Chapters Reflections of a Dark Past
There is a tale that has become common knowledge among the ponies of Equestria, a tale that seems almost ancient in its power, but is only slightly more than two years old. A story of friendship, of magic, of good and evil. It is the tale of the return of Nightmare Moon, and her subsequent defeat by the magical prodigy Twilight Sparkle and her friends. This, phillies and gentlecolts, is a tale of conflict much like the other, but it takes place within the soul of a certain alicorn, the younger sister of Celestia, Princess Luna.
As Princess Celestia awoke and prepared to raise the sun to signal the start of day in Equestria, a very tired alicorn with a star filled mane prepared to retire only a few rooms away. Although the night had been rather uneventful except for a few troublesome unicorn fillies who had discovered transfiguration magic, Princess Luna was exhausted. Having winged down to the home of the fillies to revert their parents from the form of oddly colorful chairs. She returned to the castle observatory to resume her post as Guardian of the Night.
Though she had been working very hard on controlling her anger, when one of the fillies lied to her about the incident, telling her that she had painted the Cutie Mark on the pink chair that she was currently crying over, she had almost lost her temper. She did not spend weeks gaining the trust of her subjects to be lied to about a simple matter of uncontrolled magic! Once the parents were safely ponies again, the Princess warned the fillies to be more careful.
As her hooves touched the marble balcony of the observatory, Luna was suddenly hit by something very strong. Looking about as to who the culprit was, she realized she was untouched, nothing had hit her! Passing it off as a sudden gust of wind, she returned to the telescope used to keep an eye on all of Equestria. As she took the eyepeice of the telescope into her magic, she felt as though somepony was watching her, somepony very close. Shifting her attention from the telescope to casting a spell she had learned from Twilight Sparkle, she cast a net of magic to detect the location of the intruder. Expecting a guard to be looking in the open door of the observatory, she was surprised to find that she was alone. Yet still she felt those eyes upon her. Wondering if her spell had gone wrong or missed an area of the room, she turned away from the telescope this time to see for herself if she was alone.
"Odd, we could have sworn we felt somepony watching us." she said to herself, having seen that she was, indeed, alone in the room, nothing staring back at her except her reflection in the mirror near the door. Except still she felt those eyes following her every move. Somewhat worried that she was being watched by somepony she could not see or detect with her magic, she considered ghosts. After laughing a bit too hard at the very idea, she returned to her duties when she heard somepony laughing, a laugh she knew all too well. Turning around, determined to find the pony responsible for this cruel joke, she yet again saw nopony. Angry now, the joke having run its course she rushed into the room hoping to find the prankster.
Having yet again found herself alone in the room, she began to go back to the balcony when she heard the laughter, louder and closer now. Turning towards the source of the sound, she found herself face to face with her own reflection in the mirror, except it wasn't her she saw, it was Nightmare Moon. (end of prologue)
I hope you enjoyed the first installment of Reflections of a Dark Past, this is my first attempt at a fanfiction. Please rate and comment. Thank you
Reflections of a Dark Past
Reflections of a Dark Past
Chapter 1
“No, no you can’t be here! You’re gone! Twilight defeated you!” Princess Luna stammered, reeling from the shock of seeing her former self in the mirror. “ HAHAHA!” The reflection responded, further startling Luna. “ You think that I, the Great Nightmare Moon, can be defeated that easily! I may have been banished from physical form by that troublesome unicorn, but I am still very much here, in your very mind.” You have become weak! Weak like that sun-loving sister of ours!”
Princess Luna stared in disbelief at the image in the mirror. She knew that it was impossible for Nightmare Moon to be here, and yet, there she was, just as powerful and demanding a presence as before. The Dark manifestation of her jealousy and hatred appeared exactly as she had only two years ago, in full armor as well. Luna unconsciously raised a hoof to her head to feel if she was wearing the helmet that Celestia had locked away in the Canterlot Archives forever. Somewhat relieved at feeling nothing on her head but her usual headpiece, she looked back at the mirror to find only herself reflected in the polished glass.
“Impossible!” she exclaimed, much louder than she meant to, “ We know who we saw in this mirror! She was right here, how can she be gone now!”
