Chapter 13 : The Filly and the Moon
“There can only be ONE Princess in Equestria! And that Princess will be ME! AHAHAHAHHAHAHA!!”.
Nightmare Moon shot a beam that caused the ceiling of the Throne Room to collapse. She aimed another beam at Celestia. Celestia dodged
the beam and more of the roof fell, letting the Moonlight enter the Throne Room.
“Luna! I will not fight you! You must lower the Moon! It is your duty!”
“Luna... I am NIGHTMARE MOON! I have but ONE royal duty now! To destroy YOU!”
Nightmare Moon shot another beam at her sister, Celestia shot into the air to avoid it and flew through the hole made by Nightmare's
earlier spell.
“And where do you think you're going?” asked the nightmare
Nightmare Moon followed Celestia through the hole she had created. Celestia waited for what was once her sister, her back to the Moon
and looking down at the creature. Nightmare shot another two beams at Celestia. The first continued on towards the Moon and the second
destroyed one the castle's towers. Celestia kept trying to find a way to stop Nightmare Moon before she destroyed the whole castle.
Two more destructive beams made the castle crumble around Celestia. Nightmare Moon destroyed the bridge leading to the castle in an
another attempt to defeat her sister. She attacked Celestia again...and this time the spell found it's mark. Celestia was hit by
the dark magic of Nightmare Moon. Celestia crash landed back to where the chase had started with a scream...the Throne Room.
Elsewhere
Double Star was in her bed, reading the book that Luna had given her for Hearth's Warming eve when she heard a very loud explosion
coming from the dormitory window. She approached the window and looked outside and saw that the roof of the castle's throne room had
collapsed. At this point, Star wasn't afraid, merely flummoxed by the incident and concerned about Luna. She was about to go to her desk
for a quill and piece of parchment when she saw Celestia fly out the hole in the roof followed closely by an alicorn that Star did not
recognize. It looked like Luna, but this alicorn was bigger and it's mane was different.
Where IS Luna, anyway? Shouldn't she be helping? thought Double Star. But then Double Star saw the strange alicorn fire a spell at
Celestia that missed her by inches and destroyed the bridge. What's going on? wondered the young Earth pony.
The other young ponies had now woken due to the sound of the bridge crumbling. They all got out of bed, at first upset that something had
woken them up, and then terrified at the sight that met their eyes. There was a third alicorn in Equestria. And she didn't seem friendly.
Star quickly slipped on her shoes and a jumper to keep warm.
“Where are you going?” asked Golden Bronco
“Oh, hi Goldy. Um... I'm going to try and find out what's going on.” replied Star.
“Don't you think you should just let the castle guard go find out what the problem is?” asked Goldy
“No... They might lie to us. I want to really know what's happening.” said Star
“In that case, I'm coming with you.” said the young colt
“I don't think that's a good idea. You could get hurt.” retorted Star
“So could you. I'm coming, and that's final.” he replied
“Fine, grab your boots and jumper. It's a cold and dark night.” said Double Star
Meanwhile, back at the castle
Nightmare Moon laughed long and hard as her sister fell to the ground. Meanwhile, in the Throne Room below, Celestia got painfully back
on her hooves. She looked up at her sister with determination, and perhaps a little sadness.
“Oh dear Sister. I am sorry, but you have given me no choice but to use these!” She exclaimed
Celestia's horn glowed with magic as a secret compartment in the floor was revealed and the Elements of Harmony rose out of the
darkness. Celestia flew up to the Elements of Harmony's resting place, ceased them the first five with magic. With the five being held by her
spell, the final element appeared. The Elements started spinning around Celestia. She flew up to face Nightmare Moon again, but this time
with the Elements of Harmony by her side. Nightmare Moon's eyes shone white as she powered up her horn to cast a powerful spell.
Celestia's horn shone as she prepared to banish her sister, tears running down her cheeks. They released their spells at each other, the two
meeting in the middle. Nightmare Moon was powerful, but her magic couldn't compete with that of the Elements of Harmony.
“NOOOOOOOOOO!” screamed the creature of nightmares.
Nightmare Moon was propulsed towards the Moon by the spell that her sister had cast. The shape of her face, present on the Moon as a
constant reminder of the events of that night.Celestia looked up at the Moon, Luna's shape clearly visible on the surface. Still trying to grasp
with all that has happened in the last hour. Celestia felt like she could no longer be asked to rule over Equestria, especially not alone.
