Moonlight & Lullabies

by SoarinDash

Rating: everyone
Tags: Nightmare Moon, Princess Luna, King Sombra, Twilight Sparkle, Princess Celestia, Slice of Life, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Sad
Length: 1599

Luna has been enclosed in her own darkness.. How will Princess Celestia survive without her little sister beside her?

Princess Luna has been enclosed in her own darkness, because of Celestia's unbearable arrogance to her subjects. How did Princess Celestia ever cope with sending her sister away? What happened while she was gone? This is the story of Princess Celestia, and Equestria while Luna was banished to the moon.

Some chapters are short, some are long depending on the story for it. This fanfiction is prequel / side story to My Little Pony, therefore chapter lengths may vary.

Published 2013-10-12 23:40:03 UTC
Last updated 2013-10-12 23:40:03 UTC

[Chapter 1] Goodbye

Lullay moon princess, goodnight sister mine
Rest now in moonlight's embrace

Princess Celestia lay weeping sorrowfully within her burnt up castle. Chard pieces of glass and stone crumbled upon the floors, and black skids made from magic smeared like paint across the broken walls. Ashes and raindrops floating down from the heavens, and laying upon the young princess's coat, as she beckoned for her younger sister. Magical glowing elements lay around her, softly shimmering in the moonlight, as their power drains out into the atmosphere in the shape of steam. This destroyed palace was the home of Celestia's most dangerous of mistakes, where she had torn her sister's life apart because of her own foolishness. Her arrogance had blinded her from truly seeing how her sister felt.

Her eyes slowly wandered upwards towards the cracked open ceiling, staring up into the face of the moon, where an outline of her sister's face now laid. Tears spilled from her bloodshot and sleepless eyes, for she could not contain herself. Young and innocent Princess Luna would be trapped up there, inside of the monster that she had turned herself into, for a thousand miserable years.

Nightmare Moon had taken her reign in Equestria, formed out of a jealous young Luna, and complete hatred towards her selfish older sister. She wanted nothing more than to make their subjects love her, and admire her as much as they did her older sister. It was Celestia's fault that this had happened, but for some reason, Luna was the one being punished for it.. Celestia knew she should have seen this coming, but she didn't.. And now her sister was paying for it.

Celestia was angry.. Not at Luna, but at herself.

"I'm sorry." Celestia whispered, wishing that Luna could hear her despite their distance from each other. Her words choked up, as she tried to continue. "It-its all m-my fault." She buried her face in her hooves, and sobbed heavily. She wanted nothing more than for her sister to heal from the nightmare she had made her into.. To hold her, and to tell her that she loved her. She never even had the chance to say goodbye.

Bear up my lullaby, winds of the earth
Through cloud, and through sky, and through space

Nightmare Moon's body shook recklessly, as she laid weakly on the cold surface of the moon. Her eyes squeezed shut, and tears running down her cheeks, her two souls were clashing at each other like swords. With one side trying to overcome the other, she was wrapped in a blanket of complete insanity and fear. Her breath was heavy, and her heart was pounding like gun fire inside of her chest. She had been entirely consumed in darkness.

"TIA!" A scream of bloody murder rattled her body, as she suddenly burst upright onto her stomach. Her helmet flew back off her head, releasing her shiny blue mane into a gust. Her dark turquoise snake eyes were filled to the brim in tears, as she spun her head around quickly to take in her environment. Where was she? What had happened to her? Where was Celestia?

Her mind still fighting with itself, she felt frantic and helpless. Her body was weak, shredded and crisp. Memories were suddenly flooding back to her. Celestia raising her sword, and the bloody horror that was their battle. Like the final battle in a book, or in a fairytale, the villain always lost.. But Luna never saw herself as the villain, until now..

If only she could have acknowledged the damage she had done to her subjects, and to her older sister.. If only she could have searched for help from Celestia, rather than bottling up her jealousy until it broke her soul.. She had made herself into a monster, and now that she had been banished, there was nothing she could ever do to change it.

As all these thoughts raced through Luna's mind, she could only think of four words.. "What have I done?"

[Chapter 2] Crystal Skies

Carry the peace, and the coolness of night
And carry my sorrow in kind

Two-hundred years have passed since Nightmare Moon was defeated by Princess Celestia, and the Elements Of Harmony. The princess of the sun was learning to cope without Luna, though the thought of her still brought tears to her eyes every now and then. But Celestia's kingdom was running smoothly, and there was no fear in any of the pony's hearts. Things seemed to be getting better.

