A Crimson Midnight

Chapters

Chapter 1: Gorgeous Night
Chapter 2: Drowning Dreams
Chapter 3: Attention

Chapter 1: Gorgeous Night

Luna sang quietly as she walked down the stone road. Her eyes twinkled with the stars that shined above her in the dark black sky. So beautiful, with rays of white streaking across it and trails of breaking clouds and moonlight flowing like rivers across each star, and around the beautiful full moon they shined the brightest. The young princess kept singing; her sweet voice filled the air and made flowers stand tall as if they too wanted to hear her beautiful voice, and feel it course through them. Her bright flowing mane sparkling as the stars above shined, her horn began to glow just the same. Her wings flared; large and perfectly preened; silky and smooth, with little to no mistakes upon each individual feather. She flapped them, letting herself rise several yards into the air before she propelled herself up into the air, going so high it was thought she would try to touch the stars herself.

And touch them she did. A shooting star fell just as she reached a peak that seemed several feet above the highest tower in Canterlot. She gripped the star between her hooves, feeling it send shockwaves of heat and a light tingling sensation through her entire body. Her wings trembled at such a feeling, her horn glew brighter, her hooves became shaky as if ready to drop the star. She only gripped it tighter, closing her dull eyes, holding it to her chest and feeling that burning sensation sink into her body. Her chest glowed, and the star slowly centered itself and slipped its way into the portal that appeared, slipping through her coat and skin, straight to her heart.

The glowing ceased, the white veil disappeared, the rings upon Luna's horn began to glow just as bright as the star. Lines were drawn across her wings, picking out each feather and outlining it with its bright glow. The moon on her chest shone just as bright as the moon itself, her mane sparkled, her glass shoes shined and shimmered as if covered in tons of glitter. It was like the stars really did kiss these points in her body to make them shimmer and sparkle. The night itself reflected upon her, giving her such a beautiful and bright glow it was like she herself was a star, or the moon. She opened her eyes; dull they were no more. They were pure white, they shined so bright that little white spots of light could be seen nearest where she looked. A pony could take one look at her, and be blinded by such an intense light.

She closed her wings, and began diving down to the ground. She closed her eyes once more, hearing the wind gushing into her ears as she dove down, horn first to the ground. But before she hit, her cutiemark began to glow brightly. The second it did so, she flared her wings, throwing herself into an upright position, and sending tremors of wind gushing through the valley and across PonyVille, and some even to Canterlot. The grass was blown back, some blades flying out into the town, others swirling back to her. Flower petals were blown away, leaving the flower itself bare and bent out of shape. One other flower, a bright blue one with glowing, glittering petals, and a dark silver stem, ripped itself from the ground and was thrown to Luna. Her hooves landed delicately on the ground, and she gripped the flower with her hoof. She blinked, and her eyes were normal once more. The rest of her body, however, remained just as bright and radiant.

She stared at the flower in her hooves, turning it slightly so she could see all of it. It was beautiful. Luna knew of this kind of flower; they only grew at night when a shooting star landed upon another flower and transformed it. It sends out sparkles as seeds like miniature stars. They would land around other flowers that had grown near the first, and they would sprout into something just as beautiful as the flower the next night. Luna smiled, remembering when she first encountered this flower.

It had been a normal night. She was out playing with her sister, Tia. Little Luna was ecstatic seeing a shooting star. When it landed, she and Tia ran over, only to see a beautiful flower sprout right before their very eyes from the glowing roots in the ground. The two young princesses, very shocked and amazed that such a flower so beautiful and bright could grow from a star, picked the flower gently. Protecting it as they ran, they headed straight back to Canterlot to show their mother, and their wonderful teacher. Luna kept the flower since then. It has never died, even after the thousands of years that passed since that flower was picked. Luna froze the flower. She locked it in a small glass dome that protected it, and she used a special spell her teacher had taught her, and her alone, that would freeze the flower and it would never die or wilt as long as the glass wasn't broken.

