Friendship is Magic: How it all Began

by Ryebuck Coppercap

Rating: teen
Tags: Twilight Sparkle, Princess Celestia, Slice of Life, Alternate Universe, Main 6, Nightmare Moon, Drama, Gore, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Spike, Adventure
Length: 2533

Celestia wept the night away. "A big mistake; a thousand years... Are you ever coming back, Luna?" Celestia's faithful student, a freak-out prone Twilight Sparkle, plans to help in any way she can. [My own take on the series' pilot]

Cover art by Sinrar, go give them some love!

A thousand years ago, Celestia had to battle against Nightmare Moon: a possessed form of her sister Luna. The princess wept the years away and tried to bring Luna back, but nothing ever worked, so instead she made sure that history did not forget her younger sister.

Her faithful student Twilight Sparkle is convinced she will come back as she's sent to Ponyville to supervise the preparations for the thousandth Summer Sun Celebration since Luna's banishment. She'll make sure that her impending return goes off without a hitch.

This is my own take on MLP:FiM's pilot episodes, Friendship Is Magic Part 1 & 2, and the start of my own Alternate Universe where I rewrite some plotlines for the fun of it and to have more chronological consistency between episodes and shamelessly shove my OC down your throats (Not here yet, though).

Content Warnings:
- Minor mentions of blood and injuries (marked with the gore tag just to be safe)
- Light Violence (not far beyond what the show itself would dare to show)
- Family drama (2 bits if you can guess between whom)
- An Overabundance of Thee-s and Thou-s in the prologue
- Sad Alicorns

Rated ‹T› just to be safe, but probably more along the lines of ‹E+10›

Any comments are appreciated, as well as constructive criticism, be it about grammar, orthography, awkwardly written phrases, pacing, or any other things!

Published 2022-12-30 20:50:00 UTC
Last updated 2023-03-09 20:25:16 UTC

Prologue: The Day The Moon Fell

[Versión en Español!]

~ ~

"Not another step, sister!" We spat with a venom of the greatest ilk. "Did thou really expect us to stand idly by while our precious little ponies all basked in thy oh so glorious light?"

The breaking chains that held Us back creaked for every word We spoke against her, Our heart pounding with newfound freedom.

"There can only be one princess in Equestria! And that princess—" with hooves high up and a rapid strike, the nearby podium was no more "—WILL BE ME!"

Celestia —the foal— just stood there, watching with mouth agape as the stained glass panes cracked from our strike, an intense light from her wretched sun coming inside.

It soon will be all ours.

~ ~

My heart raced. How could I have been so foalish!?

The castle shook as Luna stomped, her eyes a frosty white.

Her empty chair at lunch, the cold silence in the castle corridors —the signs were there— the first drops of the storm to come.

Unaware of her growing sadness, too busy to give Luna the love she was due, I failed as the sister she truly deserved.
The moon rose and eclipsed the summer solstice: the sky was naught but dark.
Magic swirled 'round Luna's body, twisting and bending her in eerie ways. A glint of fear in her eyes, and she was covered in darkness.

Forgive me, Luna.

~ ~

Our muscles bulged and stature towered, a giddy, intoxicating power surging through us like a wild river.

However, the pleasant feelings would not last: We felt our control slip away; another being seizing the reins. Our body shifted, our pupils slit, and fangs grew.

Then it laughed.

It was a wicked laugh, most unlike the soft and gentle giggles Tia gave after her silly pranks, like painting our room pink while we slept. Nay, it was dry and bitter; a laugh that would have sent shivers down our spine were We still in control. It was maniacal, deranged even, and it was the kind of laugh We hoped to never hear again: the thought of him chilled our bones.

Just then Celestia pleaded, "Luna, I will not fight thee! Thou must lower the moon! 'Tis thy duty!"

Our mouth moved with clear contempt, letting the parasite speak: "Luna? Nay sister, thou art sorely mistaken, for We are Nightmare Moon! We have but one royal duty now: to annihilate thee!"

Trapped within the confines of our mind made us realize something: This was never what we wanted; this was never what we needed. We wanted to belong, I wanted to be loved: this is neither —just vengeance and hate.

It fired a beam through our horn, nearly striking our sister. Thank the stars she avoided it.

She flew through the broken stained glass into the moonlit sky away from our deranged body, which frowned and took chase. "Where dost thou think thou'rt going?"

Its voice was so comforting at first: caring and loving; lending a friendly ear to let us vent our problems. Its voice reminded us of somepony once dear to us, somepony long gone. It made us feel safe, it gave us a feeling of command.

'Twas too late for realizing we've been tricked.

Blasts of energy erupted from our horn, searing the air and destroying what has been our home for hundreds of moons. We tried to stop it, but resistance was futile.

