An Unlikely Story

by Eldorado

1 - End of Days

An Unlikely Story:
Sky Shadow and the Empire of the Moon
Alyosha Cartwright

End of Days

Princess Celestia awoke to the sensation of cold stone biting into the side of her face. Her body lay twisted on the floor, her limbs sore and aching. Her once-immaculate ivory coat was sullied with a fine layer of ash and soot. She lethargically lifted her head, taking a look around. Flames were climbing up the velvet curtains in the window, and all the stained glass lay in scattered shards on the floor. Her grand four-poster bed had been crushed into firewood under a falling column. Smoke hung thick near the ceiling in a suffocating black cloud that dimly reflected the eerie orange light of the fire she heard roaring all around her.

Shaky limbs struggled to heave her broken body upwards into the closest approximation of a standing position she could manage. Bits of stone and wood slid off her coat, along with some of the dust and ash. She coughed, fighting her own weight as she tried to get her hooves underneath her and stand. As soon as she was upright, Celestia’s entire skeleton lit up with blinding pain, her fractured bones protesting her movement with their agonizing screams. Tears welled up in her eyes and rolled down her face, mixing with the dirt and grime. Celestia winced and strained to hold her balance, her vision blurred and barely comprehensible. She heard a few beams fall out of the ballroom ceiling far off down the corridor, brought down by the fire sweeping through the castle. The chandeliers jingled as they were struck by falling debris from the ornate hoof-carved ceiling. Celestia hung her head in despair. She should have seen this coming.

---

Celestia’s horn glowed brightly as she dragged the sun down the rest of the way and dipped it majestically beneath the distant horizon. The dazzling oranges, reds, and yellows of the sunset faded softly from the sky, rich blues and purples flooding in to take their place. Celestia looked across the courtyard to the Lunar Terrace, where her sister was bringing up the moon to let the night begin. A cool breeze was rushing in, and soon the silver moon had risen up like a beacon in the blackened sky, surrounded on all sides by innumerable tiny pinpricks of starlight. She was speechless. Luna’s nights were a beautiful sight to behold, in many ways even more so than Celestia’s days.

“Good work, ‘Tia,” Princess Luna greeted amiably as they met in the middle between the two terraces once their work was complete. Crickets had begun chirping in the gardens, but otherwise silence had fallen on Equestria. The cold darkness of night had driven everypony else indoors, where they sought a good night’s rest in warm, cozy beds. Celestia herself would need to retire soon enough; the strain of maintaining the sun throughout a full day was exhausting, even for an alicorn as powerful as she was.

Celestia gazed affectionately at the pale face of the moon high above them. “I could say the same to you. You’ve really outdone yourself this time.” Luna said nothing right away, but simply stood close by her sister and stared skyward. Celestia unfurled one of her huge white wings and wrapped it around her sister, comforting her from the cool air. This was one of the few times they ever got to spend time together as sisters and not as rulers; the conflicting schedules that accompanied their command of night and day kept them apart most of the time. With lifespans as long as theirs, the only fixed point in their lives was each other, as all other ponies aged so fast by comparison. Sharing a few moments together like this, whether they talked half the night or just shut up and stared at the sky, kept them strong and united as a pair. Tonight, Luna said nothing for a long while, and they stood in utter silence staring upwards at the majesty of the night sky.

“’Tia…” Luna broke the silence.

“Yes?”

“I…there’s something I wanted to get off my chest.”

“What is it?” Celestia looked down with genuine concern.

“I sometimes feel like…” Luna trailed off, trying to find the right words. “I feel like nopony appreciates my nights.”

Celestia tilted her head. “How do you mean?”

Luna shrugged. “I don’t know. It’s just…during the day, everypony’s all out playing and happy and enjoying themselves, and then as soon as you put down the sun they all go to bed. It’s like the night is just this awkward useless void in between days.”