A tear pooled in Luna's eye at the memory. She shook her head, letting the tear fall, and freeze before it fell to the ground. She lifted the tear in her magic, staring at it intently. She sighed, wiping another from her face. A small portal opened upon her chest again, and she slipped the frozen tear into it. It closed once the small piece of ice had landed safely inside. Luna stared once more at the flower, folding her wings down slightly. She sighed, her thoughts finally convincing her to keep the flower. She let waves of bright white magic flow up and down her horn, and a glass veil surround the flower, leaving only a little bit of space between the two. She used that spell once more, her eyes blinking back to white and glowing so bright that the land in front of her lit up bright silver. She froze the flower, but only so that it could still sparkle like the sky above her now hurting head. She tapped the glass, and a white bubbled appeared around it, encasing it and the flower. She tapped the top, and watched the bubble float away and vanish in a flash to another location.

Luna sighed, blinking away the blinding light that was giving her this headache. She sat down, folding her wings down to her back. The light of her cutiemark, dissipated, the outlines of her wings slid off and began to crawl up and down her horn. She shut her eyes tightly, struggling to contain the magic. The stars in her mane and hooves blinked themselves out onto her horn, making it sparkle and glow. Sweat began to drop down her face; tonight it was much more of a struggle to return to a normal state.

She shook her head, opening her eyes only slightly. She looked up to the stars and the moon, and had an idea that made her head began to pound as she forced magic out of her horn. Streaks of blue, black and white magic poured out of her horn, and twinkled off into the sky. New stars appeared, older ones grew bigger and brighter, and other twinkles and waves went to the moon, making its rays even more radiant and dazzling. She panted, wiping the sweat off her face as she looked up to the sky. She smiled, seeing her sky shimmering. Her mane fell from its wavy state to a flat state. It still had the wavy pattern, and it shimmered as normal, but it refused to move as it lay limp at her side. Her tail drooped across the ground, and even her wings shuddered as if wanting to fall and drag themselves beside her.

She forced her wings to flap, and she began carrying herself, with slight difficulty, back to Canterlot. She landed at the gates, folding her wings down to her back, and walking inside the city. Her hoofsteps echoed through town as she walked: light clinking could be heard as her hooves tapped the ground. She hummed softly trying to calm her still aching head. She stepped into the castle, heading to the center of the spiral staircase and flapping her wings so she flew to the top, right up to the room she shared with her dear sister.

She used her wings to push the doors open. As she stepped inside, her sister roused, raising her head and blinking her eyes open. She looked to Luna, clearly still very tired.

"Where have you been?" She said, tilting her head.

Luna sighed. "No where special, Celestia, just out for a walk." She slid off her shoes and chestplate, setting them down by the doorway. She used her magic to shut the doors as quietly as she could manage.

"You were gone for a while, so I was just curious. It seemed like you went a little far," Celestia said, a small yawn at the end of her sentence which caused her wings to open slightly, then fall back onto the blankets of her bed limp.

"I just stopped to enjoy the night," Luna replied quietly, going to her bed and setting her tiara down on the bedside table. She crawled into the dark blankets, folding them around herself and letting her wings rest atop them.

"Well, if you say so then, I won't question..." Celestia laid back down into a similar fashion as Luna, except her wings were tucked underneath the blankets and wrapped around her thin body. "Goodnight, Lulu."

"Night, Tia," Luna yawned, letting her eyes shut. Her mane began to flow as she relaxed, and she slid into a dream state, allowing her real body to go limp with fatigue.

Chapter 2: Drowning Dreams

Luna opened her eyes slowly. Her wings ached from being tired, and it seemed like they were in pain by some grim wounds, cuts, or scrapes. She sat up, feeling her head pounding. She put a bare hoof upon it and felt something warm and liquid trail down it. Her eyes widened. She began to shake. Slowly removing her hoof from her head, she looked at it only to find it stained with blood. Tears began to pool in her eyes as the pain suddenly intensified. She let out a shriek of pain, getting up and stumbling. She tried to flap her wings, but nothing happened. She tried using her magic. Nothing happened.

