Chapter 7: Betrayal

Nightmare Moon looked at her apprentice, slightly amused, her reactions were just too good, “My, my, such impatience.” As a sign of peace she dispersed her dark sword. “Is this enough to show you that I don’t have any reason to fight you? If I wanted you all dead you would have been minutes ago.”

“Yes, very reassuring,” she didn’t trust her old ‘companion’, but the lavender mare could at least sit down she figured.

“Good, then let me start at the beginning. Maybe some of it sounds unbelievable, but it’s all true. Me and Celestia are blood related, not only that, but we are actually sisters,” the blue demi-goddess waited for Twilight’s reaction, but she didn’t even flinch. “Hmm? No emotional outburst? You are not immediately accusing me of lying?”

“What? Do you think I am still a little filly? You should know me better than that. I am gonna listen to the whole story first, then I will decide.”

The alicorn continued without much interruption, “Before I was imprisoned in the moon, Celestia and myself ruled over the land, together. We both had equal rights over the kingdom of Arcania, that’s how Equestria was called a thousand years ago, but I’m sure you already knew that. But did you also know that Day and Night weren’t actually separated at those times? Both sun and moon shone throughout the entire cycle. I was called Luna back then, but my subjects called me Nightmare Moon after my imprisonment. Those were the happier times.”

Twilight listened closely all the time, some things really did make sense, but other were rather… unbelievable. Nightmare Moon, related to Celestia?

“Celestia was always the pony for the crowd. She liked the spotlight more than anything. That was not my cup of tea, I liked being by myself, the peace and privacy were soothing to me. I didn’t mind getting less attention from our subjects, but one day my dearest sister overstepped her boundaries. She convinced our old mentor, Starswirl the Bearded, to help her separate day and night, her goal was to let the sun shine nearly twenty four hours a day. Even today I have no idea what could have possibly given her such an extreme idea. I know that our mentor was against it, that it was dangerous and foolish, but Celestia was always known to be pretty persuasive. I found out way too late to stop her, I could only watch as my moon sunk below the horizon for the very first time in history and her ‘glorious’ sun shining from above.”

Her mentor, a limelight hungry maniac? That was more than unlikely, she knew Celestia nearly her entire life. Surely the princess wouldn’t betray her own family like that.

“I confronted her in our old home which is by the way this old ruin you now sit in. Fighting her would have been futile, I didn’t want to hurt her back then, so we argued, about morality, social norms, to shorten this we struggled to agree on a solution. She wanted to rule the country alone, nopony needs a diarchy, those were her words. So the first big Equestrian War started.”

“Wait, wait, wait! Wasn’t the first war of Equestria against soldiers of another invading country that tried to overthrow Celestia?”

Nightmare Moon laughed shortly, “That’s what she made everypony believe. She erased me from history. Quite pathetic, I might add. Now let’s continue. This war lasted for years, both sides had suffered major losses, but Celestia had always been the better tactician. It ended with my sixth division including me being corned around the verge of the Everfree. We fought with all our might, but ultimately my sister slaughtered the entire leftover of my army with her own hooves. Some of them even were willing to surrender, I allowed them to leave for their families, but Celestia killed them, with no mercy. I had nothing to lose anymore, we faced each other at the battlefield, our fight would have surely ended up in the history books. It lasted three days before she used her ultimate advantage, the Elements of Harmony. I had no idea how she was able to wield all six of them, but I had no chance against that power. And so began my millenia on the moon, in a state half awake, half delirious, I would have ended my life by now if we weren’t immortal.”

Twilight was intrigued, some of it really sounded plausible, but she had to ask for Celestia’s perspective first, “What do you mean by ‘immortal’? There is no way that you can die?”

“Subtlety is really not your strength, Twilight. And no, there is no way as far as I know,” this was only half true, but Twilight did not have to know all the details.

“And what are you trying to accomplish here then?”

“Well to lock her in a cell for all eternity of course. I can’t allow a pony like Celestia to rule over this land. We could strike a deal, Twilight Sparkle. Join me and together we can rule better of this land than my sister could have ever dreamed of!”

