Equestria's not so terrible Nightmare

Edited by Dragon Angel Knight

Chapter 2: A new Era

Four weeks after Nightmare Moon's take over, things were going quite well, even in the more outlying cities like Las Pegasus. The only real differences were the lack of sun during the daylight hours and the uniform for the royal guard, which had been changed to a dark blue metal with Nightmare Moon's symbol, a teal colored draconic eye. The armor was also enchanted to give the wearer golden versions of Nightmare Moon's eyes, bat-like wings if they were pegasi, and a slightly longer horn if they were unicorns.

It was with these guards stationed at the doors and around the throne room that Nightmare Moon held court. The current issue on the table was whether or not to grant permission for a charity event that would go to funding orphanages all over Equestria.

“And so, Your Highness, this charity event...” the speaker fell silent as the Queen of the Night raised a hoof with a small smile on her face.

“Your name is Fancy Pants, correct?” Nightmare Moon asked. The stallion in front of her nodded and she said, “You have permission to use the Grand Ballroom for your event, it has my full support as well.”

Fancy Pants smiled and said, “Thank you, Your Majesty, this will help out a lot of less fortunate children.”

Nightmare Moon's smile grew a bit larger as she said, “This proposal is excellent. A new orphanage with its own School? A perfect opportunity to better our children. I've always had a bit of a soft spot for foals, as well...”

“A thousand thanks, Your Grace,” Fancy Pants said as he bowed low, “You will not regret this."

“No, my little pony, thank you,” Nightmare Moon said, “And I am sure that I will not regret this choice.”

She dismissed Fancy Pants with a smile. She was in a relatively good mood when she sent for the next petitioner, however her mood was shattered when the doors to the throne room were thrown open, followed by an uptight, irritating voice Nightmare had learned to actually hate.

“AUNTY MOON!” Prince Blueblood practically screeched.

“Great... My 'Nephew' approaches...” Nightmare Moon muttered, then said in the closest thing she had to a neutral voice, “What do you need, Nephew?”

The arrogant prince levitated a scroll over to his aunt, not even bothering with protocol. Nightmare sighed heavily, took the scroll and began to read it to herself. It was a petition to have a rather large party in the Grand Ballroom. There was no specific goal in mind, no charities to donate to, just a party.

Nightmare Moon looked up from the petition, ripped it into tiny little pieces and scattered them around Blueblood's disbelieving face. “No,” she said simply to the stunned unicorn.

“But why?!” Blueblood asked, looking outraged.

“Because another petitioner already came in asking to use the Grand Ballroom for a charity event that is going to benefit needy children by building a new orphanage with its own school,” Nightmare Moon said, attempting to keep herself as calm as possible, “I have already given my permission for that event and I will not revoke it because YOU want a party for no reason other than to have one.”

Blueblood just scoffed and said, “Really Aunt? Are common foals really more important than us royals celebrating ourselves?”

Nightmare Moon's eye began to twitch in annoyance at the arrogance that this so called 'Prince of Equestria' had. She had been willing to allow the party, albeit in a slightly smaller ballroom off in another part of the castle, but now she was too angry with this upstart noble to allow him to do anything of the sort.

“Yes! Yes they are, Blueblood,” Nightmare said coldly, “I daresay that those children are more valuable to me than you ever will be.”

“B-but...” Blueblood stammered, retreating a few steps from the throne.

“I allow this charity event because it will better the lives of needy children who do not have parents to take care of them due to circumstances beyond their control,” Nightmare Moon said, her voice still filled with icy venom, “Now get out of my sight, you ungrateful, pathetic excuse of a pony!”

“But Aunt Celestia would have let me...” Blueblood started indignantly.

“I. AM NOT. MY SISTER!!!”Nightmare bellowed, “NOW LEAVE!!!

Blueblood looked terrified as he scrambled to get out of the queen's wrath, but he wasn't fast enough, because as he reached the door, he felt a painful jolt of electricity hit him on the flank, causing him to jump a few feet in the air, howling and holding his flank with his forehooves.

