A blast from Celestia's horn shoved Luna into the wall and she had to duck down to evade a follow-up blast. The guards were close to finding them now. Their skirmish had lasted hardly more than a minute when she tore down one of the doors and caused substantial damage to one of the guest rooms on that floor. They had already teleported away once, but the guards were on their heels again. Some disputes were best left to settle themselves; of course no guard would see things that way, not when it concerned the Princesses, but they were too engaged in the fight to care much.
Luna took an unexpected attack pattern when she shot several blasts at her sister. Five in total, and Celestia was too hard pressed to deter the first three, that the fourth, which came at her hooves, knocked her down. The final blast caught her as she fell and shoved her down the hall. Celestia stood up just as many guards stormed through the opposite end of the hall.
"Princesses!" The leader among them shouted, quite confounded, "What's the meaning of this? What are you doing?"
Luna erected a force field to separate herself from the guards and then took off in as fast a flight as she could perform in the tight space of the corridor. Celestia trapped her in a paralyzing spell before they made contact; the time for mercy was over, only to be rekindled when the battle was over. She flung her sister through the wall, out of the castle and spiraling down the mountain.
It did not take long for Luna to regain control of her wings, and she pulled out of the spiral and met her sister in the air. They rushed at each other many times, but neither sister took an advantage in the joust. What few pegasi guards were in the immediate area had already flown out to end the confrontation.
"Stay away," Celestia ordered, "this will be over soon enough. My sister has elected to defy me. I will not allow her clouded judgement to impair Equestria!"
"I should say the same of you!" Luna retorted.
The afternoon sky was growing darker as Luna's rage increased. Storm clouds began to form overhead too, and the guards knew when they were outmatched. This was such an occasion. They flew away, but kept close enough to act should the battle go sourly enough to knock a Princess down towards the ground.
"I believe in Severus Snape!" Luna bellowed as she charged in, then whispered as her sister's equally furious figure drew closer, "so why can't you, too?"
Celestia had formed an actual jousting rod with her magic, while Luna had conjured a large hammer that flew ominously behind her. They charged in close and Luna's hammer swung. The weapons clashed and a light brighter than Celestia's sun flashed before them. Both were knocked back, but neither was knocked down.
Luna looked below her, at the mountain side, for further ammunition. She grabbed rocks and logs and brought up steadily to throw at her sister, who had a similar idea with the darkening weather. The guards looked at each other nervously and all flew back a ways, careful to stay away from Luna's rising tools.
Lightning crashed out of the clouds and Celestia harnessed it to strike at her sister. Luna was already madly tossing the mountainside decorations at her sister. The lightning cut through the logs without a problem, but the stones were tougher to break down, and Celestia had to lunge out of the way of an incoming boulder more than once.
The younger sister was only raising more and more to throw at Celestia, but the Solar Princess found her opportunity and sent a long-reaching blast of lightning down. It whirled and raced past many of Luna's weapons, then lashed out at the her, and knocked her down. Her concentration on the objects was broken too, and they fell with her.
Luna was not able to recover when her older sister teleported down in front of her. A quick strike with a conjured mace plunged Luna down farther, but still she did not yield. Celestia repeated the pattern again, teleporting and bashing her sister downwards, but then she made the mistake of performing the action a third time.
Celestia appeared before her again, and Luna was soon to be knocked out of the sky, but she was able to anticipate her sister's blow, and conjured an anvil to take the abuse. Celestia foresaw a defensive measure, and was not so alarmed when her mace shattered, but when Luna threw the anvil up, Celestia had no counter. She was knocked up towards the clouds just as fiercely as she had previously knocked Luna downwards.
Luna hurled a volley of magical blasts, but Celestia was able to evade them until the two were on an even field again. Celestia formed a mirror-shield, which deflected Luna's blasts back at her. Now Luna was unprepared to deal with her offense, and she was stunned, giving Celestia time enough to rush back in with another weapon, an axe this time.
Celestia's war cry was intense, but it quickly fell to a gasp when Luna's form was sliced in half. She fluttered in disbelief as the two pieces of her sister cried out in pain, then dissolved into fading magic. The real Luna knocked Celestia downwards with a quick fly by, and fired another good blast at her.
'Cloaking and clone forming in the same few seconds,' Celestia realized, 'Impressive. But not enough, little sister.'
Celestia absorbed the blast this time, and stalled, as did her sister. They both had to pull out something big now.
In the midst of it all, Celestia wondered how far Luna was willing to go. Of course backing down was not her style, not how she lives her life. But she wouldn't go overboard, would she? It wasn't that Celestia couldn't overpower Luna, really, it was that she didn't want to. Whoever went in faster, stronger, and harder would come out on top. And the loser's fate depended on exactly how fast, strong, and hard the winner rushed in.
