Carpe Noctem

by BleedingRaindrops

Luna s Insomnium

A cool breeze wafted over the high towers of Canterlot Castle as Luna gently urged her namesake higher into the twilight sky. On the opposite horizon, her sister poured magic into the sun and lowered it to make way for the night. With its brightness concealed, the softer lights of the night sky made their presence known. They danced with starlight just the way Luna had envisioned them millennia ago. Once upon a time, she might have thought to rearrange them, but she had long since learned that few ponies took notice.

Indeed, as Luna lowered herself back onto her balcony, nodded to her sister’s wave from across the chasm that separated them, and looked out upon the city below, she saw ponies everywhere heading inside, some even shutting off their lights and closing their blinds. Luna sagged against the railing. It was just as she remembered it, over a thousand years ago. She looked back up toward her sister’s tower, and watched as Celestia’s flowing tail vanished behind the stone walls. She cast a forlorn glance up at her starry tapestry, and then resigned herself to the interior of Canterlot Castle with a sigh.

Celestia was on her way to her royal bedchambers when Luna met her near the throne room. Luna quickly straightened her gait, and lifted her head as the two turned down the corridor toward their sleeping quarters. She procured a warm smile for Celestia’s sake—and her own. Her sister returned it in kind as the pair exchanged their usual eventide greeting.

“Fare well this evening, sister. The night is yours.”

“Rest well, sister. I shall watch over the night.”

Luna marched forward, never faltering, but she heard Celestia stop.

“Luna, is something bothering you?”

Luna’s hooves stopped with a sharp clack on the polished marble floor. She looked back at her sister before turning to face her better. Celestia stood tall, but she swayed with clear fatigue. Her face showed concern, but her eyes betrayed her. She was tired—too tired for whatever conversation might have been needed. Luna did not wish to upset her anyway; the matter could wait for another time.

“I am fine, sister. Thank you. You need your rest now. Sleep, and I shall watch over you.”

Celestia nodded, yawning unceremoniously, and then headed down the corridor.

Luna waited a moment before following her for the short trek to her own room. In the middle of the room, her midnight blue sleeping couch lay surrounded by curtains of a slightly lighter shade.

She knelt down on the couch’s plush surface, feeling the warmth from where she’d risen less than an hour ago. Glancing out the window, Luna observed the stillness of her night, knowing that everypony was now dreaming, so now she must attend to one of her oldest duties. She closed her eyes, lit up her horn, and entered into a lucid, purposeful sleep.

As Luna entered the familiar void of her Dreamscape, she hoped her tradition of watching over ponies’ dreams would settle her own dark thoughts. The dreams themselves were accessible to her as golden orbs, two meters in height and breadth when she was up close; in any direction, she could watch as the distant, starlike pinpricks flickered in or out of existence as ponies fell asleep or woke back up.

Without solid ground beneath her hooves, or even air to spread her wings in, physical movement was an impossibility. Indeed, she’d had to relearn the nuances of willing herself in a given direction after returning from her imprisonment; the Dreamscape was as much a part of her as the night itself, and that, too, had been taken from her.

No, she corrected herself. I lost that, through my own failures.

Abandoning that train of thought, Luna wandered and watched. When she neared any particular orb, she could feel the inhabitants’ emotions on an instinctual level. That helped her to avoid the more intimate scenes that were unfolding in some of the dreams around her; while she adored mortals’ passions, she also made an effort to respect certain boundaries.

Above her, Luna felt a familiar glowing warmth; after floating to the dream, she saw the vision of a placid scene—two older ponies, sitting quietly on their farmhouse’s front porch. She knew as she watched that it was the husband’s dream, and that after his wife’s passing, this was one of the few ways for them to still be together. With a spark of her horn and a nuanced press of magic against the orb, she altered the dream, slightly: now, in the night sky, a cascade of meteors fell for the enjoyment of the reunited lovers.

She continued in that manner, both enjoying the happy dreams and doing what she could to help the more troubled ponies. Luna preferred a subtle approach to her guardian role; if she taught the dreamers to help themselves, she felt that, on waking, the lessons would be more likely to remain.

