Eclipsed
Nightmare Moon
Equestria withered beneath the chill of the moon. The first tongues of frost licked up the stones of the dark castle in the Everfree Forest. Though the night blazed with light, an overwhelming shadow cloaked the bodies of any pony that dared walk the woods that night. All of the creatures, even those most monstrous and vile, hid within their lairs from the force that drove the land into eternal night.
Apple Bloom and her friends trailed behind Nightmare Moon, threatening to trip her gait as they crossed a chasm and scaled the stone steps to the abandoned fortress. She shoved the doors open with a hoof and shivered at the silence that came from within.
“Where are we?” asked Apple Bloom, looking around. “This looks like... I thought I could see Canterlot over the trees. But everything feels all wrong.”
“I feel like we shouldn't be here,” said Sweetie Belle.
“It is just another memory, children,” said Nightmare Moon. She stepped into the hollow belly of the castle and brushed them in, away from the chill. “It shall pass, just as the others have. You have nothing to fear.”
Scootaloo buzzed her wings. “That's easy for you to say,” she said. “What's up with all these strolls down memory lane, anyway? Aren't we supposed to be looking for the princess?”
“We come closer to her with every step. It is only a matter of time.”
While before she could sense her sister only like a distant star, now she could feel her presence like a warm wind in winter. Celestia moved closer, and yet their inevitable reunion troubled her in ways she could not comprehend. Though she could allay the fillies' fear, her own heart quickened and would not calm.
The castle could have been the twin of the Canterlot palace were it not cast against the blackened sky and coated in symbols of the night. Lavender tapestries draped the walls and fought the weather as it encroached on the castle chambers. The moonlight added a pale glow to the stained glass windows, chronicles of battles her and her sister had fought over the ages.
This memory...
Where once her hooves fell with dark determination, they now hesitated like a filly returning to her unlit home. Silhouettes and shadows swayed on the walls like trees in the wind as she approached the throne room. The cracked seat held only the faint imprint of a cushion and the same steel helmet that she wore. She reached out and touched it. As she did, a voice exploded in the chamber.
“Sister, stop!”
Nightmare Moon whirled around. Princess Celestia stood before her, her body radiating a light that seared even the furthest corners of the room an alabaster white. Nightmare Moon picked up the helmet and placed it over her head, memory and reality fusing around her.
“It is too late,” said Nightmare Moon. “It will not stop until the ponies of Equestria finally understand.”
These are not my words! Nightmare Moon felt herself screaming and making no sound. Her mind sat paralyzed within the memory. Let me speak to you, sister! I must make you understand.
Princess Celestia approached the throne, her mane rippling with an invisible current. Apple Bloom pulled the other fillies aside, into the shelter of some of the ruined stone and whispered to them.
"We don't know how dangerous it is," said Apple Bloom. The other two nodded and they huddled together, spellbound by the sisters' confrontation.
“There is no one to punish you," called Celestia. "End this madness and come back with me. Restore Equestria before it is too late!”
“What is there for me to come back to?” Nightmare Moon's eyes vanished beneath the magic aura that crackled through her. Lightning and fire twisted from the ether and thunder clapped as she pounded her hooves against the throne room floor. “I am a prisoner within that world. Every night they flee from my work and hide in their homes and in their beds. I have to see into their dreams.” She scraped her hoof and a furious storm crackled beneath it. “Do you know what they dream of, Tia?”
Princess Celestia hesitated. “Sister, I'm--”
“They dream of me!” Nightmare Moon's roar of anguish shook the very foundations of the castle. “Every night I have to see myself as a monster. I see myself tearing apart their flesh, cursing their families... I see the most hideous, vile creature in Equestria, and that creature is me.”
“Sister...” Princess Celestia shrunk back, her posture tightening. “I did not mean...”
Nightmare Moon snorted. “Even you saw me this way. My own sister...”
“I was fearing what you would become!” Princess Celestia's wings flared open with another surge of light. “And now you are on the brink of becoming the very thing you despise, and I am on the brink of losing you. Come back with me, please.”
“This is what you and your subjects have done to me.” Nightmare Moon shut her eyes. “And now you wish to lock me in a cage once more? If I am nothing more than a monster to you, then I will be a monster!”
Princess Celestia screamed in frustration and kicked back a chunk of stone from the floor. “No, I will not let you do this. I will bring you back even if I have to break you to do it!”
The sisters set upon one another with fury. Princess Celestia channeled the light of the sun into a single burst and fired it upon Nightmare Moon. The dark mare struck back with slithering shadow and where the two forces met, a great tear ripped through Equestria. The two fell back as light and dark clashed and cancelled one another out.