It was all a gamble, but Celestia had to win. How much to bet...how much to risk? Luna began charging in, flying forward with speed that only Rainbow Dash had matched in the last few years. Celestia was still measuring out how rough to be as she mirrored Luna. The air rippled and bent to their wills as they focused their energies on the other. To the bystanders, it must have taken only a couple seconds, if that, but for the Princesses, it was a never-ending moment of agony and fear of the unknown.
The Solar Princess made her move and let Luna's attack, a wave of magical energy, spread out before her, threatening to viciously consume her. Celestia kept a giant hoof construct above her. She let Luna feel confidant in her attack, just enough for her to shift all focus on Celestia...and then the older sister disappeared.
A rapid teleportation later and Celestia was above Luna, and the giant hoof had enveloped the Lunar Princess. Luna's face faded into embarrassment and fear as she realized she fell for the teleportation trick again. Another hoof formed under her, and the two yellow behemoths pressed against her, crushing her with immense force and choking the life out of her.
The wave dissolved into the air as Luna lost concentration and felt Celestia firmly bear down upon her, sapping her of her energy. There was no alternative...except one. One way to escape, but extremely risky. If it didn't pay off, it would all be over. There was no time for debate. Only action. Now was her chance. Go!
Luna's eyes went wide and she struggled to break free as a small spark fell from her horn. The dark magic was not much, but it was more than suited to taint Celestia's construct. The older sister realized Luna's play, but not in time. The yellow hoof quickly morphed into a chaotic black, with shimmering purple and green flashes inside, like bottled lightning.
She could not react quickly enough to avoid it as it moved of its own accord, slapping her away from Luna and violently pummeling her towards the ground. With each hit, a stinging residue of the chaos magic was left on Celestia, spoiling her energy reserves and preventing her from using her magic without difficulty.
Luna wasn't sure how long to let it go, and she watched nervously as the second yellow construct was just finishing its decaying process. Soon, Celestia was panting, her mane and coat had been singed and thrown about by the chaos energy, and she was struggling to remain in flight as the great dark force bared down upon her. Luna could not allow it anymore. Winning was important-but not like this.
She bolted down and threw more magic into the construct, wrestling for control with it as the darkness was steadily replaced by Luna's blue light. It took a moment, but the construct was too weakened to fight off the Princess, and it shattered into millions of pieces and faded into the dark sky.
Celestia was barely conscious, but not ready to give in. The look on her face was one of outrage and disbelief. Luna knew it was a great risk to use Dark Magic, especially if one was so well versed in it as she was. She returned with a look of openness, an invitation of surrender. But Celestia was not the kind to surrender so easily.
All she could muster was a steady beam, but small and weak, and Luna blocked it easily. Then Celestia began to fall as she finally lost to the fatigue.
The recesses of Snape's mind had become a war-torn world. Chrysalis was relentless in her assault on his memory, plans, and psyche. Malum's influence was mostly gone, but she'd certainly been using its effects to her advantage. Snape wondered if he should allow Chrysalis to learn of their...deal. There were too many variables popping up these days. Too many loose ends to tie, as was expected of him to fix.
All he could do, however, at the moment was wait. Wait for the time to come when he could escape her grip, free himself and awaken once more. She caught him off guard last time, but now he was ready to deal with her. She had been terrorizing Cadence, feeding off of her to learn of Canterlot's weaknesses; and of course, her greatest triumph was learning so much about him. Snape was a key player too. He was certainly not above exploitation, if his enemies could catch him unaware. As she had. He brought powerful magic to the world, and Snape wondered if The Guide, the oh so benevolent figure that had thrust him down into this world, made a good decision by sending him to foil this plot.
Secrecy, deception, the willingness to go to extremes, the ability to craft a masterful plan and a network of possibilities, to one day be turned into reality, if need be; and of course, a cold heart, but not an empty one. These were valuable commodities, it seemed, and Snape happened to possess them all. But did he have too much of each? It was certainly not appropriate to overdo it, and Snape had long feared that his powers would be used against him. Technically, they already were, courtesy of Discord. One was more than enough. Chrysalis was easily the biggest threat to him...to everything.
A painful memory ricocheted across his mental concentration. How many times would he have to see that dead body? The cold release of her soul? The hopes that were left forever unfulfilled? Indeed, Voldemort's ruthless murder at the Death Eater conference at Malfoy Manner was striking. He played his role so well that, after a time, he had even fooled himself to believe that he shared no care or sympathy for Charity Burbage. That pleaded cry kept rebounding, echoing, fading and fading away until at last is struck a new cord somewhere else and became just as vivid as when he sat there, amongst the villains, and watched her die.
