The Return of Nightmare Moon
It has been a long, long time since Princess Luna, otherwise known as the lovely Princess of the Night, had been reverted from Nightmare Moon back into her current state at this very moment. Back then, Luna, as she preferred to be called, had strong ties to the darkness that was portrayed and cemented into her heart. Now, thanks to the help of a specific, devoted purple unicorn named Twilight Sparkle, Luna has learned how to control the dark emotions that tremble and boil inside of her. However, they do still tend to show themselves from time to time, trying to convince Luna to become Nightmare Moon again and pick up where she had left off. In order to calm herself from those dreaded emotions, Luna thinks about the first thousand years she had spent in the moon, serving her banishment from society given to her by her older sister, Princess Celestia. While trapped on the moon, Luna was known as the Mare in the Moon, and everypony knew that legend, especially how it ended: On the longest day of the thousandth year, the stars will help aid in her escape.
That was the first time the Nightmare Moon had returned, which was over two hundred years ago. Now, the times have changed, and so have the subjects. The ponies that had defeated Nightmare Moon all those year ago are long gone, Twilight Sparkle being an exception, seeing how she became an alicorn and a pony princess. Princess Twilight Sparkle is all that remains of the original six ponies that defeated Nightmare Moon long ago and, since her friends have passed on, she has lost her sense of leadership, socialism, and integrity. Nowadays, Princess Twilight Sparkle rarely ever shows her face to her subjects. She often locks herself away from the general public and refrains from speaking and conversing with them.
Princess Luna and her older sister, Princess Celestia, along with Princess Cadance, Twilight's old foalsitter, and Prince Shining Armor, Twilight's older brother, haven't seen or even heard from Princess Twilight Sparkle in a long time now. The four of them always suggest visiting Twilight and attempt to cheer her up, but none of them can seem to find the time to do that, seeing how their royal duties always tend to call upon each of them.
Now, the royal duties are calling for both Princess Celestia and Princess Luna to lower the sun and raise the moon, which signifies the end of the long day and the beginning of the calm, soothing, peaceful night – Luna's night. Luna always loved raising the moon because this meant that she could paint the vast and large night sky with her beautiful and breathtaking stars and other astrological signs. Though, as much as she loved doing this, she despised the fact that everypony always slept through the gorgeous nights she always put together each and every night. Often times, especially recently, Princess Luna rose the moon angrily or she flew off somewhere to go be alone with her thoughts. She would often times fly to the old castle she shared with her sister, Celestia, which was located deep within the Everfree Forest. She chose this place because of the memories it brought back to her and the fact that nopony would ever think to search for her there.
Today, or rather, tonight, Princess Luna rose the moon using her majestic an graceful unicorn powers, looking down upon her subjects in the process. She grew angry as she noticed each of them returning to their homes and noticing the lights were flickering off. Princess Luna knew what this meant – that everypony was going to sleep for the night. Only a few ponies had remained out on the streets to witness and bask in the picture perfect night the Princess of the Night had provided with them.
Princess Luna, enraged and hurt, immediately flew away to go be alone. Princess Celestia had seen her younger sister furiously flying away and tried her best to stop her from doing so.
"Luna, wait!" Princess Celestia cried out, but it was no good for Princess Luna had already disappeared into the nighttime sky – her nighttime sky.
Princess Luna had flown over the Everfree Forest in a huff. She quickly noticed Zecora's old, abandoned hut down below her, but continued flying into the night. Hurt by all the ponies and their sleeping through her night, Princess Luna continued flying through the nighttime sky until she had finally reached the secluded portion of the forest, the part that contained the remains of what used to be the castle she and Celestia had once shared with each other. Hooves on the ground after flying through the air for a while, Princess Luna marched into the old castle, down one of the remaining hallways, and into her old room. Inside the room, there was still a bed. Princess Luna had collapsed on her old bed and began crying uncontrollably.
Oh, Princess Luna thought to herself, why must everypony sleep through our beautifully crafted and elegant nights? Do they not see the greatness and joy of being awake during the night? Do they not like basking in our perfect nights? Why must they sleep through it instead of adoring it? It does hurt us so...
