Original Link:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1OSmzJYxPz4X0ggp23CYFnyg0mywmJa5sjo-AIwfIQ_g/edit

Red. It had become the main color of Equestria. The red of the night. The red of the spilled blood all over the land. The red of the de manis’ eyes. Everything had turned red.

Nearly all smaller villages had been destroyed by now. Only the bigger cities were still standing, but even their population kept dropping rapidly due to starvation, disease and reaper assaults. With the additional support of Nightmare Moon’s battle slaves, the destruction of the land sped up a lot. Of the millions of ponies, only a couple of hundred thousand were left. The point had been reached where there were more de manis roaming through Equestria than ponies.

In a desperate attempt to save themselves, the ponies abandoned their homes and left the questionable and precarious safety of the big cities, beginning one of the greatest waves of mass migration Equestria had ever seen.

The ponies were looking for a safe haven, but all they knew were rumors. The communication systems had broken down for a while now, so they only heard that Everfree City was the last place still able to keep up its protection. So, the entirety of Equestria’s pony population found itself heading out to the capital.

It was an extremely dangerous journey, though. Only every fifth pony actually managed to arrive in Everfree. The rest either dropped dead during the journey due to exhaustion, became attacked by monsters, found themselves ambushed by reapers or torn to shreds by de manis. Even of those who were lucky enough to avoid all this, many were dying shortly after their arrival. The journey simply drained them too much.

The usually cheerful and noisy capital city had been through many changes since the moment Nightmare Moon took over Luna’s body, mind and powers. Now, it had become a place of silence. The terrified whimpering of the ponies, sick coughing, moans of suffering and the cries of foals were all that could be heard. Nopony was talking. Barely anypony was moving any more than absolutely necessary. Too great was their fear to be discovered by de manis or to run into one as soon as they left their covers. Not to mention that many could barely even stand up anymore.

In the first few days, Celestia had been walking through the city a lot, trying to soothe her subjects, give them food, medication and hope that this would be over soon. But now, she had simply too much to do with just keeping the city safe. De manis were constantly trying to get into Everfree and nothing but Celestia’s spells was left to keep this from happening. Even though protecting Everfree City alone was a fulltime job in itself, the demi-goddess of light had to also occupy herself with other tasks.

Although the bright demi-goddess tried her hardest to keep de manis out of Everfree, she tolerated a single one to be inside. Celestia succeeded in capturing a de manis and brought it straight to Everfree Castle dungeon. It looked terrifying. A small beast that had curved and jagged blades instead of legs and a long mane of thick strands that ended in javelin-like spikes. It was clearly designed to cause suffering and death. All that stopped it from attacking Celestia were the chains of light which kept the de manis pinned against the stone wall.

Celestia spent days researching it, but she was unable to make any progress. Her first attempt to defeat it was by casting a powerful light spell on it. The de manis seemed weakened, but it didn’t destroy the beast or cause any visible harm. After just a few moments, it started grinning at Celestia again.

The bright demi-goddess then tried her arcane magic on the beast, but that failed as well. No matter how much unshaped and pure magic she unleashed at the de manis, it caused no damage and the beast recovered very quickly each time.

As the time passed, Celestia became more and more desperate. She attempted all she could think of: tools, weapons, enchantments, potions... the list seemed endless. But ultimately, the princess of the sun had to face that her entire knowledge was useless when it came to destroying de manis.

The beast was still tied to the wall with chains of light, sinisterly grinning at Celestia with glowing red eyes. Through all of her experiments, the dungeon took far more damage than the de manis did. It seemed like the beast did not even mind being held captive. It laughed at every last of Celestia’s failed attempts to destroy it and only became more and more amused as her desperation increased.

---

When Celestia returned to the dungeon, she already was very drained. Like everypony else, the bright demi-goddess could barely find any sleep with this non-existent day and night cycle and huge amount of stress and fear. Even in the few hours she was able to find sleep, she did not rest. Nightmares kept haunting her every time.

The princess of the sun stepped in front of the de manis again, gazing at it full of hate. The de manis stared back, again grinning in amusement, which only increased Celestia’s anger and hate.

Still focusing on the de manis, Celestia lifted a metal pole into the air. Using a spell, she made the tip smolder in heat and shape into a very pointy spike. As soon as the spear cooled down, she cast a few very complex spells on them. A well thought through mix of banishments, bright incantations, light spells and purifications. The enchanted speer was very similar to the one she used in the crystal empire many hundred years ago to stop the crystal corruption from spreading and to break the already corrupted crystals.

