Darkness, a simple idea that gives you a not so simple feeling. Princess Celestia fond herself surrounded by it, darkness that is, though she she still felt a solid ground beneath her feet, "Where am I," She asked aloud although it was obvious she was alone, "and... what's going on?" She was answered by a sensation as if the ground was being pulled out from below her as the darkness of the room gathered itself into a singular entity, and the room was revealed to be the all too familiar throne room of her castle. The darkness had formed together into the shape of another person, the body was still jet black and it possessed dark red eyes.
The dark figure did not move only starred at Celestia with it's cold, dead, unblinking eyes. "Who are you?!" She asked, silence, unnerving silence, the longer it started at her the more she was unnerved and the more it felt like the space around her was getting tighter, "I demand you answer me!" again she was met with the same unnerving silence. The figure made it's first move and raised it's arm with a hand open and flat, it's eyes flashed and suddenly a puddle of darkness appeared below Celestia as it started raising up and engulfing her. It had started to travel up her legs, she tried to use her magic to stop it but quickly realized she was powerless to it as the darkness started to take on a the consistency of quick sand. Celestia kept fighting in vain as the dark substance continued to rise up to her torso. When suddenly the dark figure spoke out for the first time, speaking in a deep gravelly voice.
"One cannot forever conceal that which is buried deep within their own mind. Once the truth is free, your rein will end and you shall fall. The truth shall be your own undoing. You will atone for your crimes," as it's statement ended the darkness had fully swallowed Celestia now leaving her to float through an endless sea of darkness in a terrified state. She stayed there for what seemed like hours until finally the same piercing red eyes that the creature had appeared in the darkness only about a hundred times bigger and then... a laugh. Not a maniacal laugh more a slow chuckle, and it seemed to belong to whatever the eyes belonged to. Oddly, though, it wasn't the same voice as before, no this voice was a lot lower pitch and smoother. She had sworn she knew who the voice belonged to, but couldn't name that person. Then... she felt it, something started moving towards her through the darkness. She once again attempted to use her magic but still found herself powerless. She braced for whatever, or whoever, was attacking as it finally reached her.
The princess awoke with a scream. Once she had calmed down she found herself out of the dark sea and and in her sleeping chambers, "So," the princess got out of bed still trying to process the ordeal she just experienced, "it was a dream then? Odd... I don't normally have dreams, not of that intensity at least. Unless..." her thoughts were interrupted by a guard barging into her room.
"Your highness, are you alright!?" the guard asked worried, him and his partner had been stationed outside Celestia's to ensure she was safe as she slept, "We heard you scream,"
"Don't worry, I'm fine," she reassured them, "it was just a dream. Return to your post I shall be out shortly," the guard left still carrying a worried look on his face, a quick look down at herself revealed why. She was still in the same tank top and shorts she had fallen asleep in, but she was practically drenched in sweat. This warranted her to change clothing, but before she did the princess walked up to her window and pulled back the curtains to saw that sister had started lowering the moon. Celestia then raised her hand in front of her face then concentrated her mind. Her hand, as well as the horn atop her head, started glowing. She moved her hand in a rising motion causing the sun to follow the exact motion until if was at its highest point in the sky. Once she had risen the sun, she continued to her normal day starting with replacing her sweat soaked pajamas. Her normal outfit for work had her in a white tee shirt with a yellow jacket and a pair of tight blue jeans and yellow slip on shoes. After she was dressed she made her way to throne room, which is on the opposite side of the castle. Luckily this gave her time to decipher her bizarre dream. "Hmm... what could that have ment, maybe... it was a warning. If that's the case then what was It warning me of," as she continued down the corridor she turned a corner and saw her sister walking off to her own chambers to sleep through the day. Once she was near, Celestia issued a friendly, "Good morning luna," to her sister
Luna replied, yawning slightly, "Good morning Celestia," forcing the elder of the two to stop in her tracks.
