Chapter 1: As Night And Day
The anxious colt swallowed audibly at the wondrous sight before him - a far cry from the distant, reserved and well-practiced demeanor reserved for his peers. Standing rigidly atop the gem-encrusted carpet, he cast his gaze randomly around the room. It was a futile attempt to distract himself from his nerves.
To the left, many paintings dotted up and down the wall; mostly depicting the royal sisters or occasionally one of the elder sister's apprentices. In the center, a large round bed draped neatly in red sheets, marble columns engraved with spiralling grooves at each corner. To the right, two massive windows overlooking the forest below, with a sturdy looking gold dressing cabinet between them. The white tiled walls were polished to a flawless degree, lined with a thick oak table and many lit candelabra.
Stunning. That was the first word that came to the uncomfortable colt's mind, but upon reflection it didn't really seem to do the sun princess's private chamber justice. No word in his vocabulary could, and that only added to the unsettlement... the almost forbidden nature of what he was privileged with seeing. Designers the world over, from the bustling metropolis of northern Canterlot to the quaint little village of southern Everfree, would see this as a quite literally golden opportunity from which to draw inspiration.
The honour was wasted on the awkward boy though. Fidgeting restlessly, he traced his hoof along the soft carpet and watched a little too intently as his illustrious host slipped off her gold and crystal shoes. Even as she casually rolled her neck and stretched her legs, the uncomfortable silence remained between student and teacher.
The colt found himself focusing on the floor, caught between instinct and instruction. Should he say something, or was that not his place? He was in the princess's domain, at her request even. On one hoof, one could say she was obligated to make him feel welcome and relaxed. On the other, everything that happened here would be at her whim and he had no right to impose on that.
He closed his eyes and thought back.
Mere minutes before, the qualifying students of Princess Celestia's senior magic class had finished their final written exam. The preceding hour had been enveloped by a thick silence, peppered only by the rhythmic clicking of royal hoofsteps in an overly dramatic parody of a clock. All too soon, that pacing had stopped and the princess's gentle yet firm voice echoed across the room.
"Fair students," she had announced, "your time is up."
Real terror danced in the less confident students' eyes as they caught their lady's gaze and hastily tried to wrap up their essays. These attempts were cut off, as the regal alicorn's horn glowed with a faint golden aura. A loud crack resonated throughout the hall as all the parchments snapped shut at once, bound by shimmering silver rings by the princess's will. The scrolls silently hovered in unison toward the massive desk at the front of the room, ignoring the longing looks of their owners who were already regretting what they could or shouldn't have said in their writings.
The large, imposing white alicorn at the head of the room then turned to face the class directly. "Ye shall disperse and re-convene in a week's passing. Until that time, venture into your next subject for study at a light pace," she said, pausing to close her magenta eyes and offer a comforting smile. "Consider your following week a well-earned period for recuperation. A blessing upon you for your diligence and focus this term past."
Resigning herself to the grading she would have to endure the coming nights, the princess and respected lecturer summoned the scrolls into a glowing mass and went to leave the room, stopping at the door. Looking back over her most prized students, she gave one final reassuring smile. "And ye shall be mindful of this..." Her tone was sincere and personal. "We take great pride after the accomplishments, and merits, of all our students."
It took mere moments following her departure for the students to unwind, organizing into their various social groups to the tune of disorganized shuffling. The stoic colt seated near the front of the room disregarded their chatter as he went about packing his things, paying only mild attention to the bubbly voice to his left.
"Arcanus," a vibrant green-coated filly chirped, having already whipped together a crowd at least ten strong, "wouldst thou join us for drinks?"
Startled by the sudden address, the distracted boy composed himself enough for a dismissive response. "Oh, I..." he muttered, sparing her a brief glance as he tried to remember her name. Gorgeous obsidian eyes that almost glowed with life, implying the dynamic filly within. Big silly smile that betrayed unshakeable cheer. Deep blue mane, hanging lengthily within a silver moon-shaped clip, with a smooth coat as verdant as the surrounding forest. He shook his head. "I appreciate thine offer, fair... Moonthistle?"
