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// Ch.11 3/9/1110 A Life Sentence 
// Story: Only shadows of the past... 
// by Phoenix Quill 
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One hundred years is the longest recorded sentence in a prison that any living being had ever had to endure.
Naturally, nothing had ever been able to live out a sentence that long.

Nightmare Moon had not squandered her time on the moon, ever since her short night of freedom there had been a steady yearly supply of food large enough to last an entire year. Most of these items were sweets or designed to have a long shelf life.

The ruler of the moon had kept busy as always, building onto her castle and its inhabitants by constantly carving rocks into new subjects and structures. However, she was also not above random acts of violence on her works and would almost always find herself tearing down walls and executing her own subjects she had carved.

Nightmare Moon lived in a gilded cage that she had wrought with her own hooves and horn. A prison with silent inmates and all the comforts of home.

Almost all.

The dark princess wandered the halls of her stone prison and looked over the stone guards she had placed, two by two guarding every door and said nothing.

There was nothing to be said.

"Why bother wasting my vocal chords on stone."

Nightmare Moon turned the corner and was greeted with the site of another empty hall, and continued to walk. Her head bowed low and wings slumped brushing the ground. If one were to look at her it would be hard to belive that this filthy mare had once been the Princess of the Night in Equestria. To look at her now one would think that she may have been a hermit. Her once proud battle armor was unkempt and covered in filth. Her coat was missing patches of fur in some places and had enough dust to make it appear to be grey.

She shook herself off as she walked, not quite managing to get any dust off, but still felt better for it.

And loneliness filled the soul of this pony.





"Let us uncork that champagne."

The sound of a pop echoed through the hall from some distant chamber and laughter followed with the sound of tinkling glassware.

The sound of hundreds of voices carrying on at a party reached the ears of Nightmare Moon, causing them to flicker and swivel for the source of the sound.

The pony looked up, and began to run. She ran through the halls of the castle, coming ever closer to the source of the noise, until finally she found the doorway to the ballroom. Nightmare flung open the doors and looked inside.

The room was filled with ponies from the upper crust, laughing and carrying on. Eating small bits of food from the buffet table as the wait staff ponies ran around passing out glasses of champagne to all the guests.

Nightmare Moon walked through the crowd, yet none looked at her. Instead all eyes were focused at the far end of the room, where three empty thrones sat. Everypony was waiting for something to happen.

The dusty alicorn walked through the room, as the ponies waited for something to happen, suddenly realization struck the Night Princess, "I've been here before..."

A group of ponies marched out from behind the curtain, and blew a fanfare on trumpets, "Presenting, Queen Faust, and her daughters, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna!"

Nightmare Moon felt her jaw drop as she saw her mother walk regally out onto the stage. Shortly afterward a lanky teenaged Celestia followed with her pink hair done up in a bun, and lastly little Luna came out nearly running to keep up with her much taller mother and sister. 

The large group of ponies applauded as the three royals sat in their respective thrones.

Queen Faust smiled as she looked out over the crowd, "Tonight, as you are all aware, is a very special event. We are here to celebrate my daughter, Princess Luna's birthday."

The ponies in the room applauded politely for the youngest alicorn as Luna blushed with a smile of pride. "Now, please enjoy yourselves!"

The short speech over with, all the ponies politely applauded once more before going back to mingling with the other ponies in the room. Nightmare Moon wandered through the crowd to the front of the room and felt as if she was fighting a current in an ocean of ponies before she reached the front at last.

"Mom, I don't understand why I have to be here." Luna said with a pout, "Can't I just open my presents and go to my room?"

Her mother gave off an amused smile, "Not yet sweetie, you have to remember that making an appearance in social events is important when you are a Princess."

"But it's so BOOORING!" Luna whined as she pulled her faced down with her hooves.

"Mom, let me handle this," Celestia said with a confident smile, "Lulu, you can't stay cooped up in your room all the time."

"But these ponies are so boring, and stuffy. There are no games here or anything." Luna started to whine again as the crowd of ponies continued to mingle with each other, too caught up in the world of adults to notice that Luna was bored at all.

Celestia smiled, "Luna, you know how you always complain that you don't have any friends," the little blue alicorn nodded at this statement. Nightmare Moon then knew what was coming, and said it along with her sister in perfect time, "How do you expect to have friends if you lock yourself away?"

The little princess sat and thought about it, "Well, I'll stay I guess."

