Safe Haven: Views of the Lunar Princess
Few years after the world ended….
Luna laid on her bed while her eyes looked to the ceiling that gave an artificial scene of the night sky, with the stars and full moon depicted for her to gaze at. To at least know that she was able to see the moon and stars gave her a sense of peace and enjoyment. Being the night princess, she always remembered organizing where the stars would be and lowering the moon for the sun to bathe the land of Equestria in its allegiant light.
She didn’t seem to show signs of sadness when knowing what she was seeing wasn’t real, but just a sky that was artificially made through computers to give off that sense of realism of the night. It was still incredible how real it was. She could only get so close with using her hands. So unfortunate that she couldn’t touch those stars with them.
Her hands held to her chest while breathing calmly. She had been in her private room for most of the time since the tragic events that transpired from above the surface.
The room was sound proof, making it impossible for anypony from the outside to hear what she was saying for the sake of privacy. It was long and wide enough for multiple ponies to walk around, and with lights that were built-in to the crown-holdings of the room. They were slightly dimmed and made the place feel peaceful for Luna, giving off a bluish color to the place. She found it subtle with a feeling of calmness washing over her. Although she wasn’t in her room in Canterlot, it was definitely worth having.
At least… She had a place that made her feel like home. Being miles upon miles down underground and not above the surface felt different. Not seeing the sun nor the moon, and not being able to at least see nature was truly depressing. Especially with not hearing the sounds of the birds cooing and fluttering their wings when they passed by her. The thoughts of smelling the flowers and petting the rabbits again made Luna nostalgic.
With such thoughts roaming through her head, Luna knew that wasn’t going to have that privilege anytime soon.
There was a desk on her left that had a laptop where she always got messages from what the changelings were telling her about their progress on her pod. It was currently half open to help her easily contact somepony or if they needed to message her for something.
A few messages here. A few messages there. She eagerly awaited to see when her time would come to bid farewell to this world.
In her mind, she was remembering what had transpired in Equestria. She witnessed the nations of the world crumble before her very eyes. Cities throughout the world were devastated by the elements of nature’s wrath.
From one disaster to the next, everything appeared to be crystal clear: the world that she and Celestia had lived in was coming to an apocalyptic end.
“Did we really do the right thing?” Luna thought. “After all those events, did we truly make the right decision?”
She felt bothered about what happened. In her mind, she felt the sense of defeat. A point where she looked at herself as being the epitome of a failed leader, a leader that did what she could to ensure that her subjects were saved by her.
It wasn’t easy for her. Even Celestia knew that to be true. Luna tried her best to quell the pain and suffering that Equestria was facing. Her subjects were dying from all corners of the kingdom. None were safe regardless of where they lived or where they tried to hide.
She started to sit up-right from her bed, putting her hands on the covers, holding them tight out of pain.
“I know I agreed to their deal, and so did everypony else…” She lowered her head while giving out a short sigh. “Our species was about to go extinct and so was the rest of other sentient life in our world. There was just no other way to find another option to preserve life.”
Even while Luna was trying to deal with her traumatic experience, she got off her bed, going to the dresser that had a mirror for her to see her reflection. She wore a pair of blue jeans and a light blue shirt. Her necklace that had the crescent moon encrusted in the center was worn around her neck. And with having white socks that covered her feet from the metallic floor from under her.
On the dresser her crown was neatly placed in a dark-brown box, viewable for her turquoise eyes to look at. She didn’t seem to even think much about it. Knowing how she wore that headpiece during her time as the lunar princess of Equestria. It was something that she always held close to her, especially how it was given to her by her sister once she returned to Equestria after her thousand year banishment to the moon.
But was it still relevant to her even now? With just thinking about it, Luna picked the crown up in her hands, inspecting it.
“Do I still feel like a princess, after all that has happened to us?” She questioned herself. “Our kingdom is one with history. Gone. Reduced to rubble as there’s only the ruins of Canterlot that still remain standing after the planet destroyed itself.”
Memories flooded back as Luna recalled how the capital was witnessing massive earthquakes that went beyond anything she knew from history. It was like a war that occurred there. Literal blocks of buildings were leveled as if artillery shells continuously hammered the city. Only for her to know it wasn’t an invasion by troops of a foreign country. But the wrath of Faust that she nor Celestia could repel with their power.
She could almost smell the smoke coming into her nostrils that bellowed from the ruins. The fumes and the fire could be seen in her memory as the countless cries for help from ponies trapped inside their homes and businesses, buried beneath the rubble, felt fresh in her head.
It wasn’t a while longer she remembered how the atmosphere was in tatters. The atmosphere was severely weakened over time. The o-zone layer that helped keep the sun’s harmful radiation rays from penetrating to ground level, had given out and led to much of the planet to suffer catastrophic losses.
Plants and animals dying at unprecedented levels. Food crops were destroyed and the population throughout the world was dying rapidly. The infrastructure that had been put in place to help ponies and everypony else had all but collapsed, accelerating the death count of those who perished.
Thousands, if not tens of thousands of ponies were killed in Canterlot. Many… were never recovered. To even have memories like that made Luna almost cry, but she shook it off to not feel a sense of guilt wash over her.
