Shadow of the Moon

by SilverMuse

Prologue

Prologue:

Celestia wearily blinked her eyes open, the world swirling around her in a myriad of colors. Her head pounded fiercely, and she lifted a hoof to her brow, wondering what in Equestria had happened to her. She found herself sprawled across the ground, her white wings resting uselessly at her sides. With a groan, she rolled onto her folded legs and shook her head.

Shards of broken onyx crystals fell around her with loud thuds. One nearly pinned her pink tail to the ground, and she jerked it out of the way before she could become trapped.

Where am I? she wondered and tried to scramble to her hooves. She looked around and gasped as she realized she stood beside the twisted and corrupted castle of the Crystal Empire. No longer did the Empire’s centerpiece shimmer with crystals of blue, pink, and purple. It had been tainted by dark magic, and now stood as an ebony beacon and a reminder of who ruled over the land. Shards fell from it as something crashed into the side of the castle.

Celestia lifted a wing to protect herself from the falling debris and stumbled away. A loud concussion echoed above her followed by demented laughter. Celestia peered between her feathers into the bright sunlight and gasped.

A black mare with blood-red mane and tail flapped her wings high above Celestia. Crimson regalia with a sun emblazoned in the chest plate spread across the strange mare’s body like armor. Her serpentine eyes glowed with magic, and she bared fang-like teeth at another figure flapping despairingly towards her.

“You know nothing, you ungrateful pest,” the dark mare shrieked in rage. “All you do is moan and complain about how no one loves you, and how you deserve all of their devotion.” She scoffed. “What have you done for the ponies of Equestria except bring them fear and nightmares? They have never loved you. They only love me!”

“That’s not true,” a familiar voice whispered in denial.

Celestia squinted and stared through the haze of the explosion. Finally, her pink eyes settled upon another dark pony with a beautiful blue mane and tail. The mare’s body was wrapped in black armor that covered her chest and legs. Unlike the first pony, this one’s eyes were not serpentine and instead bore soft blue irises. “Luna?” Celestia whispered. “Luna!”

The dark mare looked down in surprise. “Tia?”

“You are unbefitting to be a Princess!” the first pony shouted. She perched on the top of the crystal palace and spread her wings, looming over all those beneath her in the Empire. “One day, filly, I will be the true ruler of Equestria, and you will bow to me. No one will ever love you as they love me. You are worthless…pathetic, and I grow weary of your complaints. Mother and Father would be ashamed of you. You are nothing by a nuisance and a hindrance to Equestria.” With a mad cackle, the mare lifted her horn and released a blinding blast.

“Luna!” Celestia shouted again.

Her sister looked down, and the distraction was enough. The other mare’s magic sliced across Luna’s shoulder.

“Ahh!” Luna screamed and fell towards the ground.

“No!” Celestia shouted and ran towards her plummeting sister. There was nothing she could do to help, she knew that, but she prayed she could at least help her sister should she survive the fall.

Luna struck the earth and created a horrible crater that caused the ground to ripple in a wide circle around her. Celestia tripped as she ran and fell, striking her head painfully on shards of crystal. The world shifted around her again, and when she opened her eyes, she was no longer in the dirt, but in the air, flapping above a fallen Luna.

“Pathetic,” Celestia heard herself say in a cold voice. “You don’t deserve to be called a Princess. Who would ever love someone like you?”

No! No, what am I saying? I don’t believe that in the slightest! What is happening? Why is Luna so different?!

The thoughts whirled in Celestia’s mind until she felt her body fly towards Luna. She tried to stop it, tried to urge her wings to close so that she too would fall, but something else was in charge of her body.

“You know in your heart you feel the same way,” a voice whispered darkly into her ears. “She’s a foolish child, and you are the true ruler of Equestria.”

“No,” Celestia sobbed as she descended upon her little sister, her precious and beloved Lulu. Magic built up around her horn. She saw her sister roll weakly to her hooves, but it was clear her right wing was broken. “She is my sister. I love her and trust her above everypony.”

“You fear her as well. There is a darkness inside of her that, if you do not quell, will come to destroy you. Stop her now. Stop her before it’s too late.”

Luna lifted her head weakly to the sky. Blood dripped from her forehead and splattered on the ground. “Tia…”

Celestia mentally shook her head and strained to stop herself. “Don’t do this. She’s my sister. I love her!”

