Celestia yawned as she made her way towards the balcony of the castle. Even being an all powerful alicorn, she still despised getting up in the morning. Despite her resentment, it couldn't be helped, as she had a duty to uphold. She stepped out onto the balcony and saw that her sister, Luna, was there.

"Good morning, Luna."

Luna turned to her sister.

"Good morning, sister." She said. "Fine morning, isn't it?"

"Not yet." Celestia said. "It isn't really morning until the moon is lowered."

Luna nodded before turning toward the moon. She had look in her eye that caught Celestia's attention. A look of resentment. She has been acting that way for sometime now, but it wasn't anything to worry about. As usual, the moon lowered out of the sky with the glow of Luna's horn, leaving an almost black sky. The next glow came from Celestia's horn, which was then followed by the glow in the distance of her sun, which illuminated the land.

"Now it is a good morning, don't you think?" Celestia asked with a chuckle.

"Apparently so." Luna said. "I'm going to bed now."

"Alright then, sleep well, sister."

The halls of the castle echoed with the clop of Luna's slipper covered hooves. It was the same routine as it always has for as long as she could remember. She and Celestia would go outside, she'd lower the moon, Celestia will raise the sun, Luna would go to bed. Later, Luna will wake up, meet her sister outside, she would lower the sun while she will raise the moon, and Celestia will go to bed. This would continue on and on as it always has been.

Luna entered her bedroom. It was similar to her sister's with a large bed. She let out a sigh before approaching one of the windows. Her room had a very good view of the village below. The amount of carts and ponies trotting about indicated that it was harvest time as farmers from all around came to sell their stock, whether it be corn, to apples, to wheat. There trotting down on path, interacting with several ponies was her sister, evidence being her flowing multicolored mane that could be seen from a mile away. Luna scoffed as she saw her sister start to become surrounded by young colts and fillies, one filly actually hugged Celestia's leg, who then returned the gesture. The Moon Princess rolled her eyes. No common pony has ever hugged her. Mainly because there was no pony awake to do so. Except on one occasion where, while flying through her night sky, she spotted a young colt lost in the woods. She swooped down to see if the young one needed assistance, but that ended with the colt running away screaming for his mother. An event that led to her being scolded by her sister the morning after. Letting out a sigh, Luna kicked off her slippers and removed her crown and necklace before hopping into her dark sheeted bed.

As she tried to drift away to sleep, the sight of Celestia interacting with those foals still lingered in her mind. Why did Celestia have to be the one who ruled the day? Why did she get to interact with everypony? Why did she need to be the one everypony cheers for? This led to another question. When Celestia interacted with the common folk, what did they say when they spoke about her? Did they ever speak about her? If so, was it for good or for bad? That's when Luna decided to do something she tried to do before, but never got to perfect. She was going to see what they were doing through her sister's eyes. She often looked into pony's dreams, but that was it. They were asleep and her sister was awake. Maybe she was daydreaming?

"It is worth a try."

After a moment, she was at the square of the village, looking at a small congregation of foals who were very excited to see her. No, not her, Celestia was the one they were happy to see.

"We love your day time, Princess." One colt said.

"It's always so pretty." A filly added.

"Yeah." Another colt said. "Way better than night time."

"Night time is scary!"

"Not only that, you don't go around scaring us like Luna did to Golden Wheat."

"Yeah, Luna is the worst Princess!"

That was all Luna could take before she bolt upright in bed. She had a mixed feeling of sadness and anger building up inside oh her. Is this really what it has all come to? The children resenting her? Resentment for a monarch could lead to one thing, just like in all of the stories. But they were just foals, right? For now they were, but when they grew up, they would teach their foals the resentment for her. Not only resentment for her, but loyalty towards her sister as well. She and her sister might be on good terms now, but for awhile now she feels a rift beginning to form between her and Celestia. If the whole of Equestria pledged loyalty to Celestia, but not Luna, would that mean she would fall out of favor with both the populace and the nobility? What would happen then? More and more question began to form. Instead of answers, only more questions came instead. But one question stood out from the rest:

What could she do?

Luna looked out of the window and at the sun. The answer came to her.

"It's appears there is a full moon out..." She said as she put on her slippers. A brief twinkle blinked in her eye. "...today."

"That is a rude thing to say."

Celestia wasn't pleased with what some of the foals before her had said. She knew young colts and fillies said things often without thinking, but this was very uncalled for.

"How would Luna feel if she heard you say that?" She asked. "How would you feel if Luna said something like that about you?"

The foals who spoke looked down with guilt.

