Friendship is Magic: How it all Began

by Ryebuck Coppercap

Prologue: The Day The Moon Fell

[Versión en Español!]

~ ~

"Not another step, sister!" We spat with a venom of the greatest ilk. "Did thou really expect us to stand idly by while our precious little ponies all basked in thy oh so glorious light?"

The breaking chains that held Us back creaked for every word We spoke against her, Our heart pounding with newfound freedom.

"There can only be one princess in Equestria! And that princess—" with hooves high up and a rapid strike, the nearby podium was no more "—WILL BE ME!"

Celestia —the foal— just stood there, watching with mouth agape as the stained glass panes cracked from our strike, an intense light from her wretched sun coming inside.

It soon will be all ours.

~ ~

My heart raced. How could I have been so foalish!?

The castle shook as Luna stomped, her eyes a frosty white.

Her empty chair at lunch, the cold silence in the castle corridors —the signs were there— the first drops of the storm to come.

Unaware of her growing sadness, too busy to give Luna the love she was due, I failed as the sister she truly deserved.
The moon rose and eclipsed the summer solstice: the sky was naught but dark.
Magic swirled 'round Luna's body, twisting and bending her in eerie ways. A glint of fear in her eyes, and she was covered in darkness.

Forgive me, Luna.

~ ~

Our muscles bulged and stature towered, a giddy, intoxicating power surging through us like a wild river.

However, the pleasant feelings would not last: We felt our control slip away; another being seizing the reins. Our body shifted, our pupils slit, and fangs grew.

Then it laughed.

It was a wicked laugh, most unlike the soft and gentle giggles Tia gave after her silly pranks, like painting our room pink while we slept. Nay, it was dry and bitter; a laugh that would have sent shivers down our spine were We still in control. It was maniacal, deranged even, and it was the kind of laugh We hoped to never hear again: the thought of him chilled our bones.

Just then Celestia pleaded, "Luna, I will not fight thee! Thou must lower the moon! 'Tis thy duty!"

Our mouth moved with clear contempt, letting the parasite speak: "Luna? Nay sister, thou art sorely mistaken, for We are Nightmare Moon! We have but one royal duty now: to annihilate thee!"

Trapped within the confines of our mind made us realize something: This was never what we wanted; this was never what we needed. We wanted to belong, I wanted to be loved: this is neither —just vengeance and hate.

It fired a beam through our horn, nearly striking our sister. Thank the stars she avoided it.

She flew through the broken stained glass into the moonlit sky away from our deranged body, which frowned and took chase. "Where dost thou think thou'rt going?"

Its voice was so comforting at first: caring and loving; lending a friendly ear to let us vent our problems. Its voice reminded us of somepony once dear to us, somepony long gone. It made us feel safe, it gave us a feeling of command.

'Twas too late for realizing we've been tricked.

Blasts of energy erupted from our horn, searing the air and destroying what has been our home for hundreds of moons. We tried to stop it, but resistance was futile.

"Tell us, sister: why is it that in our restful night, lit by warm candles and caressed by quiet winds, the ponies of Equestria lock themselves away and shun our moon, waiting instead for thy sunny day?"

She looked pained, stung by the acrid words —once, ours too. We yearned to comfort her; this madness, to halt. To feel once more her hooves in warm embrace.

Our desperate attempts were all in vain: the parasite had seized full control.

Oh, how it twisted our desires with its sweet and tempting words. "Thou shall be respected," it said; "thy night shall be revered," it said.

"We will not let that happen anymore: all shall know the wonder of our dark and jewelled sky, for the night, shall last, forever!" were the words uttered by it as We were forced to watch as it struck our dearest sister.

How foalish were we to believe it.

A piercing shriek was what We heard as she fell. We were angry, yes, but it broke our heart to see our sister like that. The parasite just laughed.

Enough.

We couldn't stand by and let it kill Tia. We wrestled the parasite for control of our body, which twitched slightly at first, evolving into violent spasms, until we were able to move again by our own volition.

