My Little Pony: The Birth of a Nightmare Part 1

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic: Season 4: Episode 1: The Birth of a Nightmare Part 2
By Nextstep11

It's soon! You said I should upload Part 2 soon, and well, it's soon. I hope you enjoy part 2 in this fanfic installment. -Nextstep11

Twilight awoke to find herself in the same strange space-time environment that she had been transported to when Princess Celestia had transformed her into an alicorn. This time however, she was alone.

"Hello?" She called out uncertainly, looking around for any signs of life. "Princess Celestia? Princess Luna? Anypony?" Twilight attempted to use her wings to get an aerial view of her surroundings, but her wings were still tired from her long and difficult flight from Ponyville to Canterlot with Spike on her back, so she came crashing down pretty quickly. She then tried a teleporting spell, but she just appeared a few feet away.

"Ugh," Twilight groaned, frustrated by the fact that she couldn't even use her unicorn magic to her advantage. It was then that she remembered her Element of Harmony, which she still had atop her head. "Well," Twilight said to herself, "it's worth a shot." She was about to channel her energy to do another spell when a dark indigo portal appeared next to her. She took a step back as the portal imploded on itself. Twilight looked back at the area where the portal once was in astonishment, for standing where the portal had been was Princess Celestia.

"Princess Celestia!" Twilight exclaimed with happiness as she ran over to her teacher.

"Twilight, my dear student." Celestia said, putting a wing over Twilight. "I am so happy that you're safe."

Twilight suddenly stiffened up as she remembered in detail the sequence of events in the library before she woke up in this strange place. "What happened back there Princess? How did we get here?"

Celestia began to walk with Twilight walking next to her. "As much as I wish it weren't true, it is. Nightmare Moon has returned."

Twilight's eyes widened. "Princess, with all due respect, are you sure? We all saw when Nightmare Moon transformed back into Princess Luna. I know she could at times not hold back her anger and might do something bad, but I don't think she could return."

Celestia lowered her head. "I originally thought so too, Twilight. But after you were transported here by that portal, Luna let loose at me with all the anger and hate she had in her body. It became clear to me that despite our and her best efforts, her dark side has corrupted her again, and worse this time."

Twilight looked at her mentor. "What do you mean, "dark side?" And what do you mean worse this time?"

Celestia took a deep breath, and then responded, "I have come up with a theory about what happened on the night that Nightmare Moon was defeated by you and your courageous friends. When your combined power destroyed hers, it seemed that the Luna that I once knew and loved had returned and that the persona I knew as Nightmare Moon was gone forever. But as I watched your discoveries and exploration into magic and friendship, I watched Luna's personal demons return, also. Her jealousy of the quick ascension to power of Princess Cadence and Shining Armor grew very pronounced, and she began to resent all the attention I was giving to you and her friends, Twilight. Her desire for more power also fueled her demons, and I finally came to a conclusion a couple weeks ago: Nightmare Moon never "died." Instead, her personality had been split in two by your defeat of her; one side was the Luna that we all knew and loved, and the other was her darkness at its worst. It is clear to me now that that darkness has truly corrupted her like it did a 1000 years ago, but this time, she is 10 times as evil, for all the jealousy and resentment towards me was joined by all her resentments, jealousies, and dark desires. Now she has banished us here, to the place in between teleportation, inter dimensional, and time travel."

Twilight stared off into the distance for a long time before replying. She said somberly, "Princess Celestia?"

"Yes Twilight?" Celestia asked, obviously worried that she had crushed the young mare's spirit completely.

Twilight's muscles stiffened as she asked, "Is it possible for me to see what happened the first time Luna turned into Nightmare Moon?"

Celestia thought about it for a second, realizing what Twilight had in mind, and said only, "Prepare yourself, Twilight."

Celestia closed her eyes, and then pointed toward Twilight with her horn, which began glowing a soft gold/yellow color.

"Princess Celestia?" Twilight asked nervously, unsure of her mentor's intentions. "What's going on?" Suddenly, one ray of golden light shot out of Celestia's horn and struck Twilight, the light splitting off and circling around her body. Then, the sphere of light that now encased Twilight's body imploded on itself, evaporating into the atmosphere almost immediately. When Celestia opened her eyes again, Twilight was gone. "I hope she truly understands what's happening," Celestia said softly to herself.

