An Immortal Life

Chapter 2: The Beginning - Part 1

~*~

One Thousand Years Ago

"Luna, are you alright?"

"Huh? Wha-?" Luna's head shot up.

A light chuckle emanated seemingly from nowhere. "Have you been up late again?"

The dark alicorn sleepily looked around the room to see where the speaker was at, only to find her sister sitting at the far end of the table. She then looked around to fully absorb her surroundings and found that they were in a small room which consisted of a simple wooden table and two chairs for the Princesses. This was normally where the two would go to eat when they did not want to be disturbed, or so that they can be with each other, which they did often. She turned her gaze towards the table and found an imprint of her head in her meal. "Yeah, I kind of did," Luna said as she rubbed of the food that stuck to her face with a floating napkin.

This elicited another giggle from the white alicorn. "Oh Luna, why do you always stay up so late?"

"Well, I was thinking a lot last night and I got lost in my thoughts."

"Thinking is fine, Luna, but you should also be resting for the next night."

"I know, I was just thinking about something that has been bothering me for quite some time now," Luna said as she turned her gaze back at the ruined food.

Celestia slightly cocked her head to the side and gave a questioning look. "Do you mind sharing with me? You can tell me what is bothering you."

"Well, it is... I..." Luna thought for a minute. "I was thinking... do the ponies enjoy my night sky?"

Slightly surprised, Celestia responded, "Well, of course they do. Why would they not enjoy your night?"

"I have been watching how the ponies are like when my night comes out. It is as if they just... don't care for it."

This made Celestia frown. After a while, she finally broke the silence that has formed between the two. "Luna, what makes you say that? You do know that the ponies normally sleep when the night comes."

The dark alicorn's gaze turned to meet Celestia's as she said, "I know they do, but it feels like I have wasted my time making the night. I barely see anypony gaze at my night anymore." She gave a long sigh and continued, "It is as if they have forgotten the beauty of my work."

"Luna, a lot of the ponies rest when the night comes and you have not been bothered by it before. Why is it now that you care so much as to who sees the night?"

"Why should I not care?!," Luna snapped at Celestia. Soon realizing what had happened, Luna looked down to her outstretched hooves. She quickly pulled her hooves back and looked away ashamedly. "I am sorry. It is just that I have seen how the ponies enjoy your day, and I feel... jealous, that they do not enjoy my night in the same way."

Celestia had a shocked look on her face from the outburst, but quickly shook it away when Luna had finished speaking. "I am sorry, Luna. I did not know that that was how you're feeling. I wish that I could help you, but I do not truly know how to deal with this kind of situation. I did not expect you to become envious for something like this."

Luna gave another long sigh. "I know, sister. I really shouldn't be feeling like this, but, for some odd reason, I do. I will get over it with some time, though." She then looked up and gave Celestia a reassuring smile.

Celestia smiled in return and said, "I know you will, Luna. But please do not feel jealous for something that is actually not that very special. It actually would not bother me if the ponies cherished the night instead."

Luna got up from her chair and trotted around the table to Celestia, giving her a hug. "Thank you, sister. I will try to get rid of this feeling."

"You are welcome, Luna. I just do not wish to see you hurt by any unnecessary means," Celestia said as she returned her sister's hug.

"I must attend Night Court now. I will see you in the morning," Luna said, letting go of Celestia.

"Okay, Luna. Have a good night," Celestia said.

Luna gave a nod and left the room, and finally Celestia gave a sigh. 'I hope she does let go of the jealousy. I do not know what will happen if the feeling persists within her,' Celestia thought as she trotted out of the room and headed for her bedroom for the night.

~*~

One Week Later

The two Princesses were sitting in the castle's newest addition, called the Royal Garden, staring at the night sky that Luna had spent hours working on. The sky was bright with thousands, perhaps millions, of stars with the moon bringing forth a bright light that illuminated the land in a soft glow. "Luna, this is magnificent! May I ask why you decided to make the night like this?" Celestia asked in awe.

Luna turned to look at Celestia, smiling as she asked, "Do you really like it?"

Celestia turned her gaze to her younger sister, saying, "Of course! It is very beautiful, Luna. Did something special happen to make you decide to make the night this wonderful?"

Luna chuckled. "I believe you could say that."

The white alicorn gave a puzzled look. "What do you mean, sister?"

"I just wanted the ponies enjoy the night sky. After all, it is going to turn into a night that they will all remember," Luna said with a sly smile. Right as she said this, her horn began to glow in a deep blue.

