The Unknown Daughters Reunion:The Early Days

Chapters

The Mystery of the 21st Century City: Meeting the Heirs
Clouds: Gathering
Clouds: Lightning Bolt
Clouds: Cleared
The Uncurling of New Leaves
The Treachery of the Supplier: I
The Treachery of the Supplier: II
The Treachery of the supplier: III
Appendix: Abridge (Moon & Celestia)
The Mystery of the 21st Century City: Last Impressions
Ice Crystals

The Mystery of the 21st Century City: Meeting the Heirs

In the bedroom of a typical teenager, a group of friends assembled for their usual 'detective club meeting'.

The friends met in their high school library over the year, noticing their similar tastes in the books each other were reading. Appraising the others reading material, they began chatting softly in the library, and eventually talking about mystery novels outside of school. With a few more friends they made in their gaming exploits, they formed a routine hangout after school at each others homes.

Going back a couple months...

One day a loud truck carrying two shipping containers, passed through the highway intersection while they were driving home.

That truck was like most that they had seen since growing up there. It headed in the direction of a construction zone that had begun long before they were born.

One of the friends in the car; riding shotgun, made a passing comment of wondering when the new place was going to open up. Wanting to drive down the streets and see the shiny new buildings.

Another in the car, replying to her that he heard that the streets weren't like regular roads, and they'd have to ride bikes or something.

As the conversation rolled on, it changed from facts, to rumor, and finally to speculation on what was there.

"I heard there's going to be a theme park there. A castle at the center like Disneyland has" Aaron said.

"Meh, another knockoff tourist trap that'll be closed in a couple years. Those things are so dated. What is this, the 90's, do they have arcades too?" Eric said with dismay, mocking theme parks.

"Don't care. If they have a pool, I'll try it out." Sarah declared.

Though the conversation lasted most of the the way to Sarah's house, it didn't entirely leave their thoughts.

Now over the past few weeks, they had looked up the place as much as they could, trying to sate their curiosity. Overhead maps on the net, as well as the now dated and closed investment opportunities that once existed to attract funding.

Despite the world of information at their fingertips, little was available on what it was officially going to be. Even satellite views didn't have street names or future locations pointed out. Social media; was all speculation and no answers...

This Tuesday evening, they were drawing up plans to make the trek outside of town, and try to use their bikes to make way through the wooded paths to the construction site.

Though it wasn't far, they expected more than a half hour walk to get there if they had to do it on foot.

They were going to be doing this covertly, and not driving up to the entrance gates and parking. The last thing they wanted to do, was get back to their car to find it was ticketed or towed.

Finally deciding to park on a side street on the south border of the woods, and then hiking the rest of the way; they began figuring out supplies.

"So, some energy bars and bottled water?" Eric asked.

"Bleck, those things taste like fake cardboard!" Leah complained.

"Lol, you must have been getting the cheap junk?" Mark teased her.

"Give me a chocolate or peanut butter granola any day" John said.

"Alright, everyone bring a few of whatever's around the house. Bottled water, can of pop, energy drink, or whatever" Aaron replied.

"What about cameras? Anyone have an actual digital camera?" Eric asked the group.

"Got one on my phone" Sara said.

"I mean an Actual camera, not something that's made for selfies and gets low res blurry motion. We won't have time to expect everything to hold still in good lighting while the thing decides to focus on crap!" Eric complained, his experiences with low light smart phone pictures coming out.

"Gah, Leave Some of my head on next time!" Sara chastised him.

"Sorry, sorry. Just, drives me nuts when I see a great shot, and the picture comes out all jankey.." Eric apologized.

"Why don't I just bring my drone?" Mark asked.

"Don't bother. When they get past the trees, the wifi signal drops. Those that tried, had to go in and rescue their drones. Usually being told off by the construction crews." John informed Mark.

"Are they jamming wifi? I didn't know that was possible, let alone legal?" Joey asked.

"No idea. I don't even know if we'll get cell signal there.." John added.

"They must. Its a construction zone. They gotta be able to call ambulances" Leah replied.

"I guess we'll find out.. When can everyone be ready?" Mark asked the group.

Friday evening had come. After making a detour to one of their houses to pick up things that he forgot, they parked the car on the shoulder of the road besides the woods.

Loading their pockets, and grabbing a couple backpacks; they set off into the woods.

In the light of the lengthening shadows, they made their way through the trees. Little did they know that the trees were not that much older than they themselves were.

Planted as a privacy buffer before the construction began, they had grown faster and stronger than trees usually did. Though the few people who noticed, had attributed it to the soil being rich.

Reaching the opposite edge of the woods, they looked outward toward the cityscape.

"Not much to see yet, besides more trees.." Eric stated, cracking open a soda.

"Those must be the orchards I saw from the satellite view?" Leah presumed.

"Orchards?" John asked, opening a granola bar.

"Must be orchards, the trees are spaced out and they're in separate sections. One even looked like it was for grapes or something.." She elaborated, fishing out a water bottle.

"Don't go anywhere, gotta.. go." Mark excused himself.

"Yeah, anyone else have to? After this point, we probably wont find many good spots to take care of business." Joey proposed to everyone.

With a couple affirmatives, they temporally split up to find a private place to relieve themselves in the woods.

Crossing the open space between the woods and the unfinished orchards, they moved cautiously, watching and listening for any movement.

Besides squirrels and birds, all was quiet as they made there way through a pear orchard.

Coming to a stop at it's edge, they took in the two meter-tall wall that fenced the cities perimeter.

Joey, hoisting Aaron up; asked what he could see.

Aaron, seeing little beyond a building that blocked most of his view.

Hopping down, he suggest they try a little ways down, to their left.

Doing so again, Aaron found nobody in sight this time.

"It's clear, lets break out the rope." Aaron said.

Going back to their previous location, one by one, they scaled the wall and dropped down the other side. Landing onto the dirt, a couple of them cursed softly that they were leaving tracks.

Peering around the right edge of the building, they looked into the city's limits;

Being at the end of the day on a Friday, few workers were still hanging around. A couple of trucks here and there, mostly landscapers watering their recent plantings.

Going back toward their left, they began their sightseeing; cautiously taking in the backside of the building as they passed by them.

Walking around to the front side of the buildings they passed between, there was a road. However, the road was not like a common street. It was paved in large hexagonal blocks, and split into two paths with long raised platforms in the middle. Spaced intermittently, they appeared to be both; planters, as well as lamp post platforms. Though there was nothing planted in them yet.

"Wowww.. fancy" Sarah said in a hushed tone.

"Yeah..." the rest acknowledged.

"So... where to?" Eric wondered.

"This street seems deserted, should we follow it to the center?" Leah asked.

"Sure, but lets stay close to the buildings and shrubs in case we need cover" Joey suggested.

Making their way up the road, the path they traveled became greener as the dirt was replaced by young grass and softer ground; the landscaping having reached out that far.

Before the grass however, the street planters were already sprouting life with flowers and shrubberies.

Thankful for the added cover, their attention was drawn to the cityscape around them.

Some buildings looked like shops, others condo's with massive lawns; the latter having a ring shape. Being six or more floors, they reminded them of the capitol records building, but more curved and rounded.

In fact, all of the buildings shied away from having hard edges or blunt corners. They looked, a little space-aged?

Continuing up the street, they ducked in and out of fields of solar array panels, and planted parks; which there were many of both.

In the distance, there were a few very large buildings, which they presumed to be warehouses or factories. As small crates were set out on the nearby streets surrounding them.

Every so often, there were greenhouses. And looking inside one of them, they saw that had produce growing inside; Carrots, lettuce, tomatoes, beets, potatoes...

"Aww, I was hoping for something else.." Leah said dejectedly.

"Of course you were" Eric laughed.

Finally making their way to the center of the city, they came to a very wide road.

Looking to the left and the right, they saw that it curved inward. Likely a ring that surrounded what was beyond it.

On the other side of the road, was a meter tall wall, separating the traffic from the castle Aaron mentioned. The castle however, was encased in an expansive lawn, landscaped to the nines in flowers, shrubs, and trees.

"Are you sure this is supposed to be an attraction Aaron?" John asked him.

"If it is.... they spared no expense" He said, not realizing what he quoted.

"Lets just hope we aren't going to be eaten" Sarah grinned, the others stifling their laughs.

With the sun getting nearer to the horizon, they moved with stealth across the road, over the wall, and into the nearest shrubbery that they came to.

Catching their breath and looking to make sure the coast was still clear, they went from cluster of shrubs, to cluster; and then up to the front door of the castle.

"We really should of planned this better.." Eric burst, slightly panicked.

"What do you mean?" Leah asked him.

"What if it's locked!?" He exclaimed as he lifted the lever on the door.

With a 'click', the door pulled inward. Motorized, it opened automatically to its full extent.

In a panic, they all piled in to get out of sight. Worried that the door might have given them away, they hid behind the opposite door until the other door closed automatically.

Letting out a breath of relief, Joey said;

"Jeeze, I thought I was gonna have a heart attack."

"Quiet, stupid!" Aaron said in a strained whisper.

"Oh! yeah" Joey replied in a whisper; remembering where they all were.

They were in deep trespassing territory, but at least no one could say they broke and entered..

Looking around, the entrance-way was immense. The hallways extending from there, nearly as tall and wide. A boom lift would be needed to change a bulb in the chandeliers. Though by their flickering, they were modern as well.

There were columns built into the walls, padded sitting benches made of crafted wood and fabric, and framed portraits along the walls.

Though the portraits were unusual; They were recessed into the walls, framed with intricate carvings... and were screens, video screens. Their static contents changing softly every few minutes.

And their contents...

They were mythical creatures, often equine in nature. Some looking like oil paintings, others nearly like photographs...

Stepping softly, they poked their heads into a room, to find a grand dining room; fully furnished.

Coming to another, was a library. One that put the public one in their town to shame.

In another room, was something that they had to take a picture of;

Walking in, it was an office of some kind. Beyond the exquisite looking desk, along the far wall; was the most extensive sound system they had ever seen. Dating to a little before the turn of the century, it was pristine; The soft glow of red leds indicating that they were standing-by, ready for use.

Joey, reaching for one of the buttons almost got him tackled by the rest. Instead, simply receiving strained grunts and whispered threats from the others.

Overhead, there were three conventional portraits. What was unconventional however, was what they depicted;

Though the three were similar, they were quite different in color. One was blue, another: black, and a third: white. All of them having unicorn horns, though the one in the middle had unusual eyes; like a cats, or maybe a fox?

"Who are they?" Eric muttered, mostly to himself.

"What are they?" Leah added.

Turning to the left; were rows and rows of physical media. They didn't even have to look into them to believe that proverbially everything was there.

To the right, were rows upon rows of books, upon numerous bookcases.

Restraining their urge to whistle at the sight, they turned around.

As they walked past the Shigeru Kawai grand piano; John made passing note of Clair de Lune being left on its music rack.

The group walked through the door back into the hall, leaving the office as quietly as they came.

Coming to the end of a hall, there was a door; What looked to be an elevator door. Shrugging, Sarah pressed the button.

Immediately, they all jumped when the soft 'bong' chimed and its doors opened.

Looking uneasily amongst each other, they all stepped inside.

The doors having closed, they let out a sigh once more having gotten out of the open in the hallway.

"Where to now?" Mark asked the group.

"Well, we wanted to get to the bottom of this, so.." Eric stated as he pressed the bottom button, taking his own pun literally.

The elevator, finally having come to a stop at the bottom of its travel; opened its doors.

"That felt longer than three floors.." John said what they all were thinking.

Finding the courage to step into the unknown; Mark walked out of the elevator and into the finished hallway.

It was very clean down there, and well lit.

"Which way?" He asked.

"Your call" John replied.

Turning to the right, the others followed as they came to the last set of doors the adjacent wall had. There was no label to the doors, and a high security lock on its handle, but he tried his luck anyways.

Like the front door had done, this one unlatched and opened automatically. Leading to another well lit room.

As they entered slowly, they saw something that they had only seen in Hollywood movies..

"What is all this?" Mark asked in bewilderment.

"Oh my god!" Sarah whispered as she put her hands over her mouth.

In the room that was large enough to be used as a call center; were clear chambers, or incubators. Dozens upon dozens of them. The equipment maintaining them, humming softly.

Approaching a couple of them hesitantly, and then peering into the glass; they saw a tiny horse floating inside. It's eyes were closed, its coat not yet having grown in, and occasionally making a little twitch as would a baby 'kick'

"Awww. It's so tiny" A couple of them cooed.

"Is.. Is that a horn?" Joey asked.

"I, think... it is! It's a..." Mark exclaimed.

"unicorn..." Sarah whispered.

Falling into silence, they didn't notice that they weren't the only ones there, besides the foals.

"Beautiful, are they not?" A voice asked them, softly as to not startle them too badly.

Spinning around toward the foreign voice, some almost falling over in their haste.

Meeting the eyes of the curious trespassers, the speaker spoke again with a smile;

"Welcome, young ones. I have been expecting you, for a long time now."

Clouds: Gathering

...f I don't come up with the money in a week, they'r...
...ming video games isn't a real j...
...ish it squish it squish it!! It's gonna...
...ow'm I gonna get to work now!? I'm s...
...aaaaahhHHH!!...
...ays hated you. You we're just usefu...
...ve you so much Carley. Will you b...
...orry, I am. I just can't d...
...ake up and smell the coffee looser!

With a start, the alicorn jumped up in her bed. Looking around, she realized she was in her chambers in her castle.

Taking in lungfuls of air, she realized what had just happened.

Calming down, it took her a couple moments to clear her mind.

'Why are the dreams in such turmoil? Usually they can be managed.. but this? This is insanity.' She thought.

Over the years, she had come to know of the ability she had inherited from the princess of the night, and learned to manage it. Even trying her hoof at dispelling nightmares herself, as ironic as that sounded; concerning her name...

'The realm of nightmares was my domain once. Pray tell, how have things here devolved into chaos so quickly? The final times will not begin for three months still! Is my control slipping?'

Leaving her bed, she walked into her bathing room to get some water. Taking a look at herself in the mirror, nothing seemed out of place.

'Had I not already been aware, I would see this as an warning of dark clouds on the horizon. May chance, this is an omen for myself?'

Her paranoia getting the best of her, she left her chambers and proceeded to her study. Walking in, the lights came on automatically while she walked over and sat at her desk.

Opening six planners up, she laid them on the desk while she pulled the drawer out for her keyboard. Responding to the drawer, a monitor rose from the rear of the desk.

