The Seventh Element

To Put Out the Sun

As they traveled to Canterlot, Luna had time to think of their next step. She was right about there being something they didn't understand about the elements, she had seen the proof several times throughout her journey. Applejack's reaction on the moon base, the bonds she herself had created with her new friends, the way she felt about her subjects and the emotion behind Rainbow's eyes when she had lost her temper with Luna. Unfortunately, Applejack was still sitting in the hospital tent near Ponyville and they needed all of the elements in order to utilize Luna's new found knowledge.

She pushed it to the back of her mind, there was no point in formulating a plan that she knew couldn't work. The only option left was to fight her sister. Luna was confident that she would be able to hold her own against what her sister had become, but there was no way she could win all by herself. She was going to need the help of all of her friends to defeat her sister, but... Did defeat mean death? An Alicorn hadn't died since Discord's first reign of terror and he hadn't killed any in direct combat, frankly Luna wasn't sure she could do it.

Overpowering her sister was the important thing, whether or not to kill her was a bridge they would cross when they reached it.

"Okay, Princess we're almost there! Everypony turn on your headsets!"

The ponies in the shuttle gave her a blank stare.

"None of you used the radios?" Gaia made a pouty face as she looked back at the others.

"Well duh!" Pinkie took of her helmet and flipped a tiny switch on the inside.

"Now that's a smart mare!"

The others took off their helmets and found the switches, each flipping it to the "on" position. Putting their helmets back on, they could hear other ponies exchanging tactical data, most like between the ships Love and Tolerance.

"See? Now you can hear what's going on in other parts of the battle! This is how you talked to me when I was on board the Love, Luna."

"Why didn't you tell us about this on the moon?"

Gaia and Pinkie gave Luna a curious look. "Where's the fun in that?" The two looked at each other and then proceeded to roll on the shuttle floor laughing for at least a solid minute.

Rarity soon grew tired of watching their random fit of laughter, "Um, girls?"

Gaia got up off the floor, "Sorry, Rarity! You're friend is just so hilarious!" Pinkie Pie hugged Gaia.

"So are you! And so huggable! Everypony likes hugs!"

The pair had only known each other for an hour, so the others were left to wonder how they had become so close friends in such a short time, while watching the two play rock, paper, scissors with actual rocks, paper and scissors produced from thin air.

The pony in the pilot seat turned around to face her passengers. She wore a suit not unlike that of the Wonderbolts, with a pair of goggles over her eyes and an orange mane protruding out the back.

"We're almost there, get ready, it sounds like we're going in hot." She turned back to flying the shuttle.

"BlackTalon and I shall clear the skies."

"Pinkie Pie, Gaia, Sir Klass? This perfect example of pony physique" He ripped of his shirt again, flexing his muscles and somehow sparkling, "will need help in securing the landing site."

Gaia giggled at him "You're funny major! Sure, I'll help!"

Trixie and Rarity were focused on HoofStrong's flexing foreleg muscles.

"Trixie is available... If you need any help, that is!-" Trixie blushed and looked away quickly.

"-I would be more than happy to assist your muscles- uh, I mean, you as well-"

"I think you two should blink, your eyes look like they're about to pop out of your heads."

The ponies (and gryphons) in the shuttle laughed. They needed it. They were about to fight the remnants of the Solar Empire, something which Luna didn't expect to be too much trouble this time around, but a little bit of fun and laughter couldn't hurt before risking your life, right?

Their pilot's voice crackled through their helmets, "Echo 419 on approach, what's your status? Over."

"Advancing as planned and on schedule. Sectors one, two, six, eight and ten clear. Remaining sectors are well on their way. They've got no fight left in them."

"Gaia, can I speak to them? All of them at once?"

"Yes, Princess. Just press your hoof against the power gem on your armor."

"Like this?" She pressed her hoof against her breastplate.

"Yes, they can all hear you now"

Luna cleared her throat, "Attention all Lunar Republic forces, this is Princess Luna speaking. We are making our final push against the Solar Empire in to Canterlot. Our enemy is defeated; they retreat or surrender before us and those that don't have hardly the will to fight. We could easily kill every last one of them and that would be the end of it, but I am sure that you are like me and don't want to see any more of our own ponies killed. We know what we fight for, but they do not, they know only that Nightmare Moon has come to spread eternal darkness across all of Equestria. We know that is a lie that they have been told in order to make them fight against us rather than for us. So, why should we kill our own friends and family because of a lie?"

She paused for a moment to let what she had said sink in.

"This is Luna; your Princess and the New Lunar Republic's Commander-in-Chief. These are your orders: Take prisoners whenever possible and treat them as kindly as you can treat a prisoner of war. This fight will be over soon, I promise. For the Lunar Republic and for a free Equestria." She dropped her hoof to the floor.

"Well said Princess"

Luna merely nodded. "How much further?"

"We're here."

The ponies stood up and faced the opening shuttle doors. Below them was a plaza that connected a park and a marketplace via a two tier set of stairs. In the lower level the Lunar Republic was pinned down by a small number of Solar Empire soldiers who had the high ground at the top of the stairs, giving them excellent cover... From the front.

"Take us to the park and give us a good shot at their backs."

"Yes, ma'am"

The shuttle's engines roared as it went up, over the battle and hovered behind the Solar Empire, cutting off their escape and surrounding them. The pilot began descending to ground level. GrimFeather and BlackTalon jumped out of the shuttle and took flight, making sure there were no hidden ponies on the field while Rarity, Twilight and Trixie fired upon the soldiers from the shuttle.