“That’s not true,” Celestia defended. “The night is just as important as the day. Ponies need their rest after a day’s work, as do all living things, including us. Night gives them a break from—”

“I know. I’m sorry. Forget I said anything.” Luna broke Celestia’s embrace and left the courtyard for her room adjacent to the Lunar Terrace. Celestia stood and watched her go, leaving her wing unfurled and dangling at her side. Her sister paused before entering the door and looked back over her shoulder. “It’s just…I put a lot of work into making my nights beautiful, and nopony ever wants to enjoy them.” She didn’t wait for a reply, but simply retreated through the door into her room. Celestia slowly pulled her wing back in and retired to her own room on the opposite side of the castle.

---

That had been the first sign; she should have acted on it for sure instead of shrugging it off like that. Some further discussion on the subject, a few comforting words to put Luna’s mind at ease, or perhaps even the creation of a new night-centric holiday as a lunar foil to Celestia’s Summer Sun Celebration…anything to satisfy Luna’s desire for purpose could have prevented the dire situation Princess Celestia now found herself in. But that was long in the past, and there was nothing that could be done about any of it now.

The ceiling in the ballroom surrendered unconditionally to the fire, and Celestia heard the cacophony of wood crumbling apart into ash. Elegant crystal chandeliers fell to the parquet floor beneath, shattering apart seconds before the heavy wooden support beams crushed them flat. The very walls themselves would be coming down soon enough. There wasn’t much time left until the old castle was nothing but a smoking pile of ruined stonework.

Princess Celestia managed to limp over to the door leading out of her room and back into the castle proper. She tried to open it with her telekinesis, and her horn burned like it had been set on fire. She shrank back, crying with the sudden new source of pain. She’d forgotten the punishment exacted upon her by whatever abomination had taken control of her sister–her horn was switched off for good, unless she made it to the main hall in time to undo the damage with the one trump card she had left.

Celestia reared up and pushed against the door, but it had warped in the heat and refused to open. She didn’t have time to be delicate with it. She turned around and bucked hard, her strong legs driving through the sturdy wood of the door and reducing it to splinters. The sharp edges tore her coat, but she had stepped down from the comfort and civility of her royal position already. Another few bloody scrapes weren’t going to stop her now, nor would one stubborn door. Celestia pushed its broken remains out of the way and moved painfully out into the corridor. Her hooves dragged on the floor and her legs cried out in agonizing protest with each forced step. Still she soldiered on, unwilling to admit defeat. She’d make it to the hall, whatever the cost. The stakes were simply too high for her to chance giving anything less.

---

Princess Celestia let her eyelids fall as the sun slipped beneath the horizon and her sister took control of the heavens. It had been a few days since Luna’s confession, and she’d said nothing about it since. Luna had now taken to studying magical history, from the ancient historical analyses of the Elements of Harmony to the more contemporary works of Star Swirl the Bearded. Celestia was content in writing the incident off as an isolated event; Luna was merely a filly in the body of a Princess, understandably confused about the nature of her role in society. It had been a phase, a brief fixation on an insignificant worry, which had now been supplanted by long study sessions in her room. It was doubtful Luna even remembered the encounter. Nothing to worry about now.

The Sun Princess opened her eyes, expecting to see the moon flanked by wispy clouds of bluish fog as it approached its full height in the black sky. But the silver sentinel of the night sky was absent, and a dim haze of red-orange lingered on the horizon. Equestria was locked in twilight. Celestia looked to the Lunar Terrace, but her sister was not there. That had never happened before. Luna was always eager to make a spectacle of her nights, even if she then complained that nopony cared to watch them.

The door to her room opened, and Luna rushed out to take her place on the Terrace. Her horn lit and the moon surged up through the sky faster than it ever had before. Luna abandoned it halfway up, stepping down from the Terrace almost as fast as she had rushed onto it and sealing herself back inside her room. Celestia was puzzled. It wasn’t like Luna to leave nights half-finished. She used to take such pride in them.