Over the next seven hours, she went over everything that was crossed off as "prepared".

She always began with the foals, and then the time slip spell and it's charged crystals.

Coming up with nothing being overlooked; she went downstairs to check on the incubators personally, making sure they were okay.

Her methodology was that; When nothing on paper seems out of place, check that the paper is correct.

Following that; she cast an invisibility spell upon herself, and flew out to the city perimeter, beyond the orchards.

Like she had done with the foals; she had checked every single charged crystal embedded in concrete where the city's border was. They too, checked out; Ready to aid the spell that would deliver the city from the current times, and pass by the era of entropy she had set up from afar.

By now the morning had passed by, and it was approaching midday.

Flying back onto her balcony, she walked in and dropped the invisibility spell; trading it for her formal disguise.

Walking out into her hallway as a well dressed human, she made for the storage facilities.

Entering the warehouses, the 'human' began going through storage crate and container, after container:

Clay for packing the wells, as well as replacement casings for the dissolved ones: check.

Spare parts, should the defects in components overcome that of the preservation wards placed on them: check.

Casings, pipes, and chemicals for bringing the fracking plant online: check.

That thing nearly made her grind her teeth, and not for the reasons the humans possibly would;

Massaging all of the hoops to have it built was not difficult for her. Subtle suggestion magic made easy work of that with officials.

It was getting the 'trade secrets' out of the contracting companies to complete its operation herself, that nearly had her turning humans into thralls in order to divulge the information. It was either that, or nearly obtain the whole company just for access to a piece of the collected knowledge.

'Information age... Tis no wonder nearly all technological development has stagnated. All information of use has become so restricted that most cannot afford to be not ignorant' She ranted to herself.

In fact, she had performed so much information 'theft', that should the humans come to realize the immensity of it, she would have sentences millennia long by their laws.

Nearly everything in the city; She had all of the fabrication information, factories and tools, to recreate everything in it, on site. And since these were all 'products' made by others, she had to violate every intellectual property law on the books to possess it.

'Likely, a few that have not even thought of yet, as well..' she grinned to herself.

"Joe! Hey Joe, I thought you were off today?" Someone yelled to her.

Turning around, the 'human' asked;

"Pardon?"

"Oh! Sorry sir, I thought you were someone else." he apologized.

"Ah, no trouble at all. Say, how did your fishing trip fare? Catch anything?" the alicorn in disguise asked him.

"Oh I sure did sir! A twenty-six incher!" he exclaimed, holding his hands out to illustrate.

"Splendid! Did the children catch anything?" she asked him.

"Nah. Fishing was never their thing, too impatient. Mostly sat around the boat the whole time. But they still had fun; Heh, kept calling it a mini-cruise" he laughed.

Making a bit of small talk with her grounds guard, the alicorn was happy that the man and his family were enjoying their days.

For she had paid all involved in the city's establishment handsomely. Where; between a rousing speech from 'him', and the considerable compensation, she encouraged their best efforts in building the last that humanity would build.

...Though every so often, she had to hide her discomfort when one of them would boast about showing off the place they helped build... to their grandchildren.

And through that; she had made them all very comfortable in their final days. All of them becoming millionaires over the last few decades, even the landscapers.

That was how she had gotten all of the orchards completely established by this time. Otherwise, she would have been in waiting cues, as well as having to contend with replacing dying trees and such, here and there. As it was, none fell ill and died through mishandling nor a lack of follow-up care.

The original contingency plan; was to complete the orchards herself, in the after-time. However there was no need for that now. In fact most of the humans were now retired early, their task with the city being their last needful employ.

This one for example, had taken a tiny portion of his earnings, and obtained a sizable boat for his pastime. Though, she had to let him know that his retirement was at hoof, er hand. This week in fact, was his last week. She wanted him to have three months uninterrupted with his family before things turned bad.

One of the good things about them all becoming well off, was that they did not feel hurt when she dismissed them. Being still young enough to enjoy themselves, they still had aspirations to occupy themselves and a means to do so.

'Speaking of theft... a thousand lifetime sentences, perhaps more' she thought.

It was funny to think that ninety percent of the funding came from entities that had no idea they contributed, nor missed it. Their operations continued unabated despite the pilfering, such was her design.

Throughout all of her efforts, she did her best to not affect the events that would come to unfold. And from time to time, checked on the timetable to see if she had made any eddies or waves in her efforts.

Saying goodbye to the guard, she continued going through the supply containers.

Spending the rest of that day and the next cataloging what was acquired, put her mind at ease somewhat.

Following that, she began running through the shutdown and the disconnection procedures for the grid and information networks.

Looking to her phone, she almost pitied the thing as it was going to be orphaned from the infrastructure that provided most of its functionality.

Sitting at her desk, she thought about the signals it used speeding through the air; when it occurred to her.

"A Fool I am! Almost, had I made a grievous oversight!" She exclaimed to no one around her.

All of the city's more sensitive infrastructure would be bathed in strong magic whence the time came to leave. Had she overlooked shielding it, the city would have arrived into the future with not but her warded spare parts to restore operations.

"Tis fortunate I had stored supplemental magic for such a last minute emergency..."

Over the last few years, she had poured her surplus unused magical energy into crystals, should she find herself short in the final hours.

However, that available surplus was diminishing due to the need to keep the interests and impatience of the curious and investors alike from coming. Her magic increasingly being spent keeping thoughts of the city from consuming their minds now that it was finished and supplied.

To appease, she had even set a reveal date nine months from now. Complete with fabricated proof of an advertising campaign; Placating them with future promises that would never come to fruition...

And so, over the coming many weeks, she would expend nearly half of her cache in correcting her oversight.

Even after it was finished, it did not ease the turmoil that the dreamscape had become. Nightmares had become the landscape there, with good dreams being the rarity. It was as if humanity knew something was wrong, and subconsciously, telling themselves to stop everything they were doing.

However they did not understand nor heed their subconscious.

And in order to keep her strength up, the alicorn had to resort to dreamless sleep spells to make it through the nights...

Clouds: Lightning Bolt

Flying up to the high tension wires, the alicorn snapped them with abandon. She did not even don an invisibility spell, as there was no need.

For it was time. The convoy was on its way; Marking the zero hour for her to leap into the silent future.

This would be an isolation beyond even her banishment on the moon. For; then, there was at least one other to talk to, though they were not pleasant words that were exchanged...

Watching the cables fall like dead snakes, she turned around flew back to the city center.

Her plans to terminate them properly were no longer an issue, being that this section of the power grid having failed weeks ago.

Though she had preemptively began shutting things in the city down weeks beforehoof. The streetlights; being the first.

When fear and disillusionment had swept the collective consciousness, she turned off everything that could draw attention.

Preparing for the minor incursions, she closed off the city.

Making the brush in the woods around the city grow thick and thorny; had inhibited many from seeking the city.

On the roads to the gates; she cast enchantments that would confuse and mislead travelers. Eventually drawing them back to where they entered the forested roads, even in their cars.

Landing on the circling road outside her castle grounds, she looked up to the sky.

In the distance there were a few plumes of smoke; final acts of desperation by the diminishing number whom still possessed the strength to act out.

And now, in a matter of a few hours, a number would arrive with a ghastly task in their hearts.

Bringing up an old fashioned spiral notebook, she turned the page.

Reading the next item, it said: 'Verify previous steps once before proceeding'

Nodding, she turned the pages back to the first.

After checking it all over once, she landed back at the road next to an allotment of crystals; Her reserve cache, should she need it.

Looking at the list, she made a quick check again: The enchantments surrounding the city, were terminated; The wells were shutdown, pulled and filled; Power disabled everywhere, and external connections severed.

...though they had been of no use for the last many weeks. Even her phone had been without service even before the energy grid had failed.

Looking up once again to the distant smoke plumes in the fading evening light, her ears wilted and her expression became awash with sorrow.

Thinking about the humans that she had met over the years brought her sadness. The likelihood that they had already succumbed, was more than half now. Odds were, that they were already gone from this world.

For a while she sat there, wishing they were okay. Though she knew it was folly in her mind, her heart still wished it...

When the sun had set, and twilight had fallen, she arose.

She was out of time.

Clearing her mind of all thoughts but one, her horn glowed; seeking the crystals embedded at the city's perimeter.

One by one, she established a connection with them all.

The first stage in the spell she prepared began; Every living thing around her that was not plant life, was cast out. Many squirrels and rodents were dismayed, finding themselves flung into the surrounding woods.

Second, a barrier of dark blue covered the city like a dome; cutting through the earth underneath as well. Physically separating what was inside of it from the rest.

Third, the alicorn poured a measured amount of energy into the time slip spell; setting its travel duration.

Tapping into her reserve next to her, she began the final stage; the displacement.

Her expression morphing into that of agony instantly, she pushed through it; her mind a steel trap of one purpose only.

The spell that violated the natural law of time, came with a heavy price. And that price was pain. The magic backlash of its resistance being extreme beyond description.

With sweat and tears falling from the alicorn; the light emitted from the dome of energy increased.

Shortly before she lost consciousness, the landscape outside the dome changed;

Where there was once a cityscape in the distance with smoke coming from it, was now trees.

The alicorn had barely time to notice it, before her body collapsed and she faded into unconsciousness.

The dome of energy around the city dissipating; the ground as one with the earth once more.

In the twenty first century, a few noticed the flash of blue in the distance... As they had more important things on their minds, to care.

A few soldiers headed in that direction, attributed it to an electric ark. Likely caused by civil unrest like that they were delivering their cargo from; their own luxurious homes being too close to the violence that was erupting.

What their reaction was to the road ending in a precipice to a pit, rather than their destination... no one knows.

Clouds: Cleared

The first thing that the alicorn sensed, was the bright light surrounding her.
Then, there was the heat.

'thirsty' she thought.

Opening her eyes a little, she saw the blurry beige of stone, and the blue of the sky.

With a groan, she tucked her legs in and rolled over onto her belly. Righted once more, she lifted her head and blinked a few times to clear the drowsiness and clear her vision.

It was daytime. The sun was shining, as a breeze blew through the trees.

'what day is it? How long was I unconscious?' she asked herself.

Though she was thirsty, she was not terribly so; so it must have been less than a day.

'The Foals!' she thought in panic.

Struggling to get up, she spread her wings. Wincing from the pain in her right wing, she knew she must have landed on it when she collapsed.

Flying unsteadily, she was half way to her front door when she remembered that they were in suspended animation.

And landing on unsteady legs, she caught her breath.

'They will be fine. Even the ravages of time cannot harm them in their state.'
'However, there are other tasks that I must perform before I may bring them out of it' she told herself.

Turning around, she walked slowly to where she had awaken.

"Now where has my notebook gone to?" she asked of her surroundings.

Looking around, she found it up against the divider wall. The wind having carried it there throughout the early part of the day.

Picking it up with a hoof and shaking the dust off, she set it on the wall as she flipped its pages.

'First thing of order; is to turn the power distribution systems back online. Though the foals will be fine, the greenhouses and my frozen foodstuffs will not be should I not restore the power.'

The freezers needed power, and the greenhouses needed their sprinklers working. Already they were likely hot and dry enough to begin wilting the crops without cooling sprinklers to replenish them.

Walking to the first substation, she turned the inverters on by hoof. Seeing them responding to the battery's residual charge, she turned the auxiliary circuit on.

As expected, the inverting system tried to meet the demand, and then tripped and tried again repeatedly. Walking out and proceeding to the next substation; she performed the same task there, this time the tripping duration halved.

After making a round of all eight substations, the auxiliary circuit was online and steady. Energy being supplied by the solar panels, powering the auxiliary circuit, as well as recharging the batteries.

Returning to the first substation, she switched on the primary circuit, and repeated the process throughout the grid.

An hour later now, she headed to the nearest water pumping facility.

Though the extraction pumps were useless without a well right now, there was plenty in the reservoir tanks to keep the greenhouses watered for a few days. And with bringing the pressure pumps all online, she had the immediate water needs covered.

Her next task would be re-drilling the wells and dropping casings in addition to the lines and valves.

Though such would not be difficult for an alicorn, it would be excruciating to use her horn for a few days after what she just pulled off.

Like it or not, she had to get at least one well going before the reserve ran too low. But that was not going to happen today.

Walking to the greenhouses, she turned the automated sprinklers on, and checked on the crops there. Indeed they were looking like they had a rough late-summer's day.

Finally trying her wings again, she mostly glided back to her castle. Landing on her balcony, she pushed the doors open and walked into the still and dimly illuminated surroundings.

In the now evening light, she utilized her nighttime eyesight to make her way to her study. Walking in, she scooped up her flashlight with a wing.

Walking down the hall, she came to the lower level stair.

Flipping on the flashlight, she held it with her good wing as she made her way down the stairs to the breaker panels.

Rearing up on her hind legs, she opened the panels and flipped the mains on.

Starting to buzz softly, she sidestepped to another panel and turned on a couple breakers connecting the battery backups.

Immediately, the emergency lights came on, and switched back off.

Jumping back down, she went over to the wall switch and pressed it.

With a distant click, the room was bathed in light.

Turning off her flashlight, she closed all of the panels and went back upstairs; the lights turning on as she went.

Reaching up and hoofing a glass from the cupboard, she filled it from the tap, and chugged greedily. Filling it once more, she sipped while she made her way to the refrigerator.

Hearing it humming, she opened the door to assess any damage.

Only slight; she took some items out, and made a leftover salad. While she ate, she stared at the empty packaging she left on the counter.

'The world shall never see their like again...' She thought, as a passing thought of preserving the packaging as a relic crossed her mind.

Laughing away the concept of enshrining waste materials, she finished her first meal of the day.

Tossing the discarded wrappings in the trash, she lingered for a moment.

'I should incinerate these when my horn recovers, lest I become too sentimental over disposables!' she chuckled as she closed the drawer.

Heading up to her chambers, she retired for the evening.

Though she found she could't sleep. Her mind raced, she tossed, turned, got up and paced, over and over again until it was mid morning the next day; When finally, she had passed out.

Everything was out of place with her resting habits now;

First; the magic recoil exhaustion and oversleeping.
Second; she was used to using sleeping spells due to the dreamscape being a chaotic nightmare of its own. And with her horn was out of commission, there was none of that.
Third; she physically hurt everywhere, and again, her magic was unavailable to remedy the damage.

Getting up that next evening, she checked up on the foals, the water supply, the greenhouses, as well as the energy supply.

All was in excellent standing, except the water situation. She predicted that it would only last three more days at the most.

