The night will last forever!

Eighteen years ago - a red-maned, butter-furred earthpony left his family with no guidance. And as he stumbled upon a glade long-forgotten - his life changed with a single sentence.

Seventeen years ago - a red-maned, white unicorn was beaten half to death for the crime alone of being born. And as the light hit his swollen eyes - his life changed with a single sentence.

Fifteen years ago - a pink-maned, yellow-furred pegasus tried to kill the sun. And as the blade pierced through her heart - her life changed with a single sentence.

“May I help you?”

In a battle of this scale - the side that controlled the skies would control the battlefield, and in turn - they controlled the outcome. And as a blade the length of an ursa minor appeared from thin air and pierced through one of the bat-winged thestrals - there was no doubt as to which side controlled the skies.

Ballista were being constructed even as the Master-Commander continued on with her grisly work. She was a terror as she kept herself low to the ground - only engaging with the more mobile pegasi. She leapt from one vantage point to another, sending out fans of blades and spears to utterly eviscerate those who had the misfortune to land within her sights - with a deadly accuracy.

Even with such an advantage - it only leveled the field. The Church of the Nightmares - or the Nightmares as the collected forces had taken to calling them - had appeared out of thin air. They teleported onto the mountain from over a mile away with a display of magic that should be impossible - and immediately began to set the city ablaze. Their warspells struck the castle, destroying more than half of it - and within the first minute of the battle, the death toll was in the tens of thousands.

There was one, single unifying thought between the survivors. From the rigorously trained Judicators with their custom-made weapons - to the royal guard as they readied their spears and donned their armor for what might have been the last time...to the average ponies who began setting up barricades and preparing for a fight. Just one.

Defend.

It was the idea of defence that a pegasus named Thundercrash clung onto even as his body was torn off the ground - left to rot on a spear embedded within the cobblestone as a warning of those to come. He bled out as he prayed to his goddess, who did not hear his plea.

It was the idea of defence that led to a stallion nicknamed Donut Joe to kill three of the abyssinians who were invading - only to die from a stray crossbow bolt that struck him in the throat. He bled out as he cradled his son.

And it was the idea of ponies like those two that the Master-Judicator of the Royal Guard clung to as he ground a minotaur’s chest to a pulp under his hooves.

Steelshy touched down by his side, calmly wiping the blood off one of her preferred swords on her own fur. “Status.” She ducked under the swinging tail of an abyssinian before slicing her attacker in two.

Goldspur grunted and headbutted the nearest attacker - splitting their head in two with his sharpened armor and cutting down to their chest. “Ives is in the courtyard, taking care of the wounded. Yer’ kid is with Ivory.”

Steelshy formed a circle of blades around herself and the Judicator - and began extending the blades tentatively as they spun more rapidly - careful not to hit any of their allies. The blades turned the two of them into a meat blender that tore up minotaurs, abyssinians, the rare thestral, and opposing ponies. “The heavy hitters?”

“Celestia, in the castle. Cadence, with Ives.”

Steelshy let out a grunt. “The kid? Breaking.”

Goldspur hoofed at the ground as he prepared a charge. “The Vault!” He roared as Steelshy broke the circle of blades - and Goldspur tore through a pony so fast that they were turned into paste.

Steelshy tore up into the sky. First, she glanced down below her - gazing over the streets below. It was the thick of the conflict, deep within the city of Canterlot - where the Nightmares had managed to push their way to. For the time being, Canterlot was on the defensive - barely able to gain so much as an inch of ground in one location without losing two inches in another.

They had managed to begin construction on some of their heavier weapons such as cannons or sniper stations - but it seemed the Nightmares were countering with their own. There was some form of pink crystal that they had brought out - lightning beginning to tear from it as it chained from soldier to soldier. It seemed somewhat random at first - until Steelshy noticed three things that caught her eye, two of them related to the crystal.

First, there was a filly within the crystal. Her form was blurred and seemed shadowy - but she recognized the shape regardless. Second - there was a black-armored judicator pointing and directing the flow of lightning...and there was a rather short looking soldier with a familiar orange coat.

Steelshy swore underneath her breath. Very quickly, she glanced down towards the castle. She grimaced slightly as she saw flashes of lightning coupled with pulses of gold and black. Blades began to form around her - until she was impacted three times in rapid succession in the head. She grunted as her vision spun, cursing herself for being caught off guard.

