A Long Night

by INeedSleep

Rating: teen
Tags: Dark, Death, Alternate Universe, Sad, Nightmare Moon, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Tragedy
Length: 4881

Nightmare Moon suffers the consequences of victory.

Now alone in the makeshift bunker that's kept her safe for years, Nightmare Moon opens the door and remembers her failures.

Published 2022-08-06 21:40:00 UTC
Last updated 2022-08-06 21:40:00 UTC

Restless Sleep

She was alone, and it was all her fault.

The gray of the stone walls surrounding her felt all too familiar, but lashing out at her surroundings again would do more harm than good. All she had was that sinking feeling in her chest.

Nightmare Moon stood and began leaving the makeshift bunker she had called home for the past few years. The stony prison was just another set of skeletons in her closet.

She contemplated as she unlatched the first of many doors separating her from the frozen wasteland outside. How did she make so many mistakes? Why didn’t she just listen to her subjects? Their cries of desperation as food ran short, as heat became a commodity and the population declined.

The cold seeping through her fur ended that line of thought. Looking up, she hesitantly approached the final door, towering over even her. Adorned with locks, both physical and magical, the door was a testament to the talent of its makers. However, instead of making her feel secure, it made her fur stand on end.

The door was the last thing standing between her and the consequences of her actions.

As Nightmare Moon opened it, what little perspiration on her fur immediately froze. Miserable, but no less habitable than the moon she had lived on for so long.

Taking her first glance outside in years, her eyes started adjusting to what little light reflected off the still moon in the sky.

Maybe she could fix it now? Had the systems she neglected broken so much they started working again? A foolish thought, but she tried anyway, her magic reaching to the sky.

As expected, all she felt was an immovable rock, barely even able to rotate. Maybe if she had acted sooner... She sighed, the breath that escaped her lips turned into a frozen mist.

One spell. When that foolish unicorn charged Nightmare, expecting her to do the same, she simply sent out a single lethal bolt of magic. Nopony else could stop her from simply destroying the elements or even just hiding them in some obscure location.

If only she had missed…

With the Elements dealt with, Nightmare Moon simply took control of Equestria by force, making an example of all who opposed her. Within a month, her eternal night reigned supreme. She let out a dry chuckle at the thought.

Eternal night. She really was stupid, wasn’t she?

Shaking her head, she trotted outside, ice breaking off her fur with the first steps into the snow that refused to melt. With nothing else to do, she decided to see how Canterlot fared. It was where she had implemented most of the advancements, so on the slim chance there were any survivors in Equestria, that was where they would be. Direction set, she let her thoughts wander once more.

During the first few days of her night, she had felt glorious. She had won, taking her rightful place as sole ruler of Equestria, locking her sister away just as was done to her. The only thing she had left to do was deal with the rebellion that was no doubt forming.

But a week passed, and another, and it was getting colder. Scientists previously employed by Celestia tried to warn her, but…

“Impossible! My moon could never do such a thing!”

“Your Highness, it isn’t your moon that’s the problem. It’s been known for centuries that the sun–”

Nightmare Moon cut him off with a glare. “If you want to keep your position, you better consider your next words carefully.”

Her sister’s scientists had pestered her for days, constantly interrupting her work. Initially, she was annoyed and considered getting rid of them, but they had made valuable contributions to Equestria that she couldn’t simply overlook. She had agreed to this conference just to get them to finally leave her alone.

Another hesitantly piped up. “Your Highness, the light provided by the sun carries energy necessary to both heat the planet and grow plants.”

“I know my moon reflects light from the sun! That energy should still make it to ground.” A third was about to speak when she interrupted, “And if it isn’t enough, then magic can be used to fill the gap!”

Undeterred, the one that initially confronted her, Klein, the head researcher put in place by her sister, spoke again. “We’ve already thought of that. The calculations I’ve already given you show that an absurd amount of magic would be necessary to substitute for the sun.”

The rest of the room murmured in agreement before he spoke again.

“Even if we factor in heat provided by burning wood and oil, we would only be able to last a little over a year by the most optimistic of our estimations.” He sighed, fidgeting a bit. “The only long-term solution we can think of is bringing back–”

A loud crack silenced him and drew the attention of everypony. Removing her hoof from the now-damaged table, Nightmare Moon growled as she looked out at the room of quivering ponies.

“I am no longer asking. If you want to keep your heads, I recommend you stop suggesting that.” Glaring at them before taking a deep breath, she continued. “You say that my moon doesn’t reflect enough light and that you need the sun, but you haven’t exactly attempted to convince me beyond the research that you conducted. I want proof—tangible proof.”

