You Were to Be My Dawn
Eternally serene, the moon ruled over star-strewn vaults of cloudless sable night like a round shield of flecked amber, casting a faint, pale light upon the verdant land below. A vagrant, salt-heavy breeze which blew in from the distant Sea of Gryphonne languidly drifted through the Everfree Forest’s southwestern most margins, cooling the stifling warmth a bright summer day had left in its wake.
It was in this calm silence, which was disturbed only by the occasional crack of distant, fading thunder that the one and only Princess Celestia found herself standing alone amidst the devastation of what looked to be an impact site of all things, entranced not by the dark rift carved into the land, but by the vast, boundless heavens above her.
Around her, the once beautiful grasslands of Equestria and their lush, rolling waves of vibrant life were now heavily marred by wide expanses of smoldering flora and dead, cracked earth, out to, and likely beyond the horizon. The destruction seemed to emanate from a dark grey crater, which itself seemed to be the center of an immense series of spiderweb-like cracks that reached outward, tearing through the charred earth.
Legs quivering with fatigue, she stared blankly up at the moon, her one good eye drifting languidly about the night sky, unfocused, as if lost. The sound of a dozen or so hoofbeats rapidly squelching through the dewy grass echoed throughout the humid, summer night air as they neared, though they didn’t faze the royal mare in the slightest.
“Princess! Princess, are you wounded?” A voice, near hoarse from shouting for goodness knew how long prior, cut through the warmth of the stuffy air and disturbed the otherwise fragile, almost uncomfortable stillness which had befallen the area.
Soldiers bearing the insignia of Celestia herself approached with haste, worry and confusion etched into the typically stern and stoic faces of those not obscured by tufted helmets and their visors. Though they were armed to the teeth and heavily armored in a fine golden suit of full plate-mail, they crossed the distance with surprising speed, driven on by the sight of the solar diarch.
Much to the dismay of each and every one of them, however, their cries fell on deaf ears. She ignored them in favor of staring up into the expansive night sky, though whether out of malevolence, or simply because their concern was lost on her in her current state had yet to be seen.
Upon drawing near, the armored guardsponies slowed to a cautious, but hurried trot and pressed close to one another to form a semi-circle, eyes wide and ears perked, scanning from side to side for any sign of a threat. A maneuver which, while taught to most guards, was very rarely seen in action, though mostly due to the peaceful nature of the nation.
By the time that they crossed the threshold of the desolation, where grasslands met charred, blackened ground which crunched and crackled beneath their hooves, it became clear that something was awry. The air was heavy and each unicorn present seemed to cringe and falter with the thick saturation of magic stagnating about the area which only a powerful caster could hope to conjure up.
Her form became more and more clear with each step taken despite the sight-obscuring dust rising up with them, until they could make her out; body hunched forward, wings limp at her sides, neck craned backward and crownless head turned upward.
Something was wrong. Very, very wrong.
The Captain, a handsome white unicorn stallion fully clad in the ornate armor of an elite guard, flicked his golden tail off to the side, kicking up another swathe of ashen dust, then nodded slowly at the other soldiers flanking him, motioning for them to circle their charge in a way that would not startle her. The approach was key.
With the dexterity few ponies could possibly even hope to manage, the gathered mares and stallions beneath his command, six of them in total, split down the center and spread to either side, their armor only making the faintest clicks and clinks as they shifted, swayed and steadily surrounded Celestia, while still giving her a comfortable berth.
With much care, the Captain approached the princess, taking caution not to frighten her in her distracted state, nor draw too near. “Princess…?” He gingerly called out, hoping for any sort of positive reply at all. The princess said nothing, making no move to acknowledge his presence. “Princess, we’re here to return you to the temple.” The Captain informed her, stepping closer.
Nothing occurred. There was no response, no motion from the mare even as he slowly closed the gap between them. It wasn’t until his hoof rose in an attempt to make contact with the royal body that she finally showed any sign of life beyond the faint rise and fall of her chest. Wordlessly, Celestia pried her eye from the night sky for just long enough to peer at the guards, a hint of curiosity in her expression.
The Captain froze, his icy blue eyes wide in shock. “Oh sweet Celestia...” The stallion just barely refrained from turning his head away and instead swallowed the lump forming in his throat, though not all of his fellow guards showed such impressive self-control and were unable to look directly at the alabaster mare.
Some were able to hide their shock more effectively than others, nearly cringing and drawing back under the vacant gaze of their benevolent ruler, who observed them quietly through her one functional eye. The mare was either ignoring, or simply unaware of the sticky crimson liquid trickling unabated from a wide gash upon her brow, glazing the eye beneath in a layer of red and sealing it shut with each passing moment as it congealed.
