Nightmare's Reign

by NorrisThePony

Awaking Into A Nightmare (I)

Equestria looked beautiful from Luna's perch at the top of the universe. She found it almost comforting for a minute, before quickly remembering what had transpired the week prior and cursing herself for ever looking at this place with joy.

It was surprisingly difficult for Luna to pinpoint Equestria amongst the other masses of land separated by miles upon miles of deep oceans, their inky blue waters looking almost exactly like the Equestrian Philosophers had envisioned. Luna noted internally that she was probably the first pony in the world to look at Equestria from this high up, but it was an honor she did not necessarily want to boast.

The planet of Equus was a looming sphere above Luna, the landforms that represented Equestria, the Frozen North, the Griffon and Changeling Empires all gloomy shades that Luna knew were too dark to be natural.

"It's been one week." Luna said to no one but herself. "Seven nights. And yet it seems like it has already been an eternity."

Despite the low gravity on the moon, Luna's hair flowed quite normally, free from the silver armor she had donned over her jet-black coat and purplish mane and tail. Sadly, she kicked a stray moon rock and watched with fascination as it floated away slower and further than it would have on Equestria. Luna sat down on the cold, grey, desolate surface of the moon and looked on at the doomed world looming above her. She knew she should have felt pity for all those ponies, after all, she had just doomed them all to a slow death by way of starvation as Equestria's resources withered away without the light of the sun to sustain them. She knew she should feel sorrow and guilt after what she had done, but in reality, it was not her subjects that concerned her anymore. Her desire for their respect had caused this whole mess, and too late she realized that respect meant nothing to her.

Nothing would truly mean anything to her anymore. Not after what she had done.

"Oh, would you give it a rest!" A voice from within Luna's psyche sighed. "This is all quite heartbreaking, believe me, but you have been mopping like this for days!"

"I don't expect you to sympathize." Luna snapped in reply. "In fact, I don't expect anything even remotely honorable from you at all, you cold-blooded murderer."

"Yes, you have said that many times now. I do wish you'd stop. You've created a problem and then ran away from it to cry on the surface of the moon. Don't talk to ME about honor when you are nothing but a sulking coward!"

"I am NOT crying." Luna said bitterly, although the tears forming in her eyes betrayed her of this claim. "And, I did not run away, either!"

"Oh? Then what did you do, Luna?"

"I have committed a crime more horrible than any pony should be allowed to bear. I don't deserve Equestria after what I did to obtain it, so I have decided to exile myself from it entirely."

"My, my, Luna, how your emotions flip-flop so frequently." The Nightmare said, with a tint of amusement in her voice that made Luna cringe. "First, you will stop at nothing to have Equestria in your control, and now you're suddenly unworthy of its presence! And, for the record, I don't appreciate being called a 'cold-blooded murderer.' Why should I be the one who has to bear the burden of what you did?"

"Because, if I had not been blinded by your evil, and your hatred, and your tyranny, I wouldn't possibly have killed..." Luna broke out in fresh sobs, unable to say her name out loud, even if there were no ponies present to hear her say it.

"Again, with the crying. Go on, get it out. Believe me, if I had a body, I'd be patting your shoulder or offering you tea or something."

"Shut up! Leave me alone, go drive some other pony to insanity! Isn't that all you know how to do?"

"Luna..." The Nightmare began, but promptly broke off. "Look, I'm sorry. I'm sorry about what happened. I'm not admitting to having done anything, but I realize it must be difficult to...deal with this."

"Go...away..." Luna practically growled, massaging both her temples with her hooves in an attempt to get the harsh sounding voice out of her head, knowing full well that it was a solidified part of her mind now, and would exist for as long as she did.

"I can't. Unfortunately for you. And I suppose me, if you decide to keep moping around on the surface of the moon. I understand you're crippled by the death of good ol' Tia, but—"

"That is enough!" Luna screamed at the top of her lungs, although the sound itself did not travel any further than the artificial atmosphere Luna had set up around herself, in order to breathe and walk normally. "You will NOT speak of my sister in this patronizing manner! You are a murderer and a fiend and you are undeserving of even uttering her name!"

"I did not murder anyone, for the last time! You wanted the night to last forever, and I offered you the chance. I asked you what lengths you were willing to go to to achieve your desires, and you answered me. What was your answer, Luna?"

"I..." Luna knew full well what her answer was, but saying it out loud took more power than what she possessed. "I don't..."

"What was it?"

"Anything!" Luna yelled, her voice cracking and her eyes squeezing shut. "I told you I would do anything! Are you happy?"

"Of course I'm not happy. I'm sad. For you, and for your sister, and for the ponies back home." The Nightmare said, and for the first time, Luna couldn't detect any malice in the words it was speaking. "I won't try to deny that I'm a monster, or a vessel of hatred. Really, that's all I am, but that doesn't mean I can't possess the ability to feel pity."

"Then go. If you truly do understand, then you'll leave me here. And don't tell me you can't, because I know that's a lie."

"And what would you do? Stay here, forever, feeling guilty about something you never meant to do? What about them?" The Nightmare asked, and, although Luna could not physically see it, she knew exactly where the Nightmare would be pointing if she could.

"Are they just meant to die, alone? Luna, you can save them, but you can't do it from here. They need a leader, and right now, you're their only hope for one. It's your choice, but think about your sister. Do you really think she blames you for feeling overshadowed by her? Do you think she would like to see you like this? You need to understand that what happened was a mistake, a horrible one at that. You shouldn't ignore it, and you should feel guilty about it, because if you don't, then you'll be as bad as I am. But, you need to face that aftermath of your actions, and do what you can to correct them."