Nightmare Moon allowed herself a small smile at the arrogant Prince's humiliation before calling out, “Are there any more petitioners?”

“No, your majesty,” called back a pegasus guard without looking.

“Good,” Nightmare said, “Court is now closed.”

Nightmare Moon looked around at the throne room and growled, “I swear if I have to deal with that worthless Prince again, I'll BUCK HIM STRAIGHT TO THE SUN!!”

Nightmare left the throne room in a flash of midnight blue light, ending up in her chamber. She was still irritated as she tried to lay down for the night cycle of her moon, but try as she might, she could not fall asleep. Her mind kept falling back to all of the selfish petitions of the day and only made one choice clear.

“Buck it,” Nightmare Moon said getting out of bed, “Buck this place, buck them, I'm done! I'm moving the capitol some place else!! I have no idea what Celly was thinking when she moved it to Canterlot; The castle in Everfree was good enough before my banishment, so that are is where I'll start looking.”

She crossed the room to her door and said to one of the guards, “Would you go get me the treasurer, the royal engineer, and Captain Shining Armor? We have business to discuss.”

The unicorn guard turned, saluted his queen, then teleported to his destinations in a flash of greenish light. Nightmare Moon herself turned and walked back into her room and sat at her desk, the plans for her new capitol already forming in her head.

-

Ponyville, two nights later

“Alright, so you want me to do what now?” Celestia asked in confusion, looking at Twilight for help.

“Girls, I thought I told you already that magic can't help you get your cutie marks!” Twilight said in frustration.

“But Celestia is an alicorn,” Applebloom said pleadingly, “Maybe she can do it!”

Celestia looked at the fillies in front of her and said, “I'm sorry girls, my sister and I tried that a long time ago, but it didn't work...”

Sweetie Belle, Applebloom, and Scootaloo looked at Celestia with the biggest puppy dog eyes they could, but when Celestia kept up her apologetic look, they sighed in defeat.

“Hey! What about getting our cutie marks in gardening?” Scootaloo asked suddenly.

“Oh yeah!” Sweetie Belle said excitedly, “I bet Carrot Top would be happy if we helped her out with her chores!”

The three fillies looked at each other, then cheered loudly as they bolted out the door, “CUTIE MARK CRUSADER GARDENERS! YAY!!”

“Oh, wow...” Twilight said, “I'm always surprised at how loud those three can be.”

Celestia nodded, rubbed her ears, and said, “As am I.”

Suddenly, a crash sounded in the library and Twilight was tackled by a rainbow colored blur. Celestia looked around and saw Rainbow Dash and Twilight sprawled on the floor by a bookshelf, with all of the books littering the floor around the two. As Celestia approached, concern lining her face, she heard Twilight groan softly.

“Rainbow, you do know that I have a DOOR, right?!” Twilight asked irritatedly.

“Mmm... Yeah, but where's the fun in that?” Rainbow Dash said with a cocky grin, “You also make a good emergency break.”

“I guess everything is fine with you two,” Celestia chuckled.

“Ugh... Nevermind Rainbow, what brings you to the library?” Twilight asked.

“I was flying over the Everfree Forest, y'know, doing some cool stunts..” Rainbow Started to say, but she was cut off by a roll of the eyes from Twilight, so she finished by saying, “There's some ponies in hardhats and stuff over at the old castle.”

“Really?” Celestia asked, “What are they there for?”

“I don't know, but it looked interesting,” Rainbow said as she spread her wings and hopped up into a hover.

Celestia looked thoughtful for a moment, then headed towards the door and broke into a full on gallop as she aimed herself at the forest. She had almost made it to the entrance of the forest by the time Twilight and Rainbow had caught up to her. Her pace had slowed to a leisurely trot, remembering that her faithful student and her rainbow maned friend would be unable to catch up fast enough.

The three ponies had passed by Applejack, Fluttershy, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie during their rush to catch up to Celestia. Applejack turned her head and asked to no one in particular, “Well what the hay are those three doin'?”

