A State of Mind

Celestia was becoming increasingly agitated. Luna was already beginning a rampage beside her. They had both been on the front lines of the Crystal War for three days. The war, according to the generals was nearing an end. They were nearly inside the castle. Luna ruthlessly bucked and sliced at any of the Crystal soldiers that attempted to take them down. They were under mind control from King Sombra of course, but that didn't stop the sisters from their desperate need to end the war.

Unfortunate casualties, Celestia kept repeating in her mind as she was forced to slice the throat of another Crystal soldier that just would not give up in his quest to kill them.

"Hurry up, Celestia!" Luna barked as she slammed another soldier down to the ground. Celestia gritted her teeth in irritation, doing her best to ignore the cold that had started to freeze her armour covering her body. They started to gallop through the broken streets, noticing the lack of crystal citizens, probably locked within their homes.

A few of the bat pony and solar guards broke from the battle surrounding the city and followed after them for extra protection. Celestia gave a glance to the bags on her back, being partially protected by her alicorn wings as they galloped to the Crystal castle, holding the Elements, as she had begun to know them as, the Elements of Harmony. The sleepless nights of months of research in the Library had paid off to provide her with information about them.

Starswirl had suspected that he and the rest of the pillars were going to be unable to protect Equestria at some point, so they combined their magic, the magic used to protect and banish evil from Equestria into a special seed. They planted it, in hopes that the tree it grew into would protect Equestria for generations onward. Unfortunately, Starswirl and the rest of the pillars vanished before the tree was grown up to fully show the elements.

Thanks to the work of other researchers, Celestia, Luna and many others they concluded that each element was connected to a special part of their bearers. Honesty, Laughter, Generosity, Kindness, Loyalty and Magic. Celestia had been silently having growing concerns about the sisters' connection to the elements. How could they wield the elements of Harmony if they barely had a relationship anymore? They only spoke to each other about work now, avoided each other at all costs in their normal lives.

An explosion made both the sisters and the guard stumble. The fighting has moved into the Empire. The sister pushed on, they charged their horns and blasted through the front doors of the main castle. The guards quickly became engaged with the guards inside the castle. The sister pushed through the chaos until they stumbled into the dark corrupted throne room.

They took in deep breathes and tried to pull their strength together as they looked to the throne made of dark crystals where a single male unicorn sat. King Sombra, his eyes were piercing a bright green and red and he watched them in silence before giving them a slow sharp toothy smile.

"Congraulations, Princesses."

Luna growled and Celestia glared at the enemy with hatred. Pure hatred.

"This ends now! Release the Empire or we will use the Elements!" Celestia threatened, her voice echoing against the crystals' walls.

"Ah, yes. The Elements." Sombra spat out as he got up and started to take slow, careful steps towards the Alicorn sisters. "A tale you have made up to frighten your citizens into submission. Well, at least my citizens fear me for real power. For the actual power that has been proven to keep them in line."

Celestia and Luna shared a look of mutual confusion for a moment before looking back to Sombra.

"I assure you that they are very real." Luna growled. "I would be delighted to personally show you their power when they destroy you!"

Sombra let out a loud laugh before igniting his dark magic to form a scythe made of the darkest of crystals.

"I would love to see you try."

Sombra launched himself into the air, throwing his scythe directing at the sisters. They rolled out of the way before delivering blasts of their own magic back at him. He landed on the ground where the sisters once stood, blocking Celestia's magic but getting slammed by Luna's in a moment of weakness. He stumbled for a moment when Luna slammed into him, sending them both to the ground. Luna used her earth pony strength to rear up and slammed onto his shoulders. He cried out in pain as Luna used her whole body weight to keep him down. Luna looked briefly up to Celestia with wild eyes full of adrenaline.

"Sister, get out the el-"

Sombra blasted her with magic, Luna cried out in pain when she was thrown back into one of the jagged crystal pillars. Celestia shielded herself with golden magic when Sombra blasted dark crystals towards Celestia. She destroyed them within a second when Sombra sent his scythe spinning at her.

The scythe hit her, leaving a deep gash in the side of her neck. She stumbled away with tears beginning to go down her cheeks as she fought through the pain, Luna recovered from the blast and started firing multiple magical arrows at Sombra. He began backing away from them as he struggled to keep up with the intensity they were coming at him. Celestia flared up her horn and followed her sister's spell, throwing knives with the arrows. Soon Sombra had become too distracted at the constant barrage of arrows and knives to notice Celestia sparing some extra magic to hook onto his hoofs and slam him onto his back. Before he could retaliate with another blast of magic, Luna allowed brief use of dark magic to consume her own. Cancelling out Sombra's magic when she blasted at his horn. Leaving jagged crystals on it, preventing him from using magic.

Luna took in deep sharp and panicking deaths as her eyes flickered between their usual colours and red and green. She shook her head several times, closed her eyes tightly before opening them again hesitantly. Sombra screamed in rage, which went ignored by Celestia in concern for Luna.

"Luna? Are you alright?"

Luna growled as she shook her head as if that was going to make the magic she used to go away before she snapped her eyes to Celestia.

"Yes, let's just get this over with." Luna snapped with venom. Celestia's eyes lingered on her sister for a second later as a bad feeling came over her. Celestia looked over to Sombra as she began to use her magic to drag the elements out of her bag. Luna's eyes had a glazed-over look, the look she usually had when she was deep within her own thoughts. Barely paying attention to the situation. Too preoccupied to notice Sombra give Celestia a chilling smile as he was held down.