Celestia shot it at the de manis with full force, but it only got to its very surface. Fueled by anger and desperation, her face formed a grimace of rage and her tears started flowing while she used more and more force in attempt to pierce the spear through the de manis. Ultimately, the material gave in and the spear bent so much, it ended up breaking.

Enormous frustration and desperation rushed through the bright demi-goddess as she launched the broken handle across the dungeon, causing it to get stuck in a rock wall. Again, the de manis only laughed.

The princess of the sun needed a moment to calm down again and started walking up and down the dungeon, trying to come up with something she hadn’t tried, yet. But it was no use. Celestia was at her wit’s end. Nothing works. Absolutely nothing can destroy a de manis.

Finally, she was able to calm down again and returned to the beast, her expression so full of hate like never before in her life. The princess of the sun stepped in front of the de manis and just watched it grin at her with glowing red eyes for roughly a minute.

“Tell me already,” she finally started speaking. “Tell me your secret. How do I destroy you? What is your weakness?”

As always, the de manis gave no reply and just chuckled while presenting its fangs. Celestia kept staring at it for a few moments more. But finally, she just collapsed on her back haunches and started to cry in desperation.

Celestia had to face it: There is no way to destroy a de manis. She could do nothing but give up. Nightmare Moon was only a few more days away from Everfree and once she arrived, the last refuge of pony-kind would fall.

The minutes passed while the bright demi-goddess sat on the ground, hanging her head and going through all the things she had done throughout her life. All the things she had accomplished. All the things she had done wrong and finally, all the things that lead to her sister’s insanity. Celestia was guilty for so much. But she never meant for all this to happen. She was just so blind. So foolish. So arrogant...

As the thoughts continued to rush through her mind, Celestia’s expression suddenly changed. She started to smile. But it was not one of happiness. It was a smile of desperation.

The princess of the sun had concluded that, should everything come to an end now, she needed to stay a beacon of hope to her beloved subjects until the very end. No matter what, she would never stop smiling at them. No matter what, she would never stop giving them hope.

Celestia slowly rose her head, closed her eyes and began to sing one of the most beautiful songs she knew from her subjects. It was an ancient song. A remnant from the foundation of Equestria itself, translated into the language of the demi-goddesses. A song of friendship, hope and overcoming all difficulties through harmony: The Heart Carol.

“The fire of friendship lives in our hearts
As long as it burns we cannot drift apart.
Though quarrels arise, their numbers are few
Laughter and singing will see us through
We are a circle of pony friends
A circle of friends we'll be to the very end”

The princess of the sun slowly opened her eyes again. What she saw then was something she did not expect. The de manis looked angry and ground its teeth at Celestia. It was displeased over this song of harmony.

Harmony... an idea slowly made its way through Celestia’s mind. De manis are creatures of darkness, yes. But what do they do? They destroy. They kill. They spread chaos, suffering and horror. Why does the darkness turn red around them?

Celestia started to understand. They do not spread the red darkness. They spread disharmony, hate and cruelty! This is what they need! Darkness only becomes red through their brutal behaviour! So if they need blood and horror... if darkness is only secondary to them and their true source of strength is violence and desperation... would harmony be their weakness?

The bright demi-goddess quickly got back on her four legs and ran up inside the castle. After ten minutes, she returned.

The de manis was already getting ready for another round of amusement, but what it saw then made its expression change into one of shock for the very first time.

Celestia was wielding the elements of harmony. Judging from her expression, she was very determined to use them. Now, the de manis started struggling and trying to escape the light chains. But just moments later, the five gems and the tiara started glowing brightly.

The de manis started panicking and shifted around wildly. Ultimately, a mighty rainbow colored beam came shooting at it.

The beast screamed, but the scream quickly vanished. As the elements were finished, nothing was remaining of the de manis but a tiny black stream of smoke, rising towards the ceiling before vanishing as well.

For a few moments, Celestia’s expression only showed stun. But slowly, it changed into a smile of unspeakable relief and her eyes filled with tears. She did it! She found the weakness of de manis! Now, she knew how to not only defeat Nightmare Moon, but also how to rescue her sister!

