Twin moon

by Little Solarflare

Chapter 1: Innocence

Twilight sparkle was galloping as fast as she could towards Canterlot castle. "I hope the princesses are alright", she thought grimly to herself. That wave of magic was far too large and far too dark to have been casted by either of the princesses or to have been caused by an accident.

"Twilight wait up!"

Twilight turned her head around and saw her friends catching up to her.

"Consarn it Twi, why in the hay y'all run off like that all of a sudden" Applejack, asked as she overtook the purple unicorn.
"Yeah, I mean you just dashed out of the after party like the headless horse was after you", the rainbow maned pegasus added.

"Girls I'll expl-"

An elegant voice voice cut her off.

"I mean honestly Twilight that was awfully rude of you to simply bolt off into the night without even telling us why,” Rarity said as classy as possible despite the fact she was galloping as fast as she could in a gala dress. “Also, can we slow down please, this snow is ruining my mane!"

Twilight rolled her eyes, "Look. Girls there has been a-"

"And-then-she-was-like-Swoooosh-and-then-she-was-gone,i-mean-those-ponyjoes-donuts-are-the-BEST so-when-you-ran-off-like-that-i-was-thinking-Are-You-Crazy?”

"Pinkie..."

"Umm Twilight?" a very soft voice from above called down to her. Twilight felt her left eye twitch.
" I was um.. Thinking if it would be alright if you told us why you ran out of the party like that... if you don't mind."

"Girls I-" Twilight was cut again.

"And then I was like we should totally call it chimmycherr-"

Twilight craned her head back to the group and yelled,

"GIIIIIRLS!!"

The group stopped bickering and looked to her.

"Look girls I can explain. There had been an strange surge of power which-"

"TWILIGHT LOOKOUT!!!!"

Twilight groaned being cut-off more than five times already was wearing down her reserves of patience.

"What is so imp-oooof!!"

Twilight felt her breath knocked out of her as she bounced off a very hard object, her world began spinning. She groaned and shook her head looking up in annoyance to whatever she had just hit......only for her eyes to widen in horror as she just realized who she just ran into.

However if the princess of the sun was winded or even hurt, she showed no sign.

"My faithful student there’s really no time to explain, I was looking for you and the elements, but it seems you had found me." The princesses' horn began to glow.

Twilight shook her head, clearing out stars.

"Ugggh....... Princess Celestia what's going o-"

A glowing light engulfed all the elements and rematerialised them next to a smoking crater.

Everypony save the princess felt disorientated. Pony Joe’s special triple layer donuts and extra sprinkles were forcing their way back up their throats.

Rainbow dash wrapped her hooves around her stomach.
" Warn me when your gonna do that time time!", she moaned weakly

Twilight groaned, "that's also the sixth time I got cut-off mid sentence. I swear to my teacher if it happens agai- "

“Twilight sparkle I see Thou hast arrived", another voice rang out.

Twilight felt a few hairs of her mane spring up. Twilight forced a smile and bow politely to the moon princess, though nearby moans reminded her that her friends had not gotten over their 'travel sickness'.
Luna looked at the five retching messes on the ground and quickly flashed a spell.

The five ponies quickly shook off the effects as a wave of energy suddenly coursed through them, though Fluttershy was still feeling queasy.
Celestia nodded to her, and Luna began to explain to the events which had transpired...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"So lemme get this straight, whatever is in that crater may be whatever is left of nightmare moon"

Luna nodded to the element of loyalty. "So it seems fair Rainbow Dash"

"And we're here just in case it might still be dangerous," inclined Rarity, her mane and dress again fresh from the spell.

"If that would be the case, yes" Celestia answered.

Twilight opened her mouth, but before she could speak Celestia spoke the answer to her questions. "What is in that crater may or may not be evil, though now the elements are here we can approach it with caution. Those power surges felt by Twilight were not caused by us, rather it was the dark powers being forced out of a body. Weakened as it is, we should be able to stop Nightmare moon once and for all. We shall now proceed, but with great caution.".
With that, Luna lifted the jeweled ornaments and gave them to their corresponding users. Armed and ready they proceeded down the smoking crater.

But nothing could have prepared them for what they saw next.

"What in 'tarnation?!, that filly’s no bigger than Applebloom"
"Is that a...?"
"oh......my......"
"...it looks just as you did dear sister, so long ago..."
"oooh oooh! its so-cute I wanna hug it!"
"That little pipsqueak is Suppose to be nightmare moon?"
"Praytell. What is that?!"
"Princess Luna, could you, maybe, please lower the volume?"

Twilight looked at the unconscious dark blue form. It stirred.