"She will be the end of you."

"Shut up." Celestia growled, trying to lie to herself that fear didn't grip her heart at that moment. "Luna!" She barked, bringing her sister out of her thoughts in moments as Celestia brought her sister's half of the elements over to her. "Get ready."

They leaped into the air as Sombra's cocky smile fell when the Element's brightened up and started to spin around the sisters in bright rainbow colours. He screamed in rage again. His magic flickered and died as his horn was still unable to work.

"You FOOLS!" He screamed. "YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT YOU ARE DOING! You dooming them all!" Before a crazy laugh of an insane pony came from his mouth as another giant smile crossed his face. "You idiots! Did you think I didn't prepare-"

The sisters didn't let him finish as they slammed the full power of the elements into him. They ripped his body apart and sent his soul into the deepest areas of the frozen north where no pony could reach him. Celestia's eyes drifted to the magic surrounding them, it was unstable. It hurt. An instinct told her something was wrong. Something was very wrong. The magic didn't feel like it did when they banished Discord. It was fighting against them slightly. It seemed...uneasy with them.

The elements slowed as the threat was eliminated, the sisters shoved the elements away to Celestia's bag as they drifted back down to the ground. Celestia opened her mouth to speak when the entire empire seemed to be shaking. A bright flash of light blinded the sisters before they opened them again to see nothing. No castle. No Empire. They now stood in a snowstorm where the city should have been. Surrounded by the bodies of their faithful dead soldiers, of injured heroes.

"No." Celestia whispered. The Sisters started to frantically looked around their immediate surroundings. "No! No, no, no! He...He banished it! He banished an entire empire!"

"T-That shouldn't be possible! T-That c-can't be-" Luna struggled to come to grips with what had happened. "I-I don't understand."

"He used dark magic, Luna, obviously." Celestia snapped in misdirected rage. Luna flinched. "Clearly the dark magic has a power we can't possibly understand."

Luna stayed silent as both sides of the sisters' guards were regrouping around them. Waiting, silently pleading for orders. Celestia and Luna stood straighter as the leaders they were to address their guards.

"T-There is nothing we can do now. We...We must return home. The war is...O-over." Celestia said, struggling to keep her voice from cracking under pressure. "We have to go home."

The Captain of the Solar Guard opened his mouth to protest, about to demand they find evidence to counteract whatever happened to the Empire but one look from Luna silenced him within moments. The group began the journey home, in dead silence. Each feeling the weight of failure. They didn't win. They failed to save the ponies they were there to protect. To Free.

When Celestia and Luna managed to gain enough magical strength left, they began teleporting the guards back to the needed locations in the Guard barracks around cities, in the castle and other locations. By the end of the two hours, they were mentally and physically exhausted. Celestia and Luna teleported to the castle, right in front of a large set of windows that allowed them to gaze over the forest the castle was inside of.

It was Nightime in Equestria still, the residents of the castle, towns, cities and growing villages were not yet aware that they would wake up to a country no longer in war, but without an Empire in punishment. Not yet aware of the full amount of lives lost for a fruitless win.

"Sunrise is in two hours." Celestia mumbled absent-mindedly.

Luna nodded, her eyes focused on a town in the distance. Her eyes were sad as the lights were shut off. There was no sound of movement in the castle other than the returning soldiers and the guards forced on night shift. Luna knew no pony was paying attention to the night sky. Even as she tried to make it more and more beautiful each night to give Equestria some comfort despite their circumstances. No pony cared that she tried. No pony cared about the night.

Celestia was slumped to the ground, her head hanging low as she held back tears she didn't want Luna to see. She took in a shaky breathe, not bothering to look up from the carpet in her own shame of the events that took place.

"I am heading to bed. Maybe...Maybe I can get some sleep before..." Celestia paused, not bothering to finish as Luna was even listening anymore. "Nevermind. See you at sunrise."

Celestia stumbled into another corridor, then another, and another. Until she reached her room without even truly knowing how. She stumbled towards her large bed, looking forward to the comfort of simply relaxing for at least an hour of her pathetic life.

Then she made the mistake of looking out to her balcony. Her heart hurt as she thought about the stone statue that was just beyond her room, in the castle gardens, hidden away. She wanted to talk to Discord, she wanted to vent and scream to anyone, any pony. She missed him. Even when he was being egotistical and endless annoying with his constant comments on how more chaotic things could be at any given moment, he was a comfort. He was her best friend.

Now. Now, she was alone.

Celestia teleported from her room to the hidden area she kept him in. Ripping off her damaged armour in the process as she dumped it to the side. Her throat throbbed in screeching pain, her bruises and cuts felt like they were on fire. Her body ached as she dumped the bag of the elements to the ground. Not care at that moment where they ended up at.

She collapsed in front of the statue, her body shaking from sobs that soon rang out.

"W-We failed, Discord." Celestia mumbled. "I-I failed. I should have anticipated, I should have considered-" She took in a deep breath in between sods she could stop. "Gone!" She screamed, her voice broken. No longer the soothing tone that foals smiled at. Instead, it was the cry of the broken alicorn. "An entire empire is gone! Thousands of ponies are dead, missing or just...gone! Gone! I-I don't know what to do! I- I-"

She couldn't speak another word as she let another strangled cry of agony. The statue stayed silent.

-End of Chapter Two-