---

Although nopony could hear the death scream of the de manis, its end did not remain unnoticed. At the moment it ceased from existence, all de manis all over the land and even Nightmare Moon herself stopped for a moment and turned their heads towards Everfree with expressions of shock. Since all de manis are part of Nightmare Moon, they share a very deep connection to each other, which enabled them to feel how one of them had just become destroyed.

After many weeks of extremely successful spreading and multiplication, this was the first of their kind that had fallen. Now, there was actually a chance that the de manis would fail at bringing punishment to the world.

After a short moment of speechlessness, the de manis turned their focus to their queen. Nightmare Moon’s expression was one of anger. But soon, her evil grin returned.

“Well, well, well. So you did it, Celestia. You found a way to defeat us. I assume you will now try to face me in person and destroy me. But I assure you, this will be a battle you will never forget. No matter what the outcome may be, I will make you wish you had never dared to challenge me,” she threatened.

The wicked mare of darkness lifted her gaze into the night sky. So many stars. Luna had put so much effort and magic into the night. It was overflowing with her dark magic. A kind of magic Nightmare Moon could use to her advantage. All she needed to do was to let a little sprout of corruption grow inside the sky. Or rather, four sprouts.

---

More and more de manis started to cluster up around Everfree City in the following two days. The ponies hiding inside the city were terrified of their presence and the more of these wicked creatures started waiting around the city’s force field, the more the situation threatened to escalate and cause the ponies break out in panic.

Finally, the queen of the de manis herself appeared on the horizon. Her approaching was the drip that made the barrel overflow. All of the remaining subjects of Equestria fled inside the castle. Celestia, though, supported their behaviour. She allowed them to hide in the most protected areas of the castle and assigned all the remaining royal guards to protect them. It also was now that Celestia revealed her plan to her subjects. They were shocked to hear how risky it was, but she ensured that this was the only way to rescue Equestria and that she would come out of this victorious.

---

As the sinister queen arrived in front of the city gates, Celestia was already there, standing on the other side of the forcefield.

“So you have been waiting for me,” Nightmare Moon analyzed.

“These acts of terrorism will end now, Nightmare Moon. I will not allow you to take even a single more life,” Celestia replied, causing the wicked mare of darkness to laugh.

“And how do you plan to achieve this? How do you plan to stop the rampage of darkness?” she wondered.

“I understand that darkness is upset because of the behaviour of my subjects and that of myself. But these cruel acts of revenge are unjust,” the bright demi-goddess replied.

“What is just and unjust depends on perspective. In this case, darkness is the victim and it prefers a swift and bloody punishment over a long and tedious one, like you and your ridiculous light have been treating it for so many hundred years,” Nightmare Moon countered.

“I understood the lesson you wanted to teach me. I understood that the light and I have been acting incredibly selfish and that we mistreated darkness and my sister. But if it is revenge in her name you are seeking, how do you justify her erasure? As you said yourself, she is the victim of my ignorance. Please, give her back. She is innocent,” Celestia begged.

“I do not care about how guilty every individual is. Everything in my path will be destroyed. It is too late for your sister, Celestia. Darkness has made up its mind about her. She is not worthy embodying it anymore. She is too weak. Thus is why I was created,” the queen of the de manis replied.

“You are a creature of revenge. You know precisely that your existence is not meant to be eternal and that darkness will stop rampaging one day. How can darkness destroy the one it embodies the most and prefer a creature of its temporary feelings?” the princess of the sun wondered.

“You and I both know that it will not end here. You would not stand in front of me like that if you did not have a plan you are sure will succeed. But even so, neither darkness or I do care about what comes after this era of punishment. All that matters now is that a line is finally being drawn and light finally learns not to cross it,” Nightmare Moon explained.

“If that is the case, then fight me. Spare my subjects and punish me instead,” Celestia challenged.

A grin started to grow on Nightmare Moon’s face and she chuckled lightly.

“My hatred extends to all creatures in this world, not just you. Equestria is just the beginning. Should I succeed, darkness will take this as confirmation that it is doing the right thing and will proceed to destroy until nothing is left on this world. Why should I stop after you? Why should I give darkness only a fragment of the revenge it desires?” she wondered.

“Because my punishment is the most important one to darkness. You can not fool me, Nightmare Moon. Your words are of cruelty, but I know darkness better than you believe. I know it can be reasoned with. How else would I have been able to live with my sister for such a long time? How else can you explain that we loved each other?” Celestia replied.

