> Night's Own Memories > by MLPxMaestro > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Chapter One- Memory of Betrayal > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Nights Own Memories: Chapter One- Memory of Betrayal: Princess Luna approached the edges of Canterlot’s breathtaking view that overlooked the valley down below from its mountainside. Her beautiful moon bathed night pleased her, as it had been decades since her full moon and stars had been this beautiful. The stars were like tiny white holes in a thick cosmic blanket that seemed to shroud all of Equestria. She took in a breath of the cool and crisp winter air, and exhaled with a view of her own breath being distinctly seen from the black winter sky behind it all. She spread out her wings far from her center mass, as she took a leap of faith, descending a thousand feet before lifting herself back up into the air. Luna flew towards the bright moon; higher and higher she ascended into the clouds above her. She found herself ensnared by the moon’s true beauty, as she seemed to fly endlessly towards the marvel and jewel of her night. She looked closer and inwards towards the center, as it almost seemed like it was a mirror into her own memories “Why is our own father’s creation so beautiful and yet so…mesmerizing all of a sudden?” She says to herself curiously. She wondered why it seemed to almost greet her the closer and closer she got to it. Luna decided to then turn away from it, and not look into what almost seemed like her regretful memories returning to her as she continued to do so. She knew what she did to her sister a millennia ago was certainly uncalled for, but yet how she obtained the power, the sheer power her very own sister didn’t even have…it felt good to the princess of the night. Luna felt jealous through all of the attention her sister, Princess Celestia, was getting from the citizens of Equestria in general. She did not wish to think of the terrible times she had with her sister, though she could well remember the good and triumphant times she had with her though. Those unforgettable times of how they stopped Discord once and for all. How they sealed away the hateful and fearful tyrant of the Crystal Empire, King Sombra, deep inside the ice of the Frozen North. However Luna and her sister never knew what happened to their friend, Starswirl the Bearded that one fateful night of his sudden and unexplainable disappearance. All of these things and many more all seemed to flood back to her memories at once. One of her most painful memories was when she was old enough to rule with her loving sister, and how they would never see their parents again. “Only we can control our own destiny.” She thought to herself out loud once more. “Why must we have betrayed my own sister of blood?!” “The foolishness of our own power hungry decision became thy downfall. Something had taken control of us then…and I am now ever so grateful that thy dear sister put an end to it. No more Luna…no more shall you wither in the force of Nightmare Moon again.” She had told herself this several times in her lifetime ever since she returned back to society, but it still didn’t seem like it was enough. The urge of her returning to that moment of power and oppression had always seemed to remain in the back of her mind. Figures in power will become corrupted if there is nopony else to help control or deal with it. It will consume, it will ravage the mind, driving one mad with power and yet still wanting more. When you have figures in power, there will never be such a thing as a true, honest figure in power. The temptation of power will come to those who are weak minded and do not care for one’s own populous. These thoughts and words had continued to haunt Luna’s head, and she could find no true way to get rid of the one thousand year scar she had placed over her own mind, heart and soul. Luna was now resting easy on a white cottony heap of cloud after flying a good distance away from Canterlot, with Cloudsdale being seen very clearly from where she lay. “My dear sister, must you have done that? Why must you have banished me almost seemingly from existence for over a thousand years? Was there no other true alternative?! But of course not, there was no other alternative.” Luna’s memory causing her sadness, and even more regret and anger towards her own self. “Confound our actions, confound it all! our words, our thoughts, my…my…” a tear began to form within her eye, and slowly thereafter crept down her face on one side. “Sister…I…I love you so much. I loved you then but…but the nightmare forces had consumed me of my own ignorance.” Luna looked up towards the bright full moon once more, and looking like it was even closer to her now. It was like the moon she controlled through her magic seemed to link with her own memories and emotions running amidst her body. “No…if my moon is insisting we return to it once more, we shall refuse to return to Nightmare Moon, I myself shall do no such thing. We may be cleansed from the Elements of Harmony, but I still know that the dark force had not been eradicated from within me.” Luna then turned her back entirely from it and head off home to her own quarters within the royal castle, high up inside the main tower. As Luna approached closer and closer to the main tower, the white dot she spotted in the distance formed itself out to be her sister, Princess Celestia. Steadily Luna descended, though surprised to see her sister even up at this late of