Unforeseen Consequences -The Legend of Nightmare Moon

>You look up to the starry night and see such a wonderful spectacle of falling stars of the likes you have never seen. In fact you doubt that this was even possible in your world, was this Luna’s doing? Because if so, then that means that she not only controls the moon, but rather the night as a whole.
>When you think about Luna’s magic, her abilities seems so magnificent to you: To be able to see other’s dreams and with that, other people secret hopes and inspiration, to be able to see masterpieces that only exists in planes that are beyond any physical measure and that no one else, not even their authors will probably ever see again.
>But to also have the power to spark some of those dreams and inspirations is something that only a goddess or goddesses could do. And that power was being brilliantly translated in the spectacle you were witnessing…
>But these thought just made the scene you were witnessing more baffling, more confusing and more painful…
>Alone in the grass field and under the biggest and most beautiful star rain that you have ever seen, there was Luna sitting alone, crying, hurt, offended and in despair that no one else seemed to notice or care the gifts that she brought upon this world
>And is not that could sympathize with the ponies, whatever was their reasoning to fear the night, it simply wasn’t valid. Maybe if you asked an Equestrian historian about this horrid behavior, she would probably tell you that probably they were just ignorant and didn’t know better.…
>But even with that excuse, you can’t stop but to feel disgust at them. Because even in humanity’s darkest times, we never stopped looking at the celestial vault, we never stopped feeling awe and amazement at what the stars might hold.
>When the first humans started to record their surroundings in the form of crude pictures in the walls of caves, the first things we ever depicted were those mysterious lights that shone up in the sky. Entire civilizations across human history have loved the stars with such passion that a good chunk of them devoted themselves in an obsessive manner to understand them.
>The pyramids in Giza took decades to be built, and required the work of hundreds of thousands of people; they were masterfully placed in a perfect alignment with the Orion constellation, because they believed that by doing this, their kings would ascend to the heavens where their gods resided.
>The Aztecs and the Mayans were obsessed with the night sky, to the point where a significant art of their culture was dedicated to their study. From the time of the year where they had to harvest, to their most important festivities, to even their brutal war rites, all of that was dictated by the star movement.
>Even in modern in times humanity always strived to understand and reach the stars, both figuratively and literally. Billions upon billions of dollars have been spent in research, development and launchings of space shuttles, hell, one of our crowning achievements was our ability to reach the moon.
>It was simply too much to ask that you understand why these ponies were scared of what was along with the sun, humanity’s biggest and most important muse, in fact it was downright insulting to even consider that.
>And to think that this world had those very same muses made into flesh and bone, to think that they had the fortune to have these goddesses walking among them, laughing with them, and protecting them and despite that, they had the nerve to reject one of them…
>Well, it simply made you think that for many eras, ponykind probably was much less than even the most primitive humans, because despite they having that magnificent castle, despite them uniting in ways that your kind has never done before… they lacked for many generations that spark that led a civilization into greatness.
>You knew that this was just a memory, that this Luna was just a past version of the one that you loved with every inch of your soul, but you still felt the necessity to walk to her side.
 >”Oh is not that bad Luna…” That was Celestia’s voice, you turn around and see your other mother sitting at Luna’s side, her face displayed sadness and sorrow, no doubt caused by Luna’s current emotional state “Maybe everypony just had to sleep early tonight? Winter is tomorrow after all and-“
>”STOP IT! Just, stop it Tia… You know that I am not stupid, I can tell by how everypony looks at me when I walk on the streets, I can tell by how fast the city dies before sundown! … They hate me, the abhor me! … They fear me…” The sheer depression with how Luna said those words made your and Celestia’s heart shatter into little pieces
>”Luna…” Celestia sighs, you can tell that she was feeling for her sister in a big way “I love what you do with your night sky, and I know how important is your duty when it comes to keep safe everypony dreams”
>”Then why?! Why do they keep fearing me as if I were a vicious monster that came from the Everfree Forest? Why do they still think that the night means a threat to them? Why? I have given them so much…. Why they don’t love me, Tia?”
>Luna was completely broken, she was sobbing at this point. You see tears flowing on Celestia’s cheek, she takes a deep breath and covers her sister with her wing
>”I…really don’t know… And I feel powerless because every night I see you like this, and it kills me to see the pony I love the most in the whole, wide world being so hurt… I’m sorry that I haven’t been able to help you more often, you know that my royal duties keeps getting in the way
>Luna lets out a small growl “Oh yeah, those fabulous royal duties that involves frolicking with those very same ponies that have pushed me aside like a dog”
>”Luna!” Celestia raises her voice, offended by her sister’s words “You know that I do much more than that! The safety of Equestria is OUR responsibility!”
