Loss and a wish
-Two years before Nightmare Moon and Luna’s banishment-
Two alicorn princesses rested in the royal infirmary, the lunar princess resting in one of the beds, awaiting word from the sisters’ personal physician. She had come in for a check-up during her pregnancy after feeling something was off. Though only halfway through the pregnancy, the thought that something was wrong still plagued her mind. The solar sister had accompanied her to assure her it was merely motherhood jitters, and that the young foal was fine. When the doctor had stepped out of the room with a worried expression on his face she began to worry her sister's fears might have been justified.
“Sister,” she spoke softly, trying to comfort her younger sister to the best she could. “We art sure things will be okay. Surely the physician doth want to simply be thorough. Thou shalt see, Luna. Pleasant news shall arrive momentarily.” She looked towards the door hoping to be proven right.
“We hope thou art correct sister. After the fate of mine last foal, we doubt we could face Bladed Quill if this foal perishes before birth as well,” Luna said as tears of worry filled her eyes. Her hooves resting on her stomach lightly.
Her last foal had been a still birth and had broken the hearts of not only herself, but the stallion she loved as well. Yet two years later they had begun to try again, and after six months she was again with foal. Up until recently she had felt fine and felt the pregnancy was progressing smoothly. Within the last few days, however, she had been feeling pains and began to worry for the foals safety and health. She couldn’t shake the feeling that something was very wrong.
A few minutes later the royal physician came in with two other physicians. All three physicians had the same worried look on their faces as they used their magic to check on the foal within. Once each had confirmed what the royal physician had feared, they hung their head as he turned to the two ruling sisters and sighed.
“Majesty…tis no easy way to convey what thou art about to hear….” He said with a somber tone. Immediately Luna’s eyes began to tear up as he continued. “Thine foal… Its heart… hath stopped beating some time ago. We know not why nor when such tragedy struck. What we doth know tis should thine foal’s body remain within thee as such… thine own life shalt be in peril as well. We must prepare thee for the procedure majesty lest thee share thine foal’s fate.”
Luna wept openly as she heard the fate of her child. Cursing the fates that she was denied motherhood once more. As she sobbed uncontrollably, her sister nodded to the physicians to proceed with what they had to do, her own eyes shedding tears in earnest. She knew how much the prospect of motherhood meant to herself, and would be lying if she said that she wasn’t hoping to one day hear the clippity clop of little hooves along the castle floors.
Hours passed as Celestia waited outside pacing back and forth through the hall outside the infirmary. She started to wonder where the stallion that was to be the child’s father was during all of this, but recalled that he was currently away on a diplomatic mission. She did not envy her sister for the news she would have to give him upon his return. Nor did she know how the stallion would take the news.
Half an hour later two of the doctors stepped out from the room where the three had been working on the lunar princess. They looked up to Celestia and bowed respectfully before taking their leave, pushing a cart with sheets draped over it. As the royal physician stepped from the room he bowed as well before he began to speak. “Majesty, the procedure hath been successful and thine sister art resting now. Thou canst enter when thou art ready,” he said before bowing once more and departing, leaving the two sisters to comfort each other.
-Two days before Nightmare Moon and Luna’s banishment-
Ever since the loss of her second child something had changed in Luna. At first it was taken just as depression from the loss of her foal, but as time went on her emotions and mind became darker at times. She still performed her nightly duties, but where she would normally take joy in hearing the wishes and prayers to the stars and moon of their subjects, she now listened with signs of grief and disdain. Previously, she would often try and find a way to grant the wishes of those that were made for non-selfish reasons. Since the loss of her foal, however, she would often ignore many of the wishes no matter their nature. This change over time caused fewer to come to make wishes upon her stars, instead choosing to stay indoors during the night. Even the earth pony stallion, Bladed Quill, whom she had taken to be her mate couldn’t seem to shake her from her darker thoughts at times. After he had returned from his mission to learn the history of their allies the griffon kingdom, he stopped his expeditions to seek out the untold truths of the history of their land and that of their allies. He instead began to dedicate himself to trying to bring Luna happiness once more. Unfortunately the more he tried the more she began pushing him away, much as she had pushed Celestia away. Though unlike her sister who chose to hope that the troubles would resolve themselves the stallion had not given up. It wasn’t until Luna refused to even speak to him that he took his leave preparing to return to his neglected works. That was two nights ago.