She grabbed onto her attackers - wincing as she managed to throw one of the pegasi off of her. The other two seemed more focused on grounding her than actually pressing their advantage - and she quickly punished that as two spears tore through their chest, sending their hearts flying into the atmosphere…

Only for a third pegasus to come out of nowhere, and buck her in the chest midair. She gasped as she felt one of her ribs crack, even through her armor - and she hurtled down to the ground onto a cannon. She slammed into the side of it, knocking the thing over and feeling another rib crack as some blood leaked out of her lips. She looked up with blurry vision - and only barely managed to duck underneath the fierce haymaker from the attacking pony.

Steelshy stumbled backwards and tore a huge spearhead out of the ground to create a distance between the two of them - but unrelenting, the pegasus she was being assaulted by tore up the side of the spearhead before throwing a bolt of lightning towards Steelshy, which she promptly blocked on her blade.

Steelshy shook her head rapidly to regain her awareness. Her eyes narrowed as she observed a pony - blue furred, prismatic mane...yet more machine than mare, with blood leaking out of her eyes and ears as she trembled with rage.

She let out a horrifying, gurgling cry. Steelshy’s eyes narrowed as she wordlessly raised her blade - and the two lunged towards each other.

Across the battlefield - the two dominant forces were earthponies. Both of them were armed in the armor of the Judicators, a weapon in its own right - spiked helmets, heavy metal studs to break bone and tear flesh...they were unstoppable. Spells licked over the two of them - flames dancing off the sides of their armor from both friendly and hostile spellcasters alike. They tore through the crowd as if they were butter - until the two stood merely a foot away from each other, surrounded by a swarming horde of fighters.

Goldspur let out a deep snarl as he saw the bastardized, black armor of a Judicator. “Y’aint fit to wear that armor.” He hissed. “You’re a monster. How many foals have you killed today?”

“Less than those who will be killed by the folly of your actions. I am the tongue of the prop-”

The Apple Clan were famous for their earthpony magic. Their strongest members were the strongest earthponies - with only one exception...the Pie clan.

“Igneous?” Goldspur gasped. “Is that-”

Igneous was silent for a fraction of a second. It was then, at that moment - that he grabbed the nearest pony, a mare from the Church of the Nightmare - and threw her so hard at Goldspur that she turned into paste against his armor, her small intestine splattering out like a rope and wrapping around the stallion - and before Goldspur’s vision cleared of entrails, Igneous had launched himself towards him.

Goldspur ducked underneath the oncoming stallion and grabbed onto him with two hooves - curling them around before leaping up into the air and attempting to suplex him. The two grappled midair - Goldspur pushing his forehoof at the underside of Igneous’ jaw in an attempt to tear his head clean off, as Igneous wrapped his hooves around Goldspur’s hindlegs in an attempt to snap the thing in two.

The two fell down to the ground on their sides, still grappling and wrestling with each other - as Igneous spun around and slammed his hoof down where Goldspur’s head had been just a moment ago. Goldspur slammed his head into Igneous - both of their helmets cracking slightly as the two stumbled away from each other.

Goldspur shook his head side to side rapidly. Igneous hooved at the ground - and charged once more.

Within the courtyard of Canterlot Castle were two ponies. Their names were Ivory Chaser and Obsidian Knife - both belonging to conflicting sides of the ongoing battle. But they had come to an agreement - wounded were wounded, and they would be treated by anyone. The courtyard would be a spot of safety in a realm of battle.

Rarity and Fluttershy were both here - one working on gathering supplies to deal with the wounded, and Fluttershy dealing with those who were less gravely wounded whenever she could. She had little experience outside of animals, and was only a filly - but their resources were stretched thin.

Within a tent - at the entrance to the courtyard, Ivory Chaser and Cadence stood. Ivory Chaser had a few scratches on his side, his usually pristine coat marred - while Cadence had only freshly regenerated from the initial warspell that the Nightmare had cast for Celestia.

It happened so quickly. The spell struck - Celestia thrust Twilight into her hooves and demanded that she bring her to the Black Vault…

Cadence let out a soft sigh as she turned to Ivory. “We can’t just sit here. We need to do-”

“I will drop my usual pretense, Cadence - where I lead you to the conclusion I want you to find. You don’t know healing magic, I don’t know how to heal. We would do more harm than good. The best we can do is keep morale together. You’re the Master-Speaker. How about you speak?” Ivory arched an eyebrow.

