She laid there, on the dusty floor, in the darkness. A princess, no, more than that. A goddess, an alicorn, a pony with the power of moving planets, fighting the elements. Luna, broken, hardly moving, struggling for breath. The eerie silent aura of the moon was shattered when she woke, gasping, back into reality. Her head ached, she placed a hoof to it.

What had happened? She could hardly remember now. Then everything came flooding back to her, faster than she could cope with. The truth of what she'd done hit her harder than anything had before. She was cold and alone, and emotionally breaking down. A tear rolled down the princess's cheek, and hit the powdered white carpet of her new home. She remembered back on earth, she watched them. Earth ponies, pegasi and unicorns alike, colts and fillies, playing and laughing in the light of her sister's sun. Her night was never treated with such gratitude, such joy. Instead it was shunned and rejected. Foals cried in fear of the monsters the night brought, the shadows on the walls and the darkness under the bed.

It burned her up, the praise her sister, Celestia, the perfect leader, the charismatic one of the two, received. Was she complimented? Ever? No, and why would she be... She was the bringer of blackness, the one that made the children cry. And it killed her inside. Why could no-one see the night like she did? Did no-one understand? She only wanted to show them.... she only wanted them to know how hard she worked to create the sky at night, to make it so beautiful. But they didn't listen; she had to make them.

And that's where Nightmare Moon came in.

Nightmare Moon was not a real pony. She was a spiritual embodiment; a incantation gone wrong. You see, Luna tried to make people look up at the stars, she would visit them and ask them just to look up, and see a side to the night they'd never seen before. But they were too in awe to be confronted by an alicorn, a royal sister, than to hear her out. They were too busy worshiping her and trying to accommodate her every need to just listen.

Luna decided that to get people to listen, she needed to take on a different form, become a regular pony. She studied hard, creating a spell that only another alicorn would have the power to do (alicorns have a larger capacity for magic than other ponies). When her spell was finally ready, she marveled at her work. She had created the perfect personality and form that she would take on. The pony she would create would be charming, charismatic, and bold. She would be heard, and people would want to listen. It was the perfect plan.

She locked the door of her bed chambers and began to gather her thoughts in one corner of her mind. Luna lit her horn, and the spell formed a wispy purple fabric that curled around her, enveloping her in possibly the most powerful magic ever witnessed by pony eyes. The spell was working perfectly. The alicorn was changing into a simpler form. Her horn shrunk down to half the size, and her wings tucked away and disappeared. Her dark blue mane changed to yellow curly locks, and her coat lightened until it became cream. Her cutie mark faded and was replaced by a a trio of stars. It was going great, until something happened. Her horn had changed, and because it was the size of a regular unicorn's, she couldn't keep up. She pushed herself so hard, but the magic was too much for just a normal unicorn to handle.

The spell was failing, and she knew it was. She shifted between the two forms; her dark, shy image, and the new pony, the pale unicorn with the personality she wish she had. The two sides of her were merging. She was visibly changing. She became and alicorn again, but an adult alicorn. Her coat darkened until it was a few shades darker than her natural coat. Her cutie mark returned, but became more sharp and defined than before. Luna could feel herself slipping away, being taken over by a new presence, the personality of the pony she created, but much, much more. She was overwhelmed by forcefulness, the stubborn feeling she suddenly felt. Luna was overpowered by the new strength, and became unconscious inside herself, or what she had made of herself. The next thing she knew, she was waking up on the moon, with memories she didn't remember making. Memories of what Nightmare Moon had made her do.

She could remember holding the moon up, not allowing the sun to rise. She could remember using Nightmare Moon's heightened magical powers to try and stop her sister. She could remember attacking anyone who tried to get in her way. She could remember Celestia stopping her, with something called 'the elements of harmony'. She could feel every emotion, every experience, every wrong-doing. She could remember betraying her sister, and her sister doing what she had to. But it would be okay. Now she was back as herself, Tia would surely bring her back. Wouldn't she?

The realization hit Luna like a ton of bricks. Her sister didn't know what had happened, she didn't know it was just a spell gone wrong. For all poor Celly knew, Luna had gone mental and tried to destroy all life in Equestria. She had therefore banished her PERMANENTLY in the moon. She was stuck there. Forever. Luna tried to pull herself together, but she couldn't stifle the sobs that convulsed through her. She burst into tears at the thought of never seeing her sister again, knowing that Celestia probably hated her. Deep in her heart she felt a pang of emptiness. She would never see anyone she loved every again.

Luna fought for a reason that her sister would bring her back, but she couldn't find any. Wouldn't her royal subjects miss her? They needed her, without her how would the night go on? Ponies need sleep to go on, how would Equestria survive without night?

All the questions she had burned into her mind, but one confused her more than any other. How was she still alive? She was on the MOON. She was breathing fine, how could this be? What happened after she was weakened by the elements?

Celestia looked down a the pony she used to call her sister. She was passed out on the floor of the palace, surrounded by shattered stained glass, from the window that showed the two ruling together. The sun princess was happy that she had defeated whatever evil was possessing Luna, but knew that it was too dangerous to keep her here. Not just for the sake of Equestria, who wouldn't survive another attack from Nightmare Moon, but also for her sister's safety. She knew that soon there would be crowds of people coming after her, trying to... she didn't even want to think about what would happen to Luna if she was captured. So she made a decision; whether her decision was right was a whole other story.

Her horn lit up with a pure white light, flooding the room. She touched her horn to Luna's chest, and the energy seemed to vanish into her dark coat and soak up into her skin. 'So you can breathe when you're there..' Celestia spoke to herself. She knew this was all she needed to do to her sister to prepare her; Luna was the second most magically gifted pony in existence, and was perfectly capable of providing herself with food. 'Goodbye little sister....' She whispered. 'I'll miss you...'

Celestia's horn once again ignited, filling all dark corners and reaching out into every crevasse. The room was blinding. The sparks flying out of the glow landed on Luna, covering her with a glittery layer. Luna suddenly became the brightest thing in the already impossibly bright room. Her coat glowed and crackled with a magical energy. Celestia shielded her eyes with a foreleg, and when she took her hoof away her sister was gone; the room seemed so dark now. Dragging her feet along the ground, knowing she would probably never see Luna again, she left the room. Everything became silent and still.

Luna's head ached furiously. Her stomached rumbled, and she realized she hadn't eaten in a day. She quickly whipped up a daisy and daffodil sandwich (her secret favorite, although she was told by her snobby relative Prince Blueblood that it was common peasant feed). She wolfed it down, and promptly made another one. She'd had a long trip... and it was going to be a long stay...

Luna was just about to settle down for the night, or day, (she couldn't really tell from where she was), when she heard noise behind her. She turn around in shock, only to be blinded. There, where she stood, she was confronted by an unknown glowing entity. The shape of a pony floating weightlessly in space, 20 feet in the air, shining forth with an outstanding beauty. Luna was so dazzled, she was unsure whether she was terrified or filled with joy.

She managed to let out a whisper. 'Who.... who are you?'