Luna looked up from her old pillow and looked into the sky, right at the brightly colored full moon. She had started to wipe the tears from her eyes that were shed while she cried, trying her best to put those emotions away. Luna's long, glowing, sparkling mane had reflected the moon's light in a most elegant and beautiful fashion, which eventually hit an old statue, a statue that wasn't originally part of the castle; a statue that was placed there by Princess Luna herself. This statue was one of Nightmare Moon and contained all of the armor of Nightmare Moon ready to be removed and put on, just in case Luna wanted an eternal night once more. Princess Luna had been tempted before to pick up where she had originally left off as Nightmare Moon, but had always come to her senses before any of the dark emotions and evil spirits took over. She often thought back to when she first returned as Nightmare Moon as a way to relieve herself from said emotions and spirits.
Seize her! Only she knows where the Princess is!
Stand back you foals!
Even worse was when she had been defeated by the Elements of Harmony and had been transformed back into her current form. The Elements of Harmony, which were controlled by Applejack the Honest, Fluttershy the Kind, Pinkie Pie of Laughter, Rarity the Generous, Rainbow Dash the Loyal, and the Magical Twilight Sparkle, had reigned down on top of her, destroying the armor and the curse of Nightmare Moon. It was then that Princess Luna realized what Princess Celestia had meant to her and what it meant to rule side-by-side with her older sister.
Now, the Element Holders have all passed on, the most recent being Rainbow Dash the Loyal, with the exception of Princess Twilight Sparkle. As an alicorn now, Princess Twilight Sparkle has become an immortal pony, meaning that she will never die from natural causes in her life. After Rainbow Dash had passed on, all of the Elements of Harmony had mysteriously disappeared and, ironically, that was the very last day that anypony had seen Princess Twilight in public.
Luna had turned away from the statue of Nightmare Moon, however, some voices in her head were trying to persuade Luna into looking right back at it. She was fed up with the ponies always sleeping through her night all the time and hated how she was shunned by everypony. She curled up in the shadow of her older sister, Princess Celestia, all the time and always disliked being the princess that nopony really knew about. Luna used her unicorn magic and took off the helmet that was notched on top of the statue's head. Bringing it closer to her, Luna had started to hear some hoofsteps coming from what was left of the depleted hallway. Quickly turning around to see who it was that had followed her here, Luna quickly noticed that the hoofsteps had belonged to none other than her sister, Princess Celestia.
The very first thing that Celestia had noticed was the helmet of Nightmare Moon, which was hovering in the air next to her younger sister's head. "My dear sister, what are you doing with that helmet?"
Luna had looked away, not wanting to answer that question. Celestia had taken note of this and moved on from it.
"What's the matter, my sister?" she asked. "What has you feeling so sad? What is troubling you tonight, Luna?"
Still not looking at her sister, Luna quietly answered back, "I'm fed up with everypony sleeping through our perfect, beautiful nights!"
"Is that what this is all about?" smiled Celestia.
Luna spun around instantaneously after Celestia had asked that question. "What do you mean, 'Is that what this is about'?" she napped.
"Luna," continued Celestia, "I understand your frustration and how you feel, but-"
Princess Luna had cut off Celestia. "No, you do not! You do not understand how we feel or our frustration!"
Luna had accidentally slipped into using the traditional Royal Canterlot voice, intensifying her voice dramatically so that she could clearly state her point to Celestia.
Princess Celestia had begun noticing her sister growing even more angrier than before. "My sister," she started, trying her best to defuse the anger inside of Luna, "though I myself may never understand entirely how or what you feel, I must say this: It is time to lower the moon. Everypony is soon going to be wide awake and ready to start the day. You must lower the moon to make way for the day."
