Author's Note

Here's chapter two. I meant this to be something a tad different but the story ran away from me and I really loved what came out of it. Anyway I hope you enjoy this longer chapter that came as a by product of inspiration and a runaway imagination. Thank you.

Ch. 1.5- A History Lesson

Twilight's eyes slowly opened, her vision blurry and unfocused as she tried to pry herself from the jaws of the dream world. She could feel a cool weight pressing down on her forehead and realized it had to be an ice pack, which meant she must have hit her head pretty hard. But how? Had she fallen or something? She groaned as her vision came back into focus and she tried to wiggle her way out from under the covers, but her body wouldn't respond right.

There must have been someone there with her, because she felt a hand on the back of her own, which somehow calmed her down enough for her to not freak out.

"Good morning, sleepyhead. I see you're finally awake." Came a voice from beside her. She looked over to see Sunset Shimmer looking down at her, one hand gently caressing her face. As she looked up at her, she swore she could get lost in those eyes and never come out. But the shock of how she got there forced her to sit up.

"What, what happened- Ow!" Twilight suddenly felt a sharp pain in her head, and held her hand up to it in an attempt to ease it.

"Whoa there, Twi. Relax, You're alright. You just passed out. Sunset said, laying her back down.

"What? Passed out?" Twilight asked, shocked.

"Yep! Out like a light. Celestia had me carry you upstairs to our room and lay you down. You've likely got a pretty nasty headache."

Twilight sighed, settling down once more. "You can say that again. Wait, you carried me up here? By yourself?"

"Yep. I'm pretty strong, you know? I'm not a member of the Harmonizers for nothing. Plus, I carried you bridal style~." Sunset said, her tone switching from bragging to sultry in mere moments.

Twilight's face lit up at the mention of bridal style, and she couldn't help but imagine the scenario herself, causing her to blush brighter and cover her face.

"Looks like you're awake now." Sunset suddenly said, surprising Twilight and causing her to stop blushing and look at her, only to lightly punch her in the arm.

"Hahaha. Sorry, Twi. I can't help it. You're just so fun to tease. Anyway, what's that book you've got?" Sunset asked, giving Twilight a curious look

"What? What book? I don't have any book?. Twilight said, not quite understanding what she was talking about. That is until she said,

"You know, the one Celestia gave you to look at? You were holding onto it pretty tight in your sleep. I thought it was important."

"Oh, that? I haven't read it properly yet. I don't know what it is." Twilight said, finally sitting up. "Maybe its a research book on beasts. Celestia did say that the place had tons of information on them."

"Well, you wanna look at it together?" Sunset asked, smiling at her.

"Together? You mean, you and me?"

"Well, yeah, who else is here but us? Plus, it's still pretty early, and Princess Luna hasn't made us all go to bed yet, so... why not? Let's be study buddies. What'd'ya say?"

Twilight thought about it for a moment. She was still unfamiliar with this whole monster hunting thing, and if she was going to have any idea on how to get started, that book was probably her best bet. Plus, she did love to study, and getting to do it with Sunset was just a bonus. She couldn't help the wide grin that spread across her face as she said,

"I say 'Yes'!"

Twilight and Sunset sat together at a desk that had been set up in the room, no doubt as a workbench for students who wanted to get an early start on their coursework. Twilight was grateful for the thoughtfulness, but her close proximity to Sunset, though out of necessity, was making it really hard to focus on the book. But over time, her new roommate just became a comforting background presence as she lost herself in her research.

"So what does it say?" Came Sunset's voice from her left

"Hold on, just let me get a good look at it and...there."

Turns out the book was a history book, detailing the lives of the Princesses back in their prime years. There were many tales of battles with mad gods, shadow demons, shapeshifters, and all manner of other things dark and creepy alike.

But the one that interested Twilight the most, was the story of the Nightmare, a rare and malicious spirit that preyed on the suffering of others, and twisted their minds and personalities until they were practically unrecognizable even to those who knew them well.

As the story goes, Celestia and Luna were tracking a pack of Timberwolves deep into the Everfree Forest, when suddenly, their hornlights went dark and their magic fizzled out.

They tried their best to cast their magic, light their flashlights, anything, but nothing worked. There was nothing but darkness for miles.

But somehow they could make out a figure beckoning to them in the darkness. A voice calling out to them in the deafening silence of the forest. They made their way towards it, but something felt...off, as if the figure was...distorted, as if the voice was muffled.

They tried to reach it as best they could, thinking it was somepony who needed their help, but no matter how hard they tried, or how close they got, it always felt like it was just out of their reach.

As they got closer, the figures and voices changed. No longer were they voices of ponies in trouble, now they were voices of ponies in pain. Unbearable pain. Depictions of ponies suffering untold amounts of torture or falling into despair.

The two alicorns recognized these ponies. They were the ponies they didn't save. The ponies they couldn't save. The ponies whose lives were lost in their pursuit of a better Equestria. And while they had come to terms with the loss of these ponies for the greater good, that did not mean they were ready to relive it so soon.