They landed and everypony piled out to gallop towards their enemy who had now turned their full attention Luna and her group. There were only five of them and two had already been taken out by the unicorns, one having been slammed against a wall hard enough to be knocked out and another that had a crippled foreleg. As they ran closer the Solar soldiers noticed the gryphons in the sky and realizing that there was no option, they threw their hooves up in surrender.

At that same moment the ponies from the market reached the top of the stairs and tackled the ponies. They began to beat the helpless ponies, failing to realize that they weren't putting up a fight.

"No, stop! They surrendered!" As was common, nopony heard Fluttershy, so she took a deep breath and screamed at the top of her lungs, "I said, STOP!"

The Lunar Republic soldiers looked up at the screaming yellow Pegasus and back down at their victims. Realizing what they had done, they back away from the Solar soldiers. All but one, who kept kicking a poor blue earth pony.

"Soldier! Stop now! Did you not hear me? Prisoners are priority number one, stop before you kill him!" The pony was... Lost. There was some sick smile on his face as he ignored Luna and continued to pummel every inch of exposed flesh on the Solar soldier's body. Luna was against unnecessary killing and would prevent it whenever she could, even if it meant taking action against her allies.

Luna began to channel magic through her horn.

"This is your last warning soldier, stand down!" They heard the sickening snap of a breaking bone and a scream before the earth pony passed out and he still showed no signs of stopping. Luna added another pony to her mental list of the dead.

She flung the Lunar soldier so hard in to a nearby building that he left a pony shaped hole in the wall, something that would only happen at incredible speeds. Not sparing a second thought to the pony, she rushed over to the Solar soldier to check his wounds. His breathing was shallow with a slight gurgle, one of his ribs was poking up at his skin, making an unsightly lump, he had a broken back leg and his body was covered in deep cuts and bruises.

"Gaia, Fluttershy, come help me. HoofStrong and Trixie, arrest the others. Colonel Mustang, keep watch. You there, officer. Send somepony to get the body." The last order was directed at the leader of the ponies from the market and it was not lost on anypony that she had ordered a body retrieval, not somepony to check if he was alive.

The ponies did as they were told, the other Solar soldiers were corralled off to the side and guarded by Hoofstrong and Trixie. The others watched the rest of the lunar soldiers carefully, Luna had, after all, just killed one of their own, nopony was sure how the others would react.

"Princess, we need to move this rib" she pointed at the broken rib that was poking at the underside of his skin. "I can fix the bone and stop the bleeding from the lung it punctured, but I can't see inside a body and I can't move the bone and mend it at the same time, somepony else will have to hold it in place."

"Twilight Sparkle, we need your help." Twilight stepped forward and knelt down next to the injured pony.

Luna blinked and her eyes lit up as she spoke to Twilight "You're going to move the bone, while I give you directions" She looked down at the pony, seeing straight through his skin. "This is... Not going to be very pleasant for anypony."

Fluttershy was cradling the pony's head, "I hope the poor thing doesn't-"

The pony suddenly woke up and started screaming in pain.

"Fluttershy, keep him calm! He's only on one lung, that screaming is dangerous!" No sooner had she said it then the pony began coughing up blood.

"Hey! Get her off of him!" He made as if he was going to try and push past the guards to get to his friend.

"Stay where you are, she's helping him."

"Look at him! That isn't helping! Besides Nightmare Moon is trying to kill us, she wouldn't try to save him? What she's doing is torture!"

"Princess Luna isn't here to hurt you. If she was, then why has she not ordered Trixie and Hoofstrong to kill you? You are sitting there, unrestrained with two guards, while Luna has just killed one of her own soldiers in order to save one of yours. Trixie thinks it would be unwise to try and stop her."

"Shh, shhhh! It's okay sir, we're here to help you. Please calm down, you're going to hurt yourself." Fluttershy's efforts did little to stop him.

"Twilight, we need to do this quickly! Fluttershy, hold him down as best you can, Gaia get ready to fix him up, Twilight, get a hold of the rib."

"I'm really sorry sir, this will be over soon."

Twilight's horn began to glow and a faint purple could be seen shining through the stallion's skin from the inside. "Carefully Twilight, pull back- it's out! Gaia stop the bleeding." The pony's breathing almost stopped and he began wheezing as the hole in his lung let every breath he took in escape. Mere seconds after Gaia's horn lit up, however, his breathing steadied and his coughing fit stopped. He was visibly in less pain and it seemed he had finally realized they were trying to help because he relaxed. Either that or he had simply passed out from the shock of having somepony move his bones around inside your body while still being conscious.

"Here, Princess?"

"Yes! Gaia-"

"-I know dearie." After a short time, "You can let go Twilight."

Gaia waved her glowing horn across the rest of his body, fixing anything else she could find wrong with him. His leg was broken and he had lost a lot of blood, but there was nothing she could do about the latter.

The prisoners watched as Luna and Gaia set and healed his broken leg.

The Solar Pony directed his yelling at Luna, "Impossible! You just attacked Canterlot with an army and flying death machines! You took all of the injured ponies from the battlefield to do Celestia knows what to them and you're allied with the Gryphons! Why are you helping us Nightmare Moon?"

Luna winced at the name as she got up to speak to the prisoners. "I am no longer Nightmare Moon, you have nothing to fear from your Princess."

"What do you mean you aren't Nightmare Moon? You've just attacked and killed hundreds of ponies. You've got her mane. You're her height. You-"

"-I am not Nightmare Moon! Do you think that Nightmare Moon would let you live? Would she have helped your friend, or killed one of her own soldiers in order to save him in the first place? Would she have equipped her army with weapons that couldn't kill? Would she have taken the bodies of everypony left on the battlefield back to her army's field hospital in order to treat their injuries and do all that she could to save them? Would she bury the dead properly, each in their own grave with a tombstone identifying them the best she could?" The Solar pony didn't seem to know what to say "I am Princess Luna of Equestria. My form has been altered by a fight to rid myself of the traces of Nightmare Moon that hid inside me. I am here to rid this Kingdom of my sister's twisted rule and no matter what lies she has told you, I am not the evil one."