This was not always possible, however. When she saw through the metaphor of a terrified young colt’s nightmare—he was fleeing a shapeless, angry mass in his own home—she summoned the image of a local city guard to guide him away from what was chasing him. As the pair escaped, she made a mental note of the colt’s location; she did not live mortals’ lives for them, nor did she make their choices. But in certain circumstances, she felt it was within the duties of a princess to check up on her more vulnerable subjects.

With a sigh, Luna broke away from that dream and looked around her. How many are out there, who feel they are helpless? Her thoughts darkened even more, this time coalescing into a piercing sense of blame: How many lives could a thousand years’ of dreamwatching have saved?

Luna chuckled silently in the empty space around her. If she’d hoped to distract herself from her guilt, the Dreamscape was not a place to let go of emotions. Every dream she touched touched her back; this was the nature of directly impacting ponies’ lives. It was duty, though, so after a brief respite, she found the will to propel herself forward.

Thankfully, the next few disturbed dreams Luna encountered were of a lighter nature. She replaced the timberwolves in one middle-aged stallion’s nightmare with angry, oversized jalapeños like the ones he’d eaten too many of before bed; with a grin at his still-panicked confusion, she noted that sometimes, subtlety could be cast by the wayside for greater effect.

She continued her work, dream after dream, and almost lost herself in the rhythm of the task. Then, a peculiar sense of deja vu snapped her from the forming trance—despite the span she’d covered, one of the nearby dreams felt extremely familiar to one of the quieter ones she’d passed earlier. For a moment, Luna wondered if she’d managed to loop back on herself; it was entirely possible, given the lack of a true sense of space.

Both dreams had based on a sense of lonely yearning, but the heartfelt grief at their core wasn’t due to actual loss, it was simply... genuine, childlike exuberance. Luna grinned; even in healthy environments—and, in her experience, even adults—often lacked the wisdom of time to realize how small and temporary their problems could be.

As Luna wracked her mind, faint differences began to distinguish this dream from the prior one. Both dreamers missed their friend, but both for separate reasons. The first felt sad and lost without a counterpart, a respected peer who could almost keep up the same pace while playing. The current dream’s longing was for a kindhearted soul who, while often busy, always went out of their way to listen to troubles.

The reason for the dreams’ similarities struck Luna as incredibly obvious as soon as it occurred to her: Both dreamers missed the same individual. As she became more and more attuned to the emotional nuances of the dream she had stopped by, she was able to discern details of the missed individual’s form: a yellow filly, not much older than ten; she often wore her thoughts in her large chestnut eyes, but not as often as she wore a characteristic red bow in her mane.

With a snaplike jolt, Luna shook herself from the dream before she learned more about the filly. Meddling in mortals’ lives was sticky work, best done from a distance; even before her banishment, she had learned many hard lessons about letting mortals become dependent upon her. Those pains were dwarfed by the loss that came when she let herself become dependent upon mortals; even the name carried every warning about their transient state of living, but...

But what would one night’s kindness truly do to you? Luna jerked herself to a different train of thought. She immediately discarded the thought as selfish; there were fillies and foals whose lives were actually at stake, children who she might aid by reading their dreams. Why should she help two comfortable youths, just because their pain was familiar to her?

The answer came to Luna, just as plainly as the similarities of the dreams had been. Are we so far gone, that we can no longer even learn from mortals? Celestia’s burning question, so many millennia ago, had haunted Luna even before her lunar imprisonment. The two had been fillies themselves, once, and the memories of watching their family and childhood friends age to death were not ones Luna chose to dwell on. But there had been a separation, even before that point, where she and her sister had realized they were different from everypony else. That rift had only grown during an extensive learning process of what those differences truly meant.

With a force of will and a steeled resolve, Luna took hold of the dream and soared through the Dreamscape to find its counterparts. In truth, the Dreamscape was an extension of herself, so it was merely reacting and re-forming itself to bring her queries closer together. To her, however, the streaks of dream spheres blinking past felt like movement.

Her “flight” ended in a matter of seconds, and Luna found herself in the center of a perfect triangle of dream spheres. She was always amazed at the power of her Dreamscape; it was vast enough to hold everyone’s dreams—not only Equestrians—yet on a moments’ whim, she could isolate and command any number of dreams to reflect anything she willed.

It was an immense power she did not use lightly. But tonight, she sighed to herself, perhaps a little kindness will lighten my thoughts. Her horn glowed as her plan coalesced into a spell; the nimbus of magic reflected the same gold color of the dreams she had sought out. With a deep breath, she mentally puzzled through the entire process of crafting a dream.

