Prologue to Harmony

by TiXoL Seyerk

Chapter 1 - The genesis of Nightmare Moon

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-Behold, unworthy subjects as I, Princess Celestia raise the sun so you can make the food you so desperately need to live, unlike me, of course. – Said the almighty Princess of Canterlot as she used her powerful magic to raise the sun once again, as she did every day. She gave the same words to her subjects every single day, to remember them that she was the one in charge, and they could do nothing about it. The crowd that was witnessing the raise of the sun started sheering, not because they were happy, but because their princess told them so. They looked worriedly to each other, looking for someone that would do something about the tyranny of their “beloved” Princess. But no one did anything. They were weak because of the shortage of food they were having, and no one in all of Equestria had enough power to stand up against Celestia. She opened her eyes to look at her subjects. She wanted to know if someone would fight her this time, but, as always, nopony did anything. She smiled with satisfaction and went back to her room in the Canterlot Castle.

Celestia walked through her Castle, while everypony saluted her with reverences. In her heart she was, however, a little sad. As she wandered through her Castle with no true objective, she remembered her parents. They had passed away only 6 months ago, and the scars in the mind of the Princess were still open. Her parents had left her a legacy. To her and her sister Luna: Take care of the ponies in all of Equestria. They left them all of their possessions, including the castle. Every little corner in there brought memories to her mind: Her childhood, when she played with her sister, and the day she got her cutie mark raising the sun for the first time. Since then, she knew that someday, she was going to be the one responsible for the life in Equestria. But the moment came too soon, and she wasn´t ready. She didn´t feel ready. And, as the big sister, she didn’t have anyone to rely on. She was the maximum authority in the whole world, with no one above her. That had stressed her through the days, and she knew it. She knew that she was doing a bad job, that her people were unhappy. But she wasn´t worried. Although she knew the ponies in Canterlot were plotting a riot against her, she wasn´t scared. Because she knew as well that they didn´t have the guts to actually doing it. They feared her, and she was happy because of it. That’s why she took the job to say every single day how powerful she was, and how weak they were. If she didn’t have them in her hoof, she could lose her power. She was powerful indeed, but it would be useless against all those thousands of ponies. Celestia looked through a window, and saw some fillies playing and dancing while she tough to herself:

-Maybe they will cancel the revolution if things continue like this. Everything will be ok Celestia; I don’t have to worry at all…

The whole day passed, and night came, and with it, the second ruler of Equestria: Princess Luna. Celestia could be around during day, and night. But Luna couldn’t. If she came out during the day, she could get seriously injured. The daylight was deadly against Luna. She was upset about that situation, but she couldn’t do anything about it. That’s why she only came at dawn, when the daylight was soft. It did hurt her, but not enough to kill her. She got out of her room in the castle, and stood in front of her subjects. They didn’t look at her. They were tired, and they knew Luna was no harm. She looked at them happily and said:

-Citizens of Canterlot. We shall bring the night once more, so you can rest peacefully and continue your fun and games tomorrow. You shall return to your homes and sleep, as we, Luna, bring the night for you, our loyal subjects.

As she said that, her eyes illuminated. She stood in two hooves and pointed her horn directly at the sky. Then, she fired a black beam to the sky, turning it all black. The sun was gone. After that, she fired a beam once again, and with great difficult, she brought the moon. She felt tired, and landed in her four hooves. She didn’t know if it had worked. She wasn’t as powerful as Celestia, and she wasn’t very experienced with the whole “bringing the night” issue. She looked up to see if the work was done, and smiled satisfied. After all, there was no possible way to practice that, and in only 6 months she had mastered it at an amazing level. She looked back to her subjects, but they were still not watching her. They were just leaving, with their heads down, and unhappiness in their eyes.

Luna came back to the castle, worriedly asking herself:

She kept asking herself the same questions when she finally found her sister. Celestia was pretty relaxed. She was just standing there, eating a banana:

Luna was no happy. She looked confused and frustrated. She looked at her sister directly in the eyes and asked:

Celestia kept eating without looking at her sister:

Celestia was listening but not looking:

Now Celestia was serious. She looked Luna dead in the eye. That scared Luna for a moment:

Luna looked down. She never thought she would listen to her beloved sister talking like that. The power had clearly consumed her over, and there was no stepping back. Only forward. So she swallowed her sadness, and took the step forward. With tears in her eyes, she shouted to her sister:

Celestia looked away. She knew that was true. She was doing an awful job. She wanted to cry, to hug her sister and ask for her help. To help her rule the place and tell her how to do it. But she couldn’t. Those feeling were deep away in her heart, and it was also covered by pride and desire of power. She knew those nice feelings should have got stronger. But they weren’t strong enough to melt her. She finally closed her eyes and said disturbingly quietly:

Luna was looking directly at her, with hatred in her eyes. Still crying, she said:

Celestia said quickly:

Luna was becoming more and more angry. The hate against the neutrality in her sister became stronger. She wanted her to see, but Celestia was blind. Blinded by the power and the stress. Luna couldn’t hold it anymore:

Celestia shouted away:

Luna trotted quickly against her sister, but just when she was just about to strike her, Luna used her magic to transport herself behind Celestia. And just like that, Luna was gone. The last thing Celestia could remember from that meeting was Luna trotting fiercely against her, crying and screaming.

