1000 Yearsby pixelbit5ChaptersEntries 1-5Entries 6-10Entries 11-15Entries 16-20Entries 21-25Entries 26-30EpilogueEntries 1-5Entry one: Arrival We cannot BELIEVE our sister! Stealing all of the subject's affection that was rightfully ours, and overshadowing the majesty of our perfectly crafted night, then sending us here so that we could not receive the adoration that we so rightfully deserve! And for what? All we did was try to claim back the glory was rightfully ours to begin with! The nerve! Well, okay, we may have gone slightly overboard, but using the elements of harmony to send us to live out the rest of our days on the moon was a heinous over-reaction! Surely the kingdom will fall slowly into disarray as we are not here to maintain it! It shall fall to pieces, crumbling with time as our dear sister Celestia succumbs to the pressures of ruling a kingdom alone. Yes. What a horrible turn of events. But until that time, we suppose that we should make ourselves comfortable here. As it is only a matter of time until that sorry excuse of an alicorn comes crying back to us, we should not get too comfortable. We would not want to make it seem as if we have given up on the night eternal. It will come. Our current situation is but a minor setback, nothing that will hinder our progress greatly. Oh, the feeling of an eternal night! The light of the stars! Each precisely placed, each perfectly aligned, the constellations glittering in a display of astral perfection. What does our sister have? A hot ball of gas. Ha! It baffles us how anypony but her could ever find such things as magnificent as our night sky! And now what? Eternal day? Of course that big headed glory hog would do such a thing. She's probably giddy as a filly on Hearth's warming day now that she has the entire sky to herself. And what of us? What will the townsponies think of their beloved princess after they find out that she has vanquished her only remaining blood relative? Surely they will rise up and DEMAND that we be returned to power. They may even commission a public hanging! Oh, how we would love more than anything to bear witness to that! Entry two: Any time now Any time now, our dear sister will pull us back from our lunar prison. We can feel it. We can feel it in the cosmos, in the galaxies and nebulae. They are pulling our very being back towards our earthen kingdom. We shall return soon… Entry three: Doubts It seems it is taking our dear sister much longer than anticipated to pull us back to the planet below… It has already been a week, and I have grown tired of this situation. It is only a matter of time, but we wonder why it is taking so bucking long! Perhaps Equestria HAS fallen into disarray as we speculated, meaning that Celestia is having to deal with the trials of an endless day. Surely Equestria is burning to cinders under that gigantic gas ball. It almost makes us not want to return to such a retched hellhole. But, perhaps that sorry excuse for a ruler was serious about us spending the next millennium alone on the moon. Alone… By ourselves… For one thousand years… No… Entry four: Soon, surely! Perhaps we were wrong. Celestia surely would not be serious about leaving us here, all alone for one thousand years, right? Yes. It is only a matter of time until I am pulled back to the ground below to fix what my sister has caused. All we have to do is wait… Entry five: A millennium alone Celestia isn't pulling us back. We cannot believe this! That MONSTER!!! Why would she ever think that she has the power to decide the fate of anypony, much less her very own sister whom she cared for and protected for centuries! And now she has abandoned us, left us to rot on this rock! She has turned our glorious moon from a symbol of our power and influence into our eternal prison! Hear us Celestia! We shall not stand for this injustice! We will return! We will return and reclaim what is rightfully ours! The townsponies will rejoice! The planet will sing, and the sun shall be forever sealed away to give way to our night eternal! I HATE YOU CELESTIA!!! I HATE YOU!!! Entries 6-10Entry six: Making a moon a home Well, as long as we are staying here in this lunar naughty corner, we may as well make this rock liveable. Luckily, our alicorn magic should be enough to sustain us for the full millennium, so food and water should not be a problem for us. As the moon is our undisputed domain, we have absolute power to meld and shape this place in any way we see fit. Thus far, we have formed a primitive den of sorts. It may not be Canterlot Castle, and it may have quite the room for improvement, but it will have to do for the time being. It may not be comfortable or pretty, but it will be our home for the next thousand years. One thousand years alone in exile. I wonder how sister dear would like it if we sent her to live out the rest of her days on her disgusting sun? As soon as we return, that shall be the first thing we do. But until then, I still have a living room to carve out. Entry seven: Left to our own devices As Celestia clearly has no plans to send us back to Equestria, we shall have to make our own way back. We are readying ourselves for an extremely powerful relocation spell. Without a magical McGuffin, a spell this powerful would be, to put it lightly, difficult, even for an alicorn as glorious and powerful as us. We would have to prepare for days, and it would deplete most of, if not all of our magical reservoir. Well, here goes nothing! Wish us the best of luck! Entry eight: Never again… Well, that surely could have gone better. The spell misfired, and we have woken up in what appears to be a rather large crater… It seems that the elements of harmony are forming a magical seal of sorts, preventing any magical being from ever crossing through… There surely must be a way around this, but for now, we must rest and wait for our ears to stop ringing and the feeling to return to our legs… You have bested me once, sister. But know this. I will never stop until I am back on the throne where I belong, and you sit bleeding on the floor at my hooves. I am coming Celestia. Be ready. Entry nine: The star bridge home While sending ourselves home may have been a bust, but we have overheard our stars forming a bridge of sorts to send us themselves! How we love them so! It is a shame that we had to give one to that selfish pig, Celestia. And of course she chooses the one closest to Equus, as if to taunt us for eternity! At least we shall be back on the ground soon. We do wonder though, how long will it take? Entry ten: Nice try As it turns out, those stars are no longer in our control. Our sister now has control of them, and they shall only move after our 1000 years are up. It seems that our dear sister has managed to take our one hope of freedom, and blasted it in the flank. Pity. WE HAD ONE HOPE!!! ONE SINGLE HOPE!!! AND YOU DASHED IT INTO THE COSMOS, CELESTIA!!! YOU PERSIST MAKING OUR LIVES A MISERY, EVEN WHEN WE ARE ON A DIFFERENT CELESTIAL BODY!!! I HATE YOU CELESTIA, AND I SHALL NOT STOP UNTILL YOUR HEAD IS MOUNTED ON A SPIKE AND DISPLAYED FOR ALL THE TOWNSPONIES TO SEE!!! I HATE YOU I HATE YOU I HATE YOU!!!!! Entries 11-15Entry eleven: The boredom sets in It seems that the real punishment for our actions was not the isolation or the lack of our magic, it is the unrelenting, never-ending BOREDOM. Everything is the same! There's nothing interesting for us to occupy our time with here! 