Yet she could never forget those memories. Having a guilty conscience in not feeling like she was strong enough to save her own citizens made it difficult to sometimes sleep. Could she have done more? Could there have been other ways where her magic could’ve saved all of them from the clutches of death? She didn’t know. She never truly knew if she could’ve prevented such a disaster from coming.
Even then, other cities inside the borders of the kingdom were dealing with similar cases, but much more volatile than what happened in Canterlot.
Mass floods. Volcanic eruptions. Earthquakes. Tsunamis that reached the levels of skyscrapers. The mountain regions were also crumbling like ice glaciers, yet the mountains that Canterlot had been built on were one of the toughests in the world. They were hard to destroy based on their toughness from what nature could throw at it.
The worst cases came from the satellites that showed how hurricanes were forming and unleashing devastating power in the coastal regions of Equestria.
But not even Equestria was spared.
Reports that Luna remembered showed how the Crystal Empire was being devoured by the harsh winter cold that managed to break through the magic force field that kept the kingdom and its citizens from freezing to death. The temperature had gone down at fanomenal levels that Princess Cadance was lucky enough to save some of her subjects before they could perish.
Shining Armor, however, wasn’t saved.
He froze to death when the temperature made its way to ground level while trying to save more crystal ponies from dying in the cold. If Luna was there she would’ve seen him become an ice statue. Lifeless, but preserved into an icicle by the ravages of the ice-cold air.
There was a memory that came to her when hearing about Princess Twilight Sparkle having an emotional breakdown with hearing that her brother didn’t make it out alive when the Crystal Empire was destroyed. To even lose someone that special hit Twilight hard, even more for Luna knowing he was once one of the captains in the Guard.
When his death came, Luna hoped it was quick. He earned that much.
After thinking about Armor’s death, Luna turned her head to the other side of the dresser, seeing a few pictures that flanked the right side of it. She got closer to them, seeing who the ponies were that she remembered being with.
Picking one of them up, she saw herself with her husband and daughter. Horizon with his charcoal black coat with jet black mane and autumn eyes, having his wings wrapped around Luna and Moonstone.
Moonstone was smiling in the picture. Her navy blue coat was slightly darker than Luna’s with the eyes of her father. Her mane consisted of dark to light blue streaks of hair, but her mane nor tail never matured to magically flow like Luna and Celestia’s. Luna loved her daughter to death. To have that young alicorn in her life made her feel happy as she became a mother back a thousand years ago just before she turned into Nightmare Moon.
Putting that picture down, she picked up another one depicting two other ponies that were with them.
She saw Moonstone’s grandparents, Grace, who shared a pale white coat and was an angel pegasus from Paradise who had dark blue eyes and a mane that matched her coat. Then there was Nibiru who was a demon pegasus who had a black coat and the same eye color to that of Horizon’s. All of them were smiling cheerfully from the gardens behind Canterlot’s castle.
Luna knew they were good grandparents. Both coming from two different planes of existence, and yet they both married and gave birth to Horizon. Every last one of them was immortal. At least she knew that was a good thing since it allowed Moonstone to be raised by them with some guidance from Celestia.
Yet, it amazed her how that was a long time ago. To know that it felt like it was yesterday that Moonstone was just a foal and later became a mare overnight. If only Luna was there for those thousand of years to raise her with Horizon, but that was now history to her.
She’s lucky that Moonstone’s safe… inside the simulation.
While looking through more pictures of her extended family and going through a photo album that consisted of pictures from the times she was filly with her older sister, Luna looked to the mirror to see Nightmare Moon. Her cyan blue armor covered her body with her dark purple leather skirt around her waist.
“You can’t deny that it wasn’t avoidable Luna,” Nightmare stated. “The apocalypse was going to happen regardless of what you and our sister was going to do.”
Luna had a sad expression on her face. “I still regret that I could’ve done more for our subjects when it happened.”
“Our planet over the years was experiencing its own death,” Nightmare elaborated to Luna. “The griffins, dragons, buffaloes, yaks, and everypony else was seeing their nations crumble into a bottomless pit of despair and darkness. Not even their leaders could comprehend that even they couldn’t have stopped it from transpiring in their own borders.”
“Maybe so,” Luna started to pace back and forth while her hands were crossed behind her back. “But it still makes me question why Faust didn’t end all of us like she did to every nation in the world.”
“You should be thanking the changelings for helping our species survive,” Nightmare said while crossing her arms. “Without them, everypony would have perished, except for us immortals.”
Luna did agree on what Nightmare said. The changelings were able to contact her and the rest of the world leaders while the planet was destroying itself.
Luckily, it wasn’t Queen Chrysalis and her changelings.
These changelings, however... were different. Far technologically advanced compared to the rest of the other nations combined. How this particular tribe of changelings remained off the radar until the apocalypse still baffled Luna.
Their eyes were gray while they had visible pupils compared to the changelings that she and the rest of Equestria knew about; but instead of normal pupils, they were cat-like, which she found interesting. She always thought all changelings had no pupils, but this one did.
And for some reason, they didn’t have holes in their arms and legs, seeing that maybe evolution worked differently for them compared to how they were first known by ponies with swiss-cheese appendages.
An undiscovered civilization that managed to survive through the end of the planet’s life, was deep inside the ground where the Badlands were. How they became so advanced in technology was unclear, but they were intelligent beyond a doubt.