He stammered "B-but, you can't just show up and take control! Why would Luna do that?"

"Need I say more than 'steamponies'? How about 'martial law'? Are the words 'military draft' enough for you? My sister would not stop with my defeat, she would continue to other Kingdoms and Nations."

"But what about the-"

"-I'm sorry, but I can't stay here arguing forever, my sister is undoubtedly waiting for us. Equestria will be informed of everything that has happened and why, don't worry. You may even ask your guards, if you wish, which will be the ponies you were fighting only a short time ago. Speaking of which..."

Luna looked around for the officer she had instructed earlier, making eye contact, he walked over to her.

"Yes, Princess?"

"What of our soldier? Did you recover the body?"

"Yes, Princess. He is dead..." He paused for a moment. "If I may speak freely Princess?"

"Go ahead."

"He was the best soldier in this division ma'am, responsible for saving his squad mates several times today."

"I'm sorry, but I couldn't-"

"You did the right thing Princess. This war is about values, is it not? Celestia wants war and control, we want peace and equality. Sure Shot didn't seem to want peace..." He looked over at the still bruised and bloody earth pony being cared for by Fluttershy.

"It still is not something I enjoyed doing."

"Of course not, Princess."

"Well, we need to move. I want you to take your soldiers and the Solar Empire stallions back to base. Make sure that the Earth Pony gets thereASAP! Understood?"

The Officer saluted Princess Luna "Yes ma'am!" He ran off to round up his troops and the prisoners.

The Lunar soldiers took over guarding the prisoners and and caring for the wounded pony.

Luna looked up toward the roof of the building she had sent Sure Shot through and where BlackTalon was now perched on top of. "Report BLackTalon?"

"Nopony in the park, it's a straight shot to the castle, Princess."

Luna looked to her companions, "You heard him, let's get moving. We have an emperor to dethrone."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"So, Princess Luna. Do you have a plan?"

Luna stopped and looked at the castle on the other end of the park, thinking. "I can't say that I do. My sister has been possessed by the same sort of evil that I was when I became Nightmare Moon, so I had planned on using the Elements of Harmony against her, but..."

"With AJ gone, that's not an option."

"Exactly Rainbow Dash."

"Well then, I say we just go in there and kick her plot! She won't stand a chance against all of us!"

"I don't know Rainbow, you saw how she was. Remember what she did to that room, just by getting mad?"

"Yeah, but look how many of us there are!"

"Rainbow Dash is right, she might be mean and scary, but she can't be that mean and scary!"

"I, Trixie, will hold her down with my magic while the rest of you attack!"

Twilight rolled her eyes, "All by yourself, huh?"

"Um, well, I mean... With your help of course Twilight."

"One look at these" Where did he keep getting these new shirts? "and she will surrender without a fight!"

"I don't think fighting a crazed Alicorn is really something you can plan for. I'm sure that when you went after Nightmare Moon, you had no such plan."

"We had the Elements of Harmony, Princess!"

"Yes, but we didn't know that from the start, so we might as well not have had them at all. It's the same predicament we're in now."

"Exactly and like I said, I don't think it is something you can really plan for."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Applejack lay on her bed in the hospital tent, aware of everything around her, but unable to move. She was in a sort of haze that stopped her body working the way she wanted it to, as if she were in that odd stage between being asleep and awake.

The nurse and other ponies were in the next room over, listening to the battle being broadcast over a portable radio that they had set up. Fuzzy sentences would make their way to Applejack in her sleep, invading her dreams.

Everything was hazy and all seemed to be in slow motion. Applejack and her friends were in Ponyville, walking down the market street. Pinkie Pie told a joke that Applejack couldn't quite hear, but in her dreamy state she knew it was funny, so she laughed. They continued down the street waving to their friends and joking amongst themselves, occasionally stopping at a market stall to see what was for sale.

A pony ran screaming out of her house, followed by several angry soldiers in gold armor. Pinkie Pie pointed her party cannon at them and fired, blasting a hole in the building and making it crumble in to a pile of confetti that party balloons floated out of! Applejack began chucking apples at the soldiers as hard as she could, but the apples just fell to the ground hardly two hooves in front of her. The soldiers just went straight for Rainbow Dash, swinging their swords at her in unison and made contact-

Applejack bolted upright in her bed.

"They're coming out of the building! Sergeant, cut off their escape, you three, covering fire!" The tent was filled with sounds of blaster bolts coming from the radio.

Applejack looked around confused and wondering where she was. It took her a moment to remember what had happened, she put a hoof up to her head and groaned.

"Attention everypony, this is Princess Luna. Myself and a select few are entering the castle grounds. The area is off limits to everypony, this will be a fight that you do not want to see and one that would be unsafe for you to be anywhere near. Secure the city, round up the prisoners and begin evacuation of everypony. Citizens, soldiers and prisoners alike. Nopony gets left behind and I mean nopony! Gather in the fields and await further instructions. Wish us luck. Princess, Luna over and out." The radio went silent.

'The others... Rainbow Dash!'

Applejack remembered having woken up and seeing a rainbow tail leave through the tent. She looked over to make sure the nurse wasn't around to stop her again, she wasn't.

Applejack threw her hind hooves over the edge of the bed and hopped down. She stood there for a moment letting the dizziness in her head subside a bit before trying to leave. She took two steps toward the door and stumbled over her own hooves.

