Wings flapped as Celestia and Midnight soared over the countryside, the Everfree Forest in sight. Celestia furrowed her brows in concentration when she heard Midnight call to her over the roar of the wind rushing past their faces.
“Princess! What do we do when we catch up with Catrina?” he asked.
“We will speak with her, and hopefully she’ll listen in my presence,” Celestia answered.
“I dunno, Princess!” Midnight debated, “Catrina seems pretty resolute in her goal!”
“Either way, she will not defile my old sanctuary!” The goal was clear in Celestia’s head but perhaps not in her heart as she thought, Catrina… for your own sake, please…!
In no time at all, they arrived and landed before the Everfree Forest, Midnight reassuming his unicorn form and putting his goggles away. The two of them gazed up at the wild wood as Celestia said, “Midnight, Catrina is my responsibility. You don’t need to further involve yourself.”
“If you think I’m just gonna stand by, you’re crazy,” Midnight responded with eyes furrowed in determination.
“I won’t allow Catrina to get the Elements, so long as it’s within my power.”
“Very well,” Celestia’s horn shined and a bubble of golden mana spread out before fading but not before it made some tracks glow.
“Catrina was here, the tracks progress further in.”
“After you,” Midnight hid behind Celestia’s tail and she raised a brow at him.
“Men only act like gentlecolts when it suits them, don’t they?” she teased, Midnight smiling sheepishly but following her in.
“Ergh!”
*SMACK*
Catrina was not happy.
She was trudging through a dense and muddy area, smacking away insects, brambly branches pulling at her cloak, the mudding sucking at her feet. When she found she couldn’t pull her foot out, she hissed, “Perfect… these are my best shoes!”
She gave up and yanked her feet out of them, leaving the footwear to sink into the murk as she yanked her cloak from a branch and twirled it around her shoulders, growling, “I hate this forest…!”
*SPLAP*
"EEERRRGGHHHH…” Catrina growled as the end of her cloak (drenched in muck) slapped against her face.
“Catrina!”
She whirled about to see her teacher and that annoying unicorn, “Well, well, teacher! Come to witness me as I go to claim my destiny?”
“Catrina… Come with me back to Canterlot,” Celestia bade, “you are not meant for the Elements of Harmony, your destiny lies elsewhere.”
“For too long I’ve lived in your shadow,” growled Catrina, “studied and excelled in the arcane arts and having nothing to show for it! All the while choking down all that nonsense of friendship and harmony you spoon-fed me- Well, “teacher”! I’ve had just about enough!”
Catrina snapped her fingers, igniting a flicker of flame before invigorating it with her mana, and releasing a stream of fire at the two ponies! Celestia and Midnight gasped as they dodged the fire blast, but then Midnight noticed something.
“Princess! She’s making a break for it!”
“After her!” Celestia fanned her wings and the beat propelled her forward, Midnight hurrying to keep up.
Catrina had bought herself a few moments before her mentor and the annoyance with her gave chase. Calling the wind, she was able to zoom through the forest, the wind carrying her with each leaping step.
As he pursued, Midnight was only half-aware of how fast he was running, how high and far he was leaping, as though he were lighter in weight. But his attention was on the witch ahead of him, and of the prize she sought which he had to protect.
As Catrina zoomed through the foliage, she peered o’er her shoulder, noting her pursuers. Narrowing her eyes, she hissed as she conjured green fireballs in her hands and threw them at each pony. Celestia simply willed the fireball to quench while Midnight surrounded himself with a Fire Shield, blowing through the fireball as though it were no more than a soap bubble. Growling, Catrina launched herself upwards and came down with an earth-shattering thud, her power pushing into the ground and rubble being forced up. Midnight skidded to a halt before he almost face-planted into a monolith of stone while Celestia flew overhead and cast tendrils of energy to ensnare Catrina.
Hissing, Catrina focused her mana into her claws and slashed the tendrils to ribbons before taking a deep breath. She blew with the force of a hurricane, sending Celestia crashing into a tree.
The witch sneered when a blast of energy missed her head by mere inches and she whirled to see Midnight, his horn flared with another spell ready.
“No matter what, Catrina, I am not letting you near the Elements of Harmony!”
“I will not let anyone stand in my way, not Celestia…!” Catrina stamped her foot, a great boulder almost instantly jutting out from the ground before Catrina willed it to rise.
“And certainly not the likes of you!”
She threw her hand forward and Midnight screamed as the boulder came down on him. Catrina hissed wickedly when the scream came to an abrupt end.
“NO!”
Catrina whirled in time to see an inflamed Celestia barrel into her and send her crashing through several trees. As the dust settled, Catrina groaned as she struggled to her feet and flinched to see her former mentor, literally on fire.
The pink of her mane had turned blazing orange while the light cobalt had turned an intense blue, her coat a harsh gold, and her eyes white-hot.
“I took you in, I raised you, loved you as though you were my own!”
Celestia beat her wings, sending a blistering wave of heat at Catrina, who yowled in pain of its intensity but managed to hold her ground.
“So how could you have turned out this way?!” Celestia launched a golden burst of energy at Catrina, who propelled herself skyward on a cyclone of air, Celestia following her until they hovered above the canopy.
“How could you have developed this senseless hunger for power that you don’t care who you hurt to get it?!”
The Princess fired a ray of super-intense sunlight, that Catrina tried to dodge but still got her foot scalded. It hurt but she stifled her cry of pain and glared hatefully at Celestia.
"I have watched over you for years Catrina, taken care of you, loved you. How could you do this! Try to steal one of Equestria's strongest lines of defense and dare to harm one of my oldest friends!"
