Chrysalis and Chitin were standing at the entrance to the tunnel where the genocide had taken place months earlier. Although many changelings had lost their lives during the battle, there were no signs that the night had ever happened. The microclimate of the Badlands had dried the blood and swept all traces of the battle away. "Do your best to distract her lackeys. But don't attack them. It won’t be good to give them an excuse to finish the job."

Nightmare Moon arrived by air, accompanied by Antares. Wanting to shorten this interview as much as possible, and to finally be in possession of the last piece that would allow her to move forward in the next stage of the Eclipse project, she spoke with a monotonous voice, setting the tone of their discussion. "Get to the point," she said, calling back to when Chrysalis had uttered that exact phrase.

Chrysalis didn’t take long to react to this, her attitude changing in a split second. With her head tilted slightly, her eyes began to shine with just anger. She walked at a slow speed towards the one who had done so much. "’Get to the point’? How dare you!? You invade my daughter's dreams, you pretend to be a changeling, you pretend that another hive exists! Do you realise the consequences of such lies? Isn't she suffering enough already? Do you have to offer her false hopes as well? Where will you be when she tries to find your bloody hive? Where will you be when the ponies find her and treat her like they would any changeling: A monster to chase away, if not worse?"

Chitin monitored the conversation, walking six steps away to the left of Chrysalis.

Antares did the same to the left of Nightmare Moon. The tone of the conversation didn't appeal to her. The bat pony already had her head bent to draw her sword, ready to get into the melee if things went wrong.

Nightmare Moon did not expect such aggressiveness from the get-go. She, who came only for Pepper Chilly, was now required to answer for the crimes she had committed. With her whole body bent backwards, she backed away at the same pace as Chrysalis pushed her to do it. However, she did not intend to be treated in this way. She counter-attacked. "I only slipped into your daughter's dreams because she had nightmares! Then I learned who she was! And I've made sure, every night since then, that she hasn't had a single one!"

However, Chrysalis had not finished with her reproaches. Like a lioness protecting her cub she was not swayed by these justifications. "Oh, yes! What a noble soul, killing an entire hive and then protecting my daughter from the resulting nightmares! Do you really think I was born yesterday?!"

"No! I—ah!?" As she backed away, Nightmare Moon stepped on a crack. Her body bent backwards and she lost her balance, causing her to land belly-up.

Chrysalis did not stop. She continued, even abusing her clumsiness to force a hoof on her shoulder. Nightmare Moon had to face the consequences of her actions. Chrysalis dominated the alicorn in height. Her fury was still present, but Chrysalis could not afford to shed blood first. "In that case, why?" she asked.

For their part, Chitin and Antares scraped the ground with their hooves, both ready to defend their respective queens.

"I... I just wanted to make her forget the dream, and push her to think of something else!"

"A noble intention,” Chrysalis interjected, “but nothing can make me forget the deathly silence that reigns in my hive! The sheer lack of life in these galleries! No dream can hide this for the rest of us—not once the sun is raised each day.”

Nightmare Moon grunted fearfully. “Enough! Let go of me!”

Chrysalis raised an eyebrow. Her rage disappeared in an instant… only for something else to take its place. She bent over to have a one-on-one conversation with Nightmare Moon. Amused by the request, she could not keep away a mocking smile; her voice blew with impertinence. "Beg me."

Everything went in a blur. Antares charged at Chrysalis, drawing her blade in anger to cut off the head of this queen who had made this affront to Nightmare Moon.

Chitin was not to be outdone, their horn lighting up with magic while they had the bat pony in their sights.

Nightmare Moon abandoned her physical form to gain distance from Chrysalis in her Tantabus form, before standing face-to-face with the Queen of the changelings.

The latter, however, was not surprised by this manoeuvre.

Antares jumped to sever Chrysalis's head. At the same time, Chitin flew off to jump over their queen, wrapping the sword in their magic. The changeling turned it above their head as fast as they could.