The room was near silent for a few moments, only broken by the occasional whimper.

“Oh? So none of you have anything to say?”

Steadying himself, Klein broke the silence once again. “Y-your Highness, if you don’t believe any of the information we’ve presented you, then the only real way to convince you would be... the sun. If you would bring it back for a day or two, I’m certain that conditions across Equestria would normalize.”

A few shallow nods could be seen around the room.

“Interesting proposal, do all of you agree with that?”

A few more reluctant nods, some murmuring, and a couple even audibly agreed.

“Hesitant? Let’s make it easier. All those that agree with him raise your hoof.”

Slowly, a hoof shakily rose. Then another, more confident this time. Others followed suit, and within a few minutes, everypony in the room sat with a raised hoof, looking at Nightmare Moon’s stony face. With a laugh, that mask cracked.

“Well, let it be said that I keep my promises.”

…They didn’t quite manage. None of them lived long enough to try again.

Even though they couldn’t convince her of its cause, the problem was still real. It was getting colder every day, and she needed to figure out why. Refusing to believe she could be at fault, she tried to pin the blame on her own ponies.

The most obvious answer was that the Pegasi were trying to force her to return their precious sun, but that wouldn’t work; it’d be impossible to hide such a massive movement. Perhaps it’s the Unicorns? While not as good, they could manipulate the weather, not to mention any spells they might have. But that wouldn’t work either, though. She already had guards watching the ponies that could coordinate it. The Earth Ponies obviously couldn’t have done it.

Sadly, before she ever considered herself, she was interrupted by a barrage of complaints.

The Griffonian ambassador was the first. The sun shining down upon them was slowly ripping their kingdom apart. Most significantly, the ever-rising temperature that not even cloud cover seemed to slow was becoming lethal.

Next was the Minotaurs, lucky enough to be in eternal twilight. They were mostly fine, but some unusually strong weather was suddenly cropping up, particularly the winds. Following them was a storm of complaints from the Abyssinians, the Saddle Arabians, and even a changeling hive.

Droughts rapidly became a widespread issue. The dragonlands, in particular, were hot enough that all exposed water had long since evaporated. While the colder side of the planet fared better, it would only get worse.

Eventually, though, the complaints simply faded away, the ambassadors either leaving or the nations collapsing, unable to keep their citizens alive. In her stubbornness, she had dismissed their pleas. They weren’t Equestria and, as such, were unimportant. However, no kingdom was immune to this new world, not even hers.

The growing cold needed to be dealt with. It was freezing clean water and made growing enough food nearly impossible. Nightmare Moon still had trouble believing that her actions were the cause, but with the problem growing, she was forced to consider it.

So she decided to try and figure it out for herself, spending all her spare time slaving over every relevant piece of information she could find. The more she looked, the deeper that pit in her stomach grew. When books and studies ran dry, she resorted to the scientists she hired to replace the previous batch. After many reassurances, they said the same thing as their predecessors.

So she double-checked it all. For days she spent every possible second rereading books, checking the most obscure places, and even conducting what experiments she could. She skipped meals and sleep and neglected the kingdom she worked so hard to take. It didn’t matter how much she looked—how desperately she wanted the answer to be different.

It all pointed at her.

But she refused to undo all of her hard work, so they would just have to work around it. She had every single scientist, researcher, and engineer that remained in her hire search for solutions. Anything that could keep Equestria alive, even if it was just long enough for another pony to figure something else out.

The most immediate and obvious idea was the heating crystals to resist the ever-encroaching cold. The following suggestions were far more conventional. They gave out fire-starting kits for those who couldn’t afford crystals. They insulated houses and encouraged ponies to live together, maximizing the effectiveness of what heat they had.

But eventually, ideas ran dry. Everything they tried would only help for so long. The best they could do was delay the fall of Equestria for a few months as the rest of the planet grew worse around them.

With no options left, the researchers once again began begging for her to bring back the sun. While she didn’t kill them like their predecessors, she still didn’t listen. There had to be something they could do. Nightmare Moon had won the night! She wouldn’t give up simply because of a chill and some rough weather!

Within six months, the population of Equestria had started dropping dramatically. The crystals necessary for heating were running out, and so were the mages that could enchant them, most having left for the lands of the Minotaurs in hopes that the twilight would be survivable.

Fuel was becoming impossible to find anywhere but the castle. Most of it was already burned, and the cold outside made it deadly to try for more. As a result, food and water became increasingly scarce, too. The water turned to ice with nothing to melt it, and crops lacked light, heat, and water to grow.

That was around when she tried to fix her grave mistake.