>Luna glares at her sister and growls ”I know that! But…”
>Celestia was looking at Luna with a stern look, her wings were unfolded “But what Luna…”
>Luna looks away, you could feel that she had so much more to say but instead she just resorted to a simple “Nothing, is nothing”
>Celestia continues to stare at Luna until she finally gives up and sighs “I swear that I will find the way to fix this… trust me Luna… everything will be just fine, I swear”
>Luna doesn’t say anything, she keeps crying as she leans her head on her sister’s shoulder, Celestia doesn’t say anything either, she just hugs her sister.
>You try to hug her too, but just manage to go through her… of course, this was just a memory. You close your eyes and wipe some of your tears, and when you open them, you were inside Luna’s room.
>Of course this wasn’t Canterlot castle, this was still the old castle, and Luna was alone again, looking at her reflection in the mirror.
>”They will never accept you…. They will never love you… You are nothing but scum…” She was talking to herself with a deadpan stare.
>You feel your heart getting hurt once more; you can’t take much more of this shit. Luna looked like a hollow husk; she kept spouting insults and degrading words at her reflection.
>”You are alone, not even Tia care about you anymore…. And who is to blame? … Them… is always them… They never cared about the gifts that you gave to them, they never cared about all the times you saved them… Heh, maybe Celestia never cared about you anymore”
>You look at Luna in complete shock, but nonetheless the clogs in your mind start working, coming up with reasons as to why this happened and at what point in history this was happening.
>You knew that they weren’t alicorns, they somehow got a pair of wings and thus they were named the rulers of Equestria. You didn’t know if they were the de facto leaders since the birth of this nation, but you could safely conclude that they have been ruling Equestria since its early days.
>You believe that at some point ponies got scared of the night, not even what lurks in the shadows, no, they got scared of the sky getting dark for some stupid reason, and with that they started to fear Luna.
>By fearing Luna they started to also push her away, as some kind of outcast, or at least that’s what you think. Celestia in turn has tried but ultimately failed to stop her sister’s ever growing depression.
>*Knock* *Knock*
>”Luna? Are you there?” It was Celestia’s voice, she sounded pretty worried too “Please come out, I haven’t seen you in weeks”
>”Like if she cares… probably somepony asked why I wasn’t around and she just came here to save face” Luna angrily musters to herself, she was glaring at the door.
>*Knock* Knock*
>”Luna?” Celestia asks again
>”Go away! I don’t want to see anypony!” Luna yells at the door and throws a chair that was standing nearby
>”Luna, talk to me… please… I want to know what’s wrong” Celestia was become more desperate, she opens the door but is immediately closed by Luna’s magic
>”I said go AWAY! I don’t want to see anypony! I have nothing to talk! I’m FINE!” She stomps her hooves on the dressing table, making all the contents fall and the mirror to shatter
>You see similar shadows to the ones that engulfed Luna when she became Nightmare Moon coming from her hair when she did that stomp…  Oh god, this is the moment where she started to completely lose herself into the despair.
>”Luna… alright… I’ll come back later” Celestia replies with defeat… there weren’t more knockings after that.
>”Fine, I don’t need her, she can rot in Tartarus for all I care” Luna hops onto her bed and throws a pillow to where you were standing. You didn’t bother to dodge it since this was a memory, but surprisingly it actually hits you directly in the face
“Omph”
>You remove the pillow from your face and… you were still inside Luna’s room, but it was obvious that some time had passed between this and the last memory.
>The mirror was still broken, but the room… Jesus, it was a mess, tons of stuff piled on the floor, the mattress was almost destroyed, hell almost every piece of furniture was broken in one way or another. It was more like the room was abandoned and left to looters rather than being inhabited by the Princess of the night.
>But there she was, your beloved mother, wearing a cloak, staring with hatred and disgust at the beautiful day that was beyond the confinements of her room… of her own mind.
>”I’ll show them… I’ll show everypony… Tia says that I am acting weird, but she is wrong, WRONG!” At this point you weren’t able to recognize Luna’s voice instead of the sweet and regal voice that you knew, this was more like hissings, like something had possessed her
>Physically, she had her same appearance but her eyes… they held the same hatred that Nightmare Moon, almost as if the transformation was pure formality, almost as if the Luna you knew and love had died and something horrible took her place.