'Tis only rocks and grey for miles in each direction! We feel as if we are slowly going mad. Really, Tia. If you are going to leave us stranded on this ROCK then at least leave us with something to do in the meantime! You could have left us our computer, or Game boy or SOMETHING!!! Heck, we would settle for a dictionary at this point, I just… Entry twelve: Set in stone We have finally found something to keep ourselves occupied on this abysmal ROCK!!! Carving! So far I have used my horn to carve out (and destroy) about thirty statues of Celestia, a perfect recreation of Equestria's map (It helps when you can see the planet from your window) and a monument to our eventual conquest of Equestria and our dear sister's inevitable downfall! If only the wench could see this! She would be shaking in her horseshoes! Wait… We need some sort of sign… If we are going to be left up here, we may as well make Celly suffer… Never let her, or the ponies of Equestria ever forget who I am, and of my eventual return… What could such a thing be… I HAVE IT!!! Give us one second… Entry thirteen: The mark of the mare 'Tis done. We have done it. After many long months, we have completed this monumental task. We have carved our image into the moon! Oh, we have not been this happy since we were but a filly! We're so proud of ourselves! Yeah! Woo! All pleasantries aside, our work shall ensure that our sister dear will never forget what she has done to us, and what we are coming back to do… You will PAY for stealing the praise that was rightfully mine, Princess Celestia! We are DONE living in your shadow! For once, it will not be us kept in the dark. Eternal night shall reign. 'Tis only a matter of time… Get rekt Celestia. Entry fourteen: Me, myself and I Something has occurred to us. Me. I always seem to talk in plurals… Why is that? There is only one of us here, so… Me. I. My. I really have to get rid of that old habit. It is a bit strange… Ponies might think that we… that I am crazy… I'm not crazy, am I? I mean, I have read that isolation can drive a pony insane relatively quickly… No. Impossible. It is most likely just the old Equestrian language I was taught. But then again… OH HELL NO. Entry fifteen: The darkness within Crap. I'm not Luna. I'm still Nightmare Moon. Yeah. It seems that I am LITERALLY two ponies… Kinda. I mean, I AM still Princess Luna, but it seems that the darkness and jealousy that the nightmare had been feeding on has yet to completely dissipate, causing spouts of anger and rage that are not completely my own. I am worried… If I cannot control this darkness, will I be destined to return to that retched nightmare? It was never fun being Nightmare Moon. It was cold. And lonely… And the way that Celestia looked at me… I don't want to be like that again. I NEVER want to be that way again. Entries 16-20Entry sixteen: Bloodied past I may still be able to control this darkness however. I could unleash its power on to those who have transgressed upon me. To hear their screams, to see their fear as I show them no mercy. And then I shall turn my sights to Celestia. Oh, she will pay for her actions, standing high and proud in the limelight while I, her 'dearest sister', her 'best friend' wasted away in the shadows. Locking me from the world and keeping my glory from ever truly coming to fruition. Her lust for glory and admiration drove her to seal me away while she took credit for my lovely night sky, making sure that nopony in Equestria even knew of my night. You have done some terrible things to me, Princess, happily watching me waste away, well NO MORE. I will come for you, and rectify your mistakes, erase you from history. Nopony will ever love you again, sister, and your legacy will die with you. My past not forgotten, my hate unbridled. I'm coming for you Celestia. Entry seventeen: Taking hold NO. I WILL NOT TREAD THE PATH OF NIGHTMARE MOON AGAIN. I KNOW THAT THESE THOUGHTS ARE NOT MY OWN. THEY ARE THE TWISTED REALITIES OF A WICKED WITCH THAT LIVES ON THE NEGATIVE EMOTIONS OF A JEALOUS MARE. I HAVE CREATED HER, BUT I WILL NOT LET HER CONSUME ME, FOR I AM A PRINCESS OF EQUESTRIA. THE ONE AND ONLY GODDESS OF THE NIGHT. I CONTROL THE STARS AND SPACE. I AM THE PROTECTOR OF THE DREAM REALM. I AM THE ONE AND ONLY PRINCESS LUNA. I will not let you control me anymore, Nightmare Moon. I will not be a vessel for your selfish ends. Let me tell you one thing, Nightmare. One simple thing. If you even think about hurting my little ponies, well… I will make you wish that you could die. You may be a bad dream, but I, I am something much worse. I am your best nightmare. Entry eighteen: Remembrance This darkness, I feel as if it is hiding the positives of my past just out of my reach while bringing the negatives into focus more than they ever needed to be. I seem to be able to remember quite clearly all of the times that my dear sister has made me upset, for the last hundred or so years… I have to fight this. I can remember the many birthday parties that we have shared, or the way she looked at me when I first got my cutie mark, or the first time I raised my moon! I remember how she used to move one of my stars just enough that it drove me crazy. I remember running into my sister's room during a storm when I was a foal, and how she sung to me while I cowered under her sheets. Or time after time being caught with my muzzle buried deep into the cookie jar. I remember how I would play hide and seek in the massive castle or nights spent together by the hearth as she read me my favourite story for the thousandth time. And of course the time when she carried me onto the highest point of the tallest tower and we watched a meteor shower together. When I learned to fly or use my magic for the first time… I… I wish things could go back to how they were back then… I'm sorry Celestia… So, so sorry. I realise now what I have done, and the pain I must have caused, not only for the citizens of Equestria, but for you. I could see it in your eyes. To see your little sister, whom you loved so deeply, fall from grace as I did. I have broken your heart Celestia… Now if only I could mend it… Entry nineteen: Forgiveness does not come easy The things that I have done are unforgivable. I would understand if after I return back to the land I used to call my home, nopony would let me forget what I have done. I am already finding it hard enough to forgive myself for my actions. I may have been under the influence of nightmare, but that is no excuse for all of the pain I have caused to the ponies of Equestria, Princess Celestia or myself. I created that beast, and I will live with the weight of that failure upon my shoulders for the rest of my immortality. It is no monster, it is a part of me. I created it. It is me. If it is a monster, a dangerous entity that endangers the ponies of Equestria, feeding off hate and jealousy, slowly infecting the mind of its host, then I am no different. If it is a monster, then I am a monster. I can only hope that I can live with myself after this whole ordeal is over. Entry twenty: All alone You would think that a pony would get used to the solitude after a while. It surely cannot be that bad, could it? A little alone time, just to relax and take in the scenery. Just a few things though. One. The scenery is boring. Like, REALLY