Celestia woke up dazed and confused. The last thing she remembered was being at the Summer Sun Celebration in Ponyville, waiting for her grand entrance. She had some guards posted nearby, as well as her faithful student in the audience.

But it was the thousandth Summer Sun Celebration, and Celestia knew that there was a good chance something would go wrong as it was destined to bring back Nightmare Moon, the corrupted version of her beloved sister.

She looked around, and recognised the landscape…or lack of it. She was in a desolated wasteland filled with boulders and craters, with the same dust colour as far as she could see. Her hair no longer fluttered in the breeze, because there was no breeze or even air. Looking up, she saw a familiar green and blue ball in the sky…

She was on the moon, looking back towards the world she had ran single hoofedly for the past thousand years.

Luckily, being one of the two true immortals of the world, she didn't need air and could survive the vacuum of space. She also didn’t need to worry about the lack of food, as that was only a luxury – she didn't need cake to survive, just longed for it. This was the good news.

The bad news is she had lost of connection to her precious sun, and without the added power of the star she could not teleport herself all the way back to Equestria. Much like her sister before her, she was banished to the moon with no way to return.

Celestia sat down and pondered what had happened. Whilst she expected Nightmare Moon to have escaped on this, the millennium anniversary of her banishment, she was a little confused how they had swapped places exactly. Not even Discord would have enough power to do that, let alone her sister. Only the Elements of Harmony could manage to perform such a feat.

Looking towards Earth, lost in her own thoughts, and not expecting anypony else, a voice suddenly made her jump

“Hello Celestia, it’s been a while”

“Hello Luna…” Celestia replied

“I am not Luna, I AM NIGHTMARE MOON, RULER OF THE WHOLE OF EQUESTRIA!” Nightmare Moon roared

Celestia waved her hoof dismissively, “Whatever, how have you been?”

“How have I been? HOW HAVE I BEEN?” Nightmare moon roared. Celestia kept her poker face, but inside she was smiling – she hoped to get her sister wound up enough to make a mistake, and it was proving easier than she expected.

“You banished me to the moon, alone for a thousand years, HOW DO YOU THINK I’VE BEEN!”

Nightmare Moon summoned strands of rope out of the moon dust and they flew towards Celestia. The Princess tried to use her magic to fight them off, but without her astral connection she was too weak to fight the greater power NightMare Moon had. The strands wrapped themselves around Celestia's hooves, despite her trying to kick them away, and the ropes pulled together into a hogtie, causing the Alicorn to fall to the ground.

Trying to fight them off, more ropes appeared and wrapped around Celestia’s eyes, forcing them shut as other rope filled the Alicorn’s mouth, roughly gagging her. The ruler of the sun lay there helpless as the ropes continued to wrap themselves around her body until she was covered in a web of ropes.

Nightmare Moon just laughed “Oh, you nearly got me there dearest Sister but I’ve been planning this too long and know exactly what I plan to do with you!” The ropes then started to tighten, causing imaginable pain on Celestia’s body, digging viciously into her skin. The ropes seemed to also be focused around points of pain – gaps in ribs, joints but also her crotch and teats. A normal pony would have blacked out by now, but Celestias core power didn’t afford her that luxury.

Celestia heard a pop and her ears picked up on the absolute silence – her sister had teleported back to Earth leaving her alone, helpless in the bindings which seemed to cause a pain that never dulled.

Celestia was unsure how much time had passed as her position afforded her no sense of perspective. She couldn’t even count her breaths as the ropes made it impossible to actually breathe. No matter how long it had been, the pain had not subsided at all and obviously a spell was in place that prevent her from getting used to it.

After what could have been any length of time she heard familiar pop sound, and the noise of a set of hooves approaching her. How she could even hear on the moon puzzled her, but currently was near the bottom of her priorities.

“Sorry sister, this is not a rescue party. You should just get used to the idea of being like this for the rest of eternity!” Nightmare Moon laughed as Celestia whimpered, the pain being too much for the immortal to take in silence. Nightmare Moon came close and whispered in her ear.

“I thought I would just let you know that your guards were no match for me, sister. Rescue is not going to happen. In fact, nopony seemed to be prepared for me return! Well…except one”

Celestia’s ears metaphorical pricked up, whilst her actual ears were being pushed into her head mercilessly by the ropes

“Yes, there was this Unicorn filly whom seemed to recognise me. I’m not sure who she was, but she swore that she would save you.” The dark alicorn laughed “Isn’t that just adorable sister, you had a thousand years to prepare for my return, and it all rests on one little purple unicorn!”

