There Will Come A Day

“Princess Luna?”

“Yes, Twilight Sparkle?”

“You haven’t seen Discord around, have you?”

The lunar princess raised a confused brow at Twilight. “I am afraid that I haven’t. Not for a long time; at least a fortnight, actually,” she confessed. “My sister might know, but—why do you ask? Is there some matter you wish to discuss with him?”

Twilight was barely controlling her emotions at the moment. Her body trembled, and she bit her lip. “He was right,” she said sharply, looking at the floor. “About everything.”

Luna was confused. She could sense that something was bothering Twilight about this, but she couldn’t fully understand what. “Right? About what?” she questioned in response.

“Everything!” snapped Twilight, then she caught herself. She muttered a quick apology before continuing. “That poem he recited to me seven years ago… It predicted everything that’s happened. The Red Moon, the early winters, the winds stopping… Sure, things besides those also occurred, but he was still right.”

“Twilight Sparkle,” the princess said sternly, her ethereal mane sparkling as she turned away from her, “are you sure that Discord knew this was happening? Are you aware of what you could be implying by claiming he “predicted” these events?”

Sensing where the princess was taking this, she quickly clarified, “I-I’m sure that Discord hasn’t been responsible for all that’s happened.”

“Even though he is perfectly capable of doing so.”

“Well, perhaps, but—”

“And you know that.”

“I-I do! But, he didn’t…” Twilight trailed off. Already, she realized that her supposedly simple explanation was falling apart at the seams. What if Luna was right? What if Discord could have been responsible for all that went wrong? That he was responsible for the countless ponies who had starved? That he was responsible for Fluttershy’s dea—

She felt a wing wrap around her midsection, jarring her from her torrent of thoughts. Twilight looked up, staring into the face of Princess Luna. A sad smile was on her face, and she pulled the young alicorn close. “Twilight Sparkle, you are still troubled by your friend’s passing. Is this not true?”

Twilight merely nodded, and looked down at the floor.

“It’s been three years, Twilight,” the lunar goddess pointed out. “You must learn to move on. The remainder of your friends still have supported you, have they not? Has Rainbow Dash not been taking you on regular flying runs around Cloudsdale and Galloping Gorge, even though you no longer require lessons? Has Applejack given up trying to communicate with you however she can, and still endeavors to see you again someday? And what of Rarity, who still sees it fit to overlook your dress designs?” A coy smile found its way onto her face. “And has Pinkie Pie ever forgotten your birthday?”

Hearing this coming from the thousand-year-old alicorn, Twilight sniffled a bit, but smiled nevertheless. Her other friends were still alive and kicking, at least. Losing Fluttershy was a terrible loss for them all, but she likely wouldn’t have wanted them troubling themselves by crying over her grave. If her ghost were there, and vocal, then Twilight figured she would likely say something along the lines of, “Um, you don’t have to mourn for me… I really don’t want to be a bother, but, if you still want [size=8]to [/size][size=6]then [/size][size=5]I [/size][size=4]guess [/size][size=3]that’s [/size][size=2]okay[/size]…” The thought alone made her stifle a laugh.

Princess Luna noticed this, and smiled more warmly. “I take it that you feel better, now?”

“Much,” Twilight replied simply. “I was just thinking to myself, you know, what Fluttershy would say to us if she knew we were still crying like fillies over her headstone…”

“Hmmmm.” Luna nodded. “I see. Whatever should aid in coping, I hope it does good for you. Now then, back to the matter at hoof…” Her look turned steely again. “We may, in fact, need to be having a discussion with a certain “Lord of Chaos” as well. Let us—me, let me accompany you, Twilight Sparkle.”

She was surprised by this gesture, but tried not to let it show. Now that the possibility of Discord’s involvement was brought up, it seemed almost impossible to rule out. At least, not completely. Twilight led the lunar princess through the darkened halls, and as she passed a window, she looked outside. Still nighttime, but only just. Celestia was due to raise the sun soon; within the next hour or so, she estimated.

The two of them searched the halls, asked the odd Royal Guard on patrol about his whereabouts, but in the end, they couldn’t find hide or horn of the draconequus anywhere in the palace.

“He must not be around here,” Twilight finally admitted, sighing with disappointed. “I really needed to talk to him about that poem again.”

Princess Luna didn’t seem to be holding questions, as she was potential accusations. “The cowardly creature may have fled, I believe,” she supposed, grimacing as she paced back and forth across the hall. “Perhaps he knew of our coming, and that we knew well of his deception. Got away while he could, the spineless—”

“Well, excuuuuse me!” a voice suddenly cut in, sounding rather offended. Both princesses gave a start, and then spun towards a stained-glass window in the wall. The animated, mosaic design of a draconequus on the window was glaring at them, arms crossed and back quite literally bent over backwards. “Go ahead and knock the God of Chaos who doesn’t quite go for the whole “anatomy” deal very much, why don’t you?”