With nothing said in the moment of shock shared between the guards, Celestia seemed to quickly lose interest and looked away despite their close proximity, her one fully functional eye turning upward to once more wander the skies, like clockwork.
A concerned, yet knowing glance was shared amidst the gathered soldiers, who were left to wonder just how she was still breathing in such a broken and battered state. From the horn to hooves, the tall and slender mare looked like she had outright been through hell, and then some.
While her the majority body was mostly in tact, she had doubtlessly taken quite a beating in the time that she was away from the royal temple. Most of her golden regalia, which was nowhere near as sturdy as her wartime armor, was bent by excessive blunt force and dented severely. Shards of metal curled this way and that in jagged spears, rising from her dull neckpiece and breastplate.
The bits which remained whole and unbroken which had not dug into her flesh by the sheer force with which she’d been repeatedly struck were scuffed and tattered, smeared in dirt and a healthy coating of blood and other, unidentifiable debris.
But the Captain, a veteran of war and a soldier who had long served directly under Celestia herself feared that her physical wounds were the least of her concerns—there was no telling the extent of the mental trauma which she had sustained, or if she would ever recover.
He had seen such cases several times before, usually in other guards. Some ponies were not cut out to experience such violence and, when their first real fight occurred, they would simply shut down. A knowing look aimed toward one of his fellow guards made it clear that he wasn’t the only one thinking such things.
Celestia had endured a fearsome battle without the support of her soldiers, her guard and her people, the likes of which no mortal pony had likely ever witnessed, and she still stood before them in some sort of miracle. It was as relieving as it was worrying.
Celestia was, of course, almost entirely unaware of her surroundings and still looked to be in a daze, lost deep within the inner workings of her own mind and, if he had to hazard a guess, hidden away from the terrors of the real world as she attempted to process everything which had occurred and cope with it. She was likely to stay that way for quite some time, until her mind felt that whatever trauma had caused such a reaction was gone and it was safe enough to allow her full consciousness again.
They could only hope that it would be soon.
An odd mix of relief and further concern filled the stallion, but it was not the time to let such things distract him. He could ponder later, when the princess was safe. Her health was the number one priority, unsurprisingly. Stepping forward once again, the stallion drew the attention of his weary ruler with a soft clearing of the throat.
“Princess…” He began calmly, speaking in as soft a voice as he could manage so as not to startle the emotionally shaken mare. “Give me your hoof. It‘s time to go back to the temple now.” He instructed her, removing his helmet and setting it aside so she could see his face as he reached out and turned the frog of his armored hoof upward.
The alicorn drew back apprehensively, fearful of his approach, but appeared somewhat calmed by his voice and the sight of his face. Perhaps she recognized it, perhaps she was simply content to see another pony, nopony could really be sure. No matter the case, his gentle tone seemed to have swayed the shocked princess and she slowly obliged with a nod of her head.
Saying nothing, Celestia raised her hoof and slowly held it out for him, her lone magenta eye seemingly boring a hole into his own two, patiently waiting. Or, rather, what could be considered patience, which was about all that she could manage at the moment. Carefully, so as not to further injure the very obviously swollen, fractured joint above it, the guard slipped her hoof from its heavy golden, amethyst-studded shoe and took it in his own.
Taking this as a sign of her trust, his horn went alight with a soft blue magic and he began to root about in his saddlebags. The heavy magical presence in the air made it difficult to maintain his concentration, but he managed for the sake of his ruler. Returning his focus forward, the stallion gently pressed a cloth rag to the gaping tear in Celestia’s throat with his magic, whispering calming things to her and thanking all of the deities he could remember off the top of his head that her life had been spared by a scant few centimeters and an astounding bout of luck.
While doing so, he sent a silent look to his fellow guards over Celestia’s shoulder, conveying the dire nature of the situation—as if it actually needed to be spoken—and reassuring them that she would be alright, physically. With a gentle tug, the Captain gently led his charge by her hoof, taking great care not to let anything frighten her in her dazed state while they slowly started to make their way back to the castle.
“Swift Wind,” He looked toward the lone pegasus among the gathered ponies, his voice still low and his tone still soft. “Fly to the temple. Send word to the others, the Nightmare is dead.” He commanded, though the way he spoke it made it out to be some sort of grand achievement.
Celestia jumped at the mention of “the Nightmare,” pulling at the Captain’s hoof, her head whipping furiously about from left to right as she searched for the one it belonged to. Swift Wind took several preparatory steps, flapped his lengthy grey wings and promptly launched himself into the overcast skies, fading into the horizon in the blink of an eye to spread the news that the tyrant of the night had been killed to the other soldiers.