Nightmare Moon crouched down. “And I will make you see my world, no matter what it takes.”
I was hurt, thought Nightmare Moon, watching herself from the inside. More than any pony can comprehend. But it still did not seem to excuse the evil boiling inside of her. She helplessly relived the experience, only barely aware of Apple Bloom and the others witnessing her fall.
Sister lashed out at sister. They struck one another with hoof and wing, conjuration and enchantment. Nightmare Moon threw up her wings and the shadows beneath them contorted into living beings. Two whipped at Celestia and she ducked out of the way, or so she had thought. Though they had missed her body, they struck upon her own shadow and she crumpled to the ground with a cry of pain. Two more of Nightmare Moon's shades smashed at the nearby pillars, grasping two monoliths of stone before hurling them at Celestia.
Princess Celestia slammed the ground and a shield of white fire rose around her. The flying stone burned to ashes and when Nightmare Moon's shadows touched it, they too vaporized. Nightmare Mon reeled back beneath the blaze and howled.
I do not understand why you are showing me this. If there is one moment I never wish to live through again...
Celestia's love drove her to fight, but every time she put Nightmare Moon down, it only powered the dark mare's fury. But the outcome of the fight had already been sealed in history. The sisters charged and met with all of their strength. Though the princess of the sun was more resolved, more deliberate, she underestimated the power of the night. Princess Luna surrendered herself entirely to the madness and the darkness that lurked upon the edge of her realm, her magics, and let it consume her. And she smote Princess Celestia upon her throne room floor, battered and beaten.
Or so she had thought.
“Fear not, sister.” Nightmare Moon laughed. “Soon you and all of your subjects will learn to love me again.”
And then Princess Celestia did something that Nightmare Moon had not seen before in her life. She sobbed into her hooves, tears streaming down her face. Never once had she shown such an outburst of emotion in front of anypony, not even her own sister. As she did, she rose, not by her own strength but by another light, another power that swirled about her. Every color flickered around her as she met Nightmare Moon's eyes.
No, not this. Anything but this. Nightmare Moon screamed and thrashed within the memory, trying with all of her might and magic to shatter its hold over her. The moments played back in perfect detail. Everything happened as it had a thousand years ago.
“I'm so sorry.” Princess Celestia whispered and looked into her sister's eyes. “You have given me no other choice.”
Nightmare Moon scowled and reared back. “The Elements of Harmony. You have stolen even my bond with the most sacred of powers... you have betrayed me in every possible way.”
Princess Celestia shook her head. “It was you who severed the bonds of Harmony,” she said. “The burden of bearing the Elements now falls upon me alone. I wish there was another way. Luna, I...”
The dark princess drew up all of her magics and prepared for her sister's onslaught. “I am Princess Luna no longer. I am Nightmare Moon, and I am not your sister. I am the darkness that will embrace this land everlasting.”
Prismatic flickers tore past Nightmare Moon and even the lightest brush of them seemed to render her dark magics inert. A full rainbow of light grew around Celestia as she stepped forward, still crying, closing the distance between them. In her head, Nightmare Moon could only but watch as her sister prepared to banish her from the very face of the world.
“I'm so sorry,” sobbed Princess Celestia. “I love you.”
Nightmare Moon froze within the grasp of the Elements of Harmony, unable to break herself free. Celestia closed her wings and her hooves around Luna as the ancient and unfathomable magics consumed her. Her nightmarish body weakened and warmed. Her hooves glimmered as she began to dissolve into moonlight.
No, no... no! Nightmare Moon tried to bury herself within her own mind. But even the light of the memory pierced straight through her and lit up every corner of her soul.
The light of Harmony touched her through the memory, and for once she looked upon herself with utter calmness and clarity. I deserved this, she thought. I was so angry that I was hurting everypony that I loved. No matter what they did to me, I broke every promise that I made. I betrayed everything that I believed in and everypony that believed in me. And that's why I've been living in this moment for over a thousand years, never truly leaving it. Sister...
She looked through her own eyes, from present to past, and searched her sister as her own worldly form unraveled. You were trying to save me. Perhaps, in the grand scheme of things, you did...
The memory seemed to loosen its grip on her, yet she did not return to her body. The ceiling, torn open in their fight, widened to display the moon as large as it had ever been from the face of Equestria. She felt its hypnotic presence drawing her in and away. And she realized that that was the moment in which their memories split. Her own memory began, splintered from that of her sister. It was not her memory, but Celestia's that consumed her. As she fell away from her sister's visions, her mind became more lucid.