“Discord!” roared Luna, her voice approaching dangerously-high-level volume. “Treasonous scum! Come out and speak, unless you truly are as spineless as you make yourself seen!”

The mosaic of Discord sighed, and straightened his body out with a slight crunch. “Well goodness, there’s no need to yell, oh Princess of the Night,” he said with his usual tone of mockery. “Yes, I can hear you now, although I might need to snag a pair of good earmuffs if I wish to keep hearing you.”

“Do not test me, Discord!” the moon princess yelled, gritting her teeth as she stamped her hoof on the tiles rather forcefully. “Now answer us, or face the consequences! Are you or are you not responsible for the terrible events that have plagued Equestria since the arrival of the dread Red Moon?!”

“Accusing me of all that?” spat the mosaic form of the Lord of Chaos with a distinct air of incredulity. He shook his head and chortled. “My, my, my… Frankly, I am shocked that you would think of me like that. I’ve been a very good draconequus, have I not? I’ve eaten all my meals, went to bed before curfew hour, and never fussed when you had to change my—”

“E-enough, cretin!” interrupted Luna, blushing furiously. “Admit your guilt, for there is no other force in this world that can cause such chaos as we are currently suffering!”

Discord blew a raspberry at her. “Oh, come on. You call that chaos? It’s nothing more than the cycle repeating itself yet again…”

Though she had been unable to speak, due to Luna’s forceful voice rendering her mute by comparison, Twilight was able to interject at this point. “Cycle?” she asked, raising an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”

“Oh, did I say cycle? No, I clearly meant nothing of the sort,” he denied, his tone suddenly switching gears from calm to evasive. “It’s rather more of a phase, or progression of sorts… But as for whether or not I’m responsible, I’m sad to say that I am most certainly not.”

“How canst thou make such claims, villain,” Luna objected, stomping her hoof forcefully, “without providing us evidence to the contrary?!”

The draconequus sniggered, and pulled up a chair for his two-dimensional form to sit upon lazily. “My, my, Lulu. Your old world ways are still stuck inside you, both in mannerism and in voice,” he mocked, summoning a glass of chocolate milk to his hand. “Do you honestly believe that I have the capacity to bring about events that kill ponies?” He shook his head. “Come now. Dying isn’t fun at all. You know, just as well that I do, that I always use my magic for fun.”

Just like that, Discord vanished from the window, and finally appeared before them in the hallway. As if to prove his point, he was wearing a clown’s outfit. Cackling, he produced a bottle of spray seltzer, and shot a quick blast into Luna’s face. Caught off-guard, she sputtered and coughed as she tried to wipe the soda from her eyes.

“WH-WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS?!” she roared, glaring daggers at Discord—who now saw it fit to peddle back and forth across the hall on a comically undersized tricycle. “Answer us, cretin! We do not appreciate this display of—” She was rudely cut off as the draconequus threw a pie at her face. “—PASTRY?! Guh, pchew! Disgusting!”

Twilight was stunned at this sudden display of impudence, but she found it hard not to at least giggle at Luna’s misery. Discord was howling with laughter, pointing at Luna as he chortled. “Oh, that is rich! Priceless!” he jeered, circling in the air around the lunar princess like a hungry vulture. “See what I mean? And you would accuse me of such things, too! I’m disappointed, Lulu!”

“V-VILLAIN! CUR! MONSTER!” cursed Luna, still wiping away the chunks of pie that still clung to her fur.

“Me, a monster? I’d be flattered, if it wasn’t in such a negative tone.” He shook his head, clicking his tongue several times. Then, he turned towards the young alicorn and smiled darkly. “Now then, Twilight… My dear, delusional Twilight… You wanted to get a chance to speak with me, this I know. But luckily for you, I already know what you wanted to ask me. My answer, is but another question: Remember the fourth verse of that little poem?”

Twilight thought back to then. She hadn’t quite fully committed the entire poem to memory, but if she wasn’t mistaken, then it had to have been the one that mentioned the “fire of the sun”. “There will come the one, not seen with the eyes, but with fire of the sun,” she recited, processing the verse in her mind once again. In the vision she had seen, there was only fire—a thought that made her shiver. “No, you can’t mean...”

