Forgotten Legend

by Halogenmyst

The Beginning

The sky grew dark. The sun still hung in the sky, but dimmed more and more as time passed. Princess Celestia was known as the sister of the sun. A bright, beautiful alicorn who gave the land sunlight by directing the sun's course through the sky. Seeing the summer solstice cut short forced her to hurry to her castle home, with worry eating away at her mind.

Princess Celestia burst through the front gates to see her sister, Princess Luna patiently staring up through the skylight.

"Luna! What has become of the summer sun? Has something happened?"Celestia asked.

Princess Luna kept staring into the darkening sky. Sister of the moon, Luna was a darkly colored alicorn. She held dominion over the night, and was always considered the lesser sister, and at times considered a menace by those who loved the day.

"The summer sun... The shortest night of the year, what a time to celebrate, isn’t it?" Luna said in almost a whisper.

Celestia's eyes narrowed, noticing the magic building around Luna. "What? Sister, I don't-"

Princess Luna's eyes locked onto Celestia filled with wrath. "Have they not celebrated the day enough? Can they not appreciate one night? Is it wrong to try?!" Her voice grew louder and angrier as she spoke.

The shadows crawled up from beneath Princess Luna. They crept up her legs, staining her coat pitch black as they slowly consumed her. The pupils of Luna's eyes strained and tightened into vertical slits as she focused all of her attention on the pony standing before her.

"All of Equestria has poured its hatred into me. I did all that was in my power to show them truth,but you simply watched. I once called you sister." Luna's words of disgust echoed through the empty halls of the castle.

Princess Celestia walked carefully toward Princess Luna.

"What I had done was wrong, I can see that clearly now, but please sis-"Celestia began.

"Do not ever call me sister again!" Luna howled as tears began to well in her eyes. Luna's wings snapped open, each feather responding with strictness to the shadows that washed over them.

"I trusted you to stand beside me, and yet you did nothing when I needed you most."Luna grunted through tightly clenched teeth that were slowly sharpening. A small stream of bright red blood fell from her nose.

Celestia planted her hooves into the stone floor as she tried to speak to Luna. "We can fix this! They are wrong, I was wrong, don't prove them right!"

The last of the shadows had seized Princess Luna's body.The hairs of her coat stood on end and snapped down, pressing tightly against her skin. Her sense of touch expanded beyond her flesh, and Luna felt open and free.

"Why shouldn't I?" There was no more pain,wrath or fury in the words escaping Luna's lips. Rather a chilling sense of surrender. "Princess Luna has died according to Equestria's desires. Empress Nightmare Moon is born according to your actions."

The sky was darkened, the last of the sunlight extinguished entirely. Princess Celestia could feel the situation was slipping into an assault, the chance to convince her sister with words was long since passed. Celestia cautiously drew her magic into her horn.

Nightmare Moon immediately recognized the magic and her horn flashed a bright blue spark toward Celestia.

The Princess had taken to the air to avoid the bright crash beneath her hooves and released magic from her horn in several golden tendrils, each arcing toward their target.

Nightmare Moon leapt backward and fell into the shadows, seemingly disappearing entirely before dropping on Celestia from above. With a heavy beat of her wings, she threw the white alicorn to the floor.

Crashing into the floor,Celestia shattered the stone beneath her, raising a plume of dust. Without warning a beam of golden light shot out from the dust cloud toward Nightmare Moon.

The beam splashed across a turquoise sphere surrounding the dark mare, and Nightmare Moon faded from her position like dust in the wind.

Princess Celestia took the opportunity and fled. Flying close to the ground, she cast herself through the halls of the castle. A voice echoed directly to her ears with perfect clarity despite the winds rushing by.

"You thought yourself irreproachable, Flawless and divine. We know better, and soon they will all know."

Celestia's breathing was rapid and fragmented, between her exertion and the terror that sank into her heart, she was losing this battle both physically and mentally.

The voice came again, as though it were inside Celestia's skull.

"You hid your shame away,but the night will share the sky no longer. Equestria will be bathed in an endless night forever more."

"NO!"Celestia cried.

Celestia reached the Elements of Harmony, carefully stationed on their pedestals. Taking the empowered gems up in her magic, she felt the monstrous eyes of Nightmare Moon burning into the back of her skull.

Nightmare Moon blocked the exit and planted her hooves."All hiding is over. You cannot hide from me, Equestria cannot hide from their sins, and I will no longer hide from Equestria. The night has begun."

Celestia didn't take the time to think or prepare, turning to Nightmare Moon,she instinctively wove her magic through the Elements and locked in on her target.

There was the sound of hooves and a breath caught short.

Blood dripped to the base of Nightmare Moon's horn. Celestia tried to look down and see what had happened, but Nightmare Moon's head rested directly under Celestia's jaw, holding her in place. Drawing herself back, Nightmare Moon's wide eyes saw the pony in front of her drop to the floor. Blood flowed freely from the hole in the mare's neck, staining her mane and coat as it pooled around her limp form.

Tears dripped from Nightmare Moon's eyes, falling into the pool of blood at her hooves.

The Elements of Harmony hadn't fallen, however. Celestia's golden magic still flowed through them, and the spell hadn't stopped.

Just as Celestia's eyelids grew too heavy to hold open, a silver light enveloped her.

Nightmare Moon somberly placed the coarse, lifeless Elements of Harmony back on their pedestals. The only sign of the dying pony now was the red stain left on the floor.

Nightmare Moon looked through the window into the sky, and saw the moon where Celestia was now sealed.

"You always refused to lose." A sad chuckle escaped her as tears rushed down her cheeks. "so annoying...Sister..."

Author's Note:

Thus a new, different course of events is born! the tags may or may not be the most accurate, but I think it's better to side with caution here.
I am not great at action sequences yet