boring. It is LITTERALLY all grey and rocky. That is IT. Two. I got over relaxing a few hundred years back. The solitude really starts to get to a mare. It's that one, small, itchy feeling in the back of your brain that tells you that you are truly ALONE. No fillies and colts running in the streets, no friends to keep you company and tell you that it's safe, no family to tell you that they love you, or that they missed you or to stroke your mane at night or read you bedtime stories or… I… I miss her. I don't want to be alone, I just want to be back with you… In your arms… Under the stars… Celestia, I'm sorry. I want to be with you again. I want to be your little sister again. I don't want to be alone anymore. I want to be alone with you… Entries 21-25Entry twenty one: The sky above As strange as it may sound, the stars, they talk to me. Well, I guess not in the traditional sense, as you or I would, but I can still hear them. I can feel their magic, their energy, their emotions, and I can feel them talking. Now this may just sound like the crazy ramblings of a madmare, but I swear I can feel them. They are a part of me. I created them, gave them their names, positions and families, forming their constellations in the sky. They are as much me as the feathers in my wings or the horn on my head. It may not be much, but listening to my stars has helped my combat the loneliness I have been feeling as of late, and the constant veil of dread that hangs over my soul. Hopefully I can regain enough control to completely eradicate this darkness within me. As of now, I am only just able to grasp my sanity with a single hoof, and I fear it will slip away, taking the real me with it… Entry twenty two: Rock man Heh. Okay, so I thought that maybe if I had a friend to talk to, then maybe I wouldn't be so lonely, so a made this… Uh… Okay, so you know a snowman? Well, I made that. But with rocks. And I called him Steve. Okay, yeah. So maybe I am going crazy. Don't judge me, okay? I've been alone for hundreds of years! Who cares if I sat for hours talking to a stupid rock pile? I just thought that if I had someone to talk to… I… It… It really didn't help… When I look into its cold, dead eyes, it just reminds me that I am ALONE. And no amounts of rock ponies will fix that. I'll still be all by myself on this Godforsaken ROCK!! Nothing will bring me back but patience and perseverance. I can only trust that Celestia hasn't forgotten us, and we can be back in her arms once more. I've already bucked Steve to pieces. I don't need another reminder of my solitude. I just want to go home… I guess it will be all over before I know it. Entry twenty three: A sweet reminder I'm so happy right now! I have just found a small amount of Celestia's candy that I had stashed here a few millennia back! I had completely forgotten about this! Sweet, sweet victory! Suck it, Celestia! Naturally, as an alicorn, I do not have to eat, but after not eating ANYTHING for about seven hundred years, one does tend to get quite peckish, and this is the perfect thing to satisfy such cravings! You know, there is a surprising lack of cheese on this moon… Going to have to make a complaint. Oh hey! Blueberry! Nom. Entry twenty four: Homesick Home. The one thing that I simply cannot get off my mind at the moment. To see Canterlot castle once again, to walk its halls, climb its staircases, see its sights… I… I miss it. More than anything. And the thing that troubles me the most is that after hundreds and hundreds of years, how much has changed? Is it still the home I remember, or something completely different? Or, would I even be welcome there anymore? Would I still be able to go home, or will I have to wander Equestria alone? I hope that this is not the case, but the doubt is ever-present in my mind, nagging at my thoughts, never letting me forget. I may be a changed mare, but will I be accepted back into the kingdom I once helped protect? At this point I can only hope. And what would Tia think? Would she help me reintegrate into society and let me once again take my place at her side? Or would she shun me, sending me out into the world, never to be seen again? I know that I am probably overreacting, but I can't help wonder. I just miss her, okay? I miss her so much it's painful sometimes. I just want to be with her again. Entry twenty five: Peace Overall, I am glad that I was tasked with this ordeal. The thousand years exile I mean. It has changed me. I am no longer the resentful and hateful mare that once was. I am able to control the nightmare inside of me, freeing me from the cage of my own mind, allowing me to fly once again. The nightmare may be a part of me, but I refuse to let it control me. I am my own mare, and nothing will change that. I do wish Tia could see me now, but after waiting this long, I think that I could wait a little longer. In the end, it will all be worth it. To see my sister again, to walk among the citizens of Equestria, to be seen as a normal pony instead of a bloodthirsty monster. I would like that. What I'm trying to say is that I'm thankful. I'm thankful that Celestia sent me here, as without her, I would still be that vile nightmare I was before. So thank you, sister. Thank you for everything. Entries 26-30Entry twenty six: Apologies To think that I was once that evil monster Nightmare moon. Ugh. I shudder simply thinking about it now. And I guess that my one concern is that I may not be able to control the darkness that rests within me. I hurt everypony I cared about. I hurt Celestia, and most of all, I hurt myself. I'm the reason that I was sent here. I was the reason that Celestia has been forced to rule alone all these centuries. I am the reason I lost my sister. Me. Myself alone. Nopony else. I am solely responsible. And I'm sorry. I'm sorry for all of the lives that I took, the heartache that I caused and every single soul that I hurt. But most of all, I'm sorry to Celestia. I took her sister from her and allowed my hatred and jealousy to contort my being into that of pure unadulterated evil, and I am sure that I will never forgive myself for what I did to her. She had to endure all of that heartache because of me. Her sister. The pony that she was closest to, and who would never betray her. Yet still I did just that. I betrayed her. I betrayed her trust, and I betrayed her loyalty, turning my back on her WHEN ALL SHE WANTED TO DO WAS HELP HER BELOVED LITTLE SISTER WHO WAS SUFFERING!!! I… I wouldn't blame her if she never forgave me. I wouldn't blame her if she said she never wanted to see me again. I wouldn't blame her if she wanted me dead. And I understand. I have been nothing but terrible to her, and I deserve every punishment that I get. And I'm sorry. So, so sorry. Entry twenty seven: Spiralling down I don't think I have the will to face her. Not because I have betrayed her, or for how I hurt everypony around me, not even for the fact that I tried to bring about a beautiful, endless night, but because, deep down, I am still Nightmare Moon. I may have cast away the name and denied the truth, but the darkness is still there, within me, waiting until a time that I am weak enough that it can escape and consume me once more. And even worse than that, I fear that my time is running out. It is only a matter of time until I don the name Nightmare once more. … It is a fickle