Prologue
“Awake.”
The cold, desolate room was barren except for a single figure, obscured by the the thick, heavy darkness that permeated every corner.
“Come.”
Shuffling slightly, the midnight blue figure lifted its head, trying to determine the source of the noise.
“Come.”
Getting onto its four hooves, the dark figure shuffled obediently in the direction of the now discernible voice.
“Good, come to me Luna, come and break free of this millennial prison.”
Turning the corner, Luna looked up to see a small pinpoint of light shining outside the window. From the sound of the voice, she had thought the light was close, but once her eyes focused to the dark depths of the starlit space outside, she realized the glow was from much further away.
“Who are you,” she called, “What do you want with me?”
The light flickered momentarily before replying. “Dear Luna, you know who I am, and why I have come. The time has come, and I need her. Where is she?”
Recognition struck like a hammer on an anvil. Taking a step back, Luna looked uncertainly up at the light, “Surely you have not made your way back yet, we only just imprisoned you!”
A deep, malicious laughter filled her head, like hooves on a chock board, driving her down to the ground.
“No, how did you get back here so fast, how did you break free from your prison,” cried Luna.
“Break free? Dear Luna, you and your sister never imprisoned me. While it might have taken most of my power to lead you to believe you had, in reality, I never even left the planet.”
Realizing the voice was out of her head, her thoughts began to materialize coherently. Looking back at the pinpoint of light, she realized it was but a guise for the true source of power, something much darker and much more powerful then what her and Celestia had ever had a chance to deal with. Turning around to run, she ran head first into a deep, midnight blue mist.
Pain. Anger. Hate. Everything was a jumbled mess and nothing she could do would get rid of it. Striving to reach the surface of raw emotions only pushed the searing blade of hate further into her mind.
She had been imprisoned for a thousand years. Why should she be scared? Why fight it? Did she not deserve to be free? The power was coursing through her now, and it made her feel like she could accomplish anything. She was going to escape, and she was going to make the pony that put her here pay for the time stolen from her.
As the mist parted, Luna emerged, shining with a writhing black that resembled the celestial abyss of space . The previously inundating mist now seemed to emanate from her mane. Her eyes, now a serpent green, gazed with an intensity of hatred unaccustomed to the mare.
Turning back to the light, Luna dropped her front two hooves and bowed. “What is it you wish from me, master?”
“You will find the pony I am looking for, and deliver her to me. Once you have given her to me, you may be free to do as you please. Oh, and one more thing, my faithful servant; the only mare who knows this pony's whereabouts is Princess Celestia herself. I do not care how you obtain the information from her, just get it.”
With the last echo of the booming voice, a loud crack could be heard making its way through out the castle imprisonment. The crack began to fork, splitting new lines where ever it went. Soon, the stone of the castle was riddled with lines and looked to fall apart at any minute. As Luna continued looking out the window, the light began to grow bigger and brighter, until she could look no longer. A buzzing filled the air as it grew hot. More cracks began to make their way across the stone, and the burning smell of magic in the air was near overwhelming. Suddenly, everything fell silent.
Opening her eyes, Luna looked around to discover herself floating above the surface of the moon, all the magic that had kept her on the moon burned to nothing from the radiance of the stars.
Cursing to herself, Luna turned toward the planet that was home to Equestria. This was going to be fun. There was a job to do, but if done right, she would have all the time in the world to figure out where this pony was hiding. For Celestia's sake, she better not stay hidden long.
Before hurtling down to earth, the Mare in the Moon turned in the direction of the voice and raised an eye quizzically. “If I may ask, who could possibly have your attention more than my sister, the most powerful pony on the planet?”
More pain drove into her skull, and thoughts of all the time she spent alone on the moon raced through Luna's mind, playing off one another and only increasing the hatred.
“Do not worry about what I am after. Retrieve the information I want. If you do this, you may do whatever you please with your sister.” At this, the pain withdrew from Luna's mind and receded further away then it had started. With a twisted smile, Night Mare Moon turned back to face Equestria, to face her sister.
“Anything, Master Zodiac?”
“Anything.”
The Nightmare Begins
Stepping onto the field, the white mare looked into the loosely lit night sky and began to wonder; events hadn't been going quite how she expected them, but there was still a way. There was always a way. Turning back to the task at hand, Princess Celestia began to trot towards the edge of the forest.