Ruling over the land? She? The book-loving Twilight Sparkle?

“I want to hear the story from Celestia first. There are some points where I am not sure if you told me the truth. But if your story is true, then, well... I don’t know. I’ve known Celestia for as long as I can remember and she could never hurt anypony...”

The blue alicorn looked Twilight in the eyes, dead serious, “Well, I am not going anywhere. Go ask her, if she convinces you like everyone else tell her about my plans and send me back to the moon, but if you want to return to my offer, I am right here. Oh yes and if you could convince some of your friends in Ponyville to join you, I would not mind at all.”

Nightmare vanished along with her creepy furniture.

“What am I going to do now?”

After her rather interesting encounter with Nightmare Moon she went back to Ponyville. Since she didn’t have to worry about protecting a group of ponies anymore the route back was much easier. If she really would get into trouble Twilight was sure that Nadir… or rather Nightmare Moon would give her a quick teleport, but it was so much more complicated than before. The tale of the wicked alicorn still lingered inside her mind, so much of it really did make sense, at least to some degree. Nonetheless she would hold back her judgement until she asked Princess Celestia.

Since Rainbow Dash had some pretty serious injuries the lavender mare presumed that they have taken her to the Ponyville hospital. A quick talk with the head nurse confirmed her hunch.

As she entered Rainbow’s white painted room, the other five members of the group were standing around the still unconscious blue pegasus’ bed. All of them had deep worries written on their face. That was everything Twilight wanted to know, since the polychrome pegasus was, indeed, still alive she could go back to Canterlot for now.

Just as Twilight was about to leave unnoticed, Applejack cried out, “Twilight! Ah’m so glad that you are back.”

Everypony turned around to look at the embarrassed scholar. Now she had to delay her journey again… great. “I’m glad too, I guess.”

Rarity noticed that something was the matter, “Darling, are you alright? I would never pry, but you seem so, I don’t know how to put it… confused.”

“Confusing would be the understatement of the century, but not right now. I just wanted to check if Rainbow Dash is relatively okay.”

Again the pink party pony seemed to be unaffected by the tense atmosphere and chimed in, “The doctors said it was super close, but with their freaky magic Rainbow Dash will be drowning in ‘Get better’ parties in no time!”

The farm pony was confused by Twilight’s statement, “What do ya mean by just wantin’ to check? Where are you goin’?”

Simple questions, simple answers, Twilight thought to herself. “Canterlot. Some urgent business to take care of. I have to catch the train, so I am leaving now unfortunately. It shouldn’t take long, but there is no way around it. Could some of you please take care of Spike while I’m gone? It would be better if he won’t be with me there. My number one assistant can cook for himself, he just needs some company and maybe some explanations which I will deliver when I’m back.”

Applejack spoke again, “Sure, Ah can keep him company. But what about the whole thing with the sky? Ah’m no expert in magic stuff, but this looks like it’s gonna cause some trouble if we don’t fix it.”

“To put it simple. We can’t. Nightmare Moon has to lower the moon by herself or Celestia does it, but she has to control the sun as well. The only option would be that we defeat Nightmare Moon, but, I have no inclination to do so at the moment and without the Elements of Harmony which are in possession of Nightmare Moon if you would remember, it is impossible altogether.”

This didn’t clear things up in the slightest, even Rarity had no idea what was going on right now. “Darling, what do you mean by—”

“No time for this, explanations later!” Twilight interrupted the seamstress.

Applejack called out for her again, “Be careful, sugarcube!”

The lavender mare had a lot to think about during the train ride. The wagon she sat in was completely empty. Since this ‘unique’ state the sky was in, the ponies of Equestria were not really up for a train ride. So there Twilight was, without a single soul to talk to, not even Nadi— Luna has answered her calls. What would she do next? What if Luna really told her the truth? Would she still want to be Celestia’s student? Could she forgive her?