Tonight, however, Luna seemed much more like her old self. A smile upon her face as she listened to the wishes of the few that still wished upon her stars and moon. She did her best to set in motion the events that would lead to the wishes being granted before turning to the night sky and making a wish of her own.
“Oh stars and moon in mine night sky, we beseech thee hear our plea.” She called out from atop a lone hilltop far from the castle grounds. “We know full well that our own demons haunt us, and though we struggle against them we fear we are not strong enough to fight them on our own any longer. With all of our heart and might we beseech thee, grant us a foal that our heart might open once more and forever expel from it the demon known as Nightmare Moon. This wilt be mine only request for as long as mine lifespan she continue” She gave one last look to the night sky as a few stars twinkled without her assistance and smiled, hoping that her wish had been heard.
That night she went about her nightly duties happily for the first time in a long time, hopeful that the new day would bring with it new opportunities. Her mirth faded, however, when she was on her way back to the castle and saw the stallion whom she had loved leaving the castle grounds. She landed before him with a smile upon her face about to apologize for her recent behavior when she saw the saddened look in his eyes as he looked to her and began to gallop away.
“Ha, see how even the one thou loves flees from thine presence. Doth thou truly trow that mere wishes be’est enough to vanquish us from thine heart and body. Tis laughable. Soon thou body shalt belong to Nightmare Moon. Tis nary a matter of time now,” the voice of the demon who had been plaguing her waking moments said within her head.
“No! This can’t be happening, Please…” Luna begged the voice in her head. “Please.. leave us be.. haunt mine mind no longer… thou hast already taken so much from us.. what more can thou take’est away?” Tears streamed down her eyes as she watched the fading sight of her love. “Thou came to us after we had lost mine unborn foal, promising us an end to the pain we felt. Then thou took from us the joy we felt in our nights, replacing it with hatred and resentment. Now thou hath forced mine own love to forsake us…Have not thee done enough harm?”
The voice of Nightmare Moon laughed within her mind. “Foalish mare. Dost thou truly think we would be placated so easily? Nay as we have told thee many times, your body shall belong to Nightmare Moon and we shall use it to bring about eternal darkness. Now rest dearest Luna. With this final string tis nary even a full day before mine return!” The voice broke out into laughter as fatigue washed over Luna as she collapsed upon the steps to the castle’s main door.
When Luna awoke she could sense that it should have been morning already. She attempted to move but found her body would not respond to her will or commands. Trying to look around as fear set in she found she was standing in the throne room. Her sister Celestia stood before her and she went to speak but the words that came out were not those she had been trying to speak, nor was the voice her own. Instead it was the voice of the demon that had been plaguing her for nearly the last two years.
“Not another STEP!” she heard her body called out as the demon’s voice began to warp her own. She stared down the stairway at her sister, as the voice made her speak again. “Did thou truly expect us to sit idly by while they all basked in thine ‘Precious Light’?” the cold voice asked harshly as her body, against her desires, started to move towards the stand where they would address their subjects.
“Why dost thou resist us? This is what thy desires as much as we. Succumb to us this night and become one with Nightmare Moon and we shall bring about a night that all shalt love else they shalt despair!” The voice spoke to her within her mind. It’s tone calm and speaking as if it had already won. “We only need to deal with thine precious sister, and Equestria shalt be ours!
“THIS... This is not what we want!” Luna cried out at the demon that had all but taken over her body. “What WE wanted was merely to be seen as our dearest sister’s equal. To be loved as she is loved. To have a family as those we rule over do. Not to overthrow her. Not to put ourselves above her or get rid of her as thou suggests.” Once again the lunar diarch began to feel fatigue overcome her. This time, however, she did not lose consciousness as she had the last time.
“No… thou shalt not miss this. Thou shalt watch as we take away the last thing thy holds dear. We shall make thee watch as thine own hooves bring end to the life of thine ‘dearest sister’!” The voice boomed before speaking aloud again.
“There can be only one princess in Equestria,” her body spoke as it came to stop at the stand. “And that princess SHALT BE US!!”
With this her body reared up on its hind legs and then slammed her hooves on the ground as her eyes flashed white with pure power, causing the stand to shatter, and a crack to run back along the ground and up the wall. As the crack spread a shadow crept up along the wall as well. A section of the wall where a stained glass window stood shattered and fell away to reveal the sun as the body of the lunar princess rose into the air. A dark and twisted look came upon her face as she raised her forehooves and forced the moon to block out the sun, her magic locking it in place. As the eclipse took hold on the sky, dark and evil shadows shot forth, blanketing the land. When they began to flood into the castle they landed upon Luna and began to envelop her. A pained look appeared upon her muzzle.