Another one came bashing along and ruffled his presence. The time Snape had been saved by James Potter. This was not the same kind of pain, but a cousin to it. This was anger, this was the sense of unending uselessness. If James Potter had to, and willfully did, save his life...what did that make Snape other than a burden? A problem? He had to prove himself and his own worth to everyone. To the students and teachers. To James. To Lily, and to himself. In some minute ways, Snape wished Remus had killed him. This pain was not one often felt anymore, but it struck just as deep and loss and remorse did.
Like raindrops, pouring down on Hogwarts during a tumultuous and stormy night, the bad memories came. Chrysalis's arrows, flung at him without much thought. 'Would this hurt?' he imagined her ponder, 'yes, yes his entire life hurts. Fling them at him. Let them pierce his focus and stab his soul one more time. Then again, and again.'
He was dreading the moment Lily would come along. For as much wanton destruction she was causing, she had enough sense to save the absolute worst day of his life for last. To even think of it this long as heartbreaking.
Even his emotions were manipulable, if pressed the right way, folded in the precise spot.
"Get every available doctor and nurse here!" Luna barked as the soldiers rushed into the castle with Celestia's body. As she feared, the dark magic was too unstable. Yet, she couldn't quite have imagined that it would go so far, as if it had been provoked. If anything, Luna had attempted to tone it down, a little.
Many ponies ran to the castle, but one ran out of it, most urgently, it seemed. Princess Twilight's face was more concerned than Luna had ever seen it. She couldn't blame the young, new royal. Luna's face looked the same way, if only on the inside.
"Princess, what happened!? Are you alright?"
"My sister and I..."
"What happened?" Twilight moved to face the Lunar Princess when she ducked her head to the side, but no reply was given. She looked on the edge of tears, and Twilight could already feel several rolling down her cheeks too. She managed to choke it out another time, "What happened, Luna?"
An immense pain bubbled up from Luna's heart, and spread like blood from a stab wound. It might as well have been so bad, "We..., well, we fought."
"Over what? What could possibly be so important to to do that?"
"Over Snape. Over what we believe about him and what to do with him."
Twilight looked down and swallowed the lump in her throat. Luna could see her begin to tremble and shake. Words failed her completely, but her teary eyes shone with more agonizing confusion and unrest than Luna could have ever imagined her showing.
"Twilight, I feel bad enough," Luna admitted, "and I know I've got some repentance to do for this, but right now, we need make sure my sister pulls through, more than almost anypony else right now, I need you."
Twilight managed a nod and rushed back in with Luna as urgent shouting from the medical center rang through the halls.
At this point, there was little more to do than wait things out. Celestia had been stabilized and laid beside Snape. Luna and Twilight had not left her since the emergency began. The dark magic's effects were especially potent, it seemed, because of her state of mind. The theory that emotional condition affected magical outcome was long accepted, but not very much testing had gone into emotion and dark magic, and the medical shock that came from her experience would long be documented. At least she was expected to survive.
But, as nothing is ever simple in these cases, Celestia did not escape so easily. Besides the physical exhaustion and fatigue placed on her body from the duel, she too had been put into a coma. After some testing, it was revealed that hers was not as serious as Snape's, and she would awaken within a week or two, but the damage done to her mind was an unknown factor.
Cadence and Shining Armor had gone to address the public on the situation, and many of them had seen the sisters do battle. It was not an easy announcement, but the news that nopony had died, nor was anypony expected to, made it easier. But now the couple were back in the medical center, hidden from the public eye. They were left to wonder at the future, which was not bright, and wait for the two patients to emerge from their respective comas.
Luna and Twilight and Cadence had been crying on and off, and Shining Armor was dreading the moment he was called to duty. When the time did come for him to leave them, he shed his solider's skin and embraced them all. Moments of tragedy did not affect him like the did his wife or relatives, but Shining Armor was no soulless pony. Cadence foresaw what he labeled as "Liquid pride" popping up soon enough.
At last, when she couldn't bare to dwell on her own thoughts anymore, Twilight was the first to speak up, "How long can we wait here?"
The small but untrue chuckle with her comment only made them all feel more lonely. Cadence had to wipe away more tears from her eyes, and Luna began to pace in front of the beds. The beeping of the monitors and the hum of the lights above them was all encompassing now. Seconds passed like years. Neither could wake up soon enough.