All those questions with so little answers. Twilight just sat quietly contemplating her future plans, not that she could do anything else. The train would be in Canterlot soon enough. The lavender unicorn thought about the consequences her next actions could have. If Celestia really banished her only sister to the moon, there would be no way for the young unicorn to help the Ruler of the Sun anymore. On the other hoof, what could she possible do against an immortal alicorn? That was stuff to think about when it happened.

Ten minutes later she was walking towards the very heart of the capital, Canterlot Castle. It was oddly quiet outside considering the crisis Equestria was in right now. Not even a single pony wandered through Canterlot, only Twilight’s hoofsteps echoed from the empty streets of the capital.

After another twenty minute walk without meeting any sentient creature she reached heavy gates of the castle. As she approached the entrance she was stopped by two ponies who looked like guards, only they had long white coats trimmed with gold draped over their shoulders, they were more like ornate capes rather than actual clothing.

The white furred with the rather unusual short blue hairstyle took a step towards her and said, “Halt, who goes there?”

Twilight stopped and spoke up relieved, “Thank goodness, finally some ponies! I’m Twilight Sparkle, the personal protege of Princess Celestia.”

The same as before stated, “Twilight Sparkle? We were informed that she is currently in Ponyville, dealing with Nightmare Moon”

“It’s Luna not-” she said before covering her mouth.

“What was that?”

“Nothing!” Twilight answered quickly. “Anyways, I’m here now and I have to talk with Celestia immediately.”

“That could prove quite difficult, because of the curfew that is currently active she has quite a lot to do.”

“A curfew? Why? I mean yeah, the sky is weird, but it’s not really dangerous, is it?”

“Well, now it is. Since you are here, that must mean that Nightmare Moon could escape or trick you, either way she is free now. No doubt she has dangerous things planned.”

Twilight looked a bit shocked, she hadn’t thought about the other residents of Canterlot or Ponyville, until now. “Okay, okay, I get it. But I have to speak with her anyway. It is imperative!”

“Hmm, since you are her pupil we could make an exception,” the guard stated. “Better not make us regret the decision.”

“Thank you. Before I go I wanted to ask something. You aren’t normal Solar Guards, right?”

“No. We aren’t,” he said. Not getting another answer Twilight went into the large castle.

Since Celestia was neither in the court or the Solarium, she had to be in her own chambers. It would be better, to discuss things privately anyway.

She entered Celestia’s chambers without knocking, Twilight hadn’t had the time for formalities. “Princess! I have to ask you something!”

“Twilight? Is that you, my faithful student?” Celestia rose from her cushion where she was doing paperwork before her student came rushing in.

“Celestia, I just came from the Everfree forest and a very interesting conversation with Nightmare Moon… or should I call her Luna?”

Celestia had millennia of experience, but as she heard the name of her long gone sister she hesitated, if only for a split second. “What are you talking about, Twilight? You shouldn’t have listened to the insane words of that wicked mare.”

“I SAW IT! YOU HESITATED!” she screamed, so everything Luna told her was true. “I can’t believe it. You manipulated the entirety of Equestria, only that you could stay on the throne?!”

Celestia's facial expression was one of pure sorrow and sadness, “No, T-Twilight, it’s… it’s not… I wasn’t—”

Now she was even trying to deny it! Twilight had enough, all of those years living a lie, “SHUT UP! Just shut up. How could you do this? Betraying the only family member you have? And what about me? Were you trying to teach me magic? Or were you just trying to get an effective weapon against Nightmare Moon?!”

“NO! I didn’t raise you as a weapon! I would never be so cruel. You are very dear to me, Twilight. Ever since you were my student, I saw you like my own innocent child I never had. You know I care about you, but I can’t keep up lying to you or my subjects,” Celestia exclaimed sadly. “Yes, it is true. I did banish her, so that I could rule over the land alone. For over a thousand years I have been ruling now, but there is more to it than just that!”

