MLP friendship is magic and the works of Charlie Crews do not belong to me and I have no intention of making any money from these works.

WARNING! Implied torture and rape but nothing too graphic. But I will be giving this a mature label for future content.

Chapter 1
Shattered glass

"How's it going in there, Kyle? The first six months I was in solitary, I did push-ups every day and I never talked to myself. The next six months, I stopped doing push-ups and I...I confess...I did talk a little to myself. The six months after that...those next six months, Kyle? You don’t wanna know what happened then."
—Charlie Crews, Life, speaking to a man in the trunk of his car

Three hundred years

Today was a special day.
Above her the stars, (my stars…), drifted gently across the black void of space. They were beautiful… so bright and radiant against the harsh darkness that surrounded them. But their beauty was static. Their dance across the heavens a repeat every day, (EVERY SINGLE DAY!) and though sometimes the tapestry of space would alter as a star went briefly bright in supernova but the occurrences were rare and so far she had seen…
A quick glance around her for the correct scratches.
Four. One more and she’d have a full set. Despite herself a slight giggle escaped her lips. She almost jumped with fright at the sound of her own voice.
Now now. Don’t lose track. This can’t be missed. (Do not miss this) It was one of the only things that could awaken her from her stupor.
“Are you certain this is the right day?” a sullen mare spoke up.
“Of course. I don’t make mistakes” another said haughtily.
“Guys don’t fight, not today” a third said timidly.
She glanced around examining the marks around her. Five hundred. Two thousand. Sixteen thousand. Thirty two thousand…
Yes this was the right day. Any moment now.
Silently she waited as above her stars twinkled like diamonds. It was difficult not to just space out staring at them and let time pass her by but this time she was focused and alert.
(There)
A squeal of delight and she was up and hopping about from hoof to hoof in excitement. Above in the void a brilliant blazing comet slowly made its way on its hundred year orbit. Its motion seemingly slow and languid but she knew it was traveling at truly incredible speeds.
It had changed from the last time she saw it. Last time it had been wrapped in a burning corona of blue gas that rippled and flowed in a long tail of energy. Now it had traces of mint green and golden sparkles as it proudly displayed itself for her hungry eyes.
More of its core had been peeled away in its hundred years of motion and clearly other reservoirs of gas hidden in its rocky core were starting to leech out and burn around it. It must have deposits of copper or gold too to give it its golden sparkle.
(It’s smaller too. Maybe another few hundred years and it won’t be able to continue its journey)
Shut up.
(It may just stop out there in the void. Lost and alone and forever out our sight)
I SAID SHUT UP!!
She shook her head with a snarl and did her best to ignore her fears. A shy smile returned to her lips as she laid back, hoofs crossed under her head as she watched the beautiful comet trace the sky.
All was silent for hours as they watched the comet. For a short period of time they felt stirrings of happiness as they oohhed and awed at the shifting and ever changing colors of the comet.
But all too soon the sadness returned as the comet drifted away. They watched it silently as its flare of light grew smaller and smaller, fading to a tiny pinprick of flame in the dark before vanishing completely. Lost in the void of space again.
She sniffled and wiped at her eyes angrily. She couldn’t cry. It had been too long since she had last cried.
(Be strong. Last time you gave in we had fifty years of depressive madness. We can’t go through that again)
She gave a deep snort and nodded her head weakly. Brushing a filthy mane from her eyes she tried to regain her composure. Better to be quiet and aware even if mad then to be ranting and raving across the breadth of her prison. Screaming and crying in senseless insanity.
The other three watched her closely. Concern on one, scorn on another and indifference on the last.
It was the scornful one who huffed and kicked at the dust idly, “So what now?”
She didn’t reply. Instead she picked herself up and looked around again.
The white dust of the moon spread for miles. A barren wasteland filled with canyons, craters and hills of moon rock.
Except it wasn’t barren. Not completely. Covered for miles and miles was a small set of scratch marks made by a hoof. Without any wind or elements the marks were still present even after hundreds of years since creation.
Four vertical scratch’s by a hoof. And a single line diagonally cutting through them. Nearly three hundred years of time keeping drawn into the very surface of the moon. Without a word she picked out an empty space and pressed a hoof into the sandy surface of the moon.
One.

