We reach the end of the mini Nightmare Moon story-arc, as well as side A of Blast to Our Past. Every sub-volume in the series will be fourteen chapters long, each named for a solo Beatle song, almost forming a soundtrack to the series. Typically, back in the 1960s in the United Kingdom, albums would be fourteen tracks long, seven per side on vinyl, and that's how they were once constructed. But I'm rambling on. Enjoy this chapter, and make sure to favorite and leave reviews!


Sub-Volume 1 - Blast to Our Past

Chapter 7 - Isn't It a Pity (Harrison, 1970)

Written by Zack Wanzer and James Riddle

Luna wasn't alone as she was with Moonlight and several of her friends.

"I really like your outfit," said one friend. "It's so haunting."

"How'd she pick a name like Nightmare Moon?" asked another. "It makes my nickname sound cute!"

"I merely thought about having nightmares on a full moon, and it hit me," explained Luna.

"Well, it's way cooler than what Shower Spring came up with," said a third friend. "I mean, Gloomy Tears? That's way over the top, dude."

"Are they always like this?" Luna asked Moonlight.

"Sometimes they are," said Moonlight.

As the group continued their talk, Luna bumped into someone.

"Sorry," said Luna. She then looked up and realized who it was she ran into; none other than...

"Celestia?!" she gasped.

"That must be her sister," one of the cool kids whispered.

"Is that you, Luna?" gasped Celestia. "You look so different, I didn't recognize you for a second."

"That's because she's one of us now," another cool kid replied.

"And I'm not Luna anymore," said Luna. "Call me Nightmare Moon now."

Celestia was rather surprised. "Nightmare Moon?" she asked. "Why the name change?"

Luna looked up at Celestia with a very angry look in her eyes.

"You want to know why?" she asked. "Because I'm tired of you always being better than me ateverything!"

Celestia stared in shock! "Better than you? But Luna-"

"MY NAME IS NIGHTMARE MOON!" shouted Luna. Celestia backed up a bit in fright. What was up with Luna, she thought?

"All anybody ever talks about anymore is you!" ranted Luna. "How beautiful you are, how nice you are, how lucky you are to even get married! But nobody ever things about me!"

"Luna, please..." Celestia began.

"SILENCE!" bellowed Luna.

"Luna Faust, I am your older sister-!"

"And I am tired of living in your shadow!" interrupted Luna. "And I told you to call me Nightmare Moon!"

"Do our parents know about this 'Nightmare Moon' thing?" asked Celestia.

"What I do is none of their concern," said Luna.

"How can you be this way?" asked Celestia. "What happened to the little sister I grew up with?"

"That pushover is gone," insisted Luna. "Now where Luna was, Nightmare Moon stands!"

"How could you turn your back on your own family?" demanded Celestia.

"I did not turn my back on them!" protested Luna. "They turned their backs on ME!"

"We never turn our backs on family-!"

"That's a load of rubbish!" snorted Luna. "You all turned your backs on me ever since the fire incident just so you could all feel important!"

"That's not true, Luna!"

"Liar!" snarled Luna. She just turned around and stormed off, bumping into Celestia on purpose without an apology.

"Luna..." whispered Celestia, "Why would you do this?"

"Don't you think that was a bit harsh?" one of the cool kids asked.

"Yeah, I know we got some attitude," said another, "but come on!"

Luna said nothing.


When Celestia returned home, the first thing she did was call her mother and father about the situation.

"...I tried to convince her that we truly love her," Celestia was saying, "but she accused me of being a liar and left with her new friends."

Needless to say, Harmony and Artemus were shocked when they heard this.

"Why would she act like this, dear?" Harmony asked once she'd found her voice.

"I... I just don't know, mother," said Celestia.

"Maybe we shouldn't have been so hard on her," said Artemus.

"No, dad, it must've all begun with that fire," said Celestia. "I know this was an accident and that Luna would never do anything like that on purpose."