“If you love her, then you have to let her go so she doesn’t destroy all of Equestria. You are the Queen. You shall rule above all!”

A screaming ball of fire exploded unbidden from her horn and blazed towards Luna.

“NO!” Celestia screamed as it engulfed her precious sister.

“Enough!” a voice shouted.

A wave of blue beams and starlight flashed in front of Celestia’s eyes. The voice that haunted her shrieked and then fell silent as if it had never been there. Silver moonlight stung Celestia’s eyes and forced her to close them. When next she opened them, she found herself standing in an astral plane upon a moonlit path. She recognized it instantly as Luna’s realm, a world where she could watch the dreams of her subjects. Stars dotted the sky around her, each bearing the dreams of a different pony.

In a haze of blue, Luna appeared on the silver pathway in front of Celestia. She looked like her normal self rather than the creature that had been subdued by fire and pain. Luna’s dark blue mane floated along her navy sides, her azure eyes watching Celestia sadly.

Celestia sat down and lowered her ears. “What was all of that, Sister?”

“Just a nightmare,” Luna said softly and approached Celestia. She leaned forward and nuzzled her sister tenderly. “I will fix your dreams so that they may be pleasant for you for the rest of the evening.”

“No,” Celestia said with a shake of her head. “Luna…I know dreams. I know visions. What I saw in there, what I heard…those were memories. Did I…what happened at the Crystal Empire?”

Luna pressed her muzzle together tightly. She looked to one of the stars and Celestia followed her gaze. Celestia saw her dark form flying around the Empire, destroying the palace and attacking Luna’s ebony form. A chill swept through her entire body, and in the shadow of her mind, she remembered voices and a deep power that had consumed her.

Celestia swallowed hard. “Di-Did I…”

“Sleep,” Luna said and turned to her. Her eyes took on a white glow. “They were naught but nightmares. Sleep…”

Celestia felt her eyes and heart grow heavy. The stars above her swirled and blurred, bringing a forced sleep to her mind. With a sigh, she fell to the moonlit pathway and closed her eyes.

~*~

Luna slid out of Celesia’s sleeping mind and landed back into her own body. She gave her form a firm shake, feeling a tickling sensation down her spine that always happened after she dream walked. She sat at the side of Celestia’s bed in her sister’s vast room. A warm fire glowed in the hearth, spreading yellow and orange rays of light across the white canvas of her sister’s body. Trinkets made of diamonds, jewels, beads, and glass rotated slowly above them, catching the light and sending it scattering across the walls. All was peaceful in the room now, at least for Celestia.

Luna had felt Celestia’s nightmares begin, and she’d taken to visiting her sister personally to once again push the nightmares, or rather the memories, back.

Celestia shivered and tightened her wings around her body to keep warm. Luna picked up her sister’s blanket with her magic and gently laid it across the white mare. With another flare of magic, she stoked the fire and let the warmth flow around the room.

“Again the nightmares come,” Luna said sadly and lowered her head to nuzzle Celestia’s brow. “How many more times must I banish them until you forget what happened? You do not need to carry that burden with you, dear sister. You were not yourself.”

Luna folded her legs and settled next to Tia to make sure the nightmares didn’t return.

It had been a year since the fall of the Crystal Empire, a year since Celestia had turned into Solar Nightflare and had tried to kill her sister. Luna did not blame her in the slightest; it was the darkness in Sombra that had corrupted Celestia and taken hold of her mind. Luna had managed to defeat her, but only after using the alicorn amulet to change into Nightmare Moon. When Celestia had awoken after her defeat, she’d had no recollection of the battle, and Luna meant to keep it that way. The guilt would destroy Celestia, and Luna did not want that for her sister.

Better that you do not remember, even if it means I have to tamper with your dreams, Luna thought to herself. She sighed and looked into the dancing firelight.

It seemed so long ago…their failure to save the Crystal Empire. In her own dreams, Luna remembered the fight not only between herself and Celestia, but with King Sombra. Her heart mourned deeply for his loss, even though he had turned into a tyrannical monster in the end. That had not been the true Sombra, though. That creature had not been the stallion she’d given her heart to. It felt as if the pain would never go away, though the worst of it had faded over the year.

