What Once Was Lost...

by Night Spark

Rating: teen
Tags: Tragedy, Queen Chrysalis, Princess Celestia, Main 6, Princess Luna, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Princess Cadance, Dark
Length: 2284

Where was Luna during the attack on Canterlot? Why did she not aid her sister in protecting the city? Perhaps she was protecting other ponies... or perhaps something more sinister occurred.

Luna loved her sister. She loved Celestia more than she loved the ponies of Equestria. However the ponies denied her. They only loved her sister and when Luna attempted to remedy their blasphemy her own beloved sister cast her from the world. Celestia had made Luna's own creation her cold and dismal prison. The stars had betrayed her. After a thousand years Luna had returned and her sister's pets had forced her to "exercise" her inner demon. The notion that she was ever possessed made her wonder what sort of lies Celestia had fed to her groveling sheep.

Luna stood alone in her tower and watched Canterlot burn. The changelings were bringing so much death and chaos. The captain of the guard was defeated. Princess Cadence was weakened and frail. The elements of harmony were no longer a threat and Celestia was incapacitated. Everything was proceeding as Luna had foreseen.

Edit: I am humbled that someone would consider to do a dramatic reading for one of my fics. FimFic user joehighlord did just that for What Once was Lost. If you would like to hear this story read out loud go here.

Published 2014-03-20 20:40:01 UTC
Last updated 2014-03-20 20:40:01 UTC

What Once was Lost...

Author's Note

Hello FimFic, this is my first, 1st person fanfiction ever. This is also my submission for a competition on the group: Luna is the best pony. The prompt I chose is: what was Luna and doing during the changeling invasion?

I am very grateful to my friend Tidal and all of my prereadrers: Deep, Vixavior, Vinyl Scratch289, Cromegas_Flare, Servant of Avacyn, Surry, and Nightmare Nyx.

What Once was Lost...

What Once Was Lost:

I spent a thousand years mourning and found no virtue in it. I found no solace or resolution to our conflict. I mourned for what could have been; what I could have been...

Harmony was but in my grasp and you stole it sister. You gave into the will of lesser beings and cast me aside. I merely desired control, order. With my night I could have changed this world; no war, no fighting. Eternal bliss, progress and development without pause! An impossible dream made reality by a goddess worthy of her praise. You denied me of this.

The whole concept of will, good or ill, is irrelevant when speaking of beings such as ourselves. Our actions are not to be questioned by those who we allow to live. We are gods, my precious sister, and gods must be strong. They believe you to be the stronger one. The more beautiful and glorious. They are merely blinded by the illusion your sun casts upon them. I see through it sister. I see through your warm words and soft embraces. I see the poison in your heart; its grotesque stench still burns my lungs.

Now I wait and watch from this tower in which I have been so conveniently placed. What was your reasoning? To ease me gently back into the loving arms of our ponies? Ha! More likely your pathetic attempt to control that which can never be constrained. Remember that the darkness is the ocean in which light has the privilege in swimming. The universe is an ocean without a shore, and with no where to rest, your light will inevitably drown.

I see your precious city in flames. Your perfect little ponies now suffer. What will you do I wonder? Will you protect them? Will you smite these insects from your white city? No. Instead the moment I have desired for so long shall come to pass. The moment where your light will flicker, then die. As you lay there on the ground you must be wondering, how? How could that pest Chrysalis best you? Unfortunately the truth will only make your failure seem even more pathetic; I gave her my love. How could I not? Unlike the ponies of Equestria the changelings were suffering. Chrysalis had become so desperate that she prayed to me. She prayed to the princess of the night. She looked to me in hopes that I would not forsake her kind as your ponies did me. I told her that I would not only love her, but her children as well. I would give these disgusting and unnatural monsters my eternal love so long as they swore themselves to me. I spent my time feeding them…nurturing them. You believe they look hideous now? They were on the thread that separates life and death when I took them in.

Infiltrating Canterlot was trivial. Your guards have become invalid objects incapable of providing the basic security that is expected from them. But you didn’t care did you sister? The one power in this universe that could challenge yours was locked away, forgotten. Through our beloved niece, I was provided a perfect path towards your destruction. Of course, Cadence would never agree to harming her perfect Auntie. She is still young and knows not the history of your ascendance. This alone is the reason I allowed her to keep her life. I feel no sorrow for harming her. A creature of our quality should be more aware of her surroundings. Perhaps I can yet still teach her to be a proper goddess.

After bestowing much power unto Chrysalis I granted her the pleasure of being loved by others. First by your captain, then your guards, and then your little elements. I find it comforting knowing you loved her too. That is right Celestia. It is your very love that powered the monster which will end you. It is the love that every pony you know gives to one another. It is the love you have for your student. It is the love that the world never granted me, that now makes Canterlot suffer. I see your weak body from here sister; it pains me. It pains me at my core that I am not there at your side. To hold you and embrace as you once held me. It pains me that I cannot be the one to end you. It should be me. My eyes should meet yours as the light forever ends, and as you realize that it is me! That your sister, and not some myth, is the one who has struck you down and conquered this world! Nightmare Moon and I are one and the same!

That was always your problem, Celestia. The truth was the one sound you tuned out. Perhaps that is incorrect. Yes, you heard the truth sweet sister, but only after you had skewed it to your liking. Only after you had fed it to the maggots that grovel after you. Woe is me for my precious little Luna hath been taken by a demon. Do not hate her my little ponies! Do not shun away the sad little being that is my sister. Pity her and give her your false comforts.

