren't actually a thing," Candied echoed. She sat and held her head between her hooves. "Everything was going relatively easy. We got that fantastic job, we got to do whatever we wanted..." The mare slumped. "And now we're talking and conspiring with a literal god born of the moon who can make us disappear just by being too close to her."
Candy babbled. "W-wh...She can do that?" His question was met with a shrug.
"What do you need, assistant mayors? You've been standing there, bickering for several minutes," a guard asked.
"We came to see the alicorn," Candied Cane replied. "I'm hoping there's nothing wrong with that?"
The guard became visibly nervous. "Well, she hasn't come out of the keep since she came back. You'll have to fly up to her yourselves."
"You're not helping?!" Candy shouted in disbelief.
The guard shook her head. "No way! I don't know what she'll do if we distract her!"
The stallion thought deeply then turned to his sister with a wide smile on his face. "She might be dead! This whole thing could be over!" he whispered enthusiastically.
Candied looked at him with revulsion. "Brother, that's a terrible thing to say!" She paused. "But yes. That would be best for the situation, I suppose," she noted dismissively.
The guard directed them to the keep where they stopped and hesitantly peered in through the doors into an empty, freezing cold chamber with nothing in it. They could only catch a glimpse of light coming from above. Limbs became heavy and the air stagnant. It stung their airways with every inhale, but the twins went in reluctantly while the guard stayed behind.
"W-wait, you're not coming with us?" Candy asked.
The guard laughed heartily. "Oh Hades, no. I'm not getting near her. You don't mess with her. Salute!" the guard said with a salute and disappeared into the courtyard.
There was a short pause while the dumbfounded twins tried to recollect themselves.
"That was cringe-inducing," Candied wheezed.
Candy rubbed his throat and tried to clear it several times. "I think phlegm just tried to block my throat," he croaked.
They both looked back up at the light and gulped in unison.
"Well, let's just get this over with. If it doesn't work then we can just get the mayor, wherever he is."
Reluctantly, the two flew up to the platform out of reach of most ponies and gradually rounded the corner. There might have been windows, but they weren't visible. All the twins could see was the alicorn on the floor, surrounded by a vortex of black smoke producing intermittent flashes of pale pink and purple. Nightmare Moon herself would occasionally flash a bright blue that seemed to linger in the air around her.
"Uhh...Is that normal?" Candied asked. Candy shrugged. "Oh. Right," she groaned.
Candy cleared his throat and slowly approached the alicorn. "Uhhh...Miss Alicorn?"
He was shoved by Candied. "You're supposed to say 'Your Highness'!" she berated him behind clenched teeth.
"But I don't know how to say that in Old Canterlotese or whatever the language was!"
The two started to panic, pacing about the room, unaware that Nightmare Moon wasn't reacting to their existence.
"What do we do?! How do we talk to her? I thought that stallion with the weird mane was taking care of it?!" Candy shouted.
"I don't know! W-w-we should shake her, you know?!" Candied blurted. "Shake her awake or something!" The two looked at her and gulped audibly. "You first, big brother."
He raised a brow at her. "You're the one who is a few minutes older. You go, dearest older sibling."
"That's just a technicality! Now you're arguing semantics" Candy shrugged in response, annoying his sister. She threw her wings forward. "Look, how about we both touch her and, if she doesn't move, we leave?"
The stallion thought deeply then acquiesced with a sigh. "Fine. Together then."
The two approached Nightmare Moon and slowly inched their hooves beneath the strange magical objects floating around her. If they didn't touch those, it would be alright, right?
Candied stumbled and fell forward. In the second that it occurred, she turned around and reflexively grabbed her brother's foreleg, pulling him into her fall towards the inanimate alicorn. Yet still, she spotted something lurking in the corner of her eyes scampering away before she could get a good look at it. The next thing the mare knew, they were floating in some horrifying void of purples, reds, and blues. A chaotic amalgamation of colors. All in an instant. She couldn't process everything.
"Oh, I knew this was a bad idea!" Candy cried. "I just wanted to go back to our office and do some standard, normal work! Now we're stuck in this...catastrophic cacophony of colors!" Candied stared at him. "What?"
"Came up with that on your own on the spot?" she asked.
The stallion tilted left and right. "Kinda." The two kept quiet, looking around their new location, unable to register what was happening. "So...which way is up?" Candy asked.
The two ponies had been gradually floating around but were still in standing position. They hadn't paid attention to it when they had just briefly entered this world, but now that they were able to observe everything quietly, they finally noticed their involuntary movement.
Candied looked around and frowned. "I...don't know," she worried.
Candy started panicking. "How do we even move? Are we supposed to move?" he shouted.
"I don't know!" the mare responded in kind.
The chaotic mess of colors turned black, and the two ponies felt like they were being pulled by something. They were going faster and faster until they slammed on a tiled floor and slid along. They couldn't make much out, but it looked like a stone building with tan-colored walls and giant, pony-sized tiles on the floor. The walls were thick and the sun shone brightly through empty windows above. Only a few wooden panels hung on creaky hinges, and most of the wooden panels had fallen off. Upon closer inspecting, the walls and floor were cracked, and there was wooden debris everywhere. In fact, it wasn't sunny outside. It looked like there was a conflict of interest between who could stay within the sky above, creating a corona of light around an eclipsed sun and filling the sky with purples, reds, oranges, blues, and flickers of green passing between a few stars bleeding through the sunlight. There was an acrid stench of iron and ash. The mixture was uncanny and made the ponies' eyes water in response to inhaling it.
"What is this?" Candy wondered in shock. The two looked around, baffled. "First, the alicorn is surrounded by some swirling clouds, then we end up in a void with no up and down, and now we're in some kind of unfinished building?" He kicked a pile of wooden debris on the floor and coughed when he breathed in some of the disturbed dust. "Abandoned unfinished building," he stated with boredom.
Candied rubbed her forehead and shook her head afterwards. "Well, the only thing we can do now is look around and try to make sense of...whatever any of this is. We entered the magic field of a literal goddess, so this must be the work of extremely powerful magic. Hopefully we can get back if we find a source, or the alicorn or whatever."
"Guess we're going that way then," Candy said as he pointed down the hallway.
This was beyond their paygrade, but now they were trapped and were forced to find an escape. The building they were in was quite immense, judging by the area they entered. It looked like an old throne room with the walls stretching higher and higher into an arched ceiling, but there wasn't much in terms of decoration. Most of the room was barren save for pillars built into the walls. Walls that had holes in them or were damaged. The same could be said of the floor tiling which displayed gaps exposing the naked ground beneath them.
"Over there!" Candied cried out.
She rushed towards a pony splayed on the ground. He was wearing a singed helmet that didn't cover much of his head. It covered a bit of the back of the neck and the top of the head, but there was no protection for the ears or the rest of their face. Their sky-blue coat only peered through in small portions through the charred blackness of the rest of their body. There were other ponies laying on the ground as well, unmoving and silent. Some wore blue helmets, others white or yellow. Some had wood-leather armor, others were bare. Regardless, the whole chamber was littered with them, and some were hanging off the base of the empty windows or stuck against the walls.
A laugh broke the two out of their stupor.
"What was that?" Candied wondered aloud.
"It sounded a bit like that alicorn, no?" Candy breathed heavily and his wings twitched. "I don't want to, but we should check the source and confirm if it's her. She might be able to get us out of this place."
The two followed the laughter as best as they could, going down the path of ponies to a torn down wall leading to an open balcony protected by a stone roof and many small columns on the edges of the platform meant to hold it up. Beneath the roof itself was a throne whose back had been broken off, leaving only a sliver of chiseled stone sticking upright. A familiar figure stood behind it in front of a hole between the small columns, holding up what appeared to be a pony, but one the twins did not recognize. They could only make out a white coat and a massive mane of pastel colors floating and waving on its own.
"Luna, please don't do this!" the pony begged. It was a mare.
The dark figure laughed. "But it was all for me, sister. You did this all for me," 'Luna' growled.
The white pony was dropped and fell down whatever chasm this place stood over. The figure turned around, laughing fervently at her victory. The two noticed this pony seemed familiar but...not known. The sun outside vanished, leaving the moon to take its place in the sky. It was a nauseating sight for reasons that escaped the twins.
Candied squinted and tried to make out all the details. "She looks...kinda like..."
She became quiet once the alicorn opened her eyes to glare at her. The alicorn's eyes reminded the pegasus of a dragon of ancient folklore.
The alicorn clicked her tongue. "They're bleeding into my dreamscape..." she growled. "To another," she croaked.
The twins found themselves in the void again. This time, however, there was no calmness to it. It was more akin to being swept up into a tornado and thrown about violently between more of them traveling together. Their screams couldn't be heard over that of the storm of chaos they had been thrown in. Senses were jumbled and thrown upside-down. They had no way of righting themselves up or even getting out of it. Then, as suddenly as it began, they were free. Standing on solid ground. Another location. This time more...insalubrious to a pony's well being.
A field of batttle in a rocky, squarish field of black obsidian. Tattered flags and ruined ponies strewn about the battlefield. Destroyed wagons and siege weaponry holding onto tattered cloth that flapped in the wind. In a ditch further down the black alicorn was present once more, this time badly wounded. Her wing hung to her side and her face and parts of her body had been scorched. She had to hold up her right hindleg as she looked down upon the white pony again, multiple spears and swords raised and pointed at her with magic.
"You...you put up a good fight, sister," the black alicorn complimented through her wheezing. "But the night has won in the end."
The weapon went down, and the pastel mane and tail lost their color and movement. The alicorn chuckled to herself as she struggled to turn around while the night asserted itself. Her smile was quick to disappear when she noticed the twins staring at her.
"What? Again?! Leave me be!"
Another shift, another trip in the storm, another environment. Pipes and cogs everywhere. Ponies engulfed in gigantic, metal bodies. The same white alicorn whose face the two couldn't see. Another conquest. Another night. Another discovery of the twins. No matter how many times the scene was changed, the twins would always reappear somewhere around the black alicorn. Again and again they would reappear, and again and again they would vanish. At some point the twins no longer cared about the storm they were cast into constantly. After over a dozen times of being pulled in and out of the vortex, the two were kept within the chaos and confronted with the alicorn whose body had morphed yet again.
No longer did it have a black coat with a tall, thin body. No longer were its wings shaped like crescent moons. No longer did blue armor adorn its head, chest, and hooves. The only thing that remained consistent was her ethereal mane and tail vaguely resembling the night sky waving on their own. Her coat was a dark shade of blue, she was much shorter, and she was more akin in appearance to a normal pony. However, surrounding her body was a ghostly shape of Nightmare Moon made of a black smog. It possessed a face that floated just above the alicorn's, although its eyes were hollow. It seemed to be imitating the smaller alicorn's facial expressions. Here it was baring its teeth and frowning at the twins.
"Who are you and what are you doing here? How did you even get in here?" the alicorn asked.
Candy stepped forth, his body shaking from nervousness. "We uh...we were just trying to talk with Nightmare Moon. She was surrounded by some weird cloud spell thing. We touched it, then we found ourselves here."
"We have been trying to find her to get out of this place and then get back to the office and never speak of this again," Candied added. She leaned forward. "Do you know how to escape this place? I'm pretty sure Nightmare Moon would know."
The blue alicorn's expression lightened, followed by the cloud of Nightmare Moon. She leaned back and straightened her neck, and her voice was firm but tired. "I am Nightmare Moon." The twins froze, as though the concept was not comprehensible in any state. "This is my dreamscape, so leave me be. I'm living through what should have been mine. What IS mine by right! Denied to me by who knows what!"
The two ponies were stunned, not just at this entity's appearance but at her claims.
"But...but how? You're not Nightmare Moon! She's a terrifying looking p-pony who acts just as...erm, terrifying!" Candy yelled.
The alicorn flashed a smile. "It's not with flattery that you'll be leaving this place, not that I know how you got here in the first place." She rubbed her chin, the whispy copy mimicking her. "I feel I know you two from somewhere. Are you related to Sunny in any way?"
"Insofar as we are meant to follow him, as asked by the mayor," Candied answered. "We don't know much else. Couldn't really be bothered. Didn't seem important enough for that." The mare turned, realizing that her brother was stunned.
Candy seemed engrossed. "So...this is what you look like here? Is it what you actually look like?"
"What?" the alicorn responded flatly.
"You look...much smaller and less intimidating." He heaved a sigh of relief and his body seemed to sag. "I prefer you like this," he wheezed.
The alicorn furrowed her brow and her ear flicked. Candy smiled sheepishly and slowly moved away.
Moon looked herself over and snorted. "Fantastic. I'm in my weaker form before I took in the night to get my just rewards for all my hard labor."
"You mean you changed into this form?" Candy asked.
Moon exhaled through her nose and sank down. "Always heard ponies saying 'Oh, Princess Luna got consumed by her jealousy and anger', or 'She was possessed by some creature of darkness' or somesuch nonsense." She smiled, revealing normal teeth. Well, normal for her. The sharp fangs were still present in the strange dark echo of her. "I did this through my own choice. No such pithy rainbow magic is going to 'free' me from my anger and hatred." She lied down silently, and no pony said a word until a thought crossed the alicorn's mind. "Are you going to tell me how you got here now?"
"We did!" Candied shouted. "We told you that we saw you in the keep, touched those cloud things around you, and then found ourselves pulled into here!"
The alicorn shook her head. "Those wouldn't pull you into here," she stated calmly. The mare thought deeply before continuing. "It's a longshot since you're all backwards, but did you have any magical artifacts on you or did somepony use magic to send you here?"
The stallion furrowed his brows, clearly insulted. "Backwards?" Candy repeated quietly.
Candied looked down and pushed against her chin with a hoof. "I don't know if it was just a hallucination or me seeing wrong because of the smoke, but I saw something when Candy pushed me." She threw the stallion a brief glare from the corner of her eyes. "I think it was a pony. It vanished the moment I turned around like it had been absorbed into the wall."
Moon hummed. "Sounds like somepony threw a spell onto you to enter my mind. I don't know why, though, but I want you out," she hissed. "I'll have to punish the guards for failing to do their job."
