Title: Star Made Nightmare
Setting: It is just over 1,000 years prior to present time Equestria, just before Luna was banished from the moon.
Additional Notes: The word "Adstrum" is Latin for "constellation" (it will make since later).
A dark-coated mare was soaring through the night skies, her horn gleaming in the moonlight, and her blue mane flowing in the wind. Luna was out on one of her usual trips through the sky, which she took to relax from the stresses of being a princess. She had been forced to attend multiple ceremonies lately; commemorating various events that nopony really cared about. Why her sister even continued with them was a mystery to her. She was just glad that there were no more of these items on her calendar for a solid week.
Below her was the city of Manehatten, meaning she had drifted far to the north. She usually didn’t fly over any major cities, as she thought that they would be far too noisy, but she had only noticed this one by chance. There was not a single sound coming from the city. The one thing that had caught her attention was a single light that was on in a small shack on the edge of town. This was strange, as the last time she was in Manehatten the town was bustling with activity. She flew down to investigate the cause of this abnormality, and peered through the window in which the light source had originated from.
She was surprised to find an old colt slaving away over some papers. This was not what she had expected to find at all. It seemed that everypony else in the city was asleep. Why would they be sleeping through a perfectly good night? The moon was full and it was the perfect temperature outside.
Luna realized that it was almost time for the sun to rise, and that she was a considerable distance from Canterlot. She would have to utilize all of her speed to make it back to the castle in time to lower the moon to make way for the day.
…
Luna arrived back at the castle just in time to join her sister on the royal balcony. “Good morning Luna,” her sister said. As Luna looked around her, she could see a crowd gathering below. Luna had noticed this many times before, but had never made note of it till now. She had never had a crowd gather when she went to bring out the night; she was always greeted by sighs and the whining of fillies. She focused all of her energy on the moon, slowly moving it towards the horizon. The crowd began to cheer as the sun appeared over the horizon, none even caring that the moon was going away for another day. Moments before the moon drifted over the horizon, she uttered, “goodbye my moon”.
Luna and Celestia walked into the throne room as two guards shut the balcony door, and left the room. A sudden urge came over Luna to speak. “Why does nopony like the night?” she inquired.
“Why would you think that sister?” Celestia responded. “The night is a wonderful thing. It allows the earth to cool so that ponies can play during the day. It gives ponies a chance to rest and rejuvenate themselves from a hard day’s work. If it were not for night, many ponies would not have time to get to see their families. The night is a thing all ponies enjoy, even if they don’t realize it. The night is a very important part of all life in Equestria.”
“But nopony likes me for bringing about the night,” Luna retorted. “Maybe if I did something else along with governing the night, more ponies would like me. I could run some of the royal ceremonies, or settle some of the disputes between quarreling ponies.”
Celestia gazed out of the window for a moment before turning back to Luna. “You are still relatively young my dear sister. I will always love you, but you have neither the wisdom nor the ability to take on more than you are currently tasked with. Wait another century or two and I will consider giving you more responsibility.”
“But I am ready sister!” Luna replied. “At least give me a chance to prove myself before you cast me aside!”
Celestia had heard enough of this. “Before you may be given more, you must be grateful for what you already have! You are not yet wise enough to understand the larger picture at play.”
This stunned Luna. She had never had her sister raise her voice at her like this before. “Fine” she spoke, as she was trying to hold back the tears forming in her eyes. She departed from the throne room seconds before she could no longer hold back the liquid from streaming down her face. She ran back to her room as fast as she could, hoping that no one would see her. Once there, she locked the door, only opening it once for a maid bringing in her lunch. She could not get the sound of her sister yelling at her out of her head.
“What could have possibly brought that out of her?” she kept asking herself. Before she realized it, it was time for her to raise the moon. She could not bear to see her sister right now, so she went out to her own private balcony in order to raise the moon.
…
As she slowly brought the moon out over the horizon, she couldn’t help but to smile. The moon always seemed to cheer her up, no matter what the circumstance. Once the sun had faded behind the horizon, Luna took a step back to relax. She could not help but notice all of the stars hanging in the sky. There was not a single cloud in the sky, and the stars seemed brighter than usual. “Oh stars in the night sky, I pray to thee for guidance.” She mumbled. “You have always been there in the night with me while all others were absent. I ask thee to share your countless millennia of wisdom with me as I have nowhere else to turn.” Luna waited. She now felt silly for expecting anything to actually happen. She turned to go back inside when, out of the corner of her eye, she spotted what at first appeared to be a shooting star. Upon closer examination, she realized it was something much smaller, and much closer, AND THAT IT WAS HEADING RIGHT TOWARDS HER!