“Luna?” Celestia nearly whispered as she slowly pushed open the door to Luna’s room. “Luna, is something wrong?”

“What makes you think that?” Luna was already back inside the small fort she’d constructed out of her bedding, stacks of magical tomes towering around her and only a few candles lighting the pages she had open to read.

“It’s not like you to lock yourself away in your room like this,” Celestia said with genuine concern. “And you never put so little effort into your nights. Usually they’re works of art.”

“What does it matter?” Luna lay flat on the floor, flipping pages with her magic. “Nopony pays any attention to them. Nopony cares what they look like. Why should I?”

“I care about them. They’re usually beautiful. I enjoy them very much.”

“For ten minutes. Tops. Then you go to bed, just like everypony else, and I’m left all alone. I think you’d all be happier if the sun just never set at all.”

Celestia sighed. “I don’t know how many times I’m going to have to tell you this, sister, but the night has its place, just as everything else does.”

“Then why can’t they play at night for once and sleep during the day? Why does it have to be so one-sided?”

“They need the day to see,” Celestia reasoned. “They need light to work and play, just as they need darkness to sleep. Think of what you’re suggesting, Luna…you have to admit it sounds a bit ridiculous.” Celestia couldn’t hide her smile. Luna’s obsession with night appreciation was actually getting funny.

“But we were supposed to share power! Share! As in we were supposed to be equals! We decided that back when we took down Discord!”

“We do share power, Luna,” Celestia saw the sincerity of her sister’s frustration and forced her smile off her face so she could transition back into the wise, motherly tone she had become fond of lately. “I know it may not seem that way to you right now, but you know what they say. The grass always tastes better on the other side.”

Luna shook her head and looked back at her book. “It just isn’t fair…”

“There are worse things you could be than ‘only’ the supreme magical ruler of the entire night sky, you know—you shouldn’t get so upset just because you’re not as important,” Celestia told her. The words had sounded much better in her head, and she immediately wished she could take them back and rephrase them. Luna looked crushed. Celestia had really done some damage with that one. “I’m sorry…that’s not what I meant to say. Both of our jobs are equally important, Luna. Neither one of us can stand alone. Just try to remember that.”

Celestia opened up her wing, an invitation for Luna to come out of her fort for a hug goodnight. Luna scowled and turned the other way, blowing out her candles to darken the room. Celestia took the hint. She was no longer welcome. She bowed her head and backed away humbly, back out into the night chill of the courtyard towards her own room. She was tired. Perhaps a night’s rest would make things better.

---

Celestia laboriously dragged one hoof in front of the other, forcing her battered body down the corridor towards the main hall. Her colorful mane billowed alongside her as it always had, an ironic contrast to the rest of her broken body. Once the proud ruler of the sun and de facto figurehead of all Equestria, Celestia was now a bruised, bloodied shell of her former self, barely able to stand upright on her own. And though Luna had been the one to actually inflict all the damage, Celestia couldn’t help but blame herself.

She’d made her fair share of mistakes over the years, just as everypony else would have if given the same responsibilities. The title of Princess came with an indefinite lifespan, a much better looking body complete with magic hair and stylish wings, and enough magical power to move the sun itself, but even all that didn’t change the fact that, deep down inside, she was still the same young and headstrong unicorn who had dared to stand up to the tyrannical draconequus Discord and his reign of chaos, centuries ago now. She’d matured a bit since then, and learned how to put on the face of an emotionally uncompromised diplomat and peacemaker. But she still understood Luna’s state of mind, the jealousy that had driven her over the edge. The same jealous selfishness had, in part, motivated Celestia to keep the sun for herself all those years ago instead of taking the more artistic yet less publicized nighttime role she reserved for her sister. Had their positions been reversed back then, Celestia would probably be leading a charge against the tyranny of Luna’s day right now. That made the whole thing even more painful—not only was her own sister trying to kill her, but she actually couldn’t truly blame Luna for wanting to.

