From the Eternal Love of a Sister

by Scootareader

The Creature of Nightmares

My sister has asked that we meet in the throne room. That is what we shall do.

I am hidden behind my throne, awaiting her arrival. The darkness has steeled me against my weakness, given me the resolve to do what must be done. Celestia must know that I am ready for more. That I can be so much more. That being the downtrodden runt is a thing of the past, and that I am finally ready to assume all of my royal duties.

And that there will be no excuses this time.

Her hooffalls sound on the stone outside the doorway, then I hear the sparkle of magic as it stoically swings the door open. Standing there, looking troubled, is my sister.

I continue to hide, letting her make the first move.

My sister is cantering toward her throne. “Luna... I don't know if you're here, or if you can hear me, but... I need you. I can't lower the Moon. It refuses me. It is not my duty, it is yours. You must help me, before Equestria goes into a panic.”

The realization slams into my head. Now, now is the chance... she only needed—

NO! It is too late, Princess!

I feel my resolve. She only lies, to get me to do as she asks. As she has always done. As she always will do.

I step around from behind my throne. “Not another step.” My words command attention, power, responsibility. What she has always thought we lacked, but that I have always had.

I stare at my sister, my eyes showing challenge. For what seems an eternity, she has been content to let me wallow in the darkness that is the night. Now I have finally accepted what the darkness brings... and she will learn firsthand what it means to shoulder my burden.

Still, she does not reply. Her look shows only confusion. As if she never knew what she were doing to me! This smug creature... my sister. How could she be so callous?

The resentment I feel in my heart beckons me to speak the words of anger that I have always wanted to say. “Did you really expect me to sit idly by while they all basked in your 'precious light?'” Her eyes register pain, betraying the truth... that she thinks herself better than me. “There can only be one princess in Equestria... and that princess—“

I feel the darkness coursing through my body... is this me? Is this what I've become? Who am I? Who are we? Are we the darkness?

The thoughts disappear. It cannot be helped now.

“—Will be ME!” I feel the shadow creeping behind me. I must do this under the judgment of the Moon. She has always guided us and led us, and it is no longer deserving of me to wallow down here. She will ascend me Herself.

The shadows cling to the stained glass behind the thrones, gripping the decorative picture and the wall, crumbling them. Then, the stone shatters.

Outside, I see the Sun and Moon together. They are joined in the sky, ruling as one.

I ignore this. I rise into the sky, the two giant orbs lapsing into one another. The Moon claims Her rightful place in front of the Sun... this is how it always will be from now on. She deserves no less than all Her glory.

Suddenly, beams of dark light are cast upon me. Upon us. They envelop us in a... cocoon of this sickly light. It is negative, angry. It reminds us of who we have fought.

It terrifies us.

But it is too late, Princess!

We cannot escape this. It has overtaken our body, made us its slave. And we have invited it in, with us as its host.

The cocoon squeezes our fragile body, crushing it into a pulp. From it, the darkness re-molds the carcass into something more befitting of its evil nature. Something befitting the strange negative light of which we felt.

The cocoon opens, revealing this new body to the world. I cannot see it... nor do I want to see it. It is no longer mine, and I shudder to imagine what has been done to it.

The inhabitant of this new body lowers herself to the ground, very pleased with herself. She lets out a harsh, grating laugh, throwing spite at my sister.

Oh, Celestia, my sister... what have I done?

---

This makes no sense to me. Luna has become this... thing. A sinister, malevolent being, nothing like the gentle love of her night. This is not her.

Yet, I saw her become this creature. This has to be Luna. Perhaps I can reason with her.

The creature releases a beam of bright blue energy, vaporizing a statue of me—why did I even put that on display?—and swings her cutting magic upward, into the ceiling of the room. Large chunks of the roof fall between us, as if attempting to keep the two of us apart.

I am loath to fight my own sister; perhaps I will let her do whatever it is she wants. I'm not so arrogant that I can't let her rule in my stead.

… Am I that arrogant?

I still must let her know that violence brought on by her lust for power is not the way to settle these disputes. I fly into the air, giving her a clear view of me, and ready myself to try to calm her down.

Before I get a chance to speak, another beam of blue magic streaks at me. I dodge it, letting it crash against the roof of the throne room once again.

This is... not what I expected. Not at all. What will I do if I can't stop her?

I need to calm my sister down. I don't know what has happened to her, but I need her to come back to me. “Luna! I will not fight you. You must lower the Moon. It is your duty!”

She gets a look of irritation on her face, as if I had done something wrong. “Luna? I am Nightmare Moon! I have but one royal duty now... to destroy you!”

This... this isn't Luna. Tears spring to my eyes as I dodge another blast of magic from her, rising into the air. What has happened to her?