Antares, who had a firm grip on her weapon, could not stand being treated like the stone of a sling. Her grip on the sword went weak before finding herself propelled back.

"I'll make sure your guest's subordinate has no means of disturbing the rest of the conversation. Continue, my Queen. It's good to finally see you smile again." A battle-ready Chitin, keeping the sword under the grasp of their magic, flew to where Antares had landed.

"So, Sweet Dreams... Are you going to stay in this form like a coward, or are you going to face your own nightmares?"

Nightmare Moon assumed her airborne and physical forms at the same time. "The Night is afraid of nopony!" she bellowed, ready to strike.

"Twilight Sparkle," Chrysalis whispered loud enough with a mocking smile.

Nightmare Moon snarled and began their deadly dance, devastating the Badlands with great gales of magic. Chrysalis dodged every shot, gracefully weaving between the blasts of the Queen of the Moon.

Chitin landed not far from Antares, who was trying to straighten up; she was still dizzy from the forced flight. "You came to finish the job, I see," Antares leered.

"You're making a mistake, Cute Bite. I just came to give you your weapon back."

"Huh?!" Antares watched Chitin drop the weapon between the two of them before extending their hoof, offering to help her onto her feet.

"You're very quick to want to cut my queen's throat,” Chitin commented. “That being said, given the situation, I can't blame you for that."

Antares, annoyed, looked at the two options available to her. In the landscape, Nightmare Moon and Chrysalis were redecorating the surroundings with bursts of green and cyan magic. "Are you going to tell me our queens aren’t fighting each other as we speak?"

Chitin grinned playfully. "Get up. Or I'll just have to lift you with my magic, Cute Bite."

It was Antares' turn to see red. Driven by rage, she coiled up and launched herself to knock down Chitin with all four irons in the air. She immediately readied her blade again before throwing herself at the changeling, nailing Chrysalis' subordinate to the ground with a hoof on her throat. Her sword was poised to split Chitin’s head at the slightest wrong move. In that moment, Antares had the undivided attention of her interlocutor. "My name is Antares, Major and Aide-de-Camp of Nightmare Moon. I don't like being called by my birth name, especially not by a changeling that's having fun stealing my appearance!"

Chitin listened carefully, observant and unmoving. They took care to stay still and silent like a statue to let Antarès contain both her breath and her sudden outburst of rage. "The one named Swift kept calling me by your birth name. How was I supposed to know?"

With a hiccup, Antares had to admit that Swift was at fault. She had to swallow her anger. It could be kindled until they got home; then she could proceed to beat up Swift. "Getting back to the original question, are you going to try and make me believe they're not fighting each other right now?"

Chitin looked at the blade, as well as the angry bat pony who held it to her face. "Is this an interrogation or a conversation? Let us avoid getting to the heart of the matter. Me, in this case, because I doubt that your queen could save you if you were to commit this act." Chitin first spoke this softly, but her expression darkened and her tone became more acidic at each passing word. "Unless your hooves aren't blood-soaked enough, Major Antares."

"I will make sure that I end up completely covered with your blood if my queen wishes it, changeling," growled Antares.

"Well, then!” Chitin coldly spoke. “Until the order is given, step aside. This little talk is a bit too one-sided for my tastes."

“While I wait for the order, you're going to tell me where Pepper Chilly's body is."

Chitin had her fill of the futile exchange. Obviously, she had provided much of the basis for the unenviable position she found herself in. But if Antares didn't want to move, the changeling decided she would help her. Using their magic, Chitin snatched away Antares’s sword and butted her away with the flat part of the blade. They both got up, Antares in a black anger. Chitin was already morally tired from the one-way conversation.

"Give me back my weapon," Antares ordered.

"You calm down, then we'll see," replied Chitin with a sigh.

"I said: Give me back my weapon, changeling!" Antares commanded, her teeth clamping together with unbridled fury.

