Solar Eclipse

Chapter Three: A Nightmare Returns

Princess Celestia

Her brow creasing with frustration and panic, Celestia used her horn to try to locate the lost sister. Taking a deep breath, she focused her nervous energy into a tracking spell. She closed her eyes, a pulsating beat of energy catching her attention through the spell. The energy pulse was... Luna’s, and yet it was not. Something dark and malevolent was slowly changing Luna’s very identity.

Celestia knew where the night princess was now, the tracking spell had told her that much. She was in the castle the two had lived in before the tragedy had occurred, The place they had played in as children, with their parents and servants. The home that had given them the childhood that had influenced the rest of their immortal lives.

It was the fortress in which she and Nightmare Moon had first battled.

Shivering from the unforgettable torment of a memory, Celestia cleared her throat and snapped open her pristine white wings, swinging them downward as she burst up into the cold air.

Princess Luna

Resist. She had to resist. But she knew she was slipping away... it seemed hopeless to try. Already her pupils had narrowed to slits, her coat was the color of coal, and her mane had become untamed and wild, the gleaming clumps of stars floating inside of it expanding and receding rapidly. With her last ounce of strength, she huddled into a fetal position. As the voice pushed Luna’s consciousness away into the dark rececesses of her mind, the last thing she heard was the clopping of her sister’s hooves on the stone floor behind her, but her body was no longer hers to control, so she was not able take one last glance upon the face of her beloved sister.

Princess Celestia

Celestia looked down at her smaller sibling, who was collapsed on the floor of the throne room in front of her. Was she too late? Gulping down a sob, Celestia slowly and quietly walked over to the fallen Alicorn. She kneeled next to her sister, cautious that the transformation had already been completed.

“Luna...?”

With a sudden gnash of biting teeth, the younger Alicorn leapt at Celestia, tackling her to the hard stone ground. Pinning Celestia beneath her hooves, Nightmare Moon snarled cruely.

“Luna is... no longer the caretaker of this body, my dear Celestia, or did you forget that I have possessed her just like I did 1000 agonizing years ago?" the black Alicorn sneered.

          Celestia gave a cry as Nightmare Moon pressed her hooves violently against her chest. She still managed to gasp a sentence out, even when she could hardly breath. "How did you... Come back...after the Elements-"

          "HA! Did you really think that your petty little student and her wimpy friends could truly defeat the substance of Nightmares with a bunch of sparkly rocks?" Nightmare Moon questioned as she gave a small smirk. "You really must be getting old, princess."

          With that, Celestia raised her back legs and kicked at the mare, sending her flying across the room. She landed with her back slamming into a column, and despite that, she sprang right back up, looking not even the slightest bit dishelved. She snorted in agitation, and charged at Celestia once again.

           Scrambling back to her hooves quickly, Celestia backed away from the charging mare, still quite surprised at Nightmare's return. But surprise soon gave way to anger, and she met the other Alicorn head on, their horns slamming against each other with frightening force. Nightmare Moon gave a guttural growl as she pressed against Celestia's horn, her eyes narrowing to slits.

But Celestia had no intention of letting Nightmare Moon win. As she pressed with all of her might against the other Alicorn, she thought of Twilight and her friends. She thought of Ponyville, and Canterlot, and all her subjects living in all of the cities she ruled alongside with-

Celestia’s eyes grew wide.

Luna.

She was fighting... and hurting... Luna.

Nightmare Moon smiled as if she knew what Celestia was thinking. Pressing harder onto the other Alicorn’s horn, she gave a small cry. “Sister... why are you doing this to me?” She asked in Luna’s voice.

Celestia gasped in surprise, and her pressure against the other mare’s horn lessened for only a second. But Nightmare Moon took full advantage of it, and slammed her front hooves into Celestia’s chest. The Princess of the Sun fell back onto the hard tile, her ribs hurting her badly. She quickly mustered up a healing spell, but was interrupted by another hit from Nightmare Moon, who sent her hooves colliding into Celestia’s chest again. And again.

“How does THAT feel, PRINCESS?” Nightmare Moon crowed, “to be defeated so easily by your YOUNGER sister? I would kill you now... but you are quite FUN to torture! After what you did to me 1000 years ago, your death will be as PAINFUL as possible.”

Pain shooting up her spine every time she took a breath, Celestia looked woefully at the dark figure. Closing her eyes, she tried to muster up her strength to cast a heat ray spell when the castle suddenly lit up. Nightmare Moon cried out as rays of blinding sunlight hit her.

The eclipse had ended, and the sun was shining once again.

Growling in anger, Nightmare Moon gave one last hateful look at Celestia before using her horn to transform into a cloud of star matter and darting away into the shadows.

Giving a groan, Celestia painfully rested there, on the floor of the throne room. The rays of her beautiful sun gave her strength. After an hour or so, Celestia had the energy to cast a healing spell upon herself, healing her broken ribs and damaged innards. Standing up shakily, she closed her eyes and used a transportation spell to take her back to the castle.

She had to warn her student of the impending danger.