"Look girls it's waking!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I opened my eyes and struggle to my feet, whole body aching and head ringing. There was a lot of noise going around and I see seven ponies arguing about something whilst one stared intently at me. I feel so tired.
One of them, a purple unicorn notices me and tries to notify the others, eventually shouting, and the noise dies down. What she says I don't care anymore, I just want to sleep.

They all approach me and I feel a sense of panic but there's nowhere to run. I shut my eyes as tightly as I can trying not to cry out. I try to flap my wings but I cannot, a sharp pain simply leaves me gasping for air. The hopelessness threatening tears to come pouring out. I close my eyes expecting the worst. There is a pain in my forehead which is stopping me thinking clearly. "It hurts.." i manage to croak, my mouth and throat feeling very dry.

"Shhh, it's okay. Don't be scared" a kind voice says. I don't dare to open my eyes. "We aren't here to hurt you."

"G-go away" I stammer, my heart pounding wildly in my chest.

"Please we just want to help you." I open my eyes and look up into the face of a cream colored pony with pink hair. "We just want to help you" she repeated.
Her voice comforted me, but ones behind her scared me, especially the shining one. They are all vaguely familar, however I can't remember where I had seen them before, though the dark one is giving me strange feelings.

"Do you have a name little one?" a regal, but gentle voice rang out to me. I turn to see that it was the huge white one with a chromatic mane whom had spoken. Though she looked kind, deep inside, my instinct told me to flee from her. I quickly shut my eyes again, terrified.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As soon as Celestia had spoken, the filly had curled up into a ball and began whimpering again. Celestia frowned, she hasn't received this kind of reaction from anypony before. She focused her mind around the filly, but could not sense any trace of the nightmare. what is she?, Celestia pondered.
She looked at the little ball before her. It's coat was dark blue, much like Luna herself, yet her mane and body shape looked exactly like she did thousands of years ago as a filly. The only discernible features were the fact that the little alicorn before her had blood red eyes and no cutie mark. Whatever this creature is and was, Celestia knew one thing, it was not evil. The filly before her did not radiate an aura, nor did it have that certain gleam in it’s eye which Nightmare Moon had possessed. Instead what she saw was innocence, one that only a child would have.

She watched impassively as the element of kindness continued to comfort this curious new filly.

Luna on the other hand was livid. She couldn’t bear it anymore. The creature which had caused her a thousand years of suffering lay there, a mockery of her past.

Luna roared, " I shall not be fooled by this monster hiding in the body of an innocent!"

She raised her hooves, ready to smite the creature, despite the protests coming from around.
Fluttershy eeped and flew away, Celestia and Twilight Sparkle shouted for her to stop, whilst the remaining elements were slowly, backing away. Fully aware of Luna's power

Luna's eyes glowed as she raised herself in the air. Ethereal energies enveloped her as she was about to unleash her energies when the creature looked at her and said something which surprised them all and left Luna flapping in the air, all energies summoned dissipating, equally as confused.

"Mommy?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I look at the dark one, the others they had called 'Luna'. I know her, she is very familiar. But from where, I haven't got a clue. She was beautiful, despite the fact she looked angry at me. I know I had seen her from somewhere before. She felt very close to me.
Memories drifted through my head as I was entranced by her.

I was in a room, talking with Luna, she seemed upset.

I was flying with her, all was well until I realized she was crying.
.
...she kissed me on the head before drifting to sleep, I couldn't move my limbs, only watch.

I was on the surface of an empty wasteland, staring at the Earth, hatred and anger growing at the unworthy impostor on my rightful throne, meanwhile she wept for our actions.

I am in a room filled with ponies, they cheer my name as I receive a scroll from an elderly Unicorn ...i think he is a teacher.

I am hiking with a group of familiar looking Ponies, we find a cave.

A dragon looms over me, it’s scales bristling in anger...

There is something about the dark one, i cannot explain it. My heart feels warm and fuzzy, and she seems so very close to me. I can’t help but feel drawn to her

Yet when she looks at me, I see nothing but scorn in her eyes.

She yells something and takes to the air.

"Mommy? The childish word escapes my mouth though I don't know why.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Elements, all stared at the filly, before drawing their attention to Luna, whom shied from their stares.

An awkward silence prevailed for a few moments, before being broken.

“Umm, princess? Ah don’t mean to be rude or nothin’ but how come you never mentioned you hadda daughter?”, queried the element of honesty, “Or even that ya had a lover?”

Luna, simply speechless stayed silent, not sure of what to make of the sudden turn of events.

However her sister spoke for her.

