Chapter 1: The Nightmare Begins
Chapter 1: The Nightmare Begins
It was a cold night. The wind blew crisp and cold, and soft cries echoed in the halls. The citizens of Equestria were asleep in their beds, their nightmares comparable to walking in the woods at night with no one else but a creeping shadow ready to devour you at any moment.
Foals all over Equestria were crying in their sleep, trying to escape their nightmares. Some were sleepwalking, others screaming in their sleep. But no, it wasn’t just foals and a normal nightmare. It was all the adults as well. The only comfort any pony found was waking up.
The issue, the reason for all the nightmares, all the torture, was the shadow. A shadow that covered the night sky, the stars the moon, to this point in time, no pony had ever seen a star before. The pony of shadows was what they called him. He covered the sky and walked the streets of all Equestria at night, and so, going outside the house at night was not a choice. When a pony did, it seemed they disappeared, never to be seen again.
In the old stone castle, belonging to the many generations of the royal family. Celestia sat in her room staring out the window. She was always scared of the night, cold and unforgiving. Her hair softly flowed as she watched for the shadow pony. Celestia had seen this creature of the night many times. It walked past her castle window nearly every night, soft glowing eyes slowly searching the land for any pony dumb enough to go out at night.
Once, she made eye contact with the creature. when she had, a cold chill ran down her spine, the next couple of days she was sick, and no matter how many blankets the staff gave her, she couldn’t be warmed. Luckily it had ended, and no longer did Celestia have to suffer this.
The young alicorn never wanted to lower the sun, but for the sake of her citizens getting just a wink of sleep, and keeping the world in balance, she had to. Her father was the last to raise the sun, but his magic was transferred to her when she was old enough to handle it. Her mother had still not given her magic, but she was soon. All the guards were guarding the doors of the queen’s room. Celestia finally was getting her little sister, the pony who would control the moon. Not that it mattered, no pony could see the moon anyway.
Luna was going to be her name. Celestia knew it meant moon in old ponish. That was something she learned from her mentor, Starswirl the Bearded. Celestia had been his prized pupil since she was around four, so it had been around four years since she aced that test on the solar system.
Celestia looked out the window to see the pony of shadows, but he was not walking past but seemed to be going in the direction of the palace entrance. Sheer panic rushed through her and she ran from her room and throughout the halls of the dark castle toward her parent’s room.
Flash Mangus was walking the halls at the moment, on his usual rounds. He was the captain of the guard, and one of the only friends Celestia had, hardly ever being allowed out of the castle unless a guard was there with her. She was about to fall to the ground in exhaustion, the castle was huge and her room was nearly a mile and a half away from the main hall. She bumped into Mangus and fell to the ground. “MR. MANGUS! THE PONY OF SHADOWS IS COMING!!”
“Princess, you need to go hide. I will go alert the guard. Go! GO! You can’t be found by it!” And with that, panting, she ran to the next hall toward the safe room. The room was made of complete stone with no windows, at the very center of the castle. It was nearly impenetrable, as the stone bricks were lined with a layer of solid steel.
Celestia reached the door and using her magic, unlocked it. This door could only be opened by the magic of the royal family. Making sure she locked the door, she walked slowly to the back of the room and sat down. Her body ached and she lied down. Celestia didn’t know what was going to happen, but her dreams brought forth the soul-crushing possibilities.
There was yelling, shouts and cries, screams of pain and destruction, clashing of swords and bodies hitting the ground. Celestia heard them all, and she could stand it no more, but there was nothing she could do. At least nothing she could think of. Her eyes wandered to the door and her heart pounding, she stood and walked toward the door.
Be brave Celestia, you have to do what's right for the kingdom. She thought. That moment, she got an idea. Something she could do to help. All you have to do is get to the tower. It'll all be over when you do. Just raise the sun. They can't live in the sun, right? They'll fall back to the forest, right? She hoped so. If this didn't work, she was either going to get captured, die, or, well that was really the only two possibilities.
Her magic once again unlocked the door and she crept through the halls and up the staircase, the sound of the screams of pain the guards let out while the shadows knocked them to the ground. How she wished that this would be the day she had once expected it to be. Celestia thought she would raise the sun, then go sneak a cookie before breakfast, eat breakfast, then go meet her sister and play for the rest of the day.
It didn't go as she had expected, she was just glad she was able to alert the guard to it, or it would have had the advantage of surprise.
