1000 Needles
Notes: This all evolved from a nursery rhyme centering on Nightmare Moon that I wrote months ago; I’d planned to post it by itself but lo and behold, 1000 character limit! I’d originally planned to just put up filler but then introspection happened. I’ll add the nursery rhyme as a separate chapter once I...figure out how to use this html...
The first ten years following Luna’s—Nightmare Moon’s banishment were by far the worst. For the first few months following, she walked about in a constant daze; she would find herself stopping by her sister’s favorite lily gardens at night, calling for her. She would never receive a response, of course—one time a mare who was working two hedges over heard her call out, and Celestia, in a fit of mania, mistook her for her sister. The mare was so upset by her Princess’ un-Princess-y demeanor Celestia gave her two weeks paid vacation.
She would hear whispering in the halls, too, and see nervous, even angry glances from the guards who’d favored her sister. They would never voice them to her in person, of course—but that only made it worse. Sometimes diplomats would visit her—the political leader of the gryphons commended her on her sheer resolve against the force that was Nightmare Moon. She could only nod dumbly as he showered her with praise. The pegasi had two leaders—and both were evenly divided on their stance towards Nightmare Moon’s banishment. Cloudy Sky, a grey Pegasus with an ice-blue mane, was vocally against Celestia’s decision—which Celestia (and Cloudy Sky’s brother, Gray Day) tried to explain to her she had no choice she had to banish Nightmare Moon that thing wasn’t her sister and hadn’t been for a long time and Celestia just used the first spell she could come up with and maybe after a thousand years it’d be different but—but Cloudy Sky was a stubborn one. Celestia didn’t even know why she tried at all. Gray Day’s sympathetic expression only made it worse.
How could you possibly know? How could you possibly understand watching your sister, your most cherished companion in Equestria, devolve into madness and then be torn apart by her own magic? How could you comprehend having to banish what was once your flesh and your blood to a cold, still realm for an entire century?
The unicorns commended her as well—and so few of the earth pony leaders came by she imagined they didn’t really care all that much.
The first night after Nightmare Moon’s banishment, Celestia could not raise the moon. It refused to heed her call—she wondered if it were, perhaps, because the one bound to it was locked away in its embrace—and no matter how much she struggled, it would not rise, and it would continue to refuse so for three more weeks. Finally, nearing the end of the month, when she was at her absolute wits’ end, it answered her.
It did not do so happily, or willingly. It told her, that deep within a cavern her sister waited—her sister, not the monster she had become, but her sister. The moon told her that Luna was abandoning her bond and giving it to Celestia; that Luna now found herself unworthy.
Celestia wasn’t sure what hurt more—that her sister hated herself so much, or that Celestia hated herself even more. When she asked the moon to let her speak with her long-begotten sister, it refused—Luna refused. She never told why; or if she did, the moon refused to tell.
They would not speak again for centuries to come.
One hundred years after her banishment, Nightmare Moon had evolved into a legend. Some ponies still asked her if it was real—if she truly had banished her sister. They were usually fillies and colts: young, curious, and open-minded. The older ones, they thought it an old mare’s tale, and never cared to ask Celestia herself if it were real.
One night, after a more-than-exhaustive meeting with the Commanding General of the Gryphons Alliance—what had happened to their elected leader? Where had the time gone? Her kingdoms, the species and races she kept under her hoof now leaving her behind. She would never force them to stay, she was not heartless, but the constant shift left an ache in her bones—she found herself in what was once Luna’s library. Attempts had been made to preserve it, some way of Celestia to cope, but it always fell into disuse and disrepair. The mythology and folklore section had been the most extensive (that and astronomy—‘painting with the stars’ Luna would call it). Aisles upon aisles were packed with stories from the mundane (the mythical fae who ruled the lands with glamour and bloodshed, and existed before even the unicorns) to the extraordinary (the windigos and the progenitor for the entire Equestrian kingdom).
