It had begun.
Nightmare Moon (formerly Princess Luna) and Nightmare Nova (formerly Princess Twilight) had gathered in secret those of the Lunar Guard who were loyal to them above all else, which was almost all of them and held secret meeting after secret meeting, all leaning towards one ultimate goal, Equestria itself.
And now those plans were all falling into place as most the Lunar guard both inside and outside the castle turned on their Solar counterparts and attacked them, those in the Lunar guard who did not join were considered traitors and were to be given no mercy. At the head of the invading forces stood Nightmare Nova and Captain Steel Blade, Nightmare Moon had gone to confront her sister.
For Twilight it began with just standing by her mother's side from filial loyalty. However, the corruption had just spread from there, especially after dabbing into dark magic.
Nightmare Nova was, thanks to dark magic and some transformation spells, now as tall as her mother and aunt with razor sharp teeth lining her mouth and a gas-like dark purple mane and tail which sparkled like the sky in a state of twilight. Her coat remained its usual lavender colour but her starburst cutie mark had turned black to represent the corruption within her. On her sat silver coloured armor that
matched the set which Nightmare Moon also wore.
"How goes the fight captain?" Twilight calmly asked Steel Blade.
"Those loyal to Celestia are putting up a good fight, but I'm confident we will push through their ranks soon"
"Good."
"Your highness, may I speak freely?"
"You are a trusted friend Steel Blade, you may say what you like, within reason"
"Thank you but... it's just that won't an eternal night essentially tidal-lock the planet and kill all life on this world eventually?"
"Yes... don't worry I talked mother out of that, instead it shall alternate between night and a state of twilight, no daytime and yet it should be enough to keep the planet alive"
"Ah, good to know..." Steel Blade gave a small sigh of relief
"I have stood idle long enough captain, lets re-join our brothers and sisters in the fight"
With that Nightmare Nova took to the skies blasting a few unlucky Solar Guards as she passed.
Inside the castle Luna sat behind her throne having temporarily reverted to her original form, she had sent a message for Celestia to meet her here to finish this once and for all.
The throne rooms doors opened with an almighty creak as an alabaster alicorn walked in, Celestia surveyed her surroundings for any sign of her sister.
"Not another step," Luna warned walking round from the back of the throne into full view.
"Luna! Why are you doing this?" Celestia demanded to know.
"Did you really expect me to sit idly by while they all basked in your precious light!"
"Luna?"
"There is only room for two princesses in Equestria, and neither will be YOU!" Luna shouted as she slammed both hooves into the ground, dark magical energy began to swirl around her as Celestia could only sit and watch, soon where Princess Luna once sat was now existed Nightmare Moon, who lifted of both hooves as her horn glowed a bright blue aura, the moon moved into position and completely blocked out the sun.
"Luna! You must lower the moon! It is your duty!" Celestia pleaded to her sister, those pleads fell on deaf ears.
"Luna? I am Nightmare Moon! I only have one royal duty now, TO DESTROY YOU!"
Nightmare Moon reared back and unleashed a devastating beam across the ceilings supports, causing a large chunk to fall where Celestia would have been standing had she not seen it coming and dived out of the way.
Celestia avoided another beam and flew out the brand new hole in the ceiling into the open night sky.
"Where do you think you're going?" Nightmare Moon snarled giving chase.
Nightmare Moon followed Celestia unleashing beam after beam trying to land a hit on the solar diarch, many stray beams hit the castle causing considerable damage to the structure.
Celestia did several more manoeuvres to avoid her sisters attacks, but she could only run for so long as at long last one of the beams hit their intended target causing Celestia to scream in pain as she was knocked out of the sky back towards the castle, crashing straight into the elements chamber.
On the ground Nightmare Nova gave a sinister smile as she heard her mother laugh out in victory.
In the elements chamber Celestia slowly and painfully got to her hooves, she looked up to her sister in the sky and knew there was only one thing she could do to save Equestria from her insane sister.
