Burn The Fallow Land

Chapters

Prologue: The Descent
Chapter 1: Before The Descent
Chapter 2: Empty Throne
Chapter 3: Burned Pride
Chapter 4: Stuck In The Past
Chapter 5: False Masks
Chapter 6: The Truth Burns
Chapter 7: The Past Ends
Chapter 8: The Future Begins

Prologue: The Descent

Luna stared at the mirror before her, only seeing the faintest outline of her reflection in the darkness of her bedchambers. She scowled.

Weak.

Luna had been through wars. She had seen titans and heroes alike fall, many by her own hooves. Still, for all that she had accomplished, there was one giant she could not vanquish.

Pathetic.

She had always been the other princess. The one who took care of the moon and ran things while others slept. The lesser princess. The unimportant princess.

Foolish.

She should have known things would end like this. For years she had tried convincing herself otherwise, that things would change with time, that her subjects would eventually notice her work—her sacrifices. The only time she was ever mentioned in any manner had been during wartime, when she was leading the companies across the plains, encouraging the troops to move forward. She had cut down many foes, and protected twice as many allies. Only when she was useful did anyone ever take the time to speak to her.

Alone.

She stood upright. No. Not anymore. She would not be a mere shadow floating in and out of rooms without being noticed. She would not be ignored. She would be praised. They would sing of her moon’s beautiful light. They would realize that there were two princesses, not just the one.

Why should she even stand beside us? She has done nothing to help, after all.

Luna blinked as faint beams of moonlight reflected in her pale blue irises. She closed them and let out a sigh, her head drooping a little.

Celestia.

Luna always knew deep down that her sister was the better ruler. Even now, despite her anger and resentment towards her sister for having the attention of their subjects, she knew that Celestia had earned that trust and adoration.

Yet she has never bothered to point out your accomplishments, or give a share of the thanks and praise to you.

Luna’s frown deepened. That was true. Celestia, who supposedly loved and cared for Luna, had never bothered to tell others about her little sister’s sacrifices and work. Not once.

Why should there be two, when only one seems to be what this land needs?

If Equestria only needed one Princess… then Luna would not be the one to be ousted.

“I will be a shadow no more,” she said to herself. “They will speak my name from now on. Her precious light will be but a footnote to my brilliance.”

She spun around, her horn lighting up and ripping apart the drapes of her bedroom window. The moonlight flooded the bedchambers, and Luna cackled.

“No. The sun shall not rise today, dearest sister. The night shall end only when I see fit,” Luna said, her eyes taking in the sight of her greatest work, the moon. “In fact… the night shall last forever!”

Luna took flight out the window. She made her way towards the throne room, leaving her room empty, at least, to the untrained eye…

Something stirred within Luna’s bedroom mirror. Garbled, wicked laughter could be heard coming from within, a black mass that moved on its surface; two glowing eyes appeared near the top of the shadows.

“And soon, my own reign shall become eternal!” said a voice that reverberated throughout the room, the laughter picking up again. The drapes rustled from a breeze that wasn't there, and the shadow was gone.

Only darkness prevailed.

The dead did not rise from their graves to lament their passing. That was up to the living.

His body was a corporeal form of shifting shadows and insufficient light. He was forever hexed to be nothing more than an eyesore, so he hid himself from their eyes. He hid from the living, the dead, the guilty, and the innocent. In doing so, he became not of this world, but just a shadow of it.

He did not mind this. He prefered it this way, actually. Here, there was nothing to hinder him, so he grew more reckless as the centuries passed. The centuries turned into millennia, and millennia into eons. He was just a shadow, and shadows paid no attention to the passing of ages.

Eventually, however, his boredom got the best of him. His wanderlust dried out. He wanted to step out of the shadows and see the light, and to be of this world fully, not merely in the darkness.

The light laughed at him.

It was intoxicating to look at. In fact, the one who led him to it was even more alien than himself. It was like him in a way. One foot in this realm, another foot out. But while he stood in the doorway of the darkness, this creature had a foot into another plane of existence altogether: one of merriment and wonder, of prideful lust and wicked wrath, of dead despair and hapless hope, of chilling misery and judicious joy. The creature was like a dam draining through a pinhole, and all he could do was question how it did not go mad right that very second.

He was curious about this creature. Hesitant, certainly, but the creature had continued to amaze him at just how much it knew of the world that was not of the darkness. Before, he had taken anxious steps into it, never before indulging fully into the realm that had shrouded him in the shadows that were produced from the light.

And the light. Oh, the wondrous light. He said he could show him it. Perhaps… perhaps even give it to him.

How could he say no to an offer like that? It was too good to pass up. Too good.

The light was so close. It was melting the shadows away. Turning the darkness grey until it finally disappeared. He was no longer a visitor of this realm. He was a part of it, fully and completely.

He screamed.

The light laughed at him.

The living lamented while the dead remained silent, their passing unnoticed except by those who despaired.

Author's Note

Another round of thanks for those who edited the first few chapters, Titanium Dragon, Razzle Dazzle, Abcron, and Spooky Fidelis! If I forgot anyone by accident, please let me know!

Chapter 1: Before The Descent

Like all good endings, it started from the beginning, gradually leading up to its eventual course in a full circle. Or, at least that’s how Celestia liked to think of it, right before her head was nearly taken off her shoulders.

She ducked down and rolled to the side, narrowly missing the strike from her opponent, who was quick to attack her once again. Discord grinned, collecting his chaotic energies in both hands before releasing them in a beam that scarcely grazed Celestia’s back. The dastardly draconequus growled, his terribly mismatched face peeling back into a snarl as he launched another attack at her with his gryphon talon.

“Luna, I am in need of some assistance here!” Celestia called out, backpedaling rapidly to avoid dismemberment from Discord’s lightning-fast lunges.

Luna needed no further prompting. Her horn flared, and she flickered away in a burst of light, only to reappear between Discord and Celestia, both of her forelegs grappling onto Discord’s paws. Luna let out a grunt as she used the draconequus as a support, and lifted her back legs off the ground. She kicked out with both hind legs, catching Discord square in the chest and pushing herself off of him.

As the draconequus went flying back several yards from the impact before falling to the ground, Luna landed beside her winded sister. “Are you alright?”

“Yes, yes, I’m fine.” Celestia drew in some quick breaths, shaking her head slightly. “But my magic has no effect on him. He completely decimated the guards protecting the castle, and even now, nothing I hit him with does anything that can put him down.” Celestia arched a brow at the fallen Discord, who was struggling to his feet. “Though your methods prove to be more effective.”

Luna stood a little taller, giving a ghost of a smile. “A pony’s most powerful weapon is her own body, Celestia. You’d do well to remember that.” She flexed her wings, and rolled her neck. “Though I am a bit surprised… I don’t remember him ever being this resistant to magic. Or that durable against physical attacks.” Her eyes narrowed as she stared at the recovering draconequus. “Something is different about him.”

“I cannot make heads or tails of it. He simply got stronger since we last encountered him. It’s as though he just suddenly became this strong. No magic. No spell. Just… simply being himself.” She looked to Celestia. “We need to use the Elements…”

“Luna, we don’t even know what they’d do to him.” Celestia closed her eyes. “You promised me we’d try to talk him out of it first. I know you’re probably right, dear sister, but please, he deserves a chance just like anyone else.”

“He lost that chance the moment he threatened to flood the land in cottage cheese, sister!” Luna snapped. “I…” She sighed. “Celestia, I know you… still care for him. But we must look at the larger picture. If we do not do something about this quickly, we will all pay for it.” She gestured to Discord with a hoof. “You’ve seen what good talking to him has done already.” She turned her attention fully to the draconequus and spoke. “Discord. We will give you one final warning. Cease with this madness at once, or we shall be forced to stop you by whatever means necessary, and I can assure that they will not be pleasant.” Her eyes narrowed. “Make your choice.”

Discord slowly tilted his head to the side, the smile on his lips growing into a leer as his head continued its course, twisting far more than any natural creature could. Soon his head was upside down entirely, and he laughed as it continued to move; there was no snap of bone, no rending of flesh as his head continued, finally bringing itself upright again, as if a clock had fully run the course of an hour. Again and again it turned, another circuit, the princesses grimacing at the grotesque sight of his neck bending in on itself like a helix of flesh and blood, every revolution pressing the curves of flesh tighter and tighter before, suddenly, some sort of limit was reached, his neck unwinding as his head turned to little more than a brown and gold blur, split in half by a Cheshire grin that spun like the hands of a clock gone mad. As his head popped back into place, he cackled madly.

“I choose… Option K!” he proclaimed. His arm stretched out, his lion’s paw gripping Luna’s neck in just a second’s time. “Can you guess what the K stands for? Let me give you a hint!” Discord’s arm snapped back, then forward, propelling Luna into the throne room's floor. Luna’s body cut marble chunks the size of watermelons as she tumbled across the floor, leaving a trail of shattered masonry in her wake until she finally slid to a halt, terribly still.

Celestia let out a feeble cry, all the breath gone from her lungs at the sight of her fallen sister. She instantly teleported to Luna’s side, holding her bruised and battered body gingerly in her hooves. Luna made no indication of noticing her presence, so cold and still Celestia couldn’t even tell if she was breathing.

“Luna! Luna! Please… dear sister, wake up.” A tear slid down Celestia’s cheek, falling silently on Luna’s forehead. No other sound could be heard in the throne room. Not Celestia’s quiet crying, nor the beat of Luna’s heart. However, the silence was finally broken when Discord started walking forward, the thump of his feet across the floor causing a spike of dread to pierce Celestia’s heart over and over again.

“Now for Option D! Oh boy, this is my most favorite one yet!” Discord cheered. He clapped his hands together, his face twisted into a malicious grin, like that of a child right before they set fire to a new toy just to see how amazing the flames are. Because, in the end, that’s all he was, and Celestia knew this. A child playing with his toys. A puppeteer pulling the strings. And once he was done with her and Luna, there’d be no stopping him from playing with everypony in Equestria.

It was in this moment of fear and helplessness though, that Celestia suddenly noticed things. Discord’s torso was open for a quick strike. Were he to counter, she could leap to his left or right and deliver a traumatic blow to the side of his head.

Without even knowing entirely what she was seeing, visions of various scenarios involving her engaging the draconequus flashed through her mind. She suddenly had a clear idea of what to do, but no idea of knowing how she knew. It was almost as if…

Celestia gazed at Luna.

“Luna…?”

Silence. Then…

“He’s open, Celestia. I… am not in a state to engage him directly. Let me guide you. This time, you shall be the sword. I will be your shield.”

A feeling washed over Celestia. She suddenly felt a presence dwelling within her. A familiar one. Her fear slowly faded, being replaced with steel determination. No longer was she by herself, for Luna’s battle-hardened soul was now one with her.

Celestia took a deep breath, and looked to Discord. “That was the last pony that you shall harm, Discord.”

Discord giggled. “Who? Discord? He’s left the building. It is I, Discord, who remains,” he said, pronouncing his name now with an embellished Trottingham accent.

“I’ve had enough of your games!” Celestia screamed, rising quickly to her hooves. She leapt through the air like quicksilver, diving directly at Discord’s chest with the speed and ferocity of a lightning strike. However, the minute she struck him, two inky black hands reached out and grabbed her neck.

The coldness struck Celestia so hard it felt like her soul was being turned into icicles. All she could do was remain there, stunned, her body turning into a frozen statue.

Discord put his hands behind his back and hummed under his breath, completely indifferent to the new appendages that had sprouted out from his chest. “Enough of the games? But my dear, we’re just getting started. That’s Option G, after all! We play, I win, you lose, and the entire game starts over again. Oh, it’ll be so much fun. We can keep on playing it forever and ever without end! Which is what Option F was going to be on the second revision, if you’re catching my drift.”

The hands dipped in darkness turned her around, forcing Celestia to gaze blankly at her sister’s battered body. “Now, here’s a fun beginner’s game,” Discord whispered into her ear, the same empty coldness from the hands gripping her traveling from Discord’s voice. “I’m going to kill your sister. You try and stop me. Simple enough, right? All you need to do is say ‘stop’ and you win.” Discord took a step forward. “Say it anytime you want, my dear.”

Celestia couldn’t even open her mouth. Her lips were glued together. Her lungs were empty of air. She didn’t even have the strength to utter a single letter, much less word. Even screaming was too far gone from all. All she could do was watch helplessly as Discord approached her defenseless baby sister, each painfully slow step bringing him closer and closer.

“Really now, Celestia, you can’t even say one word to save your own flesh and blood? Are you seriously just that selfish? Does Luna mean nothing to you?” Discord barked out a laugh, his voice but an echo of the original. “Well, pretty soon, she’s going to be nothing once I’m done with her, now won’t she?”

Celestia struggled. One word. One simple word.

“Sister… I’m here. Please, don’t give in! We can stop him, but you need to work with me!”

Celestia’s eyes struggled to stay open. She glanced at her baby sister. She looked down upon Luna’s face. One of Luna’s eyes opened, just barely. The two sisters looked to each other.

“I believe in you, Celestia… but you must believe in yourself as well! I know it’s within you. I’ve seen that fire burn within you hundreds of times!” A phantom warmth began to spread in Celestia’s chest. “Don’t let that flame die, sister! Fight! If not for me, then for yourself! For Equestria, and for the future generations that are depending on us!” The fire began to grow, the warmth slowly rising in temperature. “Fight, Celestia!”

Celestia’s mouth jaw slowly opened and closed. She kept her gaze on Luna, the warmth in her body continuing to drive away the coldness.

“St…”

The fire was beginning to surge into her limbs. She could feel her heartbeat begin to pick up. The chilling hand of death began to loosen its hold of her.

“St-stah…”

All at once, and without any warning, the flame within Celestia exploded.

“STOP!”

A surge of magic coursed through her body, releasing itself from her in a violent shockwave. The impact of the magical force caused Discord to let go of Celestia and slide back a few feet, but he was, somehow, unharmed.

“Oh no, you won the game,” Discord said, disappointment dripping from his words like a leaky kitchen sink. Tutting under his breath, he shrugged. “Oh well, time to start a new one, I suppose.” A black flame sprouted in his hand, expunging all the light out of the room until only Discord’s glowing red eyes remained the only light source. “This one is simple. Try to stay alive. You can already guess what happens if you lose!”

Discord prepared to throw the flame at Luna, Celestia too far away to stop it.

The darkness laughed.

Chapter 2: Empty Throne

Luna landed in the hall leading to the throne room. She glanced up at her full moon, and scowled as it continued to journey towards the horizon.

