Nightmare: An Equestrian Tragedy

by Meep the Changeling


The Question

Night Court, Canterlot - 8th of Solardusk 17 EoH

Present Day

The city of Canterlot has two faces. By day, it’s a shining beacon of civilization, marble and gold towers gleaming gloriously while thick crowds of sinners and saints flow through its streets like the blood in the heart of a dragon. By night, it is a colder place, the gleaming gold a mere yellow tinted earthen brown without the sun’s rays. The marble a simple pale whitish gray, with small motes of light casting shadows over the nearly barren streets.

Such is simply the nature of things. Even in an age of abundance and high magic, the old ways die hard and so ponies follow the sun’s schedule. Not all of course. There are many who prefer the starry cloak of the night for working beneath, some of them criminals, but most honest citizens in search of the chance to earn a bit extra for themselves.

It wasn’t that the night was worse than the day. For the day had its criminal elements as well. Rather simply, the night was smaller. Less impactful, less important, but otherwise just the same. The same goes for the Night Court.

The Night Court, the second stage for the voice of the Equestrian people to be heard. A place for any to come and speak their minds to the Crown during the hours between dusk and dawn. A lesser place for a pony widely considered the lesser princess. A place and a person which Equestria functioned just fine for an entire millennium without.

A place which frequently saw nights go by without a single voice to be heard.

Not that Princess Luna minded being underutilized too much. She had once, but now? Now not only was it normal, but she had come to understand it was something she had to live with. At least for the moment.

And of course, there were those moments where she was needed. Where a voice asked for her attention. Those moments made it all worth it.

This was not one of those moments. The small court chamber sat in shadow, most of its lanterns extinguished to save on fuel, and its magelights likewise inactive to save their energy. The blue and black banners hung in front of each of the chamber’s six pillars cast shadows along the floor, making the dark hardwood appear even darker. With the lights dimmed, the chambers appeared much like the common room of a tavern after closing time.

Luna preferred it this way, the light from the few lanterns left burning mixed with the pale moon’s light which streamed in through the stained glass window behind her throne, giving the court chamber a homey feeling in her mind.

Were she allowed a comfortable seat, on these late nights, with the moon at its zenith and the court as silent as a library, Luna would have found a small measure of peace on her own. She had once never thought she could ever enjoy being alone, but that was before the last millennium had passed. Now there were many times when she found her own company more than adequate.

But even the side effects of her banishment could not prevent Princess Luna from enjoying the company of a close friend. And what better people to befriend than your body guards? After all, who would you rather have come to your aid, a person who simply finds new employment should you die, or someone who genuinely cares about you? And what better motive to live than to genuinely care about seeing your friends again?

Luna shared this long and lonely night with Sir Lyra Heartstrings, a decorated knight in her service for many years. Certainly not a typical knight, but that’s why Luna liked her. The cold and stuffy attitudes found in the standard Equestrian nobility repulsed her. But this fun-loving and entertainingly chaotic, yet still duty-bound young mare did the opposite. She delighted Luna, and that’s all the reason the Princess had needed to knight her.

The two mares looked up as the long silent knight was briefly disturbed by the muted ringing of the palace’s bells signaling midnight.

As the bells finished signaling the time, Lyra turned to Luna and asked, “So… Want to wrap this up, go home. Maybe invite everypony else over for a few hours of Oh and Oh?”

Luna paused, genuinely considering the offer. She could easily continue watching the Dream Realm regardless of what she did in the waking world, and felt that was the one true duty she had. She could easily play a few games with her other personal knights for the rest of the evening without any true problems. And yet…

Luna shook her head. “No. Not yet. We will wait until one.”

Lyra nodded. “Alright. Can we do something until then, though? I’m getting a little bored.”

“Of course,” Luna replied immediately. “Why didn’t you tell me before? I’d have gotten some playing cards or something.”

“Eh, I know you like it when you get to do ruler stuff,” Lyra replied with a friendly smile. “It would look bad if someone came in here on business and we were playing blackjack or something.”

Luna laughed. “Quite true. But I doubt I would lose face over such a thing.”

Lyra paused for a moment, nodding to herself before looking back at the princess. “Would it be alright if I asked a question? I think the answer will be kind of long, so it would help pass the time. And I’ve been meaning to ask it for a long time now,” she said, her tone more serious than usual.