Discord smirked wickedly, and nodded. “Ah, so you do remember it! Makes explaining it that much easier,” he noted, nodding his head. “I must only say this, then: Like pretty much every poem that you ponies ever wrote, it’s open to a LOT of interpretation. Like, really! “Not seen with eyes, but with fire of the sun”? Yes, one does have to wonder what that could be implying!”

It hadn’t made too much sense to Twilight, either. While the other verses seemed to portray a clear theme and idea, this one wasn’t as straightforward as the others. But “fire of the sun”… wasn’t that the same as saying “fire of the fire”? If so, then it was already ridiculous to her, being of a logical, reasoning mind, and not an interpretive one.

At that moment, Luna suddenly spoke up. “Fire of the sun… Another way of saying fervor, passion, or anger of the sun,” the lunar princess explained, looking oddly deep in thought. “Or, if you would rather, “passion of life”, as the sun itself had been a “representative” of all life in our world, before Celestia’s time. Otherwise, if that poem came well after our rise to power, then it would aluding to her anger and passion... Grim and unlikely as the notion would seem."

“My my,” Discord said approvingly, “Lulu knows her stuff, alright! And yes, this poem did come a while before Celly’s time. But now, here comes the tricky part! What does that mean?” He threw his head back and cackled. “Oh, the interpretations that one could pull from that verse!”

Twilight began to piece together what Discord and Luna had said, but she still had trouble fully connecting the dots. Passion of life? By itself, passion also meant “desire”, “craving”, and “lust”—at least, according to her many thesauruses. Still, what could that be predicting? If it was not literal fire raining from the skies (which had, thankfully, not yet happened), then what was it?

The relative silence of the darkened hallway was broken by the sound of rapidly approaching hoofsteps. Noticing this, Discord shrugged helplessly, and shook his head. “And this is where I must take my leave, I’m afraid,” he said rather casually, suddenly produced a bucket filled to the brim with fish. “So long, and thanks for all the fish! If you still don’t quite get that riddle, well… you will in a moment. Arrivederci, Lulu! Sparkle!”

“Wait, Discord!” yelled Twilight, raising a hoof to stop him, but it was too late. In a flash of light, and with the sound of a firecracker, he was gone.

Luna was briefly stunned, but she soon recomposed herself. “Cowardly demon,” she muttered sourly, “leaving us with no rightful explanation of his predictions…”

Before either alicorn could comment further on Discord’s bizzareness, or contemplate the riddle within the poem, a Royal Guard rounded the corner at a fast gallop—the source of the earlier hoofsteps—and caught sight of them. “Your Highness! There you are!” he called out, drawing their attention with a start. “There’s an emergency in the city!”

Princess Luna sighed with exasperation. “Yes, what is it?” she demanded, face blank with apathy. “Considering how many “emergencies” there have been in the past several years, one more now seems merely par for the course.”

Twilight, however, wasn’t quite so sure. A guard wouldn’t have come running through the palace searching for them if it was a minor emergency. No—it had to have been serious. And the guard confirmed this niggling worry.

“The city’s food storage,” he gasped, obviously winded from his run, “is under attack! A mob, a riot, something! They overpowered the local guard, and forced their way inside—stealing, pillaging, everything that they could get their hooves on. It’s a madhouse down there, Your Highness; reports of casualties are already coming in!”

At this news, Luna reeled back from shock. “A riot? What method of madness is this?!” she thundered, causing the guard to stumble backward. “This is unacceptable! Those fools! What is there for them to gain by stealing from their own food supply?!”

“I-I honestly do not know, Your Highness,” the Royal Guard stammered. “The citizens have been growing more and more restless in recent weeks, and we’ve received countless appeals for extensions on their food rations… All denied, of course; we can’t possibly afford to spare more than what we can already can.”

Twilight grimaced at this. She had been responsible for organizing the Food Rationing program, and even went to the trouble of sorting out how much each pony would receive, based on their most basic needs and occupations. It was not an easy task, but she somehow made it work. But now, some ponies were clearly not happy with how little food they were receiving.

“They think we’re “playing favorites” in the rationing system,” the guard explained, softly shaking his head. “And to say they’re rather cross about that would be sugarcoating it. There were reports of ponies stealing other ponies’ rations, as well as fights breaking out in the streets for control of it. Everything rose to a head, and now, this powder keg has already blown…”

No longer with words, Twilight hung her head low to the ground. Somehow, she felt as if everything was her fault. That she could have done something more, so this entire crisis could have been averted. She was disappointed in herself, more than anything else. She had failed her friends, the princesses, Equestria… and herself.

Princess Luna was far too livid at the moment to notice her self-loathing; she was now ranting and barking orders at the guard, who quickly complied and galloped off down the hall. The dark-blue alicorn took off as well, taking advantage of her incredibly loud voice to wake the entire palace from its slumber. Twilight was left behind, forgotten.