“You truly do not understand?” the commanding voice of Nightmare Moon sounded much closer now. “ I knew that my banishment made you weak, but I did not realize that it made you thick as well! I was never in the mirror you foal! I have been inside your mind! I have watched as you have slowly forgotten who you are, who We were! I am all that was ever great about you, all you could, all you should have been.”
“NO! You are the weak one! Your hatred made you vile, you could never know love as I do!” Princess Luna shouted to the nothingness around her. “You are not here, I am merely imagining this!”
An unsettling silence filled the air at that exclamation, causing the Princess to shiver although the night was rather warm.
“You claim fear is better than love?” Luna retorted, mocking her dark counterpart. “It is you, Nightmare, who has become thick! Fear better than Love, ha! Don’t make me laugh. They did not fear you, they hated you! I said this once and I shall say it again, you are not here!”
The Princess felt the dark presence leave the room, she knew that she could not tell her sister of this. Celestia worried enough about her little sister’s fragile soul, the banishment of Nightmare Moon from her body had taken its toll on her. Little did the Princess of the Sun know, Nightmare Moon was not fully removed by the Magic of the Elements of Harmony. For the past two years, Nightmare Moon had been forcing her way out of the prison she had been placed in within Luna’s mind. Now she was back, if only in spirit, and only within Luna’s subconscious. Even so, her mere presence could put everypony in Equestria in mortal danger.
I hope you enjoyed chapter 1 of Reflections of a Dark Past.
Reflections of a Dark Past
“Oh this is bad, this is very, very bad!” exclaimed a young unicorn with a purple and pink mane, pacing very quickly around the Golden Oaks Library.
“Relax Twilight, it’s just a quill. You can get a new one from town anytime.” the small dragon in the corner interrupted. “It’s not like it was a gift from Princess Celestia or anything!”
“Oh, Spike! That’s exactly what it was! It was a quill made from one of her own feathers, if she were to discover that I lost it, she’d never forgive me!” The now very annoyed as well as nervous Twilight Sparkle scolded her young assistant.
“ Umm, Twilight?” Spike responded, trying very hard to stifle a laugh at his discovery. His attempts were not going well. “Have you perhaps combed your mane out this morning?”
“No, I woke up and picked up my checklist, like I do everyday Spike, you know that. I don’t have time to worry about my mane right now, I need to find that quill!” Twilight was very annoyed at Spike now.
“I mean, you should really go brush out your mane. There’s a bunch of stuff caught up in it. You look like a crazy pony, and I don’t mean Pinkie Pie crazy.” now Spike was starting to give way to his laughter.
“Stuff caught in my mane?” she stopped pacing and caught her reflection in the windowpane. There, stuck right in the top of her mane, perfectly parallel to her horn, was the quill she had quite nearly turned the entire library upside down searching for. “ SPIKE!! Why didn’t you just tell me the quill was on top of my head!” Even though she was very angry at Spike for not telling her, she couldn’t help but chuckle at how silly she looked. Taking the larger objects caught in her mane out with her magic, she then took the hairbrush from her bedroom and combed the smaller items out. Satisfied that her mane was free of debris, she set to the task of styling it.
Twilight Sparkle had been Princess Celestia’s personal pupil ever since the day of her entrance exam for Princess Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns. She still became giddy when she thought about the Princess telling her she would learn about magic from the Princess herself. That had also been the day she received her cutie mark.
“Spike, I’m still angry that you didn’t tell me about the quill, but that will have to wait, I’m late for tea with Rarity and Fluttershy. Could you clean up this mess while I’m gone”
“Sure thing Twi. Don’t worry. Hey, if I do a really good job, maybe you could give me that awesome mustache back?”
“No mustache Spike, I’ll get you a few gems from Rarity.” Like all dragons, Spike had what seemed to be an insatiable appetite for gemstones.
Twilight left the library, and the now very hungry Spike, and made her way to Sugarcube Corner, where she had agreed to meet Rarity to pick up some cookies before heading to Fluttershy’s cottage. She reminded herself to ask Pinkie Pie if her Pinkie Sense had been acting up recently. Though she couldn’t understand why Pinkie Pie had this strange ability , she had learned better than to ignore it, the bump on her head from a falling flowerpot two days ago throbbing slightly at the thought.
