The Queen strode through the battlefield, uncaring to the arrows being shot at her or the enemy thestrals swooping in at her from above. The thestrals, like arrows, burst into flame and fell out of the sky long before reaching her screaming in torment. She distantly heard the horns of her war band, scratch that, army, charging behind her but the mare hardly cared.

A dark unicorn leapt out of the shadows, his horn flashing with lightning. The Queen smote him with a single counter spell, resulting in his horn forcibly electrocuting him with his own magic until his body turned to so much grey ash. A ballista bolt raced towards her out of the gloom but the Queen caught it with little effort, shattered it in midair, metal head and all, before sending it raining down upon the foes before her.

The blood coating her gleaming golden armour was boiling hot as it sluiced off of the mare’s side and fell upon several of Xanthos’s army who were still clinging to life. They died screaming as their own blood ate through their faces. Her long golden blade, Daybreak, darted around her, decapitating those who got too close to her with such little effort that their heads were supported by cornstalks instead of skin and bone.

And still she strode on over corpses and through walls of shields, her anger as fiery and righteous as the sun. The look in her eyes had the same effect on those who met her gaze as looking straight at the burning ball of gasses she had controlled for so long, blinding. Her sheer fury was so intense that even her own army had been warned to stay ten minutes behind her, else she may have turned it upon them.

It had always been said that of the two sisters, the Queen was the benevolent peacemaker while the Princess was the bombastic warrior... and that was true. To a point.

With the death of the Archmage, that point had been reached.

Now, the Queen was a roaring inferno of anger and her powers dwarfed Luna’s as was to be expected as the mistress of the sun. For no matter how bright the moon, the sun shall always reign supreme in the sky.

More ponies were approaching her now, accompanied by heavily armoured diamond dogs wielding massive, spell enhanced shields. The Queen focused on them and a beam of pure white fire leapt from her horn, melting through the shields as if they were butter while their bearers bones liquefied and snapped as the fire tore through them. The ponies behind them fared worse, their armour melting down their bodies, turning them into molten statues of pain.

The Queen’s hoofsteps scorched the ground as she walked forward, a trail of burned earth following behind her as surely as the line of dead bodies.

Overhead, a company of griffins swooped towards her, large crossbows and blades at the ready to end the Queen’s life. She glanced at them and a net of roaring flames appeared in the air before them, entrapping the cat-birds who screamed out in terror as the holy flames ate through their light armour and feasted upon their feathered flesh beneath.

From far off she heard the distinctive cracks of several dozen trebuchets launching their rocky missiles. The Queen walked on she observed them raining down towards her. Until, that is, they froze in their flight. A single nod of her head was all that was required to send the great slabs of granite, each one weighing close to a ton, slamming into the still advancing ranks of the enemy army.

If the Queen was capable of it, she would have admired the zeal and determination of Xanthos’s followers, yet at the moment she found herself utterly void of anything. In fact, if anything, it simply made her that much more angry. Had these ponies fought as hard for her sister as they were for Xanthos, then perhaps, just perhaps she would have still been in Equestria.

But no. They had not. And now they would die.

The Queen sensed a new presence on the battlefield, the new Archmage had arrived.

The night turned black as the stars vanished.

And then it began to rain white lightning.

Luna was floating in blackness. All around her there was not even the most remote source of light. She knew not how long she had been floating there incorporeal, but it was long enough for her to begin to tire of it.

As exciting as this is... we wish something would happen, Nightmare complained. Our body, last we saw of it, was in relatively safe hands so we have no need to worry for it. Now we would prefer to do something other than float here idly.

Indeed, Luna agreed as she attempted to ‘move’ in a direction but due to the lack of anything it was hard to tell whether or not she’d succeeded. This is... vexing to say the least. Do you have any idea where we are?

None whatsoever, Nightmare replied with a mental snort of irritation. It is as if we are stuck in some great black sea with no way to navigate or even attempt to swim.

“That’s a good way to put it,” a strangely feminine voice suddenly spoke from... somewhere around them. “Though, I must say, I wasn’t expecting to be seeing you again so soon... or at all to be honest.”

“Who are you? And more importantly; where are you!” Luna shouted, trying to sway this way and that but unable to truly do much of anything in the fathomless blackness.

“Who am I? Who am I?” the voice asked her rhetorically. “Who I am isn’t important. As for where I am? Well, I’m not in Equestria if that does anything for you.”

