After the Nightmare

by CORACK

Chapter 2

As the magic from the Element's attack slowly dwindled Celestia felt herself lose the connection with the Element of Magic that she had shared with Twilight. It was through this connection she had channeled a vast amount of her near limitless magic, adding her own power to the spell that was meant to cleanse Luna of the Nightmare's influence. Something felt wrong, for a moment she thought it was simply exhaustion. Weariness was something that affected mortals, not herself, but never before had she used so much power in such a short amount of time, there was bound to be some side effects. But as the seconds passed she quickly realized it was not fatigue that she was feeling. There was an emptiness inside her, an ache that was completely alien in nature. It was as if half of her soul had been ripped away and she was left as an incomplete being.

Suddenly it dawned on her, she knew what was wrong. Her connection to Luna, an unbreakable bond between the two immortal sisters that had survived even Luna's descent into madness and her banishment to the moon had been severed. She reached out with her magic and took back control of the heavens, raised the sun as quickly as possible, and teleported directly to the castle ruins.

Around her, Twilight and her friends stood looking at the new Elements. Luna was nowhere to be seen.

"Princess Celestia!" Twilight said, turning to face the large alicorn. "You're back!"

Celestia leaned down and gave her faithful student a quick hug.

"I never really left, my little pony," she said. "Where is Nightmare Moon?"

"We got her!" Rainbow said pointing across the room. "She was standing right there and then... well, I think she exploded!"

There was a large depression in the stone floor where Nightmare Moon once stood. The edges of it were glowing cherry red. Small bits of stone had melted and then fused to the area around the crater. Celestia gasped and then ran over to it.

A few small piles of slag were all that remained of Nightmare Moon's regalia. Sitting in the center of the crater was the twisted form of what was once her great helmet. Celestia reached out and touched it with her hoof. It crumbled at her touch. Tears streamed down her face and she collapsed in a heap.

Twilight and the rest of her friends rushed over.

"What's wrong Princess?" Twilight asked, she had never seen Celestia this upset before.

Celestia ignored Twilight and continued to sob, mumbling to herself.

"Luna, I didn't... I didn't mean... I... I..." she said, trembling.

Twilight approached Celestia and gently lay her head on the alicorn's side. The rest of the ponies stood around the two ponies, unsure of what to do.

Slowly Celestia began to regain her composure. Her labored breathing slowed and the flow of tears turned into a trickle.

She lifted her head and turned to Twilight.

"Thank you, Twilight," Celestia whispered, wrapping the small unicorn in a wing.

She picked herself up and looked out on the small crowd of ponies, eyes red and puffy.

"I am sorry my little ponies, that you had to see me like that," she said.

"I don't understand, we thought Nightmare Moon had captured you, or worse. Aren't you glad she's gone?" Twilight asked.

Celestia sighed, looking at Twilight, she answered sadly.

"It is good that you were able to stop Nightmare Moon, I saw the signs of her return, and I needed your help to stop her," Celestia said. "I knew that the rest of the bearers would be drawn to you, and it was only with their friendship that the six of you would be able to wield the Elements and stand up to her."

Twilight let out a small gasp, shocked at what Celestia had just revealed.

"You knew this was going to happen?"

"I knew that you and the rest of the Elements would be able to stop Nightmare Moon, but things did not turn out as I had planned. In order for me to explain, I must tell you about Nightmare Moon, more than you will find written in any book."

Celestia sat up straight, looking at the group of ponies before her.

"To properly set this tale, I will have to begin a long time ago. Know that real history differs from recorded history, and there are good reasons for that. Suffice it to say, that I know the true history of ponies because I was there for it."

Celestia's horn began to glow and an ethereal image took form in front of her.

"Contrary to the Hearth's Warming Eve story, Equestria was not founded after the banishment of the Windigos," Celestia said, looking over the group of ponies.

Six ponies appeared in a cave. Three were frozen solid, the other three huddled together for warmth while ghostly horses made of ice and snow circled above.

"It was then, after a long period of bloody war, that the leaders of three tribes finally made peace and then banished the Windigos. Unification did not happen till much later. The tribes were not united as one, but they did work together, and there was peace... for a time."

The ponies stared intently as Celestia continued her story, even Rainbow Dash who normally had the attention span of a hyperactive foal, sat quietly. The image changed, a group of pegasus ponies brought clouds forth to water some fields while a unicorn helped and earth pony farmer unload a cart.