The girl pouted unbecomingly, but quickly replaced her energetic grin even as the colt looked away. He did know her name! "Thou art more than welcome," she said, before shrugging and skipping off-
"Arcanus?"
The daydream ended abruptly as a soothing voice the young colt knew all too well finally broke the silence. He looked up to find the princess standing next to the cabinet, eyelids hanging lazily and sniffing from a small glass floating just beneath her muzzle. Smiling, she asked the most obvious of questions.
"Wouldst thou care for wine?"
The boy's eyes widened as he shook his head fervently, suddenly flustered. "I..." Words escaped him at that moment. This might as well still have been a daydream. The princess had invited him to her bedchamber... and was now casually offering him wine? That certainly implied he wasn't in trouble, but what did it mean? "I... I must respectfully decline, your highness," he said lightly, formality firmly in place. With a modest bow, he smiled internally as his composure held. "Wine is not to my taste."
"Suit thyself," Celestia replied casually, smirking and sipping from her glass as she removed her tri-gemmed crown. Ostensibly oblivious to the look of increasing surprise on her student's face, she trotted over to the table and began to sift through the mess of scrolls. "Art thou aware that she likest thee?"
Arcanus raised an eyebrow and cleared his throat. That sure came out of nowhere. "May... may I ask who, princess?"
"Young Moonthistle," she replied offhoofedly, as though it should have been obvious. Her rummaging continued unabated. "Her fondness for thee is quite evident."
The boy rolled his eyes in disinterest, though reflexively stole a look at the dressing mirror. He was by no means hard on the eye, if the attention of somepony like Moonthistle was anything to go by - modestly built for a unicorn colt with a dark grey coat and short, neatly kept black mane. He neither craved nor rejected such attention, preferring to opt for simple indifference.
As an avid reader, fiction had taught him two very important lessons: friendship had its downsides, and love just wasn't worth the trouble. He had taken these to heart over the years, and as his desire for knowledge grew, so did his resolve to distance himself. Even from the first day in Celestia's magic academy, he had made it a point to form only passing relations with his peers.
Arcanus straightened up, and spoke as formally as he could. "My studies must come first, Princess Celestia. I can not afford the time to divide my attention between... distractions as such. My obligation is to your royal highness, her highness Princess Luna, and my family."
Celestia hummed in apparent concurrence, levitating a scroll from the pile and turning back around to face the colt. Removing the binding and unravelling it with a thought, she ran her eyes up and down the inked words and symbols. Arcanus gulped down a painful breath of air, unnerved by the sudden tension. Was that the real reason he was invited here, to witness his grading?
"Thy study hast proven most rewarding, young Arcanus," Celestia said after a moment of silence, arching an eyebrow in contemplation of the writings presented to her. "We believe thou hast fully comprehended the Ascension theory." She looked him straight in the eye and smiled. "Thine efforts exceed our greatest hopes."
In that moment, the apprehension vanished from the rigid colt's face in favour of an uncharacteristic smile. It was true that he had practiced the emotionless facade, gleaned from many hours of reading epic narrative and studying characterization, to hide his feelings regarding other ponies. When it came to academics, he had no such reservations.
"And it is with such reason," she continued, rolling the scroll and tossing it listlessly back on the pile, "that we see fit to assign a new task unto thee."
Arcanus waited expectantly for the princess to elaborate on this task, already determined to see it through no matter what it may have entailed. What he heard next soured his mood considerably.
"But before this, if we may..." Her tone took on a sudden, uncomfortable formality as the look in her eyes hardened. "We might ask after your family? How fare your dear mother and young brothers?"
She stepped back as the now grumbling colt was at the cabinet in a heartbeat. His own horn radiating waves of black energy, he went about filling the other wine glass and wasted no time tossing back the vile purple liquid.
