Celestia is unable to stop the two evil royal sisters, and so they continue their battle. However, Daybreaker is stronger than Nightmare Moon, so the Evil Princess of the Night finds a way to gain more power, and an intense battle ensues...
Celestia is unable to stop the two evil royal sisters, Daybreaker and Nightmare Moon knocking her out before she could destroy them. However, Daybreaker is stronger than Nightmare Moon, so Luna's evil counterpart is at a large disadvantage for the first half of the battle. Soon, though, Nightmare Moon finds a way to increase her power, and her strength becomes equal to Daybreaker’s. As the evil sisters battle, Celestia lays unconscious on the castle floors, Luna and Starlight trying to wake her up.
Searing pillars of flame gushed out from the castle floors as Daybreaker laughed maniacally, the geysers of fire perfectly matching the color of her swirling, blazing mane. She walked towards the stock-still Nightmare Moon; the strong, proud, and above all, feared princess now reduced to a play thing for the terrifying Daybreaker.
Luna and Celestia finished their conversation, and the Sun Princess was ready to defeat the Evil Royal Sisters. Daybreaker smiled as she charged up a magical beam to vanquish Nightmare Moon once and for all, and Nightmare gathered up the last of her strength to defend herself.
Just as the two fired their respective beams of red and blue, Celestia teleported between them, intercepting their clash. "You can't destroy me, I'm everything you want to be!" Daybreaker said, continuing to blast at Celestia's right wing, with Nightmare shooting at her left.
"No, you're not! You are not real, and you will never exist again!" Celestia declared, waving her huge wings up, deflecting their beams. Right before Celestia had finished her sentence, Daybreaker felt a chill running down her back, warning her of something bad to happen. Nightmare must have felt it too, for simultaneously, they used teleportation just as Celestia deflected the attacks.
They both popped up to opposite sides of Celestia, to her great surprise, and in unison, Daybreaker and Nightmare Moon quickly shot a beam at her, zapping her and rendering her unconscious almost instantly, but not before she could utter three words. "Sister...Starlight...ruuun." On that last slurred word, Celestia's eyes shut and she collapsed onto the red carpet of the hard, flaming floor. Starlight and Luna, who were anxiously watching in the background, both gasped as the glorious princess of the sun fell. Contrary to her last instructions, Luna quickly flew to Celestia's side, shaking her and calling her sister's name repeatedly. Starlight, fortunately, couldn't put herself in Daybreaker and Nightmare's path, as she was trapped in an immobile bubble. Instead, she watched from the sidelines with worry.
Both of the Evil Sisters laughed at Luna's futile attempts to wake Celestia. Then, not paying anymore attention to her, they turned to face each other to continue their duel. "Now that my meddling counterpart won't get in our way, I can tear you apart without any worry of being disrupted!" Daybreaker shouted, quickly flying at Nightmare, who was gathering magic in her horn. Daybreaker lowered her head, and fire engulfed her upper body completely. Nightmare braced herself for the attack, but Daybreaker flew around her, taking her by surprise. She headbutted Nightmare in the chest as she spun around, sending her crashing into the throne in the back of the room.
Nightmare groaned, and slowly rose from the rubble of the seat she had flown into. However, Daybreaker was quicker, and used her magic to direct all the burning pillars at Nightmare. The night princess yelled in pain as the incredibly hot flames blasted and engulfed her in a sea of fire. Starlight was watching this battle with horror, and she was yelling at Princess Luna to look.
Startled out of her attempt to wake up Celestia by Starlight's urgent command, Luna swung her head around, and the sight she saw terrified and angered her at the same time. Though she knew she didn't have her dream powers at the moment, she had to try to stop Daybreaker, no matter how bad Nightmare was. After all, this was still Starlight's nightmare, and as she had stated previously, such a sight could have a grave consequence on Starlight's psyche.
Luna roared and charged Daybreaker, who was cackling at Nightmare's suffering. She spun around, and easily blocked Luna. Nightmare, though, while Daybreaker wasn't looking, had managed to drag herself out of the inferno, though heavily wounded with burn marks all over her dark body, which was even more black than before. While Daybreaker lazily blocked Luna's attack, her eyes showing boredom, Nightmare narrowed her eyes in fury at the back of Daybreaker, and she powered up an attack so fierce, Daybreaker could feel the raw amount of energy radiating from Nightmare's horn, which was also distorting the air around it.