Celestia's legs collapsed under her weight, making her fall to the ground. She gave a sharp gasp as her stomach hit the cool ground, leaving her breathless. The alicorn looked up to Luna, who was standing over her crippled body with a grin spreading on her face. "L-Luna, w-what is h-happening to me?" Celestia asked, forcing the words out of her mouth.

Luna gave a chuckle, but it didn't sound like the one Celestia once knew. "Oh, dear sister, I have grown tired of ponies shunning my night sky. For far too long have I waited for them to realize the beauty of my work that shines above them each night. But from now on, they will learn to love me and my night. So now, Celestia, I will be the one that is the most cherished Princess between the two of us."

"Luna, what d-do you mean? E-everypony loves your night sky," Celestia said, having difficulty trying to be coherent.

"Do not lie to me!" Luna yelled in a sudden fury. Her horn then began to darken as a dark but clear cloud formed around her. Her coat changed to a deep black and her eyes turned to the color of turquoise as the pupils turned into slits. Celestia gave a loud gasp at her sisters sudden change in appearance. What scared Celestia the most was the fury in her sister's eyes. "When the night comes, everypony locks themselves away inside their house and ignore what I have provided them. But not anymore. They shall love my night from now on. After all, this night is going to last forever," Luna gave a small, maniacal smile after saying the last line.

"L-Luna, you cannot do this. The ponies will not s-survive from the l-lack of the sunlight," Celestia gasped, trying to get up to her hooves, but to only fall back to the ground. She then gave up the struggle to stand up, gasping sharply from overexerting herself.

"I am no longer Luna, sister," the dark alicorn said, giving a mocking tone as she said the last word. "My name is Nightmare Moon. Your sister that you once knew is gone."

"W-why are you d-doing this?" Celestia asked, trying to grip onto the little consciousness that is left within her.

Her former sister gave an evil laugh. "Your reign of power is over, Celestia, for I am now in control of this land."

When she said that, Celestia felt the rest of her power drain from her body. The light from the moon began to fade away as she was lost in the depths of her mind. The image of her former sister was imprinted behind her eyelids as she went into a deep slumber.

The last thing that echoed through her mind was a triumphant, evil laughter.

~*~

Celestia opened her weary eyes, shivering from the cold night breeze that blew across her body. 'Why am I outside, laying on the grass?' The alicorn slowly got up unto her hooves as the events of last night rushed into her mind. 'How long have I been unconscious for? Where is my sister?' Celestia thought as she trotted weakly out of the Garden and towards the castle.

When she got to the entrance, she stopped and peered inside. It was dark, cold, and empty in the Main Hall, which felt strange for Celestia. It was usually bustling with activity. It didn't help that the place gave off a foreboding look to it either. Celestia then went inside and, without warning, felt apprehensive. She shivered at the unexpected feeling and cautiously made her way to the doors of the Royal Hall trying not to make any loud noises. When she drew near the door, the sudden feeling of dread then filled her mind. 'What is going on here?'

Celestia slowly opened the door and, once again, poked her head in to view her surroundings. There, in the far end of the Hall, was Nightmare Moon. The dark alicorn appeared to be viewing out of the window, absorbing the moon light that seeped through the window. Nightmare Moon then noticed that there was ragged breathing coming from the far end of the Hall. She turned her head and saw that Celestia was finally here. The alicorn began to smile, saying "It is a lovely night, is it not?"

Celestia was caught off-guard from quickly being noticed by Nightmare Moon, but quickly recovered and shakily stepped into the Royal Hall. Once she was in, she made herself look strong while saying, "What are you and what have you done to Luna?"

"Oh, I am actually a part of Luna, surprisingly enough. I am her jealousy," Nightmare Moon said with a chilling smile.

"How is it that you are controlling my sister?" Celestia asked.

"It all started when Luna began to feel envious for her sister's sunny day. That was where I had spawned and I began to feed off of her power, making me stronger until I can finally take full control of her body," Nightmare Moon smirked at the alicorn's reaction.

Celestia's weak legs gave out from beneath her and she gasped at the icy air. "What have you done to me?"

"You never stop asking questions, now do you? I have taken away your ability to use your magic. The side effects, however, also makes the unicorn physically weak, even for an alicorn, as you can see."

"I-I will stop you," Celestia said breathlessly, starting to feel the weakness spreading throughout her body her again.

"Oh? And how are you going to do that, Celestia? You are weak and helpless, like the rest of this land. Nopony can stop me!" The dark alicorn laughed. The sound reverberated off the walls and into Celestia's ears, which made her shudder.

Nightmare Moon's laughing slowly came to a stop as she watched Celestia slowly got up to her hooves, watching with admiration. "Are you going to try to fight? Even you know that it will be a lost cause. I suggest that you lay back on the ground, where you belong."

