Celestia sighed and rubbed her temples with the tips of her hooves. She had not retired to her bedchamber, but had instead gone to her study. She was tired but too restless to sleep, so she had decided to look over yet more in what seemed like an endless stream of administrative duties. Paperwork stopped for nothing and nopony. Not even death. Not even Clover the Clever.
She surveyed the latest proposal from King Sanguine. He wanted more gems from the mines in the Unicornia Province. Platinum would not be happy about that. Neither was Celestia, to be honest. More gems for a kingdom that didn’t use them as currency, eat them or care about using them in jewellery? Luna was probably right about Gryphona using Equestria’s own resources to stack the dragons against them. Yet what could they do? If they refused, King Sanguine would consider the treaty broken and it would be back to the way things used to be. Any gamble of pony life that way was not acceptable. Yet if they complied with the amendment they might be setting themselves up as the griffins’ personal hunting ground, with dragons as gamekeepers stringing the gibbet.
A knock at the door provided a welcome distraction. The guards on the other side would not have let just anypony up to see her, so it had to be important.
“Enter,” she called.
The door opened and Luna strolled in. She was still wearing her cloak from the funeral. Celestia realised with surprise that she, too, had forgotten to remove hers and had been using a messy quill in her finery. Using her magic she undid the clasp, folded the cloak over the back of her chair and removed her tiara. In the absence of the Elements of Harmony, the true symbols of their office, both Celestia and Luna had worn specially forged crowns adorned with suns and moons picked out in ordinary gemstones instead. They were pretty but very heavy and pinched at the ears. Celestia’s skull felt like it expanded when she took it off.
“Luna,” she said warmly. “Thou art not with our guests?”
“I did tire of them. They did tire of me.” Luna shrugged. “’Tis all much of a much. Their chatter goes on unabated with neither you nor I present. My Captain Diamond and thy Captain Auburn do keep the peace well in our absence, though perchance Prince Goldenmane seeks to hold his own court.”
Celestia laughed. “He is indeed quite full of himself. Much like his mother at his age.”
“Indeed.” Luna eyed the table. “More treaties?”
“The latest amendment by King Sanguine,” Celestia sighed.
“More demands, thou doth mean,” Luna said bitterly. “Hast thou thought again on my proposal?”
“To use our sun and moon to force his acquiescence?” Celestia didn’t have the strength to go through this argument again. “No, Luna, I have not. Thou dost know my feelings on the matter.”
“And thou dost know mine,” Luna replied.
“It doth seem we are at an impasse. Prithee, may we leave the quarrel there tonight? We have buried a friend, Luna. Now is not the time to speak of war games in the land he made.”
“Thus the great Celestia hath spoken.”
“Luna, thy hostility is wearying. Wherefore dost thou think me thy enemy?”
“Wherefore dost thou treat me as thine?” Luna shot back.
“I do not –” Celestia cut herself off, turned back to her scrolls and waved a hoof in Luna’s direction. “I will not do this, Luna. Not this night.”
Luna sighed heavily. “’Tis good, then, that I bring thee a peace offering.” She held out the goblet she had been carrying. Celestia had assumed it was her own from the Great Hall. “I chanced upon a servant bringing this hence and thought to use it to remind myself why I sought thee out. I seek not to argue, Celestia. Thou art right. Not this night.” She held out the goblet. “’Tis not a night for pettiness.”
Celestia smiled and accepted it with her magic, bringing it gratefully to her own hoof. She was parched, which was why she had sent for the drink in the first place. Luna’s words eased her mind as the liquid eased her thirst.
“I am glad to hear such words from you, dear sister,” she said once she had drained it. Alone with Luna, she allowed herself to lapse from propriety and gulp instead of sip. Even the small release from decorum felt good. “I hate when we squabble.”
“As do I, dear sister.”
Something in the way she said this made Celestia raise her head and frown. “Luna? Wherefore –?” She got as far as the first word of her question before a bolt of pain rocketed through her. “What –?” Another came, squeezing her ribcage like an iron band. She couldn’t get her breath. When she tried to stand a third bolt lanced through her and she fell like a marionette with all its strings cut. Her flailing hoof caught the edge of the cloak she had thrown over the chair, bringing it down on top of her and flinging her tiara into the air. It clattered to the stone floor inches from her nose. It might as well have been miles, for all that she could reach it.
Silvery shoes appeared in her field of vision. Celestia managed to tilt her head enough to look up.
“Lu … na …” she croaked. “He … lp …”
“I am helping, dear sister,” Luna replied pitilessly. “I am helping Equestria. As I did say, ‘tis not a night for pettiness. ‘Tis instead a night for decisiveness.” She tilted her head pensively. “The poison doth work quickly. I did not know what dosage would do for thee. A pinch did serve for Clover, but an alicorn? Be grateful, Celestia. I did load thy drink with so much thy suffering should not be long.”
Celestia couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Poison?
“Know that I do this for the greater good,” Luna went on. “This land is in turmoil and doth need a firmer hoof than thine to save it. Too long hast thou stood in the sunlight while ponies praise thy decisions, good or bad, while I languish in shadow, ignored and dismissed as naught but an ugly, stupid fool.”
“N … nay …” Celestia croaked.
