//------------------------------//
// Moonfall: Pt. 2 (XV) 
// Story: Nightmare's Reign 
// by NorrisThePony 
//------------------------------//

To Nightmare Moon's surprise, King Sombra had decided to indeed accompany her as she set out to track down and hopefully destroy whatever anomaly of nature Discord had invoked into Luna's mind. When she asked why he would ever want to help her, he responded by simply saying it was not for her nor for Luna, but simply for himself that he wanted to foil the plans of Discord. 

This was quite striking to Nightmare Moon, since the war between the Royal Sisters and Discord had been waged centuries before Sombra was even born, and therefore he had no relation to the Spirit of Chaos. It simply looked like a matter of pride, but either way Nightmare Moon did not care so long as it meant she was getting help. 

Not that he actually was helping. Being a unicorn meant Nightmare Moon had no choice but to travel by foot, or else frequently double back to make sure Sombra was still with her. Most of the time she just trudged forwards across the earth, groaning the occasional insult about his speed or lack of wings. 

It was quite clear after only a few short conversations that this was not the King Sombra that Nightmare Moon remembered. He was practically a caricature of what his actual persona had been, quite clearly founded by Luna's memories of him both before and after his corruption. And Luna's memories were limited, meaning it was only through them that this Sombra dream-projection lived on. Nightmare Moon didn't shy-off telling him any of this, either, instead she practically rubbed into his face how not-real he really was. 

"I remember back when I first met King Sombra," she ranted during one of her many taunting recollections of her own memories. "He was so...average! I mean, yes, he was charismatic and arrogant, and he secretly wanted to rule the Crystal Empire under an iron fist, but without me he would of been a geeky little unicorn noble." 

When inquired about more specific details that she knew Luna possessed no knowledge of, Sombra simply said that those memories were 'a blur' and that he remembered only 'bits and pieces.' Nightmare Moon would have felt sorry for his obliviousness if it were anyone else other than Sombra. 

Noticing the faint traces of movement amongst the black, foggy clouds above, Nightmare Moon followed their pilgrimage across the sky and came to the conclusion that they were all moving in the direction of Tartarus, which in technicality was the portion of Luna's mind reserved for her darkest secrets and inner-most regrets. She'd dreamed up a classic piece of ancient mythology which Nightmare Moon found incredibly fascinating. Before, she never would have pegged Luna as a superstitious type. 

Crossing the Everfree was much more simple and uneventful, as it had been reduced to a sprawling field of tree stumps. While it had taken Luna and her several hours, this time they were through in less than half an hour and already back at the starlit limbo-river leading to Tartarus. The last time Nightmare Moon had been here was right after the still unexplained Celestia encounter, but in that time it looked quite different. The clear water was now frozen over, and while no snow falling and the ice looked thin and unwelcoming, Nightmare Moon and Sombra had no trouble walking across it. Even the waterfall had fallen silent, clogged to a standstill by the ice. In addition to the frozen river, the sky above was overcast with more black clouds flowing from one side of the sky to another, but they were much, much higher than what normal clouds should have been. The occasional thunder roll or illumination of thunder emanated from far above, an eternal storm having replaced the peaceful starry sky over the lonely and boundless fields. 

Tartarus wasn't any different, Nightmare Moon quickly noticed. The lava and maddening heat were both existent only in her memory, instead it was with slight amusement that she noted that hell had quite literally frozen over. 

Not long after she and Sombra had started towards Discord's castle did a horrible shrieking sound stop them both dead in their tracks. 

"Dear Gods!" Sombra yelled, Nightmare Moon echoing his startled jump. She didn't see his next actions, as her helmet dipped over her eyes as it was jarred by her sudden movements.  "What in the name of sanity is that sound?!"

"No idea," Nightmare Moon straightened her helmet, fixed the flow of her mane, and looked in the direction of the sound, which had died a little in volume but was still present. 

The shrieking noise was coming from Discord's Tartarus castle, which Nightmare Moon quickly noticed was now perched precariously over the edge of the stone island it was built on. Enough chunks of the rock had fallen into the black abyss below that the castle's foundation was now no longer sitting sturdily on flat ground. One of the many spires looked as if it was charged with dark magic, because it was sparking with electricity and glowing like it was under ultra-violet light. 

After awhile, the shrieking sound became louder again. Nightmare Moon noticed King Sombra's ears perk up in surprise at something he was hearing, so she too strained to her what it was in the din that he had heard. 

It was faint, barely audible over the near-deafening high-pitched wail, but once she heard it she knew that there was no doubt as to what it had been. 

"It's a voice," Sombra said, aghast. "Among all that dissonance...a voice. But it doesn't sound natural at all." 

"I know," Nightmare Moon murmured, horrified beyond belief at what was taking place. Sombra simply didn't understand, but she sure did. As her own name was chanted rhythmically at her, the spire started glowing black and floating upwards, being pulled towards the ceiling of Tartarus far, far above. The light outlining it was pulsing at regular intervals, and the sound of stone grating against and ripping from stone was yet another irritating sound that filled the air. 

Higher and higher the tower rose, until it was nearing the roots of the Tree of Harmony nearly a thousand feet up. And then, quite suddenly, the entire spire vanished in a split-second after slightly grazing one of the roots. In it's place was a bit of excess black fog, but the entire structure had all but vanished. Both Sombra and Nightmare Moon stood gaping in shock. She'd seen some odd things happen in the various pony's dreamworld she had lived in over the years, but nothing quite like this. 

The Tree of Harmony's roots were still pulsating, and Nightmare Moon noticed that it was invoking some sort of light gravitational pull, most noticeable with the clouds and black particles that were all flowing upwards and vanishing upon making contact. As a result, a sort of vortex had formed across Tartarus's high ceiling, so that it looked like an electrically charged hurricane of black smoke. 

"This is amazing," Sombra breathed, but his words went unheard, as Nightmare Moon had since taken flight, rising towards the black vortex. 

A few more rumbles of thunder and flashes of lightning did not deter her from her flight path, which was a point far enough from the Tree of Harmony that it's pull was negligible to her, not wanting to get drawn towards the Tree of Harmony. She knew that touching the roots herself would practically spell the end for herself and Luna. 

Or perhaps just Luna. For her, one of two things would happen. Either she would assume control of Luna's  body after breaking free from the confines of her mind, or she would be thrown out of it completely and into Equestria as a disembodied consciousness. Considering the latter had apparently happened to Luna the last time they'd made contact, she was unwilling to find out. 

Nevertheless, even at a distance of a thousand feet she could still feel traces of the vortex's influence. Her ethereal mane was flowing towards it, as if it were being buffeted by a silent hurricane force wind, and she occasionally had to correct her flightpath to make sure she was orbiting around it and not towards it. 

As she watched, the occasional other object would tear itself from the ground and disappear with the same horrible screeching sound. Bits of mortar, rock, ice, and even what looked like Tartarus vegetation were only a few things that vanished the second they made contact with the roots at the vortex's epicenter. 

After a few minutes of examining it from her orbiting flightpath, Nightmare Moon started rising until she was flying through the clouds. They sparked as she flew, reacting to her presence with a sort of magnetic resistance. So, she was the reason for these things being here, but that still did not explain anything about this vortex that had formed. When she finally breached the final cloud layer, she found that there was a gap of empty air between the cloud cover and the stone ceiling of Tartarus. Here, there was no longer any pulling force from the Tree of Harmony, which allowed her to finally start flying in it's direction to get a closer look. 

Even from a distance, she instantly saw that something was wrong. The Tree of Harmony served as a simple means of travel between the waking world and the world of dream, but whatever had been done to it greatly went against that purpose. The smooth, glowing white surface of the majestic tree's roots were now coated with imperfections and spiky looking vines. It looked not dissimilar to the sort of infections earthly plants were capable of contracting, except that they were all pulsing in a peculiar rhythmic pattern that was synchronized with the glowing flashes of energy from the tree's roots itself. 

The bumps on the tree and the vines both were giving off a frequency of magic separate from that of the Tree of Harmony. The last time Nightmare Moon had felt such magic in the air was in this same place four years ago. It was, without a doubt, Discord's chaos magic that was the infection now controlling the tree. 

"Nightmare Moon!" Sombra called, his voice echoing over the claustrophobic confines of Tartarus. She had to fight against the pull of the vortex as she followed his voice back downwards, her business there done anyways.

"It's Discord," she gasped as she landed, out of breath from her flight. "That bastard. I knew it."

"I feel as though there is a sort of pull to the vortex..."

"Yes," Nightmare Moon agreed. "And even in the few moments we've been here, I think it's gotten stronger."

"Indeed. Nightmare, I don't think it's going to stop. It's going to keep getting stronger and stronger until it consumes everything." 

"Unless Luna kills Discord." 