“Of course,” Luna immediately replied.

Lyra paused again, biting her lip nervously. Unable to follow through after asking if she could ask.

Luna rolled her eyes at her friend’s nervous expression. “Lyra,” she said firmly. “If you could handle me admitting I would enjoy dating Vinyl if she were free, then I doubt you can’t handle however awkward this question will be.”

Lyra sputtered. “Wait, you like Vi!?”

Luna blushed, ears drooping in embarrassment. Clearing her throat, the princess admitted, “Well, yes. I would. I like her energy, and she’s a very dedicated lover to Octavia. It makes me a little jealous. I um- I must have had that conversation with Colgate instead of you. Ahem! Still, I’m certain you can ask your question now. It’s not how I make my mane like this, is it?”

Lyra shook her head. “Nah, I already know that,” she admitted coyly before returning to her nervous state. “I um- You know I’m your friend. And that I know the basics of your past. I won't judge you or anything, but… I’ve been wanting to know the details. Why did Nightmare Moon happen?”

Luna remained silent for a few long moments, understanding why her friend had been so nervous about asking what could easily be a dangerous question. There were few ponies Luna would be willing to tell the entire story to. Not only because it was painful to remember, but because it would cast a shadow over her sister, and while Luna did not always agree with Celestia politicly she did still love her sister.

At last, Luna sighed, shifted in her throne to better face Lyra’s spot at her side, and gave her a nod. “I know you won't judge me for it,” she answered. “But I ask that you judge my sister fairly after I have told you my side of the story. None know her as I do, and while she has cultivated her public image very well over the years, and it is close to the true version of herself, she does have her flaws.”

Lyra nodded immediately. “I’m not asking so I can have a reason to hate her or anything. It’s just well, I used to be an archeologist. You know I like history. This is one story that’s not recorded. I’d like to hear it.”

“Good,” Luna said happily. “Then I’ll tell you the story. It’s a bit of a long one. I’ll have to start from just after Celestia and I ascended, the first day we ruled over Equestria in fact. Uh, you do know how we-”

Lyra shook her head, cutting off Luna’s question. “No. I know you became Alicorns like Twilight did, but I don’t know how.”

“Then I’ll quickly summarize that for you,” Luna said decisively. “That could be a full story on its own. In short, Alicorns were never intended to be rare. The magic which creates us was devised by Clover the Clever, whom Celestia and I were friends with growing up. Celestia was Clover’s last apprentice before she died, and as the blind filly, I had to go where Celestia went so I lived with her as well.”

“You were blind?” Lyra asked in surprise.

The princess nodded twice. “Yes. A birth defect. My eyes never finished developing. This was long long ago. Neither magic nor technology was advanced enough to help me at the time. Frankly, I’m lucky our parents didn’t simply kill me. But to get back on topic, Alicorns are Clover’s creation.

“Originally, there were to be thousands of us. Ponykind was under siege by the Changeling Empire in those days, and we had nopony who could match a changeling Queen in open combat. They were far more powerful when their Hive Mind still lived. Alicorns were created by working out the arcane process which transformed an ordinary changeling into a Queen, and then altering that magic to work on a pony.

“Celestia and I were the prototypes. I volunteered first, I figured if I were lost, I would not be too great a loss, and at least I would die in service to our kingdom. But it worked, it worked better than we had thought. My eyes worked and even untrained the magic I had gained was immense, matching Clover’s own. But most of all, the talent I had to interact with the Dream World was amplified greatly. Celestia went through with the change second, knowing it would not kill her and that with her knowledge of sorcery, she could actually use the power immediately.

“And she put it to good use. High Queen Phyla, the Changeling Leader at the time, was no match for Celestia in open combat. Well, okay, she put up a great fight, but it became a battle of attrition and her overall mana supply was much less than Celestia's. I did little to help in that battle as I was unable to perform more than telekinesis at the time. But Celestia did insist on making sure I got equal credit to her for the victory.

“The fact is, we had ended nearly thirteen hundred years of crusades, and that the old tribal kingdoms had refused to allow for more alicorns to be created due to their seeing us as abominations, as we merge the looks and abilities of all three pony kinds. This caused the peasantry to revolt. The old monarchs were slain, and we were given the nation to rule over. With everypony believing we were the only ones who could keep them safe.

“That is where the story begins.”