Nightmare Over Equestria

by Creative Charmer

Rating: everyone
Tags: Sad, Nightmare Moon, Discord, Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
Length: 6702

The tragic tale of Princess Luna's transformation into Nightmare Moon...

On a night over 1,000 years ago, Luna sat in her room so sad and hurt from nopony ever respecting her or her night by sleeping right through it. Then, she is approached by a strange being, one who says that she is the one who should rightfully rule over Equestria. Luna's resentment grew stronger than ever, and she went off to confront Celestia, not knowing what chaos she was about to bring upon Equestria...

Published 2012-02-08 21:44:01 UTC
Last updated 2012-02-08 21:44:01 UTC

Nightmare Over Equestria Part 2

Luna ran to the throne room, where Celestia was waiting for her, "Princess Celestia! We are here!" she shouted.
Celestia turned towards Luna, "Luna, there you are! We were wondering where you were. It's about time for you to lower the moon so we can raise the sun, so you just—"
"No, sister. The lowering of the moon shall not occur tonight," Luna said sternly.
Celestia looked perplexed by Luna's words and her tone, "It shall not? Why do you say that, Luna?" she said in a partly commanding tone.
Luna recoiled a bit in hearing Celestia, thinking to herself that speaking against her may have been a bad idea, "Well, umm...it's just that we were wondering if...maybe you didn't raise the sun today..."
"What are you talking about, Luna?"
"Well, you see, the ponies always play in the daytime, but when the time comes for the night to come forth, the ponies all sleep right through the entire night."
"Yes, I know, Luna. Why does this suddenly bother you?"
"Well, actually, the bothering has been with us for some time now. Every night we stay awake instead of going to sleep because we cannot get these thoughts out of our head. Please, dear sister, I implore you: Won't you let the moon stay up this day?"
"We are sorry, Luna, but that cannot be done. The sun is very important to all. We cannot go a single day without it."
"But that isn't fair at all!! Ponies should be able to spend at least one day marveling at the wonders of our night!!"
"Well, it just cannot be that way, Luna. Now please, do your job and lower the moon so we can raise the sun. It is almost past the time when the sun should have already risen."
Luna looked down for a few moments, and then she said in the most serious tone, "No."
Celestia looked shocked, "What was that?"
"We said no! We are sick of having to do everything your way and not doing things the way we want to do them!"
Celestia was shocked, "Luna! How dare you speak to your older sister that way! This isn't like you at all!"
"You are wrong, sister! This is us to our fullest, and we aren't going to listen to you anymore!!" Luna then blasted a magic beam out of her horn at Celestia.
Celestia flew up in the air to dodge it, "Luna, stop! Have you completely lost your senses??"
"No! Our senses are more keen than ever, which will be useful in getting rid of you!" Luna then flew up at Celestia to attack her, and Celestia flew away from her, "You shall not get away from us that easily!" She then proceeded to chase Celestia all around the throne room, trying to shoot her down with her magic, but Celestia was too fast for Luna to get a hit on her.
"Please, Luna, stop this at once! We don't want to fight you!"
"We shall never stop! Not until we have gotten rid of you for good!"
Celestia could see there was no changing Luna's mind. As much as it pained her to do it, she knew she had to stop Luna, or else the sun would never rise again, "Luna!! This madness will stop now!!" Celestia then fired her own magic beam at Luna, whom had fired one back at Celestia. The two beams collided, but Celestia's magic was more powerful than Luna's, so Celestia's beam blasted through Luna's, and blasted Luna right out the window, where she fell and crash landed in the Canterlot sculpture garden.
Luna struggled to get up on her feet, "How could we forget how much stronger Celestia is??" As she got up, she could feel that she sprained one of her wings in the fall, so she could not fly, "Our wing! It has lost its power of flight!" Then, she saw Celestia come to the window Luna crashed through, so Luna ran off into the hedge maze to hide from Celestia, since she could not fly away.
Celestia then flew over to the hedge maze to try and find Luna, "Please, Luna—be alright...I didn't want to hurt you, but I had no choice..."