“All a part of the order of things…” Luna scoffed. “Yes, all a part of your order, maybe, Celestia…” Luna paid no mind to the few Royal Guards stationed throughout the hall, more than a few of them giving her concerned looks. “That will change soon enough, though.”

Luna opened the doors to the throne room, unsurprised to see that it was vacant. She walked up to the raised platforms where she and Celestia sat when they held court. Both thrones were of equal size, the only difference between them being their color. Vibrant, brilliant gold for the Princess of the Sun. Dark, blue, cobalt metal for the Princess of the Night. She ignored the obvious signs of more frequent traffic on the rug before her sister’s throne. The fabric was flatter, and had more imprints of hooves on Celestia’s side.

She let out a huff of frustration. More reminders of how her sister managed to give the appearance of being Luna’s equal while also holding more power over her at the same time.

Luna’s innate magic told her that it was almost time to lower the moon and make way for the new day. The new day would not last for long, however. Once Celestia made her way into the throne room, Luna would make her intentions to her sister loud and clear.

Summoning her magic, Luna slowly lowered the moon from the sky, and she could feel Celestia’s own magic making itself known. The sun’s overpowering light slowly flooded the sky, lighting up the horizon with oranges and yellows. Within a few minutes, the sun had risen, and a new day had started.

In some ways, Luna supposed, it was the beginning of a new day. A day that would end Celestia’s hold over Equestria.

Luna’s ears perked up as she heard the distinct sound of hooves clicking against the stone floor outside of the throne room, just beyond the doors. She ducked behind her throne and waited. No doubt her sister would not be expecting her to still be in the throne room. Luna rarely ever stayed there unless she had any major issues or paperwork to take care of.

The doors opened and Celestia stepped through, a gentle smile on her face as she made her way to her throne. She closed her eyes for a moment as the gentle rays of morning light beamed down upon her from the windows.

“Not another step,” Luna said, walking out from behind her throne. She glared down at Celestia, who paused with a look of mild surprise upon her face.

The two sisters held each others’ gaze for several long seconds: one a condemning glare, the other an uneasy frown mixed with confusion.

“Did you really expect me to sit idly by while they all basked in your precious light?” Luna asked, though she expected no answer from her still confused sister.

Of course she would expect as much. She’s the Princess of the Sun. The object of their adoration and praise…

Celestia slowly recovered from her stunned silence, and opened her mouth to speak.

“There can only be one princess in Equestria,” Luna interrupted as she walked up a small, balcony-like platform that was raised up behind the two thrones. “And that princess will be me!” Luna stomped her forehooves into the base of the balcony, causing it to crack and break off in pieces. The cracks quickly spiderwebbed up the wall behind her and over a stained glass window.

A dark shadow fell over the throne room as the window shattered apart, bringing forth even more rays of sunlight. Luna raised up her front hooves and stood up on her back legs. Calling forth her magic, she grabbed ahold of the moon and pulled it up from the other end of the world. Slowly, she moved it across the horizon, stopping it in front of the sun itself, blotting out the daylight and bringing night to the land once more.

Dark shadows flooded the room and slithered about Luna’s body. Luna blinked once, her eyes turned an ethereal white. She lifted herself into the air and welcomed the darkness with open forelegs. Her eyes closed as she felt a surge of arcane power flow through every fiber of her being, almost to the point that it suffocated her.

Without warning, the darkness that filled the room began to concentrate around the Princess of the Night. It engulfed Luna’s body, whirling about her and creating gale force winds. A sinister, orange light formed within the center of the growing mass of darkness, eventually becoming brighter and brighter until it more shadows engulfed it. For several long seconds, the shadows coalesced and fused into a single, solid sphere of intense, dark magic. A dark blue veil of magic washed over the inky orb, only to part with sudden force and reveal a shape within. The darkness, however, did not dissipate. No, if anything, it had become a single body, and was absorbed into whatever had just emerged from the magical tempest.

What appeared to be wings flexed open, and four legs stretched out. Its form was equine, and on top of its head rested a long, midnight black horn that matched the color of its coat.

Eyes opened. The once gentle, perceptive eyes of Luna changed, the pupils contracting and thinning out into draconic slits. The alicorn that may or may not be Luna grinned maliciously as she looked down upon Celestia, and let out a cackle, wild and terrifying.

And thus marked the beginning of what would forever change the history of Equestria.

Tick-tock on the clock, never going to fully stop. Time never ended, it just kept on going, never to stop, stop, stop!

Which just can’t be topped, mostly certainly not!

Jarring, isn’t it?

I didn’t stop either. Always going, perpetual motion, existence of life, the fields of physics, energy transferring and changing more often than a change of pants. Oh, it was complexly beautiful disaster, I’ll give it that, but a disaster nonetheless.

That’s all life really was. A disaster. One after another, culminating in death and all the fun that goes alongside it. Birth was a disaster, living was a disaster, and then finally death was the last disaster you never pull through. How cold and empty one feels once you experience.

So cold.

So empty.

Experiencing it over and over and over again.

Oh, but not anymore. No, no, certainly not!

For he has appeared. Oh, you know him already. I sure do. You know him from me, because I introduced him to you. You know who, oh, you sure do.

He was a nutty one, a bit unhinged, but nutty, so he was good. One foot in the door, the other foot chopped right off. Heh, chopped clean off. He tried to step through the wrong time.

But he made no short order to go towards the light. The same light that cut his foot right off.

Heh.

Foot.

He kept on burning as he approached the light closer. I just laughed at him. You know why. He was hobbling. What’s not to laugh about?

Oh, he didn’t stop there. He let it burn him. To ashes, ashes, ashes, ashes, we all fall down! His ashes covered the sky and created the night. His tears formed stars. He was laughing and crying.

Laughing and crying the whole while.

He was nearly gone. Nearly ash.

Ash made up of tears.

I kept on laughing when he stopped, because someone had to. I kept on chuckling as he cried, because only I could do it. I kept on cackling madly while he curled up in a ball, because this was too good to pass up.

Pass up, up, up, and away we go!

He was both the night and the stars and the misery and woe, but denied being sad. The light just laughed at him for this.

I joined it.

He joined me, crying again, while I laughed harder and harder and harder and harder. The laughter never stopped. The sheer amount of giggling had me teetering on my toes.

The despair was gone, from me at least. The misery had disappeared, from me at least. The inhibitions were nonexistent, for me at least. All of it gone, with something odd to fill in the void.

Something I knew too well.

The light laughed, he cried, and I joined in, though I couldn’t remember what I had done. I was too busy for the first time in my life being sane.

Too bad it ended when he started chuckling.

Chapter 3: Burned Pride

Celestia grimaced. “Really now, Luna, this is how you’ll degrade yourself?” She sighed, tutting under her breath as her eyes scanned Luna’s new form with a dismissive glance. “You throw a tantrum and dress up like a primadonna drama queen? You haven’t changed one bit, baby sister. Just a child dressed in adult’s clothing, who never grew up big enough to fit in them.”

“You—” Luna blinked, her grim expression leaving her face for a moment. She… had not been expecting that for a response. “Hmph! Just another insult flung at me from your own lips. Always patronizing me, always lecturing! Always, always, always looking down upon me!” Luna stamped her hooves, creating cracks that spiderwebbed across the stone floor, stomping before Celestia. “I have more than enough reason to act upset! You said to me once, not too long ago, that we would rule together! Yet, here I am, standing to the side while you lord over our subjects, and they pay no heed to my own work. My night sky, my life’s work, is ignored constantly. None care for it, so as long as they have your glorious day to enjoy.”

Luna took in a few shaky breaths. A weight had lifted from her chest, or so it felt to the alicorn. She closed her eyes, and exhaled. “It’s evident that we cannot be equals, Sister." She spat the word as if it soured on her tongue. “You seem to take control of all things without even thinking about it. You give me no chance to rise up, so it seems the only way to do so will be done by using you as the first step to climbing the ladder to my ascension.”

“Wow… it really is like talking to a child.” Celestia rolled her eyes, walking past Luna without even a backwards glance. “I only look down on you, baby sister, because this is how you act. Like a spoiled brat. It’s any wonder I don’t lecture you more often, so that asinine situations like this don’t pop up.”

Celestia halted at Luna’s side, finally bearing down on her a cold gaze that felt like a cinderblock of weight pushed against Luna’s back. “Also, Luna, in case it didn’t occur to you, ponies aren’t nocturnal. Are you really just this much of a twit, or did you just not realize it? Of course they’ll appreciate my day more than your night. If you wanted a species’ collective shoulder to cry on, become Princess of the Bats or Moles for all I care.” Celestia broke her gaze, walking away from Luna with no indication she had even stood there. “Oh, and good luck with the whole ‘climbing the ladder to my ascension’ deal. It’s not like you know the first thing about running an entire country by yourself, but I’m positive that didn’t even occur to you past your own pretentious lamenting over your ‘cruel’ and ‘horrible’ fate of being second best.”

For the second time in the past few minutes, Luna was at a loss for words. She took a step back. “I…” She frowned, her gaze narrowing as Celestia’s gaze returned to the hole in the back of the throne room that Luna had created. “I could bring fortune and prosperity to this land faster and more efficiently than you could ever hope!”

She rounded on Celestia, standing before her once more. “I have drawn up revisions to your own tax laws so many times since we started ruling this land that I have lost count! I have helped settlements that were on the verge of collapsing by rerouting our capitol’s funds. I have stationed guards and military camps in spots that were strategic weaknesses to our borders!” She grit her teeth as Celestia continued to look ahead. “You dare call me second best? You may have their love, but it is a love bought with a porcelain smile and empty words, Celestia! You care more for keeping your comfortable little life than about bettering our subjects’ lives!”

She let out a huff, then continued while from Celestia. “You’re a ruler of a false nation. A nation that’s suffocating in its own lies, dear sister. I will take control of our land with my own power. Then I will break them all from the lies you have shackled them in. They will learn to love my night, and see the true beauty of this world is not only to be found in the day, but at all hours. When they learn of the possibilities by adjusting their lives to work and produce more goods and services, then our nation can finally become as strong as it was meant to be. We will not limit ourselves to a set clock simply because a self-righteous pony in gilded regalias says it’s how things are meant to be.”

Celestia stared at Luna for several seconds, her eyes as cold and strong as steel. Then she laughed. But it wasn’t the merry tone of joy and delight Luna had grown so accustomed to hearing from her beloved sister. She hadn’t heard that one since they defeated Discord. No, this one was empty, dry, and full of malice. A laugh directed solely at Luna, diminishing everything she had said to simple humor.

“Well, baby sister, it appears you’re taking this moronic plan of yours seriously enough. And for that, you have my respect.” Celestia took a step forward, the two sister separated only by inches. Leaning forward so that her mouth was right beside Luna’s ear, Celestia whispered, “But as a fellow leader yourself, you know I’ll never give up my nation willingly. Not to Discord, and certainly not to my own kid sister. So, you know what you must do.”

Celestia grinned, her voice colder than the top of the tallest mountains, each word an icy brush of wind up Luna’s spine. “So, baby sister, what will it be? Will you kill me in cold blood, right here in the throne room? Spread my blood across the halls to celebrate your ‘ascension’? Expect your precious ponies to love you when they hear you spilled the blood of your own kin? Is that what you want? Is it?” Celestia leaned in even closer, her lips only an inch away from Luna’s ear. “You better do it now, baby sister, because I’ll give you but one warning. If you don’t kill me the first strike, I won’t grant you the same luxuries upon mine.”

Luna was a mare of many things. She was wise, if not a bit impatient at times. She could be impulsive, but was also very good at picking out details when others had missed them. She was a worldly pony, and knew more about the other cultures of the world than any other pony in Equestria, barring Celestia.

Even so, despite her many experiences and bits of wisdom that she had gained over the many centuries, she did not know what to make of this. She had expected Celestia to be upset. She had expected Celestia to lecture her, or tell her to think her actions through before she did something rash.

She did not expect Celestia to goad her into killing her, though.

Luna gave no verbal reply. Like a flash of quicksilver, she spun around and used her momentum to deliver a powerful buck to Celestia’s chest. There was a resounding boom that echoed throughout the chamber as she launched her sister straight through the stone walls of their castle. Moonlight now spilled into the chamber as bits of rubble fell from the heavily damaged wall.

She walked towards the edge, looking down upon the castle grounds. A little further ahead, she could see a trail of broken trees and a gouge in the soil that lead into the Everfree Forest that surrounded the castle itself.

Luna spread her wings and flew down from the castle tower. She landed on the ground, and followed the trail of destruction her sister’s trajectory had caused.

It ended at an empty spot in the earth that was still smoking, dust and dirt having been kicked up in the air. There was no indication where Celestia had gone, except for several tree branches above Luna’s head being on fire. Actually, a good number of the branches were ablaze now, flaming leaves sprinkling to the ground like rain.

Luna slowly turned her head, the smug grin of her sister the first thing she noticed. Secondly was that a golden helmet melted into existence on Celestia’s head, the gold flowing like water to cover her skin. Her mane and tail had already burst into flames, the inferno hotter than the inside of a sun and able to melt the scales off a dragon. Luna should know, she had seen her sister do the very act with her own eyes. And that was the last thing Luna noticed about Celestia. Even after all the countless battles she fought by Celestia’s side, even after fighting the worst enemies and monsters imaginable, she had never in all her years of knowing her sister see those eyes filled with such cruel hunger. Like a predator playing with her prey, that’s how Celestia stared at her. Because now that’s all Luna was to this… thing she once called sister.

“You didn’t kill me,” Celestia said with a sad shake of her head. A burning branch fell to Luna’s side, singeing her coat. Looking up, Luna’s sight was filled with that of a second sun in the sky, more intense than the one which usually hung overhead. “Shame. Well, for you that is.”

Then everything burned to the ground.

Chapter 4: Stuck In The Past

Luna cringed, awaiting the unnatural fires to consume her. But instead the balls of black flames had landed directly beside her, the spatter of the embers feeling cold on her skin. Opening her eyes and looking towards her attacker, her eyes widened.

“Luna, save yourself!” Celestia called out, half of her horn inserted into Discord’s leg. Discord cried out, nearly falling to his knees. His screams grew more wild when Celestia shoved her horn even deeper inside him. “Run if you have to! Just do it!”

Luna slowly rose up, legs wobbling as she attempted to steady herself. She opened her mouth to speak, only to cough and shed tears as a pain flared up in her chest. Her breaths were weak at best. Flecks of blood covered the ground where she had coughed, and she could taste iron on her tongue.

Wonderful. A punctured lung and broken ribs…

Luna bit her lip as pain surged through her body with every small movement she made. She channeled magic into her horn, and directed her attention to the saddlebags that she and her sister had brought.