Twilight summoned her pitch black sword before answering her teacher with pure hatred in her voice, “I don’t want hear your sick mind games anymore. I also can’t believe that you care for me, as much as I want to. I know you can’t die, Celestia, but before I live another minute under your disgusting regency I’d rather die trying to fix it!”

The Ruler of the Sun couldn’t believe her own ears. What had Nightmare Moon done to her student? She didn’t want to execute or even harm her, but it was true, she couldn’t die, not by any conventional means. So Celestia decided it would be best to bear the pain of presumably getting sliced in half with that terrifying sword, rather than accidentally killing her student. She saw that convincing Twilight wouldn’t likely work right now, she had to fix things, but if she wasn’t careful the lavender mare could be lost, forever.

Celestia readied herself to receive the punishment Twilight had in store. It was true that she would survive almost any attack, but she felt the pain like any normal pony, this would likely hurt, a lot.

Twilight stormed towards Celestia, raising her blade, ready to strike. “I’ll show you regret, Celestia!” As her blade was mere inches from face, the sound of clashing blades could be heard. A thin, flaming, blade intercepted the much larger sword of the lavender unicorn, followed by a serious, feminine voice saying, “What do you think you are doing, kiddo?”

She turned her head towards the pony she held this deadlock with. It was Morning Blaze! She still looked like a wreck, covered in bandages, especially bad around her chest, but it was her. She also had one of those weird coats hanging over her shoulders, which was strange because Blaze never wore any kind of formal attire. Standing confidently before the princess, disturbing Twilight revenge.

“I see you are out of the hospital, Morning Blaze. Now get out of my way. This is none of your business!”

“Whatever happened to you in this forest? You are the student of the princess, not her enemy!”

“You have no idea! I can’t forgive her for what she has done. She slaughtered thousands of innocent ponies, even though they were ready to surrender. She banished her only sister, only for her own selfish desires. Now, move or I will make you. You know that I’m stronger than you!”

The yellow mare laughed shortly before continuing, “Hah! Who do you think I am? I am Morning Blaze, Captain of the fifth division of the Solar Guards! You had just taken me by surprise, that won’t happen a second time. But it doesn’t have to come to this, Twilight! We can talk about what exactly happened”

The princess spoke up, much more quietly than usual, “Blaze, please. I deserve this and I don’t want that you get hurt.”

“Don’t worry, princess. I know how to prevent this fast and easy, though that’s just a temporary solution.”

Before Twilight could even raise her weapon, Morning Blaze teleported behind her and touched her back, “We’ll fix this, Twilight.” After that, the lavender mare was gone, just as fast as she appeared.

This calmed down the atmosphere, if only a little. Celestia said, “Morning, you know that won’t fix it. I presume you teleported her to Ponyville, that means she is most likely already in the grasp of Nightmare Moon. If we don’t find a solution, this situation will get much more severe than an eternal twilight sky and my student being angry at me.”

“I know, but… give her time. I know her quite well by now, she won’t be so irrational as to side with a crazy alicorn only because of an untrue story. I’m sure she’ll be back in a few days.”

“I hope you are right.”

Please forgive me, Twilight, she thought to herself.

Twilight stumbled out of the teleport while she came to a stop, having tumbled along the ground for quite a distance, she dissolved her sword. Damn you, Morning Blaze, Twilight grumbled quietly.

Well, since that plan backfired she decided to visit Luna again. Maybe not right now though, first she had to convince her ‘friends’ to join her. Having at least half of them as allies would surely help her in some way. Luckily the hospital wasn’t far.

As Twilight entered the door to Rainbow Dash’s room again, Applejack jumped out of her chair to greet her. “Twilight? You okay, sugarcube?”

“Hmm? Oh yes, I’m quite alright,” Twilight stated with a certain sorrow in her voice.

Rarity woke up as well, apparently it was night-time, it was hard to tell when the sun and the moon were constantly shining, “Are you sure, darling? After your sudden departure yesterday we were worried about you. What exactly happened in Canterlot?”