"Not to mention all the teasing the other students put her through," Harmony added. "She only stood up for herself but we grounded her for letting her anger get the better of her."

"Other students teasing her?" asked Celestia. "I don't understand why she couldn't have told me while she had the chance?"

"Maybe she was either jealous of you or didn't want to bother you," suggested her mother.

Celestia paused, almost choking up. She took several breaths to calm herself before responding. "It was probably the latter option," she said calmly. Sombra could tell by the look of Celestia's face that she was lying about the idea of Luna not wanting to bother her.

After Celestia hung up the phone, Sombra went to talk to her.

"Why did you lie to them?" he asked.

"I didn't want them to worry," Celestia replied. "You know how younger siblings can get jealous."

"I sure do," said Sombra. "I once knew two siblings that had a jealousy between them."

"Whatever happened?"

"They were older boys; the eldest brother was Tirek, who constantly broke the rules. His younger brother Scorpan only helped him just to look tougher. Do you remember the Great Canterlot Bank Robbery of '85?" Celestia nodded and Sombra continued. "Tirek and his gang stole probably millions, but he didn't get away with it and ended up serving a sentence of twenty years."

"How'd the police know about this?" asked Celestia.

"Well," said Sombra, "that was because of Scorpan."

"Scorpan had his own brother arrested?" asked Celestia.

"From what I heard, he didn't agree with his older brother's views. The two haven't spoken to each other ever since."

Celestia didn't answer; she didn't know what to say. Maybe Luna would never speak to her again.

I do hope she can see the error of her ways before we end up in the same position Tirek and Scorpan did, she thought. Celestia almost felt as if she was about to cry.

"I... I need a few minutes," she said.

"Take as much time as you need," said Sombra softly as he left the room. After the door was shut, that was when Celestia couldn't hold it in any longer. She collapsed on the bed, crying her eyes out.

"Why?" she sobbed. "Why did this have to happen? Sisters aren't supposed to treat each other as enemies, they're supposed to treat each other like friends!"

After she was done crying, Celestia decided to take a walk outside to take her mind off her troubles. By then, it had begun to rain, so she took her umbrella with her.


Meanwhile, Luna felt like going for a walk herself in another part of town. She took her own umbrella so as not to be rained on. It had been a lot of anger she had vented out in the course of one helping towards Celestia. But... had it actually been worth it? Did she really deserved to be yelled at?

Perhaps I should apologize, she thought.

No; cool kids do not display any weaknesses. That's what she was taught, and she was going to stand by that meaning.


After a half hour, Celestia made her way back home. As the front door had an awning, she was able to shake her umbrella dry and wipe her shoes on the mat before entering.

"Luna..." she said quietly.


Luna had also finished her walk, making her way back to Moonlight's place. Unfortunately, this one had no awning so she had to shake her umbrella off in the garage.

"Good thing the door was left open," she said, "but they really need to consider building an awning for the front door."

When Luna opened the door, she found Sunshine waiting for her.

"Hi, Luna," she said. "How are you?"

"Alright, I guess," sighed Luna.

"Are you sure? Because you don't sound like it."

"I'm sure I'm fine," said Luna. With that, she went to get ready for supper. A few seconds later, Moonlight came in.

"Is Luna really fine, sister?" asked Sunshine. Moonlight told her sister about Luna's encounter with Celestia. Sunshine then gave her sister a stern look.

"You didn't happen to say anything to Luna about being cool, did you?" she asked.

"Might've been a slip of the tongue," said Moonlight.

"And what, pray tell, did your tongue slip?"

"That cool kids can't show any weakness," said Moonlight innocently.

"Unbelievable," said Sunshine, shaking her head disapprovingly.

"What? I didn't tell her it was okay to lash out at her sister like that."

"Then why didn't you tell her to apologize?" asked Sunshine.

"Even if I had wanted to, she would have accused me of being weak."

Sunshine went up to talk to Luna.

