Nightmare Year: The start of it al
Princess Luna yelled to the skies.
“No!!” Her eyes glowed bright white and released her power. Lightning crackled and the skies darkened in a matter of seconds. The anger that she held had shown.
However, Luna quickly realized that she was still residing and hovering over ponyville. She quickly subdued her powers and everything quickly returned to normal. She quickly shook her head and headed back to Canterlot. She needed to clear her head of Nightmare.
Almost a half hour later, she was nearing the Canterlot castles. Two shadows caught her movement from the castle balcony. The two shadows came into view and were none other than Luna’s Night Guards, Skyshadow and Air Screech. Their bat like wings moved silently in the air as the stallions flew over to her. She did not pause but she did acknowledge them.
“Greetings, my loyal guards.”
Her eyes met with theirs and they both closed their eyes and bowed their heads before rising back up and looking back at her.
“Greetings Princess Luna.”
They flew back towards the landing pad towards the castle. Once there, the castle the three ponies landed. The two guards remained outside while Luna entered the doorway. The hallways lead to only her sister’s room and her own. The long silent hallway seemed to stretch on endlessly. At least, before she arrived, now it was just a lengthy hallway. Since she had been gone for a thousand years, Luna saw how drastically the castle had changed. From the minor things like windows, walls and even the tile to the vast statues of her sister and herself.
She passed by paintings of herself and hers sister. Other’s included paintings of famous ponies like Starswirl the Bearded, who was once a tutor and friend of Luna. There was also a few that Luna didn’t recognized because they were there when she was… absent.
She finished her walk from the hallway she had arrived by her door. There, two female unicorn ponies stood by who were also part of Luna’s Night Guards. They both bowed their heads.
“Princess Luna,” they both spoke in unison. They looked almost exactly alike her other guards but they carried no wings, were feminine, shorter and had longer manes and tails. Instead, their horns were sharp and almost onyx black.
Their bodies carried the same armor as the stallions even covering their cutiemarks, but their tuffs on their manes were not there but their manes are allowed to fall to their sides of their heads or their backs. They also carried Luna’s symbol on their chest.
Luna smiled.
“Hello Nightshade, Blackout. How fair you both?”
Nightshade was navy blue with a black mane that fell to her back and ended on top of her shoulder. Her eyes were white but held cat like slits and their bodies have atoned like those of a have strong athlete. The one across from her, Blackout, was almost identical but her made was a deep purple and was somewhat cut short so that it was at the bottom of her neck.
Around her, her guards dropped their stern acts and acted like normal… night ponies. They were a different breed of pony.
The two ponies smiled.
“Excellent Princess.” Spoke Night Shade.
“Yes, the night is a quiet one,” spoke Blackout.
“I am glad. Tell me, do you to enjoy your duties as being the only female guards here in all of the castle?”
The two mares giggled and nodded.
“Of course your majesty,” spoke Night Shade. “I never thought I would be the first female ever to be in the guard. Especially under your guidance.”
“Yeah,” agreed Blackout with a grin. “My brother always wanted to be a royal guard but never qualified. Though when I told him I had joined the night guards, he was so pissed!”
They both giggled loudly and Luna couldn’t help but giggle with them. She was aware of Blackout’s brother hoping to join the ranks of the night guards. However, Luna found out on her own that Blackout had more use in magic than her brother did. She choose her because of her amazing ability to handle magic and now dark magic.
Ever since she had taken them in as her own guards a month after the last Nightmare Night, she had been more comfortable around the castle. The two female guards were trained in the same dark magic that Luna wielded. They were just regular unicorns but Luna had changed them so they were adjusted to the nights.
However, they only remained by her doorstep and worked in the nights alongside the stallion pegasi guards and Luna. They had actually preferred to work with only few stallions. Something that Luna was all too familiar with but there was something more with those two. She never asked because it was their privacy and like all females, they deserve their privacy.
Celestia never approved of female guards because she believed that females should not do any guarding and that they distracted the males at work.
Luna never agreed with that, even before her exile. Before, she wanted to have female guards because to many of the male guards often made her nervous, not to mention some tended to look up at her flank when she passed by. Not that she minded males staring at her but nearly hundreds, almost a thousand males in a castle! She often suspected that her sister kept males in the castle because she wanted them staring up her flank.
Luna, again had no trouble with males. A male would be an excellent mate but… did she like to look at males back? Her question was never answered, not even by her own self. During her exile, Nightmare Moon, was the only other soul that kept her occupied and in more than a few ways.
She grew angry but a blush formed as well. Nightmare kept her sane with voice, her mind though manipulated, she at least talked to Luna and… she kept her body well… taken care of. Luna shuddered as she remembered the way Nightmare use to hold her when they were on separate planes of existence.