“I have no idea~!” Pinkie responded in a sing-song voice and bounced after her friends.

“Well, darling, I suppose we should see what all the fuss is about, wouldn't you agree?” Rarity asked.

“Um... Yes, I'm kind of curious about that,” Fluttershy said in her quiet voice.

The three ponies trotted after their energetic pink friend who had already caught up with Twilight, Celestia, and Rainbow Dash. The four ponies ahead of them had been stopped by a pair of Lunar Guards that were stationed at the entrance to the Everfree trail leading towards the old Castle.

“I'm not going to ask again,” said an aggravated Pegasus, “Who are you and what is your business here?”

“I'm Twilight Sparkle,” the lavender mare said, “We're here to see what's going on out here.”

“I'm sorry, but we cannot allow anypony in. Queen Moon's orders,” The guard said. The guard next to him, a unicorn, looked at the ponies they were blocking, then did a double take as he saw Celestia's wings, horn, and cutie mark.

“Princess... Celestia?” he asked cautiously.

Celestia looked at the guard and said, “It's just Celestia, now. Is Queen Moon here?”

The guard was about to answer when he was interrupted by the mare in question as she flew silently overhead. She landed a little bit behind the guards, then walked towards the group of ponies. Applejack, Fluttershy, and Rarity, having caught up with the others, sank into a courteous bow as Nightmare Moon said, “No need for formalities out here, Elements of Harmony.”

“Hello, sister,” Celestia said to Nightmare Moon, “What is all this about? And why are the Lunar Guard back?”

“Celly!” The Queen of the Night exclaimed as she gathered her sister up in her magic and gave her a hug, “It's so good to see you again!”

Celestia squealed as she was lifted up and said, “Luna!! You're embarrassing me in front of my friends!!!”

“I know,” Nightmare Moon chuckled, “I just wanted to give you a hug. It's been a while. But, in answer to your questions, a few of the so-called nobles back in Canterlot made the mistake of comparing me to you... So, I decided to strip them of rank and title and move back here.”

“By 'Nobles', you mean Blueblood, don't you?” Twilight asked.

“Yes. I have no idea how you and Celly put up with him, Twily, but it was worth it to see the look on his face when I zapped him on the flank,” Nightmare Moon chuckled.

“I, wait, did you just call me Twily?” Twilight asked.

“Yes, I did,” the Dark Alicorn said with a grin, “And I met your brother too. Quite the charmer, really, I can see why Celestia picked him to be Captain of the Royal Guard. And Twily is such a cute nickname...”

“Yeah, yeah, just tell us why you're here already!!” Rainbow Dash said before Twilight could utter a retort, “It's not like we're getting any younger!” This earned blank stares from the rest of the mare present, but Nightmare Moon just chuckled.

“Ah, the proverbial elephant in the room as it were,” she said, “Well, I'm restoring the old castle where Celestia and I ruled and adding a few changes to it. Canterlot really was a poor choice in capitol, Celly... But for now, the rest is top secret and will be taken care of in due time.”

With that, Nightmare Moon escorted the group back into town and said her farewells as she went to supervise the restoration of Everfree Castle. Rainbow Dash landed on the ground and said, “Huh... Kinda weird, all this stuff that's going on.”

Celestia nodded and said, “Yes. Luna was against moving the capitol. She said that Canterlot was over run with ponies that didn't care for others the way that the rest of Equestria did.”

Applejack looked thoughtful for a moment, then said, “I wonder what really made her decide to move the capitol back to this castle...”

“I'm not sure, Applejack,” Rarity said as she waved a hoof, “But I for one, would not be moving such an important place as the capitol of Equestria into a dark and wild forest.”

The group made their way back to Twilight's library and headed inside. Spike was still in the library, having opted out of seeing what all the fuss was about. He went into the kitchen and grabbed a few bottles of apple juice for his friends.

“Here you go,” Spike said with a friendly grin, “Sweet Apple Acres best.”

Everypony said thanks and popped open their bottles and drank for a little while in silence. Then Celestia said with a sigh, “I guess there's not much we can do about it at the moment. I just wish I knew what was going through her head sometimes...”