“I'm sorry,” she said. Princess Celestia's eyes widened for just a moment as she recognized the change. Nightmare Moon looked upon the three fillies, still sheltered in the rubble, and laughed gently. “I am so sorry. It seems this is as far as I can go. This is the fate I deserve, for all that I have done...”
“No, you can't be serious!” Apple Bloom burst from beneath the arch and the others tried to stop her. They soon stood beneath the specter of Nightmare Moon as she began to vanish into the moon.
There were no more words for Nightmare Moon to speak, her own thoughts falling into stillness. Instead of anger, now only sadness and regret encircled her in a hazy sleep. As her awareness drifted, she could still make out a spot of the golden lands beneath her. Apple Bloom grabbed Princess Celestia by the wing as she turned and began to walk away.
“It's not fair!” she cried. “What the hay was that? Where did Princess Luna go? What is going on...? She's not gone, is she? She can't be gone! What did you do? Say something!”
Princess Celestia wiped her eyes with the back of a wing and exhaled. “Just a memory,” she said. “A memory that has lived within me for a thousand years. I couldn't save her. Not with my own hooves. Not with harmony. Not with a thousand years of toil and preparation. Now I understand what I must do.”
“You can't just leave us!” Apple Bloom protested. “Where will we go? We're lost here without Princess Luna!”
But Celestia did not hear her. She passed from the throne room as if she were passing through a dream. The sun lifted above the horizon and flooded the broken castle with morning. Celestia vanished into the brightest point of it. Nightmare Moon became enveloped in the now invisible moon.
And in the deepest darkness, Princess Luna appeared before her darker self, who now lay with her head in her hooves in an endless ripple of moonlit shadow.
“You seem to have come to a decision,” she said.
Nightmare Moon lifted her head, her eyes half-open. “I have done great evil,” she said. “Even after being touched by Harmony twice. I accept my punishment.”
Princess Luna laughed and shook her head. “Three times have you been touched by the light of Harmony,” she said. “And now you are ready for the next step. But you must hurry. Our time to act is nearing an end.”
When she looked again, the image of Princess Luna had vanished. A haze of fog held her mind as the moon encased her within its shadow. She could hear the stars whisper and chime and sing across the cosmos. Equestria glowed beneath her, somewhere so close and yet so far beyond her. It could have been at the tips of her hooves, but it would not matter as long as the moon held her in its thrall.
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Feels like I've been holding out longer than I should have... hmm. Full speed ahead, I guess. Hold onto your flanks.
And it's good to see you again.
Excited to read this story as always
Oh God, the feels.
yay update now its time for rainbow to kick changeling flank!!!
Why do I feel like this story is going to end with all the immortals leaving because the ponies are better off without them... Really sad to see Nightmare go. She comes all that way, just to get sealed up into the moon again without being able to say anything other than I'm sorry. which Celestia dismisses as a memory, or something. Kinda wondering why Celestia didn't really notice the CMC's situation too. Also, did Celestia just send herself to the sun?
Actually, I have no idea of what just happend ;o
1858607
Nightmare Luna Just got banished to the moon again, in a memory construct, by the actual Celestia, who may or may not be crazy.
...oh, and the CMC are stranded. That about sum things up?
1858977 Okay, that's what I thought
Things are not as they seem.
1858977
That sums things up pretty well, and makes me sound a little crazy to boot. Peeerfect.
1858356
Patience.~ It'll come. But I mean, just how much changeling flank kicking is enough. (*better kick!*)
It would kinda understand Luna's madness if it actually came from the combined dreams/nightmares of the collective equestrian pony unconsciousness.
It is nice to see NMM finally owning up to her mistakes/past sins.
1860042 - Celestia has completely given up on reality hasn't she? She abandons Equestria to NMM, Discord and whatever else, completely wracked with her own guilt? Someone slap that pony awake please... it's funny how she can completely ignore the foals that most certainly aren't part of her memory.
1861050
Funny, or really sad?
"And in the deepest darkness, Princess Luna appeared before her darker self, who now lay with her hooves in her hands in an endless ripple of moonlit shadow."
Hands? Can I have a Lyra emoticon please?
Also, another superb chapter. Way to make us readers desperate to find out what the heck is going on.
1860906
pinkie.mylittlefacewhen.com/media/f/img/mlfw2604-Luna_saw_what_you_did_there.jpg
Either it suddenly got really cold in here, or this story is so good its making me shiver. i am prepared to guess the second one is right.
Ermergerd! There's so many chapters I've missed! And it's 4am and I need to sleep but I want to read and this sentence is making me feel like Pinkie Pie oh what to do!