//------------------------------// // Flashback II: A Star is Born // Story: Heir of the Nightmare // by Polaris501 //------------------------------// Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters Five Months Before the Banishment of Nightmare Moon Luna It was silent. It was always silent. Luna had to force an expression of neutrality on her face, even though there was no reason to keep it. She was sitting on her jaded blue throne, looking regal and reposed as she kept her vigil over the night. Luna shared this throne room with her sister, Celestia, to portray their equality in both power and authority, but even a blind-pony could see that this was not the case. Every night, year after year, Luna held her Court of the Moon so that their ponies could address Luna on issues that they thought warranted the attention of the Equestrian Crown. In the first years of the Royal Sister’s Reign, she had had many petitioners and visitors, some from the far corners of the world that had come to pay homage to the alicorns that had restored harmony and now controlled the celestial mechanisms of their world. But, those ponies that would come to seek her guidance had slowly dwindled, until nopony came to visit her anymore. But not so with Celestia. It had started innocently at first. Under the tyranny of Discord, ponies worked during the day and night since they both rose and fell randomly and there was no sense of time. But since the restoration, ponies had begun to focus more during the time of day and not night. Luna understood that, in the beginning. With earth ponies working their crops they had to work by daylight in order to harvest fresh and tradable produce to sustain themselves. Traders and merchants also needed to work by day because that was when ponies were mostly awake, it being easier to sleep at night due to the bright light of the sun awakening them. That did not mean Luna did not try to garner her ponies respect and admiration. The lunar princess had done many things to remedy the situation, with many successes at first. Luna had delved into the realms of dream magic, something that always was affiliated with the night and therefore within Luna’s range of expertise. The guardian of dreams she became, sifting through her ponies slumbers and chasing away the nightmares. Many had praised her protection over their dreams, thankful for the peace she was bringing to their daily rest. Luna had also found a colony of lunar pegasi during some of her travels, a reclusive branch of pegasi that typically dwelled only in the night. They were of small number, having been thought at first to be cursed or dark creatures and so were hunted and killed. But Luna changed that when she made them her personal guard, the Night Watch. She had put forth education initiatives to teach ponies that her guards were not monsters, and this had also concluded with success. All of Equestria realized their folly and accepted the lunar pegasi into their ranks. To reward Luna’s efforts on their behalf, the clans of the lunar pegasi swore eternal allegiance to her. Luna trained her Night Watch to be fearsome warriors, great knights of the realm. Under her banner, they searched the country under the moonlight for fearsome beasts left over from Discord’s rule and dangerous criminals that harmed her ponies. The Night Watch proved to be effective and became a respected and beloved part of Equestria, ponies adoring their feats of bravery and humble self-sacrifice. To rebuild her ponies love and fascination for the night, there were several new programs and studies she initiated among her mages and the nobles of the Lunar Court to put into action. The Winter Solstice, Harvest Moon Festival, and Feast of Starlight were the most major holidays and social functions that Luna introduced to her ponies in order to familiarize them with the benefits of the night. These all became very popular and ponies attended her festivals, bringing her great joy and a new peace of mind. In the academic world, Luna created the study of astrology so that ponies could understand the deeper mechanisms of her night. Prophecies and portents that the stars sometimes revealed to the world. Luna did place the stars, but sometimes a few would rearrange themselves in order to reveal something, that was when astrologers took notice. Also so that the night could be useful, Luna introduced astronomy to her ponies. Ponies began using the stars for navigation, constellations for the changing of the seasons, and phases of the moon to note the passing of months and years. For a few decades, these all were welcomed by her ponies and Luna felt very optimistic for the future. But, it was not to last. It was not sudden, there was no great cataclysm that turned her ponies away from Luna and her night. It was a slow, and terminal illness that would bring devastation upon her. Patient and sneaky, it was the slow drip of water that eventually weakened the foundation that brought the whole castle down. It started, with the nightmares. As the population of Equestria grew, it became harder and harder for Luna to safeguard all of her ponies dreams and for reasons that Luna could not discover, the number of nightmares had increased exponentially to the point where she could no longer safeguard all of Equestria. Therefore because of her long vigil over their slumbers, ponies began to think that the nightmares were her doing. The problem grew so bad that a myth arose that Luna decided what ponies dreamed, giving them sweet dreams or sending them dark nightmares to punish