//------------------------------//
// The Darkness Within 
// Story: Celestia's Dark Side 
// by Voxum 
//------------------------------//

It happened once a month. Once a month, every month, temptation would rear its head.

"Well? What are you waiting for?"

Princess Celestia, Sister of the Sun, The Solar Princess, could be considered a demigod.

Her power was great. Raising the sun each morning and setting it every night was a task that took over one hundred ponies, and she could do so by herself.

Her wisdom was grand. Over one thousand years of constant political movement, over one thousand years of watching nations rise and fall, over one thousand years of studying and learning all she could, and few could match her.

Her beauty was unmatched. A flowing mane of ever-shifting colour, a pristine coat that can outshine freshly fallen snow, and a demeanor befitting only the most mature, and most regal of individuals.

Despite this, she was still a pony. Just like her sister.

And once a month, this fact would come to light.

Her subjects did not know, could not know, but Luna wasn't the only one with a Darkness inside of her.

Her dearest sister had fallen to her Darkness, allowed it to overwhelm her, overtake her, and overthrow her. The Nightmare had been all too real, and both she and her sister suffered the consequences for not heeding the warnings. But they were wiser now, they were aware of the lure of the Darkness, the call of the Shadows.

"Hmm? Resisting, are we? Hmhmhm... You know it is futile. Is this not what you want? What you desire?"

Celestia was not surprised to find her own Darkness. Her sister had always been more in tune with the darker magicks. It was no shock that she had met her other half, her Darkness, so much sooner, even though the Nightmare proved far more cunning than her sister had believed.

Darknesses, although rare, were rather well documented figures. They simply manifested as the culminations of one's repressed desires, seeking one of two things. The freedom to take and engorge themselves on that which they were denied. Or the indulgence of their hosts.

Luna's Darkness was of the former, while hers was the latter.

"I do not understand. Why hold yourself back? Aren't you the ruler of this nation? Who will stop you from taking that which you desire? What's the harm? Hmm? Go on..."

She scowled at the whispers in her mind, her very soul.

Unlike her sister, Celestia's Darkness did not give its name, assuming it even had one. It had simply appeared one day, demanding satisfaction.

Loathe as she was to admit it, but... she could not stop the temptation.

Once a month, a night like tonight would come. It was always the same. She would crawl into bed for a well deserved rest after Day Court. She would sleep and dream of peaceful things, until her Darkness would rouse itself. Her dreams would be invaded by her desire, and she would be forcefully awakened. It would whisper to her while she rested. She would try to block out its words, but nothing could ever quite dampen it enough, as if some part of her wanted to hear those words.

Then, she would get up. Garbed in a large, comfortably fluffy, and pink bathrobe, she would ghost through the halls, unseen and unheard. She would arrive just outside the door to her destination, and she would hesitate. Her Darkness would spur her on, and she'd enter the room.

There, she would stand before her target, staring, thinking, hesitating, regretting. She would argue against herself for nearly an hour, but her Darkness would not let up.

"Open it."

Bathed in a pale light, the dull, ever-present buzzing would permeate the air, drowning out the silence.

"Take it."

A small box, laying innocently upon the rack. She would take it, hooves hovering over it for all but an instant, before it was snatched from its perch, and placed on the nearby counter. Her Darkness never had the time to order her to complete the next step as, though she would deny it to all who asked, even to herself, she would do so of her volition.

And there it would sit. Glistening in the dim light. Sometimes whole, sometimes not, but always new. It would stare back at her, as if judging her.

'You're here again?' it seemed to say to her, and she could not deny it, no matter how much she wished to.

Despite her eagerness in the previous step, it was always here, always this moment, where she came closest to claiming victory over her Darkness. This was the moment where the guilt, the anger, the self-loathing, would become strong enough to embolden her into fighting back.

But she would fail. The scent would reach her nose before the battle could truly begin, and her strength would crumble each and every time.

Saliva gathered in her mouth, tongue licking her suddenly dry lips. She would swallow, almost in anticipation.

"Eat."

And so, she would.

Once a month, Celestia's Darkness would awaken, bringing an nigh-overwhelming temptation along with it. And once a month, Celestia would find herself trudging down to the kitchen in the middle of the night, where she would find-

"Tia!?"

She froze, the voice was familiar, and most certainly not part of the routine!

She turned, face covered in chocolate frosting and rainbow sprinkles, to her younger sister, who was garbed in a robe the exact same as hers except bright blue, who bore a look of utter betrayal on her face.

"Yesh?"

She ignored the chocolate crumbs that fell to the floor with the motion of her jaw, hoping her sister wouldn't notice.

She noticed.

"You're the one who's been stealing my cake every month?!"

"No..."

"Yes."

"Do you have any idea how long I've waited to eat cake, Tia?! One thousand years! Now give me my cake!"

"No!"

Once a month, Celestia would steal her little sister's cake from the fridge in the castle's kitchens. But it wasn't her fault. It was her Darkness' fault.

Honest.