"Well, we can't do anything about that," Candy stated bluntly. He raised his wings then dropped them to his sides. "Unless you have a way to get us out, I don't think we'll be leaving any time soon."
The group stayed silent in the void for a while before Candy decided to break the monotony.
"So, who is the white pony?" he asked.
"What?" Moon said.
Candy fidgeted nervously. "Every time we get sent to another...dream?" He shook his head. "Whatever these are, we'd constantly see you fighting a pony with a white coat. You called her sister almost every time. Is that like a title or something?"
The alicorn stared at him incredulously. "No. She was my sister. Why would I give anypony the honor of being my sibling by title?" She scoffed. "A ridiculous notion."
"Bl-bl-blood relative?" Candy's voice raised in volume as the fear overtook him.
"Y-you mean there's another like you?" Candied panicked.
Moon looked at them, wide-eyed and angry, then her expression turned dour and her head drooped. "I was supposed to overthrow her and take Equestria. I had everything planned out. There was no way anypony could stop me! The world would be engullfed in the light of the moon." She spun her hoof in circles on what could have been considered the 'floor'. "I came into a world where she isn't even remembered and there's nothing for me to take over or overthrow." The mare sank deeper into her depression, her voice croaking and quiet. "She changed, it seems, but only the thestrals know about that for some reason." She clicked her tongue. "Ask them if you want more details. I don't care to share."
Candy looked around the vortex once more and raised a brow. "So, you've been here this whole time? Is that why nopony has seen you at all for weeks?"
Moon's eyes widened. "Weeks? I thought it had only been days," she stated. Her lower lip pushed out as she contemplated the new information. "I've been spending so much time in here that it has become difficult to differentiate between fiction and reality."
"Then just undo whatever this is and let us out!" Candied pleaded. "We only came here because the mayor requested it!"
"And because we were going to get paid handsomely for our efforts," Candy mumbled under his breath. His sister shot him an angry look.
"And why should I?" Moon asked. She looked around at the void. "Within this void I can do whatever I want at any moment. Everything I wanted to accomplish can be done so, and in a wide variety of worlds and possibilities!" Her face slowly warped into a crazed smile with wide eyes. "My sister is here and I can take her out and take over Equestria, bringing eternal night to all! All will live under my night and adore its gifts! Gifts that I worked so hard to create!" she yelled. the alicorn was becoming increasingly angry as she continued. "All she had to do was delay it or give me a day of celebration of the night, but no. 'The ponies will panic' or 'It will be a detriment to the fauna and flora'." She spat. "They would have adapted soon enough. It would just be for a day."
The twins looked to each other.
"Sounds like this goes deeper than we thought," Candied whispered.
Candy was perplexed. "I thought that she was just angry at everything and considered them beneath her because she's, you know, a god?" His body tensed up. "I would normally say that we should cut our losses and leave, but, you know..." He rubbed the back of his head. "Who could've guessed that even gods can have family issues?"
"Then we need to do something about it. She's clearly just trying to avoid reality." Candied glanced at Nightmare Moon from the corner of her eyes, discovering that the mare had become slack-jawed and wide-eyed. For some reason, her head was drooping backwards and a trail of drool was extending from the corner of her mouth. The wispy copy was doing the same but without the drool, thankfully. The pegasus had to double-take several times to be able to concentrate. "It's...Uh...It's obvious that she's going through some kind of nervous breakdown."
"You think she's depressed?" The stallion nodded slowly. "Would make sense, but how do we get her out of it, or at least enough out of it that she frees us from this place? We're no psychiatrists!"
"True, but we know that she's prideful to a fault," Candied replied with a sly grin.
Candy gradually grew a smile of his own. "And we know how to butter up anypony enough that they'll do their job."
With their newfound resolve, the pegasus twins approached the seemingly dead alicorn and shook her 'awake'.
"Hmm? What? You're still here?" Moon asked. She was getting increasingly annoyed.
"So, we convened with each other," Candied said.
"And we've realized that you're simply trying to escape reality," Candy responded with an immense smile.
Moon stared at them. "I'm what?" she whispered.
"Well, of course," Candied started. "We know that you've been planning this 'revenge' scheme for so long and that you came back and the object of your revenge is no longer here, so now you have nothing left to do." He scrunched his mouth and nodded empathetically. "I understand completely that you would rather hide here than face the world as it is."
"H-hiding?! I am not hiding!" Moon screamed at the top of her lungs.
"Of course you aren't. You're just retreating to a...less hostile and more inaccessible location to the world," Candied added smugly. "We understand completely."
The void around them shimmered. While Moon didn't seem to notice thanks to her fixation on the pegasi taunting her, said pegasi noticed it. They looked to each other and genuinely smiled. It seemed that what they were doing was working. At least, they hoped it was.
"You just repeated what he said with more sarcasm, foal," Moon hissed.
The pegasus was shocked and extended her wings forward while shaking her head. "Oh, no no no! That would be incredibly rude of me to do. I would rather not insult somepony who could make me a memory for the world."
Moon's eye twitched and the void trembled. Candy was quick to speak up before the alicorn could respond.
"Somepony as long-lived as you is certainly just having an off-day," he said semi-seriously. "You just need a break, but you definitely had plenty of plans to succeed on your own afterwards, didn't you? Your whole life wasn't involved around just getting revenge on your sister, certainly."
It almost looked like Moon's hooves were breaking into the ground and the vortex was starting to pulsate violently like a beating heart during a workout. The two pegasi turned away from the alicorn to speak with each other. They were sweating profusely and trembling greatly.
"W-w-w-what do we d-do if she fre-e-es us?" Candy said.
Candied took in several gasps of air every time she tried to say something. "I...I think we just leave her b-be?"
"I-i-i-isn't she going to kill us?"
"You think it's easy?!" the alicorn bellowed. The two pegasi were quite literally blasted away by the sudden explosion of sound coming from behind them. The vortex's surface started rippling in tune with the shockwaves that the alicorn's voice was producing. "I awaken to a world without my sister, so I have no bearings. I have no place to start my reign nor live and plan for what should have been a glorious future under my eternal night! My return was meant to be a triumph! A thing that ponies panicked over," she gloated. "My return was to become a myth. A legend! Then they learn that I was real all along and that their precious princess of the sun can't save them anymore." She laughed and laughed. With every laughter tears started to run down her cheeks. Somehow, the wispy echo imitated it. "But instead I awaken to a world that not only has forgotten about me, but has been wiped clean of all things I knew. Even the ruins would have been sufficient! Celestia would have kept them all intact!"
The pegasi wagged their legs frantically and flapped their wings, trying to right themselves up, but no matter what they did nothing seemed to work, and they continued to be pushed by the alicorn's voice without actually moving anymore, like another force was pushing back against them.
"What is happening?! Is she having a nervous breakdown?!" Candied panicked.
"I hope not! Then we'll have to try and come up with something inspiring to help her!"
Candied grabbed her head and shot her brother a panicked look when their gazes finally met, albeit briefly. "I can't do that! I know how to file financial documents, not appraise somepony's psychological situation!"
"But no! All that I've known has been destroyed, and I can't even look into your historical archives to catch up and learn of the fate of my sister because all you foals lost everything in ten thousand years of living! And then I discover that Canterlot, the place I was intending to restore for future use -I hadn't figured out for what yet- was somehow buried under the ground." The alicorn faced the twins. "It was on a mountain! How does an entire mountain get buried?! An alicorn sank a whole mountain range?!" She scoffed. "Preposterous!" Moon paused a moment and her voice quieted, freeing te pegasi from the storm of sound. "At first everything seemed fine. All was going well, then I discover what had happened to my sister and how she became obsessed with finding somepony. Best of all, it seemed that she was under the ruins of Canterlot Castle somehow. A ghostly figure flittering about specters and forgotten memories...but it was a fluke."
Candy grunted as he got up and rubbed the back of his head. "How...so?" he asked.
"Somehow she had become bloated with so much magical power that some of it somehow bled off of her and gained a mind of its own from fragmented pieces of memory and experience. How or why it was trapped down there I'm uncertain, but it was. I defeated it by the skin of my teeth...Even a fragment of my sister's power was too much for me to bear, and it wasn't even her. The long-dreamed triumph over her upon my release was shattered and I was reminded of where I am...and when."
"Well...can't you find others to be around with? New servants? You already have one with..." The stallion kept flapping his wings. "What's his name..."
"Sunny," Candied interjected.
"Yes! Sunny! He might not be your sister but he's still hanging around."
Moon looked at him with a tired expression. "I forced him to."
"Y-yes, but he still stuck around. Plus, you might find ponies related to your sister." The nervous stallion thought as hard as he could while his sister looked on in sheer horror and panic. "W-wouldn't it be more amusing to have her descendants be subservient to you than simply defeating her quickly and ending it there?" He coughed.
"H-he means if you were just going to do that," Candied added.
Moon paused a moment and contemplated the twins' words and looked down. The twins opened their eyes in a panic and bounced into the air, taking in their surroundings. They were still in the castle, and the strange energies surrounding Nightmare Moon were no more. No pony was trapped in the dream anymore.
The alicorn stood up, her joints cracking in response to being immobile for so long. "You have given me something to reflect on," she stated weakly. "I..." Her eyes darted to behind Candied. While she was still tired, the mare still found the energy to turn and glare. The pegasi were quick to fly away, hoping she wasn't glaring at them. "Who are you? Reveal yourself!" Nightmare Moon croaked weakly.
Her horn illuminated that wall, showing a semi-transparent, shadowy pony-shaped figure standing in place. It apparently took several seconds to realize that it had been found out. It raised a foreleg to its featureless face then faded out of existence, leaving the trio all the more perplexed.
"I couldn't feel anything from it," the alicorn muttered. "I'll think about it later. Leave me be," she told the pegasi.
They were all too happy to acquiesce and fled away from the castle at top speeds back to the city.
"I'm demanding a significant raise," Candy shouted angrily.
"Don't forget at least a year of paid vacation!" Candied added.
"Now now, we might be angry, but let's not exaggerate," her brother berated.
The mare nodded. "You're right. I shouldn't be thinking that way. It could be detrimental to the continued functioning of the city and the well-being of the mayor. Ten months."
Candy nodded. "That's better." There was a long paused before he resumed. "I prefer her smaller form. She was cute like that."
The mayor was walking through the somewhat chilly streets of the mountain city, letting his mind go blank from all thoughts and any distractions. He found it somewhat relaxing to just let one's mind go blank, but he was never really aware of the face he would make. It was a mystery to hear that doing the 'Mayor's Face' was a sign of laziness or just not paying attention. The ponies didn't intend it to be an insult. It was just a comment on the way he looked. His eyes would become dim and his jaw would hang over to the side at an angle while he trotted through the streets. It was just one of the many quirks he had developed over his very long and very boring career.
This amusing display for the locals was shattered when the twins appeared in front of the elder stallion, startling him so badly that he fell onto his flank.
"What?! What is it that you have to startle an old stallion like that?!" he roared furiously.
"We were trapped in some weird alternate reality!" Candied screamed at the top of her lungs.
"We almost died!" Candy added with the same vocal enthusiasm. "You better compensate us way more than what you promised beforehoof!"
"But we agreed on--"
"More vacation days and we'll stay!" Candied interjected.
The mayor was taken aback and had trouble even processing what was happening. His brain had been flat-lining until this sudden burst of information started overloading his mind.
"But I--"
The pegasi flew into the mayor's face, startling him even further. "Now!" the twins shouted in unison.
"Okay! You can go now!" the mayor screamed. The twins heaved a sigh of relief and dropped to the ground, deflating. Concerned, the stallion approached the two while they leaned limply against each other. "Was it really that bad?" he asked them.
Candy weakly turned his head. "Yes," he whispered.
"Are you going to be okay without us?" Candied asked.
"Well, if you don't want to leave now and are having second thoughts after relaxing--"
"No," the two said in unison.
The Mayor flinched in surprise. "Okay! I'll be fine. It's not you being absent for a week or two that is going to turn this city into some kind of battle arena filled with chrome-teeth ponies," he said. "Take your time when you want to leave, though," he was quick to add in with a large smile. He helped the two onto their hooves and kept them as stable as he possibly could. "There you are. Now, tell me what happened when we get back to the office. Some warmth and escape from the wind should be comforting enough."
The mayor leaned against his desk. His only source of light was the oil lamp lying calmly next to him and showing the words written on as many local documents as he could get; documents from when Nightmare Moon had appeared and beyond. Newspapers, posters, and recorded hearsay were strewn about the room in unkempt piles. The twins had left earlier, and even the guards had gone.
"So at what point did this talk of her just being some kind of magical attraction or whatever doodad become a regular occurrence?" the mayor wondered.
He started flipping through the documents, newspapers, reports. Anything that was in hoof's reach. Politics, politics, sales, politics, sporting events, politics, gardening contests, more politics. The stallion scratched his head. There sure were a lot about politics.
"Ponies assault Griffin City. Two wielding immense magic. Equestrian royal family disavows any such event."
The mayor blinked slowly then started laughing heartily. "She assaulted one of their cities down south?! That's hilarious! I would've expected her to flatten it!" He started calming down and frowned. "Why didn't they specify that it was the alicorn?" The newspaper and a few bits of recorded gossip from the locals all indicated that it was ponies, but the newspaper itself only showed 'approximations' of the ponies rather than photographs. "Hmm. They could do the muzzles better," the mayor commented to himself.
Several of the papers repeated the same thing. Only the gossip mentioned the possibility of the offending ponies being alicorns. Plural. At least the guards were useful for something, the mayor thought. The further in the documents he went, the more the stallion realized that the mentions of an alicorn were becoming more obvious, but they were only mentioned in the context of the appearances being tricks, a show, magic, etc. It was an oddity considering how many were present during the festival and saw Nightmare Moon directly. Why, the mayor's own people would be able to attest to the existence of the Mare from the Moon.
