//------------------------------// // Chapter 1: visions // Story: The Nightmare Begins Again. // by rainbowdashinaway //------------------------------// Luna fell asleep the instant she landed on the moon. All the memories of a past once lived were still dancing around in her mind. All the good ones at least. She Kept all the memories of the dark times locked in the back of her mind. She knew she couldn't escape it, She knew she couldn't forget it altogether, but she tried to, anyway. Still, sometimes those memories crept into her dreams. She found it ironic that she couldn't alter her dreams, but she could others. Magic can have some strange rules sometimes. Still, those nightmares were rare. At least they were. It seemed like they became more common as of late. It seemed like every other night she dreamed of a past best left forgotten. She dreamed of all of the pain she caused. She dreamed of all of the Lives she took. She dreamed of things she wished she forgot she had ever done. And sometimes, It felt Like reality. Sometimes, It felt like she was still Nightmare Moon. And this caused her great fear, more fear than anything else. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't forget. When Luna woke up, she found that she was no longer on the moon, instead, she was back in The castle She found herself sitting on the throne, her loyal guards looking after her intensely. But something was different. The entire castle was dark except for some lit candles faintly lighting the entire building. As she looked around the room, she found that all of the murals were gone, placed by nothing but wall. Luna had no idea of what was going on. "Go!", She told her guards, "Leave me to myself, I don't feel well." The guards had no choice but to obey her orders. They left the princess to be by herself. She lifted herself off the throne, causing the floor to creak slightly and echo throughout the castle. She walked to the door out of the throne room, her hoof-steps echoing throughout the room as she did so. The door was larger than usual, and was painted black. She opened it and entered the hall. The hall was as faintly lit as the throne room. All the murals were gone as well, replaced by nothing but wall. It seemed empty, As she walked through the hall, she heard laughter echoing throughout .The hall seemed to get darker, and longer, the further she went. She walked for about five minutes until she finally reached the end, greeted by another door, and when she opened it, she was greeted by another hall. This time it was not even lit, so only Luna could see what was inside. This time, all the murals were replaced by statues. They weren't statues of anypony famous, they seemed just to be generic statues of normal ponies. There was a ton of them, and many seemed to be broken. Some were missing legs, others their head. Luna could tell there was something off about them, but she didn't know what. As she finally got to the door, she opened it to be greeted by another hall. This time, Instead of statues, there were paintings. They seemed rather peaceful, and all took place at night. One was depicting two ponies, most likely lovers, laying beneath the stars, watching the night as they snuggled close together. Another depicted a mare running through a field of flowers at night, looking as free as ever. But as she walked further, each painting got more and more disturbing. One depicting two ponies laying down on barren ground, as a young filly lay crying, as if they were his parents, and that they were.....dead. The very last painting she saw was that of the young filly from the other painting laying down next the others. As she opened the door, she entered yet another hall. The laughing came back, as this hall, was different from the rest. It was filled with the work of a taxidermist. As she began the room, it was just simply bunnies, bears, tigers, etc. But as she walked further, she saw animals that could actually be citizens. She saw a cow, she saw donkeys, and she even saw a griffin. But that wasn't what disturbed her. She then saw ponies, their faces frozen into permanent looks of terrors. And she went even further, she saw some ponies that she was very familiar with. She saw a pink pony, and it was the only one with a smile left on its face. There was a rainbow colored Pegasus, with its wings spread out, and it's body suspended by wires. There was a white unicorn, which was the only one wearing a dress, and it had a sewing needle glued into it's screaming mouth. There was a a yellow Pegasus, which was also suspended in the air, but much lower than the other one, and was covering its face with its hooves. Then there was an orange pony, a hat covering its face, and its right leg suspended in the air. Then, to make it even, was a small, purple dragon, and his face was the one that was filled with the most pure terror, and a single frozen tear suspended a few inches from his right eye. And standing in front of each side of the door, were two Alicorns, one white, the other purple. They were her friends, and sister. She burst through the door, frightened, and ended up in one large room. This time, there was a mural, one large one of nightmare moon, Celestia and the elements lying dead at her feet. In that room, stood Nightmare Moon, looking directly at Luna. She had a wide smile on her face, and her laughter filled the air. "Welcome home", Said Nightmare Moon "W...what do you want with me?", asked a frightened luna "I want you to except me, to let me free once again." "Why would I want to do that?" "For the power. Don't act like you're all reformed, miss princess. You know that our dear sister is still the one only ruler. We still get no credit. In fact, some people are still frightened of you. Instead of trying to fix that, why not embrace it." "Look, I know you're not real, I know this is all just a dream." "Oh I AM real, And this is not just a dream, it's a vision. A vision of what might, no, what WILL happen. You can try to act like it isn't, but it is. Oh, it is." "I am not you, nor will I ever be again" "You keep telling yourself that Luna, all you are doing is lying to yourself." Suddenly, nightmare moon's tone shifted, as if, she didn't like what she was doing, herself, " I'm sorry", is all she said, before going back to her usual tone. " Don't ignore who you truly are, Who WE truly are." "I will never be you, NEVER AGAIN", yelled Luna as she sent a blast of magic from her horn, unto Nightmare moon, Causing her to disappear completely. Upon that, Luna woke up, drenched in sweat, and she began to cry in fear. Was what she saw really visions of the future. She hoped to Celestia they were not.