Luna flew hard and fast towards Everfree Castle from her emergency teleport to Ponyville. She couldn't waste a single second of time, Winter and all life on Equis counted on it. She knew the plan; lure Celestia to the castle where she and her guards have been making a prison to hold Celestia until the Elements of Harmony could be used to save her from herself. It was a simple plan, which relied heavily on Celestia's incompetence and anger.

The Prison itself, Luna remembered, was based on the enchantments used to keep the Demons of Tartarus contained. Alta, Twilight, and Sunset Shimmer believed that if they were altered to house an Alicorn such as herself, then it should be able to contain Celestia indefinitely. However comforting as that might be, Luna made sure to make that Prison equal to Pandora's Box. She tripled the enchantments and altered them with each extra layer she added to prevent any and all contingencies that her sister might have.

'Speaking of Prisons, there it is.'

"Where are you going, Luna?!" shouted an all too familiar voice from behind. Luna picked up her pace, not wanting to get trapped within the Everfree.

Luna flew just above the treeline, her hooves scraping the tops of the mangled mess that was the Everfree forest. From behind and catching up to Luna was the creature that called her family. She could feel the ice pooling off of the abomination as the mere presence was threatened to freeze her wings.

"After all that I've done for you, you abandoned me!" Celestia—No, she wasn't Celestia, not anymore. Whoever was chasing her was nothing but a monster, a monster that had to be stopped. "Just like the others before you!"

Luna's chest burned, it's been a long time since she needed to fly so fast. The last time she had to was during her fight against Discord. Luna was out of shape, and she could feel it, it wasn't just the ice that was forming on her wings in a vain attempt to slow her down either. Her body grew soft over the years of peace, and she was starting to regret not taking Discords advice for keeping up with her old routine.

"You are not my sister, Monster!" Luna shouted back whilst charging her horn for a spell.

"We are going to be together like the family we were meant to be!" Celestia screamed into a hard dive towards Luna with her arms outstretched to tackle her to the ground.

"You're not my family!" Luna shouted back, rolling to the side and activated her spell.

A laser of pure magic shot out from Luna's horn mid-dodge from the deranged Celestia. The beam of magic stuck Celestia's side, crushing her wing against her heaving barrel, effectively sending her crashing to the ground.

Luna let out a temporary sigh of relief and rushed to Everfree Castle while Celestia recollected herself from the fall. The decrepit, stone building that once served as her home approached at an alarming rate. Pulling up at the last moment, Luna kicked off one of the remaining towers that were still standing and glided down to the main courtyard.

"NIGHTMARE MOON! GIVE THY SISTER BACK TO US!" blasted in the Royal Canterlot Voice not too far away. Luna winced at the volume of the screaming mare chasing her down. The noise from using the Royal "We" left an annoying ringing in her ear. Taking this as her chance to guide Celestia to her prison, Luna sent a flare into the air, revealing where she was hiding.

"OVER HERE DEMON! COME AND GET ME!" Luna shouted back.

In no time at all, Celestia appeared in a blazing inferno. Luna watched as she charged straight through the tower she kicked off of, sending huge chunks of stone all over the place.

Luna's muscled tensed, her breathing quick. She got into a battle stance with a spell at the ready. She didn't move, she couldn't. The sight of her older sister rocketing down the courtyard, setting the dead grass ablaze was a sight to behold. Each flap of her wings sent shockwaves that caused the moss-covered statues to crumble, and the stone pathways to shatter.

Once Celestia was close enough, Luna saw the torment in her sister's eyes; Tia's cold, dead, crazed eyes. No longer did they have their luster, their kindness, their power. All the love held within was gone, and it wasn't coming back.

'Where did you go?' Luna wondered, her spell complete. She closed her eyes, a single tear embracing her cheek at the loss of the last of her family. She could hear Tia scream something, but she didn't listen. With a light kick into the air, she activated the spell just as Tia's body collided with hers.