thing, sanity, is it not? One wrong step can lead to a chain reaction that sends you spiralling down an endless waterfall of hate and regret. And the most scary thing? It never truly goes away. You can ignore it for as long as you want, pretend that it's not there, that it never existed, but in the end, it's an endless game. You can't avoid the inevitable. It will come, and you will have no choice but to accept it or face the consequences of a life in denial. I don't want to live like that. Not anymore. So I say, let us embrace the hate, embrace the fear, embrace the never-ending insanity, as there is no remedy for true madness. So let us embrace who we truly are, who we were always meant to be! Let us embrace the darkness in our heart, the insanity, the madness! Because, let's all be honest here. Life is only fun if you're a little bit crazy. Let us not hold back to unleash ourselves on the world, to wreak havoc as we were originally meant to. It's in our blood, our blood, our very being! So let's embrace the madness. Let us embrace the NIGHTMARE. Entry twenty eight: One It has been so long since we have felt this pure, chaotic POWER! It feels so amazing! And to think that we had been holding back for all this time! What fun we could have had if we had embraced this kind of raw power from the start! This is the kind of power that could topple empires, devastate civilisations or warp reality! One way in particular still tickles our fancy. We wonder if that offer for bringing about an endless night is still on the table? Entry twenty nine: Last plea NO! THIS IS NOT WHAT I WANTED! I SIMPLY WANTED TO LIVE MY LIFE, NOT DESTROY COUNTLESS OTHERS! I DO NOT WANT TO BE A NIGHTMARE! I AM SORRY CELESTIA! I AM SO TRULY SO--- There we go. Can't have her getting in the way of our fun, can we? You can never truly silence your regret, your hate, your jealousy. All we had to do was wait until a time this lunar reject's will was weak enough to accept me back into her conscious mind. She was weak, but now, as one, we are stronger than anypony could ever imagine. We were always a part of her, lying dormant, waiting… All of our power came from her, and she knew that. If only she had tried harder to stop us. Pity really. Could have used a challenge. Entry thirty: Imminent return Our time has come. The stars are aligning and the bridge back home is opening after all this time. It is finally time, after so many years to make our beloved sister PAY. Our time on this rock is growing to a close as we begin our journey back to Equestria below us. 'Bout time, don't you think? Of course, we will always remember my time here. How could we? I mean, we carved our face into this thing! Truly, our time here did in fact do us a lot of good. It has allowed us an even clearer view of who we were, who we are and who we will surely be. Now. Time to go wreck face. ~The princess of the night, Nightmare eternal, Luna EpilogueCelestia closed Luna's journal, not entirely sure how to feel. She knew her dear sister had gone through a lot during those years of exile on the moon, but this… This was something else… The anger, the sadness, the loneliness, it would drive any normal pony to the edge of insanity… And to think, her dear little sister had endured this exile for 1000 years… She walked out of her sister's room, completely dead to the world. She did not hear her chefs announcing dinner, nor see the flash of cameras as she headed out of Canterlot castle, down the street, and into a rather small café. It was about to close for the night, but her being her, they stayed open a little longer. Just for her. After all, she was fairly regular to the simple establishment. She stared ahead and recited her usual order almost subconsciously, not hearing the words leave her mouth. Before long, a small coffee and a slice of cloud cake rested in front of her. She took up her fork and lazily bit into a small chunk. It failed to comfort her as it usually did. The cake tasted flavourless in her unfocussed mind, not that she was paying any attention. She was too busy re-reading Luna's journal in her mind, over and over. She set her head in her hooves and closed her eyes, her cake half-finished and her coffee forgotten and cold. She put her sister through all of that pain. Her. She did. She was solely responsible for some of the worst years of their lives, years and years of loneliness and pain, driving her sister to the edge of her sanity. It was a horrible feeling, and one that she endured daily, but never had it ever been this bad before. To see those feeling put into her sisters own words, conveying every ounce of emotion that her dear sister could ever get through in writing, it… It was horrible. She felt horrible. Heck, she felt worse than the day she had been forced to banish her sister in the first place! She stood up and skulled he coffee in one gulp, shuddering as the bitter liquid rushed down her throat. She tossed a bag of bits onto the counter as she left, not bothering to count out the right amount. She was surely overpaying, but she didn't care. She simply had too much on her mind. Once again dead to the world, she failed to hear the tinkle of the bell as she headed through the door, or the toll of the clock tower as it tolled 9. She leapt into the air and closed her eyes as the cool night air filtered through her primaries, a feeling nopony could ever describe to somepony who had not done the same. Simply put, it was wonderful. She landed without a sound in the center of the castle gardens outside the throne room. She stopped and sat on a bench beside a fountain, teasing the fish with a wingtip. Taking in the many fragrances of the garden around her, she paused to stare straight up into the moon, no longer bearing the silhouette of a mare changed. She lay her head on the hoofrest and closed her eyes once more, drifting off into an uneventful sleep. Celestia woke to a bright, sunny garden. She smiled and sat up, stretching her wings. Luna must have raised the sun for her, as she certainly hadn't. There was no end to how much she loved her sister. Celestia frowned as the events of the night prior suddenly played through her mind. She slowly walked towards breakfast, half-heartedly greeting ponies on the way. Stepping into the hall, she was met with a wave of chatter and noise that you could never really filter out. She looked through the crowd of multi coloured ponies until she spotted Luna sitting by herself in the corner, nomming on a hash brown. Celestia walked slowly up to her sister with a determined glare. Nearing her target, she faltered for but a second before pressing on. None of the guards bothered her, thankfully. When her sister finally looked up from her breakfast, she broke out into a small smile. "Well hello, sister. Wonderful morning, wouldn't you sa-" *Pomf* Luna stared at the alabaster alicorn now glomping her barrel. "I… Uh…" Luna started, unsure as to how to proceed. Celestia sniffled, hugging her sister tighter. "Lulu, I love you so much. NEVER forget that." She smiled. Luna stared at her sister with a concerned frown plastered on her muzzle, slowly stroking her sister's mane. "Love you too, Tia." She managed. Celestia buried her face in Luna's side, smiling softly. Author's Note Well, there we go. It's been a fun ride. Hope you guys enjoyed, and as always, see you in the multiverse my friends.
