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The Darkness Within

Luna made her way through the long winding corridors of Canterlot. The full moon’s light shone through the long towering windows of the corridor, the indigo light reflecting off of Luna. This was her time of the celestial cycle, nighttime.  Luna stared out the windows as she moved, admiring her moon. She had seen it many times before and had even spent a millennium on it, yet tonight it seemed different than most other nights - but in what way she couldn’t tell.

Luna didn’t dwell on it for long and only assumed it was her mind playing tricks. She continued trotting casually down the corridor, she was in no hurry to be anywhere specific. The corridor itself seemed to stretch on into the distance, high stone walls going up farther than she’d have thought possible. Lit torches adorned the window slits high upon the walls. The light coming from the torches seemed futile against the encompassing darkness of the night.

Through the windows from her vantage point in Canterlot she could see far across Equestria. Lights of houses from various villages and towns far below seemed small but vivid. At least some are enjoying my night, she thought happily.

As she continued down the corridor, she realised the walk had lasted for seeming hours. Something was amiss, but she couldn’t quite put her hoof on what, “Its as if everything is moving... slower, like time is being manipulated around me.” she said to herself. She could understand the base of the problem, but nothing more. Going deeper seemed impossible.

“Why does it feel like I’m going nowhere? And why does this corridor and indeed the entire castle feel so different than a few hours ago? Why have I seen no pony else? There must at least be guards taking night shifts.”

The answers that she sought wouldn’t come to her. She knew something was wrong but just couldn’t seem to make sense of it. The more she tried to deduce the problem the more confused she became, and her train of thought just went around in circles. It was as if something was purposefully attempting to keep her from the truth. “This is all wrong, something just isn’t right here.”

Something was changing, the darkness of her night was now beginning to feel unnatural; it was becoming colder, it shifted around her like an entity acting of its on volition. It was an unnatural, shapeless motion that blurred the castle walls as it circled. She had not felt such a darkness surround her since her time as Nightmare Moon. Then, she had controlled such darkness for her own use, but relinquished it once the elements had released her. Ever since, she had committed herself to not fall victim to the allure again.

She remained stationary, staring at the floor, trying to push past whatever mental force field was keeping her train of thought from continuing. Amidst her concentration she never noticed how the torches behind and in front of her were slowly going out in succession. The darkness creeping ever closer to her, gaining more power as it grew. It wasn’t until she looked up, after finally giving up trying to defeat the mental force field, that she noticed this event. By then it was too late. The last torch in front of her finally extinguished itself, leaving only the light of the moon upon her, but not even that lasted for long. The moon itself slowly dimmed and diminished from its full brightness, even the lights from the villages below were fading, sucked into the hungering darkness until they were finally gone. As the moon lost its light so too did Luna’s power wane. She was being sapped of her strength by the same darkness that she had felt before. She felt weak and her legs wobbled slightly, almost making her lose her balance. The moon’s light dimmed and waned until finally it had given out and disappeared from existence along with the sky and stars it was lighting, all now covered in black.

Darkness. Darkness enveloped her from all sides; she could not see. Pure blackness now ruled. Luna was not one to be afraid of darkness, as that was her domain, yet she was beginning to breathe heavily and less steadily as her heart raced faster. She was afraid, and quickly becoming terrified. This darkness had a mind of its own, this darkness was out of her control. It now viciously swirled around her in a hurricane of icy wind, penetrating through her coat and freezing her to the bone.

Hysteria gripped Luna tight as the shadows surrounding her began their attack. She wanted to flee but her legs would not obey her. The light, quick thumping of her heartbeat grew exponentially in volume as it raced faster and faster until she feared it would burst. The incessant thumps were now a rampaging beat that was deafening. She began to scream in agony as the voracious dark consumed her, though she knew that nopony could hear her. Pained tears flowed uncontrolled from her eyes. It was too much; she felt her life being sadistically squeezed from her as the darkness choked her. She tried harder and harder to breathe, but the harder she tried the more difficult it became. The deafening beat of her heart was now slowing from oxygen loss. Bright spots now glared in her half closed eyes and the strangulation continued. The last thought she could form was “Why me?”

“Because,” replied a voice that she immediately recognized, “you are weak, you resist letting the strength of the darkness in.”

Nightmare Moon, it was Nightmare Moon’s voice. It was disembodied and grungy, but definitely hers. Through bloodshot vision, Luna could see a malicious pair of eyes glaring piercingly, sending a new wave of terror through her.

“You refuse to embrace your full potential as the ruler of total darkness and for that you deserve nothing, NOTHING.” The voice shot out at her venomously. The darkness gave one final crushing push onto her as her very last breath escaped her.

Luna awoke with a startled gasp. The mental shock quickly subsided as light surrounded her instead of darkness. She had no idea how to grasp what she had just been through. It must have been a dream, she reasoned, but it was still one of the most harrowing experiences she had ever faced. She had just been through a living hell from something that was a part of her deep within that she foolishly believed she had vanquished some time ago.

---

“Luna, are you alright? You seem distracted.” asked a worried Celestia from the end of the royal dining table. Luna had just now realized how much time had passed since she woke. Everything since had melded together until now when someone had actually addressed her. This was very unlike her, she was very attentive when it came to matters dealing with the castle and her new life there. She was trying her best to re-assimilate back into her old life. Losing focus and her track of time was not a good thing to be doing.

“Yes I’m fine, just a bit tired. I just had a bad dream last night, nothing to be worried about though.” She replied half-truthfully. She wasn’t fine, her latest dream had troubled her greatly, but she tried pushing it off as just a horrible nightmare and nothing more. Yet she knew deep down it was something more than that. She was making so much progress in suppressing dark temptations and to have them to begin to resurface again would demolish all of her ambitions. This was something she could not afford, not at such a crucial point in her new life. It was hard enough to change her sleeping cycle to conform with everything better.

“Oh, really? What about?” Celestia inquired.

“Id rather not say, it’s not a big issue, really.” Luna insisted, even though she knew Celestia could almost tell perfectly when she was lying or not telling the full truth. Luna meant well by not telling her sister the whole truth, but she just couldn’t bring herself to tell her everything. She didn’t know if it really was her inner darkness attacking her or just a bad dream. She may just be overreacting to it after all.

To her relief, Celestia relented, though noticeably disappointed. “Very well then, just know that sometimes keeping things to yourself can be more harmful than telling others about them.” She said, cutting the words through Luna to make her point. Luna quite clearly got it.

Their breakfast continued in silence for another few minutes as Luna stared at the wall to her left, lost in thought. Then Luna began to hear an unusual sound from no distinguishable point. It was a voice, a voice barely at the volume of a whisper, making the words unintelligible and unclear. The voice was wispy and very soft, almost soothing, it sounded a lot like Celestia’s. There was no pony else in the room with them. Luna assumed Celestia had asked her something while she was thinking so she turned back to her and asked “Did you say something?”