“Celes…” Luna coughed hard, and a thin trail of blood dribbled down her chin. “...s-sister…” She wheezed. She lifted the bags up, pulling six colored gemstones from them. “W-we need… to use…” She coughed up more blood, and collapsed as her knees buckled beneath her weight. She cried out in pain as she her chest hit the ground.

Luna’s gaze fell upon her sister. Celestia, we have no more time. Please, if you care at all for this world’s future… help me use the Elements!

Luna felt her strength beginning to wane. Her vision was growing dim around the edges, and the taste of iron on her lips was becoming strong. If they didn’t finish Discord off soon, there was a good chance that Luna’s injuries would kill her before the draconequus had a chance to.

“That hurts,” Discord said weakly. His red eyes turned black, a fire colder than the deepest depths of the ocean burning within his pupils. “I hate pain!”

Discord ripped Celestia’s horn out of his leg and picked the unlucky princess up by her neck. Immediately the wound began to close, inky black tendrils patching up the damage Celestia had wrought. Discord’s grip turned into a vice, cutting off the air to Celestia’s begging lungs as her face became blue.

“Pain, loss, despair, jealousy, rage, and even hate! He promised to take all those things away from me. So that I’d finally be free. But you wouldn’t let him have his fun, would you?” Black tears fell from Discord’s eyes, his grip tightening further, nearly breaking Celestia’s trachea in two. “I… I just wanted a chance!”

Mercifully Celestia was allowed to draw breath again, once Discord had flung her across the room to come crashing at Luna’s side, her body bruised and beaten along the way. Celestia’s eyes fluttered, faint moans escaping from her lips. Her pupils had become unfocused, probably from a concussion she received during her fall.

“You never gave me that chance!” Discord screamed. He approached the two, holding in either hand a ball of fire engulfed in blackness. “Well, I’ll give you one that you never gave me! Start running! It’ll make it more fun for me!”

Luna’s eyes drifted from Discord to her battered sister. She gave the alabaster alicorn a gentle nuzzle, trying to rouse her from her unconscious state. “Celes...tia…?”

Celestia was unresponsive.

Luna, for the first time in a long while, felt her eyes begin to water. “Sister… please…” Luna whispered hoarsely. “Help me. I…” She sobbed softly. She hated this. Hated that the world had flung all this upon their shoulders. Hated that they had to be the ones who were destined to take down Discord, restore balance to the world, and accomplish feats that seemed impossible for a small army to accomplish, let alone two alicorns.

“I’m sorry…” Luna coughed, resting her head against Celestia’s. “I… I always… act strong, and try to be brave…” She glanced up to see Discord walking towards them, a dark aura surrounding him that seemed to flicker in and out of existence. He would be upon them shortly, and neither of the alicorns were in any shape to use magic, let alone stand up on their own. “The truth is, Celestia… you have always been that pillar for me.” She mustered a small smile as she looked upon Celestia’s face. “I have no regrets. You’re with me now. If… if we are to die here, at least I’ll have you, sister.”

She closed her eyes tightly and spread her wings protectively over Celestia as she felt the shadow of Discord cast over them. She let out a shaky breath, and whispered into Celestia’s ear. “I love you, Celestia. Th-thank you… for being my sister. For everything…”

She could feel the weight of Discord’s power pressing down upon them now, its presence literally crushing them.

“I won’t leave your side again,” Luna said, her eyes opening as she met Discord’s gaze. She pulled Celestia closer to her side, and gave the draconequus a weak glare, the faintest ghost of a defiant smile on her face. “It… it seems you’re losing yourself to that power… Discord…” She laughed a little, which quickly became a wet-sounding cough. She lifted a hoof to her mouth, and ignored the crimson staining her fetlocks. “Always… overdoing it. How typical of you, heheh…”

“The power lost itself to me. Took a wrong turn and never wanted to leave. I don’t mind. At least I have company now.” Discord halted before the duo, the flames sucking away the luster from Celestia’s coat. “And so will you upon your death. Sisters until the very end.” Discord’s grin widened, the black tears never stopping from being shed as his flames grew larger. “How touching.” Soon the black flames engulfed the pair in a torrent of flames, consuming them at once.

Only it didn’t.

The flames quickly died down when they came into contact with a golden force field surrounding the pair. Celestia’s horn glowed brighter, her eyes opening up fully and focusing on Discord.

“You never did learn when to shut it, did you?” Celestia said, a faint chuckle escaping her lips. She glanced at Luna, her warm, sunshiny smile still there, even before all this despair. “Thanks for the save, sis. Never thought he’d shut up, huh?”

“S-sister?” Luna began. “Y-you’re alright?” She noticed the force field covering them both, and offered a weak smile. “H-how? I…” She coughed and spit up a globule of dark red fluid. “I… am sorry for not being more…” she spit a bit more blood out of her mouth. “... help…”

“Well, if it wasn’t for you we’d both be scorch marks in the ground, so that’s help enough.” Celestia grunted, getting to her hooves while rubbing at her bruised neck. “Besides, there’s still the final part of the job to be finished. It’s time, sister.”

Luna watched as the gemstones she had held in her magic only moments ago were now floating before her, wrapped in a veil of golden light. She shared a look with Celestia, and nodded. “Agreed.” She rose onto her hooves slowly, and stood as tall as she could while Celestia got up as well. “Let us finish this, Celestia.”

“The only thing finished is you!” Discord bellowed. His voice was warped, much like the rest of him, his edges fuzzy and hidden in darkness. What could be seen was veiled in a blackness that distorted his appearance to something not of this world. He reached out with a clawed black hand and forcibly broke the forceshield in one strike, much of his arm becoming pulverised from the magical backlash. But there was still his other, which reached earnestly into the broken shield and swiped Luna in the blink of an eye. He held her before him like a child’s favorite toy, applying the squeeze to her already broken ribs. “You wanted this finished so badly? Well, here’s the finish!”

What little oxygen Luna had taken in before was reduced to nothing. She let out a choked scream as the sound of bones cracking filled her ears. Blood spattered her chest and the draconequus’ hand as she struggled feebly to free herself.

In her last moments of consciousness, Luna looked to Celestia. She tried to lift a hoof, hoping that by some miracle Celestia would be able to save her once more.

Then, darkness took her vision, and she left the world of reality and pain and drifted into unconsciousness.

“Finish us! Finish us now!” Discord begged, his voice no longer his own. His face was entirely black from his tears, which he never stopped shedding. He held Luna up like a prize. “Finish us off once and for all! You know you want to!”

“Release Luna this instant!” Celestia demanded. She cringed, the slight sway in focus nearly causing all the Elements of Harmony to collapse. Luna had controlled three of them, but with the full brunt of all six residing on Celestia’s shoulders, she could barely keep her attention at focus. “Do it or else a fate sevenfold worse than hers shall befall you!”

The thing that was once Discord laughed, though it was only a gesture to further amplify it’s own insane amusement of the situation. “I’ve already been through that fate, Celestia. Or had you forgotten? How you laughed at me. Me! Laughed and laughed while I cried and begged for mercy! Or did you forget that already?”

Celestia blinked, sweating pouring down her chin. “Wh… what are you talking about?”

“I didn’t think you’d actually try and hurt Discord. You always did have a soft spot for the buffoon, didn’t you?” Discord giggled, holding Luna like one would do for a lifeless doll. “But even that wasn’t enough when it came to her, now was it? My, oh my, what you wouldn’t do to save your precious baby sister.”

Celestia took a step forward. “I said release her at once!”

Discord’s spectral grin grew to a whole new level of psychotic. “I wonder…” He petted Luna’s chest, which just barely rose and fell. “If it came down to it, would you sacrifice yourself to save her?”

Tears were streaming down Celestia’s face now. The Elements were just barely staying afloat, her magic slowly diminishing by the second. It was only a matter of time before either she fell, or they did.

“N-no… please, please… not her.”

“I presume the use of the Elements of Harmony are a one-time thing? Well, in your current condition it would be. I’d lose Discord, but gain something almost as good.” Discord dropped Luna, but quickly trapped her beneath his foot. “I’d gain leverage against your heart. Perhaps even enough to twist you along my finger to do whatever I want.”

Celestia closed her eyes, but the tears still managed to escape. “Please… no. I’ll do whatever you want, just… no, please, no.”

Discord smiled, his the most genuine of grins that had ever graced the world. “Whatever I want? Oh Celestia, you make this too easy.”

He slid Luna over to Celestia. She cried. Discord laughed. He, too, laughed.

The darkness always had the last laugh.

Chapter 5: False Masks

Luna ducked and leaped forward as an orb of sunfire crashed into the massive trees behind her, reducing them to kindling almost instantly. She skidded to an abrupt halt as another ball of flames roared past her. Had she taken a few more steps, she would have been burned alive.

She looked up to the glowing form of her sister. Celestia had engulfed herself in white-hot flames, and had taken to flinging fireballs down upon Luna while laughing in what seemed to be genuine amusement.

What has happened to her? Luna thought to herself as she slid behind a thick grouping of trees. I… by the stars, she has never used magic like this before. She swallowed hard, and shook her head. I… I am a fool. She was waiting for me to confront her. She was prepared for this!

She peeked around a tree and watched as Celestia flung fireballs at random trees, watching the smoke billow up with psychotic glee. “I cannot allow her to continue like this…”

Luna’s horn glowed briefly, and she melted into the shadows, becoming one with the darkness itself.

Celestia’s coat blazed a glimmering white that not even the sun could outshine. From her horn shined a light unlike any other, the purest golden white that burned the corneas of any who stared directly at it, a light so brilliant even the briefest of glances could blind you. And with this light, Celestia cast the shadows of the forest away in an illumination unlike any other.

“You want to hide, baby sister?” Celestia called out. She waited a few seconds, her pupils contracting to tiny pinpricks. “Fine! Hide in your grave then!”

The sky was on fire, and like a hailstorm the flames fell upon the land. The first wave incinerated all it touched, turning trees into matches and foliage into tinderboxes. Not a single organic entity survived the blast, a crater of around five hundred feet covering the area in a lifeless husk of ash and still-burning embers in the cinders. The only things left were burned ground that was as hot as coal. Boulders dotted here and there were already beginning to melt from the intense heat.

Celestia landed in the middle of the circle of charred death, the smoke and ash from the hellish inferno dissipating immediately where she landed. Casting a careful eye amongst the ruins of the blaze, Celestia smirked. “It’d be a shame, baby sister, if your fate was to be burned to a crisp today; however, I won’t lose any sleep over it. Coups need to be put down, along with troublemaking siblings that don’t rightfully know their place.” Celestia sighed. She cast a disapproving gaze on the black, scorched ground. “And here I once thought you were worthy to rule by my side. Whimsical notions, I know, but a prayer nonetheless.”

“The moon will crash down upon the planet before I will die from such a reckless tactic, Sister.”

A voice echoed in Celestia’s mind. Luna’s voice, clear as crystal, as though she were standing beside her, or in front of her… or in any direction, for that matter.

“You call yourself a ruler. I see nothing but a tyrant. Perhaps my desire to seek attention and acceptance from my subjects was selfish. I realize now that my suspicions regarding you and keeping me beneath your hoof, however, were justified.”

Intangible whispers and laughter of foals floated on the wind, flakes of ash swirling around Celestia as Luna continued. “I will not fool myself, Celestia. You are the stronger one in this fight. What you lack in a warrior’s instinct you’ve always made up for with brute strength and powerful magic. However…”

The winds began to pick up. The temperature plummeted from volcanic to arctic in seconds.

“You aren’t the only one who has an ace up her sleeve, Celestia.”

The blazing alicorn whirled around, only to find a sword pressed against her neck. The faint etchings of arcane runes danced along the cold steel of the katana, marking enchantments and protection from magics of numerous sorts.

A small cloud of ash swirled around Celestia once before condensing and forming into the midnight alicorn. She smiled as she lifted the blade, forcing Celestia’s chin to raise up as well. “Careful now, sister. I think we both know just how sharp this blade can be. All I have to do is simply will the blade to be sharp, and well…” She frowned. “... you understand.”

She walked forward, snorting as a bit of ash irritated her nose. “Before we continue this little bout… a question, if I may?” She stared at Celestia, her expression now unreadable. “Surely you can give your only sister that much before you incinerate her, yes?”

Celestia smiled, the blade only inches away from her neck yet not bothering her in the least. “Oh please, do. I’m used to answering your questions by now, sister, since you often times don’t have the intellect or common sense to know the answer yourself.”

Luna’s eyes narrowed. She stared at Celestia for several long moments, then asked, “How long? How long have you harbored such anger? You laugh at me, and ridicule me… but I can sense it.” She took another step forward, careful to keep her blade poised below Celestia’s chin. “There’s something inside you. Something… something I can feel. It’s not you.” Her eyes were suddenly glowing with magic. She studied Celestia from head to toe, then frowned. “It’s as though you’re a completely different creature, Celestia.” She shook her head slowly, and sighed. “I will admit, I perhaps should have been less forward about my intentions if I truly wished to have more control. Perhaps I would have been better off doing you in while you slept.”

A hollow wind rolled past the two, and for a moment, Luna looked regretful. Her gaze hardened, and she let out a snort. “Now, though, I’m seeing something that I had not noticed before. If you’ve always held such anger in you, and you’re willing to decimate acres of life to simply prove your superiority to me…” Her form began to waver, as though it was being blown away with the breeze itself. “...this changes everything, Celestia. I will stop you, for Equestria’s sake. I was foolish to think that simply seizing the throne for myself would prove anything. You, however, have given me more than enough reason to do you in.”

Luna vanished the breeze, as did her sword.

“Part of me even wonders if you truly are my sister…”

Celestia scanned her surroundings, waiting for the faintest hint of movement. Probably Luna poised to strike from the smoke and dust that had filled the air.

“You want to know how long I’ve had this anger within me, dear sister?” Celestia called out, the wind her only answer as it swept up the ash. “My entire life! Every waking moment I’ve had to take care of you, look out for you, and even defend you against the troubles of this world! All the while I sat back and watched as you failed miserably to be anything else other than a worthless hack in the royal lineage. You know why you don’t have your own kingdom to rule, baby sister? Because I couldn’t trust you to run a castle, much less an entire nation, all by your lonesome. The best I could do was grant you a title so you didn’t embarrass our royal line.”

With a devious grin on her face, Celestia lifted up her wings and released a torrent of air with a single flap, twin tornadoes clearing the air of dust and ash so only the fallow lands remained. No place to hide now.

