//------------------------------//
// Darkened Dawn 
// Story: A Compilation of Pony Poetry 
// by TheKissoftheVoid 
//------------------------------//

It began with attempt to drown the sun
An irony as cold as glacial ice
It ended bleakly as oblivion
By terrible, unforseen sacrifice

The song of the single breath that was drawn
And followed by the stark silence of Dawn

Equestria was safe with little lost
But, right though Celestia's actions had been
She never knew the true terrible cost
Of the cruel event she had helped begin

Unwittingly Celestia was a pawn
In the grim twist of fate that darkened Dawn

Upon the moon the Nightmare had been bound
Trapped on the endless, grey-duned lunar shore
With helpless rage filling her heart she frowned
Ignorant of the budding life she bore

Mind still on vengeance, she thought only on
Her failed attempt to stop her sister's dawn.

Soon though she saw the signs she was with foal
Which filled Luna with strength as ne'er before
With iron will she wrested back control
And renewed by protective love she swore

"When my newborn foal's face I look upon
Nightmare will fade in the glow of my Dawn"

The spite of Nightmare proved a fortune fair
For, knowing she'd failed to bring low the sun
She'd filled her lungs with Equestrian air
A single breath in petty vengeance won

A breath that Luna now set hope upon
To breathe lasting light and warmth into Dawn

As her belly grew swollen Luna thrived
On magic, hope, and steel resolve alone
And when at last her birthing day arrived
Her heart, though eager, grew as hard as stone

For no matter the pain, the breath she'd drawn
Would not pass her lips unto lifting Dawn

In labor's pain, though wrenching agony
Each pang a dissonance both loud and long
She ignored her flesh's cacophony
Wearing visage grim, determined and strong

Through crawling hours, mind held fast upon
The tender, peaceful, warming touch of Dawn

At last upon the ageless sands of grey
With a crimson rush and a soundless thud
Came a foal colored as the blooming day
Upon a tide of pain, release, and blood

And though drained, twas air Luna pranced upon
As her loving gaze met the infant Dawn

Starlight glistening on her pink, still-wet coat
And silent coughs wracking her tiny frame
Until magic gently opened her throat
And warm air rushed in exhaled with her name

Her miniscule chest rose, her first breath drawn
And Luna's heart soared as the sun at dawn

As she'd held it, Luna'd the breath infused
With every trace of magic she could spare
In order it could be endlessly used
Til her foal grew beyond the need for air

But, by the dark plan of a foe thought gone
That breath had not the power to raise Dawn

Though buried, Nightmare had not been destroyed,
And deep in Luna's mind began to plot
Setting a trap Luna could not avoid
Through subtle whispers of misleading thought

Thus in secret Nightmare had slowly drawn
The vital magic from the breath of Dawn

At Dawn's first gasp Luna froze, petrified,
Her mind in the tumult of shock and fear
Until with all her lingering strength she cried
A cry she begged would reach Celestia's ear

A desperate plea that, the cold moon upon
The Sun Princess would save her sister's Dawn

But by the spell that Harmony had wrought
Nightmare's prison was unbreachabley sealed
And even Luna's desperate might could not
Drive her voice through the Elemental shield

Thus was she forced to look helplessly on
As the light slowly faded from her Dawn

Too soon the newborn's coat ebbed cold and pale
Her chest rose once more with that hollow breath
Then fell as she passed through the mortal veil
And sank into the still embrace of Death

And Luna, heart by disbelief withdrawn
Softly whispered "You were to be my Dawn. . ."

As the loss at last struck home Luna screamed
The foundations of her hope blown apart
A flood of shining tears down her face streamed
As Nightmare's laughter echoed in her heart

No crueler irony e'er did fate spawn
Than the triumph of Nightmare over Dawn

Thus with the fragments of her hope and joy
Engulfed in the crushing maw of despair
Luna was lost, her body but a toy
To be used by the cold hate of Nightmare

For the last spark of her great love was gone
Lost in darkness eternal with no Dawn