"I am sorry sister, but you have given me no choice but to use these!" Celestia proclaimed as she used her magic to activate a hidden mechanism, out of the ground a large pedestal emerged on which six bright coloured gems sat waiting, the Elements of Harmony.
The elements reacted with Celestia's magic, Luna's three having abandoned her the moment she became Nightmare Moon and had chosen Celestia to be their bearer also.
The six gems swirled around her as they all gave Celestia their power, Celestia once more took to the skies and came to a stop with Nightmare Moon dead in her sights.
Nightmare Moon growled in frustration and began to charge the most powerful attack she could, not realising Celestia was now the bearer of all six elements and not believing that she could use them against her.
A single tear slid down Celestia's cheek as she charged up the elements and fired the rainbow coloured blast in her direction.
Nightmare Moon unleashed her spell only for it to completely evaporate on contacting Celestia's, her eyes widened in horror as she realised at last what had happened and was consumed by the elements magic.
On the ground Nightmare Nova screamed in anger and horror as she witnessed her mother being launched into the moon and her silhouette forming on its surface, Luna's new prison.
However Nightmare Nova didn't have time to dwell on it further as Steel Blade caught her attention.
"Twilight! The Solar Guard have received reinforcements quicker than we predicted, we are being overwhelmed."
Tears came to Nova's eyes as their well laid plan unravelled and everything she held most dear was lost in seconds.
"Run," Nova muttered.
"Your highness?"
"I said RUN! I will not ask anypony else to die for me today, especially when this battle is now unwinnable for you, get our ponies out of here captain that's an order!"
"What about you?"
"I have business to take care of..."
"Celestia? You said it yourself the battle is unwinnable now its..."
"ENOUGH! This is not about the battle, its personal. And besides she will be weakened from her previous battle so I may just have a chance, goodbye Steel Blade..."
Steel Blade tried to protest but Nightmare Nova bolted off, flying to the throne room where Celestia had returned to. With no other choice Steel Blade ordered a full retreat.
Twilight stormed into the throne room to find Celestia sitting on the floor surrounded by the stray elements staring up into space, having yet to raise the sun again.
"CELESTIA!" Nightmare Nova shouted in challenge.
"Twilight..." Celestia whispered
"You have no right to call me that name!"
"Please, haven't we all lost enough to this madness? Please stop this, come back to me!" Celestia pleaded to her niece, more tears welling up in here eyes.
"Go to Tartarus!" Nova unleashed a bolt of energy in Celestia's direction, which she barely avoided.
Twilight released spell after spell, some of which were dodged or blocked, but many hit their target as Celestia was too exhausted, physically and mentally to put up any measurable fight or even to call on the elements power once more.
Celestia fell to the ground with Nightmare Nova holding her in place with a hoof on her chest, readying for the killing blow.
"Farewell Celestia!" Nightmare Nova went to release a final beam of destruction magic but thinking quickly Celestia kicked her and knocked her to the side.
The beam Nova released swung violently along the floor before making contact with the Element of Magic, the same element represented on her cutie mark.
Nightmare Nova found herself unable to break off the magical beam as contact with the elements began to cause a magical feedback,
Twilight screamed in pain as the feedback traveled down her horn and into the rest of her body.
Celestia could only watch helplessly as her niece began to glow brightly before seemingly being completely, brutally disintegrated in one giant magical explosion.
Then, Celestia passed out.
As Celestia awoke mere minutes later she moved her head to observe the scene on front of her. The elements of Generosity, Loyalty, Honesty, Kindness and Laughter had all been turned into balls of stone with each element imprinted on, the Element of Magic had completely disappeared.
However, the thing that caught Celestia's attention was the black mark on the floor where Twilight had been standing just before.
"Luna... Twilight... I'M SORRY!" Celestia shouted out in anguish, completely breaking down into tears.
She was still in this state when the Solar Guard found her and began to tend to her injuries.