Nightmare Moon chuckled again. But while she did so, Celestia could watch the de manis slowly step back from the force field. It seemed as if she was right, but of course, Nightmare Moon would never admit this. She embodies concentrated negativity after all.

“If this is what you call love, then I am glad I am not capable of feeling love. The stronger sister dominating the weaker one and making her her slave and secretary,” the wicked mare of darkness commented.

“Yes. I know. What I have done was wrong in every possible way. I know no words in the world are apology enough to make this up anymore. Luna and darkness have every reason to hate me. But no matter how much you hated my subjects as well, their blood has been spilled enough. You said yourself that darkness prefers a swift punishment over a slow one. You already made darkness wait too long by rejecting to kill me the first time. Now you have a second chance. Fight me, queen of the de manis. Fight me and give darkness what it desires the most,” Celestia challenged again.

Nightmare Moon’s eyes narrowed and turned red again. With a mix of suspicion and anger, she glanced at the demi-goddess of light.

“Unlike you, I am not blinded by the light. My eyes are sharp and focused. Do you honestly believe I would fall for this? Why would I accept your request of a duel when I can easily overrun you with my de manis and reapers? The only reason you and your subjects are not dead yet is because darkness tells me to speak to you,” she spoke with an aggressive undertone.

“It will be more satisfying this way. Instead of one of your children, you will be the one ending my life. The only way I could win would be by killing my own sister. Knowing you and darkness, you have probably already taken measures in case this would happen. All that would change is that you make my punishment worse, as I would have to live on with the knowledge that I had to take my own sister’s life. You said yourself you do not care for Luna anymore. No matter what the outcome of this duel may be, you can only win,” Celestia explained.

The queen of the de manis started grinning again, apparently humored by Celestia’s words.

“Just a minute ago, you wanted me to spare your sister. Now, all the sudden, you are willing to kill her?” she questioned.

“I ordered assaults on you before, knowing what this might cause to Luna. I will do whatever it takes to protect her and my subjects, even if it means to end her life, just to prevent her from being entirely consumed by you,” Celestia replied with a serious expression.

After hearing this, Nightmare Moon’s eyes turned back to blue. She grinned at Celestia, victory already written on her face.

“Sisterly love. What a blissfully twisted affair. Alright, Celestia. You shall have it your way. If I fall, Equestria will be spared. But should you fall, it will be the end of the world,” the wicked mare agreed.

She raised her head and started casting a teleportation spell. Moments later, she and Celestia disappeared.

As soon as they vanished, the de manis went out of their battle positions and started walking around aimlessly, occasionally looking up into the sky. Only the reapers kept on patrolling around the city, waiting for the next order of their mistress.

---

When the spell was done, Celestia found herself in a wide plain, far away from any civilisation. Yet, the landscape looked just like any other in Equestria. Red darkness filling the air. Massive marks of destruction. Long dead and rotting ponies laying everywhere.

Then, Nightmare Moon came into the bright demi-goddess’ line of sight, starting to circle around Celestia with her head lowered and a red glow of bloodlust in her eyes. Celestia, too, went into battle stance and started circling along.

“Do not be mistaken, princess of the sun. I am no fool. I do understand that this is all part of your plan. But you shall have your chance,” Nightmare Moon spoke.

“If you are so sure of this, why did you agree?” Celestia asked back with a serious expression.

“Your statement was correct, nevertheless. I can only profit from this battle. In worst case, you will be able to entirely destroy me and darkness will fail to achieve revenge. It will return to submission and things will be just like they had been before. But should this happen, darkness’ rage will intensify even much more than it is now. The next time it finds a chance to break its shackles, you will not get a chance to reason with it anymore. The night will last forever. All light shall be erased. The horrors will be even a lot more intense than those I have given and all that can be said then is that it was all your fault, Celestia,” the queen of the de manis explained.

“It will not come to this. I will find a way. One day, I will find a way to calm the darkness,” the bright demi-goddess spoke.

Nightmare Moon started grinning again, presenting her fangs while her eyes faded into white and an arcane aura began to cluster up around her.

“We will see,” she spoke, just before the battle began.

Nightmare Moon launched an arcane bolt at Celestia, which she deflected using her own arcane magic and instantly started a counter attack. The two godly being bombarded each other with a wide arsenal of arcane spells, causing huge magical explosions all around them.

