Twilight and Luna spent the chariot ride back in a companionable silence, sitting in the centre of the back seats and leaning on each other.
“That definitely went better than I had expected.” Luna said partway back to their Ponyville residence as the sun dipped below the horizon, the red sky darkening to a royal blue.
“Yeah.” Twilight agreed, thinking back to how happy Celestia had been, like she hadn’t had anything good happen in a long time. She guessed that was actually probably true.
“I just feel sorry for, ponies don’t appreciate just how much work she does for them.” Luna continued, in a rather more melancholy tone, “And I wish I could help out.” She neglected to add on ‘especially after she had already taken over duties for a millennia previously.’ though they both knew that was what she was implying.
“Like Celestia said, it’s Nightmare Moon’s fault.” Twilight reasoned, Luna pulled away from Twilight before looking straight into her eyes. Twilight almost fell over sideways but managed to right herself, Luna looked forlorn.
“That’s the thing, Nightmare Moon is me.” Luna said, Twilight was taken aback.
“What do you mean?” Twilight asked, a slight frown of confusion appearing on her face. Luna let out a sigh and began her explanation.

“This may get a little complicated, and I apologise but it really is quite complex.” Luna forewarned Twilight who nodded in reply. Twilight had presumed, like many others had, that Nightmare Moon was a separate entity that was within Luna’s body.
“Most ponies assume that me and Nightmare Moon are separate beings, and for a while that was true. My imprisonment though, that was when it changed. Nightmare Moon always was stronger than me, there is no disputing that, but the moon saps your energy. The earth is where our magic stems from so if you are taken away from that, you start to weaken. Since Nightmare Moon was in control of my body during my millennium away, she was greatly weakened but much too stubborn to give up the body. However, even in her weakened state I was no match for her, I had to devise a rather more unorthodox method of beating her, for the good of the Equestrian citizens. If she had kept control I almost certainly would have been overwhelmed with no hope of getting back control.” Luna continued.
“What did you do?” Twilight asked as Luna kept silent, obviously fighting the memories that were brought back to the surface. Twilight was reminded of herself when she decided to change her frequency, she did it for the good of somepony else, no matter what the cost. Luna took a gulp and continued.

“I had to... combine with her. Not in a magical sense that you and I have, but in a more existential way. You see, if I did that then Nightmare couldn’t just expel me from the body the way she did before, on the other hand it would also mean I couldn’t fully get rid of her either. That’s where the elements of harmony came in, they pushed Nightmare Moon out of the body, allowing me control once more, but due to our ‘connection’ she was not completely destroyed. It is in this way that I mean that Nightmare Moon is me, without her I would die, and vice versa.” Luna explained, Twilight was shocked to say the least, she had presumed they could just banish Nightmare Moon from Luna and she would be ok, but now she saw that wasn’t the case.
“I see...” Twilight replied slowly, digesting the new information, “But connection or not, we still need to find a way to stop her. I don’t know how much more of her nightmares I can stand.” Luna could see what she was saying, though she was more used to Nightmare Moon’s nightmarish ways and methods of terror, she was still being worn down by the nightly onslaught of fear installed upon them.

The chariot moved in to land and Luna and Twilight glanced at the incoming ground simultaneously, noticing the slowly growing shadow the chariot cast in the rising moon’s light. They shared a look.
“Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” Twilight asked, Luna returned a small smile.
“I hope so.” She replied. The two ponies jumped out of the chariot just as it touched down, quickly bade the guards farewell and hurried inside the library, ready to get to work. Twilight found a small note on the table closed to the door and picked it up, noticing Spike’s scrawl.
‘To Twilight,
I will be sleeping round at Sweet Apple Acres, I have decided to tell Applejack about me and Applebloom. I hope your meeting was fun and I will see you tomorrow.

Signed, Spike the dragon.’ Under which there was some sort of squiggle which Twilight assumed was a signature. She smiled at the letter, glad that he was ready to tell ponies. Luna looked at Twilight quizzically.
“Spike’s gone to Sweet Apple Acres.” Twilight explained at normal sound levels, Luna nodded and started lighting some of the candles around the room.

“So, what do you think?” Luna asked, wishing to confirm that she and Twilight were on the same wavelength.
“I was thinking something along the lines of projection magic.” Twilight replied, Luna smiled.
“Exactly.” She replied. Though the moon had risen, it was still not that late as they were nearing winter now and the days had started to shorten. They spent about an hour or so working out which spells to cast and at what specific time in order to maximise their effectiveness. They were all fairly high level spells and since they would both have to cast them in order to see the projection, Luna would be absolutely exhausted from the effort. This meant that whatever happened after that was down to Twilight.

Their plan was simple in theory, but would likely prove extremely difficult, they were going to do an advanced form of dream projection that actually brought the dream into the real world for a short time, in that time they planned to best Nightmare Moon and banish her, not from Luna’s body, but into the dark recesses where it would take extreme effort and time to get out from, time they planned on using to form some sort of defence/attack method. There was only one visible problem about their plan, how to beat down Nightmare Moon? Even though she would be in the corporeal world in a temporary and weak body, she would still be strong, probably too strong for Twilight alone to face whilst she was concentrating on the other spells that had to be kept going to keep it in their world. They sat debating how they might go about overpowering Nightmare, each prospect put forward put down after they saw the several holes in the plan. That was until Twilight thought of something completely different.