But now the books were in tatters—some of them priceless and items of heritage, gifts from foreign kingdoms, now left to scraps and dust. It was one such thin page she felt slip beneath her hoof—she nearly toppled over with how slippery the floor had become from years of dust. It looked torn from a diary: an ugly, muted orange color and black, smudged ink in messy handwriting. Celestia did not recognize it, and nor did she the words.
But she knew their meaning.
She took it with her when she returned to her room and kept it in hidden compartment in her dresser so that no other eyes would see it—only hers.
991 years after Nightmare Moon’s descent, she finally let another read it. She had known Twilight Sparkle for a scant ten years, and yet in that short span of time Twilight had become like another sister to her—younger, mortal, and a unicorn, but so much like Luna. In her own way she was letting Luna see it, and hoped that Luna, wherever she was on the moon, was watching.
“…it’s a nursery rhyme.” There were plenty of nursery rhymes about Nightmare Moon, often telling about how Celestia gallantly defeated the lost sister and sent her to her rightful prison. Twilight never liked them much; they always seemed incomplete to her, as if it were purposefully excluding details. “About Nightmare Moon?” Celestia nodded softly. She could tell what Twilight wanted to ask—was she real? did she exist? what really happened to cause their rift to turn Luna into that…thing?
But it was not her place to. If Celestia ever wanted to tell her, that was fine.
“Why are you giving this to me, Princess Celestia?” Her voice was unsure and curious—the only gifts Celestia ever bestowed upon her new student were knowledge and advice. Never did she give gifts of physical value. Celestia looked down from her student’s eyes—despite still a foal, Twilight was keen and smart and caught on quickly—her bookishness did not mean she was ignorant of social situations, only that she disliked them. “I’ve had it for a very long time, Twilight.” Celestia looked back up at her, smiling lightly. “I think it’s time it moved on to better hooves than these old horseshoes.” She chuckled lightly and Twilight grinned.
“Thank you, Princess Celestia.”
“You are more than welcome, Twilight Sparkle.”
A Nursery Rhyme
once upon a time in a land called equestria
there lived a young mare called princess celestia
with her sister princess luna she frolicked and played
the moon rose by night and the sun by day
but one day luna, shy as can be
told to her sister, “oh my, oh me!
“celestia, dear sister, i have become so sad
“for you see, my sister, i fear i have grown mad!”
and with that her wings grew a rather frightful color
and the life in her eyes became ever more duller!
she let out a cackle; her mane disappeared
instead was the night, flowing, and clear
celestia stumbled, shocked and afraid
when luna attacked her, she felt only dismayed
luna reared back, laughing with glee
“for you see, dear sister, you no longer scare me!”
celestia collapsed, her eyes gloomy and dejected
what was she to do, with her sister defected?
luna bayed and giggled; she snickered and laughed
she hemmed and she hawwed; she sounded quite daft!
luna charged her; celestia only dodged
the wild and furious attacks and barrage
she stumbled and tripped; luna laughed at her gaffe
when celestia felt a sudden change on her sister’s behalf
celestia, you twit, you defeated discord!
the chaos embodiment, the beast most abhorred!
luna is gone; the mare is no more
you must defeat her, the one you adored!
she got to her hooves, her legs unsteady
she bent her neck, her horn at the ready
luna snickered and she shook her clear mane
“oh sister, oh tia, i will never be slain!”
the sister ignored her; she charged at the mare
the couple divided; no longer a pair
before she could dodge her; before she could speak
celestia charged her, with only a shriek
“what are you doing?!” luna yelped as she fell
celestia glared at her, in no mood to dwell
she gathered her magic, as much as she could
the last thing she saw were her eyes saying i wish you would
celestia lay on her bed, all alone and forgotten
her dinner was stale; the bread become rotten
her mane was colorful, as bright as the noon
and she glanced to the sky, and thought of her sister, whom she’d dubbed
nightmare moon