Twilight looked around nervously to see that she had appeared in a different location entirely. "Where am I?" she asked herself, trying to process the past few minutes. As she looked around, she realized that she was in Princess Celestia's castle. Something felt different, though. The castle seemed newer, and more plain. Twilight was trying to process everything she had just learned, when a voice snapped her back to attention: "Not another step!"

Twilight looked up to the empty throne just in time to see Princess Luna step out from behind it, her eyes blazing with pure anger. "Princess Luna!" Twilight exclaimed, nervous about being in Luna's presence after the discussion that she had with Celestia. Yet she still thought that she could talk to her. So she continued: "I don't understand. Where are we? Why did you and Celestia disappear?" Luna stared at Twilight, not acknowledging her presence, instead just glaring at her.

"Did you really think that I would sit idly while they all basked in your precious light?" She asked angrily. Something clicked in Twilight's head at that moment.

"Precious light?" she asked, her mind forming a theory of where she really was. But before she could say anything, Luna continued her rage.

"There can only be one princess in Equestria," she shouted as she stepped behind the small slate that resided in front of Celestia's throne. Engraved in it was the images of two alicorns, one with the outline of the moon, and one with the outline of the sun. "And," she continued, raising her front hooves. "That princess, will be me!!!" With that, she brought down both her hooves on the slate, crushing it and sending debris everywhere. Twilight jumped back, her wings flaring, as she attempted to use her magic to stop Luna. To her dismay, her magic wouldn't work, so her only option was to look on in terror and amazement as Luna continued her rampage. From where the slate once stood, cracks appeared on the ground, snaking up the throne and up the wall until eventually reaching the large stained-glass pane that stood above her throne, the beautiful mural depicting two alicorns raising and lowering the sun and the moon in harmony. Suddenly, the glass exploded inward, sending shards everywhere.

Luna then closed her eyes, flared her wings, began lifting herself off the ground, and soon she was hovering in front of the broken window above Twilight. Her horn began glowing dark purple, and she raised her front hooves above her head as from out of the blue, the moon began to rise, eclipsing and then completely covering the sun, casting a dark shadow over what had at one time been a beautiful day. Without warning, black fog began to gather around Luna's trembling body, and it soon encased her in a giant translucent black sphere. Twilight stared in horror as the outline of Luna's body curled up into a ball, and the sphere's color became solid, blocking out any view of Luna. Then, the sphere exploded, sending a black wave of energy back a Twilight. As the wave continued, it steadily dissolved into thin air. Twilight looked up, expecting to be hit with a wave of black energy. What she saw, was ten times worse.

Standing in front of her, her wings flared, her teeth bared, and her reptilian eyes glinting evilly in the moonlight, was Nightmare Moon. She threw back her head and began laughing maniacally. Her laugh echoed through the throne room, and continued for almost a minute. Horrified by what she had seen, Twilight looked around desperately for an escape root when her surroundings suddenly dissolved into golden-yellow light. Her surroundings then morphed completely, and she found herself back next to Princess Celestia's side, her mentor looking at her with concern.

"What did I just see?" Twilight asked tentatively, her mind still trying to process all that had just happened. Celestia put her wing over the trembling mare, and replied, "Twilight. You just witnessed the first time Luna became Nightmare Moon. You saw it from my memory from my perspective, which is why you couldn't use your magic. I had to pull you out of there for fear of what would happen to you in the events that followed."

Twilight looked up at her mentor, her mind sorting out all that had happened. She stared into the distance, trying to think of a solution to their crisis. She wanted to help Luna, for she knew that she could be saved; she could feel it in her heart, and she could see that on the inside, Luna was a good mare. She had just been corrupted, but she hadn't plunged into evil so much that she was unsalvageable. But to do that, Twilight would have to find a way out of their current predicament. After much thought, she finally came up with a solution.

"Princess Celestia," Twilight said, her body filling with confidence she hadn't felt in a while, "I have a way to get out of here!"

More to come.
-Nextstep11