But then the voices stopped. The alicorns listened out for any sign of the noise of battle, anything that resembled a sign of life or lack thereof, but there was nothing. Instead, in its place was yet another voice. A voice so sinister and menacing it could only have been the voice of a villain, and yet so smooth and soothing it could have been the voice of a friend. It encouraged them to follow it, urged them to heed its advice and accept it as a friend, as someone they could trust.

It drew them in with promises of power. Of strength so unparalleled that none could match them. It told them they could save everyone. That nopony would have to suffer ever again, just as long as they did what it said, and followed its orders.

But still, something felt off.

As it turns out, the figures and the voices were fake, a trick designed to lure them out and separate them, so the spirit could strike them down and feast on their fear.

Celestia was the first to realize it was a trap, and she was able to shake off the illusion and resist the spirits embrace. But Luna, was not so lucky.

She had been swayed by the Spirits honeyed words, caught up in its depictions of a better world. She had accepted it.

Celestia may have broken free of its grip, but her sister was still locked in the prison of her own mind, and she was nowhere near her to help her out of it. The creature had succeeded in separating them, and was now feasting on her sister's desires, her fears, her sorrows, all of it.

Celestia searched and searched and searched, but Luna was nowhere to be found. But just when she was on the verge of giving up, of bursting into tears at the thought that her sister was lost forever, she came across a clearing with a single, brightly glowing stone in the center of it.

For some reason, Celestia felt drawn to this stone, and went to pick it up. When she did, she could feel power radiating from it. As she stood in awe of the beautiful stone that shone with all the colors of the rainbow, it began to glow.

It glowed so bright that Celestia had to shield her eyes from its brilliance, and when she finally reopened them, she found that the stone was nowhere to be seen.

When she looked around for it, she found that it had become a pendant, and latched itself around her neck. She didn't exactly know what had happened, but she knew that the stone had chosen her, and she would use its power to save her sister.

She raced as fast as she could to the place where her sister was, guided only by the light of the stone around her neck.

When she finally made it she found that Luna was...just standing there, by herself, in a clearing. No big evil spirit controlling her to be seen. That is until she turned around, and Celestia could see her eyes.

Gone were her usual indigo orbs, replaced instead with bright greenish-blue marbles that stared blankly off into the distance, looking at nothing, seeing nothing.

"L-Luna? Are...are you there?" Celestia walked up to her sister, but her voice seemed to fall on deaf ears. It was only when she reached out to touch her that something happened.

And it was at that moment, that everything changed. Something in the air shifted, and Luna's once dead eyes glowed with life once more, and they were filled with nothing but Hatred.

Hatred for ponykind, Hatred for their lost comrades, Hatred for her own weakness, Hatred...for her.

It was as if everything that had taken place in the past had risen to the surface in a tidal wave of emotion that had overtaken her sister and sent her into a fit of rage unlike anything she had ever seen. And all of it, was directed at her.

"Don't touch me, 'sister'." Luna spoke the word with such venom in her voice that Celestia was sure she had been stabbed, even clutching her chest to check for a wound that wasn't there.

"Luna, I..." Was all she could muster out to say in response.

"Don't 'Luna' me, traitor! How could you let our ponies die like that! How could you let them go out onto the battlefield knowing they were marching to their deaths! How! How, Celestia!"

"No, that's not true! I didn't...we didn't...we didn't know! There was no way we could have known!"

"Liar! Of course you knew. When we faced the Shadow Demon, you knew he wouldn't hold back. You knew he would show no mercy, and yet you still sent our ponies out there to risk their lives for a cause you made up!"

"Made up? Luna, the safety of Equestria is far from 'made up'."

"Is that really the case? Is Equestria really any safer now that you've sacrificed the lives of thousands to vanquish a single threat? If that's so, then how many more lives will need to be sacrificed to stop yet another enemy, or another, or another? The battles, will never, end, sister. Our ponies lives will be at risk on a constant basis if we allow this to continue. With this power I can end all their suffering! Forever!"

"And tell me, sister, what will that accomplish? If you go rampaging through Equis and rid the world of evil through force then what will that leave? The only evil left will be you! Because you're right! It will never stop. If we get rid of evil, more will just pop up in its place. Your crusade will never end and we'll be fighting for the rest of our immortal lives! Is that what you want. A neverending battle between good and evil that lasts for all eternity? What about the innocents? What about redemption? What about Friendship? Do you truly believe nopony can change? Will you just abandon all that we've worked for in favor of a twisted sense of justice?"

"Silence! I will not listen to a filthy traitor like you!" Luna says as she blasts a barrage of magic at her sister.

Celestia dodges out of the way and fires her own blasts back, still trying to convince her that this was all a trick.

"Well what about you? If I'm a traitor then you're one, too! You gave the same order as me. You told our ponies to fight for their home and give their all for the cause. You are just as guilty as me, sister!"