>”And Tia… you have chosen to side with those monsters, the same that rejected your sister… but that’s fine, because now I know the truth” Luna lets out a small and disturbing laughter that sent a chill down your spine
>”Yesssss, I know the truth Tia… You just used me to become a ruler, you just used your poor little sister… and then you just made me fade away under your precious light… but no more… no more… I shall have my revenge, everypony will pay… EVERYPONY”
>Luna takes out her cloak and looks at her reflections in the broken mirror “I swear that my revenge will come… I swear that everypony will regret pulling me aside like if I were some trash… how dare they to do that to me, ME! THE PRINCESS OF THE NIGHT… “
>Luna walks again to the window, the shadows were now coming from her tail, mane and even her body… her transformation into Nightmare Moon was bound to happen, and there was nothing that you could do to stop it
>The now corrupted Luna starts laughing again with that laughter, that damned laughter ”But soon they will love me, ALL OF THEM… I will MAKE THEM love me… as for that scum that I once called my sister… she will suffer… I shall make her live her worst nightmare for a thousand years…. Just you wait and see Tia…. Just you wait and see”
>*BOOOM*
>A sudden explosion makes you look away from the disturbing scene… You were again in that fatidic day, the sun was now a giant ball of darkness, there were no stars in the sky, but somehow there was still a pale light illuminating everything…
>You could see ponies running away from the crumbling castle, from the battle that now took a good chunk of the citadel that surrounded the castle of the old sisters, some of them were being swallowed by shadows, and some of them were trapped beneath the debris of their once glorious castle.
>What was in some way ironic is that despite how ignorant these ponies were, this wasn’t some kind of unforeseen consequence, no, they engineered the catastrophe that they were suffering.
>A good clarification would be that you didn’t hold accountable the ponies from your time, you can’t judge people from the mistakes that their ancestors did. But what was true was that you felt no sympathy for the ponies of the past, they had to atone for their sins, and this was the reckoning that they deserved.
>Because with their own ignorance they managed to push a goddess into the brink of madness, they rejected Luna’s love, efforts, protection and gifts. They decided to push her away and took her for granted.
>Celestia tried to keep her sister from becoming this monster, sure, but the sad reality is that even with the bright star that her love was, that still is to the present day, she couldn’t possibly have done anything against the black hole that was the indifference and hatred that her subjects felt towards her sister.
>There was nothing that Celestia could do to stop this, nothing that could have worked in the short term, these kinds of things, and these taboos and stereotypes can only be cleaned off with decades, nay, generations of arduous work of education, and Luna simply couldn’t resist that amount of time … no one could.
>In the meantime, you just watched with pity at those poor and unlighted creatures running away from the evil that they created. But you also watch with endless pain and sorrow in your heart at your two mothers fighting each to death.
>You see a giant blast coming from what you thought was Nightmare Moon, it actually landed a perfect hit on the giant shining ball that you thought was Celestia, making her light disappear and in turn, sending the white alicorn plummeting to the ground.
*CRASH*
>Celestia impacts with such force that a good chunk of the ceiling collapses. You open your eyes wide, and feel your heart coming to a halt.
“No…”
>You run to where Celestia was, or at least where you hoped she was. You couldn’t see her, just tons of debris from the collapsed ceiling.
“No, No, Please don’t…”
>”AHAHAHAHA!” That laughter, it was Nightmare Moon, she landed in the room, eager to enjoy her victory “Have you finally given up? Has the mighty Celestia finally realized that there’s nothing that she can’t do to stop the eternal night?”
>Celestia slowly and with much effort raises from the debris, she was looking tired, beaten and completely and utterly emotionally destroyed “Sister… please….”
>Nightmare Moon snickers and blasts her again, making Celestia fall into the ground “I see that you are still trying to convince me. That somehow you will manage to make me go back to being rejected and hated again. Well, guess again “sister”! That is not going to happen, not even in a thousand years!”
>Nightmare Moon shoots another blast at Celestia but this one is stopped by a golden shield that surrounded her “Luna… there’s still a chance for you… for everypony…hng” She trips up a little due to how tired Celestia was, but nonetheless, the princess of the sun quickly tries to regain her composure.
>”A chance? Are you saying that you will give THEM a chance?! After everything they have done to me?!” Nightmare Moon starts to shoot a barrage of magical blasts, every single one of them was unable to break Celestia’s shield.
