Only shadows of the past...

by Phoenix Quill

Ch. 13 10/10/1510 Dream

It has been five hundred years since Nightmare Moon first was locked away on the moon, and today she wandered the halls of the great palace she had built with her own hooves and horn. Surrounded by statues of ponies long gone from Equestria and barely alive in her own memory.

"When will I escape? Five hundred years of this I waited, Celestia will know my vengeance."

The stale air reeked of decay and long rotted food supplies that had stopped coming in years ago. The only things that came in was once a year candy. Nopony seemed to know or care if the mare in the moon was real or a legend any more. She looked up at the walls and saw numbers carved over every inch. Counting the days she had been prisoner of her own moon."

"Don't you see the light any more my daughter?" Nightmare Moon did not even blink at the sudden apearence of her Mother appearing in the hall, a small blue filly beside her.

"What do you want mother? Don't you see that I am, busy," She pointed at the carved walls around her as if the mad writings were a sign of her work, the short phrases accompanying the tally marked numbers that carried on to the long destroyed tower of time she once built to mark the decades.

"Hmm, yes, Nightmare Moon, murderer of Luna is a very busy pony." At the phrase the ghost of Luna shied away behind Faust, "You think that the universe revolves around you simply because you controlled the moon and a few stars."

"The universe bends at my very whim mother." Nightmare Moon exclaimed with a stomp of her hoof, "I control the very cosmos themselves. You know this."

"You know nothing Nightmare. You control the realm of nightmares and can fly a rock through the sky. You can move a few paltry stars to do your whim and yet you don't. Five hundred years you toil on this stone, and yet you could have left centuries ago if you had only learned."

Nightmare Moon began to gallop away only to find that her mother and former self where following. She galloped faster and ran into an empty room. Quickly slamming the door behind her she saw that the room was filled with mirrors, and her mother was already there. "You never learned patience, you never learned to be content."

Nightmare Moon whisked herself away from the scene and quickly galloped through the halls. She ran for what felt like hours, all the while she could hear the voices continue.

"Why did you kill me?"

"You were a master of Generosity, Honesty and Magic, yet you never could master Kindness, you never could make others Laugh, and you even failed to be Loyal to anyone, even yourself."

"Wake up."

"You don't know what you must do yet."

"Your destiny is not this place."

"You cast this nightmare yourself."

"You brought this on us both."

Nightmare Moon ran, and watched as the palace around herself began to crack. The stone shook as if through a mighty earthquake and the stone began to shift into rubble. "WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM ME!"

As Nightmare Moon ran into the sanctuary of her throne room she slammed the doors behind her, and silence greeted her.

Calm came back into her life as she saw the perfection of her work, carefully she tread across the room and sat down upon her stone throne, "I wan't you to wake up."

Nightmare Moon jumped slightly as she saw her younger self and mother at the far end of the throne room sitting high up on thrones of their own. "I want you to bring me back Nightmare, wake up."

Nightmare Moon blinked at her younger self, "I can't, I can't go back to being weak. I can't go back to being walked upon like I was before."

"Nightmare Moon, this is not real," Faust finally said with finality as the walls began again to crumble down around the trio, "You built this illusion yourself."

"No, no It's not true I am trapped here! Celestia did this to me!"

Faust rose from her throne as she walked to her daughter, "No, you are not trapped on the moon. You are the moon, and this nightmare is of your own design."

"Look to the stars Nightmare," Luna spoke the words with a dead pan look on her face, "Look at what you and I have done together."

The castle disappeared at last, and the three alicorns stood on the surface of the moon and witnessed the stars coming closer, "Daughter, you have bought your slow ticket to freedom, but you can escape now if you only realize what to do."

Nightmare Moon cried as she looked at the four stars, closer now than ever. "What must I do to go home?"

The two ponies looked at her, "Forgive," they said in unison before disappearing as well.

Nightmare Moon stood on the surface of the moon and looked around her, she reached out into the air and felt it shift around her hoof, "A nightmare..."

________________________________________________________________________________

Back on Equestria, Princess Celestia silently lowered the moon to allow the sun to rise again, "Good morrow Sweet Luna. Sleep well. It's almost over, and soon we will meet again."

As she rose the sun she looked as the light brought a new life across her land below her and gave off a sad smile, wishing that the only pony that mattered was there beside her.

Comments

[The Demon of Sloth]

"I wan't you to wake up."

*want.