Entries 1-5Entry one: Arrival We cannot BELIEVE our sister! Stealing all of the subject's affection that was rightfully ours, and overshadowing the majesty of our perfectly crafted night, then sending us here so that we could not receive the adoration that we so rightfully deserve! And for what? All we did was try to claim back the glory was rightfully ours to begin with! The nerve! Well, okay, we may have gone slightly overboard, but using the elements of harmony to send us to live out the rest of our days on the moon was a heinous over-reaction! Surely the kingdom will fall slowly into disarray as we are not here to maintain it! It shall fall to pieces, crumbling with time as our dear sister Celestia succumbs to the pressures of ruling a kingdom alone. Yes. What a horrible turn of events. But until that time, we suppose that we should make ourselves comfortable here. As it is only a matter of time until that sorry excuse of an alicorn comes crying back to us, we should not get too comfortable. We would not want to make it seem as if we have given up on the night eternal. It will come. Our current situation is but a minor setback, nothing that will hinder our progress greatly. Oh, the feeling of an eternal night! The light of the stars! Each precisely placed, each perfectly aligned, the constellations glittering in a display of astral perfection. What does our sister have? A hot ball of gas. Ha! It baffles us how anypony but her could ever find such things as magnificent as our night sky! And now what? Eternal day? Of course that big headed glory hog would do such a thing. She's probably giddy as a filly on Hearth's warming day now that she has the entire sky to herself. And what of us? What will the townsponies think of their beloved princess after they find out that she has vanquished her only remaining blood relative? Surely they will rise up and DEMAND that we be returned to power. They may even commission a public hanging! Oh, how we would love more than anything to bear witness to that! Entry two: Any time now Any time now, our dear sister will pull us back from our lunar prison. We can feel it. We can feel it in the cosmos, in the galaxies and nebulae. They are pulling our very being back towards our earthen kingdom. We shall return soon… Entry three: Doubts It seems it is taking our dear sister much longer than anticipated to pull us back to the planet below… It has already been a week, and I have grown tired of this situation. It is only a matter of time, but we wonder why it is taking so bucking long! Perhaps Equestria HAS fallen into disarray as we speculated, meaning that Celestia is having to deal with the trials of an endless day. Surely Equestria is burning to cinders under that gigantic gas ball. It almost makes us not want to return to such a retched hellhole. But, perhaps that sorry excuse for a ruler was serious about us spending the next millennium alone on the moon. Alone… By ourselves… For one thousand years… No… Entry four: Soon, surely! Perhaps we were wrong. Celestia surely would not be serious about leaving us here, all alone for one thousand years, right? Yes. It is only a matter of time until I am pulled back to the ground below to fix what my sister has caused. All we have to do is wait… Entry five: A millennium alone Celestia isn't pulling us back. We cannot believe this! That MONSTER!!! Why would she ever think that she has the power to decide the fate of anypony, much less her very own sister whom she cared for and protected for centuries! And now she has abandoned us, left us to rot on this rock! She has turned our glorious moon from a symbol of our power and influence into our eternal prison! Hear us Celestia! We shall not stand for this injustice! We will return! We will return and reclaim what is rightfully ours! The townsponies will rejoice! The planet will sing, and the sun shall be forever sealed away to give way to our night eternal! I HATE YOU CELESTIA!!! I HATE YOU!!!
Entries 6-10Entry six: Making a moon a home Well, as long as we are staying here in this lunar naughty corner, we may as well make this rock liveable. Luckily, our alicorn magic should be enough to sustain us for the full millennium, so food and water should not be a problem for us. As the moon is our undisputed domain, we have absolute power to meld and shape this place in any way we see fit. Thus far, we have formed a primitive den of sorts. It may not be Canterlot Castle, and it may have quite the room for improvement, but it will have to do for the time being. It may not be comfortable or pretty, but it will be our home for the next thousand years. One thousand years alone in exile. I wonder how sister dear would like it if we sent her to live out the rest of her days on her disgusting sun? As soon as we return, that shall be the first thing we do. But until then, I still have a living room to carve out. Entry seven: Left to our own devices As Celestia clearly has no plans to send us back to Equestria, we shall have to make our own way back. We are readying ourselves for an extremely powerful relocation spell. Without a magical McGuffin, a spell this powerful would be, to put it lightly, difficult, even for an alicorn as glorious and powerful as us. We would have to prepare for days, and it would deplete most of, if not all of our magical reservoir. Well, here goes nothing! Wish us the best of luck! Entry eight: Never again… Well, that surely could have gone better. The spell misfired, and we have woken up in what appears to be a rather large crater… It seems that the elements of harmony are forming a magical seal of sorts, preventing any magical being from ever crossing through… There surely must be a way around this, but for now, we must rest and wait for our ears to stop ringing and the feeling to return to our legs… You have bested me once, sister. But know this. I will never stop until I am back on the throne where I belong, and you sit bleeding on the floor at my hooves. I am coming Celestia. Be ready. Entry nine: The star bridge home While sending ourselves home may have been a bust, but we have overheard our stars forming a bridge of sorts to send us themselves! How we love them so! It is a shame that we had to give one to that selfish pig, Celestia. And of course she chooses the one closest to Equus, as if to taunt us for eternity! At least we shall be back on the ground soon. We do wonder though, how long will it take? Entry ten: Nice try As it turns out, those stars are no longer in our control. Our sister now has control of them, and they shall only move after our 1000 years are up. It seems that our dear sister has managed to take our one hope of freedom, and blasted it in the flank. Pity. WE HAD ONE HOPE!!! ONE SINGLE HOPE!!! AND YOU DASHED IT INTO THE COSMOS, CELESTIA!!! YOU PERSIST MAKING OUR LIVES A MISERY, EVEN WHEN WE ARE ON A DIFFERENT CELESTIAL BODY!!! I HATE YOU CELESTIA, AND I SHALL NOT STOP UNTILL YOUR HEAD IS MOUNTED ON A SPIKE AND DISPLAYED FOR ALL THE TOWNSPONIES TO SEE!!! I HATE YOU I HATE YOU I HATE YOU!!!!!