"Bad?"

"Very bad?"

"Very bad, indeed." Celestia said. "Yes you may be able to play in the day time, but we need night time just as much the day. Without night time crops would dry up or burn with constant sun and no pony would be able to sleep with my sun constantly out. That would be hard wouldn't it?"

The foals thought it over before one of them answered.

"We're sorry princess." She said.

"We hope we didn't hurt Luna's feelings."

"It's alright, my little ponies." Celestia said. "But you must keep in mind that Luna is just as as important as I am."

"We should do something special for Luna, something to show how much she matters!" One colt suggested.

The other foals agreed. Before Celestia could agree with the foals, everything looked to have turned darker. She then looked up to a sight she'd hasn't seen in a very long time. A solar eclipse.

"What's going on?" A filly asked. "It was morning a second ago."

Celestia then turned to the castle.

"I think I know what has happened."

Celestia knew full well of who caused the solar eclipse. She quickly trotted through the halls toward her sister's room. She knocked on the door.

"Luna! Are you in there!"

No answer.

"Luna!"

She then opened the door and saw that the bed was disturbed, but no pony was there. Celestia then continued her search to the balcony, the kitchen, the dining room, the library, until she finally got to the throne room. Growing tired of the search, Celestia shouted as loud as she could.

"Luna!" She said. "Luna, where are you?!"

She then heard the sound of hoof steps and saw her sister appear from behind her throne.

“Hello my dear sister.” She said before casually sitting down on the throne. “Is there a problem?”

“I want to know why there is an eclipse today. Do you know why this has occurred?”

Luna said nothing.

“Answer me, Luna!”

“It does look lovely.” Luna said as she peered over at the window. “Don’t you th…?”

“ANSWER ME, LUNA!”

Luna’s face changed from nonchalant to serious.

“Do you really want to know?” She asked as she got up from her throne. “I’m tired.”

“Well you can go straight to bed after you lower the…”

“That’s not what I meant!” Luna shouted, interrupting her sister. “Ever since we came to power, the ponies of Equestria have always frolicked in your sunlight. Laughing, smiling, playing in your day while they merely sleep and fear in my night.”

Celestia sighed.

“Luna, we’ve had this discussion before.” She said. “Just calm down and…”

“I WILL NOT CALM DOWN! I’M DONE CALMING DOWN!”

Celestia recoiled. Luna has been upset before but never to the point of speaking in the royal we.

“Luna I…”

“Ponies don’t go to bed during your daytime, ponies aren’t afraid of your daytime, ponies don’t write scary stories that take place in your daytime!” Luna ranted. “Ponies aren’t afraid of you!”

“Lu…”

“I’m tired of being ignored! I’m tired of being feared!” Luna continued, her eyes beginning to glow in a white hue. “If the ponies of Equestria love the sun so much, then it shall be the moon that will rule!”

Celestia was in shock of what was unfolding.

“And how you supposed to do that?”

Luna smirked.

“With force!”

Without warning, Luna shot a beam of magic at Celestia who barely dodged it, the beam barely grazing her shoulder.
“Luna! Don’t do this!” Celestia pleaded after regaining her hoofing. “I don’t want to fight you!”

“If the ponies of Equestria want to fear me…” Luna’s eyes were now fully glowing. A dark mist began swirl around the Princess of the Night, consuming her. After several seconds, the mist disappeared with a flash, leaving behind, not Luna, but something horrifying. A dark alicorn in dark armor. “…then I’ll give them something to fear!”

“Luna, don’t do this!” Celestia pleaded.

“I’m sorry, Celestia, but I’m no longer Luna." The alicorn, formerly known as Luna, said before smiling, which revealed a set of sharp teeth. "The whole of Equestria will fear and bow before the name, Nightmare Moon!”

Celestia wasn't sure what to say or do after seeing what her sister turned into before.

"Luna, or Nightmare Moon, whoever you are!" She said. "You don't have to do this!"

"Enough with the talking!"

Nightmare moon then fired another blast of magic at her sister. Celestia dodged the blast. Instead of standing and fighting, she turned and ran as fast as she could.

"Where do you think your going?!"

Nightmare Moon chased after Celestia through the halls, blasts of magic exploding behind her. As Celestia ran, a five pony squad of guards assembled in the halls.

"Princess, what has happened?" One guard asked.

"It's Luna." Celestia said. "I don't know what has happened, but she's gone completely mad with rage."

This was met with the sight of the former Luna charge down the hall.

"Halt!" A guard shouted.