"Several centuries after the tribes made peace, a great... I hesitate to call it evil, but a great force arose and the three tribes were thrown into chaos. This period of chaos lasted several thousand years, not even the strongest of ponies could stand up to the source of chaos, a draconequus known as Discord."

Again the image changed. Day and night changed seemingly at random. During the day houses floated in the air, strange creatures popped in and out of existence, ponies skidded down soapy streets and clocks ran backwards. When night fell, unspeakable horrors roamed the land, shadows beings that crept silently, attacking any pony caught in the open, fires raged and homes burned, only to vanish and have everything reset, the moment it switched back to day.

"Then one day, almost 10,000 years ago, two alicorn sisters rose up against Discord, they sought to put an end to his reign."

Two alicorns appeared in the image, one was clearly Celestia, the other had a dark blue coat, a mane and tail made of stars and a crescent moon for a cutie mark. Discord appeared before the two and a great battle began. Celestia and her sister circled Discord, hitting him with powerful spells. In turn Discord retaliated sending waves of pure chaos to strike at the pair. But even with all of his power, he could not stop the two alicorns. They attacked in perfect unison, when Discord concentrated on Celestia, forcing her to switch to defensive magic, the blue alicorn would strike.

"Working together, they could counter any attack that Discord threw at them, but as the battle raged on, they found that even their strongest spells did little but slow him down. As the avatar of chaos itself, Discord was a powerful immortal, resistant to nearly any attack. For the first time in their lives, they had come across a being that could stand up to their own power. So they fled the battle, and spent many years trying to find a solution."

The two alicorns took flight, abandoning their attack. The vision showed the sisters as they journeyed across the world, and beyond.

"They spent years constructing new spells, specifically designed to counter chaos magic, but this alone would not be enough. To add to their own magic, they sought out ancient artifacts of great power, but nothing they found could match their own magic, let alone assist them in the fight against Discord, until one day, in a distant land, they found the Tree of Harmony. As Discord was the avatar of chaos, so was the Tree the physical representation of Harmony, which is the very antithesis of chaos."

A magnificent crystal tree appeared before the ponies, branches glinting in the light. Even the image of the tree alone was enough to fill Twilight with a sense of inner peace.

"The sisters took the tree, and moved it to a secret location. There, they nurtured it and it grew in power until it eventually bore fruit, in the form of the Elements of Harmony. The Elements of Harmony amplified the great bond of friendship and love the sisters shared with each other. It was with this magic that they finally had a way to imprison Discord."

Discord faded into view again. The two sisters stood before him, elements circling them and a bright light built up. A rainbow beam appeared and struck Discord, turning him into stone.

"From the ashes of Discord's reign, the two alicorns united the remnants of pony civilization. It was then that the country of Equestria, was born."

The image shifted again. Now it showed a magnificent courtyard with thousands of ponies, unicorn, earth and pegasus alike, all bowing down to the two alicorns who were now wearing crowns.

Celestia shifted in place, it had been a long time since she's told anypony the true history of her Equestria. The tale brought up painful memories for her, she reached up with her forehoof and wiped a tear from her eye.

"As you could tell, I was one of those two alicorns. The other was my sister, Luna."

Twilight gasped. She had read virtually every history book in the Royal Archives, and there was no mention of Celestia having a sister.

"Luna and I took control of the heavens when Discord was banished. I ruled the day and she, the night. Equestria grew strong during this time, and Luna and I ruled in relative peace, but it was not to last. With precious few exceptions, ponykind have always been creatures of the day. Nighttime was when the horrors that roamed free during Discord's rule stalked the land and so ponies shunned the night and with it they shunned Luna."

The image showed Celestia sitting on her throne, thousands of ponies were waiting to see her. It changed to show Luna on the throne, a few dozen ponies waited their turn. Time passed and the few dozen turned into ten, the ten turned into three and the three turned into none. Luna sat alone, in an empty hall, weeping on her throne.

"As time passed, she grew more and more distant," Celestia said, sadly.

Fluttershy jumped back as Celestia stomped down hard, the stone beneath her hoof cracking.

"And I was too blind to see it!" she shouted with tears flowing freely.

Celestia turned to the nervous pegasus, apologized and then continued.

"I think... In the last century before Luna's fall, I was the only pony who still talked to her," she said, softly.

