When Princess Luna was subjected to the Elements of Harmony for the second time, she thought her troubles were over. When her sister forgave her and brought her to live in Canterlot, she thought she would finally be able to move on.
Months have passed since then, but her life has done nothing but stagnate. Worse, her old problems continue to haunt her. A voice lurks inside her thoughts, tormenting her with its vitriol and arrogance. It promises her a new beginning, but she has heard that lie before. She is done with Nightmare Moon.
Unfortunately, it isn't easy so easily removed. Luna wants to move on, to be her own pony once again, but the beast insists she can't do it alone.
She prays it is wrong.
Chapters (16)
This is a very interesting story, in my opinion. It’s probably wishful thinking but I’d love to read more if you ever decide to continue this story.
11543942
The story is continuing! I've just stopped updating until I finish it. I'm nearing the end, so hopefully it won't be too much longer.
11544159
Oh nice! I am excited to read the rest of this story whenever you finished.
Well this is very interesting. I'm looking forward to where is going. Keep it up. 😊
I found this fic around March 2023, and immediately liked its approach. Luna's struggles with anxiety and the ambiguity of an evil figure giving what looks like good advice in a bad way is well-executed and feels authentic (compared to my personal experiences at least). 'Twas quite a treat to find this fic again today and see it had a new update!
Good work all around, cool author person!
11599788
Thanks so much! I'm glad you're enjoying it.
i love this take on nightmare moon and i love the charaterizations so far!!
Well I don't blame her Celestia has given up most of their power and yet Luna still doesn't have a spotlight. The people look at Celestia to handle their problems. Celestia acts like no big deal but if nobody bothered to notice her she probably would be upset. Luna needs to feel like someone cares.
And then there is a portal song.
Nice!
Finally! Nightmare Moon and Luna can work together!
got very excited when i saw this updated. loved the chapter!!
11638804
Hearing that means a lot to me.
Thanks!
this is one of the best luna stories ive read on this site. ive always been partial to the take that nightmare moon and luna was the same pony, and your writing on it was especially engaging because the "nightmare" is more of a mental manifestation of her anger and pride. not explicitly evil, and not a one-note villain separate from herself. what i especially liked was "normal" luna's characterization. theres no better way to make the reader sympathize with the "villain" than for them to have genuine complaints about the main character (that arent forced or contrived). her insecurity endeared her to me and also annoyed me at times, which is perfect for a story like this. all in all great fic i give it 10 out of 10 dashies
Good story!
11640574
Wow, that's very high praise! I'm amazed how clearly you managed to pick up on what I was going for, especially the parts about "normal" Luna. Despite how I advertised the story, I wanted to make sure none of the characters felt truly good or bad, just flawed in different ways. It's awesome to hear that came through so well!
11640827
I also managed to read into all of that! Even before it was officially revealed that Nightmare isn’t evil I got the sense Luna was being paranoid and insecure and NMM was just trying (and failing) to help due to her harsher nature.
I understood what you were getting at and it was amazing! Truly one of the next great classics of FimFiction! (Ones I can personally list are all of the “When We were Young” series, “The Moon in the Dark”, “The Wizard and the Lonely Princess” series, etc. as you can see, I love Luna fics 🥰)
11690167
Thanks! I'm glad you enjoyed it so much! I'll have to look into those stories you mentioned.
I mean, she probably could ask nightmare the names of the ponies, right? That's what the point of this is, for them to collaborate, no?