Suddenly a little grey unicorn colt went running through the hall, and right past Nightmare like she wasn't there. The little colt ran up to the stage and bowed clumsily before the Queen and two Princess's, "And who is this before us my little ponies?"

The grey unicorn smiled as he rose from his clumsy bow, "My name is Spyglass your majesties, and I would like to give Princess Luna a gift. If I may."

"A gift? Where is it?" Luna suddenly jumped out of her small throne with excitement before her mother calmed her down.

"Queen Faust? I need to tell you what it is, so I know its alright to give to her." 

The white and red alicorn leaned forward with a kind smile, "Whisper it in my ear Spyglass, and I'll answer you."

The colt whispered in the Queen's ear, and as he did she giggled slightly, "Oh but you are a brave one, go on ahead then."

Faust, and Celestia watched as Spyglass walked over to Princess Luna and gave him a smile, "Are you ready?"

Little Luna was so excited that she was nearly bouncing on her throne, and Nightmare silently watched with a grin on her dusty face.

The colt reached forward with an empty hoof, and lightly touched the end of her muzzle, "Boop." 

Luna blinked at him, and in her moment of wondering what just happened, he leaned forward and gave her a little kiss on the cheek.

Celestia, Queen Faust and the few crowd members that saw this act started to laugh imediatly as the colt ran away laughing out loud for his brazen actions. 

Luna on the other hand ran after him out of the room in as much anger as a little filly could manage.

As Luna left the scene, everything in the room faded away, back to the empty room it should have been as all the guests, furniture and features turned to stone that Nightmare Moon had carved over the last century. "Do you remember what happened next?"

Nightmare Moon whipped around to see that her mother had not faded to stone, and was looking directly at her like a foal to be punished, yet she did not have the heart to do it. "Tell me, what happened next?"

Nightmare Moon stammered for a few moments, looked down and felt the tinges of a smile across her lips, "I-I chased him, almost all the way to the throne room, where he stopped and ducked behind a vase."

Her mother smiled at her, "Go on,"

"H-he pulled out a box from the vase, and gave it to me, it had an abacus inside." Nightmare Moon felt a tear drop as she smiled, "I tried to cast a spell on him or buck him into next week but I just couldn't find the heart to do it. We became best friends over the course of the night."

Faust smiled, "You kept the gift if I remember, and you still have it."

"Had," she corrected instantly, "I don't have anything here to remind me of him."

Faust neeled down on the floor, "Forgive an old nag if I insist on it, but I just feel that the mask you wear is not suited to who you are deep down inside Luna."

Nightmare flinched, "I don't want to be her any more mother. Luna was weak, and let everypony walk all over her."

"YOU are in control of yourself my daughter. Shed the mask Luna, and be yourself. Try to love yourself or you won't ever truly break out of this prison you have made for yourself."

"Celestia did this to me, you should lecture her about imprisoning ponies."

"No my daughter," Faust continued again, "you built this prison with a mask, and you can shed it by taking off the charade."

The white pony stood tall as she looked down at her daughter, "You know, despite that you have food, and water here now, you can't stay forever."

"I won't mother," Nightmare started as she stood as proud as she could in her dusty state, "as soon as the stars arrive I will be free again."

"Only when you learn from your mistakes will you truly be free my daughter." Faust stood again, and was nearly a head taller than her daughter. "I must go."

"Wait mother!" the black alicorn called out, "Will you return?"

Faust smiled, "Perhaps some day... Perhaps."

As Nightmare turned away, she blinked a tear away from her eye, and when she looked back the image of her mother was gone, a solitary feather left behind on the ground.

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Celestia sat in her throne room. She had been living in it for a little over a decade now, and yet she still wasn't used to it.

The halls always felt empty, even when it was so full of guards and staff.

She looked up at a grand clock on the wall and gave off a small smile to the audience, "The court of the sun is now over, leave me so I may raise the moon."

The ponies in the room bowed before leaving the room, only one guard stayed behind as a precaution, even if she never really needed him. Celestia walked over to the window, and reached out with her magic to lower the sun.

The sun was easy, it always complied to do what was needed to be done, but when it was time to raise the moon, it fought her every step of the way, as if it knew what she had done.

As the moon rose, she saw the image of her sister's relief on the moon and sighed.

"Two sisters locked in prison. Both alone, yet surrounded by memories and shadows." Celestia murmured to herself. 

The guard raised an eye at this, as Celestia turned away from the window and marched out the double doors to eat dinner before she finally attempted to sleep in a cold castle.