Meaning that she could either wait only two days to sink a well and use the remaining reserve to prime it, or three days and magically draw the priming water herself...

As it was, the discomfort was going to be the same either way.

Checking on her reserve cache of magic crystals that she left outside, showed that there was little left in them; maybe ten percent..

Heading to the greenhouses, she turned the sprinklers off, extended the shade screens, and opened the louvers wide to cool them. Anything, to give herself an extra day.

On the third day, she had no choice but to sink a well.

Though successful, it took the entire day and was a miserable experience for her.

The resulting mess outside of the pumping station would have her repairing the grounds in the coming months.

Clay was everywhere. Between not being able to carry it away immediately, as well as the conventional flushing she had to resort to; The surrounding greens were partially destroyed.

But finally, the greenhouses were back to normal again. And in a few days, the reserve water supply would be back to full capacity.

Celebrating with the last of the leftovers and some frozen fruit, she retired before dawn and slept soundly for the first time.

Two weeks later she did so again, with infinitely better results. Her magic now back to use with little discomfort; she sunk the reset of the wells every few days.

Bolstered by the experience, she turned her attention to the fracking plant... but that is another story fought with trial and error.

There she now was; nearly three months on her own, and the city was stabilized.

Energy was abundant, as well as was food.

The second round of foals were out of suspended animation and growing again, the first; Awaiting that joyous day they would be released from suspension and open their eyes to the green world around them.

The nightmares had ceased. The dreamscape was quiet, and what would become the 'princess of earth'; slept soundly at night.

No need for sleep spells, subversion, lies of silence, nor fear of unwelcome visitors.

Surround by the wilds of a reborn earth was:

A tiny island of the past's future. Soon to become; the future's past.

The Uncurling of New Leaves

Author's Note

Just a little something I've been rolling around in my head;

How could/would an ex-villain describe humans to good hearted young ponies; the First Born?
How would she comprehend them?
And how would she speak of the passed-on?

additionally;

How would she tell them of her own past evils?

This also sews the seeds for the creation of The Saga mentioned in the beginning of Part 1

The Uncurling of New Leaves

On a day like many that had come before, the princess Moon was teaching her little ponies, the first born on Earth; of the world around them.

Being raised in her castle, the ponies knew this place as their home and school.

This day however, was a field trip beyond the castle gardens, into the empty city that surrounded them.

Walking down the road with the fillys and colts, she explained what the buildings were for, and a little about the infrastructure.

"Princess?" asked a young colt.

"Yes, Silver Dew?" Moon replied.

"Did you build the city? All by yourself?" he asked.

"Oh? No, I had help. Many came to build what surrounds us" she answered the inquisitive pony.

"Where did they go?" he followed up.

Pausing for a moment, Moon closed her eyes and thought of how to answer his question. This was the beginning of her new life here, with new ponies. What would come of the future, would reflect what she did in these early days...

Nodding to herself, she looked to the colt in front of her;

"The ones who built the city, were lost. Becoming ill with a sickness, all had passed at the same time. Leaving me by myself, here; Waiting for the day you would be born into the world. You and everypony else" She answered gently.

"Oh..." Silver Dew said sadly, looking down with a downcast expression.

"Yes.. It was a time of much sadness. For all across the world" Moon said softly.

"Couldn't you help them? You help us when we're not feeling good?" the colt asked her.

This was a conversation she didn't want to have with her ponies, yet at the same time; knew that she must. They should know.

"Yes, yet no... I had the ability to do so, however not their permission. They did not know that I could help them; so they did not ask, nor did I tell them of my abilities. Doing so would have been dangerous for myself as well as you" Moon replied.

"How? Were they mean to other ponies?" Silver Dew asked the alicorn, desperate for understanding to why she wouldn't help them.

"Well... yes, Silver Dew. They often were."

Looking down to the ground with regret, Moon paused.

"Though they were similar to ponies in certain ways, they were also part beast, in others"

"They weren't ponies? What were they?" the colt asked her.

Looking back up to the colt, the princess elaborated;

"They were... Strange, and restless in their hearts. Rarely did they find peace in harmony with each other, and the world around them. Though they were frail in body, they were driven and quite smart... The illness that took them was of their own making"

"They.. made it? W-why?" Silver Dew questioned her.

"Fighting. It was made as a tool to use in their fights with each other. Such things happened regularly, between them. As love and friendship was a fleeting thing within their restless nature"

"That's so sad... I don't know what I'd do if my friends didn't like me any more" Dew said, tearing up a little.

Moving along side, wrapping a wing around him, Moon consoled the saddened colt;

"It was often sad then. Though, they did try to overcome it. They simply ran out of time as they and time progressed" She spoke somberly.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"The answer is a complex one, Silver Dew. One you may not be able to understand yet, however I will try."

"When they learned new things, they would try to use that knowledge in every way they could think of. Some of those ways were risky, and others outright dangerous, but felt they had to try anyway. Am I making sense?" She asked him.

With a shake of his head, Moon thought to herself to put it a different way;

"Say you had a pen? However your ear itches, and you try to scratch it with said pen. Now while you are scratching your ear with the pen, a pony you didn't notice or check for, crashes into you. Now you have a hurt ear, possibly even badly. Though the idea seemed okay at first, something unforeseen had made for a terrible situation. Though, it was unwise to put a pen in your ear, you did so anyway, then also did not check to see if it was safe to do so beforehoof. Perhaps, you were in a hurry to scratch that itch, or your mind was elsewhere in the moment? This was often the case with them, I presume."

"They thought the illness would be another simple tool to use, as any other, and did not think farther than that as they had made it" the princess finished.

It was then that a filly asked a question of her own;

"How... did they not know you were a pony?" asked Lilac Perfume, an earth pony filly.

Looking up to the curious group of faces, Moon hoped that they were old enough and ready to hear what needed to be told.

"I wore a disguise when I walked among them and talked with them" she told them.

"You looked like one of them? Can we see it?!" many in the crowd pleaded her.

Shaking her head, Moon spoke;

"That would not be appropriate. Dawning that form... would... I feel, be an insult to their memory. A mockery of a kind"

"Why? How?" a few asked her.

"In the way that they are all gone now, and here I would be wearing their form. A form of the passed and gone."

Searching the faces of the foals before her, Moon went on;

"Though they would never accept me for what I really was, some indeed welcomed my disguise as would a friend...as much as they could. And so, when the last of them passed on, I laid my disguise down with them in respect to their friendships" Moon said, disappointing her little ones.

Laying down in front of her class, the alicorn elaborated;

"Additionally, the ways of secrets, disguise, subversion, and untruths; I laid down along with their passing on this world. It led to a countless number of hardships, for every little gains. What gains were ever made, and that I thought useful; I preserved here"

"That sounds terrible, princess?" another asked.

"It often was for most. No matter which methods they used, their restlessness usually betrayed their intentions. The ruin that came, was certainly not the first... However it was the greatest"

Sighing long, she thought upon the decades spent with the creatures. The memories she inherited, mixing with her real life experiences.

"Too often they would live by untruths and betray each other..their own foals and even grandfoals alike. Usually convincing themselves it was for good, in order to hide from the pain of conscience. Such a thing is beyond the comprehension of most ponies."

Looking down to the ground, she took a shuddering breath.

"The fact that I myself, could comprehend it, but a little, frightened me. And still does"

Looking back up to her little ones, she spoke in a shaken tone;

"We... were not always a good pony. We, I, almost.. made mistakes similar to what they made. Long ago" Moon imparted to her little ones.

One of the more daring colts found the courage to ask what she meant.

Taking a deep breath to steel her resolve, the alicorn spoke;

"Long long ago, I was not alive, yet I was something. I did not understand what I was, nor what being alive was..."

"I was like a cold breeze, and a passing thought, looking for a warm place to go. However when what I was...found that warm place, there was little but anger there. From that anger and frustration, I grew"

"Still without thoughts of my own, I became what that frustrated anger shaped. Terrible, was that dark place; Deep inside a heart of a princess"

A collective gasp came from her audience of foals.

"Through that princess, I gained power, and finally a will of my own. That will however, was still bent to that darkness. My first thoughts were terrible, and therefor; so was I"

"Many things that I had planed then, I would come to regret. And for a long time, I was imprisoned for them, deservedly"

"Those past things in turn, gave me a tiny understanding of the ones that built this place. For their nature was ruled in a kindred fashion, though not as deeply" Moon finished.

"Where is that princess now? Is she still alive?" Morning Mist asked the princess.

Nodding, the alicorn answered her earnestly;

"I am sure of it. The power that separated us and sent me here, would do little harm to a princess. I imagine that she is better now, cleansed of that darkness of the heart, in much the same way as I was" the princess spoke.

The Treachery of the Supplier: I

Author's Note

Trigger warning; This story contains an unlikable female protagonist, and heavy themes.
Pass on this one if you wish to see humans portrayed Only positively.

The reformed Nightmare had both friends and enemies on earth. Humans were complex, and unpredictable; working to their own ends. Some liked who she appeared as and befriended her, and some stood to rebuke her for a myriad of reasons.

This is a tale of the dark underbelly, a low point that she had to wade through during that time.
Some have said, that its theme is misanthropic. Possibly? It is not for those with a weak stomach in the area of unpleasant human experiences.
An alicorn with a dark history, as an outsider with no stake in humans squabbles, only curiosity. She has a long term goal, and can't afford unchecked megalomania, to thwart it.
In this tale, they collide.

The Treachery of the Supplier: I

Of the group of fillies and colts before her, one piped up and asked;

"Princess, what were they like? Did they have a princess of their own, or somepony that watched over them?" Shadowbeam couldn't help but ask.

Shadowbeam...

The ponies of his lineage, as it would turn out; would be close to the throne over the coming centuries:
Ranging from humble castle staff, to Ceremonial Guards.

But as the princess settled her eyes on the colt, her mind wandered to the past...

Walking into the corporations presidents' office, the dark alicorn was in her disguise that she doned when interacting with the humans. Appearing to be wearing a business suit now considered 'classic' nowadays, though it was pristine in its cloth.

The visit today, or practically a summons, was about the nature of his purchase; Incubation units, fit for artificial gestation of any mammal from a fertilized egg.

Such technology was highly controversial, but available for discreet purchase, provided the price was amicable.

"Welcome Mr _______, please sit. I'm sure we can work out these little details in quick order" The company president assured her customer.

In her mid fifties, she wore a man's styled suit, though it was more up to current trends in business fashion than the alicorn bothered to keep up on.

"Wonderful. Material shortages come too often these days" The man returned with a pleasant chuckle.

Taking a seat before the expensive and ornate desk, he made himself comfortable.

"Artificially imposed shortages to exact a higher price from myself and others" she thought behind her mask of pleasantries.

Casting a one way telepathy spell, a mind reading tactic; the alicorn was going to find out what was standing between her and her future foals.

"I Agree, they stand against everything we are trying to accomplish here. The results are; troubling our clients, and needing to prioritize order fulfillment's" The woman behind the desk spoke with a tone of finality.

"Hmm, my presence here is not welcome. In fact, she is radiating much resentment underneath the surface. Why is that?"

"In order to fulfill your order rapidly, I need to know more of the nature of its application. It says here that it is to be used in equine breeding, could you elaborate in greater detail?" She asked with feigned interest.

"Gladly. Equines have served people for thousands of years; In everyday life, war, and joy. However, disease is still the greatest cause of heartrendingly sudden maladies and fatalities. Made all the worse that the species divide makes it difficult to understand when they are suffering illnesses..."

As the alicorn went on, she probed the company president for her reaction.

"Interesting, sudden flashes of barely controlled rage... How would anything I have said trigger such a thing? For all that she knows, I am merely a conscientious humanitarian throwing immense sums of currency to her for a trifling issue. Is that the cause? Is this too small a cause for her to spend her consideration?"

As the alicorn in disguise expounded her proclaimed intentions of genetically treating the diseases, the telepathy spell made the company presidents mood clear;

"My guise... she despises it? My speaking of equines in any fashion is filling her mind with... disgust? Oh, ah, it is clear now. I am dealing with one that has been poisoned of males, which my guise is. Of all of the preposterous nonsense! Even my speaking of horsemanship in any way, is causing her to flare. Sigh, I now see that I will not receive any supplies while she has any say in the matter. A pity that she has wasted my time"

Finishing with her cover story for the equipment's' designated use, she flashed a proud and sincere looking smile. Which, nearly made the president's facade break.

Taking a deep breath to reign herself in, the president spoke;

"Well, that sounds all well and good. However other clients are lined up for research in projects which will directly benefit humanity, which must take priority, I'm sorry to say"

"Ah, not only is that a bold-faced fiction, quite the opposite is involved. Her mind is quite easy to read. Every time she practices subversion, she rationalizes it in real-time; providing all of the details. To her, this is about exercising controls against those whom she dislikes...on sight"

Expressing a crestfallen look, which was in part heart felt, the man sitting in the chair feigned hope. Though, the alicorn knew that was impossible. Sighing, he replied;

"Oh. Then, is there a long waiting list?" Moon asked.

"It was, even before the materials shortages became an issue" She said, seeking to dash any remaining hopes.

"Now she is radiating joy, in sizable amounts at that. A very perverse individual, for it seems that I was correct about levying control. Now what is this about.. Contacting other suppliers to blacklist me so that I will never receive the materials I require? Regulators and investigators? Ohhhh. An Immense misstep, madam president. For I will not be deterred by any force which exists on this planet. Not of my foals, nor my future. And for this, Ye have earned my Wroth"

Concluding the meeting and excusing himself from her office, the alicorn cast a tracking spell on the presidents left leg, making it twitch in an involuntary spasm. To which the she dismissed as nerves from the trying interview.

Walking out of the building to her taxi, the man looked back at the towering building;

"See you tonight, Madam." Moon said with a tone that she hadn't uttered in decades.

Getting into the taxi, she bid the driver;

"I must stay in town for another day. Please, take me to an hotel which would likely have a vacancy"

Looking back to his passenger, the driver quipped;

"Sure thing, and there's a good restaurant and bar nearby, in case you want to blow off some steam tonight" He said with a grin.

Grinning back to him, the disguised alicorn replied;

"Thank you, and indeed I will blow off some steam tonight."

The Treachery of the Supplier: II

Looking out of an eastward facing third story balcony in a hotel; she stood.

When the sun had fallen below the horizon, and twilight had come, the alicorn dropped her human guise.