Nightmare Moon laughed again, and kicked her sister hard in the ribs, causing a scream in pain from the immortal as a bone broke.

“Well, I best get going dearest Tia, Equestria isn’t going to rule itself”

Nightmare Moon prepared to leave her sister in a permanent state of agony, when something clicked in her evil brain. She knelt down next to her sister again, and gently rubbed a hood across Celestia’s face

“The thing is, I know you. And I know your strengths, and your weaknesses. You would gladly suffer an eternity of agony, compared to other ways I could ruin you”

Nightmare Moons horn glowed, and suddenly all the ropes disappeared from around her sister’s body. Celestia lay there confused, letting her body recover from the pain that had been inflicted on it, the bone slowly mending itself back in its proper place.

“You see, I know that you have suffered greatly in the past, especially when we fought Discord together. But there is something you seem to fear worse than pain, something you’ve held onto for all these years and never let anypony else near”

Nightmare Moon closed her eyes and thought hard. One by one ponies started to form out of the moon dust, each about the same size as the Alicorn sisters. Celestia lifted her head and watched as they all appeared - hundreds of Unicorns, Pegasi and Earth ponies.

“You seem to be giving me some company?” Celestia asked confused, not sure what her sisters plan was.

Nightmare Moon laughed “Yes, my sweet, innocent, virginal sister but I think these stallions have only one thing on their minds right now, and that’s not to chat. No, its the body of the pure white mare in front of them”

Celestia’s eyes grew wide as the reality of the situation hit home

“Actually, I shouldn't just say Stallions; there are a fair number of mares in there as well who would love to her their hooves, and other parts of their bodies, on you!”

Celestia rose to her hooves “I can easily fight them off, and run away!”

“Oh, no doubt to start with. But surely you realise that these aren’t real ponies but creations from the Nightmare Realm. Being figments of dreams, they won’t get tired or give up the chase…forever! And rather then leave you bound and helpless, instead you will eventually give up the fight and let them win. It'll be all down to you.”

Nightmare Moon came up a put her wing over her sister in mock sympathy. Celestia didn’t shrug it off, watching instead the group of ponies now surrounding them.

“I look forwards to come back after a few decades to see what they have done to you. I’d imagine you would have gone insane from the relentlessness of what’s to come. Maybe once that’s happened I’ll take some sympathy on you and bring you back to Earth”

Nightmare Moon walked away and looked back over her shoulder “Won’t it be fun for my ponies to see their once great ruler reduced to nothing more than a quivering sex obsessed broken mare?”

As Luna laughed and disappeared, the ponies started approaching their pray. Celestia lifted herself up with her wings and flew off, quickly followed by ponies on the ground and in the air

Celestia had been on the run for what must have been days now, using her combined skills to keep away from her persuaders.

First, she would fly for long periods leaving the slower Earth and Unicorn ponies behind. Then, when she grew tired she would land and run into tunnels, her faster earth pony speed leaving behind the slower Pegasi. However, once her hooves were tired and the earth ponies found her she would come to he surface and raise a shield round herself, giving herself a rest until the slower Unicorns arrived. They were able to slowly weaken her shield and when it broke she took to the sky again.

Overall, it had been a good plan, and the cycle had been going on for a long time. However, unlike the dream fragments who never grew tired, Celestia was weakening. The rest periods allowed a limited amount of recovery, but her strength had dwindled.

She was currently lying down as the Earth and Pegasi ponies pounded pointlessly on her shield, waiting for the Uunicorns to show up. As she lay there, an awful truth dawned on Celestia – she hadn’t been rescued. If Twilight had been successful, Nightmare Moon would have been defeated by now. As this hadn’t been the case, it may mean that Celestia was indeed stuck here.

Celestia could see the Unicorns approaching over the horizon, and knew she was out of options. Her legs were too tired to run, and her wings had badly cramped up. All she could do is keep this shield up as long as possible, but then…she would be helpless to stop their ‘advances’. Her body, one as pure as the colour of her fur, would soon be violated. She wanted to resist, but was simply too tired.

