Luna sighed as she raised the moon. Though she was only a young alicorn, and her mane did not flow in an invisible breeze like her sister's, she was tasked with raising the moon each night and lowering it at dawn. This was made harder by the fact that she would be alone all night. It was the longest night of the year, the Celebration of the Summer Sun, so there was not much point in trying to sleep as she would only be woken in a few hours to start the dawn. A few ponies stayed awake during this long night, but it was to celebrate the summer and how short the nights were in comparison to the winter. It was to celebrate the good weather that the pegasi brought. Luna's night was never celebrated.
"Luna?" her sister Celestia called.
"Aah! Go away, you pile of chicken feathers!" Luna yelled in answer, jumping into the air and using her wings to slow her fall. "You scared me!"
"Moaning Moonbutt, it's clear you need more sleep," Celestia tutted. Her pink mane flowed and curled in that magical breeze that seemed to radiate from her horn. "I shall have to tell Mother to send you to bed."
"Please, sister, no! I'm the same age as you, and Mother STILL treats me like a foal. Don't!"
"Well, on that note, I shall have to tell Mother…" Luna gulped when Celestia paused, "that you are to stay up all night and sleep all day tomorrow."
The Moon growled. "Curse you Sunbutt. I might as well banish your sun because I'll be alone all night tonight and everypony will be out tomorrow. If there was eternal night, ponies would get to see the spectacle that my moon and stars create."
"Ah, but the plants would not grow and the moon would not cast light without the sun," Celestia said slyly. "Although, your moon and stars are still pretty. I suppose ponies cannot look directly at my sun, but there should be a way to make its dangerous effects less harmful. Then my sun truly would be superior."
It was a childish argument, but something tugged at Luna's heart. She had no name for it, but a feeling of jealousy toward her sister twisted in her gut. She dismissed it, knowing that she would one day be equal to her sister when they both ruled Equestria.
"Celestia, Luna! Dinner time!" their mother called from inside the castle that they lived in.
Somewhere in the cosmos, a tiny bell rang, and Nightmare Moon awakened deep inside Luna's soul. She immediately knew her purpose: banish the sun and bring eternal night. Luna blinked as she felt something course through her veins. She made no comment to her older sister, however. It was probably just the wind.
Dinner was uneventful, but that gave Luna time to think about the argument. Celestia's problem was that she always saw herself as superior to Luna, even though they were twins. She had grown into a solitary character over the years, a lone wolf. After the worst arguments with her sister, she would cry at the moon like a wolf too. Celestia talked casually about her royal duties as though they were hobbies; Luna, however, felt that her connection to the moon was on a far more personal level. Maybe that was because she was often the only one who was up at night, or possibly because there were things that she did not want Celestia, Mother or even her beloved Father to know. Alicorns were a race of gods, and it was said that gods could find out any secret, but she would not give up hers so easily.
Her secret was something far darker than most would like to imagine. Her secret was that she sometimes wanted to make the other gods disappear, and rule alone. That way, she would gain the respect from her subjects that she longed for so dearly. Not worship, just respect for her rule. Usually, she would come to terms with the fact that her dreams of grandeur were impossible, and come to accept that she would always rule alongside the other gods. Today, that thought burned brighter than ever, and it took a lot of motivation to push that thought away and half enjoy her dinner.
That night, as Luna patrolled the skies, she saw a figure on the castle balcony, silhouetted against the light of the full moon. It was an alicorn, she could make out that much: although its wings were obviously folded, no unicorn's horn was that long. She had no idea that there were other alicorns, thus this pony gave her a sense of extreme fear.
The figure turned, and her eyes grew wide as the pony in front of her showed her true appearance: she had a dark blue coat; an electric blue, flowing mane and tail; wings with pointed feathers rather than the usual rounded ones that pegasi had; light blue armour with a pattern that curved inward, consisting of a helmet, shoes and a chestplate bearing a crescent moon; slitted light blue eyes; and a cutie mark identical to her own, except the dark patch on her flank was purple on this other alicorn, and the crescent moon in the purple patch was not white, but a sickly green.
"Who are you?" Luna asked fearfully.
"Why, Princess Luna," the female alicorn replied, "what an honour it is to meet you. My name is Nightmare Moon." She held out a hoof and beckoned her over.