“Hmm? No, I didn’t say anything.” She replied back with a confused expression before adding “Are you sure that you’re perfectly fine?”

This came as a shock to Luna. If these quiet whispers weren’t from her sister, then who?  Hearing whispers from nowhere was definitely not a good sign.

“It has to be my mind still playing tricks on me; I must have had very little sleep last night then after all.” Luna concluded.

“Oh, it must have just been nothing then, I suppose I’m just a little tired is all. I think I will go take a nap.” Luna spoke these quickly while chuckling to make it appear as if it was just some silly mistake on her part and began to exit the room before she even finished speaking to avoid her sister’s inevitable response.

---

A few days later, Luna was joyfully trotting through the corridors of Canterlot. After that breakfast she had decided it best to get some sleep to see if these dreams would persist but thankfully she slept perfectly fine. That night and a few nights after no similar dreams had come back.

“Maybe I was just overreacting after all.” she thought to herself after she had woken up that morning.

It was a very beautiful day out, Celestia had really outdone herself. Outside in the courtyard she could see a hustle of activity. Guards were patrolling on the outer walls and keeping watch near the gates, workers were now heading back home now that the work day was over, other citizens starting to head out for the night for some enjoyment. It was a refreshing sight from the horrible dream she had.

She made it successfully to her destination of the royal dining room for her evening meal. The guards standing watch by the doors acknowledged her presence with a quick bow and opened the doors for her. Celestia was already there and had definitely noticed Luna’s massive mood change from a few days earlier and beamed at her. “Well you certainly seem much better than you did earlier this week.” She commented.

“Yes I definitely do after I had some good rest; I suppose it was just a lack of sleep.” Luna said back to her.

The rest of the day went as most days usually go. After the day was complete and the sun began to sink Luna raised the moon as she did every night before since her return. The full moon shone with much more brightness than it usually had. Luna assumed it must have been a reflection of her mood as many of the things involving the moon were. She then returned to her bed from her balcony and settled in for a restful night of sleep.

Luna was in the castle’s throne room. She sat in the space that was to the right of Celestia, who was sitting on the throne itself. She felt dignified and happy to be back where she had been so long ago. It was a good feeling, ruling the land together with her sister. This was the way it was meant to be.

Suddenly a pang of a long forgotten feeling shot through Luna. She couldn’t specify which feeling that it was though. It was a strange, hateful feeling that she had not felt in quite a while. It made her feel bitter inside, and it would not release its hold on her. It chewed away at her soul and she could not resist it any longer. It continued to fill and deprave her until it was all she could feel. Looking over at Celestia she realized what this emotion was: Jealousy.

It was pure, unrestrained jealousy towards her sister. She had all the real power when it came to political matters. She had all the power when it came to ruling their subjects. She had all the power when it came to nearly everything in Equestria. This revelation made things all too clear now. Celestia was purposefully keeping her out of important matters concerning the country because she was still distrustful of her. After all the effort she put into showing her sister that she was now free of her corruption she still didn’t trust her. The now uncontrollable jealousy was converting into an infuriated rage.

“How dare she!” Luna screamed to herself thinking. “After all this time, nothing’s changed, it’s still the same, and the next thing I know she’ll try and find a reason to banish me again!” She wanted to do something right there and then. She wanted to stand up to Celestia and scream at her, she wanted to hurt her, she wanted to… to...

“No! What am I thinking! I would never do such things! I willingly gave up such petty emotions for a reason.” She thought as rationality had surged back into her. “I understand why she feels distrustful of me, and she should be. I just have to prove to her that I can be trusted. We were meant to rule together.”

“Do you honestly believe that?” came a voice from her right. It was Nightmare Moon’s disembodied voice again. Luna’s eyes widened with surprise. She wanted nothing to do with that part of her anymore, why could it not just leave her be? She looked up fearfully. There stood the one who caused her a thousand years of suffering. She recoiled slightly at the sudden sight of her. Celestia sat to her left completely oblivious to what was happening.

“Cowardly groveling little foal.” the phantom spat at her. “You are a naïve one aren’t you? A blind, ignorant foal led by some mythical notion that you might actually be accepted back here. Why do you not open your eyes and see the world for what it truly is? You and I both know she will never truly accept you back as her sister. The sister she had known and loved died over a millennium ago. You are DEAD to her! All that you have left is yourself, yet you wont even let yourself realize your full potential. You’re letting yourself remain weak so that she can suppress you from becoming a threat. Why do you willingly allow yourself to be manipulated and subverted by that solar tyrant?”

“Celestia is no tyrant.” Luna responded defensively. “She only had to clamp down onto Equestria for a period of time to keep order, which was being thrown into mayhem by you.”

“Spare me the self righteousness, don’t forget that it was you who originally called upon me for help in the first place, we are the same.” She retorted.

Luna could not argue with her, she was right, it was her fault that all of those years of discord in the world had begun with her and her damned misplaced desire for attention. Had she not been dreaming, she would have simply ignored her dark side or easily found some comeback. In her dreams though, all of her memories were ever present as if they were still occurring. It clouded her mind and made her more susceptible to influence. She could think of nothing to say back, so she remained silent.

“Ah, you see, you get it now. You realize that what I speak is the truth. We can be the new rulers of this land though. Don’t you see? She’s scared of you, she fears you, as she should. You may look at the past as something bad but in truth it was merely a setback. The elements can be dealt with if we work together. If we can remove them from the picture then no rogue factors will stand in our way. Together, we can become more powerful than Celestia could even imagine. Together, we can rule this land as it should be, in eternal night! All you have to do is just let me in.”

Luna’s eyes had burst open wide, her pupils shrinking to tiny dots. ‘Just let me in’, those last words spoken by Nightmare Moon had been the same words that she had heard all those years ago when she was first approached by her. She was asking her to do the very same thing that she had done so long ago. Scorching memories of the destruction caused by the time she had answered yes to those words now violently flashed through her mind. So much suffering and anguish was caused by her selfishness.  “No, I can’t let that happen again.” she thought. Luna looked up at her inner darkness and bore a stare into her.

“Well, what do you say?” Midnight Moon asked.

“...No.” was all she eventually managed to quietly let out.

“What! What do you mean ‘no’? I’m offering you unlimited power, and you refuse it?” Midnight Moon asked, baffled.

“No… no, not after remembering the atrocities that I had committed, not again. Never. Again. I refuse to let the complete darkness in for that reason. I will never corrupt myself and become that, that monstrosity again.” she said contritely.

