Nightmare Free Equestria

For a brief second, everything was a strange cacophony of bright light, a mix of clashing colors and shades that should not have possibly existed. After, Luna could seen nothing but white. Slowly, colors started to become visible again. Then shapes. As she continued to blink, the world continue to shift until becoming solid and recognizable.

Well, almost recognizable.

Luna found herself standing in what looked like the hall that led from the stairs for her quarters to the royal throne room. Except it was not right. For one, there was no lighting. It was not too much a hindrance to her since she was able to see well in the dark. The night was her domain after all. Still, it was odd since most ponies needed light to see.

Except there were no other ponies. Worse, it looked like a battle had taken place. There were chunks of rubble and holes in the wall from where the masonry had been damaged. Walking through, she found tears in the carpeting, some feathers that looked like they belonged to pegasi, some broken spears, and a helmet with something on it. Luna did not want to think about -- to admit to herself -- what it was, but she knew. The metallic aroma was undeniable.

Reaching the doors to the throne room, Luna paused, looking at them. She felt a cold ball in the pit of her stomach as she stood there. Whatever it was that happened here would have more than likely either started or ended there. Whatever happened, the guards would have fought with everything they had to protect the ponies, especially Celestia. She could not help but wonder, was her sister okay? Where was she?

Princess Luna moved closer to the door, pressing her body against the walls. Slowly, she reached up with one hoof and placed it on the handle. The mare gave a gentle push, trying to open it as quietly as possible. Once it was open enough, Luna moved to place her eye to the gap and looked through.

She felt her mouth go dry and a cold shiver travel down along her spine.

Changelings. The throne room was full of changelings. It had been turned into a sort of nest. There were drones moving back and forth in the room, walking and flying among cocoons and other sickly green constructs of a hive. One of the drones stopped, turning to look toward the door.

Luna froze, every muscle tensing as she saw the creature looking in her direction. She knew very little about how changeling vision worked, how well they could or could not see in the dark. For the moment, she had to just hope she could not be seen. If she could not be seen, either the glow of magic or the movement of pulling away and shutting the door would increase her chances of being caught.

There was a faint buzz, causing the changeling to look away. It was another changeling, "talking" to the first one. After a moment, the first let out a huff and resumed working.

With a sigh of relief, Luna pulled the door shut and stepped back. Going out through the throne room and out the front was not an option. Fortunately, with a castle such as this, there were plenty of other ways in and out. Luna quickly turned around and walked as quickly and quietly as she could toward the kitchen. After a quick peek to make sure no changelings were around, the princess went through the kitchen as she headed for the back door.

An ache filled her chest as she passed through, looking around. Luna did not have the same love of the culinary as her sister, but she knew the power of food. More importantly, there was a happiness and warmth in the kitchen created by the ponies ("the love of the cook goes into the food, that's what makes it so wonderful" Celestia would say). There was laughter, and smiling, and always the mouth watering smell of some food or other being made.

Now, it was quiet. Disturbingly so because of the memories of joy that haunted the edge of the princess's mind. Luna could swear that her breathing was echoing through the entire room. It was also cold, and damp. Normally several fires were always going to cook, keeping the kitchen warm and toasty. So much so that they had to open doors and windows to keep it tolerable during the summer. Instead, it felt like standing at the entrance to a cave.

Worst of all was the smell. There was no aroma of fresh baking bread or sweets, or of cooking food. Quite the opposite, actually. The air was pungent with mold and rot. Not only was nothing being made, but all the food that was here was just left to rot.

Her first day in this world was just beginning, and already Princess Luna found herself wishing to be home again. A large portion of it was that something horrendous had happened, leaving the castle in ruins. Strangely, the loss was also making her feel nostalgic and wistful. She was starting to miss the other ponies that she saw around the castle, and especially the smell and warmth of the kitchen.

When I get back, she thought, I'm going to have a nice big cake made and invite the entire kitchen staff to join me in eating it.

Reaching the back door, Luna pulled it open and peeked outside. Seeing nothing, she threw it open and ran across the gardens as fast as she could. First, she had to find a pony that could tell her what was going on. From there, she would have to decide what to do next.

The princess stumbled as a thought occurred to her. If this was the condition that the castle was in, what about the rest of Canterlot? Worse, what about the rest of Equestria?