Chapter Nineteen:
"I need you." Luna stated.
Twilight took another step closer to the alicorn with grave concern on her face. Her friends followed closely after her. A million unspoken questions rang through the room.
"Is this about what happened with the sky and Canterlot?" Twilight spoke in the calmest voice she could. Trying to hide her growing anxiety about the situation. Luna nodded, confirming her fears.
"Yes...Do not bother writing a letter to my sister if that is your next plan of action...it won't matter. She will not respond." Luna mumbled before large tears rolled down her cheeks. "I...We..."
Luna sucked in a deep breath as she found herself struggling to find the words she desperately needed to relay. The seven friends all looked equally worried as they looked to each other for answers on how to proceed.
Fluttershy, whipping away tears with her wing moved away from the group towards Luna in the middle of the room with her head held high. Fluttershy only truly met Luna once, during the Nightmare Night festival so her nerves were still high around Luna but it was clear the Night Princess was in severe distress.
"Please tell us what happened, when you can..." Fluttershy softly spoke before sitting in front of her with a small smile of reassurance. Soon Twilight and Pinkie Pie followed to sit next to her followed by Spike, Rainbow Dash and Applejack to join the group. All of them were silent to hear the story.
"My sister has been suffering for many lifetimes. Most likely since we became alicorns, if not then before even that time. She...She didn't tell anypony I suppose. I noticed that she didn't have the same light of life she had before I was banished. It was dim even all that time ago but she still had hope then. It was fading but I always expected it to flare back up. When I came back it was gone. I thought that it would eventually return but that was just denial of the situation." Luna paused to take a breather and flinched as she flexed her injured wing before continuing. "When I became Nightmare Moon, there was a voice internally that spoke. Giving me suggestions, and talking about how much stronger I was than Celestia. Over time, that voice grew stronger. The voice went from just being the back of the head to the moon speaking about the injustice the sun was placing upon us. It was my worst enemy...But also my best friend. The only one who knew or understood what I was feeling at the time. The voice promised power and control in a way that was difficult to resist."
The friends all nodded, understanding what she meant but still confused about how it related to the current circumstances.
"Whenever I rose the moon I could tell it was not itself through my Magic. But when I was sent to the moon, Nightmare Moon and I were one. We switched but we still occupied the same body. Sometimes she returned to just being a voice, other times I was the voice and she was in control. Trying to prevent my sister from moving the moon with the very limited available magic left. But we noticed the sun was angry. Much like how the moon was but...Worse."
The group gasped at that information. Their eyes grew wide and the need to know more flared in each of them.
"It scared us deeply. When we returned to Equestria the moon felt calm for the first time in a very, very long time. But the sun was still entrapped in deep rage. My sister told me she couldn't sense any sort of anger. But...I suspect now she was lying. My sister played it off. Just as she played off many other problems and scenarios because frankly..." Luna clenched her teeth as her anger grew at the whole situation. "She was very good at being somepony else. So good that I purposely ignored warning signs of the worst and now...we are trapped in this hell."
Luna held back a sob as the crushed pain she felt for her sister tore into her.
"My sister listened to the voice just as I had. I know she was acting strange, I heard her speaking to an unknown voice that I chalked up to my own paranoid mind just being worried. She...caused this. She won't allow the moon above the horizon. She has morphed into a monster that can not be reasoned with."
The friends were quiet. Each was at a loss for words as they took in the information Luna had given them.
"Wait...So...Princess Celestia is..." Twilight struggled to find her own words as she dared to even speak the conclusion she came to. She was too scared of what it meant. Of what it could lead to. "What has she become?"
"She is now called, Daybreaker. Her mane is made of fire. Her jewelry is gone, replaced with armour. Her eyes are like a solar eclipse. Her teeth are just as sharp as Nightmare Moon's." Luna spat out. "She believes a solar empire must be created. She wants complete control of Equestria and to destroy anyone who tries to oppose her. Perhaps even take over other parts of this world. The surrounding nations."