"Fascinating. Only somepony with a massive reach would be able to influence the news like this, even with all of the gossip going around." The mayor looked at several pictures and marveled at their crispness. He wondered if Nightmare Moon ever had something like this in her time. "I wish they were in color," the stallion lamented. "Going off-track. Whoever or whomever is doing this is able to drown out the rumors and witness accounts, and no pony has disappeared." The stallion rubbed his chin. "Knowing the king and queen, they wouldn't allow this, and this sort of attack against alicorns has happened way before the many generations of them ago have existed, meaning the culprits are far older than I thought." He raised a brow and stared at the far wall just barely illuminated by the flickering light of his lamp. "Unless they're part of the group. Then again, the king is a stubborn fool. He'll probably throw assassins at the alicorn." He stroked his short beard, satisfied that it was growing once more, but still annoyed at the length. "I wonder what she would think about this?" He stuck out his tongue. "Time to spread some of my own work to the visitors and my fellow ponies."
Over the course of the next few days, the mayor had commissioned artwork and embellishing pieces of Nightmare Moon to spread around town. He even had a banner hoisted at one of the entrances near the most frequented route leading to the city reading: "Home of Nightmare Moon: Alicorn of the Moon and the Night". The inhabitants were not amused.
Many of them were growing increasingly annoyed at the actions of the mayor and so he addressed the concerns, mentioning that somepony was trying to erase them and their experiences and that they should fight for the right to exist and have the truth heard.
For the mayor, it was a sword with three edges: Draw attention to his city, get ponies to notice the local alicorn and help the people know what is happening, and bait the responsible party for all the strange occurrences. Made no sense to have a sword with three edges, but the mayor adored stupid metaphors. Anything to be rid of the boredom he suffered yearly. It all seemed to be working.
Papers from outside the city made mention of the mayor's declining sanity, slandering the people, and so on. Most were just reactions by others who hadn't seen her, but there were some who were more subtle with their actions and either relegated the mentions to other pages in small articles or just weren't mentioned at all. Those were the clues the mayor was hoping to see. He had to find the core root of the vine and cut it; killing every branching plant from there. For now, he just needed to watch the bread crumb trail get eaten by the stray birds. The mayor wished he was capable of doing more, but his brain wasn't made with so much intelligence in mind.
For the time being, he was simply leaning back in his creaky chair, looking outside and watching his city. Taking in everything and taking just a moment of relaxation from all the work he was putting into his games.
Sunny was having trouble dealing with being outside and was a little worse for wear, but everypony that crossed paths would wave him hello and say how happy they were to see him again. He was passing in front of the main square of the city when a loud 'thunk' followed by muffled screams caught his attention, but the stallion couldn't pinpoint the source of the sounds.
The Mayor was on the floor, rubbing his muzzle and cursing loudly.
"Mister Mayor?" his guard asked.
"Sunny!" The stallion spurted as he burst past the guard.
"Hey, wait-!"
As fast as his creaky bones could manage, the mayor rushed down the steps and went outside. His body shivered from the sudden change in temperature, but his excitement dulled the sensations.
"You're out!" he gasped.
Sunny was taken aback and was feeling nervous. He found himself looking around nervously for a way out of this predicament. "Y-yes. I thought about what you told me and started gathering my courage."
The mayor leaned against the young stallion, gasping for air. "Yeesh, I'm out of shape...," he lamented. "That's good to hear. I wasn't expecting an overnight change, but I was hoping that you wouldn't stay cooped up in there for the rest of your life."
Sunny nodded weakly and his eyes trailed away. "So, what was Her Highness been doing while I wasn't around? I thought that she would come and get me and yell at me or something while I was going through my...thing."
"Yeees. A thing, as you put it," the mayor mused.
The young unicorn glared at him. "Did you come out here just to mock me?"
"I'm very sorry," the mayor said while backing away. "I was hoping that you were more open to self-mockery. It hasn't been long enough. That's me jumping the hydra." He straightened himself and cleared his throat. "For your question about the alicorn, she hasn't been seen for as long as you haven't."
Sunny's face seemed to bleach. "She hasn't...Oh." He put a hoof to his mouth in realization.
The mayor nodded. "Yes. You've both had a lot on your plates it seems. My assistants got to enjoy the majority of it. Seems she's having some family troubles with being alone and unable to do..." He twirled his hoof in the air. "Whatever it was she wanted. I don't remember."
"I see..." was all Sunny could muster.
A mischievous smile spread across the old stallion's face. "And it seems that somepony is trying to erase your existences, so I've been doing my own counters. It's a fun back and forth, but eventually they'll slip up."
Eagerness was met with disapproval by the unicorn. "I don't want to deal with that. Should I just go to Nightmare Moon now? I don't know if--"
"No. She's far older and has no pony left..." The mayor made a silent gasp when he remembered something very important about the pony before him. "You're related to her!"
"What?!"
"You're related to the alicorn!" the mayor whisper-yelled. "You and your family are all she has left! You could use that to get her back into shape!" His enthusiasm began to die down. "But I think it best that we wait for her to leave on her own, at least for the time being."
Another week had passed, and while Sunny was recovering well enough, Nightmare Moon had yet to leave her castle. Though it wasn't a mystery to her 'personal guards' stationed there that she was doing something in her room. Lights and colors would flash regularly from the floor and gravity seemed to distort for very short periods; causing weightlessness or heavier sensations in everypony present.
In fact, she had just recently ceased her activities and was peering outside the entrance of her floor to the guards wandering the hall below. Silence was all she needed to overhear the two of them.
"-ing happened to him."
The second guard cursed under her breath. "Who would do that to him?"
The two paused and looked up at where Moon was, unable to see her thanks to the darkness inherent on that floor.
"When she finds out she's gonna flip," the first pony squeaked. "I mean, we can't hide it forever! The unicorns said she was doing some weird spells up there this whole time since the mayor's assistants came by." He started trembling and looking around as if Moon would jump out at him any second now.
"Calm down. She hasn't been out of there in weeks," the mare reassured him. "She won't know until much later."
"But that's just delaying the inevitable! I say we rip the poultice off right now!"
"Tell me what?" Moon asked.
The guards froze in place and slowly turned to see dark, clouded forelegs. They slowly looked up to see the signature glowing white eyes of the angered alicorn they had all come to know and fear.
It took a moment for the stallion to answer. "Well..."
Within the city a commotion had grown outside of the town hall, and the local policing forces and guards were having trouble pushing everypony away.
"Move it!" one of the king's guards shouted angrily. "Move it or I'll have to deploy more radical methods!" The crowd backed away, worried, and the guard nodded. "Good. Crowding us and trying to see what has happened here will not aid in the matter. I know you are all stressed but you must give us time to investigate. Only when all is done will you be allowed to properly-Gh!"
The guard was smashed into the ground, terrifying everyone, including the police. Moon slowly flew down and landed softly. She lowered her head to the guard and bared her teeth.
"You threaten my subjects, outsider?" she asked. The alicorn seemed softspoken and gentle, but from the bulging eyes and profuse sweating of the armored guard, it was clear that he knew how she was feeling.
He didn't have time to process her question properly. "Y-you can-It's only for their best interest and ours!" Moon released him and charged through the entrance, leaving the stallion to stand up with much difficulty. "Why didn't you stop her?" he asked the police.
Several more regular guards from nearby and the local police were in the building. When they witnessed Moon, the locals immediately backed away. The mare climbed the stairs, welcoming the burning sensation of her heavy and underused body and regretting not knowing the specific location of the mayor's office. She would have him explain this farce. Tracing the concentration of ponies, the mare found herself in a neatly cleaned short hallway leading to the front of the building and part of the immense windows letting in light for all floors. The floor tiles were still a revolting mixture of black and a dark, clay-colored red. The walls used to be a sickly vanilla, but whatever paint was there had been corroded by the heat produced by the various pipes going throughout the building.
Nightmare Moon walked up towards the armored guard blocking the way to the office everypony seemed interested in.
Said guard stepped towards the alicorn and puffed out her chest. "Stop! You aren't allowed to enter!"
The door opened, startling the ponies within. Their breath was taken away when an angry giant of a pony came in and stopped in the entryway to gauge the situation. Leaning to the side, the ponies could see that the guard stationed outside their door had been planted into the ceiling with only their hind legs dangling free.
"What has happened? I heard news of the mayor having an incident."
One of the soldiers stepped forward, fidgeting in place. "We were hoping you wouldn't hear about it. The mayor has been...He has entered the long sleep."
Moon raised a brow. "Killed?"
The pony nodded slowly. The alicorn's eyes started glowing brighter than ever, and the magic engulfing her body started to shift like a living storm. He was there, on the floor, surrounded by several medical ponies. He seemed to be smiling as widely as possible, as though he had planned for this to happen and was looking forward to what might happen afterwards. On the wall to the immediate left of the mayor's desk were several words written in the new ponyish that Nightmare Moon had yet to fully learn how to read.
"What does it say?" she asked the soldier.
"What?" He followed the alicorn's gaze and shrunk. "Oh. It says 'Disappear', but none of us are really sure what it means."
The mare strode quietly towards the mayor's favorite spot and stood there, staring at the outside for several minutes.
"So they would harm one of my vassals." The sky outside flickered. The night sky seemed like it wanted to break through the daylight. "It seems they have officially declared war on me." The many moons the alicorn of the night was linked to faded in and out of existence in the sky. "Then I will make you regret having even deigned to think of existing before life was breathed into your body," she stated firmly.
"Where is Sunny?" Moon asked aggressively without turning to face the crowd.
"The unicorn with the strange mane and tail?" one of the police asked. Moon grunted in response. "He should still be in the university dorms. They're the huge, whiteish buildings surrounded by greenery to the east of here. They're hard to miss."
The alicorn teleported outside of the building and took to the sky. The city was bigger than she remembered, and her newfound rage was starting to pump the blood through her weakened muscles and tired brain. Everything she needed to do was starting to come to her in waves. First, however, was Sunny. It took around two minutes of flying to finally spot the greenery the police pony had mentioned.
Nightmare Moon tsk'd. "That's their greenery? There's hardly a sidewalk's worth surrounding the buildings. Pathetic."
She took to the location and landed with a heavy thud on the ground, cracking the pavement. Focusing, the mare's horn hummed softly as it cast a spell. Creatures were starting to gather around Moon, surprised to see her. Most of these were ponies from all over Equestria, including the new species of pony Moon had never seen before. Among the growing crowd were, strangely, griffons. One would expect enemies to remain such, especially with the loss of territory.
As Moon continued to search for Sunny with her magic, she became aware of the gathering of creatures around her and a lone figure carrying weaponry on one of the floors. It was slowly inching itself to one of the rooms, but Moon wasn't sure which one. There was also something else in the area, amongst the crowd.
Within the dorm building itself, the staff were watching at the door. Moon had landed some ways away from where they were, but it was still a breathtaking sight. Nightmare Moon kept her eyes closed and an immeasurable amount of magic congealed around her horn: Dancing and singing in their fluttering jitteriness. They didn't pay attention to the figure that had crept into the building during the initial moments when everyone noticed the alicorn landing. It had the perfect opportunity to reach its target's place of residence and didn't hesitate to take advantage of the situation. Sunny Dimples hadn't paid much heed to the brouhaha happening outside and was busy reorganizing his room as he mulled over the mayor's words.
The young stallion had started getting out of the dorms more often since then, and the mayor seemed to watch him obsessively and approached Sunny every time he went for a walk. That old stallion was really, really bored. The unicorn thought of visiting him properly one day, but it was too early for that.
He was completely unaware that someone had reached his door. Sunny was only vaguely aware of some chill in his back that made his fur stand on end. It was dismissed as just the chill of the mountains. The entity reached out towards the door, ever slowly and calculating in its movements.
Sunny jumped when he heard knocking on his door and set his notes down on the table. "Coming!" he announced.
He grabbed the angled handle for hooves with his magic and opened the door then paled. It was Nightmare Moon.
"Hello, Sunny," she greeted him. The stallion started shaking and his fur paled. The chill in his back worsened when a smile slowly crept on the alicorn's face, revealing her fangs. "I'm glad to see that you're doing well," she said slowly.
Whether she was being sincere or not, the malicious tone of voice she naturally carried made her calmer speech pattern seem all the more threatening. Questions kept racing through the stallion's head. Was she angry that he didn't appear? What was she doing all that time? Did she really need him for something and was going to k-
"Stop panicking. I'm not here to hurt you, colt," she snapped. The unicorn nodded quickly. "I want you to come back with me to the castle."
Sunny blinked nervously. "But, all my notes and--"
"They'll still be here." She lowered herself to his face, letting him feel the dark breath from her nostrils. Every wind made the stallion feel like his fur and flesh were going to melt off. He didn't miss this at all. "It is very important."
"O-okay..." he agreed reluctantly.
Moon gave him a warm smile and moved to the door, inviting him to leave. the white unicorn looked back at his belongings several times before finally going. He hated leaving things unfinished and still had the nagging feeling that he wouldn't be able to recover his items. Sunny had tests in a few weeks and needed to study!
The unicorn noticed a crumpled ball to the side of the path connected to all the rooms when he left his. Surrounding it was a puddle of red that was seeping into the carpet, staining it.
"What is that?" he asked Moon.
She looked at the ball dismissively then looked away. "Never you mind."
"But it's...it's leaking red..."
"Let's go!" Moon ordered with a booming voice.
Sunny couldn't help but cast a worried glance back to the crumpled ball. It looked like it had been wrapped in thin sheets of metal. Whatever was inside was oozing a red liquid. A metallic stench stung the stallion's nostrils, queuing him to get out of there as quickly as possible.
Finally outside, Moon grabbed Sunny and brought him to the keep and to her area of residence high above the ground. The young pony wasn't quite sure what to make of the place.
"It's really empty here. You never had anything built?" he asked.
"For later," Moon replied. "I should also think of having small windows installed," she muttered to herself. "Furnishings aren't why I brought you here, however." She turned and sat in front of the young pony. Even sitting she still towered over him. "It's about your position in life from here on out."
"Wh-what?"
"Since you are a descendant of Celestia; my sister, that would make you directly related to me," Moon explained. Sunrise nodded slowly. "Which means, whether you want it or not, you are my nephew." She raised a hoof and placed it on his shoulder. "You are therefore, you and your family: Royalty, and you will be the first to become it once more. Sunny Dimples: Equestrian Prince."
"What?!" Sunny shouted in disbelief. "B-but I can't be royalty! I didn't even think this would happen after the reveal that I'm directly related to the solar tyrant!"
