...
Celestia shot at me again. This time I did not avoid it. I cast a dark shield around myself. Her horn hit the dark matter and made no noise. I used the remaining energy of the barrier and pushed it forwards. Celestia pulled away in time to avoid the strike.
Not a moment passed before she was next to me. She reared up on her hooves, but I did not plan on fighting her close quarters. I teleported and left a virulent chemical in my wake. Celestia did her best to avoid breathing in the fumes, but not even she can conquer the air.
That was another spell I had learned in the Library of the Night. It was from a book entitled “Great Escapes Volume II: Chemical Warfare.” It allowed for a what would normally be a simple transport spell to become a weapon. It had three main components that helped the user. First, there was the teleportation part of the spell, which allowed for a quick escape. Second, there was a chemical effect. I shall explain its properties later. The last component was smoke. It ensured that the assailants would be in a state of confusion allowing for you to counter-attack or flee.
The chemical itself was magic-based. It could only be created through the use of putative alchemy. This is a rare form of magic in which the caster creates chemicals and potions with the sole use of magic. It was a long-since forgotten branch of magic that I had dug up in my studies.
The chemical could appear in liquid or gaseous forms. In a liquid state it induced loss of magic and sometimes paralysis. In the form of vapor it caused hallucinations and temporary blindness. In a alicorn as powerful as Celestia, it would likely just leave her dazed for a minute.
Celestia coughed and spun around wildly. It looked as if the chemical had the desired effect. I levitated some of the loose cobblestone on the street and constructed a ball of rock. They all packed tightly together and created a medium sized ball. I wrapped a magic tendril around two pillars to create an industrial-sized sling. I pushed the ball of dense rock into the sling and released it, guiding it towards its target with a steady grip of magic.
Celestia recuperated in time to see the giant ball hurtling towards her. I could not help but smile. She tried to evade the massive stone, but there was simply no time. The large boulder collided with her back legs and the sickening sounds of bones breaking could be heard. She screamed in pain.
I cringed at the noise. I had not wanted to harm Celestia. I had not wanted to hurt my dear sister. There simply had been no choice, though. She had given me no choice. Besides, this movement was far grander than her. This change was for the good of Equestria. Or so I had deluded myself into thinking.
Celestia flew atop a column. She was panting heavily and favoring her back right leg. Her mane sat on her body and dragged downwards. It still maintained its coloring, but it was disheveled and retained bits of dust and stone. Her normally shining coat was dull and matted. Sweat and blood were flowing down her sides, concocting some sort of pinkish paste that stained her flank.
Her royal attire had been dented and damaged. The attire she had worn had been ripped apart in places, some aligning with her wounds, others just having torn at the seam. Her feathered wings were helping to keep her from falling over. Her tiara was slanted off the tip of her head, its asymmetry rather annoying.
Her face did not reflect any of her body’s sentiment though. Determination was quite clearly evident on her features. Her eyes were narrowed to those of slits. Her mouth was creased at the edge, indicating a slight frown. Her nostrils were flaring and her breathing was heavy but focused.
“Luna, listen. This is ridiculous. You’re being ridiculous. Just stop all of-”
“No, you listen, sister. For years I have sat in your shadow. For years I have watched as you received the adoration of the ponies of our fair country. For years I have watched them bask in your Sun and ignore my Moon. For years I have watched them all frolic in the brisk mornings of day and ignore the strikingly majestic Moonlight of Night. And I say now, no more.” Feelings of bitterness and hatred finally erupted. After three decades of playing the reclusive shadow I could finally speak.
Celestia looked me right in the eye. “Oh...Luna. That’s not true...you know it isn’t. The people of this land love you just as much as me. Why else would you be a part of this festival?”
“Lies. I am not so easily fooled Celestia. It is not just you. Equestria must change. The council and royal armada are corrupt and putrid, un-befit of leading a country so marvelous as this one.” The spit the words out, believing every last syllable to be true.
“That’s not true Luna.”
“Oh, but my dear Tia, it is! You cannot see it from your position within the ranks of bile, but Equestria is heading for a dark place. An irredeemable pit of despair and debauchery. We have to go to our roots. We have to trace back to the very beginning of Equestria. To times when this place was based on values of harmony!!!”
Celestia shed a tear. “Luna, you can’t force change. It doesn’t work that way. Please, you have to understand that!”
I glared at her and drained my voice of all emotion. “Even change is susceptible to reform, Celestia.”
My sister looked up at me and shed a few more tears. “I see that there is no reasoning with you, then.”
