”WELL, BARD?! WHAT DOEST THOU SAY?!”
Twilight gulped and stared at the princess. She watched her and whimpered. She couldn't stop herself. She was too scared to move, too scared to run. Too scared to do anything but await death.
”WELL?!”
Finally, she cracked. The tears formed in her eyes and she fell on her flank and began to full on bawl. She didn't care if she looked like a foal, she was going to die and she knew it and she didn't care if she looked horrible in her last moments.
She felt the movement as warmth wrapped around her and she waited for the end. It would only take a moment, she hoped. Probably compressed down to the size of a can. She hoped it would be painless.
Instead, nothing happened. The warmth stayed and, more surprising, it was soft. Wings held her close as the princess gazed down at her. Slowly the tears began to fade as she looked up into the eyes of her ruler. Most surprising of all, the rage was gone from them. The look on the ruler's face was soft, gentle. Almost loving. Motherly. Her wings gently wiped the tears away.
“Be calm, bard,” the princess said soothingly. “There is no need to cry.”
Twilight stared, her mouth falling open as she watched. “I... I thought...” she croaked out. “You're... n-not going to... kill me?”
The alicorn sighed and frustration formed on her features as she closed her eyes. She looked torn.
Twilight's eyes widened as a new thought formed in her mind. “Princess... do... do you love us?”
Her eyes opened in shock. “Bard?”
“Us... ponies. Do you love us?”
The princess cocked her head to the side. “Of course we love our subjects. What kind of ruler would we be without the love of those we protect?”
Twilight gulped. “Are... are you going to kill me?”
The princess shook her head. “No. You... are our subject. A foal. But you are ours. You still must be punished, however.”
Twilight nodded. “Thank you...”
Nightmare Moon watched her for a moment. “Was... it truly necessary to ask?”
“I'm sorry?”
“To ask if we loved our subjects?”
Twilight gulped. “W-well... you... did almost kill and tear off the wings of that pegasus.”
“She assaulted us!” the alicorn roared. But then paused. “Why did she?”
“She... thought you had her friend held captive. Rarity. She was... trying to free her.”
The alicorn stared, before pulling away. “A thousand years, and yet it all stays the same,” she said bitterly.
“I'm sorry?”
“Would they have ever suspected their other princess of holding a pony captive? Would they have assaulted her?!” Nightmare Moon asked, slamming a hoof down hard enough to crack the stone.
“W-what?”
“Our sister!”
“W-well, no, I suppose they wouldn't. But--”
“Of course not! Even now, when we are all you can see, still we must stay in her shadow! Why must all of you ponies hate our night so?!” she roared, stomping her hooves yet again.
Twilight cringed. “It's... it's not that. Honest! It's just...” She took a deep breath as she watched the princess. A moment ago she'd been so calm and soothing. Now, however, the anger and pain she was so familiar with was returning. “It's because we don't know. Nopony knows. We're afraid of... what's going to happen. We don't know you.”
“Of course you don't know us!” Nightmare Moon yelled. “We are hidden from you! As our sister wanted, she stood revered and loved by all, while we were cast aside, forgotten and banished!”
Twilight cringed. “I-I wouldn't say--”
The princess turned back to her. “Oh? Tell us, bard. How did you know of us?”
The earth pony gulped. “I... I read about you in a book. It was just an old fairy tale and--”
“Oh course it was! Just a tale, something to tell foals before tucking them in!” she roared again, before she stormed to the throne and sat down on it. She then gestured to the floor. “Very well, bard. You who have had so many questions. You have filled your books with what you thought you needed to ask. But now, let us tell you of who we were. Of what our life was before we were banished.”
Twilight blinked, her eyes widening. “W-what? But--”
“You have asked questions. So many questions. You have begun to weave your story. To know of our fall. But this time... we will tell of who we were. Before we even considered rising up to our wicked sister and dethroning her.”
The earth pony nodded. “Can... I ummm, get a scroll and a pen? I'd like to--” A scroll and quill popped into existence before her. “A-ah. Carry on.”
