//------------------------------//
// Prologue 
// Story: Midnight's Nightmare 
// by G33kySt3v3 
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Far away from Equestria, 25 years before the return of Nightmare Moon

Once upon a time, in the magical land of Equestria, there were two regal sisters who ruled together and created harmony for all the land. To do this, the eldest used her unicorn powers to raise the sun at dawn! The younger brought out the moon to begin the night. Thus the two rulers maintained balance for their kingdom and their subjects. All the different types of ponies, but as time went on, the younger sister became resentful. The ponies relished and played in the day her elder sister brought forth, But shunned and slept through her beautiful night. One fateful day the younger unicorn refused to lower the moon to make way for the dawn. The elder sister tried to reason with her, but the bitterness in the young one's heart had transformed her into a wicked mare of darkness! Nightmare Moon! She vowed that she would shroud the land in eternal night!

Reluctantly, the elder sister harnessed the most powerful magic known to ponydom! The Elements of Harmony! Using the magic of The Elements of Harmony, she defeated her younger sister and banished her permanently in the moon. The elder sister took on responsibility for the sun and moon and-

Midnight Sparkle probably would have kept reading, if not for the book’s sudden problem of not existing anymore-- normally Midnight would bring wrath upon whoever had decided to treat a book that way, but right now she thought herself justified, "So that's how Celestia let's history be known? Funny, I seem to remember the past much differently..."





975 years ago, in the waning hours of the longest night

"It is time to end this false battle even if Celestia must be forced to understand Our perspective!" Nightmare Moon spat out the name with such vitriol, one could be excused for wondering if she had ever loved her sister. "Even if We have to force Ourself into the castle just to see her shake in fear of Our presence again, she will give up on this façade and face the truth!"

Midnight Sparkle could not believe what she was hearing, they had fought together against the forces of day for the past 70 hours, and now it sounded like Nightmare Moon was going to give up. Having been her equal for years even before this fiasco, Midnight Sparkle held no reservations speaking out against this terrible plan. "Lu-" The syllable was met with a distinct narrowing of eyebrows, quickly needing to be amended. "Love," she tried again, making use of the similar sounding pet name to save face. "Thou knows I love thee dearly and support thou in all thy endeavors, but art thou certain that plan is wise? That it will not shatter everything we've worked towards the past five years even before we were forced down this admittedly desperate path?"

Nightmare Moon, the living embodiment of the night, and bringer of fears to all who opposed her, sighed. She clearly had been worried her fiancée would take issue with the plan. Unfortunately she was running out of options to continue battling the much larger forces that supported the day princess. For a moment she looked just like the Princess Luna that had proposed to a very surprised Princess Twilight Sparkle little more than a year ago, afraid and uncertain of what the future may hold. But to Midnight's eyes, that moment was all she needed to see just how scared her fiancée was.

Nightmare Moon turned her head, so that she would not have to look into those slit pupils that somehow still radiated compassion and worry. Then came back to those eyes with the cold calculated gaze that had allowed her to get this far. "I understand thy worry Midnight, my love, but if I do not do something soon our forces will be overrun, and we may never get the chance to explain to dear sister what has truly transpired to make us take such drastic measures. Poisoned as she is to the liars and suck-ups of her court, who seek only to turn her into a puppet for their own plans."

Midnight Sparkle of course knew logically her love was correct, but as her sister-in-law Cadance would so often point out to her, love cared little for logic. "But, “ she paused, taking time to word her response properly. “Nightmare, surely thou mean not to face her alone, surely 'twould be to the benefit of all three of us if thou brought me with."

Unfortunately for Midnight, Nightmare had already prepared for this argument, and batted it aside with ease. "Nay, love, I must face my sister alone, so she might see how serious I am, and that she might finally come to understand not just mine own pain, but of the pain thou have endured as well, becoming so close to me."

"Luna-- " Midnight blurted out without thinking, and continued speaking even through the glare that faded over her speech, "Thou knows I would endure such pain one thousand times over again, if it meant we would get to be side by side as long and even longer than we have?"

Nightmare Moon sighed again, knowing that nothing could convince her lover to stay behind whilst she dived into the proverbial lion's den that was once the shared home of Celestia and Luna. "Very well my love, I can tell when nothing will stop thee from following me to the old castle. Thou shalt accompany me to the throne room doors either through sneaking, or inevitably to break through sister's zealots." The last word came out in more of a hiss than anything else, venom leaking through to the word that described what were supposed to be their shared guard very well. "But I must insist, when we reach the doors thou shalt stand guard so that none may interrupt, understood?"