I felt a stab of pain within my heart. I did not want to fight Celestia, but it was necessary. Unless of course... “No, but perhaps you could join me, Tia? You could aid me in making Equestria great again. We could lead the world into a bright new age. Our names would be forever imprinted on Equestrian history as the Princesses who wrought redemption upon the world. Wouldn’t that be amazing? What do you say to that, Tia?” I added a loving little bit to the last word. It was a bit difficult considering I was hovering before Celestia’s battered body using shattered wings while holding all of Canterlot hostage.
I was not foalish enough to delude myself, however. I allowed a stream of magic to sneakily and gradually snake its way up the cracks of the pillar. I was prepared to let the magic implode and crush the pillar. That would cause the pillar to collapse underneath Celestia and provide a momentary distraction. A distraction would allow me to perform a number of spells.
“Luna, you don’t understand. I don’t want to hurt you, but I will. You will listen to reason even if I have to shove it through your thick skull with my own hoof!” her voice was fueled by pure willpower.
I reeled back a bit. I was truly hoping that Celestia would listen to me then and there. I did not need a co-regent, however.
“Then you are no longer my sister, Celestia. You are merely my enemy. I shall restrain myself no more.” I gave her a look which said, “That’s right! There is more of this!”
“Let us finish this, then.” Celestia looked solemn but nevertheless, resolute.
I let my condensed magic expand against the walls of the pillar. It collapsed rather quickly due to the intense pressure that had already been building up. Celestia faltered in her step for only a moment as the pillar fell inwardly. She lifted herself into the air, trying to avoid being brought to the ground.
I set up barrier above her. She crashed into it. Celestia tried to fly downwards. Once again I set up a barrier. This time it was under her. She hit the barrier with her bad leg causing her to give out a loud yelp. I then brought the two barriers closer together to tighten my grip on Celestia.
She struggled against them, but I held her firmly between the two. I created four more barriers to surround Celestia and created a box. A big transparent box that trapped my sister. It was all so easy.
“You lose, Tia.” I allowed a bit of pride to slip into my voice.
Her battered form merely struggled against the walls of her prison. “This isn’t...over.” She spoke between ragged breaths. Her face was in a grimace as the pain in her leg had obviously intensified.
“You’re no longer able to fight. I believe those are the terms of a duel. Equestria is mine now.”
She closed her eyes and it appeared as if she was intently focused. Magical sparks flew off the tip of her horn. Celestia was endeavoring to perform a spell of some sort. Her magic likely wouldn’t recharge that quickly, though.
“Such futile attempts. I’ve drained you of your mana, so there is little merit in endeavoring towards using magic.”
Celestia didn’t even acknowledge my words. She just sat within her prison focusing intently. Light sparkled around her horn, but it faded away quickly.
“You are just going to hurt yourself. It is embarrassing.”
Celestia’s look of focus intensified and she crouched down even further, so much so that she was no longer favoring her bad leg. Finally the accumulation of sparks surrounding her horn materialized. Her horn glowed brightly for a second then she disappeared.
Apparently the effects of my spell had worn off. Her magic had recharged and she had teleported out of her bubble. I cursed myself for being overconfident and not having kept her magical prowess in check.
I looked around, desperately searching for the alicorn. With her magic having regenerated I had to face the threat of long-range attacks. After a moment of searching my analytical eye caught no trace of her. I doubt she would try to charge at me again, considering her hoof was shattered.
I lurched back as a bolt of lighting struck next to me, leaving a crackling noise in its wake. I looked up in time to spot Celestia levitated a set of clouds above me. She flew around this select group of clouds to corral them in one place. Then using her magic and hooves she released strikes of lighting and thunder. Her face broke out in a grin and she yelled, “You’re about to be Thunderstruck!”
I soared trying to outrun the ominous clouds raining doom upon me. But Celestia was much faster than myself and was always able to keep me within the radius of the storm-cloud.
The bolts were all within a very close proximity, some close enough to make my hairs rise. The only thing that separated me from the threatening electrical currents was a thin margin of speed. The speed at which I was constantly flying began to take its toll on me. My breaths were frequent and my heart rate had more than doubled. The pain and anguish my fragmented wing was causing me was of astronomical proportions. The only thing keeping it from contorting into an amorphous blob shape was my magic.
I evaluated my options then. This duel would soon come to an end if I stayed in my current position. The speed at which the bolts struck did not give me time to prepare a proper spell, so anything I came up with would be improvised. I could not fly straight past the radius of the cloud; when I tried a bolt of lighting blocked my path, or Celestia moved the cloud to follow me.