"Even then," Sombra sighed hopelessly. "These clouds are your doing, Nightmare Moon." 

"Yes, but Discord's done something else. I felt his magic fueling that vortex up there. He'd placed some sort of...curse, on the Tree of Harmony." 

"I know that," Sombra said indignantly. "But what makes you think his death would relieve the curse? The only way to stop it's flow is to stop the magic that is being infected by Discord's own." 

"Luna's magic." 

"If she were to die, then everything would be solved."

"Shit," Nightmare Moon muttered sadly.

She'd honestly hoped there could be some sort of alternative, but Sombra was probably right. Part of her didn't quite see why a land of nightmares and darkness was so unappealing that Luna had to die to prevent it, while the other more logical part understood that if the black clouds were allowed to continue flowing into Equestria, then they would eventually infect the minds of every mortal pony. In less then a century, she imagined all of Equestria would be nothing but Nightmare Force-ridden evil, inhabited by ponies with no morality or independent thought. Truly, she'd rather see Equestria destroyed by the cold and dark of eternal night then in such a state. 

It looked like, whether she liked it or not, her plans regarding Luna would have to change.




Luna watched the lime green light of Chrysalis's teleporting flash slowly fade away and swirl like mist, joining the dancing snow and rising black particles. The sky was now filled with them, and they were starting to seep into a thick overhanging ceiling of pitch black clouds. 

It had been two days since she'd left Dusk Falls, and Nightmare Moon had been gone throughout the entirety of that time. Luna was beginning to worry that some sort of trouble had befallen her, wondering if it was even possible for a being like her to die. Nightmare Moon had shown signs of concern and fear when they were in danger, so it did seem possible. With her inseparably fused into Luna's mind, her death would probably inflict damage on herself, too, but that wasn't the sole reason Luna didn't want such a thing to happen. 

The prospect of ruling Equestria under the Moon was starting to look less and less infused with despair, in fact it was with hope that Luna looked forward to life, after the business with Discord was taken care of. Her plans for the future were unfurling by themselves with little to no thought, one idea for Equestria's future quickly seeping into another and another until she was like a chess player with the entire game sprawled out in her mind. With magic, as well as the Underworld trees as a sort of template, she had already spent an entire day outside of Dusk Falls creating a sapling that was sensitive enough to thrive off the dull light from the Moon. The catch, however, was it needed constant exposure to the moonlight, and a single cloudy night would be enough to kill it completely. It was a problem that she would be able to solve in time, and shining proof that she would be able to keep her subjects alive even through the eternal night. 

The cold was another problem. It had only been four years and already Equestria's climate had gone from relatively warm to a state of eternal autumn. The temperature across most of Equestria was still above freezing, and it would fortunately remain as such. It wasn't like the sun was gone, it was still keeping the planet warm, but it's light was all but gone. There were a few regions of Equestria that would face perpetual winter, but for the most part it looked like those locations were only a few, and the centralized area of Equestria was safe. 

A stab of guilt struck Luna as she thought back to Queen Chrysalis, who must have been quite frightened and demoralized by the mass amounts of responsibility she had inherited so quickly. It wasn't a feeling Luna was unfamiliar with, but at least she was the reason for her own problems. Poor Chrysalis hadn't done anything to deserve the punishment she had received. It was a terrible shame she'd been unable to convince Chrysalis to help her, and Luna was not looking forward to the day when she would have to confront the changeling Queen. Even if it was in complete self-defense, the thought of injuring Chrysalis left a sour taste in Luna's mouth, especially after all that she'd lost. All she could do was pray she would come to her senses. 

Suddenly, a horrible screeching sound ripped across the tundra, and Luna instantly jerked her attention to the land outside. Gradually ripping across the deep purple sky was a visible black tear that was spilling out more and more of the black fog. The screeching sound did not falter, instead drawling on like a high-pitched thunder roll. Luna stood perched over the edge of the hole she'd blasted through the castle wall, gawking as something large started forcing it's way from beyond the crack of black light. 

Over the course of nearly a minute, an immense stone structure slowly crept it's way from the depths of wherever the crack led to and into Luna's Equestria. Finally, when it was all the way through, Equestria's physics kicked in and it tumbled down and down, before crashing into the snow and sending a wild frenzy of powder into the air around it. The whole stone tower looked to be enveloped in the same black mist as what had been billowing from the crack, so that it was dancing around it like an aura of darkness. 

As soon as her mind caught up with what her eyes were seeing, Luna realized that what she was looking at was one of the spires in the Gothic cathedral she'd first fought Discord in. But...that had been a dream. What she was seeing here was an exact replication of something that had never existed. In that moment, she realized how much she would have valued some sort of explanation from Nightmare Moon, but her voice still did not come. Nervously, Luna fluttered her wings and leaped off in a glide towards the structure. Far below, the few Crystal Ponies were all staring in the direction of the cloud of snow and fog, which was ascending into the sky and slowly turning the purple to grey. Several of the Crystal Ponies must have already started towards it, because there were three less then fifty feet away when Luna touched down in front of it. 

"Don't touch it," she warned, disregarding their screams of surprise as she swooped down in front of them. "A level of dark magic this high I have never seen in all my years." 

It was unmistakeably what she had suspected it was, even if what she had suspected made no sense. The ponies instantly backed away in fear of her, leaning in to a panicked bow with their muzzles nearly buried in the snow. Luna saw this, shook her head sadly, and turned her attention back at the current matter. 

Extending a hoof until it was sticking into the black fog, Luna took a single step forwards, ignored the slight pain from her semi-healed hoof, and eventually crept her way close enough for her hoof to touch solid stone. It was freezing cold, but it felt completely ordinary. If she hadn't seen it before, and if it weren't for the crack in the sky hanging above and the unnatural fog, she never would have known such a thing did not originate from her world. 

"H...how..." Luna muttered, drawing her hoof away from the stone again. She turned back to her still bowing subjects and addressed them in the calmest voice she could muster. "You all can see this, correct?" 

They nodded, a quick, shaky ordeal. 

"Please, feel free to speak," Luna invited, giving off a welcoming chuckle in an attempt to stave back their fear of her, as well as her own. It didn't seem to work but they at least crept out of their bow. 

"It...there's a voice..." One whispered, his words sounding as forced as the possibly could be. "It's sort of...whispering. It's saying...it's saying..." 

"Yes?" Luna was instantly intrigued. She could hear no voice, but she could hear the dull drone that seemed to be emanating from the crack above. "What is it saying?!" 

"N...Nightmare Moon," Came another pony's reply, which was met with agreeing mumbles from the other two. 

Luna felt as if she had just taken a blow to the gut as she heard the name spoken aloud. This was the first time that she had technically heard anypony other than herself acknowledge the existence of Nightmare Moon. 

"What could it mean?" One of them asked Luna, too curious to be fully frightened of her anymore. "Is it a name?

"Yes," Luna simply said, composing herself enough to force out a single word. A few more of the other ponies had arrived and Luna could tell by their perked ears that they could hear it too. "I...I believe it is." 

Without any further explanation, Luna turned away from the impossible stone spire and flew into the air, ignoring the slight ache in her left wing that came as a result. She knew very well why it was aching, but still she had to force herself to not look at it to confirm. Perhaps if she did not satisfy the problem with the attention of thought then it would go away. 

Her resistance to looking lasted less then a minute, and when it gave off another sharp spike of pain she darted her head and saw that it was spilling out feathers at a rapid speed. As she watched, the thought of her ascent towards the Tartarus Tree of Harmony, and the vision of the gap where her wing had been rushed to the forefront of her mind. 

"Don't think about it, don't think about it..." Luna whispered to herself as she flew, her frantic chanting only forcing the thought of what she had dreamed further and further into her brain.

Desperately, she leaped onto another thought, one that was somewhat related but different entirely. Discord's reign. Or, more importantly, the lack thereof. The Crystal Empire, like Dusk Falls, had shown absolutely zero signs of it currently existing in an Equestria ruled by the Spirit of Chaos. Discord was, simply put, not present. Wherever he was, Luna had to wonder what had become of his zealous and chaotic nature. When she and Celestia had last encountered him, the entirety of Equestria was covered in at least a little bit of Discord's influence. His power had been strong enough to basically grant him omnipresence as well as omnipotence. Of course, even he had his limits, and it was with great effort that she and her sister had driven him past them. But presently, it seemed like his limits were much closer and within range for her to exploit. She had no doubt that wherever he currently was would be swimming with chaos only he could muster, but it would seem like it would be a single centralized area and not the Equestria-wide span she'd been expecting.

Luna wasn't quite sure whether she should feel relieved or afraid by his drop in power. Ideally it would make fighting him easier, but she had no idea what scheme he could potentially have formulated. There was no safety in assumption, nor relief in the lack of Discord's presence. 