In an ironic twist, now it was Nightmare who attacked when Daybreaker spun around. This was her strongest technique, Nightmare Fury.
Nightmare Moon's horn shone brightly with blue for a single moment, then she fired her spell at Daybreaker, turning the whole world black. The only pony who could see was Nightmare. Even if Discord were here, his awesome powers wouldn't have been able to break this spell. Along with sight, Nightmare's technique made it impossible for her to be heard, smelled, or touched. However, Nightmare could touch Daybreaker, which she did.
Daybreaker tried to see any glimpse of light, but to no avail. She then tried something else, she lit up her horn with a bright fire, but it didn't illuminate the darkness. Neither did her blazing mane. So, out of ideas, she simply waited in the dark, bracing herself for any incoming attacks. But, it seemed this was Nightmare's most powerful spell for a reason. This black world amplified her power more than 10x, and it cut the strength of everypony else by half, which would make somepony she was 20x weaker than on equal standing with her. Of course, Nightmare also had the advantage of the senses, so she was almost unstoppable in this shadow realm.
Nightmare Moon begun her assault. She focused her magic, and engulfed her sister in an ocean of extremely dark power, in payback for the blaze she had been trapped in. Of course, this was an ocean rather than a sea for a reason. It was much bigger than Daybreaker's little pool of fire, so she couldn't get out of it, unless she trudged out for thousands of miles, blind and disoriented, with no way of knowing if she was going to the center or heading out.
Daybreaker shrieked and Nightmare laughed, using her magic to allow it to be heard. Daybreaker shut one of her eyes from the pain and clenched her teeth. She then thought of something else, she could just fly out. So, she opened up her wings, and flapped frantically to get out of this nightmare of pain. Sadly for her (and good for Nightmare Moon), no matter how high she soared, she couldn't get out of this black magic. This was because it stretched above for over 1000 miles, making it similar to it's horizontal size. To even Nightmare's shock, tears started to form at the edge of the proud, malicious princess' eyes, and she started to speak in between sobs. "I'm sorry, sister! I promise I won't fight you anymore, or hurt you! Just please, let me out!" She started to convulse in full on crying, beginning to grab the gleeful night princess' attention.
Nightmare thought silently, the smile on her lips slowly slipping away. Even though she didn't have the power to continue this much longer, she decided, with reluctance, to end the spell.
With the constant, burning pain finally gone, Daybreaker's blubbering gradually faded away, and she smiled genuinely at her sister. "Th-thank you," she uttered weakly. Then, she went to hug Nightmare. Luna watched this scene play out in shock, then she too, smiled at this.
However, it turned out all was not as it seemed to be. Just before Daybreaker wrapped her arms around Nightmare, her smile stretched wide with menace, and she punched Nightmare in the face, greatly startling her, and rocketing her at one of the walls, and out of the castle. Daybreaker cackled evilly, then shouted loud enough for Nightmare to hear. "You fool! Sentimentality like that is what makes me a much more powerful fighter than you'll ever be! No mercy to anyone, not even family, is the number one rule to being a tyrant! If you had been like me, you could've ended this fight with that last attack! HA, HA, HA!!!" Nightmare halted her drop from the castle, and sighed with disappointment in herself and her sister.
"Of course," she muttered to no one in particular. "I should have just destroyed her, like she said herself. I won't make the same mistake again!" With that, she charged, but completely out of power, even the greatly weakened and wounded Daybreaker pounded her into the ground. Nightmare was demolished. Crushed. Humiliated. Beaten. Any of these words and more would've been a good example of what happened. Tired of this beat down, Nightmare got an idea.
Right before Daybreaker was about to strike again, she disappeared in a flash of light blue. Then, she reappeared next to Luna, to her surprise, and Nightmare's horn glowed. Luna was confused, until she felt her magic being drained, then she figured it out. "N-no. Noooo..." Luna whispered. Then, like her sister, fell unconscious. Starlight cursed at this, then grit her teeth in anticipation of what would happen next.
Daybreaker looked slightly worried now, and she closed her eyes to think. After a few seconds, her eyes flew wide open, and she grinned. Then, her horn glowed in a similar fashion to when Nightmare had sucked Luna's power, and Celestia's body emanated with a faint, yellow light. This magic was being absorbed by Daybreaker, and when she was done, her power was almost exactly the same as Nightmare's, if not exactly equal.
