Another side of the story

by sweetiebotandSS2

Rating: everyone
Tags: Adventure, Dark
Length: 1737

Nearly every pony across Equestria knows the story of how Luna became Nightmare moon. Is that story true?

You've heard the story of Nightmare Moon… but that story has another side. Luna's side. And Luna's side of the story points hooves at her goody-four-shoes sister, Celestia. Luna has been too scared of her all-powerful sister to tell anyone her story. Is Celestia really that innocent, goddess-like Alicorn everypony thinks she is? Or is she just a greedy, power-loving monster like the changelings?
Cover Art by Joakaha at deviantART

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2013-09-04 01:30:30 UTC

Chapter 2

"Something very bad is going on..."

"Will you PLEASE stop pacing and whispering to yourself, Twilight? It's creepy."

Startled, Twilight looked up from the floor, in which she had been staring at and pacing on for at least two hours now.

"Wha-? Oh, uh Spike... can you help me with something?"

Spike turned to look at his alarm clock, which read 2:18 A.M.

"Do I REALLY have to help you at, what, 2:00 in the morning?"

Twilight grinned and turned to look at the bookshelf she had been looking at hours ago.

"Hmm, well, I was just about to open that tub of ice cream we got yesterday as a late night snack, I don't suppose-"

Just as Twilight predicted, Spike interrupted her mid-sentence to change his decision.

"Uh, well... I guess I could help..." Spike said happily.

"I thought so!" Twilight laughed. Spike hopped out of his bed and raced to where Twilight was standing.

"First, I want you to send a couple of letters to Celestia, and the one separate from those to Cadance and Shining Armor." Twilight said, Pointing her purple hoof at the desk where the letters lay.

Spike nodded and raced to the letters, green flames reflecting in his sparkling eyes as he sent each one.

Twilight watched the baby dragon send the letters with amusement. I should buy ice cream more often, maybe Then I can get him to work hard like this... Twilight thought.

After he finished sending them, Spike looked up at Twilight with a hopeful look in his eyes.

"Is there anything else I should help you with, or can I just have the ice cream now? I-I mean, I don't care about the ice cream, I just want to help you, Twilight!"

Twilight sighed and walked into the kitchen so she could open the ice cream. Spike immediately dove into the ice cream, staining his tongue red.

"Wow, this, is great! You should try some, Twilight!" he said, his mouth full of ice cream.

"Be careful, Spike...we don't need any baby dragons choking on ice cream at 2:30 in the morning, do we?"

"Jeez, Twilight. You need to stop worrying so much. I mean...I don't think that you can actually choke on ice cream."

"If you say so, smarty pants. Owlicios, can you keep an eye on Spike?" Twilight said, walking back toward her study.

"Hey! I don't need-"  Spike stopped talking for a moment, and burped a piece of parchment out, despite the ice cream.

"Huh. Want me to read it for ya, Twilight?" Spike said, his mouth still full. Twilight opened the letter to see who it was from.

Luna? It's strange of her to write letters... Twilight thought, remembering the book she burned.Well, since it's still night, she was probably just answering for Celestia.

"That's okay, Spike... I can read it on my own." Twilight said, and continued up the stairs to her study.

Chapter 3

"Cadance! What a pleasant surprise!" Celestia said, greeting Cadance warmly.

Why is she here without notice?! I'm in the middle of something serious.

"Yes, it's great to see you..." Cadance responded, a worried look in her blue eyes.

"Is something wrong, my dear? If you want to talk about it, I'm always here... why don't you have a seat here, I'll have the cooks make some tea."

"Thank you, but the tea really won't be necessary. I will only be here for a short time..." Cadance said, sitting down on a silk cushion and forcing a smile.

"What is it, darling?"  Celestia said, wondering what was wrong.

"It's about Luna... she came to my castle all alone, and burned roughly half the books I had in my private study! Is Luna okay?"

She had that many books about Luna's past? Well, at least they were in her private study...

Celestia tried hard to come up with an excuse.

"I'm so sorry, Cadance... Luna has been going through a lot recently...she wants everypony to forget about the Nightmare Moon incident, and sort of... start over as a Princess. I never thought it would come to this... she's burning all the books about Nightmare Moon. Twilight had a visit from her this evening, also. I'm so sorry. Is there anything I can do to help you restore the books?" Celestia lied.

"Oh... no, that's fine, thank you though. I don't care about the books, honestly, I just want to make sure Luna is okay! But I have to go... royal duties, right?" Cadance said awkwardly. She had a feeling there was something Celestia wasn't telling her...

"Ah, yes... I, too have tasks to attend to."

"Y-yes... Goodbye! Keep in touch!" Cadance said as she opened the heavy castle doors with her magic, then shut them.

There is definitely something she isn't telling me.