"I shouldn't have gotten so upset...I should have let myself lose..." Luna was muttering to herself, mulling over her actions and beating herself up on the inside. Twilight wanted to stop and reassure her, but she wasn't sure that Luna was wrong. If she had only been willing to lose, or hadn't been edgy enough to be provoked, they could be laughing over dinner right now, instead of crying at bedsides.
'It'll be over soon,' Twilight told herself, 'wait a little while, then Princess Celestia will wake up from that coma, things will be right again. And Snape? Snape will explain things, we'll have the matter worked out.'
Matters such as these were seldom worked out so well, she knew, but sometimes it felt right to lie to herself. Sometimes, the truth was too painful to hear at a given time. So she ignored it, for now, and gave herself something to focus on, something to consume her thoughts so that her soul and mind would not be consumed by the nervous waiting.
For a small moment, even the beeping machines and the rousing lights faded away, and a true relief spilled over Twilight's consciousness, but it was soon shattered.
"Curse you, Severus Snape!" Luna screamed at the human's figure, stiller than a corpse, and just as pale.
Cadence and Twilight looked over to see Luna and leaning her head over his weakly rising and falling chest. She was crying without restraint now, and sobbing curses into his breast.
Cadence looked Twilight in the eye, and their frowns merged into a single concern. Things had never been as dark in Canterlot, not that either of them could remember. Twilight stood up and walked a pace over to Snape's bed, but stopped when Luna sobbed out again.
"I believed in you! I told myself you were a hero! I convinced myself to trust you, and where did it get me?"
"Luna," Twilight reasoned, "please, he's weak enough. Get off his chest; it wasn't his fault. It wasn't-" Twilight wanted to say it wasn't Luna's fault, but...well, she wasn't ready to assign permanent blame her. Not nearly ready.
Luna remained beside him, still crying uncontrollably, "I believed in Severus Snape; I don't know if I can anymore..."
Twilight was joined by Cadence, and they took Luna away, cradling her back to their seats. Twilight tried, but could not get through to Luna. The Princess of the Night still mourned over her fallen sister, and the fallen idol beside her. When Twilight at last gave up, Cadence stepped in. She mimicked Luna's actions from not so long ago, soothing her and calming her just as Luna had done to Cadence that night in the hall.
"I still believe in Severus Snape," She said to Luna, who was about through crying by now.
"...I know it isn't really his fault, but I pushed the idea that he was some kind of...hero, and when I pushed, my sister fell."
"We both know that Snape is here for us. For us all. I look forward to finding him wake up as much as I do your sister. I know that he's fighting for us, even at this very moment."
Twilight listened with awe, as Cadence described Snape, portrayed him in such an unparalleled light. The entire time, she never took her eyes off of the wizard's body. Her mind's eye envisioned him the way she and her friends knew he was on the inside. Even if Snape wasn't their friend in the sense that they wanted, he was a comrade. He was a person they could learn from and treasure in their own way.
"I bet that Celestia won't blame you or Snape for what happened. I think that her good spirit will prevail, and I know that she can't hate you for what happened. She'll come around, and so will he. It's a dark day, a dark time for us, but the dawn is already closer. Just a little bit longer. Just a little bit longer, and the light will come shining again..."
The beauty of Cadence's speech had left Twilight staring blankly, too lost in her own head to worry about her physical surroundings, but something at last did catch her eye. She gasped and pointed at Snape's figure, and the other two looked over excitedly.
He lay still, his hands at his side, his eyes closed, his body hardly drawing breath, but a tear was running down his face too. It was the only thing that disturbed the image of dormant frame. It was a sign of relief. It was a sign of life.
"I think I've soundly defeated you...don't you agree?" Chrysalis asked Snape, her cruel voice bouncing around like a lightning bolt in his head.
She laughed when he did not give a response. All the torturous things she'd done to him had left him both exhausted and dreadful. He hated to realize it, but she had damaged him as much as in just this short time as all those years of first life had. At last, there was nothing left to raise in his head, no ammunition left to fire at him.
Another heartless laugh came, and he felt an odd resurgence of vitality. It was as if she were holding him under water, and he had struggled, just barely retained that essence of life when she raised his head from the water and allowed him to breath deeply again. He felt the shadows withdraw from his mind, and the laughter echoed, fading away through his mind and leaving him.
He raised his upper body suddenly off of the bed. The lights and shapes of the real world assuaged gradually, and he at last settled back into reality. The nurse smiled and walked over to him as he regained his bearings, and called in the guards to alert the Princesses.
"What...happened to me?" He asked the nurse just before burying his head in his hands and reclining back onto the bed.
He removed his hands and stared at the ceiling, feeling worse already, as she replied, "You were sent into a coma. Everypony will be relieved to find you up again."
"How long was I disabled?" He managed to ask.
"A month."