a time. “Why are you still awake? Don’t you have to raise the sun in a few hours?” Luna asked, as she continued walking past her sister, and into her quarters. “I couldn’t sleep for some odd reason? Why? I have no idea? Though yet my mind seemed to wake itself up due to a disturbance of another ones self…was that you?” Celestia asked, not bothering to look back to Luna and looking up towards the full moon. “I do not know sister, but I shall say that I looked up to the moon…and it had returned to me.” Luna looked away, then towards the dimly lit fireplace. “What returned Luna? I’m here for you no matter what.” Celestia slowly made her way beside her, and placed one of her large wings behind Luna in assurance. “It was when…when I turned on you, betrayed you…like you were nothing but a nuisance.” “Do not beat yourself up over the past sister of mine. It is the past, and shall remain to stay the same. The Elements of Harmony reformed you, but yet you seem as though your troubles are not yet fully gone?” Luna said nothing and lightly shook her head no. “There-there Luna, it wasn’t just a bad memory for you to sustain, but me as well. Do you have any idea how broken and terrible I felt after I had to do something to where there was no other alternative? I had felt sad ever since then, until your return home that is. To banish my own sister…the feeling was incomprehensible.” Celestia stated. “I understand dear sister, and I appreciate the encouragement and love you still have for me ever since then. However, that one thing that has never seemed to go away from me…” said Luna. “Yes?” “Power…it has always wished to resurface it seems from within myself…why must it be an eternal burden?” “It doesn’t have to be Luna, you have always been different, and that’s what I love about you. Ever since you were little you’ve been like that, though well…you were more of a troublemaker back then.” Celestia giggled slightly. “Really? Then don’t even act like you were not up to mischief along with me?” Luna’s face had then managed to crack a slight smile, after recapping her and her sister running into the hallway of their fillyhood home after pulling a prank on their parents one late night. “I do suppose you’re right about that.” Celestia replied giggling slightly more on Luna’s remark. “Also, don’t forget that it was you who switched the heads on the animal heads on the wall, and messed up father’s collection of artifacts. I created the distraction…and I was the one who helped you escape.” Luna added once more. “Until you got in trouble yourself to prevent me from being caught.” “Precisely Tia.” “What?” Celestia asked curiously, after not hearing what she said just then.” “I said precisely Tia.” “Tia…” Celestia said out loud. “What is it sister?” Luna wondered. “You said…Tia…” “Oh…I…I suppose I did…yes.” Luna then looked away from her sister. “You haven’t called me that ever since we…” “Since we parted…I know…” Luna added in as she trailed off. “Well I’ll leave you be Luna, but how about this?” “What? A proposition you have for me now?” she wondered. “I suppose…so how about you help me raise the sun, and I’ll help you bring out the stars tomorrow night?” Luna’s face then showed her sister, emotions of surprise and not believing what she heard. Her eyes widened, and her face seemed to tell a story of its own from Celestia’s view. “But…y-you helped me do that when I was but a filly?” “I know…and nothing hurts to relive those wonderful times in our life, hm? Besides, I think you are due a break anyways; you have been through so much lately. You seemed to have had these memories trail around your mind for the past few days now.” Celestia replied. “I have, and I am surprised you have been able to tell.” “You’re not that hard to read Luna, you have always been like that.” Celestia replied. “I have been like many things ever since those times dear sister.” “So…” “So what?” Luna wondered. “Deal?” Luna knew what she was bringing up again, and knew that all her loving and caring sister wanted for her was to be happy. “Okay…deal then, I suppose.” Luna finally answered her. Another hour passed, and Luna was now standing out onto the balcony of the tower, looking over the entire prestigious city of Canterlot. Celestia was currently getting a few more hours of sleep before she had to wake up and do her duty. “Tia…” Luna thought to herself, as she continued looking up at the clear night sky. The twinkling of stars playing with her mind to think of other things, but she was focused mainly on why she even said that unaware of her saying it that one time. “Why and how did thy own mind come up with such a thing that has not been stated in over hundreds of years?” she kept thinking. The hours had passed, and now caught up to Luna. Celestia was now right beside her sister, as her horn gave off a soft yellow glow. “Ready?” Luna then looked back up at her as she stood next to her. “Yes.” Luna replied, as she then helped Celesta raise the sun, as she slowly brought down the moon. “T-Ti…sister?” “What is it? Celestia wondered. “Thank you…and…I love you Tia.” “I love you too Luna, so very much.” The two of them then hugged one another, causing Luna to shed a second tear from one of her eyes. A flood of memories then seemed to rush back to her mind once again, but not of bad and unfortunate events. Rather it was of when they were both young, sharing in laughter and playing games. Ones of how much love she and her sister had received from their parents. To think these memories