“How fitting,” she muttered to herself, and sighed. Ponies were angry and hurting each other. Killing each other, from what the guard had reported. It’s the sort of thing that never happens in a land such as this, and yet, it was happening regardless.

She looked out the window that Discord had been residing in earlier, and glared at the Red Moon that still hung there. Luna’s moon, as usual, was hovering in tandem with it. The sun was now already rising, illuminating the valley that rested below the Canterhorn Mountains.

Looking down into the valley, she saw columns of smoke. At first, she assumed that a bonfire had gotten out of control, or perhaps there was a forest fire somewhere. But when she looked closer, she saw that it was not trees that were burning, but houses. Ponyville was burning. From even further in the distance, additional columns of smoke indicated towns all along the valley and beyond were affected as well. Manehatten. Appleloosa. Even as far away as Los Pegasus.

Twilight looked down at the wide mountain ridge to her left, where the main district of Canterlot as visible. Much closer than the other towns were, of course; she could easily see the fire burning through the rooftops, and decorative trees going up in smoke. Ponies were mobbing in the streets, many of them wielding torches—hence why things were being set on fire, of course.

Emergency fire workers were here and there too, working to get the worst fires under control. Among the crowd, Twilight saw many ponies that were lying on the ground, utterly immobile. She felt a chill run through her spine at the thought of one of those bodies being somepony she knew. She tried not to think about it too much.

She even saw many Royal Guards in formation, trying to control the ardent crowd with their spears, shields, and magic alike. She wondered about her brother, Shining Armor. Was he okay? Still coordinating the crowd control, and emergency response? Or had even he became another one of those lifeless shapes, discarded on the rioting streets?

All the while, the sun was rising to a world on fire.

“Passion of life,” she whispered to herself, eyes widening as she realized the meaning behind this event. “Desire of life… Stealing the food, so they don’t starve… The ponies are all fighting for their lives… They’re not angry, they’re scared… They don’t want to die…”

“Fear instills many primal instincts in creatures of all kinds,” a gentle, tired voice from beside Twilight said. She looked to the right, and found Princess Celestia herself standing beside her, gazing out over the valley and disorder-filled city as well. “Such things are natural to feel, and they cannot be truly condemned for the way they act. When desperate, any creature will do whatever it takes to survive.”

Twilight was somewhat surprised by how quickly she had appeared, but was nevertheless grateful for her company. “Princess,” she began, “this is all my fault. Everypony is suffering because of things I did… The rationing system, keeping quiet about the problems until they became uncontrollable, and just doing nothing when I should have done something!” The young alicorn was on the verge of tears. “If I did, then maybe Fluttershy would still be—”

“Twilight Sparkle.” Celestia’s voice was firm, but sympathetic. “You will find that when you are the leader of your fellow pony, you will often face difficult decisions. These decisions are, whether they turn out to be for better or worse, yours and yours alone. Keeping such a grave secret from my subjects was my action, and my action alone. You may have been following my direction in keeping quiet, but it was still exactly that. My direction. As for the rationing, you only did what you thought would be for the best; the best for Equestria, the best for every pony in it, and the best for your friends and family as well.”

“My friends…” The young alicorn sniffled, and tearfully gazed out the window towards the burning Ponyville, and then back down at the rioting city of Canterlot. “My family… And Spike too, I... I don’t even know what will happen to them… I feel so helpless—so useless standing here…”

Princess Celestia wrapped a comforting wing around Twilight, nodding with sad acknowledgement. After a moment of tender silence, she leaned down and whispered in Twilight’s ear, “Go to them, Twilight. You need no longer stay here.”

“Wh-what?! But…” Twilight looked up at Celestia with worry and confusion. “Aren’t I a princess? Won’t I be needed here, in Canterlot?”

“It was me who wronged my subjects from the start,” the alicorn lamented, lowering her head and closing her eyes. “I only did what I thought would protect them. But as it turned out, I was doing more harm than help. Don’t worry about me, and don’t worry about your family here in Canterlot either. I will make necessary arrangements to bring them away from here, to the south.” She paused for a moment, and then glanced over at Twilight. “Go to them, quickly. There is no telling what is happening across the valley, and you may have little time.”

Twilight hesitated for a minute, not sure what she should be feeling at the moment about her insistence. A single sentiment soon emerged, however: gratitude. “Th-thank you, princess,” she quickly said, then turned and galloped down the hallway towards the front gates. Celestia watched her go, and smiled sadly.

“Goodbye, Twilight… You are a better pony than I could ever be.”