Thoughts turned around in her mind to what was to be done with the mare. A mare whom stood to thwart the birth of all ponies which would would fill the lands and air in the coming century... and beyond. Little did her opponent comprehend the endless multitude of voices that she sought to end before they were even conceived.

This was bigger than Nightmare Moon, a single alicorn; This was the worlds future, her world was in the balance.

Not in some existential, or allegorical way, but a literal one. If this human mare succeeded in her intentions, Moon would be alone... till the last of her days.

"I can not fail in this. Should I falter, madness of solitude will be my only reward" Moon said to herself. This was by far, the greatest intervention of humanity she would yet commit. This human needed to be put out of her way, where she could do no damage, and for a considerable time.

And so, as the crescent moon crested the cityscape, she waited, following its rise with her eyes.

Meanwhile, in an lavish mansion, the three inhabitants therein flitted away their evening as they usually did. Heedless of the shadow which was about to fall over them.

As the evening drew late, they retired to the respective chambers.

One by one, each fell into slumbers; Fitful and unrestful ones. Their spirits were already burdened, as the alicorn was about to learn of, this night.

For many reasons, this would be a night that left a lasting impression on the alicorn.

The hours passed silently in the hotel room, the standing alicorn unmoving, save for her eyes and breath. Then, without making a sound, her wings opened wide.

With the closing of her eyes, her horn glowed, and in a flash she disappeared from the hotel room.

Appearing in the sky above where the tracking spell had delivered her, Moon opened her eyes and took in the view below.

Her iris's opening to their widest, she could slightly make out the infrared light spilling from cameras covering the parameter of the buildings exterior. Inside, all was dark, save a couple of dim night lights in general areas.

Assuming a stationary position, she cast a sleeping spell across the entirety of the structure.

Sweeping downward and staying out of eye-shot of the cameras, she landed on a second floor balcony unsupervised by technology.

Unlatching the door with her magic, she stepped into a bedroom. Looking around, she spied partially eaten food, trash and clothes littered about, along with alcohol and pharmaceutical bottles here and there.

"I have ventured into a sty, the odor is none too agreeable either" She spoke aloud, unconcerned of sound because of the sleeping spell she applied.

Kicking a few items from her path, she made her way to the occupant of the bed.

Slumbering there, was a male appearing to be in his mid thirties. The pill bottles on the nightstand, along with the smell of alcohol, told her that he was anesthetized to sleep long before her spell had been enacted.

"Curious? Mayhaps thou art the offspring of my foe this evening?"

Looking him over, she lit her horn to check him over.

"As I suspected, thee are most sedated, chemically. But why? Surely this is a most comfortable and splendid accommodation? How are thee troubled so?"

Lighting her horn, she purified his body of the foreign substances in his digestive tract and blood stream.

"There, now dream. Let thine subconscious paint what lies within. From that, I shall learn some of thy story and what plagues thee" the alicorn whispered.

Casting another spell, the mans subconscious became active again. As he entered the dream that had formed, the dark alicorn entered the dream with him, without him being aware of her.

...

The dreams were abstract, as human dreams were; Different from ponies, in which the imagery was direct by comparison.

Over the years, she had studied them on occasion. When she had regained her powers, she tested them with humans, being the only dreaming creatures around.

Human dreams required a series of dreams in order to come to a consensus of their theme.

And as they played out, the alicorn made took notice of the situation inside the dream.

Once she made note of the situation at hoof, she broke the dream, and let another form in its place.

One after another, she came to find that they were mostly full of social strife. Only one was lacking in that, and was mundane.

Mostly comprising of family members, one which she was familiar with; the man was the subject of scorn and verbal taunts, to which he took without retaliating.

After the sixth, she thought to herself;

"I believe that his pains are sourced in powerless-ness. The thread constant, is that he has no autonomy to rebuke what is thrust upon him, earned or unearned. This is a dangerous state for a stallion to persist in for long... for such tension would be released eventually"

Dissolving the latest dream, she suppressed his subconscious mind once more.

"I wonder if it already has?"

Bringing the mans mind to a state of near lucidity, the alicorn searched his memories for emotional significance, to which there were many. Too many for a healthy stallion to posses.

"These are... unpleasant. Breakdowns, increasingly chronic breaking points scattered throughout the years. Appearing to be accelerating in frequency and measure"

As she watched them in rapid fashion, her expression softened.

"As I feared. Implosions..."

Dropping her connection to his mind, she sat down next to the bed and looked down, saddened. Looking back to the figure in the bed, she sighed;

"Ye poor thing... So much that Ye could have been. Been reduced to... misery, seeking release"

For a number of minutes she sat there, weighing what, if anything, she could do for him.

"This damage is deep, accumulated over long years. To even mitigate this, I would have to excise sizable swaths of thy life experiences, essentially... ending it, as thou know it"

Standing back up, she whispered to herself;

"This lies beyond my purview, to which I hold myself"

Turning to the man, she lit her horn once more

"This is all that I may do for thee, child. Dream of whatever gives thyself pleasure in the waking world for this entire night"

Failing to restrain herself, she looked into what he was dreaming about;

"This is a simple dream, though it is still sad in its way" she whispered to herself

There the man was, alone in a room, playing a video game; Single player, crafting things in its simple world.

Sighing, the alicorn broke her connection, and turned from the bed.

Opening the hallway door, she turned her eyes back to the peacefully slumbering form.

"He was made stunted and lame, by whom should hath nurtured him" she thought before leaving him in peace.

Coming to the next door, the alicorn found an unoccupied room, clean and made.

Crossing the hall, she opened the door to find an occupant slumbering.

The room was tidier and better smelling than the first. However, nearly as many pharmaceutical bottles were on the dresser as well as the nightstand.

"This... bodes ill. However, I see nor smell any alcohol this time"

Powering her horn to cast a soft glow, the alicorn made her way to the dresser. Around the edge of the mirror were pieces of tape, indicative of torn down pictures.

"Another miserable foal? My opponents hoof work appears ubiquitous" she thought.

Glancing at the bottles, the alicorn didn't recognize most of the names on them, though some were the same as the man's in the first room

"Time to answer the mystery of what this mare is feeding her offspring" the alicorn spoke as she levitated the occupants phone to herself.

A spell unlocked the security lock on it, where appeared the usual feed of socialization in this era. Making a note to being it back up when she was done, the alicorn brought up a search page on it.

Entering the letters matching the labels on the bottles and reading what they did, puzzled the mare.

The results were a mix of the expected anesthetizing agents, mood stabilizers, and... hormones?

"Curiouser and curiouser" she puzzled.

Putting the bottles back, erasing her digital hoofprint, and placing the phone back where and how she found it; She made her way over to the bed of the sleeping human.

Looking down to the face of human, the dark alicorn scrutinized it;

"Indeed, the features are... indeterminate. More youthful that the first, however slightly softer in tone and shape. There is little stubble as well..." she thought as she studied the face.

"No matter. Pray tell, have thee fared better than thou brother?" she asked the sleeping figure as she changed her horn from illumination, to casting.

Performing the task this time was frustratingly more difficult than the first, as she could not simply remove All of the foreign substances from the bloodstream to un-cloud the human's mind.

"An unlooked for hindrance. Akin to sifting through trail mix to remove much of the unwanted chocolates"

After spending minutes more removing the sleep inducing chemicals, the alicorn consider it sufficient;

"This will be enough. Though a great mess of synthetics, is this ones bloodstream. This is no way care of a foal, even an old of one as this" she huffed.

Moon's annoyance at the company president was building beyond what it already was. If fact it was starting to feel personal in an odd way that she couldn't understand, yet is was there.

"If I were the same as I was in Equestria; I would simply land her in the middle of the Luna Ocean for the sharks to have by this point, consider the issue closed, and forget it in quick order" the alicorn grumbled under her breath.

Catching herself, she looked on the human in front of her;

"These two... would have fared slightly better. However..."

Shaking her head to clear the thoughts of morose suppositions, she brought her mind back to the present.

Casting the spell to activate the subconscious once again, the alicorn slipped into the dreamscape of the human unseen.

Repeating the process she performed as with the first, she found her skill tested. For the dreams themes, ebbed and flowed. Rarely keeping one course, it was like an abstraction atop what was already; abstract.

Dozens upon dozens of dreams she watched.

"Hmm, it is as if this siblings subconscious wanders... I have yet to experience this in a human or pony before. Perhaps the groundwork is compromised in some fashion? Is this my foes hoof work, or something else?"

Halfway though, she recognized a face from the others troubled dreams;

"Ah, thou art also the other which graced his troubled dreams with taunts. I suppose thee count as two bringers of woe then? This dynamic becomes more intriguing, the more I learn" she surmised.

As the dreams progressed, they ranged from a woman coming to someone else's rescue, to a man being surrounded by a sea of accusing eyes. With a myriad of lesser obvious ones among the mundane in between.

Finally, the alicorn came to a consensus;

"This one, is definitely the offspring of my foe. Power and control, it craves. The thread constants are; opposition, and battle to obtain power. However, my foe never appears in this ones dreams, save for a distant voice. I would not have noticed, had it not been so obviously in contrast from the first"

Thinking through it for a few moments, she spoke to herself;

"One desires to flee from his mothers scorn... the other; Reshapes itself, yet cannot connect with her despite being so close in personality? Both; simultaneously deeply unhappy with themselves"

the alicorn wondered;

"What exactly is this mare I am to deal with?"

Turning her attention back to the task, the alicorn suppressed the subconscious, and brought the mind to a near lucid state.

"Now tell me of Thine story. How did thy mother shape thee to what thou art now?" Moon asked the slumbering shape in the bed.

Closing her eyes, and searching through memories of emotional significance once more, surprise did not grace her expression.

"Many similarities; Breakdowns and crisis, more constant though not nearly as deadly. It also appears as though she was doted on as a filly, thus looked up to her mother as expected. However as she matured, she became disregarded by her mother slowly. Hardly unusual from what I know of humans"

Going across those maturing years in more detail, the alicorn saw more;

"Close friendships were few, then broken. Fewer were made to replace them, and they were fleeting. More and more thou became isolated while seeking a connection, belonging, acceptance. Associations came and went, until... Ah"

The alicorns expression softened as understanding came.

"She found them all there, and her journey stopped in one way, then began anew"

Then Moons expression sagged;

"The euphoria abated far too quickly. Disappointments, betrayed trusts, more lost friendships...lonely"

Opening her eyes, she looked down to the once daughter of the company president. In a soft voice, the alicorn spoke gently;

"I am sorry wayward filly. You traded much, for the promises they made you. Tis likely, neither knew... such promises are incredibly difficult to hold. More so than most, and neigh impossible, depending on point of view... That on thy journey, such comfort that thou sought; did not find thee. Where instead thee found..."

Looking down, the alicorn didn't have the heart to finish the sentiment.

With a deep sigh, Moon spoke again;

"Where I am from, such things do not happen to fillies. They are not left to wander, nor uncomfortable in their bodies... Even spells that could somehow make it possible, are unneeded. I... miss it"

Swallowing a lump in her throat, she raised her muzzle back to the sleeping figure, and whispered;

"I suppose, that we are all our mothers fillies, shaped by their actions... are we not? And here we are; I, whom will deprive thee of the one who contributed to whom you have become. Thine only remaining support, will be unavailable to thee for a time. I am sorry for this added hardship ye shall now face"

After a few moments of silence, a thought crossed the alicorns mind.

With a dark chuckle, the alicorn asked;

"Would thee despise me for doing so? Thee are so much akin to her way of mind and now misery, despite suffering of it. I would wager that thee would easily fulfill her role in her place, no?"

"I am glad that thee are not, such would make this worse, than it already is" She finished, sobering up a bit.

"Thou will need thine strength for the following years. For now, dream the happiest dream thy will" Moon commanded as she cast a dreaming spell.

Inside the dream; There he stood, the filly of the company president, on a platform, clutching his wife, receiving raucous applause and cheers from a crowd of thousands.

Flashing an unsurprised smirk, the alicorn broke her connection to the dream and left the man to his crowds of fans.

Leaving the bedroom of the second born son, she wondered if the firstborn felt usurped by his sister?

"Humans are too complicated for their own good" Moon shook her head. "What a mess she has made of her foals"

Coming to the master bedroom at the end of the wing, the alicorn swung the door open wide.

In the bed was the target of her mission; the threat to not only her foals existence, but the eroder her own.

At the foot of the bed, laid a German Shepard; dozing as well, due to the sleeping spell deployed across the palatial estate.

Looking down on the large canine, the alicorn raised an eyebrow;

"An interesting selection of guard; large, powerful... Mayhaps she is compensating for an insecurity?"

Moving on, the alicorns hooves made muffled thuds as the rugs on the floor cushioned the impacts.

When the night had started, Moon took care to move quietly. The subconscious desire to make stealth the modus operandi of the night.

However, by now she had abandoned remaining quiet since passing through the vanguards of her legacy.

Coming to a stop next to her bedside, she stared down at the slumbering woman.

With a snort of derision, the alicorn greeted her opponent with a loud and grandiose flourish;

"Hail President; Mother of Misery, Destroyer of Daughters, and Consumer of Futures!"

Author's Note

Nightmare Moon in the future-modern human era...

This was not an easy write, as some of the human things, admittedly; hit a bit too close to home.
In a word; uncomfortable.

This ended up longer than I planned it to be, but hopefully it's worth reading.

The Treachery of the supplier: III

Author's Note

Trigger warning; This story contains an unlikable female protagonist, and heavy themes.
Pass on this one if you wish to see humans portrayed Only positively.

This tale begins here: The Treachery of the Supplier: I

Many parts of the confrontation were dropped as I ran through them in my mind.
After I played it through in my mind over a few days, the fire inside me turned to sadness; as this dynamic is seemingly all too possible.

Stepping outside myself, it occurred to me that the alicorn would likely.. not bother attempt any lessons, nor exact any recompense, for it would be in vain anyhow. A pointless effort on her part.
So, the tone changed into a foreboding of an individual doom. The alicorn leaving free will intact, and the door of choice open to its conclusion.

Forming a tiny in memoriam that the alicorn would carry of humans. Which in turn, would draw back to the need for a fair final impression, expressed in; The Mystery of the 21st Century City: Last Impressions

The Treachery of the supplier: III

Standing over the company president, the alicorn wasted no time checking her over. Closing her eyes, she began her spellwork;

"Hmph, not nearly as polluted as her offspring are, just enough to slumber soundly. Is this what is required in order to slumber peacefully, madam?"