"Tell us, sister: why is it that in our restful night, lit by warm candles and caressed by quiet winds, the ponies of Equestria lock themselves away and shun our moon, waiting instead for thy sunny day?"

She looked pained, stung by the acrid words —once, ours too. We yearned to comfort her; this madness, to halt. To feel once more her hooves in warm embrace.

Our desperate attempts were all in vain: the parasite had seized full control.

Oh, how it twisted our desires with its sweet and tempting words. "Thou shall be respected," it said; "thy night shall be revered," it said.

"We will not let that happen anymore: all shall know the wonder of our dark and jewelled sky, for the night, shall last, forever!" were the words uttered by it as We were forced to watch as it struck our dearest sister.

How foalish were we to believe it.

A piercing shriek was what We heard as she fell. We were angry, yes, but it broke our heart to see our sister like that. The parasite just laughed.

Enough.

We couldn't stand by and let it kill Tia. We wrestled the parasite for control of our body, which twitched slightly at first, evolving into violent spasms, until we were able to move again by our own volition.

It fought back, but we wouldn't let it win, I wouldn't let it win.

We flew into Tia's crash-site and frantically looked for her.

When we found her she lay immobile, barely breathing.

We panted for air, panic filling our mind. "Stars above, Tia! Thou canst not die like this!" We struggled to remember the healing spells Star Swirl taught us as we checked Tia's pulse.

Good, she was still beating, if only barely.

Our magic mended her broken bones and stopped her horrid bleeding, and then we lay beside her —holding back tears and nuzzling her barrel— all the while the parasite hissed in our mind, trying to regain control.

We heard Tia's broken whispers. "Oh Luna, why did it have to come to this?"

We couldn't hold our crying any longer. "Oh, Tia," we whimpered, "we are truly sorry. We let our jealousy get the best of us, and in doing so we let the darkness consume us." She looked like she wanted to say something, but we barged on. "I beg of thee, sister, use the Elements: I don't think I can keep control for much longer."

Pain flashed in her eyes as she spoke. "Sister, I beg thee back, we can beat the darkness together, we do not need to use them!"

The strand of control we held onto snapped when we were about to respond, giving way for the parasite to speak again. "Thou'rt wrong, sister, thou wilt not have a choice."

The parasite took aim again, but we made it miss, giving Tia a precious few seconds to act. She dodged and flew in a panic, tumbling into the Elements' vault.

She hesitated to activate them, conflict clear on her face, but in the end she made the right choice. "Oh, dear sister; I am sorry! I hope thou canst forgive me for this."

The Elements of Harmony swirled around her, and ith a determined yet sorrowful gaze —full of tears of regret falling off her face— she blasted our body with the power of Harmony.

Although it burned in blinding agony, and the Nightmare made a piercing shriek, I felt at peace: I knew I'd see my sister again someday.

Author's Note

Hi, thanks for reading this first chapter! As always, any criticism is appreciated, especially about characterization or internal consistency of the narrative.

I tried to go for the British spelling of most things; if you see any inconsistencies with spelling please let me know, since my English knowledge is a hodgepodge of different sources from the internet, as well as what I've learnt in school.

Also I wanted to say that for the effects of this story and all of my main AU, a moon is the equivalent of a month in Equestria, lasting exactly 4 weeks of 6 days each, or 24 days, with a 16 moon long year, and each year has a slight variation in non-week leap and festival days that's between 32 and 45 total days sprinkled throughout the year, giving us between 416 and 429 days in a year.

By the point of this prologue, Celestia and Luna have been ruling Equestria for a little over 33 years.

I've given tentative years for the start of their reign and the main show, these being 176 A.E. (Anno Equestria) for their Defeat of Discord, their subsequent ascension and them being thrown into leadership, 209 A.E. for Luna's banishment (i.e. this Prologue) and 1209 A.E. for FiM part 1 & 2.

Parts of the dialogue were directly borrowed or inspired by Lullaby for a Princess and The Moon Rises by ponyphonic, which if you haven't listened to yet (or even if you have) you definitely should, they're absolute masterpieces!

Anyway, the Cutie Marks to indicate the current narrator are inspired by Never Alone by SoloBrony, with the Cutie Marks Themselves being from these sources:
Princess Luna by HelloxxAlone and Princess Celestia by BlackGryph0n

Changelog:

29th of April 2023: filled some gaps I felt there were in the narrative.17th of May 2023: Added a missing word and made a minor edit on the fourth-to-last paragraph.22nd of July 2023: Changed some words so that the narrative flowed a bit better.21st of December 2023: Another few changes, Including a few more instances of "show, don't tell," the removal of a doubled "the," and a wee bit of extra details ;316th of January 2024: Some (hopefully) final tweaks, as well as the release of a Spanish version of this chapter in my own website!