"With..." he coughed, "with all due respect for your highness..." Voice low and bitter, he fought the wretched taste of both the wine and his own words while trying to remain respectful. "Things fare... unfavourably, as of late."
Even at such little detail, Celestia sighed. She knew the story with that family, even though quiet young Arcanus had honourably never made a big deal out of it. His younger brothers were spoiled and abusive of their inherited wealth, an alarming trend growing among the nobility in recent decades. They were seemingly incapable of holding jobs, most certainly for lack of trying, and flippant about helping care for their own sickly mother.
While capable of following this path himself, Arcanus had adamantly refused, all but denouncing those snivelling brats as his family. And while the perceptive princess had offered him reprieve many times in the past to resolve these problems, he had always turned her down.
"It is nothing," he would say, even as all signs pointed to the contrary. Always hiding beneath the cover of honour and the insistence that his diligence and academic prowess were his mother's greatest wish. It was as though he had fashioned himself into an unshakable rock or at least the image of one; his way of promising that although his brothers were worthless, he refused to be. He had even made it clear that he found the idea of wallowing in one's problems to be a despicable and almost trite exhibition of weakness.
In time she had learned to admire such a mortal pony who could bear these burdens in his own home while maintaining unwavering dedication to study, and resolved to give him the respect and personal space such fortitude deserved. Granted, perhaps he had simply learned means to cope; his special talent was reading itself, and the penchant for learning it implied.
In a way, she reflected, their recent hardships and how they chose to manage them shared much in common.
"Let us impart upon thee some wisdom, Arcanus," she whispered softly, her voice suddenly betraying her true age despite losing the formal touch. She closed her eyes and once again channeled a wave of magic, summoning two large violet cushions from the bed. "If thou art interested."
He nodded without hesitation, finding his sour demeanor hard to leave in place when juxtaposed against clumsy hiccups. Prodding the plush purple pillow before him, he raised an eyebrow in sincere appreciation. Even the royal pillowcases were top-notch.
Celestia giggled softly, a rare break in the elite alicorn's regal conduct that Arcanus alone had witnessed. She knew exactly what he was thinking. "Are they not magnificent? One of ponydom's greatest inventions," she mused in apparent awe. "After pacing endlessly before a class," a soft thump echoed as she sat abruptly into her pillow, completely at ease, "thou canst have no greater relief."
Arcanus just laughed, a sincere laugh his peers could never hope to extract. Only two figures in his life could ever get through his self-applied shell of indifference, and now he was drinking and sharing stories with one... in her bedroom. Or it could have just been the wine. "Of course, your highness."
Celestia nodded, taking another mouthful from her glass along with a deep breath as her student sat upon his own cushion, falling unceremoniously back into it. "Do not judge thy brothers so harshly." She anticipated the disagreement in his widened eyes, and held out her hoof to indicate silence. "I understand thy pain. Just as thee, my dear sister and I never had a father... our mother lost to us so many years past. And while I lament our recent... difficulties," she trailed that thought, sighing remorsefully as she finished the last of her wine before setting about pouring another glass.
Arcanus nodded, keeping his expression neutral. Uncertainty forbade him from expressing any feelings he may have had on the royal sisters' personal problems, as they were decidedly none of his business. As it was, he was already privileged beyond any of his peers or indeed any other citizen of Canterlot - noble or otherwise - just to be hearing this.
Patiently awaiting his mentor's next words, he cracked his neck left and right and went to sip from his own glass... noticing dismally he'd already finished it. The wine bottle unexpectedly hovered toward his hoof, wrapped in a golden magical aura rather than his own. He looked up in surprise to find the quiescent princess's eyes were closed. She almost appeared to be sleeping, even as she hastily gulped down that unsavory liquid courage.
Observant to a fault, as any good teacher should be.
"Princess..." he verbally nudged to break the lingering silence, gently accepting the bottle and refilling his glass. One glass of wine and his previously untapped confidence was off and rolling. It was starting to taste somewhat civil, too.