With another smile and a bow back, to show her own care for her subjects, she walked past them where the doors opened and once inside, she closed them. Once she walked inside, she viewed at her ever-large room. The room itself could house almost fifteen ponies and any pegasi inside could honestly fly in there with its expansive ceiling. She remembered when she had first entered her room after a thousand years; her room had changed. A thousand years ago, it was just a big room with excess room for millions of things, yet Luna had not required that much since they had moved from the Everfree to here in Canterlot.
Now, it was filled with a big three times her size, a wardrobe with almost every type of clothing ever, a bathing place that not only had a shower head, but a large bathtub to hold four ponies with two sinks, large mirrors and a flushing toilet! A flushing toilet! Back then… Somepony had to either clean it out or send it to another part of Equestria.
A balcony lead to the outside, so she could raise and lower the moon from her room. She also had a sky window and the celling was also decorated with the stars of her night. Everything in her room, including her room was also a dark blue, much like her mane and no electrical lights of any kind were in her room. Only the sun, moon and candle light was the only light she allowed in her room.
Yet on another part of the room was a separate bed. A bed that belonged to one pony in particular and that pony is Dusty, a personal maid of Luna. Dusty was one of Luna’s first friends when she had returned. In fact, Dusty was almost caring when Luna arrived.
Turns out, Dusty was a descendant of her ancestor who also served under Luna a thousand years ago. Luna remembered her, Sweepy, who was Luna’s great servant but also her friend. Sweepy was a kind and gentle mare who did nothing better than to be around Luna and take care of her. Though Luna was like her sister; a stuck up royal monarch, she did however treat Sweepy a lot better than Celestia did with her other servants.
Even when she became Nightmare Moon, Sweepy made a vow to serve the Princess of the Night, whatever her wish was, and they would do that until their lives had past. Sweepy was there when she turned into Nightmare, even served her for a little bit. She was there when she fought her sister. She was there when her sister sent her to the moon. Even as Nightmare Moon, she saw the devastated look of Sweepy as she was swept by the Elements of Harmony and exiled to the moon.
Celestia told her that even after she was gone, she continued to clean the room and keep it clean. She kept it clean for fifty years before she passed. However, she had children and her children had children; they all kept Luna’s room clean for the next thousand years. All the way up to Dusty. Now she was to serve her for the rest of her life.
Her guards also did the same but they would protect and serve her in all ways possible.
She began serving Luna a year before her return. Her mother, Dust Bunny, worked for almost thirty years cleaning all of Luna’s possessions and dusting them off. Sweepy took after her mother when her mother had become ill. Dusty, barely leaving her foalhood, decided to work for her mother.
Almost a year later and the foal was still working the castles but staying in Luna’s quarters.
Upon Luna’s return, she almost immediately moved out but Luna decided against it. A foal to sleep with other ponies like the guards and others was unacceptable. Instead, she allowed the foal to sleep into her chambers, just so she could tell Luna about everything that has changed in the castle.
It was not only Dusty’s joy but Luna was happy when the foal hugged her for letting her stay. That was the first friendly hug she had received from anypony and that was not afraid.
She approached the bed to see that the little mint green mare was asleep. Her blond mane was covering her closed eyes. With a smile of a mother, Luna used her magic to gently pull the covers more over her.
With her content, she then walked to the outside of her balcony. Outside, was where she could gaze all of Equestria. She eyed the wonderful landscape and smiled.
It will be all ours soon...
She sighed angrily, losing her smile and closed her eyes.
Luna walked in the dense fog that was her mind, surrounded by nothing but blackness. Yet through it all, she saw deep blue eyes that belonged to that of a dragon yet were fiercer than that. She carried wings that were darker, sharper than her own, almost making her look like a weakling. Her body atoned for almost that of Celestia if not fiercer. And the dark, smile that bared on her lips.
“I was wondering when you were going to speak to me again, Luna.”
“What do you want?” she half yelled. “I thought I rid of you when the Elements of Harmony changed me back.”
Nightmare’s smile somewhat faltered but she kept a grin. “Yes well… a minor setback that my form and mind was returned to you. Yet… you think it’s bad that I am here…”
“No! It’s worse than that! You are in my mind and I want you OUT!!”
Nightmare smiled and slowly took a step forward causing Luna to step back. Nightmare’s grin grew and before Luna knew it, Nightmare appeared mere inches away from her face. It took all her courage not to turn around and run. She had to face this demon, her own… personal demon.
“Really?” her voice was like venom and leaked worse than acid. “From the way it has been, you want me here.”
Luna was about to speak again but Nightmare beat her by quickly raising her hoof and laying it on her lips to silence her.
Luna was stunned. She tried to move back or push it away but she was unable to move, her body was frozen in place. This Nightmare knew and she lowered her hoof again. Slowly she began walking around Luna.
“Tell me Luna, do you remember how you and I became… one? When I took over and you let me? Do you remember?
Luna just remained quiet and somewhat shuddered as Nightmare laughed. She walked past her, brushing her bodies with Luna’s.
