Hearth's Warming Eve, 1000 Years Ago
The Moon, first year after Nightmare Moon’s defeat
The cold moon air was as commonplace this time of year as any other. And yet, it pierced through the blackened heart of the moon’s fallen guardian a great deal. Nightmare Moon was pacing now, the invisible shackles around her being clanging silently. The mare turned to the Earth, hatred building up as she did. A dark scowl plastered itself on her face and she stomped the hard rocky surface of her prison. Dust and clumps of rock shot up into space and, thanks to the lack of gravity, continued to flow upward until they left the moon and glided towards Earth. Nightmare’s scowl deepened.
“Bah! Mere dirt can find its way back to the world and yet I stand here, clapped down like a rat caught in a clever trap. Damn you Celestia! Even now you sit on your fat rump and laugh at me!” Nightmare turned from the Earth, sure in the assumption her bitch of a sister was looking to the moon and smiling at how it became her sister’s prison.
Nightmare paced more, kicking anything that was above ground level as she did. She turned to the blue orb again; it looked so close. The clouds were white and puffy and the makings of snow could be seen falling to Earth, to Equestria, to HER country. The mare sat down on her haunches, distraught. Snowing? What time of the year was it? It was hard to tell on the moon, summer was as cold as winter and fall was as grey as spring.
“It must be December, or some month close to it.” Nightmare said aloud to no one but herself. On Earth, when she ruled, no, Celestia always ruled… Luna has always just some puppet to laugh at. Nightmare stomped again. Anyway, back on Earth the royal mare would have thought that talking to one’s self was the mark of insanity. Now, here on the moon, not talking aloud was a surefire way to go nuts. It had taken Nightmare some time to alter her magic so it could act as the air needed for sound to exist, but it had been worth it.
Nightmare scratched her chin. “Yes, I can see it now, it’s December. Not only that, but it’s the day before Hearth’s Warming Eve…” Nightmare could tell these things thanks to her advanced knowledge of astrology. Luna had always taken pride in that knowledge, she knew more than even Celestia. Still, Nightmare Moon pouted. “Yes! It’s that time of the year!” Nightmare ground her hoof in circles on the ground. “Now Celestia’s probably enjoying chocolate by a fire, her subjects sending letters of praise and love. She probably walks Canterlot’s streets, parading herself off like some whore!” Magic sparked around the dark Alicorn. “Then she’ll go to the Hearth’s Warming Eve play, and get even more praise!” Nightmare coughed and made her voice shrill and high. “Oh Princess Celestia! Thank you sooo much for raising the sun! We love the daytime so much and we are so happy you defeated your ugly, pathetic sister Luna! Who needs her? She’s just weak… useless… unnecessary.” Nightmare Moon hung her head, her voice normal again. “She’s a monster… so glad you ended her…” The moon princess clenched her teeth.
“Then after that praise… she’ll go back to the Castle and… snuggle into her bed near the fire… her soft fur glowing by the fire… then I’ll come in and we’ll sit by the fire and talk… We’ll have our time… We’ll…” A tear formed in Nightmare’s eye. The mare sniffed and instantly became angry. “NO! NO, we won’t do that anymore! Celestia’s made sure of that! No more will we give presents to the poor. No longer will we read the old stories again. No longer will we sing together when nopony’s around. No longer will we… no longer will we be sisters.” The Alicorn shook her head.
She got up and walked about, annoyed and downtrodden to no end. After looking back at Earth again, an idea came to the mare. “HA! Why do I need her?! Why should I need her? I am Nightmare Moon! Guardian of the Moon! True Empress of Equestria!” Nightmare stood straight like a statue and smiled grandly, her fangs gleaming. “I’ll just have my own Hearth’s Warming Eve! Right here! There is no need for my sister! Yes, that’s what I’ll do! Now all I need is…” Nightmare looked down, lost in thought. “Wait, no that be impossible to get on the moon. Oh well I’ll… no that won’t work either, no air after all.” The Princess slumped down onto her haunches again. “Blast it all. What am I to do? How can I have a proper Eve without the essentials?”
An idea popped up. “Wait! Of course! I am an Alicorn; I am as close to a god as any living being could ever hope to be! I’ll just magic myself everything I’ll need, ingenious!” The mare lit up her horn and readied the proper spells. Nightmare Moon lit off the spells and… nothing happened. Her spells had done nothing. The mare grouched, crossing her fore legs. “Of course… My sister prevents me from casting any high level spells… cretin.”
