Red Moon Rising

The burning sun hangs up in the sky, it’s bright light shining down upon the confused nation of Equestria. Just last night, the moon had stayed up longer than it was supposed to, turning red about halfway into the ‘day’, with rumors spreading across the entirety of Equestria about riots and revolts led by an oddly organized force in every major city in Equestria. Many had fallen asleep that night, worried, only to wake up the next morning with the news that there is a new Queen of Equestria, and that she has raised the sun for them for the first time.

Nightmare stands in the Canterlot palace, in the middle of a bright room, painted to look like a partly cloudy day, bright blues and small white clouds covering the walls and roof, with a massive bed in the middle of the whole room, soft blue blankets resting upon it. Celestia’s room is a bright, peaceful place with not many luxuries, merely a dresser, a connected bathroom, and a desk, upon which sits a half written letter and two golden tickets. Nightmare looks around with a sneer, before walking up to the envelope, grabbing it and reading the first words aloud, “Dearest student, I hope you are adjusting well to Ponyville, as Luna is adjusting to the modern Equestria. Inside this envelope, I have provided two tickets…” She trails off, a fiery anger appearing in her eyes, “She thought she would win?! She was so confident she wrote a letter in advance?!” She growls and swipes the letter off the table, her magic tearing it to shreds.

As the letter’s pieces begin to fall to the ground, she takes a deep breath, placing a hand upon her breast to assist. In the midst of her calming down, the door opens slightly behind her, someone else poking their head in. They’re a slightly thick cream-white colored mare with dark black mane, and some small glasses that sit on her muzzle, along with a nice looking red suit-dress that hugs her thick curves. She clears her throat, “Queen Nightmare.”

Nightmare blinks and spins around, looking into her eyes instantly, “What is it, Inkwell? I asked to not be disturbed unless it was needed.”

The mare looks right back and gives her a nod, “Forgive me, your highness, but around now is when Princess Celestia would meet with the nobles.”

She snorts, “So you have come to waste my time, then. There is no Princess Celestia anymore, and there are no nobles. You are dismissed, secretary. Good day.”

Inkwell gives her another nod, “Well, Queen Nightmare, despite your words, there are two nobles who have shown up anyway. While I am not, of course, a Queen, I would suggest meeting with them anyway.”

She blinks slightly, and then frowns, “So two idiots have come despite knowing what happened to their friend. You are dismissed anyway, Inkwell. Thank you.” Her horn then lights up, and she disappears in a flash of blue.

In the throne room of Canterlot palace stand two noble stallions, the two looking at each other. One is a younger stallion, in his mid twenties, a fairly tall and attractively slim stallion with a white coat and well kept blonde mane, a simple blue and black suit covering his form. The other is an older stallion, in his sixties or seventies, also of a white coloration, with a blue mane. His form shows a few scars across it, hidden mostly by his fur, and by the fine black suit he wears, with the stallion currently wiping off his monocle.

Nightmare appears in a flash of blue in front of the two stallions, looking at both of them with a sneer, “Who do you two think you are to be so stupid and to waste my precious time doing it? Did you not see what happened to the last noble who tested my patience, or have you come for a repeat demonstration?”

The younger stallion looks at her, and just gives a small, confident grin, giving her a polite bow, “Queen Nightmare Moon, I am Prince Blueblood of Equestria, nephew of Princess Celestia, loyal follower of Equestria. I saw the rather grisly scene with Jet Set the other day, but the entire time, my eyes were on you, not him, for your beauty is like that so the night sky and it is-“

The other stallion lightly hits his side, with Blueblood looking over and frowning slightly, standing up and brushing off his suit. He then turns and looks at Nightmare, giving her a small bow, “I am Knight Fancy Pants of Equestria, Knight of Harmony, Defender of Ponies, loyal servant of Equestria.”

She looks over the both of them, before shaking her head and crossing her arms beneath her large bosom, “So a flirtatious Prince and an elderly knight. For being so loyal to Equestria, you both seem to be rather friendly to an enemy of it.”

Fancy looks up, and adjusts his monocle, “Nightmare Moon, you misunderstand us. You see Equestria as the throne that lays behind you, or as your defeated sister, but to me and my old chap here, we know Equestria is truly the ponies. It has always been the ponies, and as servants of Equestria, it is our duty to protect those ponies. And if I must, Nightmare, that would mean I shall draw my blade against you, but in all due respect, I do not wish to deal with the soreness it would bring to my arm.”

She just smirks, and steps forward as Blueblood opens his mouth, speaking before he can get a word out, “You seem so confident in your ability to defeat me, Knight. You look upon a goddess and threaten her, yet only worry for the soreness of your arm? Given someone else, I would say they’re an idiot, but looking at you… I almost feel inclined to believe you’re right.”