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Chitin turned into Swift Chess. "Come on, Cute Bite. Changelings are our friends! You have to love them, too," they said with a big smile. Chitin held Antares’s weapon against their shoulder, no longer able to use magic because of the mimicry.

Antares did not know how to handle this. The irritating changeling had mimicked Swift, called her “Cute Bite,” and disarmed her almost effortlessly. Soon, her blood was no longer cold to her enemy. Antares charged Chitin, murder written all over her face. A kick from the right hoof, immediately followed by a hook from the left, struck the doppelgänger. She used the inertia of her assault to frame a swift follow-up attack: a vicious double kick!

If only Chitin had time to dodge the first two shots, but the double kick was more than they could handle. They had just enough time to protect her body, but slid back in the flurry of blows and rapidly lost the upper hoof.

The tension was electrifying. Both had returned to the same state of mind as on the night of the genocide. Facing off once again, no queens could interrupt them this time. Two warriors, short of breath with spiteful frowns, nothing ahead except their mortal enemy. Chitin abandoned Swift's appearance. Antares scratched the earth. Chitin accentuated her grip on the sword handle. Antares prepared to jump.

Meanwhile, in the air, Chrysalis dodged the magical attacks with ease, taking a wicked pleasure in improvising a dance whose rhythm was imposed by her partner. She looked at Nightmare Moon with a sardonic smile. "Missed again, my sweetness!"

The alicorn responded with a coarse gust, not wanting to expend any more magical energy than she needed to.

"Oh! Time-out! I feel like I should ask,” chided Chrysalis. “Who could have been killed by Pepper so that we could blame her for all the aches and pains of Equestria?"

"She didn't eat just any soul. She devoured Celestia’s," Nightmare Moon shouted, sending another burst at the changeling queen.

"Huh?! What?!" Chrysalis became an immobile target following the revelation. Sadly for her, she froze in the path of a magic blast that would have easily been avoided otherwise. She was hit at full force and started falling head-first.

Nightmare Moon’s eyes widened. She started an immediate descent to reach Chrysalis, using magic to slow her fall before not-so-gracefully releasing it above the ground. "Everypony has such an odd habit of falling down when they are informed of Celestia's death," Nightmare Moon said with a mocking smile.

"Don't make me laugh. My ribs hurt enough as it is," Chrysalis ironed in the middle of her coughing fit. As she tried to stand back up, she turned her head slightly to look at Nightmare Moon. "Is it true? Is Celestia really dead?"

"It would have been a perfect murder, if Luna hadn't surprised Pepper on the way out. All that remains is her regalia. Considering what she did to one of my border guards, I understand why."

"If you mean her magic that turns one into candy, she used it on one of my changelings." Chrysalis turned to the other duo in the distance. "Do you think she swallowed it all?"

"I can only see this solution," Nightmare Moon also observed. "We should get closer; they seem... agitated." She set off without delay.

"Yes, the situation has gotten a little out of control," Chrysalis said, following in Nightmare Moon’s footsteps. Walking beside one another, the changeling had the faster pace and widened the gap between them. There was no way she would be behind Nightmare Moon, nor staying by her side!

The alicorn of the Night didn’t take too kindly to the bug queen’s pompous gait. She walked faster, easily overtaking the changeling.

A most improbable race between two mares occurred, their pride so great that they could not accept the idea of being second.

When the monarchs arrived, the two lieutenants were about to kill each other. Chrysalis took a look at Nightmare Moon, who was now using her ethereal form due to the earlier magic drain. She understood that it was her responsibility to stop the confrontation.

Chrysalis coughed. In a thrill of surprise, the duellists turned their attention to the exaggerated coughs. Chrysalis and Nightmare Moon were sitting ten alicorn steps from each other, observing their respective subordinates. Chrysalis was exhausted, but smiled through her sweat. Nightmare Moon, in her Tantabus shape, wore the usual shapeless face that showed no expression.

"Obviously, we are not the only ones entertaining ourselves," Chrysalis amusedly noted.