Luna hadn't noticed how long she had been here in her old room. She looked at the helmet floating next to her head and had rapidly placed it atop her head, while putting on the rest of Nightmare Moon's armor on her body using her magic. Celestia had seen her younger sister perform this act and tried reversing it with her own magic, but was unable to do so. Luna, on the other hand, had begun feeling her body transform once more. She had felt her height increase a little bit, matching her older sister's height once more, and felt her mane differentiate itself from her original mane style. Now, her mane had flown more deviously and resembled the way it looked when Nightmare Moon returned the first time. When she found enough strength to finally speak, she did so, using the royal "we" and projecting her voice louder than before.
"No," Luna bellowed, "this night shall last forever!"
Celestia tried once more to calm her younger sister down, using her unicorn powers as a way of warning her of what would happen if Luna failed to cooperate fully. Luna had taken notice of this very quickly.
"You're kidding, right?" Luna said. She stood up on her back hooves to showcase her dominance, using her own magic to trap Celestia inside a magic-proof force field.
"Luna," Celestia cried, "don't do this! Don't you dare think about it! You need to snap out of it Luna! You need to fight those emotions! You are stronger than this, Luna!" Celestia began to feel a tear fall down the side of her face and quickly wiped it away with her hoof. "Please, Princess Luna..."
Luna became even more enraged than what she was earlier. Using the Royal Canterlot voice, she spoke out against her older sister. "DO NOT CALL US LUNA! WE ARE NIGHTMARE MOON, QUEEN OF THE ETERNAL NIGHT!" And with a huff, nightmare Moon had stormed off into the quiet nighttime sky.
It has been quite some time since Nightmare Moon had left Princess Celestia trapped in the anti-magic force field. Celestia grew weary of what had become of her younger sister, Princess Luna.
Oh, what has happened to you, little sister? She thought to herself. Why have you become Nightmare Moon once more? Why now?
Just then, the anti-magic force field had vanished into thin air, most likely because Nightmare Moon was simply too far away to keep it in tact. Anyway, with Princess Celestia free now, she flew off into the night sky to the nearby town of Ponyville, which was the home of Twilight Sparkle. Princess Celestia knew Ponyville fairly well, seeing how she always made royal trips here when Twilight was still her star pupil and was learning about the magic of friendship here. Upon arriving in Ponyville, Princess Celestia noticed at how everypony was running a muck, frightened by the eternal night.
"Look," somepony shouted, "here comes Princess Celestia! She has come to save us from the eternal night!"
Everypony turned their attention towards Celestia, expecting her to end the eternal night and raise the sun, but she looked away in shame. "I cannot do that, my little ponies. Nightmare Moon has returned to our fair world and has countered my magic. I cannot perform the task of raising the sun no longer while Nightmare Moon remains a part of Equestria. I came here looking for Princess Twilight Sparkle. Has anypony seen her lately? I need her to wield the Elements of Harmony once more."
Everypony looked towards one another. Nopony knew exactly where Princess Twilight was, but Celestia thought that this may be so. When she departed from the town square, Celestia went to the library to see if Twilight was there. She knew that Twilight always loved reading books and gaining more vast, peculiar knowledge. When she finally got to the library, the door was open. Making sure to be careful, Celestia put one hoof inside the door and checked to see if Twilight was inside. When she noticed that she wasn't, Celestia went to see if she was in the other room. She reached the door and tried to open it, but couldn't; it was locked. Celestia looked around to see if there was a key that could open the door but had no luck in finding one. When all hope seemed lost, the door unlocked and opened up. A dark, pony shaped figure had stepped out and showed itself to Princess Celestia.
"I figured that you would show up here." The figure ominously spoke. "I suppose it has something to do with the endless night, am I not right?"
"You are entirely right." answered Celestia. "I was hoping I could receive some assistance in helping put an end to Nightmare Moon."
The dark figure raised its head, curious by the name that was just spoken. "Did you just say 'Nightmare Moon?'"
Celestia nodded, "Yes. Nightmare Moon has returned and I need Princess Twilight's help. Do you know where she is?"
The figure stepped forward, revealing who they were. When light finally hit the pony, it was revealed that they had a black coat. Along with it, Celestia noticed that this pony had a purple horn. The unknown pony took off her coat and it was noticed that, along with the purple horn, this pony had purple wings. This pony was an alicorn; this pony was Princess Twilight Sparkle!
