Luna found herself continually looking over her shoulder, with a mixture of fear, and paranoia. She could not understand what was happening, she felt like she had to tell Celestia something, and she felt if she didn’t, something tragic was bound to happen.
What made it worse, was the evil feeling that lingered around her. It had only worsened, it was stronger now; and this put Luna in a constant state of fear. She had to try something, anything, anything to let her sister know about the nightmare she had.
Luna decided to head to the library, in an attempt to find out if it was a curse, and if it was, could she break it, or was it something much more villainous, something purely evil, waiting in the shadows, watching closely for its prey to falter. Luna searched for hours.
"There must be something here, there has to be!" Luna thought to herself.
Luna had reached the point of unyielding panic, she eventually deduced that the information, didn’t exist. Once she figured out this simple truth, she knew she needed help from somepony that knew virtually everything about magic, and had read nearly every book she came across, who was known to carry the element of magic, she needed, Twilight Sparkle. If anypony could help her, it had to be Twilight. Luna took off, leaving a mess in the library, but this was an urgent matter, and the librarian would forgive her once she found out.
Twilight was sorting out the mountains of friendship problems, that had accumulated over the last week. She was a lot older now, and she closely resembled Celestia’s height, her wings had fully developed, and they were twice the span of Rainbow Dashes wings, but Rainbow was still the best flyer in Equestria, and she had the trophy to prove it.
Rainbow Dash had won the Equestria winged race by a landslide; but unfortunately she couldn’t fly all that much anymore, due to an injury she received when she was fighting an evil Dragon. The Dragon had swung its giant tail and obliterated Dashes wing, the bones in Rainbow Dashes wing had been crushed into dust.
Twilight attempted to heal it using her magic, but she could only partially heal it. She could fly, but she couldn’t fly the way she used to. If she attempted to, a sharp pain would shoot through her wing, and she would plummet to the ground. Due to this Rainbow Dash was no longer the same Dashy. She was now in an endless struggle against depression. Dashy spent many nights alone in Clouds Dale, crying for hours.
Some time ago, Rainbow Dash had thought of ending it all. she thought her life was over, and she had nothing to live for. She could no longer be a competitor in the Equestria Wings Tournament.
However, on one fateful day when Rainbow Dash had finally decided to do it. Scootaloo had decided to visit Rainbow Dash, as she entered Rainbow Dashes cloud house, she saw her adopted big sister, about to drink a vial of poison. Scoot dashed in, knocking the vial to the ground, shattering it, before slapping Rainbow Dash across her face, before bluntly saying, as her eyes began to tear.
“DON’T YOU DARE DO THAT, YOU’RE THE ONLY ONE I HAVE LEFT. YOU ARE MY BIG SIS. YOU TAUGHT ME TO FLY, AND TAUGHT ME TO DO TRICKS. YOU ARE MY B.S.B.F.F.” Scootaloo said, breaking into tears. “Dry those tears squirt, awesome ponies don’t cry; I was being silly. That’s all, don’t worry I’ll be fine.” Rainbow Dash said in an attempt to hide her true motives, trying to comfort Scootaloo.
Rainbow Dash was a changed pony now, she had lost her will to fight. She was no longer what she once was, she was merely a husk welcoming death. When she lost her ability to compete and fly, she lost the will to live. Succumbing to depression.
“I won this for you.” Scootaloo stopped sobbing, and showed Rainbow Dash a gold trophy with a set of wings on it, and underneath the wings it read '1st place of the international E.W.T.'
“I’m so p… WWWWAAAAIT THIS IS THE E.W.T TROPHY, you competed in the Equestria Wings tournament, and won it for me. What time did you get?” Rainbow dash said as a glimpse of her old self started to show. “A 4.00 minute track time” Scootaloo said smugly.
“Not bad, but not as good as yours truly, I hold the record for the E.W.T, but keep trying squirt, you will get there.” Rainbow Dash said, as her true self showed once more, even if it was for a split second. This made Scoot so happy, that she elatedly flew up in a looping motion. “I swear to you Dash, that I will win every race for you. You’re my big sister, best friend, forever, and I want you to be happy.”
As Luna arrived at Twilights palace, and the ever growing Ponyville; it resembled a small city now. She knocked on the door, and an adolescent Spike answered the door. He was the same height as Luna now, he had glistening mauve scales, large wings and he was now a master of the sword. He learnt this from Twilights brother, when he would visit, to escape from his duties as a prince, and being a father for a day.
