Legends of Equestria: The Tale of Two Sisters

by Luna Sapphire

The Rising of Shadows

Author's Note:

- MLP - MLP - = indicates changes between the narrators history and the actual history
The story, despite the old time it happens, is written in a more modern style, because the narrator who conveys the story to you and her little sister the way she knew it.

The older sister was sitting on an armchair near a window in one of the highest floors of an apartment. Outside the sky was seen, full of multi-colored stars, a lake where another girl admired the ducks swimming, and later, a forest. A simple view, but the girl liked it. In the distance could be heard the sound of a storm that never came up there, and that protection was what teen girl liked best.

She got a lock of her long pink hair behind her ear and turned her attention back to the book that she had open on her lap. A few more minutes of reading, then she heard the room's door opening and turned to it. There stood her younger sister, with a sleepy expression and somewhat frightened.

"Can't sleep because of the storm?" The oldest put the book on the table next her and smiled maternally to the youngest.

"I had a nightmare, Sunshine." The newest muttered, sitting in the arm of the chair in which her sister, apparently Sunshine arm - although the name sounded strange for a girl, perhaps a nickname - was.

"Don't worry, Moonlight, it was just a silly nightmare." Sunshine hugged her little sister. "Want me to stay with you until you sleep?"

"I'm not a baby!" Moonlight answered, at first serious, but then smiled back. "But we could do something fun instead of going to sleep. Why don't you tell me a story? You always know a lot of them." She suggested.

"You know I've exhausted my stories last week, Moon." Sunshine muttered, then thought for a moment. "Or maybe... I think I have one more."

"It's about what?" Moon jumped into the carpet, lively.

"About two princesses, a king and and an evil queen, also about dragons and shadows." Sunshine sat on the carpet in front of her sister.

"Sounds like one of those fairy-tales-with-no-fairies, Sun!" Moon protested.

"Speaking like this just sounds a bit cliché, but I assure you it's nothing of what you're thinking. No Once Upon a Time, magic mirrors, poisoned apples, sleeping princesses, charming princes, not even a happily ever after yet. Our tale takes place in a not-so-distant realm, a kingdom inhabited by ponies. But if you are thinking of a sunny, colorful and happy kingdom, think again. It was a kingdom covered by the cloak of darkness..."

"Like here?" Moon interrupted, looking through the window at the always starry sky.

"No. The moon and the stars that illuminate us not lit that kingdom, only darkness and fear reigned there. The queen, Nightmare, was a cruel tyrant, known as the queen of nightmares, because that was the largest domain of her powers. It was said that she belonged to a forgotten world and a long destroyed race. Little is known about them, except that they controlled powerful dark magic. Nobody had the courage to face her directly, but two kingdoms stood like a fortress in the pole.

One of these kingdoms was ruled by a unicorn king, who sought at all costs to a spell that could end the evil reign of Nightmare, coming to deepen the study of chaos magic.

The other kingdom was ruled by the last adult Alicorn Princess in Equestria, after the race had been cruelly decimated by Nightmare.

Our story begins with the death of the princess and the beginning of a new life for her daughters, the sisters Celestia and Luna.

- MLP - MLP -

Celestia walked to the window of her room, though she wasn't the slightest desire to get out of bed that day. She had barely slept at night and the fact that it was always so dark outside didn't help. Lights never seemed to be enough to illuminate the darkness, and every shadow seemed alive and threatening, even when everyone knew that there was safe against the shadows of the Nightmares that spread out of those gates.

But she needed. Without her mother there, it was up to her to keep that place safe, even if the funeral had been in the "night" before and grief for her parents were still fresh. But they were the hope of other ponies, especially near the border of the ice, especially now the village of Stilffer destroyed in an attack the previous day, the same battle in which her parents had died. Nightmare still tried to invade the Circle of Hope, how was known as the set of small towns that survived on the frozen land and formed a resistance group, but the spell cast to protect the realms still prevailed, Celestia just didn't know how long.

Then she heard a light knock on her bedroom door.

"Come in." She commanded, doing her best to keep a real stance. But who opened the door was none other than her younger sister, Luna. "Are you okay, little sister?" She asked.

Luna didn't reply, just stood next to her eldest sister, who hugged her gently.

"I know." Celestia muttered. "It's hard to me too. But we have to be strong."