"I thought I defeated Nightmare Moon along with..." Twilight stopped and tears began to fall from her eyes. She missed her friends very much.
Celestia noticed Twilight's tears and walked up to her. Putting one hoof on Twilight's chest, Celestia calmed Twilight down, wiping her tears with her other hoof. "There, there, Twilight. It's all right."
Twilight eventually came to her senses and the two ponies resumed conversation. "I thought Nightmare Moon had been defeated long ago." Twilight said.
Celestia nodded, "You have. However, she has returned and I need you to yield the Elements of Harmony again. You're the only pony that has connections with them."
Twilight looked up at Celestia. "But how do I defeat Nightmare Moon when I'm the only one who can use the Elements? The other five are gone..."
Celestia didn't know how to respond but managed to do so anyway. "I'm sure that you can do it. After all, before you received them, Luna and I have yielded the Elements by ourselves against Discord."
Twilight accepted her challenge and proceeded to where the Elements of Harmony were kept. They have not been touched or seen since by Twilight since Rainbow Dash had passed on but she managed to find them and, using her magic, sync together with them. The two Princesses then left and headed on out to go find Nightmare Moon.
The night sky was darker than before and darkness has been spreading out all over Equestria. The only place that hasn't seen eternal darkness was the Crystal Empire, where Princess Cadance and Prince Shining Armor were. Twilight flew towards the Crystal Empire with the hopes that Nightmare Moon was doing the same. Once Twilight had arrived, she noticed that the streets were empty. Everypony had locked themselves inside in order to protect themselves from Nightmare Moon's wrath. Twilight proceeded to the Crystal Castle, alongside Celestia.
The two ponies arrived and were greeted warmly and kindly by Princess Cadance and Prince Shining Armor. Twilight hadn't seen either one of them since Rainbow Dash's funeral in Canterlot. Everypony noticed the sky getting darker and all turned around; flying through the air was Nightmare Moon.
Nightmare Moon noticed everypony standing in the streets and had touched her hooves to the ground. "Well, isn't this a nice surprise! All of you are here to see me spread eternal night! How kind of you to join us!"
Twilight stepped forward. "Nightmare Moon," she started, "why have you returned?"
"I want eternal night all over Equestria, is that not clear?"
Twilight raised her eyebrow, almost knowing that that wasn't the true reason for her return. "What is your real answer?"
Nightmare Moon scoffed at the question and started to charge at Twilight. Without any hesitation, Twilight attempted to use the Elements of Harmony once more. With hers still operational, she tried to use the other five, not having any luck unfortunately. Noticing that the Elements couldn't function without the other five ponies, Nightmare Moon used her magic to send Twilight flying away.
Now in a magic fight with Nightmare Moon, Twilight got back up and sent out a beam from her horn over to Nightmare Moon. Nightmare Moon did the same to Twilight and both beams were even. Nightmare Moon noticed the evenly matched beams and sent another one towards Twilight, sending Twilight's straight back to her. When the beams touched Twilight, she instantly vanished. Celestia, Cadance, and Shining Armor all saw this and were petrified at what Nightmare Moon had just done. Twilight Sparkle has been sent away and nopony knew where she was now.
Twilight Sparkle had reappeared in the Canterlot cemetery, where ponies who had put their mark on history were laid to rest. Twilight looked up at the tombstone that was in front of her. On it read, "Here lies Fluttershy the Kind. May the angels guide you to a softer, more gentler place." Twilight looked around and noticed the other tombstones near her had each of her friends. Twilight broke down into tears once more as she remembered the adventures she once had with each of these ponies. Without noticing, a spark from Twilight's horn had jumped off and separated into five pieces, each hitting the ground in front of each tombstone. The spark worked its way through the ground and managed to touch each pony.