were almost like they had been placed within her mind by something just hours before…like a Nights Own Memories. > Chapter Two- Memory of Shadow > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Nights Own Memories: Chapter 2- Memory of Shadow: Princess Luna lied there in bed asleep as her sister was on her way back up to her quarters to check in on her from the throne room. Luna however was in bed shaking and shivering a bit more and more, as another memory of an experience has seemed to resurface itself to her once more. Her eyes remain shut tight as she mouthed words to herself in her sleep, whispering and uttering words to herself out loud she could not even be aware of. She jerked slightly here and there, her body now beginning to break out in sweat, for the memory she had rushing back to her was something she wanted to forget even at some points more than when she became Nightmare Moon. * * * The battle raged on outside of the confines of King Sombra’s castle between the forces of good and evil, but the king of shadow had one last trick up his sleeve. He essentially provoked Princess Luna to follow him within his castle, and chase him deep within the bowels of the mighty fortress. Celestia called out to Luna as she chased after him inside, she did not listen to Celestia’s unfortunate wish, so she had no other alternative but to go in after her sister. Luna made her way into Sombra’s throne room, and what she saw was unlike anything she had ever seen with dark magic. He stood there glaring at her menacingly; his fanged rows of teeth gave a light grin of mischief. “Thou end has arrived King Sombra!” she yelled out to him, as she readied herself followed by an aura of cyan around her horn. “I can sense your fear…you are…delectable.” He cackled. “Silence you coward!” she fired a bolt of magic, but it passed right through him. She couldn’t believe it; she stood there not believing what she just saw. A powerful bolt of magic did absolutely nothing, and yet it was a direct hit. He gave one last intensive glare at her followed by a roar of rage and hatred, as his body turned to shadow enveloping the entire throne room. Not a speck of light now could be seen within the room, and only the crystals that stand solid within the floor at every angle it seemed. “You cur! Show thyself immediately! I command thee to fight like a real king should!” She received no response until a few moments later. She could not see where he was, but his voice sounded like it was everywhere at once around her. “Silence! I do not have to take petty requests from a mere princess! Perhaps you could make an arrangement for yourself?” he trailed off with an echoing laugh throughout the black room. “Who…what kind of king is thou?” He did not answer, as he appeared right behind her. His eyes glowed bright green with no irises, trailed off by a purple aura emanating from both of his soulless eyes. “Join your night!” he yelled out behind her, as a bolt of magic shot hit right into her side. “AAAAHHH!!!” The force of the blast shot her hard into one of the massive crystals that stood dormant within the blackened throne room. Luna was no quitter though, as she got back up, though showing to King Sombra she was hurt. “That wasn’t even my full wrath…you’ll do fine.” He laughed once more. “I said silence!” she snapped back, shooting off another powerful bolt of magic. It passed straight through his head, as he still remained within his form of shade. His form appeared as if he was solid on the outside, but he was nothing but a force of shadow doing whatever he desired. “Cryyyystaaallllssssss…” Luna then felt the room shake, she glanced every which way, but could not find the source of where Sombra could be. She spread out her wings taking flight around the room, and couldn’t believe what she saw for a second time. Large shards of crystal shot out of the ground straight towards her. “Ah!” She dodged everything he threw at her, except for one of the largest shards. It hit her right across the side of her head, knocking her out cold onto a pile of crystals. “Cryyyystal Heeeeeart…” the king growled, followed by a low tone laugh. The sound of his voice was nothing but pure evil and hatred, and was greatly feared and respected among his enemies. “Luna! Luna where are you sister!” Celestia’s voice could then be heard echoing as she flew up the stairs. “Sissssterrrrrr mwahahahahahahahahaha!” “Reveal yourself coward! But of course…you must be in your throne room.” Celestia’s horn glowed to open the door, but the double doors would not budge. “Ugh, Luna?! Are you in there?!” she called out. There was no response, nothing but a low cackling tone and the doors opening by themselves. “Thank you for joining us.” The voice echoed throughout the black throne room once more. “This battle is over King Sombra! I command you to stand down…you have lost! Now tell me where the crystal heart is! Celestia grew more and more frustrated with the king of shadows’ mind games and tricks. With her words of a true challenge coming to him, he couldn’t resist. His shady form then returned to his solid self, just meters in front of her. He snarled and growled at her, saying not a word as his horn began to charge more dark magic. “Possessing alicorn magic is too powerful for a unicorn king such as yourself Sombra! You cannot contain it!” “GRRAAAAAHHHH!!!!!” a large beam of dark magic then shot from his horn, with Celestia pulling up a magical barrier to protect her. “Ungh!” she struggled as the intense