them. Luna could not control the dream world, such was impossible, she could only banish disperse the frightening images with her magic. When she realized that ponies thought she was the cause of nightmares, Luna tried her best to reverse this trend but the mistrust was already entrenched, thwarting her efforts. Then, the Massacre of the Innocents happened. To this day, Luna still had no idea what had caused the terrible tragedy. A fringe group of lunar pegasi, not criminals but neither were they the ideal example of their kind either, stole the armor of her Night Watch and traveled to the town of Tall Tale in the north of Equestria. Once there, the disguised thestrals began killing the inhabitants of the town. It was not loud or raucous like a rampaging dragon, but a silent killing like that of a ghost that continues to haunt the region. The murderers did not go screaming in, but instead broke into each house, one by one, and slit their adults’ throats as they slept. With the children…moon and stars…Luna could not recall even Discord ever maiming somepony as horrendous as the poor children of Tall Tale by those foul beasts. The vile creatures had killed more than half the town when somepony realized what was happening. An alarm was sounded and Celestia’s Day Guard rescued them, killing all the rogue thestrals in the process because they fought to the death, or took their own lives if captured. After the dust settled, more than seven-eighths of the town were dead or dying and the sole blame were the corpses lunar pegasi dressed as Luna’s Night Watch. The outcry from the ponies of Equestria had been staggering. There were many calls for the old ways to return and persecute the lunar pegasi, the extremists seeming to having been proved right by the massacre. Nobles bickered with Luna and demanded that she completely disband her Night Watch and deport the colony of lunar pegasi to beyond Equestria’s borders. It had taken many years to silence those wrongful petitions, but Luna was able to salvage her Night Watch and protect the innocent thestrals that had no part in the horrible tragedy. To say the least, Luna’s defense of the lunar pegasi had done nothing in the eyes of the public to endear them to her. Many rumors began to mill that Luna herself had ordered the attack, and that the Night Watch were her band of assassins to do her dirty work. That was the tipping point. With the increasing nightmares and the massacre, ponies began fearing and mistrusting the night and the alicorn that brought it. A black mythology arose in the rural towns that the night alicorn was the protector of thieves and murderers since most of their deeds happened during the night. Eventually, this led to ponies believing that Luna had naught but ill intended for them and they began to cast her as a fearsome tyrant perched on a throne like a vulture waiting to pick their dead carcasses. Nopony would go to her festivals anymore for fear of being labeled as a conspirator with her and what they came to believe was a gathering of evil spirits and malevolent necromancers. Her beloved constellations were scorned and blasphemed as evil portents that she placed in the sky to inspire fear and despair. Those that studied the stars were persecuted until astrology and astronomy seemingly disappeared overnight. Luna had tried telling Celestia of what was happening, but it always seemed that her sister was buried under work, ponies now dumping their issues onto one side of the Equestrian Diarchy. It didn’t help that Luna’s pride wouldn’t make it easy to admit to her big-sister that their ponies feared her. Luna had wondered why Celestia didn’t notice her growing black reputation, and so had investigated into the cause of her big-sister’s ignorance. What she discovered was deeply grating, and made Luna bitter and cold. What had happened was that the ponies of Equestria had painted Luna as a dark reaper that came in the night to kill and plunder while Celestia was pictured as the pure and good that kept Luna’s darkness at bay. Good and Evil. Yin and Yang. Day and Night. The reason why Celestia had no clue as to her sister’s troubles was that nopony had the nerve to voice that they thought her beloved sister was the very embodiment of evil. Flattering nobles always gave dishonest embellishments on how wonderful Luna was in order to curry favor with the sun princess. The Day Guard loved Celestia but knew that to tell her that they thought her own sister was a danger to her and Equestria was to tread on very, very, thin ice under the heat of the sun. Interaction with common ponies were very rare because of their station and thus Celestia did not hear the rumors nor the stories that surrounded Luna. The few times Luna tried to bring it up, she felt like Celestia brushed off her misgivings as something that would fade with time or was a simple nuisance that would pass. Luna realized that Celestia reveled in the love and adoration of their ponies, and could not see that they thought her little-sister was a monster. It was poetically ironic, the very paragon of the sun blinded by her own glorious shining. As Luna gazed mournfully across the silent hall, the light of the torches the only flickering movement, she decided she had more important things that to wait for ponies that would not come. “We think,” Luna said quietly, addressing her two thestral guards in resignation “that my Court of the Night shall not have any visitors tonight. We are weary, and this only depresses us.” Raising a gavel that hadn’t truly been used in some time, she