Finishing her work of un-clouding the humans mind of chemicals, the alicorn got straight to the next task at hoof;

"It is now time to take a journey down memory lane. Thou have a few pieces of the puzzle which I desire filled, before our business is to commence"

Diving right in, the alicorn didn't spend as much time with this ones memories, as she did with the others.

It was quick work, and when she found what she was looking for, the alicorn put the humans mind back into a state of slumbering inactivity.

Digesting the information she gathered, Nightmare calmed her emotions and readied herself for the confrontation.

"She will attempt to pull at me to her level. She is... low. Not as dark as I was a time ago, however distastefully so"

Letting a chuckle come forth, she opened her eyes and smiled darkly at her;

"There was a time when I would have counted thee an asset in my service. Thine mind is quite susceptible to ideological causes... and it would have been a foals work to sway thee to rebel against the sun. Here; mere words have taken thee, whereas I..."

Barking a couple laughs at the inanity of the circumstances, she found herself in better spirits.

"Tis fortunate that I happened upon the benefactor, rather than thyself. Lest I might have in some measure returned to the way I was, no?"

Letting out the tension from her body that had been building throughout the night, she began her spellwork; putting in place what she was about to let the human know of personally.

She had her presuppositions of how this confrontation would proceed, but humans still had the ability to surprise her. And like any game that was played, the results wouldn't be known until it had played out.

With the glow of her horn abating, she opened her eyes, and smiled a dark smile;

"Complete. Now, let us have a nice quiet place to chat"

With that, the Nightmare brought the woman's subconscious to an active state, and planted a dreamscape inside.

...

Driving to work, the company president pulled into her parking spot marked for her, and exited her car. Dressed in her suit, she made her way toward the front entrance of the towering office building, her car automatically locking behind her.

When she was a few meters from the automatic door, she looked down at her phone to check the time. When she looked back up however, the building was gone. Where the building once stood was only a vacant gravelly plot of land.

Thinking that she might have somehow walked in the wrong direction, she looked back the way she came. Though where her car should have been, was only another barren plot of land; as if the lot had been torn up years ago.

"The hell? Where's the my car??" she asked in confusion.

Turning her head back toward the office building plot, she saw a horse standing where the door should have/used to have, been.

Startled, the woman tried to take a step backward, or perhaps run, but found her shoes stuck to the ground.

Looking down to the walkway, she found that it had become a gravely barren patch of earth as well. Though it somehow kept its grip on the soles of her shoes.

Bringing her gaze back to the only other living thing around, she watched the horse for any sign of attack.

The horse had a jet black coat and stood there motionless, staring straight at her. Its ears were pinned, and it gave her the creeps.

"I don't like the looks of this horse... It might have rabies or mad cow, or something.." she said in a low voice.

But the horse didn't move a muscle besides breathing. In fact, it didn't even blink, it just stared at her endlessly.

After what felt like an eternity, the woman tried to move her feet again to get away from the disturbing animal.

Though, she found that her shoes still wouldn't budge.

Finally after having enough, she bent down to try to remove her shoes, just to find that the laces were knotted, and her feet and socks were stuck inside them as if they were held with an invisible glue.

Having come to the end of her patience, she screamed;

"What the hell is going on!?"

Regaining an erect posture, she screamed at the horse too;

"What do you Want!?"

What she didn't expect, was a response from the horse;

"A few answers from thee, before we commence with our business" the horse spoke.

Eyes wide, the woman's mind came to a screeching halt. Many thoughts raced through her mind, questioning everything in her own sanity.

Eventually, she settled on;

"You can talk?!"

"I can do much more than talk, as thee shall know in due time, madam president" came the reply from the alicorn in horse form.

The horse spoke with a woman's voice; it was rich, deep, and commanding, and it put the woman on edge.

"H-how do you know about me? And what is this place? And what do you mean questions? As if I'd answer to a horse!" came her indignant reply.

Her indignance, was answered with mirth from the horse, as if it had just heard a joke told to it;

"Indeed ye shall. I will answer thine second question first. This" the horse lifting a leg and motioning around "is what thee would call a lucid dream. Thee are asleep in thy bed, with thy canine also slumbering at the foot of, in thine home. A respectable domicile I find it to be, additionally" the horse replied, the addition inserted to put the woman off of her guard.

The next was to drive the point home;

"Thy bed appears well crafted as well. As I too, have a penchant for crafted wood"

Taking a few steps closer to the woman stuck in place, smiling just a bit to show that the horse's teeth were more vicious than any normal equine, the Nightmare spoke;

"For you see, I am standing over thee in the waking world at this very moment"

At those words, the woman's confusion turned to dread as her blood ran cold and the hairs stood up on the back of her neck. Such is the power of lucid dreaming in the presence of a master of dreams.

In the waking world, the woman's heart rate shot up, but remained asleep.

Putting on an expression of indifference, the horse went on;

"For thy first question; I know much of thee, very much indeed. For I have stood over thine offspring before I came to visit thee. Of them, I gained detailed knowledge of.."

The alicorn in horse form was cut off by the woman's dread changing to fury and rage as she thrashed in place;

"Don't you DARE harm MY FAMILY!!!" she screamed at the four legged phantom.

The horses reaction made her even more irate, if such a thing were possible. With mirth in her voice, she dismissed the woman's threats;

"Oh, I have no interest in thy lame and made miserable offspring. Indeed thee have done more harm than good upon them already. I would be pressed to outdo thee in such short time. However, that brings us to thy third question. What do you mean Questions? I believe it was?"

Giving the human a moment, the jet black equine figure continued;

"As I was saying; When I entered thy home to speak to thee, I first came by thy firstborn son. An unfortunate case he has become, no?"

Receiving no reply from the woman, the horse added;

"Ye need not speak with words. A benefit of being physically before thee, is that I shall know thy thoughts, despite thy attempts to restrain them verbally. Thus, I know that thee agree; Quite unfortunate, he is. A disgrace to thee, thou find him. In fact, thee did not at all desire a son, and resented being beset one. I thank thee for thine cooperation"

Still receiving thoughts of vengeance, and daggers through her eyes from the woman, the alicorn pressed on;

"My next question is; Why did thee make him lame? Did thee see no benefit to thy lineage besides the laming of him?"

Still silent, the company president turned her head away in disgust at being asked such a personal question.

"Hmm. Yay, thee did see value at first, however thine interest in investing into him abated quickly as time passed. We are making good progress. My next question concerns thy second born"

Whipping her head back around, the woman was ready with a thousand prepared retorts, but didn't expect the next question, and faltered;

"How did thee feel when she advocated all her unborn ovum to thine sole discretion?" the horse asked her.

Mouth gaping, she was silent for a moment before getting back on track.

Her response came, dripping with venom.

To this response, the alicorn was actually amused. Keeping a straight face, she was surprised that the human didn't have a formed response for this, and returned with a simple demand for silence and slander.

The slanderous words and demand however, were ignored as the horse replied;

"Thou were quite proud to have received such a treasure. Indeed such a bounty comes along only once in a lifetime, and it was given without much debate. Prey tell, are thee proud of thy handiwork? That thy second born languishes in misery, and will hath no heirs, save your discression?"

To this question, the prepared retort came quickly;

"Of course I'm proud! He's my son! And I've never been more proud of him!" she screamed.

Nodding, the alicorn conceded her pride, for it was there;

"Indeed thou art proud. Of he, and thine own actions"

Then the alicorns head tilted a little as confusion set in, and Nightmare asked the woman;

"Hold a moment. Thou art proud of thy second son, yet resented being beset a son since the first. How are thee not resentful of thy second borns choice?"

As the unspoken answer came to the alicorn, her eyes widened in shock.

And upon seeing the realization in the horses eyes, the company president turned her head away in frustration and shame.

"This humans treachery... knows no bounds..." Nightmare thought to herself in awe.

"Should her second born ever learn of this, it would destroy Her, for that is what this woman still sees her second born as... Should she ever come to accept it, she would come to despise Him in turn. So they shall ever be separated by either the mothers lies, or contempt"

An oppressive silence fell over the dreamscape, as neither knew what to say.

After many minutes had passed, the alicorn spoke;

"That will be enough questions, let us take care of the business at hoof."

Bitterly, the woman dismissed any farther discussions;

"I don't have anything to say to you, Monster"

"Be that as it may, thou do have a couple of matters to be aware of, for they involve thyself directly. I suggest thee heed them"

Getting no response, Nightmare pushed the conversation forward;

"First is the matter of thee making thyself my obstacle,"

"Then you shouldn't have come here then! Trespassing into MY home, threatening MY children, questioning me WITHOUT a warrant, just WHO do you think YOU ARE?!" the human angrily spat.

"I am... beyond thy comprehension and science, for I am older than both. The reason I visited thee this night, is Because thee have made thyself my obstacle. Had thee not, thou would never know of me, for that is how I carry myself. To what I refer to, is my need of your companies services, to which thee have, with unearned prejudice, denied me unjustly and under false pretense"

"What the hell are you talking about?" she asked

"My visit to thine office this day. Hath thou already forgotten thine enacted plans to not only blacklist me by thou peers, as well as send authorities to grief me? Are such things so commonplace to thee, that they are done idly?" Nightmare answered her.

"YOU!?" the company president shouted with a mixed expression, turning to joy. Terrible thoughts of recompense were rolling in her mind.

The alicorn was undaunted by this, and returned a smile back showing her own teeth.

"Ah thou Do remember me. I am honored. Indeed thee know my guise now, and such knowledge puts thyself in a very precarious position, madam president"

"When I wake up... Whatever you are, will wish you'd Never been born. I promise" the woman threatened the alicorn with full confidence.

However Nightmare Moon just laughed genuinely;

"Ah thy arrogance is as boundless as thy treachery against thine own offspring. Had thee any rationality, thee would know when to cut thy losses. Rather ye poke bears which can enter and leave protected places at will. Not a single consideration of what could be put in place of thy guard dog while thee sleep, at any night? Thee should have more forethought before leveling threats, unachievable as they may be."

Her amusement dying down, the alicorn returned to being clinical.

"As thee now must surmise, I keep my profile insignificant, and work my ends unheeded. To that end, I require thee out of my mane for a time, and silent about this evermore. And so it shall be. When I leave this lovely gravel lot landscape, I shall keep thee in it for a time. However do not distress, that with my presence absent, the passage of time will become non-linear. Seemingly an hour here, will be months in the waking world"

"Months?.." The woman repeated, not believing a word of what she was being told.

Nodding in affirmative, Nightmare Moon continued;

"Indeed. Thou will not show for work tomorrow, nor the next day, nor the next year. Thy body, will be comatose, lasting little more than three years. By the end of that duration, I will have the equipment that I require, and at a substantial discount as well. Thee, will have a sore throat from a feeding tube upon awakening. And perchance, thy soiled mattress will be replaced by one of thine offspring in that time?"

"Your lies don't scare me" she bit back.

"I am curious to know what physicians will attribute this to. As this will not be a trauma induced coma; I imagine that it will be attributed to a brain swelling event, though identifying the root cause will keep them searching without much success..." the horse pondered, looking upward.

Looking back down toward the skeptical woman, the alicorn in horse form advised her;

"If thee doubt my power; Then, when thee reawaken three years hence, consider that I took three living years of life from thee, never to return. Merely for thine attempt at being a nuisance, and wasting my attention"

Closing the distance, the horse came to nearly a meter's distance of the human.

"Should thee still have doubts after that; Attempt to send word of my true self, or even try write of it, and see thyself fail inexplicably. From such failed attempt, thee will know that my shadow hath fallen upon thee, and it shall Never recede from thee. For once I have levied my decision, I do not repeal it, as I do not levy them flippantly or hastily. More than you will know, rides upon the success of my labors. And so, I have deemed that thou art untrustable with the limited knowledge thee posses, and therefor an acting threat of great scale"

What little I am attempting to preserve from oblivion, thine actions attempt to consume in the now The alicorn kept to herself.

"What did you do!?" the woman's paranoia getting the best of her, demanded an answer.

"You could think of it as an...Asimovian-limiter. Permanently placed, via a method unknown by your science. It will leave thine will largely intact, however constrained in matters concerning myself."

"I don't believe you, and I won't be intimidated by a horse, or whatever you like to think of yourself as" came the company presidents defense.

"Thee not need to believe now, for the gravity will come in a short while for thee. However do expect ramifications on this. When thou awaken, thy company will have been in the hands of whomever was next in line. It may be prospering less, perhaps more. Remember, that this all is the result of thine judgments as reigning president, and it will be interesting to see the results of them come to fruition. So comfortable thou were, that thee became discretionary over thy purpose therein. Discretionary actions levied of a thing merely skin deep. I find it a precarious irony, considering thy personal circumstances"

"We'll just see who comes out on top, thing"

Nodding, the horse had one more thing to say;

"Before I leave thee to thy thoughts, I bid thee know of one more reality; I find thee endlessly subversive and treacherous. Therefor, I shall keep thee in my thoughts. However I shall not suffer thine ill desires endlessly. For I do not have the luxury of time to indulge any of thee, more than I already do"

It is that very indigence, that currently hinders my time, as it is. A mobius of constraints this has made for me, and us all she thought to herself.

"Should by proxy, thou attempt to subvert my judgement, I will know of it. And two things shall befall thee when I come to know of thine attempts..."

Taking a breath the alicorn warned her;

"First; Any difficulties thee attempt bring, shall be wholly reversed at the peril of those whom attempt to enact thy will. Then again, I shall place thee back into coma. When thee reawaken for the second time, thee shall be unable to communicate with the world save though rudimentary muscle control. Whereas thou shall live thy remaining years as merely a burden to others. In this manner, thee shall make thyself an even lesser concern to myself, and in turn favor to lessen my burden of thineself"

Pausing to let that sink in, she went on professing her doom on the woman;

"Second; Therein that state, every night thee will dream the nightmares of thy children, through their eyes and feelings. Perchance thee shall gain a greater appreciation for thine own handiwork though their woes? Already, have I planted in you, what I have found there, in them. In this; medications, will function to being thee peace in slumber, no longer. Long will be thine inexpressible suffering, which none save the two of us, shall know"

At this the woman tried to spit on the horse, but it sizzled and evaporated in mid air, never reaching the alicorn in disguise.

"You're disgusting, leaving my sons without any support. What if something happens to them!?" came from the company president, to which the horse quirked what would be an eyebrow.

"Thy children, are thine concern solely. If thee have made them unable to care for themselves at this late maturity, it is thine own concern and doing. For thee have, by intent or negligence, failed to achieve that which a humble rodent does solely by instinct"

Looking at her with disgust in her eyes, the alicorn said to her;

"Do not further soil thyself with attempts to use them as a tool and shield to slip from thine earned penalties."