Building a dream was different than building something in the physical realm; rules like physics, time, and location permanence were vagrants that, while not unwelcome, did not make themselves at home as they did in reality. The only concepts that mattered were the ones that were actively noticed by the dreamers; therefore, emotional and sensory loci were much more prominent areas she needed to focus upon. The glow around her horn grew larger in all directions as she willed more structure into the construct, and when she had finished, the spell had coalesced into a new, fourth dream orb.

Next, came the tricky part. With nuanced tugs, Luna found the three orbs’ dreamers and gently pulled them out of their original dreams. She had to be careful; if any of them woke, her entire spell would collapse on itself and she would have to start over again—assuming the fillies made it back to sleep. In her experience, dreamers who were pulled from their dreams often felt discomfort at the sensation, and it wasn’t uncommon for them to avoid sleep for the rest of the night. In one case, she’d had to personally intervene after one stallion forewent sleep for nearly a week.

Fortunately, Luna’s practiced magic grip held the dreamers, and by the time she let them go, they had been safely transported into the dream she’d prepared for them. She sealed the arcane conduits used to feed power into the dream; with active minds inside, the spell would sustain itself for as long as its occupants remained asleep. When her horn darkened, the first three dreams also faded into the aether; they were lost, but for that evening, their purpose had been fulfilled.

A sense of joy immediately emanated from the new dream; three fillies, reunited in their slumber, began catching up and exploring the scenery she’d prepared for them. She’d crafted the dream from her memory, as a living photograph of one of her favorite places in the Canterlot Castle grounds.

This was not a place for worries or confusion, she decided. With a thought, Luna drifted up towards the sphere, and then there was a slight tension as she pierced the border of the dream. The magic washed over her in a familiar tingle that set every hairs on edge, but it quickly left and was replaced by the cool air of a night’s gentle breeze. The sweet fragrance of nocturnal flowers filled her nostrils, and even if Luna knew it was a dream she had created, she took a moment to take in the serenity of her garden.

Few Equestrians had ever seen the Moon Garden in its true glory, Luna noted sadly. It was more common for inquisitive guests to ask about the seemingly plain garden: Was it new? Were the flowers and trees out of season? During the day, the flowers closed up, and nearly all of the animals slept as well. But as soon as night came, and the first beams of moonlight touched the garden...

Luna looked around her. Dozens of species of bioluminescent flowers glowed in hues of blue, green, and violet. The shimmerleaf trees looked as if they were ablaze with a gentle, white flame inside the veins of every leaf. Glowflies lit the air, acting as natural pollinators for the garden’s self-sustaining life cycle to continue as naturally as possible, and the paths themselves were lit with embedded, pebble-sized chunks of moonstone. In the distance, water churned; the pond was filled with species of tropical lilies, fronds, and lichens that either lit it with soft, candlelight glows or sweetened the air with calming scents.

“I think it came from over here!” A filly’s voice shattered Luna’s reverie. Her gut wrenched in panic, a deep-rooted fear of being discovered. Even before her banishment, before Equestria had aged a millennium and left her behind, she had always dreaded meeting others for the first time. She quickly got a handle on herself and chided herself: These are foals. The young, especially, needed to have faith in a certain level of control displayed by their leaders. It would do no good to anyone for her to cower, gape-eyed; as little hooffalls drew nearer, she took a deep breath, pushed her chest out, and assumed a regal posture.

Three fillies rounded a bend on the path, and at first, Luna feigned interest in a hanging twinklevine. When their stammering voices overlapped, she turned to them with slow, practiced grace. “Greetings.”

“Princess Luna!” Three voices spoke in unison; their tones were a blend of shock, disbelief, and fear.

As the three of them hurried to clumsy, little bows, she turned and approached the trio. “It has been many new moons since the last time I have met other ponies in this garden.” She kept her tone as warm as possible, despite the bitterness she felt at the words.

“We’re sorry!” the white unicorn squeaked.

“Yeah, we didn’t mean t’ tresspass or nothin’!”

“We don’t even know how we got here.” The pegasus feigned bravery better than the rest, but Luna could feel her annoyance over disciplinary action when, truly, she hadn’t broken any rules.