rapped it on its stand, the wooden smack echoing silently in the cold and lonely throne room. “Court is adjourned.” Luna said, mostly to herself. Gone were the nights that ponies would seek her for guidance and protection. They had turned her into a dark specter that was the darkness to Celestia’s glorious light. Descending from her throne, Luna began making her way to her tower in the castle, her two guards falling in behind as they escorted her. The castle was so empty, it filled Luna with nostalgia for the time when great mages and astrologers would come to the castle and bring forth great discoveries or make fantastic new creations to benefit Equestria. But no more, they were long gone. Nopony would be associated with the moon princess anymore. If there was proof of this, it was the echoes of her hooves as she made her way alone to her chambers bouncing off the unyeilding stonework of the castle. Finally she made it to her door, the guards taking their posts on either side of it. “Make sure we are not disturbed.” Luna commanded, not even looking at her guards as she addressed them. In her peripheral vision, they both gave a silent nod of affirmation to her demand and Luna made her way into her personal residence. Once inside, Luna actually let out a sigh of relief, no longer having to wear the fake mask she had to wear to her subjects, if she saw them at all that was. Oh, my aching back… Luna had to stretch. Her back muscles were throbbing painfully along with her ankles. To anpony else looking at her, she would have seemed normal, but that was far from the truth. The blue alicorn made her way to a rug in front of her warm fireplace. Luna stretched like a cat, her wings flaring out as she yawned. After the soreness alleviated a little, Luna straightened up and finally let go of the magical illusion that she maintained every time she stepped hoof outside of her chambers. Like water running through a stream, the illusion faded away from her body to reveal her very large and obtrusive belly. Luna was carrying a little pony with her. She slowly laid down on her side on the thick woolen rug so as not to harm her unborn foal. Luna stared into the glowing coals of the warm fire and began recessing her beleaguered mind from the trouble that plagued her, trying to find some calming and rejuvenating sleep. As she almost slipped into the realm of dreams, Luna felt a small kick in her lower abdomen awaken her. “Oof.” she murmured. The expecting mare looked lovingly down at her pregnant belly with a smile and rubbed it gently with a hoof, trying to calm the little pony inside. “When are you coming out little one? Mama wants to see you.” When her unborn foal didn’t reply, Luna again began relaxing from her brief but welcome interruption. Her teal eyes reflecting the flames as they danced, Luna began drifting off to sleep and started reminiscing how this had all started, roughly three to four years ago. In her growing loneliness as she realized her ponies feared her, Luna had found the Royal Gardens to be both refreshing and peaceful. The gardens were always so beautiful, having both flora and fauna that prospered during the night and day. When her burdens had become too much for her psyche, she found solace in the life flourishing under her moon. That’s where she met him. His name was Terrace Crescent, a lunar pegasi and one of her former guards in the Night Watch. Ironically, she had heard of him before, but had never gotten to truly know the stallion until they met in the garden. Crescent was a former guard because he had lost both his wings and the bottom part of his right-foreleg while battling a Manticore. Unable to perform his duty anymore, he had been awarded medals for bravery and had been honorably discharged. But instead of returning to the lunar pegasi colony, Crescent had gone straight from the Night Watch Barracks to the castle staff administrators, asking if he could stay on as the gardener for the nocturnal plants in the Royal Garden. Crescent’s request was granted, the old gardener was retiring and Crescent’s special talent was actually handling nocturnal flora. Crescent had joined the Night Watch out of a sense of duty towards his people’s commitment to Equestria, but now that he could no longer perform that duty, he wanted to practice his craft at the castle. Luna had been informed of this by her staff, but truly didn’t register the change until she found him tending to the garden one moonlit eve. Crescent was tall for a stallion, thought he was still shorter than Luna. He had a dark blue mane and tail with the traditional draconic eyes in a shade of yellow. Luna had seen his scars where his bat-wings use to be as well as the crutch he used in place of his missing leg. Feeling it impolite to ignore Crescent, especially since he had been injured in her service, Luna engaged in a conversation with him. She was surprised to say the least, that even in his crippled state, he was cheerful and optimistic. He always did his best and looked on the bright sides of things even in the face of his disability. It was quite innocent at first, they talked about the different plants and how they bloomed beautifully in the starlight. Luna found him to be charming and rustically familiar, something she didn’t experience often because of her rather intimidating position as a princess. After several months of running into him here and there when she visited the garden, she began seeking his presence more often. Crescent had a calming effect on her, and their conversations were always filled with mirth