Applejack mumbled under her breath,

"It migh' kill me, but I'm gonna get to her if it's the las' thing I do." With that, she placed her hat on top of her head, stumbled off out of the tent, head still wrapped in bandages and one eye covered, on her way to help her friends and to Rainbow Dash.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Rainbow Dash bucked open the wrought iron gate separating the palace grounds from the rest of Canterlot. They were in the area used for garden parties, but it was almost unrecognizable, in fact most of the castle had seen better days. Large patches of grass had been burned to a crisp, some trees still smoldered and there was an occasional bush on fire, not to mention holes carved out of the ground. The castle itself had its own damage, but nothing more serious than a small hole in a far off tower.

"Where do you think she is, Princess?"

"The council chambers."

"The same place she kicked us out of in the beginning?"

"Yes, I think so. Come on, let's get moving."

The group made their way up the front steps and through the giant doors, one of which was broken off its hinges and lying on the ground, slightly charred. The grand entrance looked as if a tornado had hit it. Well, a tornado of fire that is. Some of the marble stairs had chunks blasted out of them, a banner with the royal seal on it was slowly burning to nothing but ash, hanging off the wall by just one corner. The chandelier above them was just a large chunk of slag, any windows in the room were melted or shattered and every surface showed signs of being exposed to extreme heat in one way or another.

"She sure did a number on this place, didn't she?"

"Hm, quite."

"It's just a little fire, nothing to worry about" Mustang let out a pained cough.

"You okay, dearie?"

"I'm fine, nothing to worry about. Let's get going."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm fine! Please, let's go."

Luna eyed him suspiciously. "As you wish Colonel."

Luna led them up the stairs and in to the Throne Room. It was like the others; destroyed, burning and it looked like a storm of fire had passed through. Everything was charred or burned, except for the throne. Celestia had removed the two normal chairs and replaced it with one nearly twice the size and infinitely more ornate. Behind the throne was a large banner with the Solar Empire's seal on it: A perfectly circular eye atop a pair of wings. Looking around, Luna noticed the same symbol all over the room.

Not wanting to see more evidence of how far her sister had fallen, Luna led them down a side door in to the hall that ended at the council chambers.

"Are you all ready? She'll be in the next room."

The others nodded to her.

"We have been with you for a long time, Princess. This is the goal we have been working towards, I daresay think it is time we finish it."

"This is why we joined you in the first place. Let's go kick that meanie's tail!"

"Trixie did miss a few meetings... Trixie thinks we should go get up to speed with the Princess."

Luna's horn lit up and she smiled as she opened the doors, "Thank you my friends."

The room was nothing like it was when Luna and Trixie had been kicked out of it so many months ago. The chandeliers were just two hunks of melted metal sitting on top of the meeting table. The windows had all been either blown out or simply melted and the historic mural on the ceiling had all been burned away, except for a picture of Discord that seemed to have been purposely saved. At the far end of the room, the banner with the Solar Empire's seal on it had been pulled to the side, revealing a balcony behind it upon which there stood Celestia, her fiery mane waving in a wind that wasn't there and looking out over the fields between Canterlot and Ponyville.

Celestia heard the hoofsteps of the ponies behind her, but did nothing more than continue looking out over her Kingdom.

"Sister."

Celestia sighed, "Yes, Luna?"

"I don't want to fight you..."

"What do you expect me to do, sister? Surrender? To you?"

"Please don't make me hurt you."

Celestia let out a laugh that her sister had heard before, but not one that she had ever heard come from Celestia. She heard the laugh coming from herself when she was Nightmare Moon...

"You think that you can hurt me? Sister, you may have defeated my entire army, united my enemies against me and have technology far beyond my own, but even with all of that and the ponies and gryphons you brought with you today, you will not be able to hurt me."

She knew the elements wouldn't work, but she had to at least try to find another way to stop her sister without fighting her, "You aren't yourself Celestia. You remember how the elements helped me? How they stopped Nightmare Moon? The same thing is happening to you that happened to me and we can help you the same way! Please, I don't want to fight you."

Celestia turned to her sister with an almost pleading look on her face. It lasted only for an instant before it turned in to a glare, but Luna was sure what she had seen. If only they had the elements.

"You think that I gave in to the same evil that you did? Ha! I'm sorry sister, but we both know that I have always been the one with the stronger will, the kindest, the most generous, the one more fit to lead, the better Princess."

"Princess Celestia, please listen to her! You know deep down that something has happened to you. You aren't the same mare you once were!"

Celestia glared daggers at Twilight, "SILENCE! You will pay for your betrayal Twilight Sparkle and you too Rainbow Dash! As will all of you! When I am done here, after I have defeated you and after I single hoofedly destroy your army, I will be sure to take action against our Kingdom's new enemies." She shifted her gaze to King GrimFeather.

"You threw the first stone, hundreds of years ago your Highness. It was you who closed your borders and invaded us-" he wasn't able to finish his sentence.

"-And you believed him, didn't you Luna? You believed him and the Gaians believed you and now look what you've done." She looked over her shoulder at the balcony that gave a view of the entire Kingdom.

"You have taken what was mine and you have stopped me from getting more! I can't forgive you sister- not that I would anyhoof. The Solar Empire only needs one Princess, after all." Celestia's horn began to glow and her mane started to flutter more violently.

"Celes... Don't. I never wanted this." As she said it her own horn began to glow and she took a step back, bracing herself. Her friends took similar defensive stances.

Celestia's eyes glowed a soft yellow color as her mane became brighter and the aura around her horn intensified. "It's too late sister." Celestia lifted one of the melted chandeliers behind them, wrenched it in half and sent the two massive chunks flying at the group from behind.

Fluttershy gasped and threw her hooves over her head, "Watch out!"