"After centuries of loneliness and despair, a dark madness came over Luna, it seized control of her body and mind and she transformed herself into Nightmare Moon. Nightmare Moon believed that she could force ponykind to love her and her night by banishing the day."

"She took control of the heavens and refused to allow the sun to rise. Without the warmth of the sun, crops would not grow, and all of Equestria would slowly freeze to death. I tried to talk to her, to get her to see reason, but the insanity had overcome her, it was too powerful. She refused to listen, and then she attacked."

Nightmare Moon faded into view, soaring though a dark sky. She fired off spell after spell as Celestia did her best to dodge or block them. All around the battlefield, the castle crumbled. Ponies galloped away screaming, but hundreds more died trying to escape the battle between the two titans.

"I couldn't stop her, I couldn't reason with her, she just kept attacking again and again until she managed to knock me out of the sky. I fell, landing just outside the room containing the Elements. I retrieved the Elements and I... I used them on my sister. While powerful, the Elements worked best against chaos, and so she did not suffer the same fate as Discord. Instead, she was imprisoned on the moon, and most of her power was sealed away."

Equestria's moon faded into view, the outline of a pony's head visible on the surface.

The image faded from view as Celestia ended the spell. She slumped forward and brought a hoof to her face, trying to cover the quiet sobs.

Twilight reached up and dried her own eyes. She looked around the room and saw that Celestia's sad story had affected everypony else as well. She reached over and hugged the Princess.

"I'm sorry for yer loss Princess, but what I don't understand is how come I've never heard of Luna before, seems to me what she did would be the kind of thing that would be remembered," Applejack said.

Celestia looked up at Applejack, her ears drooped low and her eyes downcast.

"After the battle, the word of Luna's betrayal spread, all across the land ponies tore down statues of her, burned schools and libraries founded by her, it was horrible. I couldn't bear for my sister to only be remember with hatred and fear. I did something that day that I still regret."

"I cast a spell that covered all of the world, stripping Luna from the memory of everypony. The spell also changed written records so there was no longer any mention of her."

The eyes of everypony in the room went wide. Altering the memories of a pony without their consent was highly illegal. Celestia had just admitted to doing that to a planet.

"Ponies only knew of Nightmare Moon and her banishment to the moon, not of her origins, in time even this faded into legend and she became known as the Mare in the Moon."

"What... What happened to Nightmare Moon then? Has she been banished again?" Twilight asked.

"I... I don't know. Luna and I could always sense each other, but I can no longer feel her presence," Celestia said, with a stutter.

"I spent the last 1000 years studying the Elements, trying to find a way to save my sister. Nothing I could think of would work, and I knew she would eventually escape her prison."

"I came to the conclusion that the only way I could save Luna was to destroy Nightmare Moon, and that was impossible."

"Why was it impossible?" Rainbow asked.

"I must ask that none of you repeat what I am about to say," Celestia said sternly.

"Of course, Princess," Twilight said, the rest of the ponies nodded in agreement.

"There has been much debate over the course of Equestria's history about my origin. While rare, there have been other alicorns, but although they tend to be long lived, they are still mortal ponies. Luna and I are... unique. We are not, as some have speculated, simply long lived, or ageless. Luna and I are immortal, we have always been and until today, I assumed we always would be."

Twilight's eyes widened in shock. One of the great mysteries of Equestria revolved around Celestia's origin. She had read dozens of books written about the very subject and to her knowledge Celestia had never answered anypony about her past. The only thing known for certain was that Celestia had been around for thousands of years. One of the less well known theories was that Celestia was a living goddess and there was a minor religion based around it.

Twilight bowed low.

"Princess are you... uh... are you a"

"Twilight, I know what you are going to ask and I will not answer. I am not here to discuss the religious choices of my ponies, that is their own business and I shall not interfere," Celestia said, interrupting the nervous pony.

There were some murmurs from the group, but Celestia ignored them.

"Nightmare Moon is Luna, twisted and corrupted by anger and hatred, but she is still the same pony, and it should not be possible for her to be destroyed."

Celestia looked down at the floor, unable to keep eye contact with any of the ponies in the room.

"Except, I found a way," she said quietly.

Comments

[Snow-hunter]

Owww my heart.
The feels bunker was not strong enough

[Teraunce]

ow!

[KvAT]

That's gonna be a yikes from me, dawg