“Howdy Twilight! Where y’all headed in such a hurry?” Twilight snapped out of her thoughts, startled by Applejack’s sudden appearance.
“Oh, hey Applejack! I’m just on my way to Sugarcube Corner to meet Rarity, we’re having tea with Fluttershy this morning. Want to join us?” Applebuck Season didn’t start for a few weeks yet, Twilight remembered, maybe AJ would have some free time.
“No can do Sugarcube. Big McIntosh pulled a muscle in his back, and Granny Smith run out of ingredients for her secret family remedy. She sent me to Zecora to see if she had any clove, lucky she did or I might have had to go to Canterlot to get some, all the shops ‘round here are fresh out.”
Remarking at the number of things around Ponyville that she didn’t understand, Twilight bid AJ farewell and moved on. Although Granny Smith’s remedies were rather unsophisticated, they were uncanny in their effectiveness. She had once gone to her with a sore shoulder, and Granny Smith had slapped a poultice made with Taro root and wild mint. Although the smell made her nose itch, her shoulder ache went away within minutes.
As she walked past Ponyville town hall, she spotted her energetic pink friend near the clock tower, and Pinkie was wearing an umbrella hat.
“Uh-oh, Pinkie’s tail must be twitching, something’s going to fall.” When Pinkie’s tail twitched, everypony in Ponyville knew to duck for cover, Twilight made the mistake of forgetting that fact two days ago, resulting in the flowerpot incident.
As Twilight rushed for the cover of a nearby fruit stand, she glanced up at the clock tower. Just in time to see a brown colt fall off of the ledge and plummet towards the earth. Reacting quickly, she reached out with her magic to catch the falling pony.
“Huh, what!” the colt exclaimed, when he realized he had stopped falling and was floating, 2 feet above the earth. “Humph!” His breath was knocked out of him as he hit the earth, Twilight’s magic released him before he could orient himself to land on his hooves.
“Are you ok?” Twilight asked the winded colt, then she realized she didn’t even know who he was, she thought she knew everypony in town, having met a fair few of them on her very first day in Ponyville. “It’s very dangerous for an Earth Pony to be up on a ledge like that. Why were you up there?”
“Oh, thank you for catching me Miss Sparkle. You ask why I was up there in the first place, well, you see, it’s my job to repair and clean this clock. My name is Time Turner, I realize that we have never been formally introduced I have heard of your proficiency with magic, but I had now idea that you were so quick on the draw, as it were.” the brown colt was very friendly, and very happy that she had caught him.
“Don’t mention it, I couldn’t have just let you fall!” Twilight chirped, blushing at the obvious flattery in Time Turner’s words. “ Why were you on that ledge, isn’t there a scaffold you could use? Seems a lot safer.”
“Well, I had a scaffold for this job, but Ditzy Doo, my assistant, sort of crashed into it last week, poor dear, she almost broke her wing! A scaffold I can replace, but Ditzy and her filly Dinky, have grown on me, even though she is a little clumsy. She is possibly the best assistant I’ve ever had.”
“Well, it has been nice meeting you Mr. Turner. But I really must get going now.” Twilight had seen Pinkie Pie take off her umbrella hat and needed to catch her before she bounced off.
“Please, call me Time Turner.” the brown colt then left to retrieve his ladder to return to work.
Twilight finally managed to catch up to Pinkie Pie just outside Carousel Boutique, Rarity’s dress shop. Although not very many Ponyville ponies wanted fancy outfits, unless it was a special occasion, like a wedding or the Summer Sun Celebration.
“Pinkie! Wait up!” although Pinkie Pie wasn’t moving very fast, Twilight knew better than to just talk to her to get her to stop. “I need to talk to you!”
“Oh, hey Twilight, why didn’t you just say so back at the clock tower silly!” Pinkie’s usual hyper tone was present as ever, it seemed nothing could tire that little pink pony. Twilight suspected the abundance of sampling Pinkie did at Sugarcube Corner.
“I needed to ask if you’ve noticed anything odd, you know, with your Pinkie Sense?” Twilight was nervous now, after saving Time Turner from an almost certain hospital visit, she needed to know if anything else was going on. “You do know that you saved somepony’s life a few minutes ago, right?”