Nightmare Over Equestria Part 3

Luna was able to avoid being seen by Celestia while going through the maze, and she exited the maze without Celestia knowing. She then ran and hid behind a bush to take a rest, "What are we going to do? Celestia will surly catch us, and make our punishment quite severe..."
Luna looked like she was about to give up, but then she heard a familiar voice, "Oh, come now, Luna. You can't give up that easily," Luna looked and saw the spirit of the night right in front of her.
"Spirit! You have come back!" She then noticed that the spirit now had two arm-like protrusions on its form, "Spirit, where did you obtain those odd appendages from? I know they were not there the last time we had met."
"Well, when you stood up to Celestia, the power of the night increased, which in turn affected my form."
"Oh, we see. Well, maybe then you can help us to escape from Celestia before she punishes us!"
"Escape? Why in the world would you want to escape? Don't you want your night to stay in the sky?"
"Yes, I do, but Celestia is far more powerful than we are. She has already beaten us in our throne room duel. We do not stand a chance against her..." Luna lowered her head in shame.
"Well then, it looks like you could use my help to defeat her."
Luna looked back at the spirit, "What could you do to aid us? Even we doubt you are powerful enough to defeat my sister in combat."
"Well, not by myself, but if you lend me some of your magic, I may have a way for you to become even more powerful than Celestia!"
Luna was shocked, "More powerful than Celestia?? How is it possible for you to perform such a feat??"
"It's easy. Just lend me some of your magic, like I said, and I'll make you the most powerful pony in the world!"
Luna looked unsure of what she wanted to do, "We...we're not sure..."
"Not sure?? You deserve to have your night be seen by all! And you also deserve to take Celestia's place as ruler of Equestria! Someone as cruel as her doesn't deserve to be ruler!"
Luna then thought back to what Celestia told her in the throne room, and how upset and angry it made her feel, "Okay, spirit. We will do as you say to do," Luna then started it disperse her powerful magic out of her horn. The spirit then used his powers to hold her magic in one spot. He then started to merge his powers with hers, forming two different objects with the magic. Luna did not know what he was doing, but she knew it was either accept his help, or face Celestia, which she knew she could not do. After some time had passed, the spirit had completed what he was doing with the magic, and showed to Luna what he had created, "Spirit, what be those objects you have constructed with our magic?"
"Well, my dear princess," he said as he showed her the object he was holding with his left appendage, "This object is the Moon Plate. It harnesses the power of the moon to increase your strength, so you can stomp harder, run faster, and fly faster," and then he looked at the other object he was hold with his right appendage, "And this is the Night Helmet. It harnesses the power of the night to increase your magic powers to even higher levels than Celestia!" Luna was amazed by the power of these objects, "With these two objects, you will be able to overpower Celestia and take your rightful place as ruler of Equestria!"
"Oh my, well, we agree that these objects are indeed powerful, spirit, but…"
"But?" The spirit said, bemused.
"It's just…we are uncertain as to if we are able to control such power."
"Unsure?? How can you be unsure? You're the princess of the night! There's nopony in the world who could control it better than you!"
Luna still looked unsure, but then she heard Celestia calling for her, "Luna! Where are you?? Come out right now so we can end this once and for all!" Celestia wanted to try and work things out with Luna, but Luna mistook her words for a kind of punishment.
Luna felt scared of Celestia, but she also felt her rage building up inside her again, "All right, spirit, Place the objects upon us, so we can be the ones to end this once and for all."
"As you wish, my princess," The spirit said as he placed the Moon Plate and Night Helmet on Luna. Luna watched the spirit as he placed the plate upon her first, and then started to lower the helmet onto her head.
Right before the spirit placed the helmet on Luna's head, Princess Celestia was walking nearby, as she couldn't find Luna inside the maze. "Where could she be?" Celestia thought to herself. But then, suddenly, Celestia heard what sounded like a small explosion nearby, and when she looked, she saw a large cloud of blue smoke emanating from behind the very bush that, unbeknownst to her, Luna and the spirit were behind. Celestia proceeded to cautiously walk towards the blue smoke cloud that was spreading further around the bush. "Who is there? Is it you, Luna?" she asked. She heard no response, but she did hear the sound of hoofsteps coming from inside the smoke cloud.
As Celestia got closer, she could make out the silhouette of somepony walking out from behind the bush. She did not think it to be Luna at first, because this pony was much bigger and taller than Luna was, but then she heard the figure speak, "Princess Luna is no more, Celestia. From this day forward, I am—" Luna then quickly flapped her powerful wings to blow away the smoke, revealing herself fully, "—Nightmare Moon!" Nightmare Moon reared up on her hind legs, showing Celestia her frightening new form.