Yet, even though they wanted to help ponies and everyone else, there had to be a deal that required the princesses’ signatures and the rest of the leaders to comply.
A deal that would help keep their species alive until the planet could one day be hospitable for all life to live on.
Luna still remembered what the document said on the data pad.
By agreeing to the terms set forth by us, you acknowledge in handing over your body to be used in harvesting love. In doing so, you will be put into a simulation where you and your species shall reside in to live in peace while we work to continue genetically engineering new ponies and other sentients to replenish your dwindling population from near extinction. We have accepted your demands that none shall die while in the simulation to help increase a youthful population and allow the knowledge that you’ve learned in our virtual reality to rebuild your civilization. While being inserted into the simulation, you will be given new avatars that will replace your original forms that you are familiar with.
The survivors that were saved by you will have their memories expunged and will not recall what their past lives were to ensure that nothing may go wrong in the simulation. We have, however, ensured that you, your family, and any notable friends that took an oath to not tell anyone about this simulation will not have their memories wiped cleaned.
By also agreeing to our terms, we will commence in genetically modifying your body periodically while you are asleep in your pod with whatever data we continue to gather from the surface to make sure that you can fully adapt and not become vulnerable to the new environment that is from the changing of the atmosphere that may affect you once you are released from your slumber.
We are uncertain how long you may be in the simulation. Until we are able to confirm that the surface and the atmosphere are restored to safer levels, you must remain in the simulation.
If our mission fails, we will find a planet(s) that could hold the keys to life that would provide your species to grow and for everything to restart to begin a new chapter.
Until then, your body belongs to us.
For what is stated now, this is what we demand from you.
Such demands proved to be difficult for Luna and Celestia to object to. Never in her life would she have thought that her body would belong to anypony, especially to changelings. Even with them being immortals who were not prone to disease nor injury nor age, they had to sign off on it. Surprisingly, Moonstone didn’t even hesitate when she was given a data pad for her to read up on on the demands and terms provided by the changelings. She may have been immortal herself, but she wasn’t even hesitant in connecting herself to the simulation, let alone giving her body up.
Still, Moonstone volunteered to be the first of the royal family to enter the simulation. No telling what she was doing in the new world, but Luna and Nightmare were certain that she was doing alright.
But both of them were still worried about her. She was their daughter, yet their mother instincts still made them think about her. Horizon decided it was best for him to remain in Tartarus while Grace and Nibiru remained in their worlds respectively to await to see what would happen to the planet, and if it would recover in the foreseeable future.
Discord, however, was never seen again after he helped the princesses with their tasks in saving as many samples to sustain their species for generations. She believed that maybe he went back to his dimension where he would seek out in trying to come up with a way to get the planet to recover much quicker. He was the god of chaos, yet it was ironic knowing if he could do the opposite in reversing all the chaos that happened.
Luna got back on the end of her bed, putting her hands on her lap while looking at Nightmare. “I still have to question about the whole genetic modification area they mentioned,” She wasn’t certain how or if the changelings were doing the right thing in carefully understanding the basic genetic code of ponies, let alone all the other species in general. “Something like that worries me about how that works for current and future generations of our subjects.”
“Remind me that you, Celestia, Twilight, Moonstone, and Discord were able to gather enough DNA samples from ponies and from all the genome vaults that were housed in different science buildings throughout Equestria to help grow the gene pool. Same went for the other nations who were able to provide the changelings their own samples from their citizens,” Nightmare pointed her hand toward Luna. “If I remember correctly, you were able to gather over a hundred thousand samples of ponies including samples of flora and fauna to grow plants, crops, and animals. On the contrary to you, I would say Discord was more efficient with managing to accelerate in collecting enough DNA from everypony else and with remarkable amount of samples from the flora and fauna that he collected.”
“Yes, but I worry about us as alicorns,” Luna couldn’t really figure out if the changelings were going to tamper with alicorn DNA. With being an alicorn, that worried her. Yet, there was Moonstone that was part demon and some angel DNA inside of her, making her a special case compared to Luna and Celestia. “It worries me about what Celestia, Twilight, Moonstone, Cadence, and even Ember went through when they all became one with the simulation.”
“Didn’t you inform them to not make any new alicorns while in the simulation due to how it could cause serious problems for it?” Nightmare asked with an eyebrow raised.
“Yes, I did.” Luna informed her. “I even told the scientists to not tamper with our DNA to an extent.” She still wasn’t sure if the scientists really were honest about not making any new alicorns. Luna at the time wasn’t thinking straight and didn’t make them do the Pinkie Promise. She only hoped that they were going to comply with her orders. “But there is one thing that begs the question.”
“And what might that be?”
“Will we be stripped of our magic and be unable to see what happens on the outside of the simulation?” Despite her knowing she was the princess of the night, Luna knew she could enter the dream world and visit ponies and others without any problems. But she always had a way to allow her essence to walk around while her body was asleep.
Nightmare put a finger on her chin with what Luna asked. “Considering you didn’t tell them everything about how we operate or how our magic is uniquely different compared to the other pony races, we would still have an advantage even while our body is asleep in our pod.” She said while looking at how Luna was trying to think about either them or Moonstone. “Even then, they don’t know much about Moonstone’s abilities or magic.”
