The Rise and Fall of Nightmare Moon

by MysteryHorseDude

Rating: everyone
Tags: Tragedy, Adventure
Length: 4467

This is my take on the origin story of Nightmare Moon

Every-pony knows the story of Nightmare Moon, but little do they know that there is a deeper origin behind this dark tale. Nightmare Moon starts out as Princess Luna, but there are some complications in her life that pushes her to the dark side.
This shows all of the hardships Princess Luna had to go through growing up, and what led her to become the wicked Nightmare Moon.
Also, I do not own the cover art, I found it on Google and DeviantArt.
Be sure to like this story, and to give a comment on it to tell me what you think so far.

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2015-11-07 00:05:18 UTC

Birth of Princess Luna

It all started before the rule of Celestia and Luna.

Before they came to Equestria, they were in a majestic place beyond Equestria called "Valla".

Valla was like Cloudsdale, only it was more beautiful, it was a large cloud-like island where there were vast structures similar to Ancient Rome in our world.

Every day, warrior ponies in Valla would compete in a competition of strength, skills, agility, and speed, in a contest called the "Hero's Tournament", and the winners would be dubbed this year's "Hero of Valla".

But we're not focused on that right now. Our story begins with the prince and princess of Valla, a married couple, both alicorns.

The husband was named "Prince Orion", he had a white coat with a golden mane and tail, and a golden short beard. He also wore a tall diamond-encrusted crown. His eyes were also the color of diamonds. His cutie mark was a yellow silhouette of an eagle.

The wife was named "Princess Alouette", a beautiful mare. She had a pink coat with a long fire-colored mane and tail, and the mane and tail were both filled with white sparkles like stars. She wore a golden crown taller than what we know as Celestia's crown, and it's the same height as Prince Orion's crown. She also had golden eye pupils. Her cutie mark was a blue silhouette of a skylark.

Prince Orion and Princess Alouette also had a first-born daughter. She was only a filly, with a flowing multicolored mane and tail, a white coat, and a cutie mark shaped like the sun. Her name was Princess Celestia.

Then one day, Princess Alouette and Prince Orion made an announcement to all of Valla, where they had some shocking news.

Princess Alouette spoke "My dearest subjects, for a long time, at least one thousand years, we have ruled the peaceful lands of Valla, and one of our researchers discovered a land without a ruler: Equestria. But we know that we cannot rule this land and that land. That's why my husband and I had a daughter, Princess Celestia. However, we now know that-"

"Uh honey" Prince Orion whispered to his wife "we need to wrap this up".

"I'm getting to it, dear" Princess Alouette said.

So Princess Alouette resumed to speak to her subjects "As I was saying, we now know that Celestia will not be able to rule Equestria on her own, not only because she's not ready yet, but she'll need some-pony to stand by her side when she rules that land. Which is why I have an announcement."

Princess Orion and Princess Alouette both paused.

Then finally, the two of them said "we're having another baby."

Then the crowd cheered.

Celestia was in the crowd.

"Oh boy" Celestia said "So I'm gonna have a sister!?"

Then, many months have passed by, and Princess Celestia was being taken care of by her foalsitter, Catrina.

Catrina is a humanoid cat-like female. She was kind and compassionate. She always loved to play with Celestia.

One day, Prince Orion and Princess Alouette came out of a hospital, levitating a basket in front of them so they can see what was inside, and it made them smile.

Meanwhile, there were strange looking creatures that resembled the Diamond Dogs. Could they be the Diamond Dogs' ancestors? Who knows.

They told each other "that must be the new baby"

"New baby means more orders"

"More orders means more trouble for us"

"We haves to take her away!"

"Raise her as our own!"

"Make her forget that she's a princess!"

So the strange creatures came, disguised in badly knitted pony costumes.

The  disguised creatures said "we are foalsitters. We can look after new baby for you."

"We take good care of it."

"We won't let nothin' bad happen to baby."

However, Prince Orion and Princess Alouette were not please with what they heard.

Prince Orion spoke to them "we sense evil in your hearts. We know that you have bad intentions for our daughter."