Nightmare Over Equestria Part 4

Celestia was shocked beyond belief at seeing what her sister had turned into. "Luna!! What in Equestria has happened to you??"
"I am not Luna anymore, Celestia! And I am not your sister anymore, either!"
Celestia looked like her heart had just been ripped in two after hearing those words, "Luna…how could you say something like that to us? We've always tried to be a good sister and friend to you our whole lives together...and now you turn against us? Why??"
"You think just because you're my older sister means your word goes above mine? That everything always has to go your way, and never mine for even one day?? Well, not anymore!!" Before Celestia could respond, Nightmare Moon encased herself in her magical night mane and turned into what looked like a free-floating piece of the night sky. Nightmare Moon's night sky form then flew at Celestia, and Celestia quickly flew up in the air to dodge it. Nightmare Moon then turned around and flew after Celestia, who then proceeded to fly away as fast as she could.
"What are we going to do??" Celestia thought as she fled from Nightmare Moon, "We can't keep avoiding her, but we don't want to fight her either," Celestia then looked up at the night sky, "But if we don't stop her, the sun will never rise again, and Equestria...no, the whole world will never be able survive without the sun," Celestia knew that she had no choice but to stop Nightmare Moon in order to save the world from utter despair. Celestia quickly turned around, faced Nightmare Moon, and said, "This ends now, Luna!!" She then blasted a magic beam at Nightmare Moon, which struck her and forced her out of her night sky form.
Nightmare Moon started falling towards the ground, but used her wings to stop herself and get airborne again. "So, you finally decide to fight me, Celestia? Well, don't think you can win! I have more power than you ever had!" Nightmare Moon then uses the power of the Night Helmet and Moon Plate to create a "night energy field" around herself, powered by the night itself. "Let us see you defeat me now, Celestia!"
"We will do whatever it takes to stop you!" Celestia then used her power to encase herself in an energy field made from the light of the sun. "You are not the only pony who has power, Luna!"
Nightmare Moon laughed at Celestia. "You really think you can defeat me with that? Mine is powered by the moon and night, which are the dominant forces in the sky now, so my power is increased exponentially!"
"We will defeat you, Luna. Our willpower to protect our land is strong enough to give us the power to defeat anypony; even you!"
"Well, we'll just see about that!!" Nightmare Moon then charged at Celestia at full force, and Celestia did the same, with the two colliding into each other. Both seemed to be equally matched, as ramming each other didn't hurt either of them, but neither one would give up. Celestia and Nightmare Moon continued to chase each other down, ramming into one another to try and knock each other out of the sky. Ponies below watched them fight; completely dumbfounded to see Celestia fight this dangerous alicorn whom none of them thought they had seen before.
After quite a bit of fighting, Celestia's power started to weaken. Nightmare Moon could see this, "Ahh, not so powerful at the moment, I see?"
Celestia was a bit out of breath. "We will not stop...until you are defeated, Luna..."
"Well then, let's just see how much strength you have left!" Nightmare Moon then rushed at Celestia with full speed. Celestia, though weakened, rushed at Nightmare Moon as well. The two collided, but Nightmare Moon's power was far too great this time, so she broke through Celestia's energy field and rammed into her. The ponies below watched in horror at seeing their princess become overpowered by this great threat. Nightmare Moon kept pushing towards Celestia with her energy field, but then she instantly stopped herself, the force of the stop sending Celestia flying towards the castle, smashing through another one of the windows in the throne room, and then crashing onto the throne room floor. Nightmare Moon dissipated her energy field, and then shouted to all the ponies watching, "See how your beloved princess is no match for the likes of me?"
"Who are you??" one of the ponies asked in a frightened tone.
"Who am I? I am the ruler of the night! The bringer of the darkness! The most powerful pony in the world! I...am Nightmare Moon!" she unleashed a powerful flash of black and blue light from behind her when she announced her name. "And I am here to shroud Equestria in eternal night! No longer shall the sun do away with the night sky with its accursed illumination! And nopony, not even your princess will ever be able to take away the night again!!" Nightmare Moon started to laugh evilly, as all the ponies below were truly horrified at the thought of the sun being gone forever.
Celestia pulled herself up off the floor in the throne room. She looked out the broken window and saw Nightmare Moon frightening all of the ponies with her display of her magic powers. "She's gotten to powerful...I...I can't beat her magic with mine..." Celestia was so distraught, she has even forgot about using the royal Canterlot voice. "There's...only one way...I could possibly defeat her..." Celestia lowered her head and shut her eyes. "Even though I may never forgive myself for doing it..." Celestia then ran out of the throne room as fast as she could.

