Royal Oppression

by Twiggles6

Trouble in Dreamland

As Luna surveyed the empty white dreamscape around her, she felt strange. Though she had never been inside her sister’s dreams before, Luna imagined that it would be no different from the dreams of anypony else. But despite her familiarity with dream traveling, Luna felt somehow uneasy being here. She felt almost as if she was being appraised and judged from beyond her vision.

“It’s time to get to work.” Luna said as she said as she looked around a bit more. “But where can I start?” She asked herself as she tried to pick any kind of detail out of the sea of empty whiteness. Just as she took a cautious step forward, the white void exploded to life as it was filled in with dark, gnarled trees and a deep black night sky. “What is this?” Luna asked as she looked around. “Why does this feel so… Familiar?”

“Please, why won’t you listen to me?” Celestia’s voice rang out through the forest.

“Sister?” Luna asked as she ran in the direction of her older sibling’s voice. As she came to a clearing, she saw something she wished she couldn’t recognize. Before her stood the Everfree Castle. And on top of the ramparts stood Princess Celestia, and Nightmare Moon.

“Why should I listen to you?” Nightmare Moon scoffed. “Is it because you’re so used to everyone bowing to your every whim? Or is it because you find yourself and your oppressive day so superior to me and my glorious night?”

“No! That’s not it at all, and you know it!” Celestia cried, shaking her head. “Luna, please listen to reason!”

“Do not call me by that name!” Nightmare moon barked, gnashing her teeth together. “Timid little Luna is gone now! All that remains is Nightmare Moon!” She yelled, letting out an evil cackle as lightning struck behind her.

“If you won’t back down, then I will be forced to stop you.” Celestia said. “Please don’t make me have to do that, sister.”

“And what do you think you can do against me?” Nightmare Moon asked, Luna mouthing the words unconsciously as they were said with tears stinging her eyes. “All you can do is watch as I take my rightful glory!”

“If that is truly what you think, then you leave me no choice.” Celestia sighed. “I must call upon the power of the elements of harmony!”

“You think that will work?” Nightmare Moon said, laughing out loud. “You know as well as I that we are both wielders of the elements. You can’t use them against me any more than I can use them against you.”

“That is not true.” Celestia said. “You are not a wielder of the elements. My sister, princess Luna is!” She said as the tiara on her head began to glow with a magnificent light.

“What? No! This can’t be!” Nightmare Moon cried as she backed away slightly.

Then something happened that Luna never expected. Celestia’s tiara disappeared in a sudden puff of green fire, and the magical glow left with it.

“What?!” Both Luna and Celestia exclaimed at once when they realized what had happened.

“Well, would you look at that.” Nightmare Moon said, walking towards Celestia with a sinister green glow in her eyes. “It seems you’ve lost, princess.” She said, firing a green bolt of magic from her horn and striking Celestia in the chest.

“Sister!” Luna cried as Celestia collapsed to the ground.

“Night after night it’s the same tired old performance.” Nightmare Moon sighed. “Each night that you have this dream, it always ends the same way. You banish your own sister to the moon, and then you cry.”

“Stop it, please.” Celestia sobbed as tears began flowing down her cheeks and onto the cobblestone below.

“But tonight we have a spectator to our little performance.” Nightmare Moon said, turning her head to look directly at Luna. “Unfortunately, she already knows how this little story ends. So I’ve decided to take a few… Artistic liberties. I hope you don’t mind!” She said as she blasted Celestia with another ray of green magic, causing her to writhe in pain.

“Enough!” Luna exclaimed as she leapt to the rampart just behind Nightmare Moon and loosed her own blue magical blast at the evil mare.

Nightmare moon jumped gracefully out of the way, causing Luna’s blast to harmlessly impact the cobblestone and leave a small scorch mark. “You honestly think you have the strength to defeat me?” Nightmare Moon asked as she hit Luna directly with a green ray, causing the lunar princess to recoil in pain before unleashing an easily avoided counterattack.

“You are nothing but a specter. An embodiment of my sister’s grief and remorse.” Luna said as she fired again, scoring yet another miss. “You hold no real power in this world! Return from the ether from whence you came!”

“A specter?” Nightmare Moon asked. “I would think that you, of all ponies, would be able to see the falsity in that.” As she spoke, she fired another magical beam and hit Luna directly in the chest again.

Luna could feel her body begin to heat up as if she were on fire. It was all she could do to keep a straight expression in the face of such pain. “It matters not what manner of beast you are!” Luna said, firing another blast and growling an annoyance as it went wide like the others. “You shall trouble my sister’s dreams no more!”

“Oh, I surely won’t be.” Nightmare Moon laughed. “I already have plans to leave this dream realm. After all, I have much to prepare for.” She said, her eyes briefly flashing green with slitted pupils. “But I’m afraid I’ll need some extra help to make my plans a reality.” She said, nonchalantly admiring a forehoof.

“You’ll not be around long enough to find that help if We have any say in the matter!” Luna shouted in her best royal Canterlot voice as she fired one more intense blast of magic at Nightmare Moon.

The magical beam flew true this time, on a direct course for Nightmare Moon’s center of mass. Just as the ray was about to connect however, Nightmare Moon disappeared in a plume of green fire. “On the contrary.” Nightmare Moon’s voice echoed throughout the world. “I’ve already found all the help I need.”

“What trickery is this?” Luna asked just before being struck from behind with a powerful burst of magic. As the magic was sustained, the pain Luna experienced began to multiply time and time again. She could feel darkness creeping in on her vision, blurring her perception of the dream world as she heard echoing hoofsteps behind her.

“Your time is over.” Nightmare Moon said as the magic subsided and Luna fell to the floor. “It is time that a new order arose in Equestria. And you, my little princess, are going to help me make that idea a reality.”

Nightmare moon began laughing maniacally as Luna’s vision went green and she felt the world being closed off around her. Within minutes Luna felt as if she was floating in some sort of liquid. Just after the cocoon sealed itself completely, Luna finally lost herself to unconsciousness.

Seeing the lunar princess properly contained, Nightmare Moon allowed her laughter to subside. “Perfect.” She said. “That went far better than I had dared to hope. She really is much weaker than her older sister. And speaking of the pony…” She said, turning to face princess Celestia again. “I do hope you enjoyed the changes I made to this little dream of yours. It may not be quite historically accurate, but that won’t matter to either of you for much longer.” She said as Celestia began to stir. “Oh well. Until tomorrow night, my little princess.” Nightmare Moon said as the castle and the forest disappeared around Celestia, leaving her in a comforting void.

Celestia sighed in relief as the pain from her previous encounter began to subside, and all she felt was comfort and relaxation.

Comfort and relaxation.

Author's Note:

Hello everypony. I wish I had more to say here, but I can't think of anything particularly witty...

Oh well. Please, let me know what you thought of this chapter. Personally, this is my favorite one so far.

Anyways, look forward to the next update!

Comments

[Arzoo]

Was good. Mostly waiting to see what the evil plan is, though.

[guess who]

This chapter was... Interesting. I can't tell if the changeling is messing with Luna or Celestia or both at this point. or if Celestia is now willing to help do to the last chapter. This is kinda confusing. but on the other hand I look forward to see how this plays out.