“Not another step!” commands my sister. No, not quite; though she looks the same she always does, something is quite obviously different about Luna today.
“Did you really expect me to sit idly by while they all basked in your precious light?”
I want to respond, but I can't. I'm speechless.
“There can only be one princess in Equestria! And that princess… will be ME!” Breaking the pedestal, she bursts out laughing. I cover my face with my foreleg as Luna breaks a large hole in the wall behind our thrones, blasting some debris through our banners. She fires a bright, cyan beam toward one of the statues near the roof, pulling her head back, badly damaging the ceiling. It looks like the blast is too powerful for her to control, but she's always able to control her magic. It's almost as if her body forgot the level of control. A large chunk of the statue falls to the floor. I look at the broken stone, and something catches my eye. It looks like a blur of purple, but when I try to focus on it again, it disappears.
I have no time to worry about tricks of the light. I have to stop Luna before she does something she regrets. I fly above her, taking a dominant position, but before I can speak she fires a beam of magic at me, tearing a hole in the weakened ceiling. I land on the floor instead, closing my wings around me.
"Luna, I will not fight you! You must lower the moon! It is your duty!" I realize my anger and confusion show through my words, and hope my sister doesn't notice.
"Luna? I am... Nightmare Moon! I have but one royal duty now: to destroy you!"
She fires another beam of magic at me. I fly out of the hole she made just moments before. If a battle does occur, I will not have our throne room destroyed. Why is she doing this?
As I thought, she followed me outside. The next few minutes are a blur; the thing that replaced my sister firing beams of magic at me, and me dodging. I can think of nothing but sadness.
As I turn a corner, I can see her blast of magic coming toward me. I can see it, but I cannot avoid it, as if my mind has left my body momentarily. Luna and I have fought before, but I realize that this is nothing compared to those spats. The blast hits my chest, and though it hurts as the magic courses through me, it feels worse than the actual level of pain must. It feels like she hates me, and that hurts more than I can describe.
The next thing I know, I'm on the floor of the castle. My bones ache, and it's hard to move. I'm overcome with a wave of sadness. I feel like I'm about to cry, but I fight back the tears.
"Oh, dear sister..."
My sister... she's gone. How could this have happened? It came out of nowhere!
She's gone. The mare flying about outside isn't my sister; she's evil. Bringing about eternal night wouldn't allow the plants to grow, and every creature would die of starvation not long after.
I hate to admit it, but I know what I must do. "I am sorry. You have given me no choice but to use these." As the pedestal holding the Elements of Harmony rises from the floor, I feel a stir of emotions within me. Sadness; my sister is gone, overpowered by whatever it is that replaced her, that calls herself Nightmare Moon. Anger; whatever has replaced her is evil, not just for her plans but for taking over my sister. Regret; for what I am about to do.
...
What am I about to do? I know what the Elements are capable of. They turned King Sombra into shadow and banished him into the Frozen North. They turned Discord into stone. What I am about to do will be irreversible. I... I just hope they can separate my sister from her captor, and not destroy her like King Sombra and Discord.
The Elements circle me, and I fly up to meet her once again.
My sister becomes determined, standing her ground, the power giving the impression of flames from where she stands. I can no longer hold back my tears, as I feel them start to drip down my cheeks. She just fired another beam of magic at me, and I cannot hold back any longer; I fire a beam of magic through the Element of Magic, focusing it and the power of the Elements against my sister.
Please be okay...
~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~
Our wielder is troubled. We agree. Our wielder is disharmonious. We have never felt this before. We have. Yes, we who were held by the younger wielder knew a feeling like this before. We are not being used properly. Our wielder is no longer fit to wield us. Let our wielder live with the consequences.
~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~
“Nooooooo!”
"Luna? Luna, where are you?" Please. Oh, please still be here. "Luna!" Finally I look up at the moon, where I saw the image of a mare among the craters where there hadn't been before, and I realize what must have happened.
"No... no, no, no! Aaaahhh!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It has been centuries, but I still remember that day with extreme clarity, and to this day I regret doing what I did, so much so that that was the very last time I touched the Elements. They're too unpredictable when used without a harmonious spirit. I vowed never to use them again after my failure.