Nightmare Moon, unable to speak in her condition, opened a window to the world of dreams to invoke one of the four parts of the Tantabus. As soon as it joined the ethereal body, the alicorn regained some of her power. Enough to regain physical form before closing the rift. "Would it seem, Major Antares, that your little altercation got a bit heavy-hooved? Could it be that you became overzealous?" she asked.

Antares was in a cold sweat. She wondered how she could explain that the fight with Chitin started because she hated the use of her filly name. No matter how she turned it all around, there was no way to discuss it without making a foal of herself.

"Altercation?” Chitin derogatorily interrupted. “Ah! That’s such a big word for such a trivial matter! But I suppose it doesn't surprise me that a walking nightmare would feel that way about a training session.”

Antares’s eyes popped wide. She looked at Chitin, speechless. Chrysalis clicked her teeth to put back the sassy changeling back in their place. Chitin stood up straight and proud, ready to wait for their queen's next order. They watched Antares from the corner of the eye as their lips folded into a mischievous smile.

Nightmare Moon gave herself time to think. "Is that true, Major?" she asked.

Antares looked away from Chitin. It would be enough for her to breathe an affirmative and close the subject. However, the loyalist didn’t dare lie to her queen. She shook her head vigorously, like chasing a bad idea out of her mind. "She's lying. Without your intervention..."

Nightmare Moon observed the three interlocutors in turn, then let her eyes wander before giving her opinion on the subject. "If the changeling claims that nothing happened, let's make this lie a sincerity to avoid wasting too much time with this minor incident. The real reason for our coming is the only thing that matters to me."

Chrysalis smiled at Nightmare Moon's pragmatism. She signalled Chitin to place Antares' weapon down before leaving for the tunnel.

"Bad blood in her head? And she left for treatment?" asked Nightmare Moon once Chitin was no longer in earshot or sight.

Chrysalis peripherally glanced at Nightmare Moon, her eyes charged with the same anger as before. "If you ever get the morbid urge to tell my daughter the truth, I will find a way to hurt you. None of your ethereal powers will help you hide from me. And you will be next on the list to have ‘bad blood in the head’.”

A mother's frenzy was something terrifying. Even Nightmare Moon had a slight chill at the base of her neck. "All I know is that the door to her dreams is gone."

Chrysalis looked towards her hive, as if to make sure no one else was listening to her, before turning back towards Nightmare Moon. "While she was asleep—I guess you were visiting her then—I took the closest crystal splinter. When I was done, there was only marmalade left from what he used as her heart. I can only hope that, in her next life, she will keep in mind that nopony threatens the life of my daughter without consequences.”

Nightmare Moon was amused by the story. "I won’t wait until my next life to learn that lesson."

Shortly afterwards, Chitin reappeared. They were using magic to carry a bloody piece of fabric that preserved an object no larger than a drawing sheet.

Nightmare Moon tilted her head, raising an eyebrow; the scene was puzzling. Of course, even after Chitin’s warnings, it was more than she could have imagined. Without ceremony, and with the little respect that the changeling had for the queen of the moon, they threw the flax to her hooves. Nightmare Moon used her magic to unfold the linen, and discovered a mane wick on which phoenix feathers were clipped by the blue bar, all covered with blood.

"Where is the body?" Nightmare Moon asked, turning to Chrysalis.

The queen of the Changelings looked Nightmare Moon straight in the eyes with contempt, albeit smiling and mocking. "What did you expect? You made sure we’d starve. Did you really think that love is our only source of food? We devoured her to the marrow of her bones. Be happy that I even kept this."

Nightmare Moon folded up the linen while she thought it over. The corpse would have been a better option for sure; Luna would have lost her mind as she tried to prove it wasn't Pepper. Apart from the ensuing confrontation with Twilight, the Eclipse project would have been a success by the end of the week. Presenting the evidence—an accessory that Pepper had only been wearing since her return—Nightmare Moon already pictured Luna's scepticism. It didn’t prove that Pepper was definitely dead. It made her head hurt. "If you had left the intact corpse, I could have had the surveillance lifted along the Macintosh Hills right now."