After just a few minutes, they both left the ground to continue their battle in midair. The sky became filled with massive black clouds and lightnings shot at Celestia from all directions. She, however, gathered them in her horn, combined them and released them at Nightmare Moon. But the wicked mare of darkness could easily block the beam off using a shield of arcane magic.

“I hope you do not end up disappointing me, Celestia! You had enough time to come up with a plan to defeat me, so I expect more of you than this!” she spoke in an amused tone.

As the queen of the de manis finished speaking, she started to gather the darkness around her to form countless black daggers, which she then launched at Celestia. The bright demi-goddess reacted immediately, summoning two large swords made of light to block them off, before she herself rushed towards Nightmare Moon for an attack.

The wicked mare grinned and teleported away. But as soon as she vanished, Celestia launched both swords right behind her with a small delay. As Nightmare Moon reappeared, the blades were already very close. Yet she still could block them off easily.

What she did not see coming, though, was that Celestia had cast a strong light spell as well. By the time Nightmare Moon blocked off the second sword, the beam hit her with full force. While her expression showed anger for a moment, it almost instantaneously returned to a wicked grin of amusement.

As she tried to block the light spell, Nightmare Moon cast another herself. Celestia’s shadow started to rise behind her again, getting ready to capture her, like it did on their first confrontation. The bright demi-goddess, though, was prepared this time. She swiftly redirected the beam behind her and tore the shadow apart. Yet, this gave Nightmare Moon the chance to attack again.

A couple of hundred black spears formed above Celestia, which then came raining down on her. While she used an arcane shield to block them off, those spears that missed their target redirected and came flying towards her from below.

While the princess of the sun was busy protecting herself, Nightmare Moon created a humongous battleaxe she immediately swung at Celestia as soon as it materialized.

The bright demi-goddess, though, saw the weapon coming from the side just in time to react. She cast a teleportation spell and brought herself right behind Nightmare Moon. Still focusing on the massive battleaxe, she could not react in time before Celestia allowed her arcane aura to expand to a huge explosion of magic.

Nightmare Moon became launched through the sky, but quickly recovered her stability. The strike was a success. The queen of the de manis had started to bleed. But her expression showed no pain, only disgust, hatred and arrogance. She simply lifted her right front leg and licked off the blood slowly before starting to grin again.

“Your sister tastes delicious. Maybe I should let you cripple her a bit, so i can devour the severed limbs,” she started mocking.

The angry expression on Celestia’s face intensified and she started showing her teeth. Lowering her head a bit, she cast another light spell. A chain of light came shooting out of her horn, trying to capture Nightmare Moon.

The grin on the evil queen’s face grew bigger. Celestia was so easy to manipulate. Just by mentioning that she was fighting her sister, her attacks already turned from lethal strikes into attempts to just immobilize her.

As the light chain came close, Nightmare Moon swiftly teleported aside and grabbed it. Using a spell, she corrupted the light chains into chains of darkness that went all the way back to Celestia’s horn.

Shock was seen on her face as she realized that her spell now turned against her and Nightmare Moon rapidly pulled her closer. Just before they met, though, the demi-goddess of light unleashed a shockwave of arcane magic, forcing Nightmare Moon to dodge with a teleportation spell.

As she materialized again, the wicked mare of darkness was a lot further away than she had been from Celestia all the time and seemed to be annoyed.

“Alright. Enough of this. You are starting to bore me,” she commented.

The queen of the de manis rose her gaze up into the sky and closed her eyes. As she reached out her front legs, the darkness began to cluster up around her.

Celestia launched several dozen small beams of light at the quickly growing black sphere, but they all had no effect. Her attacks quickly became more powerful, soon ending up in the strongest spells of arcane magic she knew. But they all had no effect on the sphere.

Suddenly, Celestia noticed how small objects began to fly inside sphere, which seemed to compress more and more as it grew at the same time. Now, she too felt the gravity it created. Fear filled her mind as she came to realize that Nightmare Moon was creating a black hole, right here on the world.

The bright demi-goddess did all she could possibly think of to prevent the sphere from becoming any bigger, but her spells were not powerful enough. There was too much around that fuelled Nightmare Moon. The red darkness, the rotting corpses of subjects, the increasing destruction. It all gave her so much power that she was even capable of outdoing Celestia’s powers by far.

At this point, all Celestia could do was trying to fly away. The gravity was pulling strongly on her and she could watch how the dead bodies lifted into the sphere, along with rock, trees and whole parts of the landscape.

