Era of Night: Phase 1
Chapter 1
Chapter 2->
Prologue
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“What did you do to our princess!?”
“Why, am I not royal enough for you? Don’t you know who I am? Does my own crown no longer have merit after I have been imprisoned for a thousand years? Are you truly blind to the fact that your princess is one of two? That she embodies the sun but no pony the moon?”
“I know who you are. You’re the Mare in the Moon. Nightmare Moon!”
“Well, well, well. Somepony actually remembers me. Care to inform the rest of my subjects why I am here?.”
“You’re here to… to…”
“It comes to this at last, my subjects. No longer will I yield the sky to the likes of my sister! See now the moon rising, for she comes to claim the heavens for her own!”
It was finally here: the turning point that would determine Equestria’s fate. The longest day of the thousandth year. There was no compromise for her, not after the torment and isolation she endured for a thousand years on the desolate wasteland of the moon. This was her moment. Not a single being on Equus would take that away from her. Her name was Nightmare Moon, though only her sister knew who she once was. No mortal knew of Princess Luna and few could barely recall who the Mare in the Moon was. Her entire existence almost entirely erased from history.
There were some though that knew of her, but remained in the shadows. They were ever faithful to the queen of the night. Their numbers were many, but not to the extent to overtake the capital of Equestria. If Nightmare Moon was to pose a threat to the throne, she needed to be tactical with every step of the way.
And she was.
Nightmare Moon was finally able to put her masterfully woven plan into action. For decades upon decades she observed Equestria from afar, gathering intelligence from her followers who were able to infiltrate the depths of the Canterlot castle and provide exceptional levels of espionage for their true leader. Nightmare Moon learned much from her sister: her combat, her personality, the chain of command with her royal guard, points of access, flaws in general’s combat tactics, virtually every strength, weakness, and asset of Canterlot. There were thousands if not millions of outcomes that she had to consider, but time was most certainly on her side. And finally, after tens of generations, she was ready to go all in.
Several days would pass as both Nightmare Moon and Celestia fended off each other’s forces. Canterlot began to crumble from the conflict. Innocents had little choice but to either seek shelter or leave the city. There were numerous raids on houses and buildings controlled by the other factions and territories between the Solar Dynasty and the New Lunar Republic.
It shouldn’t have been so little of a contest for the Republic to push back the Solar Dynasty, but that was the fruit of Nightmare Moon’s legendary labor. Her warriors knew every counter and exploited them to their fullest. Celestia could see that all too well. She had to do something to stop Nightmare Moon from trying to overtake the city. Her people needed her to. Deep down, she knew this was what the Mare in the Moon wanted. The invitation was given and there felt like there was no choice but to accept. There was hope, though. Celestia had sent out a band of ponies from Ponyville, led by her most faithful student, to retrieve relics of old: the Elements of Harmony. She only hoped they would return in time before it was too late. The princess shook away her thoughts of doubt. She had bested her sister once. She could do it again. She then took wing and soared into the clouds to the place where destiny beckoned her.
The winds were calm, bristling through the grass and leaves of the open fields. It was serene as the wilderness flourished without the influence of pony kind miles away in the northern cities of Ponyville and Canterlot, just beyond the reaches of the Everfree Forest. Several streams of fresh water had developed throughout the forest, branching off from Saddle Lake and providing drinkable water for the animals that used to live here.
Something had stirred the forest creatures with fear, enough to know that this sanctuary would not protect them from whatever was to come.
Two beings flew towards the earth of a paradise lost from the clouds illuminated in vibrant colors of both a sunrise and a full moon. They both landed graciously with wings like angels and with each hoofstep, they approached the other. One was a princess, adorned in golden rebraces and cuisses with a crown shaped in the symbol of her kingdom that hovered behind her head. The other was usurper, dark as the night she brought. Her silver cuirass and culets glimmered in the icy reflection of the full moon from afar. Although they were heavenly beings, there was a sense that each of them saw the other as a demon.
The sky was ripped in two, torn between a serene, magenta sunrise and an elegant, cyan night. It was unnatural in every sense of the word. The stage had been set for these two ill-starred sisters. The time was now when day and night would meet.
They both stopped in their tracks, eyes locked into the other’s. They said not a word but simply took in the setting, reflecting back on how the sins of a near forgotten era brought them both together again.
The wind swept at their side as the princess’s mane succumbed to the breeze. Her hair glistening like a radiant fire with the rising sun.
“Monster.” The princess’s denouncement cut through the air like a rapier.
The monster parried back,“Now, now. Is that really how to greet your own sister?”
“This charade of yours has reached its end.”
“On the contrary, Celestia.. This is the hour of my zenith.” The usurper grew a pleasant smile, disguising the rage she was suppressing. “I cannot begin to tell you how long I have waited for this day.”
“Look at yourself, Luna! You are-”
“Nightmare Moon!” She slammed her hooves on the ground, shaking the earth beneath them as leaves fell from the Equestrian sycamore near Celestia. “That is who I am. Luna is just a memory that you refuse to let go of.”
The alicorn of the sun held her ground and resumed, “All I see is one who is consumed by hate and greed. I know who you really are and this isn’t you, sister.”
Her angst could no longer be suppressed. “Is that how you see me!? I did NOTHING to deserve what YOU did to me!”
“Don’t you remember, sister? Starswirl didn’t think you were ready to rule!”
“Oh, I remember,” the usurper answered back, “I remember hearing what he said to you behind closed doors, how I wasn’t mature enough to rule alongside you… and how much I felt stripped from my birthright. I remember the times afterwards, too. After every foe we bested… Discord, Tirek, Sombra…” Nightmare Moon looked down at her reflection in the rivulet, reminiscing over memories she had locked away. She looked back to Celestia with her brows lowered. Her tone changed from melancholic to impertinent. “Well I did mature. And then when I came back to you ready to take the throne next to you, I was dismissed like some little pawn of yours!” The statement left her sister in shock, the anguish of her words echoed to the treeline and back. The queen of the night composed herself with a heavy sigh. “All that throne did to you was make you obsessed with power. You never looked at me like I was your own sibling ever since. I wasn’t perfect, but neither were you.”
Celestia bit back at her sister’s ignorance. “I did what was best for Equestria! For all of us!”
