I dove behind a crystal pillar, out of the way of a blast of night-black energy that would have destroyed me.
“Come out and face me!” Luna screamed in an unearthly tone. I peered from behind my cover to see her stomping towards me, her mane flowing around her in a beautifully terrifying manner. “I want to hear your screams of pain, and her cries for mercy!”

I sighed as I flattened myself against the pillar. “I’m not going to fight you, Luna,” I called stubbornly, “I don’t care who you claim to be; you’re still the mare I know and love, and I will never do anything to hurt you.”

Just then, the pillar I was hiding behind crumbled to dust, and I turned to see Luna grinning like the Cheshire Cat.
“That’s too bad,” she said in mock disappointment, “because I am more than willing to do the same to you!”
I watched as my special somepony reared her head back, a ball of pitch-black energy forming at the tip of her horn.

“Luna, please don’t do this!” I shouted, tears starting to blur the edges of my vision. “This isn’t you!”
I closed my eyes and held up my arms as the ball of death flew at me like a baseball pitch, and I heard a shattering sound just as the attack hit me. When I reopened my eyes, I saw I was surrounded by shards of rapidly-vanishing crystal.

What the… I thought, confused, could this be my true power?

Luna stared at me with wide, uncertain eyes. “Impossible,” she breathed, and continued to fire bolts of magic at me, each one blocked as I held up my hand to form a wall of protective crystal in front of me.
I looked at her worriedly as I walked towards the princess of the night, continuing to block her ongoing assault. “Luna, listen to me,” I said calmly, “I don’t know what Sanguis has done to you, but you can fight it. You’re stronger than this.”

Luna growled angrily. “I AM NOT LUNA!” she roared in the Royal Canterlot Voice, “I AM STRONGER THAN LUNA EVER WAS, AND WHEN THIS IS OVER, I WILL FINISH WHAT MY SISTER AND THOSE ANNOYING LITTLE PONIES INTERRUPTED! I WILL SHROUD ALL OF EQUESTRIA IN ENDLESS NIGHT!”

Realizing her magic was having no effect against me, Luna decided to go on a more physical assault; she summoned a pitch-black halberd from nothingness and swung it at me with her magic, each strike barely missing me and burying the head into the crystal floor of the palace. I swung an arm at her weapon, my hand becoming encased in crystal as it did, and grabbed it in a vice-like grip.

I looked her in the eyes warmly. “No,” I said lovingly, “You’re not. When this is over, really over, we’re going to go back to Canterlot, and after whatever ceremony celebrates our return is over, I’m going to properly propose to you without some asshole warlord interrupting me with an army of undead soldiers, and if all goes well, YOU’RE GOING TO SAY YES!” I shouted, and pulled the halberd from her magical grasp and threw it aside.

Luna stared at her disarmed weapon, and looked back at me seductively. “But why would you want a weakling like Luna as your bride?” she asked as she began to circle me, “why not have somepony strong? Somepony worthy of standing at the side of a human as powerful as you?”
She stopped directly in front of me and stared at me with bedroom-eyes. “Why not somepony like me?” she asked, and leaned forward to kiss me.

For a moment, just the briefest of moments, I actually considered taking the offer; after all, I’m only human.

Only a moment.

I quickly held up my still-crystallized hand and stopped the mare in her tracks, causing her eyes to widen as I stared at her with a determined look on my face.
“Because I am loyal to Princess Luna, as she is loyal to me,” I said confidently, “and I will never betray her; especially not to a psychopath like you.”

The dark mare screamed and spun around, took aim with her hind legs, and struck me right in the chest, bucking me across the room and into a wall.

I groaned as I stood up, and Luna laughed victoriously. “Either way, I still get what I want; whether I make you mine or kill you, I still get to hear Luna’s delicious cries of pain,” she said hungrily.
I narrowed my eyes. I hope magic really works as simply as “whatever you command it do do”, I thought worriedly, because I’m out of options, and if this doesn’t go right…

“Luna, please! You’re stronger than she is! You’re stronger than she ever will be!” I cried. “You have to fight her; please don’t make me do this!”

As I spoke, my hand and hoof started to glow with bright energy.

Nightmare Moon laughed. There was no point in thinking of her as Luna anymore; she was too far gone.

“Take your best shot!” she challenged as she braced herself, “I’ll give you one free shot; then, you DIE!”

I nodded, a single tear streaking down my cheek. “I never told you… that nightmare I had, when all my friends had been killed by Sanguis? That was not my worst fear,” I said as I floated into the air, a white aura surrounding me as I ascended, “My worst fear is having to do what I am about to do now.”

The pieces of crystal debris started to float and circle around me, and I held my hand and hoof a foot away from each other as a ball of pure, white energy formed between them. Nightmare Moon widened her eyes as I brought the ball to my side and stared at her, tears streaming down my cheeks.

“I love you,” I whispered, and screamed as I thrusted my arms forward and fired a beam of pure magical energy from the ball that engulfed Nightmare Moon and made it impossible to see anything for a long time.

~-~-~-~-~

When my vision finally returned, I found myself lying in what remained of the Crystal Palace; I guess my friends were right when they said I could have destroyed the place in my sleep. I looked around in despair at the crystal rubble that surrounded me, and gasped when I saw Luna lying several feet away from me. I was relieved to see her mane was much shorter, and her pelt was midnight blue once again.

I did it, I thought happily as I rushed to her side, but my elation faded quickly when I noticed the lack of movement coming from the alicorn.
“Luna?” I asked shakily, and bent down next to her. “Luna, please wake up,” I asked, a little louder this time.

“Please,” I whispered, “I need you… I’m nothing without you… please, get up…” I begged her, starting to sob. I pressed my face into her side and cried for a long time, but my constant pleading went unanswered.

“Excuse me,” a smug voice called from behind me, “but I believe you owe me a fight. But first, I’ll be taking what is left of that alicorn’s energy.”

I stood up and turned to Sanguis as my hand and hoof regained their dangerous white glow. “You stay the fuck away from her,” I said in a deadly voice. “All of this is because of you. My father is dead. The captain of the guard, who always had my back and supported me, is dead. My girlfriend is dead because you turned her into a monster. You’ve taken enough lives; now, it’s your turn to die.” The aura had now extended to cover my forearms, but didn’t go any further.

Sanguis laughed cruelly. “And how do you suppose you’ll kill me? Like you said, I’ve taken many lives, and all of those were intent on ended my own. I’ve killed humans, earth ponies, pegasus ponies, and unicorn ponies alike. Just because you’re part pony won’t make you any more of a threat,” he taunted..

I narrowed my eyes. “Then I guess it’s about time I became more than that, huh?” I said quietly as I raised my arms into the air, and the quickly threw them down, causing a blinding explosion that made me lose all feeling and all of my senses.

~-~-~-~-~

Drayke gasped as he opened his eyes; that was probably the last thing he thought he would be doing. He looked around and saw his crystal lying just out of his reach, and he snatched it with a groan.

“Okay,” he said as he stood up painfully, “I guess the crystal had enough juice to bring me back. Good thing, too; I would rather have a less embarrassing exit from this world.”
He inspected the crystal for a moment. “Well, this thing is dead,” he sighed, “So I guess that means I’m no use to Allen anymore,” he muttered dejectedly, but his disappointment was interrupted by a blinding explosion behind him.

Drayke turned around to see the palace that he had last seen Allen in moments ago now lay in ruins, and there was a blinding light coming from the center.
“I have no idea why I’m doing this,” he growled as he jogged towards the source of the light, “but I guess there’s no going back now.”