Something clicked in Celestia's mind, "That laugh," she turned and saw her sister still walking, "That was... her laugh!" the same slow chuckle that she previously heard in her dreams played back in her mind. Celestia quickly turned and kept walking so luna wouldn't notice her starring weirdly at her. She kept walking and didn't stop until she had reached the solemn emptiness of her throne room. For the most part she was alone in that room, there were two guards waiting outside the main entrance of the room, but they only entered in case of an emergency. It gave her a chance to clear her head and think, "Why did I hear HER laugh in that dream? It can't just be Luna messing with me, no she didn't seem to have any involvement, or else she would have made a joke about it laughed at me. No, it had to be warning me of something, but why would it be warning me of Luna? Maybe... no that can't be happening, but... I don't see any other way. I can't believe it's wearing off already. I have to do something, but my only option would be... NO! I can't, I can't do that to her, not again. I have to, she might be planning something without my knowledge. I have to, even though I will hate myself for it," she thought more about it but still couldn't come to a conclusion, "UGH!" she yelled, "No what am I thinking,"
"Where is it?" the princess asked to no one in particular, "I coulda sworn Spike put it on this shelf, but I've looked through the whole thing and nothing," the lavender clad girl stepped off the ladder to survey the castle's library in it's entirety. She sat down on the bottom step of the ladder and admired it, "I don't know if I'll ever get used to this place, I mean the library alone is twice as big as the tree house," she once again said to no one but herself. She lost herself in her subconscious for a bit, before being pulled back to reality by her trusted assistant.
"Hey Twilight, are looking for something?" the small boy walked up to the princess with a smile upon his face.
"Oh, spike! I'm glad you're here. Have seen my copy of 'Ancient Myths, Mysteries, and Conspiracies' cause I can't find it anywhere," Twilight turned around to examine the shelf once more in hopes of finding said book.
"Oh, um, I think you lent that book to Stardust like a week ago, but what do you want that book for anyway?" the dragon leaned back against the shelf still looking at Twilight.
"Well," she hesitated slightly, "I read that book awhile back, and I faintly remember it saying something about princess Celestia being evil or something like that. I can't remember exactly what it said so I wanted to look more into it just because of how absurd it sounded," the princess laughed to herself, "Spike, remind me to ask for it back next time we see Star," she asked of her assistant.
"Oh sure," the pulled a note pad and pen the pockets of his purple hoodie, "just let me make a quick note of that and... ah jeez," he bent over in pain as a small pressure started building in his stomach.
"What's wrong Spike?" Twilight asked with concern.
"Hold on.... BURP!!" the pressure built and released from his mouth bringing a small amount of green flames with it. In the blink of an eye the flames bonded together and re-materialized into a scroll of parchment bond by a violet ribbon and the familiar Canterlot seal. Spike managed to catch it before it hit the floor, "Hey, it's a letter from the princess, you don't get any of these very often," upon closer inspection of the parchment Spike noticed something odd, "Uh... Twilight, what does it mean if there's a red line down the back of the paper?"
She responded, looking very puzzled, "Normally that means it's urgent and should be read immediately, here let me see it," Twilight took the scroll from the dragon's hand, undid the ribbon that kept it together, unraveled the parchment and read aloud the words written by Celestia:
Dear princess Twilight,
I apologize if this an inconvenience to you, but I request that you come and meet me in the Canterlot castle throne room immediately. I have something very important that I need to discuss with you and will also require your assistance with.
Sincerely yours,
Princess Celestia
P.S. please come alone as this matter only concerns you and me.
"Well... this is a bit unexpected," Twilight thought a bit and came to a decision, "Spike, cancel all my appointments for today, I need to go visit Celestia," she requested of her assistant.
"You didn't have any appointments today," he responded sarcastically
"In that case, good job Spike," the princess turned and patted him on the head, "I'll be back soon, if the others come by tell them where I went," she walked to the door leading out of the library and turned around again, "Also don't destroy anything while I'm gone,"
"Oh please," he rolled his eyes in annoyance, "like I ever actually break anything," the dragon leaned against a book shelf to his right as it cracked spilling books all over the floor. Spike looked toward the princess seeing her give a look that said "oh really", "I'll clean that up," he smiled nervously.
