Nightmare Free Equestria

The sun was setting over Equestria. The normally blue sky above shined with the bright pinks and reds of the day's end with tinges of purple around the edges. Small puffs of cloud gleamed with hints of color. Those who saw it would have thought it was exceptionally beautiful - a sunset like none of them had seen since before Discord's return. A smaller group knew why it was so. Although she had not been able to return to her home and throne, Princess Celestia was back in control, free of Discord, and reunited with some of the most important ponies in her life. Although there was still much to do, there was joy, and happiness, and a new hope. All these feeling were shown in that sunset.

In Canterlot, the sunset went unnoticed. The ponies were not out and able to see it since they were hiding to for their lives. The only thing out and about in Canterlot that would have seen it were the changelings, and they had no interest. Even if the sunset was made with hope, joy and love -- and inspired those same feelings in the ponies that saw it -- it was not a source that the changelings could feed off of. They had no interest in the sunset. They were more interested in trying to find some more ponies that they could feed off of.

The changelings also did not notice how dark the night was since no moon had risen, nor did they see the black clouds glowing with dark blue energy moving through the sky above them.

Above the clouds, Moon Shadow flew. Her great black wings flapped as she went, soaring high in the dark sky. Her horn glowed with her magic as she held the clouds in her power, bringing them along with her to place them above Canterlot.

That morning after Cadence had been revived, Moon Shadow had left with the intent of heading straight to the castle and stomping the changelings' heads in. She was filled with rage, ready to smash and destroy, without any sort of plan. It was when she had stepped out from underground and had felt the warmth of the sun against did enough of the rage melt for her to think a little better. Not enough to decide to go back in or completely forget about attacking the castle, but enough to realize that she needed some sort of plan for it.

Thinking about it, Moon Shadow had decided to attack at night. After all, that was her domain. Instead of going back into the rebellion's base and resting until dark, she had decided to fly around, think, and see if she could come up with more of a plan. It was during this that she saw Cloudsdale and -- while not actually a plan -- she did come up with an idea that might give her an additional advantage.

It turns out that when a large, black, and angry alicorn appears, many ponies are willing to do whatever it takes to keep that alicorn from getting angry at them. As a result, the ponies at the weather factory were more than willing to give her all of the rain clouds that they currently had in store. None of them had even dared to ask her what they were for. It made a part of her wonder how the princesses of this world were going to react when they got word of it.

Now the time had come to put what she had in mind into motion. The clouds were now settled above the entirety of Canterlot and ready to release their contents. Moon Shadow closed her eyes and concentrated. The energy around her horn grew brighter as she began to manipulate the contents of the cloud. With each exhale, her breath became easier and easier to see as frost as the temperature began to drop.

Moon Shadow flew up higher then turned. Wings flapping, she flew down toward the clouds as fast as she could. Teeth gritted she threw herself against it, front clouds slamming against the top of them. There were flashes of cold, silver-blue lightning and the boom of thunder. Moon Shadow pushed off hard, using the clouds as a trampoline and flying up. Again she turned and threw herself down against it, creating the lightning and thunder. She then did it again. And again. And again.

Below in the city, the flashes of light and booms of sound began to draw the attention of the changelings below. They watched as the lightning jumped and danced among the clouds above them. To them, there was something almost hypnotic about the whole thing.

That was when it started to rain. Although "rain" would not technically be the correct term. What was falling from the sky was more sleet and hail with a small amount of freezing rain mixed in. The hail stones were massive, about the size a bit. With the speed of how fast they fell, the stones were able to shatter glass as well as cause bruising (and possibly concussions) to any creature caught up in it. The chitinous shell of the changeling was able to absorb the blows and prevent any serious damage, but it still hurt.

More importantly was the effect of the rain and sleet. The water would strike the creature, and the cold would make it freeze, creating ice. Unlike the pegasi, the changelings had neither a protective layer in their coat, or wings that could handle the cold and ice. As a result, the insect-like forms had ice sticking to them, making difficult to move and impossible to fly. So any changeling that was outside was grounded at in danger of being hit by the hailstones.

Above the storm, Moon Shadow took a deep breath and slowly let it out. Once again she flew down toward the clouds. This time she plunged through, magically pulling the clouds shut behind her as she entered the storm. The hail pounced off the armor she wore with an audible clunking sound. The water flew off her great black wings with each flap, and bent to follow her path as she flew through the storm as fast as she could.

Her jaw clenched and eyes narrowed as she continued to push herself forward. From the edge of her vision, she could see Canterlot below. The entire town was a blur, everything moving too fast for her to fully see. Fortunately, she only needed to see one place, which was directly where she was headed. She headed straight for the castle, aiming for the main window that led into the throne room.

As if she had set it up perfectly herself, Moon Shadow struck the window, shattering it just as a flash of lightning and boom of thunder filled the air. For a split second, all that could be seen was the black silhouette of an alicorn framed surrounded by a brilliant white light.

Moon Shadow let out a roar as she flew down. The changelings looked on at the approaching black form, frozen with shock. One of them was tackled by the enraged alicorn, slamming it into the wall and pinning it their. The drone was able to let out a small squeal of shock and pain as it looked into the snarling black visage that stared down with draconic eyes.

"Where is your queen?" Moon Shadowed yelled, flecks of foamy saliva flying from her fanged mouth and hitting the drone in the face. "Where is Chrysalis?!"

The sound of hooves clapping reached the alicorn's ears, catching her attention.

"Oh, bravo," a voice purred. "Bravo. That is quite an entrance. I am very impressed." The sound caused Moon Shadow to release the drone and turned to look at the speaker.

The black form of Queen Chrysalis stepped forward. Although not as tall as Moon Shadow, the changeling was taller than all the others, their heads coming up to its shoulders. She had long, dark blue mane that was topped with what looked like a crown that was made from her very chitin, and a massive horn protruding from her forehead. Her dark green eyes danced with humor as she smiled, showing the vampiric fangs. Her insectile wings gave a small flicker as she moved closer.

"Chrysalis!" Moon Shadowed shouted in a booming voice that echoed through the entire chamber. "You and your hive are responsible for a great many numbers of crimes against Canterlot, including: the deaths of numerous citizens, included among them Captain Shining Armor; the assault, torture, and imprisonment of Princess Mi Amore Cadenza; Terrorizing additional citizens; attacking Canterlot; and destroying the castle, which -- had the sister not been captured by Discord -- would have been seen as a coup. Do you have anything you wish to say in your defense?"

"My defense?" Chrysalis asked before bursting into laughter. "That's what this is about? You're here to arrest me?" She raised an eyebrow, still chuckling.

"No."