Nightdreams and Daymare

by Harmony Spirit

Daymares

This story is based on characters from My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic cartoon series. Characters which are under ownership of Hasbro and Lauren Faust. I claim no ownership of the original characters, nor is this a licensed work of either. This is a work of fan faction.

Story is created by Jimaza Dememder (c) 2011
My Little Pony is a property of Hasbro, originally created by Bonnie Zacherle (c) 1981
Friendship is Magic is created by Lauren Faust (c) 2010

This story is set after the events in Episode 2 of Friendship is Magic.

Rated TV 14
V: Intense Violent situations

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My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic

Daymares

With her sister restored, and her student's potential awoken, along with her new friends. Princess Celestia finished the day, with knowledge that all was well in Equestria. Luna was a bit uneasy about taking on her duties again, but with a bit of help, she was able to bring out the Night, with no problem.

So much happened, and the Princess, once the solo leader of Equestria, was happily again, sharing her domain with her sister. The day would come, when Luna would see that this new land of Ponies, a thousand years after her tragic banishment, was very welcoming to the Night.

The white coated mare of the Day, her mane four colours of light blue, seafoam green, stronger blue, and violet. It flow in the air, with no need for wind. A symbol of her magickal power. He soft Violet eyes, usually one covered by the flow of hair, looked over a book, as she read it. typically dressed in her golden armor, and crown. Her Cutie Mark, like her sister’s, was testament to her nature as the Day.

She trotted lazily to her bed, and settled in. She finished a book, she had put off for too long. How she recalled all the details of the story, after so many years, she didn't know. Now she didn't need to rule both Dusk and Dawn, she could pick up more stories. There were many stories to read now, so many talented young ponies, making great tales.

With it done, she recalled just why she stopped reading. When Luna lost her way, the story was too bitter. About much the same that she had went through. Friends, who lived and loved all they protected, till one fell to a dark path, and betrayed the other. It ended rather sad, but her and the story had a big difference. Luna didn't really betray her, only was a victim of the times, and now was well on her way to a bright future.

She took that knowledge, and laid her head down. Bare of all her royal flair, and completely relaxed, she slept soundly, with such joy in her heart. "My dear sister is home. My faithful student is out in the world, making friends and learning the joys of life" She smiled to herself, feeling harmony returning to her mind and heart.

***

Night started out nice enough, but soon, Princess Celestia was finding it hard to stay asleep. She tossed in her bed, and shifted. She couldn't fight a feeling of dread washing over her.

She flung her eyes open, and sat up, panting heavily. She looked down at her sheets, and seemed still gripped in fright of her dreams.

After a few moments, she looked around in the dark, seeing only her room. She sighed, and relaxed. "Maybe.. was not the best idea to read that book so soon after..."

"You did always find those little stories, too much" A voice came to her, one she feared more than anything.

She looked around again, summoning light to her room. She was alone, only her, and perhaps fatigue in form of a voice in her mind.

"Foalish dear... sister" The last part was said with a deep spite, it raked over her mind. "Shadows cannot be seen in the light, not that you could see me, if I so chose to hide in the dark either" A soft low laugh followed the words.

"This is nothing more than my worn thoughts, after a very long and eventful day" She shook her head. "Luna is free of you, and the Elements of Harmony destroyed you"

The laugh turned fuller, and louder. "Really? Just as light banishes the dark, for it only to return, when Light fades?"

Celestia jumped out of her bed. "You haven't?!" Allowing herself to become entangled in the fears of her own mind, at least she hoped that was all it was, in after thought.

A powerful force, cause her to slam back into her bed. Confirming her fears, that it was not merely her own mind. She struggled, but she could not get up. At the same time, she noticed the room growing dimmer. "Oh no, the Sun will not rise. Stay in the sheets of your sweet slumber" Her tone grew darker, pitch black. "Sleeping sun, shale be so forever"

"NO!" She flared her magick, and pushed away the shadows again. "I will not be beaten by a shade! My sister is back to me, and you have no powers any more, only threats!"