Having been left behind to calm Celestia and ensure safe transport, the Captain sighed wearily as he began a gentle trot in the direction of the castle with his fellow guardsponies hot on his hooves and Celestia following equally as close behind, almost like an obedient child.
Though she seemed unresponsive to most things, the skies still seemed to call out to her, drawing her attention back to them. Celestia chanced a look up and flinched, her ears folding back against her scalp, pinning her soft, pastel-rainbow mane against her head.
The moon hung low and wide in the sky over Equestria, sturdy and unmoving. It illuminated the heavens in a peaceful, almost otherworldly golden-white glow. However, the surface appeared to have shifted in the time that Celestia had been distracted by her personal guard and a startlingly familiar dark shape had formed upon its surface, which seemed to glared down upon her menacingly.
Tears began to well up in her eyes as memories of her recent battle resurfaced, which rolled down her cheeks and carved thin troughs through her coat, staining the white fur a dark pink with thin streaks of scarlet.
Frowning, the Captain gave Celestia the most sympathetic smile he could manage and paused, leaning in close and kneeling down before her. Carefully, he wiped away a few of her tears and lent her his hoof once more, which the mare gratefully took. Her expression was broken, though not quite as much as it had been a mere ten minutes ago. Judging by the look that she gave him, weary smile and all, she was already beginning to return to her regular state.
“Come on, Princess, let’s get you home.”
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Colder than the winter wind howling its dirge through the Everfree Forest. Colder than the snow blanketing tree, rock and earth in its silent shroud. Colder than ice that lay in water and hung in shards from branches amidst the chilliest winter. Colder than these was the frozen heart of Nightmare Moon!
A cruel and wicked tyrant with a soul as black as a moonless night, the monstrous nature of Nightmare Moon was only matched by the cold and unforgiving surface of the celestial body upon which she was trapped.
Beneath her cobalt-clad hooves laid a barren wasteland, devoid of any notable features save for the occasional outcropping of jagged moon-rock off in the distance, atop a few hundred craters of varying sizes. Greyish white and dull, the dusty lunar soil blanketing its crater-flecked surface shimmered in the distant sun’s light. Nearby, a pile of discarded cobalt armor laid on the ground in a heap, broken and spattered with the blood of more than one pony.
Not far from the ruined armor stood the spiteful and pitiless Nightmare Moon herself, her shadowy black coat rife with freshly coagulated wounds and coated in dirt and grime. The tattered remnants of the wretched alicorn’s near-spectral mane no longer held its ethereal form in the vacuum of space and instead had flattened out, clinging to the sweat-slickened hide of her neck and back, wreathing her head in what looked to be a coiling miasma.
The otherworldly silence was suddenly broken by a low moan, which steadily rose in pitch to become a spine-chilling scream, resonating from the shaking form of Nightmare Moon. Without pause, another series of anguished wails bubbled up within her and escaped from her hoarse throat. Considerable pain, the likes of which she’d never quite experienced before, tore through her body in sudden, piercing bolts, each accompanied by yet another harsh shriek.
Piteous cries of suffering intertwined with low, quavering groans as the spiteful warlord wildly flapped her wings in agony, craning her long neck downward and gritting her teeth. Another sharp stab of pain and the mare stomped stomping at the ground with her nearly bare hooves, which were steadily worn away more and more each time they were dragged through the lunar soil.
Even through the soles of what remained of her heavy cobalt shoes, the coarse, razor-edged dust that blanketed the moon’s surface had swiftly rent the ornate hoofwear into scraps of useless metal—more akin to anklets than anything else now—that hung loosely from her hooves.
Nightmare Moon shrieked once more, this noise louder than any scream that she had let loose yet, quaking violently. As the scream reached its climax, a noisy, wet splash sounded out from behind her. The source of her agony hit the ground with a dull, wet thud and began to wiggle, kicking up a cloud of the coarse dust and partially obscuring the sun’s light.
The alicorn slowly turned around to peer at the cause of her suffering, before finally allowing herself a deep sigh of relief. Suddenly, it was as if the weight of the world itself had been taken off of her shoulders and the tension surrounding her had vanished entirely. Wearily lowering her head, the “Terror of the Night” closed her eyes and sucked in a long, yet unsatisfying breath, glad to finally have the unbearable experience behind her.
With a low, throaty moan, sweat beading on her brow and tears dampening her face, she finally relaxed, shoulders slumping and ears tentatively rising back up. Never before had she experienced something so physically and emotionally draining, yet, despite this, Nightmare Moon could not hide the satisfied smile spanning her lips. It was faint, but there was no denying the upward curl of her lips and the faint flash of pearly white teeth.
Though painful and exhausting, she had never experienced something so rewarding in her life. Nothing of the sort had happened to an alicorn in centuries, nay, millennia! It was a miracle that it had even occurred in the first place!
