//------------------------------// // Freedom! // Story: The Life and Times of Nightmare Moon // by RainbowDoubleDash //------------------------------// After a thousand years, everything was coming together at last. The steward of the sun could no longer summon up the magic necessary to keep her sister imprisoned so securely in the moon. She could no longer resist the subtle, millennial plans of the constellations, the Star Beasts. Everything was coming into alignment. The stars were right. And so it was that the four mightiest of the Star Beasts descended upon the moon. Draco, the green dragon. Cetus, the blue whale. Scorpio, the red scorpion. And Cygnus, the yellow swan. Their work was the result of a thousand years of effort to free their imprisoned mistress. On the surface moon, the four of them worked ancient, eldritch, black magic together. There was a bright flash. And so, she was there. An alicorn, larger than even her sister, with a black coat, a two-foot long horn that could channel unfathomable power, and turquoise, dragon-like eyes. Great wings that could conjure up windstorms powerful enough to strip every leaf from every tree in a large, healthy forest. She was power. She was the Night. She was Princess Luna, free at last from her prison, as the four Star Beasts had expected, risen at last from an enforced slumber of a thousand years. Princess Luna looked to each of them. Then she lay down on the moon, closing her eyes. “Five more minutes,” she insisted. --- “Argh. Alright. Alright! I’m up.” Luna groaned, sitting up and rubbing her eyes. “Oh, God, I hate waking up…” “Mistress,” Scorpio insisted. “You’re free!” “Right on,” Luna responded, extending a hoof. Scorpio used a claw to bump it. “Good to be free.” She stretched for a few moments, ruffling her wings. “Who else is here…Draco! You look like you’ve packed on a few pounds.” The dragon constellation rubbed a hand behind his head in embarrassment. “Um…maybe a few, mistress.” He said with a slight chuckle. “Ah, no worries.” Luna assured him, as she began to turn around. “Nothing wrong with gaining a little oh my God Cetus what happened.” The blue whale constellation blinked a few times. “Mistress?” Luna stared, wide-eyed, as a long, uncomfortable silence began. It wasn’t broken for some time, until Luna whispered, albeit quite audibly, “my God you’ve gotten fat.” Cetus was taken aback. “Uh…well, m-mistress,” the whale constellation said, “I…well, with you gone, I may have turned to, um…comfort food…” “Comfort food?” Luna asked. She still had not blinked. “You’re a Star Beast! I thought you ate…I dunno…solar flares and stellar wind or something! How do you get fat off of that?” “I’m not that fat…” “You are a sphere, Cetus. A nearly perfect sphere. Artists would kill to be able to draw you freehand.” Scorpio chuckled at that, and Luna extended a hoof again, which Scorpio bumped. Cetus looked dejected as Luna turned to the last of the Star Beasts. Another silence began, though this one was somewhat shorter as Luna looked to Draco for help. “Who…?” “Cygnus.” The swan constellation said, bowing her long neck. “Ursa…couldn’t make it.” “Couldn’t…?” Luna asked. “Wait, wait, wait. What the Hell could keep Ursa from releasing her sovereign from a millennium of unfair imprisonment?” “Something about a maternity leave or something…” Draco explained, taking out a clipboard from somewhere and looking over the papers there. “We didn’t want to ask.” “Maternity?” Luna demanded. “With who?” “We didn’t ask,” Draco repeated. “But we couldn’t find her – ” “You couldn’t find a bear the size of a mountain?” “ – and Cygnus was free and had the power necessary to help release you.” “Oh, well, thank Heaven for that,” Luna said, rubbing her eyes. “I’m so glad that Sydney – ” “Cygnus,” the constellation corrected. “ – whatever, that the swan could spare some time from her busy schedule,” Luna finished, before letting out a long sigh. “Sorry. Sorry. I’m cranky. I’m always cranky when I wake up at the twilight. Ziggy – ” “Cygnus.” “ – whatever, I’m sure you’ll do fine.” Luna stood up, walking a few paces from the Star Beasts. “Not quite what I had in mind – no offense, a giant swan kind of doesn’t strike the terror I’m looking for, but whatever! I can run with this. Certain majesty, I guess. Now, then, just wait there while I start assembling Argo Navis. We’ll – ” “Um,” Draco interrupted, again checking his clipboard. Luna turned, looking at Draco. “Yes?” “We…don’t really have time for that, mistress.” Luna blinked. “What? No, we have plenty of time. The imprisonment ended on the sundown just before the longest day of the year began.” “It’s…” he checked a pocket watch that extended from a pocket he didn’t have. “It’s only about an hour before dawn.” The shepherd of the moon’s jaw dropped. “What?” She demanded, stamping forward. “No! Why? How? I said five more minutes, not eight more hours!” “You did say five more minutes…” Cetus said, cringing slightly. “Um…you said it a few times…then at one point you told us to shut up and leave you alone for an hour…” “Argh!” Luna exclaimed. All her plans. A millennia of scheming about how to get back at her sister for trapping her in the moon! She had dreamed of it: Argo Navis, the Boat constellation, descending from the skies, smashing down into the courtyard of Canterlot, with her at the helm…Draco guiding it down, exhaling fire and death at the pegasi royal guard. Scorpio and Ursa would deal with the earth ponies and unicorns, of course, while Cetus would be… …God he’d gotten fat. Luna’s thought process ended there as she realized she really didn’t have time to think about how her