Another thing she hadn't thought of until then was how Discord would respond to Celestia's death. Quite obviously the two had never been close, but it was to her understandings that they had always carried some sort of mutual understanding of each other's circumstances. Celestia's stance on trying to negotiate with Discord and not revert to violence would not have budged if Luna had not convinced her otherwise, and even the Elements of Harmony had been a last resort. They'd kept them in their possession after finding them for months, months where Celestia had refused to use them and instead chose to insist that "there was a better way." 

Similarly, Discord did not seem to have any desire to inflict any harm onto Celestia. He hadn't cared about Luna nearly as much as he seemed to care about Celestia. There had definitely been something going on between him and Celestia, something that if she didn't know any better bordered on the realm of friendship. She had even spoken to Luna about reforming Discord, admitting it was perhaps a foolish fantasy but still repeatedly bringing it up, as if her insistence on desiring it would be enough to manifest it into reality. 

Long ago, in another time, such a thing seemed impossible. But now, with all the cross-reality things happening to Equestria, Luna had no idea what impossible meant anymore. Poor Celestia, dragged down too many times by her mercy and trust, facing every consequence head-on to avoid inflicting any sort of pain on anyone else. And while her sister had been ferocious in battle and at times the most terrifying thing Luna had ever seen, it had been her refusal to act that had ultimately led to Luna's success in their final battle. If she was in her position now, Luna wondered if she would be able to strike down Discord or Chrysalis like Luna would ultimately have to. Hopefully not Chrysalis, but Luna knew that the day would come when she wouldn't have a choice any longer. 

If only the Elements weren't destroyed, Luna wouldn't have to disregard the principles of mercy. With all of reality collapsing, would it really be too much to ask for them to work for her again? 

A sudden idea struck Luna as that thought reverberated through her mind. Would it just be physical objects and changes to herself alone that manifested from her dreamscape? Or...she had dreamed of Sombra, and Nightmare Moon was essentially a self-aware dream that communicated with her. Could they too be brought to life by whatever magic was at play here?

Because...amidst all the confusion and horror of the Underworld... she had dreamed of Celestia. 




When Luna touched down in the ruins of the Everfree Castle, Nightmare Moon returned. 

"Hey, Luna," she said, sounding much less boisterous and confident then Luna was accustomed to hearing her.

"Greetings, Nightmare. Where have you been for so long? You've been gone for days."

"Damn it. Seriously?" Of course, eternal night being the case, Luna was only guessing, but it had certainly felt like that long. "Well, whatever. What have you been doing while I was gone? Something productive, I hope." 

"I found the Crystal Heart, but couldn't find a way to power up it's magic. I also met Queen Chrysalis." 

"Oh, that changeling dinosaur's daughter? Wait...Queen?"

"Yes. I believe Chrysalis is the last changeling alive, since she is traveling alone and looking to defeat Discord by herself." 

"Wow," Nightmare Moon said after a short pause. "That's...unfortunate. She's helping us, I presume?"

"I'm afraid she is not. She blames me for contributing to her mother's death." 

"Well that's just stupid. She's stupid. You weren't even around when it happened."

"Perhaps," Luna shook her head sadly. Empathy was still something Nightmare Moon hadn't quite grasped, apparently. "Personally, I think she has every right to be angry with me."  

"Hmm, well, whatever," Nightmare Moon said again. There was a sort of...demoralized quality to her voice that made her sound very, very different. 

"What exactly did you do down there?" Luna started wandering through the rubble towards the staircase that would lead to her throne room. 

"Surely you've noticed the..err...strange happenings regarding our adventure four years ago?"

"I've noticed things that defy all sense of logic. The sound, the darkness of the 'Underworld' are in plain sight here, too. But that was a dream." 

"Not for much longer. Question: have you seen Discord yet?"

"No, I have not." 

"And that doesn't strike you as odd?"

"Yes, it certainly does." 

"Me too. I thought that perhaps what we are observing is Discord's doing. And while I still have no proof, I DID determine that whatever's causing all this to happen isn't you. There's no way this can be your doing."

"And yet it is things only I dreamed." 

"Ah, see, that's the thing. While it's not your magic intentionally making them appear in reality, it is still your mind conjuring them up. To break it down simply, you fear something, you have a nightmare about that fear, and then something uses their boundless magic to bring that nightmare to life."

Luna kicked a stray stone and listened to it skitter down the steps she was slowly ascending. A flash of white moonlight from below and the sound of crunching glass was the only sound as Luna reached the top and traveled through the gap where two wooden doors had once divided the Castle from the courtyard.

"Nightmare, it's a fine theory, but it makes no sense. Firstly, why would it be necessary? I hardly think Discord has run out of ideas where he needs to stoop to such outlandish extremes. And what use would it be to him anyways? Secondly, how would he even know what it is I am dreaming in the first place?" 

"Well, to answer the second question, the same way as you. You watch ponies dreams all the time, don't you? I'm sure Discord, Spirit of Chaos, can do it too," Nightmare yawned and continued, "As for the first question, think of it like this: you're not supposed to be awake at all. You're supposed to still be dreaming up nice little nightmares for him to terrorize your own subjects with, while also fueling him with your magic. Basically, Discord is achieving free chaos tailored to specific ponies without actually having to do anything."

"So...you're suggesting Discord intended to use me as a mother-node of sorts, basically distributing nightmares across Equestria unwillingly? And using his own magic in addition to my dreamwalking magic to accomplish this? I...I suppose that makes a little sense. It still does not explain why it is only now that it's happening. I was asleep for four years and in that time—"

"Don't even finish that sentence, Lulu. How exactly do you know it hasn't been happening in that time? It has only risen in intensity because you are awake and your magic is much more active. And another thing. Discord isn't using his own magic at all. It all seems to be emanating from...you, Luna."

"But you said I wasn't the one casting—!"

"I know what I said! All those black clouds you're seeing in the sky now? The same ones as from the Underworld? They seem to be the powerhouse. And then the Tree of Harmony is the transmitter." 

"And Discord created the clouds?"

"No. I created the clouds. Unintentionally, by being in your mind," Nightmare Moon confessed, the reason for her demoralized tone finally becoming obvious to Luna. "Normally, they'd just try to spread until they've taken over your mind and left you as a near emotionless shell. Like...like the night you killed Celestia. It's a damn miracle you grasped control after what happened. I haven't seen anything like that."

Luna flared her nostrils in sudden fury at the exposure of even more lies from Nightmare Moon, finally brought to the light. Yet another addition to the endless stream of guilty confessions and mind-boggling revelations from Nightmare Moon. Truthfully, they were all forcing Luna to seriously regret agreeing to Nightmare Moon's offer for friendship. She didn't doubt for a second that Nightmare Moon did not feel remorse for the trouble she had caused, but the fact that she thought it acceptable to hide the truth from her so frequently and for so long almost infuriated her. 

"Anything else you want to tell me, Nightmare Moon? Any other sudden facts that completely change everything?" 

"Well...I confessed to being the cause for the spread of darkness, which I suspected you already knew anyways. But the dream-to-reality manifestation isn't my doing. THAT is Discord's. I should've known that slimy draconequus hadn't left your mind undamaged when he locked us into that comatose stone statue."

"I see. So you're saying Discord infected me with some of his own magic?" 

"I know what you're thinking Luna, and no, you CAN'T use it to your advantage."

"I wasn't thinking of using it to my advantage," Luna began. She was walking through the throne room now, which was starting to become overgrown with some of the Everfree vegetation that did not require sunlight. Vines and dark green leaves were climbing up the walls and snaking their way across the floor comprised more of dirt then it's original smooth stone.

Nightmare Moon wasn't going to be impressed with what she was about to suggest, but nevertheless Luna decided to try as best as she could to convince her. Then again, why should she even care what Nightmare Moon thought? She wasn't the one in charge, after all. 

"I was thinking more about...the possibilities of lifeforms I dreamed manifesting themselves as well." 

"Of course it's possible. I imagine it's happened before, with monsters and stuff."

"Exactly. So then if it's possible...perhaps it is also possible for Celestia—" 

"NO! Luna, come one! I thought you were over this! She's dead, and I'm afraid you're just going to have to deal with it!"

"But why not?" Luna snapped, stomping a hoof. "If it's possible then what harm would there be—" 

"What harm? Are you serious? What shortage of harm would there be if we tried to keep alive a version of the most powerful alicorn in Equestria, created by dark magic and chaos energy?!"

"The only thing we've seen is the existence of dreamworld manifestations. We have no proof that their presence alone is harmful."

"Yeah, well, even if that was true, it wouldn't even be your sister. Would you be alright with that? Or, wait, better question! Would SHE? Imagine if she had a say in that matter, would she really want some flawless dreamworld clone replacing her because her stupid sister was too weak and pathetic to let go?!"