“Nay?” Luna laughed, her voice as bitter as salt. “Still thou dost deny how thou hath pushed me aside? Well, no more, Celestia. No more will I allow thee thy mistaken glory. Equestria hath no more need of thee.”
Celestia stared in horror as Luna’s eyes glowed until her pupils disappeared. Patches of what looked like black fire crawled across her face. Beneath her cloak her ruined wings moved and spread – but they weren’t ruined anymore. They were huge, lustrous and covered in black feathers that knifed out of the flames like something from a nightmare. She reared, bringing her forehooves down on Celestia’s tiara. It crumpled like old parchment.
“Equestria needs not two squabbling princesses,” Luna spat, her voice resonating around the chamber. She sounded older and harsher. Like a monstrous butterfly emerging from its fiery cocoon, she spread her wings and boomed, “Equestria doth need a queen!”
Accelerating waves of pain wracked Celestia’s body. She couldn’t believe what she was seeing.
Luna brought her face close. Her teeth were dragon-sharp, her eyes luminous and slitted. Clouds of starshine mane swirled around her head. Only her rump mark remained the same – the sole clue that this monster had once been her little sister.
“Now all ponies will know my night and revel in it,” she hissed. “For it is all they shall see. Without thee, I shall control thy sun and use it to teach King Sanguine the lesson he so richly deserves. Then my moon and I shall entrance all of Equestria, as it should have from the beginning. No more will ponies ignore me or my night! No more will I live in thy shadow, Celestia! Never again will I lower my beautiful, beautiful moon and stars. I have suffered and now I am reborn!”
Celestia gasped in agony. Black spots crowded her vision. Her heart raced and her mind swam. “Lu … na …”
The door burst open as her guards galloped in. They stopped at the sight of Luna standing over Celestia.
“Intruder!” one yelled, clearly not recognising her.
“Assassin!” cried the other.
“I am neither,” Luna replied icily. “I am thy sovereign. Bow before me or suffer the fate of all traitors.”
The guards ran at her, weapons drawn. She swept a hoof at them and her mane shot out. It encased both guards, lifting them off the floor. The pegasus beat his wings, screaming when a sliver of mane reached out and snapped each at the base joint. The unicorn tried using his magic to pick up the desk to throw at her. Luna’s tail whipped out, grabbed the missile and brought it down on his head instead. The crunch would have turned Celestia’s stomach if she wasn’t so absorbed in just trying to breathe. The pegasus guard threw his spear, his aim unerring despite the great deal of pain he had to be in. Again, Luna’s tail whipped out, grabbed the spear and rammed it backwards. The blunt end punched through the guard’s armour and out the other side.
She let their bodies drop and turned away like she didn’t care where they landed or what she had just done.
“How unfortunate,” she said. “Yet they provide a good lesson in my new regime. All shall bow before Equestria’s queen or they shall die. There is a simplicity to it that thy treaties lacked, Celestia.”
Celestia sagged, clutching her chest. She heard screams through the window. Luna trotted over to look and shook her head.
“’Twould seem Wind Racer is already spreading his dark devotion to my other guards. His eagerness is almost amusing, though I do not believe all would agree. Those he turns will flush out all traitors to my crown. I must depart, dear sister. My subjects await my introduction and I must inform them of their new fealty so that my guards may do their job.”
Celestia wanted to beg her not to. She wanted to demand to know what was going on. She wanted to know who this imposter was, or who had bewitched her poor sister. She wanted to beat whoever had done this to within an inch of their miserable life. This was not the Luna she knew. This was not the filly who had kept her alive when she wanted to give up in the caves. This was not the gentle mare who had wanted to go and save the Crystal Empire from Sombra. This was not the sister who had spent long hours crafting constellations simply for the pleasure of others. This monster was not Luna!
Celestia’s world greyed out as the sound of silvery shoes left her chamber. She was dying and she knew it. The only thing she could hope for was a release from the excruciating pain as her heart raced to end itself. Was this how Clover had felt at the end? Was this truly how he had died – not of old age and poor health, but murdered by one of the ponies he was trying to help?
She was too far gone to hear the crackle of magic or see the flash of light. She didn’t even feel the hooves that cradled her head, or hear the curse that would have made the most potty-mouthed brigand blush. She was, however, aware of the fact that her heart stopped.
For an eternal moment the world hung in endless motion sheathed in stillness. I am dead, she thought distantly. It was warm and cold and soft and hard and everything in between. This feels like … that time in the caves. So we did die that day after all …
Then, all at once, the stillness imploded. Her chest convulsed and she crashed back to herself and gasped in a lungful of air.
“Celestia?” said a gruff voice.
She gasped for several seconds before being able to open her eyes. The blotches of light and colour resolved themselves into a face she recognised. She also knew the jingling of bells.
“Star … swirl?” she wheezed.
“Cerberus’s balls! I was at least in time.” He sagged in relief. His horn glowed. Beside his head a ball of dark red liquid revolved, dripping and splashing as if against the inside of an invisible container. Celestia stared at it and at him. “I was forced to extract the poison quickly,” he explained. “Never before have I attempted teleportation of matter in this manner, but ‘twas this or certain death for thee. Regrettably I did bring some of thy heart-blood with it. Thou art not fully cleansed but ‘tis enough to preserve thy life. Thy natural alicorn healing will serve against the rest.”