Cadence looked down and sighed. “If - Frost was here...maybe -”

“I’m sorry - you want the murderwolf to be here? Do you need medical attention? Did you hit your head?”

Cadence grunted - partially from his comment and partially as she steadied herself, as a particularly powerful spell caused the ground to rumble.

Ivory looked up. “That was close.” His eyes narrowed. His horn lit as he strode out of the tent, puffing his chest up - as he inspected one sole figure.

The gates behind her had been turned to molten slag. Where once had been two squadrons of soldiers - both of the Nightmare and of Celestia, there were now clusters - bonfires - of burning skeletons that were slowly being reduced to ash. Her hood fell down to show her red and orange locks - and her horn, crackling with flame.

“S-Sunset?” Cadence whispered. Sunset tilted her head to the side and regarded the two of them coolly.

“So you’re the one he’s fond of. While you burn to death - please make sure to scream extra loud. I’d really appreciate it.”

“What?” Cadence blanched. Her horn lit with a corona of rose energy.

“Burn.” A brilliant jet of magical flames - not just white with heat, but so hot that they were identical in color to Sunset’s corona - tore from the tip of her horn. The cobblestones underneath them began turning into lava as Ivory Chaser threw himself to the side - watching in abject horror as the flames danced over the side of Cadence’s half-bubble shield. Cadence stumbled backwards as the sheer force of the flames made cracks spread along the length of her shield.

A deity, being challenged by a mortal - and the mortal seemed as if she was going to win. Ivory stared at the scene for another second, taking it in its entirety...before his horn lit, and he teleported himself a few dozen feet behind himself. Another teleport spell - and Cadence appeared a few feet by Sunset Shimmer’s side.

Cadence didn’t wait for even a moment as she shifted the bubble shield spell into a bolt of energy - striking it directly in the side of Sunset’s face. Sunset stumbled to the side as steam rose up from her face - and flashed the two of them a glare even as her face knit back together in an alarmingly familiar way.

“Then we do this the hard way.” She hissed.

The two of them had been battling for the better part of ten minutes. They were surrounded by corpses within a small circle - both friend and foe alike, for any who had dared to come near within their conflict ended up inevitably being used as a weapon.

The two of them had their armor cracked, covered in blood that mostly wasn’t their own - and panted even as they powered on through their fight.

Igneous let out a fearsome roar as he slammed his front hooves into the ground so hard that a section of the earth was torn up - and in one fluid motion, spun around and kicked the wall of earth straight into Goldspur. Goldspur braced himself with his magic as he charged through the wall of ground, slamming his head into Igneous’ side before following it up with a flailing uppercut.

Igneous grabbed onto Goldspur’s head as the apple stallion started pounding the side of his black armor with his hooves - then threw Goldspur down to the ground aggressively, trailing his hoof down along with his face with a flurry of punches - his helmet shattering. Igneous’ hoof grinded into Goldspur’s face, keeping him pinned down to the ground - until Goldspur grabbed onto his one hoof with two of his arms, and snapped it to the side.

Igneous stumbled backwards with a stunned expression as he examined his broken foreleg dangle at a strangle angle. He hissed and slammed the limb down into the ground as he sent a spike of earthpony magic through it, causing it to snap back into place with an echoing crack.

Goldspur grabbed onto what was left of his helmet and tore it off with a grunt. He shook his head from side to side and wiped a bit of blood from his nose, before glaring at Igneous - and charging.

Igneous charged at him, head-first - his helmet aimed to slice into Goldspur’s brain...and Goldspur wove to the side with surprising agility as he struck three times in rapid succession. One blow was an uppercut delivered to the underside of his chest, another was a flailing haymaker towards his face - and the last was Goldspur pushing himself off the ground and landing on Igneous back.

Each blow was punctuated with a large impact, and an even larger crack of bones - ribs, jaw, and spine respectively. Igneous crumpled to the ground, where Goldspur pinned him down under his hooves. The two stallions struggled for a moment as Igneous blocked the brunt of Goldspur’s blows with his now-bruising hooves - until Igneous managed to get a bit of leeway and shove Goldspur off to the side and limp into the crowd.

Goldspur hissed as he prepared to follow him. “Coward!” And then was immediately struck in the side by a bolt of pink lightning.

There was a moment between the impact and the pain he felt. There was a moment where his skin burst, leg shattered, and his heart threatened to slough off of his body along with layers of melting skin.