Perhaps I could unleash another haze to mask myself? No, Celestia probably wouldn’t fall for the same trick a second time. If I could locate where she was in the storm, exactly, I could throw a simple spell at her to break her concentration. I did not have time to search her out, though.
My only other option was to head up and break the cloud barrier. I shuddered at the very idea. Celestia was quite intelligent when she needed to be. There was no doubt that she had set some sort of trap in anticipation of my actions.
I gulped down my fears and in one quick motion, steered my body upwards, narrowly avoiding a lighting strike as I did. I twisted and turned through the atmosphere, ignoring the popping noise in my ear. Bolts struck all around me creating loud crepitations. I was quickly approaching the barrier of the clouds. I braced myself for whatever lay in, or beyond the clouds.
I penetrated the line of clouds with no issues. I landed lightly on the dense billow. Once I stepped upon it I saw my sister, Celestia, Princess of the Sun. She noticed me as well.
We stood there for a moment, gazing intently at each other. Her back leg was bent slightly, and she used the tip of her right wing to keep herself stable. Her mane, while still multi-colored, was dirty and bedraggled. The hairs along her coat were dirty and stood on end. Her dress had received even more abuse, now sporting a rip from the shoulder to the tail. Celestia looked completely beaten to me. Although, she probably thought the same about me.
I was the first one to make a move. I created three saws out of magic and allowed them to rotate around me. Their speed began to increase until they were little more than spinning blurbs of color. I rushed at my sister with the balls still rotating around me. She had lost her short-range advantage, which I was more than ‘find.’
Celestia wasted no time in defending herself. She conjured up a shield to deflect the bladed edges. Her mana had only been recovered a short time ago, so her magic was still unstable. Unstable and flimsy. This led to her shield only absorbing a partial amount of my attack.
The initial saws disintegrated on impact with the shield, and I ended up tackling my sister. I managed to position myself so that my shoulder connected to with her ribs. She exhaled a large breath as she fell to the ‘ground.’ I stood over her.
Suddenly she lashed out with her hooves and brought me to the ‘ground.’ We tussled on the soft clouds, landing a few blows on each other every so often. More than once our little scuffle led us dangerously close to the edge of the cloud-platform.
Celestia hooked me under my broken wing with hoof and pulled. The pain was unimaginable. Every fiber of my being screamed out STOP! I could not help but yelp as Celestia tugged on the wing again. She did not stop, though. She just kept jerking on the wing, which eventually pulled me into submission.
She angled her body over mine and placed a hoof on my sternum. She applied enough pressure so that I that couldn’t move, but not enough to prevent me from breathing. She stared deeply into my eyes and said, “This is it. I win, Luna. Now concede, okay. Just concede.”
I desperately contemplated ways to elude defeat. It looked as if Celestia truly had won. She had me pinned under her entire weight, so I could not run. She would be able to cancel any battle spells I attempted by touching my horn with hers (Double-negative effect). I could not very well glare Celestia to death. Then my eyes locked onto the cloud. The beginnings of an idea began to form in my mind. “No, I would prefer you do that!”
I used my one free back leg to kick out the cloud we were on. The large mass Celestia and I stood on disappeared instantly. We began to tumble through the air and towards the ground. She did not lose her grip on me, however. In fact she tightened it. She even wrapped her wings around mine to keep me from flying. She was trying to perform the same trick as before.
I had anticipated this, though. I unleashed my next trick. My mane started to grow outwardly and entangle both Celestia and I. My mane retained its Night patterning and star markings, but it strengthened itself, becoming more protective and sturdy than reinforced steel. This would allow me to take Celestia down with me. Not only that, but she would cushion my fall.
This rather unique spell was one I had created on the spot. I had adapted it off of a spell I knew which allowed me to reinforce the binding of any item. It looked and felt rather odd to use my mane as a weapon, but it was quite effective. And it was not every day you got to say you beat up a goddess with your hair.
We hit the ground with quite the impact. As soon as we landed I revoked my spell and jumped away from Celestia. The impact looked as if it had the desired effect. I was relatively unharmed and Celestia was- well Celestia was...
She was simply lying on the ground, her entire body weary with the battle. Her wings were both bent at odd angles and her body was marked with cuts and contusions. There was a rather large laceration from one of her knees to one of her hooves.