Nightmare Moon’s pleasant yet deceptive smile that she had been wearing the entire time of the discussion quickly melted at first into that of disbelief. From there it devolved even quicker into an angered face of rage.

“FINE.” she yelled out, making Luna cower slightly in her seat. “I had hoped that you would simply accept my offer of power, but it seems that you are as ignorant and stubborn as ever. No matter, every thing's will can be bent, the full power of true darkness can turn your world a living nightmare and shall crush you if you continue to refuse. You will watch as your reality falls around you!”

Luna then began to notice what was occurring as Nightmare Moon viciously spoke. Celestia had disappeared from her side leaving only an empty throne. The walls around the throne room began to steadily erode and break apart. Cracks spouted from the ceiling down into the walls, cracking and crumbling the walls into pieces. This continued all the way down the sides of the room first, then moving to the floors. The white polished floor aged rapidly as if years were going by in seconds and broke into large chunks that disappeared below. Luna then saw what was beneath the crumbling floors as they disappeared: Nothing. It was an abyss of blackness, stretching across farther than she could see. Nightmare Moon too began to fade as the collapsing room had reached her, the same malevolent smile etched onto her face as she vanished.

The only thing that remained of what was once the throne room was where Luna was sitting, the rest of the room was now gone, a memory faded into the abyss. All around her was a red tinge that surrounded her above, but below was the blackness of the abyss. Looking down into it, Luna began to feel extremely uneasy. She stared deeply into the bottomless darkness, and it was as if the abyss was… was staring back at her. Luna’s heart stopped and her blood flushed cold. Some unfathomable fear was stricken into her to the very depths of her soul. She forgot how to breathe as she now knew what she was looking at. She was looking at herself, into the abyss of her own fears and phobias and indeed, her own inner darkness in its truest form. She had never imagined that her own inner darkness would have such a hold within her. Nightmare Moon’s lingering voice called out to her one last time.

“Stare into the abyss, but be warned, for the abyss stares back at you.” she concluded to Luna with an unholy cackle. The unstable floor beneath Luna gave way, plunging her into nothingness.

Light poured through Luna’s field of vision as she gasped for air. She jumped and fell out of her bed in hysterics as she once again returned to life. The evil contained within her brought her to the brink of death two times now. It was the most unimaginable thing to experience, looking at your own death in the face multiple times. There was no way she could cope with that. A torrent of sobs escaped her as she remained there curled up shaking feverishly as the sound of that demented laughter still freshly echoed in her mind. The same voice that had tormented her all night echoed to her one last time.

“Pathetic.” Was all it had uttered.

---

Luna was back in the royal dining room again for breakfast that morning, now she wasn’t even trying to hide the fact that she was distraught. She shook slightly as she stared forward blankly. She now knows that a part of herself really has violently turned against her and has vowed to make her world a living nightmare, and that was no idle threat. She thought that she could control or ignore the churning darkness that was within her but is now learning how deadly wrong she was. Something is going to happen soon, and she wont be able to stop it.

Celestia had obviously taken note of this but did not know how to approach her about it. Luna was scared, possibly even terrified with how much she was shaking. Celestia was worried that if she had attempted to get Luna to tell her of her problems she would get defensive like before. It pained her too much to see Luna in this state, she would have to take a chance, for Luna’s sake.

“Luna, I’m worried about you, I hate to see you like this. Please, tell me what is happening with you. I only wish to help you with…”

She continued to speak, but Luna could not hear her, she was fixating on a similar sound she heard from before. It was that same whispering sound again. It was such a beautiful and soothing sound gliding across her ears, and now it was almost at a level of audio that she could understand. She perked her ears up and listened intently, completely blocking Celestia out in the process. At first she heard the same unintelligible jumble of words for some time. Then, after about half a minute she finally made out a single line. She was suddenly shocked as the voice of what she heard was no longer a soothing whisper, but now a demonic echo that scathed her ears: “…Your friends will abandon you…”

Something had struck a chord with her, as soon as she heard that unholy voice something seized control over her body. A split second after the voice finished she shot strait up, smashing her one hoof on the table and a plate in front of her, shattering it. She did not even feel the initial pain; she was literally out of control of her body. Blood from her hoof oozed out from the jagged pieces of the plate that had punctured her when it broke, pooling on the table cloth and staining its bright white color into a grimy shade of red. She remained locked into the same position, breathing unsteadily, she couldn’t move even if she wanted to. The blood was now making a river off from the pool and dripped slowly off the table onto the floor.

Celestia appeared to be just as shocked as Luna is. She only tried to get a conversation going with Luna and she freaks out. Celestia finally regained her composure but was still slightly unnerved as she continued to star at Luna. She had never seen her do such an extreme action in the past year she was here. What could have driven her to such lengths? She stood and moved around the table to face her sister. Luna was still under control from whatever had taken hold of her, though Celestia did not know that. She cautiously inched towards Luna, trying to avoid starting at the blood until she was about a meter from her. Slowly she began asking “L-Luna, are you… alright?” She felt silly for asking such an obviously answered question, but she had to say something to break the unsettling silence.

Her sister’s innately calming voice had finally gave Luna the push to regain her motor skills. She quickly snapped her hoof away from where it lay in the middle of the broken shards of the plate and brought it up to her eyes and examined it. It took only seconds for her to feel the pain of what she had just unintentionally done and finally gave out a belated scream. It was a deep, grating scream that rang out all through the room.  Once she finished she began to hyperventilate at the sight of her own blood flowing down her hoof. She was starting to shake more uncontrollably than she was before.

Celestia did nothing; she was absolutely bewildered by the entire situation. All of Luna’s actions in the past few days made no sense in the slightest. She acts strange one day, then is fine for the next few days, and now does this? Both times when she had attempted to help Luna she had lost it and did something crazy. She began to cringe at the site of her sister’s blood, it was never an easy sight for her to see, especially that of her own kin’s. She feared that if she had attempted to help Luna again would do something similar or even worse. She shuddered at the thought of her sister injuring herself further than she already has.

The commotion of the plate breaking and Luna screaming had alerted the guards posted outside the door and they burst through the door with zeal ready to combat whatever enemy had attacked their rulers. But just as quickly as they entered, they too were confused with the sight that beheld them. No enemy was attacking the sisters yet Luna was bleeding and hyperventilating while Celestia just stared at her. The two sisters did not even look at them when they had entered..

The guard on the left approached them with uncertainty and asked “Err, is there a problem Princesses?” The sisters made no attempt to respond to them. Tears where beginning to stream down Luna’s face as the pain from her wound grew. Celestia remained immobile, still contemplating her next move.