She sprung out of the way as it landed inches away from where she was laying. “What was that!” she spouted as she adjusted to the sudden change in her position and the throbbing in her flank from where she had landed. The impact had thrown much dust into the air, but her balcony seemed to be intact. She cast a spell to disperse the debris floating in the air.
Luna could barely believe what was standing in front of her. Surrounded by a small impact crater was a translucent, gleaming alicorn! “Who, no…what are you?” she asked, after standing there stupidly for a minute. The strange colt stood up proudly and announced, “I am Adstridum.”
Luna gazed at the magnificent colt as if he were a phantom. He continued, “I am the ambassador of the stars, sent to aid you in your plight against your sister.”
“But why?” Luna responded, as this was the only question in a long list that she could form into a verbalization. Adstridum turned to her and declared, “The stars have long been thankful for you, allowing our presence in your night, and cannot stand to see you saddened from the lashing given to you by your sister.” Luna was even more confounded by what she had just heard.
She sat down on her bed, and took a moment to absorb what has been laid upon her. Deciding to save further questioning for later, she cut to the chase, and asked, “So how can you help me?”
The illusion of a pony grinned, and answered, “We know you much better than you know yourself. So does your sister. There is a powerful energy inside of you; one that if you take control of, would be powerful enough to run all of Equestria by itself. Your sister knows this, and is trying to hide it from you. She knows that once the power is released, she will no longer serve a purpose, and loose her position as ruler. Your sister is selfish in her lust for power, and is ruthless in her attempt to hold on to what she has.”
Luna was once again stopped in her place from what she had heard. “You are wrong!” she screamed. “My sister would never betray be by trying to hold me back! You are lying! Just go away!”
Adstridum had a look of disappointment on his face. “If that is what you wish, I will leave. It is almost time for the sun to rise, and I would have to leave anyways. Just remember, you will have more questions, and when you have to ask them, I will come back to answer them.” There was a bright flash, and a beam of light shot into the sky. Adstridum had disappeared just as suddenly as he had arrived. At this point, Luna was ultimately dumbfounded. The more she thought about it, the less it made sense. As she would soon have to set the moon, she figured she should get some sleep while she can and figured that if she slept on what had transpired, she might make sense of it. She lay down on her bed, and drifted in to an agitated sleep.
…
A few hours later, Luna was roused by a knocking at her door. “Ms. Luna, it is time for you to lower the moon,” spoke one of the maids through the door. Luna gave a big yawn, and walked out onto her balcony. She began to lower the moon, and looked up at the sky. As she saw the fading stars, she remembered what had transpired during the night. She looked down at where last night there had been a scorch mark from where Adstridum had landed; only find that it had disappeared. Was it all just a disturbing dream, brought on by the combination of sadness and sleeplessness, or had it actually happened?
Luna gave a sigh of relief, as she turned to face the setting moon. Then she saw exactly what she didn’t want to: a translucent feather sitting on the railing of her balcony. It was not a dream, but was it a lie? Many strange creatures would want nothing more than to turn her and her sister against each other, and in the resulting chaos, rule Equestria for themselves. It certainly wasn’t the first time somepony had tried. But this seemed different to Luna. She felt that Adstridum’s words seemed sincere, but she could be wrong. Until she could think of what to do, Luna thought it would be best to keep last night’s events to herself.
She could not stop thinking about what the alicorn had told her. Was her big sister, her caretaker, really just holding her back out of a petty need for power? Was that why she got so angry when she had requested more responsibilities? It was always possible that the so-called “ambassador of the stars” was putting up a façade, but the sincerity of his words was too real. Luna needed to get her head off of the subject for a while. Her head was beginning to hurt again, so she decided to take a walk in the garden and smell the freshly-bloomed flowers.