So she wasn’t going to die after all. Not this time. Nonetheless, she felt weak as a new-born foal. “Lu … na.”
Instead of asking what she meant or thinking that Luna might also be in similar trouble, Starswirl’s face became grim. “I had hoped to return sooner but she vexed me by splitting the loose gems between locations. The notes I took from Clover’s belongings about her nightly ‘searches’ for them proved useful but it still did take me much time and energy to locate where she had hidden them. Teleportation is my greatest achievement, yet it doth sap even my energy with each casting.” Celestia realised for the first time that he was bathed in sweat, legs trembling like he had run a race against the strongest young unicorn mage in Equestria. “My magic is near spent and still I was too late.”
“Wh-what?”
“Princess Celestia, thy sister hath betrayed thee. Moreover, she hath committed her betrayal for a great long time. ‘Twas she who stole the Elements of Harmony and hid them away in secret places so that thou couldst not use them without her.”
“Without … her?”
“Thou didst question why I was late unto my own student’s funeral. I confess now that I was busy investigating the chamber in which he perished. I knew Clover better than anypony in Equestria. His heart was too strong to fail so. ‘Tis not an easy task to cast psychometry to see what the last psychometrist did see, but not beyond the achievement of a mage such as myself. I did see what Clover did see – the secret that brought about his murder. Princess Luna is corrupted. Her heart hath been darkened by some evil magic that hath twisted her beyond even my ken. The Elements of Harmony no longer reflect her. They have rejected her as their chosen. Her bond with them is gone.”
As was Luna herself. Celestia flashed to the image of that terrible face and the deaths of her guards. No doubt Starswirl could see their bodies only a few feet away. They had been good ponies who didn’t deserve to die.
“Yet thy bond with them remains, and this did drive her unto madness of a fearful sort. Hers is the madness of strategy and shadow.” Starswirl raised his head at the sound of booming laughter and screams from outside. “At least until now. I believe her mind hath snapped entirely this night, and the darkness infecting her heart hath changed her in reflection.”
“She … poison … goblet …” Celestia closed her eyes. “Have to … to stop … what’s she’s …”
“Canst thou stop her?” Starswirl asked. “Truly? Thine own sister?”
That wasn’t what she meant. Celestia struggled to sit upright. Her head swam and she nearly toppled over again. Starswirl was in no fit state to catch her and a broken skull from bouncing off the flagstones would not help matters. She caught side of the spreading pool of blood beneath the twisted limbs of her guards and shut her eyes again, stomach roiling. “Have to ... save her.”
“Save her” Starswirl gaped. “Princess Celestia, there is no ‘save her’! Thy sister is gone. Only her shell doth remain, powered by the darkness that hath over taken her heart. ‘Tis not thy sister laying waste to thy citizens!”
“Nay … ‘tis Luna still …” Celestia insisted. Every breath hurt and every heartbeat felt like a kick in the chest. “Somewhere … inside … ‘tis her.”
“Thou art a fool,” Starswirl declared. “I did think thee more intelligent than this. Dost the evidence laid before thee not convince thee? Her crimes are many and terrible. Even now, she doth commit them in thine own courtyard!”
The screams. Celestia heard the voices of confused and frightened ponies and it galvanised her to try to stand. They needed her. She couldn’t let them down. She half-fell, forelegs locked but hind legs unable to support her.
The door didn’t crash open, as it had for her guards. The noise of faltering hoofsteps alerted her to ponies entering her study.
“Princess Celestia!”
“Starswirl the Bearded? But thou art already departed.”
“What hath happened here?”
“Thy … thy guards …”
“What villainy is this?” Hurricane’s shout was unmistakable through the morass of voices.
Celestia turned to look, but even as she did so she felt a small body pressing against her. On trembling limbs of her own, Pansy tried to help push her to her hooves. Smart Cookie went to her other side and supported her there. Between them, the two ponies managed to get Celestia upright, though the three of them trembled so much it would only have taken a breath of wind to knock them all over.
“Celestia?” Platinum hobbled over, carefully keeping her gaze off the guards. “What wickedness hath occurred here?”
“Treachery of the worst sort,” Starswirl answered for her. “Princess Luna hath betrayed us all. She doth declare herself queen of all and did seek to poison her sister to claim the right to rule alone.”
All five founding ponies gasped and began to chatter.
Hurricane drew her sword, but it was only a decorative one she had worn for the funeral. “Where is she? Where is she? Such treachery cannot go unpunished!”
Starswirl didn’t look at Celestia. He gestured to the window. “Gaze outside, but keep thine heads down, else she may see and do to thee what she hath wrought upon these two poor stallions. She is much stronger than any of my predictions,” he added sombrely, as if thought he should share some of the blame for this.
Hurricane, Puddinghead and Platinum went to the window and peered over the edge. Platinum gasped. Puddinghead made a choking noise, as if he had swallowed part of his moustache while it was still attached. Hurricane growled. Slowly Pansy and Smart Cookie guided Celestia to see as well. Outside the courtyard was filled with ponies.