Silence followed, in which Luna slumped against her tipped over throne and ran her hoof through some of the dust that was either her or Discord's former stone statue. Nightmare Moon just didn't understand. To Luna, not doing anything and instead batting an eye at the very possibility for helping Celestia was more weak and pathetic, but at the same time she couldn't help but wonder how indeed Celestia would have reacted. 

Even if she was successful, and there was no catastrophic dark and chaos magic attached, it still wouldn't be Celestia. In her dreams Celestia would be absolutely flawless, a mare of zero mistakes and moral imperfections. And that wasn't what her sister had been. Everypony made mistakes and did bad things, and deep down Luna knew her sister was no exception. What was done had been done, and it was time now for Celestia to rest, and for Luna to finish what she had started four years ago. Before the changeling race's near-extinction, before her and Nightmare Moon's friendship, before any comatose nightmares and ghosts of her past ravaged her present. 

"Let's end this," Luna whispered, rising from the floor and taking a deep breath in a fruitless attempt to stave back her fear of what she was about to do. 

Through a hole in the ceiling she shot a single concentrated burst of magic shaped into a long, rising streak. Like a roman candle it soared, higher and higher, before exploding into a brilliant display of flaring lights. She shot up a few more for good measure, and braced herself for what was to come. 

"You think that'll be enough to get his attention?"

"No. But this will be." 

Luna took off into the air, flying through the same hole in the ceiling where she had shot her magic and landing on one of the protruding sections of the castle roof where a statue (most likely a gargoyle) had once stood. Now, she stood with her wings unfurled proudly, unwittingly mimicking the ferocious mythological beast's pose. Knowing that there was a high chance she was looking at it for the last time, Luna took in the sight of Equestria. Far above, the clouds had already begun forming some sort of vortex, which was pulling leaves and small bits of dirt upwards. It was growing by the second and before long she knew it would start pulling heavier things as it did, while simultaneously spilling out it's black smoke. It wouldn't stop until either all of Equestria was covered in it's darkness, or the creature fueling it was dead.  She took a deep breath, cleared her throat, and spoke softly while casting her magic.

"Hello, Discord," she said quietly, but her magic carried it as a multi-toned and synthetic sounding din. It was a variation on the Royal Canterlot Voice that she hadn't ever had the use of until now, designed to carry across miles while maintaining the same tone of voice of the speaker. 

"You know who this is, I imagine, and that I have returned from the stone prison you created, but I'm sure many of my subjects do not. I'm not speaking to you, Discord, when I say that no harm will befall you. I'm speaking to you, my children." 

She paused, listened to the last echo of her own voice bounce off some mountain or gorge miles away, before continuing. 

"My dear subjects, in an hour's time there will be no more need for the fear I know you all possess. I, Princess Luna, have returned to my land, only to find that it has been ravaged by this fiend. I speak of course of you, Discord. Don't think I intend to take any of your actions lightly, nor that you shall receive any forgiveness for what you have done to not only my ponies, but the changelings and other races who have had the misfortune of falling victim to your tyranny. And don't think that I have mercy to spare on you. My apologies, Discord, but my subjects come first." 

She let her magic die away, knowing that she would need every ounce of it for what was going to happen next. 

"You can do this, Luna," Nightmare Moon said warily. "And hey...if not...at least we gave it our all, right?"

Luna didn't have a chance to respond, because just as she opened her mouth to do so she felt a distinct change in air pressure. It was the tell-tale signs of something big teleporting her way from a long distance, and it wasn't unicorn magic she was sensing. 

She heard Discord long before she saw him, his characteristically drawn out chuckle just as familiar now as it had been four years ago. When she finally did see him, he did not so much appear as much as he manifested himself from the shadows. As the darkness formed itself into the distinctive shape of the draconequus, Luna felt as if everything suddenly stopped. The wind that had been blowing on the trees froze, as did the ascending particles and the flashes of lightning coming from the clouds above. As a result, the area around Luna's castle remained brightly lit by the stationary lightning bolts. 

Discord was colorless save for his yellow eyes, but with one final forced laugh, his color slowly seeped into his fur, albeit faded and worn. He looked like something out of a long faded and sun-bleached painting. The same dark magic that was coating Luna's skies was billowing off his fur, and most prominently from his paws. He gave Luna a ferocious grin that was no shortage of terrifying, and was enough to cause the black alicorn to take a single step backwards. 

"Well well well, Princess Luna! Good to see you after so long! How has being a creature of nightmares been treating you? You sounded a bit tense on your sweet little announcement. I'm all for humor, but even I think that was distasteful."

"Shut up, Discord," Luna growled, "I meant every word of it."

"Oh, I'm sure you did. Hence why I found it humorous," Discord cleared his throat, before materializing a clipboard, felt pen, and his characteristically silly reading glasses. "Well, before you exact your venegance, Looney, let's just take a moment to analyze what right you have in judging me. Did I plunge Equestria into eternal night? Oh, my, it looks like I didn't," With the felt pen, he casually checked off some point on his clipboard, with the calmness and organization she'd expect to see from Celestia doing paperwork. 

"What else?" he continued, "Shamelessly murdered a defenseless draconequus in cold blood? Nope. Destroyed the Elements of Harmony forever? Nope. Oh! This one's my favorite! I'm sure you're familiar with the tragic demise of dear Princess Celestia—" 

"Shut. Up." Luna repeated, successfully vaporizing the clipboard and pen out of Discord's hands. "I know what I've done. I'm not proud of it, but I'm also not—" 

"Oh joy! Is this the part where you rant about redeeming your past sins, and that by saving Equestria from a greater evil, you'll some how be forgiven?" 

"Oh, I hate this guy," Nightmare Moon muttered. "Don't let him get under your skin, Luna. He's just trying to piss you off."

"Yeah, well, it's working," Luna instinctively answered aloud. Discord grinned in surprise and amusement at what he saw as Luna talking to herself, while she cursed her own stupidity. She really had to find a better way of communicating with Nightmare Moon that didn't make her look insane. 

"Still traveling with ol' Moonie, are you? And here I thought she'd come around, instead of falling victim to all that friendship dribble. Her loss, I suppose. "

"Tell him I said 'Go to Tartarus.'"

"Nightmare Moon says she's unfazed by your words," Luna told him instead. 

"Yeah? Because she's completely innocent, right? She isn't responsible for all this dark magic flooding Equestria. Nope, she's the ever compassionate, do-good Nightmare Moon! I'm sure the night she took over your mind and helped you kill Celestia was all done with the best of intentions, right?"

"Go to Tartarus," Luna grumbled through clenched teeth. 

"Aw, you seem grumpy, Looney," Discord's smile sent another tremor of anger down her spine. "Y'know Luna, you impressed me four years ago. I didn't think you'd do it. I thought cold-blooded murder of a defenseless creature was beyond you. You actually did a lot of damage, I'm sure you would be pleased to hear. If it weren't for my natural genius I imagine you actually would have succeeded in killing me." 

"What are you talking about?"

"I wasn't exactly unharmed by your little stone-breaking lightshow hissy fit," With a snap of his fingers, the two of them were suddenly standing in a glowing, hologram-like version of Luna's throne room. There, she saw herself, standing in an offensive position while facing Discord who was encased in stone. 

"I'm sorry, Discord!" Her past self wailed as her horn burst to life, sparking in anticipation of what would be a massive energy release. "I'm sorry I'm not the mare my sister was!" 

Luna remembered closing her eyes at this point, and sure enough her past counterpart mimicked what she had done. This time, Luna had a clear view of her magic strike Discord, but what happened next she was less than prepared for. 

Discord must have slowed down time, because it seemed to creep to an agonizing crawl as the stone exploded the moment her magic collided. She watched as it gradually flew away in every direction, but what was shocking was that even as it did so, the outline of Discord's form was visible the whole while. Once again, with the exception of his yellow eyes (which were opened wide in surprise) he was colorless, a mere black silhouette.

"Yep, you almost did me in," Discord said, looking at his past projection with simple curiosity. 

"W...what am I looking at?" 

"Considering I was turned to stone, you're looking at the destruction of my being. Of course, draconequus don't have to be bound by your little Equestrian laws of reality, and to you ponies I'm really more of an entity. Destroying my being isn't going to kill me completely. Now shut up and watch, this is my favorite part." 

While Discord munched on a bowl of popcorn he'd created, Luna watched in horror as Discord's shadow counterpart suddenly exploded into a mist of the strangest type of magic Luna had ever seen. It wasn't the normal sparkling aura she'd seen alicorns and unicorns use, but instead was a hellish mishmash of chaotic dissonance. It was seemingly ever color at once, as a result it all faded into a dark purple. Green lines zigzagged and crosshatched across the shifting cloud of energy, giving it a sickeningly isometric looking perspective. Luna was more than certain what she was seeing was a limited version of what was actually in her throne room right now, rendered to the mere basics that her mind and senses could comprehend. It was chaos incarnate, the literal essence of the word. 

