Celestia and Twilight sat on ornately embroidered silk cushions in the Princess's private rooms. They were discussing an upcoming Royal event due in the next few days. Twilight looked at her mentor and then placed her tea cup back down carefully on the crystal glass tray.
"Are you alright?" asked the young purple mare.
"I'm fine," replied the white Alicorn with a smile.
In reality the pain was growing inside her by the hour as the thousandth summer sun celebration approached. "The preparations can be tiring for an old pony, even though I should be used to them after all this time."
Twilight didn't look convinced. It had been many years since the young filly had hatched a dragon's egg and aged it near instantly. Magical talent like that didn't always come with intelligence, but this time it had returned with a vengeance. Celestia doubted that her student had bought into the throw away statement and as the event approached it would become even harder to hide her secret. Somehow she needed to get Twilight out of harms way.
"I promise I'm fine and you have a party to get to. Go and have some fun with ponies your own age."
As her protege skipped out of the ornately carved doors Celestia sat back and winced. It wasn't like this day was a surprise, in fact, it was the most certain prophecy ever.
Twilight headed back to her lodgings happily enough, but then began to think about the obvious discomfort of her teacher. She knew her to be very old, but as far as she had read, Alicorns didn't physically age beyond adult hood. She decided to take a history book on the summer sun celebration to read under a shady tree in the Royal gardens. It was there that she started to realise that all wasn't well.
Celestia was already wondering how to divert Twilight just as a parchment arrived. Opening it she sighed as she realised hiding anything from her especially diligent student was near impossible. Maybe if she could keep her close by, she might be able to protect her and put Nightmare Moon somewhere secure for another thousand years!
At least if the purple unicorn went on ahead there would be more time to prepare. Quickly she began to assemble a reply;
"Dear Twilight, Travel to Ponyville immediately to make sure everything is ready. This is a particularly important event being the 1000th. My little ponies will likely overdo things until it resembles a farce! If things go wrong I need you to be prepared"
She decided to simplify it somewhat, deny everything and include a proviso for her to make some new friends. Twilight was spending more and more time engrossed in dusty old books and it was becoming unhealthy. Also, the researcher would soon have a working knowledge of this ancient magic, so it made sense that she start her off with the vital pieces. The elements of harmony had always been handled by a team.
Celestia sat back and pondered on how all the unfortunate events had unraveled so long ago.
It had been a thousand years since that horrific day. Her sweet baby sister had been so easily changed into a heartless monster. The little ball of dark fluff that had bounced around the palace had later shredded the landscape. Twisted by a desire to destroy, she had eventually tried to make every day a time of darkness. Initially Celestia had tried to avoid a fight, but with starvation imminent among the populace she had finally turned on her own family.
As if that wasn't bad enough the Princess of the Sun had also been horrified at her own actions. All too easily she had slipped into the form of Alicorn warrior. She knew from the ancient books that having a horn and wings could so easily turn a pony mad with power, eventually leading to the Alicorns' near extinction. As she had caressed the elements of harmony she had wondered if she was next.
Unfortunately Luna's thoughts lived inside Nightmare Moon and she was very nearly one step ahead in claiming the elemental stones for herself. Circling the Goddess of the Sun she had glared at the enchanted gems. "And what manner of plan have you for those?" She snarled.
"They are so pretty," replied Celestia. "I thought they might honour me with the very brightest of roses in the palace garden this summer."
Luna scoffed. "If thou hast nothing important to do with them, then I am sure I can put them to better use!" She lunged at them with ears back and fangs showing, her wings cutting the air to thrust her forward.
It was too late for Nightmare Moon to change her mind as she caught the hard glint of the sun in Celestia's eye. It was too late to take anything back, too late to retreat, and far too late to forgive. The Sun Princess rose with a firm "NO!". The elements spat light and spark as they twisted and spun through the air. This wasn't a controlled use of their powers as in previous engagements, but instead a magical attack of hate and anger.
Through the explosion of light Nightmare Moon could be seen to scream in agony, and yet, no sound could be heard. In a split second she was gone and the brightly coloured stones floated to the floor like autumn leaves. Celestia sank to the floor in tears as she heard her sisters voice.
"Sister, where am I?" the small voice questioned. "What has happened to me?"
Rolling onto her side she looked across the stone floor at the method of destruction. How could she have been so stupid. There was only one rule to go with the elements of harmony. They needed no complex scripture or teaching. If activated they did exactly what you wished and if all you wished for was for something not to happen then magic would fill in the gaps.
It was a day or maybe two before ponies had dared to enter the inner castle chambers to search for answers. At first they thought Nightmare Moon had killed their Princess as she lay there catatonic. They made to move her body and were startled to hear her draw breath.
"I must raise the sun," she announced in booming voice. "Nightmare Moon is no more!"
Staggering to the nearest balcony accompanied by pleas to rest she looked upon the moon. It was then that the idea came to hide the terrible event that had taken place there. Before lowering the moon she carved an image of her once loved sister on its surface. And then, as she had so often done, she raised the sun.
The white alicorn had continued on alone for a thousand years like that, ever mindful of this coming day. In that time all she really learned was that using the elements on your own was very risky. Typically they were handled by five ponies, where the magical skill of each individual dictated their power. If she could get Twilight to help with some of them, maybe they had a chance while Nightmare Moon was still weak from release.
Celestia knew her student would be studying hard on their use, so she decided to do the same and refresh her memory in the Royal library. Unfortunately Nightmare moon was studying her every move in readiness for release. As the Sun Princess settled down amongst the ancient scrolls the silence was periodically broken by confused pleas from her sister.