“Twilight, you know I can’t tell what’s going to fall when my tail twitches. Lucky you always look up, or he would have hit the ground, it wasn’t me that saved him, it was you silly. Oh my gosh! We should throw a party to celebrate you saving that colt! We’ll need a lot of party favors, good thing I have everything I need at home, I have some with me already of course but nowhere near enough!”
“Pinkie! I need to know if you’ve felt anything new with your Pinkie Sense! Can you stop being you for 5 seconds and tell me!” Twilight didn’t want to yell at Pinkie, but she was late enough as it was, and needed to know quickly.
“ Ok, Ms. Grouchypants, I haven’t noticed anything new lately. Oh wait, for some odd reason, I don’t know why, but my mane was tingling last night around midnight. It may have been nothing, but I didn’t like the feeling it gave me, almost like something really, really, really bad was gonna happen!”
“Something bad! Oh-no! I have to warn the Princess even she trusts your Pinkie Sense.” with that Twilight trotted off towards Sugarcube Corner, where a very impatient white unicorn with an uncanny fashion sense was waiting.
“Oh my dear Twilight! Where in Equestria have you been? Fluttershy has been worried sick about you, she went to go find Rainbow Dash to look for you!” Rarity’s high society accent made her sound much more worried than she really was, Twilight was known to be late for occasions with friends. Her having her nose always firmly embedded in those dusty old books. “ She left Angel here to keep an eye out for you. Angel,” she called to small white bunny with a wicked temper looking in the windows of the Cake’s shop, he was eyeing a large carrot cake in the display case. “ I’ve found her! You can go get Fluttershy now.” Angel, grumpy at being interrupted in his daydreaming, hopped off towards Golden Oaks Library, Fluttershy would have turned that place upside down to find Twilight. “Poor Fluttershy, she worries far too much. Come along now, let’s get those cookies and get to Fluttershy’s cottage before she has a panic attack” With that, Rarity and Twilight set off to their timid friend’s home.
Reflections of a Dark Past
“ You fool! They suspect something! I told you to keep our little conversations a secret!” Nightmare Moon bellowed from within Luna’s mind, “Do you have any idea what this means! If they find out I have regained some of my power, that sun-loving sister of ours will banish us to the moon again!”
“ Yes, I know of this. I also know that if we are banished, you shall never raise night eternal! I would rather spend another millennia on the moon, than see you reign over Equestria!” Luna retorted, tired of Nightmare’s constant criticisms of her life’s achievements. “ We may have been strong when we were one, but we were unloved, and love is the best feeling in the world.”
“Ha! There you go talking about love again. What has love given you? Hmm? Nothing, a false sense of security if anything. I am all that was strong about us. I, Nightmare Moon, am the only reason anypony knows your name! Without me, you are nothing.”
“You are wrong Nightmare Moon! It is you who is nothing without me! If it weren’t for my jealousy, you would not exist!” Luna, as strong as she sounded, was on the verge of tears. Nightmare Moon’s last remark had indeed hit its mark. She began to wonder if she would be known if it weren’t for those events over a thousand years ago. Had Nightmare Moon somehow given her name meaning?
Meanwhile in Ponyville, a certain pink pony was throwing an extravagant party for no discernable reason whatsoever. Such events were commonplace when you were friends with Pinkamena Diane Pie, Pinkie to her friends, who were basically everypony in Ponyville. This time Pinkie claimed the party was for her pet Gummy, a toothless alligator. This was the third party in a month for him, no pony knew why he needed so many parties, but they didn’t mind. Any excuse to party with Pinkie was good enough.
“Miss Sparkle?” a brown colt with an hourglass Cutie Mark interrupted her train of thought. “Do you remember me? Time Turner? The pony you saved a few weeks ago?”
“ What? Oh, hello Time Turner. I’m sorry, I was just thinking about something back home. How are you? Twilight was slightly annoyed at being interrupted during her ponderings, but was happy to see that he was alright. “ I haven’t seen you much lately.”