"Yes" Princess Alouette said "we won't let you get your claws on our foal, Diamond Dogs!"

The diamond dogs of the past took off their disguises and said "You saw through our disguises!"

"We take baby by force!"

So Princess Alouette levitated the basket towards her husband, saying "go, take our daughter, I'll hold them off."

So Prince Orion ran off with the crying infant inside the basket, and Princess Alouette fought the Diamond Dogs of the Past bravely.

Prince Orion went behind a side, and she looked at his crying daughter.

The prince shushed her daughter and comforted her, saying "it's alright, little one, don't cry."

Then the infant inside the basket stopped crying as her father was slowly rocking her basket and comforting her.

Then, Prince Orion came home, levitating the basket.

"Your majesty" Catrina said as she bowed down "You came back. How was your trip?"

"It was pleasant" Prince Orion said. "Celestia, your new sister was born today. She's in the basket."

"Daddy!" Celestia said. "Where's mommy?"

"She'll join us shortly" Prince Orion said. "Meanwhile, I'd like to meet your new sister."

So Celestia and Catrina looked inside the basket, where they saw a filly with a dark-blue coat, blue eyes, and a lighter-blue mane similar to how she appeared in the Season 1 finale.

"Her name is Princess Luna" Prince Orion said. "She's eight years younger than you."

"She looks like an angel" Catrina said.

"Luna" Celestia said.

Celestia reached her hoof out in Luna's face, and baby Luna laughed.

TO BE CONTINUED ...

Luna's Loneliness

When Luna was a baby, Celestia liked to play with Luna.

The two got along, and nothing ever happened between them.

Catrina even loved to foal-sit Celestia and Luna.

As years passed by, Celestia told Luna how great their parents are.

"Our parents told me about a land without a ruler" Celestia told Luna. "It's called Equestria. But someday, there's going to be a ruler of Equestria."

"Really?" Luna asked Celestia. "Who?"

Celestia answered "I'm gonna rule Equestria, and you're gonna be the other ruler."

"You're the best, Celestia" Luan said. "Someday, I'm gonna be just like you."

Years later, it was Princess Luna's fifth birthday.

Luna had a cake with pink frosting on it, and five lit candles.

"Make a wish" Princess Alouette told Luna "but don't tell any-pony".

So Luna closed her eyes and made a wish in her head "I wish I could be just like Celestia".

So Luna happily blew out the candles.

Prince Orion and Princess Alouette knew that both Celestia and Luna had to make some friends. So they sent the two of them to a school in Valla.

So they went to Star Swirl the Bearded's Special Unicorn School, even though they were both alicorns.

Princess Celestia got along with all of the students at the school.

However, Princess Luna didn't get along with the other ponies very well.

That's because Princess Luna was dark-looking, or so most of the other ponies thought.

The other ponies told Luna the following things:

"You know, you look dark-looking."

"We're gonna call you Dark Luna".

"Or maybe Loos-a"

"More like Depressia, you know, like the opposite of Celestia?"

"That was a terrible joke".

The other ponies shunned Luna, because they thought she looked scary looking. Other ponies thought that she looked funny looking, so they made fun of her.

Meanwhile, Luna overheard the adults talking about Princess Luna. They said that since Luna's a princess, she might go spoiled with her role and abuse her power.

Luna didn't think this was fair, especially because he didn't hear any adults talking about Celestia this way.

Luna was crying, and Celestia found her crying.

"What's wrong, Luna?" Celestia asked.

"Every-pony's so nice to you" Luna said. "But no-pony's nice to me. They all think I'm dark-looking and scary-looking, and the adults think I might grow up to be a monster. I don't like that, I don't want to be a monster."

"You're not a monster" Celestia said. "I'll never think you're a monster."

Then Celestia hugged Luna.

But later that night, Luna has been having nightmares about the mean kids calling her names and laughing at her, as well as the adult ponies shunning her.

So Luna woke up, and ran towards Celestia, who was in the same bedroom.

"Celestia" Luna said. "I had a nightmare".

"What was it about?" Celestia asked.

