Dark Descent: The Night Cometh

Luna landed on her balcony as the dark night had long stretched it's black veil across Equestria a while ago. Canterlot was quiet and peaceful as it's residents slept soundly in their homes and beds. The moon glowed and the stars shimmered in the dark sea.

Princess Celestia had granted her the task of finding the elusive Pinkie Pie and she would not waste any time in doing so. If Pinkie Pie was close then she would need to act quickly and swiftly. She would set out in the morn with a small group of her guard and search the area for any signs of a certain pink, bouncy pony. Her mind was filled with ideas of how she should end her. Maybe ripping out her organs from her skull? Or maybe she could let her guards have their way with Pinkie and have her suffer emotional and mental chaos and then split her body in her two. Too many ideas for one late night though. It would have to be something that would have to wait till tomorrow unfortuanatly.

Luna opened the door from the balcony that led into her private chambers. It was dark but a few candles dimmed the room. There was a bed of grandeur, fit for a princess as her, and it was covered in silk, sparkling blue linen with three pillows that were simply as dark as her night sky. Adjacent to her bed was her mirror that she would look at every morning and night, but not to look at appearances. On the opposite wall was what seemed to be a coat hangar but she never used if for coats and such. She made her way to it and unhooked her dark regalia and hung it around one of the posts with her magic and set her crown upon her bed. Only one item remained on her as she now stood, naked, so to speak. The gold chain wrapped around her neck as it held it's black gem that gently hung over her chest.

Rebris was with her at all timesand this was more than a simple trinket or piece of jewelry. It was the bedrock of her ascension. She felt safe and powerful with it, and knowing that she had four of the elements essences within it was even more empowering. Without it, she felt vulnerable and weak, a feeling she would never have again. How foolish she thought she was when she looked back at the time when she never desired power or the sight of beautiful red blood pouring before her.

The Princess of the Night now went over to the mirror that sat idly as it awaited her. She sat down and situated herself . Her eyes met her reflection, and she simply stared into it. Her teal eyes glowed within the dim light. They seemed like two small beacons in the semi-darkness, and her dark sapphire fur was illuminated by the gentle glowing of the few candles. Her ever flowing mane of the night gently seemed to sway, though there was no breeze that flowed through her dark sanctuary. It was routine for her to just wait in front of this reflecting glass for command. She would hear it every night, and the command was always the same. There was nothing hard or strenuous about it, but she had to hear it, for it was her guide and master.

Sleep.

Luna obeyed the dark voice and she gently closed her eyes. Her master was calling her, and she would obey, for it was not her that she would be speaking with, but a different side that was locked away inside her. A side she despised and loathed. A side that must be tamed within her.

Luna drifted off into the black abyss of her corrupt mind as darkness surrounded her.

Nightmare Moon was waiting.

It dripped slowly at first, like a water faucet, but slowly the frequency of the drips increased, and eventually was full blast pouring out of the black void abyss above her.

Luna cried out in pain as blood poured onto her body from the pitch black void. The crimson liquid ran down her face and body. Her beautiful coat was drenched in the color of red as the blood dripped from her body. A searing, burning pain reverberated through her nerves from it. It was almost like this liquid was actually burning lava, and it only wished to wrought pain upon her.

This was innocence being tortured at it's finest.

This was Luna.

The real Luna.

The kind and caring princess that once existed to only to be accepted by her subjects and dear sister. This was the one that had let her desperation take hold of her, and lead to her corruption. She was locked within her own mind, and day by day, every waking moment, she was tortured by her once alter ego, Nightmare Moon.

How long has she been here, locked within the recesses of her twisted, convoluted mind? She did not know, for there was no time here. Time was irrevelant in this place. Nightmare Moon was all that existed here. She was supreme, and she was Luna's judge, jury, and executioner. There was no escape and no hope of liberation.

Luna was alone in this dark void, alone with her pain, her guilt, and her regret. It was her living hell. A hell that held a terrible voice within it as it took pleasure in torturing the innocent regal.