Goldspur fell down to the ground as he coughed and choked, his armor embedded into his partially caved chest. He didn’t waste a second as he started tearing the armor off of himself - looking around with a blurry, unfocused gaze...and he saw Igneous, his hoof glowing with a soft pink energy - pointing at him.

Goldspur spat out a tooth and glared at him as the lightning struck once again - only for Goldspur to be yanked out of the way by another pony.

A rather small pony - with a familiar orange coat.

Goldspur’s eyes went wide. “A-Applejack?” He hissed. “No - no, you shouldn’t - you shouldn’t-”

“W-well, ah am! Talk later - c’mon!” And the filly tugged Goldspur more to the side as another bolt of lightning followed up - only for Igneous to charge towards his daughter.

His daughter.

He didn’t stand a chance. Goldspur spun around with such speed, such ferocity - that he broke the sound barrier with the sound of his punch, even as it shattered his own foreleg. Igneous felt his skull crack as his head whipped back, his head threatening to tear off from the force of his punch - even as Goldspur followed it up with a headbutt as the two stallions grappled each other to the ground.

There was a brief moment of tension. The only noise that permeated the battlefield was the sound of blade on blade, steel on steel - grunting, panting, struggling.

And then Goldspur straddled on-top of Igneous, and punched towards his face. Then he punched again - and again, and again - more teeth, more blood being torn loose from Igneous - his face beginning to welt up and bruise even as it healed due to his earthpony magic...until Goldspur grabbed onto the sides of his head with his hooves, and began to squeeze them together.

Igneous screamed as one of his eyes began to bulge out of his head - and Goldspur squeezed tighter, and tighter, until it popped out of his head and hung loosely by a cord. Igneous weakly pointed a hoof -

A bolt of lightning tore itself out from the pink crystal - towards Applejack. Goldspur didn’t waste a moment as he tore himself off from Igneous, throwing himself in the way of the lightning - screaming as his entire bottom half was taken off, two of his legs flying into the crowd as he fell limp down by the ground. Applejack covered her mouth as tears welled up within her eyes.

Igneous stumbled over towards Goldspur and pinned down his torso. Goldspur threw two weak punches at him, but Igneous slapped his hooves to the side. Applejack charged towards Igneous - but he simply backhanded her across the face, sending her sprawling down to the ground.

The small space around them was silent, save for the crack of Igneous’ hoof against Goldspur’s face. Again, and again, and again - until the cheek caved in, until the eye swelled shut - until it was more swollen flesh and blood, flesh a sickly shade - chin split, lower jaw broken, teeth loose - yet within the back of his throat rather than being spit out.

And he didn’t stop. He punched again - and again, and again, grunting with each punch. Applejack threw herself against him, grabbing onto his foreleg to try and make him stop - screaming as her father was beaten to death before her very eyes.

Igneous reared his hoof back. He was covered in blood, his chest heaving with the effort of battle - before he let out a roar-

Pink lightning tore through Igneous’ skull.

Rainbow Dash was annoyingly fast. Fast enough that Steelshy’s magic had to be used sparingly - even she did have her limits with it, after all.

Steelshy rolled over to the side, a long blade forming in her hoof that she immediately stabbed towards Rainbow Dash’s leg. Rainbow jumped onto the blade, running along its length and delivering a powerful kick straight to Steelshy’s face. Steelshy grabbed onto her hind-leg with both of her hooves and slammed her down to the ground - leaping onto her advantage and forming a blade that she tried to dig through her heart.

Rainbow countered with a bolt of lightning that Steelshy only narrowly avoided, striking past her face and temporarily blinding her. Steelshy didn’t want to give up her advantage - so she threw a fan of blades out in a circle around her, slashing wildly. She could feel one of them brush against something - but then immediately felt the ground fade from underneath her hooves just as her vision cleared.

The two hurtled through the air before Steelshy tore herself free from Rainbow, throwing a spear straight towards her chest. Rainbow deflected it with the back of one of her metal hooves with a grunt, landing on a rooftop roughly enough to send some of the shingles sliding down to the ground. She picked one up that she threw towards Steelshy - that was promptly turned to dust on a spear that tore from the ground. Leaping from the tip of that spear with the ability of an expert acrobat...instead of using her magic, she lunged towards Steelshy with her mouth open - and bit down into her wing.