“Rise...” Luna asked, calmly. The fillies obeyed, and she continued: “There is no cause for alarm. You are all my guests; I am simply hoping the three of you are enjoying your time in the Moon Garden.”

Their faces shared a look of bewilderment, but it was the timid unicorn who spoke, emboldened: “It’s beautiful!”

The others chimed in with agreement, and Luna smiled. “I thank you... but you must forgive me; I am at a disadvantage. The three of you know who I am, but none of us have actually been introduced.” With a flash of her eyelid, she winked at the pegasus.

“Oh!” The unicorn clapped a hoof over her mouth. “I’m Sweetie Belle!”

“My name’s Apple Bloom.” The earth pony’s youthful facsimile of her older sister’s accent tinged her words.

“And, uh, yeah...” The pegasus cocked her head, clearly with her thoughts elsewhere. “I’m Scootaloo. But don’t you already know that?”

“Don’t be rude, Scootaloo!” Apple Bloom reared on her friend. “Princesses are busy with princess work; they can’t know everypony’s name!”

“Yeah they can!” Scootaloo jabbed an accusatory hoof in the air at Apple Bloom. “They move the sun; they can remember names!”

“Let’s not fight...” Sweetie gulped, and her two friends’ choler fell.

“Agreed,” said Luna. “The High Courts are the place for discussion of princess’ duties—or bickering over what counts as overexertion of such.” The fillies gave Luna blank looks, but she grinned, content to keep the mystery to herself for now. “My Moon Garden has always been a place for relaxation and peace.”

“Is this the Moon Garden?” Scootaloo’s question burst out of her, and everyone else turned to look inquisitively. Her shoulders slumped slightly under the load of attention, but she continued: “I mean, it definitely looks like it... but if you’re here, Princess... doesn’t that mean we’re still asleep somewhere?”

Luna nodded at Scootaloo’s apt line of inquisition. “You are correct.”

“Ha!” Her tiny pegasus wings flared, triumphantly, and her friends turned to look at her strangely. “What?” she defended herself. “Just because I failed last week’s math quiz doesn’t mean I’m dumb.”

“You spelled yer name wrong,” Apple Bloom countered.

“Yeah, but I got done first.” Scootaloo puffed her chest out, almost proud of her skewed priorities.

Luna suppressed a giggle, which drew the attention of the three fillies. With a shrug of her eyebrows, she explained, “It is good to achieve goals... but perhaps the goals themselves should be evaluated for their true merits?”

Scootaloo grumbled dourly, and Sweetie Belle gave her a gentle, victorious smile. Apple Bloom spoke first, after a passing hesitance. “But... Princess Luna... you didn’t just bring us here to tell Scootaloo to do her homework, did you?”

Luna shook her head. “When wandering the Dreamscape and standing guard over the world’s dreams, I sensed a familiar sense of loss. Loneliness...” She looked at Apple Bloom. “And longing.” Her gaze shifted to the others. “I know that feeling well enough, and one night’s reprieve would be a small kindness.”

The three fillies stayed quiet in contemplation for a moment; it was Apple Bloom who broke the silence first: “Wow... Thank you, Princess.”

The others joined in: “Yeah, this is super cool!”

“Thanks!” Sweetie quipped. After looking around at the foliage of the garden around her, she added, “So you made this dream?”

Luna nodded.

Sweetie kicked a hoof at the stone path beneath her. She had something to say, and her friends noticed it, too. Eventually, she did: “It... it’s just a shame, if ponies don’t get to see this place often. Either really, or in a dream.”

“Yeah!” Scootaloo exploded. “This place is cool! You should show it off to everypony!” Her wings flared to punctuate her suggestion.

Luna blanched before quickly swallowing a lump. “Ponies... and all guests of Castle Canterlot are free to move about the grounds. It is only at night when the Moon Garden blooms; during the day, the flowers close, the stones dim, and everything becomes quite drab.”

“So... why not make more dream versions of it for everypony?” Apple Bloom’s head tilted with her question. “It’s too perty to just let everypony ignore it.”

As if on cue, a neon glider lizard leapt from a branch above. Luna held up a hoof, and with a quiet force of will, the glowing, orange creature’s course drifted so it alighted on its new perch. The lizards themselves were sexually dimorphous; much like certain species of birds, the male’s phosphorescence was bright enough to distract and lead would-be predators away from his mate’s nest.

