Darkness.

Only Darkness.

There was no whistling of the wind, not even a sliver of warm, calming light.

Nothing but Darkness.

But then a sound broke the silence. A quiet sound. Clack it echoed. Then again, clack. With every repeat, the sound became louder, more audible, it... came closer. Closer and closer, the corresponding echoes growing louder as well.

And then it stopped again. The echoes went on for a few seconds, and as they died out, silence returned and only Darkness remained, once more.

Then, a sudden spark broke the Darkness. A white horn began to pierce the black shroud as a bright aura, yellow and orange, began to surround it. And from the glow and sparks that originated from the horn, a new shape became visible as it stood there amidst the Darkness.

Daybreaker.

The Empress of the Sun, usually so proud and mighty, could not have carried a more different impression on her face. The scars of war were visible even on her face: Loss, such tremendous, heartbreaking loss, and the burden of being responsible for it all. Unlike so many of her poor little Ponies, those that had to die in the Trenches to fight a war they had never asked for, she carried her wounds and scars not on her skin but deep inside. Her heart ached with every beat as Daybreaker had come to realise that Harmony had a much bigger price than what she had first thought. She had always known that a war could not be won without great sacrifice but... not this much. This was too much. Too much even for somepony like her, a Pony so powerful she could use the might and wrath of the sun to defeat her Enemies. She needed help, needed comfort. She needed...

...her sister.

The white-coated mare closed her eyes as the glow around her horn intensified. Sparks shot out from the tip of her horn and began flying across the room. All of them headed straight towards torches that hung on the walls. One after another they were lit, and as such, the Darkness faded and gave way to the light. A large cave appeared from beneath the dark. The 'room' was almost entirely empty, with nothing but a central platform made out of rock and a small wooden bridge that lead across a gorge which surrounded the Platform in the Centre. And in the Centre... was a cage. It was occupied.

With a heavy heart and even heavier hooves, Daybreaker began to cross the bridge. Her presence was noted.

Daybreaker halted after crossing the bridge. She froze in place, her hooves unwilling to move any closer.

Behind the Cage's thick, near indestructible bars laid the broken, defeated form of Luna. Even now, months after her defeat by Daybreaker, she had not recovered. There she laid, powerless and defeated, stripped of her usual royal regalia.

Daybreaker, still, couldn't manage to move any closer to her sister, let alone speak. Guilt overcame her, and a sense of dread and sorrow.

"Why have you returned?" Luna asked with a dry, monotone voice. "Come to finish me?" Luna scoffed as she laid in her Prison, her back turned towards what once used to be her sister.

Daybreaker's jaw dropped, wanting to speak but... nothing. She was at a loss of words. Her mouth closed again and she lowered her head.

"I hope you're proud of yourself. Causing so much suffering, so much death and destruction," Luna said with anger. "And for what?" Luna asked, "FOR WHAT!?" She stomped a hoof on the ground, and a loud metal clang echoed through the room.

Daybreaker could hear her Sister breathing heavily, both with anger and with the pain that still plagued her. Pain she caused.

"You- argh!" Luna cried out in pain as she slowly but surely got up on her hooves. "You are nothing but a corrupt demon!" the blue mare cried, her legs giving in to the pain that plagued them, and Luna shrank once again as she laid on the cold, dead metallic floor of her Cage. "If anypony knows about corrupt spawns such as you, it is me," she admitted. "Now I know what it must have felt like for my sister during all those years I was gone. I failed to look after my sister, failed to remind her of who she really was and that together we could have solved any problem."

Luna lowered her head and rested it upon the cold steel. "After all, she always told me that 'we were meant to rule together'. Perhaps I should have reminded her of the same thing." The Lunar Princess gave out a deep sigh. "I should have never let it come to this. I should have called upon the Elements of Harmony, as my Sister did all those years ago upon my own corruption."

Daybreaker closed her eyes and gathered her strength.

"But if you think you've won, Demon, you are gravely mistaken! You have won nothing!" Luna yelled at Daybreaker. "The Elements will come, and they will destroy you just as they destroyed Nightmare Moon! Your reign will-"

"Sister."