Celestia paced back and forth in front of her throne nervously as she kept reviewing the story in her head, adjusting it and making sure it made sense. She started just after sending the letter to Twilight and kept it up for a good half an hour until she thought it was a good enough story to fool her student or anyone for that matter, and it couldn't have happened any sooner. She looked on toward the front of the room, seeing one of the massive double doors opened letting in a girl in a lavender dress shirt and blue jeans.
"Princess!" Twilight called, running across the room, "I came as soon as I got your letter, what was so urgent," she stopped in front of her mentor looking up so as to meet her gaze.
"Princess Twilight, I'm glad you came as quickly as you did. What I wanted to discuss with is that I have reason to believe an old foe of ours might be returning soon," Celestia looked at her pupil with a look of distraught.
The young princess met her with a look much the same, "An old foe?! Who do you mean Tirek, the Changelings, Sombra!? Wait, no actually Sombra's dead," She started having a mini panic attack, but kept her cool as best she could.
The princess shook her head, "No, it's not any of them," she turned toward the window facing out towards the courtyard "You remember what happened when you first moved to ponyville correct?" Celestia had asked her pupil but ended up answering herself, "Nightmare Moon escaped her imprisonment, and you and your friends defeated her with the elements of harmony," she said solemnly.
"Of course I remember," Twilight responded, "but what does this have to do with" the girl was cut off by her mentor.
"I have a feeling that, at that time, Nightmare Moon was not fully defeated, and that she may try to arise once again," the princess had a hard time speaking those last few words.
Twilight had been completely taken aback, she couldn't believe what she had heard. That princess Luna, the person who she had helped grow away from the past and get past what she had done. Twilight thought that she was successful in helping Luna, but to hear this, there was no way she could believe it, "But princess, that's not possible!" she cried in protest, "Luna would never..." before she could argue with Celestia she was interrupted.
"IT'S NOT LUNA'S FAULT!" Celestia yelled in defense. She shook her head and quickly apologized for her outburst before continuing, "It was never Luna's fault, her and Nightmare Moon were never one in the same. Rather, Nightmare Moon was a separate entity that merely used my sister's body as a vessel in order to carry out her plans. Although who this entity is and why it wanted to destroy me I cannot say, all I know is that the elements of harmony didn't destroy her. All they did was weaken her and force her to retreat further into my sister's mind to recover energy, after recovering for about 4 years it's back to full power," it was difficult for Celestia to tell this to her student, she tried as hard as possible to keep tears from streaming down her face, but she stayed strong for her pupil.
The princess' words didn't manage to clear any of Twilight's confusion, "Huh? Do mean to tell me that my, no all of equestria's understanding of the events a thousand years ago are completely wrong!?" the young princess was feeling too many emotions, anger, confusion, fright, and a slight bit of betrayal. She waited for an answer from the princess, and for a while she didn't give one. They both stood there in silence, for what felt like hours although it was just a few seconds. Eventually Twilight did get an answer, however not from the princess.
"Of course it's wrong Twi, but not for the reasons you think," The two Princesses turned to look at the entrance to the throne room and both saw a figure leaning against the door way before standing up and walking towards them. As he walked closer they were able to make out the details of him a bit better, and saw a unicorn wearing a grey suit and tie and dark red hair hanging over his right eye.
Twilight was able to recognize him almost immediately after seeing him in ponyville multiple times, "Stardust? What are you doing here?" she asked.
Her question had gone unanswered as Celestia chimed in with a remark of her own, "If you're looking for Luna she's gone at the current moment," The princess took a more hostile tone towards Star.
"Actually Celestia, I'm not here to see Luna, I was hoping to talk with you about Luna," Stardust had walked up and stood next to Twilight with his smug face pointed straight towards Celestia, "Now if I heard correctly, you believe that Nightmare Moon may be trying to resurface?" he asked
"That is my belief, yes," Celestia's tone with Star had turned from hostile to serious.