Glad to be distracted from the fillies’ line of questioning, Luna turned to the above trees and wondered just how in-depth she had created this dream’s mimic of a living ecosystem. The lizard scurried up her hoof, spiralling, and her eyes followed him up to her forehead before he leaped away, to his originally intended goal.

When he was gone, Luna turned back to the fillies. “Those who shine brightly must have proper cause. My sister is the one of us who is best suited to actively protecting her subjects.” She took a deep breath, and then admitted the truth: “The sun must always outshine the moon.”

“Well, yeah, but— Ow!” Scootaloo’s rebuttal was itself rebuked by a quick rap of Apple Bloom’s hoof. In a quick, hurried whisper, Luna could make out a few words about reading a newspaper once in awhile. Scootaloo flushed, and timidly began apologizing, “I... didn’t mean...”

“It is quite all right.” Luna bowed her head and kept her eyes closed longer than she needed to. The corners stung, just as her own constant reminder of past transgressions did. She stood straight and forced a caretaker’s smile at the fillies. “What lies in the past, must stay in the past. We all know of the consequences of pride.”

Sweetie Belle made a move to speak, but Luna headed her off as politely as possible. “But you must excuse me, little ones. The night ages unchecked, and I must return to my post.”

“Princess, I didn’t mean—” Scootaloo’s voice resonated with apology.

Luna smiled at her. “There is nothing to forgive, young one. If anything, I should apologize for the abruptness of my exit.” She bowed her head over a hoof across her breast, and out of the corner of her eyes, she saw the fillies looking at one another, uneasily.

“Uh... we understand, if yer busy.” Apple Bloom nodded. “And thanks again for lettin’ us see one another, even in a dream.”

The corners of Sweetie Belle’s cheeks flushed a subtle, easily missed shade of pink.

Luna rose, and then smiled at the trio. “It is a gift I give freely... so please, enjoy yourselves; even in the night, there is beauty if one does not dwell on the darkness.”

She took her leave by walking down the path, away from the fillies. Luna could exit dreams from anywhere within them, but she always felt it detracted from the mysticism if she simply vanished from plain view. When she was certain that nopony had followed her, Luna returned to the Dreamscape and left the concerned trio of fillies behind. Bless their hearts, but they could not help her now. They knew not of what they spoke.

A strong sense of sorrow pulled at Luna, and she zeroed in on it like a moth drawn to a flame. After entering this new dream, she found herself standing in the middle of the Royal Gardens, just behind the west wing of the Castle. A guard’s dream, perhaps?

Luna looked up, and she gasped as she recognized the alignment of the stars. It was a favorite pattern of hers, one she had not used for a thousand years, not since… No. Such thoughts were dangerous, and tainted by dark memories. Luna continued her search for the pony who remembered a long forgotten sky. They could not be among her guard. None was so old, save for her sister and… oh, of course.

Luna glanced through a nearby archway, but hid behind a hedgerow when the flowing colors of her sister’s mane appeared through the door leading from Luna’s own royal bedchambers. Celestia, wearing a most sorrowful expression, strode slowly out into the courtyard, a song upon her lips. She was not even wearing her regalia. This must be a truly sad memory for her sister to be without her proudest articles.

As the soft, sweet, somber notes hit her ears, Luna nearly lost her composure. She had not heard her sister sing so beautifully since… since nearly eons ago. A tear streaked down her cheek. It was a song of raw emotion. Pain, regret, and longing for what once was. Celestia had always been a masterful composer, and this was nothing short of her best. Luna could not tell if the tears dripping from her cheeks were of sympathy, regret, or anger—at herself, or at her sister.

This song Celestia sang, Luna had never heard before, nor could she have. It was written to soothe her rage as she was kept away, locked away in the moon—a lullaby, to comfort both sisters. Luna stood, walking without realizing out into the courtyard with her sister. The air shimmered, and the spell woven into the song altered the scenery, moving from the Canterlot Gardens to a scene far too familiar: The ruined throne room of the old castle. However, it was not yet ruined. The tapestries still hung, unblemished; the walls were still intact.