Shaking her head, the alicorn put aside her feelings at the woman's attempt to play on her emotions via her children.

At this point, the alicorn swore to herself to never let this happen to her own ponies. Closing her eyes, she made a silent declaration;

"Long after thine children have turned to dust, and their voices fall to silence, mine shall fill the skies. With their voices, shall be mine. I vow to never let my foals voices turn to lamentations as thee have done. For I am Their sword and shield for only a limited time, despite my years Not the reverse"

Opening her eyes once again, she brought her attention back to the human before her;

"However... I shall award thee a bounty for being worthy of my remembrance of thee; Ye shall live a long number of years under my protection, outliving thine own offspring, which thee have shortened. To see thine line end by thine own architecture, and to witness everything ye have worked to build; crumble before you, which it will without my doing. It will not be an unusual count of years, yet thee shall curse the name thee know me as, all the same for seeing it come to pass. The same as I shall, for that doom is mine, however it is one we will both share witness"

Turning away from the human, she looked back toward the human and gave her final words;

"We shall not meet again, however thee will know my wroth should thee cross me again. I hope thou have enough sense of self preservation to shelve thy thoughts of vengeance... though I do not trust to it. Freedom of choice is thine, make it as thou wilt"

And with that, the black coated horse dissolved into nothingness, leaving the company president alone, feet still stuck to the gravely ground where she stood.

The connection to the dream having been severed, the alicorn opened her eyes and beheld the sleeping figure in the bed.

Looking at her sadly, Nightmare told the still air around her;

"Where I could return thine sentiment and spit upon thee; I shant, pitiable mare. As thine quality will show, before the end" she spoke as she turned away.

"No traces shall I leave in my wake"

Leaving the bedside, the alicorn made her way to the door of the bedroom. Her horn alight, her hoofprints behind her disappeared from the rugs. Additionally any scent left behind disintegrated, leaving nothing for the canine to be aware of.

Eventually reaching the balcony she entered through, the nightmare latched and locked the door behind her, and took flight.

Once she reached a considerable height, she cast a thorough invisibility spell on herself and teleported to the lobby of the office building.

Gliding to the elevator door, she pressed the call button.

The ding of the elevator doors drew the attention of the night watchman, however seeing no one, dismissed it as a mere glitch.

Stepping into the carriage, the alicorn tapped the [4] button: Information Services.

"Now, for the annoying task of data manipulation..." the thought to herself.

...

By the time that the morning twilight hours came, the alicorn was back in her hotel room.

Tasks completed; her order was reinstated, upgraded, expanded, and listed as an humanitarian PR promotion event in the companies records. Little cost would come to the alicorn for her equipment, and its quality would be the best that humanity had to offer. By the time that the company would feel the pangs of this expenditure and question or investigate it, the backups would be well overwritten.

Dawning her human guise once again, she visited the downstairs front desk to book another night, and asked to not be disturbed during the day, citing insomnia as the cause.

Purchasing a few humble items from the vending machine afterward, she made her way back to her room.

Once there, she wolfed down the snacks as she booked her flight and a taxi. Afterward, the alicorn secured the door lock once again and curled up in bed.

"The night was long and taxing, however sufficiently spent" she said as she settled in for the dawn.

...

The next day, she arose late in the afternoon.

Eating a few large salads at a couple of local restaurants, the alicorn passed the hours idly while going over the previous nights events in her thoughts.

Checking out of the hotel, she got into the taxi which was to take her to the airport.

The driver was rather terse and uninterested in the passenger, unlike the one she had before.

Coming to a stop at the airport, the driver announced the price of the fare.

Catching a glimpse of the bitterness in the drivers expression via the rear view mirror, the alicorn in disguise added a 100 percent tip to the fare.

The added gratuity did little to soften her expression.

Getting out if the car with her bags, she bid the driver a good day and walked toward the entrance of the air port.

Thinking back to the company president's filly, the alicorn thought to herself;

"I grow weary of the bitter eyes of mares. Tis any wonder why any would choose to become male in this era? Such would be begging for additional strife brought into their lives"

Suddenly, she came to a stop as realization dawned on her;

"They... Both felt powerless over their lives...how did I not see the commonality before? The second borns strife, the combativeness, and anger... all fit that deficiency of power"

Looking down to the pavement at her feet, she thought over what options and time the children had coming. And comparing the coming deadline, she thought;

"Sadly, that will never change for them, for they are powerless in their servitude. Likely they do not even posses the tools to begin turning their predicaments around? Happens so, that only one realizes this, therefor he craves merely solitude and release... "

Pitying both of the children for a moment, she lifted her head and walked on into the airport.

Making her way past the other humans, she knew that she would never know how widespread this paradigm went as she beheld them with a deeper understanding, and new pity.

Arriving at the terminal after passing through security, she checked into the flight.

...

Taking her seat aboard first-class, she pulled out her (now considered vintage/niche) music player and found what she was looking for; "Domino - Part II:The Last Domino"

Staring out the window at the tarmac, though not paying any attention to anything she saw; she listened.

A thousand miles away from where she was, her lips mouthed the words "their features are changing, their bodies dissolve, and I am alone..."

The plane having finally taken off with the alicorn in disguise aboard, she made her way back to her temporary home; a rented villa.

Coming back to the present, Moon saw the colt looking down as if he were being scolded.

Coming to her senses, she spoke gently to him.

"Oh, I apologize gentle Nightbeam, for I was lost in thought for a moment" she assured him.

Seeing him look back up in better spirits, she smiled back at him.

"Thou asked if they had princesses to look after them, I believe?" she double checked.

Seeing his nod, she replied;

"Sadly no, they did not have princesses to watch over them. They had...something, else" was her simple reply.

The colt had no idea how many meanings were attached to her answer, but seemed satisfied with it. In her mind, Moon added;

"Even I, was no princess in those days. For the world had no place for princesses back then"

After the days lessons were over, the princess bid them play while she took her leave for a short time.

Saying that she "Had a vow to keep," she teleported from the castle gardens, leaving the foals to occupy each other.

...

Appearing in the sky over a largely wooded hill, the alicorn glided down to a grassy patch near the top of it, from where she could look onto the valley below.

Finding a suitable place, she sat down and looked upon the green scenery that the valley provided, long removed was what was once there.

With the memory still fresh in her thoughts, the alicorn laughed.

It was a humorless laugh, one filled with incredulity and sorrow.

Indeed the company president did not heed the Nightmares warning, and attempted to bring her trouble once again. And in turn, the alicorn of darkness levied her punishment upon her, and all came to pass as the alicorn foretold.

The very few others whom attempted to enact her will, fell into comas that they never woke from. Never knowing who had placed them there, all they knew of; was a short dream of their choosing. Eventually their families let them go, their bodies withered and passed on.

The woman herself, lived for a respectable number of years, cursing every one of them along the way, though none could tell.
Finally, she did get to witness and partake in the gloriously horrible end of their reign.

When Moons laughter died down to an occasional choking sound, she began to sing aloud to the valley below.

Starting as melodic sounds, Moon slowly rose to her hooves. And with her voice raising to that of a Canterlot equivalent, words came from memory;

"do, Do you see? Do you See What You HAVE DONE??"

To which replied only the flapping of birds wings taking flight from the trees, as the last word echo'd back from the adjacent hillside.

Plopping back down, the alicorns voice fell to a whisper;

"Do you see what you've begun?" she added, in the very rare occasion which the alicorn used contractions.

After some time sitting in silence, and with the birds having slowly returned to their nests and perches in the trees, the alicorn arose again.

Lighting her horn, she disappeared from the hillside, returning home to her little ponies; her vow duly fulfilled in this matter.

Addendum;

It was at this point of the Nightmare's time on Earth, the time of the memory; that she began to develop an affinity for somber and moody music.

In turn, the alicorn took up learning to play string instruments; Violas, and bass guitar at first. The lower the note, the more she liked it.

However in contrast to her ponies, somber music was not actively developed or preferred by ponykind, and such remained largely constrained to the Nightmares private library as the centuries pressed on.

When she would release something from her library for ponykind to hear, it was nearly an event in of itself.

The lyrics to Domino, for example, were never released by the alicorn. As they were tied closely to this event in Moon's mind, and therefor; she deemed far too graphic for pony's ears.

Increasingly rarely did she listen to it as time went on.

She considered it one of the many privileges and burdens of holding the legacy of human kind.

Appendix: Abridge (Moon & Celestia)

Author's Note

Chronologically, this belongs in The Unknown Daughter's Reunion:Part 3, but due to it's themes and it's human-centric narrative, I placed it here. This entry takes place on Earth, at the empresses castle in The First City, before the return to Equus.

I thought Celestia and Moon deserved a bit of connecting and bonding. The first step of that being; getting on the same page by catching up on missed time, a couple of long-lived mares having a mature conversation.

The first question anypony would ask in catching-up is; 'what happened?'
The answer being sad at first, as the early part of her banishment; tainted with dark subtexts before it was the time of ponies.

I often wonder, that if I found myself abducted by aliens, or be lucky enough to find myself in an HiE situation;
How could I possibly describe human kind when asked?
Be it Twilight, or any of the other princesses, whether out of simple curiosity or to check if the stranger is possibly dangerous; surely they would ask?
Answering would take weeks of context explained to them, to frame a single issue that we've been working on. Each seems to be getting more circuitous and conflicting with each passing generation. How can one explain a web of concepts, most alien, to ponykind?
Usually, I'd just shrug and say 'I have no idea' and leave it at that, hoping the princesses couldn't read memories. Knowing I'd be engaging in some deception of omission.

However I thought I'd try and push my ability to tell a tale a bit harder than usual. To distill the human experience down to a simple form of what we do and are; Leaving the interpretation to the benevolence of the beholder. Hopefully they'd have pity on us of our stumblings, which I portray Moon largely does. Though she does remember the games we played, and the results; large and small.

It's frank, direct, as I'd expect her to feel free speaking openly to her family.
Personally, I'd rather an alicorn princess not see unpleasant things any more than we, yet if she's undercover and has similar/better resources as us at the time leading up to the great event...well then;

Her silence to her ponies is our windfall.
Yet her family, is an exception to that rule.

Appendix: Abridge (Moon & Celestia)

Walking into the empress's office unannounced, Princess Celestia found her highness laying upon her sofa, head down on a pillow, her ears focused on strange words wafting through the air in a language she couldn't recognize. Though she couldn't recognize the words, they sounded sharp and heated to her ears.

Clearing her throat, Celestia drew the dark alicorns attention.

"Welcome, princess" Moon greeted while alighting her horn, bringing the words to a halt mid-syllable.

"I...hope I'm not disturbing you?" Celestia asked her.

"Not at all, this is one I have heard many a time" the empress replied.

"Is it a dissertation?" the white alicorn asked.

"Nay, tis a book read aloud. One of unfinished tales, a companion to another."
"Everypony enjoys having a tale read to them from time to time, even myself" she replied with a chuckle.

"Oh. Does nopony read to you?" Celestia asked, a hint of concern in her voice.

"I never ask" Moon replied serenely.
"Please, have a seat, and tell me of what is on your mind" she offered.

Laying down on the opposite sofa, Celestia looked down towards the floor, unsure how to begin.

Finally finding the nerve, she met the empresses gaze;

"This is awkward, to say the least... Being your guest and such... But, but I have to ask?" She led.

Moon having nod to urge her on, Celestia continued;

"What, happened after you left... left Equestria?" She pushed the words out.

Her eyes widening a bit in surprise, the empress then closed them and nodded in understanding.

"Ah." Moon answered as she collected her thoughts.

"As I recall, I first found myself barely aware of the voyage, or of the time passing. Then, I was here"

Opening her eyes again, she stared off into space as she remembered the far-off years.

"Without form, I spent my early years drifting across the lands and seas as I wished. Finding that none could see me, I watched the ponies of this world with longing, and the native lost ones with curiosity"

Smiling to herself, Moon laughed;

"I was left confused for a great long while at what I saw. Slowly however, I learned some their speech, though there were many." She paused.

"Is that what you were listening to, just now?" Celestia inquired.

"Indeed, it was. It was a tale quite old, even by the time I arrived. Nearly a century by their reckoning" Moon answered.

"Old?" Celestia quirked an eyebrow.

"Hmm yes. Their civilizations moved quickly, and they were not as long-lived as ponies. To them, a century was quite old" Moon answered jovially.

"I see, please go on" Celestia prompted.

"One fateful day, as I wandered, I came across an artist sketching away their days in their home. It was not the first I had seen doing so, and I paid little heed to their works. Passing through, one caught my eye, as it were."

Brandishing a wide smile, Moon looked to Celestia saying;

"Drawn and shaded in simple pencil, was a unicorn with slitted eyes and a pair of fangs adorning its muzzle. Stopping to inspect it, I looked back to the artist scribbling away at their desk. After thinking for a couple moments, I remarked aloud; That it needed wings"

Turning her gaze back again to the distance, she smiled to herself at the memory;

"Most surprised that a disembodied voice came to their ears, the artist injured himself in the clamor, yet not seriously"

Celestia thought over it for a moment, then giggled at the picture in her mind.

"Once convinced that the age-ed artist had not fallen into senility, and was indeed in contact with phantom not of his own mind, we conversed. Telling some of myself, I asked if he would make some alterations to the drawing so that my true form would be known in some way. Agreeing to my request, I vowed to return at a later time to see what he made"

Her expression turning somber for a moment, she continued on;

"I all but had forgotten the event, and the location, yet fortunately found myself in a familiar locale once more. Four years had passed in that time, and his health had diminished slowly yet steadily. To my surprise however, many sketches had been done, and three paintings had been completed. One... was nearly identical to how you see me now"

"Do you still have it?" Celestia asked her.

Nodding, Moon looked down;

"I do. It is sealed in my vault, shielded against the ravages of time. Yet I... It is too soon for me to look upon it once more" Her ears turned to the side, subconsciously indicating the vault's direction.

Taking a deep breath, the dark alicorn pressed on.

"We caught up on the time that had passed, and became more acquainted. In the process, I gleamed understanding of many things about the lost ones that I had only observed without context. The short years passed so very quickly as I questioned him endlessly, much to his frustration" She smiled.

"I was worse than a foal asking their parent about the entire world, as indeed I was!" She laughed openly.

"Sounds like you made a friend?" Celestia laughed with her.

