Shadows of Friendship

by Codex

One Shall Stand

One thousand years ago in the Castle of the Two Sisters.

Celestia was beyond tired as she gazed up at the form of the Alicorn who had once been her most trusted companion and best friend and beheld the monstrous power of the newly forged Nightmare Moon. The dark blue coat of the mare floating in the skies above her matched the midnight blue of her mane, the stars shimmering within the flowing clouds made of the night sky matched the ones twinkling above and if it had not been for the silver armour gracing her form, Celestia would have almost been fooled into believing that the Alicorn above her had faded into the night.

She had been a foal to think that she had stood a chance of talking her sister around. Ever since Luna had gone to Saddle Arabia and come back with all her notes on the strange, dark magic she had encountered there, she had been different, twisted, and this new form, this dark dangerous form, would destroy all of Equestria and everypony within it.

And as much as it hurt to think about, the Alicorn of the Sun could not let that happen. Still she balked at what she knew she had to do. She did not even know if she could use the Elements of Harmony on her own, yet alone whether the rainbow power that protected her country was strong enough to erase the dark taint from her sister’s mind and soul and bring Luna back to her.

“Please, Luna,” She tried one last time, “You know what you’re doing is wrong. Our ponies can’t survive in your night. They need the day to grow food. Without the sun they’ll starve.”

“You lie.” Nightmare Moon bellowed back, rearing up at her. “You just want to keep them for yourself, want to keep me pushed aside forever and keep them loving only you. Well no more. I’m done playing your games, dear sister, and my night will reign eternal!”

“No, Luna.” Celestia’s voice was firm as she pushed herself to her feet, her muscles trembling beneath her pure white coat at the effort it took. She shook her head as she staggered, trying to shake some of the dust from the destroyed castle out of her glowing rainbow mane, “I’m sorry but I can’t let you kill them. Not now. Not ever.”

“And what do you think you can do against me?” The Alicorn formerly known as Luna demanded with a harsh, victorious laugh as the dark purples and blacks of her strange magic, the magic which had allowed her to overpower Celestia so easily, surrounded her once again, warning the Sun Goddess that her sister was preparing to strike, possibly for the last time. “You are weak, defeated, there is nothing in your arsenal that can handle my power now.”

“Oh my sister, how I wish you were wrong.” Celestia breathed as she called up her magic, calling on the power that she had taken in a long time ago, when she and her sister had stood side by side to defend their home from those who would have seen it destroyed and knowing that this would either end the battle or end her, “How I wish that there was another way, but if I cannot defeat you, then I have no other choice.”

“W…what are you doing?” The tainted Moon Goddess demanded as six glowing balls of light erupted from her staggering, nearly defeated sister and circled her in a steadily faster motion that soon looked like one circle of light, “No, I will not let this happen! You will not seal me! I won’t go, not again!” With her final exclamation the dark Alicorn loosed her magic, which only seemed to grow in strength as it sped towards the light, seeming to feed from the incredible power before it.

For Celestia time seemed to slow down as the tidal wave of what could only be described as shadows rained down upon her, breaking over the hastily cast shield she had erected and washing down the sides, tainting the land around her as it swept outwards.

“My sister, my precious Luna,” Celestia spoke, unsure if her words would reach her best friend from wherever she was within the crazed mind of the one calling herself Nightmare Moon, but praying they would, “I am sorry and I swear to you by everything we treasure I will find a way to free you from this dark madness. When you return, when a thousand years have passed and my seal breaks, I will have found a way, even if it costs me my life, for in losing you, I have already lost everything I treasure…”

“You think you can seal me?” Nightmare Moon snickered, “I, who defeated the Alicorn Princess of Equigpt and had the world bowing at my feet? Who talked your precious sister into turning her back on you after you did the same to her far too many times? Who could erase you and your precious Equestria off of the map with little more than a thought and a little push?! It took Her life to seal me before, you think you can do it with a light show and a prayer?”