It fought back, but we wouldn't let it win, I wouldn't let it win.

We flew into Tia's crash-site and frantically looked for her.

When we found her she lay immobile, barely breathing.

We panted for air, panic filling our mind. "Stars above, Tia! Thou canst not die like this!" We struggled to remember the healing spells Star Swirl taught us as we checked Tia's pulse.

Good, she was still beating, if only barely.

Our magic mended her broken bones and stopped her horrid bleeding, and then we lay beside her —holding back tears and nuzzling her barrel— all the while the parasite hissed in our mind, trying to regain control.

We heard Tia's broken whispers. "Oh Luna, why did it have to come to this?"

We couldn't hold our crying any longer. "Oh, Tia," we whimpered, "we are truly sorry. We let our jealousy get the best of us, and in doing so we let the darkness consume us." She looked like she wanted to say something, but we barged on. "I beg of thee, sister, use the Elements: I don't think I can keep control for much longer."

Pain flashed in her eyes as she spoke. "Sister, I beg thee back, we can beat the darkness together, we do not need to use them!"

The strand of control we held onto snapped when we were about to respond, giving way for the parasite to speak again. "Thou'rt wrong, sister, thou wilt not have a choice."

The parasite took aim again, but we made it miss, giving Tia a precious few seconds to act. She dodged and flew in a panic, tumbling into the Elements' vault.

She hesitated to activate them, conflict clear on her face, but in the end she made the right choice. "Oh, dear sister; I am sorry! I hope thou canst forgive me for this."

The Elements of Harmony swirled around her, and ith a determined yet sorrowful gaze —full of tears of regret falling off her face— she blasted our body with the power of Harmony.

Although it burned in blinding agony, and the Nightmare made a piercing shriek, I felt at peace: I knew I'd see my sister again someday.

Author's Note:

Hi, thanks for reading this first chapter! As always, any criticism is appreciated, especially about characterization or internal consistency of the narrative.

I tried to go for the British spelling of most things; if you see any inconsistencies with spelling please let me know, since my English knowledge is a hodgepodge of different sources from the internet, as well as what I've learnt in school.

Also I wanted to say that for the effects of this story and all of my main AU, a moon is the equivalent of a month in Equestria, lasting exactly 4 weeks of 6 days each, or 24 days, with a 16 moon long year, and each year has a slight variation in non-week leap and festival days that's between 32 and 45 total days sprinkled throughout the year, giving us between 416 and 429 days in a year.

By the point of this prologue, Celestia and Luna have been ruling Equestria for a little over 33 years.

I've given tentative years for the start of their reign and the main show, these being 176 A.E. (Anno Equestria) for their Defeat of Discord, their subsequent ascension and them being thrown into leadership, 209 A.E. for Luna's banishment (i.e. this Prologue) and 1209 A.E. for FiM part 1 & 2.

Parts of the dialogue were directly borrowed or inspired by Lullaby for a Princess and The Moon Rises by ponyphonic, which if you haven't listened to yet (or even if you have) you definitely should, they're absolute masterpieces!

Anyway, the Cutie Marks to indicate the current narrator are inspired by Never Alone by SoloBrony, with the Cutie Marks Themselves being from these sources:
Princess Luna by HelloxxAlone and Princess Celestia by BlackGryph0n

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• Changelog:

29th of April 2023: filled some gaps I felt there were in the narrative.17th of May 2023: Added a missing word and made a minor edit on the fourth-to-last paragraph.22nd of July 2023: Changed some words so that the narrative flowed a bit better.21st of December 2023: Another few changes, Including a few more instances of "show, don't tell," the removal of a doubled "the," and a wee bit of extra details ;316th of January 2024: Some (hopefully) final tweaks, as well as the release of a Spanish version of this chapter in my own website!

Comments

[new55]

Its a good first chapter goodluck with the rest of the story.

[Ryebuck Coppercap]

11481430
I'm glad you're enjoying it thus far :3