War of the Sun and the Moon

For a thousand years she had prepared for her return, yet it seemed that she hadn’t prepared enough.

Bound in chains and tossed into a dark empty cell, Princes Celestia, ruler of Equestria, lay on the damp cold stone floor, weak and defeated after her encounter with the newly returned Nightmare Moon. Feeling ashamed and dejected, she stared at the floor, knowing how much a fool she was to end up here.

How could I have been so stupid? She thought to herself. How could I have been caught so unprepared?

When the day had begun, she felt confident and ready, thinking that she had done all that she needed to do so that she would be prepared for the return of Nightmare Moon. In her mind, she had reviewed all the precautions she had taken and thought them adequate, letting herself believe that she was ready. How ignorant she was back then, how very ignorant.

She had allowed the safety of Equestria hang on vague orders to her faithful student and on the hopes that inside the dark and thick evil of Nightmare Moon, her beloved sister was still fighting inside, and she would be able to reach out to her if she managed to encounter the nightmare alicorn. To her, such preparations were sufficient and suitable. In her belief on her student and on her belief on her sister, she had entrusted the faith of Equestria.

But as it turned out, nothing went as she wanted.

When she encountered Nightmare Moon, inside the large office provided to her during her visit to Ponyville, she thought that she could talk her out, hoping that she could get through to Luna and negotiate a peaceful agreement. At first, she thought she was successful; Nightmare Moon was listening and seemed to be acting calm. But how much a fool she was at the time, for she let herself be drawn to a false sense of security as she lowered her guard to the point that she didn’t notice that they weren’t the only ones in the room.

Oblivious to the creeping ponies behind her, she failed to react quickly enough when they hit her with a spell, rendering her weak, as a sudden and heavy fatigue fell over her. Turning her gaze towards the culprits as she fell, she brought her shocked eyes towards a pair of unicorns, cloaked in dark blue trench coats with the emblem of the moon imprinted on the side.

As her head hit the floor, she couldn’t have help but feel frustration, as she realized how ignorant she truly have been. Of course the followers of Nightmare Moon would help her, why wouldn’t they? Was her thought at the time as she felt anger for herself, knowing that she had always brushed off the small cult that worshiped Nightmare Moon as if they were nothing.

Over the centuries, that cult had been nothing more than a nuisance in the past thousand years of her reign, creating protest and small disturbances as they preached the return of Nightmare Moon and warned that those who would not join them would be punished by the nightmare herself. Time and time, she had been assured by trusted advisors that the cult was nothing but a group of fanatics and that they posed no real threat to her reign or Equestria. But now it seemed that she and her advisors were wrong, for a pair from this cult now stood before her eyes as they managed to bring her down with some kind of powerful spell.

They must have been practicing some kind of dark magic… She thought, knowing that only such magic’s would allow an ordinary unicorn to bring down an alicorn like her.

Drifting farther and farther away from consciousness, she looked away from the two unicorns and back to Nightmare Moon, the dark alicron’s face grinning in victory before letting out a triumphant laugh. Then, looking down at her and lowering her head, she brought her muzzle beside Celestia’s ear and whispered:

“Did you really think you can revive Luna now? She’s dead; she has been for a thousand years. There’s no Luna anymore, only Nightmare Moon.”

With that, Celestia faded out of consciousness and into the dreamscape, where she was sure that Nightmare Moon was intruding and adding to the pain and sorrow she already felt by letting her dream about nothing but the loss of her sister. By the time she woke up, she found herself in this prison, surrounded by walls that were cast with magic inhibiting spells.

Letting out a small grunt, she let her head lay in defeat as she realized the small bit of irony she as in right now. When she was thrown here, she wondered on where Nightmare Moon could have possibly imprisoned her and after examining the room for quite some time, she began to realize where she was.

From the layout of the room and the age of the almost crumbling stone around her, she managed to learn that after having knocked her out of consciousness, Nightmare Moon and her followers have brought her and imprisoned her in the dungeons of the Castle of the Two Sisters, the very dungeons she herself had sealed with enchantments that would prevent anypony inside to use magic.

Sighing, she shook her head as her gaze wandered around the room. How long had she been in there? How was Equestria fairing in her absence? How is Twilight holding up?

Regret immediately hit her when she remembered of Twilight, as sadness filled her heart. Why had she have to assign such a dangerous task to her faithful student, knowing that she would have been no match against Nightmare Moon?

True, if she managed to succeed, then the Elements of Harmony would be under her control and that Nightmare Moon would, not only be defeated, but reverted back to Luna. But still, the risk was too great. She had tossed her lot on odds and luck and now she hated herself for doing such a thing. Twilight may have been a smart and resourceful pony, as well as being one of the most powerful unicron she has ever seen, but Nightmare Moon was a cunning and despiteful spirit, with great knowledge, skill, and a desire vengeance, which was fueled by centuries of imprisonment.

Twilight would stand no chance if a serious encounter occurred. She may last for a while, but in the end she would lose.

I’m sorry Twilight… She thought mournfully. …as a mentor I have failed to properly prepare you and as a friend, I have failed to be there to help you.

The sound of rumbling power distracted her from her thoughts, as a battle seemed to rage pass the stone ceiling above her. From what she could here, she could tell that magic was involved in the fight, as she can hear the faint, yet distinct, sounds of magic being cast. She can only try and imagine what was going up there and who was fighting.