BlackTalon and GrimFeather jumped in to the air and grabbed the chunks of metal with their talons, redirecting them straight back at Celestia, who used her magic to melt the metal and let it splash down on the balcony behind her.

"So that is how it's going to be, is it? I guess I should do something about you bothersome pests, shouldn't I?" Celestia's cutie mark glowed a deep red and her mane and tail looked as if they were being blown behind her by hurricane force winds. Luna and her group had to back up, Celestia was throwing off intense heat and it was only getting worse!

The flames that formed Celestia's tail and mane extended behind her and began to wrap around her body, turning her in to a swirling ball of fire.

"There is nothing you can do Luna. I will burn down this entire city before I let you come near me!" she spoke from within the churning inferno.

"Celestia stop! You are going to force my hoof."

Celestia's response was to begin walking towards Luna and her companions, catching the building on fire as she stepped in from the balcony.

"Luna, fire needs to breath!"

Luna knew what he meant immediately. She put a forcefield around Celestia and her ball of fire, starving the fire of the oxygen it needed. At the ferocity it was burning, it took only a moment for the fire to die out.

Celestia stood there glaring as Luna dropped the shield. The second it was down, Celestia went back in to her fireball, forcing Luna to shield her again, which put out the fire. They continued this cycle several more times, Celestia getting more and more frustrated and furious every time.

"Fine! I don't need fire to kill you, there are plenty of other ways." Celestia's horn glowed and the roof shook and cracked as she brought it crumbling down on their heads. Twilight, Rarity and Luna stopped the rubble from crushing them, hovering it in place, but not having anywhere to put all of the ceiling pieces in such a narrow room.

Gaia touched her horn to the floor, a string of green magic snaked its way from her horn, up the wall and on to the floating chunks of ceiling. The debris began to glow and mend itself almost exactly how it was before, making Celestia's attack do nothing more than lower the ceiling.

Celestia's anger, frustration and fear were showing. She lit up her horn and cutie mark again and stomped her hoof on the floor, sending out a shockwave of fiery magic that blasted everypony off their hooves and heated their armor enough to leave angry blisters on the skin beneath it. Luna got to her hooves and magically cooled the armor of herself and her friends, trying her best to prevent any more burning.

Celestia swept her horn from one side to another, sending a wall of flames at them. The shields built in to their armor took the brunt of the blast, staggering the ponies, but it was all the shields could manage before their power crystals cracked.

Failed attack after attack was bringing forth the full insanity of Celestia's transformation. Her mane was burning violently and every movement, twitch or shudder hinted that she was slowly losing whatever sliver of control she had left over herself. Whatever it was that the evil inside her called itself, it had free reign over her, just like Nightmare Moon had for Luna.

Celestia used her magic to lift every spare thing in the room; chairs, the second chandelier, shards of broken glass, chunks of concrete, and she pointed it all straight at Luna.

"It is time that I forever rid this Kingdom of the evil that is Nightmare Moon!"

Celestia used her magic to keep Luna rooted on the spot. There was nothing she could do, Luna struggled against her magical bindings, pulling as hard as she could and looking to her friends for help, all of which had a panicked look on their face. Luna set up a magical shield, closed her eyes and hoped for the best.

An enormous amount of light and heat passed from behind Luna straight towards Celestia, causing her to howl in pain which was followed by the din of junk falling to the floor. Luna opened her eyes to see Colonel Mustang walking up next to her after having just launched a fireball at Celestia that was able to break her concentration long enough to force her to drop all of her projectiles.

Celestia seemed to notice who he was for the first time.

"Mustang? How dare you?! How dare you betray your Princess! You defected to her? Now I know what happened to the missing garrison at the wall... It's your fault that the Gryphons invaded and joined her! You will pay for what you have done Mustang!"

Celestia shot a short burst of fire from her horn at Mustang. "Colonel, look out!"

Mustang didn't miss a beat. He activated his magic and sent a stream of fire from his horn to match Celestia's. The fire attacks met in mid air and cancelled each other out.

Celestia sat in shock for a moment before launching more fire at him, which he countered easily. Again and again Celestia attacked and again and again Mustang was able to block. She attacked left, he defended left. She attacked right, he defended right. They went back and forth, exchanging blows, advancing on one another as each gained and lost the upper hoof. Left, right, up and down almost like a dance of fire.

If it wasn't such a life and death situation, Luna would have called the sight almost beautiful. It was clear though that Mustang's injuries were taking their toll, he wouldn't be able to hold this up for long.

The Major must have been thinking along the same line, because out of nowhere Hoofstrong's shirtless form ran by and bucked the fallen Princess in the chest, amazingly sending her in to the opposite wall, making a Celestia shaped indent there. Celestia was not going to like that and Luna did not want her friends fighting without her help.

"Twilight Sparkle! Get me out of this binding. I need to help them!"

"I'll get you out of there as soon as possible Prince-" Twilight was cut short by Sir Klass tackling her out of the way, leaving himself in the path of the flames that had just missed Major Hoofstrong. Gaia used her magic to rip a piece of the floor up in to a vertical shield, blocking most of the attack, but not enough to leave Klass unharmed.

He fell to the ground, with burns on flank.

"Klassie!" Gaia ran over to him and started pulled him out of the room and out of the line of fire followed by Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie.

Meanwhile, Celestia was fighting off both Hoofstrong and Mustang. Thankfully the Major was very agile for an earth pony his size, making it easy for him to dodge her magical attacks which kept him at bay. BlackTalon, King GrimFeather and Rainbow Dash took to the air, trying to find an opening to attack, which forced Celestia to take the time to launch fire in their direction as well.

"Twilight!"

Twilight ran over to Luna and began using her magic to undo the bindings Celestia had put on her.

"Rarity, I need help!"