Nightmare Moon looked at the Earth, night was about to fall on Equestria, and then Hearth’s Warming Eve would come. The ponies of Equestria, every stallion, mare, and foal, would awake in a cheery holiday ecstasy like no other seen all year. They’d sing of friendship and love. They’d give each other gifts and receive gifts themselves. The foals would laugh and play in the snow, making snowponies and having snowball fights (how one actually made a snowball with hooves had irked Luna to no end when she was still her normal self). Merrymaking and cheer would spread everywhere, from Canterlot to Manehattan, Baltimare and Cloudsdale, even the Pony Valley (future location of a town we all know) and the collection of hovels that resided there. Nowhere would be safe from friendship and love. Nowhere but… but the moon and by extension Nightmare Moon. Nightmare would get nothing, no songs, no gifts to give or receive, no snow, no merriment, no family, all were lost to the dark Alicorn now.
Nightmare finally slumped onto her belly and looked at Earth with wetting eyes. The mare shook her head. “No, no I will not cry! Crying is for the foolish! I am no fool!” Despite her attempts, tears flowed like a waterfall. “No I will not cry, I will not… sister… Tia… why? Why did you do this to me!? I wanted to be loved… I wanted to let the ponies of Equestria know that my night is just as great as your day… I wanted their respect like you had. I wanted to be seen as their great Princess of the Night, like you where of the day. Tia… I wanted… I wanted to… I wanted to be you…” Nightmare hid her head in the dirt, tears mixing with the ground.
“Why must I be alone? Why must I be alone?!” Nightmare Moon shook her head in pain. Why should her sister Celestia have everything? Why should she have warm soft friends and lovers to cuddle with while Nightmare Moon gets nothing. “Why must I have nopony for comfort? Why? Why?! WHY?! WHY?! WHY?!”
Luna shifted and turned uneasily, mumbling to herself. “Why… Why… Why… AAAHHH!” Luna shot up from her bed. The Alicorn looked around, she was in her room, in Canterlot, and it was almost midnight. Luna took a hoof to her mane, feeling it. Solid. It was solid and not ethereal and blowing without wind. Luna’s eyes shifted to her leg, it wasn’t black. No, it had a silvery, navy blue hue to it. Finally Luna realized she was not Nightmare Moon, she was herself, and she was free.
Luna looked at the full moon; she was still too weak to raise her charge and so had to content to let Celestia do it. With nothing to do at night Luna had simply taken to sleeping, which made her feel hypocritical and even worse about her becoming Nightmare Moon. A tear left the Moon Princess’s eye. “We were… and are a monster.”
“Luna?”
The mentioned mare turned instantly to the source of her name. Standing in the doorway of Luna’s room stood Celestia, naked, her royal trappings and other accessories gone. Celestia took a step into the room. “Luna, what’s wrong? Why are you crying?”
Luna turned from her sister’s concerned gaze, it was poison to her. More tears formed. “We… We are a monster Tia, we realized that a thousand years ago today, on Hearth’s Warming Eve… and still we tried to cover the world in blackness on our return. No wonder the ponies of Equestria hate us.”
Celestia walked to the side of her sister’s bed, an intent glare on her face. “Luna, the ponies of this land do not hate you, they simply do not understand.”
“It is easy for you to say.” Luna huffed. “To them you are a hero and a ruler of which there is no comparison and it has remained such for eons. To them we are the selfish sister, who hated not getting all the attention and went crazy because of it and even after the worst punishment imaginable we still could not get it through our thick skull. They despise us.”
Celestia placed herself on Luna’s bed on her regal belly. “Well, if that is true, then it is up to you to change that and show them that you are as great and wonderful as I’ll ever be, if not more.”
Luna sniffed. “How could I be more?”
Celestia smiled to her sister. “Because you would not ignore your sister’s pleas for attention and help. You would have done something, you would have stopped me before…” Celestia sighed. “Give it time sister, everything will work out. Hey, who knows, you might already have thousands of fans.”
“Really?” Luna asked.
Celestia nodded. “Of course! I know it for a fact. Maybe not here in Equestria, but somewhere. Somewhere thousands cheer out your name in praise, I promise you that.” Celestia smiled and nuzzled her sister. “Goodnight Luna.” Celestia got up from her position to leave.
“Umm… sister.” Luna began. Celestia turned to the younger Alicorn. “Would you mind sleeping here with us tonight? We don’t want to be alone on our first Hearth’s Warming Eve back from our imprisonment.” Luna smiled sheepishly.
Celestia smiled. “Of course Luna, what is this holiday about but to be with the one’s we care for most?” With that, Celestia climbed into the bed and snuggled next to her sister. Luna placed her head on her sister’s breast. As warm and comforting as the sun itself, Luna thought. “Goodnight Luna.” Celestia spoke once more, quickly drifting off.
“Goodnight Tia.” Luna responded. Soon the slow up and down of Celestia’s breast confirmed she had drifted off to sleep. Luna looked to the night sky and saw the full moon up above. Luna gave it a stern look. We swear upon the Hearth’s Warming Eve moon that we regain the love of our country. We will be the princess they deserve. Luna smiled to herself and rested on her sister, happy that she would never again spend this day alone.
~~End~~