Luna stood on the base the shadowy moon, looking around at the place she once was banished to, one-thousand years ago. Nothing had changed, except the lighting of the vicinity, due to the sun extinguishing most of the light given off by the moon. She stood on all four hooves, looking around for what she had come here to face for the last time ever; her greatest adversary, Nightmare Moon.
"Show yourself!" shouted Luna. "I know you are here! You always have been, and now it's time to face you for the last time, Nightmare Moon!"
The area was silent for a second, until a large mass of darkness appeared out of one of the darkest areas of the moon, taking the form of Nightmare Moon. Luna stood as brave as she could, as Nightmare Moon appeared before her, staring her in the face with her cold eyes and sinister smile.
"So, you finally have figured it out," spoke Nightmare Moon. "Hahaha! It's about time!"
"You've been haunting me for too long, Nightmare Moon!" exclaimed Luna."It's time that we settled this for good, and I don't care what it takes! I'm ready to pay for the mistake I made two thousand years ago!"
Nightmare Moon responded with a sinister laugh. "How are you possibly going to defeat something that is a part of you, fool!? You cannot destroy a part of you, without destroying yourself!"
"I'm aware!" exclaimed Luna. "And, I'm willing to take that risk!"
"So be it! If you are willing to destroy yourself to save weaklings that you call your "friends," you are more weak than I thought!"
After speaking, Nightmare Moon fired a beam at Luna, which Luna managed to dodge by inches, following Nightmare Moon lunging at Luna, hitting her, and knocking her into a pile of moon rocks. Luna stood up with all her might, and fired back at Nightmare Moon, causing a mere distraction. Nightmare Moon dodged the beam, as Luna locked her horn with Nightmare Moon's, thrusting with all her strength against Nightmare Moon.
Both of them were equal in strength, so to avoid their horns breaking, they broke their lock, and stepped back looking each other in the eyes. Luna was gasping for breath, while Nightmare Moon was unaffected by Luna's attempts of weakening her.
"You don't stand a chance against me, pheasant!" exclaimed Nightmare Moon. "Look at you. You are already struggling to breathe, while I stand unharmed by you pitiful attempts to harm me! Face it, you cannot defeat darkness, for darkness is what you are, and always will be!"
Using her magic, Nightmare Moon spawned two pairs of Shadowbolts.
"Destroy her!" commanded Nightmare Moon.
The Shadowbolts rushed toward Luna, but failed to land a scratch on Luna. Luna responded to the attack by firing beams at the Shadowbolts, and managed to hit them and transport them to somewhere else.
"Who's the coward now?!" questioned Luna. "You are using others to do your dirty work for you. How typical."
"I was prolonging your end, but if you wish to go in severe pain, I shall fulfil your wishes!" shouted Nightmare Moon, as she rushed forward with her horn pointed at Luna.
As a response, Luna managed to lunge toward Nightmare Moon, and clash her horn with Nightmare Moon's. The collision caused both of them to fly backwards, and hit the ground, hard. Both of them quickly recovered, firing beams from their horns, hitting head-on. The beams were both equal in power, but it didn't take long for Nightmare Moon to overpower the blasts, causing Luna to struggle.
"Farewell, weakling!" yelled Nightmare Moon. "Once again, I have defeated you, despite your efforts!"
Just as the blast was about to overpower Luna's and finish Luna, Luna suddenly gained a great amount of confidence in her final moments. She decided that in order to prevent Nightmare Moon from winning this battle, she would have to put all of her might into it, even though it would cost her her life.
"I promised to protect my subjects, and I WILL NOT LOSE!" exclaimed Luna, as she thrusted all of her strength into the blast, immediately overpowering Nightmare Moon's blast. "EVEN IF IT COSTS ME EVERYTHING, I WILL DEFEAT YOU!"
"What?! NO! IMPOSSIBLE!" exclaimed Nightmare Moon, as she was engulfed in the blast, finishing her once and for all.
Luna inhaled and exhaled deep breaths, muttering her last words. "I...have.. done it. Now... everypony...will be...safe."
Luna smiled, as she collapsed to the ground, and closed her eyes, letting out one single tear from her eye.
The area was quiet, as Luna's final breaths dissipated into the blank air. The alicorn's body had faded to a blank color, her hair had stopped waving, and even her crown didn't glow anymore. Luna had fought a great battle to keep everypony safe from Nightmare Moon, and this time Nightmare Moon was gone for good, never to return.
Back In Canterlot
Every pony stood in suspense, awaiting for Princess Luna to return. Twilight stood next to Celestia, as she noticed that the Mare in the Moon had disappeared from the surface of the moon.
"What could this mean, Princess Celestia?" asked Twilight.
Celestia turned to answer, but was stopped as she felt a great impact on her heart, as if she had just lost half of her strength. Celestia put her right hoof over her heart, and immediately started shedding tears.
"Celestia, what's wrong?" asked Twilight.
"That feeling I just felt," replied Celestia. "It can only mean one thing!"
"What is it, Celestia?"
"My sister is-is gone!" exclaimed Celestia.
"WHAT?!" exclaimed Twilight. "She can't be!"
"I feel as if half of my power was ripped from me, meaning that the other half of myself has just passed away!" exclaimed Celestia, immediately breaking down into tears.