Steelshy’s eyes went wide as she swore a string of expletives even as Rainbow Dash grabbed onto her head and tilted her chin up while she brought her flying down to the ground - aimed towards a bed of spears with corpses impaled on them.

Steelshy adjusted their course and sent both of them smashing through a window. Neither of them wasted a moment - Rainbow kicked a table towards the Master-Commander, who tore through the table as if she was an earthpony and sent a fan of daggers towards her chest.

Rainbow threw herself to the side, smashing through a shelf with plates on it - porcelain shards cutting her flesh and one of the daggers embedding into her chest, but she didn’t seem the least bit phased. She gurgled something out inanely as she lunged towards Steelshy, spreading her hooves out and smashing them down on the Master-Commander’s ears. Disorienting by default - almost crippling to a pegasus.

Steelshy threw a wild, flailing punch towards Rainbow’s face that was promptly deflected. Rainbow stepped forward and slapped her wings down over her ears, causing Steelshy to stumble back and clutch at her now-bleeding ears. Rainbow quickly grabbed onto the nearest shard of porcelain - and stabbed it right towards Steelshy’s throat. A sloppy dodge made it strike the side, grazing against her rib but not hitting any organs - yet still causing Steelshy to fall to the ground.

Rainbow stepped forward and kicked the Master-Commander in the face. Two teeth went loose before she grabbed onto the mare and began dragging her towards the kitchen of the house they were in - smashing her face into the marbling of the floor.

Steelshy planted both her hooves on the ground - spat out a tooth - and then roared as a colossal spear tore its way out of the ground. Rainbow threw herself backwards with a shriek as the spear tore a chunk out of one of her wings, a hiss of pain as a part of the Master-Commander’s leg was torn off. Powering through the pain, Steelshy pushed herself up and planted two hooves on the spear.

She spoke a word - and there was a moment of silence before the house exploded in an eruption of hellfire. Rainbow Dash was sent hurtling backwards, one of her wings crippled with a chunk of it torn out - while Steelshy rode the explosion even as it covered her in horrible burns.

Steelshy held her blade out that she dragged behind her weakly. Rainbow Dash slowly pushed herself up on trembling legs - blood leaking from her every orifice as she let out a wet gurgle.

She threw herself towards the Master-Commander in a feral manner. Steelshy simply stepped to the side, and with a flick of her blade, Rainbow Dash tumbled to the ground - now unbalanced by one of her wings falling down to the ground with a bloody rip.

Steelshy steadied herself as she lurched forward and stomped a hoof down into the center of Rainbow Dash’s chest. She held her blade up - and brought it down right where her hoof was, twisting and tearing the blade out to the side with a tear - only to watch as blood dripped down onto Rainbow’s chest.

Steelshy glanced down with a soft noise. Rainbow held a jagged piece of wood in her hoof - one that had now found itself embedded within Steelshy’s heart.

Ivory Chaser was not a very powerful mage.

He was certainly skilled, and highly skilled at that. Skilled as any theoretical magician could be - his use wasn’t practical work in the field, but rather the more - subtle, behind the scenes job. And so - constantly teleporting both himself and Cadence around was straining.

He teleported up onto a spot that Sunset couldn’t see, letting out heavy wheezing breaths as the breath burned within his lungs. Cadence was forced to be on the defensive most of the fight - only able to get a few precious shots in, and even then - Sunset seemed to regenerate from anything they threw at her.

Sunset didn’t teleport, but rather simply appeared behind Cadence - delivering a flaming punch to the back of her neck. Ivory teleported Cadence a few feet behind Sunset.

Sunset huffed and turned to look at Cadence. “Are you aware of how utterly disappointing this is? Fighting against a deity - sure, the weakest one - but a deity. Do something interesting! Shatter the ground! Rend my soul from my body! Tear my emotions apart!”

Cadence responded with a bolt of energy that tore from her horn with such force that the air rippled around it as the sound barrier shattered. Sunset powered through it even as more than half of her face was sheared off by it, sloughing off and dripping onto the ground.

Sunset let out a soft sigh. “Of course. Deities are always disappointing. We could make this so much easier, Cadence! Sit down and I’ll make it easy for you. Tear off a wing - send you on your way. Otherwise, I’m going to have to stop playing nice.”

