“Um…
excuse me…” Dusk Glow carefully probed Nightmare Moon with a highly respectful attitude.
“Nightmare Moon…
Your Majesty, listening to your tone just now, it sounds like you have a bone to pick with someone?”
Hearing this, the tip of Nightmare Moon’s horn emitted a faint blue light.
The surrounding black mist suddenly transformed into another scene.
A massive and imposing castle appeared before Dusk Glow.
Dusk Glow felt that this castle was even more noble than the grand palaces he had seen back in the UK.
At the bottom of the castle, Dusk Glow saw many ponies cheering.
They seemed to be celebrating something.
Among them were unicorns with horns, pegasi with wings, and completely ordinary earth ponies.
So this really is a nation of ponies, Dusk Glow secretly marveled at this world while simultaneously gathering information about it.
“Look here, child of another world,” Nightmare Moon’s words turned into a dangerous whisper, “I will tell you everything.”
On the high balcony of the castle, two Alicorns stood tall.
One was as pure white as sunlight, and the other as deep blue as the night sky.
The ponies cheered and jumped for joy below them.
“That was a thousand years ago,” Nightmare Moon’s voice carried a bitter sweetness, “the era when my dear sister Celestia and I ruled Equestria together.”
The scene changed.
Dusk Glow saw a town in Equestria at night.
The streets were completely empty, and the windows were all pitch black.
“My subjects only enjoyed the day, but when it came to the night I controlled, they merely slept!
Not a single pony wanted to enjoy the beauty of the night!” Nightmare Moon’s eyes were filled with jealousy.
Looking at the ponies fast asleep at night, Dusk Glow’s mouth twitched.
Do they really have to go to bed so punctually?
Doesn’t this country called Equestria have any sort of nightlife?
“I wanted the ponies to also enjoy the beautiful scenery of the starry sky, so one time I refused to lower the moon, keeping Equestria in eternal night.”
The scene cut to a terrifying battle.
Two Alicorns clashed in the sky, magical beams tearing the night apart.
In the end, six rainbow colored rays of light struck the blue Alicorn, wrapping her in a cocoon and shooting her towards the moon.
“She used the Elements of Harmony against her own flesh and blood.” Nightmare Moon closed the projection, her voice suddenly becoming eerily calm.
“A thousand years of solitude, just because I wanted an even playing field.”
After saying this, Nightmare Moon’s eyes revealed resentment, jealousy, and…
loneliness.
Seeing this situation unfold, Dusk Glow felt his heartstrings tug a bit.
He could tell that this monarch of the moon had probably been silently making contributions in the dark, but her subjects kept giving her the cold shoulder.
This caused her heart to finally be crushed by negative emotions, pushing her down a much darker path.
However, Dusk Glow’s rationality told him that if a day was entirely night, the biological clocks of most creatures would go completely haywire, and plants would have a very hard time growing.
That white Alicorn named Celestia might not have done the wrong thing.
She was also acting for the sake of the country and its subjects, and in a moment of sheer desperation, banished her own younger sister to the moon.
At the end of the day, it all boils down to a lack of communication.
If both sides had just sat down and talked it out from the start, things probably wouldn’t have blown up like this.
“I sympathize with your ordeal,” Dusk Glow said carefully.
“But even so, what can I do?
I’m just an ordinary human…
or rather, a pony now.
I have no magic, and I am completely in the dark about your world.”
“Rest assured, there is plenty you can do,” Nightmare Moon said, getting uncomfortably close to Dusk Glow’s face.
“I can feel that magic also exists within your body.
Before long, when the Summer Sun Celebration reaches its peak, the stars will align perfectly.
The seal my sister placed on me will weaken, and when that time comes, I can return to Equestria.”
“Before that day arrives, I will teach you as much powerful magic as possible.
Celestia is bound to have some guards around her.
I want you to keep those guards out of my mane, and after that, it will be much easier for you to work for me.”
Nightmare Moon looked at Dusk Glow with a smile that showed she was quite pleased with her own plan.
Dusk Glow forced out a thin smile of his own, though his brow furrowed slightly.