“Or for yourself?”
“There are so many things that a princess has to be conscious of when crowned as ruler of a whole kingdom. I wouldn’t expect you to understand.”
The tension between them only thickened with neither one relenting to the other.
Celestia could still see Luna behind that shadowy veil. She tried to reach for her long-lost sister. “I am not perfect, but everything I did had a reason for it. I kept the crown away from you to protect you. While you see it as selfish, it was to keep prying eyes off you. We were in the midst of traitors amongst our guard. I knew that if you stepped up to lead with me, they would have seen you as a target.”
“I was more than capable of defending myself by that time!” Luna felt more insulted, frustrated that her older sister never saw her as independent. She had convinced herself of a truth that was conjured from nothing but lies. “I showed you what I was capable of. The only reason you bested me last was because of your misuse of the Elements of Harmony.”
“The Elements wouldn’t have worked if you weren’t disrupting the very balance of nature!”
“You ignorant foal! They respond only to those who embody them!”
Celestia spread open her wings, the rising sun illuminating them as if they were feathers of pure fire. It was almost blinding with how radiant her wings were. The princess’s eyes glistened like amber and focused only on the being of her own lost sibling. “Is this what you wanted us to become?”
The question hit it’s mark. Nightmare Moon paused, reflecting on the last thousand years. It was like the Void itself was beginning to manifest from her despair. She felt time stop, remembering how much she had lost. The queen’s head tilted down onto the rivlet where she could see not a reflection of herself, but as Luna.
Celestia’s words slipped through as Nightmare Moon couldn’t stray away from seeing what she once was. “We don’t have to resort to fighting. I never thought that the Elements would take you away from me. I had only hoped they would purify the shadow that I saw was claiming you. Ever since you were sent to the moon, I have been living with my regret. A regret that haunted me for every moment that you weren’t with me.” With a heavy breath, the weight of her thoughts burdening her, Celestia muttered out two simple words.
“I’m sorry.”
The reflection of Luna rippled away. As the water began to settle, her reflection became absolute. No longer was there a young foal who had been taken advantage of throughout her childhood, but a dark and powerful mare of the night who could finally earn what was rightfully hers.
Nightmare Moon looked back at her sister. “This is not what I wanted.”
The air between them grew silent and the rustling of the trees evaporated away into only the sounds of running water from the small stream the black mare stood in.
The silence was broken by twilight and obsidian colored wings being quickly unfolded. Many of her feathers sparkled in the light of the moon.
“But your apology comes too late, dear sister. A thousand years too late. Being trapped on the moon for so long... The things I have seen, what I have endured…” A cold chill ran down her spine, recalling some of the darkest horrors that she had to defend herself from. The moon was a dangerous place, even for Nightmare Moon. “I can never forgive you for what you have done to me.”
The princess’s heart sank as if her core collapsed in on itself.
Her dark sister looked back upon the faint silhouette of Canterlot perched on the side of the mountain, smirked, then turned back. “This kingdom is mine. I will show you first hand just how much of a mistake you made.”
“I won’t let that happen. You may have a right to the throne, but the damage you alone are causing is threatening to undo everything our kingdom stands for.”
“You dare to stand in my way?” She lets out a chuckle. “Oh, Celestia. You only delay the inevitable. I have prepared for this day for centuries. You don’t stand a chance.”
Celestia’s horn began to glow in golden streams of light and she took one bold step forward at her opponent. “I don’t want to send you away again, but if it means that my subjects are safe from the likes of you, then I will.”
“You won’t. Or rather, you can’t.” The dark alicorn’s warped horn glistened in shadowy strands of lavender and obsidian. Then, a small gem hovered into view next to the queen of the night. The texture was rough and scratched along its cloudy, sapphire appearance.
Celestia gasped in shock, her magic evaporating away. “The Element of Loyalty!”
“Your little band of mortals won’t be coming to your rescue any time soon. My loyal servants have already taken the Elements from where they once stood.” Nightmare Moon then used her dark magic and teleported the relic away, out of Celestia’s reach.
“No…” She sent Twilight and her friends on an impossible quest. The guilt began to manifest in her being. “No!”
Celestia’s rage spewed out like a solar flare. Her arched horn was surrounded in a golden plasma of divine magic. She reared up on her hind legs, flailing her forelegs in a threatening manner. Her halo-like crown was also enveloped in the same magic before it trusted forward, her forelegs meeting the earth once more.
The golden crown spun violently in the air with a distinct chilling whistle as it sliced through the air straight for Nightmare Moon. She smirked, lowering her body to the ground and extending her wings. In an instant, she was gone. Fwoomf! Water from the rivlet splattered everywhere, shimmering in the air from the light of the moon. Celestia’s crown hummed as it began to boomerang itself back to her.
Celestia looked up in alarm, seeing the dark alicorn eclipse the moon and crashing down in front of her. She dodged below, Nightmare Moon’s horn missing its mark. A quick turn to the rear and Celestia thrusted her hind legs into her sister’s chest With a loud thud, Nightmare Moon grunted and was sent hurtling back several meters away. Her hooves dug into the ground, tearing apart the grass and leaving only a wound of dirt in her wake.
They both charged at each other. Nightmare Moon leaped into the air once again, flipping forwards in the air as her horn glowed in cackling void energy. She hurled an orb of dark energy straight for Celestia. The princess continued forth, wrapping herself in a golden shield.
Boom!
Nothing but smoke remained of Celestia. The Mare in the Moon landed, showing her broadside with her wings at the ready. The dust continued to settle, but still nothing.
In fact, there was nothing. She was gone.
Alarmed, Nightmare Moon scanned her surroundings.
Then, a cold chill coursed through her body. She raised her hind legs as fast as she could.
Celestia materialized right into being slammed in the muzzle by two powerful hooves, but it wasn’t her face that those hooves met. It was her crown. It rang out as it was thrown into the ground.
The alicorn of the sun tackled her sister’s side, but continued to drive forward. Nightmare Moon rolled down the hillside as Celestia took to the skies.
A growl escaped through the dark mare’s pointed teeth as she chased after her opponent. Wings flapping and blood pumping, Nightmare Moon fired several bolts of darkness. She was right on her six and gaining fast.
