The Windigoes flew away from the pink, fiery heart that materialised abouve the group. In like a millisecond all the spirits dissapeared around them and the whole of Canterlot. The ponies opened their eyes to see Twilight Sparkle hovering in the air with her eyes glowing bright but eventually landed and her eyes stopped glowing. "Ma gawsh, Twilight!" Applejack uttered while the rest stood there with their mouths open. Twilight jumped in the air in joy, they saved themselves and the whole of Canterlot. Or that's what she thought. The happy atmosphere was broken by a scream, a scream of fear, Fluttershy's scream. The ponies looked at her and they saw the frozen body of Spike, the little baby dragon. "S...Spike?" Twilight stuttered when she saw the draconic ice cube. Then they looked around them and saw Spitfire who also was frozen. Not only Spitfire and Spike but every citizen in Canterlot were still frozen. "How could this be..." Twilight stuttered again but Rainbow Dash interrupted her, "What is this!? Wasn't the Fire of Friendship going to unfreeze them or not!?" She flew in the air in anger and insecurity and Fluttershy screamed again in shock and fell on the ground crying.

But then, out of nowhere. An explosion cut of Fluttershy's agonizing scream, that explosion came from Canterlot Castle where our heroes could see a giant sphere of light flying up in the sky containing three Alicorns.

...

The two princesses were lying on the ground in the Entrance Hall. In pain thanks to the collision of the gate they flew through, they both coughed. Luna started tearing up again, not only out of physical pain but also from mental pain. The pain of having her brother who she loved and cherished above all except her sister, Celestia, hurting her to the very core of her heart. While she had trouble getting up, due to her agony, her sister stood up to embrace the danger of the evil Alicorn that entered the hall trough the broken gate. She stood there with tears in her eyes but with an expression full of valor and self-confidence. Her rainbow colored manes playing in the air like they were clouds. She was ready for the terrible things that Cold Heart had ready for her.

Cold Heart looked around the hall, "Nice home," he complimented.

The hall got overrun by the Royal Guards, all ready to protect their princesses from harm. A first wave of guards attacked the stallion head-on only to feel the wrath of his hate that has boiled up trough the years he was imprisoned. His horn started to glow icy blue and in a millisecond bolts of magic emitted from it, all pointed towards the guards that attacked him recklessly. All the other guards saw in horror how their comrades turned into ice, one by one.

Cold Heart laughed out loud, with the same ice cold laugh he used a minute ago. "Pitiful," He said with a grin on his face.

All the rest of the guard started attacking too, not only because it's their duty but it was also out of revenge for their fallen comrades. Cold Heart only started laughing harder while his horn started glowing again. Before he could freeze them, the guards suddenly stopped when they heard a loud voice saying: "GUARDS, STAND DOWN!!!"

The loud thundering voice was from none other than Princess Celestia. They never heard her yell like that, not in their lifetime. Celestia then used her normal tone again, "This is my problem and I have to solve it," she said to her loyal guards.

"Our problem, sister..."

Princess Luna has stood up and walked right up to her big sister. "And we will solve it..." She said with great confidence and heartbroken anger.

The evil brother laughed again. "Allow me to clean up the battlefield then," He said as he used his magic to let the Pegasi Guards float in the air, turn them into ice and throw them against the wall making them shatter in pieces. With that done, the two princesses still stand strong but shock could be read from their expressions. Cold Heart grinned evilly, "Ladies first..."

The sisters spread their wings as their eyes and horns started glowing and manes flowing in the air more viciously.

"ARCANA FULGORE!!!"

As they yelled out the magic words, rune seals appeared above them and start shooting giant fiery bolts of magic on Cold Heart like a missile barrage. Just before they could hit the evil stallion another magic spell is heard being cast.

"MINAX VIRTUS!!!"

A giant puff of smoke emitted from the point where Cold Heart stood when the bolts presumably hit him. It took a minute of silence to let the smoke fade away only to let the sisters find their brother still standing there, grinning, harmless like nothing happened at all. Minax Virtus was a protection spell and a strong one at that.

His eyes started glowing red trough his long, shadowy manes. Whispering words that not even the princesses could understand.

"Sa i lya gyndi dujas ripest nori niamend..."

The whispering started to echo trough the hall, Celestia and Luna stood ready for what was coming. But Luna started shivering, she remembered the gibberish that her brother was whispering. She, again, fell on the ground holding her hooves against her ears. "No, not again, NOT AGAIN!!!" She yelled, Celestia looked at her sister and started to remember the gibberish too.

"Siplokt ordil warg soomhur eadh..."

It was loud and clear, he was trying to brainwash Luna again. She bowed before her crying sister, starting to shed tears herself. She couldn't let her sister turn back into Nightmare Moon, not when they were together again after a thousand years. She couldn't let her, she couldn't...

"Luna! Don't let him get to you!"

Celestia shouted as hard as she can to get trough Luna but what the broken sister heard was something different.

"Weak..."

"You're not the evil that he tries to turn you in!"

"I'm embarrassed to have a weak runt like you as family..."

"Don't dissapear again, dear sister!"

"I should have sealed you back in the moon..."

"You're not worth the royal title..."
"You're not worth the responsibility..."
"You're not worth my love..."
"Mom and dad would be ashamed of you..."

Celestia started crying, her yelling turned into screaming as she saw how Luna's innocent face started fading away.

"I can't.. let you do this... PHILOMEENA!!!"

From up the stairs appeared a majestic bird with fiery wings and feathers, which flew graciously and beautiful over the chamber. It was Celestia's pet phoenix, Philomeena. After her short flight around the chamber, Philomeena flew towards Celestia to sit atop her golden crown. With the slightest touch of the phoenix' claw on the crown, the bird strangely fused with the crown, making it start glowing. Celestia's manes became more fiery and out of rage she yelled:

"LUX AURORAE!!!"

She spoke the words, her body and the whole room started to glow with a piercing and blinding light. Before Cold Heart could notice, they were floating in the air in a giant sphere of light. The debris of the castle couldn't hold the majestic power and collapses around them as the sphere started rising higher and higher. Cold Heart has felt Celestia's wrath before but this was completely new to him. He was for the first time surprised. Celestia's body was still glowing brightly while her sister just floated right next to her.

"I WON'T ALLOW YOU, YOU'RE NOT TAKING HER AGAIN AWAY FROM ME, I'LL MAKE YOU SUFFER A THOUSAND PAINS BEFORE YOU CAN EVEN MAKE A MOVE!!!"

Celestia bowed her head, transforming the sphere into thousand needles. If she rises her head again, it's would be all over. "Si....Sister...?" Celestia heard, it came from Luna. Celestia cried in joy, she saved her sister from becoming the darkness she was a millennium ago. But her joy was cut short as she received a magic beam right in the face from her dear sister. She lost control of her spell and the three of them fell down again. As they fell, she could see how Luna became wrapped in shadows and Cold Heart was laughing. They were back on the floor of the, now shattered, hall. Celestia landed with a painful bash on the back while Cold Heart and Luna were still floating.

The shadows around Luna disappeared. Luna no more. Where she stood stands another, Nightmare Moon...

Next Chapter: Time to sleep, Celestia Estimated time remaining: 10 Minutes