"You are not related to her," Moon reassured. "You are related to my sister. What she became is a weakling who glutted on magic and revenge for greed." She scoffed. "I supped from the chalice of vengeance from her rejecting me and others looking down on me and my works. We are not the same."
"S-so what happens now? Now that I'm...a prince?"
The alicorn thought for a moment then nodded to herself. "First we need to get the infiltrator within my castle."
Sunny blinked. "The what?"
"And then I will meet with your family." Moon's eyes glowed as she looked directly into the unicorn's. "There is no argument against this, my little nephew." Her toothy smile sent chills down Sunny's back.
The guards were still hanging around the grounds of the would-be castle, mostly to make the local 'lord' happy, and it wasn't stressful after she locked herself in the keep. However, what were once lazy days gawking at the sky and looking at the fauna crawling in the grass became stressful days once again. A group of guards were gathered in front of the gates, having discussions when Moon landed with a loud 'slam' in front of everyone, causing them to lose their balance and fall to the ground.
There was a silent standoff with Moon slowly setting her eyes on each of the nineteen guards present before she finally locked eyes with one of them.
"There you are," she said.
Her magic engulfed one of the guards and slowly raised her in the air. She was being twisted and bent, screaming in pain as the guards watched in horror. When the metal of her armor was ripped off and dropped onto the ground, it finally clicked in his head at what the ball in the hallway was.
The screams of pain became too much for the other guards to bear, so they stood up, fighting against their instincts, and brandished their weaponry at the alicorn who paid them no heed.
"Let go of her!" one of them ordered angrily.
"Just because you're a goddess doesn't mean you can do whatever you want with us!"
Moon smiling and locked the guards in place with her magic. Their anti-magic weaponry only had a minor effect on the spell, allowing the ponies to have just a semblance of movement.
"I am glad that my soon-to-be guards will not back down when one of their own is threatened." Her smile turned into a frown. "But they can't even distinguish an infiltrator from a regular pony. Steps will have to be taken to amend such a problem."
Her horn pulsed with more magic, and the twisted, boiled remnants of the guard's armor flew off of her against the walls to land -sizzling- upon the ground. Much to the shock and horror of the guards and Sunny, the guard's form started shifting and changing. Her green-tinted fur started darkening and vanishing in the skin. Her wings slowly became trasparent and her horn lost its ridges. Her body thinned and her limbs started popping as holes expanded within them. When the transformation was complete, the creature was dropped to the ground, disoriented.
The guards brandished their weapons and pointed them at the changeling. However, she noticed the weapons were trembling slightly. Was it because of her or the insect? Were these guards afraid of everything?
"A-a-a ch-changeliiiing?" one of them stammered.
"But that's impossible! They went extinct over seven hundred years ago!" another added.
"What do we do with it?" a third asked Moon.
"I will interrogate it," the alicorn answered.
The guards were still slightly taken aback by the alicorn's ability to speak their language so well after such a short amount of time. They relented and backed away as the little changeling hissed and spat at the giant pony, fully expecting one of its sounds was going to stun her long enough for it to escape.
Nightmare Moon closed the doors behind her and dropped the bug to the ground while keeping its hooves chained to the ground.
"I wouldn't try to escape, bug," Moon warned. "You won't have far to go."
The changeling frowned at the sounds coming from the alicorn's mouth. Said pony hadn't realized she was speaking old ponish again, prompting Sunny to translate.
"What are changelings?" Sunny asked. "I only know of the vague texts mentioning them in my books, but they were never really focused on." He rubbed the back of his head. "I only study languages, after all." He chuckled nervously.
Moon gave the stallion a stern frown, making his laughing peter quietly away.
"What do you want with me and how did you even know I was disguised?" the changeling asked.
"This, Sunny, is a changeling. They can transform into any form they wish and are expert infiltrators. Most just integrate a grouping of creatures and siphon the love from the community to feed themselves and bring back to their hive in 'Larval Chains'," she explained. She glared at the bug who shrunk down but didn't lose its hateful stare. "I revealed you to the guards, so now you won't be able to hide here anymore."
The changeling blinked several times. "I can always disguise myself later!"
Moon snorted. "And then I will find you again. then what? I expose you to a small group of ponies? A family that will spread the gossip? What about the whole city?" The bug swallowed nervously. "I don't know how long you have been hiding here, but I know I sensed some off-feeling magic about a month or two ago." She leaned in, her eyes starting to glow and a thin smile of white light spreading across her face, creating an unnerving, featureless 'smile'. "And if I know changelings well enough, then I know that there are more of you hiding around here." She raised the changeling up on her hooves. "After hearing that you were nearly rendered extinct, I have a proposition that you may find valuable. One that may...aid both of us in our endeavors. Mine to restore Equestra and you to survive and thrive."
The bug eyed Moon suspiciously and bared its fangs. "And why should I believe you: A pony?"
Nightmare Moon frowned and her temperament seeped through, becoming far more aggressive in her approach. She pushed the changeling further away with each step she made, pressuring it with her mere presence and towering physique. "Because I can just as well dispose of you and move on to the next changeling I discover and repeat the process until one of you agrees or your species is wiped out."
The changeling glared at Moon. "Ponies don't do such things, at least not the sane ones." When the changeling realized the giant pony before her wasn't flinching, her proud and tough facade started to fade. In its place came fear, slowly welling up inside her like a swelling buboe. "I need to speak with my queen about this. She makes all the decisions," the bug said frantically.
Nightmare Moon was pleasantly surprised. "I didn't realize you still had queens." Her horn shot out a light at the changeling, marking her chest with the shape of a crescent moon. "If you don't return within six months, whether the response is positive or not, then I will activate that, and it will be fun for me and not for you."
The changeling gulped and hurried away after Moon opened the door. The alicorn started to laugh heartily, her Royal Canterlot Voice causing bones to rattle and hearts to tremble.
"Perfect. I wasn't expecting them here in this era." She looked at Sunny from the corner of her eyes. "And now for you. We meet your family."
"Wh-wh-why do we need to see them? I don't want to pressure them with this!" Sunny sputtered frantically. "This is too much stress! I'm going to end up all pruned like the mayor!"
The alicorn briefly felt a twinge in her mind. She had already forgotten about the mayor. "It is nothing insidious, Sunny. Being a prince has many advantageous positions." She looked around at her keep and frowned. "Even if they can't be taken advantage of just yet."
"Then you just want to--"
"Offer many benefits to your family, yes."
Sunny heaved a sigh of relief and slumped to the ground. "Well, as long as it's only that." His worry came back, but not with the same intensity. "If they refuse, will you leave them be? I'll take the mantle without any arguing," he asked Moon. He saw from her eyes that she was going to force the position onto him, but after his request and offer started to mull things over. He dreaded the fact that he was getting too used to a literal god's mannerisms.
"I will mull it over," Moon stated. She walked around the empty space, thinking to herself and smiled. "I have an idea of how to make it work, however." She remained silent for a few seconds. "Would you be able to guide me to the domicile of your parents? They're more important in the immediate."
Sunny thought a moment. "Um. I think? They're next to the forest of the thestrals in a village northeast of where we went."
The strange, wispy blackness surrounding Moon's body flickered angrily, but she took a deep breath and forced it back to normal. "My anger is going wild. I wasn't interested at the time," she thought to herself. "You will guide me from above," she ordered in his language.
Sunny nodded. "It should take almost the same amount of time to reach them as it did the forest. Maybe a few extra hours?"
Once more, the young unicorn was grabbed like a doll in the alicorn's magic and held aloft as she left the keep, but not before telling the guards that she would have the old castle properly renovated on her return. The king was going to adore the sudden expenses thrown his way. Well, if he and the queen chose to pay them.
The sun was already high in the sky when the two departed. The landscape hadn't changed in the short time the two had returned, and Moon had something she had forgotten in the excitement.
"The mayor is dead," she said bluntly.
"He what?!" Sunny shouted from below. "Is it too much to ask that I not have to be traumatized by every bit of information that comes out of your mouth?!" he bellowed angrily. Moon looked at him from the corner of her eye but remained silent. Sunny still averted his gaze. His fear overpowered his anger. "H-how did it happen? Old age?"
"He was assassinated."
The unicorn's eyes widened. "As...Is it because he was related to you?"
"Potentially," the alicorn answered. "There are too many potential factions that could be doing this, but I have an idea of who the main culprit could be since both of you were directly related to me and your mere existence promoted mine." She huffed. "There was one after you as well."
"What happened to them?"
Moon smiled. "I took care of it," she said slowly and methodically.
The stallion shivered and swallowed what felt like a lump of lead that choked his words from leaving his throat. "Is that what the ball was?"
Moon said nothing. "It was one of the weird new species of pony that looks like it is attached with floating thread."
"A dullahan?" Sunny pondered. "But they tend to keep to themselves and don't really care about others."
"Unless it affects them personally," the two said in unison.
Sunny looked up at the alicorn.
"It's obvious how they think. I would know," Moon explained.
To prevent himself from being dropped, the stallion kept his comment to himself and looked down, watching the grassy lands whizz by at high speeds.
"How are the twins going to react when they come back from their vacations?" he worried.
"They will adapt, or I will find replacements. Somepony had the audacity to attack my vassal. They will not be able to blink another time once I discover who it was," Nightmare Moon stated firmly.
The two kept quiet for most of the trip, mulling over their own thoughts. When the sun began to set and the sky was turning purple, Nightmare Moon called out to her passenger.
"Where is the village?" she asked him.
"Oh! Um..." The young stallion looked around, doing his best to spot any landmark from above that he might recognize. "The treeline is here...the giant tree...we just passed it. Keep going forward from here and you should spot it somewhere on the right. It's nestled between two large, gray hills."
It took about another hour of flying, and thanks to the ensuing darkness, Moon was able to spot a bright halo of light coming from just what Sunny had said. The village was an oddity, as was its location. The hills were just gigantic stones polished by wind, but they were spread far enough apart that a village was able to shape itself within the protective confines. There were farmlands around, but the fields had not been tended to yet. It was still just grass and weeds. The homes were made of wood and reminded the alicorn of the ones of her time. There were a few street lamps illuminated by a process Moon could not figure out, but the technological advancements she had seen in the city were not present here. Regardless, each house had light coming out of its windows, and each house was separate from the rest. They hadn't been organized in their positions when being built. They were all placed about haphazardly, wherever there was room, leading to a misshapen mess of houses placed diagonally to each other and big empty spaces being left betweeen several houses where another could have been built.
"This place is a mess," Moon grumbled as she let Sunny free.
"Why? It's my home? These are simple ponies, your highness. They don't want to suffer through the hustle and bustle of city life. Even the hills isolated us from the rest of the world." He narrowed his eyes at the street lights. "These weren't here before, either. I guess they just brought in oil lamps now."
"Oil lamps?' Moon asked.
"Yes. Flammable liquid. Viscous like oil. Put into glass containers to hold them and prevent the flames from spreading and burning everything."
Moon hummed. "In my time oils would just douse fires and were used for foods and mechanisms." She looked around, noticing that no one was on the streets. "And where is your house, nephew?"
Sunny cringed. Hearing that title was something he would take a long time to get used to. "It should be over here. It was built against the hill, and my family had dug a hole in it, so we even have a cave!" he stated cheerfully.
"Mhmm."
She followed the tiny stallion, ignoring most of the scenery around her. The alicorn felt a twinge of frustration building within her. All those idiots who proclaimed themselves as descendants of hers were nobles, but the ones actually related to her were peasants. It made Moon wonder what families in her time were once acclaimed nobles or royalty and found themselves tending to the land to feed those on the positions they once held.
Sunny Dimples called her over. Moving between some of the houses revealed an opening where she could spot the stallion. He was standing in front of a house built with width in mind instead depth like most houses and buildings. It was closer to a soldier's barracks than anything. Much like the rest of the buildings, it was made of pale-tan wood, but its shape was very disturbing.
"Why is it shaped that way?" she asked Sunny.
He shrugged. "I don't know. It was built that way, but most of us live in the cave. more space and we don't have to annoy each other when we want to get somewhere that way since everything is built as a line."
It seemed obvious to the mare that this place wasn't supposed to be a home, or at least not for a whole family, but that wasn't a detail that interested her. The mare in the moon was more interested in the ponies living within it.
The unicorn took a deep breath when the two reached the door. A rug was placed in front of the door that slid when Moon's large hoof stomped on it.
"Okay, I haven't spoken to them directly since I went to Snowfege for my studies." He looked at Moon then to the door then Moon. "Please don't get angry at any comments they make. No pony is used to you, and they'll have you directly here in front of them and in their home." He turned away and looked at the ground. "Even I'm not used to you. You're still very scary," he mumbled to himself.
The alicorn lowered her head next to Sunny's. "What was that?" Moon asked him.
"Ha ha nothing! Timetomeetmyparents!"
He knocked on the door and waited impatiently with a giant, nervous smile on his face while sweat started dampening his fur. After a few seconds, the door was opened, revealing a grayish stallion with brown spots on his body. His eyes were a gray-blue and his mane had been shaved on the sides, making it look like he had a brown mohawk. He was covered in dust and wiped his eyes to see Sunny in front of him. His face brightened up.
"Sunny Dimples!" he called out. He jumped out and hugged the young unicorn. "How is my colt doing? Wait, why are you here? We didn't receive any news from you. Did the letter not get through?" His face darkened and his tone became darker and strained. "Did you get expelled?"
"No no!" Sunny was quick to correct. "Nothing like that. I just have someone who wanted to meet with you. She's a very..." He cleared his throat to keep his voice steady, but it still ended up cracking. "She's a very important pony."
He smiled at his son. "Oh. A she. Hm hm!" He raised his eyebrows several times at his son who started blushing. "I see. Started mining for some precious ores, I see. Looking for a ruby." He winked at his son who facehoofed and groaned in embarrassment.
"It's not like that..."
"Sure it isn't." The stallion winked unabashedly. "And where is she? Did she come with you?" he asked.
Sunny wanted to disappear into a dark corner somewhere and die. "She's right there." He pointed towards Nightmare Moon.
Sunny's father looked to the side, a bright smile on his face until he met legs. Then he looked up more and more, and his smile faded with every centimeter raised, until his eyes met with the unamused and glowing orbs of Nightmare Moon.