Nightmare Moon slowly glanced about, her draconian eyes sweeping across the frozen landscape, traversing its many craters and outcroppings, before finally landing on the squirming bundle of fur and feathers. Lying in a pool of rapidly cooling blood and amniotic fluids and coated in the sticky scarlet liquid that had come from her mere moments prior was the writhing form a small foal—a filly, to be precise, brought on prematurely by the stresses of all that had occurred that night.
Her tiny wings were rough and disheveled, but still extended to their full length, and her horn was little more than an underdeveloped knot upon her forehead. Lumps of lunar dust clumped together with the viscous fluids coating her warm, golden-orange mane and tail, leaving her light violet coat similarly matted down from her recent entry into the world.
For a moment, Nightmare Moon allowed that tiny smile gracing her lips to grow into a full-blown grin. Then, the thought occurred to her.
Air... My baby needs air! The new mother quickly realized, her eyes wide in panic.
She was strong and quite capable of handling the harsh lunar surface. A newborn foal, however, would have little chance of survival in such an environment. Even an alicorn.
“Breathe! Please breathe!” She cried, towering over the foal’s feeble little form. “Take my last breath, little one!” Nightmare Moon lurched forward, forcing her lips around the other pony’s comparatively tiny muzzle and exhaling deeply. As if she were taking a breath of her own, the filly’s chest rose and her lungs inflated with fresh air, magically stored away within the alicorn’s large form. Tentatively, the mare withdrew, gazing over the small figure with the faintest hint of a smile as its struggling began to weaken. “It’s the last from Equestria... I held it just for you.” She finished her thought, tongue whipping out to moisten her cracked lips.
Heart still racing from the impromptu adrenaline rush, the nightmarish pony closed the gap and gently nuzzled at her little foal, nosing at her cheeks. “That’s it, my little one. Breathe... Shh...” Nightmare Moon whispered to her filly in her most soothing voice. For a moment, it seemed to work. Then things took an abrupt turn for the worse.
The little pony beneath her began to struggle once more, despite the breath of semi-fresh air it had received. Tiny blue eyes were revealed as lavender lids peeled away, whirling wildly about in their sockets in search for the cause of their owner's suffering.
"No, sweetie, no!” Nightmare Moon exclaimed, the corners of her eyes watering up. “Look at me! Look at mama!"
As if by instinct those pretty blue eyes came to rest upon the alicorn’s black-coated figure and the foal began to grow still, its little kicks becoming less frequent as the chilling grasp of darkness enclosed upon it. A little hoof weakly brushed against Nightmare Moon’s cheek before going still, the foal taking a final comfort in being in the presence of her mother.
“Breathe! Breathe my little one! Why aren’t you breathing? Why...?” Nightmare Moon whispered, her voice hoarse from all of the prior screaming. When silence reigned, her face scrunched up into a horrified expression. Between her trembling legs, shadowed from the sun’s relentless light, lay the nearly lifeless form of her one and only, beloved child.
“Please, no...” A hoof rose to meet her mouth, covering it in shock. “It… It can’t already be gone!” She exclaimed, realizing that the air she provided had failed to sustain the little pony for more than a few fleeting seconds. “It was supposed to last longer!”
“Celestia! Please!” She called out with desperation saturating her voice, turning toward the lush presence of the world behind her, silent and unmoving. “Send some air! Can’t you see that she’s suffocating?!” A fresh wave of salty tears began anew, matting down the grainy, coarse fur upon her cheeks as they were steadily soaked. “If not for me, do it for her! Please!”
Almost mockingly, the thickly-forested, ocean-heavy mass of earth which was once her home continued to remain off in the distance, very much visible, but seemingly just out of reach. Her pleas for mercy fell upon deaf ears.
Nightmare Moon whipped around as the sound of scuffling behind her kicked up once more, then diminished into stillness. Vainly, she nuzzled the face of the pony below her. “Stay with mama, baby... Stay with mama. It’ll be alright. Everything will be alr—” Nightmare Moon’s voice faded.
“No...” She mouthed, her eyes slowly screwing shut and her brow furrowing. A silent sob wracked her body.
The newborn, who had gasped and heaved for a scant few seconds longer, quickly became still, unmoving and pale. Nightmare Moon simply stood over her, still enduring the sharp, piercing pains stabbing at her more intimate areas, which still dripped freshly with bodily fluids, pooling beneath her hooves.
For several minutes, the alicorn continued to try and nuzzle her little one back into the world of the waking, desperate to see those beautiful, innocent blue eyes open once more. To see her little hooves reach out for her mother.
Even in the dead stillness of the moon, the wretched mare called out for somepony, anypony at all to assist her, despite knowing that her pleas would go unanswered.
