• Published 15th May 2015
  • 1,082 Views, 5 Comments

Lest the Nightmare Continue - rillegas08



A thousand years ago, Princess Luna becomes overcome with negative emotions, and one day finds herself unable to control her own body. Her mind intact, she has to deal with whatever's taken control of her.

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After the Tantabus

The moon had been up for hours by the time Princess Luna passed her elder sister's room, and the younger suddenly got an idea. She couldn't remember how long it had been since she peered into Celestia's dreams; at least, not when her intuition told her that she was having a vision. She did, however, have some vague recollection of trying to look into her dreams long ago when she was on the moon. Perhaps it would be fun to see what pranks her sister dreamed up. Or, perhaps, it would be boring dreams of paperwork and the monotony of running a kingdom during the daytime. Maybe that was how Celestia was able to put up with it all, she thought.

She lightly pushed open the door and walked silently inside. After making sure the door latched quietly, she turned to her sister, but didn't yet feel ready to enter her sister's subconscious. Luna stood beside her sister's bed, becoming almost mesmerized by the sleeping mare. Centuries ago, she had focused on the fact that ponies slept through her night, rather than how peaceful they looked. After Twilight and her friends freed her from Nightmare Moon's grasp, Luna gradually came to see the beauty in such peacefulness: the slow, steady breathing; the eyes, not shut tight but softly closed, resting. It was also partly this peacefulness that helped her decide to check into ponies' dreams and dispel their nightmares.

Celestia's foreleg twitched, and Luna watched as her sister's breathing quickened and her eyes were no longer resting softly. Luna's intuition hadn't told her if she was having a troublesome vision, so she activated her magic, a thin tendril of silver magic connected her horn to her sister's forehead. It was time to see what was troubling the white alicorn.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Luna watched the scene unfold: her own descent into Nightmare Moon, destroying their castle, and hurting Celestia; Celestia gathering the Elements of Harmony, banishing her younger sister to the moon, and weeping with the realization of what she'd done.

"Celestia!"

Her sister turned and looked at her, then to the moon, then back at her. She ran up to her younger sister, wrapping her hooves around her. "Oh, Luna, I'm so glad you're safe! But I don't understand," she continued, wiping the tears from her cheek, "I just banished you to the moon. Why are you standing next to me?"

"Sister, this happened over a thousand years ago. This isn't real."

Celestia looked confused, but then she remembered the things that had transpired over the last thousand years. "Of course it did. Sometimes I get so invested in these dreams that I forget any time has passed."

"Sister, this is no ordinary dream. It's your memory, isn't it?" Celestia nodded. "Sister, that's dangerous. Somepony can get so lost in their memories of the past that it can be difficult to move on toward the future."

"Is that what you learned in Ponyville a few nights ago?"

"Yes. Have I told you the whole story yet?"

"You mentioned that you'd created a creature of dreams to frighten yourself into never becoming Nightmare Moon again, and that the citizens of Ponyville helped prevent it from wreaking havoc in the real world. That's about it."

"Then I told you the important parts. There are other details, like one pegasus mare turning giant, and Big McIntosh turning into an alicorn princess to help fight it."

Celestia giggled. "Big Mac became a princess?"

Luna smiled. "Indeed. I was focused on the danger at the time, and I didn't realize how silly it seemed." Then Luna's face hardened. "But sister, I fear you've created the same kind of monster. Not a physical monster like I had, but one just as dangerous to yourself."

The dreamscape shifted to one that was more ethereal, where something like clouds made up the paths in a pale blue world populated by multi-colored stars. Celestia and Luna started walking along the path in silence for many minutes until Luna spoke up.

"Sister?"

"Hm?"

"Have you been punishing yourself like this every night since that day?"

"No," the elder sister responded, then continued. "At least, not as frequently. After I banished Nightmare Moon, every day was spent keeping my mind occupied. Every time I went through the mirror to visit the alternate version of you, I wanted to forget what I'd done. Every night, when I did sleep, I was reminded vividly of what had happened. As the months progressed, the mirror was closed, the other ponies had become accustomed to my busyness, and I started having other dreams. Now that memory rarely haunts my sleep. The last time I remember dreaming about it was the night before my beloved sister came back."

"Sister, I did many things as Nightmare Moon that I regret, and the fact that it was a parasite the whole time didn't change the fact that it was still, in a way, me doing those things. I as Nightmare Moon corrupted the moon's inhabitants. I as Nightmare Moon was ready to rule everypony under an iron hoof once I returned to Equestria. I as Luna nearly brought disaster upon Equestria with my regrets. It's been very hard for me to forgive myself after so many things I regret. It's still hard to believe I even can forgive myself, yet I was reassured that everypony else had already forgiven me. Reassured by your star pupil, I might add." Luna smiled at her sister when she said the last sentence, and Celestia stopped walking.

An image appeared to their side, and they watched the scene. Twilight and her new friends had just defeated Nightmare Moon, and Luna was weak and pale from the ordeal. The Celestia in the image walked up to her sister, the pale alicorn apologized, and the image stood still.

"Why are you looking at this memory, dear sister?"

"Ever since the real you returned, I haven't wanted to say anything, but now I feel I must. I was going to apologize to you."

"You were?"

"Yes. Remember, the night before I'd dreamed the memory of that night I banished Nightmare Moon, and it was still fresh when I talked to you. I was going to apologize and ask your forgiveness, but you did it first. It caught me off guard, and since then it's seemed awkward to do so."

"Celie, I've already forgiven you!"

A confused look appeared on Celestia's face, both from the revelation and the fact that this was the first time since before the... incident... her sister had called her that nickname. "You have?"

"Yes, as soon as Nightmare Moon's control over me was broken. I'd had all my memories from the past millenium, but hadn't had the chance to sort through which were mine and which were Nightmare Moon's. When I came back, I truly believed I was at fault for everything Nightmare Moon had done, and forgave you right away because you did what was best for everypony."

The two sisters embraced, tears of happiness rolling down their cheeks. Eventually Celestia broke the hug and wiped her cheek.

"Then I need to learn to forgive myself, don't I?" she asked, and Luna nodded. "Why don't we work on that together?"

"Together... the way we were always meant to be."

Author's Note:

Originally this was going to be a separate story, but I realized this fit very well into the sisters' stories I'd already written.

Comments ( 1 )

I am crying! This is so sweet and so sad. It is wonderfully done. And it is awesome how you combine the informations from the comics with the show. I just thought: Yay IDW comics! Thumbs up! I really think this was well done.

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