Her heart began to pound; her eyes felt heavy, and her chest was sore. She looked around, trying to call out for help. But she couldn't hear even her own voice. It was though she said nothing at all. Blood gushed down from her back and forehead, crawling down her body and landing in puddles on the floor. She forced her head to raise despite how difficult it was, and her eyes grew wider at the scene before her. A black pony stood before her, baby blue hair floated around her and flowed elegantly. Her eyes slit; the iris was red with fury and pain. The blue armour adorned across her body sparkled, and her wings were flared at their full span. She was twice Luna's size. Tall, terrifying, and blood covered, Luna knew exactly who this pony was; and it was evident by the purple splatter and a blue crescent that was drawn on her flank.

The dark mare chuckled. "Are you looking for these, little Lulu?" Using her strong, purple magic, she lifted what had been causing Luna to bleed so much. The severed wings and the faded horn that was once connected to Luna's body.

The mare dropped them harshly, creating several blood splatters on the ground underneath them. The blood wouldn't stop running down Luna's body, the entire floor began to be covered in the sticky, red substance. It began to rise, and in that single moment she realized it, Luna's entire body went into a panic; desperate to flee and escape the dream world. But she found herself frozen in place, struggling to lift her hooves off the floor. She thrashed about as the blood continued to flood the blank space around her, higher and higher til it was just below her flank.

The black mare walked through the blood with ease, and put her hoof underneath Luna's chin, lifting her head slightly to glare at her in the eyes. "Goodnight, princess." She laughed, and then vanished with the blood that stuck to her dark coat and mane.

It flooded completely over the whole room. Luna was freed from sticking to the floor, and bubbles began to float to the surface far, far above her. She began swimming to the top, trying desperately to force her weak and shaky legs to propel her upwards. She struggled and thrashed about; it would be easier to swim if she had her wings. She saw the severed parts rising up to the top, the horn glowing and the feathers of the wings breaking off and floating about. They were rising higher than her, and she tried to swim to follow them. Her lungs felt like they were breaking, and ready to snap off. She couldn't breathe, she couldn't call for help, she could still feel excruciating pain through her entire body. Her eyes began to feel heavy, and her vision began blurred and clouded. Her legs felt weaker, and she wasn't moving as faster as her parts, which had floated far, far above her. They were nothing but dark dots getting smaller and smaller by the second.

Eventually, Luna's eyes shut, and she felt herself go limp. She opened her mouth, letting her breath go, and she felt blood gush into her throat and lungs in that very instant. She began to sink down, so far down that she reached the bottom once more, and fell still there. The blood rushed through her. Her ears, her muzzle, her nostrils and through other parts of her she didn't even know were open.

And then she woke up. She gasped for air, sitting up on her bed and hyperventilating, holding her chest with one hoof. Celestia stirred and sat up, rubbing her eyes and looking over to the panicking pony on the other bed.

"Luna, w-what's wrong?" The white pony quickly got up, trotting over to Luna's bed, and placing her hoof upon the young alicorn's back.

"I-I... it was..." Luna shut her eyes, trying to calm down so she could speak.

"Calm down, sister..." Celestia rubbed her back gently, trying to help her still herself. Luna's wings had flared when she woke, but they fell limp back at her sides as she finally began to relax. "Now, tell me, what happened?"

Luna sighed. "It was... a nightmare... Nightmare Moon was in it... It was awful..."

"D-do you want to talk more about it?"

"I... s-she ripped off my wings and horn... I was in so much pain, there was so much blood... and... it began to flood the room... t-the space, the- whatever... It kept rising, and rising, and it started drowning me. I tried to swim, I tried my hardest, but then I just gave up realizing I'd never get to the top..." Luna whimpered, hiding her eyes in her hooves and starting to cry softly.