“Well, perhaps.” Luna gave a sigh of uncertainty as she resumed pacing back and forth. “Moonstone despite her being an alicorn, she is a demon… and an angel. The way she operates isn’t the same for us. Add into account she can see demons and angels and naturally understands necromancy.”
There might’ve been more about Moonstone abilities than what she was able to recall, but now her thoughts went back to the topic of the simulation. She worried too much, but was she overthinking it? Or was she thinking about her old life? The title of being princess felt like a relic now. There wasn’t much merit to seeing herself as being a princess.
When Equestria was destroyed, something inside Luna began to take a new kind of perspective. Was Faust telling her that she needed to let go of her old life and become a new pony? To just be an average pony with no royal duties to attend to? Such thoughts made Luna see if maybe it was the end of something old and the beginning of something new. A fresh start in life.
Yet, at the same time, she was afraid. Afraid to see what was in store for her. She knew that the rest were already in the simulation, but never got to see what they were experiencing in their pods for their minds to suddenly be transported into the new world.
How did the survivors react to being put into the pods? How did the process fully work when they were inserted into the simulation like the rest of the alicorns? Luna always theorized about how this technology worked, but it was clearly out of her profession.
There was, however, something that one of the changelings scientists said about it while she and the rest were in one of the meeting rooms in the facilities: pleasure.
But what did “pleasure” mean in that sense? Would the pod relax Luna’s body and have her fall asleep and just “wake up” in reuniting with her sister and daughter again? The changeling did state that the pods were filled with special water and other chemicals that help keep bodies alive and preserved, like a cocoon where a caterpillar would seal itself up until it evolved into a majestic butterfly.
Something like that was still puzzling. If only that changeling had elaborated more about it. Especially how she and everypony else wouldn’t rely on needing a breathing mask as the contents of the liquid allowed them to breath without a problem.
At least that was a good thing to know. Especially with not needing to have plugs or other wiring that would be connected to her body. Luna always had that horrible idea about having tubes being inserted into her mouth where oxygen and other nutrients would keep her alive, but at least that wasn’t going to be the case.
Even the aging process was still a major factor. Would the chemicals reverse the age of everypony where they are all back in their twenties or something, regardless of how old they were? Luna scratched her head just thinking about it.
Equestria never came close to developing such technology that could, in theory, lead to reversing somepony’s biological age. Some of the survivors were in their fifties and older. It sounded like science fiction, but the changelings might have already known how to bypass such challenges.
“How would that work in terms of newborns?” So many questions came to her and yet she regretted not asking them about it.
DING….DING!
The sound of the laptop caused Luna’s ears to perk up, making her turn her head where the laptop was. She casually walked over to the desk and sat in the chair. Luna raised the lid up as she was looking at the screen, with a red notification mark that appeared to be a message from somepony in the facility. In her inbox was an important message for her to read.
Without delay, she pressed the screen with her finger and the message came up.
To: Princess Luna
From: Eris (Director of Operations)
Title: (Please read) Important info on your pod.
Message:
Hello, Princess. I have come to message you that we have successfully completed your pod and the room that it is housed in. It took us a while to test everything to ensure that nothing was wrong and we didn’t want to have future problems occur. We did customize the room to match you and your profession. Since you are the princess of the night, we thought it was in our good faith to give you something just like we did for the other princesses and for your daughter too.
We know we can’t replace your castle that you once called home, so consider this a gift from us to you.
As of now, we demand your body at once.
P.S.
If there is any comfort you need, you may enter the room and manually insert yourself into the simulation. Here is a digital manual to do it and a map layout to where your new room is. Your former room will be preserved as it will not be changed in any way.
Once you read this manual, you must become one with the simulation.
Kind regards,
Eris
Luna felt a chill go down her spine while reading the last areas of the email.
“So… the time really has come,” Luna inhaled and exhaled a deep breath. “After so long, it is time for me to bid farewell to this world until it can return to its habitable state of life.” She clicked on the manual and it took her to a new page that showed her how to begin the process of inserting herself into a new reality. It appeared to not be too difficult from how she understood it. With reading through the steps, she closed the window and emailed Eris that she would do it all by herself. As soon as she hit send, she closed the laptop for the last time.
“Although I may surrender my body and maybe my magic, my soul will forever be free from the clutches of bondage.”
Luna got off her chair and looked to see if Nightmare would appear in the mirror. She did not. It was then Luna knew that Nightmare had nothing else to discuss with her as she exited her room and went to where her new room was that kept her pod.
The hallway that Luna was walking in was eerily quiet. It felt like she was in a library where hardly anypony would make a noise that only the sound of a pen falling could draw attention towards her. Luna saw how the hallway was dark silver and consisted of light indicators that were blue, all in which were present on both sides, the ceiling, and floor; with them making a humming noise that could hardly be heard by her.
Doors that had signs on them showed what lay on the other side for them. Some of them had the words that Luna found difficult to know what they meant. Others had names for machinery and others for medical rooms. There appeared to be only a few windows, but they were tinted to not reveal their assets, keeping their secrets away from Luna.
It felt like an eternity for Luna. Walking in the hallways felt like she was in the world’s largest underground city. Coincidentally, it truly was a city that was built underground. Yet Luna wasn't given a full tour of the place since it wouldn’t have made a difference either way. She was already approaching her objective.