Luna froze in an instant. That... voice. It was different, not the crude, evil voice of Daybreaker. It was... could it be? Was it really the voice of her Sister?

"T-Tia?" Luna whispered in disbelief. "Sister, is it you?"

"Of course it is, Luna," Daybreaker replied calmly.

A tear ran down the blue mare's face as she looked on in disbelief. It was the voice of her beloved Sister but... the image of a demon.

"It can't be..! You're not her!" Luna cried out in anger. "You consumed her!"

"Sister," Daybreaker said again, "I am sorry."

Luna began to sob as she hammered against the cage.

"SORRY!? YOU!?" she barked with fury. "A Spawn such as you cannot feel emotions such as regret or sorrow, it cannot even begin to understand them. Once upon a time, I, too, was trapped by a dark force. It had tempted me with promises of power and revenge during a time of weakness, and I, fool that I was, gave in. Blindly I marched into the trap of evil as it encapsulated me and took control of my body. I watched as my body, driven by corruption, attacked ponies and my sister. And... I paid the price for my great mistake..." her fury slowly resided and made way to regret.

"I was a fool to believe my sister were immune to such things. I took no precautions to prevent such an event, took too little care of my bigger half... until it was too late." Luna lifted her head and stared Daybreaker in the eyes directly. "Celestia, sister, I know you are in there, deep somewhere inside. I know how frightening it is, having made the same experience as you. But do not give up, Tia. I won't. And I will never give you up either."

There was silence once again for a few seconds as the two mares, sisters, stared each other down. Then, at last, Daybreaker gave in. She closed her eyes for a few moments, and when they opened again, her slitted, fiery pupils were all but gone. Instead, Luna saw a much more familiar pair of eyes: those of her sister, Celestia.

"Luna, my dear and beloved sister," Daybreaker spoke, once again sounding more akin to her older self, "For a thousand years I spent my days in Equestria with nopony to my side. My sister had been corrupted and banished for what seemed like an eternity, and nopony else even considered becoming acquainted with royalty as they would with any regular pony."

Luna's previous resolve and anger subsided as Daybreaker, or rather, Celestia went on.

"Loneliness overcame me. It gnawed at me, year after year, decade after decade. And then the guilt, the terrible guilt I felt for you. I knew that, had I only been more observant, more caring... I could have prevented it all, sister."

"Tia," Luna interrupted, a tear in her eye, "it was far from your fault. I wasn't strong enough, I let myself be overcome by the whispers of darkness. You must not carry this burder, this guilt, yourself."

Daybreaker sighed. "No, Luna. I know that I abandoned you in your greatest hour of need, that I didn't give you the attention and respect you deserved. And as such... I paid the price for my ignorance. It was my fault..."

As Daybreaker shivered with regret, Luna contemplated silently. This whole situation, the corrupt image of her sister but... it was her sister, after all? But... why? And how?

"Tia, I..." she asked, "why have you come?"

"I came to say that I am sorry, sister. For everything."

Daybreaker's horn lit up in her bright aura once again as she pulled off her helmet, placing it softly on the ground.

"Sorry for abandoning you in your time of need over a thousand years ago. Sorry for failing you now. I wasn't strong enough..."

"Tia, don't be foolish. You are strong, much stronger than I, for one. But no one can face darkness alone. Nopony can, not even Alicorns. I should have been there for you, sister."

"No, Luna," Celestia's voice echoed in response, "I'm not talking about that, I mean that I wasn't strong enough to defend Equestria."

"Sister?" Luna whispered back at her.

"You know how bad our situation was, Luna. You know it as well as I do. The Changelings, Chrysalis and her minions they... they simple overran us. There seemed no stopping them! And that's when..."

"You changed?" Luna interrupted. "But why, Tia?"

"I realised our old ways would have spelled doom for all of Equestria, Luna. Peace? Friendship? Tolerance? They all become a burden during times of war. They crippled ponykind, prevented us from pushing back Chrysalis and bringing the war to an end. An end to bloodshed, the day that ponies far and wide can finally drop their rifles and rest, once more."

Daybreaker stepped forward towards the cage until she looked eye to eye with Luna.

"I know you may not understand, Luna. And I know you fear for me. But in war, we must all adapt, we must all make sacrifices. This is what I realised, and this is what I forced my little ponies to realise, as well."

