"Thanks for coming here, Twilight."

Princess Celestia took a sip of her tea, a blend of leaves and spices so meticulously crafted that it didn't have a name.

Princess Twilight Sparkle, directly across from her, took a sip as well.

"It's the least I could do, with you writing all of those letters for me. It must take some time to remember everything."

Celestia set her cup down on top of a saucer. "It does. I'm not sure I remember it all myself, to be honest." She chuckled. "I need to ask you a question, though. Where are you putting my letters when you are done reading them?"

Twilight placed her cup on her saucer as well. "Well, when Spike is done reading them to me, I place them in the history section in the libr—"

"Don't."

Twilight jumped up in shock, before sliding back onto her chair. Celestia was glaring at her with an intensity saved for few, and it shook Twilight to her core.

"Twilight, those scrolls are not meant to be public knowledge. When you get back, the first thing you will do is remove them from your shelves. Has anypony read any of them?"

Twilight fidgeted in her seat. "Umm, one historian came in and checked out a few—"

"Find whoever it is and get the scrolls back. The next letter I send will not be read by anypony except you, Twilight. Not even Spike. Place them in an off-limits area, or even send them back to me. This is for Equestria's safety."

Twilight understood, but an itch in the back of her head suggested there were more reasons than protecting Equestria. "Okay, Princess. I'll get to it right after this."

They finished their tea after exchanging more pleasantries, yet neither mind was interested in conversation.

"Thank you, Twilight."

Dear Princess Twilight Sparkle,

I'd like to apologize if I came across as rude at our last meeting, Twilight. My mind has been a bit of a mess these past few weeks, and although I'd never admit it out loud, the source of the confusion is from these accounts I'm writing.

An imaginary wall in my mind is blocking me from remembering even large details about that night, and now that we're near the end of it, the wall has gotten stronger. I've pushed through, though. I can recall every bit of what I have left to put down, but forgive me for straying off topic a little.

The Elements of Harmony are not as easy to control as you and your friends make it seem. Most if not all of the previous times The Elements were used in a form, and with varying effects. Unlike you, we didn't have control over what the final verdict—more accurately final punishment—would be for whoever was on the receiving end of The Elements. It takes a lot of power to control them. This was true that night; I knew that whatever The Elements wanted to do to my sister, they could.

This doesn't mean that they wouldn't put your wishes into consideration, though. If I wanted to send somepony to Tartarus, they would deem that acceptable. Of course, I didn't even know what I wanted to punish Luna with at the time.

There was at least a minor upside to it though; The Elements always trade something in return for their use. If one has to wield The Elements, whatever they destroy or alter will be compensated for in some way or another. For your case Twilight, you have had enough control over The Elements to make their trades more subtle. Simple things, like adding extra magical power to your reserves, or possibly sending some good fortune you and your friends' way.

As I was walking toward the castle with Glowing Sera by my side, I was trying to figure out not only what The Elements would do, but what I would be forced to take in return.

If anypony told you that it was actually nighttime, you would have laughed in their face. The Sun illuminated the world in a warm glow. It strengthened me, flowing throughout my veins. The viridescent forest carried a cool summer breeze, and plenty of critters scurried along the ground. I envied how oblivious they all were to the events that were unfolding.

I glanced to my left; Glowing Sera had strapped her saddlebags around her and was floating a clay horse-shaped golem in the air by her side.

"You don't think you'll be able to bring that into the castle, do you?" I inquired.

She grinned. "No, but I still need to set it outside just in case."

I chuckled and looked away. "Okay."

We passed through more forest as the castle came into view. Glowing stopped and turned to me.

"What are we going to do, Celestia? Attack her? Use The Elements right away? Maybe we shouldn't use them at all—"

"The Elements are here for a reason, and they will be used. I can't say I have anything else planned yet. I just. . . I don't know how she's going to act. I'm going to try and get her to wake everypony back up, at least."

We continued at a faster pace and neared the steps of the castle.

"Then let's be extra cautious. If she attacks, we need to be ready."