plans were coming to pieces before her eyes. “Fine!” Luna exclaimed, turning around again and looking up, into the sky of the moon, where the blue-green orb of Equestria sat. “We do this the boring way. We fly!” Luna, Draco, Scorpio, and Cygnus all took to the sky, sailing off towards Equestria and Canterlot. “Um…” Cetus said. Luna paused, and the three star beasts that had taken off with her stopped as well. The shepherd of the moon stared. “Cetus?” She asked. “We’re flying now.” Cetus looked down. “Well…you see, the thing about that…” “You can fly. I’ve seen you fly. You’re a Star Beast, of course you can fly. Get your fat ass – ” Luna stopped talking as she realized. “Oh my God you’re so fat you can’t fly. How is that possible?” “I’m not that fat…” “How did you even get to the moon?” Luna demanded. Draco coughed. “You had to be carried?” Luna demanded. “You made Draco carry you?” Cetus blinked a few times. “I’m sorry…” “I’m sorry too. My God, Cetus.” Luna turned to Draco. “Okay, pick his fat ass up and carry him again. Try not to sprain anything.” Draco obliged, hefting the whale constellation with only a minimal amount of fuss and beginning to carry him. Luna glared at Cetus, wondering how he had been able to just let himself go so much and on nothing but stellar wind. At least Tia won’t be a problem, Luna thought. I’ll just drop his fat ass on her. Luna considered, then shivered at the thought of being trapped underneath Cetus’ bulk. No, that’s too mean. Ugh. I’d do less damage if I dropped the moon… --- Luna stomped through the halls of Canterlot twenty minutes later. She’d encountered a few royal guards, but simple sleep spells had been enough to take care of them – somehow she just wasn’t in the mood for death and destruction anymore. Not that she’d ever really wanted it to begin with – she was just cranky, she admitted to herself, from being woken up. Scorpio and the swan followed her. Draco and Cetus really should have been here, too, but the former had to remain with the latter – and the latter couldn’t fit through the halls, anyway. “Argh!” Luna exclaimed finally as she returned to the throne room. “Where is she?” “I’m sure she’s somewhere, mistress,” Scorpio assured his ruler. “Perhaps one of the royal guards knows?” he grasped one of the slumbering pegasi in his claws and held him aloft. Luna leaned forward, horn glowing slightly as she channeled magic to cancel her sleeping spell. The guard awoke slowly, eyes fluttering open. Given that he found himself in the pincers of a giant scorpion, with Luna staring down at him, he took the surprise well. “AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!” “Gah!” Luna exclaimed, sticking a hoof in his mouth. “Ow! You could shatter glass with that!” The guard stopped trying to scream at last. Luna withdrew her hoof. “Okay, now I only have – ” “Nightmare Moon!” Luna blinked at the guard’s exclamation, before shaking her head and pressing on. “Whatever. I only have one question. Where is Celestia?” The guard stared in wide-eyed shock. “B…but you’re just a foal’s tale!” He exclaimed. “Sure. This is a hallucination. Now where’s Celestia?” “At the Summer Sun Celebration!” The guard responded, cringing. Clearly he had not bought Luna’s line, but then again she hadn’t tried very hard to sell it. “In Ponyville!” Luna stared. “No.” She said. “Pardon?” The guard asked. “No. There is no place called Ponyville. That’s stupid.” “…actually, there is,” Scorpio informed Luna. “It was founded about six hundred years after you were imprisoned.” Luna blinked a few times. “…earth ponies?” She asked. Scorpio nodded sagely, and Luna found herself unsurprised that those country hicks would be so unimaginative with names. “Okay…” Luna said, conjuring up a map of Equestria as she remembered it a thousand years ago, and holding it aloft for the guard to see. “Where is it?” Scorpio released one claw’s hold on the guard, so that he could point, though it took him a few moments. “H-here,” he said. Luna nodded. “Right. Near my palace – ” she began, before stopping and realizing what she had said. “M-my palace? My ambrosia garden? I am going to murder Tia if those freeloading ponies ate even a single fruit!” Luna turned, spreading her wings and taking to the air. She was followed swiftly by Cygnus and Scorpio, the latter of whom simply tossed away the guard he was holding, who quickly picked himself up and began running off, hollering “Nightmare Moon” over and over again for some reason. Draco, still carrying Cetus, caught up with them a few minutes later. “Murder,” Luna stated. “Sooo much blood…” “That’s…kind of dark, mistress,” Draco said. “Fine, I won’t kill her, I’ll just trap her in the sun.” Luna responded after several minutes of mulling things over. Her eyes were narrow. “Trap the shit out of her…” They flew in silence for a few minutes. Luna looked to the swan. “Kylie, you’re – ” “Cygnus,” the swan said. “Whatever. You’re being kind of quiet. It’s creeping me out.” The swan looked to her queen. “I’m sorry, mistress. It’s just…well…” Suddenly, the swan was there, flying right next to Luna. “I can’t believe I’m actually here and I get to help you overthrow your sister I never imagined in my wildest dreams that I might actually be able to replace the great Ursa I mean I know she was on maternity leave but I thought they’d find her but then Draco showed up and told me that they needed me and now I’m here and EEEEEE I’m so happy!” “Gah!” Luna exclaimed in the middle of that, beating her wings furiously to try and get some distance from the Star Beast swan and her sudden burst of enthusiasm. “Personal space! Personal space!”