Luna was rather shocked, as none of the other gods ever called her "Princess." That was something that only her subjects called her, suggesting that this fully grown alicorn saw her as a superior.
"Umm, hello," Luna said gingerly, slowly approaching Nightmare Moon.
"Now, now, there's no need to be scared; all I wish to do is spend the night with another alicorn. One knows it can get lonely out here."
This gave Luna some confidence. Finally, somepony who shared her pain. "I know that feeling. A lifetime of being looked down on by somepony who's supposed to be my equal makes one quite lonely."
"Now, who is this pony, Princess Luna?" Nightmare sat on her haunches, and held out a hoof for Luna to sit next to her. Luna obliged, and leaned against her. Contrary to how Luna thought she would react, Nightmare allowed her, and held a foreleg around her in an embrace.
"Princess Celestia, my twin sister. Raiser of the Sun. We're the daughters of Queen Galaxia and King Cosmos. It's not like I can zap her with a magical laser to get rid of her; she's a god!"
"I have a sister called Celly. She has dreams of grandeur, and she ignores me too often. I often hate her for it. I know that she wishes to rule her kingdom alone, for I have heard her talking in her sleep at night. I have the same dreams, but only because of the way she treats me. One day, hopefully, she will hear my cries and be kinder to me. Until then, we have to fight our battles."
"Wise words, Night Mare. So, which kingdom is your domain?"
"Somewhere far, far away. I shall show you one day, if we keep in touch. It takes a powerful teleportation spell to get from there to here and back again, and only the most powerful alicorns can manage a spell like that. I bet your sister Celestia couldn't manage it. My Celly has no clue that the spell even exists."
"If your sister Celly found out, she would probably be really jealous," Luna giggled, before remembering her own jealousy earlier that evening.
"I know how you feel," Nightmare Moon answered. She had just read Luna's mind. In answer to Luna's startled stare, she said, "No worries, I will not tell a soul how you feel. Just remember, if your feelings towards your sister worsen, try not to hate her, but the things that she does that make you hate her. Try to reserve some love for her, because it will make things easier between the two of you. I know from experience." Nightmare Moon looked at the full moon above them, and moved out of the hug into a standing position. "I am so sorry, but I must make my leave. Celly will be expecting me back."
"Thank you for spending the night with me." Luna smiled at her new friend. "I hope we can spend many more nights together. Goodbye, Nightmare Moon," said Luna, standing up herself.
"Goodbye, Princess Luna." The taller alicorn's horn gave off a blue aura, and she disappeared. Luna stared at the moon for some time, then went inside.
What Luna did not know was that Nightmare Moon had teleported to the moon, and travelled forwards in time. For Nightmare Moon was a Darkness, negative emotions that had manifested in pony form. She was Luna's Darkness, visiting her past self to escape her prison on Planet Equis's satellite. She had only just thought of visiting her past self, despite remembering her days as Luna, talking to herself essentially. That visit had changed her morale. Celestia did not know about time-travel spells, so she did not know that Nightmare could travel to a time when she was not imprisoned, and escape the moon. It was a strange sensation, to remember both sides of the conversation that she had had all of those years ago. However, it was not loneliness or boredom, or anything negative, so it made her feel a lot more free. It was still Celestia's fault that she ended up on the moon in the first place, so she still had those feelings of extreme jealousy and was still a Darkness. That was good, because then she would not have to admit where she went wrong, and she could bury some of her guilt that had accumulated over the two centuries that she had spent on the moon so far.
Her heart lifted when she realised that she would get to watch her past self kick Discord's flank into Tartarus, and sigh when she thought of what might have been had he not been turned to stone.
Author's Note
So here's how this story is going to work. You can suggest events that happened in Luna's daily life that N.M.M. was a part of. If I like your idea, I'll use it and credit you. I might not be able to use all of the ideas, because this won't be hundreds of chapters long. Ten, maybe eleven chapters. It will be more of a side project, so there might be a time gap between each chapter.
Oh, and by the way, I do ship Luna and Discord. I don't know if things would work out, but I feel that there is a connection between them. *Voice of Discord* I mean, starting an eternal night would cause SO much chaos, would it not?! Oh Luna, dear, just imagine: the Princess of the Night falling in love with the Master of Chaos. The ponies would go wild! Celestia might even be JEALOUS!