Celestia stood near a window, and Luna found herself nearby. The song went on, but a scene played out silently. A much younger Celestia strode into the throne room, followed by an even younger Luna. She was pleading with her older sister, but Celestia paid her no mind, smiling too blissfully to notice. Luna remembered that day. Celestia had discovered that ponies loved to watch her raise the sun, and had reveled in the extra praise.

The scene shimmered again; now, they stood just outside the Lunar bedchamber, a confused and hurt Celestia was pleading with the door. The song grew in intensity, and Luna’s heart broke. She knew what was happening on the far side of the door, and even if she knew it was a dream, she could not bring herself to stop it. Curiosity took hold of her heart, and she searched for an answer. How long had Celestia known? What had she seen of the nightmare? When had she finally decided what she must do?

The scene moved again, to a battle that should never have been. The two older alicorns watched from a newly wrecked throne room as the armies of their younger selves laid waste to the city outside. Luna could feel her heart tearing in two. Such jealousy and rage. How had she ever been so foolish? She looked to her sister now, still casting her song to the heavens. Tears poured from her closed eyes as she recalled what was about to happen.

The younger Celestia now carried the Elements of Harmony, and as she made to use them, the spell shattered. The Canterlot Gardens rematerialized, and Luna could not tell if it was her sister’s cries or her own that echoed through the otherwise empty courtyard. Celestia was no longer singing, and with her song silenced, so too had its spell ended. Luna found herself standing silently behind her sister, hoof raised above Celestia’s shoulder. It had been the spell, the song, the lullaby that had moved her so; with it gone, her tears had dried, at least on the outside. Luna let her hoof fall, gently touching her sister’s shoulder.

Celestia turned, eyes red with tears. Her pain turned to shock, fear, relief, and finally, joy.

“Luna?!”
Luna desperately wanted to say something, anything, but no words would come. She instead embraced her sister in a tight hug.

“Oh, Luna. I’m so sorry.”

Celestia cried into Luna’s shoulder. There could have been a lance lodged in Luna’s chest.

“Nay, sister. It was I who caused you pain. I was blind.” Luna sagged. “I am still blind.”

Celestia nearly threw Luna away from her as she stumbled back.

“No! No it was I who was blind! Oh, Luna, how could I not have seen? My dear sister—I...”

Celestia’s face contorted with an anguish Luna knew only too well. Luna wished to comfort her, but how could she? It was her own fault.

“No, sister, the blame has always been mine. I forced you to send me away.”

“But you’ve come back to me. Oh, Luna, forgive me, please.”

Celestia reached forward to embrace her again, but Luna stepped backward out of her reach.

“No, my dear sister. There is nothing to forgive. Do not let your dreams be troubled by the choices I forced upon you.”

With that, Luna stepped backward and exited the dream, back into the cold void of the Dreamscape.

~ ~ ~

Rather than the Dreamscape itself, however, Luna found herself in a vivid replication of her own private chambers. Were it not for the translucence of her own hooves, and her far more solid half crying on the bed, Luna might believe she had simply awoken as she left out of Celestia’s dream. As it happened, she stood as a silent spectator to her own distant memory; she was as unknown to her former self as she was helpless to alter the vision of her past.

“Luna?” her sister’s voice called from just outside the door.

Luna opened her mouth instinctively to respond, but was cut off by her younger self:

“BE GONE!”

The broken cry was filled with sharp malice, but also raw pain. A deep longing for something that simply could not be, and righteous anger for a wrong that could not be forgiven. Luna fought back tears at her former self’s actions, but could do nothing more than observe the inevitable.

A startled gasp was heard from the other side of the door.

“I— Luna I—”

“GO!” Rage was drowned by anguish this time. Such pain conveyed by a word meant for disdain reached through even the fabric of the dream.

“I…”

A soft tap was heard as Celestia returned her raised hoof to the floor. A few more seconds passed, and then the clop of hooves on marble could be heard retreating down the hallway.

The younger Luna glared past her outstretched hoof with a look of absolute loathing. Her eyebrows were set deep in her forehead and her snout was curled back in a snarl. Teeth clenched tightly together, highlighted by sharp… fangs?

Luna stepped closer. No, it could not be. Her past self indeed had sharpened teeth, like a predator. Her own inherent magic had taken her own anger and used it to change her form. She truly had become monster. The line from the song faded back to her:

♪That foolish pony did nothing to stop the destruction of one who had needed her most♪

As the hoofsteps faded into the distance, the snarl grew. The eyebrows fell back, the eyes tightened, and the lips drew downward as Luna the monster to be threw back her head and released a cry of sheer pain so potent it penetrated the threads of time and shook her present self to the core. Luna could not hold back her tears this time. She met her past memory’s cry in turn.