Tears rolled down Luna's cheeks, and she said "it was those mean kids. They kept calling me names, and the mean adults kept shunning me. This was the first nightmare I ever had all my life. Am I a monster? Am I dark or scary-looking?"

Celestia answered "It's okay, Luna. You're not a monster. You're my LSBBF".

"LSBBF?" Luna asked.

Celestia responded "it's short for Little Sister Best Friend Forever. Don't ever forget that. We'll always be best friends, and we'll always be best sisters."

"Celestia (sniff) you always make me feel better" Luna said as she hugged her older sister.

But as days passed by, the kids and adults gave Luna worse insults than before. This made Luna very upset.

Then, one day, Luna went into a forest, where she sat there, crying.

But out of nowhere, a light grey male unicorn with red eye pupils and a black mane and tail arrived and saw Luna crying. It was a colt who was at least eight years old.

"Hello?" the colt said "what's wrong?"

"Go away" Luna said.

"Why would I?" the colt asked. "I just wanna know-"

"I said Go Away!" Luna shouted.

Then Luna resumed crying.

"I can't just let her be, there's something wrong" the colt thought in his head. "Maybe if I talk to her, she'll crack."

So the colt went up to her and thought to himself "what should I say?"

The colt finally came up with what to say "my name is Grey Shade".

Luna looked at Grey Shade and asked "why did you say that?"

Grey Shade answered "I'm just trying to make conversation."

"I told you" Luna said "Go away! I want to be alone! I want to be alone! I ... I ..."

Luna broke down, crying.

"I" Luna said. "I (sniff) just want a friend. I know Celestia's my friend, but she's not enough. Every-pony keeps teasing me and calling me a scary-looking monster. I just want to be accepted as a normal pony."

"We can be friends" Grey Shade said. "You know, I was made fun of, too."

"Why would they make fun of you?" Luna asked.

"It's because my eye pupils are red, unlike other ponies' eye pupils. I don't know why, though."

"That's nothing, I was called a monster because of the way I look."

"I don't think you're a monster. You look like every other pony I've seen. I think you're ... beautiful."

Luna's eyes widened, and she blushed.

Then Luna stared into Grey Shade's face, and Grey Shade stared into her face.

Then Luna hugged Grey Shade and said "thank you, Grey Shade."

So they talked to each other about their lives.

Luna wanted to be just like Celestia.

Grey Shade wanted to be a great unicorn and spread joy throughout Valla.

"But there's another land other than Valla" Luna said. "It's a place where there is no ruler, not yet that is. It's called Equestria."

"Equestria" Grey Shade said. "That sounds like a beautiful place. I want to spread joy there, too."

"It's almost getting late" Luna said "I have to get home. You wanna come home with me? Will your parents mind?"

"I'm sure my uncle won't mind" Grey Shade answered.

"Your uncle?"

"I don't live with my mother or father, I don't even know who my parents are. I just live with my uncle. I noticed you're an alicorn, by the way, does that make you a princess?"

"Yes"

"So are you the daughter of Princess Alouette and Prince Orion?"

"Yes"

"My uncle lives five blocks away from their castle."

"Really?"

"Yeah, I'll tell him what I'm doing on the way to your place."

So Luna waled Grey Shade to her place.

Along the way, they came to Grey Shade's uncle's house. Grey Shade's uncle was a tall grey-looking unicorn with a white man named "Seros".

"Uncle Seros" Grey Shade said "This is Princess Luna, we became friends today. She's the daughter of Princess Alouette and Prince Orion."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, your majesty" Seros said. "My name is Seros".

Then Seros looked behind him and levitated a basket towards them. The basket had an infant inside. It was a darker grey unicorn colt with a black mane and green eye pupils.

"This is my son, his name is Sombra" Seros said. "He's Grey Shade's cousin."

"He's so cute" Luna said. "Anyway, I came because I was gonna ask you something."

"What's that?"

"Can Grey Shade come over to my castle for dinner?"

"Of course, anything for you, your majesty. In fact, I'll come over as well and bring Sombra, if you don't mind."

"I'm sure my mommy and daddy won't mind."

So Grey Shade, Seros, and Sombra went with Luna to her castle, where she introduced the family to her parents.