"Princess Celestia is a good pony! I...I can't believe she would do this! She...She would know better than to do this! She saw what happened to you, why would she fall victim to the same trick?" Twilight argued. Luna scowled and leaned toward her, baring her teeth with a low growl that caused Twilight to stumble back in alarm.
"Are you implying I am a LIAR, Twilight Sparkle?" Luna hissed as she flared her battered wings. "I wish more than anything that this was a nightmare I could wake up from, but I was hurt. I was tossed around and beaten by that monster. If this was a Nightmare it would have ended after the first hit."
"O-Of course not...But there must be some way for her to see reason." Twilight replied with her ears drawn back, then her eyes lit up with a spark of hope and she perked up with an idea. "Is that why you need us? I am sure my friends and I can bring her back!" Twilight argued with a spark of hope as she dramatically lifted her front hoof before pointing to the rest of her friends behind her as Luna's expression became more hopeless as the seconds passed. "She has taught us so much about friendship, I am sure if we just remind her of all the good she has done for everypony she will-"
Twilight's speech was cut off by Luna igniting her horn abruptly. The girls and Spike exclaimed in alarm as Luna's magic grew.
"Not everypony can be saved, Twilight Sparkle. Not everypony wants to be."
Then, before Twilight could counteract the spell, not that it would have done anything against an alicorn, they disappeared in a heartbeat. Leaving the Golden Oak's Library dead silent as a country outside panicked.
Celestia and Daybreaker were, in a small way, two ponies. Two souls trapped inside one immortal body fighting for control. Or rather, were fighting for control. Celestia did give up the fight after all and found herself deeply pushed away from actual consciousness.
She was still that small unicorn, trapped in the void of her own creation since it was her mind after all. She was agitated and angry, to be honest with herself. She wanted to sleep, not wanting to feel and know every thought of the tyrant who was trying to bring Equestria under her rule.
So why wasn't she sleeping?
She tried, she tried very hard to hide away in a dark corner of the mind and go unseen and unheard for however long she could until her will to exist came back after Luna left the pitiful void of her mind. But, the tyrant in control had violent emotions, anger was her main issue and it flared up like an inferno that awoke Celestia from the peace she tried to find in the silence.
She uncurled herself, the fictional body of a unicorn long gone as she waited for the obvious conclusion. Daybreaker hated her, she hated Daybreaker but everypony needs to talk to somepony who isn't a "yes pony."
The tyrant of the sun appeared in front of her with a deep scowl at the sight of her other half. Celestia, knowing how the tyrant couldn't hurt her physically even if she wanted to, smirked at the higher being.
"Strange. You seemed so sure you could do everything by yourself, and yet, within hours of your...true appearance, you come to talk to the being you hated so very much for centuries."
"That...Luna is a pest. Your pathetic sister is worthless, truly I should have ended her the moment she stepped into the throne room."
"But you didn't. Clearly." Celestia spat out. She was glad her sister was out of harm, as it seemed even the hypothetical murderer Daybreaker couldn't fully bring herself to snuff out the moon. "I had a lovely chat with her. As you would know."
"That twirp probably thinks she still has a chance to save you," Daybreaker mumbled, a flicker of worry passed by before her expression hardened to a dark smile despite the fire of her mane. "I hope we are both clear that won't happen."
"Of course, it won't," Celestia replied. Knowing fully well she needed sleep and couldn't stand another day in the government of Equestria. Then, she gave a bright smile as if there was some hope left in the whole situation. "But, I hope it's clear that once the elements dispose of us, we can finally rest. At least, I certainly will be. I am rather looking forward to a thousand years of nothing."
Daybreaker's snarl fell to a scowl before turning into a low growl as she took a step back in alarm.
"The elements wouldn't dare. Your precious student wouldn't dare raise a hoof against the immortal pony who taught her nearly everything. The very pony whoever ordered her to go to Ponyville in the first place."
"That's a flimsy justification for how you're going to win. Which...you won't." Celestia flatly stated. "They never did win before, they aren't going to start now."
"We shall see." Daybreaker snapped back before flapping her wings, igniting her red magic to throw her back into the real reality as Celestia simply shrugged, returning to her curled-up position to wait some more for the silence.