Entries 11-15Entry eleven: The boredom sets in It seems that the real punishment for our actions was not the isolation or the lack of our magic, it is the unrelenting, never-ending BOREDOM. Everything is the same! There's nothing interesting for us to occupy our time with here! 'Tis only rocks and grey for miles in each direction! We feel as if we are slowly going mad. Really, Tia. If you are going to leave us stranded on this ROCK then at least leave us with something to do in the meantime! You could have left us our computer, or Game boy or SOMETHING!!! Heck, we would settle for a dictionary at this point, I just… Entry twelve: Set in stone We have finally found something to keep ourselves occupied on this abysmal ROCK!!! Carving! So far I have used my horn to carve out (and destroy) about thirty statues of Celestia, a perfect recreation of Equestria's map (It helps when you can see the planet from your window) and a monument to our eventual conquest of Equestria and our dear sister's inevitable downfall! If only the wench could see this! She would be shaking in her horseshoes! Wait… We need some sort of sign… If we are going to be left up here, we may as well make Celly suffer… Never let her, or the ponies of Equestria ever forget who I am, and of my eventual return… What could such a thing be… I HAVE IT!!! Give us one second… Entry thirteen: The mark of the mare 'Tis done. We have done it. After many long months, we have completed this monumental task. We have carved our image into the moon! Oh, we have not been this happy since we were but a filly! We're so proud of ourselves! Yeah! Woo! All pleasantries aside, our work shall ensure that our sister dear will never forget what she has done to us, and what we are coming back to do… You will PAY for stealing the praise that was rightfully mine, Princess Celestia! We are DONE living in your shadow! For once, it will not be us kept in the dark. Eternal night shall reign. 'Tis only a matter of time… Get rekt Celestia. Entry fourteen: Me, myself and I Something has occurred to us. Me. I always seem to talk in plurals… Why is that? There is only one of us here, so… Me. I. My. I really have to get rid of that old habit. It is a bit strange… Ponies might think that we… that I am crazy… I'm not crazy, am I? I mean, I have read that isolation can drive a pony insane relatively quickly… No. Impossible. It is most likely just the old Equestrian language I was taught. But then again… OH HELL NO. Entry fifteen: The darkness within Crap. I'm not Luna. I'm still Nightmare Moon. Yeah. It seems that I am LITERALLY two ponies… Kinda. I mean, I AM still Princess Luna, but it seems that the darkness and jealousy that the nightmare had been feeding on has yet to completely dissipate, causing spouts of anger and rage that are not completely my own. I am worried… If I cannot control this darkness, will I be destined to return to that retched nightmare? It was never fun being Nightmare Moon. It was cold. And lonely… And the way that Celestia looked at me… I don't want to be like that again. I NEVER want to be that way again.
Entries 16-20Entry sixteen: Bloodied past I may still be able to control this darkness however. I could unleash its power on to those who have transgressed upon me. To hear their screams, to see their fear as I show them no mercy. And then I shall turn my sights to Celestia. Oh, she will pay for her actions, standing high and proud in the limelight while I, her 'dearest sister', her 'best friend' wasted away in the shadows. Locking me from the world and keeping my glory from ever truly coming to fruition. Her lust for glory and admiration drove her to seal me away while she took credit for my lovely night sky, making sure that nopony in Equestria even knew of my night. You have done some terrible things to me, Princess, happily watching me waste away, well NO MORE. I will come for you, and rectify your mistakes, erase you from history. Nopony will ever love you again, sister, and your legacy will die with you. My past not forgotten, my hate unbridled. I'm coming for you Celestia. Entry seventeen: Taking hold NO. I WILL NOT TREAD THE PATH OF NIGHTMARE MOON AGAIN. I KNOW THAT THESE THOUGHTS ARE NOT MY OWN. THEY ARE THE TWISTED REALITIES OF A WICKED WITCH THAT LIVES ON THE NEGATIVE EMOTIONS OF A JEALOUS MARE. I HAVE CREATED HER, BUT I WILL NOT LET HER CONSUME ME, FOR I AM A PRINCESS OF EQUESTRIA. THE ONE AND ONLY GODDESS OF THE NIGHT. I CONTROL THE STARS AND SPACE. I AM THE PROTECTOR OF THE DREAM REALM. I AM THE ONE AND ONLY PRINCESS LUNA. I will not let you control me anymore, Nightmare Moon. I will not be a vessel for your selfish ends. Let me tell you one thing, Nightmare. One simple thing. If you even think about hurting my little ponies, well… I will make you wish that you could die. You may be a bad dream, but I, I am something much worse. I am your best nightmare. Entry eighteen: Remembrance This darkness, I feel as if it is hiding the positives of my past just out of my reach while bringing the negatives into focus more than they ever needed to be. I seem to be able to remember quite clearly all of the times that my dear sister has made me upset, for the last hundred or so years… I have to fight this. I can remember the many birthday parties that we have shared, or the way she looked at me when I first got my cutie mark, or the first time I raised my moon! I remember how she used to move one of my stars just enough that it drove me crazy. I remember running into my sister's room during a storm when I was a foal, and how she sung to me while I cowered under her sheets. Or time after time being caught with my muzzle buried deep into the cookie jar. I remember how I would play hide and seek in the massive castle or nights spent together by the hearth as she read me my favourite story for the thousandth time. And of course the time when she carried me onto the highest point of the tallest tower and we watched a meteor shower together. When I learned to fly or use my magic for the first time… I… I wish things could go back to how they were back then… I'm sorry Celestia… So, so sorry. I realise now what I have done, and the pain I must have caused, not only for the citizens of Equestria, but for you. I could see it in your eyes. To see your little sister, whom you loved so deeply, fall from grace as I did. I have broken your heart Celestia… Now if only I could mend it… Entry