“Um…
Your Majesty,” Dusk Glow suddenly noticed a glaring loophole.
“If we really return to Equestria, what should we do if Celestia uses the Elements of Harmony again?” After all, that rainbow colored laser cannon looked like it packed a serious punch.
The temperature in the air seemed to drop by ten degrees in an instant.
Nightmare Moon’s wings snapped open, the green light in her eyes flaring up into dangerous flames.
The surrounding shadows twisted and elongated, gathering towards Dusk Glow like living creatures.
“You question my abilities?” Her voice shifted into a layered echo, and Dusk Glow made sure to take note of the sharp fangs in her mouth.
Dusk Glow wanted to back away in fear, only to find that he was still being suspended by Nightmare Moon’s magic.
He had no choice but to gather his courage, look right into Nightmare Moon’s eyes, and say, “It’s not a question of doubt, it’s a strategic consideration.
You said your previous failure was because you were caught off guard by the Elements of Harmony, so this time…”
The shadows suddenly retreated.
Nightmare Moon let out a sound that fell somewhere between a cold laugh and a sigh.
“As expected of my chosen subject, you are already cooking up a plan.” She took a step closer, her wings half folded in a threatening posture.
“Very well.
Since you asked…”
Nightmare Moon set Dusk Glow back on the ground, then looked up at Earth and said, “Then I will tell you.
The Elements of Harmony are not invincible.
They require absolute synergy between their bearers.
All I have to do is break a single link in the chain…” Nightmare Moon stomped heavily on the ground, cracking open a few fissures in the surface.
“…and the entire system falls like a house of cards.”
“In that case, Your Majesty,” Dusk Glow asked a question that was eating at him, “if you rule over Equestria again, what will you do?”
Please note, this wasn’t to show that Dusk Glow was overly sentimental.
It was just that he was a stand-up stallion with a solid moral compass, and even in another world, he didn’t want to lay a hoof on innocent ponies.
You have to remember, even the most dedicated villains started out with good intentions, and Dusk Glow was far from being morally bankrupt.
“Eternal night,” Nightmare Moon’s voice was filled with intoxication.
“No more blinding sunlight forcing a schedule, no more oppression of the night by the day.
Everypony will be free to choose their own hours.”
“Uh-huh, you already mentioned that part,” Dusk Glow nodded and said.
“And then what?”
“And then…” Nightmare Moon pondered, her eyes suddenly looking a bit conflicted.
“I have to teach Celestia a good lesson.
I’m going to banish her to the moon for a thousand years, too.
Then I’ll let the Thestrals become the new administrators; they are naturally adapted to the dark.
And you will be my right hoof pony, helping me run Equestria.”
“What about the citizens of Equestria?
How will you punish them?” Dusk Glow gulped.
Is Nightmare Moon going to paint the town red with blood?
After all, isn’t that what most textbook villains do?
“Punish them?
No, no, no…” Nightmare Moon said with a smile.
“My lovely subjects were merely brainwashed by the sun.
I just need them to constantly sing the praises of the night from now on.
In the end, it will be business as usual for them.”
“Uh…” Dusk Glow tilted his head.
“Just sing the praises of the night, and that’s it?”
No bloodbaths, no raising the flags of tyranny, no rolling out draconian new tax laws or anything like that?
“What else would I do?” Nightmare Moon said strangely.
It wasn’t like she could actually bring herself to harm her own subjects.
Alright then.
Dusk Glow breathed a sigh of relief, thinking to himself that he seemed to have painted this Nightmare Moon as way too much of a monster in his head.
But looking at it this way, the situation doesn’t seem too awful.
At the very least, this monarch of the moon won’t do things that make my moral compass spin out of control.
However, going about business as usual under the shroud of eternal night…
is that really going to be a walk in the park?
Dusk Glow decided not to dwell on it too much.
For now, he had no choice but to ride this crazy train.
He still needed to follow this Nightmare Moon to get off the moon.
If he ticked her off and got stranded here, his goose was officially cooked.
“Alright, my future minister,” Nightmare Moon landed next to Dusk Glow, a sliver of anticipation appearing in her eyes.
“It is time I taught you some magic…”