Luna shakily rose to her feet, craning her neck upwards until her field of vision was entirely flooded by the big blue planet hanging above her like a foal's nursery mobile. All the ponies there, all the ponies she had doomed...how frightened and confused they must be. She had disappeared without even an explanation, and there existed no witnesses to watch her end Celestia's life. If she were to return, looking the way she did now, would they still trust her? Would they believe whatever lie she would have to tell them to justify Celestia's death?

Celestia. She must still be there, lying alone in the lonely clearing in the Everfree Forest where Luna had wept over her lifeless, broken body. It pained Luna to think of her in this state, and the knowledge that she was the reason it had all happened was almost too much for her to bear. She had long known that she would outlive her sister by at least several centuries, but never would she have imagined their relationship would suffer this magnitude of tragedy.

Luna thought back to when the land was new and the sun and moon waited patiently for their masters to become mature enough to understand their destinies. When she and Celestia had ran across this new earth with the careless curiosity that exists in every foal and filly. She thought of the first time Celestia had attempted to alter the sun's position which, after some hundred years of staying in the same, stationary state, had become as simple as the blueness of the eternally summer sky. She thought of her sister's praise and encouragment when she had done the same with the moon, and the cycle of days and nights had commenced. It had been Celestia's idea to entrust the unicorns with this responsability, and together she and Luna continued their carefree exploration of Equus.

It had been so simple that Luna wasn't completely certain it had happened at all. What must have been a thousand years to the ponies still seemed like nothing more than a moment for her. A moment she yearned to relive, a moment before she had destroyed what was once a mere playground for two filly sisters completely oblivious to their importance to the world.

"Luna?" The Nightmare jerked her out of her reverie, sounding positively irritated. "I just poured my heart and soul into that delightful speech, the least you could do is acknowledge it. Considering I'm the only friend you have, I would think you'd be a little more courteous to me."

"How dare you!" Luna peevishly replied. "To call you a friend would be to shake hooves with evil itself!"

"Ah, well excuse me for attempting to be kind. I'll revise my statement. Considering you have NO ponies other than myself who see you as any more than a tyrannical murderer, I'd expect you to listen to my words of encouragement, instead of being a whiny little foal."

"Is this some sort of game to you?" Luna muttered. "Do you even care about what I'm going through emotionally?"

"Probably not nearly enough, to be honest."

Luna opened her mouth to retort, but promptly closed it upon deciding that she would get absolutely nowhere insulting something that was a part of herself, and that was actually probably right about her foolishness. Nevertheless, she was still completely unprepared to even consider calling something so inherently evil a 'friend.'

"Do you have a name I can call you by?" Luna asked instead. If she was going to have to spend the rest of her days as a tyrannical, guilt-stricken leader, she might as well know the name of her positively obnoxious diarch.

"Manifestations of hatred don't have names, Luna."

"Obviously. But you said it yourself; you understand emotions, you feel pity...you talk—"

"Only to you! So, right now, to any casual observer, you look like a mad pony talking to herself. Which, I guess, is correct in its entirety."

"Fine then. No name. What about a home?"

The Nightmare snorted loudly. "That's the dumbest thing I have ever heard. Seriously, do you even think half the time? How could I have a home if I don't physically exist?"

"Well, you're here, talking to me. What created you?"

"I don't know. You did, I guess. Hatred, jealously, manifested into a being capable of speech. You have so much darkness in you, Luna, it's really a miracle I wasn't formed earlier. Like what you did to Sombra, for example. You don't seem to have any qualms about HIS murder. "

"That's because it wasn't a murder!" Luna objected, thankful of some part of her past that wasn't shrouded in either bittersweet memories of her sister or tragic regrets of her own. True, what had happened with Sombra was unfortunate, but it had been entirely necessary and she was completely justified in what she did. "He was going to destroy an entire kingdom. Celestia wasn't going to do anything, so I—"

"Stop right there! You just admitted it!" The Nightmare laughed triumphantly. "There's your natural darkness! Celestia would never take a life to save a million others, but you, you're different! It's fascinating, really, how different you were from your sister."

Despite her patronizing tone and general snootiness, Luna was beginning to feel relieved that somepony still existed who could speak to her about her sister, her guilt, and her inner demons. A pony who understood her as much as she understood herself.

"Now, have you finally made a decision?" The Nightmare asked, as Luna once again looked up at Equus, comparing its inviting familiarity to the cold, barren surface of the moon. Nothing but rocks stretched as far as Luna's eyes could see, with the occasional crater jutting upwards as a blotch of darkness in an otherwise sea of grey.

She was right, Equestria did need somepony to rule. And, regardless of what she had done, Luna decided she simply could not leave them all to die.

"Yes, I have. We're going home."

"Ah, brilliant. Do you have a plan, then? You can't just go back looking like this without a proper explanation."

"If my plan succeeds, I won't need an explanation why I look like this." Luna replied, for the first time in a week feeling somewhat confident about what her future held.

Comments

[NobleValor]

Okay, I'm on the second chapter and...Wow. Just...Wow.

[Unbridled Dolly]

I'm really interested to see where this is going, but one thing that's been bothering me is how you use the word "men". There are no men in Equestria. It's either stallions, mares, or ponies. Not men.

[NorrisThePony]

5182117 That is...a really foolish mistake on my part. Thanks for pointing that out!

[SpaceCommie]

Okay, this is intriguing.

[Razzy]

Okay then, I see you adhere to Hitchcock's philosophy of creating suspense. Interesting, if horribly sad beginning.

Cya
Raziel-chan