Equestria had finally reached the breaking point, and Nightmare Moon had finally given in.

As she walked out onto her balcony, she looked to her moon. The moon she had fought for, the one she just wanted ponies to appreciate. It had remained stationary for months, a monolith that she had killed innocent ponies over. Perhaps this wouldn’t have been a problem if she had just listened.

No matter, she would fix it now.

She closed her eyes and reached out to the sky with her magic, recalling the spell she and her sister used to move the lunar body. It took longer than usual to finish casting it, her memory had faded some, but within minutes she finished.

Her eyes opened.

It was still in the same spot.

Her chest tightened. She must have simply miscast the spell, right? Steadying her breath, she tried again.

Nothing.

She could feel her heart pounding in her chest. She tried it once more.

The moon stared back at her.

Again, again, again. Sweat dripped down her face. Again. The world faded around her. Again. Her breath quickened. Again. She trembled.

Again.

After one last attempt, barely even a spell at that point, she collapsed. With a deep breath, she did her best to calm down. Settling into a more comfortable position, she allowed the exhaustion to flow through her.

What had changed since the last time? The spell was the same; she was sure every cast was perfect. Continuing her steady breaths, she began to dissect it. First, it made contact with–

No, it couldn’t be.

With the last of her reserves, she slowly cast the spell one last time, feeling for a response, the slight tingle that normally came when each part of the spell succeeded. There was only the cold air surrounding her.

No living pony knew, but she and her sister didn’t actually have direct control over the sun and moon. Instead, they used complex systems formed by unicorns that were considered ancient in even her younger years. They allowed anyone with sufficient power to move the sun and moon, including groups of unicorns.

She and her sister had the power, and it was even easier for them than anticipated, but it seems that the systems weren’t designed to be left unused for so long. They had completely fallen apart in the six months it had remained night. And with the knowledge of the systems long since erased from history, it would be nearly impossible to replicate them, especially with so little time.

The most she could do without them was rotate the moon a little bit, and she couldn’t even hope to touch the sun.

Before her thoughts could continue, Nightmare noticed that she was approaching a drop. Speeding up to a light gallop, she came to a cliff overlooking the land halfway up Canterhorn Mountain.

Looking out, she gazed at the blue-tinted landscape. Very little vegetation remained to cover the dull brown of what little dirt could be seen through the snow, and none of it was alive. Every lake and river she could see was frozen solid. However, the towns seemed somewhat intact, with many buildings preserved by the cold. Unable to see much more in the dim light, she continued, hooves dragging just a bit more than before.

With her direction once again set, she continued perusing her memories, recalling the reaction of her most loyal subjects when she informed them of her failure.

“What do you mean you can’t move it!?” Captain Night Watch glared at her from across the table.

Ears lowering, Nightmare Moon shakily replied., “The systems in pl–”

“I don’t give a damn about the systems! You’re the alicorn of the night! You’re supposed to be able to control it at the very least!” Closing his eyes, the captain began to steady himself, attempting to calm his pounding heart.

“That’s not quite how it works..”

A calmer voice to her left interjected, “Oh really, then explain it to us. We aren’t stupid, you know that.” Her assistant, Eventide. She was quieter than Night Watch, but Nightmare Moon could see she was far stiffer than usual, and her piercing stare betrayed that otherwise neutral face.

“I don’t actually directly move the moon, I–”

A bang cut her off. Night Watch, still tense despite his attempts to calm down, glared at her, hoof still on the table. “Bullshit. You said you did, and even if we ignore that, your sister said–”

“She doesn’t matter now. As I said, I don’t directly move the moon,” Nightmare continued, quenching the spark made by the mention of her sibling. “I instead power a series of systems that do the hard work; my sister did the same.”

“What’s the problem then? Are you too weak? If power’s all you need, then why don’t we just replace you with a bunch of unicorns?” Night Watch put his other hoof on the table, standing tall with a low growl.

“That would have been possible in the past, but the problem is much more severe.” She looked down at her hooves. “The systems have broken since they were last used.”

In an uncertain tone, the new head scientist, Empty Flask, spoke up on her right, “Wasn’t that only a few months ago? They stood for at least a thousand years.”

“Did you break them just to sabotage Celestia? Or were you stupid enough that you didn’t realize it was a bad idea?” Night Watch huffed.

Barely able to look at them, she responded, “No, it was simply the lack of use.”

“So fix it.” Eventide’s cold tone made Nightmare wince.

“I can’t—Nopony can, it was designed by the brightest minds Equestria has ever had, and their notes have long since decayed.” She forced herself to look at them. “Maybe we could replicate it, but that would take years more than we have left, decades even.”

