//------------------------------// // Chapter 3: Goodnight, Sister Mine // Story: Lullay Moon Princess // by Queen Sanguine Dreams //------------------------------// Celestia was growing increasingly worried about her sister, but there was nothing she could do. Luna would ask her about seemingly random things in the castle, pointing out small slights against her and blowing them out of proportion. It had been a week since she had visited the Thestrals, and had gotten worse only since. Though some points that Luna brought up gave the Sun Princess pause. Why where ponies afraid of Luna? She had done them no wrong. Her sister shielded her ponies from their nightmares, cared for her ponies when they left this world and welcomed them into it. Her ponies... Oh no. Celestia lept from her seat in the day court, ignoring the protests of yet another rambling noblemare. She had to get to Luna. She had to explain that this was just a huge misunderstanding! She loved her sister, she adored every moment spent with her. To think that Luna had been distressed this entire time and she took no notice! ***** Celestia quietly stepped closer to her sister's door. She could hear crying and frustrated yelling from the other side. She opened the door quietly as she could. There lay Luna. She was sobbing uncontrollably on the floor, her mirror a smouldering wreck of glass with a scorch mark behind it. "Lulu?" Celestia hesitantly called. "Do not speak to us!" Luna yelled, tears streaming from her face as she whirled around to face Celestia. "Luna! What's wrong?" "Thou knowest in full what is wrong!" "Wh-what do you mean?" "Thou playest the fool! Admit to your deeds!" "Luna, I don't know what you mean!" "Liar!" She screamed, slamming the door in Celestia's face with the purple aura of her magic. Celestia was stunned, and searching her mind for some way to fix this. Her thoughts were interrupted by a haunting scream from her sisters room. I... I did this. So many tiny things, needling her and tearing at her... With shaking steps, Celestia walked away from her sisters room. She wandered through the castle to the Hall of Heroes, placing a hoof on one of the murals. How did I not see this... How did I not know this would hurt my Luna? Her thoughts were interrupted by a shadow creeping over her hoof. She looked above her and saw that the sun was eclipsed. Luna, what are you doing?! Celestia broke into a gallop to Luna's room, and burst down the door. Luna was gone. There was a scorch mark on the floor and the window was open. Looking through, she saw her sister madly laughing with the eclipse behind her. Celestia leapt out of the window and took flight to confront her Sister. ***** *Now our subjects will enjoy our night! They will love us!* "Yes Luna, Our night will last forever!" The posessed Luna cackled, her mind taken over by her darker self. "Luna!" Luna turned, flapping her wings to see Celestia nearing her. "You are too late, sister!" "Stop this!" "We have been spurned too long, Tia! No more will ponies fear our night! No longer will they be forced to grovel at your hooves!" "Luna, what are you saying? Listen to yourself!" "I am not Luna! From now on, I will be known as Nightmare Moon!" She cackled ***** No... Was this some corruption from Sombra? From Discord? What could have caused this to happen to my sister?! "Luna, I know you're in there! Listen to me!" "Silence, foal!" Nightmare Moon yelled, sending a blast of bright purple magic past Celestia. Celestia surrounded herself with a glowing yellow shield. "Luna! Please!" "I'll not stay in your shadow, sister!" The Nightmare replied with a rictus grin. "Now die!" *Wait, No! Do not harm our sister!* The beam of energy glanced off of Celestia's shield, and she tried to tackle Nightmare Moon. The Nightmare responded with a shield of her own, and the two tried to shatter the other's with repeated clashes and blasts of magic. Celestia was holding back, not wanting to injure her sister. Nightmare Moon gave no quarter. A large beam of sizzling energy shot past Celestia, desintigrating her shield and forcing her to dodge out of the way. Up and over her sister's beam, diving down to the valley and away from more volleys of hatred. She swooped upwards, suprising Nightmare and directing a blast into her. It did little more than stun her, as Luna was always the leader of their armies, and she chose to lead from the front. Smoke cleared from the blast, and the sisters directed their magic right into the other, causing a sphere of unstable magic between them. A shockwave buffeted them both as the power of the dueling goddesses clashed, Celestia fighting tears of sorrow for fighting her beloved sister, and Nightmare Moon screaming in rage for the perceived wrongs done to her. Eventually the orb shifted towards Celestia, her magic giving out compared to the hatred and raw power of her sister. The feedback that finally struck her sent her flying into the castle, a cloud of smoke trailing behind her as she crashed through the stone walls into the chamber of the Elements of Harmony. The end of the Hall of Heroes. Celestia struck the platform holding the Elements, and saw in her daze the element of magic falling next to her, chipping on the floor and spinning to a stop. Has it come to this? The Elements against my own Sister? A shadow interrupted her thoughts, as Nightmare Moon crashed through a mural heading straight for Celestia. In a desperate move, Celestia gripped the Elements in her magic and cast with all of her will. Please give me another chance. A sphere of prismatic light condensed on the Princess of the Sun, and as this orb passed Nightmare Moon she saw the crying face of her sister, begging her to stop. The Elements pulsed, repelling Nightmare Moon back through the window, flung towards the moon. Celestia saw her sister vanish into nothing, and looked to the moon. With a flash, she saw the sillouette of her sister, trapped. No... Not like this! Please, Luna! No! No, no, no! Tears flowed like a river from the elder sister's face as the Solar Guard poured into the chambers, and Celestia was overcome with grief. The guards shook her, asking something. Celestia couldn't hear them. She didn't care. She had just banished her own sister.