"Ahem," she coughed, flashing the trustworthy smile for which she was so well known despite the melancholy tone to her voice. "These past months have been decidedly... restless, between my sister and I. Disagreements over matters of nil importance, mood swings. She... refuses to inform me as to why her behaviour is as such."
Her eyes narrowed, the pain within all too obvious. Clearly, she was giving the brief version of the story. Or perhaps she was leaving something out?
"But," she amended with a newfound resolve, "deep down, we yearn for the other's love. The time we spend together, unmarred by meaningless quarrel, is most wonderful." Her voice seemed to regain its usual optimism with each word, as the memories of happier times stirred. "And in our hardest, our most trying times... all we have is each other, from now until eternity. And no amount of petty arguing can sever such a tenacious bond. Dost thou understand and hearken to my words?"
Arcanus nodded slowly, unsure whether he should voice his disagreement as to how this analogy was meant to apply to him. His grievances regarding his siblings went far beyond circumstantial disagreement. "I... believe I do, your highness," he replied with little conviction.
Celestia picked up on this, as he knew she would, and smiled wearily at him. It was one of those 'we both know that's nonsense' smiles.
"Young Arcanus, thine intelligence eclipseth that of most. Thou hast drawn from our words what was intended."
And in the face of that, with the influence the esteemed princess held over the minds of her students, Arcanus resolved to speak his true feelings.
"How am I to forgive my brothers," he almost hissed, "after their disgraceful conduct in these past months?" He immediately regretted the almost demanding tone to that... demand, and fought hard to hold on to coherence in the face of his resplendent ruler. Bitter truth didn't mix well with alcohol. Celestia merely waited out his rant with an immortal's patience, truly sympathising with him.
"We... I am not asking of thee to dismiss thy brothers' transgressions, but simply to be mindful of this," she said in a low voice, barely above a whisper. "Someday, thy brothers shall turn to thee, and thou upon them. Thy family shalt be all thou hast left. Find the resolve within thine heart to let go of the past and look toward the future with the strength only a family can share."
Arcanus said nothing, reflecting on the princess's words in silence as he finished the last of his wine. Could he really forgive his brothers? Would they ever seek that forgiveness? Did they deserve the chance in the first place? ... And was repentance alone enough to warrant at least a shot at that chance?
Lost in these questions, he barely registered the loud knock at the door even as his royal host literally flew to her hooves and answered it.
"Highness, Princess Celestia." A burly dark-coated royal guard, clad in silver plating, stood at attention and saluted. He caught a look at the diminutive colt in the room, the empty glasses and wine bottle, and the pillows. He was clearly interrupting something. "It is time to raise the sun. Princess Luna..." He frowned. This might not go down well. "Princess Luna has locked herself in her room again. She refuses to answer to our prompts."
Celestia nodded and dismissed the messenger, sighing as she looked out the window. Its automated arc should have placed it near the horizon by this time, yet the full moon was still perched high atop the heavens. Her estranged sister had recently taken to throwing tantrums, which often included freezing the moon's course and locking the night in place... sometimes for days at a time.
Clearly, tonight was to be another one of those nights.
She felt a presence to her left, and laughed cynically. Mere months ago this foalish behaviour on her sister's part would have exacerbated her to no end. In recent weeks she had settled into a sort of defeated acceptance... a disconcerting fact on its own. "Thou heard that?"
Arcanus nodded slowly, knowing he couldn't exactly deny it. "I-Indeed."
"Take a lesson, my student," she whispered, quickly sculling the last of her wine before trotting out the door. She looked over her shoulder, and offered as sincere a smile as she could. "One's siblings can be as night and day - their greatest pleasure, or their greatest pain." She forced the smile to hold as her young apprentice said nothing. "Time to find out which it shall be tonight. Wouldst thou accompany me?"
Arcanus shook his head back and forth groggily, rubbing his eyes to restore his vision. That said nothing of the faint traces of heat he could feel all over his coat, or the tiny wisps of smoke wafting up from his frazzled mane.