The one thing that had not disappeared though was the voice that sometimes spoke to her at the cusp of sleep when she was at her most vulnerable. It was a voice that whispered of her doubts and her anger, one that reminded her that she was not always appreciated in Equestria.

The Nightmist…the dark nightmare force that had changed Celestia into a wicked mare, and the same essence that had corrupted Sombra and made him a monster. Luna had thought they’d buried it with Sombra’s shadowy form, but Luna now knew better. It had latched its sticky tendrils to her body as she’d flown through Sombra’s shadowy essence, planting itself as a seed within her. It still lurked inside of her mind, and though Luna could control it, Celestia could not. Her nightmares were proof enough.

“She does not dwell in the shadows and understand their might,” the Nightmist murmured in Luna’s ear. “She is an easy host to claim. Why should we not partake?”

Luna grunted in frustration and pushed herself to her hooves. She nuzzled Celestia one more time then walked out of the room and headed to the balcony just off of her own quarters. She moved slowly, reluctant to speak with the Nightmist. She’d tried for months to push the voice aside, but that had just made things worse. Better to humor the voice than to let it fester.

“She does not deserve to be tormented by the likes of you,” Luna commented dryly. She passed one of the glass doors of the balcony and caught a glimpse of a serpentine eye. Luna paused midstep and turned to face her reflection, only, it wasn’t her image that she saw.

It was Nightmare Moon’s.

The dark mare smiled back at Luna and shook her head. “I’m not trying to torment her. I’m trying to help her see her potential.”

“As you tried to help me and Sombra see ours? He is dead because of you,” Luna hissed and swung the door open with a wave of magic. A gust of cold wind from the winter season hit her full in the face and blew her mane behind her. She shivered, but the chill of night helped rouse her from her troubled thoughts. She lifted her head proudly, bent on ignoring the Nightmist so that her heart could find peace.

If only the Nightmist felt the same.

As Luna stepped outside and began to pace the length of the balcony, the voice returned.

“No, dearest. He died because of you and Celestia. You could have saved him, or joined him, but instead you chose to destroy him. Perhaps your love was not as true as you thought it to be.”

“Silence,” Luna growled and looked up to the sky to distract herself. The moon dangled in the form of a crescent, glowing silver in the deep night. “Leave me be. And stop toying with Celestia.”

“Why?”

The voice was close to her ear this time. Luna looked sharply over her shoulder and saw Nightmare Moon’s reflection in the glass again.

“We must have somewhere to go. Your sister is the most…interesting host. Why should we not help her see what can become her destiny?”

“Because it isn’t right!” Luna snapped at the figure. “If you want a host, then come to me and stop taunting my sister.”

Nightmare Moon paused and stared at her curiously. Her snake-like eyes glinted and a wicked smile crossed her muzzle. “Is that an invitation?”

“It’s what you want, isn’t it?” Luna asked darkly. She approached the glass and pointed at the mare’s face. “Every night you haunt her, and every night I have to rid you from her dreams. If you are so desperate for my attention, then come to me. Surely I would be of more interest to you. After all…I do dwell in the shadows like you.”

“Yes…yes you do.”

For the first time in ages, the image of Nightmare Moon faded from the glass, and Luna saw her true self staring back at her. Oh how she missed it. She was tired of being toyed with, but better her than poor Celestia. She touched the glass with her hoof and frowned deeply. Her eyes looked so dark and tired. She protected Equestria through the night and then hardly slept during the day. Celestia was starting to notice, but Luna tried to stay strong. Her dreams haunted her as well, and there was no pony there to chase away her nightmares. Unlike the rest of the ponies of Equestria, Luna was left to fester in those dreams alone. No Princess could rescue her from her nightmares.

As she stared at herself, she saw black and purple smoke build up behind her. Vicious, unforgiving eyes stared at her through that cloud, speaking of all sorts of horrors she would endure if she bonded with that creature. With a start, Luna turned just in time for the smoke to crash into her chest and shove her back against the glass.

“No!” Luna cried out in surprise and pain, feeling the darkness enter her and spread through her veins, awakening the imbedded seed. It jerked her against the glass again, slamming her head into the clear surface. Her mouth opened in a wordless scream. The night sky blurred in front of her, and she collapsed to the ground.

“Princess Luna? Princes!!”