Nightmare Over Equestria Part 5

Outside, in the Canterlot gardens, Nightmare Moon was still making her fearsome display to all of the ponies, who were all talking amongst themselves in a panicked state.
"This can't be happening!"
"What are going to do?"
"We can't possibly survive without the sun!"
Nightmare Moon watched all the ponies panicking and smiled.
"Look at them. They should have never taken your night for granted."
Nightmare Moon looked to her right and saw the spirit of the night floating next to her, who's appearance had changed even more since the last time she saw him. "Ahh, spirit. It is good to see you again. And you are indeed correct; those ponies are finally getting what they have deserved after all these years for not respecting me or the night! Together, you and I shall rule Equestria in eternal darkness!" More lightning flashed down from the sky around Nightmare Moon.
The spirit chuckled. "Yes, that does indeed sound good; but, there is something I need you to do for me first."
"I am willing to do anything for you who helped me rise to power. Just tell me what you desire and I will grant it."
"Well, what I desire is simple: I want—"
"LUNA!!!"
Nightmare Moon and the spirit instantly turned their heads in complete surprise at this sudden noise. Down below on the castle grounds, Celestia stood there, looking more furious than she had ever looked.
"Well, well, Celestia," Luna called back to Celestia, "I did not expect you to come back. I thought you would have done the smart thing and accepted defeat."
"I would never abandon my kingdom!" Celestia yelled as she stamped her hoof on the ground. "I have tried to be a good sister and reason with you before, but still you would not listen! You forced me to fight you, which was unbearable for me to take! Now you leave me no choice but to stop you permanently so Equestria shall be saved from your eternal darkness!"
Nightmare Moon laughed. "If you could not defeat me before, what gives you the idea that you could defeat me now?"
"Because I have these!" Celestia then used her magic to take out from behind her—the Elements of Harmony!
Nightmare Moon felt a flicker of fear when she saw the elements, but then reverted back to her confident self. "Even with the Elements of Harmony, you cannot hope to defeat me!" she started to laugh again, but was interrupted by the spirit tapping on her shoulder.
"Nightmare! You must get the elements from Celestia!"
Nightmare Moon looked perplexed. "Why would you want me to do that, spirit?"
"Because if you have the Elements of Harmony, your power will increase exponentially! You'll become truly unstoppable with them!"
Nightmare Moon pondered this idea. "You are right, spirit," she replied. "And if I am to be the ruler of Equestria, then the elements should belong in my hooves; not Celestia's!"
The whole time the two of them were conversing, Celestia and the other ponies watched, puzzled.
"Who is she talking to?"
"I don't see anypony else. Do you?"
"No, I don't at all. This is strange..."
Celestia was confused, but she knew that stopping Nightmare Moon was more important. "Enough of this nonsense, Luna!! Come down here now so we can end this!"
Nightmare Moon looked back towards Celestia with a grimace. "Go on, Nightmare," the spirit said to her. "Just remember: ultimate power is within your grasp!"
Nightmare Moon nodded, and she flew down to face Luna one-on-one. "I am glad that you decided to finish this silly little feud so Equestria will finally get its rightful ruler."
"Yes...it shall," Celestia said, staring sternly at Nightmare Moon.
Nightmare Moon stared sternly back at her, "Then let this end now!!" she then started swirling around her night mane into one large focal point of energy.