"Ah..." He started balancing himself awkwardly back and forth on his hooves, producing a variety of strange noises. "Honey," he called out into the house. "Our son is here. He brought an indescribable horror from the corner between corners!"
The three heard the sound of metal clanging together along with a large amount of rocks rolling around. Quickly after they saw a mare poke her corner out from the side of the door frame. She eyed Sunny then Moon and focused on her.
"That is not a horror," she started. "That's a mare."
Sunny's mother was a pegasus who was shorter than his father. Her coat was also a darkened gray, but her mane and tail were both bright pink colors with the rare dollop of blue here and there, similar to her eyes. To Moon, this was a sign that she was the one who passed Celestia's genes onto Sunny Dimples.
"That's what I said," the father confirmed.
Sunny's father started laughing, and the young unicorn kept a hoof to his mouth to muffle himself as best he could. His mother smacked the old stallion upside the head. He was startled when Moon did the same to him with a limp flick of her ankle.
"And who did you bring with you, Sunny?" the elder pegasus asked.
The young stallion was rubbing the side of his head, doing his best to not shoot a glare at the alicorn. "This is Nightmare Moon: Alicorn of the night and the moon."
"A-a-ali..." the mother stuttered.
"Whbahumo," the father blathered.
Moon stepped forward. "I am here to announce that you two are part of royal lineage and are, thus, part of the royal family. You have the right to land and to live with me in my castle as the first family to serve me from now on and into the eternity that comes afterwards."
The old ponies collapsed almost instantly, much to Sunny's horror. "Mom! Dad!" he cried out to them.
Nightmare Moon had a feeling she was going to have some fun here.
Sunny's parents awoke in their home. They had been laid on the cave floor to recuperate from the excitement. The unicorn watched as Nightmare Moon looked about the crudely dug out home in the cave, grunting at the obvious cold that formed in this place and the multitudes of steaming pipeworks winding about the stone like ivy. Several lamps had been attached to the wall and fed by thin gas pipes branching off the fatter main lines. Couches and tweed chairs were placed around the area in separated sections with multiple carpets and stone veins strewn about the rocky faces of the cave home. Moon noted that the living area had been made a bit too large for who lived here, but the assortment of rusty tools like pickaxes and giant hammers set about just as haphazardly as the rest of the furniture clued her in as to why: They were miners.
It was still better than just being peasants, at least. Miners provided the kingdom with the necessary raw materials to help build it up. A sly grin grew upon her face. She had a potential cook with the thestrals. She had an heir with Sunny. She had a connection with the griffins through the parrot. If she could elevate Sunny's family up to the royalty they so rightfully deserved, then they could become an affluent mining family at her beck and call. Now there was a lovely little idea.
"They're waking up!" Sunny called out.
Moon puffed and shook her head. One step at a time. They probably barely got by already. Throwing so much responsibility and power on them would either cause them to snap like twigs or become corrupted with power almost immediately; making them no more worthwhile to her than those other imbecilic 'nobles' who droned on about their relations to alicorns of the night and darkness and the moon and anything else of that somber nature. It was all so exhausting.
"Are they awake or are they still in a daze?" the alicorn asked Sunny.
The young unicorn tried to raise their heads using his magic, being careful not to hurt them or jerking them about too fast. The first to come to his senses was the young stallion's father. He took in his surroundings, groaning all the while. When his blurred vision finally focused, he was met with the glowing white eyes of Nightmare Moon before him. The alicorn expected him to scream or shrink away as all the others always did, but instead of there being a consistent drone of silence and terror, the old pony started chuckling then laughed aloud.
Moon was vexed and pointed at him. "What is he laughing about?"
Sunny gulped and looked back at his father. "Dad, what's wrong?" he asked him. The young unicorn shook his father a bit, worried there might have been more damage to his mind than anticipated. "Is something wrong? Please, stop laughing!"
His father tried stifling his laughter and looked at his son. His face was caked in tears of joy and his lips were warping from the colossal effort to not laugh. "The first thing I remember when waking up is that mares are eldritch horrors from beyond!" he said before he resumed laughing.
Moon frowned, confused. "He remembers the joke he made and this is why he's laughing?"
Sunny sighed and dropped his dad, bringing out a cry of sudden pain. "It's what-" The white pony quickly caught himself before resuming. "It's what we call a 'dad' joke." The alicorn raised a brow, perplexed. "Did you have a father?"
The mare looked to the end of the cave. "I did, yes, but he never made such...stupid 'jokes'," she hissed.
Sunny's father had started patting his mother on the side of the head in an attempt to wake her up.
"Dad, you need to listen," Sunny said. He grabbed him by the shoulders and slowly turned him to face Nightmare Moon. "Mom will be alright. You don't need to worry."
The alicorn rolled her eyes when the elder pony went back to arguing with his son and walked over to the unconscious mare. It would be easier if she was just asleep, then Moon could just wake her up through a sudden fright. Instead, she thought back to the time before she was betrayed by her sister. Her horn began to vibrate and she levitated the elder mare to her horn. Almost instantly the pony was startled awake and began lashing out and screaming in fear. She was tossed to the two stallions that held her down while the older pony talked her down.
"What did you do?!" Sunny shouted.
"Smelling salts, although I might have made them too strong," Moon stated with a hint of bemusement.
"You could have at least tried!"
"I am not versed in the art of medical magics." She casually swiped some debris off of her coat. "Nor do I plan to be."
The worried unicorn clenched his teeth and looked back to his parents. His mom had calmed down but seemed greener than usual.
"What an awful stench! I thought my mom had come back from the dead and was making food again," she gasped.
The father stared at her with wide, unblinking eyes then laughed. "Even now you can still make jokes."
Nightmare Moon raised a brow. Sunny's parents were acting strangely around her. She was unsure what the problem was, but ponies would always tremble when faced with alicorns. She reminisced fondly of her own parents who struck terror into the hearts of the war-loving ponies shortly after they arrived in proto-Equestria. Good times.
"Our son tells us you are an alicorn, but I'm not buying it," Sunny's mother exclaimed confidently.
Moon was ripped from her moment of reverie. How much time had passed? "And this concerns me why?" Moon asked.
The old mare was taken back. "Because I don't believe in alicorns! My great great grandfather was insistant that we descended from one, but if that were the case, we would be in a noble family, or at least our fortunes would be better!" she stated as she gestured around her. "Not that I curse my circumstances. I have a great son, a great husband, and I enjoy mining and sculpting." Moon tilted to the side and noticed that the mare's cutie mark was as pickaxe sculpting a statue from stone on one side and digging into an ore vein on the other. "Quite frankly, miss, I don't appreciate a con artist tricking my son into believing this...hooey!"
The alicorn leaned forward, her eyes starting to glow, and gave the elderly mare a grin, revealing her fangs. "Yes. I'm a con artist, that's why I can walk around in this form and not collapse from magical exhaustion."
Sunny watched as the two bickered, although as time went on it looked like his mother was gradually backing away. It looked like she was starting to suffer through some innate fear like he had, or rather, still did.
"It feels like everything is just happening too quickly," Sunny noted.
His father rubbed his head. "You know how your mother is," he said. "But, is that really an alicorn? Are you sure of it?" The stallion raised a brow. "How did you meet them?"
"I was in the city, then there was a giant explosion of magic, the moon lost its face, and she appeared in its place. The local soldiers tried to subdue her with their antimagic weaponry and she broke the weapons then summoned a vortex of magic that pulled them all in. Oh, and she was imprisoned in the moon about ten thousand years ago."
Sunny's father watched him with a loose jaw as the young unicorn listed everything off like it was just an every day grocery list. The old earth pony cracked his jaw left and right. He looked back at Moon then his son again. "And she's part of our family, then?" Sunny nodded in response. "...So...Let me get your mother so we can have a proper discussion at the table."
The stallion grabbed his wife, repeated what Sunny said, prompting the mare to grow pale. After a few minutes of back and forth the two invited their visitors to a roughly sculpted table. It was uneven, and the chisels being used were left on its lumpy and cratered surface.
"They want to talk now?" Moon asked Sunny. He nodded in response. "Good."
The parents stared at Sunny.
"You understand what she's saying?" his father said in great disbelief.
"Yes. It took... a while, but I was already studying her dialect of ponish." He adjusted himself, pushing his chest out. "I'm the one who taught her our language!"
Moon rolled her eyes. "Yes yes, very impressive. Now, what do you say about my offer? I believe you would find it interesting to be the one true family of true nobility at the head of Equestria."
The parents stared at her, dumbfounded.
"You really need to warn us before you throw out explosive spell after explosive spell. The head of Equestria? You're the ruler now?" the father asked incredulously.
Moon shook her head. "Not yet. I have things to learn beforehand, then the king will abdicate the throne."
The parents looked at each other and Sunny's father scratched his head.
"How about we introduce ourselves first to facilitate things?" Sunny's mom said shakingly. "I'm Honey Dimples, and this is my husband Geode Twinkle." She was doing her best to smile, but it was obvious she was absolutely terrified. "I just had a fight with a literal god. If I don't step around her carefully I'm going to die!" she thought in a panic.
"You're spilling your drink everywhere, Honey," Geode worried. "Maybe just set it down into one of the craters of the table and let your wings rest?" the mare nodded and placed the cup down. "There you go. Now take deep breaths." He looked to the alicorn. "Could you explain, in detail, what it is you want and why? This is kind of a lot to take in," he chuckled nervously.
Moon pointed to Honey. "Your wife is a descendant of my sister, which makes your son one as well. For whatever reason her genes are more prominent with him than his mother, and I must amit that I thought he was just dressing up as her in some revolting display of admiration." She growled despite herself and quickly regained her composure. "I have decided to make your son into a prince because of his genetic ties, which means that his parents or guardians are extended the branch of royalty as well."
"And...we have no choice in this?" Honey stammered.
"You have the choice," Moon said in dulcet tones. "But I would prefer to have actual ponies of nobility around...even if they are...peasants," she ended with a hint of disgust.
"But...why now, and why do you want us? You could have been satisfied with our son, not that I would let him stay with a goddess on his own." Honey shot the young unicorn a glare. "N-no offense, but--"
"I think we're beyond the concept of 'no offense'," Nightmare Moon interjected.
Honey gave a sheepish smile in response. "W-well, you aren't exactly the kindest pony I've ever met. In fact you're downright terrifying now that I know you're a genuine alicorn despite what we had been told."
Moon raised a brow. "I appreciate honesty, but what have you been told? I assume this means you have heard the tales of an alicorn in the north and that it was just a bit of smoke, then? A charade? A ploy of the festival?" Honey and Geode both nodded, prompting Moon to lean back and take on a pensive expression as she looked towards the ceiling. "Even here, then. As for your other question, it's because I have decided on what I am going to do now that my sister is no longer here, and since your son has been of great help to me I wanted to reward him. By proxy, that means you as well."
Honey narrowed her eyes and looked at Moon, incredulously. "You were trapped for ten thousand years, your sister is gone, and you're reaching out to her descendants..." Her eyes widened in sudden realization. "You want a family." Moon didn't dignify her 'realization' with an answer.
"Mom," Sunny started.
"No! She wants a family!" Honey accused. "I barely know anything about her but I know the look of a pony that suffers from loneliness, but suddenly coming into our lives when we don't even know you and offering something as incredulous as becoming members of royalty is insane!"
"She's right," Geode added. "Perhaps if we spent more time talking and learning about each other we might be more trusting, but knowing you're related to a god is just...wow." He shook his head. "Everything is going too fast! We need a moment to properly talk, rather than this sounding like a one-way ultimatum."
Moon glared at them then turned around, facing the distant wall that held the entryways leading deeper into the mountain. She needed to move, so she slowly walked forwards. How dare she assume such things of her. She's only related to her sister. The milennia have dulled and diluted the genes, but Sunny still had the closest match...
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.
"She just vanished!" Geode cried out. "Wh-where did she go? And what was that stone thing?"
Sunny sighed. "She teleported, and that golem was something that has been stalking us."
His mother raised her eyebrows in surprise. "She knows how to teleport? I thought that was a dead spell." She scrunched her lips. "Well, there are ponies trying to learn it and some have made their own versions, at the very least...They don't work too well..."
"Mom! Focus!" Sunny called out. "I'm very sorry for her behavior, but she's the literal goddess of the moon and the night, and she came to Snowfege almost a year ago."
Concerned, his parents moved over the table to sit next to him, surrounding him with their comforting presence. It was a much-needed moment of warmth that made the unicorn realize he had been extremely cold the whole time he was with Nightmare Moon.
"Why don't you tell us all about it," Geode suggested with a smile. "Oh, but at your own pace."
Honey nodded. "Go at your own pace. We just want to know what our son has been up to that he managed to get caught up in the doings of a ten thousand-year-old alicorn... and that 'golem' thing."
Sunny took a deep breath and acquiesced. He told them everything, from the mayor throwing him into the maw of the volcano to the would-be assassin that Moon had turned into a ping pong ball. The faces of his parents changed many, many times over the course of his tales.
Geode Twinkle was the first to talk after his son had finished his tale. "That...Really is something. I know I said 'ten thousand' a lot, but to actually have somepony from back then...I don't know how I could function." He looked to his wife and hugged her, which she reciprocated by wrapping a wing around him. "To know that all my loved ones, all my friends, everything that I knew, vanished in the blink of an eye." He took a deep breath. "I wouldn't even had time to process any of it."
Honey shook her head. "Just being in a coma and losing a year is tragic enough, but...She is very aggressive, and from her behavior when she was finally freed, I think she was trapped for a good reason. Perhaps she should have remained trapped in the moon."
Geode looked at his wife with absolute disgust. "How could you say such a thing? Trapping somepony forever is not a solution! If anything, it's just postponing the troubles, and look where that brought us?" His eyes darted between the mare's. "We have a literal deity that has all but kidnapped our son and has come to our doorstep! She even offered us positions of royalty..." The stallion had to double-take his own words. "On second thought, the end there doesn't seem too bad." Honey slapped him on the head. "Ow! What?"