“It was only when Discord nearly toppled us that I realized how truly useless you were! How much you depended on me! How much I sacrificed just to find my contributions being put into a worthless husk!” Celestia walked down the center of the burned forest, carefully looking for even the slightest hint of her sister, always lurking in the shadows. “It was then that I knew you truly were an investment not worth keeping! In fact, I was actually hoping you’d attempt to overthrow me one day. At least then it’d give me a good enough excuse as any to kill you. Took you longer than I thought it would have, but in the end, you’re predictable as always, baby sister.”

While Celestia walked through the remnants of the burned forest, Luna trailed behind, slithering from shadow to shadow, even the smallest rock providing enough shade to remain concealed.

Her… entire life…? Luna let out a shaky breath. If this was true, then all those centuries… the times they suffered together. Discord, King Sombra… Tirek…

All of those times that they had fought beside each other. Had she truly been that large of a burden to Celestia?

“I see…” Luna’s voice lacked any aggression this time. With a pop, Luna materialized from her hiding place within the shade of a burned tree. She waited for Celestia to stop. “If that is so true, then why did you not leave me to die at Discord’s hands all those years ago? Why did you not let Sombra impale me on his diamond throne, or crush me beneath the weight of my worst fears?”

Luna glared at Celestia, though her eyes, which had once held hostility, now held nothing but pain. “I will admit, these past few years have been… less than wonderful. I felt a distance between us. I had no one to confide in. I could tell you were too involved in running Equestria.” She shook her head. “Sometimes, though, I felt as though something… I know not what it may have been, but I swore I could feel it… was there. In the back of my mind. When I saw you, I could hear it, a voice. Whispering… asking me questions.”

The midnight alicorn took a step forward, Celestia watching her with mild disinterest. “Why should I settle for staying where I am, it would ask? Why should it be a diarchy when only one seems to be in charge, it wondered? Any suggestions I made, sound and reasonable as they might have been, were disregarded.”

She stopped, no more than a few paces between her and Celestia now. “I think I know now what that voice was…”

Her slitted irises were mere slits now as she locked her gaze with Celestia’s. “It was you, wasn’t it?” Her words gave the impression of a question, but her tone held little uncertainty. “Those voices. Those ideas. It was you, planting those thoughts in my mind.”

She received no answer.

“I asked you a question, Celestia.” She stomped a hoof, causing all the rubble and debris to bounce a few feet in the air for a moment before landing. “Answer me!”

Celestia stared down at her hoof. “You know, the funny thing is, Luna…” She glanced upward, her rose colored eyes boring into Luna’s vision like spotlights. “I never had to do a thing. Oh, well, I pushed you along a bit, just to make the process easier. Along with alienating the noble court from you, lessening your importance, and promoting the beauty of the sun to the populace while disregarding the moon.

"But you, baby sister, you barely needed any nudging at all to believe yourself superior to your own sister and to slit her throat with hardly a second thought.” Celestia’s lips edged up her face into a smile, completely malevolent and devoid of any indication of joy or cheer. “I’m guessing you wanted someone to blame for these murderous thoughts, hmm? Well, sorry to disappoint, but the only one you can call a conniving deviant is yourself.”

For a long moment, Luna said nothing. Her eyes lowered to the charred earth, her hoof scuffing at the glassed soil.

Weak.

Luna’s eyes widened. She looked up to Celestia, though her sister had not moved.

Pathetic.

Panic began to trickle into her mind. Again, she was hearing these whispers. Though…

Foolish.

“No… you’re lying!” Luna protested, taking a step away from Celestia. Her gaze hardened. “I know it! There is something not right with you! With me, too, it would seem!” She grit her teeth and forced down the scream as Celestia remained impassive to her sister.

Alone.

Then, Luna let out a scream. She locked in on Celestia, and her horn ignited with a light that resembled that of a full moon on a cloudless night. She pointed it at her sister, tears rolling down her eyes. “Of sound mind or not, Celestia, I know this much! There is a darkness in your heart! A darkness in mine! If you truly do not see this, then there is no hope for us!”

She let out a shaky sob, and the magic coursing through her began to hum, a light, violent soprano that cried to be released. “I will not deny it, sister, while I despise the things you have said about me, and while I want to crush you for the heartache you’ve put me through… I still care for you. I still…” She let out a frustrated cry. “I may be on the brink of madness, but I am aware of it. There is still sanity within me. You, however, I feel, have lost yourself to this… this power of yours. It is not you. It doesn’t feel like you.” She stood upright, her spell straining to break free of her hold. “I will ask you, only once, so listen well.” She let out a breath, and asked, just above a whisper. “Celestia… sister… do you truly hate me? Do you hate me as much as you said you do?”

She lowered her head, and aimed at her sister. “I await your reply.”

“Then wait no longer, baby sister,” Celestia said. She extended a wing across the fallow lands, where life had been extinguished and everything burned to the ground. “The strong rule over the weak. I have seen this time and time again, and in being surrounded by its examples I have became one of its star students. Sombra, Tirek, Discord, all powerful foes with might to match with our own. Might enough to rule, in fact. It was then that I realized why be ashamed of it? Why regret being in charge just because of my magical superiority or longer lifespan? I should embrace it. In fact, I should hold it in the highest regards that I can, for all of Equestria as well. A nation built upon the backs of the strong while the weak are trampled beneath their hooves. This is the world I envision. The world where ponies can truly rise among the ranks of the meek and become stars in the sky. A world where we are the top of the food chain, where we are above everyone else.”

Celestia turned her wing to Luna, slowly shaking her head while a disappointed tsk escaped her lips. “But you, baby sister, you’re not part of this world. You never were. Initially, I had hope, the hope only a sibling can have for their loved ones, that you could change. But time and time again you’ve disappointed me. With Discord, with Sombra, and even with Tirek. Just a string of disappointments, one after the other. It was only then that I knew what must be done. What must be done to ensure the greatness that I want Equestria to be.”

Celestia leaned forward, undeterred by Luna’s glowing horn only a few inches away from her eyes. Popping embers could be heard all around the pair, the fires of the fallow lands still not dead. “I do hate you, baby sister. I hate how weak you are, I hate how much you depend on me, but most of all, I hate how you kept my hopes up only to drop them over and over and over again. And for that, I shall never forgive you.”

Luna choked back a sob. Her eyes shined with tears. “Then you have my apologies.”

Luna’s horn crackled. Clouds overhead began to gather, lightning crackling as a storm began to brew above the two alicorns.

“I will tell our subjects that you were lost to madness. I had no choice.” She gave a small smile to Celestia. “Fare thee well, dear sister. I will remember you as the mare I knew before this madness took you.”

Luna leaped back, and let out a cry of anger. She unleashed her spell, directing a massive wave of darkness and starlight at Celestia.

Celestia laughed. That same dry, dead laugh. The laugh of a corpse, one might think. The darkness was instantly absorbed into her body, her coat still a sheen of blinding white, her mane and tail still a blazing inferno, her armor still a golden so shiny it sparkled. The only thing that changed now were her eyes. While her irises retained their steely rose color, her pupils had changed. It was like staring into a dark hole. Emotion, light, darkness, it didn’t matter, everything was absorbed into them. And the only presence behind them was one of pure hunger.

“You’re wrong about one thing, baby sister!” Celestia shouted. Her horn illuminated, the magic she was drawing in cracking the glassed soil beneath her and causing fissures to open up. “I knew all along about the darkness I wielded in my heart! And I loved every second of it!”

The world was lost as shadows and light fell upon the fallow lands, crying and laughter emerging from it like the soul of madness had just been gutted on the ground.

Chapter 6: The Truth Burns

He had the light now. He actually had it. All for himself, just like he wanted. And the best part?

It didn’t laugh at him this time.

No, no, the only one laughing now was him. He laughed at its screams, its agony, its begging for release. He laughed as he broke off pieces of it, throwing them away like freshly fallen snow on a winter’s eve. Since he was a part of the light now, it no longer hurt him. Oh, but he could hurt it. He could definitely hurt it.

Finally, the one thing he wanted most in this realm was his. He had his vengeance, oh yes, he did, and how sweet it tasted. To no longer have one foot in one world and one foot in the other. Now he was fully out of the shadows and into the light, and he was the light’s master.

But it wasn’t enough, he realized. No, now that the light was finally his, it’d never be enough. He needed more. But what could possibly taste sweeter than the light? He looked up.

And he laughed.

It was just over his head the entire time. Both figuratively and literally. The ultimate light. The light to end all lights. It could be his. All his. He’d need to take the proper steps, of course, but soon this light would be his. And he will be its master as well. And once it burned away all the shadows and darkness, he’ll finally become the light. Become the most beautiful thing in existence. Become what he cherished yet feared most of all.

The light’s sobbing finally stopped. It remained silent. Then, he began to laugh. The light joined with him. But instead of a laugh like ringing bells, this laugh was dry and dead.

The laugh of a corpse, one might think.

The land was wrapped in the harsh embrace of flames, the air itself filled with the presence of the burning fires that covered the realm in its destructive touch. You couldn’t fight it, you couldn’t escape it, you couldn’t even beg mercy from it. You simply died, burned to ash, just like everything else.

This was Celestia’s world now. The world she envisioned. The world she could finally make complete, after one last duty to fulfill.

“Burn in Tartarus, baby sister!” Celestia screamed in a joyous tone. An inferno surrounded her like a solid wall, pushing out across the land like a moving force of pure annihilation that extinguished all in its path. “Burn like the countless others that shall join you! You’re only the stepping stone for the rest!”

Pinpricks of sweat formed on Luna’s body as the heat washed over her. She alighted into the air, wincing as the waves of heat brushed past her tail and hind legs. She stopped after reaching several hundred feet into the air and looked down upon the ground. She choked back a scream as she lay her eyes upon what had once been a verdant forest. Thousands of trees, gone.

“Celestia…” Luna whispered in disbelief. “By the stars… what have you done?”

The trees and animal life were a loss, but that wasn’t the worst of it. The Royal Pony Sisters’ castle had miraculously survived the worst of the infernal shockwave, but the surrounding buildings…

The screams of the dying and the smell of freshly burnt skin assailed her nostrils. Luna let out a sob as her eyes watched sunfire given life burn down anything that it touched.

“No…” Luna whimpered. “Sister…” She felt her lips trembling. She looked down to Celestia, who stood within the epicenter of the destruction. She didn’t even bat an eyelash at the countless souls who were now at the merciless hands of her flames.

“What have you done?!” Luna cried out, her voice reaching a hysterical tone. “Celestia, why? Why?!” She shook her head, and forced down the despair and agony growing in her chest. She focused on her sister, and her sister alone.

The voices, which constantly belittled her, had gone quiet. In their place was a new feeling. Not depression. Not sadness.

Anger.

Rage.

Fury.

None of them had a chance. Not a single one! Luna watched the smoke billow up to the night sky. Sister, forgive me. I truly have lost you, it seems.

Luna’s horn glowed for a moment, and her katana once more floated beside her. The previous spell that she had launched at Celestia had no effect on her. If anything, Celestia appeared to absorb the magic. Whatever dark energy that Celestia had courted, it seemed to become one with her.

Luna descended from the sky, landing on the cracked, smoking ground with a heavy thud. Her eyes held no uncertainty in them now. Her blade lifted, its steel edge glinting in the light of the surrounding fires. Faint runes etched into the metal gave of a soft, azure glow.

“I see now how far you’re willing to take this,” Luna said over the roar of the blazing fires. “I also see that drawing this fight out is foolish.” She let out a heavy sigh, but otherwise gave no visible expression.

In a flash, Luna flickered to Celestia’s side. She thrust her blade to Celestia’s side, aiming it so that it would pierce her in the side, through her lungs and heart.

Her sword only met the surface of Celestia’s shield, which acted like plated armor. Celestia’s head slowly turned to where Luna was standing, her sword uselessly pushing against her shield. “Still playing with those toothpicks, baby sister?” Celestia lashed out with a whip of pure magic, aimed directly at Luna’s neck. “This isn’t amateur hour! Hit me with your best shot!”

Luna whipped her head to the side, narrowly avoiding her neck being slashed in two by Celestia’s whip, but still earning a large gash on her cheek. Though she didn’t have a moment’s rest, for another whip soon joined Celestia’s first and lashed at her face, and then another, and another, a swarm of twisting fingers formed from pure magic swirling around Celestia like tentacles on an octopus, all poised to strike.

“And if you’re tired of letting this fight drag on for so long, let’s end it right here, right now!” Celestia said, laughing at the top of her lungs as she directed all her golden whips to tear Luna to shreds. “With only one of us walking away alive!”

Luna took in a breath and watched as the whips lashed out towards her. She exhaled, and darted forward. Right as the blades were about to connect, she rolled to the side, feeling a stinging sensation graze her left side. She ignored the slight pain and dashed headlong towards her sister.

Her eyes assessed Celestia’s movements. She was, for the most part, stationary. She could already see the whips pulling back towards her, though Luna would reach Celestia before they did. Celestia was facing slightly to the left, likely to allow her to spin and deliver a quick buck with both of her back legs, if needed. Luna had fallen for that trick a dozen or so times in the few spars they had.

Her wings were fanned out, and she saw no attachments to them that would indicate weapons were covering them. The gleaming of her golden armor, while a little blinding, wasn’t affecting her too much.

Luna smirked to herself.

An attack from a single direction won’t work. Perhaps…

Luna leaped forward, blade slashing ahead, aimed at her sister’s throat. Luna vanished from view as the blade continued its slashing motion, only to materialize suddenly above Celestia. She twisted her body around, and aimed her hind legs downwards, over Celestia’s back. She rocketed downwards with speed unnatural for even the most agile of pegasi.

Magic won’t work. If that is the case, I suppose I’ll have to settle for steel and hooves, won’t I?

Luna’s hooves connected with Celestia’s back, and then the soil. In the time of the impact, Celestia had merely vanished without a trace, along with any point of stopping for Luna herself. She landed with less grace than she would have liked on the blackened earth, still so hot to the touch Luna had to avoid exposing her skin to it. Getting back to all fours, she glanced all about, searching desperately for any signs of her sister. But all there was were burning fires and embers falling like raindrops from the air.

A self-satisfied laugh echoed across the fallow lands, sending shivers up Luna’s back. “Do you really think it’d be that easy, baby sister? I’m not just some useless twit you have fought in battles countless times over. I’m much more than that. Much more than anything you could possibly imagine. And I can assure you of this, Luna…” Celestia materialized out of the blaze of one of the scattered fires. She didn’t just walk out, no, she transformed into her physical form from the elemental form of the inferno. From fire to mare she appeared, the flames licking at her skin but didn’t even tarnish her perfect white coat. “This is a fight you won’t win.”