The princess took a slow, deep breath before closing her eyes. “We... were the princess of the night. Alongside our sister, we protected our subjects. Our ponies. We defeated the greatest of evils. Tirek, Sombra, even Discord. We put our lives on the line for so long, did everything we could to protect our subjects.”
Twilight nodded and made a mental note to research those names later.
“But never the praise fell on us,” she said, her tone cold as ice. “Always our sister was the one who received the glory. The one who ponies praised. Revered.” She gave a shudder. “They would hold... banquets in our honor. Raise statues. But they were always of her. Often there was but one statue, just of her. Or ours was to the side, tiny in comparison. Always in her shadow. But... we persevered. We thought... we believed we were unworthy. Perhaps our elder sister was better than us.” She ground a hoof into the ground. “We... thought perhaps if we tried harder, they would love us as well. But we were wrong.”
Twilight nodded as she took down the notes, glancing up at the princess. That anger was growing, she could almost taste it.
“Our sister was crafty. Wise. We... didn't realize what she was doing. We were foals. But we learned. And now we have had our vengeance.”
“Learned what?”
“Her plot of the day. Of the sun,” the princess said coldly. “She lured ponies away, told them of her beauty, of her glimmering light. She dazzled them, drawing their attention to herself. Always to herself. More and more they were lured in by her... false light. By the time I realized what she had done, what she was doing, it was too late. There was... naught we could do.” Her tone shifted suddenly, going soft and sad. “We... tried to draw our ponies back. To... make them see that we could be... beautiful. We could be dazzling. We could be what they wanted. We created such beauty in the sky. Shows that none had ever dreamed of. Meteor showers, great glimmering night lights far more beautiful than any rainbow. But it was too late. They slept through them. They IGNORED us!” Nightmare Moon yelled. “They always ignored us. Always... refused to listen. When we went to meet with them, they forgot about us. Our requests and thoughts were seen as unimportant to them, useless whining. We would receive only a hoofful of the support that our sister had. We heard their whispers. We saw their dreams. None of them wanted us. None of them thought there was even a need for a second princess. A... back up princess.” She closed her eyes and gave a little shake.
“It was too late. With our sister there, there was naught we could do. For they loved her and would listen to whatever she said. But we... were seen as second best. They would have given their lives for her, but for us, they wouldn't even give their time. Not one night. All of you ponies, all of my lovely subjects, drawn into her light. And that is when we decided. There was only one way to show our glory. To show who we truly were. To show... our subjects that we were not just a... second princess. We would be the only princess.”
Twilight nodded. “And then... you turned into...”
“We forsook the name of Luna,” the mare said coldly. “It was soft, weak. The name of a pony who could do naught but stand in her sister's shadow. We became Nightmare Moon.” Her wings spread out, seeming to radiate out from the throne. She then looked down at Twilight. “We have worked again and again to show ourselves to our subjects. And still you view us with such fright. Almost... hatred.”
The earth pony lowered her eyes. “I... I thought... I mean... Rainbow you were... going to cripple her.”
“She struck us! It is well within our right to punish her!”
Twilight cringed and gave a nod, lowering herself slightly and closing her eyes. “Please... m-mercy...”
Nightmare Moon took a slow, deep breath before closing her eyes. “... Perhaps you... are right. You ponies are such... foals. Yet we do care for you. We will not allow these... attacks to go unpunished any longer. Far too many have taken place.” A hoof was brought to her chin. “But we shall not cripple or kill either of you.” Her eyes widened slightly and her lips formed a small smile. “However, there is one punishment that was long abandoned even in our time. Perhaps it is time it makes its return.”
The earth pony looked up, nervously staring at the alicorn.
------
Twilight shook as she rocked back and forth in the wagon. The entire wagon jumped a little with every bump, making her nerves shake with it. She looked across the wagon at Rainbow, who was trying to put on a casual, calm face even as they passed by the crowds walking with fearful eyes.