Celestia maneuvered through the hellfire, taking shelter in the clouds.
“You can’t escape your fate so easily, sister!” Nightmare Moon called out. With a shrill scream, she shot open her wings and a powerful gust of wind deteriorated the haze away. Celestia was caught blindsided by the shear strength of the whirlwind, sending her soaring out of control into a free fall.
“There you are!” Nightmare Moon then vanished into a dark smog as her sister recovered.
There was almost no time for her to react as tens of bolts of magic struck into her body. They burned her flesh as she cried out in pain. Celestia quickly shook off the shock of the attack and continued towards the mountains.
Out of the glimpse of her eye, there was Nightmare Moon once more. She teleported just in time to miss the assault, but she knew defense alone would not keep Luna at bay.
Celestia turned back and dove towards the other alicorn. Nightmare Moon channeled her magic and magical tendrils shot from her horn. They quickly wrapped around Celestia’s wings. She neighed in panic as she couldn’t break free of her bonds. She channeled a spell into another magical shield.
A sphere of void magic also enveloped Nightmare Moon as she charged straight into Celestia.
Crash!
Light and shadow collided just like the sun and the moon, and sister and sister. The two torn between love and hate.The two star crossed sisters fell from the stars towards Canterlot. The denizens of the Solar Dynasty and New Lunar Republic could only watch in awe as the two most divine creatures this world has seen danced in a deadly battle with each other.
They both channeled their magic once more, eyes glowing in the radiance of their magic as well as their cutie marks. It was like the sun and moon itself were fighting for dominance.They both shone brighter and brighter.
Nightmare Moon was struggling to channel so much power. She felt this way before. It was the exact same feeling as when she fought her sister so many moons ago. Her power was plateauing. Then it hit her, a moment of fear. She began to relapse of what would happen if she fell again. She couldn’t be banished again. She wouldn’t.. “No! NO!” She screamed, trying desperately to channel more and more of her power from the moon.
Celestia reared back and with a thrust, she unleashed a powerful beam of energy that echoed over Canterlot and the earth trembled at such might.
Nightmare Moon followed suit, firing a beam black as night. The two magics slamming into each other with indescribable force. A massive explosion lit up the divided sky and a sonic boom tore through the air, shattering windows like they were nothing. The world heaved at such primal forces colliding.
Nightmare Moon could feel her power resist her will. The beam of light was inching closer and closer. Fear began to turn into rage, a rage that she never felt before. It was like everything she had felt and locked away during her banishment was spilling out. Her mind began to channel that hatred. It was like she was fighting against the entire will of the universe to let her win. “I WILL BE BESTED AGAIN! DO YOU HEAR ME!? I AM NOT YOUR LESSER! I AM THE NIGHT!” She grunted through such powerful forces pushing back against her will. Muscles tightened to their full extent and adrenaline flowed through her veins. She could feel the resistance begin to falter. “I AM NIGHTMARE MOON!!”
In a split instant, she poured everything she had into her powerful spell. Arcs of lightning shot around her body, slowly but more and more frequently with each passing second. The arcs cackled around her horn until time itself stopped for Celestia.
A massive bolt of lightning in a magnificent array of black, violet, white, and gold struck the Mare in the Moon. It was immediately gone in as quickly as it arrived, but the boom of thunder never came. The flash of light faded, but what shocked the world was the sudden appearance of ethereal like chains that were wrapped around Nightmare Moon, mostly around her horn. The chains came from what seemed like the heavens, stretching out into the stars endlessly. But then, something finally broke the silence. The shattering of those ghostly chains. The metal rang throughout the cosmos as the broken chains fell in pieces towards the city, only to fade away into nothingness. Celestia gasped in horror, unsure if her eyes were deceiving her or not.
But her answer was only confirmed by the shear intensity of Nightmare Moon’s blast amplifying exponentially. Celestia’s beam was being torn into shreds. She had to escape quick before--
...
...
It was black. It was all black. Everything was nothing. Nothing was everything. The only thing Celestia remembered was how much pain she was surrounded by. Even crashing through the vault of the castle was nothing compared to how overwhelmed in agony she was. She lied there still. Every breath was like a knife pressing into her lungs. Soft whimpers escaped Celestia’s lips. Tears trailed down her cheeks as the dust from the crash settled in the throne room. Looking up, she could see the light of the moon engulf her from the hole in which she fell from. The Princess of Equestria struggled to stand up. Her majesty was so exhausted and sore that simple movements seemed almost impossible. It took her entire focus, grunting through the pain to fight her body’s urges to continue being lame. The alicorn’s forelegs faltered and she fell back onto the broken tile floor, her face slamming down onto the ground. A shrill metallic sound rang in her ears as Celestia’s hovering crown slid away from her.
Then she heard it, the sound of her reckoning. Large, majestic wings of another alicorn grew louder and louder. The wind began to beat down on her hair with more and more intensity. It was the queen of the night, landing before her fallen sister. Nightmare Moon said not a word, reveling in the silence that said everything for her.
Celestia coughed weakly before looking up to her sister towering over her. “Luna…”
Luna smirked. “Tia.” She looked up to see the massive doorway to the throne room open up. Dozens of her night guards swarmed in and formed ranks in front of their master. “Your highness!” One of them called out, stepping forward before bowing. “We have secured the palace.” “Excellent, you have all made me incredibly proud. Care to watch as we change the course of destiny?” The commander saluted in response.
Wham! A powerful kick to the face sent Celestia rolling several feet away as she neighed out in agony. Nightmare Moon planted her hind hoof back on the ground, wiping the grin off her face. “Luna is dead, and it is all your fault.” Celestia could only lie there, battered and beaten. She watched helplessly as her sister approached her once more.
“From this moment forth, Equestria has a new ruler: one that will make Equestria the crown jewel throughout all of Equus!” The formation of guards kneeled before her. “There will be much that will need to take place to see that this Solar Dynasty is purged from our new republic, but all of my subjects will see firsthand that the golden age of pony-kind is right at our doorstep.”