“Allow me to refresh your memory.” Slowly from the fog, emerged a moving picture of Luna and Celestia. They had just defeated Discord and Equestria was saved from him.
“Here,” spoke Nightmare is where it all began. “Here is where it all began.” Luna could not help but look. It was right after Discord’s defeat that she felt a change over her. Both her and her sister in fact. Though much of Equestria history was lost over the last thousands of years, only few would ever truly remember what really happened with Discord, the princesses, and a few others species.
She was angry and jealous that everypony slept under her nights and none ever commented on how beautiful she made. She would go every night trying to make the stars shine brightly and her moon would glow that would warm any heart.
But they choose to ignore it.
“And what did you do when you ignored it?” asked Nightmare.
One night she let the moon stay in its place when the sun was supposed to be rising.
“Sister, why had thou not lowered the moon?”
All Luna did was smile. Ponies would wake up to fine that the sun was not out but the moon was still out and that her night was going to finally be appreciated. Everypony would finally look upon her night and love her for what she did.
But Celestia would have none of it.
“Sister! I order you to lower the moon so that I may raise the sun!”
Luna grew angry, thinking that her sister didn’t want anypony to let her enjoy her night.
“No!” she yelled at her. Celestia had been stunned by her sister’s outbreak but kept herself firm.
“Luna, what had gotten to you?”
All Luna did was growl.
“All the ponies never worship our nights! They never appreciate what effort we put into it and never are we thanked for it! They never even care for us! They only use my nights to sleep and think that the night is full of monsters like me. But they never fear you, instead they All they care for is you!!
It was at this point that Celestia tried to reason with her sister but Luna didn’t let her.
“We want them all to wake up and see the night skies! We want them to know that the nights can be as beautiful as the days! So, we will let them enjoy just a single day of my night. Then when they finally appreciate our nights will they see why they should frolic in our nights!
Celestia was shocked at her sister’s statement. Was she really doing all this just for some love? Celestia knew that little ponies stayed at night but didn’t she know that they needed her night to rest? It was important. Not to mention just messing with the cycles of the sun and moon could spell disastrous effects to the world.
However, Celestia had to act.
“I am sorry sister, I really am but we must keep the cycle going. The ponies need the nights to rest and the days to rise. We also need to keep the sun and moon cycles balanced or else we risk throwing Equestria and the world into chaos. I am sorry but if I have to, I will lower the moon and raise the sun myself!”
Luna was beyond angry now. Her eyes were wide with anger as she could feel the moon slowly begin descending. With a roar, she used her magic to keep the moon up.
Celestia was surprised, even utterly shocked that her sister would go against her power. However she put more force into it. She had years of power ahead of Luna.
This only fueled Luna’s rage. It got to the point where Luna did the only thing that would stop her sister.
She let go of the moon and aimed her horn at her sister. Celestia was surprised if not, shocked that her sister’s horn was lighting up with magic and fired at her. The blast knocked Celestia hard enough to not only release her hold on the moon but send her flying and crashing through the walls of the castle.
Luna, who was beyond rage, let her demon out. He was growling and burning with rage as her magic was over flowing and with it, she raised the moon back into the sky. She then went to go find her sister. If she had to, she would put her sister out just so that her ponies could enjoy a single day of her night. All she wanted was a single night, and yet,she could not get that! No matter, once Celestia was out of the way, she will bring eternal night forever!
Luna tried to tear her eyes away from the memories but Nightmare kept her facing them and used magic to keep her eyes open.
“Don’t turn away yet!” laughed Nightmare as she held Luna’s head with her magical mist. Luna tried to break away but the mist proved strong and it kept her looking. “This is where I come in and take over for you!”
Luna watched herself as she approached where she threw Celestia. She walked through the damaged wall to the other side. There she found Celestia, slowly and painfully getting up.
Celestia turned to her sister but then it was not her sister anymore. Celestia watched in horror, sadness and agony as her sister was consumed by a monster.
Her fur turned black, almost like midnight. Her body grew and turned as Luna became a monster of a different form. Her legs grew and strengthened with muscles. Her mane turned to mist and her armor, her war armor appeared over her body. Her eyes became like that of dragons, fangs grew over her mouth and her smile… her smile became that of true Nightmares.
“L-Luna?” she tried to speak.
Nightmare hissed and launched another bolt at her. This time Celestia rolled out of the way in time. She then faced the demon
“I am no longer your sister, Celestia!” yelled Nightmare. “My name is Nightmare Moon!!” She rose to the air with her magic, letting lightning flash outside of the castles and creating vast storms. Her eyes glowed bright white and the wind around them grew fierce. She then looked down at the fearful Celestia. "And the night... shall last FOREVER!!"
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I barely had time to edit it but I thank once again, Jungle Pony for letting me use her art and proof checking my stories. At this point, I would apperciate any extra help from others as well.
Though one question remains and yes, there will be a clopfic edition. Only few chapters will be taken from this series and made into a seperate series for your pleasure.
Comments always apperciated!