Now that both princesses were equal in terms of strength, they walked up to one another, glaring. The sisters were ready to start the battle for real.
Nightmare Moon attacked first. Her horn fizzled with blue magic for a split second, then she disappeared, leaving powerful magical residue. Daybreaker wasn't expecting a teleportation right from the get-go, so Nightmare managed to land a small beam at Daybreaker, pushing her back a little.
Nightmare then teleported a second time, shooting again. This time, Daybreaker was ready, and she countered with a quick beam of her own. The point where the two beams collided caused a mini explosion, smoke trailing along.
Now it was Daybreaker's turn. She flew high up into the air, and yelled, "Time for payback! Here is my strongest attack! Solar Hurricane!!!" Nightmare opened her eyes wide and formed a protective barrier around herself, slowly increasing it's durability until it was virtually indestructible. While Nightmare did this, Daybreaker was charging up her attack, and she maliciously grinned once she had focused the necessary energy. "Get ready to meet your end!" Daybreaker shouted with certainty. Then, she extended her wings to their full length, and roared a battle cry.
Nightmare closed her eyes, bracing herself for just in case the shield she had materialized was penetrated. Unfortunately for her, Nightmare's fears came true. Daybreaker's body became engulfed in a thick, dense layer of pure, solar magic. Then, all the energy climbed up to her head, and she repeated a technique she'd used earlier, except this was much more powerful. She opened her mouth and a huge column of flames gushed out of it, launching itself at Nightmare.
This blast was the size of a hurricane, hence it's name, and it instantly blew away Nightmare's shield, causing her to gasp as the blast of flames leapt onto her. "AAAHHHH!!!!!" Nightmare wailed, an inferno covering and burning her from head to hoof.
Daybreaker burst into a fit of laughter at this, while still barely managing to keep her focus and discharging a steady flow of scorching hot fire.
Nightmare realized she was in a very bad position. Obviously. But then she remembered something, and she would have slapped her forehead with her hoof if it wasn't being burned and unable to move from the intense pressure of the heat. She tried to focus her magic, which took longer than usual, then she used a simple teleportation spell to get out of her most powerful enemy's greatest attack. Once out, she drew attention to herself, startling Daybreaker and forcing her to release the technique.
"Ahahaha! You can't defeat me with that. In fact, any skilled unicorn could get out of that with a mere teleportation," Nightmare noted. Daybreaker cursed at her careless mistake. Nightmare saw this, then boasted, "My Nightmare Fury is far superior to your puny Solar Hurricane. Though I admit your attack may deal more damage, it has a fatal weakness, unlike my spell. It seems night will always be greater than day!" With that, she rapidly flew towards Daybreaker and they engaged in a back and forth clash of magical lasers.
After the thirtieth collision, they both slowly landed on the ground, panting and gasping from exhaustion. "Heh. Heh, heh, heh! HAHAHAHAHA!!!" It seems my plan succeeded," Nightmare declared triumphantly.
Daybreaker looked confused, and she asked, "What plan do you speak of?"
Nightmare smiled wide, then replied, "I have you tired enough that one more heavy wound will finish you! Once again, I unleash...Nightmare Fury!!!" Daybreaker's eyes instantly shot up at this.
"Damn it! I've been a fool! I must stop her!" she said to herself, then she shot at Nightmare, but just before she could blast a ray of heavy magic at her, Nightmare finished charging up, and she once again plunged the world into total darkness. Daybreaker cursed loudly enough for Nightmare to hear from miles away, and she laughed in answer. Daybreaker again was engulfed in the whirlpool of black energy, and this time, she knew no amount of begging would save her.
Daybreaker writhed and thrashed around, trying everything she could to get away and protect herself. This effort was futile though, the expanse of black magic was too huge, and any shield she enveloped herself in got melted away instantly by the power of the night. Daybreaker resigned herself to her fate, knowing anything she did would just waste energy, and instead decided to just wait for Nightmare to run out of energy.
"...Aha!" Daybreaker said, thinking of something that may work. "Maybe an attack as great as my Solar Hurricane can defeat this spell!" So, she drew a massive amount of power into her throat, and pushed it up until her fireproof mouth was brimming with godly flames.