…
As Luna walked into the garden, the smells of the various flowers filled her senses and took her mind right off of the whole Adstridum ordeal. For the moment, she had nothing on her mind and was happy to be free of all the thoughts that troubled her in what seemed to be an eternity ago. Luna had been in the garden long enough for the sun to reach its highest point in the day when she spotted a group of fillies walking into the garden on what appeared to be another school field trip. As the group trotted around, the teacher was explaining the meanings of the various statues. Luna failed to pay much attention to what the teacher was saying until she reached the statue of herself and her sister. The teacher spoke, “This statue represents the princesses of Equestria, and their duties. Both princesses have very important jobs. Princes Luna is the-”
“Boooring!” one of the students interrupted. “We don’t care about Luna, she only makes us go to bed,” said another. “We just want to hear about Celestia!” said a third filly. The badgering of the students went on for another minute or so until the teacher yelled, “Fine, have it your way. Either way, it is still going to be on your test.”
“Yay!” yelled the students as the teacher began to tell them about Celestia.
Luna almost instantaneously broke down in tears again. “Everypony really does hate me,” she said to herself. “Adstridum’s words might actually hold water. What if my sister really has been holding me down?” Luna needed to talk to Adstridum again. She ran to her room and waited till she could once again raise the moon.
…
As she once again brought out the moon, she could hardly wait to speak with Adstridum. Though she didn’t want his words to be true, she had to hear them. She looked towards the stars and announced, “Adstridum, if you speak the truth, come back to me, so that I might question you further.”
Once again, a fireball shot down from the heavens. This time, Luna anticipated it, and stepped back into her room before the luminous colt impacted her balcony. Without hesitation, Luna walked through the dust and speaks, “Tell me what you know.”
“Not even a ‘hello’ this time? I guess common curtsey has been thrown out the window,” spoke the colt. Luna is taken back for a second; she certainly was not expecting that.
“I need to know the truth,” Luna finally replies. Adstridum smiled. “But of course you do, you’re smart enough to see the truth when it is right in front of you hooves. I ask but one thing, do not interrupt me with question until I am done speaking. Understand?”
“Yes,” stated Luna without any hesitation.
“Good,” the colt continued. “As I stated last time we spoke, you have a very special gift. It is a very powerful energy that resonates within your soul. It will be the most powerful energy that any being of this planet has ever contained within them once mastered. Your sister Celestia knows this, and knows that she will be minuscule in comparison to you when you learn to awaken your inner power. If you can awaken this power inside of you, all of Equestria shall be yours for the taking. Any question?”
Luna was beginning to feel the tears well up in her eyes, but she had to be strong “But how can I awaken it?” inquired Luna.
Adstridum grinned. “I can awaken it for you, but I will need something from you.”
“Anything!” Luna responded.
“The one power equal to your own will be needed to release your inner strength. I need the Elements of Harmony,” spoke Adstridum. Luna took a moment to think. This would be very risky. If Adstridum was lying, then once he had the Elements of Harmony, there would be no way to stop him. If he was telling the truth however, after her inner strength was awakened, she would have no problem taking the Elements back if necessary. “If you need the Elements, have them you shall.” Luna finally spoke, and she walked out of her room, heading towards the vault that her sister kept the Elements in.
…
As Luna ascended the tower holding the Elements of Harmony, she began to talk to herself. “Am I doing the right thing? What if Adstridum is just playing me?” Suddenly, Luna found herself at the top floor of the tower. As she walked towards the vault doors at the end of the hall, she heard a voice from behind her.
“Halt!” said the voice as Luna turned around. It was a patrol of night guards. “Who goes there?” the captain asked.
“I am your Princess of the Night,” replied Luna. One of the guards illuminated the area with his horn, and the winged captain examined Luna further. “I am sorry princess, but not even you are allowed here without Princess Celestia. We cannot allow you to remain.”
Luna was surprised. “I am an equal ruler to my sister, so you don’t have the authority to stop me.” The guard captain looked worried. He looked back at his four subordinates, and took a step forward. “We don’t want any trouble with you. Come back with Princess Celestia or we will have to remove you forcibly.” This only spurred her on; as it meant that the guards did not view her as an equal ruler. Luna saw no way to persuade the guards to let her by, so she was left with one option. She must force her way through.
Luna began to cast a powerful spell. Her horn glowed with a brilliant blue aura, and then a shockwave rippled from it. “I’m sorry,” said Luna as the guards were blown back against the wall and knocked unconscious.