After accepting the princess's offer, he'd barely started trotting after her when he'd been engulfed in some sort of glowing white flame. In no time at all, the room around him had simply melted away, scattering in all directions like rain drops in a cyclone. And then, faster than he could blink, he was here - before a massive door, decorated blue and purple in a twisting, maze-like pattern and emblazoned with a large silver icon of the moon.
He'd have to learn the teleport spell and practice it, as being ill-prepared for its disorienting side effects would get him into trouble someday.
"Sorry," Celestia quipped mischievously, a good sign considering the gravity of what may await her on the other side of that door. She nodded at the sentries to either side of the door, before hesitantly raising her hoof and rapping on it a few times. "Sister?"
No response.
"P-Princess," Arcanus whispered, his nerves rising as he felt an all too familiar sensation in his horn. Celestia didn't respond, instead clearing her throat loudly and banging on the door again.
"Sister?" Still nothing. "... Luna?"
"Princess," the edgy colt repeated, with more insistence this time. His suspicions were right, and he'd read enough horror to know where this was going. The tingling in his horn was no longer in question. "Do you feel that?"
Celestia stopped prodding the enchanted lock with her magic, taking a step back to survey the door further. She closed her eyes and concentrated, attempting to scry whatever it was her young accomplice may have been talking about. With her attention focused, it took her heightened sense mere seconds to pick up the patterns in the air, specifically around the door's edges; the invisible residue of...
"Loose magic," she muttered with an air of anxiety, indicating this was no longer routine. Loose magic was only present in the air when powerful spells had gone off recently. Few students in the entire history of the kingdom had ever reached this level until very late in their studies or even their entire lives; those who did usually became lecturers.
That meant it was most likely Luna's own magic that caused this fallout, and whatever had prompted such exertion on the part of a royal alicorn was a matter to be taken seriously. Celestia looked at Arcanus for only a brief moment, and the steel in her eyes made him back off immediately. The guards tensed, eagerly awaiting their lady's command.
"Knights, evacuate the castle and clear the village," she muttered grimly, sparing them a reassuring look as they dashed off. Arcanus closed his eyes as the princess's horn began to glow white hot, quickly having to shield them with his hoof.
A massive crash reverberated all the way down the dark hall as the door was ripped apart - shattered by the shockwave, the scattered fragments incinerated by solar flames. The blazing backlash warped harmlessly around the two ponies, deflected by the other half of the spell - the barrier. In less trying times, Arcanus would have appreciated the clever design; a superheated magical wave projected forward with an anti-magic blast shield behind it to protect its user. Of course, academic curiosity had its place.
Coughing and spluttering to clear the dust from his throat, Arcanus opened his eyes. The princess had already stepped through the splintered remains of the door, so he followed. His suspicions could never have prepared him for the reality.
The room had been torn to pieces. Scorch marks along the floor and ceiling, broken furniture and bookcases, a half melted bed, torn picture frames, the ruined carpets a sea of glass shards, entire chunks taken out of the walls... A dragon might as well have chewed right through it. However, his attention was immediately drawn to the most notable detail - the large, spherical depression just off the center of the room; the epicenter of the devastation. Rather, the black alicorn kneeling within it, almost as large as Celestia herself.
Again, out of instinct, Arcanus unconsciously drew on his history of reading. This alicorn vaguely resembled Princess Luna, but that was irrelevant. Whoever she was, her very appearance indicated trouble. Wicked teal eyes, ominous black coat, ethereal and almost supernaturally unsettling mane and tail more closely resembling a gaseous cloud of stars than anything else, and armour in a light purple shade.
That really drove the point home for the colt. He was out of his league on this one. His studies had certainly included combat training, an old concept held over from such trying times as the Age of Discord, but this was an alicorn. Good or evil, Princess Luna or otherwise, this wasn't his arena. He looked up nervously at his mentor, who wore an expression more serious than he'd ever seen; a thick mixture of horror and determination.