Celestia shifted to her body of flames again, stampeding to Luna like a pony from the deepest depths of Tartarus itself. Each step turned the ground into lava, a roar escaping Celestia’s throat that even a dragon would be intimidated of. Celestia the pony wasn’t here. Only Celestia the flaming abomination remained, poised to trample Luna underneath her burning hooves.

“And suddenly I’m reminded of the Minotaur Wars…” Luna commented to herself, lifting her blade once more. Celestia had gained some speed with this transformation of hers. Luna’s scabbard rested at her waist, tied on by a single chain of steel. She watched her sister, who did not seem to be intent on slowing down for hell or high water at the moment.

Luna closed her eyes and breathed in slowly. Her ears flicked as they picked up the vibrations of Celestia’s flaming hooves pounding against the ground, growing closer by the second. The Night Princess crouched low and opened her eyes. She slowly sheathed her blade, her eyes not leaving Celestia’s.

The heat that buffeted against her face was powerful, but she paid it no mind. Her only objective at the moment was her charging sister.

The guard of Luna’s blade clicked against the end of her scabbard. Celestia was only a few heartbeats from trampling her.

Now!

Luna’s magic drew out the blade with such speed that sparks flew from the steel edge. A cold wind rose up as she slashed her blade in an upward arc. Pockets of wind cut through the hot air, blowing out several of the fires in the process.

The Night Princess’ eyes never left her sisters as her blade cut upwards. She could smell burning metal, and if she dared tear her eyes away from her still stampeding sister, she would have noticed the faint glow of orange on the very edge of her blade.

A mighty explosion ripped apart the world right before Luna, where Celestia once trampled the earth. The flames didn’t touch Luna, instead parting like forks in a river on either side of her. She was in a tunnel of flames, none daring mark her yet at the same time she didn’t dare touch them. All the oxygen had been ripped out of this new world Luna was trapped in, but she merely held her breath and hoped it’d pass before she needed to draw in air.

Finally the flames had passed, a miniature crater before her with smoke billowing out in an endless supply. On either side of Luna there were scorch marks that indicated a mighty blaze had passed by, and it just so happened to miss her entirely.

Slowly, Luna glanced over her shoulder to where the fire had passed her. Celestia stood there, or rather, her two halves. She was still wreathed in fire, a strange fluid not unlike blood dripping down her completely exposed side, the liquid melting the earth where it dripped. It was like someone had cut Celestia clean in half down the middle with a knife, which wasn’t too far off what Luna had done. Right now all Luna could register was surprise that Celestia was still standing upright with two separate halves.

Then she registered fear when she realized those halves were quickly becoming whole.

Celestia’s sides joined together in one piece once more, and her superheated blood stopped melting the earth to puddles. The flame wreathed Celestia turned to Luna, her lips twisted upward to a fiery smile.

“Good show, Luna, I didn’t think you had it in you. That actually hurt.” Celestia barked out another laugh. “Just a little.”

A circle of flames burned itself in the earth around Celestia, the flames acting in the same manner her golden whips from before had performed. Except this time the whips were more alive and deadly than ever, and now formed one giant column of shifting flames that towered over Luna like some cruel judgement of a malicious god.

“I wonder how much this shall hurt you,” Celestia said, dropping down the column in one smooth stroke right where Luna was standing.

Luna frowned. Her mind was spinning at the moment. No magic, at least no magic that any pony possessed, could simply mend a body from such a grievous wound. Sadly, she had no time to contemplate what she had just seen her sister do, since it seemed Celestia wasn’t inclined to give her that chance.

Luna flapped her wings hard and put several dozen yards between herself and Celestia as she flew backwards. The column crashed into the ground, just narrowly crushing her beneath it. The ground, as though finally caving in from all the abuse it had taken, cracked and split apart. Large fissures began to spiderweb down the battlefield, and Luna could smell the faint odor of sulphur and melting rock deep beneath the earth’s surface.

She took a few delicate steps back, grimacing as the ground began to bubble from the heat of their battle. She let out a snort as she glared up at Celestia.

“Just what magic did you delve into, sister? There is no magic, not even within our realm of power, that is powerful enough to mend one together like that. Where did you get such powers?” Luna asked, pointing her blade at her sister, an accusing expression on her features. “You say you knew of this darkness in your heart. I have never seen such powers, sister.” Her gaze narrowed. “Tell me, was insanity the cost of this power you possess? It would seem to be the case.”

“Insanity was the key, never the cost. My power never took from me, it only gave me what I needed. It opened my eyes, baby sister.” The flames dissipated from Celestia’s skin, extinguishing themselves to reveal her pearly white coat and untarnished armor. “It revealed to me a realm of possibilities unlike anything you had ever imagined.”

Luna attempted to twitch her sword to keep it pointed at Celestia as her sister walked around her, nonchalant in demeanor as always. But she found herself unable to move. It was as if an incredibly powerful physical will was imposing on her, preventing her from any movement at all. The weight of a mountain resided on her shoulders, while metal was poured into her bones as her muscles turned to stone. Celestia smirked, closing in on the circle she was walking around, with the prize of Luna directly in the center.

“You see, Equestria cannot go on as it does. Sombra, Tirek, Discord, they all have been threats only you and I could properly defeat. And the ponies we are sworn to protect and lead? They couldn’t even lift a hoof in hopes of defeating our foes.” Celestia snorted, a raspy chuckle leaving her lips. “Once you are disposed of, the Golden Age of Equestria shall finally begin. The land shall be burned and purified. The nation shall start anew. Those who survive shall become the leaders of this new world, along with being the perfect candidates to show what power and strength can accomplish. This Equestria shall be what the current one never could be. Strong, powerful, independent, but most of all, a bastion of the greatness ponykind can achieve. And never again shall a vile villain or imposing foe attempt to attack us.”

Celestia halted, staring up at the full moon just as it was about to reach its zenith. “Finally, Equestria shall be strong enough to survive without you or me. Only then shall my mission be complete.”

Luna swallowed hard. The weight pressing down upon her remained ever present. She couldn’t move. She could barely breathe.

Still…

“I was wrong about you, dear sister,” Luna exhaled deeply. “You aren’t insane, it would seem.”

The pressure lessened, if only a little. Celestia quirked an eyebrow, but gave no other outward sign of emotion.

“Insanity is trying to achieve a goal you could never hope to accomplish. Failure never even occurred to me.” A grin tugged at Celestia’s lips, ever so slightly. “Though that might be different for you, baby sister. Wouldn’t it?”

Luna shook her head. “In a way, I suppose what you say is true. Had I known you obtained such a ludicrous amount of power, I would have been less confrontational.” She stood up, the pressure lessening further. “However, I believe you have forgotten about something, Celestia.”

Luna’s horn ignited with a pale blue light. She took a few steps back from Celestia, and let out a breath. Celestia’s disinterested expression slowly morphed into one of curiosity as Luna became encircled in a magical circle of light. Luna’s eyes closed as archaic runes formed around her, glowing on the ground and emitting a soft hum.

Celestia recognized the spell instantly. A summoning spell. An advanced one, at that. One used to bring forth an object or being of great power. What Luna had in mind, though, Celestia could only guess.

She didn’t need to ponder long on what Luna was bringing forth, though. The runes were now pulsing, and Luna braced herself as a magical surge coursed through her. The midnight alicorn grit her teeth as six glowing orbs rose up from the magical ring surrounding her.

“It seems you forgot of our land’s strongest defense,” Luna said as the glowing orbs slowly dimmed, revealing six brightly colored gemstones, which now orbited around her. “You and I are both capable of using, in times of great peril, the Elements of Harmony. Or did you forget that you aren’t the only one who can bring them forth without assistance?”

The gems had formed a nearly transparent barrier around her, the faintest glow of a rainbow of color being the only indication that she was encased within a protective magic.

She took a step forward.

Celestia took a reflexive step back, her eyes narrowing.

Luna quirked an eyebrow.

“Well, it seems even you aren’t invincible to the Elements’ powers.” She channeled magic from the Elements into her body. While it would take some time for the Elements to truly activate their power, she could still harness enough of their magical energy to protect herself and perform stronger magic.

Luna closed her eyes and accepted the warm, inviting glow of the Elements within her. They seemed a little resistant to accept her control over them at first, which was a tad worrying, but she now felt that familiar connection of calm wash over her as they bonded with her. Each of the six gems gave their own unique aura, and each gave her a sense of comfort.

As Luna finished calling forth what magic she needed from them, she opened her eyes, which now were glowing with ethereal light. She looked upon Celestia… and let out a gasp.

The Elements had many powers at their disposal. Among them was the ability to see the aura of other living things. Most auras were a distinct color, be it yellow, a bright blue, even green. Each aura was unique.

Celestia’s aura, from what Luna could remember, was a radiant golden light. It just barely stayed within the alicorn’s body, faint wisps of the aura reaching out at times. Luna had once believed this to be part of what made other ponies feel so calm and safe around Celestia.

Now, though, that brilliant light was gone. In its place was a dark, shadowy mass that hung to Celestia’s form like a cloak. It writhed within her body, and much like Celestia’s aura, it stretched out from her body at times, though it did not bring forth comfort. No, instead a feeling of dread and foreboding accompanied it.

Then, Luna saw it. A sliver of light, floating within the mass of shadows. The shadows hovered around it, as though waiting to devour it at any moment. For some reason though, they didn’t.

Celestia… Luna felt her throat tighten. Whatever she had been fighting all this time… whatever demented creature that was standing before her right now was… Luna now knew one thing for certain.

It was not Celestia.

“That explains things, then,” Luna said with a cold edge in her tone. With a new sense of determination in her movements, Luna called forth more of the Elements' magic. With a pulse of chromatic light, Luna slammed Celestia back. This time, the fiery alicorn was flung back, letting out a surprised cry as she was thrown into a nearby slab of stone that had been uprooted from their fight.

Luna teleported herself so that she was in front of the thing that was not Celestia, and said in a steely voice. “I am addressing the entity within my sister.” Luna leered forth, the Elements whirling around her, inches away from the pinned alicorn before her. “Who, or what are you? Speak.”

“Words. Such a troubling thing to remember. Language is but a staple of idiocracy to speak for those whose minds are too simple to understand true communication,” the entity within Celestia spoke. His voice, surprisingly enough, was not sinister like Luna was expecting. Rather, it was hollow, like someone whispering deep within a cave. He laughed, Celestia parting open her lips so that his dull chuckles rolled like pebbles against the earth. “But that matters little for you, does it? What I say, who I am, and what I am are simply too grand encompasses for your trivial mind to understand.”

Luna quirked an eyebrow. “Too grand, you say?” Luna took a step forward. “I don’t care if you are some elder god from a plane of existence above my own. You are inside of my sister, and have possessed her. That is more than enough reason for me to have some explanation.”

She grabbed a hold of Celestia’s body by the neck with her magic, pulling her so that she was inches from her own muzzle. The elder alicorn’s body pressed against the barrier encompassing Luna now. “If I cannot convince you to explain yourself through words…” Luna grip tightened further. “... well… Celestia’s body was always sturdier than she had given it credit for.”

Luna lifted Celestia up from the ground. “Last chance, whatever you are. Explain yourself, or pray that I show you some mercy. I will warn you, though, I have always had a harder time controlling my anger than Celestia.”

“Do you think I can feel physical pain, child of the night?” The entity barked out another laugh, the echoes traveling down to the center of the earth and back with their volume. “Wound your kin all you want. Matters little to me, since I need only a drop of blood to bring her back. But you’d enjoy that, wouldn’t you? Hurting your precious older sister, making her feel the pain you’ve lived with for so long now.”

Celestia smiled against the barrier, he face pressed so close that blood was beginning to be drawn from her lip. The flames her body had once been composed of had petered out, although embers still sizzled on her coat. “It was so easy. You know that, right? To alienate you. Isolate you in your hovel like the little outcast you are. I didn’t even have to whisper in your ear every other night. You were already mouthing the words of your betrayal far before I ever got involved. The knife was already there.” The blood dripped down the side of the barrier, like a river on an empty plane. “I just gave it a twist.

“What I am is something you could never understand. I am the creature that stands one-one thousandth inches at the edge of your vision, waiting and watching as your eyes strain to see. I am the shadow the light does not direct, the one that follows you without the darkness for direction. I am the emptiness of the night that no stars fill, the cold spot of nothingness that none can replace.” A sickening cackle escaped Celestia’s lips, her blood bubbling to a boil against the barrier. “I was once the thing that stood at the doorway, waiting to enter. The one you would never let in. But I’m here now. And I’ll never leave.”

Luna wouldn’t lie to herself: the creature’s words sent a chill down her spine. Luckily, the Elements were helping counteract that feeling of dread. Still…

“Would I enjoy hurting Celestia? In a way… yes, I would. At least, that would have been the case before I knew the truth behind her actions,” Luna answered.

“Truth? You want truth, child?” The entity laughed, his voice croaked instead of hollow, a course sound of sandpaper against glass leaving Celestia’s lips. “The truth is that Celestia barely needed tempting. She was all too prepared to accept my power for what it would entail. And really, did you ever really have any doubt about that?” Celestia’s pupils shrank, her eyes widening to dinner plates. “You saw what she was capable of. What she did when there was no other choice. You know. Oh yes, you know. You know all about it. You fooled yourself into thinking you were the one with a dark side. A side that needed to be controlled. But at the end of the day, just like always, you were runner-up to your sister. Just a drop compared to an ocean.”

The younger alicorn winced at the entity’s words. “I won’t deny that your words hold truth. Yet, I’ve come to realize something about my sister…” Luna exhaled slowly, and the Elements paused in their orbit around her. She moved Celestia’s body away from the barrier.

“Celestia, like myself, is flawed. Imperfect. A pony. A brilliant, wonderful pony, but still, only equine.” She smiled. “Your words, while they hurt, leave no scars that aren’t already there.” She flexed her wings, and a stream of chromatic energy surged into her body. “In my jealousy, I forgot something important about Celestia.” She smiled. “Do you know what it might be?”

“That she was always the favorite child?” the entity quipped, a sneaky chuckle following soon after.

Luna clucked her tongue, and shook her head. “You have quite the sharp tongue, thing. Regardless, that wasn’t what I was referring to.”

Luna lifted a foreleg, which was now glowing with the magic of the arcane gems floating around her. “In my jealousy, I forgot one of the most important things about Celestia: that I love her, and will do anything to save her. Even if it means bringing her within an inch of Death’s door to do so.”

The entity’s smile faltered, if only a little.

Luna smirked. “I’m sure my sister will understand.”