Celestia glared at the horrid entity that possess her sister's mind. "I will never give up on my ponies, nor my sister. No matter what I will have to do to protect them from monsters like you!" Celestia declared, regaining little, but not much, of her strength.

"And how, may I ask, are you going to do that?" Nightmare Moon spoke with a hint of amusement.

An idea sparked in the white alicorn's head, but it did not inspire any kind of hope. "I am going to do what my sister and I have done a long time ago. Something that I would have never even thought of doing again."

Celestia quickly turned and galloped as fast as she could out of the Royal Hall, out of the castle, and finally, out of Canterlot. The ponies that saw her run by regained hope, only to be quickly slashed away as they saw where she was running from. Even with the distance between her and the castle, Celestia could still hear the booming voice, saying, "You will never succeed, Celestia! I am much more powerful than you!"

Celestia then took off with her wings and changed her heading. She had never thought that she would return to her dreaded memory of the past. One that was well hidden deep in the nearby forest that everypony thought was a dangerous place to wander into. The ponies on the ground watched their beloved Princess in sorrow as she flew out of sight towards the Everfree Forest.

~*~

She had returned.

Celestia stumbled with her landing, panting from the long flight from Canterlot. After a few moments of laying on the cold grass, the alicorn looked up at the decaying castle she had once called home. Finally, after giving herself a little encouragement, Celestia rose from the now warm grass and trotted to the rotten oak door. She raised her front hooves and, to her astonishment, pushed the doors off their hinges. 'I feel weak, but how am I still able to break the doors? They are not even to the point to where a simple pony could break them that easily.' Pushing the thought to the side, Celestia gazed around the gloomy room and smiled as she found a tall pedestal at the far end of the room. Sitting on the five branches jutting out from the pedestal rested the five orbs that have been famously called the Elements of Harmony.

The Elements have been kept there for reasons unknown to anypony except Celestia and Luna themselves. After using the Elements to defeat Discord in the same room they are being kept at, a small presence resembling the draconequus still lingered. Back then, the Princesses didn't want the presence breaking out into the world and bring back chaos to the ponies,especially when they finally brought back order to it.. Even today, Celestia can still feel the presence of Discord looming all around the room. 'I hope the presence does not realize that the Elements will be missing.' That was a lie. Celestia knew that once the Elements left the room, the presence will take its chance for freedom.

But there are more important things at hoof to deal with at the moment than to be scared of a mere presence.

When Celestia got up to the pedestal, a shiver ran down her spine. 'Nightmare Moon says that she is Luna's jealousy. If I destroy her, I will be killing a part of Luna, which will have different outcomes as to how she will become.' Celestia pondered as to how tonight's events will play out while pacing around the pedestal.

'I should still take care of matters at hoof. There would no longer be an Equestria if I let this night continue.' Celestia concluded, stopping the never-ending questions running through her head and looking up to the Elements of Harmony. 'If I cannot rid Luna of Nightmare Moon, then I must...' Celestia didn't want to finish the thought. Shaking her head, Celestia spread out her wings and jumped into the air, hovering next to an Element. She reached out her hoof and touched the round orb.

The pain was nothing the alicorn had experienced before.

Celestia gave a sharp gasp and dropped out of the air, landing on her back. This, of course, made Celestia wince, but the pain in her back was dulled by the pain in her head. The pain was caused by a raging fire, engulfing everything and anything that could be burned. There was a scream that was barely audible beyond the flames, but it sounded oddly close and recognizable. But soon the sound was silenced by a piercing screech. An unknown entity screamed in the inferno as it writhed in pain. The flames quickly consumed the entity, silencing the frightening screeching along with the familiar scream. The flames stopped and the pain quickly faded away, leaving the alicorn in a heap on the ground, unconscious.

Sounds of coughing filled the near empty room as Celestia woke from the pain-induced sleep. Celestia coughed again, feeling her throat hurting as if she had been screaming. The alicorn opened her eyes to find herself on the ground. She slowly got up, hoping that she won't be excessively tired with the task. But, to her surprise, she didn't have any sign of struggle like earlier tonight.

'Did I regain my power?' To test her thought, Celestia focused on her magic and found it to be as good as new. A smile crept over her face when she found her magic and was able to use it once more. The alicorn looked up to the Eement that she touched and saw that it was the Element of Honesty. 'The Element of Honesty really does show the true nature of everything and abolishes the lies that cloud the truth,' Celestia thought as she remembered how the pain began.