magical force was stronger than her quick barrier she pulled up. With that she quickly brought it down just as she got out of the way for the barrier to break from the impact. “The crystal heart is mine…you will not find it.” He grinned at her menacingly. “You will tell me now or I will end you rule right here and now!” “Oh? Will your sister help you then?” Sombra then pushed down a large shard sticking out of the tile flooring, revealing Luna knocked out, and resting on several small shard of crystal. “No…Luna…my sister.” Celestia began tearing up, but she knew it would only feed Sombra, and realizes her deepest fears to use against her. “Your fear will only feed my power, the more you right, the stronger I will become.” He shot at her again with sharp shards of crystal, only missing her body by centimeters. The battle continued to rage on as Celestia and the shadowy king of hatred were in a magic shootout against each other. Bolts of magic firing any and every which way you could think of. Luna was however protected by the large shard of crystal to somewhat imprison her escape. After a solid ten minutes of nothing but sharing shots between each other, Sombra was completely unharmed, and Celestia lay across the floor with three wound lined across one of her sides from a rapid fire action of magic he inflicted on her. “I will say this once more…fear is my domain…and with every ounce of your struggle, I come to realize what you fear even more.” His face was then mere inches away from hers, as he seemed to stare right into her very soul. The stories of the unicorn king were right from the one prisoner that managed to escape and inform the princess about the oppression the Crystal Empire was facing from King Sombra. His eyes had absolutely zero remorse, no regret whatsoever. “Hahahahaha! You’re beautiful my princess…whenever your hurt.” He laughed in front of her. “I…I have nothing to say to you murderer.” She said partially out of breath from the firefight, along with the many shots of magic she fired which drained her even more of her stamina. “The crystal heart is gone, mine for the taking. You my princess, are nothing more than a nuisance…I shall enjoy eliminating you.” Celestia’s eyes widened, knowing this could be the end. He then used a paralysis spell on her just before she could avoid it in time. “Ahhhh!!” the princess screamed out. Not in pain, but in desperation of finding a way to stop him before it was too late for own self. King Sombra then approached her it seemed to be the last time, as his horn glowed once more with that terrible alicorn magic he seemed to have discovered a way to possess. Though dark magic had ties with alicorn magic, he was much smarter and cleverer than the sisters thought he was. Before their encounter, he had managed to lay magical traps, and enchanted environments to try and stop them when they least expected it. The sisters never found out the last spell he had placed, neither would he tell them. “Goodnight my princess…may the gods keep you…just as they will worship me!” With a final flash of his horn, he fired a concentrated blast of powerful magic at her, but none other than Princess Luna miraculously blocked it. “Luna! Get out of here now!” “WHAT?! IMPOSSIBLE!” he shouted out at her snarling. The blast then partially absorbed by Luna’s magic, as she retaliated the blast back to him. “That is my sister you fool!” she exclaimed back at him with anger and frustration. The magic hit him directly into his chest, as he flew back and hit the wall with an incredible amount of force. “L-Luna…but you were-” “No time sister, do you have them?” “The elements? No…unfortunately I do not. I was hoping to use them to help reform him…but I have an alternative.” “Alternative you say? But what do you-” “GRRRAAAAAHHHH!!!!” the shadow king roared from anger, as his throne room then began to shake violently. “Follow me sister!” Luna then fired a beam of light through the blackness that shrouded the throne room. The force of the magical blast that retaliated back to Sombra had weakened his magic a bit, but it was certainly not enough to even give him a scrape compared to the power he truly possesses. “EEEEENOOOUUUGGGHHHH!!!!!!!” A surge of shadowy force then rushed towards them like an ocean wave as Luna and Celestia flew off towards the dappled light that Luna had created within their once thought shadowy coffin. Princess Luan and Princess Celestia then looked back each other followed by a nod, as they knew what they had to do then. “We have no choice Luna, he is far too powerful to contain or defeat at this level. We have no other way but to banish him into the ice.” Luna nodded in agreement. “Of course…let this king rot within the empire he made, it shall be his downfall.” With both of their horns glowing and shining like the sun, they had gathered enough magical energy within those moments together to destroy the Crystal Empire. They however had the use for a different purpose. King Sombra then ran out and off to his balcony, as he was baffled by the two sisters and the sheer amount of power they were gathering. “NO! I will not let-” Before he could then finish, the sisters then fired their magical force with everything they had. The king of shadow and crystal was slowly being evaporated within the energy that surged and burned through him with ease. The pain was so severe, he could not even bare to get out of the way, or even hardly move for that matter. His face cringed and full of despise, nothing but