Calming down, Moon continued;

"Indeed, I had. Without even trying, I stumbled backwards into making my very first. Ever, let alone here"

"But alas, he was always guarded of some things. And had passed on without telling me what I wanted to know most" Moon finished.

"Which was?" Celestia asked, curious.

A despondent look crossing her muzzle, her breath caught for a moment

"What became of his true heir? For, he made me his heir upon his passing"

Swallowing a lump in her throat, she added thickly;

"Saying that everypony... should be awarded a second chance no matter..."

Taking a deep breath and steadying herself, she turned her gaze to Celestia and added;

"He knew some of what I had done, as much as he could believe true. Yet, I expected the sentiment more aimed at himself, had he only the power to grant such a chance.... To gain his true heir back again"

"That is always so sad. Rarely had a pony outlived their foal..." Celestia trailed off. Both remained silent for a few moments, words not able to express what they were feeling.

Eventually, the dark alicorn broke the silence;

"He told me that if I could make use of anything he left behind; To do so. Do so, and live, love, as well as I possibly could" Moon spoke with conviction.

"So I did. Upon his last breath and had become still... I assumed all of what he left behind him."

Shuddering she embellished;

"I gained a physical form once more, though I would have rather stayed ethereal for the rest of my days. The pain was intense, so much that the pain of time translocation is foalsplay by comparison. Additionally, I will spare you heartbreak of... destroying my only friends remains by the process of recovery. Suffice to say I still feel that I somehow betrayed him through granting his final wish..."

Heaving a sigh and wiping a tear that came despite her best efforts to hold it back, she pushed through it;

"From that day, I lived among them. At first my magic could barely cast an illusion spell to appear to be their form... his form. Yet over the weeks and months, my magic was fully restored. Yet my adventure on this world was just beginning. Even with the meager resources that my friend had left me, I had no idea what I was about to see, come to know, and have need to do"

"Hold for a second... Time Translocation? You performed the dark magic of Sombra's time translocation?" Celestia asked, looking abashed.

Sighing, the empress admitted without hesitation;

"Indeed I did. Twice in fact. Both; around a single event. One casting to propel myself backward, and another; forward, once that time came again"

Meeting Celestia's eyes directly, moon admitted;

"You surmised that I played a dangerous game of mere hope, princess. However a much greater gamble of hope and survival eclipsed it"

"How so?" Celestia asked skeptically.

"Ah. I presume a little context is required beforehoof? Sufficed to say, I spent a few decades with them, a hoof-full of years overlapping the tail end period."

"My first time; my wanderings, befriending, and life-again beginning, was near the event of the great sadness. In that time, I began to learn to navigate around their civilizations. Some in that time, had attracted my attention. One kinds resilience, reminded me of ponies; Often they labored with love, and befriend others strongly. Another, was similar, and without an understanding of why, they felt kindred yet in another way. For them I altered my guise and I became closer to them as well, to know more... However, after I knew them; I... never used that particular guise again"

"So there were two kinds of the old ones?" Celestia asked the empress.

"Oh stars no. There were... Countless kinds, and more every year it seemed" Moon answered.

"How can that be?" The alabaster alicorn became confused.

"Ah? Hmm, they were essentially all the same as far as I could discern. The same abilities, potential, and appearance. Yet, they found more and more ways to tell each other apart, and then split apart, such was their nature."

"So why split apart?" Celestia asked, trying to follow along.

"From what I could comprehend, their nature required a challenge to give their lives meaning. Since they did not fully embody harmony, nor have special talents, a substitute was needed to motivate them in purpose I gathered?"

At Celestia's dubious expression, Moon pleaded;

"They were not ponies, your highness. However they were close in many ways, just not this one?"

"I'll take your word for it then, do go on" Celestia ushered the empress.

"Very well. When they overcame most challenges for a mostly safe and secure civilization, the challenges being met and conquered, thus sought to conquer lesser challenges. However the lesser challenges, they could not always agree on a method. As time went on, they agreed less, and split apart more. Finally the fabric of their civilization itself, disintegrating as if eaten by moths..."

"I'm, almost afraid to ask, but how did they overcome that?" Celestia interrupted again.

Looking her in the eyes, the empress said;

"With great struggle and loss. First, they sought to compensate for it through coercion. In my time, it was accomplished more subtly through deception, however it was a form of coercion nonetheless. With appealing words, they were outmatched in guile and were stripped of nearly all that they cherished. Made to think things would be better without"

"Through subtlety they drifted apart? How would they do it?" Celestia asked in curiosity.

Thinking back to what felt like another lifetime, she replied;

"It is not easy to translate to ponykind, yet I would describe it as whispers spoken into ears of the disillusioned and easily impressed. Slowly they would turn others heads toward their own ends. So convinced would they become, that it felt familiar and as if the ideas came freely as their own." the empress finished.

"And this was done without magic?" She asked.

Nodding to the princess of the sun, Moon replied;

"Indeed. No magic was needed; only time and regularity. Their wills then became an extension of anothers, and so they became their instrument."

Shaking her head slowly, the empress said to the alabaster alicorn;

"From then on, they were tasked with sewing discord upon their civilization to reform it in anothers image. Rarely, if any were aware of whom was seeding the descent and to what end."

With a disturbingly mirthful chuckle, the empress admitted;

"A tactic they pioneered an untold millennia previous, and had long-recorded warnings of its use. Alas, forgotten as generations waxed, fell prey to it My old self would have found it ravishing, all their work in consolidating control; and I simply would have seized it with ease!"

Looking deep into Celestia's eyes, she told her;

"Long ago, I would have overthrown you without raising a hoof, the elements of harmony been made useless with this"

Casting her eyes down to the floor, Moon let a heavy silence fill the room.

After a few moments, she broke the silence;

"As would have been in the beginning of my rein at that time, so befell many here. Tell me princess, what makes a pony smile?"

At Celestia's reply of roaming, merrymaking, and a lack of fear; the empress nodded slowly.

"I agree, they are the most precious of things. A treasure beyond any that power can bring..."

Meeting her aunts eyes again Moon told her;

"All of those things were curtailed, greatly. Color seemed to drain from the world, no matter how much dye was used to replace it. Many lost so very much, and albeit, fewer foals born never knowing of it"

"A grey world..." Celestia muttered aloud.

Nodding, the empress embellished;

"Piece by piece, each was put out of reach through various machinations. By the time of the great sadness, I already had an immense pity for a great many who fell under the new rulings"

"I don't understand how anything that draconian could be implemented... Surely there would have been dissent, before going that far? As you speak of them, they sound like they're bound to do so?" Celestia asked in exasperation.

Nodding in a nonchalant manner, the dark alicorn acquiesced;

"Less than one would think, such was the success of their subtly. However the push was regular, and any method that could be used, had been. Many a time, they were used against each other, against their own ends. And through the mere attrition of unified voices, no matter how few, finally was won the hearts of the unwisened. The very seeders of the problems, promised the solution, yet delivered none"

"That's..." Celestia trailed off, looking toward the floor, a loss for words.

"Not the first time such had occurred" The empress finished for her.

"What?" Celestia looked back up to the empress.

Nodding in affirmation, the empress continued;

"I found records of a number of times such had happened. However I had to put the pieces together from remaining few fragments"

Looking more hopeful, Moon added;

"Often, a civilization would crumble, its ponies would wander off, then they would make lives elsewhere. While their lives would indeed be harder than they had known, they would shrug off the machinations of their ruin... and start anew"

Looking away from the alabaster princess toward the ceiling, she mused;

"For myself, it was merely a matter of how long such would take for the cycle to repeat... I looked forward to seeing the better days, and wished to know how long it would take to occur..."

Lowering her head a little, she looked over at the antiquities on the far wall;

"Alas, as they denied one another, they denied me my answer as well" She finished with a rueful chuckle.

"...fools, they made of us"

"Us?" Celestia tilted her head.

The empress, lost in memories of the passed, reliving them, nodded to herself saying;

"All duped by a precious insular few. Our hopes, our better nature...abused. I would curse their names, were they of any remembrance..."

For a moment there was thick silence, then the empress swung her head back to the princess in a jolt. In her eyes, was a fire that sent a chill down Celestia's back.

"I lived among creatures, some whom loved another more than themselves, and ones that detested love; for it returned only pain. Ones whom would take an arrow for a stranger, and ones whom in malice; celebrated the passing of a stranger. Ones whom would have made wonderful princesses... and ones that, in their blind conceit; were led to doom their progeny to emptiness. Where and when the malicious were rarely confronted with the gravity of their ills, remorse for themselves was all that came"

Her gaze burrowing into Celestia's own, she spoke heatedly;

"To that, I was banished"

The fire in her eyes dwindling, her voice then fell to barely more than a whisper;

"and then...then I watched them all perish. All the smiles, the lighthearted laughter that still was, silenced...forevermore. The malice and fear ended, however it took all with it. Too costly it was..."

Swallowing a lump in her throat, the dark alicorn choked out;

"What I nearly brought upon Equestria, I was made to experience here, princess"

Taking a deep breath after a moment, she adopted a stoic expression.

"Then, is when what would become the Empire, rose from the fall of the old world. I would not let all vanish, nor consign myself to isolation atop of banishment. There was valiance here, and it still remained despite it being trodden upon. This city stands today as an evergreen monument to the last of the valiant, all whom came to build it. For in my very garden, is a monolith where their names are venerated"

"This world then saw the first alicorn princess rise to rule, a villain-reformed at that. My banishment broadened my purview in ways I could not have imagined, even in my darkest of hour. The Elements of Harmony calmed my heart, and the ancient ones broadened my mind"

Getting up off of the couch, the empress approached the seated princess. Stopping before her and sitting at floor level, she looked up and addressed her;

"Celestia, princess... Should you still doubt my sincerity, I bid you look into my eyes, and know what you see within. Far am I from the entity which came between you and your sister" Moon asked of the alabaster alicorn.

Celestia looked deeply for a long while, reading the dark mare through her slit pupils. Seeing things in her eyes that a normal pony would exude; Warmth, fear, longing, hope, regret, love...which was a surprise. But there was also something else? When she came to realize what it was, she tore her eyes away from the empress's.

"I don't want to know what this mare has seen." Celestia thought to herself.

What she saw in Moon's eyes, though merely a faint lingering, was... That somewhere along her travels, she had seen things that were presumably far beyond a ponies nightmares. Moon's earlier words, simply couldn't betray how much it had shaken her.

Meanwhile, Moon's expression was one of hurt, from Celestia's braking her gaze away suddenly.

"Princess? I apologize. Please forgive me for being so bold..." Moon asked sheepishly.

Shaking her head, Celestia then turned her head back to the empress, but wouldn't meet her gaze.

"No, it's not that. Don't apologize, it's just a lot to take in" Celestia said somberly.

"I see. Then, shall we adjourn for some refreshment?" Moon asked.

Nodding in agreement, princess Celestia stepped down from the sofa and followed the empress out of her office and towards the dining room. Both of them leaving behind the room filled with antiquities. Upon one of the shelves, one of them flashed 0:42, patiently awaiting the empress to return and continue on, or press '■Stop'.

The track title she paused was; Aldarion and Erendis: The Mariner's Wife; Part 32

The Mystery of the 21st Century City: Last Impressions

Author's Note

I go in and out of referring to Nightmare Moon in her disguised form in this. Attempting to keep fresh in the mind, who the group of humans were really talking to.
Unlike the first half: This is all of the doom, gloom, and sadness.

My inspirations were the subtexts found in things like: RE/Biohazard, and the Fic: 'Bane' (a great read).

The Mystery of the 21st Century City: Last Impressions

Standing before the group of mystery seekers; was what appeared to be a man. Dressed formally, he looked to be of retirement age, though the way he spoke made him seem much older.. antiquated even.

Only a few meters from them, he was almost in the way of the doorway they entered through.

"Who, who're you!?" Eric challenged the stranger.

"The name I go by in this era is unimportant. However, I am the one responsible for the founding of this city, and the construction of all that you have seen here." The stranger replied.

Taking a step towards them, they retreated a couple of steps back.

"Please, be at ease. I am the last person that would do you harm. In fact, it was I whom left the doors unlocked for your entry. I wanted to meet you, and talk to people openly one last time" he told them.

"What do you mean; 'Openly'? And what do you mean you were expecting us? And what is all this?!" Aaron demanded, gesturing around him at the incubators.

Nodding thoughtfully, the strange man before them answered;

"I have been laboring in secrecy for the last many decades, and in doing so; has left me wanting for a real conversation. One not steeped in subversion, or secrecy of silence nor untruths. To be frank; Your arrival here is of a much needed service to me, and for that, I am thankful should you indulge me" He replied.

Taking a breath and looking over the assembled group, he continued;

"To answer your second question; Yes, I knew of your attempt to seek the answers to your questions, and what day that would occur. I, have the ability to know such things" he finished.

"How? Are you like, a mind reader or a fortune teller?" Joey asked with disbelief in his voice.

"The answer to that would be more of a yes, than it would be a no. However, both of those answers would rely on the supposition that I was like you are. That, is not the case" he answered.

"Pfft. Oh, I get it, you're an alien right?" Mark mocked him.

"I know of a way to make this clearer to you. If you would please take out your phones and watch them closely?" he prompted them.

Begrudgingly, they did, if only to appease the eccentric rich guy with dementia.

While watching the screens and not touching them; their personal unlocks were entered, their picture apps came up, and all of the pictures they took since they arrived were deleted before their very eyes. Following that, their phones acknowledged that they were powering off.

"That should save you some battery as well, as there is no service down here" he added.

Looking up from their phones, they looked to each other. Finally, Mark broke the silence;

"How did you do that? You entered my password!"

Giving a nod, the strange man answered;

"Indeed. It is not a difficult thing to do, when one has had to practice as often as I have had to do these many years. I did not fund the city's infrastructure on investors alone."

"What are you?" Eric asked him.

"I, am not a human, nor even male. Though you see and here me as one, it is simply a means to live peaceably amongst strange peoples, and achieve what I must. My true form; you have seen depicted in my study. Recall the portraits hung high there?" He asked them.

A few of them nodding, he continued;

"The portrait in the center, is of myself. Of dark coat, and unusual eyes. The two besides mine, are of my kind, which there are only three" Moon finished.

"And where are they?" Leah asked the human looking creature before them.

"Home. Far far from this world. For you see, I was exiled here for my transgressions" Moon replied, a hurt entering his voice.

"What did you do?" Eric asked.

