234 years before present.

Luna lays in a bed in the infirmary, crying as she pushes through labor. Prince Nocturne stays by his lover’s side, holding her hoof and using his magic to take some of the pain. Luna continues to push, screaming as the doctors manage to bring out the baby alicorn. The Doctor’s face brightens, “It’s a boy! What are you going to name him Princess?” He says as he hands the foal to Luna.

“Midnight... What do you think honey?” she says to Prince Nocturne.

“I think that’s a wonderful name Luna. He’s gonna be the future of the family. He will carry on our legacy for years to come.”
Nocturne smiles as he pats the foal’s head. “Out of everything I’ve made, Luna,” He says. “This is by far my best creation.”

Later that night, Luna smiles and sets Midnight in the small crib as she begins to sing to the small foal. The foal begins to calm as she sings, and he eventually falls asleep. Luna crawls into bed with her beloved, and Nocturne wraps his hooves around her protectively while listening to her soft breathing. “Nocturne, I love you so much... I’m glad to be your wife...” Luna declares.

Nocturne snuggles closer to his mare as he responds. “I love you too Luna... You are the best mare a stallion could ask for.”

******

Two months later

“Nngh... No... Unnng!” Nocturne groans as pain rings through his mind. “Ack...l.. No! RAAAAAAAGH!! AAAAAGH!!!” Nocturne’s screams ring through the room, awakening Luna and Midnight, even King Solaris. Nocturne lays on the floor, his hooves digging into the carpet as the excruciating pain slowly consumes his mind. Luna runs over and begins to try and shake him awake, but to no avail.

“Nocturne? Hey... Wake up. Nocturne! Wake up!” Luna exclaims as she shakes him more. “DAD! HELP! NOCTURNE! SOMETHINGS WRONG WITH HIM!” Luna cries out in fear, as King Solaris runs in. Luna begins crying as she speaks, “Daddy... Please help him... Somethings wrong...” Midnight can also sense something is wrong as his cries ring through the room. Luna quickly picks up the crying foal and comforts him.

Solaris looks at Luna and speaks frantically, “Go get the doctors, get them to bring a stretcher! Now!” Solaris lifts the younger male onto his back and carries him down the hall as Luna grabs Midnight and gallops down the hall as fast as she can to retrieve the castle doctors. “Hang in there Nocturne... You’ll be okay...”

The doctors come running up the hall with the stretcher, determined and calm. Solaris meets them halfway and quickly sets Nocturne down on the stretcher. “Get him to the infirmary, Now!” Solaris commands. The doctors take the stretcher and race down the hall, followed by Solaris and Luna, Determined to help the young alicorn. They quickly close in on the infirmary, and open the door.

Once they get inside the Infirmary, they quickly get him on a bed and get his vitals and begin to examine him. Solaris and Luna have worried looks on their faces, watching the doctors close as they work on Nocturne. Luna’s worried questions fill the room, tears welling up in her eyes as the doctors run several brain tests.

Throughout the next 5 months, the worry never stops. Midnight cries often, Luna is scared for Nocturne, and Solaris is usually gone because of his duties. The nights are sleepless, and Luna barely eats, not leaving Nocturne’s side. She is beginning to thin out, and not even Celestia can get her to eat. Luna is more occupied with taking care of Midnight and staying with Nocturne, Keeping an eye on his condition. After two more days full of brain tests, they finally get a diagnosis.

The doctors walk over to them both, and Luna anxiously awaits her husband’s condition. “It’s not good, Ill tell you that,” He says as he points at a map of Nocturne’s brain. “See these black gas clouds? That’s his alicorn magic. Its corrupting.”

Solaris and Luna look at the doctor, confused and worried thoughts filling their minds. “How? Alicorn magic is pure light! That’s not possible!” Luna exclaims, tears pricking at her eyes again.

“She is right, doctor.” Solaris agrees, his tone serious. “Alicorn magic is the purest magic ever. There is no way it could possibly be corrupt!”

The doctor looks away as he speaks once more, “He has a disease last seen in his ancestors from over 8,000 years ago. It causes his alicorn magic to mutate into dark magic, and his has progressed far enough that the dark magic grow into an entity. It was trying to take over his magic.” He explains. “We’ve given him medication and it seems to help thankfully, and we have named it the ‘Lunar Curse’ as it has only appeared in the Lunar side of the royal family tree.”

Solaris and Luna exchange glances, and both sigh in relief at the news. “Thank the stars, me and my dad were very worried about him, and so was Midnight.” Luna says, relieved that her beloved is okay. It wasn’t long before the worry returned at the doctor’s next words.

“His magic is beginning to fight the medicine. It’s not gonna work much longer.”

“What?” Luna’s voice cracks. “What do you mean ‘It’s not gonna work much longer?’” Luna says as her face fills with worry.
Her heart begins to race, tears threatening her eyes for the millionth time that month.

“You heard me,” The doctor continues. “It’s not gonna work for much longer.”

Luna falls to the ground, devastated. Midnight’s tears ring out again, this time louder. Luna is over the pain, her tears can’t be held back anymore. After a long internal battle, Luna’s cries ring out through the room, her pain evident in her tears. Solaris tries to comfort her and it doesn’t work. Luna cries on the ground for almost an hour before Celestia calms her down.

After only a few days having Nocturne back, his mental stability begins to drop significantly. Luna has been with him through it, and he has taken comfort in her hooves. Luna now holds her husband, laying in bed. She listens quietly to his soft breathing, taking in all the comfort she can gather from him. She hugs him tightly, and slowly, but surely, falls asleep.

******

Luna wakes up to heavy breathing and crying. She immediately looks at Nocturne, who is crying, sitting in the middle of the dark room. She looks over at the window and gauges the position of the moon. ”Not even 12:00... What’s he doing?” she thinks. She notices his eyes are a mixture of their normal green and a hatred fueled red. “Nocturne?” She asks. “Are you alright honey?”

“No... I... I had a nightmare.”

Luna drops the worry about the eyes thing, and quickly gains sympathy for her beloved. “Are you okay, my prince?” She asks, walking over to him.

Nocturne shakes his head. “No. It... It was my my mom’s death.” He says. Luna tries to speak but Nocturne speaks first. “...And how Solaris was at fault for her goddamn passing.”

Luna’s eyes widen. She thought he forgave Solaris, ”He never cusses... What is going on with him?”
“Honey, you already forgave him. It’s okay. It wasn’t his fault. The Changeling King killed her, not Solaris.” Luna explains, worried for her husbands sanity. She sees him grit his teeth, and waits for him to speak.

Nocturne speaks, his voice strained.
“It was his fault.” He declares.

“Nocturne, It wasn-”

“IT WAS! IF HE HADN’T MOUTHED OFF AND THREATENED THEM OVER THE LITTLEST KIDNAPPING, THE WHOLE FUCKING THING WOULDN’T HAVE HAPPENED!” Nocturne snaps, his voice more strained. “WHY I- I SHOULD- I AM- I-”

Luna gets worried when her husbands breathing picks up and his horn starts to flare. “Nocturne, you should what?”

Nocturne turns around, and Luna’s eyes widen. Her husbands eyes are no longer green. They are a pure hatred-filled red.
Nocturne stomps his hoof, and with no more restraint and pure anger in his voice, speaks once more.

”...I’m going to kill him.”

Author's Note

I am so sorry for the short chapter. I just wanted to get the introduction out of the way so I can move on to other parts of the book that are a lot better than this chapter. Thank you so much for reading this chapter and I promise next chapter will be longer.