“What happened to you, Sunset?” Cadence whispered. “I knew you. You were-”

Sunset rolled her eyes as a bolt of brilliant flame shot up - not towards Cadence, but this time towards Ivory. Ivory stumbled backwards and batted at his face as he screamed in an attempt to douse the magical flames - managing to do so, just before he fell unconscious, blood pooling underneath him. Cadence gasped and spread her wings - only for a bolt of energy to strike Cadence square in the chest. She hurtled through the tent, smashing through the makeshift desk and into the outer walls of the castle with a grisly crack.

Sunset slowly made her way over towards Cadence. Cadence pushed herself up, whimpering and suppressing some tears as her bones snapped back uncomfortably into place.

Sunset slammed a hoof down and placed it onto Cadence’s horn. “Hard way, or easy way, Cadence?”

Cadence glared at Sunset. Her mouth opened and her horn lit - and Sunset rather promptly snapped her horn off. Cadence let out a scream that faded into a soft groan of pain overloading Cadence’s senses.

Sunset huffed and glanced around - only to wince as she felt her head become much more lightweight - before she was sent flying across the arena with a powerful backhand.

Frost spun Cryogenesis in hand as he dragged it behind him. “Cadence. Take the fucker,” he gestured at Ivory, “and get him out of here.”

Cadence didn’t wait for a second as she powered through the pain and flew up into the air - grabbing onto Ivory’s unconscious form and flying off.

“Finally.” Sunset let out a long sigh. “Hello, granddaddy.”

“Ceresze.” Frost spun Cryogenesis in his hand.

A royal red carpet leads up to a beautiful golden throne. It is lonely in its architecture - standing in a mostly unfurnished, undecorated room - the only characteristic being the tall marble pillars that served as more for style than any form of stabilization.

The walls were lined with intricate stained glass windows that showed a falsehood - a lie. It showed only the briefest glimpse of the true history of Equestria - and with a pulse of blue magic, the Nightmare dispelled it.

“You kept it.” She spoke in a whisper as her eyes inspected the truth. The monstrous visage of Berzerkiel, Grogar, Discord - of the unfathomable Eldest in all her many-limbed greatness. Of Beollyssurth, of Thaola - of Zarrat, and Hermes. But the Nightmare’s eyes were pulled towards one window, and one alone - two sisters at the heart of the world, standing against an unstoppable threat.

Celestia said nothing. The Nightmare threw a look over her shoulder - watching as plates of golden armor formed on Celestia even as her glaive formed from seemingly nothingness.

“You still believe that I’m not Luna, Celestia?” The Nightmare arched an eyebrow. “That this is - possession?”

“I don’t believe it. I know it - I know it in my heart of hearts to be true. Same body. Same soul. A different mind.”

The Nightmare was silent for a second. “We don’t have to do this, Celly.”

“Don’t call me that.”

“I mean it.” The Nightmare spun around, even as her armor flashed onto her - the warhammer being dragged behind her in her telekinetic grasp. “I don’t want to hurt you.”

“You don’t?” Celestia narrowed her eyes. “You threw me through a chair - you slaughter my ponies -”

“I seek to free them! The Lords are coming, sister! And there is no force that could possibly stop them - and I have seen what failure is. And the only reprieve is annihilation, Celestia. To save reality - Aezilan must die.”

Celestia shut her eyes.

“...So yes, sister - we do not have to do this. Please - lay down your arms. And I will make it painless.” The Nightmare - Luna - pleaded.

”I disagree.” And from a standstill, she broke the sound barrier with a beat of her wings - lunging towards the Nightmare and headbutting her even as she buffeted her with her wings and drove her glaive towards her chest.

Luna’s horn lit with a horrible unlight, draining the surrounding photons in - a sickly absence in reality. A horrible screech filled the air even as her bones broke - and Celestia narrowly threw herself out of the way of the eldritch blast of energy.

The glaive spun telekinetically towards the Nightmare’s horn - only for Luna to counteract as she brought her hammer up. The two weapons of myth met - the thinnest of cracks spreading along their length. Celestia’s horn lit as she cast ten spells in the span of a second and a half.

Every spell was interspaced by a teleport to a random one of ten points centered on the Nightmare. The first spell was a beam of brilliant light that tore towards her - the second spell was sheer force that she would have to counteract. The third were all focused on stripping her of her defenses - crippling her regeneration, her mobility, and her sight.

Ultimately though - Luna was somewhere inside of the Nightmare, and so Celestia had to hold back. Luna herself had no such prerogative. She spun her hammer around in a circle, deflecting the physical spells - and simply shattered the more dangerous spells with her mind. She closed the distance with a teleport and backhoofed Celestia before bringing her hammer down onto her horn in an attempt to snap it clean off.

