What Once Was

by crescentmoon

Rating: everyone
Tags: Princess Luna, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Romance, Tragedy, Discord, Princess Celestia, Twilight Sparkle
Length: 1930

Discord; once the ruler of Equestria. Fair, and Loyal. He had the love of the dear Celestia, and the friendship of kind Luna. What changed? What happened, to make this once loved creature...the most feared in all of Equestria...

Discord; once the ruler of Equestria. Fair, and Loyal. He had the love of the dear Celestia, and the friendship of kind Luna. What changed? What happened, to make this once loved creature...the most feared in all of Equestria...and hated by those he loves most? Well, Twilight Sparkle will get to the bottom of it; even if Luna has to tell the story herself.

Inspired by the picture being used as cover art.
Art is by AmazonMandy

Published 2013-06-03 05:20:02 UTC
Last updated 2013-06-04 03:20:47 UTC

Chapter One

Twilight Sparkle walked into the Canterlot castle. She had been in here many times before, but never for something so casual as tea and lunch. She walked down the long hallway towards the back, where she was to find her teacher, Princess Celestia. When she walked into the room, she saw the room was empty. She looked at Spike,

“Are you sure that the invitation said today, Spike?” She asked.

“Positive Twilight. See?” Spike handed her the small scroll, which Twilight saw had seen she was in fact on time.

“Where do you think she is?” Twilight became nervous. Had something happened to the Princess? Couldn’t be…wouldn’t she have called all of Twilight’s friends too? Maybe it was unexpected? She’s never late…

“Maybe she’s in the garden Twilight. I hear some laughter.” Spike reassured. Twilight ran, while poor little Spike struggled to keep up,

“Well Gee. Maybe I shouldn’t have said anything.” He huffed. Twilight got to the balcony, and looked down to see the Princess, well, both Princesses, as Luna was there as well. They had smiles on their faces, and seemed to be laughing. Twilight then noticed a draconequus off to the side, who seemed to be making odd things materialize out of thin air. Twilight ran down the stairs,

“Princesses?” She asked, bowing. Celestia looked startled,

“Hello, Twilight Sparkle!” Luna smiled. Twilight smiled back.

“Twilight? Is it time for our lunch already?” She asked.

“Yes Princess.” Twilight said, as she gave her mentor a hug.

“I apologize Twilight. I guess we just lost track of time, we were supposed to enjoy a simple breakfast out here in the garden this morning…I guess Discord’s silly antics distracted us.”

“Silly? Antics? Oh please Celestia…cut me a break. I may be nicer now, but you seem to be passing me off as a common clown.” Discord rolled his eyes, and popped into a clown outfit. Luna giggled.

“Are you not a clown?” Celestia smirked. Discord smiled softly.

“Oh, Discord! Do the flower thing again!” Luna laughed.

“Oh Luna…that’s the 3rd time, Discord is probably-” Celestia started, when all of a sudden the beautiful palace gardens began to sing and dance around. Luna laughed, and Twilight was about to burst out as well, as the flowers sang funny lyrics and made silly noises for the music. Celestia smiled as Luna danced around with the flowers,

“You make her feel young again, Discord.”

“Just like old days, eh, Tia?” He smiled. She looked down as her smile became softer,
“Maybe not exactly.”
“Princess? Are you okay?” Twilight asked. Celestia perked her head up,
“Of course, Twilight. Now, how about we get to that lunch? The kitchen is preparing something quite fine! And we can catch up on how your flying lessons went with Rainbow Dash.” Discord seemed to look disappointed, and Luna stopped dancing.
“Can Princess Luna and Discord join us, Princess?” Twilight asked, she felt guilty she had interrupted their fun. Princess Celestia seemed slightly confused, but she looked at Discord and her sister.
“If Celestia herself is okay with it.” Discord said.
“Of course.”

They all continued to laugh, as Discord continued his fun tricks during lunch, causing Spike to turn blue while tasting the delicious soup, and Twilight hiccup bubbles when she ate a muffin.

“Princess, I don’t mean to intrude, but may I ask something?” Twilight questioned, finally having stopped hiccupping bubbles.

“Sure, Twilight!” Celestia said, smiling.

“Well…what happened before? Before Discord became…bad.” She hesitated, she didn’t want to offend anyone…especially at the risk of being turned into something…unmentionable. The atmosphere became slightly uncomfortable as Celestia took a sip of her tea and bowed her head. Twilight fidgeted in her seat; she knew she struck a nerve.

“Oh COME ON! No need to hesitate Twilight Sparkle. Is that really what you wanna ask? Or are you curious how I became the LORD of Chaos?” He smiled, putting his head on his hands and batting eyelashes that he grew comicly sized.

“Well, I guess I am a bit curious about that…” Twilight chuckled; a bit more nervous than she was an hour ago.

“It happened over 1,100 years ago.” Luna started; her voice trembled as she spoke. Twilight looked surprised, and turned to Princess Celestia, whose head just remained bowed and solemn, while Discord summoned himself a couch, and proceeded to sit down, blowing a pipe that shot bubbles out.

Author's Note

I wanna thank you all for reading! This is my second fan-fiction, and my first My Little Pony one, so be nice! ^.^''

The inspiration for this came from a picture done by the awesome AmazonMandy on deviantART, it's called "Bravery in Small Packages". It was such a pretty piece something HAD to be written for it.

I edited it recently, to make it a bit longer, and to modernize it to Season 3. I hope you all like it!

I wanna thank my page, Pegasisters United on Facebook, for giving me the courage to write it!

So, thanks for reading!