“Nor did she ever dear Applejack. Alicorns are conscious beings of pure magic, they cannot procreate with other living beings. Instead they are created. This filly before us is a remnant of Nightmare Moon, whose essence was created by my sister’s anger.” Celestia paused as an hint of regret entered her voice.

“The first time I used the Elements of Harmony, they had chosen to banish Luna in order to preserve harmony. Back then, she utterly detested me, as I had chosen my duties over her. Her hatred then was too strong. She and the nightmare had truly became one. In addition to this, by using the elements to solve a problem that shouldn’t have occurred in the first place, they deemed me unfit to be their wielder. As a result, I became separated from the elements.”

Luna bowed her head solemnly as her sister continued.

“Consequently I spent the next millenia searching for ways to bring my sister back, as well as searching for the next living embodiments of the elements. For nine hundred years, I was unsuccessful. But when I was on the verge of losing all hope, it happened.”

“A rainbow explosion spread across the sky, the Sonic Rainboom.”

Dash upon hearing this beamed, however her expression dropped as the Princess continued.

“Though it was only believed to have been done by Rainbow Dash, that is only partially true; it was however the loyalty within her which had given her this boost of speed, not her love for winning. The Rainbow stream that trailed behind you was not the result of your mane, rather the magic of loyalty flowing from you. After all, do you not remember how you achieved the rainbooms? The first time, I was told you were defending your friends honour. The second timewas to save your friend Rarity’s life. Which, i may add, was a spectacular feat."

Rarity blushed, remembering her panicked fall from Cloudsdale, whilst Rainbow smirked; she remembered her ‘best day ever’.

“After that immediately I knew the living embodiments of the elements had returned, especially after a Dragon’s head went through the roof of Canterlot Tower. Ever since that day, I kept track of the location of Rainbow Dash, and trained Twilight Sparkle in the art of magic.”

Rainbow’s eyes widened, “Wait a minute you had ponies spying on me?”

Celestia chuckled. “No Rainbow Dash, the rainboom itself was an release of the element power of loyalty. I simply traced it’s aura, I didn’t know you at the time, though I was later told the new weather manager of Ponyville could clear the sky in ten seconds flat. For one to had achieved a sonic rainboom, such a feat could have only been achieved by you."

Rainbow Dash beamed whilst Applejack rolled her eyes.

However Twilight, who had been linking the events inside her head, had a few questions nagging her. “Princess Celestia? How did you know where to send me on the eve of the Summer Sun celebration, and how did you know that we could bring Luna back?”

“That is because, my faithful student, the element’s are inadvertently drawn together. There cannot be true harmony without each part present. After all did you not all gain your cutie marks as a consequence of the rainboom?”

The Elements all looked at one another, and silently agreed.

“Keeping that in mind, Ponyville was the definite location where the Element’s themselves would gather together. Therefore I specifically planned last year’s Summer Sun celebration to be there, as I had also detected my sister’s presence on the moon again after one thousand years.”

“As for bringing Luna back, ” Celestia’s voice became quiet and her expression dropped, “I didn’t know what would have happened.”

Luna and the elements, gave a gasp of shock, though Celestia could not bring herself to meet their gaze.

“I’m sorry I never told you this little sister, but I cannot control what the Element’s would have chosen to do for you. I prayed to the fates that it would bring you back, I prayed that you no longer hated me.”

A lone tear fell from Celestia’s eye.
Luna looked to her sister in understanding and smiled, “You have done more than enough for me dear sister. Though it may have been a gamble, that was the only option which you had, for that, I have more than forgiven you.” With this Luna walked up to her Sister and nuzzled her.

Celestia smiled once more and returned the gesture.

Twilight coughed, and the two sisters broke their embrace and looked at her. “I’m sorry to interrupt your highnesses, but what about her? How did nightmare moon become... her?”, she pointed her Hoof at a now sleeping filly alicorn. “And what do we do with her?”

Celestia opened her mouth, but it was Luna who answered. “When i was imprisoned on the moon, I had immediately regretted my actions and cried for forgiveness. The Nightmare, furious at this, pushed my conscious from my own body and i was floating in the darkness of my own mind. There I remained for what felt like an eternity, and I thought I was going to stay there forever.

Luna paused for a moment, remembering the day she was freed. “Then one day, a rainbow entered my prison and a door of light appeared. The rainbow carried me towards the door, and when I passed through, it was here again... on Equestria . My prayers had been answered.”

“However as I left my prison, the darkness seemed to have fragmented and disappeared in different directions. I believe that darkness was the feelings of sadness, anger, regret, and hatred inside me, and it had formed into an entity of it’s own. During that night, I believe the Element’s had scattered it’s essence rather than destroy it.”