"Foal!" All the light she caused, was faded back, and in a swirl, a figure appeared in the room. "I have a body still! You failed her again, dear sister... You left her be too soon. She had no chance against me reclaiming her. Maybe at first, but my plan worked in the end, as it will for my larger goals" What spoke, was much like herself. combination of each pony, Earth, Pegasus, and Unicorn. She was as tall as the Princess, a bit more thin, and far darker. Being nearly opposite in every respect. Black coat, dark night sky magickal mane, and wicked blue cold glowing eyes. She was the twisted form of her sister Luna. Wearing blue armor that showed her readiness for battle, and her cruel mockery of the Royal style.

Celestia's eyes watered, from the vileness spewing from the evil mare. True or not, the thought was too much. "...no...NO!" She found the power to stand, and stood before the imposing dark form of her Sister. "You will not claim her again!"

She felt a sudden rush, as if gravity released her. She slammed to the wall. Crying out in pain, as shadows tried to swallow her. She struggled, fighting every inch of her body, as it was claimed by darkness. Her mane of magick even seem to become tainted by blackness.

"Dear sister... I beat you a thousand years ago, I beat you yesterday, and I'll do so again. Face it, the Sun recoils to the Night, and the Night only allows the day to return, because it just loves the look of fear, chasing you away"

Celestia knew her twisted view was wrong, but she had to admit, this monster had a might that took the Elements to stop. Then she smiled, finding the power to push back the shadows. "You cannot win this time. The Elements of Harmony sealed you away, destroyed you once, and remain to do so again! They live on to be any time the need arises!"

Nightmare Moon gripped Celestia in her shadow mane, looking very amused, laced with bitter hatred. She gave a dark grin, face to face with the Princess, and flung her through the walls of her room and several more of the Castle.

She skidded to a halt, in the throne room. She was badly hurt, bleeding a bit from various cuts, and felt pain. She hadn't felt pain in ages, she forgot how bad it was to feel. Compared to the pain in her heart though, these bruises were nothing.

She looked around, her guards were gone, and the throne was quiet, and dark. She struggled to stand, as Nightmare Moon calmly trotted into the room. She gazed around, slowly, and amused with herself. "I believe, this will make a fine new Throne of the Night. I will begin the destruction of all Joy and hope, from right here" She wasn't acting as if she was paying attention to her opponent, as she went on. "I will start with you, of course. Though it is already started, as your heart breaks in thought of how you failed your little, unprotected, weak sister"

Celestia summoned out a pen, and note. "I... must..." She was stopped, crying out in pain as Nightmare stomped on her leg, causing her to fall.

"Oh don't bother" She summoned her dark magick, and a figure came into the room, and fell lifeless to the ground. Very young purple dragon, with green spines, and frilled ears. It was Spike, he did not look beaten, but he showed no life, not even breath. "You're little instant messenger, has been crashed"

"Sp-Spike? No... Who else have you-" Again, calling out in pain, as a stomp came to her wing. Causing her to collapse in all the pains she was enduring. Countless ages of magickal barriers, and having nothing to cause her harm, it was far more powerful now. Like the first time getting a cut, or bruising, it was heightened.

"Here," The dark mare started, calling out a little object. "Take your crown, at least have some dignity, before your subjects, and your final moments"

Nightmare moved back, dropping the crown to the ground.

"Sub...jects? What do you mean?" She looked toward her, as she stopped, turning around.

"I must thank you, this time, the one might against me, is now in my control"

Celestia's eyes went wide. "You... didn't?!"

Nightmare laughed. "Kill them? Absorb the six Elements of Harmony?" Celestia's tears grew stronger, as her words came through. "Oh stop, they still live. Such a feat, is not so easy for even me. No, that will come in time, but now..."

Something moved behind her, a pair of eyes glowing with a tainted hue. A small figure moved to stand beside Nightmare Moon, look as an obedient and mindless minion to the wicked mare.