With that, Luna threw a punch with her foreleg. The loose rocks and debris on the ground bounced into the air as Luna’s hoof connected with Celestia’s jaw, and a pulse of rainbow-saturated power followed immediately after.

Celestia’s body flew through the outer rim of trees that had miraculously avoided Celestia and Luna’s buck. Her body bounced several times before coming to an abrupt halt as it smashed into a large boulder, which crumbled as the alicorn’s body fell to the ground.

Luna appeared before the laughing form of Celestia, who was now bleeding from her mouth and nose. Her right wing appeared broken, but Luna had no doubt that the being within could repair that with little difficulty.

Lifting Celestia up once more, Luna studied the aura of inky blackness within her sister. Her eyes widened a fraction.

The faint bead of light that was Celestia’s life force had grown. It was barely noticeable, but it was there.

Did the Elements do that…?

Luna channeled more of the Element’s power into her body, extending it into her legs and wings. “Well, I’d say that was a successful test.” She placed a hoof under Celestia’s chin, ignoring the blood that dribbled onto her black fur. “Now, let me show you why even Celestia couldn’t beat me in martial arts.”

With a heave of her magic, Luna flung Celestia into the air. She flapped her wings hard, and pushed into the air. She met Celestia’s airborne form, and flipped forward once, slamming her forelegs down on Celestia’s ribs.

Celestia’s body plummeted to the ground, creating a crater from the impact and uprooting a few trees in the process. Luna gave no pause though in her assault, landing on her sister’s gut with her forelegs. She pressed down on Celestia’s stomach, and pivoted around so that her hind legs were now aimed at her sister.

A loud crack, followed by another pulse of chromatic light, was heard throughout the woods. Seconds later, a white blur rocketed out of the forest. It eventually landed several miles outside of the Everfree in a nearby valley. A few wild apple trees had been destroyed in the wake of Celestia’s landing, their broken trunks and upturned roots paving a clear path to her fallen form.

Luna teleported a few yards from her sister’s body. Just like before, she saw a bit more of Celestia’s light appearing within the dark shadow stirring within.

Hold on, sister. I’m coming for you…

Luna slowly made her way towards Celestia, whose eyes remained open, watching the midnight alicorn with amusement. Her nose was broken now, and there were signs of bruises and fractured bones along her body. Even so, Luna could see Celestia’s light, slowly growing brighter.

Luna could only hope that her sister could hold out a little longer for her.

Celestia lifted herself to all fours, a crack and loud pop indicating she either had a broken foreleg, dislocated shoulder, or both. She turned her head sharply to the left and up, pops like rain against a pan echoing across the stillness of the land. The white of her coat could barely be described as luxurious anymore, instead stained by blood and grime from Luna’s assault. The only part of Celestia that remained untouched was her smile, the pearly whites of her teeth only broken up by the pale red of the blood that still coursed down her split lip. Her eyes, however, were the part Luna had to admit were the most changed. They weren’t Celestia’s. They were the same color, the same size, the exact same in every which way. But the warmth of her sister’s soul wasn’t behind them. There was only… nothing.

“Good show, child of the night’s bounty. Did you learn those moves during those little squabbles you fought in, or had you been preparing to hurt your sister in such a way long before I entered the picture?” The entity snorted, shaking Celestia’s head. “Wait, pardon me for asking the obvious.”

Embers began to fizzle at Celestia’s hooves. The grime started to dissipate from her coat, the bruises and cuts fading like rainfall washing the impurities of nature away in the dirt. “However, your parlor tricks are beginning to bore me. Although, for your sister I’m willing to bet it was an overall… interesting experience.” Celestia winked. “She can still hear us, you know. And feel what you did. I didn’t myself, but from how loud your sister is screaming, it wasn’t very pleasant. Now, is that any way to play with your sister?”

“I…” Luna paused. She studied those empty, violet eyes that were her sisters, yet not. Stars above, she could only imagine how much that had hurt Celestia. She knew Celestia was strong of will and mind, but Luna had always been the ‘warrior’ between the two of them. Pain, while never a pleasant thing, had become less of a problem for her over the centuries that she and Celestia had protected their land.

“No. It is not. What I do to her is far from forgivable, but what you have done is far worse. Taking away one’s free will, whatever the circumstances may be, is something that not even I would dream of.” She glared at the shadow before her. For a moment, she could have sworn that the mass of darkness had paused, and looked at her, not through Celestia, but with its own eyes… if it had any.

She slowly made her way towards Celestia. Her eyes flitted to the sky above. She could see the moon slowly rising towards its zenith. All she needed was a few more minutes.

“Though, now that I take a moment and look at you, it seems you’re not faring as well as you claim to be.” She directed a hoof at the alicorn before her. “Or am I wrong?”

She waited for no reply, crossing the distance between herself and Celestia within a few short seconds. She crouched low and spun around, her back legs catching Celestia squarely in the chest. She caught her with her magic, and pulled her in.

Luna rained down an assault of hooves upon Celestia, each one delivering a sickening thud that she tried her best to ignore. She continued to push Celestia further and further back. All the while, the thing within her sister laughed, driving her to deliver harsher and harsher blows.

Eventually Luna kicked Celestia towards the foot of a small mountain. The conifers surrounding its lowest point swayed, cracked, and in a few cases, toppled over as Celestia’s body broke through them. Before Celestia could rise back to her hooves, Luna was upon her, driving her into the rocky face of the mountainside. Before long, even the rocks themselves couldn’t hold back the force behind Luna’s blows, and a small fissure began forming.

Further and further Luna pushed Celestia, her eyes locked with the continually glowing orb of light within Celestia. She held back the tears, silently pleading that her sister would forgive her when this was all over.

The mountain finally gave in, and Luna kicked her sister clear through the other side. Small boulders, shards of iron ore, and snow rained down to the earth as Luna followed her sister’s descent back to the ground.

Luna’s ears twitched as Celestia landed on her side, hitting a chunk of granite from the mountain’s core with a sickening crunch. She approached Celestia, and in a calm voice said, “Sister. Whatever pain you are going through right now, I can only beg that you will forgive me for it later. Berate me, hate me for it, disown me if you must… but I am not letting this thing within you win. I will free you from it, no matter the cost.”

The moon reached its peak now in the night sky. The Elements of Harmony stopped orbiting around Luna, coming to an abrupt halt as she opened her wings fully.

“Now… you vile creature, whatever you may be. This is your end.”

The once fragile light that had been Celestia’s life force was now almost completely returned. Luna smiled. “It seems you’ve underestimated what we ponies can do. For that, you will lose everything: my sister, her powers, and your control over the flames of the sun itself.” The barrier faded around Luna, then disappeared altogether as Luna redirected the power flowing around her into a spell. A few moments passed, and the Elements began to crackle with magic. “The Elements have power over even you, shadow. Begone!”

The Elements began to hum, Luna standing at ready to release their magic upon the darkness.

Celestia, hold on! Just a little longer!

Celestia lifted herself once more to her hooves. Now, her coat didn’t even bother to repair itself. Blood flowed freely and bone from a broken back leg could be seen poking through the skin. But it mattered little to her, and even less to him.

Then, with a frightening speed that not even a lighting bolt could match, Celestia moved to close the distance between the two sisters that now only left them a hoof’s length apart. Luna only had time to blink before Celestia’s hoof smashed into her jaw, a cinderblock of force knocking out several of her teeth and nearly cracking the bone. Luna barely had time to register this pain in her mind before her collarbone snapped like a twig from a backhand strike from Celestia, almost passive in movement.

“You think the Elements have power over me?! Those trinkets? Don’t make me laugh! The humor is much too dry for my tastes.” Celestia raised her hoof, and then Luna felt sharp pain in her foreleg. Looking down, she saw that it was bent at an unnatural angle. She hadn’t even seen Celestia move. “The only power they have is over creatures of this realm. Your sister and, of course, Discord, not being excluded.”

Celestia smiled, and Luna found herself knocked off her hooves, wind flying out of her lungs along with blood that spattered to the ground around her. It was as if two stones of considerable weight had smashed together her ribs, intestines, and organs and almost turned them into a mushy paste. Celestia pushed down a hoof against Luna’s throat, the Elements still orbiting overhead and casting sinister shadows down Celestia’s blood-soaked feral grin.

“Your sister would suffer the consequences of their might, not I. I would only be temporarily displaced once the Elements were done with Celestia’s body, but no worse for wear. Celestia herself? Well… Let’s just say that I was only a host in Discord’s body for little under a year. You know full well how long I’ve resided in your sister, feeding her power, melding with her; us becoming one.” Some of Celestia’s blood dripped down from her smile onto Luna’s cheek, burning her coat. “The Elements do not care who they smite. Without me, Celestia would be reduced to nothing but a newborn foal in strength, and once the Elements were done with her…” The entity laughed.

Luna made no attempt to fight back. She wouldn’t now, even if she could. If she had, if she understood correctly, she would ensure that Celestia would die. The Elements of Harmony, while indeed a powerful collection of artifacts geared towards peace and harmony, had no conscience. The magical artifacts simply did what would work best to bring balance back to the land. No doubt Celestia had been identified as a source of destruction by the artifacts. If destroying her was the best way to bring back peace, then they would do so.

Luna gazed up at her sister’s face, which was twisted into a mocking grin. Luna smiled, despite the current situation. She struggled to speak as her sister’s hoof pressed against her throat. “You haven’t won. Even if Celestia dies… even if I fail…” Luna coughed, the taste of iron on her tongue. “...someone will stop you. That is… the way things are meant to be. Power… will always be balanced out.” She chuckled weakly as Celestia’s smirk faded. “For every force placed upon the universe… an equal one will react to it.”

Luna’s eyes drifted upon the Elements, which were still moving on their own. A blinding light was now being emitted from them, the shrill tone they were emitting almost deafening.

“You… have lost.”

Luna’s eyes closed as she lost consciousness. She could only put her trust in the Elements now, and pray that Celestia’s death would be a swift and painless one. With any luck, perhaps Luna would join her shortly after.

Chapter 7: The Past Ends

Finally. Finally. Finally. He had it. The light. The beautiful, hateful, condescending and wrathful light. His. All his. Finally his, all to himself.

He cradled her gently. Like he was holding an egg that could crack with too much pressure. It burned him like before, but this time it didn’t laugh. No, he was the one laughing now. He laughed at the pain as it encompassed him. It felt so good. It’s the only thing he’s felt, actually.

He swallowed the light up, letting it reside within him, like the heart he never had. He covered it completely, blocking out the light only for himself, only for him.

Oh, but he didn’t smother the light. He let it live. Live to burn him from the inside out. It could never completely burn him away, however. Oh no, it was much too small for that.

The other light, however…

The light high in the sky could. It could burn him away. Him and the rest of the world. The greatest experience of pain imaginable. All that light for him to laugh at. Yes, yes, laugh at the biggest light of all. So fulfilling to accomplish before the end. The perfect end.

An end he could enjoy in perfect agony from start to finish.

Luna’s eyes fluttered open. She saw Celestia, blood and grime more common on her coat than white, with a frown on her lips and an icy glare in her eyes. Instead of approaching Luna, she was gradually walking away from her, the Elements orbiting her like a solar system composed of shining gems.

“This ends. Now!” Celestia said, her horn brightening to a brilliant golden aura that blinded all who stared at it. “This ends for all of us.”

“S-sister?” Luna whispered. She rose to her hooves and winced as she felt a jarring pain in her chest. She ignored it. “What…?” Celestia seemed to pay no mind to her so she said nothing further.

She looked towards the object that Celestia had her gaze focused upon and almost gasped at the sight before her.

Discord was lying before Celestia. He was barely able to raise his head to meet Celestia’s gaze, let alone stand up.

Luna remained silent, and watched with a sense of unease. Had… Celestia done this?

“Heh… heheheheheh… AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!” Discord shook like a tree in a hurricane, curling up into a ball while desperately clutching his head between his hands. “Naaaaaaughty! The bad thoughts are baaaaaaack! Bad, bad, bad, bad, bad. Ending all in tuuuuuuuuune with your deeeeeeeath. Those thoughts! Yes! Thoooooooooose thoooooooooguhts! Heheheheh.”

“Stop your babbling,” Celestia snapped. “I’ve had enough of your idiocy. You’re nothing but a tumor, Discord, a cancer that’s spread too far. And now, you’re going to be removed before you cause anymore damage or mayhem.”

“Removed! Re-re-re-re-remooooooved! Ha!” Discord raised a single finger, pointing it at Celestia’s face, not moving his own to meet hers. “You were removed! You were removed! Removed from me! Removed from me! Meeeeeeeeee and my miiiiiiiiiiiiiind. But no, you left. You removed from meeeeeeee! Hehehe!” Discord scrunched up his muzzle, pulling down his lips with his face like they were made from rubber. “From meeeeeeee, you left and removed from meeeeeeeee! Me!”

Luna limped towards the two, her eyes not leaving Discord. He didn’t seem to notice her. Then again, he didn’t seem to be in the right state of mind to notice much of anything, if she were to be honest with herself.

“Removed… from you?” Luna whispered, her voice hoarse and tasting of metal. She coughed up a bit of blood. “What are you talking about, Discord?” She looked from the draconequus to her sister, clearly missing something that must have transpired while she was unconscious. “Sister… what is he talking about? What does he mean by you being removed?” She ignored the draconequus, whose laughter seemed to only grow louder as she spoke.

“Luna, get out of here. I’m putting this degenerate down, once and for all.” Celestia glanced at her, freezing Luna to the spot with a look that could bend steel. “I don’t want you to be here when I do that. So leave. Now.”

Discord giggled and mumbled something about cheese.

Luna’s gaze drifted to the Elements of Harmony that rotated around her sister. “You’ve harnessed the Elements? By yourself…?” Luna shook her head. “Sister, please, that is too much of a burden for one to handle alone. Let me help.” She stood as tall as she could, fighting down the pain that shot up her leg and through her ribs. “I can still use the Elements alongside you. Like we planned.”

“Our plans failed last time because of you, baby sister. Discord nearly succeeded if you hadn’t gotten in the way.” Celestia curled her lip, looking back to Discord, who had started to return uneasily back to his feet. “Which is why I don’t want to repeat myself, but even then you’ve forced me to. Leave us this instant so I can finish what needs to be done.”

Luna’s jaw hung loose. She felt something tighten in her chest, and it wasn’t from the beating she had taken. “But… I…”

Luna took a step back, suddenly feeling nausea overcome her. She felt her throat tightening, and a stinging in her eyes. “You don’t truly…” Celestia’s ear twitched, a clear sign of agitation for Luna.