Celestia then used her magic to position the Elements of Harmony in a circle around her horn and pointed her horn straight at Nightmare Moon. "I just hope that I will be able to use these by myself," she looked at Nightmare Moon. "Without the power of friendship..." Celestia then started to focus her power on the elements themselves, and they started to spin around in the circle they were in, going faster and faster.
Nightmare Moon was gathering more and more of her magic night energy together.
"Yes!" shouted the spirit. "The more power you use, the more power you have to defeat her! Keep going, Nightmare Moon! You and only you are the rightful ruler of Equestria!"
"Ha ha!" Nightmare Moon turned her head towards Celestia. "Do you hear that, Celestia? The spirit of the night knows who is the rightful heir to the Equestrian throne!"
"Spirit of the night?" Celestia asked, puzzled. "I see no such spirit. You are just trying to trick me into letting down my guard! But don't think that will work on me!"
Nightmare Moon looked surprised. "You...don't see the spirit? How can you not? He is floating right next to me in plain sight!" She turned her head to the spirit. "Go on, spirit of the night! Tell them all about yourself and what you have told me!"
"Well..." The spirit said, "The thing is, Nightmare, is that since I am the spirit of the night, I can only appear to those whose hearts are truly bonded with that of the night; meaning only you can see and hear me. That is why nopony else knows of my existence."
"Oh...I had no idea..."
"...but just because they can't see or hear me doesn't mean that you shouldn't still try to win control of Equestria! Now use your power to defeat Celestia once and for all!!"
"Yes! I shall do it!" she looked at Celestia. "Will end this...NOW!!" Nightmare Moon then focused all her magic energy she had gathered up, and fired a single straight beam of her magic night energy straight at Celestia!
Celestia was about to use the elements to counterattack, but was reluctant out of the love she felt for her sister; but then she remembered why she had to do this, and used the Elements of Harmony, which fired a rainbow beam that collided Nightmare Moon's nightmare beam.
The two attacks seemed to be evenly matched, both emanating their intense power. "It seems our powers are evenly matched!" Celestia shouted. "We should just stop this fight now so everything can go back the way it was!"
"You mean back to me being unappreciated and uncared for while you reign over Equestria and receive all of the ponies' admiration?! Never!!"
"You're wrong, Luna! We all appreciate can care about you and your wonderful night sky! Anypony would agree with me!"
Nightmare Moon moved her eyes to look at the ponies around her. All of them looked so afraid of her, so none of them were brave enough to agree with Celestia. "Lies! Lies I say! Nopony truly cares about me or my night! And they never will!!" Nightmare Moon's nightmare beam then started to increase in power from her intense rage. Celestia was overtaken by the fact that the elements were losing this battle.
The spirit of the night watched in utter delight. "This is working out perfectly," he thought to himself. "Celestia's power will be drained soon, and the rightful ruler of Equestria will take the throne..." he then did his nasty-sounding chuckle as he had done before.
The Elements of Harmony were getting weaker by the second. Celestia could feel this, and was truly terrified. "This cannot happen," she thought to herself. "The Elements of Harmony cannot lose! The power of friendship is...the power of friendship..." she looked at Nightmare Moon again. "That is what is wrong; without Luna's friendship truly bonded with mine, the power of the elements is too weak to overcome her evil power! I...I cannot beat her..." As Celestia's spirit weakened, so did the power of the elements, and Nightmare Moon's power grew stronger.