Palace servants stood with lesser nobles they had been serving in the Great Hall only a short while ago. Ponies from the provinces also stood with them, staring around in confusion. Like sheepdogs, huge grey stallions with bat-like wings and golden eyes herded them together. As Celestia watched, a unicorn mare in a torn dress made a break for it and tried to run away. One of the bat-ponies landed on her like an owl on a mouse. She shrieked as he gripped the scruff of her neck between his teeth and tossed her back into the crowd.
“Those poor ponies,” whispered Pansy.
Above the courtyard, languidly flapping her wings, Luna watched everything with a sharp-toothed grin. Celestia was struck once more by the changes and found herself focussing more than ever on Luna’s rump mark. That mark was unique. Nopony could ever have the talent of raising and lowering the moon, nor the rump mark to match it. That mark proved this pony was still her little sister.
Little? Luna was bigger than Celestia now. Her flowing mane and tail made her appear even larger.
A yell drew Celestia’s attention. An orange pegasus wearing the Moon Guard insignia shot from behind a castle turret. He was pursued by another bat-pony that twisted and turned as easily as he did. The guard was bleeding and had lost his spear. He doubled back and flew beneath his pursuer, clearly thinking to go over the castle walls and escape into the forest. Another bat-pony intercepted him like an arrow from a bow, knocking him out of the air. The guard was pinned against the turret wall, struggling as the bat-pony enveloped him with its wings. One flash of dark magic later, the bat-pony launched itself off the stonework and the transformed guard stretched bat-wings of his own. No longer protesting, he glided down to the crowd and began marshalling them into place too.
“Wind Racer!” Luna called. One of the bat-ponies soared up to her and managed to bow in the air. “Are all assembled here?” The bat-pony’s voice didn’t carry like hers, so only her response was audible. “Then find them and bring them here! All must witness my glory and have their fealty tested. Not even the founders may abscond.”
Pansy squeaked, the noise vibrating through Celestia’s wing. Puddinghead ducked behind the wall. Hurricane looked like she was about to leap out of the window and challenge Luna but Platinum held her back.
“Do not do anything foolish,” she scolded. “I have buried one friend. I will not lose another to her own recklessness.”
“Didst thou not hear her?” Hurricane demanded. “She sends her monstrous creations to find us and drag us to her!”
“And what wouldst thou do?” Platinum demanded. “Thou art a warrior no longer, Hurricane!”
“I am a warrior forever!” Hurricane thundered back.
“Keep thy voices low!” Starswirl snapped. “Dost thou seek to bring her creations down upon us? They shalt seek thee out in thy rooms first. We have but a little time.”
“For what? Escape?” Hurricane snorted. “I shall not run from battle.”
“’Twould seem escape is impossible,” said Smart Cookie. “Thou didst see Princess Luna’s monsters. We would not slip past them even if we were of a mind to leave.”
“Which we are not!” Hurricane hissed. “What should we do, Celestia?”
Celestia was shocked. “Thou dost ask me?” She had no idea what they should do. She was still reeling from all she had witnessed and learned.
“I did choose thee as my sovereign long ago,” said Hurricane. “I change not such a decision now. Thou art my princess still, though those … things may try to force me to say otherwise. I am thine, Celestia, now and forever.”
Celestia gaped – even more when Smart Cookie nodded.
“I agree. Thou hath done naught but good for Equestria and shown thy love for our ponies in every deed thou hast done. I am for thee, Celestia, though my old bones may do little good in a fight.”
“Mine also,” said Pansy. “My wings creak but they will fly me behind thee.”
“I … I …” Celestia didn’t know what to say.
Starswirl gave her a shrewd look. “’Twould seem thou art overflowing with champions. Thou art still ruler of Equestria, Princess Celestia, whatever thy sister doth claim.” He reached under his cloak, into a saddlebag hidden there. “And a true sovereign doth need a symbol of her office.” He pulled out something Celestia had thought she would never see again: a golden tiara topped with three gemstones shaped like blazing suns.
“The Elements of Harmony!” she breathed.
Starswirl laid the tiara down on the floor and produced three more gemstones, loose and uncut. These were the three that had formerly been part of Luna’s tiara. If Celestia needed further proof that Luna had been corrupted, here it was. She strained to hear the Elements, surprised she hadn’t been able to before, but their whisperings were so faint she might have been imagining them.
“Thy connection remains,” said Starswirl. “Thou art still the Elements’ chosen, Celestia.”
“But how may I use them?” she wailed, staring at the loose stones. “I am but one half of their chosen. Luna …” She choked off the words. Luna was the other. My other half.
“Didst thou not once tell me that the Elements of Harmony have power when souls are present that represent them? Laughter, honesty, loyalty, kindness and generosity?” Starswirl demanded. “That these five do create a spark of magic that ignites the sixth, and through that, the power of them all?”
“I … yes,” Celestia admitted.
Laughter, honesty, loyalty, kindness and generosity, whispered her memory. For a moment she was back in the caves beneath the smoking ruins of Canterlot village, her wing curled protectively over Luna’s tiny body as the soundless voices spoke into their minds for the first time. These bind lost souls closer and breed harmony from chaos. They also permit us to release our own power. There is strength in these five elements, for when they come together they create the spark of another and we are able to free ourselves.
“Look around thee, Celestia,” said Starswirl. “Look and tell me that thou dost not see five ponies whose hearts burn with these things.”