The tears in Luna’s eyes were beginning to obscure her vision. She attempted to retrieve the memory of what had just occurred to her. The last thing she remembered doing was trying to listen to that whisper until it turned demonic and then the next thing she knows shes standing with her hoof in the middle of a broken plate covered in her own blood. She couldn’t even remember doing anything, the past minute to her was completely black. Just as she had wished to never hear that demonic voice speak to her again it returned louder, though only slightly, but now clearer than ever. “…Tell yourself that these are your friends again, they have turned on you, kill them before they kill you…”

Luna had finally regained her senses and looked about her. Celestia was standing close to her right staring at her closely and to her left stood two of the personal guard, they too where staring at them. The voiced unveiled a truth to her once it spoke, only then did she now see past the guises on their faces. They were all planning something, she knew it. The voice was right; she could see their cold, murderous expressions. The pieces were starting to come together now.

“Oh my,” she whispered, “it’s true, the voice is true. You’re all plotting to murder me aren’t you?!” She was starting to become hysterical.

Celestia now stopped trying to comprehend what was happening. Now she thinks that Celestia and the guards were trying to murder her! Also by ‘The Voice’ at that. Nothing that Luna was doing made sense any more. The only thing she could manage to stammer out was “Wh-what!? Luna, what is happening to you, stop this madness. We aren’t planning to do anything in the slightest. Please, why don’t we jus-“

“LIES.” Luna interjected forcefully. A brief flash of light passed in her eyes and horn as she sent a shockwave of energy out from her. Both guards flew backwards, both falling unconscious after hitting the wall. Celestia merely recoiled slightly as it buffeted her.

Now Luna was attacking her! Is it something that I am doing? thought Celestia. “What am I doing wrong to make her act this way? Every time I try helping she progressively gets worse.” Celestia made no further attempt to do anything with Luna anymore. She was now terrified of what Luna would do if she had tried to help her again.

After Luna had finished her attack, she turned towards her sister and looked upon her face again. To her, Celestia had a wickedly sinister grin on her, full of untold horrors of what she was about to do to Luna. Luna’s eyes began to widen with fear. Celestia was still more powerful than her and could easily overpower Luna if she wanted to. She realized now how foolish it was to attack her.

Celestia still kept her dumbfounded expression pointed at Luna; Luna must have seen something in Celestia that she was apparently not aware of, because she glared at Celestia as if she had just slaughtered hundreds of innocent foals before her. It made her uncomfortable; it was as if Luna were staring through her soul.

Luna cowered in terror before her, whimpering slightly. Through her view she saw Celestia give a sadistical laugh towards her before cruelly saying “What, is the little weakling going to cry now? Pathetic, you should have never been restored to such a disgraceful form when the elements defeated you. You should have just died.” Luna could not believe the words that she was hearing. They scalded her as Celestia spat them out at her. The whispering once again returned, now slightly above a whisper, it all too clear now.  “…They have all abandoned you, strike out now before they do…”

“I…I can’t, not against her.” Her voice faltered as she spoke. Even though Luna’s sanity was dropping lower she still resisted the thought of attacking her sister all out. The shockwave was just a warning to get Celestia to back away from her. .

“Luna, what in Equestria has gotten into you?” Asked Celestia. Which through Luna’s distorted hearing translated to “Ha, see, I knew it, you truly are weak, a weak, disgraceful excuse for royalty.”

“…Do it, attack while you still can…” The voice insisted, encouraging her still.

“I…” Luna was lost for words.

“…DO IT…”  The voice finally commanded, no longer suggesting it.

In an instant Luna once again lost control of her body as she quickly grabbed a knife from the table and charged towards Celestia. She was completely frozen, unable to make herself move, her heart was starting to rend itself. The one pony she had loved the most in the world was once again turning on her in a fit of rage just as she had all those years ago. This time though there was no reason for this unprovoked attack, which was making it worse for her. It pained her greatly to fight and banish her last time, and now when she had just gotten Luna back she could not bring herself to defend herself. The thought of Luna becoming the evil that she had fended off once again was too much for her. She broke down into tears.

The sight of her sister crying inundated Luna with sanity as she began to lunge towards her with the knife. At the last second she had gained enough control over herself to veer to the right, only nicking Celestia’s right foreleg. Even though it was only a minor injury, she still fell on her hind legs and then onto her forelegs in a storm of weeping. She could not control herself any more, the pain of all her memories from the past were all too lifelike as if she were experiencing them in the present. She began to remember a timeline of events leading to the point where Luna became Nightmare Moon out of her hate. Then last the guilt of 1000 years of separation and 1000 years of trying to cope with herself and her actions that she took to right after banishing her to restore order to Equestria. How cruel she had been, only recently with the return of her sister had she finally come to terms with herself. Now as history started to repeat itself, all of the memories came crashing back onto her in a maelstrom of grief and sorrow.

Luna was taken aback from such a sight. Had she cut her deeper than she thought? “…Now, strike now while she’s down, deliver the killing blow…”  Luna had enough sanity to resist the voices hold over her this time, but that resistance would not last forever. She had to leave while she still could. She dropped the partially bloodied knife and bolted out of the door, making a beeline for her room, not caring what got into her way.

---

Celestia remained where she fell, unregulated tears and sobs still continuing from her. Seeing Luna in the same state she was a millennium ago and fighting against her again was soul crushing. Since the first time that she banished Luna and the chaotic period following she vowed to never do something so horrible ever again. She blamed herself for everything that had just occurred, unknowing to what was truly happening to Luna. She believed that Luna is acting this way because she had been ignoring her since Luna had returned and that history was repeating itself again. The thought of that happening tore her heart apart.

Some guards who had heard the commotion from across the hallway had rallied up a force of a dozen more guards and were just now making their way into the room in a V formation. They had not expected the sight that they saw upon entering the room. Their ruler, the goddess of the sun, was lying in a pit of her own despair and tears before them. How such an image of perfection could be brought down to such a pitiful state, seeing her like this made all of them shift uncomfortably. The one who had taken point of the V formation moved forward and addressed her. “Princess, we heard a commotion coming from in here and we wanted to make sure that you were okay.” He still asked even though the answer was abundantly clear.

Celestia could not let her guards see her in this state. She attempted, though very unsuccessfully, to regain her composure once again. She stood up to full height but with her legs still slightly trembling from the emotional stress she just experienced and asked “Luna, where is Luna?” she cared about nothing more right now than to know where her sister was and to know what was going on with her. She could not allow herself or Luna to go down the same path that was taken before.

The point guard shifted again, trying to find the words. “Princess Luna was charging through the hallways once our group formed, I sent two of us after her though I have not heard back from them yet, but from the looks of it she was heading strait for her room. She looked like she was... crazy, or something though. My apologies for using those words to describe her.”