“I don’t know who this Alicorn you talk of is or what magic she used to defeat you before, but I don’t plan on sealing you forever.” Celestia allowed, “Only long enough to give me time to find the way to exorcise my precious sister of you, demon. You who dares think that you can claim Luna’s form and speak using her voice. In a thousand years I will see you again and my sister will be freed!”

With that she let the power of the Elements loose. They erupted from their circle in a blazing beam of rainbow brilliance, cutting through the continuing surge of shadows and striking the dark Alicorn. Celestia stood firm as she heard Nightmare Moon scream as the blast hit, knowing that she had done this and if she did not see it through, it would be a betrayal just as bad as pushing Luna away until her sister had been tempted enough to fall to the ancient dark magic in the first place.

“No! Nooo!” Celestia could hear from the twisted creature above her, “I can’t…I won’t! I will not let this end this way!” The whinny, somehow, could be heard over the noise of the blast, “When one thousand years have passed I will return and I will bring my night and you will see me reign forever!”

Those were her final parting words. As Nightmare Moon tried to call up the darkness for one last strike, the magic of the Elements of Harmony blazed up and cocooned her in a kaleidoscope of colours. Celestia’s eyes watered as she beheld the great, glowing orb in the sky, which shone like the sun and scorched away the darkness lying upon the ground and the ruins of the castle.

Then it was gone. Vanished from the skies, taking its prisoner with it. Celestia did not bother to blink and clear her eyes of the sunspots. Instead she turned her gaze upon her sister’s moon and felt relief mingle with grief as she saw an image appear upon it. The outline of her sister’s head and neck, proved to her that her desperate seal had done its job. That, at least for now, Nightmare Moon was no longer a threat.

With her sister sealed away, the Sun Goddess had no trouble in raising the sun once again, as she had done every morning for uncountable years and then, exhausted, as if seeing that sun and realising that it was finally over, she fell to her hindquarters.

She did not even get a chance to utter one note of grief before she let out a startled and pained cry as the Elements, which she had found and recovered with her sister’s aid, erupted from her, forming six spheres in the air. The Element of Magic shattered, disintegrating into ashes and blowing away in the wind, while the other five, the Elements of Loyalty, Laughter, Kindness, Generosity and Honesty, petrified into stone.

The heavy marble spheres slammed to the ground around the Sun Goddess, who could not take this in on top of the battle that she had just brought to an end and she stared around at them blankly, unable to comprehend what had just happened, despite the facts before her. She stared at the Element of Loyalty for long enough that the sun was high in the sky before it finally hit her and she broke down in tears, screaming out her heartbreak to the heavens above.

Her sister was gone. The Elements of Harmony, the shields of her ponies, had abandoned her.

She was all alone.

She did not want it to be so. She wanted to do something, anything to take it all back, to head off the dark insanity before it had ever been able to take root in her precious sister but it was too late and the path was set and for the next one thousand years she would have to fight alone.

“How?” She begged the skies, “How can I fight on now? How can I protect our country when the bond I thought would never, ever break has shattered? When I had to send away the Goddess of the Night? When I had to betray my sister?”

There was no answer from the skies. The earth either did not hear her or did not care to answer and the Elements, which had served her and her sister so well remained within their stone tombs and would not break their silence either.

The emptiness where once her sister would have answered ripped at Celestia’s heart as she staggered to her feet, knowing that her ponies would need her now more than ever and trying to draw strength from her duty.

She had one thousand years to find a way to atone for her failures and with every minute that ticked by, her chances of finding the key to saving her sister from the demon that had merged with her heart grew slimmer.

She did not have a moment to waste.

Author's Note:

Hi everyone, Codex here. :)

Hope you enjoy the tale. Yes, I'm aware it's on fanfiction.net. I'm Joey Taylor there and this has been crossposted to my account. I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh! or My Little Pony: Friendship is magic, wish I did though, it would be awesome.