Now all of her friends were staring at her, awaiting an answer, “It went pretty well at first. The whole city was empty due to a curfew because of Nightmare Moon. Even the castle looked nearly abandoned only two weird ponies were guarding the gates. Now that I think of it, after I saw my magic mentor in the same clothes, those two were likely captains of the Solar Guards. But back to the story, to be honest, I think it went down the hill after I tried to kill Celestia.”

All of them shared a shocked expression and screamed in sync, “WHAT?!”

Rainbow Dash managed to sit up right as well, she spoke up weakly, “Are… Are you out of your… mind? Why would you do that?”

“You want to know what happened? I hope you are ready for the truth. It’s a long story, but I am gonna tell you the truth about Nightmare Moon and Celestia.”

Unbelievable, her story was absolutely unbelievably. Everypony present in the room, except Twilight had a terrified expression written onto their faces.

Applejack could somehow feel that she spoke the truth, she had no idea why, but she just felt it, “So… Let me get this straight, Celestia and this Luna fella are related? And our princess is an evil manipulatin’ mastermind, who just wants to rule over the land by herself? Twilight, you know we are your friends, but… don’t ya think that’s a bit… unlikely?”

Twilight had an absolutely serious face and stated, “Oh, believe me. I wouldn’t joke about those things. It is all true.”

Fluttershy had the most issues with it, “Oh… Oh my. I don’t know, Twilight. The princess wouldn’t do things like that, right?”

“I am not trying to convince you or something, believe what you want, but I won’t just sit here and wait for her to catch me. Now that I tried to challenge her, I won’t have a quiet minute anymore. I know none of you want to hurt ponies, but if you want to join me you have to be able to defend yourself and your team. None of you will be forced into this, I won’t judge you, no matter what happens. We will stay friends,” the lavender unicorn finished, now the moment of truth would come.

None of them spoke a single word, minutes passed by without a single sound, except all the magical empowered machines still connected to Rainbow Dash. Applejack was again the first to reply, “I sure am shocked to hear all of this, but Ah’m not sure that’s the right way. We can’t jest overthrow the princess, even though what she’s done is bad. I’m sorry, Twi, but you have to count me out.”

Fluttershy was surprisingly quick to reply this time, “I umm… I just can’t throw my life away like that. My animals need me. I’m sorry Twilight.”

The next to answer was the hyperenergetic Pinkie Pie, “You know how ponies always say you will regret things you don’t do rather than those you actually do? Or like when one door closes, another opens? I think now is the right time to apply those rules. I don’t care about the princess anyway. As long as there are parties and my bestest friends, I’m in.”

Good, at least she had one of them, Twilight was not sure how it would be, having Pinkie Pie around all the time... twenty four hours a day. The next on the list was Rainbow Dash, “Snap out of it, Twilight. This is not one of your books, that’s real life. You can’t oppose Celestia. Even if she has done those things I could never betray Equestria like that!”

Last was Rarity, the lavender mare doubted a pony like her could be convinced to do something so ‘brutish’, “I’m in. I don’t exactly know why, but if the princess is really such a monster, I can’t stand to live under her regency any longer. It hurts to leave Sweetie Bell behind, but if that is what it takes, then I’m willing to make that sacrifice, darling.”

Twilight viewed each of her friends again before she started, “Good, now that you all decided it would be best to leave. Howver, I have to warn you two, Pinkie Pie and Rarity, after we cross this line, there is no way to return. I’m not forcing you two into this, you can stay here if you are not sure. And for you other three, be aware that we don’t want to fight you, but if you stand in our way, you will be destroyed.”

Pinkie and Rarity looked each other in the eyes before nodding and walking over to their lavender friend.

Rainbow Dash was angry like never before, there was no way she could let them go, “Applejack! Hold ‘em, we can’t let them go with that criminal!”

The farm pony pulled her stetson deep into her face as she said, “We’ll bring ‘em back, RD. But now right now, there is no way Ah could stop ‘em. Twilight over there could likely crush us with a mere thought.”