Fancy just grins ever so slightly, while Blueblood speaks up, “And if I may, my Queen, I don’t care which beauty sits upon the throne of Equestria, be it Celestia, or be it you, but it is my duty, my vow to protect the ponies of Equestria. And in order to protect them, I give my vow to you, I can help them better with you than against you. But, I’m curious about something. How did you know about Canterlot? The old tales say that you are from a millennia ago, and Canterlot is just eight hundred years old.”

Fancy takes off his monocle, bringing out a rag to begin to clean it, “I must agree. As a Knight of Harmony, I have greater knowledge of the past than most, and I know for certain that Everfree used to be the capital, not Canterlot. Even during the Nightmare War, it was Moonbeam, now Hoofington, and Everfree, never was Canterlot even a concept. And yet, you come back from the moon, defeat the Princess’ student, and immediately come here. There cannot have been enough time for tou to have seen it.”

She looks at the both of them, and then just smirks, “Lights. All you can see from the moon, Fancy Pants, Blueblood, are lights. I saw the lights begin to concentrate upon the mountain, and could see as the lights stayed there, a new city. A defensible, magnificent capital city upon a mountain, just the type of thing Celestia would do.” She sneers slightly, “Almost like it was a taunt, to build her new capital as close to the moon as possible, taunting me to come and get her. Shoving her victory in my face…” She clenches her fists tightly, taking a deep breath and slowly letting it out, “But that is behind me now, I have won.”

Blueblood smiles slightly, “That makes sense… but what now? The commoners of Equestria are confused and in the midst of chaos, the nobles and the rich are afraid and are preparing for the worst case scenario, and the Guard is scrambling around disorganized. This is the perfect breeding grounds for a coup, or a revolution, or revolts, which would harm ponies a lot more than simply you taking over.”

She looks at him and grins smugly, “Those ‘high and mighty’ ponies are right to be afraid, because their ends are coming. It is time for the workers of Equestria to overthrow their tyranny, to cast off their shackles and become truly free. Just last night, I found hundreds of homeless ponies in Canterlot alone, kept there because the noble and the owner wouldn’t offer them work, food, or shelter, this is a disgrace. My first call shall be for a nation wide revolution against them, for the destitute to rise up and throw them out of their ivory towers, and use those wasteful mansions for their own housing.”

Fancy Pants nods, “It sounds like you’ve read Cutie Marks, then, but your way is wasteful. These revolutions of yours would lead to the guard splitting amongst themselves, those who would help the nobles and the industrialists, and those who would help the more destitute. Half of your law enforcement would disappear before the end of the week, and those who are left would question your rule after seeing the bloodiness of a Marksist revolt.”

Blueblood grins slightly, “What you need, oh beauty of Equestria, is stability. While you are the Queen, and it is not my place to question your final goals, I can, however, question the pace you take. You’ve taken down the Princess, and the nobility of Canterlot, if you then were to go to the rich, then the middle class commoner would become scared, thinking they are next, and there is nothing worse than the truly common pony turning against you. Equestria must first regroup, come to terms with you, and gather back it’s forces and it’s bureaucracy if it wishes to stand before the year is out.”

She looks at him, narrowing her eyes slightly, and then slowly speaking, “You both speak… logically, and perhaps you both are right. But every moment that passes is another moment a destitute foal starves, a single mother skips a meal, a-“

Fancy speaks over her, “Not anymore, Nightmare.” He puts his monocle back on as she looks at him, “This is not a millennia ago, where nothing was between a pony and starvation. Equestria is a modern nation, of course we provide for those in need, that’s how the modern world works. Ponies do not often die of starvation, they do not often lack food, even if the nation may forget some of those at the bottom of it all. You do not know the modern world, Nightmare, and I would recommend you become one with it. Go out into the world, and discover.”

She snorts and shakes his head, “And what would happen to the nation as I am gone? I am it’s Queen, if I leave, then nothing shall happen at all.”

He nods and gives a small smile, “You speak of the destitute throwing away tyrants, and yet you, yourself, speak as if you’re to become tyrannical. An elected council is what shall take care of decisions while you are gone, with councilors elected in fair elections from each city and town so we may stabilize the nation.”

Blueblood grins and nods, “Overseen by us two, and with full transparency with you and Equestria at large. Should you ever be suspicious, you may come back and check in at any time, but know that we will never betray you. We have the good of the Equestrian citizenry in heart, Nightmare, and we shall ensure that their needs are met while your beauty graces the rest of the realm. Both Fancy and I are popular, well respected in our circles, we can organize it all, and then, when you are back, you can organize an actually legal seizing of houses from the higher class.”

She looks over them both, a pensive frown on her face, which slowly lightens up, and she gives a small nod, “Very well then, both of you make good points. It has been a thousand years, and I shall survey my realm. But if either of you betray me, it will the last mistake you make.”

The two give her a nod, and then give her two bows. She looks over the both of them, and then her horn lights up, and she disappears in a blue flash.