Punishments like this hadn't taken place in millenia, they were thought to be only used in stories or with more barbaric races. Now the crowds had gathered to watch with a frightened fascination, to see if the act would be repeated. When the wagon came to a stop in the courtyard, two guards came to their sides, gently helping them to their hooves. She kept her head high, trying to keep herself from letting the fear show. After all, as terrified as she was, she knew this was only a fraction of what Nightmare Moon was capable of. They would survive this. Probably. She was slowly guided to the stage and stared at the guard who had been tasked with the deed. Strapped to his side was the whip to be used for the punishment. It looked fresh and new, as if it had never been used. She supposed it likely never had. The guard met her eyes for a moment before his gaze turned away and he looked just as desperate to escape as she did. She was led forward and her hooves were locked into position.
“It's fine,” she said softly. “Just... ten lashes each. You can do this,” she said comfortingly to the guard.
“I'm... I'm so sorry,” he said softly.
“I know. We... all do what we must,” she said, before looking out over the crowd. Most of them couldn't look away, they just stared as another guard announced her punishment for the deeds. She doubted most of them even believed it was going to happen, that at any moment Celestia would appear over the horizon and say it was all a big joke. That Nightmare Moon was just a prank, her in a mask.
But there was no Celestia, not anymore. There was just the nightmare. Twilight closed her eyes and waited until she heard the uncoiling of the whip behind herself.
It was just ten, she could endure. Would endure. It probably wouldn't even hurt that bad. She doubted she'd even--
The crack tore through her ears like lightning and for a moment she just stood there, in shock. Then the pain struck and all of her self-assurances evaporated, replaced by a scream that tore from her throat.
Holy hell. Lashes. Sht just got even more real than it already was.
Awh hell... I was hoping inwardly it was gonna be 30 minutes of tickling..
Well, this will definitely put a damper on any friendship between the two in the case of a happy ending. Like, Luna comes to her senses and Celestia is returned, this moment will always sit between Luna and Twilight.
"How... are you today, Twilight?"
"Oh, fine I guess besides the scars on my back that pull taught whenever I bend down."
"... Well, have a nice evening."
"Yep."
Rainbow Dash better remember this moment.
Like literally kissing Glow's ass every time she's in her presence.
Am I the only one who thinks Celestia is a real piece of work for leaving everypony at the whims of an unstable, violent unknown with no warning, no preparations, and with no legacy so as to piss off Luna?
Just FYI, whipping does cause permanent harm.
I have real mixed feelings on this story. I like Luna, but I'm having a real, real hard time imagining any way for Luna to get any kind of legitimacy. Even in a good ending, she'll have everything she did hanging over her as Nightmare Moon. The only possible way for it to happen is for Celestia to throw everything behind her, publicly apologize and take responsibility for everything, and issue new history books showing that it was Celestia who caused all the hardships since Nightmare Moon's return because of her failure to properly prepare her subjects, nor properly educate them of any of Luna's history such that it caused even more issues when Nightmare Moon took over and there was no positive impression of her.
7370331
better than being crippled or dead
Damn....I thought it was going to be stocks or public shaming. This is not going to help, Black Snooty.
Damn I hope it is just a leather whip without barbs. A cat of nine tails leaves permanent scars. Personally, I think this is much too harsh for pony society to accept given their temperance in the show.
7370331
It's depend on type of strikes you get from whip. You get hit by considerable length of whip (don't even cut skin) or just by end (deep wounds) and skillful whipper know how to properly deal both types. Also it's important whether wounds were treated by medic after punishment or leaved to heal by themselves. And of course type of whip, if without any barbs then could not even leave visible scars.
For interested I suggest finding some good book about medieval guild executioners and methods of punishing in the Middle Ages. Fun fact, these guys was really competent and sadists were not allowed beetwen them. They performed the penalty prescribed by law and masterity of individual executioner was determined by how clean and swift he deal ordered punishment.