>”Yes! I know that they made mistakes; I know that they have hurt you… that they have hurt US in many ways in the past… but I still have hope in them… I still have hope that everypony can change for the better… and that includes you, my dear sister”
>While limping and heavily injured, Celestia was doing her best to advance towards her sister, despite the constant barrage of magical attacks, despite the screams of fear and horror that came from outside, despite knowing that Luna was probably lost… Celestia kept marching on.
>You could see that Nightmare Moon was getting tired; sweat was running across her face, blasts were starting to miss their target, some of them were significantly weaker than the previous ones, and others simply were too weak to even reach Celestia that.
>It was also obvious that Nightmare Moon was getting frustrated that no matter what, Celestia still had hopes that she would go back to be Luna, that despite how hard she was hitting her sister with all the hatred she could gather, Celestia was still advancing forward.
>”I know… that you are still in there Luna… I know… that you don’t want to do this… Please… come back to me… I… No, WE can fix this, together, as a team… just like the old days, and AHH!”
>Celestia’s shield finally breaks, sending her straight into a pillar. Nightmare Moon first smiles, then grins, and finally begins to cackle ”AHAHAHAHA! How quaint, how pitiful! Your trust in that scum will be your demise! Hear me well Celestia, because these will be the last words that you will ever hear! I despise you! From the very bottom of my heart I can feel nothing but hatred towards you and all of that garbage that you call subjects!
>Nightmare Moon uses her magic to clean the debris that was in her throne and sits there, cackling maniacally ”But don’t worry, once you are gone I, Nightmare Moon, Queen of Equestria will shape them to become better.
>She looks up to the sky, and hears the screams of agony and makes a pleased expression “I will force them if I have to, they will love me because they will have no other choice. I SHALL REIGN OVER THEIR HEARTS AND LIVES, AND THERE’S NOTHING THAT YOU CAN DO TO STOP ME! AHAHAHAHAHAH!”
>”NO!” Celestia rises, her eyes were burning with determination “There’s a way to stop you from this path of self-destruction, there’s still hope for you Luna… And I swear that I will make it work”
>Celestia’s horn begins to glow, making a huge mechanical contraption rise from the floor. It was like an orb surrounded by six glowy stones… what the hell are those things.
>”The elements!” Nightmare Moon growls, she gets up from the throne and begins firing at Celestia once again.
>The elements? … Oh fuck! Are those the elements of harmony? You were under the impression that they were actual, living and breathing ponies, not some sort of magical artifacts.
>Celestia deflects every blast with a new shield, the magical gems were starting to surround her “You are correct my dear sister, the elements have never failed us before and they won’t fail me this time either!” Despite how tired and how beaten up Celestia was, she offers a reassuring smile to her sister “Don’t worry Luna… everything will be just fine”
>It doesn’t take much longer until Celestia is surrounded by a blinding light, and for the first time since you were in this dream, you could feel something… it was warm, but you also started to get a horrible sense of dread, as if something wasn’t acting the way it should.
>A gigantic rainbow colored beam was shot to the sky, making the darkness covering the moon and the stars disappear. The beam then comes down and hits Nightmare Moon; she didn’t have time to even attempt to dodge it.
>”No, NOOOOOO” You see Nightmare Moon starting to disintegrate into tiny and dark particles, every single one looked like it was flying directly to the now pale moon.
>”Wait! No! This is not supposed to happen!” You didn’t need to see Celestia to know what she was feeling: it was pure desperation “She is supposed to go back to normal! LUNA!”
>”Let me go! LET ME GO! I HAVE TO HELP MY SISTER! PLEASE LET ME GO!” Celestia finally frees herself from the elements’ grasp, she flies towards Luna, but is thrown back by the same force that was taking away her sister.
>She looks up towards the almost disintegrated Nightmare Moon, only a fraction of her head and neck remained, while the rest of her body
>Nightmare Moon in turn looks at Celestia with disgust and gives her final words with all the cruelty and cynicism she could muster "Were you really that stupid as to believe that I would just go back to be your sister? Tell me Celestia, before I go away, do you still believe that everything will be just fine?”
