> A Redemption Story
>  by Diasweetus
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> The Prolouge
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	Rage engulfed me. What once meant quietness and tranquility to me now meant chaos and fear. What once meant shadows and coolness now meant blackness and nightmares. No longer was I using the night as a time of rest and comfort, I was now using it as a tool of domination and terror, and that, I believe, was my biggest sin of all. For even after my reunion with my "beloved" sister, I felt unfit to wield the moon once again. Despite the many years of penance I served, the memories of 1,000 years ago plague me more than yesterday's do.
Sometimes on occasion I still speak with her. The other one who lives inside of me, who's name I can scarcely speak, think, or write anymore… Nightmare. Though many moons before the invasion I simply called her, Sister, because that's who she was too me. She nurtured me, comforted me, thought with me, and gave me advice. Although the whole time it was turning me against my true sister, Celestia, she still gave me more than my real sister ever could. She taught me about life.
Yes, I knew deep inside she was just something my mind had created to keep itself occupied, but I didn't contemplate on that much. For I didn't want to ruin the only comfort I ever had. Life became harder as Tia became more distant. Believe it or not, when we first began ruling Equestria she didn't have the same calm, wise, quiet, and collected attitude she has now. She was 300 years old; I was only 150 years. In alicorn years, she was 16, and I was only 8. Celestia and I were both born alicorns, unlike Twilight, so our mental and physical aging occurred more slowly over time. Despite Twilights wings, they are only a product of old and powerful magic, she is not truly an alicorn; she will age as everyone else does and eventually die.
Imagine it yourself; you are merely a teenager and yet countless generations of ponies are putting you on the spot to do a duty that could mean the fate of the world. There was pressure on the both of us, yet she took most of the burden on herself, which is what I consider to be her noble mistake.
At first, her apparent complacency was easily understandable. For we both were bogged down with the work of running a nation, but when she started to shirk the small things, the confusion began. Confusion lead to sadness, sadness lead to despair, despair lead to depression, and that is when the anger started to boil inside of me. 'Twas an anger that blocked out the sun, an anger which sent me into the darkness of my own soul. So even now, many years after I shrouded the world, I still find being remorseful hard.
As I was saying before, it wasn't the big things that mattered that much to me. It was the small, petty, insignificant things that bothered me. It was how she would go out and deliver a riveting speech to a crowd and not one word to me afterwards. She would go and read a book to orphan foals and not even bid me a simple, "good night" as I raised the moon. She would go on a trip and not bring me back one single snow globe - I loved snow globes - but that's aside the point! The point is that eventually I was begging for attention. My pride had broken down completely. I was begging to get one sign from her that our sisterhood still had meaning, one sign.
The moment I realized my sister was gone, was the moment she came along, and the corruption began. To be completely honest, if I had a more present sister to begin with I probably would never have listened to her words but 1,000 years worth hindsight can't be good for one's psyche, so I mostly just don't contemplate on what could have happened.
I recall spending time with her, between our games and merriment, when she would talk about how every pony hated me. I was in disbelief at first, for I knew the night time was a time of rest and peace, yet she convinced me to believe that everyone slept during that time just to avoid me. And although I didn't believe it at first, the prospect did get me thinking. I thought back, when was the last time anypony screamed and cheered for Luna? When was the last time Luna was asked to speak with forgiven delegates and receive awards on the behalf of Equestria? Sure, much of my thought went into many of the implemented policies, but who took all of the credit? Celestia did, Celestia, Celestia, Celestia, and I grew sick of it!
I was now 300 years old and Celestia was 600. Though a large rift had formed between us over the years, Celestia was trying to win me back. Despite her efforts, she had forgotten I had even aged at all. To her I was just small, adorable Woona who was afraid of butterflies and hid under her sister's tail. One time she offered to read me a story before bed, but I promptly dashed the book to the ground, and declared I was to old for such nonsense.
Looking back on it today, I knew what I did tore her apart just as much, if not more than it did me. For she was trying to right what could have been an unforgivable wrong. I'm surprised she didn't develop her own surrogate sister… Daymare Sun? Yes I know, it's not too catchy but I was just trying to make a point here. And speaking of surrogate sisters, many historians today claim that mine was the main reason for me alienating Celestia near the end… but they weren't there. Sure, my sister, Nightmare Moon was responsible for a lot of things, including the final rebellion, but the choice I made to cut out Celestia, be it a bad one, was mine alone.
After a hundred years of Celestia trying to win me back (As alicorns sometimes take longer to deal with their problems than regular ponies do), she eventually gave up and became morose. This was very unlike her, and even so when she was dealing with political business she would just perk up as If nothing was the matter – she was good at that. I guess she had to be as the ruler of a nation. I was now 400 and Celestia was 600.
In the years to come, my complacency, and her depression both turned into anger, but not just any kind of anger, a furious rage, one that engulfed the two of us like a wild fire, not leaving any room for any other emotions.
I was somewhere in my early 400's when it happened. I was sitting out on my tower's balcony one evening when Nightmare came out to chat with me. She began to point out the beauty of the night and all its wonders; this was not something new to me so I immediately asked what she was getting at. She then brought up the idea that would change the course of history and portray me as a feared monster for the centuries to come… "wouldn't it be nice if the night could last forever, then ponies would come to appreciate it more." Normally, I would have batted a hoof at such a thought, but with hundreds of years of irrational emotion circulating within me, anything was possible, so that night she and I drew up a plan to usurp the throne and reign down night-time eternal on all of the world.
It was October 31st, a date that would forever go down in history as Nightmare Night, a holiday created in fear me. One I didn't much appreciate until my subjects finally accepted me again, but I digressed. I'm not going to say my physical transformation didn't hurt, it did. Imagine the most severe growing pains one could experience and couple that with the sensation of being electrocuted. So in short, it was not fun but we deemed it necessary for our success. Contrary to popular beliefs, though it was her physical form we were using, mentally we both had control. When it came to fighting though, I would let her take over.
As I stated before, it was the twilight of October 31st, and as soon as the sun was down, I let loose my personal legions on Equestria, for they were only loyal to me. It didn't take long for Celestia to wake up and get wind of this, and as soon as she did, she tried everything she could to stop me before having to fight me. I still don't regret my decisions, for I truly believe there was no other way to fix things even to this day. Sometimes, it takes a fight to diffuse all the past emotions.
Despite that, this was so much more than a fight to me. It was a way of reaching out as well as trying to prove myself. It was a way of releasing hundreds of years of rage pent up.
The truth of the matter is that if I had really wanted to, I could have ended her in her sleep, and then I would have no threatening resistance, but that's not what I wanted to happen. I wanted her to watch as the world fell into a darkness that could not be aided. I wanted her to watch as the vegetation died and creatures of the night preyed on those of the day. I wanted her to watch the order of the day brought to a bloody and violent end. I wanted her to watch a new order be brought forth, one that had never reigned before, 'twas the order of the night. I wanted to watch her despair; I wanted to watch her die on the inside first. The shadows had risen. The peace had died. The nighttime had begun, but little did I know, that it would truly never end.