While going through multiple hallways, she noticed that there was a door at the very end that appeared to be painted dark blue, similar to her coat while the walls were painted slightly lighter to avoid the door from being too difficult to spot from afar. As she got close to the door, she noticed more details about it.
The design of the door consisted of her cutie mark and the black birthmark that she had when she was born. Upon further inspection, she noticed how there were stars that showed them sparkling with clouds that were also present in the scenery, making Luna surprised about how much detail was put into making them. It was like they were real to her. So much so that she felt this sense of appreciation wash over her.
“Eris wasn’t lying when she said they were wanting to make a place that matched my talents,” Luna noticed how the walls from both sides of the doors were painted dark blue with both of them showing two full moons. It came to her that the changelings didn’t want to disappoint her. They knew she was of royalty, and wanted to give her something that would honor her profession. A smile formed in Luna's face, knowing how the changeling cared about her, just like the rest.
Luna approached the door. Upon standing there for a few seconds, it slid open, allowing Luna to walk into the room with the door sliding back.
Once she was in the room, she was stunned beyond her wildest imagination.
Throughout the room, there were computers that were scattered on the walls and a built-in table that stretched through most of the place where monitors were showing life support systems and graphs that she could not fully understand what they were showing her.
The lights in the room were slightly dimmed, making the place dark, but not to the point where it was impossible for Luna to see where everything was.
In the very center of the room, Luna could see what was a cylinder-shaped pod that was tall and wide that looked similar to how some aquariums could carry aquatic life like fish. It appeared to have plenty of space and wasn’t designed to feel like one would be cramped into it with being unable to stretch or move around. She almost assumed it could hold maybe two or more ponies, but she didn’t seem to complain about it.
“At least I know they didn’t want me to be put into a small place for my body to be in,” Luna thought. “But I’m impressed with how they set this whole place up. It’s clearly well-built and it seems they were really wanting to make sure nothing looked off upon last minute touches. Now I can see why I had to wait a few years.”
While she was looking around, she noticed how the bottom floor consisted of her cutie mark. The crescent moon was glowing bright, giving off the impression on how the real moon would operate. It helped lighting the room up and made the place give off a blue tint to it.
Luna found it soothing as she always remembered how when she would raise the moon, it would shower Equestria in its delict light, with a feeling of peace and satisfaction every time she did it. It felt good to have it in front of the pod.
She continued to roam around the room, seeing how everything looked. It was interesting to say the least. This was all changeling ingenuity. But at least it wasn’t Queen Chrysalis’s doing.
After a while in checking the place out, Luna went over to be in front of the pod. Just looking at it made her feel uneasy. It felt surreal to her. To even know that… her body was going to be floating inside a pod where it was going to be used in harvesting love for the changelings.
And with not just that, but having her mind be plugged into a simulation where she would live a life of peace with her sister and daughter. She still wondered what they were doing in the simulation. Were they doing alright? Which area were they in? Or were they waiting for her to come to the other side?
Such questions were almost coming back every so often for her.
“Be brave, Luna.” She told herself. “Moonstone took it with ease and didn’t hesitate like me and my sister. I know that what I am doing is for the greater good for our species and for the changelings.”
Luna looked to her left and noticed that there was a computer console that must’ve been what she needed to get on to in performing the process of joining the simulation. As she walked over to it, there were three panels on it. The middle one provided a timer to mark when to start the process, while the other two depicted a diagram of her body and the other showing her face with other analytic and graphic information.
She looked at the middle screen, putting her hands on it as she could complete some of the procedures without the guidance of others. It took a few minutes as she was making sure that she wasn’t skipping anything important.
The next thing she got was an automated message.
Computer: Hello, Princess Luna. Please put in the predetermined time to ensure that you are able to get into your pod without any problems. To commence in the timer, type in the amount of time to start the countdown to begin in joining the simulation. Use the yellow button to open the pod’s door and close it while getting inside it.
Caution!: Make sure that your pod is closed to ensure that none of the chemicals that fill the pod spills into the room that would abort the process of being put into the simulation. If no problems persist, engage in final instructions.
With heeding the message the computer displayed to her, she followed the commands. In putting in the time and pressing the button, the timer started to count down, with the door to the pod opening smoothly in front of Luna.
In not wasting precious time, she entered the pod, closing it and putting her hand on it to see if it was secure. Without the door budging, Luna stood in the center of the pod, waiting to know what would happen next.
She could hear the sounds of something happening inside, but she was a bit puzzled. Whatever was happening must’ve been important. She then heard the sound of a ringing noise that was picked up by her ears, making a low-audible sound. It wasn’t until a second later Luna was being sprayed by water from the shower head from above her, causing her to jump in surprise.
The water, having come into contact with her body, was warm, and very soothing as it slid off her blue hide. From how she could feel it, the warmth from it made her almost think about being hugged by somepony, like the arms of her sister gracefully wrapped around her with her wings providing warmth equivalent to a tamed fireplace. Although it was a regular shower, it felt almost heavenly. Luna knew she was still wearing clothes, but she didn’t seem bothered knowing they were now soaked.
“Hmmm. The changelings really did a good job on making this ‘shower’ satisfying,” Luna admitted while her hands were raised above her head, stroking her mane. “I guess they didn’t want to make it technologically complicated for me and made it simple. This is probably the same concept they must've been using for everypony else.”