“Enough with these riddles! Answer our questions!” Nightmare shouted.

“Oh, I won’t answer anything you ask me,” the voice replied. “You’re the reason why she is here in the first place; so shut it.”

“You dare-”

“Yes I do dare; now shut your mouth,” the voice stated harshly, cutting Nightmare off. Nightmare was about to respond angrily when Luna once more took control of their body.

“Ma’am... I do not know where I am, or who you are; however what I do know is that you must surely know more about the situation then I do. So, I would like to humbly ask you to impart some of your knowledge unto us,” the alicorn said respectfully.

“Hrmph,” the voice replied. “Follow the light, and no, it’s not that light. I’m not that grey yet.”

“Light... what li-”

Luna cut herself off as a large beacon appeared in the distance.

“We’ll talk later, maybe,” the voice said before it, and any sense of it, vanished.

What now? Nightmare asked.

When in doubt, follow the invisible voices, Luna stated. Tis a strategy that has worked well up till now, no?

True enough, Nightmare replied with an amused chuckle. Though, up till now, it has only been us you have been listening too.

True, Luna agreed before setting off towards the light, it was surprisingly easy now that she had a direction. The alicorn ‘galloped’ towards the light and within a matter of seconds she reached it and burst onto a mountain top, overlooking hell.

The field below her was an obvious warzone, bodies covered it and the skies above were busy belching streaks of white lightning on those down below. Her eyes widened as she noticed who was in the lead of one of the two sides. It was her sister!

Celestia, fully powered and obviously enraged was marching determinedly towards the mountain and where she walked, all who challenged her died. Luna stared at the sight. Her sister had not given this much effort to a battle since... well, since Discord had entrapped her in his lair so long ago.

Even against Luna herself, Celestia had been more reserved, and as Luna watched her tear through a line of stoutly armoured diamond dogs as if they were made of paper the younger alicorn was suddenly reminded just how much stronger than her Celestia was.

What... what could possibly have made her this angry? Luna asked Nightmare as she stared in awe of her sister and her rage.

We believe he is the cause, the centaur to our right, Nightmare pointed out, forcing Luna to tear her gaze away from the carnage below. She found herself looking at a dark furred centaur who was stroking his goatee.

At the moment, he was standing on the edge of what was obviously a massive summoning circle. To Luna’s experienced eyes she could tell that he was overflowing with magic... none of it his own.

“I don’t understand it, she should be here by now,” the centaur was saying to himself, he looked both frustrated and incredibly confused. “I performed the retrieval spell just like the book said, using the magic of the one who banished her! Why isn’t it working?! Where is Princess Luna?”

Luna frowned. “Here I am!” she called. However, the centaur didn’t seem to hear her. Luna looked down and saw that she was completely invisible. Damn! One of my loyal subjects finds a way to bring me home and I am not even able to thank him! she growled in irritation.

Indeed, I suspect Clover’s hooves in this, Nightmare agreed darkly. The conniving wench.

“Oh... that’s not good,” the centaur muttered as he looked over the edge of the mountain top. Luna followed his gaze and saw Celestia drawing nearer to the mountain, her familiar sword pointing at Xanthos as she let out a shout of rage which sent the ponies before her scurrying away in abject terror while bolts of lightning struck down those who withstood the effects.

“XANTHOS!” Her sister’s voice reached Luna, even this far away.

“This isn’t the way that it was supposed to be,” the centaur continued to himself as he stepped up to the edge of the summoning circle, raising his hands above his head and unleashing a wave of magic into it. “Princess Luna, Rightful Sovereign of Equestria I release you from your banishment! Come and do my bidding!” he roared.

Do his bidding? Nightmare asked incredulously. The fool was attempting to bind us!

“Come to me Luna, I am your master, obey me so that we may reclaim this pitiful land and rule it with me at the head!” the centaur shouted as he pumped more of the stolen magic into the circle.

Luna grit her teeth as she watched, with every bit of magic the centaur injected into the summoning circle the tighter the string around her leg became, yet she felt no compulsion. The centaur let out an annoyed growl and tried to pump even more of the magic into it.

This is most odd, Nightmare stated as she watched. He has indeed performed his spell to perfection, there is not a flaw to be found within it.

Luna frowned. What do you mean?

What we mean is fairly obvious, Nightmare replied simply. We mean that we should be bound to his will without any knowledge of it. We should have emerged from within that portal fully ready to believe anything that he had to tell us and we would have followed any command which he gave us.