Prologue II: A Brave Face, A Charred Sun

~ ~

"NOOOOOO!" thy shriek of pain reverberated across the whole castle.

I breathed heavily, taking in the eerie silence left afterwards. The world was silent, as if nothing had transpired. The leaves rustled and the wind whistled, refusing to acknowledge the battle that just happened.

In the ruins of our home, lost in both gaze and thought, I sat. My eyes were over the elements, those cursed relics that never worked how one wanted them to. They were supposed to bring harmony, were they not?

My vision blurred. "Oh Luna, how can I have sent thee away?"

As I looked upon the moon, with tears across my face, I saw thy silhouette. My thoughts ruminated on our last conversation. Thou saidst thou wert sorry, but the fault was mine, not thine. I should have been a better sister, I should have seen thy jealousy —but nay, I was foalish and blind to thy pain.

With a heavy heart and a mewling sob, the sun rose once again: it pained me to lower thy moon.

The nobles bickered as always, but I wasn't listening: my heart was not in here.

After court finished, I went to check with the Arcanum. Mages rushed to and fro, some trying to reactivate the elements and others experimenting with unbanishment spells. It was no use.

Sleep did not come to me that night.

I took my quill in trembling golden magic and wrote to thee again.

My dearest sister,

Still not one thing we've yet to try has been able to release thee of thy prison. Wherefore did those wretched elements have to banish thee to the moon? Why not petrification, where I could have let thee free again, or better yet, why not clean thy corruption? Those crooked rocks took thee away!

I struck through the last sentence and started anew.

Nay. It wasn't the fault of the elements, it was mine. I should have found another avenue, I should have reasoned with thee. Oh, how I crave to see thee again...

I miss thy constant jests and pranks; thine endless, boundless wit. I miss our meals together, and I miss thy night sky: mine will never be as beautiful as thine.

Forgive me, and I hope to see thee again.

With love, Tia

I gazed upon the sky as I sung to the silent night, hoping thou could hear me.

Lullay moon princess, goodnight sister mine
Rest now in moonlight's embrace
Bear up my lullaby, winds of the earth
Through cloud, and through sky, and through space

Carry the peace and the coolness of night
And carry my sorrow in kind
Luna, you're loved so much more than you know
Forgive me for being so blind

Only the wind answered.

My birthday came again.

Once, it was a day of joy; but having to banish thee last year on the same day made it feel painful.

Our little ponies told stories in Nightmare Night, but none was truer than yours.

Once did a pony who shone like the sun
Look out on her kingdom and sigh
She smiled and said, "Surely, there is no pony
So lovely and so well beloved as I"

So great was her reign and so brilliant her glory
That long was the shadow she cast
Which fell dark upon the young sister she loved
And grew only darker as days and nights passed

Soon did that pony take notice that others
Did not give her sister her due
And neither had she loved her as she deserved
She watched as her sister's unhappiness grew

I made sure thou are remembered well.

"Over nine hundred winters, Cadance, and I miss her more than ever," was what I said to my niece, who was holding my trembling form.

The Crystal Mirror stood there; reminding me of both my biggest failures.

I wouldn't fail again.

I watched the filly bounce in joy.

I hope someday to be as happy as her, I hope someday I see your smile again.

Sleep well, Lulu.

A thousand years... A thousand years since I've seen you. Are you ever coming back, Luna?

Incoming mail interrupted both my meal and my musings.

My dearest teacher,

My continuing studies of pony magic have led me to discover that your sister Luna is about to return to Equestria as Nightmare Moon, and bring with her eternal night! It is imper Something must be done to make sure she is cleansed of The Nightmare's corruption so her plan does not come to frooi true. I await your quick response.

Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle

I penned my response and sighed. I hope you're right, Twilight; I hope you're right.

Author's Note

So here's the promised second chapter, a bit later than I hoped for though :twilightsheepish:

I'm not quite satisfied with the way it turned out, so any criticism is appreciated. It was quite a doozy to write, but also quite fun! I tried to convey Celestia's thousand year solitude in a series of vignettes that show her day to day life, but I think it could be heavily improved upon.

In other news, I turned 21 last week and I'm starting uni again next Monday, which doesn't really change much tbh since even with the time I had due to the holidays I didn't write that much :trollestia:

Thanks for reading, and see you next time folks!

Lyrics to Lullaby for a Princess by ponyphonic used under their guidelines.

The use of Celestia's Cutie Mark to indicate her narration is inspired by Never Alone by SoloBrony, with the Cutie Mark itself being vectorized by BlackGryph0n.