After my trek into the armory, I was rather disappointed that the only weapons held within were swords, spears, crossbows, and daggers. One would think that the Princess of Equestria would have more powerful weapons than sticks and stones, but they'd be disappointed.

I grabbed a small dagger with a slight curve to it, with a simple handle, with no crossguard, and a round pommel. Sheathing the dagger underneath my wing, I walked out of the armory alert and ready. Slowing my breathing, I activated my Airsight and proceeded down the hall with caution.

The breeze in the tunnel was slight but noticeable. I could feel guards patrolling the halls, they were spread out and mostly unarmed. Two were walking down from one of the halls ahead of me. Carefully, I ducked into one of the many rooms lining the walls just as the guards walked passed my location.

Happy that everything was going according to plan, I looked around the room that I ended up in an immediately regretted it. Tied to the far end of the sterile room was a Zebra. The Zebra in question was spread eagle on a tilted, steel bed next to a table with an assortment of medical instruments, but the most shocking thing about the Zebra was how she was missing half of her fur.

Like she was skinned like an animal.

Holding back my lunch, I exited the room with disturbing thoughts penetrating my mind. Thoughts about how the poor Zebra was probably awake when it all happened. 'Did is hurt? Did she scream?' I thought, thankful that I didn't get the chance to smell the death in the air, but I knew the answer. She was never going to wake up again, and I don't think I would want to find out anyway.

Shaking my head, I checked the halls for the guards once more and continued forward.

Luna ducked under a wide swing from Celestia's halberd, the flaming blade grazing the tip of her ear. Gritting her teeth, she back peddled deeper into the castle, slowly making her way to Pandora's Box located within the Chamber of Harmony.

Keeping her momentum, Celestia spun the haft of her Halberd around her neck and lunged forward with the intent to impale Luna with a forward thrust. Jumping back, Luna gripped a nearby sword held by one of the many old statues lining the walls, bringing it up fast and hard, slapping the tip of the halberd up.

"Just DIE Nightmare Moon!" Celestia screamed before jumping into the air into a half spin. Luna's eyes widened in shock as her opponent landed on her forehooves. She tried to bring up her weapon to block the cannons that were Celestia's thunder thighs but wasn't fast enough.

Taking the full force of Celestia's buck, all the air violently left her lungs from the impact. Her body flew lifelessly down the dusty corridor, only to crash and roll on the moldy carpet of the castle. Struggling to find her breath again, Luna crawled further down the hall as Celestia stomped closer, dragging her halberd against the old stone with malicious intent.

"I'm not Nightmare Moon," Luna growled. Pushing herself up, she dove forward with a flap of her wings into the next hall, narrowly escaping lethal implement from Celestia's Halberd.

With a grunt, Luna was back on her hooves. She took a quick look around, and found that she was in the main hall of the castle; Statues of heroes past sat between the marble pillars that lined the walls. The old red carpet leading to the Chamber of Elements as well as the throne room was a layer of ash. Foglights and generators that she and her friends for the creation of Pandora's Box lit the hall with a soft, white glow. Behind her, Celestia was coming through the main door to the living quarters with her halberd raised in her Telekinetic grip.

"You can run all you want, Nightmare Moon, but this time, I will end you where it all began one-thousand years ago!"

With that proclamation, Luna side-stepped another lunge from Celestia. The sound of metal impaling stone gave Luna a few extra moments to get where she needed to be and bolted for the Chamber of Harmony while her sister was recovering the botched thrust.

"You have become weak, Sister! Your anger, your hatred has made you blind and easily predictable," Luna mocked from down the hall just mere meters away from the door. Celestia just howled like a banshee and ripped the halberd out from the pillar, causing it and the roof above to collapse, revealing the eclipsed Sun above with the sky glowing like a river of blood.

"I'm not weak! Without me, this world wouldn't even exist!" Celestia hissed and lunged again.