Shining Armour and Cadence had an alicorn foal named Flurry Heart. She had giant wings in comparison to her little body, and a turquoise, and pink, mane and tail, and her father's blue eyes, with her mothers pink coat. She was quite the beautiful filly.
She had even managed to inherit more magical power then Twilight. Her mother and father first noticed this when she literally blew the roof off of his room, with a simple levitation spell. The amount of time Shining Armour spent repairing the Castle, was astonishing, he was now a master at building now.
As Luna entered the castle she asked if Twilight was available to speak to, Spike replied, “I’ll get her for you.” As Spike said this in his now deep and smooth voice he travelled to Twilights chambers, he told her that Luna had come to visit her and as he did she couldn’t get away from her friendship reports fast enough.
“Luna it’s nice to see you, how are you? What brings you here? Is something wrong? Is Equestria in danger again?” Twilight Asked with concern.
“No, no Twilight, I’m guessing you have been feeling the dark thickness as well. Celestia has taken precautions to prevent it from putting anypony in danger.” Luna replied
“That’s good, I was worried, but I do sense something is wrong, there is a thick aura around you, has something happened to you,” Twilight Asked Luna with concern
Luna wanted to answer Twilight, and tell her about the words that rang in her head, but when she started to speak she couldn’t say the words to Twilight, and this worried her.
“Luna?” Twilight said as she tilted her head in perplexity
“I want to tell you but I can’t,” As Luna said this her concern grew even further, and she began to panic. Why couldn’t she speak, why couldn’t she tell her friends the ponies she trusted about her concerns and worries?
“Why?” Twilight said as she tilted her head.
“I just can’t sorry” as Luna said this she teleported back to her room her mind swimming with woe and confusion.
Twilight thought to herself as Luna teleported away, “This is not good, first that evil feeling, and now a mysterious Luna; what is going on? I must talk with Princess Celestia.” Beginning to feel concern and panic course through her. She had no clue what was wrong with Luna, but she knew something was, and it was evil she had a faint memory of the feeling she felt, but it would not come to her like her mind had been clouded by magic. She tried to break the spell with her magic, but failed against the ancient sorcery.
As Luna returned to the library, she continued her studies, attempting to find answers about why this was happening to her. With increased panic and determination but she found nothing.
Twilight had finished her royal duties for the day, and she took flight and started to head to Canterlot, in an attempt to find out why Luna had visited her, and acted so out of character when she visited her. She needed answers, and she knew who to ask, she had to ask Celestia. Twilight had been getting increasingly anxious throughout the day. She saw images of a great battle and the feeling of death lingering, approaching, skulking like a thief in the night, waiting for a moment to strike.
Once she made it to Canterlot, she approached the castle, as she did the guards made way for her and opened the giant doors, and Twilight made her way through the castle. She arrived where Celestia was residing on her throne. She had just finished her own royal duties as Twilight arrived.
“What a lovely surprise, it’s nice to see you Twilight. How are you?” Celestia greeted
“Unfortunately, I have come here to ask you about my concerns for your sister.” Replied Twilight with seriousness. That scared Celestia
“What is wrong?” Celestia said with an unusual seriousness that was rarely seen
“She visited me today and she wanted to tell me something but what she wanted to say she couldn’t. What is wrong with Luna?” Twilight explained with a serious tone that never wavered throughout the sentence.
“The same thing happened today, early in the morning with me. Unfortunately, I don’t know. But I will find out, that I promise.” Celestia said as her happy expression morphed into an expression of seriousness and fear mixed with concern and worry, she knew she had to find out, she knew it was dire.
“I will help you she is my friend as well.” Twilight said as the tension built in the air.
As nightfall fell, and Luna was asleep, Nightmare Moon came back in a dream.
“So you withstood my attempt this day, but you will fail. So how do you like my curse Luna? Is it irritating to try and speak about your dreams to your closest friends and our dear sister; only to fail? Do you give up yet Luna, are you going to fight me still, because if you do, you will fail. You cannot win against yourself ha, ha, ha, ha.”
“You have no power over me Nightmare Moon, now be gone.” As Luna said this, she forced Nightmare Moon back to her inner consciousness. But she felt in her heart the words her alternate self said were true, she was gradually losing power and this frightened her even more; she knew her time was short and she had to fix this by herself, and now she understood why, she was cursed by ancient magic, powerless to break the spell. It was the only time she felt helpless, vulnerable, and frail.