Then, something happened that made Luna’s blood run cold. The choked, broken sobs of her past self shifted, blending to a strangled chuckle, and then blooming into a maniac’s laugh. Luna looked over at the image of herself on the bed, eyes wide. This… this had not really happened, had it?

Young Luna’s eyes were now wide with delirium, despite the continuing stream of tears flowing from them. Her mouth had transformed into a frightening, toothy smile. She was slumped onto her hooves, but as she took in a breath, her posture straightened. As she released the next breath, her laughter grew louder, becoming a sound so sinister it made Luna’s skin crawl. She stepped back, barely daring to breathe, wishing beyond reason that this growing nightmare would be snuffed out before it came to full strength.

But she could not look away, and despite herself, the memory was not finished. Head thrown back in deranged ecstasy, Nightmare Luna’s teeth sharpened further, her coat darkened a few shades, and her mane smoldered like smoke. Worst were the eyes. They were no longer equine. Deep cracks formed in them, stretching from the edges of the irises in toward the pupils, which were now dragon-like slits instead of the warm, energetic circles they once were.

It was not complete, but the transformation had begun. Luna, Princess of the Night, had become the Nightmare of the Moon, and there was now nothing anypony could do to prevent it.

Nightmare Moon’s cackling faded, and Luna bolted upright in her bedchamber. It was silent, but somehow she could still hear the laughter, twisted, and frightening. As her breathing slowed, Luna’s eyes darted about the room. There was no younger her, transforming into a nightmare; there was no Celestia knocking on her door, crying out to her to be let in.

But there had been.

Luna stood and strode quickly to the door. The guard opened it for her as she approached, and then closed it behind her to seamlessly return to his position. Night Glider had been picked for his silence, vigilance, and commanding presence. Luna felt not only safe, but comfortable behind his wings. She gave him a grateful nod, and then headed up toward the Lunar tower.

This wing of the Castle was off-limits to all but Luna and her personal guard. There were many reasons for this, including the obvious. But among them was the preservation of the Nocturne Artium, a gallery of masterpieces created by Luna herself, in the age before… the Nightmare.

Luna stopped at the end of the hall and turned to the canvas on the wall there. This painting… it was not her usual art. Here was depicted a hoofmaiden of hers who would have been in her charge near the end of the last age. Hyacinth had been a favorite of hers, but Luna had no memory of painting her. She looked… beautiful, and terrifying as well. Her eyes pierced through the canvas into Luna’s own soul. And that’s when she saw it. Them. Hyacinth’s eyes. They were the same as Luna’s had been. Slitted; striped; draconic. And her fangs…

Hyacinth had never had fangs.

Luna blinked. It was just a portrait now. Hyacinth had long since passed on. But the implications it carried were terrifying. Just what had happened in those last few years? What had Luna done? She turned and continued up the spiral stairs to the upper balcony.

The night sky was just as it had been when her vigil this night began. Majestic, transcendent, serene, radiant.

And empty.

There were no ponies bustling about beneath her night sky. No ponies admired the special star arrangements she had designed herself. No fillies gazed up with their parents at her twinkling canvas. Just as they never had.

Or should.

How had she become that Nightmare?

She must never let anything like that happen again. Luna surveyed the silent city of Canterlot, and the surrounding country below. It shone marvelously beneath her moon. Such beauty, rejected by ponies everywhere. And yet it must remain so. It was time to lower the moon, as the Princess of the Night must always do to make way for the sun. Luna gazed across toward the Celestial Tower, and saw her sister striding out onto the balcony. Luna nodded slowly, and lit up her horn.

The sun must outshine the moon.

Comments

[Starlight Nova]

Do you know if Viwrastupr is still alive? Also, what are his prices?

[Nicknack]

1/5
I question your decisions in a co-author.

[BleedingRaindrops]

8250679
It was a first step, and if you’re truly embarrassed I can remove your name.

8250672
He's doing fine and you should ask him about his prices. This cover art was $160 USD.

[JackRipper]

I love the title, "Seize the Night."