That was all that Celestia needed to know, she thanked them and began to head out. The guard that she was talking to called out to her, “Princess, where are you going? Do you need assistance?”

“No, I don’t need any help; I’m not sure if I can even be of any help myself.” And with that, she exited heading towards Luna’s room.

Five minutes later, Celestia made her way to Luna’s room at the far end of the castle. Something was clearly happening there too, about four guards where standing outside of the rooms closed doors. One of them was knocking on the doors asking repeatedly “Princess Luna, Princess Luna are you alright?” Upon her approach the guards quickly stopped what they were doing and bowed. The one who was knocking on the door spoke first.

“Princess Luna appears to have locked herself in her room and refuses to respond to us, the two who chased after her saw her enter and slam the door shut, since then we have come to help but with no avail.”

Celestia made no attempt to be surprised; she knew that this is what would have happened if Luna was indeed heading to her room. She now had to try to talk to Luna even if she got to this point now by her trying to help, or so she thought. Against all self warnings not to, she approached the two ornate oak doors that made up one massive door and stared at them for a while before finally building the courage to start.

“Luna, I do not fully know why you are acting this way, but it pains me to see you doing these terrible things. I just wanted to say that if it is me that you are angered at, then please accept my most sincere apology that I can give. I know that you have no reason to accept my apology and I would not blame you if you didn’t, but please, I beg of you” Celestia was attempting not to break down again “I beg of you to try and let me help you with whatever problems you are having. I hate to see you this way Luna, I never want to see you in such pain  and hate again, I have reaped the consequences of what I have sown a long time ago and vowed to never do such horrific things again. I don’t want to lose you a second time Luna, I don’t know if my heart could take that again. I love you and I just want my dear sister back again.”

Silence. Nothing came out from behind those doors that stood before Celestia while or after she spilled her heart out. She remained there in disbelief, her sister really didn’t love her anymore. Tears welled up once more from her eyes as she quietly said “Then I guess you really don’t love me anymore, I’m so, so sorry Luna.” Her heart was now completely shattered, she trudged away from the door, disconsolate.

---

Luna was galloping down the corridor from the dining room that led strait to her room. She wouldn’t stop for anything, not while she still had some control over herself. She frantically galloped faster as she saw that more and more ponies where stopping to watch her hysterically galloping past with confused looks on their faces. But to Luna she saw that they all had the same evil grins that she saw Celestia have on a few minutes ago. “They’re all trying to kill me too?!” She thought as she saw them. She knew Celestia and the guards were trying to kill her, but now every pony in the whole castle too? It gave her all the more reason to speed up faster as her still dropping sanity continued to warp reality around her.

She finally made it to her room and quickly made her way inside, slamming the door behind her with a loud clash. Once inside she moved to the furthest corner away from the door and fell into a fit of strange emotions she could not pick out. It was all just too much for her, she couldn’t handle all of the stress weighing down on her.

Minutes later she remained unchanged, not knowing what to do with herself. The demonic whisper had finally subsided for the moment, but she feared it could return at any time. She flinched and gasped slightly as she heard banging on her door and some pony calling out “Princess Luna, Princess Luna are you alright?” She didn’t respond, she knew better, they’re  merely trying to coax her out so that they can arrest and execute her.

The banging and voice calling her out finally ended after a few minutes as she heard faint mumblings outside her door. Then after a few seconds later she heard the voice of her sister. “Luna, I do not know why you are acting this way, but it pains me to see you doing these terrible things.” Her voice was now much more sincere and apologetic than it was earlier now that the whispering wasn’t speaking to her and manipulating whatever she heard. It sounded so friendly, much like her sister’s voice was.

“I just wanted to say that if it is me that you are angered at, then please accept my most sincere apology that I can give. I know that you have no reason to accept my apology and I would not blame you if you didn’t.” Luna could then tell that she was actually telling the truth, it was amazing to her. She now wanted nothing more than to be with her sister once more. She forgot her insecurities as she began to get up and move towards the door and her dear sister.

Before she made it halfway to the door the whispering returned with stinging force as it yelled louder than it had ever had “…STOP, she lies to you, she wants to kill you, don’t forget what she has done to you before, it’s a trick…” Luna was beginning to lose control of herself again, she was only a few meters from the door. She wanted to open it so badly, but the entity fighting her was gaining more control. She shed one tear as she heard her sister barely whisper from the other side “Then I guess you really don’t love me anymore, I’m so, so sorry Luna.” She completely lost control again as she flailed backwards away from the door, losing consciousness as her body was taken over.

Some time later she had regained her movement but no longer attempted to leave her room. She knew that if she tried to leave through her front or balcony doors she would just be taken control of again and forced to move away from it. She was now a prisoner of herself. The sun was starting to set and night was beginning to take over, Luna was saddened at the sight she then saw. The moon, it raised without her, Celestia must have raised the moon. This greatly pained Luna, Celestia must have truly thought she was a lost cause. She no longer believed that her sister was trying to kill her and she wanted to speak with her, but she couldn’t. “She must still think I'm angry at her too.” With a sob Luna moved towards the bathroom, “Maybe a bath will at least calm me a bit.” she reasoned.

To the far right of the room next to her bed was a smaller bathroom. Luna went in and lit a candle on the wall just inside the room. The bathroom was a moderate size, more than enough for her to fit in. On the right was a bathtub and to the left was a counter with a sink and mirror above it. Luna placed lit the candle beside the mirror and looked into it, disgusted by what she saw. She looked as if she hadn’t slept for days, her mane was frizzled and unkempt and bags hung under her eyes. Her eyes themselves seemed to have gone slightly paler from a deep dark green to a hazed and clouded light green. She looked completely horrible, and she felt no better than how she looked.

The blood from her hoof had coagulated and no longer bled out but shards of the plate were still stuck in her. She began working on removing them. Using her magic, she plucked out the tiny pieces left in her. Each time she removed one she winced a little bit more as small bits of blood from the punctured area began to seep out. After a few arduous minutes she removed the last piece and ran water from the sink over it. The water stung the areas burnt slightly but it wasn’t nearly as painful as when it was still bleeding.

Once she was done cleaning the blood off her hoof she then decided to finally take a bath to try refresh her. She filled the tub with hot water and slowly stepped into it. The water quickly soothed and relaxed her as she fully entered the tub, letting the still water clam her fragile nerves as she closed her eyes. It was actually rather peaceful for a change. She should be worried that that would change soon but the mystical healing powers of the water pushed any negative thoughts out of her mind. Time stood still as she remained there in the tub. She was in complete bliss for once in what seemed like a very long time.

