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When Luna opened her eyes. she could only see where the skylight next to the darkness, the moonbeam shining just out of reach. The halo light of the moon is the only thing that gives her any sense of where she was- no, where THEY were. She wasn’t alone, but the fury of Nightmare Moon was faint in comparison to the numbness she felt- both in mind & body. Luna was more in a daze than anything, her mind fading in and out of consciousness with the lullaby of the nightmare’s rage.
Sometimes, she swore she could hear their screams of anger echo throughout the chamber, before it faded away like a ghost that haunted the halls at night.
She’d lost track of how long she’s been here now. The movement of the stars was all she could really focus on, and sometimes a familiar glimmer of light catches her attention, but only for a moment before it too, leaves her. And each time, she wished she could cry, but she had no tears left- nor the energy to even whimper.
‘ This was no time to be weak, ’ the dark alicorn would sneer at her, and she could feel her as they paced upon the familiar cobblestone, acting like a trapped animal, ‘ We WILL be free. and you won’t have to be weak ever again! ‘
Luna ignored them. as she had been doing for ... weeks? Months? Years? She couldn't remember exactly. They were so confident about the idea of freedom. She thinks they had to be, for fear of going mad without a plan. Without .. anything else to hold onto. For just a twitch of a moment, she almost pitied them. But of course, they didn’t need her pity, just her anger.
She tried to shift around, but there was very little wiggle room for comfort. She lay upon a stone slab, celestial silvery chains holding her down- digging into fur and skin painfully. Its touch was like ice, no matter where it held her. Even her muzzle was encircled by the silver metal. Tied down like an animal. Tied down like ... a monster.
Celestia feared her power, Nightmare Moon had reasoned with her, but that didn’t make her feel any better about it.
Looking up to the eternal night sky once more, her heart ached. how much longer? Was she to be cursed to live here forever? Shall she never again lay eyes upon the land that she lived in?
Sometimes, she wondered if she never would. Never again would she see snow, or the rain, or the animals that make up the world. Never again would her hooves walk through the grass, or would she feel the calm breeze of the world blow through her fur and mane. Not long now would the princess of the night, the ruler of the moon, the dream walker, would become nothing but an old ponytale.
But that couldn’t be true, even then. she was real. she was ALIVE ... but was she? Her body wasn’t real anymore, at least, it stopped feeling like it, ages ago. This chamber no longer was real to her either. The more time stretched on, so too did her mind. It felt distant, as if trying to join the stars instead, into the great cosmos and beyond. For any existence was better than this. She worked within dreams, but this ... this was more of a nightmare. That sort of nightmare where you were helpless to do anything but sit and stare, your voice trapped inside of you.
Even as the looming darkness tried its best to comfort her, it did very little. ( though she appreciated the effort, truly. )
…
Luna fell back into that darkness again, and sometime later, woke back up again. It was as if she was submerged in a large, dark ocean. She was drowning, and yet undying, bobbing on the waves. Each time she came up for air, she only managed a gasp before another wave crashed down on her, pulling her down into the depths. It was getting harder & harder to tell apart her waking hours from her dreams- or if she was even truly sleeping. She always saw it, the same shadows, the same shaft of moonlight slipping in, the same looming ceiling above her head. And felt the same things; the coldness of the stone slab, the sting of the celestial chains, her own blood- rushing through her veins like a river in her body.
And ponies wondered why she was so angry. It was the easiest thing to cling to when you had nothing else.
How would they have acted, she wondered, if they were treated the same? If they were constantly feared, ignored, looked down upon? How would you feel if your own sister, your only flesh & blood in the world, abandoned you while she only grew like the sunrise? Wouldn’t thou be angry too? Wouldn’t thou believe thou deserved better?
Inside, the stream of blood started to boil and grew louder, and the mare grit her teeth- painful as her jaw pushed up against the metal that was made to clamp it down. Her breathing was starting to quicken, her eyes rolling around in its socket as she tried to move, tried to scream- to break, to fight. ANYTHING. The color of her navy blue fur quickly grew as dark as the space beyond the walls of her prison. Her SISTER did this to her, she broke her. CELESTIA turned Luna into a monster.
‘ IT WAS ALL HER FAULT. ‘ the broken screamed together, tears burning their eyes, hissing and turning to ice as it came in contact with the metal band around their muzzle.
They writhed and struggled together in the same body. Luna wailed and sobbed in her mind, the only place she had a voice, while Nightmare screamed in rage- her throat tearing from the effort and growing hoarse.
The silent stone temple trembled at their grief and their rage, terrible when combined. But it did not give. What they would give to see this place destroyed. To make it turn to dust underneath their hooves. Together, they could make her pay. Make everything pay.
Soon, the stars will aid in their escape. Soon, Equestria would be theirs.