UPDATE ONE: Minor Fixes to dialog and scenarios.
UPDATE TWO: Combinations of Chapters 1&2

Chapter Two

“1,100 years ago, Equestria was much like it was now. Peaceful. Celestia’s and my parents; our father Artemis, the King of the Sunset, and our mother, Arinna, the Queen of the Sunrise took care of most of the duties we have now, such as setting and rising the sun and moon…but Discord, took care of all the other royal duties, and was considered a Prince.
“His family had ruled with ours, but they had died that year of something unknown…and he took over. He was young…well, we all were. I wasn’t but just a teenager; Celestia was a young mare…and Discord her same age. We were all friends, at least, it seemed so…but after Discord’s parents had died…he became obsessed with finding out why and how…and that’s when it all happened.”

"Tiiiaaaa! TIA TIA TIAAAA!" I yelled, pouncing down the cobblestone pathway towards our home. I was almost there…I could see the small clearing where Celestia loved to sit and read….I could see her long pink mane flowing with the motion of the warm breeze.
"TIAAAHHHHH!" I managed to yell, before I came to a skidding halt, and fell on my face. My blue mane fell into my eyes, but I managed to see the small rabbit that looked at me in horror, and quickly scampered off.
"Silly Filly! Are you okay?" Celestia asked, offering her hoof to help me up.
"I'm fine…is the bunny okay? I didn't hurt it, did I? Oh…!"
"Oh Luna…I'm sure she's fine. I'm more worried about you. Why were you in such a rush? I could hear you all the way across the pavilion!" Celestia laughed. I looked up,
"Oh yeah! Tia! Guess what?" I yelled.
"Someone has been practicing their Royal Canterlot Voice a little too much?" She laughed.
"Oh…what? No!" I snapped.
"Shoot, I thought I had it right!"
"Funny! No, a VERY special somepony wants to see you in the gardens though!" I giggled. Celestia's brow furrowed.
"Is that so? And who is this SPECIAL SOMEPONY?"
"No hints!” I smiled. Celestia chuckled,
“Is that so? Not even a little one?”
“…Nope?” I hesitated. She gave me a stern look.
“Okay…it’s Discord.” I huffed. She blushed,
“Oh, and did he say why?” She seemed flustered,
“BECAUSE HE WANTS TO SMOOCH YOU!” I giggled. She blushed even more, but then got a stern look in her eye.
“N-nno. Whatever. He probably just wants to talk. I’ll…I’ll see you later Luna!” She mumbled, walking towards the gardens.
“Okay…bye Tia!” I yelled, bouncing off. But it wasn’t really bye…as I followed her secretly, to the gardens.

I had managed to follow Celestia without her noticing for a good while. She walked slowly, and hummed a sweet song. She stopped every once and a while to smell a flower, or say hello to a small animal. When she finally made it to the gazebo in the middle of the garden, where she would find Discord, she took a small breath and smiled even bigger.

“Celestia! I’m glad you’re here.” Discord had a smaller smile, but he looked pleased to see my sister. She giggled,

“Oh? And why is that.”

“I have made some serious headway. Come, take a look.” He said, motioning her to the bench within the gazebo. Her smile faded a little, and I groaned and smacked my hoof to my face. This was the way he acted for the past year. He may have been betrothed to Celestia, but ever since his parents died, he had done nothing but take books out of the library into his room to study. He had ignored us for a while now…and I could tell it hurt Celestia. He showed her a big leather book, which seemed to have some markings on the outside and was surrounded by some small blue jewels.

“I think my parents may have been taken by a spirit.” He started, Tia looked confused,

“A spirit? Like a ghost?” Discord shook his head,

“No. Like an entity of sorts. I talked to Starswirl the Bearded and-”

“Starswirl the Bearded? The Wizard? How did you manage that?” She asked.

“He was curious as well. So anyway…”

“Discord. Don’t you think we should talk?” Celestia looked worried. Discord lifted his head in confusion,

“Aren’t we talking, Celestia?”

“I mean about something else…you’ve been talking about theories and creatures who may or may not have killed your parents for months now…I miss you. I miss the talks we used to have…”

“What are you saying Celestia? You saying I’m obsessed? Because you know what…”

“Discord, please…”

“Please what? You wanted to talk, we’re talking Celestia. I’m just telling you how it is. If you had lost your parents...you would be doing the same thing in my hooves. Think about that Celestia.” He said, flying off. Celestia looked as though she was about to cry, but she sniffled a bit, held her head up, and walked off. I felt bad. She was just trying to help him…and he got angry. I may be little, but I loved my sister and I wanted to help her. So I chased after Discord to give me a piece of my mind.

“Hey you big bully!” I yelled. Discord stopped in his tracks, and turned around.

“What do you want Luna?” He moaned, I glared at him.

“Tia was only trying to help you. You may not realize you big jerk, but my sister loves you to pieces! And you may be sad, and sure, I can’t blame you…but she’s worried about you. And you never play with me anymore, and you’ve certainly stopped hanging around her! So think about THAT next time you snap at my sister.” I yelled. He looked startled.

“Luna, I-“

“Bye, Discord.” I huffed, holding my head up high. I heard him sigh behind me, and drop the leather bound book on the ground.

Author's Note

UPDATE TWO: Combined Chapters 3&4 to make a big Chapter Two.

Sorry for the lack of updating guys! I'm working on Chapter 3 right now, I've just been a bit stuck, and busy. (My Step-Mom is almost ready to give birth to my brother, sometime this week) So when I'm at the hospital, I'll try and work on it some more! If there is anything you would like to see in the next chapter or 2? Let me know in the comments! Inspiration is always helpful to me.
Thanks Guys~
Crescent Moon