Sunny cleared his throat to garner their attention. "She hasn't really done anything except throw her weight around and threaten ponies, but she hasn't really acted upon it. I think she wants to conquer Equestria, but whatever happened in the past has her trying to take it from the king and rebuild it." He shrugged. "It's what she said, anyways."
Honey furrowed her brows. "I don't know how that 'ruling family' stuff works, but I at least understand that this is absurd! She wants the love of a family so badly that she's trying to sweep us up in her mental anguish!"
"Mom, she has nothing! If I'm not around, I'm terrified of what she might do to the world..." Sunny's words trembled. "She is used to me, but I'm scared that, if I disappear or die, she'll destroy everything! I already saw what she could do." He looked outside the windows, unable to properly view the outside because of the ambient light. "I'm terrified of her potential." He tapped his horn. "Every time I'm around her, it feels like there's pure magic flowing around, and it grates against my horn. Imagine if she just let it all loose? At least I can keep watch over her and advise her."
"But you're just a foal!" Honey protested. "You don't have the knowledge or even experience for that!"
"I'm not a foal! I'm a stallion, mom! Who else is going to watch her? Make sure she doesn't do anything too stupid?"
Geode put a hoof on his son's shoulder and pushed him a little. "We can. We'll be able to watch her. We'll have to learn about that awful style of life, but just as you watch over her, we can watch over you." The stallion smiled. "What do you think?" he asked his wife.
Honey tapped the floor nervously then drooped her head in defeat. "You're right." She groaned and dragged a hoof across her face. "She might be ten thousand years old, but she wasn't here for most of it." Honey stared at the ground. "I just realized: If alicorns are real..." She looked to her son. "Then where are the other ones? Are they related to that golem?"
Moon returned, breaking the train of thought. As the three called out to her, wanting to know what happened, Moon ignored them and went into the cave to become surrounded by magic clouds and strange patterns.
"What is that?" Geode wondered.
"I don't know," Sunny answered. "I've found her doing that a few times, but I still don't know what she's doing. I think it's just a long spell."
Honey ground her teeth. "She's very rude. I hate ponies like that."
Geode shrugged. "Nothing to do now but go to sleep. Come, Sunny. We'll show you where you can sleep for tonight."
"Thanks, Dad," Sunny said.
Moon's eyes shot open and her magic pinned the intruder against the wall opposite her, shaking some of the portraits loosely attached to the wall. "Who are you? How did you get through my barrier?" she asked aggressively.
The figure faded through her magic, stunning the alicorn. "I am the alicorn of the moon and the night," the figure spoke out. Her voice was hard to hear, like she was speaking from within a deep hole. "I am Mond."
Nightmare Moon was taken aback. This was an alicorn, but her body was...broken. She was a full head shorter than Moon, and her body was wreathed in darkness and white dots that blinked in and out of existence. A trail of silk-like cloth grew from the middle of her chest and flew at her sides like waves. Her mane and tail were completely black and looked pockmarked in some places. They produced a strange black substance that 'dripped' away from the pony and into the air. In fact, her whole body was subject to that. A hole was in place of her left eye, and her cutie marks were gone. She was mostly black and white, save for her right eye that was a golden yellow.
"I am the only princess of the night!"
Mond shook her head. "I am sorry your highness, greatest of all of us alicorns of the stars, but that is not true."
Moon relaxed and stood tall, raising a brow at the shorter alicorn. "Flattering me, spirit? How is it that you are here now?"
"All of us that remain are simply linked to you, being the first of us."
Moon looked up the roof, imagining the many, many moons reflected in her tail. "Are you the ones that I have to blame about my magic?"
The ghostly alicorn tilted her head, hurt. "We didn't mean any harm. We didn't choose this position. Much less to be trapped in this state."
"Then why are you here?"
Mond heaved a sigh. "When you were banished for a thousand years, your sister took care of moving the moon, but magic could only be satisfied for so long. When you never came back, things started to become unbalanced, and so I became chosen by lunar magic. I--"
"Impossible!" Nightmare interjected. "The moon only obeys me!" she bellowed angrily.
Mond nodded. "Yes. It only obeys you, thus each and every one of us brought with us a new moon, independent of yours. We always had our own moons to work upon and from which to take our power." She scratched her head, producing more of the strange liquid. "Then they came," she growled. Her hooves dug angrily into the ground. "They wouldn't abide the existence of alicorns, so they did everything to ruin our lives and everything we stood for. They made some of us crazy. They broke our flow of magic and caused us to burst from the inside-out. Some of us fought back and warped the landscape."
"Just like with my sister," Moon muttered.
Mond nodded. "The princess of the sun. Just as it will obey no other, the original moon obeys only you."
The solid alicorn snorted. "I only see one moon in the sky at night."
Mond stifled tears as best she could, but her voice still trembled. "We lost sight of our moons when we were...ending, but we never lost our connection. We have spoken with each other, and evermore have we felt something tugging at them from the original moon. Most of us didn't know what to make of it, but when we passed, we became connected to you, Princess Nightmare Moon." She smiled weakly. "Our moons have disappeared from the night sky. I don't know if they were ever truly part of Equestria. Perhaps they were simply created when we came to be, or maybe they were pulled from elsewhere and returned afterwards." Mond gave a warm smile. "You're connected to them now, regardless, and our spirits have felt comfort and joy, knowing that you have them with you forever."
"You reveal yourself to tell me something so...mundane?" Moon said with disbelief. "You have been stuck to the moons?" When Mond nodded, Nightmare shook her head in disappointment. "I thought you were going to give me something of value."
Mond frowned, and her form became hard to focus on. "We wish to protect the first alicorn of the night from them. To keep our moons free from their nefarious influences. We will keep your own soul and moon protected. Your soul and the first moon's existence are things to be treasured."
Moon grinned. "Aaaah. Vengeance. A worthy cause." She smiled widely, exposing her fangs. "I think I'm warming up to you."
"We are more, but the others chose me, being your unofficial successor, as the one to approach you."
"Then do you know where that foal that keeps attacking me with possessed is located?" Moon asked.
Mond shook her head. "No. All alicorns have searched after them at some point or another, but they could never be found."
Nightmare nodded to herself. "Do you have any memories of other immortals, like Discord and Accord, then, successor?" she said sarcastically.
The 'successor' didn't appreciate the sarcasm but let it go. "Yes. They were around when I was alive, along with your sister. They caused all manner of catastrophes in their feud of order versus chaos."
"Then...you would be able to tell me about my sister and those times in the past?" Moon realized.
Her guest shook her head. "I was born after Celestia disappeared. I'm sorry. I only know of Discord and Accord keeping each other in check. Our memories are also very hazy of our time as the living. Given time, with your aid, we might be able to alleviate you of all the time you lost."
Nightmare Moon sighed and nodded. "I have no choice, then. Very well. Firstly, I must tend to my potential allies: the changelings."
Mond put a hoof to her head and grunted in pain. "I...feel like I'm meant to remember them. I can...only remember vague parts of my life outside of my moon."
"Don't strain yourself. I will not have another pony, even a spirit, so invested in the glory of the night harm themselves for the benefit of other creatures," Nightmare stated firmly. "Go, spirit. Coalesce your mind."
Mond looked at Moon with a weak smile. "Thank you," she said before dissipating.
The alicorn looked around. When she determined she was finally alone, she snorted with bemusement. "Now there's ghosts. What is wrong with this world's magic?" She crossed her forelegs and contemplated several possibilities. "I feel as though it's being stifled by something, but freeing magic could impede my plans to retake the entirety of Equestria." She exposed her fangs in a snarl. "This Equestria is becoming more and more tedious as time goes on."
Moon dissolved her magic and took a deep breath of the stagnant air around her. She hated it, but she wouldn't have to deal with it for long. Sunny would, however. The alicorn went to the house of the young unicorn's parents and entered the room with the long table to Sunny and his parents eating breakfast.
"Sunny. I have something important to attend to. I will be leaving you behind here and returning when it is completed," she alerted him.
The stallion choked on his food and received several pats on his back from his mother in response. "What? What are you going to do?"
Moon frowned. "I'm not going to destroy an entire kingdom, if that is what you're worried about."
"Uuuh, wh-why would you think that? I-I-I never even imagined you would do something like that," the young stallion stammered. He gave the most unconvincing smile he could ever manage. "I-it's just, what if you need my help with local customs? Or if you need help translating some words?"
The alicorn looked at the sky outside the windows absentmindedly. "I've managed this far. You don't need to worry about anything. Any problems will be dealt with firmly," she threatened.
With that, the mare moved to leave the house, but Sunny was stubborn and jumped in front of her.
"I should come with you anyways. You know, just in case," he insisted.
"Goodbye, Sunny," Moon said sternly.
In a flash, the alicorn was gone, leaving Sunny doubly worried.
"Gah!" the changeling blurted.
It had been hiding out on the outskirts of the town atop one of the slabs surrounding it.
"Take me to your hive," Moon ordered.
The changeling gulped, nodded silently, then quickly took to buzzing into the sky. Moon experienced a twinge of annoyance. Once again she had to be led around by somepony else rather than be able to travel on her own. During the moments she felt the most trapped in her own moon she often reminisced about why everypony liked her sister and why her sister had them tow her around on her cart. She and Moon were both more than capable of flying or teleporting to any destination they so chose. She wasn't certain, but the living alicorn believed it was to make the ponies feel useful. Celestia and Luna had done everything to aid them in their growth of Equestria and its people, but nothing was ever requested in return. It was their persistence that caused the sisters to give in and start making things for the ponies to do in thanks, which in turn caused them to inadvertently become royalty with their own castles and guards and diplomatic representatives.
Moon was broken out of her thoughts by a strange, floating material in the sky. It looked like a bubble distorting reality around it. Patches of flat, gray squares would appear around it at irregular intervals and remained facing Moon regardless of the angle she viewed them at.
"What is this?" she asked the changeling.
"Changeling portal, for escaping. We'll arrive at the hive."
Moon tilted her head to the side. "Does it work both ways?" Energetic nodding answered her question. "Then go through it first," she commanded.
The changeling looked at the circle, then the pony, then the circle again, and shrugged. It casually flew into the circle and vanished. Moon scanned around it to check if the changeling had become invisible, but there was no trace. In fact, the mark Moon had placed on it still existed, but it was a vague presence. Not one to be tricked again, the alicorn wreathed herself in multiple spells of protection to protect her from forced teleportation, immediate magic damage, mind-altering spells, and more physical protection.
"These would have been helpful against my sister's ghost..." Moon lamented.
Nightmare Moon took in a deep breath and entered the weird circle. The trip was mind-boggling. It was like being torn and sown back together thousands of times per second, and every resowing felt 'wrong', and time crawled along in this hellish abyss. Every second almost felt like a month went by. A weaker pony would have gone mad from the sensations, but Nightmare Moon had weathered worse. What was a few months of a minor inconvenience to being trapped and unable to move in darkness for ten thousand years?
When she finally exited the hole, she landed with a thud on uneven ground. She took several seconds to catch her breath and regain her bearings. The first thing she was able to notice was the ground she was standing on: White stone bricks, or what was left of them. The platform Moon was standing on had been cracked in several places and were tilting away from the central crack. To her astonishment, the portions to her right looked like they had melted.
The mare cracked her joints when she stood up and gazed at the area around her. It was bizarrely bright like only white light existed in this part of the world. It was almost impossible to see anything clearly, but Moon was able to see the remains of a white stone castle built into the base of a mountain. It, too, was tilting to the side with the added bonus of sinking into the ground. The mountain surrounding it appeared to have been heavily damaged, and several chunks had been ripped out forcefully and aggressively. Before she could take in more, Moon was wrapped in a sticky, black material and dragged almost instantly towards the mountain then liberated just as quickly.
Her horn was glowing aggressively when the changelings immediately flew back and grabbed the walls and statues around. Despite the multitude of holes in the walls and ceiling and the extreme damage to the stone, the area was almost pristine. Two statues flanked a path leading deeper into the mountain. Both of them were as tall as the doorway which was, itself, big enough for an adult dragon to enter. The statues were missing their heads, signaling them to have represented one or more alicorns.
Moon bared her fangs at the changelings hiding away in the nooks and crannies of the darkness free from the outside world. They hid away behind many pillars. Some preferred to look at their guest through the gaps in the walls and even the doorways where rotten, blackened wood hung weakly.
"You summoned me here," Moon started. "Show me to your queen or I'll fry all of you and destroy this hive," she threatened calmly.
"I would rather you didn't do that, Nightmare Moon," a regal voice asked calmly.
Moon turned around to see the changeling she had marked hiding behind a much taller-looking changeling. They both walked towards each other and stopped mere inches from each other's muzzles. Their scowls made the terrified bugs tense, but no pony had moved.
"The changeling queen, I presume?" Moon said.
The queen lowered her head slightly in acknowledgment. "I am Queen Hepetia."
Her body was thin and comprised of black chitin with several holes going through it. One of them went from the left of her chest all the way to the right of her back and through her wing. Her mane and tail were autumnal shades of orange, brown, and red and resembled algae more than anything. Said mane draped over her horn, making it seem like its sharp point had pierced through a flat bed of seaweed. It was crooked and misshapen and twisted into a circle twice: Once just a few centimeters from the base of her skull which bent it to the left before a second made another rising ring that twisted it back to the right where the tip rested perpendicular to the right eye. Hepetia looked stoic and unflinching in her expression despite her gaunt appearance. That said, despite standing her ground, the changeling's bloodshot, yellow eyes made her look sickly and weak.
"You caught a changeling of my hive in a snow city in the mountains and demanded to speak with me," the queen continued. "Why is that?"
Moon felt kindred with this bug despite herself. She had to suppress a grin that was trying to grow in the corner of her mouth. "If the tales of my time are to be believed, then you already know who I am beyond my name and what has happened."
Hepetia frowned. "Tales of the changelings?"
"Your skills of subterfuge and transformation magic were legends in my time, such as that no pony believed any of your kind were real."
There was a long silence before the queen responded with a menacing smile. "Yes. I know of you, Princess Nightmare Moon, also known as 'The Mare in the Moon': Alicorn of the night sky." She turned her back and walked towards one of the statues. "Sitting, headless giants. That's what my hive knows you alicorns since history saw fit to invert our legends."
