The soft scratches from a quill on paper sang softly though the brightly lit room. Celestia’s eyes scanned each letter with care as she confirmed the words she wrote. Her horn giving off a glow of gold as she held the quill with her magic. Pausing to dip her quill in the ink cup she took a small breath. Negotiations with Griffon Kingdom had always been troublesome, especially when it came to trade. They provided Equestria with many resources, but they also drove a hard bargain. As she picked up the quill again the room turned dark. She jumped up at the strange commotion and prepared her magic for the unexpected. As everything brightened up again she noticed that she was in a familiar place. The castle she grew up in. Abandoned now, but still whole.
Hoof steps rang out behind her and she flipped around to ready a blast of magical energy. Luna stepped into view and Celestia powered down her horn. The bright sun gleamed through the giant window behind Luna, causing her mane to cast a shadow across her face. “Luna? Were you the one who brought me here?”
“Yes, I was.” Luna responded, monotone. Her face still refusing to show.
“Why did you bring me here? If you wanted to talk privately you could have just walked into my private room. You didn’t have to teleport me.” Celestia took a step forward toward her sibling.
“Don’t you dare move closer, sister.” Luna rumbled. Celestia, surprised, pulled her hoof back.
“Luna are-“
Cutting off her elder sister, Luna said, “DON’T, call me Luna anymore.”
Celestia put her hoof down in its original spot, making a clanking noise from the metal embracing her hoof. She could hear the patter of liquid and she spotted several tears fall from her sister’s chin. “What’s wrong? Are you hurt?”
“It’s your fault!” Luna shouted, slamming her hooves against the ground and raising her head to show the streams of tears produced by her eyes. “Why do they love you instead of me? What makes you better than me?”
Taken back, Celestia took a quick breath in. “What are you talking about? The ponies of Equestria? They love you just as much as they love me. What gave you that idea?”
“No they don’t! They enjoy your light that you bring! Why do they reject my night? They all hate it, don’t they? You hate it too, don’t you! You hate me, don’t you!”
“N-no! Luna I-“
“I SAID, DON’T CALL ME LUNA! I won’t accept that name anymore. Never! I will make sure that every, single, pony will feel my pain. Today the world will suffer a black day. Today, Equestria will fall under my control!” Black energy shot out from behind the princess of the night and, like fog, covered the entire floor. Luna’s horn glowed dark blue and behind her the giant orb of the moon rose into the sky, stopping in front of the sun, covering it completely as the day fell into darkness. The black energy lunged for Luna and engulfed her in a whirling sphere, rising up to the center of the window. Traces of light flashed, trying to escape, but the black energy swirled violently, sealing its openings.
Celestia, horrified, realized the situation and began firing her magic at the black aura, trying to free her sister. Creating a shield of dark energy, the black aura covered itself from the oncoming fire. A shrill scream of her sister filled her ears. “LUNA!” She shouted at the orb, firing her magic much faster. The scream slowly began to morph into laughter that Celestia couldn’t recognize. The laughter sounded heartless, dark and evil, nothing like her sister’s cheerful laugh. “L-Luna?” She stepped back and stopped her magic. What had become of her sister?
A voice came from the orb, “Luna? Luna is dead.”
Celestia’s, breath quivered as she continued stepping back. “Dead…” Her heart dropped. She couldn’t be dead. No, she wasn’t! That thing had done something to her! “NO! She isn’t dead! Not Luna! What have you done with her!”
The orb laughed again. “What have I done with her? Ha ha ha ha ha!” The orb exploded and a dark mare resembling the Princess stood in its place. “I am her!”
Celestia stomped her hoof. “That can’t be! She wouldn’t give in to such darkness!”
“That’s where you’re wrong. You were blind Celestia! I needed you and you did nothing, but stand by as I suffered! Now that the Nightmare energies flow through me, Luna is dead, and in her place stands Nightmare Moon! With this new power I will conquer Equestria!”
“No! Never. I will release you from your dark prison Luna. Even if ends me!!” Celestia rolled her head back charging up a magic bolt. She had to be careful. One wrong move could result in losing her.
Nightmare Moon laughed. “Release her? My heart is black sister and it’s freer than before.” Celestia released her magic at Nightmare Moon. The evil mare dodged it swiftly, causing the magical energy to slam into the back wall and explode, creating a hole. Nightmare Moon teased, “Now we can’t have that now, can we, Celestia? You’ll interfere with my plan.” Reeling back, she charged at the sun princess.
Doing the same, Celestia rushed at her opponent. “Luna, you must stop this! This is madness!”