"Feel the pain of the blood you have spilled Luna! Hear the screams of your friends as you put them through agony! It was you Luna! You killed them, and you will kill more! " A terrible voice screamed at her.

Her head throbbed with immeasurable pain as she slammed her front hooves on the floor. Everytime Nightmare Moon spoke to her and spat her words of guilt and hate, her head would, for some inexplicable reason, throw itself into a massive headache and migraines.  She sat in the pool of blood and looked down upon her sins. She could see their faces in it as they seemed to cry and yell at her. She closed her crying teal eyes as the image of her friends, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Rarity, and Applejack haunted her. Luna knew what had happened to them for she was forced to watch it. Like a movie through her own eyes, she had seen the things she had done to them, and every moment was the same. She could never stop seeing them.

"I'm not this...I'm not this...I would never..." Luna stammered through her barrage of tears.

"But you did! This is you! Don't you love it?!" the voice screeched as it began to render a laugh of pleasure and amusement.

"Silence! This is not me! You made me do this to them! You're a monster Nightmare Moon!" she yelled in defiance.

She was not this insane killer whot took pleasure in the suffering of innocents. She was only being controlled by one, but what pony would believe that she was not a monster? They did not know of her mistake and that she was bound within her own psyche.

"Monster? Who is truly the monster?" Nightmare Moon's voice echoed through the expanse, pausing from it's blood curdling yells.

Suddenly, the black void seemed to melt away as it gave way to something underneath it. Luna looked frantically around to see what form of torture would be brought upon her now. The void now turned into a mass of refelcting glass, and her own visage surrounded her.

Reflections of her bloodied self stared at her as she still sat in the pool of idle blood. All she could see were the images of a broken alicorn. Not the once beautiful Princess of the Night, but a broken, bloodied, and hopeless princess. More tears poured out of her eyes as her own appearance terrified and saddened her. She wanted the warm comfort of her sister, but there would be none.

Nightmare Moon would not have it.

"I ask again my precious Luna, who is the real monster?" Nightmare Moon asked again within the room of glass.

"Y...you..you are," she answered. Luna frantically darted her eyes around looking out for any tricks or traps. Nightmare Moon was not one for just simple talk, but one to see her in pain while she spoke to her.

A sadisitic laugh echoed and Luna threw herself to the ground. Her head was throbbing even worse and her heart was about to explode with fear.

"Am I? You may not realize it, but I am helping Equestria. Through blood and suffering, it will prosper and become the greatest kingdom this world has ever seen. Not one would stand against us-"

"There is no us! This is you! I never wanted part in this! I only wanted freedom from you!" Luna interrupted.

A gust of wind blew in Luna's face as a black swirling cloud appeared out of the ground that was now glass. It made it's way slowly upwards as it left in it's wake Luna's jailer, Nightmare Moon. She wore her signature helmet and regalia. Her hooves sparkled with her light blue armor. Her slits for eyes looked demonic as they stared gleefully at Luna, and she smiled showing her white sharp teeth.

"Freedom? Are you really that daft Luna? There is no freedom from something that has always been a part of you," she said in a dark smooth tone.

Princess Luna had been here a long time, or at least that's what it felt like her for, but she still had a spark. She was hopeless, in despair, and alone, but it wasn't the first time. She had been banished to the cold moon for a thousand years and survived. Luna was broken but not beaten, and she would defy this evil that held her to the end, for she still had that spark of fire that hated Nightmare Moon, and she refused to lay before her in defeat. She staggered onto her hooves and stood as blood dripped from her body and she gritted her teeth.

"You are not part of me. You never have been and never will Nightmare Moon, and I will defy you no matter what you do to me."

Nightmare Moon cackled, and Luna felt shocks go through her head, but she only gritted her teeth harder as she endured it.

"Then what is all this Luna? Why are you under my control and not the other way around? You fail to see the obvious Luna. the truth is no matter how much you deny me, no matter how much you say to yourself that there is no we, the fact stands that we are one in the same. You are me and I-"

"No! I am not you and never will be!"