Twilight nodded in agreement before getting lost in thoughts of purple mist and teal colored dragon eyes.

-Meanwhile, back at Canterlot Castle-

Nightmare Moon had teleported to her chambers shortly after bidding farewell to Twilight and her friends. While the new capitol was being built or rebuilt, depending on your point of view, Canterlot still remained the center of Equestrian operations. So, the Dark Alicorn sat at her desk, going over paperwork, redoing the tax system, and going over maps of her land.

“It surprises me how far ponies have come since my banishment,” Nightmare Moon said as she took off her helmet, “But, I suppose now is as good a time as any to catch up on what I have missed.”

Before finally deciding on the old castle in Everfree Forest, Nightmare Moon had looked through all the cities and towns that looked promising. She had stopped at Manehattan, but there was no real place to build a castle, except over the river that ran around the city, which would have been a bad choice because it would have impeded the water based traffic in and out of the harbor. Hoofington was too close to the Griffin border for a capitol and the Griffins themselves would have probably taken all the construction in the area as an act of war, And Nightmare Moon didn't want that at all. Apploosa lay in the desert, which in case of war, was far too risky. All any attackers would have had to do was wait until any supplies in the castle and surrounding areas ran out. Stalliongrad was an industrial city, so the air quality was not as healthy as places closer to a forest. Needless to say, before the Queen of the Night had made a decision, she had spent weeks combing the entirety of Equestria, had found nothing, and had become frustrated enough with the whole thing that she was about to give up entirely. But, before she could get a hold of her guards and call off the ongoing work, she remembered a certain lavender unicorn lived nearby and that close to the town she lived in was an old castle that the Dark Alicorn had once lived in.

The more Nightmare Moon thought about it, the more it seemed to make sense. If she moved the capitol back to Everfree Castle, she would be in more familiar surroundings, she would have an excuse to occasionally leave the castle to go visit her sister in Ponyville and check up on her.

'And...' came an unbidden thought to the Dark Alicorn, 'I could visit that faithful student of Celestia's...'

After realizing what she was thinking, Nightmare Moon blushed heavily and shook her head, attempting to bury that line of thought. She had recovered after allowing herself to get swept up in the tax codes she was rewriting before she called to the guards to get Shining Armor. After a brief talk about the Queen's decision, they left to go make preparations to go to Ponyville for a tour of the area.

Now however, Nightmare Moon struggled with trying to get over the feelings she had for a certain mare. She had just finished with bringing about the night cycle of the moon and was laying down in her bed, which had gotten more comfortable after the first few nights of sleeping on it. She closed her eyes and finally drifted off to sleep, her dreams of lavender.

-Back in Ponyville-

“What in tarnation were you girls thinking?!” Applejack said as she scolded the Cutie Mark Crusaders, “No more Crusading for you today, Applebloom!”

Applejack wasn't necessarily angry with Applebloom, but the look on her face told the red maned filly that she would be getting a stern talking to when they got back to the farm house. Rarity, on the other hand, was nearly foaming at the mouth when she looked at Sweetie Belle. The crusaders had followed through with attempting to get their cutie marks in gardening, with Carrot Top assuming that they wouldn't cause too much damage. But, as she found out, chaos seemed to follow the fillies around everywhere they went. Scootaloo looked at Rainbow Dash for some help, but her idol just shrugged and glanced at Twilight and Celestia.

“Now, now,” Celestia said soothingly, “I'm sure the girls did not mean to mess up this mare's garden, did you?”

The crusaders shook their heads and said in unison, “No, Celestia.”

“Good. Then that means that you girls would be willing to help Miss Carrot Top fix up her garden starting tomorrow, right?” Twilight said, “Is that a good punishment for you two, Applejack? Rarity?”

“Ah, suppose....” Applejack said slowly, “But if Ah hear so much as a single word against y'all, Ah'll tan your hide from here back to the farm, got it, Applebloom?”