Celestia started to panic. The black hole pulled her ever close and not even teleportation spells could bring her far enough away to escape the immense gravity of the sphere. Ultimately, she found herself falling inside.

As soon as she was engulfed, the black hole stopped absorbing its surroundings. After about a second of motionlessness and silence, the whole force of the black hole unleashed into an explosion so great that it until today is searching for anything comparable. The plane became entirely devastated, creating a huge crater in the ground that would become known as The Great Valley much later.

Nightmare Moon levitated in the center of the destruction she caused, laughing maniacally. No stone was left on the other. It amused her how much power she had gained and how easily she could toy with Celestia, as if she was a mere doll.

Her gaze sunk to the ground below her, seeing the bright demi-goddess she launched down with the whole explosion’s force bleeding all over. She was still conscious, but could hardly breathe, as she kept coughing up blood. A sight that made the wicked mare of darkness grin widely in victory.

While she slowly sunk to the ground, Celestia focused on keeping her eyes open and getting her broken body under control. With the strength she had left, she started casting a few minor healing spells on herself, just enough to mend her inner damage. She did not get to do a lot more before Nightmare Moon landed just in front of her.

“If that was your plan, then you only confirm what darkness and I were thinking of you all along. Seeing the destruction I can cause, how could you even dare to be so arrogant as to think you would be able to overcome me in a mere battle? Is light really that foolish? Does it really think that its perspectives and justice are so mighty that it can defeat everything else?” the queen of the de manis wondered.

Celestia did not reply. She just kept laying there, waiting for the moment Nightmare Moon would let her guard down.

The bright demi-goddess felt how the blue aura of Nightmare Moon grabbed her by the throat and squeezed. As she helplessly struggled and tried to free herself from the grip threatening to kill her, she was pulled up to the eye level of the wicked mare.

“Do you know what you are, Celestia? A tyrant! You try to cover your lust for power and admiration with your benevolence, but the truth is that all you long for is domination. It is not I who is the true monster here. It is you! I may embody the evil of darkness, but you embody the evil of light!” she started to shout.

It was a close call now. The princess of the sun had to stay focused and conscious, but at the same time, she could not break loose from her grip yet. It all came down to acting just at the right moment now. If she missed her chance, Celestia would die.

The angry glow in Nightmare Moon’s eyes slowly disappeared and she stopped showing her fangs. Her eyes turned back to blue and a strange kind of satisfaction could be seen in them, as she now was sure that she won the battle and was about to claim her prize: Celestia’s life.

It was a strange moment for the bright demi-goddess. As an entity that can not die of old age, being at the brink of death was more terrifying to her than it would be for any mortal. Yet, this was not what she focused on the most. What truly drew her attention were Nightmare Moon’s eyes. All the time, they had been burning with rage and hatred. But now, for the first time ever, she did not seem dangerous anymore. She seemed satisfied with what was about to happen.

“But I have to admit, you were right about one thing, Celestia. Personally taking your life is a lot more satisfying. I suppose I will just keep squeezing you, so your death will be slow and terrifying. Look deep into my eyes, Celestia. I want them to be the last thing you will ever see. I want you to see how much darkness enjoys to kill you,” the wicked mare of darkness spoke, unexpectedly calm now.

Celestia choked, gagged and coughed while she was slowly placed back on the ground, Nightmare Moon now towering above her. The grip on her throat became a bit more loose, allowing Celestia to inhale a few small amounts of oxygen, but not enough to keep her alive. Nightmare Moon only aimed to prolong her death.

But the bright demi-goddess realized this and acted accordingly. Although she was about to faint, she faked to be weaker than she truly was. The weaker she got, the more Nightmare Moon’s grip loosened to make her approach death even slower. As Celestia felt that, if she waited just a moment longer, she would not be able to recover anymore, she finally started her surprise attack.

Putting all the strength and focus she had left together, she suddenly pushed herself upright and cast one more spell. All the time, Celestia had been wielding the elements of harmony and kept them invisible with many disguising spells. As soon as they uncloaked, Nightmare Moon’s expression switched to one of shock.

The queen of the de manis could not react fast enough. The elements unleashed their power on her, thrusting Nightmare Moon up into the red sky. Already, the darkness around Celestia and the beam became blue again and Nightmare Moon desperately struggled with the rainbow colored beam of harmony.