The alicorn focused on the Elements of Harmony with her magic. The orbs shot up and came down towards Celestia, only to stop and hover in front of her. She gently placed the orbs in a circle in front of her as she thought of how to reach the castle in little time. She smiled as she remembered that she could us teleportation again. 'It is nice to have control of my magic again. Now to deal with Nightmare Moon and end this wretched night.'

When Celestia began to focus on her magic for teleportation, a flash filled the room. 'Strange, I do not think I released my magi-' "I thought you would be here, dear sister."

The white alicorn instantly stopped her focus on her magic and turned to where the voice had come from, already knowing who would be standing there. Nightmare Moon stood at the center of the room, her mane and tail swirling above her. "I should have taken care of you before you regained your power," she said with a growl.

"Nightmare Moon, I am giving you a chance for redemption. Raise the sun or you will be banished," Celestia said, regaining her lost courage.

"I will do no such thing!" Nightmare Moon snarled.

"I am only giving you one more chance to end this night and raise the sun. I do not wish to harm you, but I will if it is necessary," Celestia retorted, glaring at the dark figure, though she was feeling no signs of anger, but sorrow.

"And what makes you think I will do that? So you can have me end this beautiful night?" Nightmare asked, anger seething through her teeth.

"The ponies of this land need the sunlight. Without it, they will die from starvation, if not that, then from the cold."

"You want me to raise the sun before they love the night?" Nightmare Moon scoffed. "No. I will not do that until they adore me and my night!"

"They will not love your night if you force it upon them like this! They will grow to hate it!" Celestia shouted pleadingly, hoping that Nightmare Moon will realize her mistakes.

"Then they shall never have their sun if they do not love the night," the dark alicorn sneered, tensing her body to attack.

"Then you leave me with no choice," Celestia said reluctantly, tears forming around her eyes.

With that, Celestia lowered her head and focused on her magic once more. Her horn grew into a bright light as it shot out a magical spark at the closest Element. The spark then traveled to the rest of the Elements and they all began to glow brightly.

"NO!" Nightmare Moon shouted as she realized what was going to happen and quickly galloped towards the Elements, hoping that she could disrupt the forming magic.

She was too late. A trail of colors shot up from the Elements into the air and began to swirl around each other, forming into a rainbow. The rainbow then arched towards the dark alicorn in a threatening demeanor. Nightmare Moon froze in her place as she watched the rainbow come crashing down unto her.

Celestia heard a blood-curdling scream coming from Nightmare Moon right when the rainbow had touched her. Then Celestia froze when she heard a different scream, one that was scared. It was Luna. The scream quickly dissipated when the rainbow suddenly shot straight up and through the ceiling. Celestia regained her senses and galloped out of the old throne room looking up into the sky. She watched as the trail of the rainbow fly towards the moon until it had disappeared into the distance. Moments after, a dark silhouette of an alicorn formed on the face of the moon.

The moon then began to move towards the western horizon on its own and Celestia felt a hard pull coming from the eastern horizon. Out of instinct, Celestia focused on the sun and pushed it up and over the mountains. The sunlight quickly began to warm the air and the plants that began to wilt quickly sprung up with life. Celestia released her magic, but the sun kept gliding across the sky until it had reached its precipice.

Celestia sat on her haunches, letting the events soak in. She sat there for what felt like an eternity, thinking about what she had just done. The alicorn then broke down into tears and laid down in the grass. After a moment, the Princess finally breathed in deeply and let out a sigh, saying, "Luna... I'm sorry... I'm so, so sorry."

Meanwhile, the ponies at Canterlot were out on the streets, cheering for the rising of the sun. They had all been drawn out of their homes to watch a rainbow shoot across the sky towards the moon and watched in awe as the moon began to move from its original place. When the sun came up, many ponies could not believe that the sun was finally rising and giving them their life back.

This was surely a day that they all would remember.

~*~

Everypony in the land had decided to turn that day into a holiday.

The holiday has been named the Summer Sun Celebration so that they can celebrate the rising of the sun by Celestia herself. They all had feared that the night would go on forever and that they wouldn't survive. But when Celestia had saved the land, they all cheered in pure joy and happiness.

Everyone but Celestia herself.

That day, for Celestia, marks the day of her thousand year torment. She had nopony in her life that had truly cared about her, except for her sister. But now that she was gone, she had nothing. Each day dragged on, having her wake up, attend Day, and now Night, Court, sleep, and pretty much repeat. The only thing that kept Celestia going each day was the well-being of her subjects that needed her rule. Other than that, nothing else mattered to the Princess. She still loved and cherished her subjects, but she felt completely empty. She had been deprived from something that made her life worthwhile. She had nopony to love her back.

Or so she thought.

~*~