Princess Celestia smiled warmly as Twilight excitedly jumped up and down at the news that they were going for a walk around the Castle and the adjacent garden, and the Alicorn waited patiently for the young filly to calm down. Once Twilight managed to compose herself, they departed.
The protegé was cheerfully walking next to her mentor. Celestia happily looked down at the young unicorn, content with the eagerness and excitement she displayed. The filly had only been studying under her wing for a few weeks now, but just like she predicted, Twilight was extraordinarily capable and swiftly adjusted to the new environment.
Twilight was immensely interested by every little thing they passed by. So far her studies under Celestia had been focused on advanced magic and Equestrian society. A thorough study of the castle, it’s surroundings and the meaning of all the stone statues and similar artifacts hadn’t been part of the schedule so far. Celestia chuckled at her student’s eagerness to hear about everything they passed by, even if it was a plant, tree, or blade of grass.
Soon, they arrived at a point deep within the Garden, and as they brushed past a thick clump of leaves blocking the way, Twilight gasped at what she saw and ran towards the huge statue in front of the two. A statue Celestia had tried to forget about for a very long time.
It depicted an Alicorn with a pitch black coat donning silver battle armor. The Alicorn’s wings were spread out to the entirety of their length and pointed high up, casting an intimidating shadow over the ground below it.
"Ooh! Princess Celestia! What is this!? It's amazing!" Twilight’s eyes gleamed with excitement and she grinned goofily. However, that quickly turned into a frown as a flash of remorse flickered in the wise Princess' eyes, but just as quickly as it came, it vanished. "Princess? Are you alright?" Twilight asked, concern apparent in her voice.
Princess Celestia was absentmindedly staring at the large statue, but averted her gaze at Twilight’s disruption. She looked back down to her student and smiled before answering. "I'm quite alright, my faithful student. I was just...thinking." Celestia turned her attention back to the statue.
Twilight didn't want to be rude, but she just couldn't stop herself, and let curiosity get the better of her. "So, Princess?" Twilight asked. Celestia focused on her again. "If you don't mind, could you tell me about that statue?"
Celestia was silent for a moment and considered the request, before nodding. Twilight gave her teacher a huge smile at that, and so she sat down to listen.
"You see,.." Celestia began. The tale of Nightmare Moon wasn’t an easy one to tell, not for her at least. It reminded the Sun Princess of her dear sister, and how she’d succumbed to evil. How jealousy and anger had consumed her, turning her beloved sister Princess Luna into a dark entity intent on plunging Equestria into an everlasting night.
…It reminded her how she failed to see it coming, how she failed to stop the destruction of one who had needed her most.
Celestia didn’t get to finish her tale, however. Massive black clouds started to form a circle around the moon. Together with the lunar eclipse currently in effect, the image was ominous to say the least.
From somewhere far away, the deafening sound of a large explosion reached the two ponies. Both whipped their heads in the direction of the sound and shot to their hooves, staring intently at the location they had heard the blast coming from.
Less than a split second later, a huge bolt of lightning struck the statue of Nightmare Moon, blowing it into a million pieces. Debris flew across the air, momentarily forcing Twilight and Celestia to cover their eyes. While they were shielding themselves, Twilight urgently asked, "Princess! What's going on!?"
Celestia immediately answered, "I-I don't know, but it can't be good."
Twilight gulped at the vague answer, and once the dust cleared and they opened their eyes, both Twilight and Celestia gasped at the pony standing before them.
"No, i-it can't be," Celestia muttered, her eyes stretched wide in shock.
"Is that...Nightmare Moon?" Twilight asked. The filly was visibly terrified, but her desire to learn about the events unfolding in front of her caused her to take small steps towards the Evil Princess of the Night. She flinched and stopped in her tracks as the terrifying dark Alicorn cackled. Celestia instinctively raised a wing in front of Twilight.
"Why, you're correct, dear. It seems someone does remember me after all. And you, Celestia..." Nightmare's mirthful smile faded away as she looked at her sister with distaste. "It's because of you that I was imprisoned in the moon for nearly a thousand years, but it seems I was finally able to escape." The smirk returned to her face, and she continued. "I am sure you're wondering how I got off the moon. As it turns out, the power keeping me from returning was far less powerful on Lunar Eclipses, and I've been doing my utmost to try and break free on every one of these occasions for centuries! However, this time was different. It seems that something happened which caused the spell imprisoning me to weaken even further, and I was able to escape!" Celestia looked like she was deep in thought during her sister’s monologue, and Twilight just stared in awe at Nightmare Moon's story, a weird mixture of intense fear and academical curiosity reflected in her eyes.