“ I’m quite alright, thanks to you. I’ve been building a new scaffold, it should be able to handle Ditzy’s wing power. Oh, and speaking of Ditzy, I told her about what happened, and she gave me these to give to you.” He handed her a goodie box from the Sugarcube Corner, obviously reused, as the Cake’s didn’t sell muffins, and the box was still warm. “ She baked them only a half hour ago, I’ve only just arrived. I’m a bit late I’m afraid.”
“ Oh don’t worry about that, this is a Pinkie Pie party, it’s likely to go on for at least three more hours. She’ll be happy to know you showed up at all, even if you show up at the very last minute! Pinkie is so friendly, even if you didn’t show up she would forgive you within a few minutes. Tell Ditzy I said thank you for the muffins, they look delicious. I have to get back to the library, I just remembered I didn’t tell Spike where I was going, he fell asleep early tonight, poor little guy works himself to the bone. I hope to see you again soon, and next time, just call me Twilight.”
Twilight left the party quickly and although she was careful not to be seen leaving, Fluttershy’s bunny friend Angel almost saw her. Twilight never got along very well with Angel, indeed, nopony but Fluttershy got along with him, and avoiding him meant avoiding being questioned by her.
When Twilight burst through the door of the library, she saw what appeared to be a candle burning in a back study room.
“Odd, I’m sure I blew that candle out before I left. Spike must have lit it again so he could see to clean up.” she trotted over to the doorway, but stopped before she walked in. “Huh, I hear somepony, crying?” Carefully she peered around the corner. “What the hoof!? Princess Luna! What are you doing here? And, why are you crying?”
“Oh, Twilight Sparkle! You have startled us. We came here to ask for your help in a very delicate matter. And as for the crying, the delicate matter is the reason for that.” the princess of the night managed to hold back her tears for a moment. She had obviously been crying alone in the room for several hours. “You see, oh dear, we are afraid to say this for what you will think. Nightmare Moon… has, returned. If only in our mind, she is still very powerful. We need your guidance in this matter.”
“Oh, you don’t need to be so subtle about it Princess. I know of this already. Princess Celestia has voiced her concerns about your behavior, and I rightly guessed the problem.” Twilight answered, trying to hide her satisfaction at being right once again.
“Oh? Ever watchful, my sister. We shall have to thank her for her vigilance. But, to the matter at hoof, can you help us banish her yet again?” Princess Luna had ceased to cry and was looking hopefully at Twilight. Her answer could decide the fate of all Equestria.
That’s it for chapter 4, sorry for the wait, chapter 5 hopefully wont take as long. Thanks for reading, don’t forget to comment or email me @ zabimarufan65@gmail.com . You can find me on facebook
Reflections of a Dark Past
It has now been a week since Princess Luna was visited by Nightmare Moon, and although Celestia has paid much attention to her little sister since her return from exile, she has discovered nothing of the visit, or any of the other visits in the past week. Luna has had to work very hard to hide these visits from her ever-watchful sister, and her efforts have not been in vain.
“Good morning, my Sister. I trust you have slept well this night?” Luna asked her sister in passing one morning. “ The night was uneventful as ever, and though I should be glad for the calm, it has caused a sense of ennui to creep into my life.”
“Good Day, little one. I slept rather well this night I can assure you, but I must say, you look as though you have not slept in many days, is something bothering you? Celestia’s suspicions of Luna not sleeping were correct. In fact, ever since the first visit, the Princess of the Moon had not slept very well at all. “ You claim the lack of trouble during your watches have begun to bore you, yet it looks as though your nights have been far more eventful than you claim. Please, my sister, tell me what is bothering you.”
“I am fine, Sister, I appreciate your concern, but I assure you there is nothing wrong, I am merely suffering from a slight case of insomnia. I shall be fine as soon as I get a good day’s sleep, now, if that will be all, I shall retire to my bed. Until tonight, my dearest Sister.” with that, Luna trotted off to her bedroom, avoiding the continued questions of her sister. “ She must not learn the truth, not yet, not until I find a way to vanquish Nightmare forever.” She whispered to herself as she turned a corner.
Some hours later, in the throne room of the castle, Celestia begins to suspect that her sister is not revealing the whole truth. Worried that something has happened in the past week, possibly involving her dear Sister’s past, she writes to her most trusted student, and long time friend, Twilight Sparkle, almost a sister to Celestia in herself.