"Coming, darling!" Rarity ran over, followed closely by Trixie.

"Trixie thinks she can help."

"This is a job for unicorns that know magic." Twilight spat at her.

"Now is not the time, Twilight Sparkle!"

It took an agonizing two minutes to get Luna free and in that time, Colonel Mustang was forced to drop out of the fight due to his injuries, leaving nopony to defend from Celestia's flame attacks.

"Come on girls, we need to counter that magic!"

The three unicorns followed Luna to the fight, where Celestia was taking full advantage of the lack of magical attackers to blast everything in sight with fire!

Luna and the three unicorns used their magic to shield off sections in front of Celestia, one pony protecting BlackTalon and GrimFeather, another protecting Rainbow Dash and the third shielding Major Hoofstrong. Celestia grew angry, throwing flames at each shield in turn only to see them bounced back at her. With her friends temporarily safe, Luna took advantage of the moment to close the distance to her sister. Celestia directed her attacks at Luna, using a steady flamethrower that only bounced off of the shield Luna had erected between them, shooting flames off in every direction. Celestia turned, trying to position herself better to make an escape off the balcony. When she looked towards it however, the balcony itself folded upwards and sealed her only exit. Gaia had returned with Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie and a limping Klass.

"Give up."

The voice that came from Celestia's mouth wasn't hers. The evil inside her had completely taken over and pushed the real Celestia down in to the darkest depths of its black heart.

"Ha! You think you have beaten me? I have hardly a scratch on me! If that is your idea of winning, you are out of your league."

"Even now you think you can win? For all of your flashy attacks and almighty power you have done almost nothing to us. The only one you did manage to injure has returned, you are locked in this room with us, greatly outnumbered and with no chance of winning. There is no hope for you."

They stood there, glared at each other. The two Alicorns would be nose for nose were it not for Luna's shield.

"That is what you think!"

Celestia brought her head back and jabbed the shield with her horn, shattering it like glass and carving a trench out of Luna's helmet that continued on to the side of her face. Reeling from the pain and dripping blood, Luna had hardly noticed what happened next, but seeing Luna injured must have done the same to her friends as it did to her. Immediately they began their attack on Celestia; the unicorns dropped their shields, allowing Rainbow and the gryphons to hit Celestia from three different angles, one right after the other. That stunned her long enough to allow Major Hoofstrong to land a kick to her side and by the sounds of it, cracking several bones in her wing.

Luna had recovered at this point and realized what was going on, but... What could she do? As she watched her friends beat Celestia, there was really only one option left to her. The sister she had known couldn't be saved and Luna was prepared for this to be a fight to the death, but still... She had to try at least once more before Celestia was finished off.

"Stop! Stop my little ponies, stop. She has had enough."

Rainbow Dash froze in a position that clearly showed she was about to punch Celestia in the face. Rainbow looked over at Luna and dropped the Princess, letting her crumble to the ground.

Luna walked up to her sister, not sure if her actual sister even knew what was going on in there, but determined to try either way.

"I don't want you to die."

Celestia merely look up at Luna through bruised and puffy eyes.

"If you don't give up now, if you don't surrender and if you don't come quietly, I must kill you. You can be saved if you come with us, but right here, right now, if you don't, then I have to kill you."

Celestia looked up at her and for a moment she saw that pleading look again. It quickly vanished, followed by the swinging of a hoof and a jet of fire directed at Luna. The hoof made contact, knocking off Luna's helmet, but the fire missed, hitting the ceiling. Luna stared at her sister for nearly a minute before letting out a sigh of regret.

"I'm sorry sister. I know you're in there somewhere, but I can't save you. I want you to know something though. I know that it isn't really you doing this. I know that you're in there somewhere and that this evil mare has taken control of your body. We both know that I cannot let this body live if it isn't controlled by you, the power of the sun isn't safe enough to be left in the hooves of this evil mare. I want you to know that you are my sister and forever will be, please when this is over... Say hello to our friends that were fortunate enough to live shorter lives. Tell mom and dad I said hello. And please forgive me. Goodbye Celes, I love you."

Luna took a step back and lifted a hoof above Celestia's head.

"Luna, wait!"

Luna dropped her hoof. "Yes Rainbow Dash?"

"I- um... Can I?"

Luna raised an eyebrow, "Are you sure Rainbow Dash? Haven't you injured enough today?"

"Yes... but I- It's... AJ could be in that coma for a long time. She might even be dead for all I know. I want to..."

"Revenge is an ugly thing Rainbow."

Rainbow Dash looked at the floor for a moment, ashamed, before looking up again and staring Luna in the eyes. "Who do I have left to impress?"

Luna sat quietly for a moment, pondering the request. She looked back in to Rainbow's eyes and saw that same intensity she had when Rainbow Dash had lost her temper.

'Maybe... Just, maybe...'

Luna closed her eyes and used her magic to find the answer to an unasked question.

"As you wish Rainbow Dash. Be quick about it though."

Rainbow Dash nodded and stepped over to Celestia. She looked down at the fallen Princess with disgust. This pony- this creature had caused her so much pain since this all had started, both emotional and physical. Rainbow Dash knew that giving in to her feelings of hatred like this was not a good thing, but lost in thoughts of losing Applejack and lost in the pain that came with them, she didn't care.

Rainbow Dash stood up on her hind legs, flapping her wings to keep balance, she help position for a moment, steeling herself for what she was about to do.

Twilight looked up, shocked and turned her head towards the empty door frame.

"Luna, I think that-"

"Yes, I know Twilight."

Just as Rainbow began to bring down her hooves, a voice yelled at her from the entrance hall.

"Stop, Rainbow Dash!"