"It didn't need to come to this, sister. Not like this!" Luna returned. "We could have solved all of this a different way, Tia. Together," she pleaded. "But instead of finding a middle ground, you were corrupted. You became an evil upon the land, just as Chrysalis is."

Luna's words stung. Deep.

"There was no middle ground, Luna. There was simply no time left for compromise. It was now or never, we would either subject ourselves to the harsh realities of war, or die in ignorant bliss." She paused briefly. "I chose to live. I chose to live on and fight. I chose to adapt so we could win this war and... I made the biggest sacrifice of all."

"I sacrificed myself to evil. I gave in and let myself be transformed by it, reshaped and empowered by it, so that I could weather this storm." Daybreaker looked back at her sister. "It was an evil, Luna. Look upon me now, in this form, and I stand here to tell you that it was evil that I chose."

"Sister..." Luna pleaded as tears gathered in her blue eyes. "Why...? Why would you abandon me like that?"

"I'm so sorry, sister... it..." Daybreaker lowered her head in shame, "it was a necessary evil. The only thing that would save Equestria, and our ponies, from certain doom. I... knew my decision was a gamble, I knew ponies would come to harm, that they would die but-"

"You gambled," Luna finished. "You gambled your life away, hoping that your fall to evil would result in less pain, death and destruction than the Changelings."

Daybreaker sobbed. All the guilt, all the pain and death her reign had caused suddenly materialised once again. She sniffed. Then a quiet sob, then another. And another.

"And yet, it was the only choice I had left, Luna. A Gamble, a terrible gamble, but...a necessary one." She paused only to sob and cry as guilt overcame her. All the Ponies that she had sent to their graves on the frontlines, the ones that the Inquisition had eliminated and...

Cadence...

"I would stop myself if I could, my dear sister. I would stop right here and right now if only I could." She took a deep breath. "But I can't. Not now, not... yet. As much as I despise myself for causing pain to so many, I simply cannot do it. Because I know the alternative would lead to much more in return."

"You've only swapped one butcher with another, sister. Instead of Chrysalis it is you that destroys Equestria. You must stop! I am begging you, Tia! Please!" the Alicorn pleaded, but to no avail.

"I can't. This war it... it must end, Luna."

Celestia's pink and purple pupils suddenly disappeared once more as Daybreaker blinked, and her slitted, devilish pair of eyes returned. The white-coated mare turned her back to the cage and walked back towards the bridge.

"I may despise myself for it, and so do you, but sometimes we must become a necessary evil just so we can defeat and prevent a much bigger one."

Her yellow and orange aura once again flared up as it surrounded her Helmet. Slowly but surely it flew back over to Daybreaker, and was put back into place on her head.

"If it is my destiny to be shunned by everypony, even my own sister, in order to save those very same ponies," she put a first hoof forward onto the bridge, "then so it shall be. Perhaps this war, this... Great War... is my destiny. No, I cannot give in now, sister, I can't. There is too much at stake now, too much risk. There is no going back now. I will win this war, even if it means dragging Ponykind to victory against their will. I may have failed you all those years ago but..."

She began to slowly march forth.

"I will not fail myself."

"And what if you win?"

Daybreaker froze as she stood atop the bridge.

"What will you do once you do win the war, sister?"

There was an eerie silence as Daybreaker turned her head briefly back towards her sister. One last glance as Luna looked at her with both hope and despair, trapped in a humiliating and tormenting Prison. All due to her. All because of a gamble she had made. She tried to find an answer but found herself unable to find an answer for herself. It was a question not even she could answer.

Not yet.

Silently, and without reply, the mare of the sun crossed the bridge.

"Sister?" Luna asked as Daybreaker left her. "Sister!" she cried aloud, smashing her hooves against the iron bars that contained her. "Tia! Tia, please!"

As Daybreaker left the cavernous prison, her horn lit up one last time, and a gust of wind blew through the room, extinguishing the torches on the wall.

Luna cried out for her sister as the darkness returned to her Prison. Such familiar darkness...

Author's Note

Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed the story thus far

Do stay tuned, though! There's one more chapter still to come