"Who art thou?" Celestia demanded icily, taking a step forward and pawing at the floor intimidatingly. Her iridescent mane flapped harder beneath invisible breeze, as her rising anger brought forth more of the power within. She scanned the ruined room in search of Luna, to no avail. "What hast thou done to my sister?"
The shadowy alicorn merely smiled and rose to all four hooves, standing to her full height. Correction, Arcanus noted. She was as big as Celestia. Her lips twisted into a subdued, yet snarky smile as she motioned toward her cutie mark.
"No..." Celestia murmured reflexively. The mark was the same as Luna's. She looked to the floor and found the charred remains of a book with part of its cover still intact. It was a title she was familiar with, one she hoped would never lead anypony to this - least of all her beloved sister. This couldn't be happening. Her sister would never do... whatever this was. Dark magic? Impossible. With every ounce of her being she willed that this simply wasn't possible.
That resolve was already wilting with every look, every glance she took into those cruel emerald eyes.
"Oh yes," the mare of darkness roared triumphantly. Bolts of lightning flashed erratically as shimmering magical waves rippled fluidly across her coat. She looked over her form with an appreciative smile, seeming to momentarily forget she had an audience. That changed in a second, as she suddenly glanced up at the ponies before her. Her eyes pulsed an effulgent white.
Arcanus hardly saw what happened, but he sure felt it. His vision... all his senses were blinded in the moment as a searing pain burned its way through his mind and body. He stumbled back, writhing in agony from the psychic assault and the concussive force that accompanied it.
Celestia merely tilted her head slightly, barely fazed by the attack. She spared Arcanus a brief look to make sure he was okay, but her glare quickly returned to this abhorrent facsimile of her sister. She needed answers and needed them now.
"W-Why, dear Luna," murmured the confused princess, her voice cracking as she looked over the damage to the room and the terror it implied for the immediate future. Her magical sense easily read the foul, evil magic enveloping what was once her sister's body as though it were a candle in a dark room. "Why art thou... immersed in such terrible power?"
"Luna is no longer," the dark imposter amended, her glowing eyes narrowing as though irked by the suggestion. That anger flipped back to smugness in a heartbeat - a hot and cold change that could prove deadly if they came to blows. "As of now, you stand before..." She looked toward the broken roof, eyebrows raised contemplatively as if considering her options. Completely off guard. She lowered her gaze moments later, and smiled sinisterly. "... Nightmare Moon."
Celestia ground her teeth at this callous creature's flippancy, invisible magical waves emitting uncontrolled from her mind and shattering the remaining windows. There was no aura, or even a mere spark from her horn to indicate this discharge of power. Centuries had passed since her temper had been pushed this far, and yet this... thing had done so with just a few words.
Still, she fought the urges of an angry demi-god, and held her ground. Her anger would be playing right into the monster's stupid little mind game, and the time for talk wasn't over yet. She needed a glimpse at the bigger picture, for her own peace of mind if nothing else.
"Whatever thou wishest be called, what is thy reason for this transgression?" she rasped, dismally sensing the monster's connection to the moon. Just one more piece of evidence this warped entity was indeed her beloved sister. Just one more piece of evidence she adamantly denied.
The nightmarish entity smiled in almost genuine amusement, as though she had some fantastic secret to share. "Are you sure you want-"
Celestia stamped the floor in frustration, shattering the immediate tile. Her patience for such a sensitive subject was wearing thin. "Answer, thou contemptible-"
"Very well," the black mare interrupted, nonchalantly dismissing her lighter counterpart's rant with a yawn. Rolling her neck, she suddenly dropped the almost comical demeanor and threw an accusatory stare. "It was you, 'sister!'"
Arcanus frowned. Still disoriented, he nonetheless forgot his place at the insinuation his wise mentor was fallible in any way. "Now hold-"
"Stand down," Celestia muttered sharply, keeping her eyes firmly on the offending alicorn. The colt obeyed without a word. "What dost thou mean? To what end do thy words-"
"Always so formal," the Nightmare yelled, flexing her powerful wings. "But that's to be expected from somepony who's always at the center of attention," she seemed to muse aloud, her tone laced with a seething contempt.