Suddenly, Nightmare Moon appeared next to her in the bubble. “My My Sister, you have kept the chase up for a long time. I was hoping you would have had many tastes of Stallions, and Mares, by now. I just wish I could be here for your first time, I can’t imagine the look on your face. But alas, I have a unicorn to deal with. Apparent, this young filly is your student”

“Twilight is still fighting you?” Celestia deadpanned a response.

“Oh, she’s still trying, along with some pathetic other ponies from the local town. They are slowly making there way to where they think the Elements of Harmony are. But it’ll do them no good.”

Celestia looked confused – the elements were not that far from Ponyville, where she knew all the potential bearers were currently located. It shouldn’t take that long to reach them. Obviously the look of confusion was apparent as Nightmare Moon laughed

“Perhaps what I should have mentioned is I’ve put a little time distortion field around you. Less than half a day has passed back in Equestria, but almost a week has passed here. So, when I meant bring you back after a few decades, it would have been centuries up here. There is no way you’re going to keep sane that long sister!” and she broke into an evil laugh as the Unicorns started weakening Celestia’s shield with their spells.

“Well, best be off, time to put an end to your students attempts to defeat me once and for all” and with that the dark Alicorn disappeared again.

Celestia smiled inwardly – despite Nightmare Moon trying to make her feel worse, it had done the opposite. There was still a chance of rescue, but the immediate problem was the ponies surrounding her. Despite the lifting of spirits, her body was too weak to fight anymore. So she needed a plan, and one quickly formed in her head.

“Ponies, stop and I will lower my shield” Celestia announced, but the Unicorns ignored her and continued to fire. “You wouldn't want to fire at me when unshielded, you may end up killing me and then what would you do?” she teased. The Unicorns stopped firing, looking at her questioningly.

Celestia lowered the shield and started eying up the ponies. They had half expected her to flee again, but now she wasn’t there was a shift of mood. “Now, I no longer have the energy to fight you ponies off, you have won. As you know, I am a virgin…”

The lust in their eyes only grew and a little whoop went up in the crowd “…But of course, only one of you can be my first, so who will it be?”

“The Unicorns finally defeated her, it should be one of us!”

“Nonsense, if it weren't for the Pegasi she would simply stay in the air away from you grounded ponies!”

“Rubbish, it was running from us that tired her out the most!” the Earth ponies declared

The arguments between the groups started to intensify, and not long before pushing and shoving led to full out fighting. Celestia smiled as her plan worked – they were all too eager to be her first that it would buy her some time as Stallions and Mares fought for the honour. As the battle raged around her, Celestia lay down to rest, keeping one eye on what was going on, and swore she heard one filly squeal in delight that they had found her rock.

Another half a day had passed as the factions fought each other, and much to Celestia’s delight none of them could get the upper hand. Being figments of dreams that didn't tire, the fight would possibly be never ending.

However, suddenly a trio of voices rose out of the chaos “Enough!” it called out, and slowly the battle ceased. Celestia looked over to where three ponies, one from each tribe, were standing atop of a rock.

The Earth pony spoke first “We will never sort out which of us is more worthy, so the best thing to do is for us to work together, to conquer this seductive beast! We must work together!”

The others seemed to agree to this, and with the focus back on her Celestia had to think fast.

“Sounds like a clever compromise, I am always so proud of my ponies finding their own solutions” Celestia smiled fakely, trying to bide some time “But of course only one of you can be my First” Celestia tried to make the final word as seductive as possible.

Two of them looked ready to fight again, but the Unicorn chief quickly spoke “I think you find there are three places for a mare such as yourself to satisfy a stallion. And in the spirit of compromise, I would gladly take whatever my fellow leaders leave for me. Afterall, you have yet to have the privilege of having a stallion at all, so all three of us can be your first”

The leaders of each of the three factions stalked towards their pray, their eyes glistening in anticipation. Of course Celestia had recovered enough to start the chase all over again, but found herself instinctively looking up to Earth just as a trail of light came flooding towards her.

She stood up as regal as possible with a big smile on her face “Well, sorry my little ponies, looks like you are going to miss out” as the light washed over her, transporting her back to Equestria, much to the howls of disappointment from the moon ponies as they turned back into dust.

It had been a few days since Celestia had returned to Equestria, and back to Canterlot Castle with a reformed Princess Luna. But she hadn't seen or heard from her sister since. Her maids and servants had said that Luna was slowly recovering, and had seemed to be in good spirits with other ponies. However, she had yet to speak to her sister after arriving in Canterlot.