And yet... we are not, Luna said slowly. That... really is rather strange. I wonder why that is.

We know not for certain... but we believe it is a reasonable assumption that it was some part of Clover’s spell, Nightmare said, her voice surprisingly... tender. She did not wish us to be brought back beneath the command of another.

Before their conversation could continue any longer; there was an explosion from below them, they both looked to the edge of the mountain top and saw that Celestia had just... exploded.

Fire swirled around her form as lava flowed freely from the crack in the earth she had just opened. Ponies in armour screamed and died gagging on their own tongues as they tried to outrun the flow and its vengeful mistress.

The Queen would not normally have done such a thing, but the waves of magic flowing off of the mountaintop were becoming extremely worrying so she had decided that drastic measures were needed.

In the back of her mind the Queen noted that her own forces were moving backwards, away from her eruption and forming into what could best be described as a net of steel. Good. Xanthos’s followers would find no quarter there and She would no longer have to worry about injuring them in her anger.

The mare’s horn glowed even brighter, now more closely resembling a sword of pure light then a simple appendage. Even more lava spurted up from the earth, swallowing up those few members of Xanthos’s army who were still alive.

She raised her bright eyes to survey her surroundings and found that there were an acceptably small number of enemies left alive on the ground and the rain of white lightning provided from the Archmage was rapidly thinning their numbers.

So, with a flap of her wings, the alicorn launched herself skyward, slashing through an unfortunate griffin who happened to be in her way with Daybreak. Up she rose through the sky, a fiery ball of light, much like that from which she drew her power.

As she rose, more power surged off of the mountain top, all of it stolen from Clover, this simply infuriated the Queen even more. She continued upwards until the white lightning suddenly stopped, the Queen froze and hovered for a moment in midair.

Archmage; are you alright? she mentally called.

Fine... just drained, the Archmage replied. Blue hit me to make me stop before I killed myself.

Good, commend him for me. Unfortunately I still have work to do, the Queen told her before severing the link. Good... I will not have to worry about two Archmages in the same number of days, she thought to herself as she continued to wing skywards.

I’m coming for you Xanthos, and when I catch you I am going to incinerate you, the Queen silently promised the centaur.

Xanthos, Luna had assumed that was his name, was now visibly terrified as he watched Celestia rise towards him, a great burning comet. He reached to his back to pull out his long bow and fitted an arrow to it, pulling back on the great string and releasing it. The arrow streaked through the air with deadly accuracy, heading straight for her sister’s face.

“TIA!” Luna shouted, forgetting for the moment her hatred of her sister.

To Luna’s surprise, Celestia caught the arrow in midair without looking with her magic. She then splintered it into a dozen pieces and sent the small sharpened stakes flying at Xanthos. The centaur let out a curse and ducked, but not before four of them found their way into his chest. Luckily for him, they were fairly small. Unfortunately for him, that only heralded the beginning of his suffering.

Celestia let out a cry of pure fury and shot towards him, her wings flapping so fast that they became nothing but a blur. Xanthos let out a shout of fear as Celestia’s golden clad hooves slammed into the ground where he’d been standing seconds ago. The stone became molten and Celestia barely noticed as she pulled her hoof from it.

“Xanthos; we meet again at last,” she stated, her voice echoing like a thousand firestorms.

“The Tyrant; what a pleasure,” Xanthos replied, doing his best to keep his voice under control. “I see that you’ve found me.”

Celestia simply raised an eyebrow and an intense heat wave encompassed Xanthos, superheating the air molecules. The centaur however was unaffected by it, instead using the coils of stolen magic to protect himself.

“You think you can defeat me Tyrant?” Xanthos asked her with a sneer as he gathered magic to his hands. “I am Xanthos; most beloved of Princess Luna!”

Right, ‘most beloved’, Luna thought to Nightmare.

If we had hooves we would strangle the arrogant gnat where he stands, Nightmare agreed darkly.

“I stole the magic of Clover the Clever, and with it I shall cast you down from your pedestal and-” Xanthos continued until Celestia began to laugh. It was not a pleasant laugh, it was a sound that made Luna’s fur crawl.

“Bwahahahah,” Celestia laughed, shaking her head. “Xanthos... to be honest, I am rather disappointed with you,” she said once she’d finished laughing. “All these years of plotting and this is your master plan? To die on a mountaintop, surrounded by your dead army?”