With the water continuing to come through the shower head, Luna felt something. Removing her hands from her mane, her eyes started to widen as she looked down, seeing that her clothes were “melting” from her body. Whatever kind of chemicals were mixed in with the water, was designed to remove any clothes that were worn by ponies and others. Almost like acid, but not the kind to eat the flesh from her bones.
It became more clear to her that the changelings wanted to remove such garments to begin doing this “pleasure” that Luna recalled from the scientist.
“So much for wearing anything,” Luna thought as she saw her pants and shirt getting erased from her body. “I’ve played with magic before, but this is a new way to remove clothes from somepony.” As she continued to think to herself, her matching light cyan bra and panties were being eaten away by the water. The fiber that was made from them could not sustain itself from getting annihilated, as her under garments became less and less noticeable.
The front latches on her bra snapped, causing the support to her breasts to become slightly exposed. With enough of the acidic water doing a major beating, the back strap gave way, causing the bra to fall to the now ever flooding pod. Luna's bra was quickly destroyed almost instantly upon hitting the water. Now her breasts were finally free from their confinement, making a slight giggle in the process. Her panties then came off her body, meeting the same end to that of her bra.
But it was not over yet.
Luna saw her silver cuffs from her wrists melted like ice. There wasn’t much of a difference from how they were being destroyed, apart from looking like they were rusting away and then finally coming off of her, now destroyed like the rest of her clothes. Even her necklace that was still around her neck also rusted away and came off and was quickly destroyed by the water. She began moving her toes, feeling how her sockets and shoes were now gone too.
With that, Luna was now stripped of her attire.
Her physique was now displayed for anypony to see, yet no pony was there to see her in all her beauty. She had a very slender body, showing an athletic build that provided attention to how she was healthy and looked to be in excellent shape. She was curvy and had a good bust, seeing that her cup size could be seen as a size b, but almost boarding to a c cup size. If there was a changeling or even a stallion that was in the room to view her, they would’ve been the luckiest people to see an alicorn in such a beautiful, majestic figure.
Luna began to blush at even thinking if that was going to happen, but there appeared not to be the case. Though, she remembered how she would occasionally get naked in front of Horizon just to enjoy seeing her husband get aroused by her seductive charms. She always knew how to get her husband to fall into lust like the demon he was. Not like it was her first rodeo in doing so to him. Especially seeing how his sweet, succulent cock would get hard and become hypnotic to her eyes while she and him were getting down and dirty in bed. Now that was something Luna always enjoyed in pleasuring her husband in a body that Faust made for her to enjoy being in and have it be used by the stallion of her dreams.
The water was beginning to reach Luna’s mid-section, causing her body to be lifted off the ground. She felt like she was now in a pool, tempted to swim. She was lucky to know she could extend her wings fully, but she didn’t do so, yet.
Her nostrils began to smell the scent of mint while in the pod. The minty smell was not too strong to cause her to be taken aback, but just smelling it felt quite nice. She now reminded herself of brushing her teeth and using toothpaste that had a mint flavor to it. Now she was in a pod now smelling like mint.
While she was thinking about the mint flavor, she began to feel a burst of warmth wash over her. Her body became more heated, causing her nipples to become rock hard; her face turning red from feeling pleasure, and her vaginal area became more sensitive as it was becoming stimulated by what chemical elements that were being used to deliver a dose of sexual arousal. Her wings stretched out to their fullest, twitching from what was going on with Luna.
Luna felt like somepony was unfolding the flaps of her vagina, as she felt herself jump from the sensitivity of her now exposed area. She moaned as her mouth was wide open, knowing that the pod had now filled its way up above her bust. Her legs were swinging back and forth as the chemicals were trying to get deeper inside of her. If she had been outside getting bucked by Horizon, she would’ve seen her sweet pussy juices leaking from her lubricated vagina, with the guards hearing her scream in delight from being pleased by her husband’s cock.
“Oh sweet Faust!” Luna yelled in her mind. “This ‘pleasure’, this unbelievable feeling….. Hghhhh….” She was not denying the fact that she was enjoying this too much. To have her body being used like this was the best moment of her life. Her sexual lust was getting the best of her as the tingling feeling in her vulva was driving her insane. She wanted the dick her body rightfully deserved, but there was no stallion, not even Horizon to quell her lust.
There was another surge of pleasure coming to her as it felt like hands were groping her breasts, making a sensation that somepony was squeezing them, to feel how soft and fluffy they were. Just feeling the stimulation of her privates felt so good and yet so comforting. It felt like she wanted it to go on for eternity. She knew Horizon was good at tangoing in bed, but this took the cake.
“Yes yes YES!!!” Luna was wanting the stimulation of her private bits to continue and be bucked into the next millennium. She felt so happy and wished she could’ve had the ability to tell the computers to increase the pleasure, yet she couldn’t.
Suddenly, without warning, Luna turned into Nightmare Moon, with the latter now having to go through the same process that her other side went through. Nightmare was naked and having felt what Luna was feeling, was moaning, but was trying to her best to not become too intrigued by what was going on.