Eventually, Celestia looked up, and said, "Then, it was that explosion...what was that?" She spoke more to herself than to anypony else, but Nightmare Moon heard.
"Oh, does that really matter? I'd think not, especially considering I'm...ABOUT TO DESTROY YOU!!!!!" As she finished speaking, she ascended high into the air and fired a beam of pure black magic at Celestia. Narrowing her eyes, Celestia dodged the attack and flew through the air in a spinning charge, continuously evading as Nightmare shot beam after beam of intense magical energy.
Twilight watched the battle, unable to decide whether it was in amazement or horror. On one side, this was the most intense (and only) actual magical duel she had ever seen. The amount of things she could learn from it was staggering. However, this was also a dead serious battle. If Nightmare Moon won, that meant that her mentor would get seriously hurt, or worse… And considering the story Celestia told her only moments ago, Nightmare Moon’s victory would spell dire consequences for Equestria.
Horror, she was definitely watching in horror. "Don't hurt my teacher!" Twilight yelled at Nightmare. However, the Alicorn simply laughed in answer and fired an extra powerful beam, which actually hit it’s target as Celestia had been distracted by Twilight.
"UHHH!!!" Celestia cried out, falling down to the cement. Twilight dashed over to her as quickly as she could, and she kept nudging Celestia, urging her to get up.
"Celestia! Please be okay! Wake up, please!" As Twilight shouted at the motionless Celestia, tears flowed freely from her eyes. Just as she began to lose hope, Celestia slowly got up, and Twilight smiled. "You're okay!" Celestia looked at her, smiled weakly, and then directed her gaze back at Nightmare Moon.
Nightmare Moon inspected one of her front hooves, seemingly bored. "Oh, I forgot to mention, during the Lunar Eclipse, not only do my chains weaken, but my power increases as well. You stand no chance!" she revealed, and prepared to charge again. However, the attack was interrupted as there was suddenly a huge flash and a pop.
Standing right in between the two battling princesses were... "Lu-Luna? Twilight?" Celestia asked. "H-how could this be? And how are you an Alicorn, and-and what about those 5 ponies?" Standing beside the mysterious Luna and Twilight were 5 other ponies: A pink Earth Pony, an orange Earth Pony, two Pegasi Blue and Cream-colored respectively, and a White Unicorn. All of them had small cuts and scrapes on their bodies, and their eyes were sagging from exhaustion, especially Twilight and Luna's.
"There's no time to explain!" The Alicorn Twilight said in a commanding voice. Filly Twilight looked at her older self with shock as she continued. "The timeline's been altered, and now, she is here early." The older Twilight pointed a hoof at Nightmare Moon in an accusatory manner. "I'm sorry, but it's time for you to go back to the moon! Our accidental error by landing in 990 AB (After Banishment) will now be corrected. Get ready, Nightmare Moon!" Twilight's horn pulsed with fizzling magic for a second, while Nightmare Moon, startled due to the sudden turn of events, charged a counter, before Princess Luna stopped both of them.
"TWILIGHT!!! You know what I said," Luna warned.
Twilight worriedly looked at her before replying. "B-but, princess..."
"No buts, you and your friends all agreed, remember?" Luna asked.
Twilight sighed, and answered, "Yes, Princess. 'No reckless behavior in the case of early time crashes.' But what are you going to do?"
"I am going to talk to my counterpart," Luna said. "Also, I've formulated a plan I need to discuss with my sister, to make sure everything in this timeline runs smoothly. Understand?"
"Yes, I understand, Princess." Twilight let the magical current in her horn die down and turned back to stand beside her friends, while Luna stepped forth. Nightmare Moon looked with distaste at the smaller Alicorn, then spoke.
"I am not you! 'Luna' is simply a weaker version of me! Nightmare Moon!" she shouted, unfurling her wings and raising them up high.
Luna chuckled briefly, then used teleportation to bring both of them a fair distance away from everypony else, but not out of hearing range.
"Don't try to talk, all I care about is getting rid of my weaker half!" Nightmare yelled, flying towards Luna at supersonic speeds and firing her strongest blast. Luna sighed exasperatedly and lazily summoned a small portion of her magic to block Nightmare's attack. After staring at her counterpart in disbelief and shock for a few seconds, Nightmare stuttered, "H-how? I was using my full power..."