“No, this is but a part of it!” Xanthos shouted at her, his eyes narrowing in anger, he did not enjoy being mocked.

“Well then, enlighten me,” Celestia said with a small raised eyebrow.

Xanthos should have known then to run, Luna knew that expression. It meant that Celestia was giving him time to monologue so that she could prepare a spell. It was the same expression that she had given the Council of Unicorns before she had smote them and it was the same expression she’d given Discord before they’d imprisoned him. Xanthos, being Xanthos, misunderstood.

“I am using using Clover’s magic to summon and bind your sister Luna to my will,” he said, his voice crackling with menace. “With her beneath me we shall strike you down and I will drain you of your magic. Then, when the kingdom is mine I make her my queen and drain her of her magic; from that point onwards it shall be I Xanthos who rules over Equestria!” he exclaimed throwing his arms aside as he unleashed another wave of magic on the summoning circle.

He planned to do what to me?! Luna screamed in outrage.

Make us his strumpet by all appearances, Nightmare seethed.

Celestia for her part, stared at Xanthos, her raised eyebrow had fallen back to its normal place and her eyes blazed with anger.

“You were going to do WHAT?!” she roared.

“She would be my perfect little queen; beautiful, affectionate and stupid,” Xanthos replied, apparently too stupid to be phased by Celestia’s rage. “Your little ponies will flock to her as they’ve flocked to you. I shall run this kingdom of yours from behind the shadows of her beautiful flank.”

Yes, definitely his strumpet, Nightmare growled. Oh we are going to kill him.

“And best of all, there is nothing you can do to stop me, Celestia,” Xanthos continued, his voice oily. “After all; I have already completed the summoning spell. Your sister will arrive here within the minute and then together we shall strike you down!”

“Nothing I can do to stop you?” Celestia repeated, her voice deadly. “Nothing I can do to stop you?”

“Yes, NOT-”

“Shut. Up.” Celestia’s voice, calm and controlled though it was, managed to cut off Xanthos in mid shout. “I have spent the last century boiling tea when I could have been boiling oceans. Signing treaties and laws when I could have been signing other leader’s names with their own blood as I wrote their obituaries. Breaking seals of wax when I could have been breaking continents,” the mare said, her voice deadly calm while her horn began to glow. “I have done all of this so that when my sister returns she will be met by a peaceful, loving world ready to accept her, so that I will not fail her as I did before,” Celestia continued, her voice becoming whisper silent. Xanthos stared at her, unable to move as Celestia’s magic slowly wound around him.

“And then you appear; Xanthos. And you do your best to destroy all that I have spent the last century preparing; all for what?” she asked him rhetorically. “In some hair brained scheme to harness her and bind her to your will? You would take the magic of my dearest friend Clover the Clever in order to turn the mare that she and I loved the most; and turn her into a puppet! I say NO!” Celestia lifted her head and Xanthos began to rise into the air, his arms flailing to either side as he tried to unleash Clover’s stolen magic but failed.

“For your crimes against the ponies of Equestria, for your crimes against both myself, and for your crimes against my sister, I sentence you to death!” Celestia roared; Xanthos screamed in defiance, or maybe it was pain, before Celestia’s horn glowed even brighter and his fur caught fire.

Xanthos stayed floating there in midair as the flesh melted from his bones like a waxen statue. When he was dead, Celestia let his bones fall into the boiling pile of flesh, and then with a single flash of her horn, dispossessed of it.

She stood there for a moment, letting long breaths flow through her chest and out into the air in front of her as Luna stared on in shocked silence.

Then Celestia let out a sigh as tears began to wash down her face.

“Lulu... if you can hear me, if any part of you is here... or even if I’m just talking to the empty air, I’m sorry. I failed you. I who should have protected you and loved you, spurned you and ignored your pain,” the mare let out another sigh. “It was my fault that you fell so far from grace and for that I am so impossibly sorry that my words are pitiful and lacking. I love you my little sister... and when in several century’s time you return to our world I promise you it will be a different world then then when you left it.”

She then strode forward and shattered Xanthos’s summoning circle.

“Sister I-” Luna was cut off as she felt herself being sucked away back into the darkness from whence she’d come. However, in the last second that she was able to see Equestria, she saw Celestia’s eyes snap wide open.

Then, Luna was gone, back into the darkness.