Luna had been young when they found the Elements of Harmony and vanquished Discord, and even centuries of leadership and real-world responsibility hadn’t purged the adolescence from her. Celestia was the elder and figurehead, and she knew she had little choice in the matter; if she couldn’t act a mature and adult leader with a cool head, Equestria would descend back into childish chaos and disharmony. But Luna was still very young inside, hardly a filly when Celestia decided to drag her into standing beside her against Discord. It was likely she would never grow out of it now, not within any conventional measure of time anyway. If Celestia could just talk to her without it turning into an idiotic sibling rivalry, then perhaps things could be smoothed over and restored to normalcy. But not now. Now was too late for that. What should have never escalated beyond a petty sisterly squabble now threatened to bring the entire nation to its knees, if Celestia couldn’t get to the main hall of the castle in time.

---

Celestia stepped up onto the Solar Terrace, yawning and blinking her eyes. The sky was a deep and oily black, with only a faint shimmer of light on the horizon. It was early morning, time for the sun to rise. Celestia reached out with her magic, finding the sun on the far side of the planet. She firmly gripped the massive object with her magic, ready to pull it up and start the dawn.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” Luna’s voice objected from afar.

“What?” Celestia released her magical grip, questioning herself. Had she woken up too early? No, it *was* time for the day to begin, that was for sure. Luna’s objection made no sense. “Why not?”

“I’m afraid there isn’t going to be a sunrise today, sister.” The familiar voice echoed around the courtyard, and Celestia couldn’t figure out where it had come from.

“What are you talking about?”

“I’m taking control of things around here now,” Luna’s voice explained. “I told you it was about time Equestria learned to appreciate the beauty of my nights. All that time I spent studying paid off—I figured out how to actually make it happen.”

Celestia sighed and rolled her eyes. “Luna, please. This is getting outrageous. As soon as I raise the sun for the day, you and me need to have a talk.” Her horn glowed with its familiar luminescent aura, and she felt around for the sun again. Celestia grabbed hold of it, and pulled. The Solar Terrace exploded.

The shockwave knocked Celestia off her hooves and sent her smashing through a huge stained glass window of herself. She landed in a heap on the floor of her bedroom as the magical explosion set fire to the castle courtyard. Whole trees went up like matchsticks, and the ornate woodwork inside the castle followed close behind. The Solar Terrace’s large sun insignia was ripped asunder as the whole terrace fractured and collapsed behind her. A multitude of sensations bombarded Celestia’s body from all sides, the prevailing one being sharp and blinding pain. She felt little daggers of glass jabbing into her sides. She was disoriented and confused, in complete disbelief—had Luna seriously just launched a coup?
“I warned you not to try that!” Luna’s voice called again. “I was going to offer you a chance to step down gracefully. Last night while you were sleeping, I used one of the ancient spells I learned from my time studying magic. All the magical power you try to use will discharge from your horn directly into your body. You’re effectively powerless.”

“Luna!” she shouted over the fire in a broken, damaged voice that did not sound like hers anymore. “Why are you—”

“Don’t call me that anymore!” a black shape flashed into Celestia’s vision, and she found herself crumpled into a worthless, pathetic ball lying in the imposing shadow of an alicorn even bigger than she was. It had a jet-black coat, wispy bluish mane, and piercing cyan eyes. The powerful strokes of its wings blew through Celestia’s mane as it hovered before her. The alicorn smiled deviously at her with smug malice in its eyes. “Princess Luna is forever gone, as is the Age of the Sun. I am Nightmare Moon, Supreme Ruler of Equestria, and Harbinger of Eternal Night!”

“Oh, Luna…” Celestia sighed helplessly under her breath. She’d heard the warnings about the power of the Elements of Harmony before, but always generally disregarded them as harmless superstition and old ponies’ tales. Strong negative emotions coupled with the near-infinite magical power of the Elements could bring about all manner of horrors. Luna’s jealousy went far deeper than Celestia ever imagined possible, much more so than she ever let on. Now, with Celestia deposed and cut off from her own magic, Nightmare Moon was the most powerful being in Equestria, and she was looking for revenge on her sister in the name of the night.