"Is that what this is..." Celestia responded instinctively, but paused as she reflected further on her hasty words. The pieces of the puzzle suddenly snapped together, and she realised she was right - exactly what she didn't want. Irrational mood swings, refusing to talk to her, hijacking the very balance of night and day... Even some of the inane insults her sister had lobbied during her ramblings suddenly came to a new light. "Thou hast succumbed to... envy?" she yelled, as her own part in allowing things to go this far was made painfully clear.
"So you understand," the black mare said solemnly, though a lifetime of repressed rage came forth with each word. "All I've done is risen to my birthright. No longer will I accept such an inconsequential existence, forever beneath your shadow! With this power, I can finally..." she paused, gazing longingly at the majestic moon, "... matter."
Celestia forced her tearful gaze toward the moon once more, and the bitter subtext behind those last words became as clear as... day. Luna's refusal to lower the moon to make way for the sun suddenly made sense. Why hadn't she seen it sooner? Why hadn't she given more than a passing thought to any of this sooner? This was her fault, and now her negligence had gone to its logical conclusion.
Yet still, she had to seek reason. This didn't have to happen. There had to be a way out of this! "But... Luna, why do this? Why now? Thou knowest that thy gift of night is appreciated-"
"Now it is," the warped image of Luna corrected, as a sense of freedom and satisfaction at this new reality danced in her eyes. "And it shall be as such from this moment forth. Equestria will never forget my name again."
Celestia narrowed her eyes to a steadfast glare. Those vague words suggested a missing, and crucial, detail to the story. "What art thou going to do?"
"Teach them the meaning of respect," Nightmare Moon replied cryptically in seeming afterthought. "They had the audacity to shun my gift of night, so let us see how they react to a lifetime of it."
Celestia's eyes widened in disbelief, but the bleak realization quickly set in. This matter was no longer personal. There would be no compromise. Eternal night would irrevocably cripple Equestria, and could not be allowed to come to pass. She sighed deeply, catching sight of the shattered remains of the moon princess's silver crown buried among the rubble and shutting her eyes - a futile attempt to escape the reality it represented.
A confrontation was inevitable... and by the looks of things, imminent.
"In all the years we've lived," Nightmare Moon continued to jab as her exacerbated sister contemplated the floor in silence. "You can't honestly say you didn't see this coming. Is what I'm doing really so wrong?" She smiled cruelly. If those words didn't warrant a reaction, these next ones sure would. "You stand there in all your righteousness, but you must have thought what it would feel like-"
"Nay. That is thy domain, not mine," Celestia dismissed the notion, knowing exactly where that lecture was going. She shook her head, keeping her eyes to the floor as her tears fell freely, "... or Luna's, for that matter."
"If you say so," Nightmare Moon replied sarcastically, bringing a hoof to her chin in a mockery of contemplation. "In fact, you may be right. It's your reality after all. You already stand in the sunlight, the ruler everypony knows and respects. I guess you wouldn't need to think about taking something when you already have everything."
Celestia suddenly looked up, fire burning in her eyes the likes of which hadn't been seen for hundreds of years. "Is this how thou wishest be remembered? A selfish, immature foal?" Her amplified voice carved cracks up and down the walls as the anger at both her own ignorance and her sister's rash indiscretion boiled over. How could she have let things get this bad without seeing it? And more importantly, how much would it take to undo the years... hundreds of years worth of mistakes that had brought them to this meltdown?
The lunar nightmare deadpanned, clearly disinterested in the melodrama. "Your words are meaningless in the face of reality, sister," she stated plainly and precisely. "But don't worry, I get it. If you intend to stand before me, then you can also fall before me!"