“So, that’s it? You’ll just give up? Fuck… I’m done with this—done with you. You could’ve just told us about it! Someone could have done something!” Removing himself from the table, Night Watch spat out a few more words, “If we don’t even have a year to live, I’d rather spend it with ponies that care.”

Ripping his helmet off, he threw it at Nightmare, hitting her in the chest. As the metal clattered to the floor, he stormed out of the room, the heavy door slamming shut behind him. Nightmare Moon simply watched him leave, barely flinching at the impact.

“Why didn’t you just use it a little? Just enough to keep it intact, wouldn’t that be easy?” Louder than before, Flask looked at her.

“I didn’t know it would fail. I only cared about my victory. My pride distracted me from keeping what I had won...” Continuing in a whisper, she returned his stare, “I wish I had told someone about it or at the very least made sure it still worked. But I didn’t, and now everyone pays the price.”

“You’re right. We are paying the price, dying to fulfill your little fantasy.” Standing stiffly, Flask walked to the door before finally snapping. “I hope you can survive in the cold just as well as on the moon.”

Another slam.

As the echo of the door faded, Nightmare Moon looked at the last pony. Eventide, the pony who had helped her from the start, didn’t even look at her. She simply sat, stiff as a statue, looking at the door. After a minute, she finally broke the silence.

“I trusted you from night one. And when it started to get cold, I trusted you would think of something. When ponies started dying, I knew you would find a way to stop it.“ Finally looking at Nightmare, Eventide let out her final thoughts, “Seems you’ve proven me wrong.”

With one last slam of the door, Nightmare Moon sat alone.

Pausing for a short moment, she took in the scenery around her, the shadows that seemed to almost seep into the bark of the frozen trees, the snow around her that never melted, and the silver moonlight trying to fight back.

She wasn’t angry, not even at the attack made before her captain left. However, instead of talking to them, she simply let them choose what to do, even if she was almost certain they would come back.

And just as she expected, they all soon returned after cooling down to question her about what they could do to survive. They couldn’t go to the thin strip of twilight that was suspected to be capable of sustaining life. The inhabitants would hunt down Nightmare Moon and her supporters for their part in the catastrophe.

The only idea she could think of was creating a shelter to survive the cold. They could stockpile food, crystals, fuel, water—anything they could get their hooves on. It wouldn't be enough to keep even just them alive for long, not without taking enough for the missing supplies to be noticed, but it was something. And while none of them had much experience building, all they needed was enough to survive.

At first, they refused, not wanting to abandon the rest of their country and what little family they had, but as the population continued its decline and resources dwindled, they didn't have much of a choice but to agree.

Under Nightmare Moon’s guidance, they began to siphon resources out of Equestria and scout for a location, eventually settling on a cave a safe distance from Canterlot. They started building the bunker, but without professional construction ponies, it was rather lackluster, ending up as what was essentially just a particularly secure hole.

The earth surrounding them would help insulate their new home, helping keep their heat in and the cold out. Enchantments would stretch their time even further, but it would only work so long. Eventually, their supply of heating crystals and fuel would run out and their food stores would expire.

It was better than nothing, though, so they did what they could. Shortly after the anniversary of the “victory” of Nightmare Moon, she and her closest subordinates—her closest friends—entered and sealed the bunker.

By that point, Equestria had long since collapsed, its population too low and spread out to organize. Canterlot was relatively secure, but their supplies were about to run out, even with the limited number of ponies consuming them.

It didn't matter in the end, she and her friends only lasted a few years in that cave. Before that dour line of thought could continue, she saw the reason the bunker was created in the first place.

The remains of her capital.

The city seemed surprisingly intact, considering the lack of maintenance. Time had hardly weathered the grand buildings visible over the wall. But she supposed the enchanted stone, the lack of ponies, and the minimal weather this far into the cold zone would certainly help with that. It was so perfect that she could almost imagine ponies filling the streets.

Regardless, she was hoping that, however unlikely, there were living ponies in Canterlot, and the near-perfect state of the city did nothing but dampen what little hope she had.

However, she had come this far, so there was no reason not to search a little.

Finally reaching the open gates, she walked in and looked around. It had been eerily quiet since the last breath of her final friend, but this felt different. It felt like something should be alive here, something to break the silence, but there was nothing. Swallowing the lump in her throat, she called out loudly.

“Hello? Is anypony there?”

The only sound she heard was the echo of her Royal Canterlot Voice. She listened for a few seconds. Silence. She considered calling out again but decided against it. If anyone were alive to hear it, they would have to be far below ground.