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Hopelessness and an air of foreboding had settled over the royal temple, casting their somber pall over the land. The air was tense. Everypony could feel that something was wrong, though none quite realized the magnitude of just how wrong it was.
In her bedchamber overlooking the general populace, Princess Celestia sat upon her bed, feeling as ancient as the forest the temple and the sprawling town surrounding it was built in. What felt like centuries of weariness weighed heavily upon her shoulders, all courtesy of the evening’s earlier events.
The princess’ crown had long since been tossed away into a corner in a haphazard manner in a fit of distress, while the rest of her battered golden regalia was laid out across her bed. Celestia herself was lost in a daze once more, peering out through the window at the cloudless night sky.
A pale, late summer moon returned her gaze, adorned with the silhouette of a dark alicorn mare. It cast its wan light down upon the Everfree Forest, acting as a harsh reminder of the atrocity that she’d committed not even a few hours ago.
Princess Celestia wiped a tear away from her puffy red eyes and turned to the sound of slow, deliberate hoofsteps approaching. Without bothering to knock, an armored stallion shimmied his way into her bedchamber around the heavy doors, leaning the majority of his weight upon a small cart which he gently wheeled in. He stopped just short of the princess’s bed and allowed himself a second to take it all in, how different the usually strong and matronly Celestia seemed, even after gathering her composure once more. He cleared his throat to speak.
“Your Highness? It’s one hour past dawn, yet the moon is still up.” He informed her with a soft frown upon his features. “Ponies are beginning to worry.” He picked up a kettle off the cart and poured the warm liquid into a cup, before sliding a little pouch into it. “The public needs addressing.” With a flicker of soft amber magic, the stallion hovered the teacup in front of her face, waiting for her to take it.
Celestia allowed her eyes to pass over it, but otherwise made no move to obtain the tea from his telekinetic grasp, choosing instead to stare behind him for several silent moments. Finally, she spoke. “Solstice, did I do the right thing?” Celestia asked, her gaze shifting down toward him. Her wings, still somewhat tattered, stretched out, then simply fell limp at her sides again.
The stallion donned a thoughtful look, though it was quickly replaced by the seemingly ever-present half-scowl that most of the guards wore. It was unreadable for most, but Celestia could see right through them. “I’m... Not at liberty to say, Your Highness.” Solstice answered, before motioning toward the balcony with a forehoof. “Please, everypony is worried that there’s some sort of crisis. They need you to calm them and raise the sun.” He shook the cup in front of her face one last time, before realizing that it was a lost cause and returning it to the cart.
Celestia didn’t respond at first. When she did, it wasn’t quite what Solstice wanted to hear. “I’m not meant to rule alone. I don’t know if I can do it.” She sighed, once more feeling the weight of the world pressing down on her. The telltale rumble of ponies gathering in the courtyard outside the temple grew louder. She had little doubt that the cause of the din was a mix of panic and concern.
Solstice mirrored the mare’s weary sigh and reached up, gently unbuckling his helmet. It was placed upon the cart, next to her cooling tea.“Forgive the insubordination, Princess, but like it or not, we need you.” He told her, a stern bite to his voice. It was quite out of character for himself and most of the other guards and it was enough to draw her surprised gaze. Half expecting his forward approach to be met with verbal retaliation, the guard winced subtly and turned his face away from Celestia. He was relieved when she remained silent.
Princess Celestia let the weight of his words sink in and considered them for several moments more, little more than the sound of the worried ponies outside disturbing the stillness. Drawing in a deep breath through her nostrils, Celestia slowly rose up out of bed and approached the opposite end of her room. Slowly exhaling a shaky breath, she retrieved her crown and promptly settled it atop her head once more.
She looked over to the cart with the teacup, briefly pondering on how wonderful it would be to simply sit back down, relax, sip at the soothing tea and have another moment to think. Just... Think, in the peaceful silence, with no pressure to concern herself with anything. It was a tempting thought.
No. Celestia told herself, straightening her back and turning her nose upward. If she didn’t act now, she’d surely slump back to her bed and leave her subjects to freeze in the everlasting night.
“Solstice, have the crowds gather beneath my balcony. I shall address them shortly.” Celestia ordered, stern and commanding in her pose. As if by magic, the mare’s usually confident voice had returned to her and a new sort of liveliness flickered within her eyes.
“Yes, Your Highness.” Solstice acknowledged, bowing once before quickly trotting off to do as he was told.
Celestia stood in her room for a brief moment more, fidgeting ever so slightly, anxious of the daunting task ahead of her. She hastily put together a rather rushed, but concise speech which she was certain would get the point across as necessary and went over it several times in her head. There was very little time to plan or plot and regal elegance was hardly an aspect of it. If she was going to be in charge of everything, she needed to be true and honest, she reminded herself.