“You look surprised, Celestia,” Nightmare Moon mocked. “Not accustomed to not having your way? You never were one to respect any authority higher than your own. But you’ll find I’m not as easily disposed of as Discord, I’m afraid.”

“Why are you doing this, sister?” Celestia was on the verge of tears, both for the future of Equestria and the fate of their sisterhood. They’d been so close before, an inseparable pair through the many decades. All that they once had had been undone in a matter of days, and could soon end forever if Nightmare Moon got her way.

“It’s the only way to make them appreciate everything the night has to offer. If any other option exists, they will take it. The only thing I can do is obliterate all other options and leave *only* an eternity of glorious night, and that means getting rid of you and your vaunted daylight, permanently.”

“You can’t do this!” Celestia warned. “Without the sun, crops will fail! Equestria will starve, wither away, and die! You’ll undo everything we built together!”

Nightmare Moon shrugged, unshaken by the warning. “Such natural limitations have never stopped magic before, especially where the Elements of Harmony are concerned. Equestria will adapt. It will survive. Under my leadership, it will *thrive*. Admit it, Celestia, you were only bluffing all along—Equestria doesn’t actually ‘need’ the sunlight any more than it ‘needs’ naturally-driven weather cycles and seasons. Magic can overcome any obstacle, and I’ve got the most magic out of everypony.”

“This isn’t right,” Celestia pleaded, knowing it was a futile struggle. There was nothing she could do to change her sister’s mind now. There could be no turning back from a betrayal like this. Luna—or Nightmare Moon—was fully committed to this now, and would never voluntarily back down.

“Don’t be so easily upset by the unimportance of your existence, Celestia. There are worse things you could be than an immortal giant horned pegasus who up until very recently wielded unlimited magical control over the sun and daylight.” Nightmare Moon landed and stepped closer, glaring down maliciously at the frightened face of her helpless sister. “Eternal darkness is coming, Celestia. Now that you’ve been stripped of your magic, there’s nothing you can do to stop it.”

Celestia shook her head. “This won’t do, Luna. Nopony will stand for a betrayal like this. They’ll resist you at every turn until you restore my power and return things to the way they were.”

Nightmare Moon nodded in hearty agreement. Celestia had just made her next point for her. “Precisely why I have to dispose of you, to keep that option off the table.” She turned back to face the ruined courtyard. “Just keep still, sister. This won’t hurt a bit, I promise.” Nightmare Moon lifted her back legs and prepared to buck.

---

The death blow had not been as lethal as Nightmare Moon intended, and Celestia awoke a few minutes later and made her way out of the room towards the main hall of the castle. Only one thing could save her now. She had no magic anymore. Luna was holding all the cards. The odds of success were actually worse now than when she’d stood up to Discord; back then, she had Luna on her side, and at least a little magic to work with from the start. And yet, despite everything, there was still a remote chance that Celestia could prevail once more. After all, the Elements of Harmony had bestowed Luna’s magical power upon her, so it stood to reason that they could just as easily strip it away again. All Celestia had to do was drag her broken carcass to the shrine where the Elements were kept, and hope Nightmare Moon had not removed them already.

The fire was still several rooms away from the main hall, and its door opened readily at Celestia’s touch. She staggered inside, then lost her balance and collapsed. Her spirits were uplifted again when she looked up and saw that the stone orbs representing the Elements of Harmony were still in their proper places on the shrine. Each one rested on a pedestal supported by an outstretched arm, all built around a circular platform at the center of the castle’s main hall. Towering stained glass windows rose up from the floor all around, depicting the history of Equestria under the rule of the Princesses. The sight underscored the severity of Celestia’s task—all of that was riding on her and what she did in the next few moments. She was so close.

