Chapters Prologue: A Tale of Two Sisters
Once upon a time, in a magical land called Equestria, there were two regal alicorn sisters who ruled over the land. The elder was named Celestia, and was responsible for raising the sun. The younger, Luna, was responsible for the stars and moon. It was also her duty to come into ponies' dreams, and help them rid of their nightmares.
And so the sisters retained harmony in their kingdom filled with special and friendly ponies. But Luna became envious and angry with her sister, who was praised and worshipped in the day. Luna herself was lonely and friendless during the night, for that was when ponies rested and shunned her beautiful night. She became more distant and depressed as days past by without seeing anypony stargazing at night.
Celestia noticed her sister's unhappiness and tried to comfort and reason with Luna. But bitterness in Luna's heart had taken over, and she dashed out of the room. As she tried to fly away from the palace, an evil smoke engulfed her. It was miasma, which corrupts the pony it attaches itself to. Luna's screams filled the night as she tried to escape from the miasma.
Celestia galloped over to Luna to save her, but she was too late. In her sister's place was a taller, darker, and eviler alicorn. This was Nightmare Moon! She vowed that darkness would shroud all of Equestria, and demanded that Celestia bow down to her.
As Nightmare Moon manically laughed, Celestia attacked her, and the battle waged on for many hours. But Celestia had lost, and Nightmare Moon walked into the palace to start "redecorating" it to her liking. She did not know that Celestia had weakly flown off to gather the Elements of Harmony to defeat her once and for all.
As the elements created a rainbow towards Nightmare Moon, she screamed, "This is not the last thou hast seen of me! The night shall live on!!!" The rainbow had engulfed her, and Celestia started aiming her to the moon.
Suddenly, she heard, "Tia..... Tia......" Gasping, she looked up. She could make out her sister Luna, her face full of pain. "Tia..." she weakly said. "Why are you hurting me Tia?" With that, Celestia pushed her to the moon, and light had returned to Equestria.
As her subjects cheered her on and readied for a feast, Celestia never once realized how hard she'd been sobbing.
As she looked around the cold, empty space that was now her prison, Nightmare Moon became angry, and ranted to nopony in particular about it.
"This is an outrage!" she yelled. "That sniveling foal of a princess is a traitor!" She paced for hours, and finally calmed down. Luna, seeing through Nightmare Moon's eyes, saw a leathered journal a few feet away. In what must have been an immense effort, she forced Nightmare Moon to pick it up.
"Foolish foal," Nightmare Moon exclaimed. "How DARE thee try to command I , the empress of darkness??" But she had it in her hoofs, and reluctantly let Luna assume control over their body. Luna's normal appearance was now visible, and she levitated the book in the air. She
flipped to the first page of the book. On it was an inscription.
Dear Luna,
This is for thee to write thou many adventures in! I hope that most of those adventures are certainly non-dangerous. I hope that you like this gift, and will cherish it always.
Thou Loving Sister,
Tia
As Luna found herself tearing up, she noticed that at the bottom there was a hastily written note.
Luna,
If thee find this journal, I just wanted to say that I am sorry for what has happened. I have written this in haste as I recover from, well, an accident. I was hoping to give this to thee on thou birthday, but I give it to you now as a last remnant from me for thee to remember me by.
Love Always,
Tia
Luna was crying, and closed the book as to not ruin the pages. "Oh Luna," she sighed. "What have you done?"
Day 1, Year 1
I have a done a bad deed. A very bad deed. So bad that maybe even my elder sister Tia may not forgive me. I have rebelled against my kingdom, threatening my subjects and even my sister. Tia saved Equestria by banishing me on the moon, and I am not angry or holding a grudge. It was a good decision considering what i did. I only wonder if my people and most importantly my sister will forgive me and accept my apology.
But maybe that's too much to hope for...
Luna
As she closed the book, Luna looked out towards the earth, she saw a shooting star. As she followed it with her eyes, she whispered, "May nightmares no longer plague thy mind for a thousand years, dear sister."
In the royal palace, Princess Celestia awoke suddenly. Gasping, she looked around her dark room and realized that the nightmare of re-living the night before had only been a nightmare. Yet why had she awoken so suddenly?
She climbed out of bed, and gazed out of the window at the moon. She noticed a shooting star speed by, and said, "I wish that Luna is safe on the moon, and will still be the happy little Luna I used to know when she returns.
Chapter Three: Year One, Day Seventeen
Suddenly, Luna awoke. "Where am I," she thought. She then realized she was still on the moon. "Oh pony feathers," she said. "So it wasn't just a nightmare after all." A single tear dropped from her eye, and she lied down with her face in her hooves.
"Foolish foal..." said a voice in her head. "Who's there," she asked, scared out of her skin. "You really are * dense** aren't you? I'm Nightmare Moon you foolish foal."* Luna shivered. "How long have I been out," she cautiously asked. "A week. I've been playing Hangman with myself while you've been beauty sleeping."
"A week," Luna thought. "That's a lot!" "You bet it's a lot you nitwit," replied Nightmare Moon. Using her magic, she appeared as a mirage in front of Luna. "You really are stupid, aren't you your 'Royal Highness'" She mockingly bowed and said, "I am not worthy to be in the presence of Princess Foolish Foal! Let me leave from here, Your Royal Highness!"
