The Burdens Of Alicornhood

Twilight opened the tome and looked over to the table of contents.  It was sorted by important events, age, or certain years from the ponies life.  It all depended on how you set the contents using a simple spell.  Soul Books were ten times more fun than any other book Twilight ever read.

Twilight lit her horn and set the book by important events.  She stretched and looked down the list of contents.  Her hoof trailed downwards, stopping at 'Birth of Celestia Rose.'  Twilight blinked at the last name, completely not expecting it.  She chuckled and turned to the marked page.

~~~~

The stone corridors of the Everfree Castle medical ward trembled under the powerful voice of its princess as she screamed, shattering a few stained glass windows as she did so.  A grey stallion with a similar red mane to his wife stood next to her with a pained expression as she clamped onto his hoof, squeezing tighter with every contraction.

"Sweet mother, child, get out!" Bellowed Faust, pushing harder in an attempt to remove the child from her womb and out into the world before them.  Sadly, this was an extremely painful process for the elder mare.

"Just breathe, babe." said Crescent Moon, wincing slightly as she tightened her grip on his hoof.  Faust glared at him from her position on the bed.

"Y-you try giving b-birth to a u-unicorn and tr-try breathing.  I-it's n-not easy." said Faust.  The grey unicorn smiled sheepishly as she continued to give birth to their foal.  Her screams were becoming more frequent as well as her contractions, signaling the foal was close to popping out.

This was made proof as she cried out once more, causing the nurses, doctor, and Crescent to splay back their ears in irritation.  As her scream died off, another pair of lungs cried out their distaste.

"It's a filly." said the nurse as she held up a small, white alicorn filly.  The feathers on her alabaster wings were matted down from the fluids in her womb as well as blood from giving birth.  The filly's mane was a bubbly pink, falling down and over her face.

Yawning, the filly opened her eyes to reveal two lavender orbs looking up at her mother.  Faust smiled weakly at her daughter.  She leaned down and nuzzled her underside, causing the small filly to giggle in joy.

"You did great, babe." said Crescent, nuzzling up against his wife.  Faust chuckled and nodded.

"We did great." she corrected, cradling the child.

"Have any names in mind?" Asked Crescent, watching the filly nudge away the blankets, signaling she wanted to be fed.  Faust lifted her and let her attach herself to the princesses teats.  Faust hummed in thought as her daughter fed.

"How about..."  Time stopped, well, for everyone except her.  She stood in the alicorn section of the Library of Souls.  She smiled as she saw a new book sitting there, making it two tomes of the worlds most well respected race.

The tomes cover was blank since the filly was just born and filly's didn't come with cutie marks when they are born.  A name, however, was in there even if the filly was born just moments ago.  This tome held her destiny in some way, and her name was part of it.

She flipped to the first page and read the name out slowly, capturing every syllable.

"Celestia Rose.  A beautiful name." said Faust, fading back into the real world, time flowing back to its original state.

"Celestia Rose." said Faust, smiling up at her husband.  Crescent smiled down at her and kissed her just below the horn.

"Celestia Rose it is, then."

~~~~~~~

Twilight pulled herself back from the memory realm of Faust.  She chuckled slightly at the sight of seeing someone as high in power as Celestia so helplessly cute and nothing but a filly.

She read back down the list trying to find another event.  There were only two more that caught her attention.  The dates landed on the same day, only hours apart.  They read The death of Crescent Moon.'  and 'The fall of the Equestrian Monarchy.'