“As for you…” Celestia’s heart dropped as her sister muttered those words. Nightmare Moon stood there with two slitted pupils glaring into her soul. “I have thought for eons about what kind of punishment is fitting for the torment you made me suffer for a thousand years.” The usurper pressed her weight onto her sister, leaning in close. “A banishment to the sun would mean certain death. Luckily for you, that is not what I want. I want to bear witness to your helplessness and torment. I’m sure your new lover wouldn’t mind.”
“You witch!” Celestia’s horn radiated in heavenly golden magic. Then a crushing weight of a hoof amplified itself on her chest. “Aauughh!”
“I want you to know your place, just like you tried to do to me. Only this time, it will be permanent.” Nightmare Moon’s eyes glowed the colors of the Void, as did her warped horn. She cackled with laughter as the spell grew into a sphere of pure magical energy that enshrouded them both. All mortals still nearby had to shield their eyes and brace for the worst. The rumbling and shrieks of pure energy were unlike anything they have ever seen or heard. One of the guards tried to glance at the two sisters and saw the dark sphere begin to shrink and dwindle away before revealing Celestia and Nightmare Moon once more. The blackness didn’t stop there, but instead wrapped around Celestia’s hovering body, encasing her into a surreal silhouette. Her body hovered lower and finally reached the ground, her mane and tail waving through the air as if she was underwater. The darkened figure collapsed on the ground, the dark silhouette fading into nothing, revealing an entirely unresponsive alicorn of the sun. Above her body though was something no pony could even imagine was possible: a spirit. In fact, it was in the form of the same body that lies beneath it. It was the very soul of Celestia.
Nightmare Moon’s magic subsided and evaporated away, leaving nothing but a haunting smile that revealed her wicked teeth.
The wisp of Celestia looked around her in shock, seeing her own body below her. “No…” She muttered, her voice echoed almost ethereally. “No! What did you do to me!?” She prepared a punch and sent it straight into Nightmare Moon’s muzzle, but her hoof only slipped through Nightmare Moon’s corporeal self as if it didn’t even something palpable.
Her sister grinned, not even wincing at the punch. “You are no longer of any use to me in this plane of existence.” She walked away, continuing to talk in a boastful tone. “In fact, you would be of better use to me as my own little form of entertainment in the dream realm. There, I can watch you try to escape and know that anything you try will be futile.” The new queen of Equestria walks back to Celestia. “You are sentenced to exile in the realm of dreams, forever!”
Suddenly, Celestia’s body begins to evaporate into nothingness. “What? No! This is impossible!” Nightmare Moon begins to laugh maniacally at her sister’s anguish. “You can’t do this! Luna! I know you’re still in there! Help me! Please!! I’m--” And then she was entirely gone. All that remained of the embodiment of the sun was her soulless body before the hooves of NIghtmare Moon.
Nightmare Moon calmed down and sighed in relief. “Ah, see? This day has been just sublime.” It was then that she acknowledged the presence of her sister’s dormant body. “Oh, of course. General!”
The Commander and his troops stood there in disarray with what had transpired, but the commander shook out of his shock and replied, “Uh, yes your majesty!”
“Take my dear sister here to the Canterlot caves. Make sure she is taken care of, yes?”
“Right away, madame.” He then ordered his troops to carry the fallen alicorn out of the scene. They surrounded the majestic creature and lifted her husk onto their backs. They slowly, as a unit, carried the fallen princess out of Nightmare Moon’s presence.
“And general? What of the hippogriffs? I am certain Novo is still in the city. Have you taken care of that nuisance?”
“We have, your highness. Novo has been expelled by force from the city limits. Any and all other hippogriffs will be vacated within the next 48 hours or face incarceration.”
“Excellent.”
All of her majesty’s company began to vacate the throne room after being dismissed. The door creaked shut, resonating throughout the tiled corridor. Not even the drapes among each stained glass window or the carpeted walkway leading to a magnificently ornamented throne could muffle away the shrill echoes that refused to vanish away. All that remained was the sound of a cold draft sweeping in from the damaged rooftop.
Nightmare Moon saw one of the doorways opening to the balcony of the castle almost inviting her to bear witness to her new kingdom. She stepped forward, walking with pride in each hoofstep. The wind greeted her, hair flowing beautifully at her side. With only a few more steps, she finally beheld the fruit of her labor: the whole of Canterlot. Her view overlooked beyond the mountain, neighboring cities like Ponyville and Appaloosa, the outskirts of the San Palomino desert, Cloudsdale, and even Las Pegasus. Everything that was, everything that is, all of it that was before her was hers.
Her horn began to glow one final time. The sky darkened in fear and the sun itself trembled, retreating under the safety of the horizon until all the remnants of Celestia’s influence was snuffed out. The light of the moon graced a distressed world.
She inhaled, taking it all in, and let loose a heavy sigh that freed her of a thousand years burden. “It is finally done.”
The Mare in the Moon walked back inside, eyes set on the true prize of it all: her rightful throne.
“The Solar Dynasty has reached its end.” She treaded up the steps to the elevated chair of Equestria’s ruler. “And with Equestria finally regaining its rightful queen...” She paused, relishing the moment establishing her finality. Then, the new queen of all of Equestria took her rightful place and sat upon the throne. “The dawn will never rise again.”
The final chapter of Celestia’s rule had come to an end and it was her sister that would turn the page. A new beginning was underway, one met with uncertainty and fear. It was all up to Nightmare Moon to quell the doubts of her people and to show them and the rest of Equus what Equestria truly was.
Dead was the Era of Light.
Born was the Era of Night.
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Artist's Note: This is my current magnum opus, a project that serves as both a segway into into the present day of my AU, but also as a revisit of some of my older works. I'm really proud to finally have this piece finished and I am happy to share it with you all!
This will also be the style going forward with Phase 1 and onward. Comics are nice to do, but I want the story to go much faster than my artistic ability allows. So expect illustrations like this with short stories attached in the description. :)
You can find the individual pieces of this work below as well ^^
The Brightest of Days (2020)
The Darkest of Nights (2020)
Inspiration for this piece comes from Light and Shadow by Hiroyuki Sawano ft. Gemie
You can also catch me on a few other social media platforms if you want to follow me elsewhere!
https://linktr.ee/astralmelodia
Chapter 1
Chapter 2->
Prologue
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“What did you do to our princess!?”