Four hundred years

She was walking now. For how long she wasn’t sure. Eventually sitting in the same spot for… for?
(One hundred years)
Right. Sitting in the same spot for a hundred years did get old after awhile, (Everything is old), and so she’d picked herself up and started walking. No destination in mind. Just the act was enough. Mindlessly placing one hoof in front of the other would keep her occupied for another half a century or so.
A line of scratches a day apart traced for miles behind her. Even in total apathy she wouldn’t stop trying to keep track of how long she had been here. She couldn’t let it all blur together. She had to remember that there was a time when she wasn’t trapped in this lonely hell.
She couldn’t let herself believe that she had been here forever.
The other three followed behind occasionally chatting and arguing amongst themselves. She usually joined in albeit warily but today she felt too mentally drained to get involved.
One of them joined her and gave her shoulder a friendly nudge. She glanced down at the young mare who smiled back sadly.
“You haven’t played with us for some time” she said softly.
(Can’t see the point)
She just shrugged in response.
The young mare give her a sympathetic look and a brief nuzzle that she weakly returned, “Come on. How about we have some fun with our afternoon trot. A little race between us all?” the mare offered cheerfully.
A snort from behind them, “That sounds so lame” spat the sullen one.
“Too chicken to try and outrun me?”
A hoof thumped the ground fiercely, “I’ll take you on anytime pipsqueak”
“This all very tiresome. Do we really have to do this?” asked the third with barely any interest.
“You got anything better to do today?”
A look was shared before the third shrugged again. “Very well” she said blandly.
The youngest turned to her again, “Ready leader?” she asked with bright eyes and a wide smile.
The display of childish glee drew her in. Her body was weak but she found the energy to stand tall and flashed a daredevil grin at the others. The youngest cheered while the angry one smirked back. The last merely yawned.
“Readysetgo!” the hotshot yelled and sped off ahead. The youngest raced after her yelling cheater. The last merely grumbled and followed at an easy gallop.
She followed with a smile quickly catching up to the others and matching them. Adrenaline worked its spell and soon her heart was pounding with joy at the simple rush of being alive. She pushed her body to go faster and faster and soon she was laughing with the others as they threw themselves at the horizon.

Five hundred years

She weakly opened her eyes. Her vision was blurred and after a few painful moments she realized her left eye was swollen shut.
She became aware she was curled up into a ball in the white dust. She tried to stretch out her legs but a sharp stab of pain halted that idea. Still trying to make sense through her dimmed sight she decided to just lay there until the pain became manageable.
Soon she started to struggle to her feet. The pain was still great but after… after…
(Around about five hundred years now)
Right. After five hundred years of abuse the pain was easy to deal with. Besides her body recovered swiftly from the damage.
(Only to be broken again and again)
She carefully explored her face and shuddered at the stickiness. Her blue hoof came away painted crimson and as she painfully lifted her wings to examine her sides (Broken wings again. Ignore it) and saw her fur was matted red with the white dust of the moon.
So many bruises. So many lesions. It would take some time to fully recover from this. But time was something she had an abundance of.
She looked for the others and found one close by. The young mare was curled up into a ball quietly sobbing so she went to her first and pulled the mare into a hug. They didn’t exchange words, it had been too long, but just took comfort in each other.
The angry mare hobbled into view, her injuries just as severe as her own but then she always tried to fight.
“One day I’ll kill her. One day” she hissed through bloodied teeth.
Beside her stood the third mare. Her body was covered in bruises but she paid them no heed. Her expression calm and blank despite the bruising of her face.
“Foolish to fight. It will change nothing” she rebuked her partner.
Anger shrieked and grabbed at the other, “I will not just roll over and take it! I’ll make her pay!” she screamed into the other mares face.
Apathy just stared back. “We can’t. We never can. Just accept that” she said hollowly.
“NEVER! I’LL NEVER JUST ‘ACCEPT’ IT! SHE’LL DIE! I WILL KILL HER ONE DAY!”
The broken mare started to sob, “I’ll stop the pain. It-it has to stop. One day it will stop! Please somepony make it stop!”
She clung to the other mare and bawled like a lost filly. Apathy showed little reaction at first but some spark of empathy took root in her blank eyes and she gently wrapped her hoofs round the crying mare.
“It will end. One day it will end. When we stop caring anymore” she whispered. The words seemed more for herself than any other.
The youngest reached out for her companions and with a wince of pain the leader picked her up and staggered to the other two. In a rare display of kindness Apathy opened her arms and the four mares clung to each other as they sought solace from the pain.
The leader looked up at the stars and thought of praying for salvation. But quickly realized with a dull throb of misery that there was nopony for her to pray to. Not for her.