Minutes passed as she remained there resting. As time passes, the sense of dread and darkness came creeping back into her mind. “No, I don’t want to lose this feeling again, I don’t want to lose myself again.” she thought to herself helplessly as she opened her eyes once more. Nothing in the room had changed, but the night was starting to come to full height outside the door. Something had surfaced a few feet away from her. It was a small, pointed conical object with a spiral line going up it. The deep blue water around the object began to tinge red. Luna fearfully moved closer to it and gasped when she realized what it was: a severed unicorn’s horn.

She was appalled by the sight. “What kind of monster would do such a thing to a unicorn?” She wanted to move it but was too afraid to, the red tinge around it began to spread cancerously throughout the tub.

“If this is a unicorn’s horn, then where is the rest of it?” she dared to think. The drips falling on her head and around her answered that question. Looking up, Luna beheld horrifying macabre of a sight. Hanging from a hook jutted impromptu out of the ceiling was the mutilated corpse of a unicorn. Luna could tell because at the center of its forehead was a splotch of red and the base of a horn. She could see that the unicorn had a lavender coat through what parts weren’t covered in blood. Its mane and tail where both mostly jumbled and cut in a way that made it look like something had violently ripped it apart. Its limbs where bent at an awkward angles and it’s left foreleg was completely dismembered. Where that leg was Luna didn’t know and didn’t want to know. It had cuts and bruises all over it, random pieces of fur and skin where cut off all around its body and it was just completely covered in blood, only some spots remained somewhat clean. It was as if a wild beast had attacked and furiously mutilated it. Observing it harder, Luna fell backwards out of the tub onto her side when she realized that the unicorn was her friend, Twilight Sparkle.

Luna quivered in fear at the sight of the element of magic who had been the one to release herself from her dark binds. She considered Twilight to be one of her best friends since she was released. Seeing her like this churned her stomach around as she tried her best to just keep herself from vomiting. She crawled away from the tub and onto her hooves as she tried to push what she had just seen out of her mind. She pulled herself up to the counter and steadied herself on it, nearly vomiting again but barely holding it in. She looked up into the mirror and quaked in fear at what she saw in the mirror. Nightmare Moon stood in the mirror glaring back at her menacingly. She spoke now in a full, non-disembodied voice.

“Now that was a fun joke, wouldn’t you agree? Ha! The look in your eyes when you saw your friend like that was absolutely priceless. But now you see my powers of mind manipulation, that and the whispering you so love to listen to.” She finished the sentence in the same demonic voice that Luna had been hearing all day.

“Along with that I still have some power to control your body at whim, you know that all too well also. But that was all a mere trifle of my full powers. I can still turn your world completely inside out, I shall give you one final chance to consider my offer. You know what’s in store for you if you refuse after seeing my little demonstrations today.”

Luna actually considered it this time, if nothing else to end this torment she was being put through. Before she was about to answer a thought seeded in her mind. She saw the faces of her friends and that of Celestia’s. The thought of actually betraying them in this way was bile to her. The last thing she saw was all the horrified faces of those she hurt during her time as Nightmare Moon again. Could she really do all of that again? She remembered some of the last things she said to Nightmare Moon during her last dream with her: “I will never let myself become that, that monstrosity again. Never. Again.”

She gave her final answer. “No.”

The mirror exploded, sending her flying back in a hailstorm of glass as Nightmare Moon screamed “INSOLENCE.” Luna landed next to the tub and heard the voice continue violently. “I tried, I tried to give you unimaginable power and you still defiantly refuse it twice, twice! I thought you to be more reasonable now that you have seen a taste of true power but you will never give in so long as your will remains. It appears that your will must be broken. Sometimes for something to be rebuilt it must be broken first.  You shall know the full power of the darkness now, what you create will be your destruction.” Luna had just regained her balance and made her way back to the counter where the mirror exploded. It was completely obliterated, and the immediately area in front of it was scorched black. Before she made another move the bathroom door slammed shut. A frigid wind then gusted past her, chilling her to her core and extinguishing all the candles. The room went completely black, Luna gave a shiver before realizing that she can illuminate the room with her magic. Her horn began to glow with a blue light that filled the room. Luna now wished that she had done no such thing.

The room had turned into death.

All around her the walls were now coated with blood and gore. The Twilight illusion that she saw was gone, but replaced with an excess of blood over the spot where the hook was. Luna seized up, the clean and good looking room that was there a minute ago was now a decrepit and horrific gore fest. It were as if she were dreaming again, but this time, it was all real. Luna began to once again hyperventilate at the sight around her. She could barely stand the sight of her own blood from before, this was overwhelming. Her heart was now beating at a rate she couldn’t keep up with. She was becoming extremely queasy. Her vision dimmed out along the edges of her eyes, she was blacking out. She almost did but barely pulled through to just keep conscience. The whispering now returned again, no longer at a whisper though, but at full voice “…This is what you will become…” Then it gave a laugh that struck down at Luna’s soul, causing her to finally snap.

She gave a terrified, blood curdling scream, and in a blind panic rushed towards the door, charging up her magic. She sent a wave of energy directed towards the door, causing it to bust open slightly ajar on its hinges but not fully broken. Luna changed that with a lunge towards it. The door tore down and she tripped over a few remnants that fell in front of her path going through the door. Her room had no traces of blood or decay in it. After Luna got up and calmed herself slightly she gave a relaxed breath. But her brief repose ended abruptly as she noticed that the moon outside was blood red and full of anger. The night sky looked as if it were burning. The decayed state that the bathroom was beginning to seep out into her room, causing the walls to decay as this mysterious plague moved past it. The walls didn’t start to have blood appear on them though, just decayed as is it were thousands of years older with no upkeep.

A blatant ringing now began to make its way into Luna’s mind. It pierced her ears with force and she stumbled slightly from the abrupt noise. Her psyche was chipping away the more things kept happening to her, and she was starting to reach a breaking point. As she lifted her head up from recovering from the ringing the gore she had just escaped returned more terribly than before. Strewn across the room where dozens of corpses. She could tell who they all were too. They were all Twilight’s friends, the rest consisted of guards and other ponies around the castle that she came to know in the past year. She didn’t see her sister’s bloodied corpse amidst them but she was still shocked at all the others who where dead around her. Blood pooled around the corpses and her. She had to get out of here. That damned demented laughter from the demonic voice started up again along with the ringing and the walls decaying.

“Get out of my head!” Luna screamed hopelessly. More tears began to form in her eyes as the emotional stress started to crack her.

“...How can I leave you when I am you, you are doing this all to yourself...” The voice replied, it spoke still even as its laughter still echoed in the background.