“No… please no… it hurts… please… end this torture… let us have our body back…” Luna pleaded with the demon. Her voice fell upon nothing but the sick contorted laughter of the demon. “Sister… please… forgive us… we… hath done a grave injustice by allowing this being into us in the first place. Please dearest Celestia… do what thou must to protect our subjects… We art truly sorry.” She thought as pain continued to wrack her body. She wished that her message would be heard by her sister somehow, despite the demon not allowing her to speak aloud.
When the shadows had fully enveloped her body she began to raise up slightly off the ground. A ball of magical energy wrapped around her body, becoming black as the shadows themselves as it began to twist and contort her body. Soon the shadows gave way to what looked to be a starry night swirling around her. A calm briefly washed over her as a conjoined set of voices she had heard only once during her evening duties flooded her mind.
“Worry not dear princess of the night. All shall soon be well. The demon that has taken you cannot reach you here. And it is here that we shall protect you. For every night you bring our beauty to not just Equestria, but the entire world. The stars shall protect and watch over you and your body. But you must trust us. And let what is to come play out. The demon cannot be allowed to know that you are still here. Still protected else all shall be endangered.” With those words the voices faded leaving her to hear the sound of the maniacal laughter from the demon that had taken full control of her body.
In a display of her new strength, as well as to test the capabilities of the body she had claimed as her own, Nightmare Moon fired an energy blast at a statue of Celestia and made the blast drag up along the wall and across the ceiling. The blast caused many pieces of the ceiling to fall loose creating a large dust cloud. Celestia stood un-phased by her sister’s display of force. Her face hardened to hide the pain she felt within. Nightmare Moon stepped forth through the cloud of dust looking at Celestia’s act of defiance unimpressed.
“Luna why art thou doing this? What drove thee to go to this length?” Celestia thought to herself, taking flight to put some distance between her sister and herself. “Was it because of him? Was it… because of the foal..? Oh Luna… We wish we knew what was on thine mind so we could help thee dearest sister.” As she hovered Nightmare Moon fired another blast at her destroying a section of the ceiling and forcing her to land to avoid further destruction to the castle. “There must be some way to reach her. Perhaps if we could just get her to lower the moon she might come to her senses enough for us to talk to her. Talk her out of this destructive course of action.” She thought to herself as she stared at her sister. Steadying her resolve she spoke to her sister once more. “Luna! We will not fight thee,” she began as she lowered her wings to her side. “Thou must lower the moon! It is thine DUTY!” She said hoping that Luna’s sense of duty would make her see reason, and give her the opportunity to try and talk her sister down.
Nightmare Moon scoffed at Celestia’s statement before speaking. “Luna? We are Nightmare Moon! And we have but one royal duty now…” She paused and gathered energy in her horn before rearing back and releasing the energy towards Celestia as she came back down. “To destroy THOU!!” she shouted. The sudden attack caused Celestia to take flight to dodge it. She quickly fled out the opening in the ceiling trying to put distance between her and her sister. “And where dost thou think themselves to be going?” the dark mare mocked as she took off after Celestia.
Celestia hovered high overhead the castle desperately trying to think of some way to calm her sister. “There must be some way… Some way to stop mine sister that doesn’t involve fighting.” As she tried to think of a way to end this conflict peacefully Nightmare Moon caught up with her and once again fired at her. “No! We will not fight our sister. No matter what madness has come over her.” She dodged the attack and flew away from her sister. Her thoughts racing as she tried to think of some way to save her dear little sister.
Nightmare Moon continued to chase Celestia through the air. Relentlessly firing attacks towards her, and scowling with each miss. Her blasts causing severe damage to the castle wherever it hit, be it towers, walls, or individual rooms along the castle grounds. In an attempt to cut the solar princess off she fired a beam ahead of her on a path that would take it through a section of the castle bridge. Hoping that if the beam itself missed her that the blast or the collapsing bridge that resulted would take the Princess with it. Unfortunately for Nightmare Moon, Celestia managed to avoid the beam and in doing so placed herself far enough away from the blast to avoid it and the crumbling section of bridge.
