Author's Note

My first My Little Pony fanfic! Please let me know what you thinm!

I tried using some of Luna's old speech patterns from the show, such as using words like "thou" in some sentences.

This story is a prequel to My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic and expands on Luna's descent into Nightmare Moon. The story focuses on Luna's inner anger manifesting into Nightmare Moon, who Luna slowly becomes. I had to take a few liberties to fit it into the canon, particularly the ending.

The ending continues into the Nightmare Moon flashback from Season 4's "Princess Twilight Sparkle".

In the Moonlight

It was a gentle and quiet night in the peaceful land of Equestria. Ponies slept soundly, knowing they had been safe from evil and danger thanks to the two princesses who ruled over their fair land.

In the castle where these two princess siblings lived, the younger princess had just risen the moon, a duty she was very much proud of and a duty she loved to do. The soft moonlight shone into the long hallway through windows lined neatly in a row. Candles were lit on both sides of the hall, with a red rug stretching out as far as the eye could see. No sounds could be heard besides soft hoofsteps.

The princess of the night, Luna, had a dark blue coat and a mane that was a beautiful light blue like the night itself. She had green eyes and donned a tiara atop her head, and her cutie mark was that of a crescent moon. She was an alicorn, which meant she had both a horn and wings, something she and her sister shared in common. Her expression she donned was one of sadness.

Luna trotted slowly down the hall, and came to a stop at a window. She looked out over the beautiful moonlit land of Equestria, where all stood silent and still in her night. Ponies did not come out and play like they did in her sister's bright and cheery daytime. Luna sighed very deeply.

"How much longer do they intend to ignore the wonderful night?" she asked to nopony in particular, and as such no response came. She thought of her sister. Ponies praised her sister. Ponies loved her sister. Yet ponies never talked about Princess Luna or her wonderful night. They slept right through it.

Luna began feeling an emotion she never had before. An emotion as firey as her sister's beloved sun. Luna could not see how this was at all fair. Did her sister not care, or did her sister...hate her? Luna would not tolerate this neglect forever. The ponies of Equestria would learn to respect the night, or pay the price.

Of course, Luna began thinking thoughts...evil and terrible thoughts. She could get rid of her sister somehow, and take the throne. Ponies would have to bow to her then. Ponies would have to love her then. She could make her beautiful night last forever. Luna let out a little chuckle, being as quiet as she could to avoid waking her sister.

"Eternal nighttime sounds very pleasant," Luna whispered to herself with a smile. The burning emotion inside of her was building up more. Luna began walking down the long hallway again, heading towards the throne room. She had only recently gotten a throne of her own, after she had helped her sister defeat an ugly monster of chaos. Did her sister really find her that useless before that?

Luna's terrible thoughts came to a halt.

"N-no...what art thou thinking? Thou cannot do this, Luna," she said to herself, snapping back to reality. She tried to fight the hate boiling inside of her. Surely her sister didn't hate her. Luna was still relatively young compared to her sister. Maybe her sister was worried about her? Maybe her sister's work was difficult, despite all the praise. She stopped walking and looked out another window. The view was not much different. More ponies asleep on this wonderful night. Luna snowled.

"She knows exactly what she's doing. That little...worthless...excuse of a sister. I need to get her out of my way."

As she said this, she noticed her reflection. She looked...different. Her teeth were slightly sharper, looking more like fangs. Her mane was also more misty than before. Her coat seemed more like an inky black than her normal dark blue. Luna blinked a few times, sure she was just seeing a trick of the light. Luna began to have a suspicion of what was happening. She had heard of evil magic taking over pony's hearts from tales her sister told her when they were fillies. She began to have some regrets.

"N-no. I-I, uh, w-we didn't mean it that way! P-ponies can sleep during the night. I-I don't like this new look. W-we, uh, w-would never ever hurt big sister! S-stop!" she said to her reflection in a panicked frenzy. Her reflection smiled. Luna had not. Her reflection was smiling at her misery.

"St-stay away from y-your princess! Thou art just...just...an illusion!" she said towards her reflection. The burning emotion of hate began to return. Luna felt like she wasn't fully in control anymore, and she was terrified. Terrified of herself. Terrified of her deepest and darkest thoughts.

Terrified of what she could do to her sister.

She looked away from her reflection, disgusted by...it. Disgusted by herself. Disgusted by her words she had said. Tears began to stream down her face.

She wanted to run. To hide. To be anywhere but there. She was unable to run, however. She wanted to call for her big sister. She wanted to apologize for her jealousy. She wanted her sister to hug her and tell her everything was okay. Her eyes were drawn back to the window. Her mane was even more misty and her teeth were sharp fangs. Her reflection smiled, seemingly taking more glee in Luna's sadness and fear.

"An eternal night. Where only I rule. Without that worthless sister of mine."

Luna wasn't sure whether or not it she had said it, or if it was just her reflection mocking her evdn. more. Slowly, her hate had built up. She felt nearly only hate.

"N-no!" she said against her reflection. Her inner evils.

She felt a strong force knock her down. It took her a few minutes to get back up and focus. Her reflection looked almost like her normal self, but something was wrong. Luna knew she was not fully in control of herself now.

"I hope you'll like your new look when I take over the kingdom," her inner voice said mockingly to Luna. Luna was unable to respond. She was only able to trot forward against her will.

She was walking towards the throne room at a steady pace. She knew what her inner demons wanted. She would rather be banished to the moon for a thousand years than hurt her sister to take the throne

On the other side of the castle, however, the beautiful white-coated alicorn Celestia had just awoken from a nightmare about her sister Luna. She had been feeling guilty the past few days about how she treated her sister. Luna was still pretty young, and Celestia only wished to protect her. However, after their battle with Discord, Celestia had begun to realize her younger sister was strong and could work independently..

Little did she know, it was too late.

She got up from her soft, comfy bed and entered the hallway. Celestia knocked on her sister's bedroom door. No response. She opened the door to find that her sister was not there. Maybe she was admiring her new throne?

It was a long walk to the throne room for Celestia. Her greenish-pinkish mixture mane flowed through the air as she debated what she would say to her sister.

She soon set hoof in the throne room. Her sister was facing away from her.

"H-hey, little sister. I wanted to talk to you about some-"

Luna stared back at her sister. From the glare in Luna's eyes, Celestia got a suspicion she wasn't looking at just her sister.

"Hello, Celestia," said Nightmare Moon through Luna to Celestia.

"W-what are you doing in here?" asked Celestia. She had gotten a chill down her spine when Nightmare Moon smiled a wide and toothy grin.

"Isn't it a lovely night tonight?" was the only response she got.