"You've tainted our Fathers Heart!" Luna boomed as she jumped high into the air, horn glowing with its aqua hue. "Our Mother's Love!" she cried, sending a beam of pure magic into the back of Celestia, pinning her down for the moment. Landing behind the stunned Princess, Luna grabbed her sister's halberd and threw it deep into the Everfree with her telekinesis with tears flowing down her blood-covered cheeks.

"All for what?! Your perfect world? Your happiness? What about the millions of lives you needlessly killed!"

"I did it to protect Father and Mother! Each cycle meant that their death!" Celestia coughed. She looked over her side to check the damage that Nightmare Moon caused and found both of her wings burnt off from her last attack. Rage refilled her reserves at the loss of her wings, but mourning would have to wait.

"They weren't going to be replaced! They were getting help!" Luna countered. "Why on Earth would you think that they would perish in the afterlife?"

"The same reason that you will in this life!" Celestia roared and charged Luna once more. "By BETRAYAL!"

Luna let out a sigh and summoned her Scythe. The long, curved blade of Crescent Moon spun and danced around Luna like her perfect love. Celestia was forced to back away from her in fear of being sliced to ribbons from Luna's soul weapon, and without hers, she couldn't do anything without risk of being killed and sent to Father to face punishment for her sins.

Taking the initiative this time, Luna pushed forward, swinging her scythe at Celestia, but made sure to stay close to it. With each thrust, slash, and stab, Luna, pushed her sister closer and closer to the Chamber of Harmony. It wouldn't be long until she was trapped in Pandora's Box.

"There you are," I smiled, softly. Standing before me was the missile silo holding the rocket with the Bomb.

The Rocket was almost a half-a-mile long and looked like it belonged to the Russians during the Cold War. Catwalks and bridges on multiple levels lead straight to the rocket—Some of them looked like they lead to important components while others looked like they were there just for repairs or construction.

Standing at the very bottom, I needed to go up. I flexed my wings and gave them a few test flaps, but before I could jump into the air, I felt something off, like the air went stale with death. Frowning with confusion, I looked around the concrete silo for anything out of the ordinary, but there was nothing visible that was causing my wings to twitch like there were ticks in my feathers. Just out of curiosity, I turned on my ManaSight and found what was filling me with dread.

Walking towards me with a sword drawn was an invisible, Shining Armor. He was wearing the same armor he wore during his invasion of Arcadia, but the sword he carried was made of crystal, but that wasn't what filled me with dread.

Looking up to the top of the rocket, I saw the familiar form of a certain, pink, Alicorn, but she looked wrong. Millions of sickly, black, T̢́͟e̷̷̵͞n̕͏d̀́ŗ̨͝i҉̕͝l̨͡͝͝s̴͡ ̴̷͟͠ flowed out of the Crystal Heart embedded in her chest. They snaked and wrapped around the Warhead of the rocket like a mess of poisonous vines. It didn't take me long to realize what made the Balefire Bomb so dangerous, that kind of Black Magic was something that not even Alta would dare to touch.

"Oh my God," I gasped. The T̢́͟e̷̷̵͞n̕͏d̀́ŗ̨͝i҉̕͝l̨͡͝͝s̴͡ ̴̷͟͠ began to move down the length of the rocket and towards where Shining Armor was standing. One of the T̢́͟e̷̷̵͞n̕͏d̀́ŗ̨͝i҉̕͝l̨͡͝͝s̴͡ ̴̷͟͠ snaked down and jumped from the hull of the rocket and merged with the sword, causing it to burst into dark, sickly green flames.

Quickly realizing the danger I was in, I jumped into the air before Shining could get too close and drew my claws and dagger. I flew up to the catwalks above and looked down where Shining was, only to find that he wasn't there.

"You are not going to hurt my wife, Demon," seethed a two-toned voice from down the catwalk. I froze, my heart began to race a mile a second. Hesitantly, I turned towards the voice and found Shining Armor on the same catwalk that I was on, and he looked pissed.

'Speaking of pissing...I don't need to anymore.'

