Here stands I, Nightmare Moon. Look upon the greatness of my Kingdom, Sister, and despair.
Once, long ago, Equestria was full of life. Then the Nightmare came. She cast down her sister, sealed away the sun and cursed the world to an eternal winter.
A thousand years later in the ruins of what was once Ponyville you find hoofprints, traces of the last pony. You follow them to answers, tragedy, and the terrible truth.
Submission for the 2017 Nightmare Moon Group picture prompt contest.
Inspired by the poem Ozymandias by Percy Shelley.
Now edited and updated to a fine sheen.
Chapters (1)
Excellent stuff as always.
Looks like NNM got exactly what she always wanted...
Deep, and beautifully written. It seems my chances of winning is decreasing with each and every passing moment.
slight problem ponyville in canon is 300 years old and from what the story tells me wouldn't be built without Celestia
8343966
With the point of view I couldn't get super into detail about the backstory, but this story is intended to be set up with premise that it was on Nightmare Moon's return from the moon that she took power. Think AU from roughly the start of the first episode. If you like this world could be the result of one of the timelines Starlight Glimmer messed with during the Cutie ReMark.
Also if 300 years is the canon age of Ponyville in canon I really am impressed with just how spry Granny Smith is for her rather advanced age.
So if parsing the ending right, the story is:
Celestia finally escapes banishment and tracks down Luna. In a final act of hate, Luna self-petrifies, leaving Celestia the only being left alive. With nothing else to do, she returns the Sun to a dead world
Is that accurate?
8345323
The ending is intended to be unclear though I will say your interpretation was not one I had thought of personally.
If you're interested the way I had it in mind when I was writing was You are someone visiting the ruins of Equestria. Whether you're a pony, some new creature adapted to the frozen climate, or a human from another dimension entirely is up to you. You come across the footprints, following them to the old castle.
In the final scene Luna/NMM partly due to wounds and party voluntarily petrifies (as you spotted).
At least in my mind this NMM had banished Celestia to the sun ensuring the could only be freed if it rose (something impossible without her doing it herself or dying). Due to an emotion even I'm not entirely sure of her last act is to remove the spell ensuring the sun will rise once more.
I have to say though, your idea fits perfectly into the material and I like it a lot.
I'm a big believer in the "death of the author" especially in works like this so if you want to be Celestia go right ahead. It certainly adds an extra gut punch to the material.
8351698
Whenever one goes for ambiguity, this will happen! The main reason I see it as Celestia is, well - the Sun needs somepony to raise it, yes?
And I could easily see Nightmare having long destroyed the world now awaiting the return of the one other living being, and in her madness and self-hate and anger at how her dream turned into a nightmare - rather than ask forgiveness she is doing one last, bitter attempt to cause pain because she cannot admit to herself that she, not Celestia, ruined everything.
But - well, a new day is dawning. Perhaps there is hope after all.
Hearth's Warming has to come sometime after all
Wow. This story is 10x better than before, and it was really good even then! Amazing writing, good mystery elements, and that ending that just leaves you wanting more. I can see why you won the contest.
Loved this story so much nice job
A greatly underrated Oneshot.
You can has review!
oh this is beautiful