Would she even want to encounter a pony that survived this long? No doubt they would be furious at her, likely even attempting to kill her if they could live long enough to get close. After waiting a few more minutes, both hoping for a sound and dreading the consequences, she heard nothing aside from the beat of her heart and the wind of her breath. With that void in her chest steadily growing, she trudged further into the desolated city, towards the castle.

Walking through the roads simply cemented all that she had been contemplating recently. The dark streets were littered with garbage and empty houses with their doors ajar. Occasionally, she spotted the well-preserved corpse of a pony who died in the open.

Now that she had broken out of her thoughts, she truly paid attention to just how far the world had fallen. She couldn’t even imagine what the other side of the planet looked like.

It was almost certain that the side stuck with the sun had long since turned into an expansive desert, the star burning away any water its light touched, but were there any structures? Did everything burn down, or is there something that has managed to survive, whether it be an exceptionally sturdy structure or something as simple as a tree? The unanswered questions rattled around in her head, trying to distract her from her grim surroundings.

As she wandered closer toward the castle, the streets becoming more familiar, she considered what she should do next. Perhaps she could approach the twilight. If any trace of society was left, it must be along the border of night and day. They likely wouldn’t be very stable, the temperature difference would cause the most extreme weather to be right along the border, but it would be survivable.

No, if there were a group there, they wouldn’t accept her for the same reasons she didn’t approach earlier. She was the cause of their pain and suffering, the Nightmare that made their worst dreams a reality. They would attack her on sight.

The best she could do would be to find a comfortable, isolated location where she could settle down. Maybe they would forgive her after a few centuries.

She didn’t want to, though. The thought of being utterly alone with no guarantee that she would ever interact with a friendly soul was too intimidating a prospect.

Even on the moon, she knew that she would break free eventually—that she would see other ponies. She also had a goal to keep herself sane, something she could work on, plan for. Right now, only the pit in her stomach kept her company, and it would likely stay that way even if there were survivors.

She knew that going to the other side of the planet wasn’t an option. There would be nothing alive. The cold can be fended off much easier than the heat, and no other nation had the resources to do either. The chances of any group surviving in what was likely a scorched wasteland with no water were astronomically low.

Maybe she should just stay in what remains of Equestria? There’s a slight chance that there may be survivors that would require assistance from someone who could survive the bitter cold of the surface, who could scavenge for materials and bring ice to melt.

Then again, if she, with the resources of an entire nation, could barely keep a few ponies alive, what hope did the average citizen have?

She continued trotting and noticed more and more bodies as she approached the castle entrance. Frowning, she realized many of them were guards.

Approaching the corpse of a guard, she saw that he seemed to have several hoof-shaped bruises covering his body. Checking another showed the same results; a third had a stab wound shaped oddly like a horn, the blood long frozen. They were likely attacked for their supplies then, desperation.

Her chest tightened.

Nightmare Moon approached the castle, once a representation of her sister's defeat, the seat of her power. Looking at it, she didn’t see that. All Nightmare saw was mistake after mistake. She saw her stubbornness made physical, an indomitable monument resistant to even time.

Opening the door, she started her path to the throne room, where it all began. It wasn’t a long walk, not as long as the walk to the castle, at least. In only a few minutes, she arrived at the doors that towered over even her.

Pushing them open, dozens of frozen bodies greeted her. Guards, civilians, servants. Ponies of all kinds lay silently in the throne room. This time she didn’t even bother checking the bodies. She couldn’t find it in herself to care anymore.

Maybe this room held up better than others, there was a fight for resources, or perhaps this is where the dead were placed after she left.

Did it really matter?

Oddly enough, the only spot that seemed untouched was the throne. She guessed it was because they wanted to respect their fallen Princess Celestia, and it was the only way they could afford to show it. Regardless, she sat down, closed her eyes, and sighed, almost melting into the throne.

She didn’t have a future anymore.

No plans, no hopes, no revenge to seek.

She sat in silence for a few minutes, returning to thoughts of her future. It wasn’t long before she came to a conclusion.

Perhaps there was one way she could find a survivor, the same way she exists now.

Using long-forgotten magic, she began pulling at her essence and ripping it free. It was painful, extremely painful, but that didn’t stop her. For several minutes she continued, her magic weakened, and the pain began to dull.

Nightmare Moon began to grow tired, very tired. Before her eyes closed, she let out a few more quiet words before finally fading into the ether, searching for her next host.

“I’m sorry.”

Princess Luna opened her eyes.

Author's Note

Thanks to Darthball for a lot of help with editing, I highly recommend his stuff!