Looking down to the floor with a pained expression, he replied;

"I am ashamed to say, that I attempted a coup against my own kind. And in my anger, I endangered all around me."

"Then why the city, and all of this? Are you going to take over the world?" Mark asked, half believing the strangers words.

Shaking his head, he answered Mark's question;

"Quite the opposite. It is through my not taking rule of this world, that is the reason for all this that you see here" he answered cryptically.

"Then, you are just getting back a piece of what you lost?" Sarah asked.

Shaking his head again, he stepped closer, closing the distance between them somewhat;

"I am doing all of this, so that I will not be alone in the coming times. So that there will still be voices, and dreams, hopes and love. I cannot abide the silence of endless solitude.." he said softly, sadness saturating his tone.

Taking a deep breath, Moon added;

"This city, is myself making the best of a terrible situation. One that is coming."

"W-what do you mean?" Eric asked him, a sinking feeling in his stomach.

In a startling flash of blue light, a dining room chair appeared next to the human. Taking a seat, he asked if they would like one also, for they would need to sit down after hearing the answer to Eric's question.

A few in the group nodding, if only to see the trick again; caused a number of chairs to appear in the room full of quietly incubating ponies.

Checking to see that the chairs were real, some of the group tested them the old fashioned way. Their legs quite tired by this point, most sat.

Taking a deep breath, the alicorn in human form leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees.

"You are aware of the concept of mutually assured destruction warfare, yes? In which, the balance of power is achieved by potential combatants having similar or equivalent means to wage destruction on the other?" He asked them.

Receiving nods back, he continued;

"The concept of such balance could not stay limited to the realm of massive destruction. As technological capability evolved, so did alternatives. All, searching for the means, correctly assuming the others were as well, I am sad to say. The alternatives, were expected to never be utilized any more than the massive destruction kind ever were."

Looking down, Moon couldn't bear to see the look in their eyes as she prophesied their doom;

"It escapes. A mere prototype of what they were actually striving for..."

Swallowing a lump in her throat, she choked out her next words;

"It.. there were none left! All were silent within a year, I saw it! And I looked, I searched everywhere, for months; Islands, jungles, even icy outposts..."

A tear rolling down his face, there came a flash of anger in his voice;

"They called it a more civil form of weapon... Because it destroyed less Things. And they thought it could be controlled more readily than radiation! Hah, though they could not even consciously control their own base impulses, the fools thought they could control life, down to its smallest and most elusive of forms!"

Rising out of his chair as did his voice; he hurled his words at the group in front of him, his eyes flickering to a slitted turquoise as the illusion faltered;

"They were well wrong, and all everywhere would pay the price, Forever! ..Even myself."

Moons anger fading; the human dropped back into the chair in a slumping fashion.

"No more voices. No songs but what birds could sing.... At least, there would have been, had the last acts of desperation not brought forth the launch of the conventional mass weaponry..."

Looking back up to the paled faces before her, Moon spoke in a defeated voice;

"The final hopeless and desperate acts of the plague, brought repercussions that would echo into hundreds of thousands of years afterward. More so if one considers the complete loss of an individual species, beside the humans..."

Remembering the images she saw, she summarized the devastation;

"Where the plague didn't affect other species, such was its design, radiation largely compensated for it."

Sighing and looking over their heads, he was quiet for a moment.

Bringing his eyes back to theirs, he spoke in a resolute tone;

"No. I will not be dragged unwilling into that future. I will not let the earth and its creatures pay the price for fools final negligence. Their weaponry will not avail them at the end, for I will see to it myself. The earth will continue, it's ecosystem intact, with me and my future family; its stewards."

"But, can't you stop it?! If you can do all that, you must be able to stop it!" Leah pleaded.

"Do you realize what that would entail myself doing; To the thousands of humans wills, possibly the millions or billions that supported them?" He challenged her.

"I would have to perpetually stifle the very will of countless humans; destroy them at the deepest meanings of their existence." he continued.

"But they'd at least be alive!" She countered.

"Would they be? Living without a will of your own.. Is that being alive, young one? Or is that akin to what you call a vegetable?" he asked her.

"What if you just took over to stop it?" Mark asked him.

Laughing, Moon asked him;

"Would a human trust a talking horse, and be ruled by one? If only that could be possible. Even the ones that could, should it even turn out to be half of the humans; would in turn, fall prey to the others who could not. Fighting would be everywhere throughout the planet. Pushing me to either suppress the wills of half, or end their entire lives to even bring a chance of stopping the fighting. Subsequently, the largely willing of the first group, would eventually turn away after my doing so" he finished.

"But.." Joey faltered.

"All of this conjecture is moot. For despite my coup, it is not in our nature to crush masses under our hooves. The circumstances that led me here were unusual and fleeting, and I do not wish to repeat them in any fashion. In fact, our two kinds do have something in common; While we do not always make the best choices, we value the freedom to make those choices for ourselves."

A flash of pity and unease crossing his face, he concluded;

"As so, I must honor humanities choices, wherever it leads them. I will not live your lives for you, nor throw them away. Only you have the purview to do so."

Eric, trembling by this point; grabbed the unused chair next to him, and made to smash anything around him in his frustration.

John, latched his arms onto its legs and struggled with him for a moment.

At first Eric wanted to change his target to John for intervening, but then looked into Johns eyes and noticed the horror in them at what he was doing. With his anger melting into sorrow, his grip on the chair slacked.

Setting the chair back down, John sat Eric down on the chair. And sliding another chair next to his, John joined him.

"That was close!" Joey sighed.

"Sorry about that" Leah apologized, Eric nodding without making eye contact.

"I understand. However, the chair was never a threat. The greatest threat to my little ones here, would be my own shouting earlier, to which I apologize for my outburst in front of you all. This, is the first I have ever been able to speak of what I have seen to anyone." Moon returned the sentiment.

After many moments of silence, Aaron spoke;

"So, there's nothing we can do?"

Shaking his head sadly, the disguised alicorn spoke;

"Philosophy, culture, and technology, intersected to create this.. 'Pandora's box' as you call it. Where; in something of this nature, puts it into free-fall as soon as it is made. The only hands that could catch it before it impacts, would be an immediate and drastic philosophy change. Which from what I understand of humans, would take lifetimes to achieve. Thus, I spent mere decades planning all of this around us, as this could be achieved in the time allowed."

"What's going to happen?" Eric asked.

Taking a deep breath, she answered;

"Once it escapes containment, it will take nearly two months to incubate into noticeable symptoms. During that time however, it will be mildly transmissible. Spreading quickly, it will be carried by the winds as well as birds. When the symptoms do start to show; they will be first ignored, then misdiagnosed, and finally recognized and tracked. Once the symptoms start to show, three weeks.."

Pausing to collect herself, Moon continued;

"As a high security secret of a research that is not supposed to exist, responsibility will not be claimed by any nation. Despite that, tensions will rise as blame is laid in deflection of their own complicity in partaking in such. When the mortality crosses ninety percent of the population, all hope will be lost. The leaders will launch their missiles... and then they will find them crashing down without detonating, their warheads already having been turned to inert carbon... My doing."

With a bitter chuckle, she lamented;

"Had things been different, they would have combed the globe searching for 'the most dangerous creature imaginable' that had pulled their teeth out without them noticing.."

"As well as finding that their fissile materials; both active and disposed, will begin cooling and slowly becoming inert. Inhibiting them from releasing their toxins once there are none to maintain them. As it will be, they shall not have the time to contemplate as to how or why; Possibly attributing it to one of their own deities intervening."

Glancing at Eric for a second, she detailed another event;

"Before that time however, another group of humans will be escorted to my city. Under military convoy, persons of noted value will be brought here seeking refuge from the inevitable. The orders of the escort will be to seize and secure the city on the behalf of themselves, as well as their charges; Requiring my 'liquidation' in the process... I have read their orders."

Moon laughed at the idea of a bullet harming an alicorn, even unconscious.

"They would fail of course, both in seeking my death, as well as escaping what they fled. However, neither the city, nor I will still be here when they arrive."

Sporting a grin at her audience's surprised looks, she elaborated;

"What they will find instead of the city, will be a wide pit in the ground. As if the city were scooped off of the face of the earth. Leaving them no choice except to turn around and find another place to take their charges."

"Where will it go?" John asked their host.

"Little more than a century into time. It is something that I learned of from another where I came from. Though, that city had yet to return in the thousand years that had passed..."

Pausing for a moment, he continued;

"While my city is absent, the world will be healed. Acting slowly, a wave of entropy will break down all that now is. Waste, toxins, cities, landfills, ...remains. All will become wild and green lands once again; leaving only collections of gravels under the surface, divots, and mounds of moved earth to allude to what was once there. Leaving this city the lone surviving thing built of human hands and knowledge, when it returns."

Shaking his head, he spoke again with bitterness in his voice;

"It is most ironic that there are so many that would seek to tear down what would eventually be the last remnants of their world and works. Both the willing investors, as well as those that contributed without their knowledge" Moon finished.

"How did they not know?" Sarah asked.

"I believe you would call it 'Robin Hood'? Numerous business of great wealth found their funds pilfered without realizing it occurred, records altered to disguise where it went, and the minds of those whom job it was to notice; distracted by more important issues at hand over the years. Eventually, they would put the pieces together and come; To tear all of this apart to recoup a little of their losses. However, time is as much their enemy as it is mine." she answered Sarah's question.

"Did the investors know about all this?" Mark asked their host.

"No, they made their choices to invest under somewhat false pretext. Expecting the dividends to be returned to themselves and their children, they shall never live to see them. However, their dividends will be greater than they could possibly envision in the times that will come. Their unknown heirs, keeping a small piece of what was; alive" he said, looking toward the incubators.

"My little ones will defeat the intended results of what will come, robbing it of its goal to bring all to silence and oblivion." he finished with a triumphant smile.

As the group fell into silence as the weight of what surrounded them sank in, the alicorn searched their eyes for words unspoken.

In their eyes was a question that built in intensity until one of them spoke; it was Eric again. Obviously the most impulsive of the group;

"Why? Why tell us all of this? Are you just punishing us for what's going to happen? Payback?" he asked.

Shaking his head slowly;

"No. As I said before, I needed to speak honestly with someone once more. I, am not without flaws, as you have come to know, and am acting selfishly. I had rather speak of this with another, one whom was not going to befall this doom.. However there are none. Both our options; having eroded to only one, in these last days."

Looking down and taking a deep breath, the alicorn addressed them once more;

"As you must realize, our conversation must be kept within these walls. Speaking of what you now know, would only bring yourselves woe as those around you would disregard it. As for the ones that do not, completely; they would come here. And as the work is not yet finished, that must not happen."

Looking back up to them with regret on his face, he said;

"As such is required, your memories of our time together will fade as you leave the city. Your curiosity sated, however without the understanding as to why. Though you shall not remember this nor myself, I shall remember for the both of us."

Standing up, the man spoke;

"As a final parting gesture, I will show you what none others have seen."

The illusion spell dropping; where there was once a well dressed human standing there, now stood a creature they had never seen before in the flesh.

It stood before them with piercing slitted eyes, but its posture spoke of uncomfortable exposure. One of its forelegs raised in uncertainty.

"Now, you see me as I am. The last bit of secrecy I kept with all of you, now shed." Moon spoke softly.

With all of their eyes glued to the creature before them, one of the group eventually asked it;

"Even though it wont really matter, I guess... What's your name?"

Dropping its head slightly, and placing its hoof onto the floor with a clop, she spoke; her voice laden with sorrow.

"Nightmare..." she nearly whispered.

As the moments passed, silence hung in the air.

Closing her eyes tightly, she turned her head from the group before her. Pointing to the door with a wing, she bid them leave;

"Go now. Leave me to my labors, and yourselves to your unburdening of future events. The gates will be open and unguarded to aid your exit; unchallenged. My, best wishes would go with you...would they..." She trailed off, unable to finish.

Moving slowly, they passed by the alicorn as tears began to fall from its eyes.

As he was about to leave through the door, Aaron stopped. Looking back to the creature facing away from them; its wings hanging limply over its silently heaving sides as it stood there, he spoke;

"Thank you... for, saving what you could..."

Not knowing what else to say, he followed the rest through the door, back toward the elevator.

Leaving the strange creature alone once more; A whole world on its shoulders, and with no one to lean on.

Ice Crystals

In the dim light provided by the moon above the horizon, the barren landscape nearly mirrored it as it reflected its light.

Frozen, everything here remained, always.

The Katabatic winds were gentle again as a presence returned to the land here.

A single thud pierced the air over the ever silent lands.

Atop the surface of the ice, a glowing ring of blue appeared. Lowering toward its surface, it sank into it with a hiss. Steam, immediately turning to snow as it barely had left the surface.

After a few moments, the snow stopped wafting from the tiny ring shaped crevasse that was made.

The blue color of the ice became bluer, as it began to thrust upward.

A pillar; ten meters tall, and foot wide, rose above the icescape. Leaving the surface, it hovered a meter above the rest.

Into the darkness of the hole that was made, a crystal was lowered at a steady rate until it reached the bottom.

Dropping downward, the pillar sunk back into where it came.

Reaching its new depth, the protruding ice at the top turned to snow and blew away with the wind.

With a whoosh of air, the presence was gone. Its four impact points, the only trace that it was ever there.

This was the longest night that the Alicorn of darkness had experienced. The cold of the icy land sinking into her legs, leaving little sensation in them.

One hundred and seventy nine crystals she had laid this polar night. The cumulative work of many years of her efforts.

As she landed at the final location, she began without hesitation. Wishing for this task to be over; she made quick work of cutting the ice.

As the final pillar was lowered into place and sheared off, she heaved a breath of relief.

Though the cold stung the muzzle of even an alicorn, it was not why she had pushed through this task with all haste.

The biting cold winds there, seemed fitting for what her task would eventually bring;

The indifference of the elements of nature, at its most extreme.

As did the wind over the ice here, the crystals would do across the world for a century; Wear away.

Looking down to the ice, she closed her eyes.

"Four years..." She spoke, breaking the silence of the lifeless land where only wind made sound.

"Four years, you will sleep in the cold. Then, your long work will begin. After the last has succumbed; You will see to it that all will be put to rest, returned to the earth, buried in the annals of time."

Opening her eyes and looking over to the moon in the distance, she smiled a sad smile.

Thinking of another... She somehow didn't feel so alone here.

Taking to the sky once more, she readied a teleport spell.

In a flash, disappearing from sight.

Leaving no trace behind, but that of four hoof prints; already eroding away by the blowing winds.