Nightmare Over Equestria Part 6

Nightmare Over Equestria Part 6

Nightmare Moon laughed at seeing Celestia in her weakened state. "I knew you weren't strong enough to defeat me! You were a fool to think anypony could ever be stronger than me! Even your precious elements could not help! All because you believed in the useless power of friendship!" she laughed more, as did the spirit of the night.
..."you're wrong."
Nightmare Moon stopped laughing. "Who dares to speak against me??" she said as she looked around.
"I do," Nightmare Moon, the spirit, and Celestia turned their heads and saw an Earth pony glaring at Nightmare Moon without any sign of fear in her eyes.
Nightmare Moon glared back at her. "What makes you think that I am wrong? See how your princess is losing this battle? Her elements have almost no power, because without friendship they are nothing. And we all know that friendship is a weak and worthless thing!!"
"No it's not!" A unicorn shouted as she walked next to the Earth pony. "Friendship is one of the most powerful forces in the world!" More ponies, unicorns, and pegasi started to gather around.
"Friendship is what steers us through our darkest hours!"
"It's something anypony can always count on!"
"Something that we all share!"
"Even with our princess!" Celestia felt touched by hearing the words of all these ponies, but when the pony who said they share their friendship with the princess spoke, the Elements of Harmony suddenly had a slight increase in power, which stopped the nightmare from pushing the rainbow beam back. Everypony was shocked to see this; even Nightmare Moon and the spirit.
"What is this?" the spirit asked, bewildered.
Celestia realized what had happened, and she knew just what to do. "Ponies! Unicorns! Pegasi! I beseech you all! Share your friendship with me! Show Nightmare Moon what the magic of friendship can really do!!"
The ponies, unicorns, and pegasi all then started to shout out their words of friendship to Celestia.
"We all love our friendships with each other, princess!"
"We all know how important friendship between ponies is!"
"Not just with each other, but with you as well!"
"Everypony here shares their friendship with you, Princess Celestia!"
"And we all believe that the power of friendship will overcome the power of anypony else!"
These words gave the elements even greater power, and the more ponies that shared their friendship with Celestia, the more power the elements gained. Soon, the Elements of Harmony started to push Nightmare Moon's nightmare beam back towards her.
Nightmare Moon was absolutely flabbergasted. "How can this be?? How can friendship have this much strength?? More strength than I have?? It's implausible!!"
The spirit also could not believe what was happening. "This cannot happen!! You can't lose! Everything will be ruined! You have to defeat Celestia no matter what!!"
"But spirit! I haven't the power to overcome the increasing power of the Elements of Harmony!"
"You can't give in to Celestia! You are the princess of the night! Night will always rule over day! Or do you want everything to go back to the way it was?"
"...no...no! No!! I will not surrender! Not ever! I am the princess of the night, and I will defeat you!" These intense emotions inside Nightmare Moon then gave her a sudden increase and power, which was powerful enough to even out hers and Celestia's beams.
Celestia was astounded at Nightmare Moon's unremitting anger at her. It seemed impossible to persuade her to stop or force her to give up. "She won't see the error of her ways," Celestia thought. "This means...I have only one other option..." A tear trickled down her face. "I'm sorry, Luna...I'll never forgive myself for this, but it has to be done...for the good of Equestria...I will cherish our past friendship forever..." Then, Celestia thought of her past friendship with Luna, and used the magic power from those thoughts of friendship to increase the power of the Elements of Harmony even greater than before. With this new energy, the rainbow beam instantly ripped through the nightmare beam, completely obliterating it.
Nightmare Moon's eyes widened as she saw the rainbow beam coming right at her. She had no way of avoiding it. "NOOOOOOOO!!!!!" she yelled as the beam engulfed her.
"NO!!!" the spirit yelled in horror.
The magical energy from the Elements of Harmony started to swirl around Nightmare Moon, going faster and faster. As this was going on, the energy surging from the blast was absorbed into Celestia's mane and tail, giving them a striped texture of different colors. Celestia then took one last look at where Nightmare Moon was. "Goodbye, sister.." and with those final words, the rainbow beam dissipated, and the energy around Nightmare Moon focused itself one more time, then blasted straight up into the sky at an incredibly fast speed. The other ponies and the spirit covered their eyes from the intense light emanating from the energy blast. The beam that came from the blast, with Nightmare Moon still inside, went higher and higher into the sky. When the intense light had settled, everypony looked up at the beam as it kept going...and going...and going...until...the beam had collided with the moon. A few seconds after the beam hit the moon, another large flash of light came from it, covering all of Equestria with its light.
After the light had faded, everypony looked up and the moon, and were surprised at what they saw. On the surface of the moon, it look like a silhouette of Nightmare Moon's head and neck was on its surface. The ponies were all unsure as to what had just happened. "Princess?" One pony asked Celestia. "What did you do?"