A light blue aura surrounded Luna's horn and shot several blasts of built up magic within the glass room as they sped towards Nightmare Moon. Luna had had enough, and used the little fight she still held onto against her. Nightmare Moon simply stepped away as the bolts bounced back at her, and hit Luna all over her body, sending her crashing into the glass behind her, breaking it and lodging shards of glass into her back. She cried out in pain as the shards stabbed into her, and her sapphire, bloodied coat had scorch marks across it. It was obvious that this hell has affected Luna's mind dramtically, as she should have seen very obviously that she was surrounded by glass. Magic could be reflected by such planes, a foalish error on her part.

"Pathetic. Come now Luna, you can surely do better than that? Here, I'll help you."

Nightmare Moon became a blur of dark smoke and within seconds, appeared right before Luna as she looked up into it's slit eyes.

"Let me show you how it's done, for you need much practice if we are going to rule. Your first lesson if you will Luna."

Luna felt her body lift into the air as Nightmare Moon's dark grasp took hold of her. She felt her back slam back into the glass wall that she had cracked earlier, and the shards of glass that were in her back were shoved deeper into her flesh. The force of the hit along with feeling the shards shove into her caused dark blood to squirt out of her nostrils.

"Bleeding already? You have much to learn," Nightmare Moon said as she now threw the helpless princess into another glass wall.

Luna's side smashed into it as it cracked, and she felt her ribs crack along with it, and coughed out blood. She fell to the ground as the side of her face smacked against the fragile ground and yelped as blood trickled from her bottom lip onto the glass plane. She could only lay there as her body was sore and aching, to say the least. How foolish of her to stand up to such a being that dominated everything that was her.

"Poor Luna. Once again you bleed and lay in defeat, but this will change, so don't lose heart. You and I are no different from each other."

Luna lifted her head slowly, refusing to stay silent as she was compared to her.

"You and I, are nothing close to the same Nightmare Moon. I love my subjects and my sister, unlike you, you only wish to enslave and kill them, and my sister along with them." She coughed again as blood spattered and breathed heavily.

"You accuse me of not loving our subjects? We love them greatly, and only wish the best for them, but there are many who are weak and spread and reproduce like cancer, and we are the cure. We only kill who we deam unworthy of the strong kingdom that we will build. As for Celestia, well, "Nightmare Moon snickered as she paused, "I love her so much, that I'm going to have you make a modern art masterpiece out of her when you kill her."

Tears ran down her face at the thought of killing Celestia. She only hoped that somehow Celestia found out about the things her corrupted self has done, and end her life so she could be free from this everlasting hell.

"Why do you do this to me?" Luna asked as she sobbed in pain and sorrow.

She heard Nightmare Moon walk toward her and saw her dark hoof right in front of her face.

"Because Luna... "

She bent down so her face meet her prisoners. Luna's eyes went large as she felt something wet slide across her bloodied muzzle. Nightmare Moon had licked her in a twisted, almost loving passion and smiled at her with such darkness that Luna swore her heart stopped.

"We are one."

Suddenly, Luna felt her face pounding with pain and she clapped her hooves against her cheeks. She actually felt something moving in her face, like a bug that had burrowed it's way into her skin and now ran through her flesh. One of her cheekbones cracked and she yelped. It kept cracking and breaking on the left side of her face. She could hear the cracks and grinding of bone in her ears, and just as quick as it came, it stopped. She looked down at the floor, and noticed that the left side of her face was black and her cheek was much thinner than her other. Luna shook as she now realized what was happening, but pain would overtake her once again.

"AHHHHHH!" Luna screamed as one side of her mouth was ripped open. The now black flesh tore apart as it revealed the pink sensitive meat inside her cheek. Luna's teal eyes looked to the ceiling of glass as it showed her the monstrosity she was becoming. Tears ran down her face in pain and terror as she could see the side of her face becoming more and more like Nightamre Moon's.