Six hundred years

They were all staring at the world.
The planet that hung in the sky above them was so beautiful. If they weren’t watching the majesty of the stars they were admiring the natural glamour of a living world. The white clouds… the green lands… the bright blue seas…
It had a name once, they believed anyway, but after so much time they had forgotten. It was an elegant and proud name that, even without the memory of the word, they still felt a fierce sense of longing for that ancient place. They wanted things they couldn’t even put a name to anymore. Just half remembered concepts.
(The wind and rain. The scent of flowers. The sound of dawns bell. A foals laughter. Smell of baking bread. Soft kisses. Grass under our hoofs)
She shook her head with a hiss. The others winced and soon got aggravated. Anger started to glare in mounting rage at the bright blue world. Apathy started to play with rocks to distract herself and Filly began to quietly sob.
The leader sighed and shaking a few decades dust off her coat started to trot away. With equal misery and relief the others followed.
It was always the same. They could lose themselves for awhile watching the world but at some point they started to remember that once they had been a part of the world. Once they had danced and played and lived and loved on that green, green grass.
And now they were cast out from it. Now and forever.

Seven hundred years

(Who are we?)
It came to her as a sudden moment of clarity that stopped her dead in her tracks. Her eyes widened and her pupils compressed to pinpricks as fears cold grip took her heart. She started to shake and soon was hyperventilating as her mind teetered on the edge of collapse all over again.
The others stopped from their long walk and gathered around her in alarm. Anger shouting at her to snap out of it while Apathy told her to remain calm.
I can’t remember my name. Stars above I can’t remember my name!!
Who was she? What was she doing here!?
She stared at her own hoofs and her quivering throat soon gave rise to a shrill shriek of terror. Her mind was racing trying to put a name to the pony whose body she inhabited but it came up blank.
Was she even alive? Was any of this real? Maybe it was all a fantasy, a terrible nightmare of a dying soul.
She felt her mind start to fracture and the edges of vision became dim as she screamed and screamed and screamed.
A sharp slap snapped her out of the abyss for a moment and her panicked eyes stared at the Filly who held her head in her hoofs.
“Listen to me! Look at your bracelet! What does it say!?”
Her demand cut through the insanity and she examined her hoofs again. Attached to her right leg was a golden bracelet marked with an image of the night sky across the length of the metal. She hadn’t even realized she’d been wearing it.
In desperation she ripped it off, the matted fur underneath the metal tearing off as did, and frantically examined the underside.
Strange markings had been carefully scratched into the metal. After some staring she realized they were words. From the distance past of her memory she remembered she could read this.
‘To my dearest Lulu. Happy birthday. With love from your big sister’
She read and read again the heartfelt words and slowly she stopped shaking in the grips of madness. She let out a small titter that became a hysterical laugh as she held the bracelet tight against her chest.
Lulu. My name is Lulu.
“That was a close call” Anger muttered nervously.
“She’ll forget again in fifty years. We must stay ready” Apathy said with unusual seriousness.
Lulu didn’t pay attention. She continued to rock back and forth, holding the bracelet close to her heart and muttering her name over and over. The Filly rubbed her shoulder comfortingly and for awhile they all just sat quietly together as their leader drew herself back together.
After awhile Lulu wiped away her tears and smiled down at the inscription on the bracelet. She was lucky she had had a sister who loved her. She may have gone mad otherwise.