Celestia sighed. "I realized I could not persuade Luna to see the error of her ways, so I banished her to the moon."
Everypony gasped in shock. "That was Princess Luna?!"
"What happened to her??"
"How did she become evil??"
All the ponies, pegasi, and unicorns started flooding Celestia with their questions regarding Nightmare Moon, and Celestia couldn't get in a word edgewise. "Silence!!" she yelled, silencing all of the ponies. "I am afraid that Luna felt unappreciated because everypony slept through her night, but played during the day. She thought they did not care about her or the night, so she tried to take control of Equestria."
"But how did she become so powerful?"
"And how did she change the way she looked?"
"For those questions, I do not know the answers. But it is too late now. Luna is gone, and it saddens us all..." All of the ponies lowered their heads in sorrow for Princess Luna, all feeling responsible for what had happened to her.
One Earth pony walked up to Celestia. "We are all so sorry for this horrible turn of events. If we had known how Luna had felt, we would have shown her how much we do care about her night."
"The night is important to us! We could never go to sleep during the day because it's so bright! Nighttime is much more peaceful and darker for us, so it's easier for us to rest."
"And we also love how beautiful the night is! No offense, my princess, but the night is so beautiful to look at, and those of us who stay up to watch the night sky enjoy every minute of it."
"I am truly touched by the kind words of all you ponies," Celestia looked up at the moon. "I know Luna would have been too if she had known..but she be able to know for a very long time..."
The ponies looked confused. "What do you mean by 'for a very long time' princess?" one unicorn asked.
Celestia sighed. "Well...I even though I was able to banish her to the moon...I couldn't banish her permanently. She will be back one day," all of the ponies gasped. "Because Luna was bonded with the elements as I was, and because I still considered her my friend, the power of the elements could not be used to permanently get rid of her; her power will increase over time, and in 1,000 years, she'll be able to use the stars to aid in her escape from the moon..."
The ponies seemed speechless. "...but," one pony began to say. "Can't you just banish her again?"
Celestia shook her head. "That is no longer possible. I used the power of my friendship with Luna to give the elements their last bit of power. Now that that friendship is gone..." Celestia used her magic to show the ponies the Elements of Harmony, and they were all aghast at what they saw. The elements had all turned to stone spheres with carvings of the each element on each of their respective stones.
"What happened to the elements??"
"Without the bond of mine and Luna's friendship, the elements have lost their power, thus making them turn to stone."
"But then...how will you stop Luna when she escapes??"
"I cannot," the ponies all gasped in horror again. "But, somepony else will," the ponies then looked confused. "In less than 1,000 years, a new pony will arise to inherit the powers of the elements to stop Luna."
"What pony?"
"That, I am not, sure, but I know it will be true. The Elements of Harmony cannot exist without someone to bond their powers with, so when the time comes, somepony new will do just that—and I will be waiting for them."
"But how will you know which pony it will be?" A pegasus asked.
"Well, the pony will have to bond with the element of magic first, since it is the most powerful of all the elements, and is the one that controls the others. To find out which pony is the chosen one, I will administer a test that only a pony of great magical skill can accomplish. But that is something I have not thought of as of yet, so I will need time to create a test."
"Well, we are all behind you, Princess Celestia," the pegasus said as the other ponies gathered around her.
Celestia lightly smiled. "Thank you everypony. You are all so dear to my heart, especially after all you did to help me."
"We would do anything to help you, Princess," all of the ponies bowed their heads.
Celestia smiled more, then looked back up at the moon. "What has happened tonight...it is important what has happened tonight is not forgotten. It will have to be chronicled so that nopony forgets Luna or what had happened to her."
"Well, we'll do our part to help, princess."
"Thank you, my little ponies. Although, I feel like that is not enough...there should be more done to remember this night....this...Nightmare Night..." Celestia looked up at the moon as she was thinking, as did the other ponies.
During the time the ponies had been talking, the spirit of the night had been withering...slowly withering away. His body was getting smaller and breaking apart into tiny bits that dissipated away. The spirit looked at his degenerating body. "Without her...without Nightmare Moon...I...I have no power..." And with those final words, the spirit burst, his whole body now just tiny black bits floating in the wind...
But then, the remaining pieces started to float away. The pieces floated through the Canterlot grounds and into the Canterlot sculpture garden. The pieces then floated up and went into a statue that had a small black glow emanating from its chest. Once all the pieces had went inside the statue, the glow went away. Just then, Celestia used her magic to move the moon and bring out the sun at last. As the sunlight filled the sky, the statue the pieces went into is bathed in the light, showing it to be the statue of Discord...