Chrysalis closed her eyes for a moment. Her right eyebrow rose as her mocking smile became more pronounced. "Let's not play a game of what-ifs. You could lose."

“With your raging-mother threats, my time was wasted more than yours!” barked Nightmare Moon, not fond of being played.

"Aren't you losing more right now?" Chrysalis snickered.

"I was merely waiting to see if you'd move on to the whining and crying phase," said Nightmare Moon, bearing a taunting smirk.

"You are not the princess of the night,” Chrysalis retorted, “but of expectation. Between your banishment and my tears, you spent all your time waiting. Hmph! Time well spent, wouldn’t you agree?"

“Right. On another topic, how are the wedding plans going? Any suitors in sight?"

"In case you haven't noticed, I'm a mother and the queen of a tattered hive. The few subjects I have left are starving to death. My options are limited. So if you got what you came for, I'll take the day off. I don't have the luxury of waiting for love to come to my door, in any sense of the word."

“For a queen in decline, you have no shortage of bite. Major Antares, we are leaving."

"Minute butterfly. You can't expect to leave me hungry after you tell me that Pepper swallowed Celestia." Chitin trembled at Chrysalis’s words. "Let's be clear. I don't know what's going on with Equestria, but I have my own idea about the dastardly move you're planning. The question is, what is stopping you from doing so without the body of the parasprite?"

Nightmare laughed nervously when she heard Pepper’s all-too-perfect nickname. "Oh, nothing much. Just a certain princess who harmonizes everything that falls under her hoof."

Chrysalis had a sadistic smile on her face. "How is she?"

Nightmare rolled her eyes. "Like a charm. She still thinks that her mentor was only kidnapped by a planeswalker they had all welcomed. Long story short, waiting for a princess who will never return."

"Wait. You mean she doesn't know that Celestia is dead yet?! And to think we're going to miss such a feast," Chrysalis said with a falsely disappointed pout. "Well, if Equestria is in disarray... Why not consider rallying Princess Twilight to your cause?"

"Yes, good idea. Let's join the queue for Princess Twilight Sparkle’s expeditious ‘friendship treatment’!"

“Stop haunting my daughter's dreams and go see Sparkle. Depending on how she reacts when she sees you, you'll know exactly how you stand with her. At worst, she'll think she had a bad dream. At best, you can let us feed on the misfortunes of your new subjects."

"And what should I say when we meet? ‘Hello, Twilight! Nice dream you're having here! Luna's crazy, let me possess her body.’"

“If Twilight has even a little bit of common sense and rationality left in her mind, perhaps the little princess will appreciate being treated with the respect befitting her rank. Nevertheless, considering the wedding episode in Canterlot, it's a bad idea to try to do things through the back door. Yesterday, you were certainly an enemy in her eyes. But tomorrow is another day; you have to seize the opportunity when it presents itself. After a Queen-to-Princess chat, she could become your ally."

"This is madness," Nightmare Moon thought aloud.

"It's strategy. It took me almost a year to prepare for my invasion. When I heard about your return, I started thinking about including you in the equation. But when I saw the sun being raised, I didn't bother to reconsider my plans. This seemingly normal mare managed to best monsters like us, albeit with her friends’ help. But if her mentor is dead, she may need new ‘guidance.’ We underestimated her at our expense, but Equestria is now at a turning point in its history. Everything will change; it's time to adapt. Before anypony can get their heads out of the water, we must capitalize on this once-in-a-lifetime chance, Nightmare Moon. If you miss out, it'll look like a simple nightmare. But if you succeed, you’ll get everything you want, and Aglowing Shell will finally be able to go one night without your unwanted intrusions."

Nightmare Moon once again laughed nervously. "Fine."