“Why, am I not royal enough for you? Don’t you know who I am? Does my own crown no longer have merit after I have been imprisoned for a thousand years? Are you truly blind to the fact that your princess is one of two? That she embodies the sun but no pony the moon?”
“I know who you are. You’re the Mare in the Moon. Nightmare Moon!”
“Well, well, well. Somepony actually remembers me. Care to inform the rest of my subjects why I am here?.”
“You’re here to… to…”
“It comes to this at last, my subjects. No longer will I yield the sky to the likes of my sister! See now the moon rising, for she comes to claim the heavens for her own!”
It was finally here: the turning point that would determine Equestria’s fate. The longest day of the thousandth year. There was no compromise for her, not after the torment and isolation she endured for a thousand years on the desolate wasteland of the moon. This was her moment. Not a single being on Equus would take that away from her. Her name was Nightmare Moon, though only her sister knew who she once was. No mortal knew of Princess Luna and few could barely recall who the Mare in the Moon was. Her entire existence almost entirely erased from history.
There were some though that knew of her, but remained in the shadows. They were ever faithful to the queen of the night. Their numbers were many, but not to the extent to overtake the capital of Equestria. If Nightmare Moon was to pose a threat to the throne, she needed to be tactical with every step of the way.
And she was.
Nightmare Moon was finally able to put her masterfully woven plan into action. For decades upon decades she observed Equestria from afar, gathering intelligence from her followers who were able to infiltrate the depths of the Canterlot castle and provide exceptional levels of espionage for their true leader. Nightmare Moon learned much from her sister: her combat, her personality, the chain of command with her royal guard, points of access, flaws in general’s combat tactics, virtually every strength, weakness, and asset of Canterlot. There were thousands if not millions of outcomes that she had to consider, but time was most certainly on her side. And finally, after tens of generations, she was ready to go all in.
Several days would pass as both Nightmare Moon and Celestia fended off each other’s forces. Canterlot began to crumble from the conflict. Innocents had little choice but to either seek shelter or leave the city. There were numerous raids on houses and buildings controlled by the other factions and territories between the Solar Dynasty and the New Lunar Republic.
It shouldn’t have been so little of a contest for the Republic to push back the Solar Dynasty, but that was the fruit of Nightmare Moon’s legendary labor. Her warriors knew every counter and exploited them to their fullest. Celestia could see that all too well. She had to do something to stop Nightmare Moon from trying to overtake the city. Her people needed her to. Deep down, she knew this was what the Mare in the Moon wanted. The invitation was given and there felt like there was no choice but to accept. There was hope, though. Celestia had sent out a band of ponies from Ponyville, led by her most faithful student, to retrieve relics of old: the Elements of Harmony. She only hoped they would return in time before it was too late. The princess shook away her thoughts of doubt. She had bested her sister once. She could do it again. She then took wing and soared into the clouds to the place where destiny beckoned her.
The winds were calm, bristling through the grass and leaves of the open fields. It was serene as the wilderness flourished without the influence of pony kind miles away in the northern cities of Ponyville and Canterlot, just beyond the reaches of the Everfree Forest. Several streams of fresh water had developed throughout the forest, branching off from Saddle Lake and providing drinkable water for the animals that used to live here.
Something had stirred the forest creatures with fear, enough to know that this sanctuary would not protect them from whatever was to come.
Two beings flew towards the earth of a paradise lost from the clouds illuminated in vibrant colors of both a sunrise and a full moon. They both landed graciously with wings like angels and with each hoofstep, they approached the other. One was a princess, adorned in golden rebraces and cuisses with a crown shaped in the symbol of her kingdom that hovered behind her head. The other was usurper, dark as the night she brought. Her silver cuirass and culets glimmered in the icy reflection of the full moon from afar. Although they were heavenly beings, there was a sense that each of them saw the other as a demon.
The sky was ripped in two, torn between a serene, magenta sunrise and an elegant, cyan night. It was unnatural in every sense of the word. The stage had been set for these two ill-starred sisters. The time was now when day and night would meet.
They both stopped in their tracks, eyes locked into the other’s. They said not a word but simply took in the setting, reflecting back on how the sins of a near forgotten era brought them both together again.
The wind swept at their side as the princess’s mane succumbed to the breeze. Her hair glistening like a radiant fire with the rising sun.
“Monster.” The princess’s denouncement cut through the air like a rapier.
The monster parried back,“Now, now. Is that really how to greet your own sister?”
“This charade of yours has reached its end.”
“On the contrary, Celestia.. This is the hour of my zenith.” The usurper grew a pleasant smile, disguising the rage she was suppressing. “I cannot begin to tell you how long I have waited for this day.”
“Look at yourself, Luna! You are-”
“Nightmare Moon!” She slammed her hooves on the ground, shaking the earth beneath them as leaves fell from the Equestrian sycamore near Celestia. “That is who I am. Luna is just a memory that you refuse to let go of.”
The alicorn of the sun held her ground and resumed, “All I see is one who is consumed by hate and greed. I know who you really are and this isn’t you, sister.”
Her angst could no longer be suppressed. “Is that how you see me!? I did NOTHING to deserve what YOU did to me!”
“Don’t you remember, sister? Starswirl didn’t think you were ready to rule!”
“Oh, I remember,” the usurper answered back, “I remember hearing what he said to you behind closed doors, how I wasn’t mature enough to rule alongside you… and how much I felt stripped from my birthright. I remember the times afterwards, too. After every foe we bested… Discord, Tirek, Sombra…” Nightmare Moon looked down at her reflection in the rivulet, reminiscing over memories she had locked away. She looked back to Celestia with her brows lowered. Her tone changed from melancholic to impertinent. “Well I did mature. And then when I came back to you ready to take the throne next to you, I was dismissed like some little pawn of yours!” The statement left her sister in shock, the anguish of her words echoed to the treeline and back. The queen of the night composed herself with a heavy sigh. “All that throne did to you was make you obsessed with power. You never looked at me like I was your own sibling ever since. I wasn’t perfect, but neither were you.”
Celestia bit back at her sister’s ignorance. “I did what was best for Equestria! For all of us!”
“Or for yourself?”