Breathing and coughing, the demi-goddess of light tried to put all her thoughts on Luna. She closed her eyes and hoped that the beam would grant her the wish she longed for the most: freeing her sister from Nightmare Moon and destroying this monster.

The wicked mare of darkness created an arcane shield to block off the beam, but she could barely protect herself. Yet, the elements were working their magic longer than they usually should already. As the seconds passed, Nightmare Moon started to laugh again.

“Congratulations, Celestia! I did not expect that! But you can not purify me! Your heart is not in harmony anymore! You have seen too many horrors and your mind is too much in guilt!” she shouted.

Unfortunately, Nightmare Moon was correct. After all that had happened, Celestia was not able to focus anymore. She already was very weak and the elements of harmony drained her even more. It would not take much longer until she ran out of power and Nightmare Moon would escape the beam. Celestia had to think of something. Fast.

Her eyes suddenly jumped to the moon and an idea rushed through her mind. That was it! This is how she could turn this near defeat into a victory and rescue Equestria! But Nightmare Moon, too, understood what she was thinking, letting the evil red of her eyes return.

“Celestia, you fool! Do you even understand what you are about to do? If you seal Luna and me inside the moon, you claim its ownership! If light becomes so incredibly greedy and ignorant as to steal the greatest symbol of darkness, you will shatter the balance between the forces! You can not possibly grasp the consequences this will bring!” she shouted.

But Celestia made up her mind. It was the only way. If she would not do this, everyone and everything would die. This was the only option to save her subjects, her sister and the world.

As the bright demi-goddess focused on the moon, the queen of the de manis felt how she started fading away. Incredible rage filled her mind. This was the greatest act of betrayal light could possibly do to darkness. Thus, the red of the night intensified around Nightmare Moon again and even the moon itself became blood red in fury.

Suddenly, crimson red lines appeared in the sky behind Nightmare Moon, slowly forming to letters. One last time, the wicked mare of darkness began to laugh insanely.

“Very well. Do what you think you have to do. I could not care less. But keep one thing in mind, Celestia. This harmony you try to create with my banishment is fake. You do not end the rage of darkness, but only prolong it. As time passes, you will see that all you achieved was to make your subjects suffer a lot more than they would have. My wrath will never end and I will not simply vanish like that,” she spoke.

The queen of the de manis rose her head towards the red sky. The letters behind her started come together to two words.

“Darkness! Hear my calling! Take me, your harbinger of punishment, as the ultimate sacrifice for the strongest curse that had ever been spoken out! Tear me apart and scatter me over this corrupted land, so I may continue bringing horrors in your name! Shred me, so that I may continue to exist in the souls of those we despise the most! May my fragments and my cruelty be the seed for the destruction of the world! Equestria! I curse you with my madness!” she shouted.

As soon as she was done speaking, the message behind her completed. The words ‘Maledictum Insania’ hovered in the sky while the red darkness grabbed Nightmare Moon from behind and tore a part of her away, letting it escape from the elements of harmony.

Just a moment later, the rainbow beam completely washed over her and the wicked mare of darkness disappeared. Intense light filled the entire landscape and everything had become white.

---

Celestia did not know how much time had passed when she finally regained consciousness. But as she slowly opened her eyes, she realized that she was surrounded by a soft, dark blue. Slowly, she rose her head towards the sky. Her eyes filled with tears of relief and she began to smile as she realized that it was no longer red. The red darkness had vanished completely.

It was now that the demi-goddess of light realized how beautiful the night truly was. So many stars. So many pictures. And in the center of it all, there was this one star that glowed brighter than all the others. Luna must have put so much effort and time into perfecting the beauty of the night.

But then, Celestia saw the moon. It had changed. Instead of a shiny smooth surface, it now had dark spots, which, when seen together, looked like the head of an angry alicorn.

The smile on Celestia’s face disappeared and incredible sadness filled her.

“Oh, Luna... what have I done to you... I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry...” she spoke while her tears began to flow.

She kept on gazing at the now dreadful looking moon for a while longer, but then, she closed her eyes and her horn began to glow.

Slowly, the moon started to move. It sank more and more towards the horizon, while the first orange beams of dawn broke through the night. Finally, the shadow that had been placed over Equestria for weeks slid away to make space for the light. After all these weeks. After all this destruction and all this desperation, the sun finally rose again.