Despite her best overnight efforts Celestia had failed to come up with a new exit plan. She had no choice but to travel to Ponyville and do her best when the moment arrived. Luna was now much more vocal as her essence writhed expectantly for escape from within her. The summer sun celebration was upon them and any second now they would be separated.
With all of Ponyville assembled Mayor Mare began the official welcome. Celestia winced as she felt Nightmare moon stir inside her. There was a distinct mental after taste from the thoughts of the Princes of Darkness.
"And now, it is my great honour to introduce to you the ruler of our land, the very pony who gives the sun and the moon each and every day, the good, the wise, the bringer of harmony to all of Equestria... Princess Celestia!"
Celestia cringed at the thought of being described as good and wise. She had made a terrible mistake in letting Luna become Nightmare Moon and then compounded it by failing to deal with her effectively. Now she felt like Celestia the incompetent. She gave one last gasp in readiness to lower the moon and raise the sun, but instead only felt blackness as she fell to the floor.
The transfigured form of Luna now stood over the sun princess, an evil grin worn across her face. "How unfortunate we cannot spend anymore time together," she spat. Then, turning to look at the moon, she recanted the spell that had placed her image on it's surface.
"That's better, one so hates to see the things one loves defaced. Now it is time to make the dramatic entrance you had so carefully planned for yourself."
Nightmare Moon left the preparations room and made for the stairs to the balcony. With a purple glow of her horn she pushed her sister into a corner and covered her in an invisibility spell. Now that she was freed from her sisters body, it was not really needed.
The shock of absorbing Nightmare Moon had set Celestia back quite a bit. The shock of her release was way more painful. She tried to get up and make chase, but was now totally incapacitated. In the main hall she could hear the commotion and knew that Twilight was there. It had all gone horribly wrong and her student would likely be a target for the evil Princesses amusement.
She had hoped that being trapped within her would have made her sister more compassionate, but by the sound of it she was now worse than ever. All too soon the sounds outside faded and she was left with her thoughts in the dim lamp light. It was merely a pin prick of light compared to the sun she was now powerless to access.
All she could do was re-run the images of the last few seconds, the last few hours and that initial failure so very long ago. Maybe Twilight could pull off some sort of miracle. The purple ball of energy was highly accomplished and capable, but Nightmare Moon had already beaten the entire Empire.
Even if Twilight could get to the elements, it was unlikely she could use them without help. Five highly trained ponies in tune with each other could only achieve so much and none had ever come close to bringing down an Alicorn. Celestia could only hope that her student had made friends and that they were good ones.
Luckily for everypony Twilight had made up lost ground quickly. Those ponies who had been no more than strangers a short time ago had formed a strong bond of trust against adversity. Nightmare Moons game of despair and deception had actually strengthened their resolve to complete their quest!
As Twilight stood before the Dark Princess resplendent in her battle armour she realised that six was the magic number after all. She could now see that harmony wasn't just a name for something nice, but was in fact the result of good magic and of good friendship. Half by accident she had raised the sixth element and unleashed the full power of the other five. A magic so strong was released that it knocked them all to the ground and their foe unconscious.
With Nightmare Moon gone Celestia felt the dark spells fade from her form. Blinking with surprise and jumping to her feet she sped out of the room and out onto the balcony. Maybe everything was fine, but there was no time to waste in fear of finding her sister only stunned, but still quite dangerous. It was imperative she intervene quickly while she had a narrow window of opportunity.
Shaking off a sizeable headache and spreading her wings she made for the old castle as fast as she could. She knew the layout well and entered the room that held the elements of harmony to find it empty. Her horn glowing with white fire ready for battle she teleported through the window of the throne room. Eyes ablaze with the full energy of the sun she was shocked to find a scene of quiet reflection.
"Princess Celestia," gleamed the little purple pony unicorn.
"Twilight Sparkle, my faithful student, I knew you could do it," she lied with a huge smile.
Keeping an empire going was half planning and half luck and her teaching had clearly paid off today. Looking to her left she could see her sister still unconscious on the floor, but visually unharmed from the reversal spell.
"But you told me it was all an old pony tale?" asked a confused looking Twilight.
"I told you to make some friends and nothing more."
It had been a viable slight of hand with the truth. Telling everypony how her flesh and blood had annihilated Equestria wouldn't have helped anything. The fact that Nightmare Moon was trapped inside her would have doubled the panic.
The initial failure with the elements of harmony had undoubtedly been reversed by the six ponies ranged before her. She continued; "I saw the signs of Nightmare Moons return and I knew it was you who had the magic inside to defeat her. But you could not unleash it until you let true friendship into your heart."
It seemed so obvious to her now. Of course harmony was the essence of friendship. In all the years of the elements use the ponies assigned to them had been chosen by the court. Her ancestors had never given anypony a proper chance to wield them as the universe had intended.
Turning to her side she couldn't be happier that the new elemental bearers had brought back her sweet little sister to her.
"Now if only another one will as well?" She said quietly walking toward Princess Luna. "It has been a thousand years since I have seen you like this. It's time to put our differences behind us. We were meant to rule together little sister. Will you accept my friendship?"
The End
Author's Note
I'm not quite sure how I arrived at this one? I usually have some trigger, but this just sort of happened! I was very scared to tackle a canon story and the first two episodes must be the most written about in the fandom? I watched them a lot last week to make sure I had it set out right and wasn't contradicting anything, even though that is tricky. (The canon moves around a fair bit). Half way through I decided the best course was to spin the original words, but give them a meaning that suited my plot.
Generally I would say writing for your own OC charectors and plot is way easier :o) But I had fun writing Nightmare Moons lines nonetheless.