Damn you, Celestia...

Pity me? Pity a goddess? They should pity themselves. The traitorous two-faced fools know not who they trifle with. How dare you attempt to mend a thousand years of pain by casting aside my actions as the sins of another being? Did no one question why poor despicable Luna was being imprisoned for the crimes of Nightmare Moon? Did no one care to question a world made by two gods and ruled only by one? Did not a single pony look to the night sky and wonder where its beauty came from? Heresy! That is what makes my soul thirst for revenge. I know destroying you will not quench this thirst for blood. When the actions of this day are complete, when the sun forever sets; so shall begin 1000 years of torment and decay for ponykind. The progress and knowledge I may have shared with them shall be bestowed upon the changelings. I will make them watch as their children decay from disease and rot in their hooves. I will make them hear the song. The song that only a mother can sing as her foal lays dead. I will make them regret turning against the night. However I must wait for the changelings to finish their task. I have been patient and allowed these insects to shame you and your followers. Such a shame it will be when a once mighty god falls prey to the maggots.

Like an eternity of water against stone they have eroded away the firm walls of this city. Like a storm they have moved with surprising haste and poured endless death upon your ponies. Yet now the queen of these monsters delays. The head is upon the block and the axe has been lifted with purpose, and she delays! Damn little insect! Even now the universe mocks me. There you lay waiting for cold sweet death and Chrysalis is savoring her actions. Now she looks up to me. For what? Approval? Though I am tempted to end her life I need her and it shames me to say so. With her unwavering loyalty I gain an army larger and more powerful than any this world has known. They are weak now but when my love nurtures them to full health they will be able to bring order upon your ponies. I will have the love of one species and the fear of another. So for now I smile at this changeling queen. For now I give her my approval. However she insists on glaring out the window like an overconfident fool… No…

Mind your surroundings. It is a lesson every living thing must eventually learn or it will perish. Our niece and your guard are about to strike. I know of the spell in which they are about to cast. While it is to weak to destroy the changelings it will be enough. Were it so easy I would kill you all. Perhaps I do not do so because I am fearful myself. I am fearful of the elements…I welcome these fears. At the very least I can say that I am not blind as you are. I see and recognize what may actually pose a threat. Unlike you I will not hide or banish such things. I will end them…in time. Priorities come first, Celestia.

There are times where I wonder why I was destined to such hatred. What actions did I commit that warranted such feelings? A millennia gives you much time to think sister. We are no longer the same, Celestia. We have both looked at that forsaken sky. The shadowy dust of old suns glowing deep inside with young light. New stars being born. Planets condensing like rain, covering themselves almost immediately in a velvet of life. When we were young, we saw a universe filled with threat and constant danger. It took the Regal Mother to teach us it was more beautiful than we could bear... Beauty second only to her own. I realize now that even our mother was susceptible to corruption. I turned away from her false truth and now all I see are the colors of nightmare. Every star turned against me.

The carefully planned day has been foiled. The spell has sent my army flying towards the Badlands. The temptation to abolish the life there is ever growing. I know not how much more failure I may be able to tolerate before killing something. It is times like these where I do not doubt she is working in your favor. In some strange and unknown way I seem to fail when my goals are in reach. I once asked why...

Why has the sum of my entire existence been defined by struggle? Why must I continue to climb a peakless mountain? We are both gods and yet I still climb to reach you sister. I climbed at the beginning, I climbed a thousand years ago, and I climb now yet you still stand in a heaven that is unreachable. I asked why when my own sister allowed our ponies to love only her and despise me. I asked why when I noticed it is you who inherited the shining beauty of our mother while I remained in shadow unseen. I asked why...and still I have no answer.

Now you stand and your ponies embrace you. They embrace their fallen god who could hardly protect them. Even when you fall from those heavens they embrace you. Failure or mistake they will stand by your side and your side alone. I can see the words come off your lips. You and all the other ponies apologize to Twilight Sparkle. You apologize to your student and show sincere regret because you were...no...you still are to blind to see the threat in front of you. I am not ashamed to tell you my feelings dear sister. I hurt upon seeing this. Seeing you apologize to your student; it twists my innards with such a force. You never showed me such sincere regret. You never showed me such care and admiration. I am your sister! Your blood! Did you truly despise me so much that you place me under a student? Even now after all that has been said and done I hold you in a place that nothing, not even the stars or our mother could take. You are the harbinger of my misery. You are warm memory from an ancient time. You are my one and only sister. So perhaps this unfortunate setback...is preferable. Perhaps I may now be able to one day hold you in my arms as you leave forever. Enjoy those kind and gentle embraces. Enjoy the laughter and love they give you. Enjoy what I have always desired and know that I envy you for it. Enjoy all that is to fade sister for I assure you a new order will consume this world.

So fades the great facade that is your power. Even these changelings recognized what you were oblivious to, sister. You are weak. Your nobility has blinded you, as ever. You meddled in the affairs of the lesser beings and in doing so have lost your control of things. You left little to chance. You turned my own stars… my own moon... against me. You allowed our creations to embrace only you. You allow them to toss away their dark goddess. But what hubris to believe you could protect your traitorous ponies from me forever. If you could not master Chrysalis, then you do not deserve your title. Soon your ascendance shall be forgotten. Soon the light will fade and the night will claim all. I was your ally, Celestia, but now I have abandoned you. It no longer matters why, for I am done with everything. If this universe will not love me then I will bend it until it does so. What once was lost has returned. I will eclipse you sister…this nightmare is now yours.