Celestia grabbed up onto the Nightmare’s hammer and grunted as she pushed against it with all of her earthpony strength. Luna’s horn lit - and Celestia let out a groan as a spray of icy spears began to lacerate her body, shredding across the sides of her fur and just cutting deep enough to bleed, but not to kill.

Celestia teleported behind the Nightmare. “ENOUGH!” She cried - and her horn began to glow with a double, triple - quadruple corona. The air began bubbling as sheer heat entered the world - and the heat of the sun itself tore from the tip of her horn. The windows shattered from thermal shock and the throne was reduced to molten slag as the carpet was lit ablaze.

Luna called up a shield of moonlight - the sunfire splashing around her, droplets of it causing fourth degree burns and sections of her fur to be burnt off. Her ethereal mane was lit ablaze as the sunfire greedily slurped up the magic - even as Celestia’s mane grew more and more intense. As her shield shattered - Luna brought up the Hammer of the Moon to shield the bulk of herself - letting out a scream as her skin was lit ablaze and the hammer was reduced into molten slag.

After a moment, the sunfire faded and Celestia stumbled backwards panting - as she observed the Nightmare. Her mane a short, soft blue instead of the ethereal energy it had been moments ago.

”My turn.” Luna whispered in a sickening gurgle as her eyes slowly faded into two black pits. Her horn lit with an equal shade. Lightning crackled out from her horn, dancing all over the walls and the floor even as the tip of her horn grew darker and darker - until a spear of energy spiralled out right towards Celestia’s heart with lethal intent. Celestia held up the Glaive of the Sun in an attempt to split the beam down the middle. There was a horrible crack as the Glaive of the Sun shattered with an explosion - sending both of them flying backwards into pillars.

Celestia was hurtled through two before being slammed against the wall against her wing, the wing cracking with a grisly sound. Luna simply smacked into the side of one before quickly recovering - and even without her weapon, tore through the air and aimed her horn like a spear directly towards Celestia’s heart.

Celestia threw herself to the side and grabbed onto the Nightmare, using her momentum to carry her further into the wall. There was a crack as the tip of the Nightmare’s horn chipped off, only for Celestia to grab onto her tail with her teeth - and with a great amount of effort, send her crashing into a pillar. She immediately followed up by leaping off the ground and aiming a punch towards her face - one which Luna quickly caught on her hooves.

Luna spat out a glob of blood into Celestia’s eyes. Celestia crudely began stomping down on where the Nightmare’s chest was before Luna dodged - the marble cracking underneath her as she flapped her one wing to throw herself backwards.

Celestia and Luna stood a few feet from each other. Their armor was holding up - their weapons broken - the bulk of Luna’s magical supply drained from the first few moments of their battle…

And neither of them waited a second before they charged towards each other. Celestia ducked low and curled her arms around Luna’s neck as she threw her down to the floor, curling her wing around her and beginning to squeeze in an attempt to choke the consciousness out from her. Luna began biting and snapping at Celestia’s neck - pony teeth digging into pony flesh as she tore chunks out with each motion. Her horn lit as the shadows themselves began to tear into Celestia’s back, scratching and lacerating at her.

Celestia responded by shifting her hind legs against the back of the Nightmare’s foreleg. She pushed as hard as she could - eliciting a scream as the Nightmare’s leg was all but torn off. Celestia slammed down with two more punches where the Nightmare’s head had been before she writhed out of the way, before tilting her horn down and letting out a burst of unadulterated solar energy that blinded both of them.

Celestia pulled herself up and rubbed her eyes - only to open them just in time to dodge from Luna’s horn piercing into her brain. Instead, it slashed through her - tearing out a gouge of flesh from her forehead to her cheek, piercing through the eye and causing it to tear itself free from Celestia’s skull.

Celestia’s horn lit with a radiant light - and the ceiling above was torn open. It glowed, and it glowed and it glowed with a corona that wrapped around five times - Celestia’s horn beginning to break from the sheer effort…

The sun moved behind the moon - casting the world in a grisly red light signature to a forced eclipse. And with one burst of magical effort more intense than anything she had done in centuries...Celestia cast a spell that had once been called the Sunspear.