"Isn't there anything we can do?!" asked Twilight, in a worried tone.
Celestia tried to think through her tears over her sister's demise, and remembered the spell she had learned two-thousand years ago. "The Harmonic Passive Spell!" she exclaimed. "It's a spell that only alicorns can do, and it's a great spell that can do many things, even revive those with great intention in their hearts."
"I've read about that spell, and to revive somepony, they must have great amounts of courage and non-selfishness to be revived," claimed Twilight. "I believe that Luna has proven herself to have those qualifications ten-fold."
"As do I," replied Celestia. "However, I have not done that spell for centuries, but I must try to save my sister. She has done to much for us, now we must return the favor."
Celestia prepared the spell, struggling to gain enough strength, due to the eclipse still in progress and it wasting her strength. Despite the impact on Celestia, she managed to fire up the spell, motivated by her sister's courage. Celestia fired the spell toward the moon, creating a massive aura of magic, as the spell made it's direction toward the moon.
"Come on!" pleaded Celestia. "Please be enough!"
The aura of magic was halfway into the sky, when it suddenly stopped, because Celestia continued to lose strength. Twilight noticed the struggle, trying to help Celestia.
"What's going on?!" asked Twilight.
"My power is not enough!" replied Celestia. "I need more power, but the eclipse is draining my strength!"
"Princess, I'm an alicorn now, so maybe I can create enough power to progress the spell," claimed Twilight.
"That just might work," replied Celestia.
Twilight didn't waste any time, and charged up a second Harmonic Passive Spell, and fired it into the sky, already noticing it progress toward its target.
"It's working!" exclaimed Twilight.
Celestia noticed otherwise. "It's still not enough!" exclaimed Celestia.
Just as the two alicorns were about to give up, a huge amount of struggle was lifted from Celestia, noticing that there was something going on with the eclipse; above the moon was Luna's cutie mark glowing with radiance.
"What is that?" asked Twilight.
"I'm not sure," replied Celestia, as she overheard something in her mind.
"Sister, I don't have much time, but I'm weakening the eclipse just enough for you to put all your strength into one final attempt to save me."
Celestia was unsure if she had just heard her sister, or if it was only her mind playing tricks on her. Either way, she didn't want to risk losing Luna, so she prepared for one last ditch effort to save Luna.
"Twilight, listen to me," said Celestia. "I need you to push all you have into one last effort, because I think Luna is weakening the eclipse long enough for us to push one last ditch effort."
Twilight didn't argue, knowing Celestia was serious. "I'll try my hardest," replied Twilight.
"This is it," said Celestia. "For Luna!" she exclaimed, as both her and Twilight pushed their strength into their last effort.
The spell aura didn't retract the slightest, and blew into the sky, toward the moon. The moon immediately retracted from the sun, revealing the sun in full form. Celestia's power returned to normal, but one thing still worried her; why wasn't Luna there, alive and well? Only time would tell the answer to that.
Three hours had passed since the eclipse, and Celestia sat in her throne room, pacing back and forth in desperation. The spell should've saved Luna, so why wasn't she back in Canterlot safe and sound? Twilight, along with the rest of the Mane Six stood in suspense as well, doing their best to keep Celestia calm, but it was useless to even try.
Twilight had already explained to the others what had happened, and all five of their reactions were the same; tears. The room was quiet, as Celestia stopped pacing, and stood in devastation. She sighed, as she gave her final order.
"Twilight, I want you to deliver this to the Royal Guard," said Celestia, as she wrote a message using her magic.
"What is it?" asked Twilight.
"It's an arrangement for a funeral," said Celestia, breaking into tears.
"Yes, princess," replied Twilight, breaking into tears herself, along with the other Mane Six. "I'm sorry for your loss."
Twilight grabbed the message in an aura of magic, and proceeded out of the room with her head held down. Just as Twilight put her hoof on the door to leave, a portal manifested in the middle of the throne room, immediately causing everypony's moods to change from sad to happy. Out of the portal, stepped Luna, alive and well.
Celestia, along with the Mane Six wasted no time, and immediately ran to Luna for a hug, knocking her to the floor. Luna was surprised, yet happy at the same time.
"I'm sorry I was gone so long, everypony, but I had to regain my strength in order to have enough power to get back to Canterlot," confessed Luna.
"As long as you are here with us, I couldn't be any happier," replied Celestia.
"Me too," said Luna. "And, I plan on being here for a long time, never to fear darkness again."
Celestia and the Mane Six all smiled, happy that Luna was back, and that at long last, she was free of her greatest fears, forever.
"Not to interrupt your happiness, princess, but what's up with yur cutie mark?" asked Applejack.
Luna was confused, so she turned to look at her cutie mark, which indeed had changed. Her cutie mark had changed from a quarter moon to a full moon.
"What do you think it means?" asked Fluttershy.
"I have no idea," replied Luna. "To me, I believe it represents a new beginning. Just as all of you have done, I have many things to discover, and defeating the darkness inside of me was only the first step into an adventure that will last for the rest of my days."
All of them smiled, agreeing that this was a new start for Luna, now that she had conquered what she had feared for centuries, and now was open to many new adventures.