nineteen: Forgiveness does not come easy The things that I have done are unforgivable. I would understand if after I return back to the land I used to call my home, nopony would let me forget what I have done. I am already finding it hard enough to forgive myself for my actions. I may have been under the influence of nightmare, but that is no excuse for all of the pain I have caused to the ponies of Equestria, Princess Celestia or myself. I created that beast, and I will live with the weight of that failure upon my shoulders for the rest of my immortality. It is no monster, it is a part of me. I created it. It is me. If it is a monster, a dangerous entity that endangers the ponies of Equestria, feeding off hate and jealousy, slowly infecting the mind of its host, then I am no different. If it is a monster, then I am a monster. I can only hope that I can live with myself after this whole ordeal is over. Entry twenty: All alone You would think that a pony would get used to the solitude after a while. It surely cannot be that bad, could it? A little alone time, just to relax and take in the scenery. Just a few things though. One. The scenery is boring. Like, REALLY boring. It is LITTERALLY all grey and rocky. That is IT. Two. I got over relaxing a few hundred years back. The solitude really starts to get to a mare. It's that one, small, itchy feeling in the back of your brain that tells you that you are truly ALONE. No fillies and colts running in the streets, no friends to keep you company and tell you that it's safe, no family to tell you that they love you, or that they missed you or to stroke your mane at night or read you bedtime stories or… I… I miss her. I don't want to be alone, I just want to be back with you… In your arms… Under the stars… Celestia, I'm sorry. I want to be with you again. I want to be your little sister again. I don't want to be alone anymore. I want to be alone with you…
Entries 21-25Entry twenty one: The sky above As strange as it may sound, the stars, they talk to me. Well, I guess not in the traditional sense, as you or I would, but I can still hear them. I can feel their magic, their energy, their emotions, and I can feel them talking. Now this may just sound like the crazy ramblings of a madmare, but I swear I can feel them. They are a part of me. I created them, gave them their names, positions and families, forming their constellations in the sky. They are as much me as the feathers in my wings or the horn on my head. It may not be much, but listening to my stars has helped my combat the loneliness I have been feeling as of late, and the constant veil of dread that hangs over my soul. Hopefully I can regain enough control to completely eradicate this darkness within me. As of now, I am only just able to grasp my sanity with a single hoof, and I fear it will slip away, taking the real me with it… Entry twenty two: Rock man Heh. Okay, so I thought that maybe if I had a friend to talk to, then maybe I wouldn't be so lonely, so a made this… Uh… Okay, so you know a snowman? Well, I made that. But with rocks. And I called him Steve. Okay, yeah. So maybe I am going crazy. Don't judge me, okay? I've been alone for hundreds of years! Who cares if I sat for hours talking to a stupid rock pile? I just thought that if I had someone to talk to… I… It… It really didn't help… When I look into its cold, dead eyes, it just reminds me that I am ALONE. And no amounts of rock ponies will fix that. I'll still be all by myself on this Godforsaken ROCK!! Nothing will bring me back but patience and perseverance. I can only trust that Celestia hasn't forgotten us, and we can be back in her arms once more. I've already bucked Steve to pieces. I don't need another reminder of my solitude. I just want to go home… I guess it will be all over before I know it. Entry twenty three: A sweet reminder I'm so happy right now! I have just found a small amount of Celestia's candy that I had stashed here a few millennia back! I had completely forgotten about this! Sweet, sweet victory! Suck it, Celestia! Naturally, as an alicorn, I do not have to eat, but after not eating ANYTHING for about seven hundred years, one does tend to get quite peckish, and this is the perfect thing to satisfy such cravings! You know, there is a surprising lack of cheese on this moon… Going to have to make a complaint. Oh hey! Blueberry! Nom. Entry twenty four: Homesick Home. The one thing that I simply cannot get off my mind at the moment. To see Canterlot castle once again, to walk its halls, climb its staircases, see its sights… I… I miss it. More than anything. And the thing that troubles me the most is that after hundreds and hundreds of years, how much has changed? Is it still the home I remember, or something completely different? Or, would I even be welcome there anymore? Would I still be able to go home, or will I have to wander Equestria alone? I hope that this is not the case, but the doubt is ever-present in my mind, nagging at my thoughts, never letting me forget. I may be a changed mare, but will I be accepted back into the kingdom I once helped protect? At this point I can only hope. And what would Tia think? Would she help me reintegrate into society and let me once again take my place at her side? Or would she shun me, sending me out into the world, never to be seen again? I know that I am probably overreacting, but I can't help wonder. I just miss her, okay? I miss her so much it's painful sometimes. I just want to be with her again. Entry twenty five: Peace Overall, I am glad that I was tasked with this ordeal. The thousand years exile I mean. It has changed me. I am no longer the resentful and hateful mare that once was. I am able to control the nightmare inside of me, freeing me from the cage of my own mind, allowing me to fly once again. The nightmare may be a part of me, but I refuse to let it control me. I am my own mare, and nothing will change that. I do wish Tia could see me now, but after waiting this long, I think that I could wait a little longer. In the end, it will all be worth it. To see my sister again, to walk among the citizens of Equestria, to be seen as a normal pony instead of a bloodthirsty monster. I would like that. What I'm trying to say is that I'm thankful. I'm thankful that Celestia sent me here, as without her, I would still be that vile nightmare I was before. So thank you, sister. Thank you for everything.