The Princess of the Night turned her gaze to Discord, and was shocked to see him locking gazes with her. She stared into his eyes, and for a moment she thought she had seen something. Sympathy? Regret? Or was it simply his madness?

She did not know. She took a few more steps back, yet her eyes remained locked the draconequus, who was now once more looking upon Celestia.

“Fine, then!” Luna shouted, shocked by her own voice, and the harshness it held in her words. “Perhaps… perhaps it would have been better if Discord had just done me in!” She glared at Celestia, who had yet to turn and face her. “If that is how you wish for things to be, then so be it!” Luna turned around, and slowly limped away. “I trusted you, Celestia! We promised each other, no matter what, we would do this together! We would work as one to protect our land!”

She looked over her shoulder to face Discord. “May your end be swift, Discord. That is all I can hope for you. May you be a better being in the next life.”

Luna’s eyes drifted to Celestia once more, the first signs of tears falling down her cheeks. She looked away, ashamed by her own showing of weakness, yet feeling far more hurt than she cared to admit. Slowly, she walked away, heading towards the ruins of their castle.

“Sunsets, sunsets, oh so bittersweet! The sun goes down and is bid farewell while the moon becomes the new treat! Sunny days, sunny days, all have to say goodbye! Night skies and bright stars, may they never die!”

Discord’s singing was cut off by the sound of laughter.

Chapter 8: The Future Begins

Celestia screamed. Her body was being torn asunder, muscle and bone turned to mush under flayed skin. The Elements were blind in their justice, and for Celestia, she was experiencing the death penalty of their force.

The Nightmare was furious. Never had he guessed Luna would use the power of the Elements against him, against her own sister even! He felt no discomfort from their presence. He was beyond them, literally, since he was of a world the Elements had never touched before. And in this world, much like most things, they barely affected him. Celestia, however, is another thing altogether.

If he truly did remain within Celestia once the Elements were finished casting their judgement, he ran the risk of suffering through any punishment the Elements deemed worthy to wipe away the blight of disharmony. It wouldn’t kill him, but since he lived within his host’s body, he’d be vulnerable to whatever cruelties they suffered. And the Elements, for all their harmony and friendship, were plenty cruel.

Worst of all, if he lost Celestia, he lost his one chance to acquire the sun. His chance for the perfect ending. All wasted now, all because of her.

Her…

HER!

If he was going to lose Celestia, then he’d be damn well sure Luna would be able to witness it!

Celestia smacked Luna’s face, bringing her back from the verges of the unconscious back to the land of the awake. Luna blinked several times, a gale kicked up by the Elements disorientating her due to all the sand being kicked up in the air.

“We’ll both lose something precious here!” the Nightmare screamed in Luna’s face, shaking her shoulders. “You your sister and my light! You can’t sacrifice her just for justice! You can’t!”

Luna was still trying to gain her bearings as she heard the screams of the Nightmare ringing in her ears. She winced as she looked into Celestia’s eyes.

“Celestia?” Luna blinked away some sand, but her memories came back to her suddenly. Her eyes widened as she saw the Elements, still floating in the air, though she didn’t remember the ground trembling beneath her the last time she had seen them.

“I…” Luna grimaced at the Nightmare. “If… if that is the cost of keeping this land safe, then I will suffer it. I can harness the sun, if need be.” She wheezed as her lungs struggled to take in more air. “I know that Celestia would do the same were the situation reversed. That is the sister I know. You are but a pale imitation of what Celestia is.” She chuckled weakly, though tears began to run down her cheeks. “I… I love Celestia, but I also love Equestria… even if the love is not fully returned.”

Luna closed her eyes, taking in a few slow breaths. When she opened them once more, they held no anger in them. Just serenity, and perhaps sorrow.

“You seem to be at a loss, shadow. Did you think I wasn’t capable of going to such extremes to keep our land safe?” She chuckled again, only to cough up a bit more blood. She groaned in pain, but continued to smile. “The mighty always seem to underestimate those beneath them, don’t they?”

Celestia smiled, her teeth rosey white. “And you underestimate what extremes I’ll go to have what’s mine. Without Celestia, there’s only one other worthy of me. And we both know who that pony is.” The entity within Celestia hummed with delight, the Elements overhead releasing violent surges of power, waiting for the moon to reach its zenith for their full power to be released. “I’ll claim you for myself. I’ll make you but a puppet to my will. What I put Celestia through will seem like a day at the spa in comparison to the endless existence of pure hell I’ll have you experience. Not even death will take you away from me. I’ll mend myself with your soul and make it so that any afterlife you end up in I’ll be there with you.”

A childish giggle erupted from Celestia’s lips, that same sickly smile never leaving her lips. “With you under my power, I’ll freeze this world. If I can’t have the sun, no one will have it. Eternal night shall reign in Equestria and the entire world over. I’ll make this realm a never ending existence of agony and ice for all those who reside in it. And you’ll be responsible for it. You, you, you!”

A lead weight settled in Luna’s stomach. Could the Nightmare do such things, even after the Elements purged Celestia’s body of it?

If it were true, and if Celestia was to be killed by the Elements…

There would be no one to defend Equestria when the Nightmare took over Luna. She was in no state to fight back. She could hardly draw breath as it was. Fighting back against some otherworldly entity would be next to impossible for her.

As she stared into the Elements, though, an idea struck her. An odd, perhaps even crazy, idea. If it didn’t work, though, then Equestria, and the rest of the planet, would be doomed.

Still, she had no other alternative.

“W-wait…” she croaked. Celestia’s ears flicked, and it gazed upon her with a knowing smile. “Celestia… she is innocent here.” Luna let out a shaky breath. “If… if I were to offer my…” Luna swallowed hard, knowing that what she was about say might bring about her own demise. “If I were to offer my body as a vessel for you… would you surrender your control over my sister?”

The Nightmare grinned.

“Please, just… promise that you’ll spare Celestia. Offer her a chance to leave. She… she will find a way to survive, I’m sure of it.” Luna let out a ragged cough, “Don’t kill her. Take… take her power if you must, but I beg of you, don’t kill her. Please…” Luna looked into the eyes that were not Celestia’s, hoping that perhaps the Nightmare would grant her some sick form of mercy. “Celestia… if you can hear me… I’m sorry.”

“My, my how very… selfish of you.” The Nightmare, not Celestia, never Celestia, smiled again. “You’re willing to allow me to torment your sister’s body while you’re forced to watch for all of eternity now. Instead of allowing her the sweet embrace of death. I must say, Princess, your priorities are just in tune with mine. I’m sure we’ll get along wonderfully.”

The Elements were spinning rapidly, a rainbow of light surrounding the pair in a brilliance whose radiance was unmatched. But Luna disregarded this sight, her eyes only for Celestia, and the puppet she had become.

Celestia’s mouth opened, a single tentacle poking out like a demonic tongue, sniffing the air. It was followed by another sickly appendage, the rest of the body crawling out of the broken vessel of the host body, a tide of black oil washing ashore on beautiful white sands. Luna thought the Nightmare’s form would never end, the inky black substance it was made of having no distinctive shape but definitely too big for Celestia’s body to hold. Or was supposed to hold, anyway. Luna didn’t want to imagine how it managed to fit itself into every nook and cranny in Celestia’s body, like she was just some second—or rather, only—skin the Nightmare could wear as he pleased. He left Celestia to fall like a bag of meat on the ground, knocked out. But now that he was out, in all his terrifying glory, Luna truly understood why he was a Nightmare.

He was alien. Disturbing. A thing that shouldn’t exist. Not in this world at least. He was the puddle in the middle of the street on a hot day, the lone flower in a field of ash, a single ink blot on a canvas on white. Not evil, not malicious, just… not right. He wasn’t right for this world, but he fit himself in here anyway. The universe itself shuddered at his presence. It stood clear, like students avoiding that one disruptive classmate who the teacher always scorned. A field of emptiness surrounded him, like he was a black hole where nothing could escape. Looking into his eyes—if soulless holes could be described as eyes—Luna felt all emotion drain from her. Like a container being emptied, every last drop of what made her equine, whole, Luna, somepony, was being pushed to the back of her mind, with only unexplainable nothingness to remain. She was staring into the abyss, and in turn, she became the void.

“You seem to be at loss for words, Princess,” the Nightmare spoke, words that shouldn’t have belonged in any language but did drifting from his lipless mouth, floating into Luna’s ear but being lost the moment it registered in her brain. “Are you not pleased with my form? My true self? Surprising to see what I am? Who you’ll become, soon enough?”

Luna forced down the terrified whimper that threatened to escape her throat, and got up from the ground. She wanted to run. Flee. It was a deep, instinctual fear from the back of her mind, telling her that to stay was wrong, not an option.

Still…

Celestia’s prone form lay on the ground now. Unmoving, aside from the slow rise and fall of her sides.

She was alive. For now, at least.

“I am not a judge of appearances, shadow. I know not where you came from, but at least now I know that what I see is…” She swallowed hard. “You are clearly not of this plane of existence. That is apparent.” She closed her eyes, and let out a shuddering breath. “I will surrender to you on one condition. Leave my sister be.” She stared into the two dark holes that gazed back at her. “Those are my terms. Otherwise…” She looked to the Elements. “I could trigger the Elements, even from where I stand. You realize that, of this world or not, you still will feel some sort of effect from them. We both know that won’t be pleasant. For all you know, both Celestia and myself will perish. That would leave you without a vessel.”

She gave the faintest hints of a smile. “After all, I have committed crimes this day myself. My actions were far from what the Elements would deem to be harmonious. We cannot determine what they will do, in the end.”

She took a step back, and nodded to her sister’s body. “Step away from Celestia, shadow.” Her horn lit up, her eyes drifting to the Elements. “I’ve given my offer, and those are the conditions.”

“Such bravery in a being so dark. How unexpected.” The Nightmare lifted up an appendage, touching Luna’s cheek. All feeling to that spot he touched was lost, like her cheek had been torn off and she was in too much shock to feel the pain. “What is expected is how pathetic your emotions are. Though, not without a good deal of fun twisting to my advantage.”

The Nightmare smiled. Luna’s mind shriveled up and her throat clenched shut.

“So expected. So very, very expected.” The Nightmare tapped her chin, releasing his hold of her, and finally Luna could think straight without her thought scrambling. “But I have conditions of my own. Not terribly hard to do, but it will hurt. Oh yes, indeed, it shall.” The Nightmare laid a single tentacle on Celestia, her body immediately shivering while an open mouth produced a screamless sound. “To save your sister, you must beg. You must beg for me to possess you. You must beg to be my vessel, as shoddy as your body is compared to your sister. But most of all…” The Nightmare turned his head to her, a faint twinkle in his empty eyes that was purely from the other world he resided in. A world that knew nothing about love, hope, or happiness, and was empty, just like him. “I want you to admit that you were never fit to rule Equestria. I know a lie when I hear one, so from the bottom of your black heart, this must be truthful. Admit to me, your sister, and your entire nation, why you are unfit to rule.”

“Unfit… to rule?” Luna echoed.

She turned away from the Nightmare, her eyes resting on Celestia.

Celestia, who had nurtured her since Luna was but a foal. Who had taught her most, if not all, of what she knew about being a ruler… or what little she knew of it, perhaps.

Celestia would do the same for me.

Luna felt her breathing hitch as she nodded slowly. For Celestia and Equestria, she would do this. She had let it come this far. It was only right that she end it.

“Shade. Shadow, blackness, whatever you may be…” Luna slowly prostrated herself on the ground. “I beg of you…” She felt her lips tremble. With every word she spoke, she was closer to losing her freedom, possibly for the rest of eternity. “Take my body and make it your own, as ill-suited and weak as it might be to my sister. She is stronger, yes, but she deserves a chance to live. She has ruled this country well, even before you did.”

Hot tears trickled down her cheeks now. It was true. Luna knew it, deep down, she knew it to be true. She had done what she could to help lead Equestria, but in the end, after the wars that had happened centuries ago, she had become useless to the land. She was a soldier, a fighter. Not a leader in government. She was a relic from a time that no longer was. Equestria had been at peace with her neighbors for well over four hundred years now.

She was a leader that been striving to keep up with a nation that had lost its need for her.

“All that I know is to act on instinct. Celestia guided me through the beginnings of creating Equestria into what it is today, but…”

Memories, from a time before Discord flooded her mind. Celestia, patiently reading to a younger Luna. The soft candlelight was their only means of reading the pages, for Luna had yet to harness her magic properly yet, and Celestia had been tired from a day of practice in the use of her own magic. Luna stumbled on words, but her sister coaxed her to continue, despite the difficulties.

“Celestia was the force that spurred Equestria forward. There…there is a reason she is admired by all of Equestria. She sought peace and knew how to achieve it. I…” Luna bit her lip. “I only stood and watched.”

Always in the background. Riding the coattails of her success.

“Like I always have.”

She looked up to the Nightmare, who continued to watch her with twisted amusement. “You chose her as your vessel because she was clearly the better choice. There was a reason I could not stand against you in battle.”

Luna looked up to the night sky, taking in the view and imprinting it to the back of her mind. Would she even remember these things when she was taken over by the Nightmare? She did not know. Would she remember Celestia? Equestria?

Would she even remember herself?

“I beg of you; take my body for your own, shadow.” Her head drooped back to the ground. “It is only fitting that a shadow like myself become one with the dark. I cannot serve this land as a ruler. At least…” She took in a shaky breath. “At least Celestia will have a chance to live, the cosmos willing. She deserves that much. I have destroyed so much already. If I can give her that chance, then I will give it to her.”

“How very admirable.”

The Nightmare shoved a tentacle into her mouth just as she released a breath, her air choked off as his inky appendage was stuffed down her throat, along with the rest of him. It was like swallowing a tasteless substance that was the opposite of water, filling her to the brim with unbridled contempt for not only the thing entering her, but herself as well. It was a befitting fate, she thought, to become what was had deemed herself all along to her own people. A Nightmare, caught in splendid glory under the full moon.

Her insides wriggled with the Nightmare’s alien presence, poking her organs, slithering across her bones, melding with her muscles. Oh, but it went much further than that. It injected its essence like a disease into her bloodstream, staining her entire body in only a few short minutes with his being, turning the two of them whole. And, in turn, Luna unwhole. She was no longer herself, just a home for the Nightmare to move into. He tore down walls as he seemed fit, redecorated her body as he desired, and twisted and shaped her soul into a comfortable armchair for him to recline in. He even wriggled into her mind, an icy dagger into her brain that kept on twisting and never letting go, deeper the only direction.