and laughter. Crescent was very intelligent, his family came from a long line of lunar philosophers and scientists. Even with her cumulative knowledge of centuries, Crescent still managed to surprise her with his small yet wise tidbits of thought and knowledge. Eventually, she counted him among her friends, which were very few and far between because of both her position and her now intimidating reputation among the citizens of Equestria. Then two years ago, Crescent confessed to her that he had developed feelings for her. Luna had been shocked at first, and was going to refuse his advances. But before she dismissed him, Luna did some introspection on herself and realized that she too had had feelings for him. They were falling in love. After discovering this, they were hesitant to continue seeing each other for fear of the consequences. But they could not stop seeking the other out and they began exploring their feelings together secretly, away from the prying eyes of Luna’s court. Then one night, one glorious magical night, Crescent proposed marriage to her. Even with only three functional legs, Crescent was a gentlecolt and he had kneeled when he proposed to her. Crescent told her that even though he was not worthy of her, he wanted to seek her hoof in marriage for she was more beautiful and wonderful than the night itself. He held out to her with his only front leg all that he could afford, it was a small silver horn ring that bore the image of the moon. To most, especially the nobility, such a ring would have been considered cheap and worthless. To Luna, it was her crown jewel. She accepted, and they secretly married there in the garden where they had truly met each other, the only witnesses to their union the night sky, which Luna had never put more effort into it than that night. They had both decided to keep their marriage a secret. Luna was afraid that the nobles would grow angry that she wanted to marry what they would have perceived to be a commoner and a useless cripple. Also, she didn’t want him endangered if the more erratic zealots that believed her to be a monster went after Crescent to get to her. Crescent’s reasons were simple. He wanted to make her happy and to not have outside pressures affecting their relationship. Luna had thought about telling Celestia, but she feared that her big-sister would not approve since she was a champion of royal decorum. So, she didn’t tell her. Their marriage was wonderful for Luna. Crescent was always understanding and he never made demands of her like the nobility would have in his position. Being with him practically made Luna forget about all her troubles and she found comfort in his love. Whenever they were together, even if it was for just a few minutes, Luna treasured those moments and it always made her feel bright and optimistic for the future. With Crescent’s support, Luna no longer held misgivings for the future. She looked on the positive side of things and looked forward to the time for when her ponies would love her again, even if it would take more years of hard work. For several months after their secret wedding, they carried on as usual to all observers. None ever suspected anything. They would meet secretly and enjoy one another’s presence. Then, tragedy struck like a lightning bolt. One night Luna went out to meet him at one of their predetermined rendezvous, but she couldn’t find him. Worried a little, since Crescent had never missed one of their dates, Luna checked with the castle staff administrators as to his whereabouts. They told Luna that Crescent was in the castle’s infirmary, having passed out while he worked. Her concern rising astronomically, Luna had disguised herself with magic and gone to see Crescent as quick as she could. She was too late. Crescent had died. Barely retaining her disguise and composure upon finding his pale and limp form, she questioned the doctors as to the cause of his death. They told their princess in disguise that his old wounds from the Manticore attack had reopened and gotten infected, killing him quickly but painfully. It was a strain of infection almost impossible to detect, not giving off any symptoms until it was too late to save him. Luna secretly buried him in their garden, mourning for him deeply. Her night sky reflected her sorrow as the stars themselves seemed to cry out in grief. Two nights later, Luna discovered she was with foal. Luna was beyond shocked, they had discussed the possibility of children but Luna always wrote it off as a distant and unachievable hope because of the rarity of alicorn children. Not giving much thought to it. But eleven months ago, when she reached out with her magic and felt the life growing within her, Luna realized she wouldn’t give up her child for anything in the world. Realizing that soon she would have a young foal to take care of, Luna took precautions to keep her secret while she planned on what to do once her child was born. The first few months had been the hardest with her morning sickness and unpredictable mood swings. Alicorns only rarely contracted illnesses. Their magic was so strong that it literally burned away all of the regular diseases that their ponies contracted, it would be hard to explain to her big-sister why she was sick when she didn’t have any of the symptoms of an alicorn illness and then Celestia would probe deeper and discover that she was going to be an aunt. Ironically, the lack of anypony coming to visit her Court of the Night and her sister’s relative ignorance of Luna’s affairs proved to be a blessing in