FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

BETWEEN DREAMS AND NIGHTMARES

A great man once said, 'When we are first born into the world, we are born innocent. (We are free of the obligations of others to judge us otherwise.') *We are free of the obligations or expectations of others, who would judge us otherwise* If that saying is true, what is it that turns such innocence into evil? It is believed that there are only two ways that this could happen; the first is voluntary; as that person chooses their course of action. (The second is when the choice is forced upon us and other judges us as evil.) *The second is when a choice is forced upon us and others judge our actions as evil.* It can be something simple as that of a different point of view.

Case in point, back in the medieval age the Catholic Church went on all of those holy wars to rid the world of all those other old religions, proclaiming them to be worshiping of false gods and/or demons. Could those old religions be truly wrong or their followers in worship of actual evil ones?, But then when you look at it in another light, the Catholic Church could be considered evil; as they went about the world, sending out their believers who thought their god was the true God and all others false. Giving those others the only option of convert or die.

Some believe that the Crusades were nothing more than a means to rid the world of the old and make way for a new religion. (In the name of their God, they sent several thousands of people and such to their early graves, just to proclaim themselves to be the true followers of the true faith.) *In the name of their god, they sent many thousands of people to their early graves, believing themselves justified in cleansing the world of evil.* But who gave them the right to judge others as evil or their God to be the real/true God? I guess it really comes down to one's point of view. There is one truth that rings true to everyone and can be found almost in that of every holy text; Love thy Neighbor. For is it not true that in the eyes of any religion that each individual is equal and upon that of our day of judgment, we judged by the one who does have the right to weigh our deeds and how we lived our lives?

I mean, if we were all born the same, thought the same, and worshiped the same god, wouldn't that make us all...stale. I mean; is it not that diversity that helps us grow and expand as a people? With that diversity we get to look at things from different angles, go about things in different ways, etc...;

Forgive me; I seem to have gotten caught up in a sensitive topic that will most likely anger a great number of people. But who is it to say that one is truly evil, when their own point of view is set in only one path?

(END PROLOG)

CH1 And thus, we come to the world of Equestria, a world very much like that of our own. Blue skies and seas, great expanses of land covered in mountains and forest, deep canyons and mountains that look to reach high into the sky to surpass even that of the highest clouds. Though the one thing that makes this land stand alone or differ from that of our own, is that the world is dominated, not by man, but by equines/horses. To this we look a little closer and we find that even in this world of horses and equines we find one who has been labeled...evil. When you look past the label, past the shell that was placed upon this poor individual named Nightmare Moon, what do you truly see?

At one time, she was no different than any other average Alicorn pony. As with any other Alicorn, she was born with a pair of wings that allowed her to soar amongst the clouds, as well as a horn upon her brow that allowed her to do incredible feats of magic that the average Unicorn could never hope to accomplish. Through all that, many would believe she would live an average life, but her life was anything but ordinary for that of an Alicorn. Upon the day of her birth her mother surprised the kingdom of Equestria with fraternal twins. The first born was that of a white pony and to this white pony was given the name, Princess Celestia, the Princess that would one day come to rule the day. The second born was that of a dark as night pony and to this unusual dark colored pony was given the name, Princess Luna, the Princess that would one day come to rule the night.

Even though the two sisters were born just moments apart, neither thought themself the better of the other and the two lived to grow up in royal splendor. With time'a passing and the two grew into their station, they were bequeathed the charge of bringing the day and the night. To Princess Celestia came the duty of raising the sun each morning and to Princess Luna that of the night. Both sisters took to the task set before them and did their duty as Princesses of the land with great splendor, but as time wore on there came a rift between the two that would one day split the happy sisters in twain.

Like all places, the sun brought forth the beginning of the new day and the waking of the denizens of Equestria. The ponies of the land would rise from their slumber and go forth to greet the new day and beginning their lives refreshed and anew. Upon the setting of the night came the time for the denizens of Equestria to return to their beds, to seek slumber and rest from their activities during the day. So as one might imagine, the denizens of the land sought out and gave great praise to Princess Celestia for bringing forth the day, but to Princess Luna their came no praise and her nights were ignored, unappreciated.

It was with this, Princess Luna began to become jealous of her sister. Just like her sister, Princess Luna put forth a great effort to make her nights as wonderful as her sister's days, but no matter how much effort she put forth to create her nights, there were no ponies to appreciate her hard/beautiful labor. The soft breezes that cooled the world from her sister's warm days, the soft twinkle of her stars that made up so many different images painted in the heavens, and the gentle glow of her moon that so many poems of love and romance were written about.

So it went thru the passage of time (1,000 years to exact) and Princess Luna began to change. The jealously that once seemed such a trifle of a thing, began to change into something else and that something else was called anger. Princess Luna began to despise her sister for her days and all those that ignored her own wonderful nights. How dare the denizens of Equestria praise her sister for her days and not for her night's? This anger, this feeling of resentment against her sister only grew with time and it was upon one such day that this Princess Luna could no longer contain her anger. Thus, Nightmare Moon was born.

Upon the night that Nightmare Moon was born out of Princess Luna's form, she made a declaration that she would no longer stand for her nights to be ignored. To that end, she would not relent her nights to Princess Celestia's days. She would get the recognition that she deserved and would finally be praised for her hard labors upon that of her nights. Wouldn't one think that over the passage of so many nights, her actions might just be seen as justified? I mean, who doesn't wish for one's hard work/labor to be appreciated, and who is it to say that once she'd finally gotten her recognition that she would relent her eternal night to the coming of her sisters sun/day. Being short or narrow sighted, it was believed that the new Princess Luna/Nightmare-Moon would never relent her nights and was thus labeled...; evil.

Now, with the declaration of Nightmare Moon to plunge the world into night eternal, Princess Celestia came forth and began to plead with her sister. At one time the sisters were almost inseparable from the other, but now there was such a rift between them that there seemed to be no way to actually mend their supposed unbreakable bond. It was in that moment of narrowsitedness that Princess Celestia focused only upon the effects of the actions of her sister and the die was cast. To bring the day back to her subjects, Princess Celestia fought against her beloved sister. Though she fought with the love and admiring cheers of the denizens of Equestria, she couldn't best her sister. It was then that she brought forth the only thing that would tip the scales in her favor, the Elements of Harmony. With their power, she was able to finally best her sister and bring forth the day once more.

For her supposed 'Evil' actions, Princess Celestia sentenced her sister to be imprisoned with her moon. While her sister remained there to serve out her sentence of punishment for casting the world of Equestria into eternal night, Princess Celestia took it upon herself to bring forth both the night and the day. In hope of reminding her subjects of the land the error of Nightmare Moon's ways, the moon was re-named, 'The Mare in the Moon'. And so it was believed that the Moon would serve as Nightmare Moon's prison forever. As with all things that are believed to last forever, fate always loves to step in and prove that wrong.

Thanks to Dasher_Cheetah for this

If you like this version please leave comment and let me know to have him as my beta reader