As she approached the forest, a slight rustling to her left caught her attention. Heading in that direction, she noticed eyes peering at her from the underbrush. The princess stopped and stared for a second, trying to collect her thoughts; it was always difficult talking to this pony; if your thoughts trailed, you would forget who you were talking to.
Peering in at the deep red eyes was like diving into an ocean of the unknown; if you gazed too long, you could lose yourself. Shaking the thought from her head, the princess glanced at the pony that began to emerge from the brush. Aside from her eyes, the pony looked almost normal. The cuisse she wore on her left flank obscured most of her cutie mark, and her gray coat admitted a slight sheen under the soft light of the moon. As the pony approached, the breeze managed to crawl its fingers through her hair, making it look like snowflakes glimmering in the night air.
“Its started, hasn't it,” the pegasus asked as it stopped in front of the princess.
With a weary smile, Princess Celestia replied, “Unfortunately, yes. I can only ask you to stay hidden for now, we can not let anyone know of you, Luna would stop at nothing to get you if she knew what you were.”
The pegasus stretched her wings after being in the same spot for so long. Catching the princess's attention, the black on her wing tips glimmered slightly, resembling slivers of a starry sky on a cloudy night. The princess smiled again, “You never cease to amaze me, every time I see you, I seem to notice something new.”
The pegasus merely replied with a look of slight annoyance before trying to persuade the princess.
“Let me stay and help you. You know we can defeat the nightmare and save Luna if we work together.”
Celestia gazed down at the pony with a tired, sad expression. “I wish we could, but defeating Luna is not our job, its Twilight's. My dreams hint at a much more sinister plot behind the scenes so stay hidden for now, until we can figure out more. For now, you must stay unknown to the enemy.”
The pony glared at her before replying, “What if Twilight fails? You have so much faith in your student, if she can not discover the Elements of Harmony, then it spells the end for us all”
Glancing at the sky, Celestia merely sighed, before replying, “She will not fail. I know you are unsure Darky, you are like that with everything, its the curse of being who you are. Even you must show faith in others sometimes, its not so bad a feeling.”
At that, Princess Celestia glanced up as light filled the night sky. With a bright flash, the stars themselves began to surround the moon, their intensity growing every second. “You can not stay here any longer, you must leave this place immediately or it will be too late. When the time comes, even you will know when to act. Now go, and let no pony see you!”
Before the last word even came out of her mouth, the pegasus was already in the air, gliding as fast as possible above the forest. The Princess turned and walked away just as the light began to fade.
The nightmare begins.
Nightmare shot through the atmosphere, heading straight to the princess. From this distance, she could begin to feel all the ponies again. They reminded her of lightning bugs on a warm summer night, and her sister was the torch that attracted them all. Adjusting her direction to get a better feel of the changes she missed, several things appealed to her. First, there were more ponies now then there had ever been a thousand years ago. Secondly, There was one pony who stuck out like a sore thumb. This must be the one Zodiac was after, for the pony seemed to have an unrivaled potential. Thirdly, she was being expected.
Swooping down to an open field, Nightmare Moon landed gracefully and glanced at her sister. A thousand years and her looks hadn't changed at all. Her radiance seemed to shape her own light around her body. Her mane seemed to be any and every color all at once; as if the light was playing games in her mane and couldn't decide what it liked better. She still exuded that same arrogant confidence too.
“I see you are still angry at me, Luna,” Celestia said, “You have so much hate, what happened to you?”
Nightmare scoffed at her. “Hate? You imprisoned me for a thousand years, I don't hate you, I loathe you.”
Celestia began to trot forward, approaching Nightmare before stopping abruptly. Looking at her precariously, she spoke with a slight strain in her voice, “You aren't Luna are you, not the one I remember at least. What has tainted you, dear sister, that would change you into this nightmare. Do you truly hate me? Or is something else at play here?”
Nightmare walked forward and gazed at Celestia with a feeling of disdain that brought tears to the beautiful mare's eyes.
“Oh Luna, what happened up there, why do you have so much hate?'