She went insane on the ocean of dark energy. Daybreaker's pent up ball of super fire gushed out, and she span around, blasting everything within thousands of meters of her to nothing, including the gigantic ocean of Nightmare's magic. The flame remainders stayed where they were, miraculously not vanishing into thin air like everything else not controlled by Nightmare here. Daybreaker spewed out more and more, the fire bending to her will and surrounding her in a tornado of intense heat, partly a shield, partly a quick way of travel, partly a means of emergency offense, and all awesome.
Daybreaker's harsh, black and yellow eyes blazed with fury and determination. She closed her eyes for a second, concentrating deeply to sense the strongest magic in the area, and once she found it, she willed the fiery tornado swirling around her to rush over to the strong signal.
Strangely (and amazingly) enough, the twister of flames made it possible for Daybreaker to see, and the cyclone was clearly visible to her. This made it so she saw Nightmare once she got close, and the night princess was, needless to say, very surprised to see Daybreaker.
"What, how!?" Nightmare asked with disbelief. "That pool of black magic should've been impossible to break out of!" Daybreaker laughed at Nightmare's incredulity, then charged her. Nightmare, though, still had the upper hand, because, as you may remember, Daybreaker was at half strength and Nightmare was 10x stronger than usual.
Daybreaker first flew at Nightmare, spinning around to increase momentum, and turning the vortex of flames into a barrier so compact, there weren't any gaps. Nightmare got out of the way, but Daybreaker went up and around, shooting at Nightmare once again.
Realizing this wasn't going to work, Nightmare focused energy into her horn, and slowly, a dark glow enshrouded her, and she then charged at the quickly approaching Daybreaker.
When the two super powerful auras clashed, a mixture of black and red flashed between the princesses, and it started to become hard to keep their attacks going, as the pressure from the point of collision was too high.
Finally, after half a minute, it was too much for Daybreaker to handle, and her protective tornado of fire dispersed, then vanished into thin air, and the strengthened princess of the night bashed her dark attack into Daybreaker's stomach, making her gasp and crash onto the nightmare floor, once again blind without her super flames.
Fortunately for her, the maximum duration Nightmare could use the spell for had reached it's end, and her spell switched off on it's own.
Both of them were out of breath and slightly injured, but they weren't ready to give up just yet. Daybreaker panted and her horn glowed red. Nightmare mirrored this, except with her horn glowing dark blue, and they faced each other, aware this may be the final clash.
Just before they fired, a loud, commanding voice shouted, "ENOUGH!!!" A flash of bright yellow blinded the fighters, and then, Celestia appeared. She brought her wings high up, her eyes glowed pure white, a powerful aura momentarily gleamed around her long, majestic horn, then she fired two beams at once. Nightmare and Daybreaker countered this with the lasers they had been charging up, but Celestia blasted through them both, and the evil princesses vanished simultaneously.
Immediately following this extensive use of her already drained magic, she collapsed onto the ground, and breathed heavily. "I-I did it," Celestia said, a smile slowly creeping onto her mouth. Then, she looked at Starlight still trapped in the bubble, and she released the spell, letting Starlight out. She grinned, and congratulated Celestia on her victory over both of the evil princesses.
Then, they saw Luna, lying on the floor, and they used magic to restore her energy, which had been sucked from her by Nightmare earlier.
Luna woke up, and she spun her head around, looking for any threats. Then, when she found none, she too smiled. "You did it!" She cried, looking at Celestia. Then, she gave her sister and Starlight a curious look, and asked, "All I remember is Nightmare Moon taking my magic, then everything went black. Can anyone fill me in on what happened after that?" So, Starlight talked about everything that had happened after Luna had fell unconscious. Luna pondered something for a while, then asked anther question. "Wait, if Daybreaker was already stronger than Nightmare Moon, and stole my sister's energy, which is stronger than mine, why were the two equal?"
Both Starlight and Celestia thought about that for a while, then Celestia finally came up with an answer. "I have to assume it's because I was already low on energy and not conscious when my magic was being drained, while you were awake and had full energy." Luna nodded at this answer, and the three proceeded to exit the dream world.
There, Celestia and Luna told Starlight her mission was complete, and of course, Twilight came interrupting and dragged Starlight to ask questions, while the two princesses had a friendly sister conversation.