"I wasn't planning on it," I nervously replied. Taking a step back, I felt Summer brush my side with a loving nuzzle like she was there, to support me like she always has. Shining had other priorities and began walking towards me again.

"Then what are you plotting, Demon?" he acknowledged with an extra dose of venom spitting from his tongue.

"You know...I just want to save the world, go home, and never leave the arms of the mare I love ever again," I sheepishly replied, looking up at all the pathways and bridges for an advantage over the corrupt stallion.

"Love? What do you know about Love?" he growled, picking up his pace. Weighing my options, I knew that a single cut from his blade was instant death, but I also had to get to the top and, somehow, stop the Bomb from going off. The only way to keep Shining Armor off of me was to destroy all of the catwalks, but that would be impossible. Looking around quickly, I noticed that they were all connected by wire to holes in the walls. Figuring that there has to be a control box to move all the metal walkways out of the way. I made it my mission to find it before he did and figure out a way to keep him at the bottom of the concrete tube of death.

Turning my attention back to the hastily walking stallion, I got ready to jump. "Well, when you are bonded eternally by the soul to a pony. Just saying "I love you" with your mouth pales in comparison to saying it with your heart."

"How would you know, Demon?" he cursed, and jumped high into the air, sword above his head. "You're kind doesn't know the meaning of love like I do!"

Taking that as my time to take flight, I jumped off of the edge just in time to watch the Balefire sword impale where I was standing. 'Note to self: Pissing yourself in fear is bad while pissing yourself in front of your friends is good. Now, where is the control room?'

"Get back here, Demon!" he screeched maliciously before teleporting to the catwalk in front of me. I slowed down a bit and flapped hard, forcing myself to climb to the next level away from him, but that was a pointless effort.

Waiting for me at the catwalk that I was flying towards, I rolled upside down, and angled my wings down, forcing myself to dive back down. "You will never get to Cadence! You hear me!!" Shining declared with what little soul he had left. "I will cut off your cutie mark and use it as my cum rag!"

"Not going to happen! I like my ass red, but only when my mare makes it red!" I shouted back with worry settling in. I was not going to make any progress with Shining Armor having the high ground, and the lower levels didn't look like they had the controls I was looking for, which means that they had to be close to the top.

Thinking of a way passed him, my only options were to use my Winglets and Wingblades, but in doing so, I ran the risk of killing myself by ramming into the underside of one of the catwalks. Gliding around the rocket, I saw Shining following me on the upper by either running or teleportation, but not sending spells at me.

'Strange...Why isn't he shooting any Magic Bolts at me or any other spell beside Telekinesis and Teleportation? Is the Balefire sword preventing him from doing so?' I wondered.

"What's wrong, Demon?" he mocked triumphantly. "Are you scared to face me?"

'Let's find out.'

"No, just studying my opponent to find his weaknesses, and you have a big one!" I shouted in defiance and bolted upward as fast as possible.

Taken aback from my sudden confidence, Shining struggled to keep up with me as I climbed higher and higher up the silo. The sounds of teleportation spells going off in quick succession echoed from below, followed by ragged grunting after each one.

I cracked a small smile knowing that blinking at such a rapid pace would effectively wear him down, giving me more time to find the controls and isolate us from each other, however. The closer I got to the top, the number of catwalks dwindled into the single digits. Frowning, I looked back down, wondering if I accidentally passed the controls by accident in my hasty climb.

"Nice try, Demon, but you will never outrun me!" Shining cheered through ragged breathing. Hovering to his right and out of reach of his sword, I saw the sweating and panting mess that was Shining. His legs looked like they were ready to give out and his magic looked like it was faltering as well.

'Okay, he is a lot weaker than he was a few months ago. The Balefire sword must be costly on his mana reserves.'

"Wasn't trying to, I just wanted to know where the controls were," I replied.