Past-Discord's stone body was still flying through the air while her past counterpart continued releasing magic in slow motion, when the chaos energy suddenly bounded towards the assaulting alicorn. 

Luna felt like screaming for her past self to move, open her eyes, do something, but doing so would be an act of pointless foolishness. The chaos energy that was Discord suddenly began flowing into Luna's sputtering horn, and then just as suddenly as it had all begun her magic ceased, the final bits of stone hit the floor, and time resumed. 

"What...what just...what did..." Luna stuttered. 

She thought the memory induced vision Discord had created would have ended there, and she knew exactly what should have happened next, but to her surprise it do not occur. When she should have collapsed to the floor and call herself a monster, like she recalled, she instead remained standing in the same offensive stance while her body slowly started turning to stone from her tail. She showed no reaction to what was happening, and in a matter of seconds she was in the exact same position she would wake up in four years later. 

"It was a last resort, of course," Discord drummed a quick, playful rhythm on Luna's rocky skull and grinned at her speechless present day self. "Oh, not turning you to stone, that was quite fun. No, I mean hijacking your dreamwalking magic. Right here, you just destroyed a lot of my own, so consider it payback." 

"I don't understand." 

"Oh, sure you do, Luna! Think about it!" Nightmare Moon sounded genuinely distraught and frustrated, "Besides Discord, you're the most powerful being in Equestria. And right now, this moment in time that we just watched, you just became the most powerful being. He's been leeching off your magic ever since! That's why his influence has been so weak!"

"Discord," Luna stepped forward and looked into her own stone eyes, which in their final moments had suddenly jerked open in fear and realization. "You've been using my magic? But why?"

"Because if not—"

"Shut up, Nightmare!" Luna hissed, earning an amused snort from Discord.

"Yes, Nighty! Shut up! She's finally starting to understand! What a shame for your fragile little friendship, but I guess it was good while it lasted. Now then, I believe you asked me a question, Luna?" 

"Answer me, Discord! You might be in an eternally gaming mood but I currently have a kingdom to liberate!" 

"Fine, Looney. But only because you asked so nicely. Yes, I did steal a bit of your dreamwalking magic, so that I could make sure each and every one of your ponies would have nightmares about me. No sense creating chaos if the ponies you're terrorizing don't know it's you doing it. Eventually I regained enough power from their nightmares to finally start inhabiting a physical form again, but as a side effect to me using your magic, elements from the dreamscape prison I made for you started seeping out." 

Discord laughed and motioned towards Luna's frozen stone statue. 

"Looks like my magic was too much for your pretty little princess mind to keep contained. The only way to stop it is to stop your magic. So, I apologize, my princess, but you're not the only one out for blood to save Equestria."

"Nightmare Moon. You knew this, didn't you?" 

"Of course I didn't, Luna. He's probably bluffing."

"You liar," Luna heard herself say. Even a filly could've heard the insincerity in Nightmare Moon's guilty sounding voice.  "All you've ever done is lie. "

"That's not true, Luna. Please don't say that. I just didn't want you to loose hope completely."

"You're still lying!" Discord didn't even matter to Luna anymore. Nightmare Moon had quickly become a greater problem. "I called you a friend! I actually was foolish enough to think that. You knew I had to die and you didn't say—" 

"Luna. Please. Listen to me. You don't have to die," It was still there, the untrustworthy tone to Nightmare Moon's voice, the deliberate and tell-tale signs that what she was saying were complete lies. "I get it, you don't trust me, but be aware that you're putting my word against Discord's. Not to brag or anything, but I think I'm the lesser of the two evils."

"Oh, you girls must be having the most adorable little argument," Discord mused. "Such a shame I can only hear one side. Well, you called me here, Luna. Do your business."

With a snap of his fingers, they were back in the ruins of Luna's Castle with the time-stopped lightning storm overhead. The vortex, however, was still swirling just as violently, pulling bricks and mortar upwards until it vanished forever, while it continued spilling out perverse darkness into her world. Even loose feathers from Luna's unnaturally injured wing were pulled away.  

Discord didn't waste anytime in starting his assault once it became clear that the time to carry it out had begun. The stone wall behind Luna exploded into nothingness in an instant as she dodged and rolled from the sudden barrage of attacks. She leaped into the air as soon as she had the chance and began beating her wings faster than she ever did in her life. 

Luna blew a hole in the side of the wall, folded her wings and legs tight against her body, and flew through it without missing a beat, and quickly whipped around to face her castle now a few hundred feet below. At this height, she could prevent any senseless destruction of Equestria, whose protection was her primary concern. 

But that wasn't the only reason she was so quick to be out in the night sky. The stars and moon had since been veiled by the vortex of darkness above, but Luna knew her night sky better than the back of her hoof. Another blast of magic straight upwards utterly decimated a large portion of the dark clouds and the moonlight suddenly shot through. Knowing she had only a few seconds until Discord caught up, she closed her eyes and called on the power of the Moon. A power that was enough to kill a normal pony in an instant, and now one she would wield with complete ease. 

"Hello, old friend," she smiled as she felt celestial power start flowing through her veins. The Moon might require her to raise it, but similarly she required it's power to remain the ageless and powerful alicorn she was. And the Moon had no shortage of power to lend her when she needed it the most. She hadn't felt this much power since the Elements of Harmony had last been used.

When Discord teleported in the air next to Luna, he did not see the black alicorn so much as he saw her outline, for the rest of her was enveloped by an aura of silvery light. It surrounded her as a vast sphere of pure energy. Her blackish-blue coat had lightened in color so that it looked more like watery dewdrops at dawn. She was a beacon in the sky, and for the first time, Equestria saw hope. 

"If you think..." Luna grinned, shivered as an electrifying burst of flowing magic coursed through her, and continued, "If you think even for a SECOND, Discord, that you are standing on safe ground..." 

The last of the Moon's energy forced her to close her eyes and accept it, but when she opened them again she was still grinning, now looking at Discord through white, pupil-less eyes.

"...I strongly implore you to reconsider." 

While Celestia's aura of solar magic was capable of transforming her into a blazing inferno, Luna's aura was a freezing sphere of cold that surrounded her in a sphere with a diameter of almost fifty feet. 

Discord rose an eyebrow in surprise and curiosity at Luna's ascended appearance. Perhaps this would be a challenge after all. So be it. It would be all the more entertaining.

In synchronization with Luna's rapid growth of magic power, the vortex above was now a mad swirl, uprooting entire trees and pulling them up. Equestria had ten minutes at best before all of it's skies were flooded with the corrupt darkness, which would eventually seep into every pony's mind and render them as senseless zombies of evil and despair. So many lives, instantly so meaningless and insignificant. To Discord, they were. To Luna, they were the only significant thing left. 

With a flicker of a devious smile, Discord snapped his fingers and another alicorn appeared, undoubtedly summoned by him. He had summoned an image of the one mare Luna felt she could never strike down again. 

Luna's magic flow died for but a second as she beheld her sister in the air in front of her. No, not Celestia. Discord. 

She didn't attack her, whatsoever. No shield was cast and no celestial power was harnessed. Discord had wanted Luna to be the first to strike. To see her once again fire a lethal blast at the sister she'd already murdered was all too beautiful a sight for him to miss out on. He wanted to play with her emotions, invoke guilt and pain and longing, and it was certainly working. But she had to do it. 

Celestia was looking at her with sad, pleading eyes, but Luna did not hold back as she formed a sparking ball of energy out of the magical aura around her. She contorted and shaped it into a perfect sphere of light, and before she could hesitate she flung it at her sister and forced herself not to give Discord the satisfaction of her looking away. 

It made contact, and the second it did Celestia exploded into flame and burned away like tinder. Out of the suspended, roaring flames, she reemerged, the same pearl white alicorn no longer looking at her with sorrow and now looking at her with fury. 

"My poor little sister," Celestia cooed, the same fire that was burning where her mane should be also flitting through her piercing glare as she eyed down her polar opposite hovering in front of her. "Luna. Or, Nightmare Moon, if you prefer." 

"You're no sister of mine." Luna said firmly in reply, keeping her eyes locked with Celestia and unwilling to break contact. "This game isn't working, Discord. I'll dispose of this pathetic imitation and then you'll be next. You're only delaying what needs to occur." 

If Discord was still watching, he did not respond, but Celestia did. 

"Luna, Luna, Luna. Always a child, even when you're wielding the power of the moon itself. You'll keep slaying pony after pony even after murdering your own sister, and you won't stop. And for what? Eternal night? Recognition? Equality?" Celestia let out a sickening chuckle, "Like you deserve anything more than a couple eons on the moon to try and get your spoiled little mind sorted out." 

