In the autumn of 2010, there was a violent attack on Canterlot Castle.

Celestia had gathered all of her counselors and their families in the main hall of the palace, ordering the guards not to let anyone enter that perimeter.

Outside, bounced off the giant magical screen she had conjured up, was her sister.

Her Luna, the mare lost exactly a millennium before, in 1010, devoured by envy and anger.

She called herself Nightmare Moon, and she was profoundly different from the beautiful, sweet-eyed, cornflower-colored alicorn she had been.

She had grown taller, her fur was dyed with the darkest darkness, her hair had become ethereal, starry, impalpable like colored smoke.

Her wings had become sharp, like a bat's ones.

She had broken free of her imprisonment on the Moon, and formed a heterogeneous but well-organized team of villains.

There was Tirek, a mighty centaur with a nasty look and explosive muscles.

There was Sombra, a unicorn with the peculiar ability to dissolve in a black fog.

There was Chrysalis, a grotesque but also strangely attractive changeling.

There was the Storm King, a lemur with a gray face and an arrogant expression.

There was Cozy Glow, the little girl of the group, a very normal pink pegasus with manicured curls.

Finally, there was perhaps the most powerful creature of all, a sort of chimera: Discord, the being of Chaos, the one who was able to manipulate reality at will.

Closed in the main hall of the Castle, there were the Elements of Harmony, a group of girls, daughters of Celestia's councilors.

Twilight Sparkle was a lavender alicorn, daughter of Celestia and Sir Night Light;

Applejack was a blonde earth pony, daughter of Madame Pear Butter;

Fluttershy was a shy pegasus, daughter of Sir Seraphin;

Rarity was credited as the most beautiful unicorn in Canterlot, daughter of Madame Cookie Crumbles;

Pinkie Pie was the cheerful girl of the group, daughter of Madame Cloudy Quartz;

Rainbow Dash was the fastest pegasus of all, daughter of Madame Windy Whistles.

Finally, with them was Spike, a ten-year-old dragon, Celestia's adopted son.

They were huddled against each other, while the unicorns and alicorns went to great lengths to keep the magical screen intact.

"It's useless for you to hide like trembling hares! Your shield won't last long!"

Celestia resisted as much as possible, trying not to remember the times she had comforted little Luna, the times she had fed her, the times she had rocked her. All of this was now dead, buried under layers and centuries of resentment and misunderstanding.

Suddenly, an idea made its way into her mind.

"LUNA! MY SISTER!" she screamed then.

"DON'T CALL ME BY THAT RIDICULOUS NAME! I AM NIGHTMARE MOON, LADY OF DARKNESS AND ECLIPSES! LUNA IS DEAD."

"No, she is still alive and I know that she will listen to me!"

Silence. Only the flicker of magic could be heard.

The memory of Luna's interminable cries was still alive in the minds of the two sisters, her not being able to accept that she was a lesser light, seeing the ponies asleep during her beautiful star-studded nights.

Her elder sister had the honors of the Sun, received large bouquets of flowers when she bathed in crowds, was always smiling and delighted by the ponies' industriousness, whether they were busy in the fields, in the weather factory or in the bookstores of Canterlot.

Luna wanted to be comforted, encouraged.

Celestia, on the other hoof, had called her ungrateful:

"No other pony has the ability to enter the world of dreams! You act like a spoiled filly!"

"Said the one that can't take a step without having a shower of applause!"

Mean words had flown, each had remained perched on their own ivory tower and that quarrel had swelled to the point of causing an irremediable rift between them.

Their parents, simple earth ponies who had had the unexplained grace of having two alicorn daughters, died without seeing them reconciled, to their immense pain.

Nightmare Moon's heart pounded fiercely at that thought, giving rise to the first real remorse in many centuries.

"So be it. I will listen to you. On one condition: that you listen to us too."

Celestia didn't know what that gang of criminals could want, but she gave her word:

"I promise you."