"Hmm, what should I name my little friend? It is actually rather fitting for me already"

Celestia tried to stand, but her leg was broken, he opposite wing too. She could only fall, crying out the name "Twilight!"

"Yes, see how wicked that already sounds, when screamed in terror and pain?” She was deeply thrilled by the chance to hear it. “But Sparkle? Hmm, not too much" She looked at the Unicorn, who's colours seemed faded. A once violet coat, now almost grey. Her strong purple mane, with the magenta stripe, was blacker, with a pale stripe. Her eye over flowed with tainted energy, the same forcing her horn to light. She had a look completely blank, like a shadow of herself.

Nightmare tapped her chin with her hoof. "Sparkle... Twilight Corruption... Eternal... Well, I will have time to rename my new solders"

More eyes appeared, as they came from the shadows. The five ponies of Ponyville, who were closest to the young Unicorn.

Once Orange and blonde Applejack, now almost brown, with pale mane. She looked like she had struggled, as she was stained in blood.

The pure white, with two tone purple mane Rarity, was grey, and darkened lifeless mane. She seemed less harmed than the rest.

Brightest in colours once, the blue coated mare, who’s mane foretold her name, Rainbow Dash, was sickly white, with each of the six shades being aged. Like Applejack, she looked like she had fought hard against monsters. Her wings looked almost broken.

Fluttershy, her yellow coat, and light pink mane, now grey, dirty, and patchy. Mats of dirt, and blood, made her look nearly as bad as Dash and Applejack.

The light of the group, a mare so pink, and joyful, was now darker, and her wild mane, flat and hanging with as little life as Pinkie Pie showed.

All of the ponies were darker forms of themselves, eyes glowing the same way as Twilight, though not so powerful. Unlike Twilight, none seemed to have much life.

"I do have a name for the group of them. The Elements of Chaos" She pointed toward each one. "Deceit, Selfishness, Betrayal, Rudeness, and Sorrow. Of course, Magick to enslave them all. A nice little collection to ruin all Harmony, and your student was a great help. She acted perfectly after my defeat. You all thought me destroyed, but I just took her"

Celestia's eyes, wet with tears, and red in pain, were wide now, in shock of what was coming. "My hold on dear Luna was lost, but I took Twilight, and hide there, till the moment she let her guard down. All her friends loved her so much, when she came to each, begging for their help, they were ready to throw down their lives. And so they did, each specially had a death specially tailored to their personalities. The orange one, and blue pegasus, I had much fun with. Oh Necromancy, one of my favorite of the Night Arts"

The princess looked away, she could not believe this. She used Twilight, to slay her own friends, and then... "Luna..." She spoke softly, looking back at Nightmare Moon.

"Oh no, killing her would have ruined it all. As with Twilight here. Her magick and ties to the others, allowed their deaths, and for them to retained their Elements. They were far too strong willed alive.

“I only reclaimed her, as I had this young foal. Her readiness for love, made it easy to foal her with Twilight. Just as the others were. You precious Student, trapped your precious sister. Oh that look of pure agony on your face, was well worth the Thousand years you trapped me in that cursed moon"

Celestia summoned up all her might, and charged at Nightmare Moon, who only watched her. She had little momentum, with only three legs, and one wing, but she didn't care, she had to stop this demon. As she neared, Twilight moved in place, and unleashed a powerful blast of dark magick on her former mentor. Piercing her in the chest, even if it missed her heart, the sight was enough to do just the same to the Princess.

The Princess crashed nearly back where she started, rolled and stopping herself with her good foreleg. She struggled, but she was loosing all hope, and her life was fading. Nightmare Moon was one thing, but Twilight, and all her friends? She couldn't do it.

As the Nightmarish mare trotted to her, crushing the crown under her hoof, Celestia could no longer bare it all, she covered herself with her wing, trying to shield her from the horrors.