Clashing head to head, a shockwave blew out, shattering the windows. The force of two goddesses was immense. “This isn’t madness, this is vengeance!” She pushed Celestia back, raised her hooves in the air, and charged up a ball of magical energy and thrusting her hooves down, she threw the ball of magic at her sister with explosive force. Celestia, not having enough time to dodge, fired a continuous beam of energy, forcing the ball to slow and detonate, sending magic flying into the sides of the building. Bending her legs she opened her wings and boosted up through the ceiling and into the sky. “Running will get you nowhere.” Nightmare Moon shot up through the ceiling as well, following close behind Celestia.
“Luna! Snap out of it! All you’re causing is destruction! Conquering Equestria is fruitless! There is nothing you will gain out of it!” Celestia screamed out to her sister.
“You still don’t get it. I’ve made my mind, Celestia. Trying to change that is pointless, meaning your death will be in vain.” Nightmare Moon’s horn glowed dark blue as an aura began to grow around it. “Disappear!” Whipping her head around, she shot several energy missiles out of her horn. Traveling through the air they multiplied into many others till the sky was filled with missiles.
Quickly jerking herself around to face the oncoming fire, Celestia swung her head around and fired hundreds of magic bolts across the black sky. Colliding together one by one, explosions lit up the darkness with plumes of orange, red and yellow fire, quickly fading back into its darkened state. “You are not my sister! Give her back!” She bolted towards Nightmare Moon, her horn glowing gold, readying for a magic strike. Nightmare Moon rocketed toward Celestia in a similar manor.
Right before clashing together they both pulled up protective shields. Impacting with tremendous force, the shockwave blew out sound itself and cut into the earth. Pushing off each other they came in at different angles for another assault, producing the same result. Flashes of bright light from their clashes illuminated the environment. Again and again the two sisters rammed each other, their blasts tearing the world around them apart. Falling back once more, Nightmare Moon shouted with fury in her voice, “CELESTIA!” She flipped her horn around sent a blade of condensed magical energy hurtling toward the sun princess.
Responding, Celestia screamed, “LUNA!” Nothing else came to her mind except the one pony that she held most dear. She flipped her horn around sending the same attack. The two blades of energy burst together sending out a giant bang that decimated the environment, causing both Nightmare Moon and Celestia to hurtle away in opposite directions. Nightmare Moon was thrown toward what was left of the abandoned home, slammed through a wall, and smacked the ground, skidding to a halt against another wall. Celestia hit the dirt backwards and dug into the earth, causing mud and roots to pile up, the rubble slowing her body down. She lay in the dirt for several moments, resting and trying to comprehend what had occurred, before struggling to rise up.
The blast was unlike anything she had ever seen before. Standing up straight she felt a sharp pain below her right wing, and she doubled over. She looked at the source and spotted a large gash that dug deep into her flesh. She had been wounded badly and her magic could stop the bleeding, but she would need medical attention. However she wasn’t worried about her own health, she was worried about Luna. She tried lifting herself into the air, but the wound had dug into part of her wing’s muscle as well, making it extremely painful to lift off. She touched ground again and began to make her way to the abandoned house as best as she could.
Arriving at the abandoned house she spotted Nightmare Moon still lying next to the wall. She struggled to quicken her pace so she could ensure her sister was alright. “Luna! Luna, are you okay!” She knelt down beside her sister.
Nightmare Moon quickly broke her façade and swung her horn towards Celestia. Before the sun princess could react, Nightmare Moon cast a spell saying, “Be gone to the sun!”
A portal ripped open behind Celestia. Immense heat clawed out of the opening as the sound of millions of explosions filled the air. Celestia began to slip away from Nightmare Moon towards the portal. She slammed her hooves onto the ground to try and hold on to something. Seeing how futile it was, she looked into Nightmare Moon’s eyes trying to find her real sister inside and finally said, “Luna…help me.” She was sucked backwards and the portal quickly disappeared with a puff of smoke that drifted gently to the ground.
The world was quiet. Nothing dared to make a sound. Nightmare Moon gently picked herself up, debris sliding off her smooth dark blue coat, and stood in front of where her sister had disappeared. The sound of the explosions still rung in her ears. Seconds passed by and then minutes. Everything was silent. Her eyes kept darting back and forth, scanning the area of the portal. Finally grasping what had happened she slowly began to laugh. She threw her head back as her laughing gradually increased into excitement. She brought her head back to stare at the spot of the portal and said, “You know Celestia. You’re right. I won’t gain anything out of conquering. But destroying Equestria, no, the world; now that sounds likes fun. Everypony will now know what it means to suffer!” She began laughing again as her horn glowed its eerie dark blue. “Let the tides rise!”