hatred all the more back towards the two sisters. With a final roar of frustration and ruthlessness, he still did not wish to give up, but yet he knew he had been outmatched this time. So the reigns of King Sombra had come to and end, and were locked away within the ice for over a thousand years. The once mighty and cold empire he had built through nothing but pure hatred for the earth pony race had ended, and for everypony’s sake, peace was finally restored within the Frozen North. The two sisters later on managed to make it out of the Crystal Empire before it vanished into thin air. They had absolutely no idea and no way at all as for how to bring the empire back. So from then on out, the greatest and mightiest empire in all of Equestria was reduced to but a legend and whispers within the icy winds. “Sister…did you find the crystal heart?” “No Luna, I did not…King Sombra unfortunately…won at his own game.” Celestia replied disappointed, and hurt that the Crystal Empire was gone forever it seemed. “A defeat you say? I do not see such a thing? As we did after all lock him away within the icy terrain that encompassed his empire after all.” Said Luna. “True my dear sister, but also false. We fought hard, harder than we have ever fought against somepony, and to think Discord is more powerful than King Sombra is with magic. We have won as for stopping the oppressive king, but we have lost as far as our main objective was concerned. Our number one priority was to successfully find and retrieve the crystal heart before we confronted him.” Celestia stated. “Oh…of course…I understand.” As Luna and Celestia finally defeated Discord, and sealed him away with the Elements Of Harmony, some odd things seemed to bother Luna, and her sister was concerned for her. For the past few days after they encountered King Sombra, Luna had been acting strange. She had become more defiant towards Celestia, and yet Celestia herself did not know why? She would even simply ask her to join for dinner every now and again, and she would refuse. Her sister would ask her what was troubling her so much, and Luna would merely yell and tell her to go away. There was even one point that would bring Celestia to tears after she heard those three words nopony wants to hear from a loved one…“I hate you”. * * * “Luna?” Celestia’s voice muffled into her head, but she kept tossing and turning. Speaking to herself, as her breathing grew more and more rapid when the memories grew progressively worse by the passing second. “Luna! Please wake up!” Celestia yelled. Luna rose herself up out of bed, with Celestia stopping her when she rose herself up entirely out of bed. She stared ahead of herself as she tried to calm down. Her breathing still heavy and rapid, but quickly came to a calm consensus with her own body. “Are you okay Luna? Please speak to me.” Celestia asked her, standing next to her sister. The sounds of the firewood within the fireplace crackled and helped to eliminate a sort of dead silence that filled the room. Luna looked around the room to try and gather herself once more. She looked back at Celestia as emotion then began to take form on her face. “Oh dear…was it-” she lightly gasped, covering her mouth with one of her hooves in concern and sympathy. Before Celestia could finish, Luna immediately nodded with tears quickly began forming in her eyes. “I am so sorry…everything will be okay now.” “B-but…h-he…cursed me.” Luna sniffled, as tears continued running down her cheeks, creating a wet spot upon her older sister’s coat where she placed her head. “Shhhh, it is all just a nightmare…and no you are not cursed.” “That is the third night in a row it has happened to me!” she cried into the side of her older sister’s neck. Celestia as bas as she felt whenever she saw her sister troubled, she still managed to keep a soft smile of comfort. Even every now and then Luna would manage to find peace in her sister’s peace too. “You know and I know both that those were bad times for us both, not just you.” “But they have haunted me a hundred times more than you though.” “It is because you were the one that saved me during that time. Were it not for you, I would have died, and you would have no sister that cared and loved you as much as I do.” Luna hearing those words tried to clear herself up after that, but her saying that stuff also made her think of her mother too. “Didn’t our mother say words like that?” “She did indeed, and there’s still not a day tat goes by that I don’t think about her.” They both ended up looking at the stained glass sunroof that decorated a small center of the room. The designs made in their honor for the sun and the moon, almost similar to a yin and yang symbol, but more elegant yet bold. “Um…Tia?” “Yes Lu-lu?” “Lu-lu?” Luna tilted her head to the side. “Well you were in fact called that when you were little an awful lot.” Replied Celestia. “Oh…I suppose I was.” She realized, but still continuing on with what she wanted to say. “Well…” “What is it?” “I…I miss mother and father.” Luna trailed off, before then looking away from her sister. “Come now Luna, look at me.” Her sister then brought her hoof to the side of Luna’s cheek, causing her to instinctively look back at her. They stared right into each other’s eyes, with Luna wondering what she was going to say to her now. “We will see mother and father again one day alright? Just…just not today.” She stated with her trademark smile of sisterly love and compassion. “Thank you Tia...I’d love to one day.”