“Curses,” Nightmare managed to speak, knowing that she was feeling intense pleasure. “T-The changelings sure d-d-did want to pleasure us. Now Luna can’t c-control her ability when t-turning into me ….” Having this happen was something Nightmare Moon didn’t want. Luna could naturally into her, but with how the chemicals were tampering with how she goes from her normal form to her ego self was a sign of weakness and erosion of her prowess while dealing with such sexual lust. Never was this a problem when being banged by Horizon, but to have the thought of having such technology do this made Nightmare want to learn to control such failures in herself.
Yet, she didn't have time to learn what was transpiring. From outside the pod, some of the computer monitors on the walls said something that was impossible for Nightmare to see or even care.
Computer: Commencing in draining magic to ensure the princess does not become unstable or a danger to herself or others outside the pod.
Without Nightmare thinking, her body started to glow light blue. She wasn’t sure what that meant, but she felt something happening. Almost instantly, she could see the magic from her body being sucked away from her, as if Lord Tirek had been hiding from her, sucking her bone-dry in not wanting to miss even one drop of magic that was housed inside her. The magic was swirling around her as it made its way to the ceiling of the pod, going in-between where the shower head was and into a circular hole above it, making its way to its unknown destination.
The thought of her magic being stripped like this almost made Nightmare enraged and wanted to destroy the pod and kill the scientists and engineers that were doing this to her. But her thoughts were clouded that she couldn’t think straight, knowing that she was being pleasured beyond her wildest dreams.
Her body became weak as all the magic was leaving her. She felt powerless and unable to resist the ability to fight back, as she knew her body now belonged to them. The feeling of her body being massaged with what felt like hundreds of hands moving up and down her arms, legs, back and stomach felt so relieving and wonderful.
Nightmare felt like it was an eternity being in the pod. Her body was now submerged underwater and she felt herself gasping for air, making her feel like she was drowning at sea. Yet her mind was playing tricks with her as she felt herself breathing perfectly fine. She remembered the thoughts of what Luna was saying in hearing how the water was modified to prevent anypony from actually drowning in their pods. At least that was a good thing, even though alicorns were immortal and not prone like their mortal counterparts who could die in such a tragic way. As she already knew beforehand, alicorns were one of the few species that were indestructible, except for having weaknesses.
While she was still trying to think, Nightmare’s vagina became extremely sensitive, as she felt her juices leaking out of her, only to dissipate due to how the chemicals were wanting to ensure that her pod was not going to become contaminated by her bodily fluids.
Her body, now deprived of magic, was beginning to spread outwards, making her arms go from opposite ends of her head and her legs separating in the process. She lost control of her body movements as she could only think and wonder how far this was going to go.
Nightmare tried to see what was going on from outside the pod, but the water made it practically impossible to see from the other side. The only thing that was still visible in her eyes was some of the lights from the room and from the computers, but it was difficult to see a clear vision of what was going on. She was unable to hear anything else other than her moaning while gargling with the sight of bubbles coming out of her mouth.
Another surge of pleasure came to her. Only this time, it became stronger. Her mouth agape as she continued to gargle from the extreme pleasure, knowing that she felt like she was reaching her climax. The amount of sheer goodness was undeniable. She craved an orgasm. Wanted to cum so badly yet it felt like she was being teased.
Her face flustered red like a red beat. Nightmare’s body was inflamed, as if fiery pieces of charcoal were thrown at her with no ability to put out. Her strength drained and she was no longer able to help herself in her time of need. Even with how gratified she was in pleasure.
“Please for Faust’s sake…..” Nightmare thought with impatience. “GIVE ME WHAT I DESIRE!!!!” Even with performing the royal Canterlot voice, the pod didn’t even crack from the sheer volume of her powerful scream. The pod was engineered to withstand anything, even the most ultrasonic sounds that could not break through it.
With the inability in knowing what was to come, she felt a gust of water stream right into her vagina, causing her to give out a moan that surpassed what Horizon could make her do. Her body was stretched to its fullest as she was tensed up from sheer delight; she spewed out her love juices as it spread through the pod, blanketing her and much of the capsule. The chemicals filled her up, going straight to her womb with ease, though not engineered to produce a foal.
The amount of pleasure felt so tremendous that she didn’t care how much she cummed. It was blissful to her. To feel sexually aroused via stimulation was like her grabbing a dildo and trying to relieve herself from built up stress to quell her needs.
Nightmare gave out a calm gurgling noise as she felt relaxed. Feeling tired, she started to curl up in a ball, going into a fetal position, like if she had become a baby, safely secured in her mother’s womb while she awaited to be brought into the world of tomorrow. Her wings wrapped around her like a blanket, making her feel safe.
She felt her eyelids get heavy, and closed them as she now slept, her body remaining sexually stimulated as she finally went to sleep.
Nightmare felt herself hearing ringing noises. It became louder as she heard it increase in volume. It was soon she opened her eyes and appeared to notice something was off.
She was looking at the ceiling. But it wasn’t the ceiling of the chamber she entered. Instead, it was a white, popcorn ceiling. Feeling puzzled, she tried to figure out where the noise was coming from. Her head turned to her left, seeing an alarm clock going off, with the time in blue being ten thirty in the morning with it telling that it was Saturday. Feeling annoyed upon hearing it, she used her magic and turned it off. Now she was trying to figure out what was going on.
