King of Kings

Nightmare Moon’s laughter resonated through Canterlot as Celestia’s magic flowed through her, the onlookers watching in fear as the tyrant’s body underwent several changes. Her body began to increase in size, the various wounds that Twilight and her friends magic were insufficient to heal finally vanishing with a pitch-black sun appearing on her flank, blending with her crescent moon mark. “This could have gone a lot easier,” she commented, Celestia’s dying croaks being the only response she got. “But worry not. Once I take care of that thing, I’ll take good care of your precious little ponies,” she sneered, eagerly watching the light leave Celestia’s eyes.

“Nightmare Moon!” she turned her head to look at the pawn she had planted into the wall back at the castle, the purple unicorn. “Your reign of terror is over!” the other five ponies stood behind the purple unicorn, the determination on their faces telling her all that she needed to know. Throwing Celestia into the wall of a nearby house, Nightmare Moon cracked her neck before letting out an annoyed sigh. It looks like her reign would be ushered in by the death of these six.

“You failed to stop me before, the elements failed you when you needed them, and now your beloved princess lays broken and drained,” she pointed her hoof to Celestia’s body lying in the corner, enjoying the look of disbelief and fear on their faces. “Kneel before your queen and not only will I forgive this incident, I'll even let Celestia live,” she paused, letting the offer hang over their head. Truth be told, she didn’t want to let Celestia go, but she knew that if she killed her here and now, she would make a martyr out of her, a symbol for rebellion. As much as she hated to admit it, she needed Celestia alive to rally the ponies and other races to stand behind her.

“Never!” Twilight yelled, her defiant spirit burning brightly in her eyes. “And you’re wrong about the elements of harmony. It wasn’t in those rocks, but it in me and my friends,” she launched into a speech about how each of her friends possessed each of the elements, and went on to list the feats that identified them as such, but Nightmare Moon wasn’t listening. At some point during the rant, her entire body stiffened in fear as she felt something enter the planet’s atmosphere. That thing had followed her, and worst of all, it was coming her way.

“The spark that resides in the heart of us all, it creates the sixth element,” Twilight’s voice brought her out of her internal panic and brought her to a more pressing issue, the six mares floating in the air. “The element of magic,” Twilight had finished her speech and the six mares fired off a rainbow-colored beam at her.

Roaring defiantly, Nightmare Moon charged up her own horn and fired off a raw blast of magic at the incoming beam, a trick that she had learnt from that creature during her imprisonment. The two attacks clashed and fought for dominance; the power of friendship versus the power of Nightmare Moon. “I will not lose!” the dark alicorn roared, pouring everything she had into the attack which was now pushing back the friendship blast. “You cannot defeat me!” she grunted, taking a step forward and forcing the six ponies back, multiple voices joining hers, echoing her words for all to hear. “I am omega! I am Nightmare Moon!” she roared defiantly, savoring the fear that was slowly making its way to the mares faces as the friendship blast was devoured by her attack.

She was so close to winning. Things were back on track, she had defeated and fed off Celestia and now she was not only contending with the elements of harmony, but actually winning! A feat that not even Discord with his nigh infinite power could accomplish and she was doing it! All she needed was more power. Planting her hoofs firmly into the ground to secure her footing, Nightmare Moon focused on the power deep within her body, power born of the hatred and jealousy of her mother and let it all out with a scream that resounded through Canterlot.

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Celestia was tired. Her plans to get her sister back and have the elements of harmony gain new bearers while ridding Equestria of Nightmare Moon was crumbling around her. Forcing her eyes open, she was greeted by the scene of Nightmare Moon’s magic beam overpowering the elements of harmony. Her little ponies needed her help and now. Taking deep breaths to steel herself, Celestia forced herself to her feet, her sheer determination and desire to keep her ponies safe the only thing keeping her going, but she didn’t know how long it would keep her going.

Tearing her eyes away from the beam struggle in front of her, her eyes landed on the Helios that had sheathed itself into the earth. As if sensing her gaze and her desire, the sword let out a dull hum that only she could hear, the weapon crying, begging, screaming, demanding that she use it the way it was intended to be used. It knew that they could do it. They could take on Nightmare Moon as long as she put her faith in it and simply allowed it to burn down everything.

