Red Moon Rising

The sun nears the horizon, setting in the distance, as Nightmare stands in the room that Celestia had prepared for Luna. The roof is painted to look like the night sky, even with a few shooting stars flying by every so often, the walls are painted a dark purple light that absorbs the setting sun’s rays, and it is filled with all sorts of needless furniture, two different desks, three tables, an entire cabinet dedicated simply to quills and ink, and even a mini refrigerator, stocked full of Luna’s favorite ice cream, somehow having survived a thousand years.

She simply snorts at the display, and turns to face a large mirror, looking upon herself for the first time in a millennia. Upon closer examination of herself, she can see the remnants of her millennia old fight, scars under her thin fur, fur matted by blood, even a little unevenness to her mane from part of it being cut off. She raises up her hands, putting them on either cheek, feeling ancient burns given to her by Celestia’s best mage. She then notes the state of her armor, covered in little nicks and chips from halted blows, noticing that it’s also gotten a bit tighter due to a small amount of weight gain on the moon. She shakes her head and leans back, “First step, ensure your reign. Second step, counter the counterrevolution. Third step, rule forever.” She smirks as her hands light up bright blue, beginning to rub them all around her body, especially around her massive chest and her thick flank.

Once all is said and done, a stranger stands in the mirror. Where once a giant alicorn stood, now is a short and nerdy looking thestral stallion, one in his earlier years. He grins, looking over his form to ensure everything is right. A slim belly, chest is almost completely flat, flank is small, slightly above average for a stallion, long legs but not too terribly long, smaller leather wings and little fangs. He then reaches up, tapping either eye with a single glowing finger, with them turning from blue into a fiery thestral orange. He grins and then grabs his throat, beginning to speak, his voice slowly deepening, “Mmm, mmm, mmm… mhmm…” He stops at a fairly high pitch for a stallion, but not so much that it’s odd, “Looking good, Nighty.” He winks at his own reflection, both hands lighting up a dark blue as he disappears entirely.

It’s a dark afternoon in the chic city of Baltimare, the city an eclectic mixing of towering skyscrapers and much smaller houses and shops, corporate headquarters right next to a house for a family of five, coffee shops right next to Zebrican style brothels. Everyone in the city is either chasing the newest trend, the newest style of clothing or technology, or they chase the previous trends, hipsters who scoff at everyone else, but even the hipsters can agree with the fashion chasers on one thing, that Nightmare Moon is now in style. Perhaps it’s only been three or four days since her takeover, but the ponies and other creatures of Baltimare can see the writing on the wall, and so many of them have immediately adopted blue, purple and black clothing, or painting their buildings like the night sky. It’s in one of the many alleyways of this city that Nightmare appears in their thestral disguise, a little bit of magic dressing him in a t-shirt, a purple overcoat, and some black pants,

He steps out onto the streets, orange eyes looking up and down it, a small grin on his face as he notices the color scheme of the town. He, however, quickly looks away from the scenery, instead scanning the crowds of fashionistas and hipsters leaving from the many coffee shops as they close up for the day. Many of them take out umbrellas as one of the city’s many rain showers begin, wetting the mane of anyone who doesn’t have one. He snaps, summoning a large umbrella and holding it above his head as he walks the streets.

Rarity was not having a good day, or a good yesterday. When she was accompanying the others into the Everfree, she didn’t think she’d need bits, but now, in a town far from her home, bits are all that she needs. She is quite the bad sight, with a messy and soaked mane from an entire day of rain, dirt covering most of her body from the Everfree, and with an air around her of annoyance and desperation. She walks slowly up to a coffee shop which is currently closing, a younger stallion in the midst of closing the front door, “Excuse me, sir?”

The stallion blinks and looks up at her, “Good evening, ma’am. I’m afraid you can’t get anything, we’re closing up, and Cloud Buck’s got a one hundred percent ‘no sales after hours’ rule, says it would make regulations Tartarus on him. Sorry I couldn’t help.”

She frowns slightly, and then closes her eyes, taking a deep breath. She opens them up, summoning all her marely charm, looking him in the eyes and slightly pouting, “Oh, I’m so sorry, sir, it’s just all this rain, and I don’t have any place to go… a kind gentlestallion like you would surely let a mare in need have shelter from the rain?”

He barks out a laugh, “Ha! I don’t get paid enough to let you in. Have a good evening, ma’am, buh-bye.” He closes the door in her face, making sure to flip the ‘open’ sign to ‘closed’ right in front of her, before walking further into the coffee shop.

She frowns and growls slightly, punching the wall next to the door slightly, making sure not to actually hurt herself. Then, as she takes a minute to think, she feels the rain stop hitting her and looks back, seeing a young thestral stallion in a purple overcoat holding a large umbrella over her head. He gives her a small grin, bright orange eyes looking into hers, “Need some shelter from the rain?”