disguise. Luna had been able to hide her occasional bouts of morning sickness in the privacy of her quarters and because of her fearsome reputation, ponies expected her to have mood swings. When the foal grew bigger and started to show, it had been simple to hide her stomach with an illusion spell. The cravings she accumulated were also easy to disguise, she explained to her chefs that she had grown tired of her regular meals and had arranged for a healthy diet while she carried her foal. In her spare time, which she now had plenty of, Luna made preparations for where the foal would stay once he or she was born. She couldn’t possibly pass off wanting to build a foal’s room close to her residence without raising some suspicion, so she had tunneled and built the room herself underneath her chambers using her powerful magic. Once the room was finished, she built a crib and fashioned together other things her child would need eventually. Once done with the required necessitates, Luna made foal’s toys, blankets, and other accessories. Luna’s favorite was a small plush doll of herself. Then she had lavished great beauty into the decoration of the room. Placing diamonds for stars in a jaded blue ceiling and a marble moon to watch over her foal. Along the walls, Luna painted beautiful silver moonflowers, a monument to her foal’s late father. Once all that was completed, all Luna had to do was wait. She considered what would happen once her foal was revealed. Luna knew she couldn’t hide her child forever in her (metaphorical) basement. Eventually, she would have to tell Celestia and the rest of Equestria. No matter how much she tried to run through all the various scenarios, Luna couldn’t pin one down as to their likely reaction. Luna knew Celestia would support her, even though she might feel angry that Luna had kept both her late husband and her pregnancy secret for so long. Celestia loved foals and Luna also knew Celestia would relish having another family member. The only real reason Luna hadn’t already told Celestia was because she knew her big-sister would want to tell the rest of Equestria immediately. That, was the problem. The nobility would be furious. Not only had Luna secretly married a thestral not of noble blood, but Crescent hadn’t even been in Luna’s guard anymore, an affront they would not ignore. In all probability, they would not recognize her foal as a legitimate royal and demand she either give up the foal, or give up the throne. Luna would die before she gave up her child. As for her throne, it would take a huge amount of effort on both herself and Celestia parts to save it, but it could be done. The political consequences would last for decades though. The present nobility would shun her and further alienate her from the rest of Equestria. Luna would have to weather out the political firestorm until the nobility trusted her again. As she laid there in front of the bright and soothing fire, Luna still did not know how or when she would reveal her child, so she had decided to wait until she could no longer hide her pride and joy. Another kick. Luna arose from her reminiscent thoughts and turned an upraised eyebrow at the offending belly where her child slumbered safe from the world. “Go back to sleep little one, mama is tired.” She told her stomach reproachfully. As if in defiance of her, the foal kicked again. Then again. Suddenly, Luna became aware that her lower body had begun to go into the early stages of birth. It’s time! Her breathing picking up as Luna realized that her foal was coming, she quickly blanketed her room in a magical barrier, ensuring nopony would enter and sound-proofing her chamber at the same time. “Ooooohhh.” Luna groaned as another contraction wracked her body. Luna repositioned herself on her rug and got ready for her foal to arrive. Three and Half Hours Later “You are so beautiful…my little star.” Luna was tired, after several hours of sweat and pain though, it was all worth it. She was laying down on her belly, recovering from the shock of the foal leaving her body. Her fur was matted with sweat from the effort and she panted with exhaustion. But, there in between her forelegs, resting peacefully, slept perhaps the most wonderful thing in her life. She was so tiny, her wings were cute and fluffy as they rested on the foal’s sides. Her daughter had a very small horn that could barely be seen through the purple tuffs of hair that made up her mane and tail along with a pink highlight that ran down the middle. Her soft and warm fur were the most beautiful shade of lavender, much like when the day ended and the night began. And her eyes, her wonderful eyes sparkled when they had stared up at her mother for the first time. “Yes,” Luna said, reaching down with her muzzle and a smile to nuzzle her wonderful foal. “that will be your name. Twilight for the beginning of a new night in my life, Andromeda for the lavander of your coat like the star, and Sparkle for how you bring joy to me because you sparkle with life.” Twilight Sparkle didn’t respond to her mother’s nuzzling, she too was exhausted and was snoozing deeply as she laid on her belly between her mother’s legs. Feeling blessed that Luna had given birth to a healthy and happy foal, she leaned down and laid her head next to her gently breathing daughter, finally succumbing to a much deserved rest. Her starry mane gently blew in an ethereal wind above the both of them as she closed her eyes, wondering at what the future had in store for the both of them. She was no longer alone. And that made her happy.