"It's such a pleasure to meet you, Seros" Prince Orion said. "You and your family are welcome to stay at our castle for dinner."

"I hope that my infant son won't bother any-pony" Seros said.

"No worries" Princess Alouette said "infants are the most innocent among ponies."

TO BE CONTINUED ...

Dinner with Grey Shade

So Luna and her parents invited Grey Shade, Seros, and Baby Sombra over for dinner.

They all ate Hay Casserole with peas, carrots, and broccoli, and glasses of the freshest water in Valla, while the infant Sombra had a bottle of milk. The dinner was prepared by Valla's best chefs, as they are willing to do anything to please the prince and princess of Valla.

So they ate their dinner, and they decided to have a dinner conversation to pass the time.

"So Grey Shade" Princess Alouette said. "What school do you go to?"

"I go to Star Swirl the Bearded's Special Unicorn School".

"Interesting" Prince Orion said "That's the same school Celestia and Luna go to. Did you see any of them."

"I did."

"Did you talk to them?"

"No, I was a bit nervous. But then I met Princess Luna in the forest, and we started talking. Then she invited me over for dinner."

"That's nice" Princess Alouette said.

Then she looked at Seros and said "So Seros, how old is Sombra?"

Seros answered "he was born two months ago."

"So he's a newborn" Prince Orion said.

"Yes" Seros responded.

"That reminds me" Princess Alouette said. "Celestia, Luna, guess who's coming over for dinner?"

"Who?" Celestia and Luna asked.

Their mother answered "Earlier, before Luna invited Grey Shade, I invited Catrina to join us for dinner."

"You mean my foalsitter?" Luna asked.

"Yes" Prince Orion answered. "She was so kind to you and Celestia that we decided to have her over for dinner."

Knock, Knock

There were two knocks on the door.

"That must be her" Princess Alouette said. "Excuse me for a moment."

So Princess Alouette got up from the table, and left to go towards the front drawbridge.

The drawbridge opened, and Catrina entered into the castle.

"Princess Alouette" Catrina said "It's so good to see you again."

"You two" said Princess Alouette. "Come inside, we have three special guests over for dinner."

So Princess Alouette took Catrina into the dining room, where she introduced Catrina to Grey Shade, Seros, and baby Sombra.

Catrina then went towards baby Sombra and said "well hello, little one."

So Catrina asked Seros "so are you the father of these two?"

Seros asked "I'm just Sombra's father, Grey Shade is my nephew."

"Please" Prince Orion said "Have a seat."

Catrina had a seat at the dining room table.

"So Catrina" Grey Shade said. "How long have you known Celestia and Luna?"

"I've known them since they were newborns."

"So anyway" Catrina told Prince Orion "I was thinking of an idea".

"Oh, do tell us".

"Well, there are problems in the kingdom, like how there's crime and bad doing."

"So what's your solution?" Princess Alouette asked.

"The solution" Catrina said "Is that I could run my own kingdom in part of Valla in peace".

Prince Orion and Princess Alouette paused in shock.

Celestia, Luna, Grey Shade, and Seros looked at the couple.

"What's wrong, mommy?" Luna asked Alouette.

"Catrina" Alouette said "you know that Valla Law forbids any non-experienced creatures to start a kingdom in Valla."

"What do you mean unexperience!?" Catrina asked. "I've been involved in this kingdom for a long time!"

"Looking after our children is not involvement"

"I mean my other job! I'm one of the captains of the royal guard!"

"Yes, but still, we don't think you're experienced with having your own kingdom."

"Guarding you with every fiber of my being counts as experience! I've watched how you looked over our kingdom!"

"It's not the matter of how good you do your job, it's the matter of how much knowledge of ruling a kingdom you need."

"Baloney" Catrina said. "If I had my own kingdom, I could prove that I could be just as good as you, maybe even better!"

"No!" Orion shouted "If you don't agree with us, then you can just leave!"

"Honey" Alouette said. "Don't say that."

Orion paused, and gathered up his thoughts.

"Alouette's right" Orion said. "I didn't mean to-"

"No" Catrina said. "I was a fool to think you'd agree with me. I've made up my mind. I'm leaving!"

