We wonder if you know what it is like to truly fight another unicorn using magic. Undoubtedly the closest you have come is the occasional argument where you might throw an object at the offending pony's head. We speak of battle magiks that were common in Our time as Princess but which you (thankfully) know nothing of. But it is not what spells one learned that made one victorious over the other in a duel. It was through proper timing and counter magiks that one prevailed.
At its most basic, to fight another unicorn one must have at least a small knowledge of the spell their opponent is using. One must then prepare a counter spell of some nature, be it to disrupt the casting of their spell in some manner or to negate their spell once cast. On one instance, as an example, Our Sister cast numerous lightning bolts at Us. We know two ways to counter them immediately. One is to cast a shield and so be saved from the strike. The other is to cast a faster spell that would stop Our Sister from completing her spell.
We were evenly matched with Our Sister a thousand years ago. As such, our duel was many days long and extensively destructive. Neither of Us could get an advantage over the other. Be grateful that Our duel was so evenly matched. By the end We were using such spells that Equestria should be destroyed save that We knew how to counter each other. As the legends say, the last magiks Our Sister cast in our duel were those of the Elements.
However, there is no direct counter to the magik of the Elements. Once started, there is no disruptive spell powerful enough to break through to their castors and no shield strong enough to stop their work. As such, We could not stop Our Sister imprisoning Us on Our moon. Yet We knew a way to subvert it, freeing Us from Our prison after five hundred years.
For in the time it took Our Sister to use Six elements, We had time to touch Six stars.
Of four of these you know; they brought about Our escape from Our lunar prison as eye witness accounts testify. Of the other two you do not, nor for that matter do We, know their whereabouts. We had miscalculated. We had intended for six stars to assist in Our escape. Using them We would have been returned to Equestria on the five hundredth year of Our imprisonment and at Our full power.
Our miscalculation was thus; We had assumed that Our Sister would take control of the whole of the night. But Sister only took control of the lunar orbit (the most notably and recognizable portion of the night). As such, the stars and other astrological beings began to drift. Of all the punishment Our Sister could have done, letting my creation fall to ruin was the worst possible thing that she could ever do.
We watched the lunar sky for twenty and five years from Our prison. After that, We could not bare to look at it; striped of our power We could not change its drifting nature. We only looked up at the skies three times the last nine hundred, seventy and five years of Our imprisonment.
The first, in the second hundred and sixty-third year, was to note that one of the six stars We touched had become misguided. It played no major role in Our escape and its loss was acceptable. We should have made note of its status and left it yet We searched the skies to see if the others were drifting as well. This act only reminded Us how Our work was being ruined and We raged at Our sister for a decade hence.
In the year three hundred, thirty and seven, We looked up after taking a fall off a cliff accidentally. By this time, nearly all of the stars had begun to drift. All but the oldest and most diligent stars that is (of which my six had been members). We remained surprisingly calm at that instance given that Our sky was in a state of disaster.
In the year one and five hundred, We looked to the sky, searching for the five remaining stars that should have come the previous year. The first star being waylaid had only set back a small portion of this plan and this delay was not acceptable. But looking up and seeing another star lost was devastating. It was to grab the other four as it passed by them; creating a path to Equestria and channeling their power for Us to take. It had disappeared. We searched the sky for three days but We could not find it. Our rage was thus that We did destroy a portion of Our moon. The moon could be rebuilt but that star was the first star I had ever crafted and it was dearer to me than any other object I had and likely will ever know.
When Our rage had subsided enough for rational thought, We recalled everything We could of the last three instances We had looked at the sky. We determined from memory that the thousandth year of Our imprisonment would be the last.
We have yet to look at the sky since.
--From the recent writings of The Regent of the Moon