The full moon hangs high above the dark Everfree forest, it’s light shining down amongst the canopy of trees and all across Equestria. Ponies all across the nation would be waking up after a long night of celebrating the Summer Sun Celebration, and all of them would be confused about the moon which still hangs in the sky, questioning why it was there instead of the sun. None of them would know about the ancient castle in the middle of the cursed woods, nor of the events happening there.

Rocks and crystals lay strewn over the ancient castle floor, the Elements of Harmony having just been broken, leaving nothing behind but a distressed unicorn and a smug alicorn. Twilight Sparkle, a slim unicorn mare in well-kept shirt and pants, kneels over the destroyed Elements, her mouth opening and closing in shock.

In front of her stands a figure not like any other, a tall and dark alicorn mare, coated in short and very dark fur, nearly black in its coloration, with an ethereal starry mane and tail flowing from her head and her big flank. Dark purple and blue chainmail covers her form, hugging her tightly and showing off plenty whilst protecting everything important, the chainmail being especially tight around her chest, which is second only to Celestia’s own, large enough for any grown mare or stallion to lose themselves in between. The rest of her is slim, but is covered in lean muscles that are well defined all over, capitalizing on her warrior Queen look. Nightmare Moon smirks and crosses her arms, showing off her sharp fangs and spreading massive leather wings behind her, “Is that the best you could do?”

Twilight Sparkle looks over the shattered Elements with despair, closing her eyes and trying to come to terms with failure, but then her mind begins to realize something, and she opens her eyes, hearing five people approaching from the hall behind her, “The spark…”

From the hall emerges her friends, the tough Applejack, the athletic Rainbow Dash, the enigma Pinkie Pie, the fashionable Rarity, and the shy Fluttershy. The five of them all look at Nightmare Moon for a second, eyes widening upon seeing the shattered Elements on the ground, but they approach closer to help their friend anyway.

Twilight stands up, a confident smile on her face, pointing a finger at Nightmare Moon, “The Elements of Harmony aren’t just rocks, Nightmare Moon, but they are the magic within all of us! You may have destroyed the Elements, but I realize now, the Elements are all right here! Pinkie Pie, the Element of-“

In the middle of her monologue, the massive horn on Nightmare Moon’s head lights up, and a blue flash fills the room. As the others all clear their eyes of the bright flash, and look around, they would see that Fluttershy and Rarity are both gone, with no indication of ever even being there. She just smirks more, “Did you truly think I would be that easy to defeat?”

Rainbow Dash yells and spreads her wings, shooting towards Nightmare with rage, “Where is she?! What did you do to her!? I’ll kill you!” She’s caught mid-air in a field of magic, her slim form struggling within the blue aura, “Come on, fight me, fight me! Where’s Fluttershy you-“ Another blue aura appears, holding her lips together.

Nightmare just grins at the struggling Pegasus, her magic then lashing out and restraining Applejack, who attempted to sneakily attack her from behind, “Those Elements always had one weakness, little ponies, they require all six of you. A simple teleportation spell and they’re useless.”

Twilight just blinks, “But… we… we lost?” She looks away and whispers, “Princess, where are you, I failed you..”

She just grins more, “Yes, you lost. Is it that surprising? I have killed by the hundreds, I have survived death itself, I am the Night eternal who has commanded armies and committed countless offensives and defenses personally. The largest thing you have commanded, unicorn, is the running of a library. Is this the best Celestia has to send to me, six untrained civilians? She is pathetic for not coming to face me herself.” Her aura then fades around Rainbow Dash and Applejack, the two falling to the floor unceremoniously. Rainbow gets up and buzzes her wings, but before she can do anything, Nightmare Moon disappears in a flash.

Silence reigns over the ancient and decrepit castle, the moon’s light shining down from high above onto the four mares. After a minute, Applejack looks over at Twilight, speaking quietly, “What now, sugarcube?”

———

It is a dark day in Canterlot, with the moon staying up way past it’s time to set. While the common ponies pay it little mind and continue on like normal, the nobility has taken it upon themselves to celebrate the new ‘holiday’, the only logical explanation for the moon still being up. They’ve gathered in the Royal Canterlot Gardens, sharing talks about the night over fancy bottles of wine and cheese, the entire palace proper being under heavy guard due to the worrying circumstances.

In a flash of bright blue, Nightmare Moon appears on the streets of Canterlot, her regal form instantly drawing attention from the pedestrians all around. They watch as she begins her march down the street, many of them following, curious about the new alicorn, or just wanting to watch her flank as she moves. As more and more follow, the streets become crowded by curious ponies, following the alicorn as she walks the streets of the city.