7371297 That IS an interesting tidbit. Thanks for sharing that info.
7343318 Thankies. :)
7343436 It's always the thankless jobs.
7343465 Hee hee, thanks.
7343492 Perhaps it is. You may never know! ... until the story is finished.
7344125 As long as you just watch it and not me... no one should see the things I do.
7344592 It really depends, she uses creativity to control nightmare, but logic to try and dictate how it'll best be applied.
7346644 Violently with lots of explosions!
7346663 Rainbow makes all harder. And it remains to be seen. :)
7346681 Everything. She had all the minors.
7346875 I will do my best.
7347401 Thanks, I'll try my best.
7348271 Plans are for egg heads!
7348364 Well, if people ask for it I usually try to come through. You people are the reason I write,after all.
7349697 With slightly less hammer.
7349833 If only.
7350100 Gnomes. Blame the gnomes.
7350893 Oh that would not end well at this point...
7351704 Poor Twilight will not like the end result.
7357064 Ayes, she can be a protag. The reason it's likely so rare is that Luna and Nightmare are the same pony. When she becomes good, boom, she's Luna. So not much point to having nightmare be a protag in most cases.
7370199 All of the real!
And first bout of responses out! Time to go ahead and write the second batch... later! *collapses on bed.* Sorry if I missed anyone.
Hey there. I have to say, so far, you ARE doing a great job on the exchanges, emotional content, action and future chapter set-up in all the right places. Not much I can say that the other reviewers haven't said already (other than I honestly hope Rainbow realizes that it is only thanks to Twi that she didn't get punished even worse than she did [in other words, she owes Twilight BIG TIME]), but I will definitely be looking forward to more of this as soon as time and inspiration will allow.
Still loving this story-- For that moment when they were on the rocking wagon my first thought was 'Skyrim! Damn those lunar imperials!' Now Glow just needs to unlock the thu'um and go find Spike on a mountain...
7371433 Earth Pony strength?
7372998
It's a pleasure.
7370245 If only. Nightmare Moon's reign would be the most ticklish of reigns.
7370282 Such passive aggressiveness!
7370298 Rainbow will.
7370331 Oh, it really depends how it goes around... or if Luna will be redeemed or not.
7370784 Ayes. That's the problem with making snap judgments and assumptions,
7370862 Nope, not at all.
7372928 Oh, don't worry, she's coming up. And if you guys thought the whipping was bad, just wait what she has in store for this... Though,i n all honesty, the whipping is like, the main reason this story has a T rating.
7371024 A bit. But yeah, Nightmare Moon is looking for punishment, not destruction. Now, if Twilight wasn't one of her citizens...
7371297 I always kind of assumed. I mean, I've been hit by a whip and it didn't leave permanent damage, so I assume it's not all kinds and ways that destroy the body.
7371433 Enchanted cod piece to make them lighter.
7373029 Awwww, thankies. ^^ It always makes me happy. Sadly, got tons of inspiration but not a whole lot of time. The whole problem with trying to balance full time job, finishing a series, publishing own works and getting more books out there. If I can just eliminate the need for breaks and sleep I think I'll be fine... :P
7373409 Oh, don't worry. Spike isn't on a mountain but she mayyyyy find him soon. >.> <.< FORE! *points at shadows.*
Anddddd second batch done! Hope I got them all. If not... sorry. ^^; *collapses on ground.*
I want to be appalled, or sickened, or feel sorry. But I can do is remember this song,
I have got to say that I'm enjoying reading this story. Twilight as a Earth Pony and Nightmare Moon ruling Equestria. And you're saying that your going to write the POV of Twilight throughout the entire show?! You sir(or ma'am) have got a follower, like, and favorite from me.
I love the way you write Nightmare Moon, she really is just misunderstood. Can't wait for the next part.
Please let me hug Nightmare Moon.
I think you managed it really well.
It also showed the precarious balancing act Twilight is doing, being the voice of reason that is trying to save Luna from her darkness.
7378727 you just won the interwebz for the day
7422441 If you think NMM was just 'misunderstood', you must also really have a soft spot for the likes of Saddam Hussein.