Noticing the confidence Celestia exuded waiver, Nightmare leapt forward to strike. Lashing out, she sent the blue mist surrounding her mane towards the Princess. Realizing this wasn't Luna attacking her, Celestia jumped back, narrowly avoiding a blow as the mist came down like a hammer. As she turned to avoid another attack from behind, the mist changed direction and began its assault from above. Moving as quickly as she could, Celestia crouched down and spread her wings, before shooting into the air like a comet trying to make its way back to the stars. As she ascended, the mist's probing arms shot out at her, attacking from every conceivable angle. Barely able to evade the attack as it whistled around her in every direction, the princess spun around and dived back to the ground. Seeing Nightmare readying herself to strike as soon as she landed, Celestia summoned as much magic as she could and let loose a bright light. Landing on the ground next to Nightmare, she shifted her weight to her two front hooves and kicked out her back legs making contact with Nightmare's chest and sending her sprawling backwards. The onslaught of mist continued without hesitation, moving down to attack from the ground while its master tried to recover. Celestia broke out into a run, jumping as the mist made its way around her, and evading when it struck in front of her. As Celestia continued to avoid the mist, Nightmare stood up and disappeared. The mist attacked with greater ferocity, each strike getting closer to making a fatal blow. Whatever this new magic was, it didn't belong to Luna, and if she got hit by the mist, it would seriously wound her. She had to time this perfectly, or Nightmare wouldn't believe she had been truly caught.
Jumping back and spreading her wings she took flight, looking like a comet trying to return to its celestial home as the mist shot up towards her. Once she was high enough, Celestia called upon the torrent of magic flowing through her. She could feel it gathering in her horn, growing in intensity as it cried out to be released. The moment the mist realized what she was going to do, it changed motives and attacked her directly. Purely out of reflex, Celestia stopped casting the spell she was going to release and let loose a blast of pure sunlight in the direction of the mist. The night air burst to life with light, sending a searing heat in every direction. As the light began to fade and the final tendrils of magic disappeared from the night sky, Celestia gazed upon an empty field. The mist had been defeated, and Nightmare was lurking somewhere, waiting to strike.
As she flew back to the ground, something off to her left caught her attention. Using the small distraction, the midnight blue mist shot up from the ground, surrounding Celestia and encasing her in a translucent blue prison. Fearing that this was going to end badly, Celestia reached in to her reserves of magic and began to plan a new spell. As she reached out and brushed the magic, pain seared through her body as if every one of her nerves had been set on fire. As the pain receded, Nightmare appeared, “You really think you can escape sister? As long as you are surrounded by my mist, your magic is inaccessible. You fell into my trap and now you are my prisoner.”
Celestia stood, despite the pain, and gazed at Nightmare. Whoever this new Luna was, she was cunning and full of malice. Off to her left, the mist that caught her attention finished reforming, glowing slightly from the amount of magic that hit it.
“Luna, thi-” began Celestia
“SILENCE!” yelled Nightmare. “You are my prisoner, I do not care what you have to say. The only reason you are still alive is because I have something I must do before I can deal with you on my own terms. You should have hid her better, dear sister. Zodiac will be pleased I am able to deliver her this soon”
Celestia looked on in shock. “Luna, did you just say-”
“I told you to be quiet!” thundered Nightmare's voice. “My name is Nightmare! Remember that dear sister. Remember who you lost to.”
As her voice trailed off, the mist surrounded Celestia, slowly crystallizing the air around her. “Luna, I know you are there, please, you can not do what he asks!”
Knowing that the situation was more dire then her dreams had led on, Celestia relaxed and looked, truly looked, at the Nightmare. She knew Luna was still there somewhere, she could feel her. The trouble seemed to be the mist, Luna never had this kind of power before. Whatever Zodiac, if that was truly who was behind this, had created, it was able to block her ability to search for ponies. The harder she looked, the more anger and pain that seemed to pour from the mist. As the emotions threatened to consume her she realized that what she was looking for was not behind the mist, but in it. Instead of fighting the mist, she stopped and allowed it to surround her, embracing the pain that came with it. As it focused on her, she used the moment of distraction to send her thoughts careening towards the Luna she knew. All the love, care, pride, and adoration she had for her sister was shaped into a single thought and projected to Luna with as much force as she could muster. She had to awaken Luna, that was their only chance if Twilight was to stand a chance. As soon as she sent the thought out, the mist stopped and the air began to crystallize again as it proceeded to imprison her.
Nightmare laughed. “Ha! You really think you can defeat me?” Looking at Celestia, an evil smirk on her lips, she spoke once more, “I am Nightmare, Zodiac's servant! And you are mine.”
At that, the area around Celestia finished its transformation, leaving her buried in a prison of crystal and magic. As the world grew dark around the Princess, she hopped that her feelings had been enough to reach Luna. Everything else from here was up to Twilight.
Walking away from the prison she made, Nightmare turned and walked away. Deep within, a voice was crying out. Celestia was more of an annoyance then she had thought. Pushing the voice further inside, Nightmare disappeared.