Celestia forced her battered legs back upright and took a few difficult steps forward. She sighed and took a deep breath, knowing that getting here had been the easy part. Without telekinesis, she’d have to round up the orbs individually. She approached the first of the Elements, reared up, and tried to lift it by gripping it between her front hooves. The heavy stone ball slipped through her weakened grasp and fell to the stone floor below. Celestia winced at the impact, but the Element was not damaged. It rolled a few dozen feet away from the shrine before coming to rest.

She had forgotten that these were no ordinary stone orbs, but supreme magical Elements with nearly infinite power. They could not be destroyed so easily. In that case, Celestia had a better idea than going to each individually, especially if that meant picking the heavy things up with her injured legs. Her wings were as sore as the rest of her, but she guessed they would be good for a quick jump to the top of the shrine. She unfurled and extended her impressive full wingspan and jumped, sweeping down with the wings to launch herself upward. She came to rest on the top of the shrine’s huge center orb, with all the Elements within her reach.

Celestia kicked each of the Elements off their pedestals in sequence, then jumped down again. She grouped her prizes together, for alone they were useless. It was hard to believe she’d come this far. All that was left was to activate the Elements and undo the damage Luna had caused. But as she looked down at the orbs she had gathered from the shrine, something looked wrong, like she’d missed something. But that was impossible. She had the Elements of Honesty, Kindness, Laughter, Generosity, Loyalty, and—

“Oh, no…” Celestia’s knees buckled with the shock of revelation.

“The Element of Magic.” Nightmare Moon’s untimely appearance only deepened Celestia’s crushing dismay. The huge black alicorn crossed the hall with long, confident strides. “The most elusive element of all, so they say. Has it really been so long that you’ve forgotten all about how these things work?”

“No,” Celestia resigned. She bowed down in defeat.

“They require an exceptionally gifted unicorn to activate and direct their magical energies,” she continued anyway. “Without one, they’re just ordinary stone orbs.”

Without the ability to use her horn, Celestia could not bring the power of the Elements to bear against Nightmare Moon. Her struggle had been for nothing; she may as well have been killed upstairs when her sister first launched her coup. Part of her wanted to keep fighting, trying to think of another way to win even despite everything. But she no longer believed it was possible. She had been beaten. Nightmare Moon had won.

“Are you going to kill me now?” she surrendered, hoping it would at least be quick. If she was going to die a failure, she didn’t want her better to drag it out with monologue.

“No,” came the surprising answer. “I did some further research into the Elements while you were limping your way down here, and I discovered that the link they forged between us is so strong that it binds our lives together. I could no more easily kill you than you could kill me, and using the Elements themselves as a weapon would end us both. But it is no matter. So long as you are out of the way, locked away somewhere nopony will ever find you, my plans can still proceed.”

“So what are you going to do with me?” Celestia asked. “Banish me to the sun for a thousand years?”

Nightmare Moon shook her head. “Nothing quite so dramatic. A standard prison will suffice, so long as it is built far from civilization and you are its only inmate. I’d prefer to keep this out of the hooves of magic. As we’ve already seen today when you survived my coup de grâce, the Elements often bring unexpected side effects. The last thing I want is for you to magically come back after a millennium, fully restored to power and ready to challenge my authority. Better it be kept in the hooves of ponies instead. Guards!”

Two pegasi from the Royal Night Guard appeared at Nightmare Moon’s side almost immediately. At her instruction, they crossed the hall towards their master’s sister, intending to chain her up and lock her away. A few hours ago, even a legion of their ranks would have been no match for her superior physical and magical strength. But she could not fight even two of them now. Luna’s coup had been successful. Princess Celestia, with all her power and glory, had lost the fight before it even began, while she slept through the night in the safety of her own bed.