Luna closed her eyes and let out another sigh before she slowly opened her eyes again. She responded impatiently, the whole situation reminiscent of a mother disciplining her children. "Look, I don't have time to deal with this, unless you want to collapse all 18 timelines and make us lose Star Gazer's Staff of Fusion and Harmony, you're going to listen to what I'm going to say." Nightmare Moon simply stared at Luna blankly, trying to process what she’d just heard. Luna slapped her hoof on her forehead, and with growing irritability, she continued. "If you really want to know, I've been training and battling in interuniversal wars for decades, all of which would decide the fates of involved universes. Me and Twilight were teamed up this whole time, but the other 5 only joined up from '7' in 1008 AB a couple of months ago, so you'll find their power is much more normal. However, we two Alicorns have gotten so much strength over the countless years, even Discord pales in comparison. Now, unless you would like to have your flank kicked and be sent back to the Moon immediately, you will listen to what I have to say. Understand?"
The young Twilight had been watching this whole conversation, and her mind whirled with all this information being thrown at her.
Timeline Travel? Universes clashing? I'm gonna be an Alicorn!? What the hay is going on around here!? Twilight thought while listening to everything the two were saying.
Nightmare Moon seemed to be having the same problem. She raised an eyebrow and inquiringly looked at Luna for a few seconds before the Future Warrior began to charge her horn. Recognizing that she was severely inferior, Nightmare stopped her by begrudgingly saying, "Wait, wait, I'll listen. I'm not a fool, I can tell when I'm clearly outmatched." Luna calmed down as Nightmare finally gave in, and so she began to tell her story.
"Because all this happened in Timeline 5, which is different from what should be, using a simple 'Future Unveiling' Spell, I can tell everything in the future will be catastrophic if we let events unfold naturally. Thus, I will need to take the necessary steps to make sure everything happens like it originally did in the 7th timeline. Are you with me so far?" Nightmare slowly nodded her head after a moment, and so Luna continued. "You're going to have to willingly go back to the moon for 10 more years-," before she could continue, Luna was immediately cut short by a furious Nightmare Moon.
"You think I'm going to voluntarily go back to that cold, desolate wasteland for another decade!? I don't think so!" Luna shot a glare at the interrupting Alicorn that would've sent shivers down the back of a God, and Nightmare Moon recoiled under the immense pressure of her counterpart's stare. "G-go on," she timidly said, causing the older Twilight that was watching from a distance to burst into a fit of laughter, earning her an angry look from Nightmare.
"Ahem, moving on," Luna said, hinting at Twilight to stop, which she understood immediately. "After 10 years, you will come back pretending to be a villain, but you will really let them win. Otherwise, after a few years, this world, along with every other world shall perish. Got it?" With this last statement, she silently warned Nightmare to not press the subject.
Gulping, Nightmare nodded. She wasn’t too keen on going back to the moon, and she certainly didn’t revel in the thought of letting her opposition win, but it wasn’t exactly her choice to make anymore at this point. Besides, the world being destroyed wasn’t in her interest whatsoever. No world meant nothing to rule over.
Luna resumed. "Once you do that, everything shall happen as it should, and peace will finally return to all the other timelines. I will also speak to my sister about keeping this encounter a secret, and I will perform a spell to completely wipe the memory of this world’s Twilight regarding today's events." The Twilight Luna was referring to reeled back at the thought of that, but she was smart enough to realize that it was necessary. Before she could go into deep thought about this, Luna spoke once again. "If anything at all goes wrong, then the only remaining peaceful timeline will be thrust into war, imbalance, and inevitably, total destruction. I do hope I make myself clear, the fate of everything in existence rests purely on the shoulders of you, my sister, and Little Twilight over there." Twilight, who was already nervous and hiding under the comforting wing of Celestia, shrank back even further at the thought of all this responsibility.
Nightmare Moon looked down in thought for about a minute, then eventually said with great reluctance, "F-fine. However, I have just one question: Will I just be sent back to the Moon after?" Luna gave Nightmare a somewhat sympathetic look at this question, and responded after a few seconds.
"Well, if everything goes as it should...no. Luna will return and you will be locked deep in her consciousness. However, as a reward for you, I'll make sure to give you wonderful dreams every time you sleep, even when I'm in other timelines. I do believe that is a significantly better deal than simply ceasing to exist." Luna then added, "Also, you may eventually be split from this timeline's me and return to the outside world if you follow a certain path. That's what happened with the Nightmare Moon inside me." After finishing, Luna looked up at the night sky, seeming deep in thought, and she was looking a little remorseful for some reason. Nightmare was also looking glum, and a little uncertain, even if this option was far better than the alternatives. Luna recognized her counterpart’s uncertainty and could sympathize with her. "I'll leave you to think about it for a while. In the meantime, I will speak with my sister." Flapping her wings, Luna swiftly flew over to Celestia's side.