“Why? We do not know, the Elements work in their own mysterious ways. They will always do as seems fit in the name of harmony. That is why the nightmare was able to return.”

Luna’s eyes softened at the sight of the sleeping filly.

“What I do know, however, is that the Magic of friendship, the one which on the other hoof, is one which completely destroys hate and anger within a creature. As you are all familiar with the stories of the windigoes and the magic of friendship during the first Hearth’s Warming eve, I believe all the hatred which hath turned me into Nightmare moon is gone.”

“The question remains is now what is left, and where does one like her belong in Equestria; but we shall ponder that tomorrow, for it is time for us to lower the moon, and for my sister to bring on the day.”

With that Celestia nodded to her sister, whom takes to the air. She then turned to the six.

Fluttershy is curled up and asleep near the filly. Pinkie Pie’s mane was even more frazzled as she continued to bounce around the sleeping forms, blabbering some nonsense about kumquats. Rainbow was already snoozing, her snores emanating gently from her prone form. Twilight Sparkle and Applejack however continued to defy the tempting call of sleep, though the energy spent during the performance was beginning to take it’s toll. Rarity, despite her being generally revolted at the idea of sleeping on the ground, she too had succumbed.

“My Little Ponies, My sister and I are terribly sorry to have made you stay up all night after a lengthy performance, but I will send you all back to Ponyville now.”

Twilight Sparkle answered, “It’s alright princess, I think I should be able to research into this matter. I’ll have a report done to you by tomorrow night.” Celestia shook her head as she chuckled lightly, “Oh Twilight, you are always such a wonderful student, but that won’t be necessary. It’s Hearth’s Warming day now, i believe a young filly such as yourself needs some rest.”

“Princess! I can take care of mysel-Zzzzzzzzzzzzz”

Celestia’s horn glowed and Twilight fell to the ground snoring. Then turned to the element of honesty

Applejack’s eyes widened in horror. “Woah princess, ah really don’t think you..should...ZZzzzzzzz.”

Pinkie simply disappeared stopped bouncing mid-air and tipped over, despite gravity, and fell on her side. Light snoring followed shortly after.

Celestia smiled to the sleeping elements. “Sleep tight my little ponies.”
Her horn flashed again, and the forms disappeared, leaving behind the curious new being.

Celestia pondered to the sleeping filly, “Now... What to do with you?”, as her sister began her descent along with the moon.

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Comments

[Zobeid]

Just looking at the picture and description, my first reaction was: "Past Sins rehash. Somebody tell this guy it's already been done!"

I'm not averse to seeing it done again with a different spin, but you should know Past Sins has set the bar pretty high, and my loyalty to the holy trinity of Celestia, Luna and Nyx isn't going to be challenged easily.

[just moar]

*tracks*

[Gwenio]

Nice start, looking foward to seeing how you proceed with it.

There are a number of issues with case (e.g. "What I do know, however, is that the Magic of friendship, the one which on the other hoof, is one which completely destroys hate and anger within a creature.") that could use a sweep for, including a few places where the pronoun 'I' is in lower case. This applied to the previous chapter when I read it the day it wa released.

[bahatumay]

Intriguing. It's always fun to see people flesh out that Nightmare Moon story.
(Applejack is Honesty, not Loyalty, and while my eyes didn't bleed, there were some lowercase i errors and a couple extra apostrophes.)

[Little Solarflare]

311231

Thanks for that. fixed

[Evil Paladin]

309942 In the name of the Sun, the Moon, and the Nightmare. Amen.

I get the feeling that there are going to be some people upset with our comments.

[Ignis Infinitus]

"They are all vaguely similar, however I can't remember where I had seen them before" I think that is supposed to say vaguely familiar not similar

[fenril]

309942
same here, but so far its doing a lot better than some of the other ones ive read

[Syrahl696]

Sees error, copy-pastes it into notepad.
3 errors later...
Stuff this, I just want to enjoy the story!
Here, you can have what I found:
CH 1
We shall bring eternal night, even if you have longs since given up the notion”
^ Not neccesary...
"I can be said we are not precisely fine...
^ Should be "It"
did you directed Nightmare Moon into the heart of friendship!?"
^ -ed suffix should not be there
CH 2
as she just realized who she just ran into.
^ ^
Both "justs" are unneccesary, I would use "as she realised just who she ran into"
There you go. You're welcome. Sorry if I sound snappy. I just wanna get back to reading your marvelous story.

[vren55]

You need to work on your grammar, but the story itself and the character's development is quite good. Not OOC, still canon. it's a fine start.