Luna's Nightmare

by Lux

Rating: everyone
Tags: Princess Celestia, Dark, Nightmare Moon, Princess Luna, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
Length: 2040

Nightmares show our worst fears. What is Luna's worst fear?

Everyone has nightmares. Some are about our worst fears coming true. Others are bad things happening to the ones we love.

Princess Luna has been freed from her nightmare come true of being Nightmare Moon. Yet even with things seemingly returning to normal, all is not right.

And some nightmares can return in unsuspecting ways...

Published 2012-04-16 10:04:00 UTC
Last updated 2012-04-16 23:02:25 UTC

Chapter 1

Luna’s Nightmare
(A My Little Pony Fanfic)

Note: My Little Pony is copyrighted by Hasbro. Any characters, places, things and events used herein are for fan fiction purposes only.

Princess Luna was sleeping in her bed one night in the castle in Cantrlot. It had been a month since she was freed from the power of Nightmare Moon using the legendary Elements of Harmony. Yet the memories of her being that wicked mare still lingered in her mind.

Suddenly her ears perked up as she thought she heard a voice. Looking around, she noticed that a window was open and a light breeze was rustling the curtain. She shrugged, satisfied at what she thought was the cause and lay back down.

She then heard the sound again, only this time it sounded clearer.
“Luuunaaa,” the voice echoed throughout the stone bedroom.

She sat up again, trying to figure out if this time that was the wind, her imagination, or if some pony was really calling to her.

“Luuunaaa,” again the voice called.

“Sister, is that you?”

“Luuunaaa,” the voice said again, as if not hearing her question but still beckoning her. She pulled back her bed sheets and got out of the bed, her hooves making a clopping sound as they hit the stone floor.

“Sis, I’m coming!” She began to walk first slowly as she shook the sleepy feeling from her body.

Her mind raced with the possibility that her sister, Princess Celestia, needed her help. Was she sick? Was she hurt? Did she have something important to tell Luna? All these possibilities ran through her mind as she opened her bedroom door with her magic and walked out. The corridor was dark save for the light of the full moon streaming through the windows outside. The place was silent save for the clopping sounds of Princess Luna’s hooves and the periodic voice saying, “Luuunaaa,” echoing the halls.

Luna tried to find where the voice was coming from. As she passed by the door of her big sister’s room, the voice, while sounding louder, seemed to be coming not from this room but another room further down the hall. Now she knew it had to be Princess Celestia’s voice as there was no other pony in this part of the castle at this late in the night.

“Sis, I’m coming. Hang on.”

She opened the door at the end of the hall and bolted in to the room. This room looked like it has been unused for a while and seemed to be now used for storage. There were several pieces of furniture, many of it covered in big white sheets that fluttered in the wind of an open window. She carefully walked around the room, trying to find the source of the voice as it seemed to have stopped the minute Luna entered the room.

Suddenly she began to hear laughter, not a happy sound of a pony having fun. It was a dark, evil laughter that gave Luna a chill in her spine.

“W-who’s there,” Luna said as she looked around.

There was something about that laughter that sounded familiar, but she could not think of how. She then suddenly felt something brush against her backside, making her let out a cry and quickly turn around. There was something shrouded in a sheet which looked like a pony. She pulled the sheet off with her magic and found that it was a statue of Princess Celestia. This gave her an idea. Using her horn she began to systematically pull the sheets off the objects around her, revealing chairs, a table, and some other items. Luna then came upon a large rectangular object that looked like a picture frame. Pulling off the sheet revealed that it not a picture but a big mirror surrounded by a gold frame.

Luna then heard the evil laughter again.

“Who are you,” the dusky princess said as she looked around where she was standing.

“What’s wrong, Princess Luna,” the evil voice finally spoke, “Do you not recognize my voice?”

“Show yourself in the name of Canterlot and Equestria!”

“Look in the mirror and see for yourself.”

Luna turned around and looked at the mirror. At first she saw only her reflection, illuminated by the moonlight which gave the room an eerie appearance. Then in front of her eyes, the image began to change, becoming distorted before finally resettling. Luna let out a gasp of surprise and fear as the new image was no longer hers. Instead it was none other than Nightmare Moon!

“Nightmare Moon,” Luna said, trying to grasp what she was seeing.

“Who did you expect to be calling you, your dear big sister, Princess Celestia?”

“You were destroyed; the ponies with the Elements of Harmony destroyed you.”

“Foolish filly! The ponies were able to banish your dark side temporarily, but I’m still inside of you like a glowing ember as I always have been. You just happened to awaken me at the right place at the right time when you began to be jealous of your sister.”

“How could you,” Luna screamed, “How could you use me like that!”

“You should be thanking me. I turned you from a weak little filly into a force to be feared. Now all of Equestria knows to respect your work.”

“I’d rather not rule than rule in the fear that you brought! Face it, I didn’t need you!”

“Oh I’d say that you were a willing host. In fact, possessing you was too easy.”

Luna grew angry at the fact that Nightmare Moon had blatantly used her for her evil means: her body, her position as royalty, her magic, everything. “Well you’ll never possess me again you wicked mare,” she screamed as she shot a blast of magic the hit the mirror directly in the center, shattering it into hundreds of tiny shards. Luna now stood back from the now mirror less frame breathing a sigh of relief and thinking that it was over. Suddenly the image of Nightmare Moon appeared in the form of a thick black fog.

