Obscured in Shadow

To exist as an Ascended Alicorn, is to exist without a natural end to one's life. It is simply a never ending awareness that is emulated by the body. Luna was a bitter and dark hearted Alicorn, not so different from her sister. Celestia, who's heart had grown dark from her long life, grew tired of seeing pony after pony live and die before her. Every pony she had ever known other than Luna, was either dead or would die in her lifetime. Her unnaturally long life was a curse. She did not want to take her own life though, as she wanted to raise the sun and bring happiness to her subjects.

Luna was filled with hatred for her sister, this hatred existing for thousands of years beforehand. Celestia would soak up the praise, soak up the obedience, soak up everything around her to keep her heart from clouding her ability to control her visible emotions through her sinister ability to manipulate how others perceive her, to a much greater extent than anypony else. Luna hated her for this, Luna wished not to control others, but Celestia did. She would soak up the love of her subjects as she made appearances across Equestria, and for what reason were these visits? Rarely would she visit areas of her land for any 'important' reason. It was only to soak up the praise and the reverence given to her, reverence fit for a god.

Luna was, by nature, a loving and calm spirit, contrary to her sister. She wanted all ponies to be on equal ground, and she detested all social inequality. Luna would always attempt to treat her subjects as friends, instead of treating them as lower beings under her control. These were her deep feelings, but not her deepest. Deeper still, was a bottomless pit of darkness. If one were to paint a representative picture of Luna's inner personality, it would simply be a black canvas.

Darkness, in it's raw form, exists as a vacuum, sucking all that consists of non- dark energy and compressing it into more dark energy. Luna's personality is portrayed as a black canvas, as her inner personality is constantly developing, yet cannot complete the process of development as it is simply 'sucked away' by the darkness that which is her soul.

Her feeling of compassion and love comes from a deep layer of her personality, close to the center. These feeling have been pushed from the core of her heart and up to a thicker layer of her being, as the darkness would simply suck it away. But, mixed together with these feelings of love and happiness, are also dark feelings. Dark and unhappy feelings.

These feelings were created from her years acting as the Moon's spirit guide, as she did now. But this was long before now. The reasoning behind Luna betraying her sister Celestia was never explained in great detail, as Celestia was providing the information. These times were never recorded as they happened, as nopony ever felt the need to write things down regarding significant events such as this. But Luna's memories of it were vivid:

Long before the days were recorded, Luna would look on as her sister Celestia raised the sun, and ponies cheered, embracing it's brilliance. Luna began to form a deep- seated hatred within her, as no one cheered for her moon. All ponies simply treated it as a dark omen, for the light of the sun had disappeared, and had been replaced with a ghostly white glow. The ponies of Equestria treated the moon's glow with fear, and hid within their homes.

As time passed, the ponies of Equestria learned that the moon was not an evil thing, as it never brought them harm. But nonetheless, they took the opportunity to sleep as the moon rose, so that they could awake with the sun and experience it's brilliance in what became to be referred to as 'Forenoon'. This period of time was the period between 'The Morning' (the act of the sun rising) and the 'Noon' (the sun reaching a vertical position in the sky). Afternoon was named for the period of time between the end of 'Noon' and 'The Evening' (the act of the sun setting).

These terms were new to the ponies, as the Sun had never changed position in the sky. It had always stayed at a 10:00 am position. The moon was new to them too, it existed beneath them, in a world far away. There were legends of it, but the legends all spoke of the moon in a negative light. The previous overlord of Equestria, Discord the Draconiquus, never saw a need for the moon. He decided that it best be left alone, why move it? He much preferred the light of the sun after all.

At one point in time, approximately 400 years after she was burdened with the task of raising the moon, Luna came to realize something. Her realization, was that the sole purpose of the moon being raised was to give a small amount of light to those who did not wish to sleep. The moon was simply a less- useful version of the sun. After she had begun to mull this over in her mind, the sight of even her sister Celestia began to make Luna feel sick to the stomach with anger. Luna's negative feelings towards her sister were only amplified by the fact that Celestia not once sympathized with Luna. Her older sister would simply reply:

"'It is why we are here, sister. I have no say on how the world works. You were chosen to raise the moon, and I was chosen to raise the sun. There is nothing more to be said." Luna lived for thousands of years with her sister, seeing things that made her heart grow colder and colder. She began to learn what it meant to be an Ascended Alicorn. To see ponies alive and well one minute, and gone the next.

The hardest impact of a death she had experienced was that of Snowdrop, a Pegasus pony with a pure heart who transformed how all ponies perceived the winter. Winter was originally thought of as a dark and sad time, not unlike how the ponies of Equestria first viewed the moon. But through Snowdrops' kind heart, she saw that winter was not something to shun, but something to embrace.

Luna was touched by Snowdrop, and they both became great friends. Luna made friends with as many of her subjects as she could, but she took an exceptional liking to Snowdrop as they understood each other. Even though Snowdrop originally brightened up winter for all, she would always talk to Luna about the night.

"Princess Luna?"

"Yes, Snowdrop?" Luna looked at the small pony next to her as they sat atop a cloud overlooking the castle of Canterlot.

"I was wondering, if there was a spell which would keep a pony awake forever. The spell would make sure that the pony would never feel tired and always have enough energy so that they would never need to sleep. Luna, is there a spell like that?" Luna looked at the small Pegasus with a puzzled expression.