My mind flashed back to the nightmare she locked me into. If she pulled out that blade again, I wasn't sure that I was going to be able to fight back. I hadn't taken the time to fully think about that nightmare; I didn't know that Luna could be so sinister. I don't believe I could have done the same if the roles were switched, but then again, Luna had been through a lot more than me. If anything, she showed us both one thing: the game is almost over, and somepony has to make a move.

"We're here." Glowing Sera announced as I found myself standing in front of two large, wooden, double-doors. The castle looked worse than it did from earlier in the night; the stone that it was made up of looked cracked and broken, while moss and vines seemed to cover the detailed designs on the towers up above even more than usual. It went from the capital of our country to a structure that was old and breakable.

It seemed to know that it was abandoned before we ever left it.

Glowing Sera took off her saddlebags and placed them along with her golem on the ground. I followed suit, but kept The Elements on hoof. Glowing faced me with a smile.

"You go on ahead Celestia. I've got one more thing I want to do out here."

"And what would that be?"

"You can say it's . . . casting some helpful spells, just to be safe. And . . . enjoying the air in case it's the last time."

I was suspicious, but as long as she faced Luna beside me, I was okay with it.

"Fine. I'll be right inside."

I turned away from Glowing and opened the door with a creak. The hallway had surprisingly not changed much, but the warm light that normally emanated from the throne room was now completely gone. I stepped inside.

Once I was inside, I heard one spell cast before Glowing opened the door and moved by my side. "That was quick," I said.

"I didn't have much to do. Let's go and try to work things out."

I leaned down to talk in Glowing's ear. "Glowing, if she attacks me, don't get in her way."

She frowned. "I'll try not to, but I'm going to fight just as much as you will."

We trotted down the hallway. Each empty room echoed of what was once a civilization, but was only filled with light from The Sun. I wondered where everypony was now. Sure, the majority were stuck in comatose, but some had to be active somewhere. I later found out that they had split into three groups.

The first and smallest group took refuge slightly north; they later founded what would eventually become Ponyville. The second largest group were all waiting inside the Everfree Forest for news about my battle. They stuck with me to eventually become the occupiers of Canterlot, and some of them became the ancestors of Canterlot Nobility. The final group, which held most of the ponies, decided to spread out. All directions they traveled, they told the tale of Nightmare Moon as heard in books on library shelves. I think they all took some liberties on what actually occurred, though.

We had reached the end of the hallway far too quickly. I looked at Glowing Sera one more time before stepping into the throne room. Whatever awaited me was going to change the course of Equestria forever.

I took a step inside.

There weren't any demons, monsters, or anything in between. Luna wasn't all black and cackling the days away. There was no entity that would control somepony so pitiful. After everything she did, I was still tossing around the thought that The Affliction was in charge, but I was obviously wrong.

She looked extremely worn out.

She was sitting on her throne, but slumped forward. I had never seen her so gaunt before in my life. Her eyes were sunken in and bleary, her hair was disheveled, and her posture was nonexistent. Her throne wasn't holding up much better; it was cracked on the sides and decaying.

"Hello, Celestia." She quietly whispered in my direction with a pallid face. "I see you made it out."

It was clear to see that something was wearing her down. Glowing stepped forward. "Luna, holding up so many spells at once is destroying you. You need to stop and release everypony."

Luna weakly stood up on wobbly feet. "I would have liked a warning about the spells, at least. Now look at what I've done."

Glowing frowned. "I'm sorry. You're still able to come back from this. We can explain to everypony—"

"Don't bother."

"Huh?" Glowing said. "Everything can be fixed still."

"I don't think so, Glowing." Luna said. "You may not understand it, but Celestia and I have rules. And those rules have been destroyed tonight, and won't be able to be put back together. Although I may look weak, there is still plenty of fight in me. I know it, and Celestia knows it. I'd suggest getting out of the way now."

It was just as I feared. Luna was not willing to understand, and it was going to tear us apart. I started walking toward Luna's throne. "Luna, I don't want to fight y—"

"Stay back!" She yelled with a surprising amount of force. She aimed her horn at the ceiling and shot a beam of light out. I jumped back just in time, missing a boulder from landing on top of me. At closer inspection, it had the designs and carvings of our castle on it. Glass fell onto my head and back and cut into my coat.