“You think that destroying my reflection will really stop me? Foolish filly! You can’t kill me because I am you! And now I will show you my true power!”

Luna began to feel an all too familiar icy chill in her body. It was the same feeling she had when she became Nightmare Moon. Last time she intentionally wished to change. This time it was if her mind was split into a good side and an evil side. And now the two were vying for control over one body.

Luna desperately tried to blast her with magic, but it seemed the spells went right through her form. “Your spells are useless against me. Do you think you can defeat me when I so easily?”

Luna began to feel weaker as she kept fighting against Nightmare Moon. A seed of doubt had been planted in her mind; doubt that she could actually defeat her foe. That idea was further spread by the physical toll the wicked mare was taking on her body.

“Yes. You know it’s true,” Nightmare Moon taunted, “You know that you are too weak to defeat me.”

Luna realized that she couldn’t defeat Nightmare Moon. Her only chance was to get to her sister’s room and warm her. She tried teleporting, but it did not work. She then started running towards the door, but the door suddenly shut with a loud bang. Luna tried to open the door, both magically and physically, but it didn’t seem to budge. Worst of all, she was very weak, having difficulty walking let alone running. It seemed that Nightmare Moon was already starting to influence her body, including her magic.

“Aaww…” she heard inside her mind, “Luna was going to run to her sister, Princess Celestia, for help. Don’t worry. You’ll see here soon. In fact we’ll both see her soon."

Luna tried to fight off becoming the thing she vowed never to be again, but it was a losing battle as Luna began to feel more of Nightmare Moon’s energy inside. Luna soon then began to change. Her pelt changed from the dusky blue to a dark blue that almost looked black and her mane and tail also changed, becoming a violet hue. Her eyes became more cat-like thus completing the physical change. Luna then felt her mind becoming dark, all the evil thoughts spreading like a disease. Her magic then stopped, indicating that it was now being controlled by the wicked mare. Luna was now trapped, a prisoner in her own body, controlled by Nightmare Moon.

“So, Luna,” she heard Nightmare’s voice in her mind, “Do you like the changes I made to you?”

“They’ll know,” Luna said to the ever present darkness, “Princess Celestia will know what happened, and she will banish you yet again with the Elements of Harmony.”

“Oh I’m counting for that to happen. I’m counting on meeting those ponies of Ponyville, only this time I will destroy them one by one, starting with that student of Celestia, Twilight Sparkle. But first, I think we should now visit your sister, shall we?”

Luna helplessly watched through the eyes of Nightmare Moon as the mare proceeded down the hall towards Princess Celestia’s bedroom. Nightmare then caused the bedroom door to explode off its hinges into several wooden splinters. Luna saw Princess Celestia, her sister that she loved; awaken to the sound and the fear in her face when she saw Nightmare Moon. Luna wished she could say something, do something to warn her sister or tell her to fly away. All she could do is watch as Nightmare confronted her.

“Hello, Princess,” Nightmare Moon said menacingly, “It’s time we have a chat.”

“Luna,” Princess Celestia screamed as the wicked mare approached, “No. Luna! Luna! Luna…”

Princess Luna felt like she was shaken as she heard her name being called. She turned to see her sister standing there, looking down at her with a concerned look on her face.

“Luna? Are you ok? You’ve been screaming for several minutes.”

Luna then realized that the whole event had just been a dream. She didn’t become Nightmare Moon again, her sister was ok, and Equestria was safe.

“Oh sis, I had a dream, but it wasn’t a dream. It was…”

“A nightmare,” her sister interjected. Luna felt a shiver down her spine when her sister mentioned “nightmare.”

“Oh sis,” Luna cried, “It was horrible! I dreamed that some pony was calling to me so I went to see if it was you. Then Nightmare Moon appeared, like she was still inside me. I tried to defeat her, but she overpowered me. Then I became her again and I watched as she attacked you…”

At last Princess Luna could not take it and broke down into tears in front of her sister at the thought of becoming that wicked mare and hurting her sister again.

“Luna,” Princess Celestia said in a soft voice as she hugged her sister, “It’s ok. It was just a bad dream. Nightmare Moon has been defeated, and she will not harm you, me, or Equestria ever again.”

“Are you sure,” Luna asked.

“Yes, I’m sure.”

“I don’t want to hurt any pony ever again as Nightmare Moon.”

“Listen to me, Luna. As long as you keep the positive thoughts in your mind and push away the negative ones, I’m sure you will never even come close to being Nightmare Moon again.”

“Do you think every other pony will forgive me?”

“Yes I’m sure they will in time. Now try to go back to sleep.”

“Can you stay, sis, just for a little while?”

“Sure, Luna. Now please try to sleep.”

Luna went to sleep with the kind words of her sister in her mind. Princess Celestia faithfully stood by her bedside and waited until her sister drifted off to sleep. She hoped that these words would help give her sister the strength to defeat any nightmare she had in the future. She knew that Luna still needed more time to recover, but she knew that with their strong bond between them, they could defeat any nightmare.