A World Without Nightmares
A World Without Nightmares
It was a beautiful morning in the luscious land of Equestria. The plants were growing, the birds were chirping, and everypony was joyous with wonder in this pretty summer's day.
Meanwhile in Canterlot, the two royal pony sisters, Celestia and Luna, were looking over their land from atop a palace window. "It's lovely isn't it?" asked Celestia. Luna nodded in agreement. "Oh yes sister, it's wonderful."
Luna began to gaze worried at her sister. "Are you sure she'll be okay as a Princess?" Luna asked. "Yes, Twilight can handle this powerful of magic", answered Celestia. "Don't worry", Celestia added.
Luna was happy with what she saw but was beginning to feel worried still about Equestria's future. "Sister, could I go to my bed?" asked Luna. Celestia giggled a little. "Of course sister", replied Celestia.
Luna flew off with joy up to her bed. She had, like always, became drowsy after doing her duties. Now, she just wanted to relax and sleep.
Luna tucked into her cozy bed nicely, following this by beginning to shut her already restful eyes.
As the hours continued on, Luna was fast asleep. However, she was squirming in her bed, always straying away from her area on her cushion.
Inside Luna's dream though, Luna was doing what she always did in her dreams - whatever she wanted at free will. Luna was walking through a forest in her dreams. On her way wandering through, she noticed a shadow at the edge of the forest, facing a mountain. The princess of the night was slightly confused. After all, she was the only pony that could enter her own dreams. Nopony knew the same spell as her. It was extremely difficult for someone other than the night princess to perfect something like this. She must've accidentaly created something. After all, she was very bashful and thought too much about topics. "Hmm, maybe my older sister Celestia learnt the spell behind my back. After all, it was like her to fool me", she thought to herself.
Luna galloped her way to the pony. She patted the shoulder of the pony to get her attention. "Excuse me, who are you?" pondered the princess.
Suddenly, the pony turned around. A face appeared in front of Luna's eyes but it was far from what she wanted to see. It had smoke on it's mane and tail. it had a completely black coat and cutie mark resembling a moon with a purple patch over it. Luna couldn't believe it. It was her alter ego - Nightmare Moon.
"Hello Luna. It's been a while", she explained. "What are you doing here?" asked Luna. "I thought they got rid of you."
Nightmare Moon laughed at Luna. "No matter what happens, I'm always going to be a part of you." Luna gasped for a moment. "But I never want to think of you", she questioned. Nightmare Moon laughed once more and began to ask a question. "Then why may I ask am I in your dream?"
Luna gave a blank expression in shock. What Nightmare Moon was saying was true. Why was she still inside Luna's mind? Luna sparked an idea. "Oh yeah? Well let me tell you something. Everypony has a dark side to them that will always stay with them. What makes you so different?"
Nightmare Moon laughed diabolically. "That's because they're not as insane as you", she laughed. "What do you mean", argued Luna. "They don't normally meet their dark self in dreams", Nightmare laughed. Luna reached a realization. She knew that normally the dark sides of ponies only appeared if they were making an important decision and thought up scenarios. Why was Nightmare Moon part of a nightmare Luna could get rid of in an instant? But the ponies don't argue with themselves in their dreams. They don't even normally talk to themselves. Luna was thinking that she may have gone a little insane.
Luna felt hurt and ducked down. "Why am I thinking of you?" she cried. Nightmare Moon raised a hoof out and rubbed Luna. "Are you jealous of Celestia again?" Nightmare Moon asked.
Luna felt a sense of hurt. "No never", she lied.
Nightmare Moon nodded. "And didn't she turn a certain pony into a princess recently?"
Luna nodded in agreement. "I guess so... but how did you know?" she asked. "Oh you silly pony, I know everything you know remember?" Nightmare Moon asked in a condescending manner. Luna sighed. "Oh yeah."
Nightmare Moon began to get back to topic. "We need to overthrow Celestia". Luna gasped. "I could never do that. Celestia's someone I'm really loyal to. She's the best sister I could have. I'm not following your ways."
Nightmare Moon began to argue. "Doesn't it bother you that Celestia is always part of the action? How she's always the one invited to celebrations? How she's the one that prevents you from doing anything?" Luna began to tremble with fear. Luna began to shed tears but tried fighting it off. "She needed to keep me out of the way for Twilight to meet her destiny."
"Oh but wait? Why would she put all of her faith into Twilight. When you do something yourself, she stops you. With Twilight, it's different." Luna began to shed a tear. "What do I do?" she said as she trembled in fear below Nightmare.
"It'll be alright", assured Nightmare. "How?" asked Luna. "You can just turn into me if you want. Just develop more envy. Let it consume you. After all, doesn't the world need a nightmare or two?" Nightmare questioned.
Luna seemed torn. She knew she had apologized to Celestia after the event previously, a few years ago, but what part of her mind was saying to her was the truth. She was always pushed to the sidelines by her sister, yet Celestia always let Twilight do everything no matter what. Nevertheless, she still liked her sister and didn't want to break her already close bond with Celestia.
"No", Luna cried.
"What? You can't say no to me. I'm somepony you'll never get rid of. And I'll just keep pushing you. Because you'll still be thinking about me. In fact, I'm not even pushing you. You're pushing yourself. I'm not doing this. You are!" yelled Nightmare Moon. Luna screamed in annoyance. "Leave me alone!"
"Never", replied Nightmare Moon in a frustrated tone. Suddenly, Luna gasped as she woke up in the night. She flew down fast into the palace.
"Oh hello Luna. You're up early", said Celestia. Just then, Luna began to snap. "Oh, so now you're concerned?" Celestia looked confused, but, like always, just continued looking at the scenery. She always knew her sister acted strange anyways, however, never this strange.
Just then, a royal guard burst in. "Princess Celestia, another parasprite infestation in Las Pegasus", he announced. Celestia nodded at him. "Come Luna", she ordered. All Luna gave was a glaring stare as she began her answer. "Oh of course you need my help? Who doesn't?"
Luna flew off before Celestia as the older royal princess followed behind.
As Celestia and Luna reached their destination, they noticed all of the parasprites attacking homes, food, and ponies. Celestia lit her horn up, as did Luna reluctantly. The two vanished the parasprites away using a paraprite vanishing spell. In front of them though was a jumbled broken up mess in the city. Celestia lit her horn and began levitating objects and tried her best to stick pieces of houses back on.
"Aren't you going to help?" Celestia asked Luna. "You sure are lazy aren't you Celestia?" yelled Luna, as she began to reluctantly help.
After an hour of working on the city, the two were finished. Celestia smiled, proud of her acclompishment. When she turned around though, she noticed Luna already on her way back to the palace. "Something strange is going on", Celestia thought to herself.
It was late at night and Celestia was ready to go to sleep upstairs. "Goodnight Luna", she said. Luna was ignoring Celestia and simply looked at her moon.
Princess Celestia hunched her shoulders and walked up her stairs for the night.
Luna sighed. "Good," said a voice from inside her head. Inside her sub conscious, Nightmare Moon talked to her. "Now it's time to take our first course of action."
Celestia woke up in the morning but noticed her sister missing.