"Destroying our castle is not a good idea, Luna!"

She responded by firing more shots at the ceiling. As stone and glass started tumbling down around us, I quickly tried to advance forward. Luna fired a series of shots in a circle around herself to prevent me from getting closer. I backed up and noticed that Glowing was surrounded by debris. I hastily grabbed some with my magic and threw it at Luna's defense, cracking through it and preventing Glowing from getting crushed. I formed a shield around the two of us to prevent any more glass from hurting cutting our coats.

I rushed forward in the small opening that I broke through to get in the same circle as Luna. When she saw me enter, her firing stopped and she took a defensive stance. She faced me and sneered. "I think I want a makeover. Sure, a monument would have been nice, but some of the decorations in here are very drab."

I took a fighting stance, charged my horn, and pointed it at her. "Don't make me fire, Luna!"

Luna stopped and got out of her stance. "I don't think you'll actually do it, Celestia."

"What?"

Luna trotted over to me. She conjured up a blade of magic, and I froze. "There are many reasons I chose to stab you in your nightmare, sister. A big reason was that you simply don't like blades."

She took a step forward and swung the knife to the left. Glowing Sera appeared behind me and shot out a shield spell in front of Luna. Her blade cut through it effortlessly, and it crumbled.

"I had questions about it for a while, but I noticed it when I put the blade to your neck earlier. I've seen you in enough dangerous situations, but your eyes always stay cool. They betrayed you tonight, though. I could see the fear in them when I confronted you."

Luna took another step closer and swung the blade to the right. I tried to move my legs, but found they were locked in place.

"I don't think I have to say it again, but I've been thinking Tartarus could be better than living with you. I put up the same charade as you everyday, but I'm treated like dirt. For some reason, I'm not real royalty, just connected to it. And what do I get from you? 'Did you see how I handled the treaty today? Flawlessly! You need to brighten up more, though. You're ruining our chances!' Celestia, can you blame me for being paranoid? I've spent lifetimes dealing with the same sycophants who coddle up to you and spit on me! Call it petty, asinine, or a waste of my time, but you can only hold it in for so long."

Glowing ran up to my side. I barely noticed, because the blade was directly in front of me.

"But you know what, Celestia? You made many mistakes tonight. You broke our rules. I don't let that go easily. So, go ahead and say I'm insane. What did I hear you reference me as in my dream? An 'affliction'? Maybe I am one, but it's of your making. Let's not waste any more time, though."

I felt Glowing pushing me, physically and magically, but she wasn't strong enough to move me anywhere. Luna completely ignored her. I couldn't take my eyes off of her blade.

"My punishment to you, for breaking three of our highest rules, is death. For the better of Equestria!"

Luna lunged the blade forward, but it never hit me.

Glowing Sera jumped in the way of the blade and it plunged deep into her chest. She didn't flinch, and made no indication she was in pain. Suddenly I was able to move and I quickly rushed to look at the wound. Luna was frozen in shock; she didn't expect somepony to get in her way.

The magic blade (which dissipated after it entered Glowing's chest) left a large cut in her chest, but no blood flowed out. I glanced up at Glowing's face and saw that she was glaring at Luna. That might have been what shocked her so much.

"You would dare," Glowing rebuked, "to murder your own sister? Luna, I've known you for some time, and you've never acted so foolishly. Take a step back and think about what you're going to do next."

Glowing turned around and looked at me, unaffected by he injury still. "What?" She asked.

"Your . . . chest."

Glowing looked down. "Oh. That's no problem." She grinned as her muzzle faded from a rich red into a muddy gray.

The rest of her body followed suit; her eyes disappeared and became hollow holes as the rest of her face turned to clay. Her body and cutie mark disappeared, and her hair lost it's amber color. In her place was the golem she had supposedly left outside.

A light flashed in front of me as the real Glowing Sera teleported into the room. "I had a few important spells to cast." She grabbed The Element of Magic off of the golem. "Now then."

Luna shook her head to get out of her shock. She looked at me and glared. I saw her horn light up to start the creation of another blade, but I wasn't going to be caught again.