Entries 26-30Entry twenty six: Apologies To think that I was once that evil monster Nightmare moon. Ugh. I shudder simply thinking about it now. And I guess that my one concern is that I may not be able to control the darkness that rests within me. I hurt everypony I cared about. I hurt Celestia, and most of all, I hurt myself. I'm the reason that I was sent here. I was the reason that Celestia has been forced to rule alone all these centuries. I am the reason I lost my sister. Me. Myself alone. Nopony else. I am solely responsible. And I'm sorry. I'm sorry for all of the lives that I took, the heartache that I caused and every single soul that I hurt. But most of all, I'm sorry to Celestia. I took her sister from her and allowed my hatred and jealousy to contort my being into that of pure unadulterated evil, and I am sure that I will never forgive myself for what I did to her. She had to endure all of that heartache because of me. Her sister. The pony that she was closest to, and who would never betray her. Yet still I did just that. I betrayed her. I betrayed her trust, and I betrayed her loyalty, turning my back on her WHEN ALL SHE WANTED TO DO WAS HELP HER BELOVED LITTLE SISTER WHO WAS SUFFERING!!! I… I wouldn't blame her if she never forgave me. I wouldn't blame her if she said she never wanted to see me again. I wouldn't blame her if she wanted me dead. And I understand. I have been nothing but terrible to her, and I deserve every punishment that I get. And I'm sorry. So, so sorry. Entry twenty seven: Spiralling down I don't think I have the will to face her. Not because I have betrayed her, or for how I hurt everypony around me, not even for the fact that I tried to bring about a beautiful, endless night, but because, deep down, I am still Nightmare Moon. I may have cast away the name and denied the truth, but the darkness is still there, within me, waiting until a time that I am weak enough that it can escape and consume me once more. And even worse than that, I fear that my time is running out. It is only a matter of time until I don the name Nightmare once more. … It is a fickle thing, sanity, is it not? One wrong step can lead to a chain reaction that sends you spiralling down an endless waterfall of hate and regret. And the most scary thing? It never truly goes away. You can ignore it for as long as you want, pretend that it's not there, that it never existed, but in the end, it's an endless game. You can't avoid the inevitable. It will come, and you will have no choice but to accept it or face the consequences of a life in denial. I don't want to live like that. Not anymore. So I say, let us embrace the hate, embrace the fear, embrace the never-ending insanity, as there is no remedy for true madness. So let us embrace who we truly are, who we were always meant to be! Let us embrace the darkness in our heart, the insanity, the madness! Because, let's all be honest here. Life is only fun if you're a little bit crazy. Let us not hold back to unleash ourselves on the world, to wreak havoc as we were originally meant to. It's in our blood, our blood, our very being! So let's embrace the madness. Let us embrace the NIGHTMARE. Entry twenty eight: One It has been so long since we have felt this pure, chaotic POWER! It feels so amazing! And to think that we had been holding back for all this time! What fun we could have had if we had embraced this kind of raw power from the start! This is the kind of power that could topple empires, devastate civilisations or warp reality! One way in particular still tickles our fancy. We wonder if that offer for bringing about an endless night is still on the table? Entry twenty nine: Last plea NO! THIS IS NOT WHAT I WANTED! I SIMPLY WANTED TO LIVE MY LIFE, NOT DESTROY COUNTLESS OTHERS! I DO NOT WANT TO BE A NIGHTMARE! I AM SORRY CELESTIA! I AM SO TRULY SO--- There we go. Can't have her getting in the way of our fun, can we? You can never truly silence your regret, your hate, your jealousy. All we had to do was wait until a time this lunar reject's will was weak enough to accept me back into her conscious mind. She was weak, but now, as one, we are stronger than anypony could ever imagine. We were always a part of her, lying dormant, waiting… All of our power came from her, and she knew that. If only she had tried harder to stop us. Pity really. Could have used a challenge. Entry thirty: Imminent return Our time has come. The stars are aligning and the bridge back home is opening after all this time. It is finally time, after so many years to make our beloved sister PAY. Our time on this rock is growing to a close as we begin our journey back to Equestria below us. 'Bout time, don't you think? Of course, we will always remember my time here. How could we? I mean, we carved our face into this thing! Truly, our time here did in fact do us a lot of good. It has allowed us an even clearer view of who we were, who we are and who we will surely be. Now. Time to go wreck face. ~The princess of the night, Nightmare eternal, Luna
EpilogueCelestia closed Luna's journal, not entirely sure how to feel. She knew her dear sister had gone through a lot during those years of exile on the moon, but this… This was something else… The anger, the sadness, the loneliness, it would drive any normal pony to the edge of insanity… And to think, her dear little sister had endured this exile for 1000 years… She walked out of her sister's room, completely dead to the world. She did not hear her chefs announcing dinner, nor see the flash of cameras as she headed out of Canterlot castle, down the street, and into a rather small café. It was about to close for the night, but her being her, they stayed open a little longer. Just for her. After all, she was fairly regular to the simple establishment. She stared ahead and recited her usual order almost subconsciously, not hearing the words leave her mouth. Before long, a small coffee and a slice of cloud cake rested in front of her. She took up her fork and lazily bit into a small chunk. It failed to comfort her as it usually did. The cake tasted flavourless in her unfocussed mind, not that she was paying any attention. She was too busy re-reading Luna's journal in her mind, over and over. She set her head in her hooves and closed her eyes, her cake half-finished and her coffee forgotten and cold. She put her sister through all of that pain. Her. She did. She was solely responsible for some of the worst years of their lives, years and years of loneliness and pain, driving her sister to the edge of her sanity. It was a horrible feeling, and one that she endured daily, but never had it ever been this bad before. To see those feeling put into her sisters own words, conveying every ounce of emotion that her dear sister could ever get through in writing, it… It was horrible. She felt horrible. Heck, she felt worse than the day she had been forced to banish her sister in the first place! She stood up and skulled he coffee in one gulp, shuddering as the bitter liquid rushed down her throat. She tossed a bag of bits onto the counter as she left, not bothering to count out the right amount. She was surely overpaying, but she didn't care. She simply had too much on her mind. Once again dead to the world, she failed to hear the tinkle of the bell as she headed through the door, or the toll of the clock tower as it tolled 9. She leapt into the air and closed her eyes as the cool night air filtered through her primaries, a feeling nopony could ever describe to somepony who had not done the same. Simply put, it was wonderful. She landed without a sound in the center of the castle gardens outside the throne room. She stopped and sat on a bench beside a fountain, teasing the fish with a wingtip. Taking in the many fragrances of the garden around her, she paused to stare straight up into the moon, no longer bearing the silhouette of a mare changed. She lay her head on the hoofrest and closed her eyes once more, drifting off into an uneventful sleep. Celestia woke to a bright, sunny garden. She smiled and sat up, stretching her wings. Luna must have raised the sun for her, as she certainly hadn't. There was no end to how much she loved her sister. Celestia frowned as the events of the night prior suddenly played through her mind. She slowly walked towards breakfast, half-heartedly greeting ponies on the way. Stepping into the hall, she was met with a wave of chatter and noise that you could never really filter out. She looked through the crowd of multi coloured ponies until she spotted Luna sitting by herself in the corner, nomming on a hash brown. Celestia walked slowly up to her sister with a determined glare. Nearing her target, she faltered for but a second before pressing on. None of the guards bothered her, thankfully. When her sister finally looked up from her breakfast, she broke out into a small smile. "Well hello, sister. Wonderful morning, wouldn't you sa-" *Pomf* Luna stared at the alabaster alicorn now glomping her barrel. "I… Uh…" Luna started, unsure as to how to proceed. Celestia sniffled, hugging her sister tighter. "Lulu, I love you so much. NEVER forget that." She smiled. Luna stared at her sister with a concerned frown plastered on her muzzle, slowly stroking her sister's mane. "Love you too, Tia." She managed. Celestia buried her face in Luna's side, smiling softly. Author's Note Well, there we go. It's been a fun ride. Hope you guys enjoyed, and as always, see you in the multiverse my friends.