“No!” she denied Helios firmly, commanding the sword to her side. “We do this my way,” she shook her head, clearing it of the sword’s influence and began to force her will on it, ignoring its whining and complaints as she pulled the magic out of the sword and directed it into herself, jumpstarting her mana regeneration, her entire body shuddering as her fatigue, wounds and aches began to vanish. Halting the recovery process, Celestia directed the magic towards her horn, shaping it into the only spell she knew could be performed under these conditions.

Nightmare Moon was already celebrating her victory. Her beam was mere inches away from the purple unicorn, the element of magic, and with her death, the other elements would fall. Once that happened, she would enslave the other five elements alongside Celestia and then crush the monster that followed her from the moon. Once it was dealt with, she would then blanket the world in her glorious night, just like mother wanted. She was so focused on her victory that she failed to notice the bolt of magic coming for her horn.

On a normal day such an attack would be noticed, blocked and then the attacker swiftly dealt with, however this wasn’t a normal day. The attack hit her squarely in the horn, sending a wave of pain through her, causing her attack to fizzle out of existence, leaving her unable to defend herself. From the corner of her eyes, she saw the source of the attack; the heavily panting, blood soaked, barely standing Celestia.

“Fool!” she cursed at everyone present as the elements of harmony ripped her apart, her mind, body and soul screaming in pain as she was forcefully separated from her mother, the miasma that made up her body trying its best to latch onto her and failing desperately. “You have no idea what you’ve done,” she hissed loudly as chunks of blinding the onlookers as a massive explosion took place, the shockwaves travelling through the entire city of Canterlot.

Once the light died down, the mane six and Celestia were greeted with the sight of an unconscious midnight blue alicorn laying in the centre of the crater. "Sister!" Celestia shouted in panic, charging down the crater at full speeds, ignoring her injuries and the protests of her ponies as she raced towards Luna, tears pouring from her eyes."Sister I'm so sorry!" Celestia bawled as she wrapped her hooves around Luna, sobbing in joy as she finally held her sister in her hooves. A thousand years of planning finally paying off.

"Sister?" Rarity asked in confusion, looking at Twilight who simply shrugged at the white unicorns question. As much as she prided in being Celestia’s prized student, there were things she didn't know about Princess Celestia; such as her having a sister. The six mares watched the reunion from the mouth of the crater, none of them wanting to interrupt the two sisters. However, somepony else had other plans for them. A deep purple bolt of magic slammed into the two hugging alicorns, creating an explosion that sent them flying.

"Everything was going so perfectly," a childish voice came from the direction of the blast, the ponies ears flattening in fear as an alicorn foal walked out from the ruins of a house, the ponies around the area shrivelling around her as she drained the lifeforce from everypony around her. "You could have just surrendered like good little ponies," the foal hissed, blasting Celestia and Luna even further. "Could have just let me grant you all the beauty of eternal night, could have just bowed to your queen," she wrapped the Mane Six in a telekinetic grip and slammed them into a house, putting them out of commission.

"We could have done it the easy way," she panted as she stood before the downed princesses and brought down her hoof on Celestia’s horn, sending a wave of paralysing pain through her. "Now we're doing it the hard way," she created a sword in the air, aimed it above the neck of Celestia and brought it down, only to be stopped by a forcefield created by Luna who had recovered from the blast.

"You will not take my sister from me you monster!" Luna roared defiantly, her horn glowing brighter, reinforcing the barrier around her and Celestia.

"Monster? Mother, I'm not a monster" the foal gave a malicious grin, revealing a row of fangs as she dissipated the sword and formed a massive warhammer. "I'm a devil," she brought the hammer down, shattering the barrier that separated her from her target, the backlash causing Luna to recoil in pain. "It's hard to believe that I spawned from you," she spat. "Now why don't you just stay there and let me handle this, Faust knows that's all your good for," she turned her attention back to Celestia who was still writing in pain.

"As much as I'd like to watch you kill Daybreaker, she's too important to die just yet," a voice whispered into the foal's ear, bringing her to a halt. "Now, would you kindly fall asleep?" the voice asked, forcing her to drop to the ground.