With the power of The Sun I charged a shot and aimed it at Luna. It landed directly and sent her flying backwards into the air. She flapped her wings to help balance herself. I launched into the air as well.

"This is it, Luna! You've got nothing left!" I flied toward her, dodging and rolling between the shots of magic she was sending my way. If one had hit me I was sure it would do more than send me flying backwards.

I was gaining on Luna and she flew up higher through the broken ceiling. The strain she was putting on herself was starting to show; she was getting paler and paler, struggling to gain more altitude. I fired magic up above and tried to knock her down slightly.

In a flash, she stopped flying in midair but stayed afloat. She lit her horn, but not in my direction. I noticed it started to get slightly darker.

Luna, instead of keeping The Moon behind my Sun, shifted it to the right to allow its energy to flow. Now we both had the power of our celestial bodies on our side. Her face regained some of its color and she sent more shots down toward me.

I managed to fly up in front of her. We charged. At the last second, Luna flew upwards and bucked me with her hind legs. I quickly regained my posture, but sunk lower down. It gave me the opportunity to quickly slam into her from below. I wasn't fast enough, and she quickly grabbed me with her magic.

She lowered me to face her directly. The fury she contained was starting to break through, and she punched me with a hoof. I tried to break free from her restraints, but her magic was too strong.

"Do you know what I still have Celestia?" She yelled into the sky. "I still have everypony locked in a coma forever! You can't win tonight, not without me agreeing to free them! You know what else I have?"

She thrust a hoof into my face once again.

"I've got you!"

She repeatedly started to beat me; punches, kicks, bucks, magic spells, and disorientation was all I could feel. Each hit to my body hurt more than just the physical pain; my own sister had gone so far down a path that went against everything we strived to achieve. I watched attentively as she continued to hurt me, waiting for an opening, or the pain to go numb.

Glowing fired some magic shots from below to help me, but they weren't enough to stop her.

I scanned Luna's eyes one last time. They weren't crazed and evil, like The Affliction; they weren't cold and ruthless, despite her attempts at being a killer; they were still Luna's. Or maybe they never were Luna's in the first place; I wasn't able to tell.

Luna charged a shot above her head with all the power of The Moon. She raised me higher into the air, and her horn grew brighter and brighter. It looked like that was it; Luna won. She pointed her horn directly at my face and—

Her horn went out as she keeled over in pain. Her wings gave out and she started to drop, but I wasn't going to let her fall easily. I charged my horn and shot directly below me into her. She plummeted toward the ground.

I slowly descended as I watched Luna crash through the broken ceiling of the castle. She landed directly on her throne, and it broke into smithereens underneath her crushing weight and speed.

I landed on the ground and saw Glowing Sera already had rushed over to Luna to check on her. Luna was limp, sprawled across the ground.

Defeated.

I made my way over to her body and kneeled down to see if she was alive. I put my ear up to her mouth. Shallow breathing. I hadn't killed her, although she was near close enough that I might as well have.

I stood up as Glowing started to speak. "I guess this is when we use The Elements, right?"

"We haven't freed all of the ponies from their dreams yet. We need to wake her up."

"I've got a solution for that," Glowing said.

She lit her horn, and encompassed the collapsed Luna in a sphere of teal. Inside the glow, Luna's cuts and bruises disappeared. She looked like she had in the beginning of the night, before everything went downhill.

Luna woke up inside with a sharp draw-in of breath. She stood up, but her limp body didn't follow. Her spirit looked at the two of us, and then down below at her damaged form. "Oh no. What have I done . . ."

I turned to Glowing. "What is this spell?"

"It's a spell that allows somepony to temporarily have their conscience pulled from their body. She can't escape the sphere I have around her, or touch anything. She can cast magic and talk to us, though."

I turned to Luna. She seemed to be examining herself carefully, finding all of her injuries. "Luna, you've lost."

She jumped up in fear at my voice. "Yes. I have." She slumped onto the ground. "Send me to Tartarus if you must, and I have no reason to ask this of you Celestia, but please don't kill me. I—I don't want to die yet."

I glared. "With what you said to me and the actions you took tonight you should be dead. Anypony knows that."