Celestia was a burning beacon of pure heat and fire, her aura matching Luna's and causing the ice on the outer reaches to turn to water and fall to the earth as rain. Her mane, tail, and eyes all sparked with the inferno of the sun, yet her snow-white coat remained completely untarnished. 

Even so, Luna could see the tell-tale traces of dark fog spilling off her into the night, showing her without a doubt that this was another one of Discord's reality manifestations. Another monster she'd have to slay, and not her beloved sister. 

This time, Celestia wasn't holding back to judge Luna's power. In an instant the flames surrounding her built higher, driving the ice of Luna's aura into steam and water while beads of sweat dripped down the black alicorn's face. 

Princess Luna snarled and as if commanded by her furious cry, her own aura grew in intensity and she started beating her wings as she charged towards the insulting image of her deceased sister. 

There was no clashing of magic, instead Luna collided with Celestia and pushed her towards the earth with a heavy kick of her hindlegs. Celestia fell for a short distance, before whipping her wings out firing an orange beam of solar energy as she glided. Discord's aim had been sloppy and frenzied, but Celestia's struck Luna easily and was only barely stopped by her aura. Nevertheless it was still enough to knock Luna back and leave her dazed long enough for Celestia to catch up to her hovering sister. 

A sudden glimmer of moonlight danced in Luna's peripheral, and before she knew what was happening, the feeling of cold metal crept across her neck. 

"You're not Celestia at all," Luna could have laughed, had she not felt so terrified. The sharpness of the blade rubbing against the hairs of her mane was enough to deter her from any sudden movements as she beat her wings to hover in place."You're my sister in appearance alone. End this charade and fight me properly, Discord." 

"First the new changeling Queen and now you," Discord's voice answered back, sounding out from everywhere in the sky. "It's been quite a productive night indeed." 

"Chrysalis," Nightmare Moon said. "Damn it, I hope he's not talking about her."

"Time to die, Luna," Celestia and Discord said in unison. 

Luna instantly folded her wings and descended into a dive, the blade intended for her neck instead harmlessly chopping off a portion of her tail.  She fell and turned her wings in a glide pattern that was intended to take her back towards the castle. Her coat was soaked with slush and sweat, and she was shivering head to tail, fueled on by adrenaline she'd never felt before. The roof of the castle was covered in many large window panes, and Luna shattered through easily and fell into the main hall where this whole damned business of eternal night had first began so long ago. 

Another solar beam struck her, once again throwing her carelessly to the side and causing her to crash through the solid wall and into the next room over. Her back crashed hard against something as her movement suddenly ceased and her vision was instantly flooded with dust. 

No pain registered, but Luna felt blood trickling down her coat even before the severity of the injury crept from beyond the veil of dust. She must have fallen straight into a solid wall of concrete, because a jagged steel portion of reinforcing bar was now lodged through her wing. 

"Shit!" Nightmare Moon said in shock. The bar was more than an inch in thickness, an important enforcement for an immense turret for a forgotten castle.  "A...are you alright Luna?"

"Why...why is it always my wing," Luna panted in response, wincing as she tried to move it and finding the wing held firmly in place by the rebar. Still, her wing was a welcome alternative to her flesh, which had missed only by about two feet.

Nightmare Moon didn't have a chance to respond, because Celestia was now walking towards her with a crystalline longsword balanced in her telekinesis. It was a savage weapon, a hulking mass of steel designed to break bone and shatter shields. It wasn't a weapon Celestia had ever nor would ever use, and seeing her sister wield it now further exemplified to Luna why she must defeat such an inaccurate representation. 

As the blade was raised upwards with unmistakable finality, Luna stuck out her tongue and ripped the heavy piece of metal from her wing seconds before it made contact. Metal struck metal, and the dust was lit with sparks as Celestia snarled and tried again and again, the blade bouncing against the rebar almost harmlessly. The vibration alone was almost enough to send it flying from Luna's telekinetic grip, but she gritted her teeth against the pain and continued deflecting Celestia's repeated assaults. 

The song of singing metal ceased as both sisters stopped to look at each other, Luna panting and Celestia frowning with subtle disappointment. 

"Very good, sister," Celestia said. "Not such a defenseless filly after all." 

"I'm not...your...sister!" Luna screamed, bringing the rebar down against Celestia's blade. Her sister was shocked just long enough for Luna to grab both blade and rebar in her magic and send them both flying behind her into the forest beyond. 

Discord's Celestia manifestation had just enough time to look surprised before Luna let loose with one final beam of magic and decimated the fake alicorn, her not-sister exploding into the same insipid dark fog. Discord's laughing rung from far above, and Luna dropped the metal bar to the ground with a resonate clang as she unfurled her wings to give chase. 

She found him above the castle again, still beaming at her and looking as if he had no concern for the fight he had just witnessed. 

"I hope you're entertained now, Discord," Luna spat, mentally calling on the moon for more magic and feeling the last of it's reserves flow into her and repair her wounds. 

"Oh, you've been very entertaining, Loony. But you're right. No more charades. Let's end this." 

Once again, Luna fired first,  whilst cursing herself for not grabbing the claymore Celestia had been wielding. Her magic proved next to worthless, but thankfully the beams of magic he shot also bounced and ricocheted harmlessly off Luna's magical aura. Even the occasional impacts were a rarity as Luna was flapping her wings hard and constantly a moving target. On the rare occasion that she was hit, she grimaced against the force of the magic but kept flying without missing a beat. 

The internal pain was a little more of a problem. Her wing was aching and the smell of her own burning feathers filled her nostrils as she flew, and her flight was still a limitation not assisted by the Moon's power. Still she kept on, circling Discord and occasionally firing a beam of energy of her own which also bounced harmlessly off of the black magic surrounding Discord. 

Luna was dodging trees and rock as she flew, when an idea struck her head. Instead of simply skirting around a particularly large section of stone, she grabbed it in her telekinesis and flung it at Discord. Amazingly, it struck, uninterrupted by Discord's barrier designed to stop magic attacks and magic attacks alone. 

She saw the surprise in Discord' face, and wasted no time in charging another beam of moonlight magic. It did not fire as one short burst, but instead as a drawn out laser that she kept trained on the draconequus for a solid five seconds until he composed himself and deflected it. It flew back wildly in Luna's direction but bounced harmlessly off it's own magic shield around her. 

Cracks and dents were starting to form on her magical armor, one solid blast threatening to shatter it like glass. To her horror, Discord saw the damage on her shield too and reformed his malicious grin. 

"Damn it," Nightmare Moon might have muttered, but Luna was too distracted to pay any attention. Her following shrill scream, however, did not go unnoticed. "Luna, look out!"

The magic burst from Discord came straight on. It wasn't even traveling at particularly alarming speeds, and with an almost amused sense of confidence Luna shot a beam of her own and decimated the assault. 

And then a blinding flash from behind sent her spiraling wildly threw the air. The sound of the blast and the shattering of her shield was enough to replace every sound with the same pedantic ringing, and Luna realized as she felt blood trickle from her ears that both her eardrums had been ruptured by it's volume. 

Recovering from her frantic dive, she arced back around in a graceful corkscrew and saw that Discord had multiplied himself with a magical decoy, hitting her from behind when she was busy confidently blocking a shot never even intended to hit her.

"You're going to have to be better than that, Luna," Nightmare Moon hissed, and Luna screamed at her to shut up as she finished her flight maneuver and re-engaged Discord. Even her scream was rendered nearly inaudible by the ringing in her ears that was slowly but surely fading away as they rapidly healed.

She wasted no time in letting loose with another torrent of quickly charged magic beams that bounced and flew wildly in every direction as they were deflected off Discord's shield. Now, with her own shield gone, she had to pay attention not to get hit by any of her own blasts that were flying about. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't seem to land another hit, and she was starting to get exhausted from overly exerting a nearly broken wing and harnessing the power of a thousand ponies at once. With her defenses down and Discord still attacking without cease, she was frequently in the crossfire of dozens of beams of magic at once and was anything but safe from a single one of them.

"Alright, Discord," she thought, turning her muzzle to the ground and descending into a dive. "Time to try something different." 

Letting herself fall for a few more seconds, she suddenly angled her wings and carved a steady U-shape into the sky as she suddenly beat them hard and soared skywards. The pull of the vortex did nearly half the work, but also meant she had to now keep the angle of her flight downwards to avoid getting pulled in. 

Through columns of frozen lightning she rapidly flew, her nimble flying style and long, powerful wings a stark contrast to the small and pathetic draconequus wings Discord had on his own back. The only way he could hope to keep up with her was by rapid and precise teleportation, which was exactly what she wanted. 

"Tiring him out?" Nightmare Moon pondered, "Great idea, Lulu. Just watch where you're flying. These bolts could turn us into fried alicorn in an instant." 