“While I would personally refrain from corporal punishment, Sweetie Belle,” Rarity said, “I am NOT against grounding you for a few weeks if you don't help Carrot Top fix up her garden, understood?”

“Yes, sister...” the two fillies in question said in a down-trodden voice.

“What about me?” Scootaloo asked.

“I'll talk to your parents, squirt,” Rainbow Dash said seriously, “I'm sure that they would agree with this too, so don't think you're out of the woods cuz your parents aren't here.”

“Yes, Rainbow Dash,” the orange filly said.

“Alright, that being said, I think it's time you girls went home,” Celestia said, “I'm sure that it is almost bed time anyway.”

“Thank you,” Carrot Top said as the two pairs of sisters, Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo left for home, “Those fillies sure are a hoof-full, aren't they?”

“You don't know the half of it...” Twilight said as she waved farewell to the Carrot farmer.

As Twilight and Celestia turned to go home, Celestia noticed a shape coming closer in the night sky. It looked like a pegasus, but it was definitely a messenger of the Lunar Guard, based on the more lightweight and streamlined version of the Lunar Armor he wore. Twilight looked up in time to see the pegasus land nearby and trot up to her.

“Excuse me, are you Twilight Sparkle?” the Guard asked.

“Yes, may I ask what this is about?” Twilight replied.

“I was asked to give you this,” the pegasus said as he handed over a letter with the Lunar Seal on it. His job completed, he took off with a word of farewell to the former sun princess and headed back to Canterlot.

Twilight looked over the letter and her eyes grew wide in surprise. She re-read the letter a few times to be sure of what she was seeing, then handed the letter to Celestia, who read the letter out loud:

Dear Twilight Sparkle,

Thank you for your outstanding work in watching my sister. I am sure she is enjoying her time off after a thousand years of my absence, which, from what I have heard around the palace, was not easy on her.

As for why I have sent this letter, I am going to make a formal trip to Ponyville so I may make an announcement regarding the recent activity in the Everfree Forest, which I am sure most of the town has noticed by now, and my decision to move the capitol. I would like you and the other Element Bearers to coordinate with the Mayor to prepare for my arrival. Show the Mayor the first part of this letter, as it has my royal seal upon it, so she will know that this is not some sort of prank. I will not stress you out by making this visit sudden, so have everything done within a week. This is the beginning of a new era for Equestria.

Give my regards to your friends and my sister.

HRH, Queen of the Night, etc.
Nightmare Moon

“Ok, so we'll finally know what's going on in the forest,” Celestia said as she finished reading, “But I don't see another part to the letter anywhere...”

Just then, a second scroll fell from behind the first one. Before it hit the ground, it immediately rolled itself up, the symbol of the Mare in the Moon appearing on it like a seal.

“Ah. Luna, never much of one for subtlety...” Celestia said as she levitated the scroll to Twilight.

“I wonder what she would want to say to me that would make her seal a letter like this...” Twilight said slowly as she took the letter from her mentor, “It seems kind of weird, even with all the stuff that's happened in the past few weeks...”

Celestia nodded as they approached the library. She opened the door with the little bit of magic she had left, which enabled Celestia to do most of the things that Twilight could do, however, she was blocked off from the sun completely.

“Yes, it is weird, but then again, Nightmare Moon has been behaving more like Luna used to... Before the banishment, I mean,” Celestia said.

“Huh...” Twilight said thoughtfully, “Well, I'm going to go crack open this letter and then head to bed, Celestia. Good night.”

Twilight headed up the stairs to her bedroom. Celestia had elected to stay up a little while longer reading, so she went over to a bookshelf and started browsing the selection. When twilight got to her room, she closed the door with a soft click, not wanting to wake Spike who had already been in bed by the time Twilight had gotten home. She crossed the room to her bed and opened the letter, which had been enchanted so that it would only open for its intended recipient. The letter said:

Twilight,

I know this is an odd way of correspondence, but I have a personal matter to discuss with you whenever you have the time. I was thinking perhaps, we could talk sometime next week during my visit? I plan on renting a room at the hotel in Ponyville for some time afterward to oversee the reconstruction of the old castle.