"What will happen to us now?" Luna asked worriedly, her eyes filled with tears.

"I don't know, little sister. But let's stick together and protect our kingdom, whatever the cost. Unless the Council decides otherwise but we'll still be together."

"I love you, my sister!"

"I love you too."

They stood there a little more, silently, until another knock on the door, this time followed by a call.

"Majesties!"

The two turn to the door.

"Yes?" Celestia questioned.

"Message of the southern kingdom. His Majesty King Illusion is on its way. Estimated arrival time is two hours, if no unforeseen delay the caravan.

"Thank you."

With a slight bow to the princesses, the guard left, leaving the two sisters alone again.

"I don't like him." Luna protested softly.

"King Illusion?" Celestia asked, Luna nodded. "I know. But he's a good pony and can be our greatest strength in these difficult times."

"It's not exactly him." Luna tried to explain. "Only this obsession with dark magic."

"He's trying save this land as he can. Just because he takes this task to an extreme that no other pony would risk doesn't mean that he is evil." Celestia replied.

"I know." Luna sighed. "I really hope that he can help us. Counsel may well be tough on us. We're just kids."

"It'll be all right, sister. I promise."

---

It was hard to tell how much time had passed. There was always hard.

Celestia was in the library, as she used to when she started to get worried or a little impatient.

Nightmare and her shadow-ponies could be the biggest threat to the land, but they were not the only ones. Snow Trolls were particularly dangerous and when the wolves came down from the mountains, were usually hungry, besides the Spirits of Snow, who seemed amused to freeze ponies.

She barely knew the delay of her visits was the least of her problems. Until that moment.

A guard ran into the library, surprising Celestia.

"Majesty! Nightmares approaching the north gate!" He warned urgently.

"What size?"

"The Nightmares are small, not the most powerful ones, but their numbers are large."

"She would never send an army of Filly Nightmares here!" The princess thought for a moment. "Numbers don't make much difference, they don't have enough power to overcome our defenses. Unless Nightmare not want to waste a more powerful attack without knowing how much the old defenses can still endure."

She pondered if she should or not warn her sister of the attack, but thought better of leaving she to rest. If someone had probably spent a worse night than her own, this one certainly was Luna, and the last thing she needed was more trouble.

She could do that. She had been trained for when that day came. The day she would have to protect the kingdom on her own. She just thought it had come too soon, she wasn't even sure if she was ready.

"No negative thoughts, Celestia." The princess scolded herself. "It only strengthens them."

---

Once she could see the gate she noticed that all unicorns were gathered over this, holding a shield against what seemed to be an army of little ponies made of nothing more than shadows with bright yellow eyes. But the princess soon realized that little by little the spell yielded, shadows began to move on their own, lights flashed and a cold wind blew suddenly.

What we will do, princess?" The guard asked, concerned.

She didn't answer, running toward the gate. What else could she do, don't try to renew the spell that her mother had used to keep the Nightmares away? She stopped in front of the gate, adding her magic to each other to maintain the shield, while trying to remember the correct spell to keep the shadows away.

For a moment it seemed to work, shadows stopped gaining life and little by little the nightmares began to move away. Just to make room for more bad news.

"It has a stronger group approaching!" One of the guards warned.

With urgency, Celestia tried the first protection spell that came to mind, didn't work. Bad time for an attack. She was still shaken by the death of her parents and hadn't even slept right, and none of it helped her magic, especially when enemies were nightmares, creatures of darkness and bad feelings, which seemed to be the only dominant thing in that moment.

Then a larger group of them reached the gates. These were almost the size of normal ponies and had horns.

A wave of dark magic slammed into the shield, which resisted at first, but soon Celestia began to hear voices, seemingly distant.

"You made your choice, Celestia." It was an unknown threatening voice.. "You chose to fight. Chose your destiny."

She closed her eyes.

Go away! She ordered in mentally.

But it wasn't a good idea. The sound of the flames reached her and soon she found herself walking through a village completely destroyed. Scared others ponies seemed kinda mesmerized and, amid all the chaos, she found her parents dead.

She gave a atraz, frightened step, missing the ground under her hoofs and felt herself falling into darkness.

"You chose your destiny." Nightmare 's voice echoed around. "And so the fate of them all."

An evil laugh, now Celestia was in her castle, at Luna's room where the young princess seemed asleep.