Time seemed to pass far too quickly to the alicorn, who found herself pacing back and forth within her room. Celestia wished for more time to think about what she was going to do, but before she had the chance, Solstice had returned and poked his head in through the doorway, nodding to indicate that everypony was ready for her.
Celestia tilted her head and looked out to her balcony from within her room. With one final inhale, she steeled herself and didn’t hesitate any longer. A flicker of magic opened the glass doors leading to her balcony and she stepped outside, immediately aware of the muggy air and the incoherent cacophony of several hundred ponies speaking at once.
Princess Celestia looked down upon the massive gathering of ponies with a frown upon her features. Many, if not most did not notice her. They were too busy conversing amongst themselves down in the courtyard below, likely sharing concerns and questioning one another for information. Celestia looked up to the moon, still floating high in the sky.
Forgive me Luna, not only for exiling you... but taking your duties as well. She closed her eyes and her horn went alight with a golden aura, the familiar tingle of conjuring up her magic and feeling for the lunar body filling her. She reached out slowly and grasped at the moon, swallowing audibly.
Feeling the cold, hard surface within her magical grasp, she gave it a firm tug and, shuddering, sent it along its path, though at a far greater speed than normal. The sudden shift in the moon and the shadows cast by its diminishing light drew everypony’s attention. Rather than burst out into even more questions, the crowd went deathly quiet as they stared up at their monarch, who returned their gaze.
Here I go...
Celestia inhaled, then started to speak. "As some of you may be aware, rumors of Princess Luna rebelling against the nation got out earlier this evening. According to those in Cloudsdale, they spread like wildfire throughout most all of Equestria and its settlements.” Closing her eyes, the mare brought a single hoof up to rest on the stone railing. She choked on her words for a moment, before finally managing to force them out. “It pains me to inform you all that these rumors were true.”
The many ponies below, who had been waiting with baited breath for her to assure them that nothing was wrong, immediately fell into a panic. Cries of worry rang out, and the pathways began to grow overcrowded with ponies looking to scatter to their homes for safety. Guards in heavy golden armor reigned them in and turned their attention back to the princess, however, and Princess Celestia’s booming voice halted the rest. “However, she is no longer a threat!" An uproar of questions and concerns came from below, but Celestia paid them no heed.
“From here on out, I shall take control of both the sun and the moon, and control them both in the stead of Princess Luna.” She motioned toward the ponies gathered below her and the surrounding populace with a sweeping arc of her forehoof. “I strongly urge that you all go home and continue about your day as usual. I apologize for the delay in your daily routines and assure you that it will not occur again. Thank you for your patience.”
Turning away from the confused ponies, Princess Celestia entered her room, where the guard was still standing, closing the doors behind her. For a moment, she stood completely still, staring down at the stone flooring and her hooves. Then, she sighed.
Why does it feel so... numb? She wondered silently, raising one of those forehooves and pressing it to her chest. She looked up at Solstice, who was staring in her direction, stunned at her emotionally detached declaration, and worried about the hurt expression on her face. Though he refused to meet her gaze, she still addressed him.
"Fetch me Atlas. I need to speak with him immediately."
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With a distant expression on her face and her head lowered to the ground in sorrow, Nightmare Moon cast one final look back into the darkness behind her before moving onward. The child to whom she had given her own breath laid there, buried beneath a small mound of rocks with nothing more than her tattered armor and a spattering of blood to mark her location.
She was gone. Dead.
The word echoed within her head, reminding her even as she turned her teary eyes forward and pushed onward that there was no bringing her back. Through her celestial connection, the mare could sense that her moon was going to set. When the light being shone upon it slowly began to recede, Nightmare Moon couldn’t help but realize the sad truth that she had to leave her child behind.
The decision to leave her lifeless filly for good stung far more deeply than any wound she’d ever experienced. She blinked away another tear and reminded herself that her only option now was to follow the light, in some desperate hope that her sister would be able to see her. To free her.
As such, Nightmare Moon fought against her weak and wobbly legs with the relentless light of the sun upon her back to cross the desolate wasteland that was the surface of the very lunar body that she represented.
As long as she kept the darkness at her back and remained in the light, there was still a chance.
The going was tough, however, and the glow of the soil beneath her reflecting the sun was nearly blinding. Nightmare Moon hissed as she stepped upon a particularly jagged rock, collapsing onto the cold, hard surface of her lunar prison. Coughing violently, she swung her hoof in an arc at the cloud of dust kicked up by her fall, idly clouding around her, though it was in vain.