Luna groaned and fluttered her blue eyes open slowly. She saw black hooves standing in front of her. Her eyes swept up the slate-colored legs to the royal armor of the Lunar Guard. A bat pony stood in front of her, his rich golden eyes filled with concern. The wind rustled through his black and gray mane, a small section blowing forward and hiding his eye. He fluttered his membrane wings and knelt, one hoof held out to help her.

“Princess Luna, are you hurt? Did someone attack you?”

Luna blinked a few times. “Shadowlance?” she asked in confusion. She took his hoof and slowly stood. As he shifted to support her, she saw the cutie mark of a lance on his rump. He draped his wing over her side and let her lean against him.

“Yes, Princess. I heard you cry out and came to see what had happened. I found you crumped on the ground beside your chambers.”

Luna grimaced and gave her head a little shake. She glanced at the glass, but she saw just her reflection as well as Shadowlance’s. “Forgive me for frightening you. I must have fallen asleep and had a nightmare.” She laughed nervously. “A pity it is that I do not have a pony to calm my mind when I have bad dreams.”

Shadowlance offered a meager smile. “A pity indeed. Do you wish me to help you to your chambers, Princess?”

“Luna…just call me Luna,” she told him not for the first time. She checked the moon and lowered it a little more. Dawn would come soon enough. “And no, I will be quite fine out here.”

“Are you certain?” Shadowlance was so bold to ask. “Pri- er, Luna, you have not slept very much for several nights. With your visit to Cloudsdale coming tomorrow, I would think it would be wise for you to get a few hours of sleep. I can wake you in time to lower the moon if you please.”

Luna went to protest. She was quite capable of watching over the night, but her legs trembled a little beneath her, and her head pounded brutally. Whatever had happened had left her in a terrible state. She looked at the sky and snorted quietly in frustration. “Perhaps you are right, Shadowlance. Thank you.” She touched his hoof then slipped into her quarters before he could either apologize or swear to guard her with his life.

She wasn’t in the mood to listen to false words.

Luna stepped across the plush carpet and to her vanity. Languidly, she pulled her regalia, crown, and hoofshoes off and placed them in a case that would protect them from ware and dust. She ran one hoof down the image of the crescent moon on her necklace and lowered her ears bleakly. For a moment, she thought not of the mist, but of her father who had so lovingly forged the necklace for her when she was a filly.

What had he told her so many years ago?

“Luna,” her father had said sternly. “Never think that you are not special. Though your sister might shine as brightly as your mother, you must remember that there are two parts to every day; the morning and the night. It is my hope that you will one day follow in my hoofsteps and become the Princess of the Night. There is beauty in darkness…beauty in the art of the stars that dot the skies of Equestria. The sky will be your canvas, and you shall be the painter.”

Her father’s, King Orion’s, voice echoed in her mind. She lifted her eyes to a painting on the wall of the royal family. Her father sat proudly, his ebony coat dotted with starlight. Beside him stood her mother in shades of orange, red, and purple, her mane waving around her like Celestia’s. Before them sat Luna and Celestia, both fillies, both looking so filled with hope and joy.

That was before the Draconquus had come and destroyed all of the alicorns, including her parents and her friends. She, Celestia, and Gemfyre alone had survived the terrible onslaught, only for Gemfyre to perish years later at the hooves of King Sombra.

I’ve lost so many ponies that I love, Luna mourned and reached out to touch the painting. Mother, Father, Gemfyre…my beloved cousins and friends Borealis, Lily Nymph, and Magma Storm. All of them dead, and for what? Because of tyrants. Because of monsters, and there was nothing I could do to stop it.

Luna crawled slowly into her bed and slipped beneath the warm covers. The room was so quiet and still it made the pain in her head drum uncomfortably in her ears.

What happened out there? I remembered staring at my reflection and then…nothing.

It had not been a dream whatever had occurred, and that frightened her.

Luna looked at a mirror hanging on a wall in her room. At first, she saw herself, but then slowly her body transformed into a dark mare with evil eyes. Luna grimaced and lifted her horn. She draped a blanket over the glass to shut out the image, but she swore she could still feel those serpentine eyes staring out at her…watching her as she tried to fall to sleep.

Author's Note:

Just a polite request. If you dislike the story because of the writing, please tell me what I can do to improve. Thank you!

Comments

[Ice Star]

I really hope that this will be completed.