Luna didn’t want to hear it. How could she be doing this all to herself? She didn’t want to believe it, but the more she tried to disbelieve it the more that it made sense to her. If Nightmare Moon the had been doing these terrible things, then it was all being done by herself, her darker self at least. Was it all just some extremely complex ruse performed by her on herself? Luna was committing suicide right now. She was killing herself in the end. Its all just in her head, the entire time, it was all her. She couldn’t handle that kind of truth.

“No.... no, no, no, NO” She yelled out, her voice losing all traces of rationality and turning into hysterics. “Its not true! It cant be! You’re lying!” She began to smash her non injured hoof on the wall for no particular reason while shouting incessantly. The same ringing and laughter still present in her mind was not helping either. There was no way she could be doing this all to herself. She continued to smash on the wall, creating a small hole into it until she finally gave up from it being too painful and collapsed onto the floor, still crying hysterically. The pressure was breaking her, she had to get out of here. She didn’t have enough energy to try breaking down either the balcony or front doors so she took an unorthodox route.

Without thinking twice, Luna charged the window next to the balcony with a all of her strength she had left. She moved closer and closer to it, losing more and more of her reasoning skills to talk herself out of it. She put her head down and used her horn as a lance to break the window open and jumped through it. Tiny pieces of glass flew out past her as she cleared the window ledge. All she had to do now was unfurl her wings and fly away. Nothing happened, she still continued to fall. Looking to her side she saw the source of her problem, her wings were gone.

“Wha-?” was all that Luna could start with before hitting the ground.

---

Dear Princess Celestia,

I am writing to you to ask why you have not responded to my last letter to you. I don’t wish to impose but its just you have never not responded to any of my letters before and if there is something wrong or you can’t answer for some reason I would like to know. If something is wrong though I hope that your are okay.

Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle

Celestia read the letter, but didn’t have the heart to answer. She felt bad for ignoring her student but couldn’t bring herself to do much of anything other than raising the sun and moon by this point. It was early morning now as she had just raised the sun. She had no idea what to do with herself now. Her sister has turned against her for reasons she does not know but blames herself for, and it took a deeper toll on her than she thought it would. Two times she has lost her sister now. Two times she had to go through the experience of heartbreak. As much as her student and others would like to believe, she is not infallible. She has as much faults as any other pony, and losing her sister was perhaps her biggest one. She couldn’t deal with loss, she abhors the loss of life and love, especially that of her sister’s.

In the midst of her brooding a messenger came galloping into the throne room frantically shouting “Princess Celestia, Princess Celestia!” He stopped before her, breathing laboriously. He was a Pegasus stallion with a brown coat, and a fire red mane. It took her a minute to pull herself out of her sadness and address him.

“Yes, messenger?” Usually she would address all of her messengers by name, but she no longer cared. Her apathy was creating a large void inside of her.

“Its Princess Luna, somethings happened.” he said through staggered breathes. Celestia instantly stood up and quickly asked “What? What’s happened with Luna?!”

The messenger was surprised by her sudden interest in him. After a few seconds he explained “Some guards on patrol found Princess Luna unconscious about a story below her room. It appears as if she had jumped out the window and fell down. She was immediately taken to the castle’s hospital and is being treated though I know not of the extent of her injuries. We looked in her room through the broken window and it looked completely fine, save for a broken bathroom door and a hole in the wall.” As the messenger was finishing Celestia was already making her way out of the room towards the hospital, leaving the messenger behind.

Celestia made it to the hospital as fast as she could. A nurse was waiting by the entrance almost as if anticipating her arrival and told Celestia to follow her. They moved past the general wards of the hospital towards the back where a private room was. She entered the room and looked upon her sister in the middle of the room. She was lying sideways in a medical stretcher, dried blood and dirt covered the bottom of her legs and she had her eyes closed. For a small second Celestia thought that she was dead but then saw her taking small breathes. Cuts and bruises also covered her body. Seeing her like this made her heart begin to wrench again. One of the doctors who were in front of Luna observing her noticed Celestia’s presence and trotted over to her and bowed. She had a white coat, though not as bright as Celestia’s, with a gray mane.

She began to speak, “Well, I have good news and bad news, the good news is that your sister’s life is not in extreme danger, she only has two broken legs and a few cracked ribs as her worst injuries. The bad news is she seems to be in a coma and doesn’t seem to be responding to any of the treatment methods we have tried.”

“When did she get here?” Celestia asked.

“About 45 minutes ago, since then we have mended most of the broken bones and ribs but they need to remain immobile while the magic heals them over time. But past that we have only been observing and trying to treat her coma.”

“Why didn’t she just start flying once she broke through the window?”

The doctor shrugged as best she could and said “I really have no idea, there could have been any number of reasons why, which one I don’t know.”

“Maybe I can help her?” Offered Celestia.

“Well, I don’t honestly know how you could help her, but she is your sister and I know not of the extent of your powers so I would not interfere if you tried to do anything.”

With that Celestia moved towards her sister, the other doctors who were standing next to Luna immediately vacated the area around her to let Celestia through. Celestia stood before Luna, wondering how to go about helping her. She wanted to set things right with Luna so that she could live with herself again. She was in no state to rule while she was so deeply conflicted. She had to help Luna any way possible, for both her and Luna’s sakes.

With a flash of her horn, she began to attempt to help, the spell she was attempting was very complex and complicated. Probably only her and Luna where the only ones who could cast such a powerful spell. It was a spell that attempted to return the sleeping awake. It bordered on necromancy as the spell was powerful enough to animate the dead as well, potentially reviving a the recently deceased. Though she banned such things from being practiced by others for good reason. It was a very draining spell, her power was being sapped as she kept the spells magical energy flowing. Before she was about to give up and stop casting the spell Luna’s eyes sprang open.

She heard the doctors around here moving and talking in commotion as they witnessed what she had just done. Luna kept her lifeless stare for another few seconds before regaining her senses from such a deep sleep. But once she realized that she was awake again and remembered her last few memories she suddenly began to buck in her bed. Though once she felt the pain of her injuries that stopped quickly and devolved down into hopeless cries and sobs. Everyone around her stared at her with confusion.

Celestia moved closer to Luna and once she stopped moving Luna’s head snapped up to look at her and she screamed with fear. The screams were out of pure terror of seeing Celestia again. Had she of had any rationality left she would have recognized her sister but she could only see the same evil version of her sister staring down at her. In between screams she kept spewing out unintelligible words and sentences that made no sense what so ever to everyone around her. Celestia could make out a few words and snippets of what she was saying: “Murderer…they’re all dead…don’t let her near me…nothing is true…why…” She was shivering as much as her pain threshold would allow her to. It was a pitiful sight.

“She’s completely broken.” Celestia observed.

