Nightmare Moon found herself face-to... trunk... with the Tree of Harmony. Only moments ago had she been beaten by those commoners and their Elements, and now she was here, being judged by the source of their magic. Voices whispered in her head, belonging to those she had thought lost many ages ago. The tree began to shine brighter, illuminating the cave, and the voices spoke louder and clearer as it did. Finally, she could understand them

"Nightmare Moon! Luna Cosmosus of the Alicorn Tribe!" Six loud, distinct voices rang out, reverberating in her mind and ringing in her ears, "You have been found guilty of crimes against Harmony, and the world itself! Twice now, you have refused to allow the sun to rise, intending to cover the land in eternal night! Before even that, you harmed your sister, and killed many of your loyal subjects in your rage! And during your imprisonment, you spread horrific nightmares across the world, poisoning minds and driving creatures to madness! Through your actions, many dark, dangerous beings were brought to life, created in the images of their nightmares, driven insane by your meddling! "

When she'd been sent to the moon, she'd been angry, and bordering insane, and she lashed out and hurt as many beings as she could. The resulting nightmares drove the world into a dark age. Half of what was now down in Tarterus had been created during this time, because of her nightmares. Their insane creators, called Lunatics, thought the nightmares were visions from a god, telling them to create these creatures to plunge the world into darkness. Even now, centuries later, the land was still recovering from the creatures rampages.

"You shall be punished! Locked away around this very tree, until we deem you fit to leave! Your time on the moon had taught you NOTHING, so now you're punishment shall be more severe! We hath created a new Luna, out of the image of the pony you once were, to take your place and lead the world to prosperity whilst you're left here to rot. We had given you the chance, to escape and make up for your trangresions, and you attempted the same thing you did all those years ago. Goodbye, Luna Cosmosus, we hope you learn better this time..."

She felt herself brought up to the ceiling of the cave, well above the Tree of Harmony. She felt chains attatch to her limbs, and something apply itself to her horn, as she was chained up, and left to hang there. The Elements, while known to be artifacts of kindness and goodness, were not to be trifled with, and she was going to experience the full force of their fury. She growled and screamed, straining against the chains, cursing everyone and everything with the most vile obscieneties she could.

Hours turned into days as she continued to shout and scream, the fire of her anger never cooling. Days to weeks, and the words stopped, devolving into nothing but growls and angry looks, hatefully staring at the tree. Weeks to months, and she no longer had the strength to fight against the chains, and her voice quieted. Months to years, and the fire in her eyes went out, leaving her tired, and listless, hanging from the ceiling, unmoving, almost dead.

Every time the Elements were used, she could see the tree light up as power was drawn from it. When Discord appeared, she'd felt his prescense, but this place was uneffected. She'd seen changelings take shelter in here once, for but a few days. When Sombra had reappeared with the empire, she felt his death through the tree. The tree was powerful, and had a connection to all of equestria, and with her so close, she could feel much of it too. However, it was slowly losing it's power. The day came when the tree had to make a choice. Release it's hold on her, to hold back the seeds of Discord, or let the seeds go free, in order to keep her there.

It chose to keep her there, and for the first time in many years, she saw her sister, dragged into the cave, and trapped within the vines. She watched the Element bearers as they confronted the tree, giving back the elements, and freeing her sister, and her... doppleganger. They had not seen her, none knew she was here. She tried to call out, hoping their niave nature might work in her favour, and release her, but she could no longer talk, her throat dry, and damaged from so much screaming. They left her there in the cave, trapped.

Year had passed since her inprisonment. Magic no longer sustained her body, fur falling out and feathers turning to dust. Fat and muscles dissapeared from under her skin, and her organs ate themselves to try and sustain her. However, the Tree itself would not let her die, leaving her to constantly starve, but never die. Her anger and rage died out, though the hatred stayed, year in and year out. When the sisters and the bearers had left the cave, instead of renewed rage and hatred, she felt only hoplessness.

The Tree of Harmony was kind to those who deserved it, and beyond cruel to those who did not. When the element bearers came back, they came with strange items, which turned to keys as they brought them near, eventually unlocking the chest at the base of the tree. She felt the tree fill the six with power, and when it created the Castle. But she found she couldn't care much. her emotions were slowly dissapearing, leaving her nothing but a husk, though she still held on to her hate, and the tree continued to hold onto her.

Through time warping and changing as the timeline was screwed with, to the destruction of the changelings dark throne, she held onto her hate, the last bit of emmotion she had left, though it was slowly fading as well. Finally, after many long years, the last of her emmotions, the tiny bit of hatred dissapeared from her. And then, the chains fell away from her, and she was slowly lowered to the ground.

The elements spoke to her once again, Cold, stern voices. "...We excepted you to last longer, Nightmare, though we suppose that is a good thing. We release you now, having decided you have learned your lesson. However, should you slip up again, your next punishment shall be many worlds worse next time, and next time, you won't be released..." And with that, she was left alone, tired, emotionless, and utterly broken.

It was not for another few weeks that she could think again, thoughts slowly creeping back into her head, as magic, which had been forcibly removed from her, slowly flowed back into her, giving her feeling once more. Her eyes cracked open, looking about the cave. She saw the tree once again, and felt as if she should hate it... but she could not, she was too tired.

When she had regained enough magic, she used her horn, and slowly pulled up her body off the ground.

'... Free... I'm finally free...'

Author's Note

Rewritten to have less family and less HIM bullshit.

But is also like, alot darker now. Honestly, putting her on the moon for 1000 years is pretty cruel already. I wouldn't put it past the elements to be even worse the next time around.