The pegasus' hooves slammed down with incredible force... On the ground next to Celestia's head, missing her completely. Dash turned around to the voice that couldn't possibly be there.

"Applejack!"

The orange earth pony was better off then when she had first left the hospital tent, but the ride on the shuttle had replaced her dizziness with queasiness. She wasn't quite ready for the flying tackle she received. The two tumbled on to the ground, Rainbow landing on top.

"Whoa there! Just hold yer horses! Ponies like me ain't meant ta fly and that ride over was a doozy! 'Specially since that dern pegasus pony didn' quite seem to know where the brakes were. Oh and" Applejack pointed to her bandaged head. "A little gentle if you don' min-"

Rainbow Dash leaned down and gave Applejack a very passionate kiss, much to the awkward embarrassment of the other ponies in the room.

"Not quite what I had in mind, but I can live with tha'." Rainbow Dash just kept smiling down at her.

Luna cleared her throat loudly. "Yes, well, um. Gaia, can you please fix Celestia's leg and ribs? Reducing the swelling on her eyes would be nice too."

"I- uh. Yes Luna, but can I ask why?"

"We have a new guest! Applejack the element of honesty."

Luna looked back at the two lovers.

Having heard what Luna said, Applejack spoke loud enough for the others to hear her, "I would honestly like you ta get off me now Rainbow."

They all shared a small moment of laughter while Gaia fixed up Celestia. When she was on her feet, Luna cast the same spell that had been cast on her to cement Celestia's hooves to the ground. Celestia struggled and tried shooting fire, but Luna had shielded them.

"Gaia, can we get a more fire-resistant barrier?"

"Of course, Princess." Gaia touched her horn to the ground and the entire floor glowed green. The barrier she had created earlier for Sir Klass, melted in to the floor and reformed itself in front of Celestia, shielding them from any of her fiery attacks.

"Okay, so who can guess the plan?"

"Use the six Elements of Harmony to turn Celestia back in to her former self, just like we did for you!"

"No! Good guess though."

Pinkie Pie threw her hoof in to the air and started bouncing on the spot, "Oooh, oooh! Pick me, I know, I know!"

Luna pointed her hoof at Pinkie Pie, "Yes, Pinkie?"

Pinkie Pie took a deep breath,

"We'regoingtousetheseventhelementoflovetonotjustturneCelestiabacktonormalbuttpermanetlygetridoftheevilthatiscrashingthepartyinherbody!"

Everypony looked at Pinkie Pie in shock.

"Pinkie, dear, there is no seventh element."

"Actually, Rarity, I believe there is." The looks she received were ones of pure shock and confusion, with the exception being Pinkie Pie who wore a "well, duh! I just said that" look.

"Let me explain. Back when the six of you defeated Nightmare Moon and brought me back to myself- well there was the first problem. I wasn't quite myself. It was as if I had been brought back a younger, more timid filly, rather than the mare that I used to be. At the time, I knew no better, why? Because little did I know, Nightmare Moon was still inside of me. Time passed and my sister still didn't trust me, so one day when she left me out of a Council on Equestrian Affairs meeting, Trixie here"

Trixie beamed at being mentioned, "convinced me to go in to the meeting and demand my rightful seat. Needless to say, she said no. Anyhoof, Trixie,"

She beamed at the others again, "with her knowledge of the Elements of Harmony convinced me to find her in the woods at the old castle ruins where Nightmare Moon was defeated in the first place. On my way there, I started receiving visions of my past as the evil mare and when I got to the castle, the magic of the place had made Nightmare Moon strong enough to try and break free again."

"Oooohhhh! So you're saying that if we did the same thing, we would just have to deal with evil Celestia again later!"

"Exactly! So, as you know we started the Lunar Republic. On my journey to find more allies, I saw the elements represented in my new friends: Sir Klass represented generosity, due to his large and selfless donations.

Sir Klass merely waved a hoof half-heartedly in her direction, as if to say 'not a big deal'.

Colonel Mustang showed incredible loyalty to his Princess and the stallions in his command."

There is no other way to lead.

"Gaia was of course, laughter, with her strange ways."

"I knew there was something I liked about you!"

"I saw kindness in Trixie, for her willingness to stand up for me and to help me get rid of Nightmare Moon."

"Trixie is always willing to help a friend in need."

"Honesty was represented by Applejack, when she chewed me out for not taking this war as seriously as I should have."

Applejack was sitting next to Rainbow Dash, a wing over her shoulder and her bandages still obscuring one eye.

"Well, shucks, Princess. I just said what needed to be said."

"And that's why you're the honest one!" Rainbow Dash pecked her on the cheek, making Applejack blush.

"Magic, if I may be so bold, was me. I don't think that all of us would have become friends if it weren't for me trying to defeat my sister."

"I know that none of the gryphons would have met you any other way."

"See what I mean? And throughout this rebellion we've created, all of you showed me that the Elements of Harmony aren't just things that we use when we need to defeat Discord, or a crazed Alicorn. They're things we use every day for all sorts of problems, or even for no reason at all! Still though, there was one thing missing... When I defeated Nightmare Moon and rid myself of her, I think I felt an inkling of it. It may have been coming from Trixie or Gaia or maybe even Sir Klass, but I don't think I would have been able to succeed without it."

She paused for a moment, staring out one of the broken windows at the eclipsed, setting sun. She channeled her magic and moved the moon, letting the sunset shine like normal.

"Then I saw it again when Mustang fought for his stallions, or today when he fought against Celestia to defend us. I saw it reflected in the tears Applejack cried on the moon base and I heard it in the words she shouted at me. I heard it again when Sir Klass told us that he had been kicked out of his town. It was in the story of the gryphon captain who took the deaths of his squad personally. I saw it burning behind Dash's eyes when she yelled at me and I felt it in that short time I had with Lieutenant Havoc..."