Nightmare Over Equestria Part 1

*Over 1,000 years ago*

Another peaceful night had passed for the citizens of Equestria. All ponies were sleeping, and the rising of the sun was drawing ever closer. However, one pony, or should I say alicorn, was not asleep. It was Princess Luna, and she had been pacing back and forth in her room for most of the night, as she was unable to sleep. She walked over to her window and looked up at the night sky. "Well, it is almost time for the moon to go down so the sun can rise," she sighed, "We wish just once the ponies of Equestria could spend a night awake, so they can see how wonderful the night looks—but, we guess that day will never come..." Luna lowered her head in sadness, thinking to herself, "Why? Why does it have to be the sun the ponies stay awake for? Why??" Luna frantically paced back and forth even more whilst thinking these thoughts, and then she suddenly collapsed onto the floor with distress, and the distress growing ever more in her heart, even to the point where she seemed to feel a bit...hostile.

"Oh, Luna...poor Luna...why must you suffer so?"

Luna opened her eyes and lifted her head up, "Who said that? Who is in my room?" She looked around to see if anypony was there.

"Oh, it's just…a friend…"

As Luna looked around, she was suddenly surprised by what looked like an apparition floating next to her. It was all black except for its red eyes and red mouth. "Who…who are you?" she asked it.

"I…am the spirit of the night…"

"The…spirit of the night? We didn't think that there was a spirit for the time that is night..."

"Yes, not everypony really knows of me, but I have come to you, Princess Luna, because you share such a special bond with the night, and I have sensed that you have come under some sort of distress…"

"Well, you are right...we are..."

"Well, my princess, why don't you tell me all about it?"

"Well, it is just...all the ponies in Equestria cherish and play in the sun during the daytime, but at night, they all go to sleep, and cease their playing until the next day comes," The spirit nodded several times as Luna made her explanation, "and because they go to sleep at night, they all miss out on seeing the beautiful night we have worked so hard to produce for them all. It creates such a distressing feeling within me that causes me intense pain and sadness..."

Luna hung her head again, and the spirit came next to her, "My, my, Luna, that is certainly terrible to hear. How can the ponies treat you this way after all you've done for them?"

Luna sniffed, "Well, our guessing would be that they do not consider the nighttime to have the same amount of importance as the daytime."

"Oh, don't say that day is more important than night! Can you see stars in the daytime? Or the moon? Or any of the other marvelous spectacles one can only behold at night?"

"...no, they cannot behold those spectacles during the daytime."

"Exactly! So why should your night go unseen when it is the time that ponies should be awake for, not the daytime?"

"You are very much correct, spirit of the night! Our wondrous nighttime is of a far more important need to be seen by everypony, not our sister's much far less important daytime!"

"That is correct!" the spirit exclaimed, "Now go! Go and tell Celestia that things are going to change around here!"

"We shall! Thank you for your great assistance with this matter at hand, spirit of the night!" And with that, Luna ran off to find Celestia and give her a piece of her mind.

The spirit stayed in Luna's room, talking to himself, "Luna has certainly become quite distraught with all this. If Celestia says no to what she wants, she may become a bit…chaotic…" And the spirit chuckled a bit, and it sounded quite a bit…nasty…