Equestria… such a beautiful land. It’s a place of peace and harmony. Well… that is not completely true, not anymore. Recent events have shown that there still rests some degree of disharmony. The hearts of its citizens, the ponies who are the descendants of the old tribes, Earth, Pegasus and Unicorn… they have all but forgotten what things used to be like for them. But for those who have lived before such times of peace, those old memories are still very fresh within their hearts and minds.

Nightmare Moon’s gaze turned up to see her daughter’s moon reach its peak in the night sky. Her mind drifted back to the days she had spent in molding the orb while she eagerly expected the bundle of life within her womb. A warm smile graced her visage at the memory. Things had been so wonderful back then. With a slight twirl, Nightmare Moon turned away from the window and walked to the side of the bed.

The sheets were pristine, as if nopony had slept in the bed since the day it was made, and there were a few decorations on the walls as well as a gorgeous dresser. Yet Nightmare’s eyes had come to ignore the rest of that room. She stayed there for most of the day as a silent sentinel, guarding a priceless treasure that was of great importance to a few ponies, herself included.

Nightmare’s eyes flashed white and a previously unseen object was revealed as it faded back into the realm of the light. Encased within a pale blue crystal prism was the body of a human man. As time passed the transparency of the prism had lessened, leaving behind a more opaque crystal behind that shrouded its occupant from view. Yet Nightmare still knew the face of the man within.

She gently placed the tip of her horn against the crystalline coffin and a tiny spark of magic flickered as she connected to it. Nightmare’s consciousness faded to darkness. A window slowly began to form from out of the void beneath her hooves to hover before her. Within that mysterious pane she saw the man in his dream… yet he was not truly dreaming. She could not see his face, but she knew from his stiff posture and crossed arms that he was busy thinking about something of importance.

Nightmare’s head slowly bowed until her face pressed gently against the window’s cool surface. Why do you toil away like this? We were once one and the same… I now you’re looking for something. Why won’t you speak to me? Will you not grant us your warm presence once more…

She received nothing in return as the man continued to stare into the oblivion of his and her memories. With a heavy sigh, and an even heavier heart, Nightmare pulled herself away from the window. The only thing keeping her from speaking to him slowly drifted back into nothingness as a single tear trailed down the dark goddess’ cheek.

~~***~~

Princess Celestia, the eldest sister and ruler of the land of Equestria settled down upon her large bed. A long content sigh slipped from her as the cloud material conformed to her. It had been another long day for the sun princess, one riddled with more pointless petitioners during her day court and a nearly endless stream of paperwork. The bittersweet side of the day, though… had to do with the continued lack of ponies to her court.

The content feeling she had gained from lying down vanished faster than a slice of her favorite cake. She let her head fall back onto her pillow to stare at the ceiling. Her mind drifted into another funk as she thought on the words someone had told her in the past. “They’re all going to be affected by what you did, Celestia… everypony that saw you will remember… they are the ones that will be the hardest to gain forgiveness from…”

The poor soul that had said those words to her… she wished she could go back and undo what she had done to him. She wished things could have been different. She wished… that he was there to help her once more. With a shallow shuddering breath, Celestia turned onto her side as her eyes misted. “Oh Mathew…” she choked.

In the next moment, her eyes illuminated with the brilliance of the sun and her consciousness faded away…

~~***~~

Princess Luna sat atop the highest tower of Canterlot Castle. Her eyes were pools of shadow while her dream form moved about her Dreamscape. She was currently soaring above the town of Ponyville, having just finished with tending to a few nightmares to the west. She was a little miffed, having been forced to consol the poor fools who had feared they might lose their newfound fortunes gained from their little trip to Las Pegasus. Oh how she missed the days where material wealth was simply a small luxury for Celestia and herself. It would do the world a lot of good to learn to be as humble as things used to be over a thousand years ago.

The lunar princess soared over the rooftops of the town, something that she had done often in recent weeks. There were no nightmares here, for once. It had taken a lot of time and devotion for her to console the majority of Ponyville after the battle between Celestia and Mathew. Many ponies had suffered night terrors from that day. Though it was a bit strange to not see even one nightmare ridden pony, it was a welcome turn of events for Luna.