With growing understanding, Celestia followed his gaze. Hurricane stood proud and loyal, ready to go into battle without a hope of success because she would not abandon the promise she had made to follow Celestia. Pansy supported Celestia’s weakened body even though her own trembled with age and fear. Smart Cookie, Puddinghead, Platinum – they all stared right back at her as Starswirl’s meaning dawned on them too.
“We could release the Elements’ power?” Platinum echoed.
“I know not with certainty, but I think so,” Starswirl replied.
“’Twould make sense,” Smart Cookie said thoughtfully. “When Princess Luna ceased to embody these things they ceased to work for her.”
Celestia thought back. It was true. Luna had not laughed in so long. She had betrayed her own sister and, if her plans succeeded, soon her whole country and all the ponies in it. The generous heart that had made her want to help the Crystal Empire had given way to selfishness and vanity. In fact …
In fact all those things had happened ever since they returned from the Crystal Empire. Ever since they destroyed Sombra. Ever since…
“I will … endure! Thou shalt not … be rid of my darkness … Celestia!”
Sombra had tried to attack Celestia at the end. Luna had gotten in the way and been covered in his remains. Had he been trying to … Heavens, was it possible? Had she totally missed something so terrible?
“Thou shalt not … be rid of my darkness …”
“Nay,” she whispered. “I should have seen it. I should have guessed. This is my fault. This is my fault!”
“Celestia!” Puddinghead dived to get Smart Cookie out of the way as Celestia suddenly reared and toppled sideways. Pansy stumbled away, shocked.
“Luna!” Celestia cried. “I did not realise! I did not understand! Oh Luna, why did I not see until now? Why did so many other things distract me and blind me to the truth?”
“What?” Hurricane banged the tip of her sword on the ground. “Wherefore dost thou speak so, Celestia?”
“’Tis Sombra’s darkness,” Celestia sobbed. “His last curse. His magic hath done this. He must have infected poor Luna when we did vanquish him.” She wailed. “And I did not see! I did not see what he had done to my own dear sister!”
“Celestia!” Starswirl snapped, glancing uneasily at the window. “Compose thyself! Thou art a princess still, therefore conduct thyself as one! Or dost thou truly wish to abdicate now and leave the land to Princess Luna?”
Yes, she was a princess. A princess who had betrayed her sister long before Luna betrayed her, but she was still a princess of Equestria. She had made that commitment and, however hard it was to hear, no matter her grief, she had a duty to fulfil. Regretfully, Celestia pushed herself to her hooves and stood under her own power.
“Nay,” she said, drawing herself together with a shuddering sigh. “I remain Princess Celestia.” She raised her head. “Sunlight of Equestria.” She stepped towards the Elements of Harmony. “And Its Guiding Light.” She paused before touching her tiara. “I do not possess the right to ask this of thee, my friends, but wilt thou stand beside me now?”
“Do not possess the right?” Puddinghead blustered. “What poppycock. I am for thee, Celestia.”
“As am I,” said Smart Cookie.
“My son is in the courtyard,” said Platinum. “For the vow I made and for him, I am with thee, Celestia.”
“Thou dost already know my loyalty is to thee,” Hurricane barked. “Thou dost not need to ask it again.”
“Nor for mine,” Pansy added.
Celestia bowed her head. “I thank thee, my friends.”
As if the simple words were an incantation, the six gemstones began to glow. Celestia felt herself raised into the air as if on a warm thermal above the clouds. Hurricane, Pansy, Smart Cookie, Puddinghead and Platinum ascended with her, sighing as the magic seeped into them as it did to her.
Laughter, honesty, loyalty, kindness and generosity, the Elements of Harmony whispered into their minds. Be they shown in ponies old or young, great or small, these bind souls closer in adversity and breed harmony from chaos. There is strength in these five elements, for when they come together they create the spark of another.
Celestia’s tiara dissolved and the six stones circled around, as if choosing from the assembled ponies. One by one, a gemstone arced towards one of them, reforming itself into a necklace that fastened around their throat in a setting that matched their rump mark. Finally, the last one came to Celestia, lowering onto her head and blossoming into a gold crown with a single blazing sun at its centre.
The sixth element: magic, it whispered. Thou dost remain among our chosen, Celestia. Use us wisely.
As one, Celestia and the five founding ponies soared out of the window into the courtyard.
Luna turned in surprise. “Celestia? Thou art still alive?” Her eyes narrowed and glowed angrily. “And though doth once again possess the Elements of Harmony. I had thought them gone.”
“Not gone, villain!” Hurricane shouted. “Though thou art soon to be!”
Luna laughed uproariously. “What? Thou dost seek to defeat me? Thou art naught but a wizened old nag. Five wizened old nags and a princess whose veins run weak from poison. I tremble in fear. Truly.”
“Do not mock us, monster!” Hurricane continued to shout. The cyclone shaped Element at her throat glowed with magical energy. “We may be old but we shall vanquish thee regardless.”
“Oh?” Luna raised an eyebrow. “I think not. Wind Racer!”
The bat-pony was at her side in an instant. “Yes, my queen?”
“Call my dark devotees and annihilate these traitors to my crown.”