Celestia hopped up on the bed, wrapping her wings and hooves around her dear sister, who hugged her back with no hesitation. "Hush now, Luna, it was only a dream... Everything is okay now..."

Luna stopped crying a little, wiping the tears from her face. "Thank you, Tia... I don't know how I'd survive these dreams if I... didn't share a room with you." She looked up to the elder, a faint smile stringing across her face.

Celestia smiled back, her eyes soft and full of love. "I can agree with such a statement, Lulu." She nuzzled the night pony's head gently, causing her to giggle. "Now... it's time to do our duties. Can you manage?"

"I'm sure I can manage bringing down the moon, Celestia," Luna chuckled, and got up with strong confidence; she puffed out her chest, and smiled proudly. "Let us go then! We haven't got all the morning."

The other alicorn laughed, hopping off the bed next to her sister. "Alright, alright, settle down. You're acting like a filly again."

Luna pouted, her cheeks turning pink. "Am not!"

"Are too," Celestia chuckled, putting her hoof upon Luna's head and ruffling her flowing hair.

"H-Hey! Do not touch the royal mane!" Luna shoved Celestia's hoof off, and pouted more. Her face was slowly turning more and more red.

The princess simply rolled her eyes. "Whatever, Lulu. Come on now, let's get dressed so we can tend to our duties for the day."

Luna growled, shaking her head and going to the door and grabbing her armor. She clipped her chestplate on, letting it be snug against her chest. She hopped into her shoes, and slid her tiara on her head gently, just behind her horn. She stared at Celestia, watching her do the same, but with more patience. The two sisters looked at eachother and smiled, giving a curt nod before opening the doors, and stepping out of their quarters.

Chapter 3: Attention

Luna hummed quietly as she walked alongside her sister, their manes flowing against the winds that blew through Canterlot. She looked around, her eyes glancing to mee the gaze of watching ponies. Celestia simply waved her hoof with a smile to the ponies, while Luna looked at the ground as her hooves clicked on the stone. The sound reminded her of her walk early in the night. She smiled at the thought, remembering the flower she'd found. She could still feel it clinking against the teardrop inside the portal, locked within the moon on her chest.

Celestia noticed Luna looking down, and she lowered her head to speak to her. "Luna? Is everything alright?"

"Hm?" The young mare looked at her sister and smiled. "Yes, everything is fine. I am just... remembering my walk."

"Hmm... if you say so, dear sister," Celestia smiled, nuzzling the moon princess' cheek.

Luna giggled, lightly nuzzling back. Her nose twitched as she did so. Just then, the memories of her nightmare struck back into her head, and she shook her head, pulling away from her sister, and hanging her head low enough the tip of her horn touched the ground. Celestia tilted her head, confused by Luna's quick turn away. She decided not to question it, and looked up, seeing two towers appear before them.

One tower was tall, pure white except for orange and yellow lines that crawled across it in spiral patterns and flowery shapes. The other was a little smaller; black with white and blue markings scattered across it, and many strange symbols engraved in it. Atop each tower lay their respectively symbols: a large, sun like shap atop the orange tower, and a pattern of the different phases of the moon swirling around the top of the other tower.

Luna and Celestia flared their wings, and flapped them violently in a race to the top of the towers. Luna's hooves were the first to hit the marble floor at the top, allowing her to let out a triumphant laugh as she heard Celestia's hooves hit not seconds later.

Celestia managed a small chuckle. "Alright, Luna, you win. You begin first."

Luna puffed out her chest, and took a step forward. Her wings flapped by impulse, making her rise into the area several feet off the ground at the top of the tower. Several ponies below turned to watch, pointing and cheering quietly as they were to witness the rising of the sun, and lowering of the moon. Luna sighed, letting her horn be ingulfed in the white flames that were brought down to her magic from the stars themselves. A beam of white light shot out of the tip, flying to the moon and wrapping it in a bright, dazzling blue. Luna opened her eyes, and began to lower her head slowly, causing the Moon to follow.