Twilight quickly hid behind Celestia when Luna came over, but Celestia reassured her, "It's alright, you can come out. Luna may seem intimidating, but she certainly wouldn't harm a filly!" Gaining a bit of confidence upon hearing her mentor, Twilight stepped out and sat next to her teacher. "So, Luna, long time no see. I suppose you wish to go over the plan of me acting like this never happened, and about erasing Twilight's memories of this whole ordeal?" Luna confusedly looked at Celestia for a few seconds, before she realized.
"Oh, yes, we were somewhat close by. Did you hear everything?" Luna asked. Both Twilight and Celestia nodded, and Luna breathed a sigh of relief. "That makes my job a lot easier. I hope you both understand the magnitude of your mission. More so you, Celestia, as Twilight won't remember any of this." With a nod, Celestia confirmed her understanding, and so, Luna said, "I believe Nightmare Moon should have decided what to do by now, so I'll be going back now." With this, she took off once again, and glided across the sky towards Nightmare.
Nightmare Moon looked up, and upon seeing Luna, she spoke. "I've made my choice. I will go along with your plan, but I expect you to keep your end of the deal." Luna nodded. Nightmare spoke again after taking a deep breath. "I suppose this is it. I know that I will be locked away and forgotten, even after my valiant effort to save the world. All I wanted was to have other people appreciate my Moon. And now, I will likely never again see the Moon myself, except for in my dreams." To the great shock of everypony present, the great Alicorn, Nightmare Moon...began to cry.
Luna frowned, and tried to comfort Nightmare in a soothing tone. "Don't worry, you will be able to return to Equestria once you learn the value of Friendship. Then, you will be able to take your place among the Princesses, and live happily." Nightmare Moon sniffed, and then mustered up all of her courage for what she was about to do.
Slowly, the counterpart of Luna walked up into the night sky, fading away from view, and eventually turning once again into 'The Mare On the Moon.'
Celestia walked to Luna and wrapped a wing around her as the Night Princess stared sadly at the large mark on the Moon. "Do not worry, Luna. If Nightmare Moon is half as tough as you are, she'll be okay. My task is what I'm worried about!" Celestia chuckled softly. "Keeping this whole experience to myself will be quite difficult indeed." To Celestia's surprise, Luna laughed. "What?" she asked.
"Oh, Celestia, even when I've been through so many things and learnt so much, you're still the one who's comforting me," Luna said, continuing to laugh. Celestia joined in, and the two sisters happily laughed together, while everypony else watched from afar, with the exception of Twilight, who was right beside them. All of the ponies present were smiling.
"Well, I do believe it's about time for me and my fellow timeline travelers to return. As much as I would love to stay, I have responsibilities. It's been especially nice seeing you again, Celestia," Luna finished in a mysteriously solemn tone.
"What do you mean?" asked Celestia. "What about the me of your timeline, or all the other timelines for that matter?" Luna flinched and she looked into the distance for a moment, before responding.
"That...is a story for another time. For now, I must get on with the Memory Spell." Celestia reluctantly nodded and gently nudged Twilight forward for the memory wipe.
"P-princess Celestia, do I have to do this?" Twilight asked hesitantly. When her teacher nodded again, Twilight took a deep breath and stepped right in front of Luna.
"Do not fret, little one. This won't hurt a bit." As she finished talking, Luna charged her horn and placed it directly on top of Twilight's head. Closing her eyes, the little filly took another deep breath, and slowly, the spell made her lose consciousness, until she was asleep in Celestia’s hooves.
"There, when Twilight wakes up, she will not remember anything about today. You know what you have to do, sister. Now, I really must leave. I am sorry for this sudden departure, but I sense another timeline urgently calling to me. Goodbye." And just like that, Luna and Twilight, along with the five other timeline travelers were gone in a huge flash.
"..." Celestia continued to stare at the place they all had been standing for a few minutes, until she tilted her head down to look at the unconscious Twilight, and whispered, "Let's go home, Twilight." Holding her in one hoof, Celestia carried Twilight back to the castle.
-
"I know I've heard of the Elements of Harmony," a grown up Twilight said to herself as she opened the door to her room.
And thus, everything proceeded as should. Nightmare Moon was defeated and Luna kept her promise. Discord, Chrysalis, Sombra, Sunset, Tirek, The Sirens, Starlight, and all the others that would challenge Twilight and her friends were defeated. Eventually, after many years and battles, peace was restored to all the timelines. Luna was finally able to rule over her own Equestria again, along with Twilight. Celestia and Cadance didn't rule together with them however, and that is, as Luna put it, 'a story for another time.'
Author's Note
I hope you like my first attempt at a story that wasn't all about fighting! I sure hope I get a prize in the contest! 
