A Shadow's Return

by Bonk

Rating: teen
Tags: Princess Celestia, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Dark, Alternate Universe, Nightmare Moon, Princess Luna
Length: 1007

The Nightmare is on the rise once again, but will Celestia be able to help her sister this time?

1,000 years ago, Celestia ignored her sister's pleas of help to fight the Nightmare. Because of Celestia's carelessness and inability to help the one closest to her, Luna's inner nightmare took control and nearly plunged the world into eternal night. Celestia was able to fight back however and defeated her with the Elements of Harmony, banishing the Nightmare to the moon for 1,000 cycles, along with her sister.

With the royal wedding over and the changelings defeated, the ponies of Equestria are joyous and celebrate victory. Against all odds, Princess Cadence and Prince Armor defeated Chrysalis with the power of love, bringing any doubt of the new couple to an end. Everything's going well, with Canterlot in full swing once more and no problems presenting themselves...correct?

Not quite in Luna's case. The voices are returning, and she turns to Celestia for help once again in 1,000 years. But like before, her sister simply deems it as bad happenings and nothing else, nothing to take action against.

Will the sun goddess come through and help her sister against her own inner darkness, or will history repeat itself with more dire consequences?

Cover art by Silverlinings

Published 2014-11-01 00:40:06 UTC
Last updated 2014-11-01 00:40:06 UTC

A Shadow's Return

Celestia focused her magic and teleported to the front door of her sister's wing of the castle. Two guards stationed to the Lunar Princess's door, one unicorn and one pegasus, were surprised by the Princess's arrival, but stayed put, staying out of royal business. Celestia knocked forcefully on the door and waited, hoping to the Maker her sister would answer.

"Luna! Answer me NOW!!" Celestia screamed with her Royal Canterlot voice, causing uneasiness in the nearby guards.

No answer came. After a few moments of silence, she resorted to force and launched a beam of magic straight towards the door. Both sides of the door were shattered to pieces by the blast, revealing a room devoid of any life. The two guards were now on alert, and sprung into action.

"Majesty, what's the issue?" the unicorn guard said while preparing a sword formed of pure magic. The pegasus guard flapped upon her wings in a combat stance, prepared to intercept any would-be attackers. Celestia ignored the two however, and set her sights on the staircase across the room that led to the observatory/Luna's bedroom.

"Luna!" She called out, beginning to run towards the staircase.

Not yet, sister. Please, not yet. Celestia prayed, hoping her ignorance and foolishness hadn't caused a repeat of the nightmarish event that had plagued her dreams for a thousand years. Reaching the staircase, she called out for Luna again and began climbing, when a yell behind her and the sound of thumping caused her to turn around. She truly wished she hadn't.

The unicorn guard was against the wall with a large hole amount of blood gushing from a massive wound on the top of his head. A pool of blood was forming at his feet, slowly growing in size. Lying directly in the pool of blood was an object that was coated in the crimson liquid, with a sharp point. Another look at the corpse confirmed the guard was missing his horn.

After the examination of the fallen guard, she looked around the room for the pegasus guard but saw nothing of her. She wanted to search for her, she truly did but she needed to hurry to help her sister. With newfound sadness and will, She turned to the stairwell and began the climb to the top.

Not again, sister. It will NOT happen again.

Finally reaching the top of the spire, she emerged into her sister's beloved observatory. Telescopes lined around the outside balcony and windows, each pointed in different directions. Scrambled notes littered the floor and work desks, some crunching under the weight of the sun goddess.

"Luna? Where are you?" Celestia screamed, once again hoping to get a response. None came, the only sound being the beating of Celestia's own heart.

"Luna!" She called out, raising her voice beyond Royal Canterlot levels. She was getting racked with worry to her sister's silence, her mind racing to figure out the best thing to do in her situation. Suddenly, the sound of blowing wind filled Celestia's ear, putting her on high alert.

"Luna!" Celestia continued to call out for her sister, not knowing what else to do. She attempted to walk, but something kept her in place. After a moment of attempting to move, she couldn't move her legs or wings at all, the limbs seemingly frozen in place.

The blowing wind began to pick up, causing papers to drift off the floor and land before being picked up again by the air. The noise was rising in intensity as well, growing to the point of making thinking difficult for the white alicorn.

The wind continued to escalate in intensity for what seemed like an eternity for Celestia. The combination of the wind's own blowing and the whipping of papers around the room began to culminate in a dangerous ball of sound that Celestia found herelf in the middle of. Her eardrums began to ring from the amount of noise, and she didn't know how much more she would be able to take before serious damage began to happen.

However, just as quickly as the wind began, it stopped. Papers drifted aimlessly before landing on the floor as before, returning the room to it's original messiness. The wind itself died down abruptly, leaving Celestia's ears ringing from the punishment. The thought of permanent ear damage crossed her mind for a moment before refocusing on her current situation.

Celestia still found herself unable to move, though her horn seemed to work as it light up the room with its glow. A quick attempt at a teleportation spell however proved useless as she remained in the same place. She tried to perform a number of other spells as well, but found they all bore the same result as her teleportation spell.

She had given up on spells and started thinking of other options when a telescope fell over on the balcony from seemingly nothing. The noise and movement caught Celestia's attention and pulled her out of her thoughts.

"Hello? Luna? Are you there?" Celestia yelled, hoping someone, anyone would answer her. No answer came except the tumble of another telescope, this one inside the observatory next to the balcony entrance.

"Luna! Answer me!" Celestia was getting worried and angry at the same time. The more this went on, the more Celestia felt this was a prank of some kind. Celestia didn't want to think her sister would joke about the Nightmare, but her sister was infamous among the guards for her playful streak inside the castle. She was uptight in royal affairs, but when it came to pranks and joking, she was a little filly in Celestia's mind. Pray to the maker, she hoped that was what was happening.

That had to be what was happening. Wasn't it?

That theory was disproved as a voice spoke from behind her with the same coldness it had a thousand years ago.

"You're too late, Celestia. Once again."

Author's Note

Edited by Silverlinings.
Little Nightmare Night story. Enjoy!