A unicorn guard charge before firing a blast from his horn. The rest of the guards followed suit. This was no challenge for Nightmare Moon as the guards were tossed aside like toys. All Celestia could do was continue to run, that's all she could do at the moment. She ran through room to room as blasts of magic punched holes in the walls. After entering the dining room, Celestia smashed through a window and took to the air with Nightmare in toe. Whether the two were running or flying, Nightmare's aim didn't improve as spires, arches, and bridges were blasted into bits. That's when Celestia thought of an idea, and idea that she saw as the only way.

She then disappeared with a flash, only to reappear in her personal office, which has yet to have been touched. With the glow of her horn, a tile on the floor moved, revealing a secret button. Upon pressing the button, the bookshelf behind the desk moved, revealing a stylizing box. She then approached the box and opened it revealing the contents to be several familiar and important objects.

"I have never thought I'd have to use these, again."

"Citizens of Equestria!" Nightmare Moon shouted as she flew over the village. "For too long you have ignored me! For too long you've favored Celestia's day over my night!"

She then touched down in the square with a loud thud.

"From now on, you shall submit to Nightmare Moon!"

The ponies in the square began to cower before the dark alicorn. Who was this alicorn and what was she talking about?

"Luna!"

Everypony turned and saw Celestia touch down with a thud. She wore a saddle bag on her side which bore her cutie mark.

"Well look who it is." Nightmare said. "The precious Princess of the Sun."

"Luna, this is your last chance!" She shouted. "You either stop this now, or you'll make me do something I don't wish to do!"

Nightmare cocked an eyebrow.

"I'm sorry I think you mistaken me with somepony else." She said with spunk in her voice. She then turned to the ponies. "It appears your Princess of the Day is confused! You really want her as a leader?"

"Last chance Luna!" Celestia shouted. "Stand down, or else!"

Without another word, Nightmare fired a shot at Celestia, this one actually hitting her. Celestia flinched in pain as she saw Nightmare Moon take to the skies again. She then gave chase and fired her own magic at her sister. Nightmare dodged Celestia's shot before firing a shot of her own. The dogfight lasted fore several minutes before one of the two princess cried in agony as she fell from the sky.

"Pathetic weakling!" Nightmare said triumphantly as she watched Celestia fall.

Celestia hit the ground with a loud, cringe inducing thud. She groaned as she tried to regain her composure. She looked to her left and saw that her crown had fallen off and to her right was her bag, with the contents spilled out. She looked up at the sky and saw her sister turned demon circling overhead. At this point, Celestia's patience was no longer existent. With the glow of her horn she placed her crown back on her head and then picked up the contents of her bag. The contents then began to rotate around her.

Nightmare Moon touched down again. Her face changed from triumphant to borderline horror after seeing what Celestia had floating around her, what was now floating faster and faster.

"Those are the..."

"The Elements of Harmony." Celestia said, finishing Nightmare's sentence. "I'm sorry Luna, but left me with no choice."

Nightmare's eyes widened.

"You wouldn't dare!" She shouted. "You won't take me down! YOU WON'T!

She then fired a massive beam of magic at Celestia who then fired a beam back, blocking Nightmare's magic. At first it looked that Nightmare almost had the upper hoof, until Celestia's beam became stronger, and stronger, and stronger until finally, it canceled out Nightmare's beam. The beam of the Elements of Harmony consumed Nightmare Moon.

"NOOOOOO!"

The ball of magic then shot up into the sky and at the moon. With the flash of a bright twinkle, a design began to form on the lunar surface, becoming the image of the now defeated alicorn.

Nightmare Moon was no more.

It had been a hectic day. Celestia had to lower the moon by herself, observe the damage that was inflicted on the castle, checked on the guards who tried to fight Nightmare Moon, and look over any other damage that inflicted the surrounding area. Now it was the end of the day and it was now time for Celestia to lower the moon. When it came to her lowering the moon, it was a rare event. The last time she did this was when Luna was ill, something that many ponies thought to be impossible.

Celestia stepped out onto the balcony. With the glow of her horn, the sun went down. After the sun went down, the moon went up with another glow of her horn, turning the sky from blue to black.

"Well good night, Luna."

Her eyes then went wide as she realized that she was alone on that balcony. She looked up at the moon which bore the image of her former sister. She turned around as her eyes began to water. The tears plopped against the stone floor of the balcony.

"I'm sorry, Luna."

Author's Note

Personally, I wasn't really that convinced with how Luna just turned into Nightmare Moon in the show. This is essentially my take on it. I hope you all enjoyed.