Midnight knew this was the best offer she was going to get unless she defied her fiancée outright, not wanting to do so in this matter she opted to nod her head, and close in for a kiss. "When thou finally brings thy sister to understand, will we finally get to tell her the happy news that we are to be married?" She whispered, naught but a hair's breadth from her lover's muzzle.

Nightmare Moon smiled, despite the hopeless situation they had found themselves in, "Of course my love, mine sister will need some good news after hearing the distressing tale of how her own court conspires not just against us, but against her as well." Then Nightmare brought their lips together again so that they might distract themselves just a little from the oncoming conflict that was sure to change their life forever.





One hour later, after a fierce battle with the majority of the royal guard's forces

"Finally we have made it my love, just as agreed upon earlier, thou shalt make sure We are not interrupted as We force Celestia to face the truth." Nightmare Moon stated through slightly clenched teeth, to ward off the noises of pain that surely would have escaped her just as they had when the wounds had been inflicted by many a lucky soldier. Now they all lay asleep at their hooves, too weak of mind to fight off the effects her non-lethal spells for long.

"Thou knows We still do not like this right?" Midnight Sparkle hissed out through her own clenched teeth also having been unable to escape the battle unscathed, though Midnight's own spell casting may have been the only reason they had made it this far. When Nightmare turned to face Midnight fearing another argument she was caught by surprise when Midnight captured her lips in a forceful kiss that spoke something quite simply. "If you don't come back to me in one piece, I'll kill you." As breathing wasn't fully necessary to alicorns, they broke only when they heard the sound of armored hoof steps coming from the corridor they had come from. Midnight sighed and spoke softly to her lover in what she didn't know would be the last time in a millennium. "Go my love, as promised nothing shall get through those doors whilst thou teach Celestia the lesson she's desperately been needing."

Luckily for Nightmare Moon after one quick peck she would not have to see the stress her love would go through on this night until centuries later when she had regained enough of her power to dreamwalk again. For as soon as the door shut behind her the one stallion Midnight Sparkle did not wish to see showed up leading the charge to the throne room doors. "Halt!" Shining Armor, Prince Consort to Princess Cadance, Captain of the Royal Guard, Shield of Equestria, and Big Brother to Twilight Sparkle yelled at the currently distraught alicorn. The dozen or so guards still in his command came to a stop behind him, lowering their weapons at the hostile alicorn. "If you surrender now I can promise no more harm will come to you until you are justly tried for committing high treason against Her Highness, Princess Celestia!"





30 minutes later, after Midnight Sparkle had defeated her brother and sister-in-law

Midnight Sparkle barged into the throne room, furiously glancing about to try and find anything that did not confirm her fears, unfortunately, the scene before her was anything but reassuring. Nightmare Moon was a few steps in front of her, locked in a vicious duel of power against Celestia from the other side of the throne room. Corpses lay strewn about, no doubt the traitors of the day court attempting to poison Celestia's mind further with their lies. Though, seeing Celestia wielding the full might of the elements to defeat her sister, there was little doubt that their attempts had worked. "Luna!" Midnight cried out.

Though Nightmare Moon could not turn to face her fiancée fully, she still turned her head so one eye could be easily seen. "Ah, just as defiant as Us We see? Choosing to come in against Our wishes to see this? We cannot blame thee, thine own elements probably warned thee of this occurrence. Truly there is nothing We can do, the elements will defeat Us momentarily, and there is no telling what fate they may bring upon Us. However, know We will return no matter what, nothing could keep Us from thee Twilight." The power of the elements was centimeters away from reaching Nightmare Moon now, and Midnight knew there was nothing she could do to stop it. "I love thee, Twilight, and I will come back to thee."

Midnight made to respond, but was too late, the power of the elements overtook Nightmare and the power surged upwards to the moon through the mostly destroyed roof. Seconds later it was clear what the elements had done as craters stretched out across the face of the moon, forming into the visage of a pony’s head with a long horn. There was a wide space in the middle where the eye should be, and in the center of that space was another crater that evoked the image of a tear, shed for the mare she loved. "LUNA!" Midnight screamed in anguish, creating an admittedly close approximation of The Royal Canterlot Voice. Then, as if the moon knew it had been up too long, it began to lower and allow the dawn to come for the first time in 72 hours.