As the Moon lowered, Luna looked to see Celestia rising. Her feathers glimmered, and the gemstones on her tiara and chestplate glowed with her magic. A similar beam shot out of her horn as had with Luna's before, only it was a fiery crimson color. It flew down below the horizon, and the sky slowly began to transition from gray, black and blue to a bright crimson and fiery, golden yellow.

Luna looked down, allowing the Moon to set below the horizon, and she looked up to watch the sun rise and send bright, warming lights across the land. The ponies below cheered louder, feeling the sun's rays blanket themselves upon their small bodies. The two sisters flew down to the ground, and landed gracefully, folding their wings to their backs and lifting their heads.

Many ponies flocked to Celestia, cheering and welcoming the day alongside her. Very few came to see Luna. In fact, this time only three ponies came to her side.

"That was amazing, Princess Luna!" A small white pony said, bouncing in place and letting her lavender mane flow with happiness and joy.

"You looked very beautiful there atop the tower," A black stallion said, raising a white hoof and moving his pure navy hair out of his face, only for it to fall back and cover his eyes. He smiled still, his wings wide open at his sides.

"I wanna be wike Woona when I gwow up! I wan waise da moooon!!" A very small yellow filly said excitedly. Her white and silver glimmering hair curled in the wind, and her smile grew wider as she looked up to the princess. Her horn poked out of her hair and she began trying to use her magic with some difficulty.

Luna laughed, patting the little pony atop her head. "Such a cute little filly. Maybe someday you will get to move the stars."

"W-weally?!"

Luna smiled widely. "Of course... I may teach you as my teacher had taught me and my sister."

"Yah!!" The young unicorn hopped and skipped around Luna, giggling and rolling all the way.

Luna laughed at the enthusiasm of such a young filly, the two other ponies joined in as well. Eventually, all four ponies were skipping around eachother happily. After several minutes of this, the young filly collapsed, tired and panting on the grass. Luna chuckled, watching as the two ponies went and picked her up gently.

"Such a hyperactive one, is she not?" Luna seemed to purr.

The white mare laughed. "Well, they didn't call her Honey Skips for nothing."

Luna chuckled. "Well, it fits."

"I guess we should introduce ourselves now then, hm?" The black stallion said, looking to the white mare.

She smiled and nodded, looking back to Luna. "Of course. My name is Frozen Flower."

"And I am Starlit Cover," The black stallion smirked, striking a small pose.

Luna rolled her eyes, but smiled still. "Charming, Mr. Cover."

Frozen jabbed Starlit in the side with her hoof. "Knock it off, Mr. Mares Man. You ain't charming a princess."

"But she said I waaaas!" Starlit pouted, moving his mane to allowed his wide and starry eyes to be seen. "Didn't she?"

"Well, guess you didn't catch my sarcasm," Luna laughed.

Starlit sighed, letting his eyes be covered again. "Oh whatever. Anyways... Sorry, Ms. Luna, but I believe Frozen, Honey and I must be going. The schoolhouse should be opening now, so Honey has to get to class."

"B-but I wanna stay wit woona!!" Honey whined, her ears flattening.

"You two will meet again after classes are over, dear," Frozen ruffled the little filly's mane, which only made it curlier. "If that's alright with the princess?" The three looked over, awaiting the moon princess' answer.

Luna sighed. "I would love to, um, 'hang out' with little Honey Skips after school. I've got not much else to do other than sit around..."

"Wonderful! We shall see you later then, Princess," Starlit smiled brightly. Luna smiled back, thinking of nothing else to say. Honey whined more as Frozen and Starlit began walking off, carring her on their backs.

Luna sighed, the smile still stuck to her face. Sure, she may not have gotten as much attention as Celestia was still receiving, but even the littlest bit helped Luna find out she was worth keeping around.

Author's Note

Enjoy Luna's happy manner for now. It won't last forever ;)