"You chose to fight." An unknown voice whispered. "She sacrificed herself for you. Always the wrong way. Always the wrong choices. Whenever others pay." The voice laughed.

"Just a nightmare." Celestia began to repeat herself. "Just a nightmare."

She managed to open her eyes, to see the first shadows taking shape. One began to form besides her, but they were still weakened by crossing the magical field, and it was soon broken by the guard who accompanied Celestia.

"It's all right, Your Majesty?" He asked, worried.

"Yes, thank you. Almost got me."

She tried to cast the spell again. This time a golden barrier began to form on the shield that they held.

Too late. The strange voice sneered accusing. If you had come earlier it wouldn't have happened.

She saw a pair of bright eyes, belonging to some kind of creature she could not remember.

Poor Luna. She will even pay for your incompetence, Celestia? A voice that sounded a bit like Nightmare, but still different, asked.

This didn't help! Someone protested.

"He was right Celestia," the princess saw Nightmare walking up to her, "You wasn't prepared for this. Any last words?"

Celestia felt a twinge of a headache as the image disappeared and the Nightmares broke the shell into pieces.

The power of the Nightmares now penetrated there. Celestia realized she wasn't the only one affected. Many others seemed terribly frightened. She just shook her head and tried to empty her mind and to create a new protection, but her attempts didn't arrive to work now.

"I can't do it." She finally muttered to herself, in a last attempt, without knowing how long she could stand there.

"We can!" A voice assured her.

Celestia looked to her side, to find her sister standing there with a smile, a little forced, but at the same time safe.

Celestia nodded, with a sweet smile to her sister. Together, it was like they had always done things. Despite their differences, they were strongly united.

That simple feeling of having her sister there beside you already eased the shadow in her mind.

They let their spells unite, finally getting a spell to create a firm protection.

Celestia let herself fall to the ground, exhausted.

"Are you okay?" Luna asked, approaching, worried.

"I am. Just a little tired."

Luna lay down beside her.

"We made it. But for how long?"

"Don't think about it, little sister. We'll be fine."

The two stood there together for another minute, until Luna finally stood up.

"We better get back to the castle. Illusion is there and he wants to see you. Seems urgent."

She extended a hoof to help her sister to raise up.

"It can wait." Celestia looked around. "We have many ponies here who need help."

"No. You're in no condition. Go home, I take care of everything here." Luna replied.

"Are you sure you can do it, little sister?"

"I can. Just go to your audience."

Celestia smiled and nodded before returning to the castle.

- MLP - MLP -

"Okay, now to bed." Sunshine announced for Moonlight, who was now lying on the carpet, with her head resting on her older sister's lap.

"But, Sunny!" She protest.

"No buts, Moon. It's almost midnight."

"Here it's always night." The younger sister grumbled. "Besides, we're on vacation!"

"It don't mean you can spend all the night awake. I promise to continue the story tomorrow, right after breakfast, but now go to bed."

"Sun, how they look like? You know, Celestia and Luna?" Moonlight tried to change subject to try to get at least a few more minutes.

Sunshine smiled, put her sister in the armchair and walked over to a cabinet in the back of the room, came back with a sketchbook, with a cover that showed a little girl with red hair in a room like that the sisters were now, sitting in a chair, apparently drawing or writing.

Sunshine turned a few pages, to find one which in the corner had attached a small photo of two alicorns, the oldest was a shade of white, slightly pink, mane colored in various light colors, and the mark of a sun on her flank.

The second was smaller, a dark blue tone, her mane also a shade of blue and seemed full of stars, she had the mark of a crescent moon between black clouds.

In the drawn the two seemed younger, and a little different. The mane of the two were no longer alive. The oldest's was light pink and the newest in a lighter blue, she also had a lighter cover color, none had more the marks, they were in a place apparently on the ice, with the sun behind the oldest and the moon behind the youngest.

"Mom did it?" Little Moonlight asked.

"She loved to draw. And loved those stories." Sunshine smiled at the memory of her mother.

"But they..." Moon began.

"I know." The older sister cut her smiling. "But now to bed., We can talk tomorrow."

Moonlight nodded this time.

"'Night, Sun"

"Goodnight Moon. Sweet dreams."

Comments

[MegAnimefreakx3]

I enjoy reading the first chapter :3