"Sister?" A voice came, one that hurt to hear now. "Sister what is wrong?" Celestia couldn't look, even if the voice of her little sister caller her, she believed it was trick.

She felt a gentle nudge. "Sister, wake up!"

She went to remove her wing, but instead, opened her eyes, seeing a blurry image of her sister at first, but as the tears cleared, and sleep faded, she saw her. A young mare, much like her, with both wings and horn. Not too unlike her Nightmare, smaller, and lighter colours. More like the Night, and not shadows.

"Luna?" She sat up, and studied her, hoping it was not another torment of Nightmare Moon.

"Yes. Are you ok big sister? It is nearly time for the Sun to come up... it is the same time right?" She looked confused.

Celestia's eyes, so wet with the terror she just faced, now seem to be cleansed in new tears of joy. It was only a nightmare. She patted the bed, a spot beside her. Luna climbed up, and laid beside her. Celestia put her wing over her, and hugged her to her. "Sorry to make you worry. I was having a bad dream" She tried to down play what she went through, but she was still trembling.

"Bad dream? You mean... Nightmare..?"

She was reluctant, but nodded. "Does not matter, because I have you back, and I know, that Night will never be something to fear, or dread"

Luna nodded. "I won't let it control me again, cause I know if no pony else, my Big Sister loves me" She smiled to her, nuzzling

Celestia nuzzled back. "Give it time my dear sister, you will find, more who will care for you too"

"I did not have the chance to tell you what it was like inside Nightmare Moon," Luna started, looking ahead to the room. "It was like I was asleep, I was there, but not in control. I had some though, cause I could feel her intentions, and she wanted to get you as you slept, and remove the risk of you stopping her... she feared you big sister" She looked up into the other's eyes, her own, filled with a deep concern. Not of her sister, but of what she was talking about. "She was strong, was perfect match to your own power" She felt bad, saying that her own demon, was equal to her beloved sister.

"My sweet sister," Celestia started, smiling a veiled smile. Hiding her memories and their pain. "She was stronger than me, surely you knew. It took the Elements to stop her, not me. The Elements were lost till my student, Twilight Sparkle, and her friends were born"

Luna nodded, but stopped, and shook her head fast. "No no, maybe you did use them, but you didn't need too! Her power is nightmares, and she used that to make you fear her, and make you weaker" Celestia pulled her head back in revelation. Even in her dream, she recalled how when she had no fear of her, the power felt weak to her.

"That is how I stopped her from hurting you sister, I used her weapon on her. She feared you so much, that I could force thoughts of her loosing to the light"

Vague memories of that night so long ago, came to her, when Celestia decided that there was no choice, but to imprison the evil mare, how despite how she seemed to dominate the battle, she seemed to waver, even before the Elements were called into play.

“If I had been stronger, I could have beat her myself. I allowed myself to fall to her fear, all the visions she put into my mind...” She started to look down, shivering in her memories.

Celestia nuzzled to her sister, who gave it back in kind. "Oh my sweet sister... if only I knew then... I could have saved you from so much..."

Luna kissed her check. "Don't be silly big sister, things happen for a reason. I did not enjoy what happened, but now I’m home, and free of her. I know how to resist her, should the Nightmare return...” She finished with a tone, marking that she had something else to say. Celestia thought about her words, and nodded. Knowing she too, could resist, if she attacked her mind again. Now believing the Nightmare was not gone, but her main weapon was.

“There something else?” The elder sister asked, looking at her.

“She... tried to attack me again... But I stopped her! I resisted her evil, and beat her back” She was proud of herself, knowing she was free now.

“She attempted to attack me too, in my dreams. She has failed twice, and clearly has no power on us now” Celestia smiled. “I only wish you did not have to spend so long alone, when we could have beat her all a long”

Luna nodded, wishing to share more of her experiences. “Being asleep inside Nightmare Moon, as she was trapped in the Moon, I did not have to feel lonely for those thousand years. She grew bitter, but I felt nothing"

The older sister smiled, and pressed her head to the little mare. "I hope you will find I am not the only one to love you. Now that you are back, you can see Equestria has grown much in the time you were gone. I feel confident, you will be embraced, as the Ponies had done so in Ponyville"

Luna nodded, and hopped off the bed. "It will still be hard to get use to this new world, I feel so scared..." She looked down.

