Recurring Nightmare

Princess Luna fumed as she stormed through the halls of the castle she “shared” with her sister. The lone guard outside her room began to salute but, seeing the expression on her face, quickly changed his mind and fled down the hall.

Luna ignored him. It was not as if any assassin would lower themselves so far as to target the “lesser sister”.

“‘Do not worry, sister, our subjects love you the same as I,’” Luna said in a falsetto voice, her lips twisting into a snarl as she kicked open the door to her bedroom. “Pah! Any fool could see that they love her more than me. Do they come to see me at court? No! They work and play in her day, then sleep through my night. And she does nothing.”

Her horn glowed as she slammed her door shut with a burst of magic. “Oh, they say they love me, but only as an afterthought, when my sister begins to frown at their forgetting to mention my name.” Luna whirled on her hoof and began to pace across her room, iron hoofshoes digging into her rug. “Even the griffon’s new ambassador refers to me as ‘The little princess.’”

Pulling her tiara from her head, she flung it across her room, where it stuck fast in one of the banners of her exploits – the defeat of the nightmarish monstrosity of teeth and tendrils that had been haunting her ponies’ dreams – moved to her room, rather than set out for all to see.

“My sister’s ponies,” Luna muttered. “Did they even thank me for my service? No! They accused me of neglecting my duty, for letting it stalk their dreams before it could be caught!” She snorted.

“But when they cry to my sister of some monster, she is a noble warrior come to defeat the beast.” Her lips curled. “With her dark squire by her side.” She slammed her hoof into her dresser, cracking the ancient heartwood. It had been a gift from the deer of the north, for helping them clear the snows after a particularly bad winter storm. But it had been intended for Celestia.

“But of course, my sister does not need it – she already had the dresser of Princess Platinum. So it became mine.”

Turning, she raised her hindlegs and struck it once, twice, three times, the wood snapping, drawers scattering. “Equestria would fall without me!” she shouted.

Nopony answered.

Luna snorted and turned away from the debris, her legs beginning to tremble as tears flowed down her cheeks.

“They need me as much as they need my sister. Why do they not love me?”

Wind gusted through the room, whipping the piled papers off her desk. Luna growled and lit her horn, her magic pressing against the window, only to find it already sealed.

“What trickery is this?” Luna said, taking a step backwards, her eyes narrowed.

She winced as a bright blue light filled her bedroom, holding up one hoof to shield her eyes as powerful magic swirled around her. Mad cackling filled the air as the rug blew up against her leg, papers flapping loudly as they tumbled through the air.

“Halt! Who goes there?” Luna shouted.

“I am called Nightmare Moon,” a female voice answered as the wind began to subside.

Luna lowered her hoof and narrowed her eyes. “Begone, spirit of the night. I will have no truck with thee.”

“I am no spirit of the night, but a pony like yourself,” the voice said melodically as the magic began to congeal into a diffuse field of stars. Fur black as midnight and feathers that would do a raven proud formed out of the mist. Armor that looked like it had been forged from the moon itself was next to form, wrapping around the figure’s hooves and the shape of its head – a pony, tall as Celestia, but far more fearsome. A long horn stuck out of the alicorn’s forehead, and behind her hung a thin swirling mist of stars in the vague shape of a pony’s tail and mane. A moon hung on her flank, and a second on her chest, glittering silver against her plate’s dull gleam.

“Thou darest to mock me with mine own mark, Nightmare? Begone!” Luna’s horn flared, magic blue as the sky pouring out of her horn. She formed a bolt, and hurled it the intruder, only to watch it shatter as it struck a barrier glowing with the same azure magic.

“How can this be?” Luna gasped, stumbling backwards.

Nightmare Moon laughed. “‘Tis your magic as well as mine. Come, Luna. We have much to discuss.”

Luna stamped her hoof defiantly. “I will go nowhere with thee ’til you answer my questions, spirit!”

“Spirit? Do you not recognize me?” Nightmare Moon grinned, sharp teeth glinting in the diffuse light that filled the room.

“I know a monster when I see one,” Luna said, snorting.

“Monster? Some might have called me that, once. Before I defeated my sister and became Nightmare Moon.” The monster puffed out her chest proudly, standing tall, towering over Luna just as Celestia did.

Luna’s hoof scraped across the floor as she lowered her head and prepared to charge. “Who art thou?”

“One who can help you get what you’ve always wanted. Power. Love. Devotion. Appreciation for the night.”

Luna’s legs trembled. “I ask thee again. Who art thou?”

“Tell me Luna, are these not things you desire?”

“I desire nothing from a beast such as thee! I am no fool like Sombra, who fell to the darkness within and was banished from this world. Begone, and trouble me no longer!”

“Beast, am I?” Nightmare Moon leered. “No more than you. You want to be loved – I am loved. You wish respect? All kneel before me. You wish adoration? All bend themselves in supplication before my night!”

“The night is not thine, it is mine!” Luna cried out defiantly.

“And their love? Admiration? Respect? Are those yours as well?”

Luna ground her teeth. “Thou hast nothing to offer me.”

“I have everything to offer you, fool. I know all that you do. I have seen all that you have seen. And I know that as long as Celestia sits upon her golden throne, you will have nothing.”

“And what is it that thou wouldst ask of me?” Luna scowled.

Nightmare Moon grinned. “Embrace your power! Call forth the shadows and cloak yourself in the power of the night! Come into your true self and strike down your sister, that you may stand alone, and bring about nighttime eternal!”