“By thy will, my queen.” He opened his mouth, emitting a shrill cry. Instantly all the bat-ponies in the courtyard took flight, assuming formation as if mentally linked. The one called Wind Racer pointed at Celestia and the founders. “For thy queen’s honour, attack!”
“Brace thyselves!” Hurricane warned, brandishing her sword.
Yet as they approached, the six gemstones glowed. Celestia felt power ribbon through her mind and body, briefly circling the intent in her heart as it checked it against those in the other ponies’. She recognised the sensation. Harmony truly meant harmony. She and Luna had been so in tune each time they used the Elements, thinking like one pony in two bodies: night and day, sister and sister, one half and the other.
Luna …
A rainbow of light streaked from the six gems, engulfing the oncoming bat-ponies. It swept over and through them like water washing dark ink from cloth, taking the darkness that had been planted in their hearts with it. When it had passed a flock of Moon Guards remained, their armour and insignias in tatters. The unicorns and earth ponies fell but were caught by the pegasi before they could hit the ground.
Luna gaped. Then she screamed. The noise echoed around the courtyard like the screech of an angry cat. Far below, the assembled ponies cowered. Even though they were no longer guarded, nopony moved. It was as if they were frozen as they watched one of their princesses battle the evil pony who had appeared out of nowhere.
They don’t know it’s Luna, Celestia realised. And why would they? She had been calling herself a queen, not a princess, and judging by the way Wind racer had talked none of her transformed guards had used her name. Could the ponies below see her rump mark? Would they recognise it for what it was?
“Thy treachery will be punished!” Luna screamed. “I am queen! Thou shalt bow before me or die!”
“Thou art no queen of mine!” Platinum yelled back. “Thou art naught but a nightmare!”
“A nightmare, am I?” Luna grinned wildly. “Then thy nightmare I shall be!” She flared her wings and lashed out with her mane and tail.
“Do not let them touch thee!” Celestia shouted, remembering the fate of her guards. She veered aside, knocking Pansy out of the way. Luna’s tail shot over their heads and smashed against the wall of Celestia’s chamber.
“Starswirl!” Platinum shrieked in horror, then again when she saw where the debris from the strike was falling. “Goldenmane!”
Celestia saw the pieces of wall, window and floor heading for the crowd. She felt her heart and mind synch with the five ponies around her. It wasn’t conscious, didn’t make it as far as words, but it was a shared intent that chimed in all of them at once.
We have to save them.
Another blast of rainbow light shot from the Elements of Harmony. It scooped up the debris, placing it to one side in the gardens where it wouldn’t hurt anypony. In the courtyard a blond unicorn stallion cried out, leading the rest of the crowd in a cheer.
There was no time to stop, no time to check whether Starswirl was all right. Luna lashed out again, whipping her head to bring her enormous mane around like a bullwhip. It cut through the air, zinging with magic so cold it took Celestia’s newly restored breath away. Puddinghead and Hurricane only just evaded it, flying like young pegasi despite their age and, in Puddinghead’s case, lack of wings. The power of the Elements had infused them with an extra lease of life beyond their years.
“Bow before me!” Luna screamed. “Bow before my beautiful endless night!”
“Thou shalt kill all in Equestria with endless night!” Smart Cookie shouted. “No land may survive without daylight! Is thy intent to murder everypony?”
“Nopony who matters can only exist in the sun. I shall banish the daylight and prove the supremacy of night!” Luna pedalled the air with her forelegs. “I shall fling the sun at Gryphona and burn that accursed place to cinders! Then there shall be only my moon and the night forever!”
“Thou art mad!” Hurricane declared.
“I am queen!” Luna dissolved into a flurry of stardust.
Hurricane gawped at the empty spot. “How –”
“Look out!” Pansy shrieked, barrelling towards her.
Too late. Luna coalesced behind Hurricane and kicked out. Her powerful buck sent the valiant pegasus scudding through the air. Pansy put herself in her friend’s path but the force of Hurricane’s flight knocked her aside and she grabbed the edge of the East Tower roof to save herself. Hurricane’s sword plummeted, embedding itself point first in the ground far below.
A bolt of rainbow light erupted around Hurricane as her Element and those of Pansy, Celestia, Puddinghead, Smart Cookie and Platinum formed a curve like a slice to catch and bring her back around. Hurricane let out a joyful shout, using the momentum of Luna’s own kick against her. She shot off the end of the rainbow slide and walloped hoof-first into Luna’s face.
The crowd cheered louder.
“How is that for a wizened old nag, nightmare?” Hurricane crowed.
“Thou shalt pay for thy insolence, wretch!” Luna snarled. She spat blood and bared her stained teeth. Her whole head seemed to flicker with black flames that coalesced into a silvery helmet to match her shoes and the armour that had formed on her body. “The penalty for laying a hoof on thy queen is death!” She dissolved again.
Celestia and the five founders drew close, facing outwards, their backs together, the better to see wherever Luna reappeared.
Suddenly a dark shape launched off the castle roof, flying straight at them. It was too small to be Luna but was still undoubtedly attacking them.
“Quick!” Hurricane shouted.
Yet their six hearts and mind did not synch. They were not agreed on how to deal with this unexpected attack. Should they strike it down or cleanse it of the darkness afflicting it? The Elements did not emit another rainbow, giving the shadow time to cannon into Smart Cookie.