A spark of inspiration flashed in Celestia’s mind—unexpected side effects. The Elements were so powerful that it was impossible for any pony to completely control them. Magical input could direct and focus their power, but they always added in effects seemingly based on their own free will. Celestia remembered the explosion that had resulted from her attempt at lifting the sun—it was technically magic, after all. If she recreated the blast, and if it was enough to power the Elements, then she could be assured that *something* would happen. Maybe it would help her defeat Nightmare Moon, or maybe it would make things incalculably worse. But if she did nothing, Equestria would descend into eternal darkness. Blowing up the Elements was a desperate, last-ditch gamble, but Celestia decided it was worth the risk. She reached out with her horn, found the sun, and tried to raise it into the sky to begin the dawn.

---

Celestia slammed hard into a stone wall, and a few of her ribs cracked on impact. Barely clinging to the outskirts of consciousness, she wearily raised her head. The explosion had flung the Night Guard through the stained glass windows and out onto the castle grounds. Nightmare Moon lay sprawled out before the door. The Elements of Harmony lit up with magical fire, lifting up from the stone and joining together to form a circle. The air crackled with energy as the Elements charged up to their full power. Nightmare Moon picked herself up from where she had been thrown and stared in horror. A beam of rainbow energy surged vertically out of the ring the orbs had formed, tearing the roof away from the castle hall. The Elements had responded impressively to Celestia’s desperate last stand, and Nightmare Moon could feel the very fabric of space-time yielding to their power.

“You FOAL!” she shouted with rage. “Do you realize what you’ve done?”

“Whatever it is, it can’t be worse than eternal night.”

“I destroyed your horn’s ability to project coherent magical ideas! All it can do now is send random information! What you just did…it would be like giving an army a very loud, very threatening command in a language they don’t understand. There’s no way to predict what they’re going to do now!”

Thousands of tiny, unseen magical hooks latched onto Celestia’s skin and pulled, as if they were trying to rip her in half. Nightmare Moon cried out in pain—she was feeling it, too. But Celestia’s coat did not tear or bleed. It was like the hooks had sunk into the essence of her being, and their pulling was dividing her into two identical copies of herself.

The same was happening to Nightmare Moon. Celestia saw a second, ghosted image of the imposing black alicorn being dragged out of her true form. The ghost images of the alicorns gradually filled with color, until they were as tangible and real as the original. Both Celestia and Luna now stood beside clones of themselves. Two huge black harbingers of night stood opposite the column of rainbow magic from two battered, beaten guardians of the day. The Elements themselves then divided into ten stone orbs, one ring of five hovering directly above the other, both encircling the bright rainbow column of magic shooting upwards from the floor. Nopony knew what to say or do. The Elements had thoroughly confused the lot of them, and they were not done just yet.

The cloned Celestia flung herself across the hall and tackled the cloned Nightmare Moon before she could react, miraculously finding the strength to pin her foe to the floor of the castle. The other Nightmare Moon tried to come to the aid of her new clone, crouching down and bucking the cloned Celestia. Her hooves passed straight through without making contact; it was like the clones were made of air.

The clone Celestia’s horn was struck with a beam of lightning from the Elements, and her captive vanished from beneath her in a blinding flash of white light. All those remaining looked skyward, and saw the image of Nightmare Moon’s profile burn itself into a cloned image of the moon that had appeared beside the original. Then it, the victorious copy of Celestia, and the lower ring of Elements faded back out of view, dispersing into nothingness like a disturbed mist. The rainbow column at the hall’s center collapsed just as suddenly as it had appeared, and the Elements fell silent. The remaining five orbs landed on the floor and rolled around for awhile before gradually coming to rest.

“A parallel world,” Nightmare Moon identified after a full minute of utter silence. She made no attempt to hide her awe at what had happened. “Your little display confused the Elements, so they created a parallel world to accommodate both possible outcomes.”

“You lost in that one,” Celestia smiled, her wounds feeling less painful now that she’d watched her clone banish the cloned Luna to the moon and save Equestria from eternal night. “I defeated you.”

“Correct.” Nightmare Moon hadn’t lost her smugness, despite having just watched her grand scheme collapse to pieces before her. If anything, she seemed even more confident now. “You won in that one, which means I’m free to win in this one.”