Celestia moved, made her way out of the bed, and trotted to her. "Give it time Dear sweet Luna, I am confident, the ponies of this age, will be very kind to you"

She dressed herself, and made way, with her Sister beside her, to the place where she would bring on the Day. She tried to force a way those horrible dreams, but she knew now, all Nightmare Moon had, was fear. She endured the worst pain of her life, in those visions, but she now knew that the demon had no power over her. She had no power over her sister either, and that made her more confident in her hopes. She would make sure the word was spread to each of the Ponies of Harmony.

Seeing her beside her again, it gave her a new value on her precious ones, and Luna was right. All things happen for a reason, even if they are terrible, they make way for something more to fill the wounds.

After that nightmare, seeing her sister, seeing the real her. She would never let her go again, and would not allow her to feel hurt again. Also, she would make sure to see her student at any given chance. Twilight filled the void in her heart, but now, with that filled with Luna, she found that Twilight left her own. The Unicorn was like a daughter to her, and until the dream had shown her what it would be to loose her, Celestia could realize this fact now.

A whole new day to start, with so many possibilities. A future that would bring good and bad, but the good would always be held onto, to over come the bad.

-The End-

Comments

[bearcat]

A nice story. I liked it.

You may already know this, and I mean it kindly but your grammar and punctuation are horrible; this whole things needs a serious rewrite.

Also, there are a few outright typos. For instance, Shale is the compressed form of slate, both of which are a type of rock. I'm pretty sure when you wrote 'shale' you meant 'shall', the first-person verb of the future-tense intentions of the speaker.

You've also got too many commas. Can't quote the rules for commas off the top of my head, and I know there are professors who say rules don't apply to commas, but there are rules that you start with, and those are the kind of pauses in speech that aforementioned professors are referring to when saying commas are outside of rules. They're not; not really.

Anyway good luck on whatever rewrites or on your next project or whatever, and thank you for sharing this view on the shadow entity known as Nightmare.

[bearcat]

Hmm .... I think I should soften my blow a bit.

I'm ... guessing english isn't your first language? That would of course explain some of it ... particularly the odd phrasing / 'tone' that, while either grammatically correct or nearly so, just doesn't "sound right"

And, I've read worse too. I can tell what's going on at all times, but between the odd structure and incorrect comma / etc usage it sorta ... grates on my nerves.

The reason I'm commenting, you understand, is because I liked the story enough to read it anyway. That's why I'm recommending you try to clean it up.

Do you hang out in the IRC channel? err, you may know it as the "chat' button off to the left, there. If you happen to find me, I'll see if I can't find some time to offer specific rewrite suggestions.

[Harmony Spirit]

3036
It is, but I went through school with undiagnosed dyslexia, so for most my life, I hated to read and write cause no one could grasp that I had trouble with reading, not being lazy. Did not help that my schools were also very "Lesson 1, master in a week, move on" So a lot is self taught in writing. I learn best through doing in trail and error. Also getting some pointers from readers.

This last year I have gone from a private writer, working in secret with no judgement or corrections, to trying to publicly show off my ideas. (very bad at taking criticism, but trying to get over that)

Am glade, despite the horror that is my grasp on written English, you did read through.

as far as the chats, I usually only stick around to update the main story I am doing, editing a bit more with the understandings that I have gained since I started it. So not really in the chat area.

[john-117]

What the previous poster said. But in all a great read still. You could try posting your stories for proofreading(there's info on how to in the FAQ)

Still, a good story, not too dark, and it doesn't truly impact the canon, such as it is, which is also a good thing.

[KobeTheGryphon]

i came here exspecting some trippy avatar stuff