Celestia heard several hooves strike the ground quickly and getting nearer. Celestia turned around expecting to see the castle guard,
instead she saw two young fillies running towards her.
“What are you two doing here?” she asked
“Um...” started Golden, not sure how to address the royalty that now stood before him.
“I wanted to check whether you and Princess Luna were alright, Princess.” answered Star
“That's very kind of you but this place is not safe, the foundations are no longer stable. We must leave the castle.”
Celestia lifted the two fillies onto her back. Golden Bronco was happy that they were leaving the unstable castle behind. Double Star
however looked around looking for her friend.
“Wait... Where's Luna? Is she already outside?”
Celestia looked at the young pony and finally recognized her, she was the young pony that had been
fillynapped by Shadow Pony. She would have to lie so that they could leave.
“Well... As you can see, Luna is not here.” replied Celestia
“OK.” Star stopped searching.
“Hold on tight.” Celestia said to the two fillies. Star, who had traveled this way before was not afraid. Golden on the other hand was holding
on for dear life. When Celestia's hooves struck the ground, Star jumped off and started looking for Luna. Celestia watched the filly for a
moment, not even turning her head when the young colt fell off her back onto the hard ground. Star soon realized that Luna was nowhere
in sight, she turned to Celestia.
“So... Where is Luna?” asked Star
“... She is gone.” replied the lone alicorn
“Gone where? After the alicorn that attacked you? Don't you think you should have gone with her?” asked Star
Celestia took a deep breath. Wishing it didn't fall to her to explain to the young Earth pony what had occurred that night.
“I banished Princess Luna to the moon. If you look at it now, you can see my sister's shadow on it's surface.” explained Celestia.
“But... But why did you banish her? Why not banish the other alicorn she was the one attacking you after all.” she asked
“The other alicorn was Luna.” said Celestia
“What do you mean, that didn't look anything like Luna! And Luna would never attack you!” exclaimed the filly
“No, she wouldn't. But when I said that was Luna. I meant that it was similar to her, but it wasn't actually her. I tried to defeat her but even if
did succeed I would have had to find a way to detain her, I thought of using the Elements of Harmony to turn her to stone like I did with
Discord but no spell would have lasted long against such a power. Not even one cast with the Elements of Harmony. Banishment was the
only option.”explained Celestia.
Star was looking at Celestia with horror, tears beginning to form in her eyes. Star collapsed to the ground, no longer able to stand after such
a revelation. Golden Bronco trotted over to Star and knelt on the ground next to her. He tried to think of something that would comfort her.
Try to make her forget that she had just lost her best friend.
“You might see her again, you know. If she turns back into Luna, Celestia could bring her back.” proposed the colt
Star looked up at the young colt, tears running down her face and dripping to the floor from her chin.
“But even if she does turn back into Luna one day. It could take years, maybe it could take longer then my whole life! What makes you so
sure that I'll ever see her again!?” demanded the distraught filly
“You just have to be patient and believe that you'll see her soon.” replied calmly the young pony
Star looked at the young colt with a scowl, but then her whole face changed. Hope was hiding just beneath her eyes. Star got up in a single
bound and rushed towards Celestia. Celestia looked at the filly, wondering what could cause her to have hope on this dark day.
“I want you to use the Elements of Harmony to banish me to the moon.” said Double Star
“Star no! When I said you might see her again, that's not what I meant!” shouted Golden Bronco
“I'm afraid I cannot banish you...” started the princess
“Why not! You just did it to Luna!” shouted the young pony
“I understand what you are hopping for, but if I banish you. My sister will not be the pony you encounter. You shall find yourself face to face
with a creature that will feel no pity or love towards you as my sister once did.” replied Celestia
“I don't care! Isn't there a chance she'll turn back into Luna after a while?” asked Star
“It is highly unlikely, and even is she did. Your life will have ended long before this happens. You would spend the remainder of your life
running from a monster, from a nightmare.” replied Celestia
“I still don't care! SEND ME TO THE MOON NOW!!” screamed Star
Celestia sighed, she fired up her horn, letting a white light completely surround the young earth pony.
“NO!” shouted Golden
“Stay back!” warned Celestia.
Golden did as Celestia ordered, but he still couldn't believe that she would actually do it. The white light faded and Golden looked towards
the moon, hoping he wouldn't see a second smaller shadow, appear next to the one made by Nightmare Moon.