But thats when the princess received an urgent notice that the Crystal Empire was in serious trouble. Terror had struck the land, and the whole empire was covered in dark magic. The owner of this magic was known as King Sombra. He was once a fair ruler of the Crystal ponies, but was corrupt by an evil spirit that lived within the arctic glaciers just outside of the border. He hid away the powerful Crystal Heart, a magical object that once protected the ponies, before forcing his subjects into slavery.

So Celestia set out for the empire, to defeat Sombra and bring peace to the land once more. She knew not how powerful Sombra was, or what he wanted with the crystal ponies. But she knew that he had to be stopped at once, in order for their kingdom to survive.

Luna you're loved so much more than you know
Forgive me for being so blind

A dark laugh sends a shiver down Celestia's spine, as she walks slowly through the darkness of the Crystal Palace. A long golden sword levitating with her magic, she scowls. "Sombra.." She says coldly. "Show yourself!" Another laugh comes through the darkness, along with an icy cold breath against her neck. She hops back, afraid of the dark creature. Her body was shaking with fear, though she needed to be brave for the crystal ponies.

Thats when she could make out the dark cloud hovering around her. She watched as it curled around through the air like black mist, flowing off into oblivion at the edges, an eyrie wisp of sound that goes with it. And thats when the smoke suddenly puffed into the shape of a pony, a dark creature appearing in front of her eyes. His eyes were as green as poison, with flowing purple shards coming out of them in a hypnotizing fashion. Celestia pulled her eyes away, knowing that eye contact could mean trouble for her.

"What do you want with these ponies?" She demanded. Nothing but a low rumbling snarl is what she got in return. With a sudden slash of King Sombra's dark spear, Celestia shrieked, just barely avoiding the skull splitting blade. She swung her own weapon around, blocking his next attack.

A loud clank sounded between the weapons, as Sombra suddenly disappeared into the mist again. Celestia begun swinging at the cloud, hoping that it would do something to harm him, but it didn't seem to be doing much at all. The mist swings behind her, before he suddenly appears again with his weapon going straight for her skull. She managed to block it again, before sending the point of the blade straight through his armor, and deep into his chest.

Sombra screeched, although he appeared not to be harmed. Purple smoke puffed through the wound, making Celestia shove him up against what appeared to be a palace column. "It's over Sombra.. YIELD!" She yelled, as he pulled away from the piercing blade, swinging at her again. He wasn't giving up anytime soon. A dark demented laugh came from his lips.

"So.. Much.. Pain.." Celestia cowered backwards when Sombra finally spoke. His voice was deep, wretched, and demonic sounding. It echoed softly like a ghost, along with a hint of a slithering snake. "Fear is my domain, dear princess of the sun.." He laughed, stepping closer towards her with every word. "The more time you spend here with me, the more I begin to recognize your fears."

"I care not how powerful and twisted you are!" She swung her weapon again, clanging to his with great force. "You WILL fail!" With a blast of her horn, he was shoved backwards, sliding across the crystal tiles on his hooves.

"I can taste your fear of me." He scowled, his horn beginning to glow with magic of his own. "And now that you have so foolishly confronted me about how I run my kingdom, I know very well about your sister."

Celestia froze. "What do you know about Luna?" She asked helplessly, finally giving in and making eye contact with him. Suddenly his eyes flashed in green, and the princess dropped her weapon. She found her eyes locked inside of Sombra's. But suddenly, she was in an entirely different place.. It was the castle inside of the Everfree Forest.. Luna was there.. She was crying about how Celestia didn't love her..

"No, Luna.." Her eyes began filling with tears. Suddenly, Luna's eyes shot upwards towards Celestia. Lightning flashed behind her, and with a puff of smoke, Luna transformed into a wicked mare of darkness.. Nightmare Moon.. "Luna!" Celestia cried, as her sister began laughing in a voice even more demonic than Sombra's.. "LUNA!" She screamed, when suddenly, her vision went black.

Author's Note

The story of their battle won't be finished, since this is sort of my style of writing for this story. It'll tend to pick up and drop off like memories inside of Celestia's head during the dark time in her life without Luna.