Despite her best efforts to wave the dust away, it clung to her fur in clumps, slipping into open wounds and rubbing sections of her coat completely raw. Minuscule granules, insignificant to all but those who were exposed to it, were attracted to the openings in her face, slipping into her mouth and nostrils, burning the tender flesh within and scraping away at her lungs like sandpaper. Not even her icy blue eyes were safe, which were assaulted by the dust with each and every blink, partially blinding her.
Pausing momentarily, Nightmare Moon realized that the moon’s descent was speeding up, and the darkness was quickly approaching her from behind. Wearily, the alicorn forced herself back up onto her aching hooves, willing herself onward to the fleeting light ahead. She wanted so desperately to use her magic to dispel the grating lunar dust and heal her filthy open wounds, but her magic reservoirs were already stretched to their limits at present. It was a strain to simply keep herself alive, let alone dispel such unpleasantries.
Emotionally and physically drained from the task of giving birth, Nightmare Moon’s only choice was to endure the discomfort. However, even that was beginning to seem impossible and, in her mind, her trek grew more and more pointless with every passing moment. Pausing for just a few moments, she hacked up a few small drops of blood into her hoof.
Startled, the Nightmare realized that she might soon be joining her child in the afterlife! It was a harrowing thought, one which she drew all the more motivation from to push on. But even that wasn’t enough. Having been slowed by her faltering strength, Nightmare Moon lost ground on the receding light, which served as a beacon for her last hope of returning home.
Suddenly, Nightmare Moon’s world was eclipsed, plunged into the shadows. Looking around frantically, she quickly became aware that the darkness had overtaken the portion of the moon she was currently on. Peering far off into the distance, she realized that the the light was fading away beneath the crushing wave of blackness enveloping the moon and stretching on toward the horizon.
She fell back onto her haunches, mouth agape.
It was over.
No longer was she within Celestia’s line of sight. The light was gone, and with it, any chance of her being spotted.
Nightmare Moon glared down upon the verdant planet that was once her home, rage bubbling within her chest. Her banishment to this accursed cosmic ball would not be forgotten, nor the tragic passing of her daughter.
No... Murder. She corrected, her eyes alight with fury. Celestia would see the error of her ways. Nightmare Moon would make sure of it. Her sister would rue the day she dared to challenge the fury of the night.
Without warning, Nightmare Moon grimaced, holding a hoof to her chest. She felt out of breath, thin and light. Not the weightlessness that she had come to know simply being on the moon, but as if something within herself was suddenly missing. It felt as though she was in the grips of her own magic, being cradled within it. A mysteriously hot and heavy daze flooded her mind, making it difficult to think.
An indiscernible amount of time passed, and Nightmare Moon began to notice a strange sensation washing over her. She felt like she was fading, being stretched from head to hoof. The black alicorn stood completely still, perplexed. Looking down through her blurry vision, she could even see herself thinning, becoming partially translucent. The odd feeling spread across her entire form, then, just as suddenly as it had occurred, it dispersed, leaving Nightmare Moon confused and uncertain, drowning in her bitterness once more.
Her stone-cold gaze was once more directed at her old home. “Celestia, hear me now! I will return, and I will have my vengeance!” Turning away from the planet with a snarl, she knew what had to be done. Her sister’s magic was taking effect, gathering to finally bind her to the surface of the moon, once and for all.
She wouldn’t allow that to happen.
With the last of her will—her rage, her fury and the hatred that she had for her sister—Nightmare Moon called upon her remaining magic, refusing to fade silently into the night. Her horn lit up, reflecting eerily off of every surface around her, and she began to cast the spell, prepared to seal herself within the moon by redirecting and utilizing Celestia's much stronger magic to augment her own in one last act of spite.
"You can't hide in the light forever, sister.” She spat, her lips curled back to reveal jagged white teeth. “One day, the sun must descend, and on that day, the moon, I, shall replace it."
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*shuffles in for first comment before the author*
EDIT: You guys do know this was a joke, right?
EDIT 2: Wow, seriously people? Still downvoting? It was a damn joke, lighten up and calm your tits.
3007326
Well... This took a long time.
Like, eight months of planning on and off.
I wanted a good story that depicts the effects of Luna's banishment on her psyche, and after reading one too many stories that seem to completely overlook it, or underplay it, I decided to try my own take on it.
Did I succeed?
...I sincerely hope so.
Only one way to find out, I guess.
3017626
Hey.
Maybe try reading it first
3017626
Hmm. I see.
Well, you may not read it, but I'd kindly ask that you don't leave comments like that without actually reading it.
Giving an opinion without knowing anything of the subject material can lead to awkward moments.
3017639
Sorry, comment deleted. I do think it's a interesting idea, and up vote for the idea.