“Death to all traitors!” yelled the black pegasus stallion trailing a tattered Moon Guard insignia.
“Smart Cookie!” Puddinghead and Hurricane dived after her.
“No, wait!” Celestia saw the sparkle of starshine only a moment before Luna appeared below them.
Her mane whipped out, surrounding all four descending ponies. She grinned viciously, contracting it inwards, clearly intending to crush them inside. Her expression shifted when the interior of her trap glowed with rainbow colours. Celestia’s Element shot forth its own light, as did Platinum’s and Pansy’s. The two halves of the rainbow met, making a path for Smart Cookie, Hurricane and Puddinghead to escape. Luna screamed in frustration, stamping the air and clenching her mane like a foal in a tantrum.
“Nay, my queen!” yelled a terror-stricken voice. “Please, I am yet within! I am with–”
Luna blinked in surprise at the abruptly ended scream. She tossed her head, flicking away the mangled body of the black pegasus as one might a bug that has become caught in one’s mane during a gallop. She watched the bloody corpse fall. Ponies screamed and scattered to get out of the way as it landed amongst them.
“How unfortunate,” she said, her tone disinterested. She flicked between emotions like she was playing hopscotch on flagstones carved with their names: first rage, then apathy, then manic delight. “Ah well, Wind Racer did say he would lay down his life for me.”
“Monster!” Platinum accused.
“Again? If thou dost insist on conducting thyself into death with insults on thy lips, I do prefer ‘nightmare’.” Luna grinned. “For I am the mare of the night. ‘Tis a pretty word game, to be sure. A mare of the night and the moon.” Her eyes glimmered. “I am Queen Nightmare Moon!”
Celestia stared at her sister as Luna threw her head back and laughed, face spattered with blood and filled with madness. For the rest of her life, however long that may be, Celestia knew that she would have that image tattooed on the inside of her eyelids whenever she closed them.
Abruptly Luna stopped laughing and snarled, “And I am done with thee.”
Her mane funnelled upwards in a whirlwind not unlike Hurricane’s rump mark. Lightning crackled in its centre, arcing towards them. Celestia and the founders dodged, evading the attack, but it struck the castle instead. The roof of the Great Hall exploded, the rest crumbling inward, exposing pillars and a table demolished by rubble. The magnificent chandelier lay shattered amongst the wreckage, coloured glass reflecting the light from Luna’s unnatural storm and the fire her lightning had caused.
“We must lead her away from the castle,” Celestia shouted. “Too many ponies stand in harm’s way here.”
“Lead me?” Luna laughed. “Queens are not led, Celestia. Queens lead others.” She opened her wings, beat them once and arrowed up like a bolt of lightning herself.
“After her!” Hurricane yelled, also flying skywards.
Pansy and Puddinghead followed her lead, Smart Cookie and Platinum hesitating but joining their friends a moment later. Celestia brought up the rear, apprehensive of what Luna was planning as they climbed higher and higher.
She found out the moment they broke through the upper cloud layer, where the air was thin and the ground no longer visible. This was pegasi territory and she did not miss how Smart Cookie, Puddinghead and Platinum looked down at the empty air beneath their hooves with matching worried expressions.
Luna lingered a few dozen feet away, horn wreathed with black flames. She faced away from them, forehooves raised like she was going to embrace somepony they couldn’t see. She laughed and laughed, mane and tail billowing behind her. When Hurricane flew at her it lashed at her and Hurricane fell back.
“’Tis like a razor!” she grunted, holding her bleeding foreleg. “She is more demon than pony!”
“A demon could not do as I do now, nag,” Luna called over her shoulder.
Celestia’s horn prickled from tip to base. The magical link she felt with the sun arched like a hissing cat. She realised what Luna was up to.
“Nay! Luna, do not do it!”
“What is she –?” Smart Cookie began.
“She intends to bring the moon down on us!” Celestia cut her off. She flew at her sister, shouting desperately, “Luna, stay thy magic! Release the moon!”
“Thou dost refuse to die or cede to me, Celestia,” Luna replied. “Thou didst scoff at my proposal to do this to Sanguine. Thy fear now doth show it as the wonderful plan it is. Imagine that fear in his treacherous griffin breast!” she laughed maniacally. “First I shall smite thee with the moon. Then, when thou art gone, I shall take control of the sun and use it on Gryphona. My night shall last forever and all who see it shall know my power and love me!”
“Luna, thou shalt destroy all if thou continues! Equestria will die! Luna! Luna!”
Celestia’s desperate cried fell on uncaring ears. She tried to reach her, to get her to understand, but Luna’s mane wrapped around her throat. She choked and kicked until Hurricane and Smart Cookie grabbed her wings and pulled her free. Evidently Luna’s grip had been affected by the huge amount of magic and concentration it took to draw the moon out of the sky.
She felt her heart and mind synch once more with the five founders. The shared intent chimed in all of them at once, flowing through their Elements and igniting their power.
We have to stop her.