"Catrina" Orion said. "It doesn't have to be like this."

"That's where you're wrong. I'm tired of playing second fiddle, tired of being in the shadow of you and your wife. I quit! I quit as foalsitter, and I quit as captain of the royal guard!"

So Catrina got up and stormed off, but Celestia and Luna chased after her.

"Catrina" Celestia and Luna said.

"Celestia, Luna, wait!" Alouette said.

"Let them go, honey" Orion told Alouette.

So Luna and Celestia caught up to Catrina.

"Catrina" Celestia said "don't go. We'll miss you."

Then Luna and Celestia looked at Catrina with sad faces.

"I know" Catrina said. "I'll miss you, too."

Then Catrina hugged both Celestia and Luna, and she walked out of the castle.

Then Celestia and Luna went back to the dining room table.

With a sad expression on her face, Luna said "she left."

"I know, sweetheart" Orion said "I know."

So Luna and Celestia hugged their parents.

"I'm sorry for the loss of your friend" Grey Shade told Celestia and Luna.

So ten years have passed since then, and Princess Luna, Princess Celestia, and Grey Shade are all grown up.. Princess Luna is now 15 years old, Princess Celestia is now 23 years old, and Grey Shade is now 18 years old, and he now has his cutie mark, which is a tornado. Also, Princess Alouette and Prince Orion now have an eight-year-old alicorn daughter named Princess Dawn, who's cutie mark looks like a pheonix. Princess Dawn has a flowing orange mane with white sparkles in it, like both Princess Alouette and Princess Luna, and she has a yellow fur coat. So Princess Dawn is now the new sister of Princess Luna and Princess Celestia.

TO BE CONTINUED ...

Abandoning Sombra

Now, Princess Luna is 15 years old, Princess Celestia is now 23 years old, and Grey Shade is 18 years old, now, and he has a tornado-shaped cutie mark that he gained, somehow, when he was thirteen. Princess Luna and Princess Celestia now have an eight-year-old alicorn sister named Princess Dawn.

So one day, Princess Luna and Princess Celestia were playing with Princess Dawn, who always loved to play with her older sisters.

Then, Grey Shade arrived.

"Hello, Princess Celestia. Hello, Princess Luna" Grey Shade said.

Luna looked at Grey Shade, smiled, and said "Grey Shade, you don't have to call us Princess Luna and Princess Celestia. We're close friends, you can just call us Luna and Celestia."

"Grey Shade" Celestia said "It's been a month since we last seen each other, how have you been?"

"I've been doing fine." Grey Shade responded.

"So Grey Shade" Celestia said "Just curious, what ever happened to your cousin, Sombra. He's probably grown by now, but we haven't seen him in a while."

"Who's Sombra?" Princess Dawn asked.

Grey Shade looked down, with a serious and upset face.

"I haven't told you" he said "have I?"

Luna and Celestia shook their heads.

So Grey Shade sighed. "Remember that day when my uncle Seros asked your parents to look after me for a week when I was eight years old?"

"Yes, I remember" Luna said.

"Well, he told me the reason why he did that."

So now a flashback begins as Grey Shade tells Luna and Celestia his story.

So Seros took his nephew, Grey Shade, home from Princess Alouette's castle.

"My nephew" Seros said "I have something to tell you."

"What's that?" Grey Shade asked.

"You may never see your cousin, Sombra, again."

"What!? Why not!?"

"I sent him away."

"What!?"

"About two weeks after Catrina fought with Princess Alouette and Prince Orion at the dinner table. I got in a fight with my own. I was eavesdropping on your aunt, who's also Sombra's mother and my wife."

So now a flashback inside of a flashback beings as Seros tells young Grey Shade his story.

Seros was walking towards Sombra's nursery, when he heard his wife talking.

He started to eavesdrop on her.

She said "yes, my son. Soon you will realize your true destiny. Oh how I've always hated Equestria, because I was exiled from it long ago. I've always wanted revenge, to return to the Crystal Empire and claim it as my own! That's when I met that fool, Seros. I tricked him into thinking we were husband and wife, and we had you, my son. Soon, you will go to the Crystal Empire located in Equestria, destroy the Crystal Heart, and release the umbrum army trapped below it! For you are not only half-unicorn on your father's side, but also half-umbrum on my side."