“The elemental magic...” Twilight whispered, the though suddenly appearing in her mind.
“What?” Luna asked, not having heard her.
“The elemental magic!” Twilight repeated, the idea made so much sense to her, there was no way that Nightmare Moon could hope to beat the ancient and long lost magic of the elements!
“No.” Luna said firmly, Twilight lost her smile, confused at the reply, “It’s much too dangerous, not only have we not tested its abilities yet, but it’s not even whole! We don’t know how much damage it could wreak.” Luna elaborated. Twilight stood angrily.
“Do you have any better ideas?” Twilight replied, an edge to her voice. Luna faltered and instantly Twilight relented, slumping back down into the seat, all anger forgotten and sadness replacing it.
“I’m sorry... it’s just that I really hate these nightmares, I can’t stand anymore of them. I... I don’t know how much more I can take.” Twilight replied sorrowfully, not looking Luna in her eyes. Luna drew her in close and gently stroked Twilight’s mane with a hoof, nuzzling her neck at the same time.
“It’s alright Twilight, I’m just scared for you, you were my first real friend, and my first mare-friend, I couldn’t stand to see anything happen to you. But you’re right, there is no alternative and the longer we wait the stronger she will grow, it must be tonight.” Luna said soothingly before pulling back, Twilight was still turned away, ashamed at her anger.

Luna grabbed Twilight’s face and turned it towards her own, staring deeply into her eyes for emphasis.
“Now listen. I forgive you, and right now we have some work to do.” Luna said before kissing Twilight. They shared the passionate moment and for that small time, all of their fears, regrets and emotions were lost to the world as they lost themselves in each other. But it was short-lived, they had something that needed to be done, and there would be no more delays.
“I thought I said to warn me?” Twilight asked in faux anger, belied by the small giggle she involuntary let out.
“I did!” Luna insisted, “You still didn’t get it.” They burst out laughing, that was probably one of the things they both liked about each other, their ability to forget their problems to enjoy themselves.
“You need to learn to be less subtle.” Twilight said after the laughter had faded away. Luna nodded in agreement, large grin still plastered across her face, but they soon stopped the fun, knowing that they should not delay the business attending.

Twilight quickly collected the shard of the elemental circle, the one with the fire inscription.
“So what shall I do with this?” Twilight asked, unsure how to use the fire magic within without destroying Nightmare Moon.
“I may have an idea,” Luna said, “contrary to popular belief, princesses do in fact need to breath, the reason I survived on the moon was because we were in a sort of stasis that kept me alive, so I think that you could use that fire magic to create a vacuum around Nightmare Moon, weakening her enough so that you can banish her with the prison spell.” Luna explained, Twilight nodded, in theory that made sense, but in practice... well things didn’t really go so well in practice.
“I see, so are you ready?” Twilight asked, holding the elemental artefact in one hoof.
“Ready when you are.” Luna replied with a grin before settling down on the couch, the first stage of their plan. The nightmare should activate with one of them asleep and once they were woken up the real fight could begin. Twilight performed a quick sleeping spell to put Luna instantly into REM sleep before setting herself up next to the sleeping mare, ready to pull her out a moment’s notice.

Inside the dream Nightmare Moon was unaware of the plan unfolding around her, thinking that she had control over the situation. Nightmare Moon stood ready, waiting for when Twilight appeared, but as time wore on and Twilight failed to show up she turned to Luna.
“It appears that Twilight has decided she would be safe staying up,” Nightmare Moon let out a laugh that penetrated the land, “she’ll have to succumb to sleep soon, there’s no point on fighting it. I guess we’ll have to start alone then. Just like old times eh?” Nightmare Moon said unhumourously, sliding back into the shadows. Before she could fully disappear though, Luna sent out a message to Twilight.
‘Now!’ Luna called, Twilight reacted instantly, pulling Luna out of the dream and back into the real world at the same time as casting a conservation spell to keep the dream in place. Luna quickly adjusted to her awakened state and pooled her small yet powerful reserves of magic with Twilight’s together casting the next spell. This was the hardest spell of the lot that had to be cast and this was where it could all go wrong, the dream harmlessly collapsing back into itself as it failed to materialize. But the magic held and slowly the familiar nightmare faded into the library, Nightmare Moon staring with shock in her eyes as she found herself in the corporeal world.

Nightmare Moon attempted to speak, presumably to ask what was happening and how they would fail against her, but she was in her weakened, temporary form and so any sound she made was not heard by any of them.
“Good luck.” Luna grunted with effort as she collapsed back onto the coach, completely drained. Twilight felt the pressure of the spells moving squarely onto her and forced herself to stay calm. She kept the conservation and projection spells going as she held out the elemental artefact, almost as if she was giving it to Nightmare Moon. Nightmare Moon squinted suspiciously at the metal object, not knowing what it was.
“Cmon.” Twilight whispered as she closed her eyes and focussed on the metal shard in her hoof. She felt the metal heat up, almost burning to the touch, but she held on, putting all of her available focus onto the artefact.

She felt something click in her mind, the previously unused branch of elemental magic now open to her, but only the fire elemental magic of course. She instinctively controlled the magic, making it bend to her will as she used it. A hollow fireball, hotter than the surface of the sun, burst forth from the shard, enveloping Nightmare Moon and completely sucking all of the oxygen from within. Twilight collapsed, her legs giving way under the heat and power of the elemental magic. She knew she had to turn it off quickly or it would completely destroy Nightmare Moon, and by extension, Luna herself. Twilight wrestled with the magic in her mind, and for a moment it seemed like she was losing, the power too strong and uncontrollable for her, but she regained her focus and the fire disappeared as quickly as it had appeared, leaving Nightmare Moon lying unconscious on the floor, her breath ragged and most of her fur singed from the flames that had licked around her.

Now came the most important part of the plan, the actual banishment of Nightmare Moon. Twilight got together the last dregs of her magic and formed the prison spell, aiming it straight at the unconscious Nightmare Moon and fired, the spell closing over her unmoving form and slowly fading her away, leaving their nightmare landscape in place until Twilight too blacked out, the conservation and projection spells failing as the darkness consumed her vision, slipping her into a welcome dreamless sleep.