"Lower the moon, Luna," Celestia muttered though gritted teeth, ignoring the petty taunt. Deep blackness enshrouded her eyes as her power ramped up further, igniting the few undamaged torches around the room. Still, she forced the rage down in the name of one last try at civility... even knowing her words would have little effect. "... We shall extend upon you but one chance."
"Are you finished yet?" the maniacal lunar mare asked smugly, lowering her head and affixing the elder alicorn with a hateful stare. "If that was meant to intimidate me, you don't even pass on effort. Now," she moved her eyes ever so slightly to her older sister's right, "will your little plaything, Arcanus if I recall, be joining us?"
Celestia caught the threatening glow in the evil creature's eyes, and side-stepped to stand between the two.
Nightmare Moon chuckled at the grim look in her enraged sister's eyes, but raised a curious eyebrow of her own. A strange sort of sincerity flowed through her following words. "In fact, why is he even here? This is our battle. My battle, is it not?" She let those words hang, as though expecting a response. "He has no place, no involvement in this. He's a nopony."
It must be the evil magic clouding her mind, Celestia mused. Beneath her sister's snide remarks and antagonistic rhetoric was certainly a bitterness that had been growing, undisturbed, for untold years. Yet in spite of this, she appears completely... at ease. No tearful declarations of revenge, no enraged assaults, just eerie calm. This isn't Luna. It absolutely is not. This monster is a mere illusion concocted from the secrets of yon book. I should have destroyed it long ago.
Celestia narrowed her eyes thoughtfully at Arcanus, before returning them to the task at hoof. "Thou shalt not kill, or harm a hair on his head," she stated, not asked. Locking eyes with her sis- with the Nightmare, she stared into her lost soul as though it was the last time she ever would. "He shall bear witness to the events of this fateful night, no matter what... tragedy they may entail."
"Sounds good, if that's the way you want it," the Nightmare agreed, humouring her weary sister as though the point was open for discussion, "but he'd best get comfortable. I think you'll both find..." The very air around her bubbled and crackled with violet and silver flames beneath her flared aura, and her eyes glowed uncanny white as she widened her stance. A showy, dramatic display of power. "The night is still young."
Celestia dipped her gaze to the floor, shaking her head concededly as her own powerful aura manifested and wreathed her body in golden flames. Wave after wave of superheated magical energy rushed past her face, boiling away her tears and revealing the reluctant purposiveness in her eyes.
"Sister..." the forlorn princess whispered as her golden crown appeared before her. The three shining jewels embedded within began to resonate, breaking free and hovering in formation around her head. Their counterparts from the broken fragments of Luna's crown followed suit, shaking off their silver bonds like a sword would blades of grass. "Deep beneath thine anger and hatred, I pray that thou shalt hearest these words," the gems glowed brighter as their colours bled together like shining paint, "... I am sorry to do this to you."
Celestia shut her eyes and looked away as fresh tears forced their way out. Her conscience screamed at her in conflicted agony, and ignoring it only hurt more. Physically and mentally bracing herself, she prepared to wield the power of Harmony against this darkness... to turn the very symbol of her mutual love for her sister upon her.
A sudden blunt pain rushed through the sturdy white alicorn's body, knocking her off balance and throwing her bout of self-pity to the wayside. With her concentration disrupted by the brazen assault, the glowing orbs fizzled and broke formation to clatter noisily to the ground.
"Ha!" Nightmare Moon quipped condescendingly while nevertheless backing off, completely on guard. "I'd say that was a nice try, buuuuut..." she dragged that out, eyes reflecting quite the attitude, "... it wasn't." She eyed the fallen artifacts and their attempted wielder with a satisfied smirk. "Apology accepted, though."
Celestia glared back at her defiantly, which only made the dark witch smile wider. The deep gash her audacious assailant had carved through her flank with her horn burned furiously, and she winced as her attempts to force the bleeding wound closed via magic were met with fierce... almost necrotic resistance.
Surrendering herself to instinct, Celestia launched into a flaming gallop with but one final thought.
... Forgive me, Luna.