Even when Discord teleported in front of her, she still whipped by him, corkscrewed between flying bolts and frozen lightning, and swerved about like a moth in torchlight. At one point he appeared in front of her and swiftly erected a barrier of chaos magic which she instantly teleported through. When that failed, he instead tried creating a gust of hurricane level winds in an attempt to push her upwards into the swirling vortex only seventy feet up. Her magical aura sparked against it and made a horrible screeching sound, but it also seemed to be keeping her away from it like magnetic repulsion. 

Still, Discord's magic beams were becoming harder to dodge as his frustration grew, and a sudden explosion to her left finally signaled his first successful hit since her shield had fell. 

The pain in her wing didn't register, not even as she started tumbling back towards the earth. The pull from the vortex seemed to have a refusal to keep her aloft, like she was the one thing that it would not destroy. Instead, she descended downwards rapidly, the dark and lifeless trees of the Everfree bounding towards her. 

"No! Not this time!" 

Flinging her wings open and using her magic to force the injured one unfurled, she managed to pull herself out of the dive just enough to crash through ice materialized by her own aura. 

Coughing and shivering, she crawled out of the freezing water and shook herself off. She had landed several yards from the castle, in a small pond that she didn't seem to remember from four years ago. Luna had just enough time to compose herself and re-activate her magic shield which had fortunately recovered from before, when Discord materialized in front of her with none of his characteristic joy. He was bent on killing her with a fiery passion now. 

"You're stronger than she was," he said, "Then again, you always were, weren't you? Is that why you did it?" 

"Discord, I think even you know that what happened to Celestia was something I never intended to do."  

"I should have just killed you while I had the chance. Even if it meant saying goodbye to the rest of your magic. And you, Nightmare Moon..." Discord fueled his voice with even more anger and spite as he carried on. He'd never get a response, but as long as Nightmare Moon heard, he didn't care. "You stupid fool. You have no idea the power you threw away thinking that Luna even cares about you. If she had the chance to free herself from you, she would do it in a heartbeat. Wouldn't you, Luna?" 

It would mean being able to raise the sun again. It would mean not being eternally feared by her subjects because of her ferocious looking appearance. It would mean peace and harmony. She genuinely wasn't sure if Nightmare Moon's friendship was worth enough to justify throwing all those away. 

"Don't answer him, Luna. I don't even care. I would understand." 

Unfortunately for Luna, her speechless look of helplessness served as just a poor reaction to Discord's query. Either way, she looked guilty and ashamed. 

"She doesn't care about you, Nighty. What about your ponies, Luna? What if letting a thousand die would bring Celestia back? Would you do it?" 

"Discord, look above you! Does it look like we have time to sit here playing games?" 

Although she didn't necessarily want to, Luna once again took the first shot, a quickly charged magic bolt that hit Discord in the chest. It was a dirty move, to strike when an unspoken ceasefire had just occurred, but she didn't have time anymore to waste. Desperation was setting in, and although it had previously blinded her decisions and denied her rational thoughts, it was now a welcome veil to stave back her morality and equineity. 

She lashed like a caged animal, using both her magic and her environment to her advantage. Rock and trees were flung violently at Discord, some making it through his barrier to hit him but most disintegrating on impact. 

Discord himself had reduced his own assaults to strictly magic beams, which could only mean that Luna's plan of draining his already limited magic had actually worked. Of course, they were by no means weak magic beams, something which Luna quickly realized as she was thrown backwards by one, skidding through the dirt for a solid twenty feet. 

Her lapse of attention directly after coming to a stop lasted only a milisecond, but it was a milisecond in which another blast once again annihilated her aura's shield. Wincing in as it exploded in another deafening glass-like auditory assault. 

Springing to her feet, Luna used her own magic instead of that of the Moon to block Discord's third blow, and rolled out of the way of a fourth and fifth. Grinning at his sudden advantage, Discord grabbed his opponent in a telekinetic grasp, and threw the thrashing alicorn carelessly overhead. 

Luna heard the smashing of rock the moment she hit the ground, as she continued sliding and smashed her head against a stone surface. Her vision was blurry from the impact, and her magic temporarily jammed by her hindered concentration. Cursing bitterly, she started to rise, but found that she was still pinned by Discord's magic. 

As her vision returned, her courage fled. Looking directly down, all she saw was the endless drop of a ravine, far enough to kill a pony. In her current state of ascended power, it would hardly even be an injury, but that was not the reason for her concern. 

Discord teleported back in front of her, his paw glowing with magical energy as he kept Luna pinned to the ground. She couldn't even find strength to move her muzzle as it was aggressively forced into the hard rock. Discord snapped his fingers, and Luna felt her heart sink as the black abyss of the ravine was replaced by a plain of chaos energy. She'd heard stories of Discord sending ponies into pure unfiltered chaos energy simply as a means of fun or confinement, she'd even helped console ponies who she and Celestia had freed from Discord's chaos realm. Or at least she had tried...whatever they had seen in there had all but destroyed those poor ponies. 

The patch of chaos energy was the biggest Discord could afford to make while still having enough magic to defend himself, and as a result it wasn't very big. Still, with only one wing to help her manipulate her trajectory, she would undoubtedly make it through. 

"An eternity of chaos, Luna. You deserve it more than any of those mortals I sent in there. You'll quickly find out how much your companionship with Nightmare Moon is really worth." 

"No, Discord." Luna gasped against Discord's magic. "Just kill me instead..." 

"Oh, no, no no. You really shouldn't have made me angry, Luna. This could have ended so much better for both of us if you'd just stayed a statue. I don't want you to ever forget how royally you screwed everything up."

"I don't...I don't care what you want." 

A lone rock tumbled down and down and vanished when it went through the portal. Luna tried to thrash and fight and actually managed to break free for a second. She had time only to fire a beam of magic which went wildly astray before Discord laughed and started pushing her over the edge of the cliff, relishing in Luna's frantic kicking and protesting shouts. She spat insults, she managed to force out a few other pointless bursts of magic, but it was all for naught.

"Luna, it's alright. We'll find a way out. It's never over."

She thought a reassuring agreement but internally knew that Nightmare Moon was wrong. It wouldn't all be bad...her magical tie with Discord's chaos magic would probably be severed and Equestria would at least be spared from complete corruption. Even the chaos hell such a realm would entail did not phase her so much as the prospect of eternity, and not being able to die. 

She was ageless, not immortal. She would die like everypony else, but it would take tens of thousands of years. But not if this was allowed to occur. 

No. She said it first in first in her mind and then again out loud, sternly and confidently. 

"No!" 

Dying was not a luxury she was about to have taken away from her. 

Discord's amused grin was instantly cut short as he was hit by an unexpected magic beam from behind. Even Luna blinked several times in shock as the draconequus' hold on her broke enough for her to scramble up to her feet and re-engage the shield. 

Discord slowly turned to face the source of the blast, and Luna did too. It hadn't been her who had fired it, so then who had?

"Get away from my sister, Discord," Princess Celestia growled, her swan-like wings unfurled as long and threatening as she could make them and her eyes glowing white with rage. There was no dark magic this time, no signs of imperfections whatsoever. This wasn't one of Discord's ploys nor her own mind's manifestation. This truly was...

"Tia!" Luna gasped in wonderment. Green magic was billowing from the end of her horn, confirming to both alicorn and draconequus that it had been she who had fired. It wasn't Celestia's natural hue but Luna didn't care. As her surprise died away to overwhelming joy, Luna forgot about Discord and about the imminent doom spinning above and made a wild dash for her sister. 

Her sister caught her aggressive, flying embrace, not breaking her stern glare but giving Luna a comforting nuzzle in return. 

"I thought you were...I thought I...All I wanted to tell you..." 

"I know, Luna." 

"I'm sorry, Tia! I'm so, so sorry!" 

"I know, Luna," Celestia gave her another nuzzle and abruptly separated their embrace. Luna knew that there should be a thousand questions swimming through her head, namely how and why her sister was here, but she simply did not care. There didn't have to be a reason, she was back. 

"Discord," Celestia addressed the draconequus who was still peering in dumfounded surprise at the solar Princesses return.  "I'm not going to let you harm anypony any longer." 

"Tia...what an amazing surprise!" Discord slipped a bit of carelessness into his voice but it was still eclipsed by his rage and confusion. 

Celestia turned back to look at Luna, not breaking the determined flare to her eyes even when she gave Luna a quick glimpse of a smile. 

"Luna, stay where you are. Don't. Do. Anything." 

Before her sister could react, Celestia turned back to Discord and started charging her magic into another assaulting burst. Luna couldn't help but notice that Celestia wasn't making any move to protect herself, instead transferring all her magic into the same concentrated attack. Her sister was no stranger to combat and she really should know that such a move was foolhardy, but whatever her reasoning might have been Luna decided Celestia deserved her trust. 