“There are so many things that a princess has to be conscious of when crowned as ruler of a whole kingdom. I wouldn’t expect you to understand.”
The tension between them only thickened with neither one relenting to the other.
Celestia could still see Luna behind that shadowy veil. She tried to reach for her long-lost sister. “I am not perfect, but everything I did had a reason for it. I kept the crown away from you to protect you. While you see it as selfish, it was to keep prying eyes off you. We were in the midst of traitors amongst our guard. I knew that if you stepped up to lead with me, they would have seen you as a target.”
“I was more than capable of defending myself by that time!” Luna felt more insulted, frustrated that her older sister never saw her as independent. She had convinced herself of a truth that was conjured from nothing but lies. “I showed you what I was capable of. The only reason you bested me last was because of your misuse of the Elements of Harmony.”
“The Elements wouldn’t have worked if you weren’t disrupting the very balance of nature!”
“You ignorant foal! They respond only to those who embody them!”
Celestia spread open her wings, the rising sun illuminating them as if they were feathers of pure fire. It was almost blinding with how radiant her wings were. The princess’s eyes glistened like amber and focused only on the being of her own lost sibling. “Is this what you wanted us to become?”
The question hit it’s mark. Nightmare Moon paused, reflecting on the last thousand years. It was like the Void itself was beginning to manifest from her despair. She felt time stop, remembering how much she had lost. The queen’s head tilted down onto the rivlet where she could see not a reflection of herself, but as Luna.
Celestia’s words slipped through as Nightmare Moon couldn’t stray away from seeing what she once was. “We don’t have to resort to fighting. I never thought that the Elements would take you away from me. I had only hoped they would purify the shadow that I saw was claiming you. Ever since you were sent to the moon, I have been living with my regret. A regret that haunted me for every moment that you weren’t with me.” With a heavy breath, the weight of her thoughts burdening her, Celestia muttered out two simple words.
“I’m sorry.”
The reflection of Luna rippled away. As the water began to settle, her reflection became absolute. No longer was there a young foal who had been taken advantage of throughout her childhood, but a dark and powerful mare of the night who could finally earn what was rightfully hers.
Nightmare Moon looked back at her sister. “This is not what I wanted.”
The air between them grew silent and the rustling of the trees evaporated away into only the sounds of running water from the small stream the black mare stood in.
The silence was broken by twilight and obsidian colored wings being quickly unfolded. Many of her feathers sparkled in the light of the moon.
“But your apology comes too late, dear sister. A thousand years too late. Being trapped on the moon for so long... The things I have seen, what I have endured…” A cold chill ran down her spine, recalling some of the darkest horrors that she had to defend herself from. The moon was a dangerous place, even for Nightmare Moon. “I can never forgive you for what you have done to me.”
The princess’s heart sank as if her core collapsed in on itself.
Her dark sister looked back upon the faint silhouette of Canterlot perched on the side of the mountain, smirked, then turned back. “This kingdom is mine. I will show you first hand just how much of a mistake you made.”
“I won’t let that happen. You may have a right to the throne, but the damage you alone are causing is threatening to undo everything our kingdom stands for.”
“You dare to stand in my way?” She lets out a chuckle. “Oh, Celestia. You only delay the inevitable. I have prepared for this day for centuries. You don’t stand a chance.”
Celestia’s horn began to glow in golden streams of light and she took one bold step forward at her opponent. “I don’t want to send you away again, but if it means that my subjects are safe from the likes of you, then I will.”
“You won’t. Or rather, you can’t.” The dark alicorn’s warped horn glistened in shadowy strands of lavender and obsidian. Then, a small gem hovered into view next to the queen of the night. The texture was rough and scratched along its cloudy, sapphire appearance.
Celestia gasped in shock, her magic evaporating away. “The Element of Loyalty!”
“Your little band of mortals won’t be coming to your rescue any time soon. My loyal servants have already taken the Elements from where they once stood.” Nightmare Moon then used her dark magic and teleported the relic away, out of Celestia’s reach.
“No…” She sent Twilight and her friends on an impossible quest. The guilt began to manifest in her being. “No!”
Celestia’s rage spewed out like a solar flare. Her arched horn was surrounded in a golden plasma of divine magic. She reared up on her hind legs, flailing her forelegs in a threatening manner. Her halo-like crown was also enveloped in the same magic before it trusted forward, her forelegs meeting the earth once more.
The golden crown spun violently in the air with a distinct chilling whistle as it sliced through the air straight for Nightmare Moon. She smirked, lowering her body to the ground and extending her wings. In an instant, she was gone. Fwoomf! Water from the rivlet splattered everywhere, shimmering in the air from the light of the moon. Celestia’s crown hummed as it began to boomerang itself back to her.
Celestia looked up in alarm, seeing the dark alicorn eclipse the moon and crashing down in front of her. She dodged below, Nightmare Moon’s horn missing its mark. A quick turn to the rear and Celestia thrusted her hind legs into her sister’s chest With a loud thud, Nightmare Moon grunted and was sent hurtling back several meters away. Her hooves dug into the ground, tearing apart the grass and leaving only a wound of dirt in her wake.
They both charged at each other. Nightmare Moon leaped into the air once again, flipping forwards in the air as her horn glowed in cackling void energy. She hurled an orb of dark energy straight for Celestia. The princess continued forth, wrapping herself in a golden shield.
Boom!
Nothing but smoke remained of Celestia. The Mare in the Moon landed, showing her broadside with her wings at the ready. The dust continued to settle, but still nothing.
In fact, there was nothing. She was gone.
Alarmed, Nightmare Moon scanned her surroundings.
Then, a cold chill coursed through her body. She raised her hind legs as fast as she could.
Celestia materialized right into being slammed in the muzzle by two powerful hooves, but it wasn’t her face that those hooves met. It was her crown. It rang out as it was thrown into the ground.
The alicorn of the sun tackled her sister’s side, but continued to drive forward. Nightmare Moon rolled down the hillside as Celestia took to the skies.
A growl escaped through the dark mare’s pointed teeth as she chased after her opponent. Wings flapping and blood pumping, Nightmare Moon fired several bolts of darkness. She was right on her six and gaining fast.
Celestia maneuvered through the hellfire, taking shelter in the clouds.