Moon raised a brow and looked around. "And yet you are back to hiding away." She placed a hoof to her temple and groaned. "Still. I believe your skills would be highly invaluable to my needs to retake Equestria and restore it to its former glory."
Hepetia scoffed. "And why would the changelings help you in any way? You have nothing we could want that we can't already take."
Moon smiled. "Well, another part of your legend is that changelings are always starving," she stated dismissively. The queen's head turned instantly to the side to have a better view of the alicorn. "Why, imagine if somepony had control of an entire country, knew where the densest population centers were, and could categorize them by the most 'loving' moods each of them had." She sat down and checked her hooves for damage. "Well, such a pony couldn't exist, so I supposed I wasted my time here. I'll be returning through that hole of yours and resuming my pl--"
"Wait!" Queen Hepetia commanded. Her booming voice startled the surrounding changelings who started fumbling in place and clicking. "You would let us drain your ponies for love?"
"To a reasonable extent that they are not harmed, yes," Moon confirmed.
"Why?"
Moon growled and dug her hooves into the ground. "Because I have had ten thousand years of contemplation. I have learned that my goals can't simply be attained by sheer force of will." She snorted in bemusement. "Or just force. My first vassal was murdered within my own city, and I intend to find them and rip them to pieces with my magic in return."
The changeling queen nodded. "A far cry from the hyper-aggressive goddess I was told about. Well, let us have a walk around my hive while I contemplate the benefits of cooperation between us: A queen and a princess."
"I plan to retitle myself as a queen," Moon said quickly. Her eyes had begun to glow, but the snarky grin of the queen did not change. "Princess is a leftover title from the days of my sister."
"A sister? Interesting," the queen commented absentmindedly.
The corridor that Moon had seen was, in fact, a bridge, and it opened to the blinding lights from outside, and she had to shield her eyes from the pain they caused. "How is there light in here? There was no opening outside? How did you bugs create this?" she asked.
Hepetia chittered angrily at the title of 'bug', but did her best to keep her composure. "We didn't make it. We just found it by accident one day and took it as our new home. It's an anomaly of magic that protects this place. No pony but us are able to come here voluntarily. Any other creature tends to be shifted about haphazardly, almost like forward becomes backwards and every other possibility."
"Then how did you get here?" Moon questioned with her head held high.
"By accident. It's rare but sometimes whatever this light is backfires and let's you reach the castle, as my grandmother learned when looking for a new home." She scratched her chest. "She was a stubborn mare. That leaves the few that do get in."
"And what of them?" Moon asked. She was met with the queen looking straight at her with an unsettling, massive, toothy smile. "I see."
Changelings were everywhere, which Nightmare Moon found befitting. Some gross, organic mounds would be spotted here or there, but the castle itself still seemed immaculate despite its damages. It was clear to the alicorn that this place had been fought over several times, but whomever had lived here still had long since died or simply didn't want to inhabit forgotten ruins. The light, however, was still a great mystery she couldn't solve.
"I've noticed that this castle is surprisingly clean. I thought you would have thought it more valuable to find a location untouched by the battles of the past and install yourselves there," Moon said.
"We have lived here for a long time. Is it not necessary amongst the other races to clean their homes?"
"True...but I still cannot understand this place. I'm surprised you can navigate it so easily."
The changeling cracked her neck several times and looked up a flight of stairs built along the walls of a square tower. "We have had plenty of time to explore, although some scouts were not fortunate," she said dismissively. Both creatures shuddered. "And we know when something unwanted has entered this castle."
The two equine leaders looked around frantically in an attempt to trace the source of the disturbing sensation. Whether they managed it or the presence decided to let them find it, the two equines raised their head to see, at the top of the tower, an unknown figure contrasting with the weak light illuminating the top floor it stood at. Whatever it was, it was staring down unblinkingly at the equines with giant, prominent eyes. It was very easy to see the scelera and the shrunken pupils accentuated by the lower eyelids raised up in a rictus the two equine creatures couldn't see but could feel.
"What is that?" Moon asked. "One of your changelings or another guest that you invited through that portal of yours?"
Hepetia shook her head. "You are the only guest we have ever allowed into our hive, and we would have noticed an unwanted guest coming through the portal."
The two jumped to the sides when a massive, obsidian stone came crashing down. Its surface smoked and began melting through the stones it had landed on until all that was left was a lava ring and a gaping hole in the middle.
"You dare to damage my hive?!" the queen bellowed.
She spread her wings, ready to fly up the tower, but the whole hive began shaking. the walls started twisting and bending and the floors began to break apart into separate platforms that were somehow growing bigger on their own.
"What is this?!" the queen stammered.
The changelings were startled at the magic being displayed and doing their best to avoid getting crashed or sliced by the moving parts.
"This feels like the same magic at the library underneath Canterlot," Moon shouted.
"You've been free long enough, Luna!" a voice yelled furiously.
"Luna?" Moon repeated.
"What?"
Moon was tugged at her core and pulled into the tower that had become reshaped into a spinning cylinder. She was blinded by a flash of light and punched in her gut before being thrown far away.
"What, can't see?" the voice asked quizzically. "Let me dissipate the curse around this place, then!"
The blinding white light gradually died off, letting Moon see that she was in the bent and twisted tower with winding corridors going in every direction. She looked about and felt a chill go through her. It felt like she was in old Canterlot again.
“Ah, oops, ha ha. I lied,” the voice continued.
She saw a shape waddle through the shadows of the endless corridors illuminated faintly by glass windows that led out to nothing.
“So, you prefer to hide in the darkness than actual reveal yourself,” the alicorn scoffed. “Charming, but predictable from such a small pony.”
She saw the shadows somehow shake violently. “I am not small! We were always the bigger ones without you monstrosities always lording over us!” the creature spoke in a shrill voice.
Clawed hands grew from the ground and reached for Moon, but with a flash of her horn, popped before they could get anywhere near her. The shadows in the corridors moved slowly forward, silent and hungry, like a solid mass. The alicorn felt like eyes were peering at her through the veil.
“Is this all I have to contend with? Some foal with parlor tricks and a bit of magic to their name?” Moon asked without moving from her spot.
“And is this all I have to contend with? An alicorn of ten thousand years whose strongest weapon are her words.” The voice scoffed. “Even your sister could put her power into practice, rather than boast about ill-gotten bravado obtained from a carnival game.” Several small circles of white light shone out of the shadows as they encroached upon Luna from the corridors. She was being pressured from the sides, above, and below. “Congratulations. You got a hoop across a horn.” A slow clap resonated through the vibrating shadows. “Clearly worthy of your title now.”
Moon thrummed a spell through her horn to dispel the shadows around her, but the masses only moved back slight. Another spell, and another minor effect.
“What is this?!” the alicorn shouted.
“Is that panic I hear? From the mighty princess of the night, sister of the Solar Tyrant?” the voice continued.
Nightmare Moon started to fire beams at the masses as they slowly approached her. Then cutting spells, explosives, implosives. Anything she could get off the top of her head, but the masses moved in ever closer to her without ever making a sound. The lights coming from them were the only thing they bothered to produce to show they were still there. The moment they came out of the corridors, their forms exploded wildly into strands and twists like angry, thorny plants eager to steal all the space they could and kill any other plant and living being that would dare to get in their way. The alicorn fled to the sky from reflex, but it was pointless. She was caught by the thorns that grew over her wings before quickly reaching over the rest of her body and consuming her in a dark mass while spell after spell was unleashed to try and free herself. Moon’s screams were quickly muffled by the dark mass.
The clear blue sky dotted with a few clouds loomed over. Moon was standing on a large, circular platform that at least four airships could rest on and still have room for cargo to be laid near them. All of it was sitting atop a lumpy, rocky plain devoid of any plant life.
The alicorn bounced around, shocked. She didn’t understand what just happened. The mountain and the castle were behind her, so she was still at the changeling hive. She never felt her heart race so much since her sister had banished her with the Elements of Harmony.
“Had fun with my ‘parlor trick’?” the taunting voice asked.
Moon took several deep breaths to recover from the event, doing her best to hide her shock and horror, as brief and unwarranted as they may be. She faced her attacker, but found her comprehension lacking once more. Standing before her was an alicorn. At first she had thought it to be another fragment of her sister, but she had never seen this one before. Their body was unusually bulky and squarish. It was red with several curling streaks of green and yellow running along it. The alicorn's mane and tail followed the same pattern, but they were unkept and dirty with mud and dust. Its eyes were just as bizarrely colored as the rest of their fur, like its scelera exploded and leaked into the rest of its eyes.
"Welcome to an old castle you should be...uhh...unfamiliar with," the alicorn noted in confusion.
This was...a male alicorn?! Nightmare Moon couldn't believe it. Male alicorns weren't a thing. It was always the mares that had access to the power of alicornhood over stallions.
"You speak my ancient dialect?" Moon asked him.
The alicorn waddled about, taking in the surroundings before acknowledging with a nod. "Of course! I'm not as old as you but I'm pretty old," he said calmly. His behavior switched almost immediately. "Too old!" he bellowed angrily whilst digging into the ground with his hooves. "Too long have I walked the lands and too long have I safeguarded ponies..." He took a deep breath and straightened himself. "But then you came along. Everything was going great!" They slammed their face against the ground several times then stared at Nightmare Moon. "All that hard work is being ruined!"
Moon snorted in amusement. "Then you're part of the group I have to blame for the history of Equestria being destroyed and all the ponies stagnating technologically and culturally for so long."
"St-stagnating...?!" the alicorn stuttered.
He stared at Moon with the same wide, white eyes as when he was first seen. The air started crackling around his horn before coalescing at the tip and letting loose a beam of magic that could have engulfed a house. Moon was quick to shield herself with a corner that split the beam into two. She clenched her teeth from the sheer force her assailant was hitting her with and felt her body scream from the effort.
"There's no stagnating, alicorn!" he shouted from above.
Moon narrowly dodged his hoof slam and responded in kind by spinning around and kicking him in the face, sending him flying.
"Where are the others?!" Moon demanded. "Where are the others responsible for making everything disappear and for trying to erase my existence?"
The stallion cracked his neck and glared at his opponent. "There are no others! I'm all that's left!" he stated giddily. "All alone and trapped away from everypony!"
Moon had to teleport away from the two flat disks of magic summoned to smash her into paste. She responded in kind by having several chains erupt from the ground beneath the stallion, pierce his body, then pull him down onto the ground.
"I'm supposed to believe that you did all of that on your own?!"
The stallion struggled but eventually relented. "No. I mean yes. In the past we were many, then I was all that was left. The unwanted hero on the pedestal of light meant to carry him!" the alicorn cried.
It smashed its head against the ground several times, breaking the stone and freeing it from the chains. Moon's front legs were caught by a giant, eyeless maw that rose from the ground. The stallion had forgotten to give it teeth, so, instead, the creation lifted Nightmare Moon up to smash her down several times in a row. With immense effort, she focused her magic through her forelegs and into the mouth of the creation, causing it to explode into a spray of mud.
Moon gasped for air and let her protection spells help her recover slowly while the alicorn stallion continued to look at the area around them, seemingly oblivious to their confrontation.
"What do you...in the past there were many?" she asked.
"We were many. Many many so many!" the alicorn trailed off.
He gripped his head with a hoof, allowing Moon to see that his features were...degrading? It looked like the color of his fur was tarnishing and he was starting to become thinner. Moon took the opportunity to make her own attacks, creating multiple balls of darkness from her horn to fly around her opponent and whip him with countless arms that chewed away at his body. In response, he produced an explosion that blew them away. The alicorn flew towards Moon and grabbed her, taking her high into the sky where they continued their fight. The stallion tried several times to compress Moon into a small ball, but he was never successful. Moon tried to slice him apart but found equal success in the matter. Their fighting was bleeding off into the surrounding areas, cutting everything apart and obliterating more into debris. Above, the sun watched them fight and burned away at the two alicorns at a whim.
"We hated you alicorns!" the stallion cried. "We hated you so much! Every time we tried something new they would dismiss it saying you alicorns would provide for us better than anything we could have ever created!"
He slammed into a net Moon had created and started burrowing through its layers as best he could. "What...are you talking about?" Moon grunted.
"We needed to get rid of you all, but we didn't know how! It took years to learn the magic, but we created the ritual that prolonged your time in the moon!" he shouted. He started pushing further against Moon as his body became more disheveled and a light started glowing from some of his joints and parts of his skin. "You were supposed to stay in there forever! Celestia was already bad. What was going to happen if a pure tyrant alicorn came back to subjugate the world? We had no defenses!" he squealed.
He broke through, caught Moon in a headlock, and as he plunged down, his body separated from the mare, leaving a magic construct in his place. Nightmare managed to catch herself by deploying a net below, but the speed and force with which she hit the platform was still high, and she ended up shooting through the stone. She burst forth, seconds from it, and created a helix drill of stone from the debris and struck her opponent, sending him flying in howls of pain.
"So it's your fault I couldn't exact revenge on my sister?!" Moon growled angrily. Her eyes and body started glowing a bright white. "It's your fault I've lost ten thousand years of my life?!"
The sun flickered imperceptibly.
"To be fair," the stallion grunted. "It was only nine thousand that we trapped you in your rightful prison." He stood back up, his body shaking. "You weren't supposed to come back," he whispered.
Moon noticed that there were several spots of the stallion's now disheveled body that were leaking a large amount of magic as spouts, but the alicorn could only feel his magic staying the same or increasing at times. "Your body wasn't made to hold that much magic," she realized.
The broken stallion eyed himself over and heaved a sigh. "No! I wasn't! And I didn't want to become what I hated! But they all chose for me!" His body trembled and he let out multiple domes of magic towards Moon who teleported away. The domes bulldozed through dozens of feet worth of stone like they were made of aluminum foil. "Because I was the one who got rid of the solar tyrant!" he declared whilst slamming his hooves into his chest. "When she learned that her sister had been trapped for longer than intended, your sister did everything to free you!"
"Lies!" Nightmare bellowed.
The alicorn of the night made a humanoid construct with the night sky as its flesh. It vaulted over the remains of the castle and stomped down onto the stallion, hurting him considerably, but several red spikes emerged from its foot that climbed along its body until it was frozen in place and popped like a balloon.
