The time without the night: A brief peace: on hold

Battle of a Lifetime

"You will pay..." Celestia muttered to herself. She was heart broken over the death of the old stallion who was like a father to her.

"PRINCESS!" Commander Gale Wind said as she walked into the room.

"Huh? Oh, uh, yes commander?"

"What should we do about Lu- I mean Nightmare Moon..." Gale quickly corrected herself.

"I'll try to talk with her." Tia responded without hesitation. If there was even one small part of the Luna she once knew still in Nightmare then she had to try to bring it to the surface.

"But Princess!" Gale said as her eyes widened,"You can't!"

"I will talk to her, but I want you to stay in the castle." Celestia said and her tone told Gale that she was not going to change her mind.

"Yes Princess." Gale said solemnly.

"Thank you. Now go tell the others commander." Gale nodded and trotted away.

Clop clop clop

"I will avenge you Starswirl..." Then a thought hit her,"The elements! That's it! But only if it gets to that." And somehow she knew in her heart that the elements would be needed before the day was through.

"Princess?" A small voice broke the silence as Starswirl's only pupil, Clover the clever, trotted softly into the room.

"Yes, Clover?" Tia could not help but tear up when she saw the filly, so many memories assaulted her as she gazed apon the young pony that seemed to know her better than she knew herself.

"Well i couldn't help but over hear... Are you really going to use the elements to avenge starswirl?" Clover timidly asked.

"If it comes to that."

"Well I hope it doesn't." Clover did a good job of covering up her emotions, but the gleam in her eyes told Tia that she really did hope that it would get out hand.

"So do I." Tia said and her reply was truthful.

"I need to go." Clover said nervously as if she sensed that something bad was going to happen soon.

"Thank you, Clover..."

clop clop clop

"CELESTIA! COME ON OUT AND PLAY! MWAH HA HA!" A deep voice resounded throughout the castle and reached Tia's ears.

"Nightmare Moon..." Emotions bombarded her left and right, she loved Luna but she had killed Starswirl!

"COME OUT BIG SISTER! LET US SEE IF THOU ART THE BETTER! UNLESS THOU ART A COWARD!" That was the last straw. Tia launched herself out of the window and sped towards her sister.

"You'll pay for this Nightmare!"

"We'll see a about that."

The battle was epic, the sun and moon fought for hours until Nightmare gained the upper hand. Tia could not hurt her sister, it wasn't that she wasn't powerful enough, it was because she couldn't bear to hurt Luna. Nightmare was relentless, any opening was exploited until she kicked Tia through a window of the castle. Tia knew the time had come. With the tears in her eyes threatening to fall, she summoned the elements. Time seemed to stop as Nightmare sped towards her. Wishing that things had turned out differently, Tia activated the elements. For a moment, she felt magic like nothing she'd ever known course through her veins then she released the power of the elements. The spell came not as a blast but as a protective shield, forcing Nightmare back. For a split second time stopped for Tia as she watched her sister be enveloped in rainbow light, then there was a bright flash followed by darkness as the room shifted back into the moon's silver light. The battle was over good had won, but to Tia it didn't seem like much of a victory. She hid her face in her now rainbow hair and cried until she slipped into a dream filled sleep.