Twilight stopped crying when she began to hear a pounding noise. She flapped her wings and began to hover in mid-air. When the ground below her started shaking, the five tombstones had fallen over. Holes began to appear thereafter and the tombstones had fallen into them. Twilight became even more frightened than she ever was. Once the ground stopped shaking, Twilight peered her head above each of the holes, noticing the coffins in each of them. When they began to move by themselves, Twilight jumped back, unsure of what would happen. Suddenly, all five coffins opened up and inside each of them were her friends. They began to move and all crawled out of their coffins and onto the ground. Once each of the five ponies were standing firmly on the ground, they returned back to how they originally looked back before Twilight had become a Princess, almost like magic.
"Girls? Is it really you?"
"Ugh," Applejack noted, "wh-wha happened?"
"Twilight?" Rarity noticed.
"Is that you, Twilight?" questioned Rainbow Dash.
"Twilight!" Fluttershy exclaimed.
"Girls," Twilight cried, "it is you!"
The group of six ponies embraced each other in a group hug, much like how they used to do all those years ago. Twilight had missed this dearly and embraced the moment – the ever so briefly lived moment – before finally explaining what was going on.
"I need...Equestria needs our help," Twilight began.
"How long has it been since we were here?" Pinkie Pie wondered.
"Nearly one hundred and fifty years," answered Twilight, receiving plenty of gasps at that answer, "and Equestria needs our help again."
"What seems to be the problem, Twilight?" Rarity asked in her high societal voice.
"Nightmare Moon has returned and we need to use the Elements of Harmony on her again." Twilight replied.
"Can we still use them?" Rainbow Dash quickly questioned.
"There's only one way to find out," said Twilight, "but we have to hurry over to the Crystal Empire in order to find out!"
"Lead the way, Twilight." the group of friends requested.
Twilight Sparkle smiled and shed a tear before finally rushing over towards the Crystal Empire. She couldn't explain how, but she had gotten her friends back and they were experiencing one of their trademark adventures, just like old times.
Back in the Crystal Empire, Nightmare Moon had successfully take over and spread eternal darkness all around. Princess Cadance, Prince Shining Armor, and Princess Celestia were all trapped in a magic-proof bubble and had no way of escaping. All they could do was watch Nightmare Moon rule over all of Equestria with her eternal darkness. They were all helpless and had no idea as to how they could put a stop to Nightmare Moon and her evil plot, especially since Twilight has disappeared and they don't know where she is.
All of a sudden, a blinding white light appeared next to the magic-proof bubble Celestia, Cadence, and Shining Armor were in. When the light finally dimmed, out stood six different ponies, two pegasi, a unicorn, two Earth ponies, and what appeared to be an alicorn. It was Twilight and all her friends! Everypony was shocked, but none more than Nightmare Moon.
"But, but how is this possible?" She exclaimed. "They died almost 150 years ago! This is not possible!"
"Nothing can stop the magic of friendship, Nightmare Moon!" Twilight responded. Using the Elements of Harmony that were attached to the respective pony, Nightmare Moon had once again been defeated. The armor that surrounded Nightmare Moon shattered, and Luna reappeared as her old self. The magic-proof bubble also vanished and Celestia walked over to her defeated and helpless younger sister. Twilight and the others eagerly watched.
"My sister," started Celestia, "if you want everypony to know you, this is not the way to go."
Luna started tearing up. "Oh, big sis, I'm sorry..."
Princess Celestia wrapped her hoof around her younger sister and held her tightly against her. Luna wiped away the tears from her eyes with her hoof and, together, left with Celestia to go lower the moon and raise the sun. Twilight and the others watched over as the two sisters calmly did this. When it was all over, Celestia returned to Canterlot, Princess Cadance and Shining Armor returned to the Crystal Castle, and Twilight and her friends returned to Ponyville. Everypony was moved by these events, especially Twilight, since she could once again see her friends.
Luna was left alone and returned to the old, abandoned castle. There, she used her magic to make new armor and put it on the statue of Nightmare Moon. She knew she had been defeated, but she was a far ways off from giving up.
"Next time, I won't be defeated so easily! Those Elements must be destroyed!"
-END-