Was it rescue, has ponies from the Royal Guard located her prison and tried to rescue her. No… She thought. …it couldn’t be. From the sounds she heard, she could tell that those were only a couple, if not only a pair, of ponies fighting. A duel perhaps? But why would there be a duel here, in such a time of crisis.

Before she could think further about it, the sounds of magic soon stopped and although a great tremor temporarily shook her prison, silence soon engulfed the room. Once more, Celestia was left to nothing but her own thoughts. Many times she had felt alone and helpless towards what was happening, but during this moment she felt more alone and helpless than ever.

Some moments passed before anything else eventful happened.

Turning her head towards the thick metal door that guarded her prison cell, she could hear the clasp and snaps of the locks as somepony unlocked it, before swinging it open to reveal Nightmare Moon, who triumphantly stood on the other side. Grinning as she stared down at Celestia, she stared at the princesses’ eyes as if declaring that she finally won. But, not wanting to let Nightmare Moon be too proud of herself, Celestia quickly fixed her position so that she was able to sit in a somewhat regal form.

“What? Have you finally realized that you made a mistake and have now decided to let me free?” Celestia mocked, refusing to show any low spirit in front of her enemy.

“No.” Nightmare Moon said. “I’m here to simply return what is yours.” With that, she took a step to the side to reveal a drained Twilight Sparkle, defeated in battle and sorrowful because of her failure. Looking down and ashamed, it seemed that she was too scared to even face Celestia, and if it weren’t for Nightmare Moon shoving her inside the same cell, then she would have most likely hid the shame.

“Twilight!” Celestia gasped, as she fell on the floor after the shove. Then, turning angry eyes at Nightmare Moon, she gritted her teeth and growled. “What have you done to her?”

“Oh, nothing much.” Nightmare Moon replied nonchalantly, as she ordered one of the ponies escorting her to put Twilight into chains. “Just a couple of magical shocks to make her submit to me orders. Now, I got to admit, this apprentice of yours is quite feisty and clever. She and her friends managed to get pass my tricks many times, while she herself got me fooled in our short battle. But alas, she was no match for me.” Letting out a laugh, she shook her head as she recounted what had happened. “You should have seen her face when I destroyed the Elements right in front of her. She was completely broken.”

Shaking her head, Nightmare Moon gave a scolding expression towards Celestia, as if she were a teacher punishing her students. “Honestly, Celestia, did you really think that a young and naive unicorn like her can simply defeat me? I know who you think she might be, but I’m telling you now, she was unprepared and inexperienced and therefore no match for my prowess. Now, with all the major opposition gone, I think it’s time for me to mop up what’s left and assume my rightful role as ruler of Equestria.”

Turning away, her escorts were just about to close the door, when Nightmare Moon suddenly turned around and remarked:

“I do say though, I like that idea of yours of moving the capital to Canterlot, it just gives a very nice view of the land. Certainly better than these ruins.”

With that, the door shut close and the sound of Nightmare Moon’s laughter could be heard echoing in a ghostly sound.

At that moment, Celestia loathed Nightmare Moon more than ever. She wanted to escape here and give her what was due to her. How dare she throw her into this dungeon? How dare she steal her kingdom? Were the thoughts in her head.

But the hatred for her enemy quickly passed, as she turned her attention towards Twilight, who seemed worse than what Celestia saw during her first glance. Studying her now, she could tell that her ever faithful student was completely beat up and, as she approached her, she could hear her frightened quivering whispers.

“I failed, I failed, I failed…” Twilight kept on repeating to herself. She kept on doing this until Celestia placed a gentle hoof on Twilight’s shoulder, making the unicrorn wince in some kind of pain, before drawing her attention and making her stare at Celestia.

At first, a fixed shocked face appeared on the young unicorn’s face, as her eyes met Celestia’s. But soon, a frown formed, as she began to sniffle. Then, without warning, she burst into tears, lunging forwards and burying herself on Celestia as she began to cry uncontrollably.

“I’m sorry, Princess…” She managed to say through her cries. “I failed you…I failed my friends…I failed Equestria…”

“Oh, Twilgiht.” Celestia said, wrapping her wings around the unicorn in hopes of comforting her. “You failed nopony.” She said, then in a softer and more ashamed voice she added: “If there is anypony who has failed here, then it’s me.”

“But I was…I was so close.” Twilight insisted. “I had the Elements with me, I just…I just didn’t know how to use them. I tried… I tried desperately, but they wouldn’t work. They just remained as stone and nothing more. Then Nightmare Moon took them and…and…” Pausing for a second, she let what had happened sink in before letting out a defeated wail. “I have doomed Equestria!”

“There, there…” Celestia said, trying to sooth her as she pated her ever so gently. “You did your best and given the circumstances, you held of better than anypony could have ever done. And I’m proud of you for that, I am very proud of you, my faithful student.”

Her words seemed to have helped calm down Twilight for a bit, as her cries soon grew softer and softer till she was only sniffling. Keeping her wings firmly around her young student, she was finally done, as she looked up at Celestia with a still frightened voice.

“What will happen now, with Nightmare Moon back and with nopony to stop her?”

“I don’t know, Twilight.” She said uncertainly, fear running through her as delved deeper at the possibilities. “I don’t know…”