"She tried for decades to free you, at which point she gave into her loneliness and eventually had two foals, but we left them alone." He smirked, revealing rotten fangs. "They weren't alicorns. We were avid believers that the children should have nothing to do with the parents."
The sun flickered.
The land warped around them again, destroying their arena. Several false towers erupted from the land that waved like an ocean. The chain followed them by wrapping around wailing faces growing on the surface of the stones. Said faces quickly jumped out of their imprisonment to charge at Moon, only to be casually whipped aside. Small stones turned into floating islands as they rose higher and higher into the air. Most were held in place by the aforementioned chains, but there was no rhyme or reason to it, leaving many to flip upside down or become lopsided.
"And so she became angry because you did attack her children? You disposed of them as well?"
The broken pony cackled to himself and rolled on the floor while bits and pieces of him became engulfed in a warm, orange light. "No! She eventually learned that somepony had messed with the spell and was furious. It's when one of our own told her directly that she exploded in fury. She only killed Bubble Pop but could never find the rest of us!"
Moon felt herself pale. "What?"
"When she learned that it was our rightful actions that kept you trapped in the moon and she couldn't dissolve the spell, she became the Solar Tyrant!" He laughed then started crying. "All those dead ponies and destroyed villages..." He pointed aggressively at Nightmare Moon with his wings. "All because alicorns had to control everything!"
The sun flickered more angrily, and undulating arms started growing from it.
The two began fighting hoof-to-hoof-to-magic, constantly countering and recountering each other with spells and acrobatics as the world around them warped and changed.
"It sounds like you're blaming others for your own actions!" Moon accused.
"I accept our actions! They're our fault! But the needs of the ponies came first! You alicorns were preventing us from progressing as a species because everypony thought you were the best at everything and solved all our problems or could solve them all with time!" He was struck in the ribs and rolled away by Nightmare Moon. "We...we confronted the solar Tyrant and took her...down," he wheezed.
Moon flinched from the pain. She hadn't used so much magic in quite a while, and the false alicorn's strikes were breaking her body. He had far too much magic. "...You're the hero of the thestral stories."
The broken pony looked at Moon with wide eyes. "The what? The thestrals had stories?!"
"They said that there was a hero who struck down the solar tyrant after she had killed everyone else," she recounted.
The stallion blinked a few times then laughed. "That's a really old story we made up!" His joyful expression became somber as he stood up. "It's true that I was the one to deliver the final blow, but we had all taken her down. They just chose me as the scapegoat because I delievered the final blow." He groaned and looked at his trembling hooves. "Because ponies were still into alicorns, we made the lie that I was chosen by the 'magic trapped in the tyrant' and made into an alicorn," he mocked. Another maw came from beneath Nightmare Moon who held its jaw open with her magic, allowing her to escape it. "They pooled all the magic into me! They got rid of the other immortals causing issues by dispersing their own magic!"
"What?!" Moon shouted. "Then Discord and Accord?"
"The truest opponent of chaos and order is neutrality!" The stallion coughed multiple times. "We immersed them in neutrality and watched them dissipate on their own! No more destroyting and warping Equestria! No more tyrant dictating how we should live!"
"But you impeded its progress!" Moon protested. "Foals that you are. Equestria has stagnated for thousands of years! I still see things used today that were used during my time! You've ruined the future of ponies under my rule!"
"No we didn't!" the broken pony whined. "We improved their lives! If a few had to be sacrificed to let them live and prosper then that was a consensus! We had to do it or we would have all died out!"
"You don't know that!" Moon bellowed. She stomped the floating island the two alicorns had landed on fissuring it. "You only used that as an excuse to get what you want, because you couldn't accept the fact that...not everypony..." She felt the wind blown out of her lungs and stared silently at the fracturing pony standing before her.
"I never wanted this!" the stallion bellowed. "I wanted a good life! I wanted foals of my own and to see my creations improve ponykind!"
The spouts of loose magic started coalescing towards his horn as he readied yet another spell. Despite feeling horrible, Nightmare Moon answered in kind with multiple spells of her own. The ensuing collision of magic caused the skies to turn red and the ground free-roaming magic hit to instantly melt into molten slag.
The insane amount of magic the two alicorns were employing was causing untold amounts of destruction and was hard for even them to control. The weather was changing from rainy to cloudy to sunny and their magic was detaching from or simply pulling their spells away from each other to fly off towards nowhere or hit landmasses all around them.
"You're blaming all your problems on me when you did this to yourself!" Moon shouted over the screaming magic. "You should have left well enough alone!"
"Easy for you to say, alicorn!" the broken stallion spat in disgust. "I had all of this responsibility thrust upon me without my consent and turned into an alicorn, then I had to watch as everypony died around me and I swelled with magic! Magic I didn't want! I'm trapped between two conflicting desires, and there's nothing left to do about it."
Moon was being pushed back but forced herself forward as best as she could whilst gritting her teeth. "So you...you stifled the growth of ponies and destroyed its history to prevent them from learning of the past and not repeating its mistakes?" She forced out a laugh that enraged the already crumbling stallion. "You didn't even decide for yourself. How pathetic," she mused.
The stallion stopped his spell and dove under Nightmare Moon's, creating multiple spirals around the mare that spun and crackled angrily. They pulled at the mare and the fabric of reality in eleven different directions, and the alicorn couldn't think of a way to free herself. The image of the immense moon came to the alicorn's mind. Shadowy tendrils slowly wrapped around the spirals and pulled them in, imploding them. Startled, the stallion jumped away from his opponent onto another island and started buffeting the mare's island with small light orbs from space. They punctured through the landmass with ease, like it wasn't there. The shadowy figures ignored the effects and moved towards his island, their twisted forms incomprehensible even to him.
"What is this?" he shouted.
With a crackle of his body, lances of bright light punctured through even the shadowy figures and disappeared into the island he was standing on. He laughed heartily until Moon crushed him and the island to the ground, almost instantaneously. She had seen a third moon. This one was slightly bigger than her own, but it had a green glow to it, and false eyes. Every spell the stallion tried to use was pulled down by the sheer force the green moon exerted upon him and his surroundings.
"Just because...you're pulling new powers out of...nowhere doesn't mean...you'll win..." the stallion grunted. He forced himself up as best he could with his legs digging deep into the ground. "I've been awake...for almost ten thousand years...I have...more experience!"
Nightmare Moon gave way and fell down. Her whole body ached like crazy. She was suffering immensely. The green moon seemingly ripped her bones and muscles apart with its use, but she still had a lot of magic left within her and parried the stallion's spear of magic. Their impending clash was stopped by a wave of intense heat that washed over them and everything around them. The wave pulled away their magic like water washing away mud.
The heat was almost unbearable like the two were in a furnace. The chaotic weather was changed to a red sky, and tendrils of yellow light reached the corner of their eyes. Looking up, the source was the sun. It had spread through the whole sky like it was standing right in front of the world. Hundreds of arms grew and receded from its body as it grew even closer.
"No!" the stallion screamed. "Her rage wasn't supposed to be a curse!"
The sun wouldn't let him escape. Every magic spell he tried to conjure was melted away by the sun's hatred. Moon was blinded by the sun's fury. She only barely heard the stallion's screams through the howling of the sun's focused heat. Almost a minute later, the sun had receded and the world was cooling. The alicorn of the night had been projected back into the castle, much to her surprise. She struggled to get back up and limped up the damaged stairs leading to what were certainly just the 'remains' of a platform.
Everything had been carbonized. Just black ash everywhere. Even the stone had been superheated so much and so quickly that they didn't have time to melt. The sun had created a sea of ash, and, to Nightmare Moon's surprise, it didn't seem as angry as before. It was now a small circle of white light, although she could still see a tendril or two coming out of it on occasion. She was going to leave when she heard a cough.
"Ash...everywhere..." a weak voice wheezed.
Moon moved to the source, sliding down the deep crater the sun had produced. She tumbled the last few feet and landed near the broken pony. His body was disentegrating, alleviating Moon's fears that he was going to stand up again.
He glanced at Moon before resting again. "Now look...at what you've done..."
"I did nothing. This is your fault."
He wheezed and looked at her again. "I was just...doing what I needed...to keep ponies happy...and flourishing." He took another breath and seemed to snuggle himself into the ash. "We did battle here. Do you even know what place this is?" Moon said nothing. "It is the second castle your sister made as the Solar Tyrant..."
The alicorn of the night stomped on his chest, eliciting a pained groan. "Of course you would choose such a place, but that isn't important. I want to know why you killed my vassal?" She was met with a tired look of confusion. "The mayor of my soon-to-be capital city."
The dying pony frowned. "He's dead?" He chuckled. "My only target was you. That he was trying to promote your existence just provided me with...with some entertainment and somepony to play against."
"But that's impossible. You're the only pony that would have wanted him to die!" Moon bellowed. She flinched from the pain the force inflicted to her ribs.
She received pained laughing. "You have more enemies already than I could have ever expected. His adoration of you was...the curse brought by alicorns, again. Your...fault."
Moon bared her fangs. "You still expect me to believe you when you say you and your dead friends are the reason for everything that has happened to Equestria?"
"Do you even know why we tried to manage alicorns? The magic you wield is incredible!" He readjusted himself briefly. "And you alone showed that just a little emotional disturbance could turn you into walking natural disasters. Your sister just added to it."
Moon stomped on his disintegrating body once more, causing his belly to crack. "And so you hunted and killed every other alicorn."
He laughed. "I don't know why I'm even telling you all this. I-ghrk!" Moon twisted her hoof into his wounded body. "Because they made me into a false alicorn we were forced to watch the new ones that came along, but then the magic within them became too much and they started warping everything around them or wanting too much power or whatever! They just became a threat to everypony."
"That doesn't explain how they apparently transformed Equestria's landscape to such an extent."
"Most of it was us!" the stallion grunted. "We wanted to hide everything they did, but they tried fighting back. Just like with your sister I was usually the only one left during confrontations and lauded as a hero!"
The alicorn hummed to herself. "You didn't mention that part, but it would explain a lot. I don't believe your reasoning, however."
"I think there was a piece of your sister in this castle. Those bugs must have freed it." He scoffed. "And you let out another piece at Canterlot."
Moon stood proudly and bared her fangs in a smile. "I defeated that part of my sister. It is no longer a threat."
Her opponent puffed. "Defeat is not the same as destroy. That fragment is still around." Moon's proud stance weakened and her heart started racing in panic. "Alicorns always thinking their villains are forever defeated just because they kicked them once. Hope that there aren't enough pieces to help her coalesce back into life." He heaved a sigh. "We knew of the one under Canterlot but had no idea she would persist." The broken pony grunted in pain.
"Then I'll destroy her altogether and finally get the vengeance I so deserve," Nightmare Moon declared firmly.
She was met with a telling look for her fallen opponent. A look that said 'I told you so'. The stallion gasped for air several times in quick succession afterwards. The disintegration had taken his right foreleg and was climbing to his chest. "I was left behind, keeping to myself in my small dimensional pocket, watching when alicorns would be born, but I...I kept them from coming back. Too dangerous. They became more powerful. Crazier with each...generation."
Moon scowled. "Lies perpetrated by your misguided group of imbeciles,"
"Perhaps!" He gave Moon a large smile, showing that even his teeth were cracking apart. "You are the victor, so you can interpret my words however you like, but I know what is true and what isn't, and I have given you fair warning. Please, just take care of the ponies, and stop the new alicorns." His façade dissipated as soon as the disintegrating started to take away his lungs and began crying. Every other word was preceded by strangulation from his lungs dissipating. "Do you think I have penance to pay? Were my actions just or were they folley thrust upon me by my betters? A foal who never thought for himself...Do you think I will be allowed to come back? To have my own foals?" he snickered through his tears. "I hope there's not much to pay. I hate being...in debt..."
His head dropped to the side before the rest of him dissipated. Moon looked at him in disgust. It took the greatest amount of willpower she could ever muster that kept her from spitting on the broken pony. She walked away and used the twin moons to heal herself as quickly as possible. A few seconds was enough for her. Her bones were mostly knitted together and contusions had shrunk, but she drained an immense amount of magic and felt weak. The presence of the other alicorns of the night seemed absent when she did so. Perhaps they were only able to come out during the night.
It didn't matter in the end. Moon had changelings to ally with and information to ponder. This...malformed creature didn't kill her first vassal. There was only one pony she knew that would have done that and attack Sunny if the alicorn couldn't be reached. Things were starting to become more dangerous. The mare dared a glance over her shoulder to see the lifeless husk of the stallion fizzling away. In the moment the effect reached his eyes Moon jumped. They shot towards her then glazed over.
"Mmmm..." Moon grumbled. "I have a feeling his ghost and those of his comrades are going to haunt me from now on... What did you fools do over the millennia?"
Upon her return to the destroyed castle of her sister, Moon waved away the copious amounts of dust and debris erring about her nostrils. The hallways within had all but crumbled, leaving the true definition of a ruin behind. What hadn't outright fallen apart was just barely holding on by the skin of nonexistent teeth, and Moon could hear the stone straining while tiny bits and pieces of them fell from the cracks formed in the ceilings and walls.
The lunar alicorn jumped down the tower that had somehow stood strong despite the fighting and the stress the false alicorn had put onto it and landed in a puddle of some unknown liquid. It was red. The mare spat in disgust and shook the substance off of her. Already she could hear the buzzing wings of diligent worker bugs cleaning up the mess she had caused. Limping around the corner, the mare was face-to-face with Queen Hepetia. To the mare's surprise, there was not a hint of anger on her face. Just the same bemused expression she sported when Moon had first arrived.
Nightmare Moon looked at the cracked walls slowly folding outwards into the open halls only to be caught by several changelings spitting up a sticky green substance that held the stone in place. Others were pulling away pieces of stone and dragging them out of inconvenient places.
"Seems you had quite a bit of fun at my hive's expense," Hepetia mused.
"It wasn't...fun..." Moon wheezed.
"You have a lot to make up for." The queen leaned closer to Moon. "I expect this shouldn't be a problem for a future queen?"
Moon chuckled. "Let us speak...of reparations then."