Twilight turned to face the door and started to leave, followed by her newly found allies, “Damn straight I could. But I won’t as long as you stay out of our way. Tell Spike I am sorry and that he should stay away too.” After that the three of them left, towards the heart of the Everfree forest.

One last time Fluttershy spoke up, “I hope you three know what you are doing.”

The light-blue pegasus scowled at her earth pony friend, “What are we gonna do now? We can’t let them leave! They are throwing their lives away, for a story they can’t even confirm.”

“What we are gonna do? We are going to Canterlot, sugarcube, we have to tell the princess everythin’ we know. We’ll bring ‘em back, no matter what…”

The journey into the Everfree forest was much easier now that Twilight could actually use her sword. Sure, it had taken her a while to explain how the blade worked, but her two allies weren’t stupid. Rarity even promised to train with Twilight to get better at magic. The castle was already in view, they all crossed the point of no return.

“Luna! I’m here… and I brought two new allies,” the lavender unicorn shouted, her voice echoing through the abandoned halls of the old castle.

The blue alicorn appeared in front of them, looking quite different. She didn’t wear any armor and she no longer had fangs. Even her wings were somehow, although really large, normal pegasus wings, “So you accept my offer?”

“Yes. I don’t care about being a ruler, but I will do what I must if it means we can make Celestia pay. Would you be so kind to explain why you look so different?”

“Oh, that? This is my normal body. I can switch whenever I want, it just looks more terrifying for foes. The Nightmare gave me the power, but not without a price.”

Twilight tilted her head slightly, “The Nightmare? Is that why you are able to stand a chance against Celestia and what do you mean exactly with a price?”

“Insanity, Twilight. I’m constantly fighting against the madness of the Nightmare. That is why I slip into this laughter every so often, but don’t you worry I managed to fend it off over one thousand years now.”

“But what exactly is the Nightmare?”

“I have not the slightest clue, it offered me a chance to stop my sister and I accepted. Now enough of that,” Luna replied. They had more important things to discuss right now.

“Interesting. Now let’s talk about business, shall we? This here is my fashion designer friend, Rarity and that pink pony bouncing over there is Pinkie Pie.”

“A pleasure to meet the two of you. I am surprised though, I hadn’t expected that anypony would voluntarily join us.”

Rarity hadn’t understood a single thing after they got into this grime filled castle, “We won’t just sit around when we know what happened all those years ago, darling. Pinkie and myself will do everything in our might to assist you.”

Pinkie bounced over to the group and chimed in happily, “Yep, we couldn’t let you down, Luna and Twilight of course. Oh my gosh! I had the greatest idea ever! We should totally throw a secret conspiracy party!”

The lavender mare felt the urge to facehoof herself really hard right now, “Pinkie, why would you even… Nevermind, no parties at the moment. We can celebrate if we actually manage to win. Now let’s get to the important part, the plan. I presume that you at least have a general route, Luna?”

“Yes, but let’s continue this somewhere else,” the demi-goddess said, while reaching out into thin air with her right forehoof. To everypony's surprise a black steel door opened out of nothing. “This will bring us to our temporary hideout.”

As the four of them appeared at the other side of the door, they were positively surprised. The main hall of their roomy hideout consisted of several night-themed furniture such as, 4 neatly made beds, a few bookshelves, two medium-sized round tables, some chairs, a nice carpet and some lovely decor. Even though no lamps could be seen the room was brightly illuminated. Pinkie immediately began to search for the mysterious source of the light. There were also several doors leading to two different bathrooms, a kitchen and a command centre for important conversations.

“Make yourself comfortable, but let’s discuss things first before you enjoy our hideout,” Luna stated.

All of them trotted slowly into the command centre, the carpet covered room was only equipped with a large round table some chairs around it and a large map of Equestria which was integrated into the large furniture.

After everypony had taken their seat Luna began to talk, “So, everypony present should know by now that our plan is to overthrow Celestia. Since she and I are both immortal, we have to consider alternative methods to end her reign.”

Rarity spoke up softly, “Well, how are we supposed to win this if she can’t die? Not that I would prefer not to kill her or anything.”