Travelling at three times the speed of light - imbued with so much magic that physics simply didn’t apply. It was massless, yet contained the force of the sun itself - and as it accelerated faster and faster, it struck in-between the two of them - and two things happened at the same time.

The first was that Canterlot Castle was reduced to rubble. Debris was sent flying up into the air, long streams of lava generated from the sheer heat of the Sunspear approaching the mountain. The windows that hadn’t been blown out earlier were destroyed - rocks beginning to tumble down the mountain as the garden was lit ablaze. Had anyone save for Celestia and Luna been within the castle - they would’ve died.

As for the sisters themselves - Luna’s flaming, barely conscious form was sent hurtling down three floors of the castle, down into the wine cellars below as the wine was lit ablaze. Celestia received much the same treatment - save for a piece of her chair shattering and piercing through her stomach and pinning her to the wall.

The second thing - was that the Black Vault was struck by the Sunspear. And within the Black Vault - placed there for not just her own safety, not the safety of everypony or everyone - but of everything - and as a young filly looked up at the eclipse, holding an egg - and could now hear the heartbeat of her mother weaken…

The egg within her grasp began to crack, and shadows consumed the entirety of the Black Vault.

Celestia pushed herself up on trembling legs as she drew every inch of magic within herself - her mane slowly losing its ethereal nature as her bones and flesh began to knit back together. She glanced over at the Nightmare worriedly - letting out a soft, strange noise when she saw that she was still breathing. Luna pushed herself up as she grabbed onto a support beam - only to lose her balance immediately as a horrible roar broke the skies.

There was a single flap - and then a shadow that blotted out the eclipse. Both sisters looked up in unison - letting out a soft noise as they saw the largest dragon they had ever seen.

It was a shade of a dark, sickly purple. A shade so dark it was much closer to black than purple. Its spines that lined its back violet, yet tipped with green flame as heat rolled off of it in waves - its eyes two piercing orbs of lavender light that looked like stars. And as it gazed down on the city of Canterlot -

Gurgling voices. Screaming shadows, infinite eyes and millions of limbs - and wings that seemed to distort light itself. A lavender tinted void looked down with its eyes - and it saw one thing.

Prey.

The sky began to fill with open, bleeding eyes. The blood trickled down the sky as spears of light and shadow began to impact the ground around Canterlot. Violet flames crackled within the back of its throat. The heat - the energy was so intense that it’s throat began to glow, and the shadows the creature was partially composed of began to burn as spears of light leaked out from them - like the sun peaking out from behind a cloud. And the dragon began to descend.

Violet flames began licking over the side of Canterlot. Where they struck - there was ash. Evacuation processes had been mostly complete - but immediately the death toll skyrocketed as both soldiers of the Nightmare and of Celestia were, for lack of a better term - consumed. Where the flames struck, the thing that stood on the dragon’s head only seemed to grow larger - its wings beginning to drain more light…until its wings flapped, and it began hurtling down towards the ground.

“Twilight.” Celestia whispered in abject horror as her wings spread.

She glanced down at the Nightmare - and failed to dodge her sloppy tackle. Luna pinned Celestia down to the ground in her moment of distraction, slamming one hoof down onto her face as she struggled for a piece of stray glass - ending up grabbing a stained glass shard that bore her own visage. Luna leaned in close and brought the blade down towards Celestia’s chest - inching closer, closer…

Celestia looked up towards the sky even as she struggled. She whispered - “Twilight,” but the words came out weak and raspy. She stared at Luna with wide, pleading eyes.

“Please.”

Luna brought the dagger down closer, and closer towards her heart.

It was not fast. It was awkward and long - two mares with the strength to crush worlds both pushing against each other with the entirety of their force. The blade began digging in deeper and deeper, threatening to draw blood but not quite. Celestia let out a small, wheezing gasp - a pleading whimper...

And then there was silence.

...Squeak!
“No.”
Pop!
“No.” Luna whispered.
Flllpp. The squeaky-toy that stood in Celestia’s place slowly, slowly deflated.

Celestia stood on trembling legs as she looked wildly around the room - until she heard a rich, velvety chuckle that made her skin crawl - and realized…

In the corner of the room - there was a chair. It had not been there when they entered, it had appeared posthumously. And sitting within the chair - a book within his grasp, form half illuminated by the firelight as his shadow stretched out monstrously over the room…

Discord grinned widely.

“I think we have some catching up to do, hmm?”

-

Author's Note

To be concluded in Penumbra.
Behold! A discord server!