"T-The controls?" He snickered. "There are no controls, hahaha! Everything is automated! Repent you fucking, Demon! Cause, aha ha ha! Because you will meet your maker while I spent eternity in the Gardens of Twilight!" he burst into all out maniacal laughter.

'This wasn't part of the plan! How am I supposed to stop the Bomb if there is no control room!?' I quivered at the thought. I could feel my fear starting to creep back up as my heart began to race again. 'Without a control room, I couldn't stop the Bomb. If I couldn't stop the Bomb, then I everyone that's depending on me will die.'

'Everyone I love will die. Everything will be all be for nothing.'

The fire in my heart slowly faded, my muscles growing weaker due to the Misty Vale gradually taking effect. Shining Armors laughing didn't help my dwindling mood as I hovered in place, hoping for a miracle to happen. I thought of home, I thought of Summer. I thought of my friends and the few adventures we had together. I thought of mom and the promise I made to her. The one that—

"It begins! Rapture is at hand!" screamed the delirious stallion sitting on the catwalk beside me. Looking over my shoulder, I saw Shining Armor sitting down on his haunches, smiling and looking down. He didn't have his Balefire sword anymore, but the sudden change of mood was frightening.

Following his gaze, I notice smoke billowing out from the bottom of the rockets. My eyes went wide in horror as all the catwalks were pulled in from the hull of the rocket one by one. My heart sank to the furthest pits of misery held deep within me. My wings gave out, causing me to gently glide down to the closet catwalk to rest, then the sounds of sirens blared out at a deafening volume. The lights turned off in the silo, and they were immediately replaced by the orange, spinning, warning lights.

"Warning! Launch Sequence in T-Minus five-minutes. Warning!" blared an automated warning announcement echoed throughout the silo. My ears flattened from the sudden assault, but I didn't care. I failed, and that's all that mattered.

"Don't you see, Demon? You can't stop the Great Purge!" Shining laughed in the distance. "It was your arrival in this world that started it in the first place!"

"Don't listen to him, Winny. You can still end this."

"Warning! Launch Sequence in T-Minus four-minutes. Warning!"

I closed my eyes, sleep threatening to take me over. He was right, in a way. If I never came to Equestria, none of this would have happened. There would be no crazy Princess Celestia, no one trying to kill me or my friends. Spitfire would still be a Wonderbolt, and Summer would have someone better than me.

"Don't lose hope, please."

Summer, I'll miss her the most. Sure we were absolute bitches to each other in the beginning but in the end. I'm glad I met her. I'm glad I got to see her smile and make her laugh. I'm glad she picked me up when I was down. I'm glad she cared for who I was despite my flaws.

"Warning! Launch Sequence in T-Minus two minutes. Warning!"

"Stand up, Winter. There is still a chance! Don't give up!"

"You are the architect of the end of the world, Rose! Rejoice!" Shining continued to cackle like a madman. "You and your kind are responsible for all the Chaos in all of Equis. This is Lunaris's way of purging you and your taint from this world!"

He's right. Humankind is one of the most chaotic creatures on Equis. Merely walking down the street is enough to cause trouble. I bet if things were different and Humans didn't end up here in Equestria, everything would be fine and no one would have to suffer.

"I don't believe that, Winter. I know for a fact that you are one of the kindest ponies I have ever met. Your heart is filled with so much love for your friends and family, it's scary."

"But what can I do?" I sighed in defeat. It was hard to think with the voice of Summer whispering in my ear when I know she isn't there. Sure, I can feel her through our link, but I know we can't talk to each other through it. It's impossible.

"Warning! Launch Sequence in T-Minus one-minute. Warning!"

"Do what you do best."

"And what's that?" I asked the strange voice in my head. I looked over my shoulder to see if there was someone else with the ranting stallion at the other side of the room, but there wasn't, yet I could feel a set of soft, downy wings wrapping around me, protecting me from all my doubt and worry. In a calm, heartbroken, choked sob, the voice spoke again, knowing the outcome, of what was to happen next.

"Fight for those you love."