Inevitable
Celestia betrayed me.
In victory, I showed her mercy. In defeat, she attacked me with the Elements of Harmony. The weapons we had shared, half of which were rightfully mine, were turned against me.
Instead of the rainbow that had always been summoned when I wielded my Elements, the golden light of the sun shone through her tiara, although it was far stronger than I had ever seen. My eyelids were forced shut against her hateful radiance and I shielded them with my wings, but they might as well have been made of glass for all the protection they offered.
The light was accompanied by scorching heat, which assaulted every part of my body at once. I cried out as my nerves insisted that I had been set ablaze, but they did not burn out and die, nor did my muscles turn to ash. As I realized that, I clenched my jaw shut and pressed forward.
The attack was certainly an inconvenience, but my sister had clearly forgotten that the Elements of Harmony never kill. Her last-ditch attempt to deny my reign had failed. I needed only to put one hoof in front of another until I reached my battered sibling. Then I could bring an end to our fated conflict.
Despite her betrayal, there was still no need to murder Celestia. I was going to take away her power, certainly, but I wanted her to remain alive, as immortal as ever. I knew my sister would eventually join the other foalish ponies who spurned my glorious gifts of beauty and tranquility. Together, they would all bow and worship the rightful Queen of the Eternal Night. At long last, I would finally be loved as I deserved to be. The only obstacle remaining was a few short steps.
One of my hooves fell upon the earth, followed by another. The light and heat intensified as I drew nearer, but the pain it caused had joined all my other enemies in defeat. Though wracked by agony, I would not be deterred. Despite being blinded, my ears worked perfectly, and soon I stood before the source of the assault. The Elements were still emitting their dreadful shriek, but it was coming from the ground. Celestia was no longer standing.
I raised an armored hoof to vanquish my foe, but I stayed my wrath for a moment. “Hast thou any words for us ere we conclude our duel?” I asked her.
My sister’s small, raspy voice could barely be heard over the shrill roar of the weapon we once wielded together, but she spoke words I longed to hear. “I’m so sorry, my beloved sister,” she whispered to me.
My hoof pressed downward to strike the Element of Magic directly and knock it from Celestia’s head. There was no need to harm her, for she had already spoken what I believed to be words of surrender. All that remained was to stop their relentless barrage, then destroy them once and for all.
Before the blow could land, a wave of new power pushed back against me.
All at once, the ground disappeared from beneath my hooves. Wind rushed past me at an impossible speed, forcing my wings down at my sides. Then the wind was gone and the inferno of my sister’s magic was suddenly embattled by a bitter cold. As I tumbled helplessly through the void, both the flame and the frigid vacuum assailed me relentlessly, seeking dominance over my mind’s limited ability to process their distinctly different torments.
Perhaps it was minutes later, or perhaps only seconds had elapsed, but the agony abruptly ended and the light disappeared from my vision. The sound the Elements had made was gone as well. There was only silence and darkness.
I tried to look at my surroundings, but my eyes would not open. I wondered if the Elements had destroyed my eyes completely, but when I tried to feel them and check the damage, my hooves would not move either. I would have screamed, but even that was denied me.
My thoughts were as clear as ever, but I could no longer see, hear, smell, or feel the world around me. I could feel my body, but it was the wrong shape. It was round and completely rigid. I could not move a single muscle. If that was what we did to Discord, I believe I pity him now.
Soon I came to recognize the feel of my body, but I had only ever experienced it from far below. I had not been turned into a statue at all. I had become the moon. My most cherished possession had become my prison.
I will admit that despair filled my heart in those first hours. My panic had entirely robbed me of my capacity for reason. It might even have consumed my very sanity had the stillness around me not been interrupted by my sister’s magic. Her touch was gentle and apprehensive at first, but quickly became firm. Having had time to rest and recover her strength, Celestia was moving the moon and ending my dream of eternal night.
I pressed my emotions down into the depths of my consciousness and focused desperately on resisting the pull and retaining my dominance over the world, but my magic had become too weak. Though I still had a little power, my token resistance was easily overpowered by my betrayer and jailer. I soon fell over Equestria’s horizon and was released into orbit. Once it was done, I felt the magic trace itself gently across my new form one last time. If it was meant to comfort me, the effort was wasted.
I briefly considered using my small reserves of power to slow or stop my orbit, but I quickly decided that would accomplish nothing. I had been defeated. Such petty displays would not stop my sister from enforcing the oppressive cycle of day and night. It would only drain what little magic I had left.
Several cycles passed uneventfully. My moon’s orbit was inexorably sustained, and every time I was moved, the magic would linger for just a moment, stroking gently across my surface.
Though my equine form was gone, I soon discovered that I still had senses of a sort. I could clearly feel the presence of the world where the sun-loving ponies of Equestria would soon be rejoicing over my fall. In the distance, I could only feel Celestia’s beloved orb as a hazy aura , but the stars beyond it were as distinct as they had been when I could touch them and move them at will.
It was not until I had become thoroughly accustomed to my new conditions that I noticed the stars were remaining stationary.
After that first time, I did not fight against Celestia’s magic at all. There was no sense in exhausting my meager reserve in acts of useless defiance. Besides, my estranged sibling has never been a fool. I had revealed my small capability for resistance far too early, so she would be watching for it in the future. Any action I took would quickly be noticed and countered. If I wanted to escape, I either needed some resource that was beyond her sight or one that was beyond her control. There was only one thing I knew of that would suffice, but I lacked the power to establish the necessary connection.
Days became months as my orbit shifted through spring and into the shorter nights of summer. It was nearly time for one of our annual rituals, in which Celestia would renew her synchronization with her accursed sun for another year. I spent weeks pondering the implications of that ritual, as well as whether Celestia would risk connecting herself to the moon. If she did, it was likely that she would discover my idea and my only hope for escape would be dashed, but perhaps fear would keep her at bay. She could already move my moon, so why should she bother connecting herself to it—and by extension, me—more deeply?
While I was lost within my musings, my concentration shattered as I felt a torrent of magical power wash over me. I had not been taken from the sky for the morning yet. What I felt was the power of the summer solstice ritual. Unlike the magic she used to move me about, this was raw. Unclaimed. Unprocessed. Mine for the taking.
Before the wave ended, I drew in as much power as I could manage, then quickly channeled it into the nearest stars before the magic could dissipate, drawing them slightly closer to myself. Celestia responded immediately by reaching out with her magic and trying to push them back into place, but she never learned to move the stars, so her clumsy efforts were doomed to failure. Only one pony has ever possessed that divine skill, and my knowledge of the technique remains safely locked away, forever out of her reach.
A year has passed since then. I hoped for the best, but no wave of magic reached me on this solstice, nor do I expect it to ever happen again. If there is one compliment I am willing to pay Celestia, it is that she never makes the same mistake twice. It is already too late though. My connection to those stars has been established. It will take centuries to bring them close enough to absorb their power and free myself, but I can be patient.
Even if it takes a millennium, my return is inevitable, and when the endless night falls across Equestria once more, I will condemn my sister to the same miserable fate that I have suffered. She will be imprisoned within the sun, but she will lack the hope I have found, for the stars will never heed her call.
I will return. I will reclaim the victory that was stolen from me. Nightmare Moon will rise again.
And the night shall last forever.
Author's Note
This is the result of seeing one too many stories, comics, etc., where the writer/artist portrayed Luna's banishment as a thousand years of walking on the moon and kicking rocks around. That's fine for comedy, but I can't stand it when people play it straight.