She had to find out why, and giving her sister space for a few days had been long enough in her eyes. Something was clearly up and she had to make sure it was nothing serious. Luna had returned, and Celestia desperately wanted to spend time with her sister again.

It was about to become night-time, and Celestia decided that Luna should start raising her own moon again - It had been a thousand years and three days now. She trotted out of her chambers and across the palace to the chambers she had previously had built for her sister, stopping in front of the moon encrusted doors flanked by four members of the Luna guard. Celestia dismissed them and knocked on the door.

“Who is it?”

“It is me Lulu” Celestia called out

“Tia?…I don’t want to see you!”

“Regardless, it’s time to raise the moon!”

“I’m too weak…sick...I don’t want to” a pathetic voice called out

Celestia refrained from giggling “Nonsense, you managed to do it as filly, you can do it now”

The door swung ajar a little “How do you know?” Luna pouted

“Because I was there the first time you did it, even younger than when I first raised the sun. you have so much power in you, you can control the whole of the nights sky with your magic. I just move one little star”

Luna giggled, knowing that wasn't the case, both took just as much work – they had tried each others work as fillies, and the subsequent chaos it caused brought back happy memories. Mother was mad at us that day…night…daynight whatever. But the Eclipse was beautiful!

Celestia just walked into Luna’s chambers, and out onto her balcony. Her horn lit up and lowered the sun, leaving the sky blank. Luna slowly plodded over, and seeing her sister wasn't going to raise the moon, lit her horn to bring out the moon and stars.

“Beautiful…as always” Celestia cooed, putting a wing around her sister

“I’M SORRY!” Luna suddenly cried out, causing Celestia to flinch away in surprise. Luna went running back inside and collapsed sobbing on her bed. Celestia slowly walked over and lay down next to her cryin sibling.

“There’s nothing to apologise for, we all know it was Nightmare Moon that caused all the chaos, not you. And I’m just as guilty as anypony else for letting her take over.“

“I know, we’ve talked about that” Luna sobbed “That’s not what I’m talking about…what happened to you…on the moon.”

Celestia was genuinely surprised “To me…don’t worry about that, I quickly recovered from the injuries”

“No no no…the kick, the tightening ropes, that was Nightmare Moons idea. The other thing…”

“Don’t worry about that…” Celestia interrupted

“But it was my idea!” Luna sobbed

Celestia took a metaphorical step away, before composing herself “I…see”

“Don’t hate me!” Luna bawled

“I will never hate you Lulu” Celestia cooed, hugging her sister close “But…why?”

Luna looked up at her eldest sister “Well, I didn’t mean it!”

“I’m sure you didn’t”

“…But…you’ve always been so…perfect! And there was a little part of me that wants you to not be so perfect..."

“I’m fair from perfect dearest Sister. I mean, look what I let happen to my little lulu!”

“That doesn’t count” Luna half snapped “You are perfect, like your days. And whilst I now know how important my nights are, Nightmare Moon grabbed hold of that feeling just as she was about to leave you. My desire for you to be less than perfect fed into her evilness!”

Celestia comforted her sister, not sure how to respond.

“It was just petty jealousy” Luna continued “Our subjects hold you up as this pure, whiter than white, leader, whilst I was always more of the black sheep of the pairing…”

Celestia nuzzled her sister “Luna…you are the luckier one out of us. Surely it is better to have loved and to have lost, than never to have loved at all?”. The pairs thoughts going back to some of Luna's prior lovers.

“Then why sister? Surely you have enough suitors?”

“Well, as you say, I’m considered to be pure. I’m not sure how exactly our subjects would take to find out that I’m only a pony…with the same needs…afterall”

“But why is it okay for me?”

“Because, night-time is more mysterious, more sensual. You can play that part and it helps reinforce the duality of us. But I think you will find that attitudes have changed a lot in the past thousand years…and I think you will like it” Celestia gave a little laugh at the end.

The two lay in bed for a while, before each gave out a yawn from the mental tiredness of the day. They both nestled down on the bed.

“So, will you ever find your own special somepony” Luna softly asked as she was drifting off.

“Perhaps one day lulu I will be as lucky as you…one day”

Author's Notes:

A bit of a AU backstory to help in a future chapter...