I need to get away. I need to find out what is happening. Anywhere but here, looking at this... thing.

I rise into the sky, escaping through the hole in the ceiling, hoping she will not follow.

I know such hopes are pointless. “And where do you think you're going?” I hear her call behind me. I know I am only drawing out the fate that both of us must take... but I cannot help but think there is another way.

She fires another energy blast at me, which I dodge... then another. She is firing wildly in my direction, shattering stone and collapsing buildings. Try as I might, she will not give up her pursuit of me.

This pony, this Nightmare Moon... she's powerful. Far more powerful than I. I cannot do this, even if I wanted to.

I glance behind me to gauge where she is... a momentary lapse of judgment, and a streak of blue strikes me on the chest.

I feel pain... so much pain... wracking through my body. Is this what Luna feels right now?

She is trapped in a shell... my sister. I will save you. And there is only one way.

I fall to the floor, my body atrophied from the sudden shock of hurt, something that I have not felt for a very long time. Not only is my body surprised at this... but my mind as well. My own sister has shot me.

I take a moment to gather my strength and steel myself against what needs to be done, then rise uneasily to my hooves. I speak to the emptiness. If she can hear me now... I hope she understands. “Oh, dear sister... I am sorry. But you have given me no choice, but to use these!”

My magic flares, sliding aside a slab of stone in the floor. It starts a mechanism which causes a stone mobile to rise up, holding the Elements of Harmony.

I pray that they will respond to me in my greatest time of need, that everything will become right with their all-knowing power. I wrap the five Elements with my magic, providing them with the spark of love for Luna that I have always held closest to my heart. The spark that will never be extinguished.

The Elements react, beckoning the sixth to rise from its place safely within the center stone. The Element of Magic twinkles back at me with familiarity, reminding me of its power. I flare my magic, activating their immense power with it. They spin around me into a rainbow of colors, a rainbow which envelops and empowers me with its entirety.

There is no stopping what has been started. I rise out of the throne room with the Elements of Harmony holding me in their comforting strength.

Luna—no, Nightmare Moon is there to greet me, a look of boredom strewn across her features, reminding me briefly of Discord, whom we once stood together to defeat. Now, I stand alone, wishing the Elements to do what is necessary to save the sister I love.

Nightmare Moon's eyes glow with great power. If she hits me with this, I will surely die. I must trust in the Elements.

Tears streaming down my face, I grab the Element of Magic, aligning it against who may have once been my sister, its own sister Elements rallying behind it. The power of all the Elements pours into the one, releasing an immensely powerful blast of energy to combat the one that my assailant has released. She... would have killed me. Nothing else would have satisfied this mare of darkness.

The Elements struggle briefly against this shadow power, then overcome it, as they overcame Discord before. They bathe Luna in a radiant, beautiful light, the intruder of her body screaming in shock and anguish as she realizes she has been bested. The beam, taking on the willpower of the Elements, travels away from Equestria, away from the planet, to blast into the moon, releasing a spectacular rainbow halo around it.

For a few moments, there is silence... then an ethereal sound is emitted from the Moon as the depiction of a mare's head is imprinted upon its surface.

I let the magic of the Elements subside, slowly lowering myself to the ground, only to collapse when my strength fails me.

I lay upon the floor, sobbing for a time. Eventually, I raise my head to the night sky which she has left me to inherit, a responsibility I am unworthy of, to release my lament to the world.

“Luna... what have I done to you?”

Author's Note:

I loved writing this chapter.

--Scootareader

Comments

[Scootareader]

3387058
I've gone on a little bit! Still plenty more to come, as well.

3427521
Sadly, what's set in stone can't be changed. It does make for a good story, though.

3556057
Well, I have something sort of out for that now. Hope the new chapter explains it well enough.

3556090
This story begins before Luna becomes Nightmare Moon. Where it ends is still a matter of debate for me, as I know little of what I'm writing until I've actually written it. I mostly shoot from the hip as to how it feels with where to end a story.

I will, however, say that it won't cut out now. The story will continue at least until after Luna is broken of the shackles of Nightmare Moon.

[PaulAsaran]

Well... I dunno. I wasn't expecting an outright play-by-play of the show's version of events. I'm okay with re-using scenes form the show, and I'm particularly glad to see such scenes not toyed with. At the same time, I don't like to simply read those scenes repeated in exacting detail – that is to say, telling us everything we already know without any real add-ons. There were many, many ways you could have approached this, but you took what may be the simplest route (albeit requiring a lot of work for accuracy, I'm sure).

What really kills this scene for me, however, is the constant voice of the narrative. At no point did I feel like there was rising action, or that the characters were feeling the moment. I didn't get a sense of rising fear in Luna as the Nightmare took hold, and Celestia's flight felt more like she was just going through the motions step-by-step than fleeing for her life.