I stood over her, and glared down upon her. I kept my voice calm and relaxed, knowing that there was nothing she could do now. “Only I can win.” I backed up a pace to give her breathing room.
Celestia’s advantage over me had been her speed and strength. As far as magical prowess was concerned, I was her superior. And since she was now left battered and bruised with her magic weakened I was confident she could fight no more. Really though, this duel was over before it ever began.
Celestia tried to stand only to fall to the ground again. Even after having received such a brutal beating she still cared. It was admirable that she was so willing to defend what I, at the time, thought was a corrupt government.
The ponies in the crowd (which I had ignored up until now) began to boo me. How could they not understand my grand plan? How could they not understand it was for Equestria that I challenged my own sister?
“Luna...-” Celestia’s voice was pained and her breathing was heavy. “I give you one last chance, dear sister. Give up right now. Please.” She sounded desperate.
I scoffed. “Why would I give up? I have won! Equestria is mine! Eternal Night has been unleashed! I am now the sole ruler of Equestria! A position that none have achieved! What reason could you possibly conjure up to make me give up any of that?” I was jubilant. Everything I had wanted for so long was within my grasp. The moment was luscious, sweet, and absolutely glorious.
“Luna...will you concede?” Her voice, so desperate, so deserving of pity, almost made me reconsider my entire plan. Almost.
“No.”
“Then I’m sorry, Luna.” Tears were streaming down her face freely.
“Sorry? Sorry for what?” Celestia merely stayed silent. A few solitary tears fell down her cheeks.
Suddenly a small twister came into formation near me, pushing up dust and causing my eyes to water. The twister was radiating a blinding light that warmed my skin. It was as if the sun had descended upon the world. The twister slowly began to shrink in size until it had dissipated completely.
In the wake of storm were six gemstones. I recognized them immediately. “The Elements of Harmony?” I turned my head towards my sister with an inquisitive gaze. What could she possibly hope to gain with the relics?
“I’m sorry its come to this Luna, but I can’t let you spread disharmony.” Her tone was somber as the six gems surrounded her.
“You’re not serious, are you? The Elements of Harmony? You can’t possibly think those would work against me could you? I represent half of them!” Celestia did not falter in the slightest. The gravity in her expression warned me to just how serious she was.
The elements each began to glow. First honesty, then kindness, then generosity, then laughter, then loyalty, then magic. Each was glowing a bright white that rendered those who witnessed them sightless. Then each of the six’s glow merged together and created a beam of light. A beam of light which seemed to stretch into the depths of space.
Said beam launched itself in a spiraling formation forward. It began to form a bright rainbow. A perfect rainbow. It flew towards me and I could do nothing. I could not move. The sight of such a harmonious being triggered some sort of paralysis within me. The rainbow hit me with such force that I felt as if I should have been propelled backwards (I wasn’t of course).
I felt the powers of the Element’s of Harmony worming their way within me. It was then that I did something that would mark me as Nightmare Moon for centuries to come. What did I do you ask? I unleashed everything. I embraced my darker magic and let loose everything I had learned in the past three decades.
My aura glowed a faint blue that spread throughout all of Canterlot. Stones and rubble began to rise around me. Tremors shook the earth beneath our hooves. The skies of Canterlot turned a sickening black. Dark smog began to erupt from the ground rising and occupying the atmosphere.
My royal attire became transfigured and turned into a vile mockery of itself. My tiara grew into a plate that covered my head. My small saddle had grown to encompass the majority of my flank. My boots, which normally just reached my hooves, rose to the heights of my knees and felt as if they were merging with my skin. The entire regalia bore a black and starry, teal color pattern.
My normally inky blue coat darkened and became a mixture between indigo and jet-black. My Night based mane increased in length and flowed in every direction. It seemed to be clutching onto the air, as if it desired to draw it inwards in order for it to be consumed. It had representations of every celestial body in the sky, no, it engulfed them. My eyes changed from that of sparkling teal ovals, to that of iridescent orbs emanating light. My snout narrowed and my teeth lengthened, as if I were the Count himself. I grew significantly taller, as tall as Celestia, even.
I released every spell I knew, all of my power, all of my will, and still, it was not enough. The projection of the elements slowly consumed me. I could feel my power being suppressed and my body fading away. My mind even began to feel compressed. The only thing I could hear was Celestia, as she whispered, “I’m so sorry.”
I drew in one final breath and managed to force one thing past the Elements of Harmony. I achieved an opening from which to scream out a final phrase. A few lasting words to mark my time there. “Memento Luna!!!”
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