Foreword: Sup ponies. Before you read, be aware that some of this may seem without sense. That’s because it’s made for a role-play board by the name of My Little Nightmare, found here, always looking for new players. Look me up as Nightfury or Nightmare Moon on the board if you’d like deeper explanation or for whatever reason.
This tale, mares and colts, is a new one, and at the same time, ancient in its stage. And it is a tale told many times in truth and in hushed whispers, so many that the original words are long since forgotten. We Harlequins try to tell it in truth- however, it is hard, to know what is true and what is false, especially on this nightmare night…
Our story begins many thousands of years ago, in a land far brighter than ours is now. Two sisters ruled in Harmony- one would raise a shining ball of fire to nourish the plants and animals, and the other would raise a gentler orb of light which would watch over the beings of the land while they slept. For a time, the world was peaceful, and the sisters’ love held the two lights in balance, and all was good…
However, Sin exists in all of us, and they were close to us- so Sin existed in them as well. And slowly, Sin drove a wedge between the two. For the eldest, who presided over the brighter orb, three sins awoke, and for the other the same. The elder fell prey to Gluttony, for her subjects held her in such high regard that she grew power-hungry. Pride, for they loved her dearly, and it was fuel for her ego to grow over the space of centuries. And Sloth, for she ignored her sister’s pleas and did not think to appease her when it were possible.
For the younger, Greed and Lust mingled into a deep-set want. She was second to her sister and it infuriated her, though the elder only coddled her and brushed away her fears. And above the two, which poisoned her heart and mind, came Wrath: though that part of the tale is yet to be told.
For both, however, came Envy. The younger sister felt it outwardly, resenting those who shunned her beautiful night in favour of sleep when she toiled over the celestial canvas every single evening. But the elder, though she kept it to herself, knew otherwise- that Ponykind admired the beacon that was her orb, softly lit enough that they may look upon it, while hers was harsh enough to burn permanently. It was, in the end, Envy which broke the two sisters apart, with the younger burning with anger and the elder unable to push through her jealousy.
It was during the summer that the younger finally broke, when the elder’s time in the sky was longest and the younger’s shortest. The gathering of ponies swept through the streets, all to see her. There was a revelation, at that moment- they would never love her. She would never take gain their affection that her sister commanded. Never by coaxing and wishing. And if she could not gain it through honeyed words, she would take it by force.
She confronted the Elder at the height of the ceremony that day, as she prepared to raise the burning orb for the day, and push the darker from the sky. However, it did not move, and it was with fury that the eldest regarded her sister. The argument began with words, however, words pent up for the better part of two thousand years, and each struck with the force of a physical blow.
The sins within were fuelled by their rage, and slowly but surely they grew further apart, until the youngest made the proclamation in the dim light of the frozen orbs: “I shall never give in! The night shall last forever!” She cried, her voice echoing across the streets and layers of Canterlot, and all were silenced by her decree.
It was then that the eldest...and, unfortunately, only her, realised the folly of the two. The younger refused her pleas, however. It was too little too late and so, for two days and two nights, the elder pleaded to the younger, as the land was thrown to panic. Plants died, and animals and ponies withered without the light of the elder’s orb. Finally, with a heavy heart, she decided, for the sake of Equestria.
The Elements of Harmony. The strange, magical items that, when they were together, she and her sister had used to banish the previous despot of the land, would now be used on a much closer threat. With the six elements in hoof, the elder sought out her sister on the highest peak of the highest mountain, and there she struck her down, imprisoning her in the orb that she had nurtured and, ironically, had been the source of all her sin in the beginning.
For a time, the eldest was struck with loneliness, with grief, that overwhelmed all else. With the turmoil of her lands, she had to put herself aside, and, eventually, she healed, though a scar remained. For a year...then ten, then a hundred, she bettered herself, and one by one she purified her sins. For pride, she lived only for her subjects, instead of they for her. Gluttony was starved as she drew inward, showing love for her subjects but unable to believe their love for herself after what she had caused. Her sloth had been pushed aside, as she worked day and night to try and forget.
And of course, there was nothing left to envy.
But, a sin is a curious thing, and cannot be so easily denied. And the younger, though banished, did live, screaming her anger to the heavens, to the beautiful blue and greens of the planet she never expected to touch again. While the elder’s sins were purged, the younger’s grew, until the balance was broken entirely.
Aside Greed, Envy, Lust and the yet-untold Wrath, Pride, Sloth, and Gluttony arose, as she spent her timeless imprisonment day by day. Of Pride, she was convinced that it could not be her fault, that the ponies were blind to her beautiful moon. Of Sloth, she spent night by night laying in lunar dust, dead in all but the slow beating of her heart. And the gluttony only fuelled her want further, driving her to continue if only for her wrath to be finally sated.
Here, the story is split. Many say that these sins were given physical form by the divine force of her tainted emotions. Others say that the sins were around long before the two were split, imprisoned the same as the younger eventually was. Whatever is correct, of either tale or many less popular explanations, the younger discovered them upon the barren lunar landscape. Seven sins, the seven that poisoned her heart and soul, and they nurtured her pain and fear like a weapon, sharpening it over the course of the remaining century.
One day, however, the younger would have to return, and it was a thousand years of the elder’s grieving before she would. By then, the world had gone on- and in her remaining selfishness the elder had not meddled in the tales that arose of the fierce nightmare that stole the sun, and in the years and generations that passed, the youngest had turned from a beloved princess into a monster that stalked the nights for foals and ate those which did not pay tribute.
And so it was, a thousand years to the day and hour, that the eldest was to raise her burning light, and invigorate the world once more. However, she never appeared. In her fury, and with the guidance and strength of seven sins behind her, the younger had shattered her bonds and fled the moon, and with that freedom her wrath was finally revealed. This time the elder was the one imprisoned, locked away from the ponies she had so loved, while the younger stood upon the altar. And with her glittering orb shining above, brighter than it ever had before, she made the proclamation that had brought the land to a full circle.
“The Night will last...forever!”
Once more, the world was trapped in the dark, glittering stars and the glowing white orb forever dominating the center of the sky. And once more the Elements of Harmony were required. But from the darkness, sin had come to Equestria with the younger, and again, Sin shattered Harmony, as it had at the beginning. No more did the orbs revolve in the sky; no more did the land of Equestria share their love among both their divine sisters. Sin had sent the land into a darkness from which it did not recover.
And even now, ponies, the sins draw themselves across Equestria. They prowl in the dark, snatching up those who stray into the trees or the shadows, as they once snatched the hearts of Equestria’s goddesses. They taint and poison your heart and mind, as the younger was tainted and poisoned. And remember, dear ponies, to consider the next time a sin whispers in the back of your mind- for the feeling draws the being...and drawing the gaze of a living sin is a fate worse than death.