“You can’t escape your fate so easily, sister!” Nightmare Moon called out. With a shrill scream, she shot open her wings and a powerful gust of wind deteriorated the haze away. Celestia was caught blindsided by the shear strength of the whirlwind, sending her soaring out of control into a free fall.
“There you are!” Nightmare Moon then vanished into a dark smog as her sister recovered.
There was almost no time for her to react as tens of bolts of magic struck into her body. They burned her flesh as she cried out in pain. Celestia quickly shook off the shock of the attack and continued towards the mountains.
Out of the glimpse of her eye, there was Nightmare Moon once more. She teleported just in time to miss the assault, but she knew defense alone would not keep Luna at bay.
Celestia turned back and dove towards the other alicorn. Nightmare Moon channeled her magic and magical tendrils shot from her horn. They quickly wrapped around Celestia’s wings. She neighed in panic as she couldn’t break free of her bonds. She channeled a spell into another magical shield.
A sphere of void magic also enveloped Nightmare Moon as she charged straight into Celestia.
Crash!
Light and shadow collided just like the sun and the moon, and sister and sister. The two torn between love and hate.The two star crossed sisters fell from the stars towards Canterlot. The denizens of the Solar Dynasty and New Lunar Republic could only watch in awe as the two most divine creatures this world has seen danced in a deadly battle with each other.
They both channeled their magic once more, eyes glowing in the radiance of their magic as well as their cutie marks. It was like the sun and moon itself were fighting for dominance.They both shone brighter and brighter.
Nightmare Moon was struggling to channel so much power. She felt this way before. It was the exact same feeling as when she fought her sister so many moons ago. Her power was plateauing. Then it hit her, a moment of fear. She began to relapse of what would happen if she fell again. She couldn’t be banished again. She wouldn’t.. “No! NO!” She screamed, trying desperately to channel more and more of her power from the moon.
Celestia reared back and with a thrust, she unleashed a powerful beam of energy that echoed over Canterlot and the earth trembled at such might.
Nightmare Moon followed suit, firing a beam black as night. The two magics slamming into each other with indescribable force. A massive explosion lit up the divided sky and a sonic boom tore through the air, shattering windows like they were nothing. The world heaved at such primal forces colliding.
Nightmare Moon could feel her power resist her will. The beam of light was inching closer and closer. Fear began to turn into rage, a rage that she never felt before. It was like everything she had felt and locked away during her banishment was spilling out. Her mind began to channel that hatred. It was like she was fighting against the entire will of the universe to let her win. “I WILL BE BESTED AGAIN! DO YOU HEAR ME!? I AM NOT YOUR LESSER! I AM THE NIGHT!” She grunted through such powerful forces pushing back against her will. Muscles tightened to their full extent and adrenaline flowed through her veins. She could feel the resistance begin to falter. “I AM NIGHTMARE MOON!!”
In a split instant, she poured everything she had into her powerful spell. Arcs of lightning shot around her body, slowly but more and more frequently with each passing second. The arcs cackled around her horn until time itself stopped for Celestia.
A massive bolt of lightning in a magnificent array of black, violet, white, and gold struck the Mare in the Moon. It was immediately gone in as quickly as it arrived, but the boom of thunder never came. The flash of light faded, but what shocked the world was the sudden appearance of ethereal like chains that were wrapped around Nightmare Moon, mostly around her horn. The chains came from what seemed like the heavens, stretching out into the stars endlessly. But then, something finally broke the silence. The shattering of those ghostly chains. The metal rang throughout the cosmos as the broken chains fell in pieces towards the city, only to fade away into nothingness. Celestia gasped in horror, unsure if her eyes were deceiving her or not.
But her answer was only confirmed by the shear intensity of Nightmare Moon’s blast amplifying exponentially. Celestia’s beam was being torn into shreds. She had to escape quick before--
...
...
It was black. It was all black. Everything was nothing. Nothing was everything. The only thing Celestia remembered was how much pain she was surrounded by. Even crashing through the vault of the castle was nothing compared to how overwhelmed in agony she was. She lied there still. Every breath was like a knife pressing into her lungs. Soft whimpers escaped Celestia’s lips. Tears trailed down her cheeks as the dust from the crash settled in the throne room. Looking up, she could see the light of the moon engulf her from the hole in which she fell from. The Princess of Equestria struggled to stand up. Her majesty was so exhausted and sore that simple movements seemed almost impossible. It took her entire focus, grunting through the pain to fight her body’s urges to continue being lame. The alicorn’s forelegs faltered and she fell back onto the broken tile floor, her face slamming down onto the ground. A shrill metallic sound rang in her ears as Celestia’s hovering crown slid away from her.
Then she heard it, the sound of her reckoning. Large, majestic wings of another alicorn grew louder and louder. The wind began to beat down on her hair with more and more intensity. It was the queen of the night, landing before her fallen sister. Nightmare Moon said not a word, reveling in the silence that said everything for her.
Celestia coughed weakly before looking up to her sister towering over her. “Luna…”
Luna smirked. “Tia.” She looked up to see the massive doorway to the throne room open up. Dozens of her night guards swarmed in and formed ranks in front of their master. “Your highness!” One of them called out, stepping forward before bowing. “We have secured the palace.” “Excellent, you have all made me incredibly proud. Care to watch as we change the course of destiny?” The commander saluted in response.
Wham! A powerful kick to the face sent Celestia rolling several feet away as she neighed out in agony. Nightmare Moon planted her hind hoof back on the ground, wiping the grin off her face. “Luna is dead, and it is all your fault.” Celestia could only lie there, battered and beaten. She watched helplessly as her sister approached her once more.
“From this moment forth, Equestria has a new ruler: one that will make Equestria the crown jewel throughout all of Equus!” The formation of guards kneeled before her. “There will be much that will need to take place to see that this Solar Dynasty is purged from our new republic, but all of my subjects will see firsthand that the golden age of pony-kind is right at our doorstep.”
“As for you…” Celestia’s heart dropped as her sister muttered those words. Nightmare Moon stood there with two slitted pupils glaring into her soul. “I have thought for eons about what kind of punishment is fitting for the torment you made me suffer for a thousand years.” The usurper pressed her weight onto her sister, leaning in close. “A banishment to the sun would mean certain death. Luckily for you, that is not what I want. I want to bear witness to your helplessness and torment. I’m sure your new lover wouldn’t mind.”