One sentence through Luna’s ramblings kept coming up though “She’s trying to take over…she’s trying to take over…she’s trying to take over…must…stop…her…before its too late…Nightmare Moon…stop...”

Celestia gasped at hearing that name uttered again by her. It suddenly clicked with her. Was this what was happening all along? Was it the work of Nightmare Moon that drove Luna to do these things? It was coming together perfectly now. It really wasn’t Celestia’s fault all along.

Celestia thought for a few minutes, then she decided what she had to do, it was a bit drastic, but drastic measures must be taken in drastic situations. She gently placed her hoof on Luna’s face, which made her stop her screaming and rambling to look up at her through extremely dilated pupils. Celestia also cast a small spell to calm Luna. Luna could not recognize her true sister fully in her condition, but when she spoke the voice sounded familiar and eased her slightly.

“Luna, I now know what has really been happening with you recently, I should not have been so blind or ignorant as to assume that you were finally free of your inner darkness’s grasp. For that I apologize, and apologize for what I am about to do, but it must be done. Listen to me know, really listen to me as I tell you this: there are monsters and demons lurking inside all of us deep down, where there is light there must dark. Bad things that happen in this world come from our dark sides that consume us, but we all must face our demons at one point in our lives. Your dark side wants control of you Luna. It wants to break free of its prison inside of you like it did before, but you cannot, I repeat, you cannot let the evil take a hold on you like this Luna. You must face your demon and vanquish it once and for all, but you shall not be alone, remember that. Wherever you are, in the brightest of darkest of places, know that I and every one of your friends love you and we shall always be with you by your side now and always, even if we are not there physically. Now, you must conquer your evil raging within you and balance your inner light and dark, for yours and all of Equestria’s sakes. Do this for everyone, if not for yourself.”

To finish, she cast one final spell on Luna, but this time it was a spell to put her back into a sleep where she would not emerge from until the darkness within her was once again balanced or it had beaten Luna. With a heavy sigh, Celestia sat down next to her sister, she would not leave her side until the battle was done, she did not want to think about what would happen if Luna lost.

---

Luna was in the remnants of the castle deep in the Everfree Forest where she had been defeated by the Elements of Harmony. She stood in the middle of the destroyed room high up where the final battle had  taken place. The majority of the ceiling was gone and the windows broken, only leaving rusted frames. It was dark out, as most of her dreams where. She began to move towards the balcony at the end of the room but before she reached the doorway frame to exit out onto the balcony something flashed in front of her making her shut her eyes for a brief second. When she opened them a gruesome sight was before her. Celestia lay there on the balcony, mutilated and desecrated. The same overwhelming sadness and disgust was starting to take hold of her again. But she immediately dismissed the illusion for now that she was free of her physical form she now knew better. From behind her she head the maniacal laughter of Nightmare Moon. She turned away from her sister to see her dark side again, she had seen her many more times than she would have liked to have ever.

She was becoming sick of it.

Nightmare moon began again with her fully formed voice. “You see, your own sister has once again abandoned you to your fate, and look where that has ended for her.” She motioned towards the Celestia corpse illusion. “She sent you in here to fail Luna, she wants me to win so that she can finally be justified in ridding the world of you. If you resist, that may just happen, but willingly we can defeat her. You have seen the power of the darkness many times over now, you know how terrifying it can be. I wanted to show you so that you realize your destiny and see past your false beliefs that this world is full of good and joy. Look at reality, you are face to face with the full night with no hopes of winning, this will be easier if you give in.”

Luna, for the fist time, was not scared of Nightmare Moon. She had intended for the corpse illusion to frighten her into submission but that backfired. Now that Luna could think clearly again, the words that Celestia had told her before putting her to sleep rang through her mind with stringing truth. She was right, the fate of the world depended on her and being strong, for everyone. Instead of scaring her, the illusion set off a different spark: enmity, hate, anger. Not the kind that her darker half used for her own nefarious purposes, but the kind that radiated conviction and justice. This was her time to stand against all odds and conquer. She had been retreating from her inner darkness for too long and she let it gain too much ground in her, it was time to change that. The memories of her past no longer clouded her mind, the only thing she could think of now was retribution. As the seeds of vengeance within her grew, her eyes began to shine with magical energy. It flowed through her unrestrained like a rushing river. A glow was beginning to emit from her as the power increased to innumerable amounts.

Nightmare Moon, for once, looked uneasy, but remained stationary and began to speak. “What do you think your doing, do you honestly think that you can defeat m-“

“SILENCE.” Luna commanded as she stomped her hoof down, creating a small crater where it impacted the stone floor.  Her voice was no longer her regular voice, it had synthesized echo to it that rang across with unbreakable might. A column of light burst forth through the blackness of the night sky above and set on her. The light shone with an unimaginable brightness that blinded Nightmare Moon.

Luna was now speaking with a justice that echoed further than just herself, it echoed throughout her dream world with omnipotence. She gave one last speech to her dark side. “I am Princess Luna of Equestria, and you, demon, have no control over me or my dreams. I am the master of my own soul and you shall not interfere with me. You have no hold over me, I am something more than you can ever be. While you may be the ruler of my deepest darkness, I have something that you never will have. I am the middle ground between night and day, I control a piece of both, as does my sister, in equilibrium. You are the darkest of night, you have no light to control. And that, that is your one major flaw. Once you try and upset that balance of night and day, you invoke the wrath of the elements of harmony. And now, while they are not actually here, they are within me, in my very soul. I too doubted this once I saw the abyss within me, but I now know that it was my own self doubt that undid me, until now. You are not a part of me, you are a manifestation of the evil that has grown within me, this I realize now. I have let you gained too much of a hold over me, and the elements are retaliating just as they had a millennium ago. Now, I have become the elements and its avenging wrath, I am your destruction, and I cast you back to whence you came, demon!”

The column of light coming from the sky burst out in all directions, overtaking Nightmare Moon and sending her back into the deepest depths of Luna, never to return again. The light cleansed the rest of the castle and the surrounding forest as daylight broke out from night. The power faded from Luna and with a tired smile she collapsed.

The same light that she had created in her dream now shone through her vision. Luna opened her eyes finally, greeting the daylight. She noticed where she was for the first time. Before when she was awake she knew she was someplace different from her room but didn’t know exactly in her crazed condition. Looking through clear vision for once in what seemed like a long time, she saw everything for what it truly was and not a distortion of it. Most clearly of all though, she saw her sister in front of her, starting to tear with joy.

Celestia could not contain herself, she cried out with joy and hugged Luna’s neck. Luna too could not help but feel joy as the nightmare was finally over. She asked one last time, just to make sure. “Sister, is it finally over?”

“Yes my dear Luna, its finally over.”

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