Celestia was wandering through the castle, worriedly. She looked everywhere, but Luna was nowhere to be found. She finally gave up, and went to sleep.

Once in her room she thought to herself:

With a dark, angry expression she trotted her way out, and onto Luna’s room. She thought that Luna didn’t move the moon because she was angry, stressed, or even that she locked herself in her room. After 5 minutes of endless trotting, she found her sister’s room. She knew they had no time, so she powerfully kicked the door, destroying it completely. She stepped inside Luna’s room, which was entirely dark. She couldn’t see anything. Only perfect, deep dark. She wasn’t completely sure her sister was there, but she shouted anyway:

And then, there was silence. Nopony answered. Maybe her sister wasn’t in there after all. When she was about to get out of there, she heard a dark, emotionless voice coming out of the room:

Celestia turned back, facing the dark room once again. She said seriously:

Celestia could hear her sister sobbing inside the room. She wasn’t angry anymore, but she was worried about her sister. Luna replied:

While she said that, she heard the ponies gathering outside the castle. She also heard them asking to each other why the night was so dark, and why there was no sun yet. They were also wondering if the Princess would give them her demotivational speech this time. She looked away when she heard Luna saying:

Celestia had all the ponies gathered. She had told them not to worry. That morning would delay a little, but there was going to be morning anyway. It wasn’t the response she was expecting, but nothing that could not be solved.

The ponies were together staring at the spot they had prepared for Luna. She was supposed to use her magic at maximum power in order to move the moon in so little time. Everypony looked worried. They knew Luna wasn’t very powerful. She even had problems to raise the moon in a normal night. And this night, they were going to be witnesses of Luna’s maximum power.

After a few minutes of uncomfortable silence, Luna made her appearance. But she didn’t look like Luna at all. She had an incredible amount of hate in her eyes. She was crying deeply. Her mane was all messy, and little dark lightning bolts were surrounding her. Celestia could feel the darkness in her sister’s heart. She whispered “oh, no…” to herself, as she realized the terrible mistake she had made.

With tears coming constantly out of her eyes Luna looked angrily at the whole crowd. She took a deep breath, and said:

The ponies started shouting and sheering in delight. They started dancing and singing. Finally the dark times had come to an end. They were all happy. All of them… except Celestia. She was looking worriedly at her wicked sister, because she knew what was going to happen next.

Luna was quiet. No expression in her face. She had stopped crying. She had stopped sobbing. But the darkness was still surrounding her. She continued her speech with neutrality:

Celestia shouted:

-…and the presence of my sister is always there… in form of the sun. So for you ponies to be happy, I’m going to erase the sun. That’s right my little ponies…the night…shall last…FOREVER!!!!

After saying that, she started laughing maniacally. A dark, deep presence started surrounding her, and covered her completely. The ponies could not see Luna anymore, only a dark, big cloud. Suddenly, the cloud disappeared with a strong, quick flap of wings. Then, the ponies realized something horrible. The pony behind the cloud was not Luna. It could not be. And if it was, she had drastically changed. The blue in her eyes turned into a deep green, like the color of the deadly poisons. Her eyes didn’t look like the eyes of a pony, but looked like the eyes of a snake. Her horn had enlarged and was extremely pointed. Her fur wasn’t light blue anymore, but was dark and obscure as the night. She became taller too, and had sharped tooth coming out of her mouth. But the most drastic change was in her mane. It wasn’t a normal mane anymore. It looked like the dark sky of the night, with stars and constellations formed by the little sparkles that came out of it. It was also waving like the wind. It was like a window to the night. After all those changes, the ponies were no more confident. They were scared, and looked with horror to their princess. Luna talked with a dark, deep voice:

The pony that was holding Celestia’s mouth cried in terror as he jumped away, and ran his way out of there. The other ponies started running in terror as well, and suddenly, Celestia was all alone with her wicked sister. Nightmare Moon looked at the princess with cold, dead eyes. She said with no emotion at all:

She waited Celestia’s answer, but it never came. She finally started going away while she said:

That’s when she finally cried.

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