“You witch!” Celestia’s horn radiated in heavenly golden magic. Then a crushing weight of a hoof amplified itself on her chest. “Aauughh!”
“I want you to know your place, just like you tried to do to me. Only this time, it will be permanent.” Nightmare Moon’s eyes glowed the colors of the Void, as did her warped horn. She cackled with laughter as the spell grew into a sphere of pure magical energy that enshrouded them both. All mortals still nearby had to shield their eyes and brace for the worst. The rumbling and shrieks of pure energy were unlike anything they have ever seen or heard. One of the guards tried to glance at the two sisters and saw the dark sphere begin to shrink and dwindle away before revealing Celestia and Nightmare Moon once more. The blackness didn’t stop there, but instead wrapped around Celestia’s hovering body, encasing her into a surreal silhouette. Her body hovered lower and finally reached the ground, her mane and tail waving through the air as if she was underwater. The darkened figure collapsed on the ground, the dark silhouette fading into nothing, revealing an entirely unresponsive alicorn of the sun. Above her body though was something no pony could even imagine was possible: a spirit. In fact, it was in the form of the same body that lies beneath it. It was the very soul of Celestia.
Nightmare Moon’s magic subsided and evaporated away, leaving nothing but a haunting smile that revealed her wicked teeth.
The wisp of Celestia looked around her in shock, seeing her own body below her. “No…” She muttered, her voice echoed almost ethereally. “No! What did you do to me!?” She prepared a punch and sent it straight into Nightmare Moon’s muzzle, but her hoof only slipped through Nightmare Moon’s corporeal self as if it didn’t even something palpable.
Her sister grinned, not even wincing at the punch. “You are no longer of any use to me in this plane of existence.” She walked away, continuing to talk in a boastful tone. “In fact, you would be of better use to me as my own little form of entertainment in the dream realm. There, I can watch you try to escape and know that anything you try will be futile.” The new queen of Equestria walks back to Celestia. “You are sentenced to exile in the realm of dreams, forever!”
Suddenly, Celestia’s body begins to evaporate into nothingness. “What? No! This is impossible!” Nightmare Moon begins to laugh maniacally at her sister’s anguish. “You can’t do this! Luna! I know you’re still in there! Help me! Please!! I’m--” And then she was entirely gone. All that remained of the embodiment of the sun was her soulless body before the hooves of NIghtmare Moon.
Nightmare Moon calmed down and sighed in relief. “Ah, see? This day has been just sublime.” It was then that she acknowledged the presence of her sister’s dormant body. “Oh, of course. General!”
The Commander and his troops stood there in disarray with what had transpired, but the commander shook out of his shock and replied, “Uh, yes your majesty!”
“Take my dear sister here to the Canterlot caves. Make sure she is taken care of, yes?”
“Right away, madame.” He then ordered his troops to carry the fallen alicorn out of the scene. They surrounded the majestic creature and lifted her husk onto their backs. They slowly, as a unit, carried the fallen princess out of Nightmare Moon’s presence.
“And general? What of the hippogriffs? I am certain Novo is still in the city. Have you taken care of that nuisance?”
“We have, your highness. Novo has been expelled by force from the city limits. Any and all other hippogriffs will be vacated within the next 48 hours or face incarceration.”
“Excellent.”
All of her majesty’s company began to vacate the throne room after being dismissed. The door creaked shut, resonating throughout the tiled corridor. Not even the drapes among each stained glass window or the carpeted walkway leading to a magnificently ornamented throne could muffle away the shrill echoes that refused to vanish away. All that remained was the sound of a cold draft sweeping in from the damaged rooftop.
Nightmare Moon saw one of the doorways opening to the balcony of the castle almost inviting her to bear witness to her new kingdom. She stepped forward, walking with pride in each hoofstep. The wind greeted her, hair flowing beautifully at her side. With only a few more steps, she finally beheld the fruit of her labor: the whole of Canterlot. Her view overlooked beyond the mountain, neighboring cities like Ponyville and Appaloosa, the outskirts of the San Palomino desert, Cloudsdale, and even Las Pegasus. Everything that was, everything that is, all of it that was before her was hers.
Her horn began to glow one final time. The sky darkened in fear and the sun itself trembled, retreating under the safety of the horizon until all the remnants of Celestia’s influence was snuffed out. The light of the moon graced a distressed world.
She inhaled, taking it all in, and let loose a heavy sigh that freed her of a thousand years burden. “It is finally done.”
The Mare in the Moon walked back inside, eyes set on the true prize of it all: her rightful throne.
“The Solar Dynasty has reached its end.” She treaded up the steps to the elevated chair of Equestria’s ruler. “And with Equestria finally regaining its rightful queen...” She paused, relishing the moment establishing her finality. Then, the new queen of all of Equestria took her rightful place and sat upon the throne. “The dawn will never rise again.”
The final chapter of Celestia’s rule had come to an end and it was her sister that would turn the page. A new beginning was underway, one met with uncertainty and fear. It was all up to Nightmare Moon to quell the doubts of her people and to show them and the rest of Equus what Equestria truly was.
Dead was the Era of Light.
Born was the Era of Night.
---
Artist's Note: This is my current magnum opus, a project that serves as both a segway into into the present day of my AU, but also as a revisit of some of my older works. I'm really proud to finally have this piece finished and I am happy to share it with you all!
This will also be the style going forward with Phase 1 and onward. Comics are nice to do, but I want the story to go much faster than my artistic ability allows. So expect illustrations like this with short stories attached in the description. :)
You can find the individual pieces of this work below as well ^^
The Brightest of Days (2020)
The Darkest of Nights (2020)
Inspiration for this piece comes from Light and Shadow by Hiroyuki Sawano ft. Gemie
You can also catch me on a few other social media platforms if you want to follow me elsewhere!
https://linktr.ee/astralmelodia
Category Artwork (Digital) / My Little Pony / Brony
Species Horse
Gender Female
Size 4096 x 1715px
Listed in Folders
Such a massive undertaking, but I love the turnout and I'm so proud ;u;
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