She looks him up and down for a second, and then just smiles, “Thank you.” She stands up straighter, getting entirely under it, “The ponies in this town, I swear. They treat me like I’m… like I don’t even exist! Or they just look at me with pity.”

He just grins slightly less, “That’s what happens with ponies and the homeless, Miss, we pretend like if we don’t notice it, it doesn’t exist.”

She frowns slightly, looking into his eyes, “I am not homeless, thank you very much, sir. I have a home, it’s just… not in this town, and I’ve not been able to afford a train to go home. That’s it.”

He smirks, “And I have a marefriend but she lives in Zebrica.” He chuckles slightly and shakes his head, smiling, “Well, come with me, I was going to the station anyway. Might as well send you on your way home as well.”

She blinks in surprise, and then smiles, “I… thank you, thank you so much.” He smiles back, beginning to walk away, with her following alongside, “I’m Rarity, a fashionista from Ponyville.”

He grins, making sure to keep the umbrella up straight, protecting the both of them, “John Night, a nerd from Trottingham. Fashionista from Ponyville? You must have gone through Hell in order to reach here with no bits left.”

She looks over and raises an eyebrow, “John? Well, I must admit, you hardly had to say you were from Trottingham with a name like that. But Hell? I’m afraid I’ve not heard of that before, Mister Night, is it some… Trottingham slang? Perhaps a building around there?”

He grins more and waves his off hand dismissively, “Thestral afterlife, fire and brimstone for those who do not praise John Smith, Lord of Creation, infinite moonlight and baskets of mangoes for those who do. I’m serious, though, must have been a pretty rough set of events that got you here.”

She looks away and sighs, “It was… it was quite something, yes. I’d prefer not to share details, if you don’t mind, but let’s just say that I didn’t willingly come here. In fact, it was rather forceful. And I’ve spent the last two days trying to find a way home, but nopony cared enough to help me. Nopony could share a few bits to a distressed mare, shop owners have thrown me out because I wasn’t buying anything, even the guard has been too busy to help me. It’s been dangerous, too, what with all the fighting.”

He looks over and raises an eyebrow, “Fighting? I’ve not heard of that until now. Between ponies, or between the guard?”

She looks back, “Between the guard and some other ponies, nopony has really gotten a good description of the other group. Except when they fight, there are quite a few loud banging noises.” A second after she finishes, a loud series of bangs come from back the way they came, with both immediately stopping in their tracks, Rarity looking scared, and Night looking concerned.

Night reaches into his coat, pulling out a bag of bits and tossing it into Rarity’s hands, “That should cover your way home.” He then shoves the umbrella into her other hand, taking off his overcoat and tossing it onto her shoulders, “And take those, should keep you warm and dry. I’m going to go check out the fighting.”

She blinks at all of the stuff in her hands, and then blinks again at his words, “But… Mister Night, you can’t just go off into a fight! You’ll get hurt, or killed! Let the guard take care of it, it’s their job.”

He grins and looks towards the bangs, “Yeah, well, I’m curious. I like that overcoat, Miss Rarity, keep it safe for me. I’ll swing by Ponyville sometime and pick it up. Have an apple ready for me when I come by as well, I hear it’s Applebucking Season.” He looks at her, smirks, winks, and then runs off down the street, leaving her behind.

Captain Straight Point was not having a great night, nor was her squad of guards. A firefight had broken out on a routine patrol of the city’s commercial center, an alleyway opposite of them housing their attackers, using odd ranged weaponry that produces quite the loud bang. Two of her squad are already heavily injured, Sergeant Clop and Lieutenant Clip both having been hit, a hole blown straight through their armor and their legs, Private Pestle busy applying first aid while she, along with Private String and Private Sure, all three poking around their improvised cover to fire off crossbow bolts at random. Another bang comes from across the way, a hole appearing right above Captain Point’s ear, whatever projectile having blown through the table she hides behind with no effort. She shouts, “String, identify targets! Sure, keep your fire up!”

String nods, poking his head out from the table, only to rapidly draw it back, a series of three bangs filling the air as three holes fill the wall of the alleyway behind them, “Ma’am no good, they’ve got us pinned down! We’re screwed more than a Kirin in a brothel!”

She growls and reloads her crossbow, “I don’t care how screwed we are, we gotta take these bastards down! Now either identify those damn targets or raise a white flag, Private!”

As she shouts, the alleyway fills with blue, the massive form of Nightmare Moon appearing beside him. The two look over at her, with String blushing strongly and saying meekly, staring directly at Nightmare’s chest, “Ma’am, two massive targets identified…”

She looks over and quickly raises her crossbow, “Squad, crossbows, enemy in range, fire at her, take her down!”