Eight hundred years

(She’s here)
The light of the stars dimmed and then faded as an unnatural miasma of darkness coiled around them. It had come upon them suddenly and as happened every time they huddled together in fear and safety. They say repetition breeds familiarity yet even after all this time they still shook with terror whenever she came for them.
Lulu held Filly close as the smallest of them cowered in fear. Apathy stood to her side staring out into the darkness, her features composed but a slight curl of contempt to her lips.
Anger had no such restraint and paced back and forth before them, her stance protective and defiant, eyes alight with the desire for battle and teeth fully bared in a snarl.
When she stepped out of the darkness there was no words spoken. Black as night, taller and stronger than them all, and with an undeniable aura of cruelty around her. Glowing reptilian eyes fixed them with a look of absolute malice and her motions where that of a powerful apex predator as she stalked towards them.
She was in no mood for verbal torture today. The message in her eyes was clear. She wanted her release and she would take it hard and painfully.
Anger let out a roar of long suffering torment and threw herself at the Nightmare. The cruel goddess was not interested in playing today and with a swipe of her massive wings sent the smaller pony flying. As soon as she hit the ground the Nightmare was atop her, hoofs raised to strike.
Filly cried and even Apathy winced as one, two, three thunderous blows struck the downed mare and her resistance was ended in as many seconds. Lulu watched silently and thought she felt the rage burning in her chest she couldn’t summon the will to fight. Not after so long.
(Pointless to resist. Pointless to fight. We will break and break and break. Always for her enjoyment)
Nightmare drew closer and Apathy took her turn. She moved to stand defiant before the Nightmare who glared down at the frowning mare.
A hoof lashed out and Apathys’ face snapped to the side. She breathed sharply for a moment before she swung her head back and stared back at the Nightmare.
“That supposed to impress me?” she asked blandly.
Nightmare let out a hiss. Apathy was always the one who irked her the most. Her wings spread with a snap and rushed down to pull the mare into her hoofs. A loud crack and the limp body was contemptuously dropped in the dust.
Lulu pulled Filly closer as the small mares crying reached a higher pitch. A part of her wished that the little one would stop but she knew it wasn’t possible. It was her nature to cry the most.
A deep black aura surrounded the Filly and she was wrenched from Lulus’ arms. The Filly found herself face to face with the cruelest of all creatures and her crying instantly stopped as she completely froze in terror.
Nightmare smiled and when she spoke her voice was soft as velvet and viciously seductive, “I’ll be with you in a moment little one” she promised in a whisper.
She dumped Filly on the ground and the mare curled into a ball, rocking herself and trying to escape into her mind from the fear.
Lulu stared at the floor unable to meet her tormentors’ eyes. The Nightmare stopped just before her and even without looking Lulu knew she had the most sadistic smirk across her perfect face.
Ethereal strands of hair reached down and grasped Lulus’ chin forcing her to meet demonic eyes. Nightmare smiled and her gaze wandered over Lulu, “Looking quite raggedy these days aren’t you”
(Screw you)
Lulu didn’t reply. She closed her eyes and tried to blank out what was happened to her.
“None of that now” Nightmare said softly and Lulu let out a gasp of pain. Her eyes widened with horror and revulsion as the Nightmare carefully explored her.
(Get off, get off, GET OFF!)
Her captor smiled again and it almost looked gentle. Enough to draw her in several hundred years ago but now Lulu just felt empty when she saw it. The Nightmare gently guided her lips to meet her own and almost as soon as they touched Lulu surrendered.
The horrible thing wasn’t when she was being hurt but when the Nightmare made her enjoy it… that was the worst.
After a few moments of breathless motion the Nightmare pulled back and grinned wickedly at Lulu. Her eyes roamed hungrily over her slaves body and Lulu couldn’t stop herself shuddering.
The Nightmare didn’t miss this but the action just made her grin wider. “Well slave. Is today the day you try and fight me… or are you going to behave for your goddess?”
Lulu stared at the ground silently as a hundred different responses flashed across her mind. She thought of lashing out with Anger, she considered quipping with a sarky comment of Apathy, and she even wondered if she should just bawl like a Filly and hope screaming out her pain would make her feel better.
But in the end she did none of these things. Instead she turned round, laid on the choking dust of the moon, and presenting herself to the Nightmare.
(Please let us die this time)
The emptiness in her heart throbbed with pain and she whimpered as her captor laughed.
“Good girl”