Celestia kicked hard against the ground, trying to fling herself upwards. In her mind, she would have tackled Nightmare Moon to the ground just as her clone had, banishing her rebellious sister to the moon for a millennium and taking control of the moon for herself so Equestria could continue to have regular day and night. In reality, she merely flopped over and collapsed, her broken limbs too weak to even allow her to stand anymore.

“Funny how that works,” Nightmare Moon laughed. “In the other world, you’re probably spouting off with another condescending lecture right about now. How fortunate I am to live in this one instead. Guards?” The two pegasi from before stumbled through the doors into the hall. They had not been seriously wounded in the explosion, or the elaborate Elemental magic display that followed. “Tie this meat up. Make sure she can’t escape. We’ll dump her in the castle dungeons until I can have a proper prison built somewhere remote.”

The guards did as they were told, and began dragging the defeated Celestia out of the hall. She offered no resistance or protest. The last pathetic scraps of will to keep fighting had just been beaten out of her. In the other world she’d created, her doppelganger had been victorious. That would have to be enough of a victory for her to cling to.

“My my, how unpredictable the Elements can be…” Nightmare Moon mused as she followed alongside the grim procession. “You may have saved the day in that other universe, but that changes nothing here. With you out of the way and the Elements back under my control, nothing can hope to challenge me. I will cover this world in eternal darkness, and for as long as I draw breath, nopony shall ever see the sun again!”

Behind her villainous face and menacing flared wings, above the columns of smoke and fire trailing upwards from the ruins of the castle ballroom and surrounded by innumerable tiny pinpricks of starlight, the imposing silver face of the moon shone brightly like a beacon in the blackened sky.

Comments

[Spireon]

Wow. Well done! Awesome cover art too. And 1st comment!

[Rust]

Holy frijoles... I think I just found a guilty little pleasure to indulge myself in. This is phenomenally well written, the concept is still relatively fresh, and your writing style promises a grand new world, indeed. I eagerly await the next chapter!

[Eldorado]

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Glad you both enjoyed it . I was going to wait until I had the first two chapters written before submitting, but I decided against it. I've got #2 about...somewhere between 1/3 and 1/2 done. It'll actually introduce some of the main cast, now that ancient history is out of the way.

[Bronyhood of steel]

very nice

[Eldorado]

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Thanks! I'm almost done with the second chapter. I hope to have it up either tonight or (more likely) tomorrow.

[AuthorGenesis]

I found it especially engaging that you managed to take a canon episode, and essentially solarize it. I also like that the characters aren't portrayed as wholly good or wholly evil. Like Luna, she only wants to be appreciated/ recognized for her night sky, but when Celestia acts dismissively towards her, then she chooses to become Nightmare Moon, and seals her away. Likewise Celestia knows the importance of the celestial cycles, but she dismisses Luna's subtle cry for help, thinking it was simply a passing, or temporary issue, and takes it not as seriously as she should have/ could have. The interplay between the dynamics of the sister's relationship and the resultant consequences thereby, and also the villian/ antagonist taking the victory, instead of the traditional hero wins formula, really engages the reader. One thing to note however, is this story is described as steampunk, but so far, there's no mention of any 20th century industries, certainly the alternate universe tag should stay, but I have not as of yet seen anything which would accord with a steampunk genre, at least in the first page. I've yet to read the second, so I should perhaps with-hold judgment on it until I have, but I thought I should let you know what works in this story and why. A suggestion, though, would be to have a Luna POV, Celestia is a pretty dominant and key player and the story is pretty much told by her, but Luna is also a key player in the story, and it would be interesting to have her viewpoint and thoughts as the story unfolds for her.

[Distorted Flare]

I liked this story. Good job

[Austinscurry]

this is my absolute favorite story on this site if not my favorite story in general. you did a really good job with this and im seriously happy it came out as good as it did