NMM is a delusional nut in the grips of dark magic. The very definition of an 'unreliable narrator'.
Or do you just believe everything every tyrant tells you at face value?
7663870 Well NMM is the result of the ponies and her Sister from 1000 years ago. How long did Luna endure being treatet without respect and viewed upon as someone they don't needed. Disrespect, ignore and badmouth someone long enough and eventually they lash out. Celestia didn't take her sisters worries for something real. Celestia is in most points the entire Reason NMM came into existens. She ignored Lunas worries, saw how she was treated but didn't do anything, and like in every other major case (Sombra, Tirek, Chrysalis) she does nothing. She sits on her Flank until its too late for her to do anything that would help.
And no I just state fact here how I see how NMM came into being, Celestia could prevent much more trouble if she would get her fat flank from her trone and actually do something about treaths.
NUUUUUUUUUUU!!!
7736135 Everyone is a result of the people around them. Everyone. However, while it is easy to blame Celestia for Luna's turn to evil, you have to realize that not everything is that simple.
As an example of why your sympathy is misguided, look at how similar Luna is to Adolf Hitler:
While the exact details are obviously different, the kinds of feelings the circumstances create are strikingly similar. Luna just wanted to be loved and share her night with the world; Hitler just wanted to be an artist and share his work with the world. We could say Hitler was some poor, misunderstood man who only wanted to be an artist. That all of his terrible, terrible actions were the result of circumstances and that we should feel sorry for him. Because if it weren't for his father being a douche, or the art academy rejecting him, he could have lived a long, happy life as an artist.
However, any symapthy I have for the man ends when he goes on to slaughter millions of people. Just like any sympathy I might have for Luna ends when she brings about eternal night, which will cause omnicide across the planet. Literally worse than Hitler.
In conclusion, your logic could be used dismiss any deplorable action as being the fault of everyone around said person. And while true in the literal sense, it isn't practical... for obvious reasons, I hope.
PS: Since this is a fictional story, this kind of logic is fine. I'm only making this comment to play Devil's advocate.
You didn't. There has been a lot of talk in the comments about how a 'master' could whip with great pain while avoiding permanent harm... but that guard isn't a master at whipping ponies. No such master exists in Equestria. At the very least such amateurish whipping would be crippling for the pegasus... even if he manages to avoid breaking her wings in the process. The only way Rainbow Dash could ever reach Wonderbolt level flying after this is with "MAGIC! Ain't gotta 'splain shit!!", which of course is terrible writing.
I just realized something...
1. Celestia knew about Nightmare Moon's return, and that she would likely be captured.
2. Twilight, as far as we know, is the only pony that has put NMM/Luna in a favorable light in recent memory
3. Twilight was invited to the palace the same morning as the Summer Sun Celebration... by Princess Celestia
So either Celestia is completely incompetent, which is unlikely due to her apparent thousand year winning streak, a secretary set the appointment in her name without her knowledge, or Celestia went into Chessmaster Mode and put a sympathetic ear within range of the Nightmare and knew that she could reign her in...
8140428 thats...really interesting.
Celestia has a 1000 years to plan something and even if her first plan is the use of the Elements she most have a backup-plan(maybe).
I do really feel a romance tab could be add for at least a platonic relationship between nightmare and twlight but up to you
Well, you certainly don't lack for ambition.
Buck! I just realized that Spike is missing!
Ah.. Nightmare indeed
9664277
I forgot Spike too!
7370529
here's a thing. characters and people are different thing.
i'm assured that many batman's joker fans will advocate for joker's death sentence at first opportunity if he were to cross into real world.
Oohh, lashes. I remembered seeing one of those crowd caning in Aceh, but it seemed more symbolic to humiliate than to hurt.
8140428
Celestia always gambles, it's what she does keeping everything for a thousand years. She obviously wanted to reform her sister with the elements instead of outright defeating her, but her gamble failed. This AU is what happens when she got a streak of background Nat 1s.