Luna turned to the vault door. It was solid metal, and had magical defenses placed upon it. Breaking through the door would take most of the magical energy Luna possessed within her. Her horn once again began to glow, but this time, the energy was much more intense, and was building in intensity as each second passed. When Luna felt she had no strength left in her, she released the spell, which blew the doors off their hinges. She walked into the vault, and took the jewel-incrusted chest containing the Elements of Harmony from within.
On her way out, Luna noticed that the pegasus captain of the guards was not where he had been laying when Luna had knocked him unconscious. She looked around and noticed him attempting to fly out a window at the top of the hall. Luna knew that if she let him get away, Celestia would be alerted, and her entire plan would be foiled. Without hesitation, Luna cast a spell shooting a beam of energy at the guard. He fell, plummeting from the top of the room, smacking down on the floor.
Luna left the tower, bringing the chest with her. She couldn’t stop thinking about the guard. “He fell a long way. Combined with the fall, he might be seriously injured. Why couldn’t he have just stayed down, so that I wouldn’t have had to do that to him? I should have checked to see if he was okay…”
As Luna arrived back into her room, she was greeted by Adstridum. “Did you get them?” he asked. Luna brought in the jewel-incrusted chest and opened it up, revealing the 6 jewels. “You have done well,” spoke the colt as he removed the Elements from their case. “Now we must wait until dawn, when we will go to the main hall and confront your sister.” Heeding Adstridum’s command, the two waited for their time to strike.
…
“It’s time,” spoke Adstridum a few hours later. The duo walked to the main hall, and entered just as Celestia was walking out to the balcony. “Do not relent the night to the day,” said Adstridum. Luna felt the sun encroaching on her night, but summoned all the strength inside of her to push back the sun, and the day that followed it.
“What is going on?” Luna heard Celestia speak from the balcony. Her older sibling walked back inside and yelled, “What are you doing Luna?!” But what was she doing? That was something she hadn’t really thought about. Was she really just getting what she deserved, or was she overthrowing a government for her own self-gain? No, she deserved to rule, and no one would stand in her way. “I am taking what is rightfully mine!” she finally retorted. The Elements of Harmony began to levitate around Adstridum, and a bright purple glow began to be emitted from his horn. A small beam shot out of the glow and into Luna’s horn. Luna began to feel herself grow more powerful. She began to grow, and her hair began to shimmer. Her energy was beginning to replenish at an exponential rate. Celestia’s horn began to glow; she was preparing to attack Adstridum. Luna could not allow this to happen, so she shot a beam of energy from her horn. It impacted Celestia square in the chest, and she was blown back and stunned.
The beam from Adstridum’s horn ceased. “It is done,” he announced as the Elements drifted back into their chest. Luna was changed. She no longer felt, or looked like her old self. She was taller, and her horn was longer. Her skin was now black, and her mane was a dark blue that shimmered in the moonlight. Her usually rounded wings had become pointed at the tips. She felt an incredible energy flowing through her. “How does it feel?” asked Adstridum.
Luna took a moment to respond. “I am stronger… better.”
Celestia stood up. “Stop this at once Luna. You have no idea what you are doing.”
“I know exactly what I am doing, I am revolting against the lies and oppression you have been giving me for the past millennia.”
“What do you speak of my dear sister?” Celestia responded. “I can promise you that if you stop this now and allow me to explain things to you, you will be forgiven.”
“Don’t listen to her Luna,” spoke Adstridum. “This is just a pathetic attempt to allow her to continue your oppression and leave her with the power.”
Luna stepped forward and spoke, “I do not wish to hurt you sister. If you surrender now, I will let you live in banishment.”
A tear fell down Celestia’s face. “Please stop sister! This colt leads you astray. If he has his way, I am sure that it will end in nothing but despair for all, including you.”
“Your attempts are in vain,” spoke Adstridum. “Luna has had the wool lifted from her eyes, and she will no longer be lessened under your dictatorship. Now, Luna!”
A massive energy shot from Luna’s horn towards Celestia. As it impacted her, Celestia crumbled as a blur of green, blue, and pink was sent basting across the hall. She hit the wall, nearly crashing straight through it. Within seconds after Celestia hit the ground, the wall collapsed, revealing the throne room to the outside. The ponies outside began to scream and riot. A company of guards poured into the throne room through the hole. “I don’t wish to hurt you, leave now!” spoke Luna, but the guards began to surround Luna and Adstridum.
