Between Dreams and nightmares Beta2

Story by Tootall on SoFurry

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#2 of Beta Test

This is the second version of the beta test. This was done/edited by narvaez333.

Please comment at rate the work so we can go with one of the new beta readers


BETWEEN DREAMS AND NIGHTMARES

by ~tootall

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.' Then if that saying is true, what is it that turns such innocence into evil? It is believed that there is only two ways that this could happen; the first is voluntary; as that person chooses that course of action. The second is when the choice is forced upon us and other judges us 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 old religions, proclaiming those old religions to be worshiping false gods and/or demons. Could those old religions be truly wrong? Could their followers be worshipping actual evil? Taken in another light, the Catholic Church could be considered evil. They went about the world sending out their believers who believed their god was the true God, all other gods to be false, and give those "pagans" the option to 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. But in that, 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 that of 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 are 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 of diversity that helps us grow and expand as a people? With that of 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 deal of people. But who is it to say that one is truly evil when their point of view is set in only one path?

(END PROLOGUE)

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 that of man, but by that of 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. Though 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 the better of the other and the two lived to grow up in royal splendor. With time passing and the two grew into their station, they were bequeathed with the charge of bringing forth 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 to which did fulfilled 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 things, the day brought forth the beginning of the new day and to which the waking of the denizens of Equestria. The ponies of the land would awaken from their slumber and go forth to great the new day and begin their lives refreshed and anew. Upon that of the night came the time for the denizens of Equestria to return to their beds, and to that seek slumber and rest from their activities during the day. So as one might imagine, that the denizens of the land sought out and gave great praise to that of Princess Celestia for bringing forth the day;, but to that of Princess Luna there came no praise and her nights were ignored and unappreciated.

It was with this that Princess Luna began to become jealous of her sister. Just like that of 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 for into that of 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.

This progressed for quite some time and with the passage of time (1,000 years to exact), Princess Luna began to change. The jealously that once seemed such a trifle thing began to change into something else, and that something else was called anger. Princess Luna began to despise her sister over her days and all those that ignored her 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 to her sister, only grew with time and it was upon one such day that this Princess Luna could no longer contain her anger and 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 and to that would not relent her nights to that of Princess Celestia's days. She would get the recognition that she deserved and would finally be praised for her hard labors with that of her nights. So wouldn't one think that over the passage of so many nights that her actions might just be 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 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, her sister came forth and began to plead with her sister. At one time the sisters were almost inseparable from the other, but now there was that of such a rift between them that their seemed to be no way to actually mend their supposed unbreakable bond. It was in that moment or narrow sightedness that Princess Celestia focused only upon the effects of the actions of her sister that the dice was cast. To bring the day back to her subjects, Princess Celestia fought against her beloved sister, but though she fought with the love and admiration from the cheers of the denizens of Equestria, she couldn't best her sister. It was with that she brought for 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 was able to bring forth the day once more.

For her supposed 'Evil' actions, Princess Celestia sentenced her sister to be imprisoned with that of her moon, and while her sister remained there to serve out her sentence of punishment for casting the world of Equestria into eternal night, she would take it upon herself to bring forth both the night and the day. In hopes to remind or teach the 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. Though with all things that are believed to be or last forever, fate always loves to step in and prove that wrong.