After a few minutes, Nightmare looks back, giving herself a small grin at having gathered such a crowd so quickly. She quickly looks to her right, to a young homeless stallion who watches her from the alleyway, and immediately shys away from her bright reptilian eyes. With a flash of her horn, she summons a giant bag of bits, tossing it to the stallion and looking directly into his eyes, “Gather the poor and destitute. Gather the workers and the farmers, the sick and the injured, the victims of the world. They shall follow me to the palace.”

The young stallion looks at the bag, and then at her with slightly wide eyes, giving her a simple nod before running off into the alleyway. She smirks and looks at the center of the city, the grand jewel of Equestria, Canterlot Palace. A massive building of stained glass, marble, and gold, where Celestia would rule the whole nation from, and where, currently, are the noises of a noble’s garden party. Her eyes narrow ever so slightly as she spreads her leather wings behind her, marching once more towards the palace, ears flicking lightly at the whispers of the crowd behind her.

It is not long before she arrives to the gates to the palace’s gardens, now surrounded by hundreds of the poor of Canterlot. Single mothers, injured workers, homeless stallions and mares, filthy bandits who stole out of desperation. There stands a noble at the gates, along with two guards who have their spears pointed threateningly, the noble stallion shouting at the poor ponies, “Get away from here before you dirty my suit, you’re all ruining the mood! Shoo!”

His shouting dies down as the poor ponies look at the approaching Nightmare, with most of them stepping aside, most out of fear, some out of respect. The noble looks at her as she approaches, and nervously adjusts his tie, licking his lips and opening his mouth to speak, before he is cut off, “These ponies shall go inside.”

The stallion blinks, and then scowls, “You have no authority here, mare, whoever you might be. I, Lord Jet Set of Manehatten, carry with me the authority of the Princess herself, you can’t just… command me around, or force me to let these filthy things inside our party!”

She looks at him with lightly narrowed eyes, not caring as the two guards adjust their spears, pointing them nervously at her, “The Princess is gone, Jet Set, Celestia has fled and abandoned you all, her title has no authority here. I am Nightmare Moon, banished sovereign of Equestria, and I have reclaimed my throne, now step aside!” Her eyes burn with a cold passion within them, her wings flaring out wide as she shouts loud enough for all to hear.

Lord Jet Set steps back for a second, before steeling himself, “You… you are an enemy to the Princessdom of Equestria, then! The Princess may not be here, but as Lord of Manehatten, it falls to me to… to fight against you, fiend!” He reaches to his side to draw an overly ornamental rapier, but as his hand touches the sword’s handle, his eyes widen, and he goes pale. Slowly, he begins to make choking sounds, a blue aura appearing around him, as a blue aura appears around the guards, stopping them before they can intervene. The noble stallion falls to his knees, his entire body beginning to wither into a husk, gasping out, “M-mercy…”

Nightmare looks at him with a firm scowl, her horn lighting up bright one last time, pulling the soul directly out of the stallion with a flick of her horn. The pale white energy floats in the air in front of her as the stallion’s body turns to dust, before flying into her mane, becoming a new star within it. The guards both stagger back as the aura disappears from around them, their eyes wide and their mouths open in a silent gasp. They stare at the alicorn, and she stares back, before both throw down their spears, which clatter against the ground.

Nightmare takes a deep breath and spins around on her heels, shouting to the gathered audience, “I am Queen Nightmare Moon of Equestria, ponies of Canterlot! I am no Queen of nobles, I am no Queen of inaction, I am no Queen of grandstanding and of decadence! I am a Queen of ponies! I am a Queen of all ponies, no matter the gold that lines their pockets!” She spins around again, launching a bright blue beam of energy, tearing apart the gates and fences around the garden in a single spell, “The nobles, the rich of Canterlot enjoy waste, they enjoy decadence, they enjoy to see you, the common pony, suffer! I say no more! The destitute of Canterlot, the poor, the forgotten, the oppressed, I say to you now that your liberation is at hand, and this night, the night of your liberation, shall last forever!” With a flash of blue magic, the full moon high above becomes a blood red color, casting it’s scarlet light down upon the whole world, “The commoner of Equestria…” She points at the garden, where the nobles’ party is breaking down, rich mares and stallions panicking over the destruction of their fence and the blood red moon, “Have at them!”

Author's Note

Hey everyone, it’s been a long time since I last posted a story. I’ve got a lot of free time nowadays, and I’ve worked on my head canon setting a lot more than I have before, so, given circumstances stay the same, hopefully this story should be able to get finished.

I’m planning on making this roughly follow the show’s Season 1, with 1 chapter per episode with certain exceptions. And if anyone has any questions, ask, I love to answer.