"Luna..." Sunshine paused, choosing her words carefully. "Do you think it's cool to lash out at family? Do you think they deserve to be heartbroken?"

Luna didn't know how to respond; what could she say?

"N-n-no," Luna finally said quietly.

"Moonlight told me about your fight with Celestia," said Sunshine. "I think that you should apologize to her before it's too late and she does something drastic like suicide."

Luna thought about what Sunshine had said. The last thing she wanted was for Celestia to do something as drastic as suicide. Suddenly, she thought she saw another version of herself appear next to her. This one had wings and a halo over her head.

"Who or what are you?" she asked.

"I'm your conscience," said the other Luna. "You have to make amends with Celestia."

"Don't listen to Miss Goody-Two-Wings," another voice sneered.

"I had a feeling she would show up," sighed the angel conscience.

"I've an angel conscience and a devil conscience?" asked Luna.

"Every person does, sister," smirked the devil conscience.

"You mustn't listen to that heathen," said the angel conscience. "She'll steer you down the wrong path."

"Everyone knows the 'wrong path' - as you so put it - is the cool, risk-taking path," retorted the devil conscience. "What's life without a few risks, am I right, Luna?"

"That's true," said an unsure Luna.

"Is it really worth being cool just to break the heart of your sister who did not even deserve it?" asked the angel conscience.

"Well..." Luna started to say. She knew that the angel conscience was right.

"Do you want those students to give you grief again?" asked the devil conscience.

"No..." Luna said reluctantly. She'd been through enough hell as it was.

"If you went and started acting soft," went on the devil conscience, "they'd walk all over you again and go back to saying you're no better than your own sister. Show them you're the best!"

"You're right," said Luna, standing up. "I can't apologize to Celestia. Everyone will think that I'm going soft and go back to pushing me around!"

"But what about Clerk?" asked the angel conscience. "How do you think he would react if he saw what you've become?"

"He'll probably love this new you," said the devil conscience. "Bad girls get more love, right?"

"I guess," said Luna.

"So what do you say? Stick to the tough girl routine and Clerk will be proposing to you by graduation. Be a softy and it'll drive him off."

"Don't listen to her!" said the angel conscience. "He liked you regardless if you were Nightmare Moon or not!"

"But now he'll love you even more," said the devil conscience. "What do you say, Nightmare Moon?"

At last, Luna sighed. "I'm staying as Nightmare Moon," she said at last.

"That's the spirit," smirked her devil conscience.

The angel conscience could only shake her head in disappointment.

"Things will only get worse if you don't make things right," she said, fading away.


Back at Celestia's house, she was looking through a family album. She noticed pictures of her and Luna when they were children. In many of them, the two sisters were laughing and playing together.

Why can't things go back to the good old days? thought Celestia sadly. Sombra placed a comforting hand on his wife's shoulder.

"It'll be alright," he said softly, "one day she'll see the error of her ways and apologize to you with open arms."

"I hope so too," said Celestia, "even if it takes a thousand days..."


AUGUST 1, 2038

"That didn't sound like a happy ending at all," exclaimed Sonata.

"That wasn't the end, idiot," snorted Aria. "We aren't even halfway through the whole story."

"Oh," said Sonata.

"It was quite sad," Dawn Spark said with a hint of sympathy in her voice. "No one deserves to be separated from their family. Did they ever get back together again?"

"Oh, they do," said Adagio, "but we'll get to that later on..."


FOOTNOTES

Luna becoming Nightmare Moon is an allusion to the Friendship is Magic two parter, but it is handled much differently. For one, she isolates herself rather than being banished to the moon, and it's for a thousand days rather than years (could you imagine how someone could look at the age of 1000?)

In addition, the actual My Little Pony series will be referenced in the series when we get to 2010. Whatever happened on the show might have happened (to some extent) in Rainbow Falls or Canterlot. Of course, the events depicted in the show will never be 100% accurate, and the townsfolk will have reservations about how they are portrayed, some more vocal than others.