"Now, what precautions did you take to stop this? Where is princess Luna, what have you done with her to prevent this from happening?" Stardust never broke his concentration, focused solely on Celestia, almost forgetting Twilight's presence in the room. As Celestia started at him she was growing noticeably uncomfortable and nervous, which seemed to arouse a bit of suspicion with Twilight.
What was even more suspicious was how long Celestia took to answer, for a solid three minutes they stood starring at each other, Celestia seeming almost afraid to answer the question. Eventually she bit the bullet and gave her answer, "I locked her in a prison, similar to the one Tirek had been placed in," although Celestia was trying to keep her cool, her face clearly showed how nervous she was.
Stardust, still deadlocked on Celestia now had a question directed towards the younger princess, "Twilight?" he asked. Twilight was still a bit phased by what Celestia said she did to her sister, regardless Stardust carried on with his question, "Don't you find it a bit odd that Celestia would take such drastic measures against a foe that you so easily beat more than four years ago, with magic much weaker than what you have now?"
"Well," Twilight thought for a bit, "I guess it does seem a bit strange," she looked toward the princess, sharing in her worry.
Stardust did nothing to quell this worry with his next statement, "That's because she's lying!" he proceeded to walk slowly toward her, "After all, she's been lying for a thousand years, why stop now?" his face turned from triumph to menacing.
Celestia was literally sweating buckets as she started moving away from Star, "I don't know what you're talking about," she insisted, but kept the same worried look about her.
Stardust stopped walking a short distance from Celestia and slowly raised his hand in front of his face, "I think we both know that you know exactly what I'm talking about," his hand started glowing with a grey aura as Celestia was slowly lifted off the ground. She attempted to use her own magic to counter him but found herself powerless against him.
"Star what are you doing?!" Twilight asked. She was afraid to use her own magic seeing as how Celestia was unable to do anything.
"I'm doing what's right Twilight," he responded while snapping his fingers to send a small electric shock through Celestia's body. Giving a small chuckle after hearing her cry out in pain. "Now Celestia, let's make sure your student is on the same page as us," he snapped his fingers once more, sending a greater shock through her body, "Tell her what happened a thousand years ago. If you don't I'll have to take drastic measures,"
Celestia stayed silent her face showing a mix of anger and fright, Twilight was still paralyzed with fear, and Stardust's patience was growing ever thin, "Fine, if you to refuse to cooperate..." Star's outstretched hand slowly closed into a fist, as it closed his magical grip on Celestia grew tighter, slowly crushing each part of her body, "TELL HER!" he yelled.
Twilight was horrified by this, she knew she had to stop it somehow. She charged at Star with all her might only to to pushed back, presumably by a force field he cast as it also seemed to drain a bit of her energy. Since physical and magical force weren't going to have an effect, she instead decided to try yelling, "STARDUST, PLEASE STOP!" she cried.
"I'm not gonna stop until she tells you the truth!" Star responded, his fist very nearly fully closed.
Celestia couldn't handle the pain anymore, it was getting difficult for her to breathe, she knew she was running out of time before she was completely crushed. She had to reveal the truth, even though she knew it would change Twilight's view of her forever. "Fine," she yelled "I'll tell her," at these words Stardust reopened his hand, loosening his grip.
"Good," Stardust said "Now tell her the truth about Nightmare Moon," using his free hand he pointed toward Twilight, "Tell her about your lies,".
Celestia took a deep breath and began, "Nightmare Moon never existed, or at she was never supposed to. Luna never turned on me, and she was never possessed by an evil entity," she slowed down a tad, nervous of what she was about to say, "On that night, a thousand years ago, I attacked Luna, unprovoked, once I was able to get her down, out of pure rage, I used the elements of harmony to seal her in the moon, as well as alter her memory to make her believe that she had tried to plunge the world into an endless night. The same lie I ended up telling to all of equestria. In reality Luna is not the evil one, I am,"
