Luna sighed and looked at Earth. She could very easily see Equestria, it was the largest nation on the map and therefore the largest on the world's surface. She looked around at her desolate home. This is where she had been staying for the past one thousand years, the Moon. It was a very lonely existence. She had made attempts at making imaginary friends. When she had realized that she kept making her friends either too scary or too scared, she stopped. She had simply sat and occasionally walked. For one thousand years, Luna had sat, alone. She had actually been able to dream walk, however, only in her sister's dreams. Celestia, just the name brought pain and grief to Luna. She had almost killed her sister and the nation they had ruled over. It made her cry everyday for the first two weeks after she had first been banished because of the fact that she had been banished. The other times she cried though, they were all because of the thought that, had her sister not used the Elements of Harmony on her, she would have killed, seriously damaged, or exiled her. This was not something that Luna could bear alone. She had so dearly needed Celestia. This was one of the reasons she was so eager to go home. She looked at the stars surrounding her. She had noticed four stars circling closer to her several days earlier and had assumed that this meant her sentence was nearing an end. She looked in the common spots and found them, this time much closer than when last checked. She once again sighed and spoke aloud for the first time in several years.
"Finally, almost time to go home." Her voice was raspy as was to be expected, but she had not expected it to be that raspy. She pricked her ears and noticed another set of breathing. Dismissing it as nervous jitters, Luna again spoke to herself. "What to say, what to say? I wish to be on Celestia's good side when I return but I do not know if she will accept me as her sister again." Luna shook her head in exasperation. Of course Celestia would accept her, she was her sister after all. She was not so sure, however, of the villagers' trust of her. "Maybe, I can show them that there is no reason to fear me. I have learned my lesson after all." Again, Luna heard the extra set of breathing. This time she whirled, prepared to face anything. But, nothing was there. She let out a slightly relieved, slightly shaken, sigh. She turned back around to face Earth and fell flat on her haunches letting loose a little, "Eep!" as she did so. Standing there in front of her was Nightmare Moon, her evil persona. Or at least, a shadow of her. She had never wished to see her again and therefore shouted, "You?! How dare you appear before me?! Is it not within my right to be left in peace my last days on the most peaceful place? Leave and never return!" This did not shake the apparition however, as it simply let out a low, menacing chuckle. Nightmare Moon looked Luna straight in the eyes and spoke.
"Do you even think, that I would ever let you go? Do you even think that I would set you free? If you do, I'm sad to say it simply isn't so. You'll never get away from me." Nightmare Moon advanced on Luna as she spoke, forcing Luna to scoot backwards. Luna retaliated with words of her own, having no knowledge on how to beat an alicorn spirit.
"All that you are is my reflection, I close my eyes and you disappear." Luna promptly did that, standing as she did so, and turned her back on the dark spirit. She felt the soft firmness of an astral mane that she knew all too well. It was Her's. Even though Luna could not harm or touch Nightmare Moon in anyway, it did not seem to be the same for the spirit.
"I am what you face when you look at your reflection. As long as you live I shall still be here." Nightmare Moon used her mane to grab Luna by the throat, applying enough pressure to lift her but not enough to strangle her. She forced Luna's face within biting distance of her own. Luna simply spat, which didn't affect Nightmare at all, and spoke.
"All that you are is the end of a Nightmare. All that you are is a dying scream. After tonight I shall end these demon dreams." Luna glanced at the sky, only for but a moment. Nightmare Moon noticed it anyway and followed her gaze.
"So, your sentence is almost up, is it?" Moon asked almost violently. Luna's silence seemed to answer her question for she threw Luna to the ground. "This is not a dream, my dear, and it will never end. This is the nightmare that goes on." Moon trotted over to Luna and picked her up, this time with magic. "I am here to stay, no matter what you may pretend. And, I'll flourish long after you're gone." Suddenly, a bright light flashed and Luna was gone from her grasp. Her voice rang out behind her and she whirled to face her.
"Soon, you will die and my silence will hide you. I don't need you to survive as you need me, I'll become whole as you dance with death." Luna spat and glared angrily at Nightmare Moon simply shook her head.
"Fiesty today are we? You know you can not win this, each day you feel me devour your soul." Nightmare glared back at Luna, matching her intensity. "I live inside you forever. You can never separate Luna from Night. Your fate lies with me, Luna. You know this, let me try again for you. I can make you win this time."
"No, never! You have failed once, Nightmare. I will not let you ruin my chance to coexist peacefully with ponies anymore. You need to leave." Luna replied, looking at her hooves. She wasn't showing the confidence her speech seemed to uphold. This was something that Nightmare Moon noticed as well, for she lifted Luna's chin with her mane.
"This isn't your choice anymore, Luna." Nightmare Moon seemed to grow, and her astral projection became blurred. Then, she dove at Luna, plunging into her. It wasn't painful by any means, yet it was unpleasant. Luna groaned from the suddenly nauseating feeling arising from her stomach. She fought down the urge to vomit immediately and instead focused on the sky. Her eyes searched the starry sky for a sign, any sign meant for her. Then, it hit her. The stars! They were supposed to aid in her return. Now, she has Moon inside of her though, and it seemed that she was waning. When those stars helped, it wouldn't be her they were releasing, it would be Nightmare Moon. She had one last resort.
"Can't you see it's over now? It's time to die!" Luna screamed at herself, aiming for Nightmare Moon.
"No not I, only you!" Came the reply. It came from Luna's mouth, but was Night's voice.
"If I die, you die too." Luna pleaded, hoping to reason.
"You die me, I'll be you!" Nightmare shouted.
"Curse you Night, set me free!" Luna sobbed.
"Can't you see, you are me." Night calmly replied.
"No, deep inside-" Luna started to say, but was quickly cut off by Nightmare Moon.
"I am you, you are Night!" At this moment, Luna began to transform. She was lifted into the air and a vortex of magic surrounded her.
"No, Nightmare, you take all your evil deeds and you run to Tartarus!" Luna screamed over the winds.
"I'll see you there, Luna!" Was all Moon said as the transformation was completed. In place of Luna was Nightmare Moon, standing at least two feet taller than Luna. "Interesting, this will be interesting indeed." Moon proceeded to look at the stars, then Earth, and then the stars again. She cracked an evil grin and chuckled, "It's almost time."
Author's Note
Woop! Finally finished this! Okay, so many thanks to: Dragonfoxgirl (YouTube) and ElectroKaplosion (YouTube). Both of your songs inspired this. If any of you are familiar with Dragonfoxgirl's "Confrontation" then you would know what I speak of. For those of you not, she basically made a pony version of the song with the same name from the "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" musical. Go check it out, it is REALLY good. ~ Sketch