"I dare because I'm sick of being stuck under your hooves, being intentionally limited when such power is within my reach. I have worked long and hard to reach a level of sorcery beyond anypony else, and you've purposefully tried to deny me! Well no more Celestia, NO MORE!"
Catrina's eyes flashed a stone grey color and her claws glowed with power. With a mighty swipe towards the ground, two pillars of rock shot forwards toward Celestia like a pair of ballistic missiles.
The Sun princess gave a hurt glare before defending herself with her glorious wings. The stone slammed into her and propelled her back several hoof lengths before she managed to recover. Catrina was not idle though and had surrounded herself in her elemental wind magic to get airborne. Her eyes flashed red and with a hiss, the felinoid witch shot forward, her claws encased in a fiery glow. The Princess' hardened expression never wavered and she met her student's charge at full speed with her front hooves.
An explosion of energy burst from the impact as the combatants were forced apart. Celestia wobbled a little in the air, but appeared no worse for wear. Catrina however was shunted out of the air as the breath left her lungs. She slammed down into the muddy ground sending dirt and rotting roots in all directions. The witch gave her a head a shake to regain focus before climbing to her feet and growling up at her mentor.
Meanwhile, in the pile of rubble that had ignited Celestia's fury, Midnight remained flinched, waiting for the impact that would flatten him. After a few minutes of nothing happening he opened his eyes to discover a curious sight. He had auto cast a spell in an attempt to save himself, but instead of an ordinary telekinesis spell or even a shield, Midnight had done something bizarre to the large boulder that had to have weighed at least five times as much as him, that was now sitting upon his head softly like a hat.
WHAT! But, but, that should have flattened me! How is the boulder just sitting on my head? Wait a second, my body feels…
Testing this feeling of empowerment, Midnight calmly lifted the boulder from his head like it was nothing but a scrap of paper and gently tossed it away. Strangely gravity seemed to reassert itself as the boulder came down with a thunderous impact. Shaking off the dust clinging to his coat, Midnight quickly scanned the area to see Celestia and Catrina engaged in combat.
The elementalist had managed to summon forth a storm cloud and was attempting to strike Celestia down with lighting. It was plainly obvious to both of them though that Carina wasn't making much headway harming the alicorn. Celestia didn't even need to dodge the blasts, she simply swept them aside with her wings where they struck against the trees of the Everfree and set them alight.
"Give up Catrina, you cannot defeat me. These actions alone should make it clear even to you how far you have fallen. You have harmed a stallion I considered a brother and sought to misuse one of the most powerful magicks of this world. Your actions will have consequences, but for the love I have for you, I am willing to be lenient if you just please cease this foolishness," Celestia pleaded, sensing that the fight had reached a tipping point.
If these fires continued, wildlife could be endanger, to say nothing of any nearby settlements. So far she had managed to stay defensive against Catrina, but if this didn't stop, she would have to reluctantly fight back. Catrina's powers were great, but against an alicorn, she had no chance.
Catrina however, didn't seem to think so as she raised her claws above her head and started to draw the fires into a flaming twister.
"You may be the keeper of the sun Celestia, but you are not entitled to all the power of the world! I won't allow you to hoard the elements from me any longer. Your strength is vast but I have mastered all of the natural elements. I can control the sky you fly in, the flames that burst from your precious sun, the water and ice that encompasses the globe, and I control-”
Catrina didn’t get to finish as a large stone slammed into her back and knocked her face first into the mud. The twister of fire safely dispersed without her maintaining it, and the fires flickered away into the air.
The sorceress pulled her face from the muck, steam burning it away as she turned her red face to her attacker. Midnight stared her down, no sense of joviality in his expression. He lit his horn up, ready to cast as he stared her down.
"This has gone on long enough Catrina. You may not know much about me, but I can tell you here and now, so long as I’m here you will never lay a single claw on the Elements of Harmony! The artifacts are not just some battery for you to juice yourself up, they are one of the fulcrums of the world, maintaining the balance between Harmony and Chaos, Good and Evil all through the magic of friendship. They aren't a toy or a power-booster for anypony to misuse or bring harm. I don't want to fight you, but I will help Celestia if it means keeping the world safe."
Catrina crawled to her feet and examined the situation. She was battered and bruised, her robes ripped and stained. Her large reserves of mana were starting to fall and she now had both the sun-moving Celestia and the obviously powerful Midnight to contend with. Her chances at reaching the elements weren't looking very good if she kept up this straight fight. It was time to play dirty.
"Who do you think you are to tell me what to do? You may have far more power than the average unicorn, but you are still nothing compared to me. You can talk all you what, but I know your claims are all wet!"
Catrina's eyes suddenly glowed a deep blue, and with a wave of her claws, the mud seemed to warble until the water was ripped from it and pulled into the air. Midnight only had a second to look shocked before the torrent of water shot towards him, ready to wash him away. It was only due to his immense magical skill that he was able to conjure forth a flaming shield to protect himself, but the torrent was strong and he could feel it pushing into his shield, threatened to break through and sweep him into the rocks. Suddenly a flashed appeared next to him, and Celestia struck the water with her blazing flames. Beams of fires flashed from her horn, aiding Midnight's blue flames and turning the water into a wave of steam. The attack kept up for a moment, until the water pressure ceased. It was only then that the two ponies realized Catrina's game.
The steam that flooded the air had hidden her from view.
Not one to be tricked in such a way, Celestia gave her mighty wings a flap, sending out a massive gust of air to clear the battlefield. But as the haze left, Midnight and Celestia could just make out the retreating figure of Catrina as she made a break for the Castle of the Two Sisters.