“My Dearest student Twilight, I believe something is wrong with Princess Luna. She has not slept in several days, I worry that some incident involving her past may be the cause of this. She claims to be merely suffering from insomnia, this, I can tell, is a lie. What could drive my dear sister to lie to me? I would much appreciate your assistance in understanding this most confusing matter. Perhaps there is a book in your library that could help?
Sincerely,
Princess Celestia.
Satisfied with the amount of detail she included in her short letter, she sent her letter to her fine young student. If anypony in Equestria could decipher what was wrong with Luna, it would be Twilight.
A few minutes later, in Golden Oaks Library in Ponyville, Twilight Sparkle is finishing up a last minute checklist of what she had to do that day.
“Check on apple crop at Sweet Apple Acres, check. Discuss new textbook purchasing with Miss Cheerilee, check. Change bandage on Aloysius’ broken wing, check. Double check checklist, check and check. Looks like I’m free for the rest of the day, Spike. So what should we do?” Twilight was usually done with everything on her checklist by 2 in the afternoon, and it was only 1 o’clock.
“Twilight, I think there’s a letter coming up.” her small blue assistant didn’t look too well, after a few seconds of apparent nausea, Spike let out a tremendous belch, and with it, the letter from the Princess.
“My dearest student Twilight… something is wrong with Princess Luna… has not slept… incident involving her past… What could drive my dear sister to lie to me… perhaps a book in your library could help. Oh dear! Spike, bring me every book you can find that could relate to Princess Luna’s past. We don’t have time to lose!” All thoughts of free time vanished from Twilight Sparkle’s mind at that moment, she had received a request for help from the Princess herself! Now was the time to do what she did best, study like there was no tomorrow.
“No, no, no, no, NO! I can’t find anything in these old books that would explain Luna’s strange behavior! I’ve considered everything from Pony pox to ingrown hairs! And nothing could explain this!” Twilight threw another book into the considerable pile next to her, narrowly avoiding hitting Spike in the face as he brought her something he had found in an old, dusty tome in a corner of the library, the book looked as though it hadn’t seen daylight since it’s publication. Yet it was in terrible condition, as if beaten roughly with a club.
“Twilight, I think I may have found something in this dusty old thing. Right here,” he pointed with one short claw to the passage he was referring to. “this bit on Split Souls.”
“Split Souls?” Twilight snatched the book into her magic, pulling Spike off his feet with it. “ When a pony’s soul has been split into good and evil parts, the suppressed half of the soul may slowly gain power and experience a resurgence, sometimes interfering with the mind and emotions of the dominant half. This could explain Princess Luna’s strange behavior, I must inform Princess Celestia at once, but she’ll need the whole passage, and it would seem to take up at least fifty pages! You wouldn’t be able to handle sending something that large, it would sap all of your energy, I can’t use Aloysius, his wing isn’t healed yet, and Peewee is far too young to send anything to anypony, besides, he might deliver nothing but a pile of ashes. Oh, maybe this book is somewhere in the Canterlot Archives, I’ll have to send her the title of the book and hope she has a copy.” she hurriedly wrote the title of the book down on a scrap of parchment, no need to use a brand new piece of parchment for this small message.
“Dear Princess Celestia,
I believe that this book may hold the answer to Princess Luna’s strange behavior. “Two Souls, One Vessel: a guide to understanding shattered Souls and the ponies that bear them.” The passage is too long to send in a letter, I hope that you have a copy of the book in the Archives, if not, I shall deliver it personally.
Your dearest student,
Twilight Sparkle
“Here, Spike, send this off to the princess immediately.” Handing the letter to Spike, she watched as he inhaled deeply and then breathed out flame, incinerating the parchment and sending it on it’s way. Twilight didn’t quite understand this ancient magic, but it came in very handy for sending letters.
“Now that the princess knows about that book, how about we go get something to eat, Spike, I’m starving!”
I hope you have enjoyed Reflections of a Dark Past so far, I apologize if you did not enjoy this chapter, I had a plan written down for this chapter, but my brain decided to dribble this out and forget the plan. As usual here’s the copyright jibber jabber
My Little Pony Friendship is Magic copyright 2011 Hasbro Inc.