Do not worry, it is nothing life threatening, dangerous, or otherwise harmful in anyway, but it is important to me.

My best wishes,
Nightmare Moon

Twilight finished reading the letter and became curious and apprehensive at the same time. On the one hoof, Twilight wanted to know what was so important that Nightmare Moon felt the need to ask for help. On the other, Twilight wasn't sure if she could help an immortal Alicorn understand her problems if the Alicorn in question couldn't understand them herself. Shrugging and resigning herself to whatever the new queen had in mind, Twilight put the letter on her bed-side table and readied herself for sleep.

-A week later-

“Oh no, oh nononononono NO!” Twilight practically screamed as she ran around town hall in a panic.

After Twilight had woken up the day-cycle after receiving the letters from Nightmare Moon, she had gathered up her friends, shown them the first letter, then brought them to Ponyville Town Hall to speak with Mayor Mare. Twilight explained the situation, then showed the letter to the Mayor, who had immediately started getting everything ready for a Royal Visit. Over the next couple of days, Ponyville had been busy doing everything from tidying up Town Hall and the village square, to putting up decorations and preparing food for the occasion.

Now, however, with most of the decorations in place, the food ready and set out for everypony, Twilight was beginning to panic. She had forgotten the contents of the second letter until that very morning due to the hustle of the past week. Twilight had, despite all attempts from Spike, her friends, and even Celestia, started worrying about not being able to help the Queen and being banished, or worse.

“Twilight, will you just calm down?” Spike said in a mildly annoyed voice, “Everything is going to be fine, I'm sure Nightmare Moon wouldn't send you to the moon for not being able to help with a problem.”

“How do you know?” Twilight asked fearfully, “I don't have a single clue what Queen Moon's problem is, so I can't look it up in a book! UGH!! I'm SO going to get banished for this!”

Spike was about to say something to try and calm down the troubled mare, but Celestia walked in and said kindly, “Twilight, she's here. You'd better get yourself presentable.”

Twilight's eyes shrank in fear, but she nodded anyway, knowing that the queen was going to expect her to greet her when she arrived. So, five minuets later, Twilight Sparkle found herself standing on a stage in Ponyville Square, giving a small speech and greeting the Queen of the Night.

Nightmare Moon stood silently at the podium for a moment, then said, “I'm sure you have all noticed the activity in the Everfree Forest by now, correct?”

The crowd murmured their ascent as the Queen continued, “I have decided to move the capitol of Equestria from Canterlot to its former place in the Everfree Forest. I wished to move both so I could be closer to my sister, Celestia, and to be in a more familiar setting.”

The Queen then began taking questions from the assembled ponies for about an hour before finally saying, “Enough questions. I believe that the food has been waiting around long enough, don't you agree?”

There were a few good-natured laughs from the crowd as Nightmare Moon lead the way to the Town Hall where the food was waiting.

“Twilight Sparkle, come here please,” the Dark Alicorn said quietly.

“Uh... alright,” Twilight said without confidence. She approached the Queen and sat next to her as she sat down at a long table, filled with ponies getting food and drinks. “What did you need to talk to me about, Your Highness?”

“Just... Nightmare is fine for right now, Twilight,” Nightmare said, “After this banquet, I would like you to come to my room at the Ponyville Inn, if you have no other pressing matters to attend to...”

Twilight looked at the alicorn and studied her face for a moment. Nightmare Moon's expression was unreadable, but her eyes betrayed a look of apprehension.

“Ok...” Twilight said as she watched Nightmare Moon let out a breath, “I'll have to put Spike to bed, but I'll be there as soon as I'm done.”

Nightmare Moon nodded, then began to eat the food she had gathered for herself, apparently too lost in thought to carry on a conversation.

-Editor's Note-

Little bit longer than the original version, and some things were changed. If there are any errors that you guys find, let me know and I'll see if I can fix them up. Also, Celestia is calling Nightmare Moon 'Luna' as a term of endearment. Just thought I'd clear that up a bit...