She sunk to the ground. "I know. I don't think it matters, though. Our fight, combined with the strain of holding everypony in sleep is killing me right now. I can feel my heartbeat slowing."

I was struck with a fear that rushed back to me after having disappeared for a long while; a fear for the loss of my sister. "Luna, release the ponies and you will have a chance to live. Quickly."

Luna lit her horn and cast a spell. Soon after, the murmurs and yelling of ponies were heard outside.

"There you go. I only feel weaker now."

I took a step forward but Glowing placed a hoof in front of me. "Don't go inside, you'll break the spell."

"Okay. Luna, you're still my sister. We're going to use The Elements of Harmony on you, and they'll decide what happens to you. I—I understand that this was a misunderstanding, but like you said, this had to happen eventually. Don't forget that despite me doing this, I still love you."

Luna, crumpled on the ground, next to her real body, and smiled. "Too late for that." She looked into the air. "The Moon is quite beautiful this evening."

And with those words, the spell that connected to Luna broke. I galloped to Luna's side and put my ear next to her heart.

Slow beats, near to death.

"Glowing, she's going to die! I-I've killed her!" I exclaimed. Glowing ran over next to me and listened to Luna's heartbeat as well. She looked up.

"Celestia, we still haven't used The Elements. Can they heal her?"

"N-no, they only purge and sentence evil."

Glowing put her hoof to her chin. While she was thinking, I started trying to resuscitate Luna. It was not an area I was well-versed in, and my efforts felt more and more useless by the second.

After pushing on her chest for a long time, Glowing jumped up. "I've got it!"

"What do we need to do?"

Glowing looked at me. "Do you remember the spell that got me kicked out of Fillydelphia? The one I used on a rabbit?"

"Yeah, didn't you have to kill it?" I said, continuing to pump on her chest.

"The rabbit was already dead beforehand, I tried to bring it back to life. If I cast the spell on Luna, it will heal her, but fill her with enough dark magic for The Elements to respond and punish her!"

I stopped pumping and sat back. "Is that all you have?"

She nodded. "We'll need to be quick. I'll cast the spell and then we activate The Elements."

I nodded in response and we took a step back from Luna. "Okay. Let's get started."

Glowing Sera ignited her horn and shot out a spell onto Luna, and unlike her light teal color, it was a dark blue, bordering on black. The spell hit Luna, and its color started to spread across her coat, removing all of the cuts and bruises she held. She started growing in size as well.

"Now!" I yelled.

The Elements of Harmony were in to make their play. I felt myself rise into the air as the glowing shards circled around in front of us. What was once Luna now stood up and stared in anger as The Elements spun.

"Princess Luna," A voice that sounded like my own, Glowing's, and something else boomed, "you have committed enough evil to be worthy of punishment. I hereby banish you to ONE-THOUSAND YEARS UPON THE MOON!"

A rainbow beam of light shot out from The Elements directly into Luna's chest. The light then shot out of Luna's back and directly into The Moon.

She screamed.

And then she disappeared.

The Elements of harmony broke down into dust, Glowing and I hit the ground with a thud, and the castle stayed destroyed.

I lifted my head off the ground. The first thought that came to my mind: one-thousand years. Oh my, it still baffles me that I said that all these years later. I had to wait one-thousand years to see my sister again, and she would still be in the wrong state of mind. It was hard to handle at that moment.

Then I thought of The Elements and their usual compensation. I glanced around the room for anything.

My cuts weren't healed, and neither were Glowing's.

The castle was still broken, along with Luna's throne.

I looked in the sky to see The Moon next to The Sun. One had the face of a pony upon it. I turned away quickly; I wasn't ready to look too closely at that yet.

Were The Elements so cruel that they would leave me with nation, heart, and happiness all broken?

Glowing Sera gasped behind me. I turned around to see that she was looking up through the broken ceiling in awe.

When I found the object of her attention, I was in awe as well.

-Princess Celestia

Author's Note

There's one chapter left, everyone. Sorry for the long wait. Lots of stuff came up, and I was a bit worried about this chapter.

I guess now is a good time to ask for everyone to like and comment any questions or feedback. It's been a great journey to write this. Thanks a lot.