"No! I'm not you!" the poor soul screamed.

"We are one," Nightmare Moon repeated.

Luna could only see out of one of her eyes as the other seemed to black out and actually move on it's own. Whispers began to surface in one side of her head as they spoke of power, death, destruction, pain, and blood. She dragged her tongue and felt that the one side that was changing into her hated alter ego's visage teeth were now sharp, and she could feel saliva running down the side of her mouth.

"What have you done to me?!" Luna screeched in terror.

"Do you see how perfect we are together Luna? I am trying to show you that we are one!"

The whispers were becoming louder in Luna's head as the one side of her face that has been twisted seemed to speak it's own mind against hers.

We Are One.

"No!"

We Are One.

"No!!"

We Are One.

"NO! SILENCE THESE VOICES! SILENCE THESE LIES!"

The whipers were driving her mad, and Nightmare Moon only watched in amusement.

"Say it Luna. Say it and please your master."

Luna rolled onto her cracked ribs as searing pain shot through her, but the whispers were much more painful in their own respect than her physical ailments. She felt something rising within her, and trying to force three certain words out of her.

"No! I won't say it!"

"Don't fight it Luna. The sooner you accept this fact, the better this will all be for you."

Luna refused to believe her. There was nothing here that could bring her comfort, and she would not give in to Nightmare. She was one of the royal sisters, and it wsa not in her nature to be dominated other's who only desired evil and darkness for her, or Equestria.

"You lie! This is all a lie!"

Nightmare Moon kicked her hoof against her face as her neck made a sick cracking noise.

"Enough! I have been patient with you Luna! You will say the truth before me!"

Dark shots of electricity shot out of her dark horn and engulfed Luna as she screamed in body wracking pain.

She could feel the electricity running through her very bones as they flet like they were shattering within her.

"Say it!"

"No!"

More electricity covered her body for her defiance. Her screams echoed through the glass domain. Her flesh was starting to burn off of her, and she screamed louder.

"This will never end for you Luna! Say it, and I will be merciful and offer you a small moment of relief!"

The pain was indescribable at this point. Luna had fought her, defied her, and to only end up on the floor at Nightmare Moon's mercy as she tortured her. Were they really one? Was Luna the same as Nightmare Moon? Did they have the same goals, desires, and ambitions, but she simply didn't know it? What proved otherwise? She was stuck in this hell of her own doing, the hell of her twisted mind. Luna relented but that spark that she had had died, and her soul screamed for a moment of peace. If Nightmare Moon was offering it, she would take it, even against all that she stood for. Luna was strong, but she had been broken now to her lowest dominator. She screamed the words that her master wanted to hear in defeat and finality.

"Say it!!!"

"We are one! We are one! We are one! Please stop!" Luna cried.

Nightmare Moon ceased and looked upon a bloody and burnt princess.

"Was that so hard Luna? You feel better now don't you?"

Luna's breathing was slow, and her heart was dangerously beating at a sluggish pace. She was going to die...again. This was her own mind, and this was why it was torture. The blessing of death would never come for her, as she would die, but then come back, unscathed and renewed, just to prepare for another round. Nightmare Moon used her as some toy or testing doll, seeing how many painful and gruesome ways she could kill a pony, and Luna was the guinea pig, and this was every single day and night.

Never ending pain.

"We...are...one," Luna whispered involuntarily as she began to close her eyes and let the darkness take her that she knew so well. She just wanted to be free, and die.

"Very good Luna. You warm my black heart to hear such truth come out of your mouth. I am a mare of my word and I will grant you a moment of relief. You should feel proud of yourself."

Darkness was all that she was seeing, but it only would give her a small moment of peace. She would come back soon to endure a new means of mental and physical chaos. At least she had...

"And your moment is up! Don't die yet Luna, for I have much more for you!" Nightmare Moon laughed and resumed the bolts of black electricity on the broken soul.

...this.

This was Luna's punishment.

This was Luna's torture.

For the truth was obvious.

They were truly one...