She looks at the Captain as she fires a bolt, a bit of telekinesis stopping the bolt before it can even leave the crossbow, snapping it in half, “Save the bravado for later, Captain. Situation report, now!”

Captain Straight looks at her and scowls, shouting as she reloads her crossbow, “No! You took our princess, you took our nation, all of this is your fault! Squad, I said to fucking fire at her!”

Private Pestle spins around from healing her comrades, shouting, “How the fuck about you do it your fucking self, Captain?! I’ve got fucking two lives to save and your dumbfuck little orders aren’t fucking going to change that, now either deal with the fucking situation or fucking shut it so I don’t have to hear your dumbass little fucking voice speak, Captain!” She then turns around, cleaning out the wounds of the injured guards.

String gulps, his eyes still affixed to Nightmare’s chest, “U-umm, yeah, what she said, Captain…”

Private Sure pokes his crossbow over, firing a shot at the opposite alleyway, ducking back down as they return fire, calmly loading his crossbow and speaking softly, “Captain, better we work with her and maybe survive than die here. We’re pinned down, and if she wanted to harm us, she already would.”

She scowls heavily, “Fucking… fine. Baltimare has been under attack these past two days and nights by a group of criminals using technology more advanced than we could ever imagine. They ambush us a single squad at a time, and they always eliminate every single pony in that squad. Armor does nothing to stop their weapons, cover does fuck all. They’re in the alleyway across from us, estimate is five targets, they’ve already injured two of us.”

Nightmare nods, her horn lighting up, the holes in the Sergeants’ legs healing up quickly, “Thank you, Captain. If that is all, I shall be putting an end to this. In addition, control your soldiers a little better, I can feel this stallion’s arousal.” She picks up String and sets him aside while he blushes and stammers, instead standing from cover, her horn casting a shield over herself.

From the other alleyway, no more bangs come. Instead, from it’s darkness emerge five figures, all of whom have their eyes affixed on her. They all wear slim fitting black suits, with holes for leather wings and bright eyes. They’re thestrals, but all of them are oddly slim compared to most, and they carry rifles upon their backs, very advanced technology. The five slowly approach her, before bowing, their leader stallion speaking, “Mistress Moon.”

She smirks and puts a hand on her hip, “I have a fan club now? How very charming. Rise, all of you, speak your names and your organization.”

The five all nod and stand up, their leader nodding to her in deference, “I am General Steady Bastion of the 3rd Army. The others are Private Black Cross, Private Moon Light, Corporal Night Knight, and Captain High Tide. We are your most loyal servants, Mistress Moon. Where all others surrendered or died when they heard of your defeat, we did not. We fled under the waves and hid within the vast ocean, waiting for your return.”

She grins, “And so you attacked the guard because they were not loyal to me. I cannot blame that, after all, you all believe there’s still a war going on.” She smirks, “There isn’t. I won, General Bastion, Celestia has fled and Equestria is mine to rule. What you all have been doing is attacking my guard. My city. My ponies, General. You have been attacking and killing them when it is my job as Queen to ensure their safety.”

His eyes widen and he shakes his head, quickly bowing to her, “No, no, Mistress, we didn’t mean that! The guard still serve the sun heretic, Mistress, they are not loyal to you, we sought to eliminate them before they became an enemy to your rule!”

She walks up closer to him, looking down at him with cold eyes, “And so you attacked them without first awaiting orders to do so, without asking if your assumptions were true. You have taken my vows and turned them into jokes just to ensure loyalty, General. Your group has killed good mares and stallions, mares and stallions who signed up to serve their fellow ponies, mares and stallions who could be convinced. But you simply couldn’t wait, could you? So you killed them.”

General Bastion whines slightly, and just bows his head deeper, “I didn’t mean it, Mistress Moon, please… forgive us, we only tried to support you, to support the Night!”

She snorts slightly and shakes her head, “You are not forgiven. You will not be. Neigh, you shall be punished.” She reaches down, picking him up by the collar of his suit, and looking right into his bright purple eyes, “You, and your organization, will not have any special place by my side, nor shall they have the special privilege to kill those who disagree. Neigh, General, your organization shall be used as I wish for it to be, as I command it to be. From this day on, you shall relinquish your arms to I, you shall place down any thoughts of fighting in my name, and you shall put away thoughts of acting without thought, General. Your organization shall instead be utilized in another way. You all shall assist the guard, and, when I wish for you to, you shall be used as I command.” She tosses him down into the ground, standing over him and looking down at him, “Do not question my decision or I will find you.” Then, in a flash of her horn, she disappears.

Nightmare appears back in the room built for Luna, and just sighs, collapsing down onto the bed. A sheet of paper flies up and lands on her face, written in another language. She sighs and just takes it off her face, putting it aside and climbing under the covers, sleeping for the first time in a thousand years.