Once again the rainbow of light erupted. It swirled around them as if building up momentum, then careened towards Luna. It struck her from behind. Though her mane and tail tried to deflect it, they were swept away by the sheer force of their shared desire to save Equestria. For the first time since the battle began, Luna’s scream was from pain and surprise instead of anger. The rainbow of light twisted her up as she had twisted up Wind Racer, but instead of twisting tighter until her body was wrung to death, the rainbow spun her in place, cutting off her connection with the moon. The Elements of Harmony had that power, Celestia knew. They had given herself and Luna their authority over the sun and moon. They could take it away again.
“Nay!” Luna shrieked. “I am queen! I am queen!”
“Though art a monster and an enemy of Equestria and ponykind,” Hurricane shouted. “‘Tis the task of the Elements of Harmony to cleanse our land of thee. They shalt choose thy punishment, nightmare.”
Abruptly Celestia’s own words floated back to her. “The Elements choose each punishment to reflect the crimes it is to punish. Discord was a creature of energy and life, therefore tedium in stone is the worst price for him to pay. This is a reflection of Sombra’s crimes also.”
Sombra had enslaved the Crystal Empire and murdered countless ponies on his rise to power. His punishment had been annihilation. It was his darkness that had infected Luna. Would her punishment be the same?
Please, do not let that happen, she thought. Do not let my little sister die that way.
The rainbow of light wavered. The founders cried out in dismay when Luna’s face appeared as she tried to fight her way free. Celestia felt them redouble their efforts, wishing with all their might to defeat this terrible threat to the country and ponies they had spent their lives protecting. That was her duty too. She was in synch with them about that.
But not about what should happen to Luna.
She wanted to save her sister, not kill her. She desperately hoped that some sliver of the real Luna remained inside what she had become. Her desire cut through the founders’, overruling them. It was unprecedented. Mid-attack, the Element of Magic changed her mind and before the lack of synchronisation could dissipate the rainbow of light Celestia’s consciousness rode the wave of power into Luna’s heart.
She heard a scream. Luna’s scream. The real Luna, lost and afraid, not the monster she had become. It ripped through her.
Celestia, Luna called in terror. I am frightened, sister. Celestia, please stop me –
The whispering voices of the Elements of Harmony crowded into Celestia’s mind, berating her for using them that way. Luna’s voice vanished in the melee as Celestia was forced back into her own head.
Do not let her die, she thought, putting all her authority as an alicorn and the Sun Princess of Equestria behind it. As thy chosen, I demand it! Thou shalt not let her die! Thou shalt find another way to punish her but thou shalt not let her die!
Punishment must be meted out, the whispering voices clamoured. Punishment must be fitting. But know this: thou art no longer our chosen. Thou hast betrayed our trust in thee. We grant thy request but reject thy heart for what it hath wrought among our chosen. Thy sister shall live for a thousand years as part of her beloved moon, Celestia, and in a thousand years we shall punish thee for what thou hast done. Our bond with thee is no more and thou shalt face her alone then.
Abruptly her mind emptied. Celestia was alone in her own head. She ricocheted backwards, turning end over end as the wavering rainbow of light shattered like a smashed stained glass window, sending fragments of power in all directions. She cried out when a few struck her and had to look away as the silhouetted form of a rearing alicorn was carried into the sky on a last, lingering scream.
And then there was only silence.
Celestia tumbled until she opened her wings, no longer supported by the Elements’ magic. Her tiara dissolved and she caught the gemstone when it fell off her head. Except that it wasn’t a gemstone anymore. Celestia stared at the lifeless rock in her hooves, of no particular shape or colour anymore. It was as if all its energy had been spent. Similar rocks were falling around her. Five of them. She flapped to catch each of them, cradling them in her telekinesis even though her horn ached like somepony had tried to snap it off. Not one of them resembled the rump marks they had formed when the five founding ponies wore them.
“Hurricane?” Celestia called, flying back up to the cloud layer she had left.
There was nopony there.
“Pansy? Platinum?”
She flew in circles, ducking above and below the clouds, bursting through them in case her old friends were there. As the seconds ticked by and none of them answered, dread grew inside her. She felt like she had swallowed Luna’s poison again as her chest tightened and her breathing quickened.
“Puddinghead?” She dived, heading back towards the castle. “Smart Cookie!”
Castle Everfree was ablaze. Some ponies worked to put it out, levitating and carrying buckets of water from the moat to douse the flames. The majority were already outside the castle walls. The drawbridge had been lowered and they were running for their lives. They didn’t know the danger was over. Their enemy had been defeated.
But at what cost?
Celestia realised what she had done. Changing her mind and breaking the harmony she had shared with her friends while using the Elements’ power had consequences she hadn’t been aware of. How could she have known? How?
Thou hast betrayed our trust in thee. We grant thy request but reject thy heart for what it hath wrought among our chosen.
The remaining five founders were gone; burnt up by that last desperate attack.
All but Celestia.
Thy sister shall live for a thousand years as part of her beloved moon, Celestia.
Luna was gone. Hurricane, Pansy, Smart Cookie, Puddinghead and Platinum were all gone too.
In a thousand years we shall punish thee for what thou hast done.
She had lost her sister and her friends in the same act. She had lost everything. Her castle burned, her citizens scattered and her heart finally broke.
Our bond with thee is no more and thou shalt face her alone then.
Suspended above Castle Everfree, clutching the inert Elements of Harmony like it would do any good, Celestia screamed out her misery.