“What the buck?” Came from Nightmare’s mouth. “Since when did…. I don’t remember being here.” She felt so sure that she was in her pod, but at the same time, she knew she wasn’t. While trying to process what was going on, she looked around the place. She appeared to see she was in a room. There was a wooden desk near a window that had several books that ranged from mathematics, history, and other subjects. An office chair with a dark blue bookbag lying unzipped on it revealed to have some notebooks in it.
There appeared to be a mirror hanging right in front of her with a dark chocolate sofa underneath it, seeing that she was laying in a bed, but her expression went from curious to sudden surprise. “Is...Is that me? Nightmare got the covers off her as she began to get a good look at herself.
Her appearance was something she began to inspect. Instead of seeing an alicorn in the reflection, she saw a young unicorn who looked to be in her twenties. Her coat was dim gray as her eyes were brown, but without being reptilian anymore. She looked to see how her mane and tail that once had multi-shades of blue not flowing nor revealed the stars and galaxies. Instead, hers was black and dark green streaks of color. Nightmare saw she was a unicorn just by noticing the horn, but saw no wings on her back.
Getting a look at her height, she appeared to be over five feet tall. Her original was somewhere around six feet tall, but she was just two inches shorter than her alicorn self.
She didn’t feel the sense of having wings, almost like she was never born with them. She noticed she was wearing a black bra that was sown with stars and the moon which consisted of them sparkling upon her moving. Her black panties were nothing special as it was just a simple piece of lingerie with no detailing in it.
“This is what they meant when they gave us new avatars,” she said while raising her hands up to her face. “They gave me a completely different identity. So this is the ‘avatar’ they decided to give me. Hmmm. Now this is interesting.”
“Who said it wasn’t?” Luna spoke.
“Luna?” Nightmare’s ears perked up hearing her voice. She lowered her hands back to the ground to check on the mirror again. Instead of her, she saw a different unicorn. Luna had a deep aqua blue coat with her mane and tail being purple. Her eyes were emerald green. Nightmare noticed that the only thing that remained unchanged to their build was them still retaining a slender body and the same cup size.
“So, we’re in the simulation…” Nightmare looked around, trying to see what the room was like. The room was light blue with a few pictures that were housed in black and brown wooden frames. Some of the pictures showed the cities of Las Pegasus, Manehatten, and some other scenery of nature. She noticed on the other walls of pictures of what looked like a university somewhere in Equestria. There were a few flag designs and some signage that were the colors of garnet and gold, with an equine head that was a unicorn.
The name for it was Canterlot University in the color of gold and was visible for Nightmare to see.
The motto of the university was ‘Destiny awaits for those who seek it’ for one of the signs. Below that sign was one of the pictures showing a clock tower with the name Lunar Hall that could be seen just from where the steps were located to access the building.
“Wait, are we….”
“We’re university students now, Nightmare.”
Nightmare’s widen at the realization. “That means I, I mean, we have to learn how to live a normal life compared to who we were in the real world?” She asked Luna while still trying to adjust to this new lifestyle in being a unicorn, and a university student.
“Indeed,” said Luna. “Perhaps it is best we now figure where Moonstone and Celestia are now. I’m certain they want to see us.” She assumed that maybe both of them along with the rest of their friends and family ended up becoming students as well.
As Luna continued to talk, both heard the sound of a phone ringing. Naturally, Nightmare turned her head to where the desk was. The black cell phone was on top of a student planner, making a loud vibration noise that could be heard throughout the room. Not wanting to leave the unknown individual hanging, she casually walked over to her desk, picking the phone up with her hand and seeing the name of who was wanting to talk to her.
It was Moonstone.
Nightmare immediately pressed the phone button and held the phone to her ear. “Moonstone? Are you there?”
“Mom! It’s so good to finally hear your voice again!” Moonstone’s voice sounded overly excited. “We’ve been waiting forever to contact you. We’re currently eating outside the food court in front of Ironside Center. Do you want me to get you something to eat?”
Nightmare gave a sigh of relief just hearing her daughter’s voice again. If Moonstone was in the room with her, she would’ve seen her mother having tears go down her face. But Nightmare refused to have her voice crack when replying to her daughter. “Oh, I’ll simply find where you girls are. I’ll be over in a few minutes.”
“Sure thing, mom. Hey, I’ll tell my aunt and rest that you’re here. They’ll want to meet you in person.”
“Very well,” she said. “Bye for now, Moonstone.”
“Bye, mom.” Moonstone hung up while Nightmare put the phone back on the desk while sitting on the bed.
Nightmare looked over the window, closing her eyes. She had a smile come to her, crying softly. To actually hear Moonstone’s voice felt incredible to her ears. It had been too long in not seeing her daughter with how long it took to get her ready to become a part of the simulation. She felt overwhelmed with emotion. Her daughter was the one thing she was willing to go to extreme lengths to see again.
“Thank you, Eris….” Nightmare wiped away her tears from her face. “Thank you...for letting me be with my family again.”
Author's Note
Been wanting to improve on how I write stories when it comes to MLP. This one out of few stories that I've been working on to see if I've done better compared to who I was back several years ago.
I sort of gained inspiration from the Matrix move franchise, and it sort of made me write this story. Though, it not entirely similar to said franchise.
Anyway, hope you all enjoy this story I made! Tell me what you think about it in the comments below! 