Nine hundred years

The group of ponies were on another of their long walks. For once all was completely quiet as the marched in silence. Lulu had her head held high as she just watched the stars while walking in the lead.
“Hey are those stars new?”
The group paused in their walk with some blinks of surprise. Lulu shook her head to come out of her trance, walking for years had that effect on them all, and looked at Anger.
The mare was standing on a clump of rocks head craning back as she squinted above her. The ponies gathered below her with varying degrees of interest.
“What stars?” Filly asked.
Anger pointed a hoof at six different points and as one all of them tilted their heads back to look.
Lulu frowned as she spied the stars that Anger pointed to. She had seen them before, (we know all the stars in the night sky) but their orbits had changed. They had moved since the last time she had seen them.
“Interesting. Perhaps we should observe them for awhile?” Apathy tiredly suggested.
Lulu sat down with a thud and the others gathered around her. Quietly they stared into the void, watching the intriguing stars above.

One thousand years

The stars were coming together.
Some celestial alignment was occurring, something that could only occur perhaps every millennia or so. The stars overhead shone brighter than any others and lay in a straight line between the moon and the living world ahead.
Lulu stared in wonder. Something was happening here. Something she wouldn’t dare dream for fear of waking and reality crushing what was left of her soul. The aligned stars were a clear path, a bridge to that precious world, and for the first time in untold centuries she felt strength and energy fill her.
The stars were giving her power.
She blinked and snapped fully to attention as she sensed the magical weight on her dissipate after so long.
Ever since she could remember she had been bound to this moon. Trying to fly away or teleport was impossible. It wasn’t gravity that held her but the magical pull of that terrible spell that had imprisoned her here. Its weight across her shoulders had been a constant leash and after so long she had forgotten what that pressure even was.
But now it was gone and for the first time in a thousand years her magic unraveled and spread throughout her body. Finally free and unbound.
She could escape! She could finally be free of this wretched prison!
With a hysterical laugh Lulu spread her wings and lit her horn with a violet glow. The others stared at her with speechless expressions as she gave them a broad grin.
“It’s time to escape my friends” she said joyously.
“You’re right my dear. It is time to escape”
Lulu froze, eyes wide and shocked. She heard the others let out gasps and growls and with extreme reluctance slowly looked behind her.
(Nonononononononononononononononononono!)
The Nightmare stood above her. So close she could feel the warmth of her body. The force of her stare held her completely immobile and all Lulu could do was whimper as the much larger mare grinned. Her smile was filled with perverse delight as she observed Lulus devastated expression and she leaned in close to her petrified slave.
“Were you going to run and leave me pet?” she asked softly. Her words like honey but underlined with menace.
Lulu couldn’t even reply. She just shook violently as the other mare glanced up at the line of stars and licked her lips.
Nightmare was actually panting and subtle shaking as the way out was laid bare. After so very long there was a way out from this cage.
“After all this time we spent together. All I’ve done for you and you planned to run and leave me trapped here”
(You did nothing but torment us!)
Lulu wanted to scream but instead shrank down to the ground at the danger in Nightmares words.
“That makes me so… ANGRY!” Nightmare screamed and lashed out with a hoof.
Lulu yelled as she was struck across her face. Thrown several feet she coughed and cried as she clutched her aching jaw.
The others leap on Nightmare screaming in defiance but the monster batted them away with ease. She shook her head as she stalked closer to Lulu, “No my pet. Your ‘friends’ can’t help you this time. It’s just me and you now”
(Escape! ESCAPE! WE MUST RUN!!)
Lulus’ wings snapped open and she launched herself into the air. Terrors adrenaline giving her a speed she hadn’t had for centuries. Her eyes fixated on the planet above as she raced into the void.
“IT’S ALWAYS BEEN JUST ME AND YOU SLAVE!!” Nightmares scream chased after her.
She barely made it twenty feet before she was caught in a crushing grip. A dark telekinetic force holding her immobile as she struggled to be free.