"Honey" Seros said as he entered. "I heard the whole thing! What is an umbrum!?"

"An umbrum" the mare said "is a living shadow. Also, I'm not the mare you think I am."

Then the mare transforms into a floating red crystal and says "I am Kreesto, a red shape-shifting crystal filled with dark magic."

"You won't get away with this!" Seros shouted "Sombra is my son, too, and I won't let this be his destiny!"

"You fool" Kreesto said "You have no control! Soon this will be his fate!"

So Kreesto shot magical beams at Seros, but Seros dodged the beams. Then she chased him outside, where they continued their fight.

The two shot magical beams at each other, but they both missed.

Until finally, Kreesto successfully shot Seros in the chest, and he was weakened.

"That's it" Kreesto said. "We're done!"

So later, Seros came into the house when Kreesto wasn't looking, and he snuck into Sombra's nursery, where he took Sombra.

Then he snuck into Grey Shade's bedroom, where he found Grey Shade already awake due to the sound of the fight. He shushed him so he wouldn't make a sound.

"Follow me" he whispered to Grey Shade.

So Seros snuck out of the house with baby Sombra and Grey Shade.

Seros took Grey Shade to Princess Alouette, where he asked her to take care of Grey Shade while he's gone. Alouette agreed to take care of Grey Shade.

So when Seros left with baby Sombra, he made a long journey to an arctic wasteland, where he met a family of Eskimo ponies.

"Sombra" Seros said to Sombra, with tears rolling down Seros' cheeks "I'm afraid this is goodbye, my son. I'm sorry to do this, but this is for the best."

So Seros went to the Eskimo ponies.

"This is my son" he said. "His name is Sombra. I'd like you to take good care of him."

"Of course, sir" the female Eskimo pony said as she took the basket carrying baby Sombra.

Then Seros left to return home.

Now the flashback inside of the flashback ends

"After that" Seros told Grey Shade "I never saw Sombra again. I told your aunt of what I did when I got back, and she left me in order to find Sombra."

Young Grey Shade stared at his uncle with tears in his eyes. Then his uncle hugged him, and he cried a little in his uncle's arms.

"Don't worry, my nephew" Seros told Grey Shade "it will be okay. Sombra's in good hooves now."

This is where the flashbacks end.

"Ever since then" present-day Grey Shade told present-day Luna and Present-day Celestia "I never saw my aunt or Sombra again."

"I'm sorry to hear that" Luna told Grey Shade.

However, little did they know that there was more to Sombra's story:

When Sombra lived with the eskimos, he was always afraid of them. He thought they were strangers, so he cowered in fear away from them, even thought they were trying to be nice to him.

One day, when he was a little older, but still a colt, he ran away from them, but they chased after him. They kept shouting "Sombra" as they chased him.

But Sombra outran them. Then he said his first word after remembering the Eskimo-ponies call his name. "Sombra."

Then, Sombra was the only word he knew how to say.

But then, Kreesto was spying on Colt Sombra, and she shape-shifted back into a normal red crystal, where she hid in the snow.

Thus the story of Sombra begins here.

Sombra would eventually be known as the evil King Sombra, the tyrannical ruler of the Crystal Empire.

TO BE CONTINUED ...

Cancellation and Rewrite

Dear Pony Fans,

I just read a review of this story, here's the link to that review:

https://www.fimfiction.net/blog/559651/requested-review-the-rise-and-fall-of-nightmare-moon

I gotta say, I'm thankful for this review, because now I know that my story has some flaws that I need to work out. But from now on, I'll focus on completely rewriting the story, and focusing further into the past to when Princess Alouette and Prince Orion met. Sorry for how some people didn't like this story, I'll try to re-write it and try to make it better.

Your buddy,

MysteryHorseDude

PS. Spoiler Alert:

Luna gets her name, Nightmare Moon, after she was shunned by ponies for how they think night is fearful, and they call her "Nightmare Moon" as an insult.