The others waited for her to continue.

"It has been a part of every friendship that anypony has ever formed. You see, there are the five elements that can be easily recognized. Then there is the sixth element, magic or the spark, that brings them all together and helps create those friendships. After a friendship is made with generosity, kindness, loyalty, honesty and laughter it is brought together with that 'spark'. That's how they start, but how do they last? With love."

The look of enlightenment on their faces was too funny for Luna not to laugh.

"You see, love has many layers and intensities. I love my neighbors, GrimFeather and BlackTalon. I love my sister, Celestia. I love my friends, all of you. Each type of love has its place and some is more common then others. Now do you see why we needed these two the most, Twilight?" She pointed towards Rainbow Dash and Applejack.

Rainbow Dash who had been staring at Applejack ever since they started talking about love, gave a jolt as the conversation was turned on them. "Wait, what?"

"You need the two of us the most? Why?"

"Because not only can one pony not adequately represent love, but the love you share is of the purest kind. Both of you have done nothing but worry about one another since you two parted to join opposite sides of a war. I can only imagine how difficult that must have been for you two. Applejack, you should have heard what Rainbow dash said at your bedside in the hospital tent!

"Um" Applejack raised a hoof to the back of her bandaged head. "I did. I could hear all of the goings on aroun' me. Hey, that reminds me!"

Applejack gave rainbow a hug and nuzzled herself under Dash's chin.

"I love you too, Dashie."

Rainbow dash blushed furiously, but returned the hug.

"That is exactly what I mean! Look at you now! It has been months since you have seen each other and you have picked up right where you left off!"

"So you think that their love will help bring back your sister permanently, without risking the return of this evil mare?"

"Yes Hoofstrong, I do."

"Wahaaaa!" Tears were flying from Fluttersy and Pinkie Pie's eyes like sprinklers as they held each other.

The Major's tough outer exterior melted as he became incredibly giddy, his mustache bouncing up and down at incredible speeds, "Oh, how wonderful! To think that these two star-crossed lovers will be just the thing needed to rid this kind and caring Alicorn of her evil trespasser!"

Everypony looked towards Colonel Mustang, who simply shrugged.

"He's a romantic at heart."

They watched as Pinkie, Fluttershy and the Major held each other and cried at the joyous turn of events.

"Um, girls? The elements."

Pinkie Pie immediately stopped crying and walked over to Twilight followed by a still sobbing Fluttershy.

"Okey-Dokey-Lokey!"

"Anyhoof, we need Rainbow Dash and Applejack in order to unlock the seventh element. Their presence should be enough Twilight Sparkle, just get it started and number seven should take care of itself! She's all yours."

"All right girls, are you ready?"

The others lined up next to Twilight, ready to use the elements once again. Gaia lowered the barrier, giving the element bearers a clear shot.

Twilight closed her eyes and began to cast the now familiar spell. Slowly the six ponies lifted off the ground and each of their elements began to shine. Suddenly a stone sphere popped in to existence above their heads. It broke in to thousands of tiny crystal shards and spread itself evenly to each of the six ponies. Horseshoes appeared on the hooves of each pony, not unlike Celestia's or Luna's, with each front left shoe having a crystal red heart set in it, representing the love that all of the ponies shared for each other. Twilight opened her eyes, still channeling the spell while between them formed a rainbow. This rainbow seemed somehow brighter and more vibrant than the previous ones they had created as it shot out from between them and hit the evil Celestia square in the chest, engulfing her in a bright light that forced the others to avert their eyes.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Celestia was swimming in a sea of cold and darkness. It seemed as if she had been here forever, but at least the place was familiar. It was a place she had been visiting in her dreams since she had banished her sister, oftentimes after these dreams she would wake up in a place other than where she fell asleep. It was quiet here and not altogether terrible. This time however, she seemed stuck. It had been what felt like years since she had seen her beloved sun. She sat there quietly and patiently, merely waiting. It's not like there was anything better to do.

Slowly the darkness around her was becoming somehow lighter. The black was slowly turning in to grey and then, without warning, a rainbow disintegrated every last shadow and bathed her in warmth and light. Celestia suddenly felt as if she were traveling very quickly through a tight tunnel. There seemed to be a picture at the far end and she was speeding right towards it, until finally-

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Can you hear me sister? Celestia, are you there?" Celestia looked like her normal self again, with her coat white again and her normal flowing mane.

She looked around startled for moment by all the ponies and the two gryphons that stared at her. She took note of the destroyed room, the melted chandelier, broken windows, blood running down Luna's face, the armor everypony was wearing and the fact that she couldn't move her hooves. Being a quick-witted Alicorn, Celestia was able to put two and two together in a short time. Her expression changed from one of surprise to one of bashful guilt and self disappointment.

"I... I don't know what to say."

"You are forgiven sister. We have much to discuss."

Luna freed Celestia. "We are going to have a lot of explaining to do and a lot of funerals to attend."

Celestia was almost afraid to ask, but she would have to eventually, "How bad was the fighting?"

Luna looked to the others, not quite sure where to start. Gaia touched her horn to the ground and put the balcony back to its normal place.

Luna walked with her sister out to the balcony and pointed out the large holes blasted in to the ground by the ships. The fact that they were visible from this distance gave credit to their size.

"Oh my! What made those?"

Luna pointed up towards the sky just as the Tolerance roared overhead on its way to the field hospital to drop off casualties and refugees.

"You asked how bad the fighting was sister... Do you remember when I was Nightmare Moon? Before you banished me? All the destruction, death and chaos I created?"

"Yes. Unfortunately, I do."

"Now we're even."