“They must be dealt with,” spoke Adstridum.
“I know,” spoke Luna, as she emitted a shadow from her horn. The shadow spread throughout the room, and then began to glow a dark blue. It faded to reveal all of the guards lying on the floor, motionless.
Luna could see her sister lying on the floor unconscious. A tear streamed down her face as she watched her sister twitch. Luna gazed through the hole in the wall at the crowd of ponies outside the castle. Many were crying, others simply watched. The one thing that unified all of them was their terror. It’s all that Luna could perceive from the crowd. Luna turned to Adstridum. “This isn’t what I wanted,” she said. “I wanted to be loved and cared for, to be admired by the fillies as they watched me raise and lower the moon. All I have now is a feeling of disgust for myself. I will go no further in your plot. I demand that you change me back now! I can no longer stand the sadness that it brings to the land.”
The colt stood and laughed. His tone of voice changed to be much more ominous, “You cannot stop now. We will not allow it! Too long have we lingered in the fading hours of the night, while all creatures sleep. The night shall last forever, so that all will be forced to gaze into the sky, and witness our beauty!”
“Is that all this was all about?!” shouted Luna as tears gushed from her eyes. “Your selfishness has brought despair upon me and all of Equestria. I refuse to assist you any longer!”
“You no longer have any say in the matter. We now have full control over you! Our will is now your own and there is nothing you can do about it,” retorted Adstridum. As he said this, Luna felt her body take a step towards her sister. It was a foreign action to her, which she had not willed. It was as if some other mind was exerting control over her.
Another step was taken towards Celestia, and then another, and another, until Luna was standing straight over her sister. “You could have avoided all of this if you had only been cooperative Luna.” spoke Adstridum. “Now you shall be the instrument by which we extinguish the fire that is both the sun, and your sister’s life.”
“Stop!” Luna attempted to scream, but no sound issued from her mouth. She could no longer even speak. Luna felt an immense power building in her horn, as it began to glow. She could not hold back the river of tears now flowing from her eyes, as she saw Celestia begin to rouse. She knew that not even Celestia could possibly survive a blast with her new powers at point blank, especially in her current state. The magnitude of this attack continued to grow however. At this rate, it would vaporize Celestia entirely. “How can I stop myself?” thought Luna desperately. “If only my sister could gain control over the Elements of Harmony… wait…that’s it!”
Luna conjured all of the strength of will she had left in her, as she saw her sister gazing at her from the floor and crying. She began to levitate the Elements of Harmony out of the chest in which the resided. She flung the 6 Elements towards her sister, and just as they hit the ground, Celestia took them. With the Elements in her possession, she began to glow as if about to cast a spell. Luna could no longer hold back the energy that had been built up in her horn. Just as Luna had given in to the casting of the spell, a rainbow issued from Celestia’s horn. Everything was swallowed up by a bright light, and then slowly faded in to a pitch black.
…
“What had happened?” though Luna. “Did I kill my sister, leaving Adstridum to consume complete control over my body? No, that can’t be! Maybe I am dead, killed by my sister, my soul left to waist away in this purgatory for all of eternity as my punishment. If that is what happened, I will gladly accept this as my punishment, as long as every pony in Equestria is happy again.” Suddenly, a bright light appeared over what seemed to be a horizon, illuminating the area around her. It was miles of white stone and dust. An orb of blue and green also crept over her head. The light had moved further over the horizon and was now identifiable as a giant ball of fire. They were the sun and the earth, meaning that she was on the moon! Her sister had spared her life! All Luna wanted to do was lay on the ground and cry, but her body still wouldn’t respond.
Stars started to appear in the sky. They began to move around, taking up a shape. It was Adstridum. Luna would curse him if she could only move her lips. The figure of Adstridum began to speak, “You have caused quite the mess for us. It will take us at least a millennium to gather enough energy from the void of space to free you. In the meantime, you may suffer your exile to the moon.” The figure of Adstridum then dispersed over all corners of the sky. Luna was then left alone to wait. And so she waited for the day the stars would release what she had become to terrorize the night again.
Author's Note
"Adstrum" is the Latin word for "Constellation"