>There was now a stream of tears flowing through Celestia’s cheeks, her eyes were red, and they felt… empty, as if she had come to terms about what was going to happen
>She stared at what remained of her sister, she lowers her head. And you can swear that you hear a piano playing in the background
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CiTn4j7gVvY
>Even with the overwhelming sadness that Celestia was feeling, she stares right into Nightmare Moon’s eyes and start singing with a sad, soft and broken voice…
>”I believe in that the stars keep shining all through the night”
>”I believe if we just keep trying, it will be alright”
>”I believe that someday we’re gonna find our way”
>”And I believe in a beautiful day”
>You see Nightmare Moon starting to tear. For a moment her eyes return to the ones she used to have when she was still Luna making Celestia start to breathe heavily, but nonetheless she continues with her song
>”I believe in lovers walking side by side”
>”I believe that someday we’ll be satisfied”
>”I believe that ponies listen, they can do right
>”And I believe in a beautiful night”
>”Yeah, I believe it’s gonna work out ok”
>Nightmare Moon, or… Luna? At this point you couldn’t tell which personality was the dominant one, you just now that she answers her sister, her words coming as a sorrowful tune.
>”But not for me and not for you”
>”I believe, I believe, I believe, I believe”

>Celestia tries to fight back the rainbow force that was keeping her away from her sister, putting all her strength to hold on that last hope to save her sister.
>”I believe, I believe, I believe, I believe”
>And is starting to work, Celestia was starting to gain terrain from the elements, she was begging to break the magical, rainbow colored power that was taking her sister away from her
>”I believe there’s an answer waiting when the day is done”
>”I believe if you just keep searching, you’ll find somepony”
>”I believe that you and I just lost our way”
>”And I believe in a beautiful day”
>”I still believe in a beautiful night”
>Despite her best efforts, the powers of the elements were too much for Celestia, she ends up being thrown back, powerless to stop what it was clear was inevitable. Nightmare Moon was almost completely disintegrated by this point, but before she completely faded away, she sings a few last words.
>”But not for me and not for you”
>”I know you tried, I tried too”
>”Sometimes all our dreams just don’t come true”
>And with that Nightmare Moon banishes completely, those dark particles fly to the moon, making a gigantic shadow that had the form of a mare appear in the moon surface.
>Celestia drops on the ground, defeated, and sobbing at the fact that she lost her sister, that she lost her family, that she lost her best and possibly only friend…
>”I believe, I believe, I believe, I believe”
>”I believe, I believe, I believe, I believe”
 “Beautiful night…”
>The memory starts to fade away, Celestia was alone and crying. You feel tears running down your face.
“No! It can’t end like this! I won’t let it end like this!”
>Using your magic, you try to stop the memory to go away, if anything you wanted to comfort Celestia, tell her that everything will be fine, that you and her would find the way to bring Luna back.
>You held the memory as long as you could, Celestia was crying, and it felt like it would never stop. But it didn’t matter to you, because more than anything you wanted to fix this.
“Hrnnnnnnnnnnn!..”
>”It is of no use my child” You hear a familiar voice, a sweet, sweet, sweet familiar voice “The battle has ended and the monster has been banished”
“Banished?”
>You finally let the memory fade away, and what remains was pure darkness. The only thing that you could see was Luna.
“What do you mean with Banished? What happened after that?”
>Luna looks up, where the moon suddenly was standing, the mare shadow was still engraved on it “I got banished for a thousand years, it was until recently when I finally came back… again as that monster Nightmare Moon”
>A Nightmare Moon appears by Luna’s side, laughing maniacally “But it was thanks to the new bearers of the elements of harmony…” Twilight and her 5 friends appears in front of Nightmare Moon. They were wearing some sort of necklaces that resembled their cutie marks, Twilight herself was wearing a crown “…That I could go back to my old self, thanks to them, I was able to finally see how wrong I was” They blast Nightmare Moon with the elements, making her explode into a very scared looking Luna.
>Luna makes everyone except for you and her disappear, then she looks at you with a blank stare ”That is the tale of Nightmare Moon, a foolish girl who tried to destroy what she loved the most and got rightfully punished for it… but sometimes I wonder if my punishment was too lenient…”
>You dash towards her and hug her. You hug her as hard as you could, you were sobbing and nuzzling on her chest
“Don’t say that! You are not Nightmare Moon, not anymore. And you will never be her again, because even if for some unholy reason everyone turns their back at you. You will always have Celestia and me! I will always love you, mom… No matter what happened, no matter what happens”
>Luna’s eyes open wide, but nonetheless she returns the hug, embracing you with her warmth “I… never expect that you would say such thing after what you just witnessed… but” You can hear her sniffle “Thank you… those words means … you mean the world to me, my little star”
>The two of you stay like that for quite a while until the dream itself starts to fade away. You open your eyes to see a peacefully looking Luna lying by your side. You were in her room, her ACTUAL room in Canterlot castle… and everything was just fine.