So, with nothing else to tend to, Luna made a slight detour to her path. She glided gracefully through the air for a short while until her destination came into view. A soft smile graced her face as she landed atop the building. The unique gingerbread styled Sugarcube Corner was quite the sight, and the visage of the cupcake on top made Luna feel a slight pang of hunger for something sweet.

Luna’s hooves gently touched down and she closed her eyes as she felt around for a certain pink mare’s dream. Before long she located Pinkie Pie’s dream signature and she slowly created a small opening for her to slip inside. A portal of shadow formed out of thin air and Luna stepped through it and entered a world of utterly delicious chaos. A mighty mountain of chocolate chunks dominated the area, with whipped cream for ice caps and a waterfall made of vanilla cream cascaded down its side.

Luna suppressed a giggle. As always, Pinkie’s dreams were entertaining to witness. She soon spotted the pink party mare at the base of the mountain, busying herself with fixing climbing gear to her body. Luna smiled warmly and flapped her wings to begin a graceful decent, but something suddenly took hold of her. Luna’s eyes darted down to see her body being engulfed by a sickly black slime. Before she could react, the material surged forth and swallowed her.

The next thing that Luna was aware of was that she was not alone. Beside her stood the forms of Celestia and Nightmare Moon. The other two seemed just as baffled as she was, but just before they could speak to one another about their situation the darkness around them lit up in a fiery blaze. Equus burned brightly in front of them. The entire world was nothing more than a molten catastrophe of its former self as they looked on.

Out of the flames rose a massive body. It had no real form, aside from having a torso, head and two arms as it rose up from the destruction. Two massive baleful yellow eyes glared from within its hidden face. “Hello… my daughters. It is good to see the two of you in good health. It would seem that you’ve managed to survive as well, Abyss. It’s almost touching to have the family together again…” boomed a male voice.

“How DARE YOU!” Nightmare bellowed angrily. “Why have you decided to show your face in my presence? Were it possible I would end you here and now!”

“Heheheh… you are still as spirited as I remember, Abyss.”

Nightmare grit her teeth as the voice mocked her. It quickly became apparent that the being they were seeing was something very old and powerful. Luna stepped closer to her mother and whispered, “Mother, what is happening? Is that truly the one who fathered us? Why have we been brought here?”

“I summoned you three to pass on a message,” the voice answered.

Luna turned her attention back to the being. “What is your message?”

A sinister grin spread through the blackness that was the entity’s face. “I am coming, my daughters. You have some time to decide, but I will only make this offer once. Stand beside me and shape the cosmos in our image…”

There was a long and uncomfortable pause as the being stared down upon them. Luna waited for him to finish, but when no answer came she opened her mouth to speak. Celestia, however, was just a little quicker in voicing her thoughts. “Join you or you destroy us. That is what you mean to say, is it not?” asked the seemingly calm sun princess.

Luna looked to her older sister with a slightly surprised expression. Her ears pinned back as she caught sight of Celestia. Though the white Alicorn looked calm on the outside, Luna could see in her sister’s eyes a burning hatred far more intense than even the time she had wanted Nightmare Moon’s head.

“Precisely… take your time in deciding your answer, little star. I shall arrive in due time…” said the voice before darkness engulfed the three of them once more.

Luna’s eyes shot open and she nearly fell from the tower. “What in Tartarus happened just now?” she asked nopony in particular. Her mind was reeling from what she had just witnessed. Had it been real? What did it all mean for them? There were many more questions she had to ask, but she knew she would have no luck in getting them answered standing atop the tower.

With urgency, Luna shot forth from the tower and she flew strait for the room where her mother resided. The window was already open for her. She swooped through the opening and slammed her hooves down onto the floor roughly before she looked over to see Nightmare Moon staring at the crystal coffin.

“Mother…?” Luna asked quietly.

Nightmare turned her head around and looked at Luna with tears streaming from her eyes. “Absolution… is coming.”

Author's Note

Here it is folks. Since some of you wanted a sequel, and because the prequel holds a special place in my little heart, I've decided to put some effort into writing the next installment!

I'm not sure how quickly I'll be uploading chapters yet. For the time being it'll just be every 2 weeks or so. My aim for this story is to make it bigger and better than the last one. I'll be throwing out more epic abilities for Nightmare, Luna and Celestia... still debating on whether or not Mathew will be released from the crystal. What do you guys think? Should we break him out?