Luna scowled. She was getting very close to attacking this monster. "Ah-ah-ah!" lightly scolded the hologram. "Remember your temper Your Angriness! Wouldn't want another villain to take over your body, now would you," asked the mocking Nightmare Moon. Luna's expression became angrier. "It wasn't my fault! It was all yours!"
Nightmare Moon rolled her eyes and flicked her tail. "Yes, we all know of your heroic deed, Your Highness. We all remember how you bravely lost your temper and stormed out of the castle! And then I swooped in and took aaaaaallllllllllllllll of your fault. I saved you from the fear of being blamed!"
Luna felt like crying again. "It was my fault," she meekly responded. But she looked up suddenly and angrily said, "But I don't see you at least apologizing for terrorizing my subjects and sister! And most importantly, you haven't apologized to me for attacking and taking control of me!"
Nightmare Moon sneered. "Oh yes, as the monster of course I'll apologize to everyone and expect them to forgive me! And then I'll ride away on a rainbow to a life of remorse!" She had begun walking slowly around the now standing Luna. "There are no words to describe you except for 'foolish' and 'foal.'"
Luna, no longer able to contain her anger, snapped. As her back was turned, she charged up her horn and shot Nightmare Moon with a lunar beam. Surprised, she got hit by the beam, and the mirage disappeared. Happy, Luna trotted over to the journal, and started writing.
Day 17, Year 1
Nightmare Moon became a mirage today. She began taunting me once again, and blamed me once again for all of this. She didn't take her blame as well though. She did not need to tell me once more how guilty I feel. My wish that I wished for last week did not become granted yet, so that's just another thing I'm a bit down about.
Nothing much else has happened today. I just hope that Tia is alright, and that at least my first wish-that she'll no longer have nightmares until I return-has come true.
Luna
As she saw another shooting star, she wished she had a bit more comfortable place to sleep than the rocky, cold, lunar surface that had been her bed for sixteen nights. Suddenly, there was a lot of lunar dust. Coughing, she waved away all of the dust.
Luna gasped. There was a little Luna-sized dark bed in the middle of the dust. As the air became clearer, she inspected it closer. It had a navy blue blanket dotted with stars, planets, galaxies, and in the middle, a large smiling moon. The bed itself was a very dark blue, and looked very comfy. Testing it out, Luna climbed under the covers. She instantly felt sleepy and warm and safe. As her eyes slowly closed, she whispered, "Goodnight sister..."
Back at the Equestria Palace, Celestia stood up from the desk in her room. She had been writing a letter to Luna. Although she knew she would be very disappointed if it didn't work, she still wanted to try her idea.
She looked out of her window for the third time in seventeen days. The imprint on the moon was darker still. "Luna must be terribly cold, lonely, and bored up there. I hope she's got some comfortable place to sleep." She gasped, as she saw another shooting star whiz past the moon.
She quickly wished, "Please let Luna have something to do there!" She then returned to her desk. After she had finished it, she opened the window, and used her magic to send it. As the smoke lazily made it's way towards the moon, she sleepily said, "Goodnight little sister. May all of your dreams be sweet tonight."
Chapter Two: Year One, Day Ten
Day 10, Year 1
This is my 10th day on the moon, my cold, empty prison. There is not much for me to do here. I have seen another shooting star, and wished for something to do here. Nothing has happened yet, so if it will come true it will probably happen tomorrow.
Yesterday, Nightmare Moon tried to resume control over me, and was successful. She tried to fly away towards Earth. For a moment there, I was worried she would succeed like she did controlling my body, but suddenly, there was a flash of yellow, and immense pain. She shrieked and fell back to the moon.
Tia probably cast a spell to make sure Nightmare Moon did not return. I am immensely thankful for this, since then Equestria would be under attack by her, and Tia probably wouldn't be able to re-banish us back here.
Nightmare Moon is once again trying to assume control. I grow weaker every second, and I can see my coat growing gradually darker. That is all for today, I guess.
Luna
Nightmare stood up, and kicked the journal away from her. She thought of it as an uninteresting object, just an item that took up space here. She locked her gaze on the blue, green, and white marble of a planet in front of her, and gritted her teeth. She would succeed this time in breaking away from the moon, and she would assume control as rightful ruler of Equestria.
Luna, realizing that Nightmare Moon's horn was glowing with dark magic, tried to counterattack her magic. Nightmare Moon's magic faulted for a minute, but eventually shot a dark, electrical beam towards the earth.
"Noooo!!" Luna was terrified that the magic would hit Equestria, and somehow assumed control over body. Suddenly, as her eyes turned to normal, the beam bounced off what must have been the force field, and hit her in the chest.
Once again, Celestia woke up suddenly from her dream. It wasn't a nightmare this time. She hadn't had a single one since the first day. This had been a pleasant dream.
It had been the day she'd taught Luna how to raise the moon. The day she'd got her cutie mark. Luna had been overjoyed at this, and wouldn't calm down for an hour. Celestia had happy, joyful of those days when they were fillies. Their parents had watched over them until they got their cutie marks, and had let them have more freedom.
Celestia sighed, and once again looked out towards the moon. As days and nights past, a slight imprint became darker on the moon. It was that of a female unicorn whose eye was closed. As she looked towards it, another shooting star shot past. The princess whispered, "Please let Luna be okay. She is stuck with that horrible creature, and might fall to it at any time.