Celestia pulled up as she neared the ground from her maneuver to dodge the beam that damaged the bridge. Doing so caused her to very narrowly evade two beams that were fired at her in rapid succession before taking to the sky once more. “There must be something we can do. Think Celestia.” She tried to focus her thoughts when two words entered her mind as if spoken by another. “The elements,” the strange combination of voices said to her. This caused her to hesitate in her maneuvering ever so briefly. “The elements? But… Using them against our sister… no there must be another way.” As she looked back she noticed the folly of her hesitation, as Nightmare moon fired one last beam towards her. A scowl upon the dark mare's muzzle as the energy headed straight for Celestia leaving her not enough time to avoid its impact. A loud scream left her as the dark energy beam struck her causing her to fall from the air towards a damaged section of the castle. “Is this it? Is this the end? Will we fall and be unable to save our dear sister from that which has brought her to this point?” While she plummeted to the quickly approaching floor Nightmare Moon laughed wickedly at the apparent defeat of the solar diarch.
“Weep not princess of the sun,” a voice spoke within her mind as she fell into unconsciousness. Though it sounded like a thousand voices compiled into one. “The elements shall be both your sister's salvation as well as your own. Have faith that your sister will be safe. Use them upon the lunar princess and we shall take care of the rest. For one thousand years she shall sleep. While she slumbers in stasis her body will age slower than it would here on Equestria, and the demon whom now hold power over her body shall weaken unable to feed off her properly. On the longest day of the thousandth year we shall aid in her return to you. Once she returns you must act quickly before the demon Nightmare Moon can return to its’ full strength. Only then will you be able to free your sister from its grasp. Have faith dear sun princess. Your sister shall return to you one day.” The voices began to fade from her mind repeating the words, “Have faith sun princess,” until they had faded completely.
Celestia slowly came to she shook her head and began to stand. A new look of determination upon her face as she looked up towards her sister. Although she had no desire to harm her sister something in the back of her mind told her this would be her only hope. “We wish there was another way. But it seems the elements art mine only hope of returning our sister to her senses. May they restore the balance in her soul.” She steeled herself for what she felt she had to do as she spoke softly at first. “Oh dear sister. We are sorry, but thou hast given us no choice,” her horn began to glow as she continued, “but to use these.” With that she let her magic flow into a stone slab that rested upon the floor, as well as the mechanisms that rested below it. As her magic faded from the stone slap it began to lift and part, dust kicking up from the sudden movement. A dais slowly began to rise from the opening, bearing upon it the elements of harmony. Once the dais had come to a stop Celestia raised herself into the air and used her magic to lift the elements from their pedestal. Upon drawing forth the final element, the element of magic, they began to encircle her. While they infused themselves with her magic, the rate at which they flew around her increased, until with a flash they surrounded her in a rainbow like aura that pulsed with every passing moment. Taking to the sky above the castle as she stopped before the dark alicorn mare. “Tis the only way….” She thought to herself as tears began to flow from her eyes. She did not long for what was to come as she channeled her magic into her horn. While she charged her magic Nightmare Moon did the same, believing herself to be stronger still than what the solar princess had become.
Nightmare Moon fired her charged blast first, as Celestia poured her magic through the elements one by one they shot a burst of energy matching their color towards the element of magic which in turn amplified them all into one unified beam of energy. The focused power of the elements and Celestia’s alicorn magic quickly began to push back the energy that Nightmare Moon was putting forth. The dark alicorn strained to try and force the energy back in hopes of still claiming victory. When she found her best efforts in vain she cried out as the rainbow energy of the elements of harmony flooded over her body. The energy beam continued to press forward carrying Nightmare Moon and Luna’s body skyward towards the moon. Within moments magic and mare made contact with the moon’s surface. In a radial blast of rainbow energy the silhouette of what would later become known as the mare in the moon began to form.
“Forgive us dearest sister. Thou left us no choice,” Celestia cried as she slowly lowered herself back to the castle grounds. Once in the room where the elements once resided she slowly set them back into their places. As she did so she gasped as their color faded and they turned into what appeared to be ordinary stone spheres. Soon even the element of magic began to change. Though instead of simply turning to stone like the others, the element of magic was wrapped in a strange glow of light as it turned to a stone sphere. Before Celestia had time to react the sphere vanished leaving only the five other elements behind. “What… have we done? The… the harmony, has been broken…,” her ears lowering as she spoke.