3017643
Thank you.
3017671
You're welcome, good luck my friend with this tale
Reading this when Children of the night came on my YouTube playlist, well i didn't need that heart anyway.
Filly ;-;
Me has a sad now
3017813
Everything has been done already.
Deal with it.
3017819 I'm only pointing out that the two are similar. No need to be hostile.
3017871
I deleted your comment because it was neither criticism, nor relevant to my story.
I simply don't want to see a link to another story in my comment section.
If it bothers you that much, I'm sorry.
But you should also know that there's more than one story on this site with the same premise. There's at least four that I've seen.
That said, this is the prologue. Why don't you wait until the actual chapters are out to inform people that my entire premise has already been done?
3017871
And you don't need to be so "hey guys, letting you know there's another story like this! I'll just make the author look like he ripped it off and take attention away from him!"
Yep that's me.I don't believe we've met. Pleasure is all mine.
Look, keep this out of the comment section. PM's were made for a reason
EDIT: Nice comment edit
oh god my sides
This is me being cordial.
Speak for yourself
I am so glad I read this. It was so beautifully written. I idol you, Whiter.
3017956
Thank you.
I have seen this picture and this premise before. Is this story a re-submission by chance?
3018007
No, this is my take on the picture. Or, at least, the prologue opening to my take on the picture.
It's been used at least four other times on here, I know.
Though, everyone seems to think that this is the entire story in a nutshell. Not quite, just a bit of a back story.
3018024
Alright, I liked the last one I read, though short. Might as well give this one a try as well.
143 views, 23 likes, and it's in the feature box? Nice work! This story definitely shows promise. Better add it to my read later then.
I'm certain I've read this somewhere before.
3018286
Hmm. I've gotten that several times today.
Yes, well, part of the dialogue is similar to the quote in the original cover image.
I SHALL READ THIS LATER. THANK AZU FOR ME.
Was that Luna's foal or Nightmare moon's foal also I wonder who the father is ....
A great take on Luna's banishment. Your description on the emotional turmoil of the Sister's was very well done and pacing had a smooth flow to it.
*Looks at incomplete tag* There's more?
Well then, I will certainly look forward to the next chapter. 
3018701
Thank you.
More will be coming soon.
I really like where this is going. I read the short story that this story came from. I always wanted someone to expand upon it, I really hope Luna gets some closure or 'happy ending' from this. Unless a 'Dark' or 'Tragic' tag gets added.
3018759
Only time will tell.
3018764 I eagerly await in orgasmic anticipation for the next update!
I'm not crying... really guys, I just got something in my eyes...
3018821
Totally.
3017871
Don't care. I've been follow your and Brony's comments, and I don't like you.
I think it's best that you should leave the author and his story alone, because you're not providing useful feedback.
Just for the record, every story has it's own original tone to it, and this one is no different. I've talked to Whiter Penmanship before he released his story, and I can assure you that the plot of this story will definitely not be a copycat.
Well, kinda short. I think another chapter explaining Luna's pregnancy should be in order.
Nice story though, and consider yourself to be the luckiest man alive for having your story on the front page with the story's status.
Seriously, it's totally unfair!
3019086
Thank you for the support.
It's a tad aggravating to see people who just assume the story will play out one way, when this is merely the prologue, the beginning to a greater story.
3019094
You're welcome.
Looking forward to the next chapter btw.
Ok, I know Celestia had no way to know this happened. I know she's suffered a great deal over her own sister being exiled to the moon, in order to save her kingdom. However...when Nightmare returns...I want her to kick Celestia's flank so hard, that she questions if she's died right there and then. And more...unlike cannon verse...I want to see those two work through this. I mean, after something like this, I have severe doubts that anything could be alright again. Still, yeah, that's my big thing.
Great work so far, and looking forward to more.
fc06.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2012/292/7/7/manly_tears_by_scarletmarine-d5i9cff.jpg
Oh God, the feels....
This story sounds like it will be absolutely rife with angst................ I LOVE IT!
3019341 3019361
Prepare thy feels. More is inbound.
3019363 Feels are prepared! Ready for liftoff!
I saw the story cover on e621 not even 24 hours ago.
3019086 What is the name of the story that they're saying is similar to this?
well, looks like Celestia's in for a rude awakening. Great chapter, keep goin and stay golden^^
Oh, finally! I've been saying that pic needed a fic dedicated to it!
I can tell I'm gonna like this.
Oh Jesus.
Well, that's one way to put an original spin on this idea. I can't wait to see where this goes next.
Is this based on a comic? I know I have seen one that was about this bit.
3019522
Nope. It's just my take on the cover image.
You made the feature box !!
You are ready!
We are ready!
The world is not yet ready!!!