Introduction

"Twilight Sparkle, my sister's most beloved student." Luna gazed into Twilight's eyes with a mixture of hate and sadness. "Is there something wrong, princess?" Twilight said, trying to calm Luna down. Luna only hung her head and paced around Twilight's library even faster. "Yes, there is something that is wrong Twilight... if you couldn't already tell." Luna trotted up Twilight's stairs, into Twilight's study room. Twilight followed her, worry clouding her purple eyes.

"W-where are you going, princess?"

"You needn't call me princess, as you are now welcome into the royal family."

"But upstairs is my study room- the first two floors are the library, and you said you only-"

"Pardon me for interrupting, Twilight Sparkle. But I was unable to find what I was looking for in your library, so I must look in your study."

"Well, can you tell me what you're looking for?"

"I'm not allowed to tell anyone, not even you."

"Oh princess, you can tell me anything! I can help!"

"Not with this, Twilight Sparkle. This is something which has left a deep emotional wound on me... one even your all-powerful magic cannot fix."

Luna continued up the winding stairs, and Twilight had no choice but to follow her. When they had come across the private circle of books Twilight called he 'study', Luna began searching immediately. When she found a book about the mare in the moon, she flipped through it's yellowed pages anxiously.

"Princess, is this something about Nightmare Moon?"

"Yes, somewhat. Not about me turning into her again...it's just about my past. I want to see if anyone knows."

"Know about WHAT?!" Twilight yelled, her anger rising quickly.

Instead of responding, Luna looked to the ground, on the verge of tears.

Stunned, Twilight immediately tried to comfort her.

"Princess, is it me? I'm sorry I yelled!"

"It's not about that, Twilight Sparkle. The author of this... knows something they shouldn't. I'm sorry, I will have have to burn this book."

"You can't! This is a one of a kind book, you can't!"

"It's one of a kind...? Meaning this is the only copy of this book?"

"Yes!"

"That's a relief..."

Luna set the book down on the wooden coffee table in the middle of the study.

"I'm sorry." Luna said, putting her horn onto the middle of the book. Using her strong Alicorn magic, she lit the old book on fire, the book now glowing with blue flames.

"Princess...? Why?" Twilight whimpered, staring at Luna, who had blue flames reflecting in her shiny eyes.

"Some things were never meant to be known."

Chapter 1

Celestia paced around the Canterlot archives, a royal guard by her side. She took an old book off the shelf and flipped through the pages.

"This one, too." She said, lifting the large hardcover book up and putting it in the guards saddlebag.

"How many do we have so far?" Celestia asked the guard.

"Around fifteen, your highness... But, why do you want to burn all these books?"

"You need not know, Basil. Go give these books to Chess, he'll burn this batch for you."

Basil sighed and walked toward Chess, another royal guard.

"Hey, the Princess needs you to burn these." Basil said, putting the books into Chess's saddlebag.

" Why does she want to burn all these books?" Chess asked curiously

"I tried asking, but she wouldn't tell me why."  Basil responded quietly.

Another royal guard marched into the Archives, toward Celestia.

Celestia whipped her head around to face the guard, a book in her mouth.

"What do you need? I gave you no permission to enter the archives."

"My apologies, Princess...but it's urgent."

"Very well. Continue."

"Princess Meamore Cadenza is at the Main door. She says she needs to speak to you."

Cadence?! What does she want? Celestia thought, turning to Chess and Basil.

"You two." She said, glaring at them.

"Y-Yes, your highness?" Chess stammered, while Basil said nothing.

Celestia gave them both a sweet smile before walking toward them.

"It's almost Lunch break for you two, isn't it? You must be hungry. Go take a break from work, I'll be waiting here for you two in three hours or so."

With that, Celestia trotted out of the archives, her head held high. The guard who had given her the message followed her

a few hoofsteps before running ahead of her, stopping Celestia in her path.

"What now?" Celestia asked him impatiently, rolling her eyes.

"Uh...I was just wondering, do you want to see her yourself, or should I go deliver her your message?"

" I will go greet her myself, you're probably just looking for a pay raise. Go make yourself useful and lock the archives for me, will you?"

The guard stood in shock for a moment then bowed to her. "My apologies, your highness..." he said, then trotted back over to the archives. Basil and Chess stared at the guard as they walked out of the archives, allowing him to lock the door.

Once they got away from him, Chess started what Basil called Chess's his well- known "Motor-mouth setting."

" Do you realize how LUCKY we are the princess said that? I mean, really, how many other guards does she just give random three-hour breaks to? I'm probably going to just relax the whole time, I'm not even hungry yet... it's not close to lunch, Celestia was probably just trying to find an excuse to give us a break because she likes us so much and we've-"

"Chess, are you even a little bit suspicious what she was doing with all those books?"