Before she had a chance to even release her energy, however, Discord's own hit her first and sent her sprawling backwards and crashing hard into the ground. No magical aura, not even a small shield broke the force of the blast and it instead hit her full on, throwing her like a plaything through the air and hard onto the stone. 

"Celestia!" Luna screamed, scrambling up and clearing the distance between herself and her injured sister in an instant. Celestia was breathing heavily and grinning a little, but the force of the injury looked alarmingly severe. 

Luna shivered as she collapsed in front of Celestia's broken body. It wasn't just alarmingly severe...it was potentially fatal. 

"No...not again. I'm not loosing you again, Tia!" 

"That wasn't like her. That was just stupid. Celestia isn't stupid."

"Shut up, Nightmare Moon! Not now!" 

"Luna..." Celestia chuckled even as her sides beat rapidly like she was drawing her last breaths. Discord wasn't advancing towards them, instead he was watching with apathy as Luna cradled her older sister. "It's going to be alright. Trust me." 

"I love you, Celestia! I didn't have a chance to say it. All I ever wanted was the chance to say it!" 

"I always knew, Luna. You never had to say it. But it is certainly good to hear it." 

"You're going to be fine, Tia. Don't go...not again!" 

"Yes, that's good..." Celestia said, sounding bizarrely off-tone....like she was carrying out a different conversation in her mind. More green magic flitted through her eyes as a solid object slipped from underneath her wing and clattered onto the stone. 

It was the Crystal Heart. 

"That's good...that's excellent..." Celestia continued muttering. Her eyes were a solid green now, and specks of black appeared along her fur. Her wings slowly started developing holes, and with a little trouble she started rising to her feet, pushing Luna aside almost violently. She kept mumbling, and as she did her voice slowly transitioned from her calming demeanor into a cold, snake-like multi-tone. 

When her magic exploded to life in a wild green cloud, Chrysalis was visible in her entirety as the white alicorn disguise peeled away in a cloud of magic. Discord's eyes lit up with sudden recognition and pure surprise at the changeling Queen. 

"I knew I should've killed you," he said, shaking his head regretfully. "If you're any bit as pathetic as your mother then it wouldn't have been difficult." 

At the same moment as Discord unleashed another blast, Chrysalis's magic changed from a greenish cloud surrounding her into a straight, blinding beam. Both of their magic collided, love and chaos, and gradually the love energy Chrysalis was firing crept closer and closer to Discord while his own weakened chaos magic shrunk. Discord's eyes grew wide as the love magic finally overtook his own, shattered through his shield, and kept traveling until it made contact and exploded once again, sending rifts of green light far into the sky above and through the dying trees. 

The entire process lasted almost twenty seconds, twenty seconds where Chrysalis was visibly struggling to keep all the love magic she was using contained. It was a surreal sight, watching the conflict between an age old draconequus and a small, barely adult changeling. Luna desperately wished she could do something to help the young changeling, but she didn't know the slightest bit about love magic, other then how immensely powerful it could be. 

The beam Chrysalis was firing was certainly no exception. When it finally ceased Chrysalis collapsed as if fainting and crashed hard onto the ground, both her and Discord landing in almost perfect harmony. Luna ran over to Chrysalis first, but by time she reached the changeling she was already on her feet again. 

"Hello, Princess," Chrysalis panted, chuckling at her own sarcastic tone. 

Luna blinked, looked from Discord to Chrysalis and then at the charred bit of earth where Chrysalis, disguised as her sister, had been hit. 

"How..." 

"How did I survive?" Chrysalis smiled, and pointed down at the Crystal Heart discarded on the ground. "Not as worthless as you deemed it, Princess." 

"I fear it is not the only thing I underestimated. You...you saved my life." 

Chrysalis opened her mouth to respond, caught herself, and let out an irritated snort instead. 

"Are you going to finish him off or what, Princess Luna?" 

"Right! Quit stalling, this is our chance! You can buy dinner or something for Queen Ladybug later, we need to end this! You didn't loose the book, I hope?"

"No, I've got it here," Luna said, withdrawing the pink paperback novel and whipping it open as she started towards Discord. 

"I was wrong about you," Chrysalis said behind her. Luna didn't turn around, but she heard the changeling's next words clearly regardless. "I thought you had murdered your sister...but love magic of that magnitude begs to differ." 

The unintentional irony of her words stung, but Luna still didn't turn nor respond, instead continued pacing ever closer to Discord. 

The draconequus was still out cold from the power of Chrysalis's attack. For all Luna knew, he could already have been dead...it had been a pretty intense blast which had hit him when he was already at his weakest.

"From in the head to out in the world, every thought to action..." Luna began reading, a section of bolded text in an otherwise inconspicuous looking paragraph of senseless literary dribble.  "Hold close this book and through its spell, you'll start a chain reaction..." 

"This is stupid," Nightmare Moon muttered to herself, receiving a stern hush from Luna in response. 

"With magic boundless and enchantment unending, may evil perish with peace extending." 

Green magic suddenly started billowing from the open book, flowing into Luna's horn and flooding her eyes with it's translucent green glow. She shuddered as a tingle crept through her entire body, but kept walking until she was standing over Discord's body. Heaving a sigh, Luna looked down, pointed her horn at Discord, and spoke in a barely audible whisper. 

"Alright, Nightmare Moon. What do I need to do?" 

"Let go, Luna."

"What?"

"You've been fighting back the darkness, right? Well, let go. Stop fighting. Use the book to focus on clearing it from your mind, and straight into Discord."

"O...okay..."

Before the logical part of her brain could catch up and tell her that she was currently carrying out a horribly half-baked plan, Luna cleared her mind, let go of any resistance that was stopping the Nightmare Forces from ending her completely, and gritted her teeth in anticipation. 

It happened instantly. Her heart started thumping furiously in her chest, her vision started swimming with blackness, and she felt her mind start rippling and fading. Her breathing was rapid and frantic, and her legs gave out against her will as she fell to the earth. 

"No, no, no, no!" she muttered over and over. She leaped to her feet, and once again took control of her mind. The Tome of Manifestation sputtered and died as she instantly ended the spell. 

"No way I am doing that. It's suicidal!" 

"Luna...d...do you trust me?"

"Pardon me?" Luna stood gasping for breath, startled by Nightmare Moon's sudden question.

"I know, you probably don't. But..."

"Nightmare Moon, you are my friend and I am thankful for your presence, but...I cannot find it in myself to trust you just yet."

"Well, regardless, the moments slipping. You need to finish this."

"I cannot! I felt them, they were threatening to destroy me! Another second and I would have died!"

"No. You wouldn't have. Please, Luna, you have to trust me. Try again."

"You are asking me to give up my life," Luna murmured, "Because you have a hunch that this will even work."

"I know. It's your decision Luna. But...make it quick."

Looking around frantically, as if to find another option lying in the rubble and ruin, Luna's mind raced furiously as she contemplated whether or not she wanted to do this. Nightmare Moon wasn't trustworthy, not even remotely, and this would be the second time she was putting her word against her own fate. But if she didn't do something, then this would all be over. The vortex above would swallow everything, everypony, and it would all be her fault.

Standing off to the side, Chrysalis was breathing heavily and it looked as though she, too, was urging Luna forwards. Luna looked around at the wreckage of her land, and back at Discord. She really did have to take this chance, didn't she?

"Good luck, Luna. I think we might be parting ways here. Thank you for everything. And...I'm sorry about whatever happens next."

She cocked an eyebrow at that last sentence, but it wasn't enough to dissuade her from repeating the procedure again. The Tome of Manifestation began vibrating as her magic started again, and before she knew it her head was once again throbbing. Her vision quickly blurred and darkened, until it looked as though it was fading completely. Soon the world was black and the only sensation other than her own magic flowing was the insistent drumbeat of the Nightmare Forces trying to burst through her mind.

It seemed as though time slowed when the transfer began, so that every second dragged on into infinity. She just wanted this all to end, whatever the end entitled, but it looked as though she wasn't getting that luxury. Suddenly, Luna was aware of another sound, it sounded as though Nightmare Moon was whispering something. But she sounded different, like her voice was coming from elsewhere.

Like it was being spoken out loud. By tongue instead of by mind. And it was her tongue whispering those words.

"What do you think you're doing?!" Luna screamed furiously. "Nightmare Moon!

Nightmare Moon did not answer. Luna felt her headache finally began to die down, but still everything was black. To her knowledge she had her eyes open as wide as possible and yet she couldn't see a thing.

And then she felt herself loosing consciousnesses.

"Nightmare! What is happening?!" she screamed as she did. The sound of her own voice sounded echoed and foreign, in fact it sounded exactly the way Nightmare Moon's had. The last thing she did before she lost consciousness completely was curse herself once again for placing her trust in the one she had thought was her friend.