“I must commend you of being a mare of your word, Princess. Many in your place wouldn’t have the gall nor loyalty to protect their kin at all costs, even if that price was their own freedom. Have that last note of dignity with you before you are completely mine. It might make the experience more… pleasant.” A chuckle rippled from the Nightmare using Luna’s throat, nearly causing her to sputter and cough. But she didn’t. The Nightmare was using her body. She couldn’t even vomit as the idea sent a gut-punch of disgust to her stomach.

Her—no, the Nightmare’s—eyes shifted to Celestia. Her body so battered, her spirit so broken, her mind’s condition unknown to Luna, though she could only guess the worse. However, faintly, she caught her sister stirring, most likely awakening from the traumatic experience of the Nightmare leaving her. A glimmer of hope sparked in Luna’s heart, with the Nightmare being there just in time to stamp it out.

“You know, I think this is the start of a beautiful friendship, Princess,” the Nightmare spoke, using neither her voice or throat, speaking directly to her mind, or what was left that was still hers. “I never did absolutely do away with Celestia’s mind. I left some untouched, just a sliver that was still her. Something leftover so that she could see what she was doing, what shall happen, and who is responsible. The utter despair poking that little sliver each and every day was worth the patience of turning this world into what I find befitting. Though for you, Princess, I have something special planned.” A laugh crept out of the Nightmare, Luna’s entire body encased with chills. “I’ll destroy you, piece by piece. I’ll make the process as agonizingly slow as possible. You’ll be shattered whole, and then I’ll build you back, only to break you again until nothing can be put back together again. You’ll be dust. Oh, but not until the best part, that is.”

The Nightmare stepped forward, Luna’s foreleg forced to follow. “I promised you I would not harm Celestia.” Another step forward. “But you, Princess…” Another step forward, closing in on Celestia. “You were perfectly willing to harm your sister before. That will prove in my favor, since it’d be relatively simple to convince you further.” Another step equaled only a few more feet from being directly over Celestia. “Once I take her back to the castle and rid myself of those troublesome Elements once and for all, we’ll have all of eternity with each other. And Celestia as well. In that time, I’m sure we’ll agree upon some new subject matters.” The Elements of Harmony were so sickeningly bright that Celestia’s coat flashed brighter than the whitest snow, even past all the bruises and blood. “Who knows, maybe you’ll teach me a thing or two as well. Already some dark corners in the recesses of your mind are becoming apparent. Oh, what fun it’ll be to explore them!”

Luna’s body now stood over Celestia. One of her front hoof slowly lifted off the ground until it was just above Celestia’s neck.

It would be so easy. She’s not even awake. She wouldn’t feel a thing…

The small part that was still Luna felt a terror rise up as she watched with her eyes that were not her own anymore.

She never cared for us. Not really.

“N-no…”

Luna watched the metallic sheen of her armored hoof gleam in the moonlight. Celestia was powerless to her.

She would be no more. Celestia, the one constant in her life, would cease to be.

The venomous whispers in the darkest depths of her mind went quiet.

“Sis…ter…” Luna’s lips moved, trembling at first. She choked a sob as her leg muscles tensed, ready to crush Celestia’s neck in a single blow. “S-sister…”

No more visits late at night, no more walks through the forest, no more talks late into the night and into the dawn.

No more Celestia. Gone. Gone forever.

The darkness quivered around Luna. She fought. She thrashed, bit, and screamed.

“Celestia, open your eyes! Please!”

Celestia’s pupils opened. The light of the Elements… they hurt. She hasn’t seen the light for so long… so long without the light. Not when he saw through her eyes. Then, there was only darkness. But now, she could see, and the first sight she saw was the one she had missed most of all when lost in the void. Her sister, Luna.

“L… Luna?” Celestia coughed out weakly, her vocal muscles unused to taking directions from the Nightmare and not her. “Sister, wh-what has come over you? Where is—” Celestia cringed, just the tiniest glance at Luna’s eyes already like an experience of looking at her reflection in the mirror. “No… not you too.”

Luna’s hoof paused. It twitched, then shook.

“No,” Luna growled, her voice harsh with anger. She wasn’t addressing Celestia, though. “You… may have my body…” She pulled her hoof back, and with deliberate movement, forced it to the ground, grinding the grass beneath it to a green pulp. “You may have those… but… but I will never let you harm… her…”

Luna staggered back, and her head shot up, as though she had awoken from a bad dream. She shuddered, and felt sweat run down her coat. She looked to Celestia, and spoke, frantic and hurried. “Sister. It’s inside me. I-I had to! You… the Elements…”

Her head flung back, and she let out a pained scream. “Make it stop! Make it stop, make it stop!” She banged her head into the ground, not even concerned with the bruises she had gained. “Sister, it’s clawing at my mind! I-I can’t hold it back!” Her expression shifted suddenly into a venomous glare.

“You think you can stop me, Princess?” She cackled like a madmare. “Ohhh, this is too rich.” She approached Celestia with a sinister grin. “No, Luna, I intend to make you suffer.” She lifted her hoof up over Celestia’s head. “Sorry, Celestia. You can thank your sister for this, should you two ever meet in the hereafter. I’ll be sure to visit you often!”

Again, Luna halted. The grin vanished, and her eyes closed. Luna stumbled back and shook her head. “C-Celestia… use them. The Elements. Please.” She opened an eye and tears of inky black ran out from it. “Y-you have to. Now! I cannot hold it back for long!”

She finished with a growl, and lashed out at the air, like a rabid beast. “Stop it, you wretch! Stop it now! Your mind belongs to me, Luna!”

“But you’ll be destroyed! Discord only survived because of his god-like might.” Celestia blinked away the tears, already fresh and coursing down her cheeks. “I can’t lose you, Luna! I nearly lost you once already. I… I gave up everything to make sure it wouldn’t happen again.”

Luna blinked. “Y-you… for me…?” She shook her head. “I-it matters not! Celestia, if you do not stop me, there will be nothing left! This shadow, whatever it is, will swallow this world in darkness!”

She lurched forward and coughed, moaning in pain. “It… it’s too powerful for us, sister! I can barely hold it back, let alone talk to you…” She coughed again, this time flecks of blood staining the ground as she did. “You… you are strong, sister. Give me this chance… to keep our land safe. If I can do this, if I can ensure Equestria remains… it will have been worth it.”

“No… no, Luna, please, don’t force me to make such a choice,” Celestia begged. The hum of the Element’s power reached a new crescendo, the moon nearly at its zenith. The time for the end was drawing near, and every second was another wasted until the world came crashing down. “You being safe was the only thing that kept me sane with the Nightmare inside me. Without you, I would have given up long ago. There’d be nothing left. Without you, I’m nothing.” Celestia gritted her teeth, unable to stop the fresh tide of tears to pour out of her eyes. “Y-you’ve always been there for me, my beloved sister. The one I protected. The one I cherished. The one who completed me and left me whole in this world. Out of everything in this world, in this life, losing you was the worst nightmare I could ever imagine.”

Luna smiled, though it wasn’t Luna at all. “Ironic how things have changed, isn’t it?” the Nightmare cooned, shifting Luna’s neck to the left as if he meant to turn, Luna’s body not following. He managed some more twitches and fumbles using Luna’s limbs, never succeeding in moving Luna’s body out of the zone of the Element’s range. “How—ngh—how in the end, it never really ends. We just start at a new beginning. A beginning where I’ll rise from the ashes of your sister’s body and turn your entire world into a burning crater. I swear to you, Celestia, I swear it by your own blood of which I owned for so long, regardless of your choice, Equestria shall suffer.”

Luna’s neck snapped to the right, at such an odd angle it appeared almost broken. But she was still smiling. He was still smiling. “Is killing your sister now really that much worse than me ending her later on? Are you really so selfish that you are the only one fit to know when her end shall c-c-co—AGH!” The Nightmare bit down on his tongue, half of it falling in a bloody puddle on the ground. But didn’t deter him from speaking. Not one bit. “THE LANDS SHALL BURN! ALL OF EQUESTRIA, ALL OF IT! BURN UNTIL THEY ARE LEFT FALLOW AND BARE! BURNED UNTIL YOU KNOW HOW I FEEL, EACH AND EVERY SECOND OF MY WAKING EXISTENCE IN YOUR WORLD! BURN! BURN! BURN! BURN! BUUUUUUUUUUURN!”

A bloodcurdling scream escaped her throat, only to be cut off as Luna delivered a swift hoof across her face. She spit out a globule of blood and inky black, and let out a wheeze. Her tongue quickly mended itself as black tendrils stretched out from her mouth, pulling the bloody piece back into her mouth. After gagging and spitting up more of the black, bile-tasting fluid, Luna took in a few steady breaths.

“D-do you see, sister?” Luna sniffled, gazing into Celestia’s eyes. “Ponies will die.” She walked forward, stopping just a foreleg’s length from her older sister. “You can raise the moon. I’ve seen you do it.This land will be in good hooves when I am gone. It always has been.” She was trembling in place. Her eyes twitched every few seconds while her tail thrashed in clear agitation. “When I can no longer contain this thing… if you cannot stop it, Equestria and the rest of our world will be done for, Celestia.”

Luna shed more inky tears, and whispered. “Celestia… if you truly care for this land… if you care for me as much as I care for you… then use the Elements. I have no regrets… other than never thanking you for giving up so much to keep me safe…” She smiled. “So… thank you, Celestia.”

Luna took slow, shaky steps away from her sister. Her head thrashed from side to side, pausing to gaze at the Elements. “Now! Do it, sister! Now!”

“YOU’LL LOSE HER! YOU’RE KILLING YOUR SISTER! YOU’RE KILLING HER IN COLD BLOOD, YOU SELFISH, HEARTLESS WITCH!”

Celestia closed her eyes, blocking out the noises from both her sister and the Nightmare. Just her, and her decision to make. The Nightmare was obviously adamant about knowing she wouldn't use the Elements against Luna. And if she didn’t, that’d be all the Nightmare needs to clear away from the Element’s presence, the only chance at stopping his rampage lost and gone. But if Celestia did use the Elements, what would she be preventing? The Nightmare from controlling her sister, for one. But that could possibly result in Luna’s death, and only an insignificant deterrent for the Nightmare. She’d be killing her only sister just to put off the Nightmare’s inevitable reign of Equestria. But really, could she say that was such a bad thing? Preventing Luna from experiencing all that suffering… it could be the last gift Celestia gave her. Or it could just be her signing on her sister’s own execution.

Celestia opened her eyes. She looked up. The moon reached the center of the ring of light formed by the Elements of Harmony, the light of the heavens unequal in their resplendence. It was one of the most beautiful things Celestia had ever seen. Celestia had always loved the graceful silver luster of Luna’s moon, and now, standing under its light surrounded by the Elements, she truly understood just how divine it was. Just like Luna.

“Luna… I love you. I love you so much, what I do now hurts me more than you could ever imagine.” Celestia looked back to Luna, a smile on her face, even as tears streamed down from her eyes. A smile Luna hadn’t seen in years. A smile brighter than the sun itself, lighting up every room it entered, drawing the attention of everypony in the nearby vicinity to watch and be amazed by. A smile Luna had missed dearly, and knew with a sickening feeling she would miss even more now. “I hope you find it in your heart to forgive me, my one and only sister, the light of my life.”

Luna growled and hissed as the Elements came to a slow halt. “NO, YOU DESPICABLE FIREBUG! YOU’LL LOSE EVERYTHING! SHE’LL BE NOTHING BUT ASH! YOU’LL KILL HER, KILL HER, KILL—”

Luna’s screams came to an abrupt halt. Luna’s head drooped as her black wings sagged to her sides. When she finally looked up once more, she was was smiling, tears flooding her vision.

“Goodbye, Celestia. I will never forget you… big sister. I… love…”

The twinkle of light vanished from Luna’s eyes as she whispered those final words. An unearthly scream filled the air as she leaned her head back, stomping the ground and fighting with herself.

The Elements, unphased by her actions, remained floating in the air, awaiting the release of their built up magic.

“YOU THINK THIS THE END? THIS IS NEVER THE END! THERE NEVER WILL BE AN END UNTIL I SAY SO! ME!” The Nightmare stared up at the moon, Luna’s eyes filled with black tears, his only filled with… fear. For the first time ever, the Nightmare felt fear. The taste made him nauseous. “Ten years, a hundred years, even an entire damn millennium. It matters not. I’ll be back. I’ll be back for you, Equestria, and your… the light.”

The Elements began to pulse, the ground resonating with their power. Pebbles began to lift up in the air, gravity no longer in consideration. Luna’s image became fuzzy, like static had drawn over her. Already bits and pieces of her body flaked off like old paint, the blackness of the Nightmare and Luna combined being absorbed into the moon, the Elements merely acting as a tunnel for the trip.

“I’ll use the stars to escape from wherever the Elements take me. And once I’m back, the light will be mine.” The Nightmare looked at Celestia with a stare not of malice, nor hatred, and not even bitter contempt. He was just curious. “Why… why did you laugh at me, when we first met? Why… why me?” The Nightmare gulped. “Why?”

For a solid moment, there was nothing but silence between the two. Celestia blinked slowly, confusion spreading across her face. “Laugh at you? What?”

Her eyes widened, a faint, distant memory surfacing to the forefront of her mind.

Celestia, a young filly, barely old enough to use her magic properly, running through the fields of some yet-to-be named valley. She saw something, hunched over in a fallen tree, hollowed out by years of decay.

A shapeless shadow, no bigger than her, with two bright, white eyes that stared at her with confusion. It looked frightened, but at the same time, excited to see her.

“You… you were…” Celestia gasped. “That… that was eons ago…” She shook her head. “I… I had thought you were nothing more than a childish creation of my mind. I… will admit, a part of me wondered if you were real…” She frowned. “I was but a foal, no more than a few years in age. If I had laughed at you, then it was not out of spite…but from amusement. I was young. Naive. Much… much like Luna…”

The Nightmare stared at her blankly. Then, a little giggle erupted from his lips, his entire body shuddering even as larger bits and pieces floated up to the heavens, the rest soon to follow. “Childish creation. Heh. Just… just amusement. Haha! Naive! NAIVE! Ahahahahahaha!” The Nightmare laughed, the first real laugh Celestia heard from him. The first time he ever seemed… happy.

He stopped now, staring at Celestia with an amused smile on his lips. Luna’s smile. Both were there, one she would miss dearly, the other she had never witnessed before. “Thank you, Celestia. I haven’t had a good laugh in a long time.” The Elements became blinding. “I… want to go home now.”

He chuckled, one final time. Then he disappeared. The world stood still. The universe grew silent.

And with the last laugh echoing in the lands burned black by fire and sin, Celestia was truly alone.