She knew full well what this entailed.  The fall of the Equestrian Monarchy was when Discord first appeared and took over Equestria in a bloody battle to the castle.  Finally, the elements sealed him away and all was back at peace.  Apparently this was not the case.

~~~~~~~

Faust ran through the halls of the Everfree Castle, sounds of spells being casted and detonated sounded through the halls as a full on battle raged just outside the windows.  A creature called Discord the Draconequus declared a battle against the entire nation of Equestria, going after the throne.

The princess raced through the castle, trying to make it to her daughters and husband before Discord did.  Who knows what he would do if he ever got ahold of her family.  From his ruthless behavior so far, he would probably use them to get to her and get rid of them once their job was over.  She ran into the two sisters further down the hall.

"Mother, what is going on?" Asked Luna Lulamoon, the indigo alicorn of the moon and younger sister of Celestia Rose, alicorn of the sun.

"Where is your father?" Asked the panting white mare.

"He went down to check out all the shouting.  He told us to stay here." answered Celestia.  Faust visibly paled, a feat for a white mare.

"You two stay in the castle.  Do not leave unless I tell you to." said Faust, past  the two and continuing her path through the chaos filled halls of the Everfree Castle as what seemed to be chaos itself rained from all directions just outside, slaughtering soldiers without a second thought.  Discord was insane and merciless.

Her hooves couldn't seem to carry her fast enough.  The narrow passages constricting her to keep her wings at her sides due to their large wing span.  It did not help that the entire battle took place as she was turning in for the night, leaving her mildly exhausted.  He was insane, but not stupid.  He knew when to attack and just where as well it seemed.

"Crescent!  Babe, where are you?" She called out, searching franticly for her husband.  With his incredibly old age he was not fit for any sort of battle, let alone with a being of chaos.  He was too weak, frail, vulnerable.  A lamb for slaughter.  And she was eternally healthy, young, fit.  To forever live while he died before her time can anywhere close to it.  If Discord didn't kill him, his failing health certainly would.  Either way, she may come out of this as a widow.

"Oh, over here, Fausty!" Called out a mocking voice.  It chilled her bones and fueled her anger and expanded her fear. More emotions than she wanted to admit flooded the usually regal princess of a budding country.  She turned to find a creature with various animal parts piecing together it's body holding onto a squirming grey stallion aged away from years.  The Draconequus smirked at her as he held her husband in his very grasp.

"How many years has it been since you two got married?  Sixty plus?  I have to say that is a very long marriage.  I wonder though, will you care when time takes its final toll?" Asked Discord, circling her.  Faust shot him a glare that could stop hearts and shatter planets, but it only caused him to smirk even more.

"Why do you do this, Discord?  Senseless killing and slaughter, and without an army no less.  What justifies your actions?" Asked Faust, trying to destroy the Draconequus with her gaze alone.

"Chaos, my dear pony.  The world feeds and lives off of the chaos and order in the universe.  I embody this chaos and I wreak as much of it as I can, all while enjoying myself to the fullest." said Discord, floating on his back as he completed another lap around the alicorn.

"So you murder ponies, destroy crops, and cause wars among citizens?!  This is complete destruction, not chaos!" Shouted Faust, stomping the ground beneath her, causing spider-web cracks to ruin the perfect marble floors.  Discord broke out in laughter.

"Oh but my dear, destruction is chaos!  When don't have control or can't even understand something, chaos is always present and is to blame.  All this," Discord waved a claw around them.  "This is pure, raw chaos and is it rich and plentiful." Discord said, grinning widely at the alicorn.  Faust growled and lowered her horn for preperation to attack.

"Name one reason why I shouldn't destroy your very existence from where you stand?" Said Faust, her horn glowing golden as she prepared her magic as well as a bridge to the library  if she needed it.  Discord chuckled and brought Crescent into the line of fire, immediately causing the golden aura to disappear, only leaving the bridge standing.

"No magic for you deary.  And I advise not going to your little library, or do you prefer me to cause chaos there instead?"  Faust's eyes widened.  Alarms went off in her mind, screaming to her the presence of a being in the library.

"Y-You wouldn't.  The fallout it would cause!  You could end up extinguishing all life on the planet save for all the wild creatures!  It would be complete genocide!" Exclaimed Faust, completely fearful of what the Draconequus would do.

"Then I advise you surrender.  Give me the throne of Equestria to do what I please, and I will leave you, your family, and your precious library alone."  Discord smirked as Faust trembled.  She was terrified and he could see it.  He could feel it.  And he enjoyed every shudder that racked her body as the very implications of his powers were realized to her.

"F-Fine." said Faust, dropping to her haunches, her head hanging low.  Discord smirked and tossed over a limp Crescent over to him.

"He's been dead for the last hour anyways.  Weak heart it seemed.  I got chaos to create.  Ta-ta~"  With that, Discord disappeared with a snap of his fingers, leaving Faust with the lifeless body of her late-husband.

"You old fool.  I told you that you were told old to fight, and here your own heart proved me right." said Faust softly, crying as she held her husband.  There was the sound hoofsteps behind her and turned to see the last two ponies she wanted to confront so soon.  Her own daughters.

"Mother, have you found father?" Asked Luna, looking at the crying mare with concern.  Luna was only six years younger than her sister, but was still oblivious to plenty of signs.  Celestia, however, caught these signs in which her sister did not and pieced together the answer.

"He is dead, isn't he?" Asked Celestia, her ears splaying back.  Faust kept her composure for a few more moments before the full weight final crashed down, breaking her.  The most respected ruler, the great creator, the princess, reduced to nothing but a sobbing mess all because of one pony.  This one pony happened to capture the heart of the alicorn and steal her love.  And now that one pony was gone due to the cruel ways of time itself.

It was there, wrapped up in the embrace of her daughters with her dead husband in her hooves, that she made a vow.  A vow that would change the world forever.  She vowed that one day, Discord will pay.