This seems to get to, Luna, as she begins to hesitate. "You're lying! You're trying to confuse me! I won't let you! You won't stand in the way of my dream!" Luna says as she continues firing. Celestia meanwhile fires her own blasts, cancelling hers out.

"Please, Luna. I'm not the one trying to trick you. I'm not the one messing with your head. This creature, this THING, is warping your mind, making you see things that aren't there. It's making you feel things that aren't real!"

"Not real!? You mean to tell me that the deaths of all those ponies weren't real? Then what were they? Were they all a dream? Have I been living in a fantasy land this whole time?!"

Celestia rethinks her words "No, sister, they are real. And everything you're saying did happen, but it was years ago. There's nothing we can do about it now! We have to move on."

"Move on, MOVE ON!? You want me to forget the sacrifices of the ponies who made our country what it is? I always knew you were a monster!"

That comment hurt Celestia the most. How could her own sister call her a monster? No, that wasn't her sister. That was the creature. That Nightmare. Th at was what was doing this, not her. And she had to find a way to do something about it.

Just when she was thinking that, the gem on her necklace started to glow, brightly, and Celestia felt power welling up inside her once more. She smiled and stood her ground, firing a stronger blast at her sister that knocked her back a bit.

"Moving on doesn't mean we have to forget what happened in the past, sister. It simply means we don't let the memories of what happened keep us from living our own lives. Because if we were to do that, what would be the point of all those sacrifices in the first place. They may as well have never even happened." Celestia said as she walked toward her.

Luna was taken aback by this. "Wh-What...? What are you saying? Is this more of your tricks!?"

"No tricks, sister. I'm being honest and straightforward. Do you really think that the ponies who risked their lives for us would want us to wallow in self pity and blame ourselves for their sacrifice when they knew what they were getting into the moment they signed up for it?"

"Well...N-No...but-"

"Exactly!" Celestia was now in her sister's face. "It's not our place to decide who's good or evil, Luna. And we don't have to give our lives fighting a never-ending battle either. The only thing we need to do is what we can, while we can. Let's make the world a better, safer place, one threat at a time. Without all the melodrama. Okay?"

Celestia held out a hand to help her sister up. Luna looked at it for a moment and back up to her sister, who simply held it out further. Soon, Luna took her sister's hand and got up with her help.

"Now let's go ho-"

But the Nightmare wasn't done with Luna yet. Seeing that it had lost its hold over her, it switched to plan B and simply took over her body entirely, causing Luna to yank away from her sister's hold and attack her.

"How dare you take my prey from me! I'll destroy you!"

Celestia looked up at her sister with shocked eyes. "Luna, no!" She reached out for her, but there was nothing there. Nothing except a single tear that fell from her sister's eye... and onto Celestia's hand.

"There's nothing you can do to save her anymore, fool! Your sister is gone! I'm in control now!" The nightmare began to laugh maniacally as it rose into the air changing her sister to become more sinister in appearance.

"No, you aren't! You may have taken my sister's body! But her mind is still her own! And you will never take that away from her!"

The stone glowed brighter and brighter as Celestia spoke, and before she realized it, she began floating in the air like the creature. When she finally realized, she was eye level with the monster that had taken control of her sister.

"I will defeat you, and save my sister from your horrid clutches!" Celestia screamed.

"Just come and try it." The beast said, a confident grin on its face.

"With pleasure." Celestia said, a grin of her own as the two fired blasts from their horns at each other, that met in the middle and held there, struggling between one way and the other.

"just give up already!" yelled the NightmLare.

"Never! I'll never let you win!" Celestia yelled back as her beam began to push back against her opponent's It eventually overtook the Nightmares, causing them to scream out in pain as they were disintegrated, leaving nothing but Luna behind. Celestia wasted no time going to catch her sister, who had fallen asleep in her arms.

Celestia smiled as she saw her softly snoring away. "Alright. Let's get you home, Sister."

The last thing Celestia heard her sister say was a soft, barely audible "I'm sorry..."

"Don't worry about it, Luna. I forgive you."

"And after that the Stone split into 7 different gems, all different colors of the rainbow, and spread across the world, said to only come together when the world needed them the most."

Twilight and Sunset closed the book after reading that chapter, both breathing heavily from all the action in that one chapter alone.

"Well...that was...intense." Sunset said, as she tried to catch her breath.

"You could say that again. I can't believe all that happened back then..." Twilight responded. letting go of a breathe she hadn't realized she'd been holding.

"It's certainly a lot to take in. You think we should ask the Princesses about it?" Sunset asked, looking over to Twilight. Twilight looked back at her, and silent conversation was shared between the two of them in that one moment.

"Nope!" They both said at the same time.

"Let's get some sleep." Sunset said as she slowly slipped under the covers.

"Right behind you." Twilight asked as she got in as well, right next to her.

The two of them had seen enough for one night, and didn't really want to think about much other than sleep for the rest of the night, and so they dozed off, silently swearing to take this to their grave.