Hoofs suddenly took hold of her waist and the mare froze as Nightmare hugged her close to her burning body. The monster nuzzling her neck as she held the smaller pony like a doll.
“So warm… so soft… You’ve provided me with so much entertainment pet. Breaking you has been a fun diversion these past thousand years and despite my anger… I must thank you. Without you to torment I may have lost my mind like you did down on that rock”
Lulu shuddered as her captor tenderly caressed her. Her heart was beating like a drum in her chest and she swallowed thickly as she opened her lips to speak.
“P-please…”
“Yes my pet?” Nightmare cooed as she nibbled on one of her ears, lulu whimpering at the gentle attention
“Please let me go” she begged with a broken sob.
“No my pet. I’m afraid I can’t do that. In fact I have half a mind to leave you to rot on that moon while I escape for your treachery”
(Please no)
Lulu cried at the prospect. Not that. Anything but that. The Nightmare merely shushed her as she continued to idly violate the pony caught in her grip. Lulus’ defeated sobbing doing nothing to dissuade her.
“But, Nightmare said with an annoyed sigh, I can’t leave here by myself anyway. Fortunately for you I need your body to set hoof upon that world. Which means we have to go together my dear pet”
“My body?” Lulu whispered in confusion. She shrieked as she was spun in Nightmares grip so they were crushed chest to chest, hips to hips, frightened cry to sadistic smile.
“Oh yes my dear. Think back carefully. Surely something of our time together is still rattling around that shattered mind of yours. You’ve only been on your own for nine hundred years or so now”
(No. We don’t want to remember the cold. The isolation. We don’t want to remember you!)
Lulu frantically tried to understand what her captor meant. A time before this? They were one once?
Memories started to bubble to the surface. Lulu felt an inexplicable cold coat her limbs and despite herself she huddled closer to the Nightmare for warmth.
(Please don’t remember. We don’t want to remember!)
“That’s right my dear. Remember the endless night. Remember the banishment by your own sister. Remember your name ‘LUNA’!” Nightmare laughed with triumph.
With a scream of pain the memories came flooding back in a tsunami of torment. She remembered the Nightmare approaching her. She remembered the promises that together they would get her the respect and love she so longed for. She remembered the endless night she enforced on the world.
Too late she realized that her partner was nothing but a monster. And that the partnership was a trap. She remembered killing and maiming and being helpless to stop herself.
She remembered her sister… banishing her to his hell…
(SHE WAS SUPPOSED TO SAVE US FROM THE MONSTER! WE BEGGED AND BEGGED BUT SHE WOULDN’T HEAR US! WHY CELESTIA!! WHY DID YOU DO THIS TO US!?)
And then for awhile the Nightmare rampaged across the moon desperate to escape. The monster realizing that there was no escape, not for another thousand years; she remembered her making a decision.
She remembered being let free… only be driven to madness by torture and pain as a diversion for the Nightmare.
Lunas’ eyes went glassy as the revelation finally shattered her completely. Her minds collapse the only option left to escape the pain as a thousand years of monumental torment took their toll.
She went limp in Nightmares arms and the larger alicorn tenderly gathered her up in a soothing embrace. Luna staring blankly into space as her own personal Nightmare stroked her mane and kissed her cheek.
“Don’t worry Luna. I’ll take care of you. Now and forever you will be my favored pet” Nightmare whispered lovingly. With a final, gentle kiss upon Lunas’ brow her essence collapsed into a fog of dark energy that swiftly enveloped the unresisting alicorn.
A silhouette of Luna could just be made out inside the fog but as the magic’s motions grew more frantic her outline changed, growing bigger, growing stronger, until Luna was gone once again.
Lunas’ eyes opened and the Nightmare looked out at the distant world of Equestria. A terrible fanged grin split her lips as she threw her head back and laughed maniacally.
The Nightmare was back.
And this time she was here to stay.

Author's Notes:

Authors note; welp that’s it. Here’s hoping I don’t get flamed to hell. This is not a one-shot people I do have more chapters planned if you all want to see more. And I thank you so much for taking the time to read this everybody I really appreciate it :)