"I do not know of any spell like that." Snowdrop lowered her head in disappointment. "Why?"

"I want all ponies to be awake during the night. There is nothing wrong with the darkness, but the moon shines, so there is nothing wrong, right? I just wish that ponies didn't sleep through the night, because I always thought that it would make you sad, Luna." Luna was shaking. "Does it make you sad, Luna?" Snowdrop finished, apparently unaware of Luna's shaking. She calmed herself, and replied:

"Yes, sometimes it does, Snowdrop. But I think that it is meant to be. Sometimes the world is cruel, and we have to try to live with the cruelties of life." Luna smiled down at Snowdrop. "But you have done an amazing thing, Snowdrop. You cheated the cruelty of life and gave winter happiness. I'm sure winter would be thankful for that."

Luna did not know of the spirit of the winter season. She did not even know if one existed at all. But she envied winter all the same. Snowdrop's kind words increased the bond she had with her friend, and made her feel happiness. But time passes, and Snowdrop grew older, and older, and one day, passed away.

Luna knew that it was to come, but she tried to fool herself into thinking that by some miracle, it wouldn't happen. 84 years it was since the day that she had met the small Pegasus, but it had gone faster than she had ever imagined. The death of her friend awakened a darkness within her, the only one to understand her feelings, was gone forever. Luna was sad and lonely for a long time, and rarely left the castle. Celestia was concerned, but at the same time, she understood why Snowdrop's death hit her sister so much harder than herself.

Luna, through her livid rage of her own accursed life, decided that by the heavens, Snowdrop's second wish would come to pass. Not only for the sake of her memory, but for the sake of herself as well. Luna constantly experimented with spells. She studied the books of Starswirl, yet another old friend that which she lost to time. Not one incantation or spell inside the book granted this power Snowdrop spoke of. Luna would continue to experiment on herself with the spells that were not documented. She feared not of side effects.

Eventually, Luna found something. A path of energy manipulation that when combined with a small portion of one's soul power, could give unfathomable energy to one individual, which in turn never required the individual to sleep for a lifetime, and even could extend a life. But this amount of energy was unsafe. Luna had to come up with some form of weaker version of the spell, or even find an alternative. But she figured that it might not be necessary. Perhaps by sending the energy into a secondary source inside the body, instead of the primary, it could weaken the spell.

It had been almost 250 years, and Luna still had not managed to figure out the spell completely, but she had come close many times to figuring it out. Every day, she would work less and less on the spell, and began to carelessly leave notes scattered around her room regarding different calculations and descriptions. In fact, Celestia found a note one day. It was bound to happen, but once again, Luna had switched off to the wonders of time, and forgot just how long she had been careless enough to not put away her notes. Celestia, of course, read the note.

The information written on in was enough for Celestia to realize what it was Luna was spending so much time in her room with. Celestia then confronted her sister, disgruntled.

"Luna." Celestia approached the Alicorn. "I know of what it is you are trying to do." Luna was confused.

"What is your meaning, sister?"

"Do not pretend to not understand," Celestia raised her voice. "I know that you have been attempting to create a spell which prevents the need for sleep."

"What is the problem, Celestia? Surely you would understand my feelin-"

"I will not be dragged into the corner again by your words. You will disrupt the balance of everything on the earth if you cast this spell on everypony." Celestia's wings were spread outwards as she used the royal voice.

"How?" Luna was standing tall against her sister. "This balance you speak of is non- existent! If there was balance, then I would not have to watch as ponies slept through my night! If that is the meaning of balance, then what obligation do I have as anypony to choose to do things or not to do things based upon it? I loathe this world, and I loathe it's people, who so insensitively disrespect my existence every day of their lives." Luna spat with rage, shaking uncontrollably.

"It is easy for you to speak of balance, when all balance does is work in your favor! It is always: 'Hail Celestia, praise Celestia' for you isn't it? You treat your people as tools for your own sick necessity for attention, your sick hunger for affection. Nopony in this world is perfect, and nor are you, regardless of what you may believe.

"It would affect no one negatively if I were to eliminate the need for sleep among the masses using a well perfected spell. You will NOT deny me my wish, and you will NOT deny Snowdrop's wish! It has been planned out for several hundred years, do NOT render my work useless with your selfishness."

Celestia simply stood there, aghast. This was the first time Luna had retaliated against Celestia's royal voice. But Celestia quickly pulled herself together.

"You... will not use a spell like this. The way things are as they are now are how they SHOULD be. You cannot change the world, Luna. It is my duty to maintain the balance, as I am the most powerful being in this world as of now." Celestia correct about this. Luna wanted to attack her, to hurt her, to make her feel pain, but she couldn't.

Celestia had been alive for ten thousand years now, and once an Ascended Alicorn reaches this age, their powers increase indefinitely. Celestia's pink mane had split into several other colors, reflecting the power coursing within her. Her mane flowed freely, ignorant of gravity as it was surrounded in energy. Luna could not win against her sister in open battle. She knew that it would be futile to even attempt it.

Luna had to make other plans, it was that simple. But she refused to give up the spell she was working to create. But, the spell was not the priority anymore. The priority, was to destroy Celestia, and give free passage to the use of her spell.