“Hah!” Luna straightened, her eyes flashing. “I thought as much. But I am no dog; I will not allow myself to be leashed by the promise of power. Nor will I allow thee to rule in my stead.”

Nightmare Moon cackled. “I have no need for your kingdom, Luna. After all, I already have mine own lands.”

“And what lands are those?”

“Why… Equestria, of course.”

“Equestria belongs to me!” Luna flared her wings.

“And just who do you think I am?” Nightmare Moon’s horn glowed as her body began to change, stature diminishing, her black coat replaced with a midnight blue. The monster’s regalia shrank to more familiar proportions, helmet dissolving into a tiara to match the one embedded in the banner, her peytral assuming a familiar aspect. The other alicorn lifted a hoof and spat into it, then flashed a mirthless smile with teeth flat as any ordinary pony.

Luna gasped as she stood beside herself, wings falling back against her sides as she stared in confusion. “How?”

Her replica laughed. “I am you, you fool.” She stepped forward. “I know your every thought, ‘Little Princess,’ because I was you, a thousand years ago. Nopony loved me. Nopony cared.” Her double straightened and looked down at her, starry mane rippling behind her on the same unseen wind as her own. “But in my time, everypony loves me. Everypony admires me. The Summer Sun Celebration is no longer devoted to my sister alone, but to me as well.” She smiled nastily. “They even made a new holiday, to commemorate our battle.”

“What battle?” Luna’s voice betrayed her, wavering as her double began to circle around her.

“Nightmare Night, of course. The day that I raised the Moon at mid-day, battled my sister, and demanded the respect and love due to me!”

“But how?” Luna stomped her hoof, her eyes watering. “I do not understand. How is it that I can make them love me?”

“’Tis simple,” the other Luna said as she began to circle around behind her. “You will declare that you have brought about night eternal, and that nopony will see the Sun again until everypony knows that the night reigns supreme.”

“Celestia would never let me do such a thing,” Luna said, shaking her head.

“Oh, but you do not let that stop you. Without the elements of harmony, once we embrace our true power, she is powerless before us.”

Luna licked her lips. “And the ponies will love me? You’re sure of it?”

Her double laughed and threw her head back. “They tell tales of it for centuries to their foals! The day that Luna became Nightmare Moon, and stood up to her sister to take her true place as beloved princess of Equestria!”

“But do they love me?”

The other princess’s laughter died and she narrowed her eyes. “In time.”

Luna swallowed, looking down at her hooves, then at the window, sunlight streaming into her darkened room through tinted glass, before finally looking back at her doppelganger.

“Teach me.”

“As you wish.” Her double laughed as her horn glowed, the shadows of the room pulling in around her form; her legs grew, her mane rippled, and her tail grew in size as she seemed to fill the room, staring down at the other pony with malevolent slitted eyes.

“Did you see the spell I cast?”

Luna nodded her head slowly.

“Very good. Now begone! Confront thy sister, and claim the night for you – for us!”

Luna’s other self cackled once more before the room was engulfed in another almighty flash of blue light; the papers, already torn from their earlier flight, swirled through the air like snow, the cracked drawers rattling in the arcane wind.

When the torrent of magic subsided, Luna’s other self was gone.

“Princess Luna?”

Luna started, almost fumbling the scroll she had been reading. “Twilight Sparkle. I was not expecting to see you here.”

“I could say the same thing,” Twilight said, chuckling as she stepped around the great hourglass which dominated the center of this wing of the Royal Archive. “I thought I heard somepony back here. What were you looking for?”

Luna shook her head. “Just some old magic.”

Twilight glanced at the book-strewn floor. “Heh. You study the same way that I do.” Her horn glowed briefly as she placed several fallen tomes back on their shelves, then swept all the loose paper into an orderly stack. “Did you find what you were looking for?”

Luna hefted her scroll. “Tell me, Twilight; have you ever wondered what it would be like had I not challenged my sister?”

Twilight blinked. “I… never really thought about it.”

“I have. Many times. If I could go back in time, do things differently…” Luna stared at the arcane writing on the unfurled scroll. “I could spare my sister a thousand years of solitude. I would never become a story to frighten children. Instead, I would stand by her side, defending our people from all harm, and bringing peace and harmony to all Equestria.” Luna pulled her wings in close to her sides. “But that would be foolish.”

“Why?” Twilight tilted her head.

Luna looked down at the shorter alicorn, then away. “I think of all that you have done for us, and I cannot help but wonder. Would you still be Celestia’s student? Even if you were, without Nightmare Moon, you would never have been called on to save Equestria. You never would have bonded with the Elements of Harmony, never found the true meaning of friendship, never rose to be our equal.” Luna’s laughed mirthlessly. “Without you, Equestria would have fallen when Tirek broke free and stole all the magics of Equestria. In a way, the petty pride that lead to my foolish rebellion saved us all.” She took a deep, shuddering breath, then let it out, her eyes rising back to the ancient scroll.

Twilight followed Luna’s gaze, eyes softening as she set her hoof on the larger pony’s shoulder. “Luna. That spell doesn’t work. It can send you back in time, but it’s useless; everything always turns out exactly the same way. You can’t change anything.”

Luna smiled sadly as she rolled the scroll up in her magic and placed it back onto the shelf. “I know.”

Author's Note:

Thanks to Not A Hat (he's a boa constrictor eating an elephant, dang it!) and Foehn for their help editing and clarifying this piece.

I'd also like to thank everyone in the Writeoff Association for their feedback on the original 750 word long version of this piece.

Thank you!

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