Author's Note

Well damn. Wasn't expecting the first chapter to get the reception it did, but cool I guess. I've gotten some ideas for what's going to be happening and when said things happen, so hopefully I can actually get it all written down well.

Hopefully this chapter is also enjoyable, but I guess we'll see how it turns out.

Banished

It was cold, the silence was deafening. There didn't seem to be any sense of gravity or atmosphere, something that the disoriented mare noticed relatively quickly. Climbing to her hooves, she opened her eyes. What was before her was... Breathtaking. One would expect it to be alarming, be she felt no such emotion at that very moment. Before her was a planet - Gaia. Her home, and the home of millions of others. She was in space. And not just that, she was on the moon. Looking around, the realization finally fully set in.

Panicking, she expected to begin suffocating, but that feeling never came. In fact, she seemed to be able to breath perfectly fine. She was confused, but that was the least of her concerns at the moment. How did she get here? Why is she here? Why can't she remember any of that? The last thing she could remember was an immense hatred towards a certain individual... Her sister Celestia, a princess of Equestria. Taking her mind off of her situation, only for a moment, she looks back at the planet before her. She began to feel... at peace. Like this is where she was meant to be. Like this was her home.

While cold at first, the mare was soon to begin feeling a warmth wash over her. It was the sun! It began to peek out from behind Gaia, the heat of the sun not quite reaching an uncomfortable heat, but still enough to break a sweat. The mare never had a problem with the light of day and the beaming heat that came with it, but she certainly did prefer the cool embrace of the moonlight. Now breaking her gaze at her planet, she starts looking around. The surface of the moon was barren. Gray sand and rocks populated the surface, a few hills and craters added a roughness to the space rock. Surely she wasn't alone? She couldn't have been. In fact, she figured this was some strange dream.

Picking a direction, the mare stretches her limbs, as if preparing for a trek, as she begins to trot along the gray wasteland. First one step, then two, then three. The lack of gravity was quite jarring, but oddly enough it didn't take too long for her to get used to it. She then realized that she could traverse the surface quicker, if the gravity truly was lacking. Looking around, the mare spots a small ridge not too far away. Turning to it and squinting, as if locking on to it, she bends down, ready to pounce.

After a deep inhale and exhale, she pushes herself forwards, lifting herself off the ground and jumping much higher then a pony should be able to jump, slowly gliding through the non-air towards the ridge. Thankfully, she slowly fell to the ridge, extending her hooves out prepared to touch down. gently, she landed. She hadn't even thought of flying with her wings. Jumping again, the mare continued her journey by jumping through a weightless environment. Every jump, she spin around and catch a glance of Gaia. It was beautiful. She felt safe here. She felt good.

Eventually, the mare had reached a steep cliff. As she landed on the edge of it, she carefully peered down it. It was a crater, but it was deep. And dark. She could not see the bottom of the pit. Curious, the mare considers jumping in, though that thought is quickly dispelled as a peculiar wind blew through the pit, a hollow howling emitting from it. It was then that she saw something. Some sort of... Glowing, flowing blue substance? Squinting, she tries her best to make it out when-

FWOOSH

It darted out of the crater and flew out behind her. Quickly swinging around, she is faced with a strange dark blue blob. Was it some sort of... Alien? Why was she not alarmed? It caught her off guard, sure, but strangely enough she didn't feel threatened or scared.

"Look at you," The blue blob speak, ironically spooking the mare. "Pathetic." It continued, the voice of it was familiar, though the mare couldn't quite place a face to it. "You don't even remember anything. How are you supposed to be a princess?" The voice then said, the blob suddenly spinning and forming a small cone before dispelling completely. In it's place was a tall, midnight blue alicorn, her mane flowing unnaturally, as if it wasn't even a mane to begin with.

The alicorn approached the mare, an ominous and dark shadow being cast upon her. "Who are you? How am I here?" The mare responded, not appreciating the insults, though being insulted wasn't at the forefront of her concerns.

Scoffing, the alicorn continued to approached the mare. "Weak little Luna, princess of the moon and unloved ruler of Equestria." The alicorn said, now practically standing over the mare. "W-who are you?! Speak!" The mare, Luna, questioned. The presence of this alicorn was chilling, and she couldn't help but feel like she could suddenly curl up into a ball and scream in fear. "What have y-you done? W-who are you?!" Luna repeated, her voice trembling. She was scared, but she couldn't tell why.

"Why, I'm you but better," The alicorn said, "The true princess of the moon, and sole ruler of Equestria," She continued, her wings unfurling as her reptilian looking eyes narrowed on Luna, "Nightmare Moon, of course." It was then Luna remembered. She remember everything. She remembered her sister, Celestia, and how the ponies of Equestria would only ever pay attention to her. The didn't care for Luna, and that hurt her. She was jealous and depressed. She hated it. She hated her sister. She wanted to be loved and praised like Celestia.

Her fear changed to hatred, those previous feelings of safety and calmness turned rage. She wanted revenge. She wanted to dethrone her sister and bring about everlasting night! But... How? It was then her previous thought came to mind. She looked at the alicorn, her other self Nightmare Moon and asked, "Why am I here though?"

There was a moment of silence.

"You failed." Nightmare Moon spoke, turning away from Luna, as if disappointed by Luna. "You lost the fight and you have been banished to the moon." She said, a venomous, hostile tone to her words, "Like the failure you are."

Silence fell upon them once again. Looking down to the ground beneath her, her ears drooping and unprompted tears welling in her eyes, she mumbles: "I'm sorry...".

Another moment of silence.

Looking up, Nightmare moon was gone. Luna was alone again. All emotion turned to sadness, and she slumped to the ground, tears clinging to her fur. She remembered everything. She remembered everything she had done. She remembered how she fought her sister, to the point that she could have killed her, had she not lost. She remembered the hatred she felt, and while she still disliked her sister, she could never imagine hurting her. She didn't want to hurt her. She just felt alone. She wanted to be loved by the one she needed most.

She felt regret.

To Be Continued

Teaser for next chapter below

{// approaching CT33 . . . initiating RCS . . . //}

A long two hundred years had passed. CT33-DP had collected data on trillions of planets, stars, comets and asteroids on its voyage. Despite this, it had only used roughly twenty three percent of its available storage. Tens of thousands of yottabytes of storage was overkill, but that's what the humans were good at. Some times.

{// RCS initiated . . . time until velocity reaches 0.00 . . . 3years\6months\4hours\23minutes\54seconds . . . //}

Eventually, CT33-DP would slow to a halt. It would take some time, yes, but the chassis only had RCS thrust, after all. Fortunately, CT33-DP was a super computer. It could calculate the exact moment to initiate the RCS and just how much thrust would be needed. Be the time CT33-DP got to the very edge of the CT33 Galaxy, it would have reached a velocity of zero. From there, it could begin its slow, but methodical, exploration of the galaxy. The exploration of the galaxy could take decades itself, but the humans knew this. It wasn't an issue for them.