“It is true that she can not die, but she feels both pain and exhaustion. If we manage to weaken her enough, we can capture her in an anti-magic cage and throw her into the dungeons of the old castle or other prison, enchanted with magic absorbing wards. I’m sure we will find a way to make her life miserable,” the alicorn explained.

Twilight had to interrupt her as well, “Easier said than done. Her entire army consists of more than ten thousand well trained soldiers which are split into five divisions. Each of them is lead by ponies with extraordinary abilities, the captains of the Royal Military. I know the name of three, Morning Blaze which leads the fifth division, Thunder Flare and my brother, Shining Armor. The other two are unknown to me. They are only outranked by the three generals and Celestia herself. I know next to nothing about them, but rumours say that their powers are ‘out of this world’. Again, I don’t know how reliable those rumours are, but we should definitely worry about them.”

Luna was deeply sunken in thoughts, “Your brother? Hmm, we could use that for our advantage if we play this right. Those are valuable informations, Celestia has really enhanced her defenses. That means she is either very careful or very confident. There is only one way to compete with that. We have to build our own army.”

Pinkie looked into the map constantly while saying, “I’m not a tactician or anything, but I think building an army is like really difficult.”

The blue alicorn replied, “There are many ways to gain an ally, with her immense powers Twilight could summon shadows to fight for us from the Void, but more on that later. First we have to recruit my servants from the old days. I know that they survived unseen all those years, they were called bat ponies. They are better at controlling pegasus magic than actual pegasi plus they are undeniably loyal to me.”

“Sounds promising, darling, but I think this will be harder than any of us can imagine. We have to be prepared.”

“I have another question. Can’t they just attack our little hideout here? I mean if they find us now, this whole plan will fail before it even started,” Twilight asked worried.

Luna started to explain causally, “Here come the beauty of darkness magic into play. This whole hideout can’t be found from outside... because it does not exist in our dimension. Only unicorns who have been here before can enter it again. And since you two are here means that you can just think about opening a door to this place and let it appear with magic.”

“That is either the single most ingenious, or crazy concept I’ve ever heard of. If there is even a tiny mistake in the structure of this, this thing would collapse and we could all easily die in here.”

Luna broke out in maniacal laughter again after it subsided she spoke up amused, “No reward without a risk. But even if there is this slim chance that we all get crushed by the forces of this dimension, what other possibility do we have? This is the safest option. We can’t be found here, I can expand it with more room to even fit large quantities of ponies. And the best thing about it is, since this building is in the Void, that we can open door to every location we want. That means we can move our troops extremely fast and efficient, we even could march right into Canterlot Castle… well not really since the castle is mostly protected by an anti-magic barrier, but you all get the idea.”

The cheerful party pony listened careful throughout the whole meeting, “Isn’t that normally the point where you tell us about the catch?”

“The catch?” the blue alicorn asked confused.

“This sounds a bit like ‘too good to be true’, as I said I’m not much into tactics, but even I see it,” Pinkie explained, it was probably meant seriously since she even stopped bouncing up and down.

“I can assure you that there is no ‘catch’, our only problem is that we can’t even hope to defeat my sister without followers. We will begin to tackle that issue tomorrow.”

“Hmm… Is there a way to get past the Castle’s barrier?” Twilight asked absent minded.

“I think I know what you are planning and I don’t like it, but if you really want to get past the barrier you have to teleport behind it, it may sound a bit odd to teleport behind an anti-magic barrier, but it’s a bit more complicated. Since you struggle with teleportation I will show you a more efficient way to move around fast and unseen. And please bare in mind that you can leave the hideout anytime you want, but be ready to be chased by guards if you do. If you leave without me being present, then get ready to fight your way through,” Luna explained. “Now, I think that covers everything. Let’s rest until tomorrow, it will only get harder, so we have to be at our very best.”

Everypony left the command centre for a well deserved rest. Twilight and her friends could tell that this was just the beginning of something Equestria has never seen before...