Everlight's Chronicles

Chapter 3

Pride and Power.

There were many forms of magic, but only 2 ways of gathering magic power, from within oneself or from the world itself. These 2 different techniques were called 'inner' magic and 'outer' magic, respectively.
When calling upon one's own power, it's a simple matter of thought turned into practice. Think of moving an object and it happens, think of placing yourself in a whole different area and you teleport. If your magic power is proficient that is.
When calling upon the magic of the world around you, one of two things are needed. Either an absorption of that power into a catalyst, most often being the horn of the magic user, or a runic circle, a complex gathering of symbols that describe the spell, the who, what and where of it, so to speak.
When absorbing, it is the same as using one's own power, thought turned to practice. When using a runic circle one needs to know the exact meaning and implication of each rune and its combination with other runes. For teleportation, one would use a simple description like 'me, teleport, 10 feet north' which would translate into 4 runes, Melamber for me, Triantrin for teleport, Sindrakin for 10 feet and Hemlikna for North.

Tracie brought me before the princesses, who were busy speaking with one another about what to do next but who were happy to see me anyways.
"Our little Light has returned, it seems... Good to see you!" Celestia said with a smile.
"Sad to see you in such dire times, little Light." Luna replied.
"Little Light?" Tracie questioned with a little smirk on her face.
"That's a nickname they gave me, and they're the only ones who can say that you hear?" I quickly retorted to Tracie before bowing before the two sisters "It is indeed dire times, Luna... But I am still glad to see the both of you in good health!" I stood up and trotted closer to the table where they were seated "Now, onto more serious matters, what happened and what are we to do?"
"Little Light..." Celestia started before I raised a hoof towards her to stop her and said "This will be too dangerous for you, right? Listen, I know I look small and incapable of doing much, but I took down miss Abbadon over here with relative ease."
"You just surprised me!" Tracie complained.
"That's exactly my point, none of the enemies I've faced during my training ever suspected what I was capable of... And trust me when I say this to you Tracie, that was just a smidgen of the power I'm actually capable of controlling." I continued.
The three of them looked at each other before Celestia nodded "You've proven yourself to be quite the capable fighter and thinker, little Light. I had forgotten how much helping others meant to you. Please, join me as my own second in command, much like Tracie is to my sister."
I nodded and sat down at the table they were all seated and asked once more "Now, again, what happened and what should we do?"

They quickly explained that their father, while knowing that his daughters would live where his wife would die, never really accepted that fact. He had kept these feelings locked away somewhere deep inside his own mind, but as we moved on and went to live in this castle and away from him, the years of solitary ruling got to him. He came in contact with vile magic, dead-set on getting his wife back from the dead, furious at the two sisters for taking her away from him. It culminated in a bizarre transformation, his body becoming more and more like his mind; chaotic and without logic. And thus the creature now known as Discord was created. A mixture of all kinds of creatures put into one.
"Wait, I thought just the size of an alicorn was linked to their magical power?" I asked.
"No, little Light, the very mind and reason of an alicorn are linked to their magical power, and if their body has enough magic, it can transform beyond any normal means... I fear that we have lost our father to this madness, and only Discord remains..." Celestia replied.
"Don't say that! We can still save him! He just... Needs some help finding his way..." Luna quickly said with some panic in her voice.
Celestia sighed and nodded softly "Perhaps, my sister, maybe this new power we have found in the catacombs can help us with that."
"New power?" I queried.
"Yes, the very reason we built this castle in this location, deep down in the ground we found an ancient cavern with a crystalline tree. The tree itself echoes with great magic power, and we found that it responds to things of good nature. Laughter, love, compassion, honesty, all these good virtues of life seem to strengthen it. While anger, crying and pain seem to weaken it." Celestia answered once again.
"We have called it the Tree of Harmony and hope to use its power to bring back our father from his path of darkness." Luna continued.
"But it could also be the power that vanquishes him, right?" Tracie asked with a little concern.
"Yes." Both the sisters answered. "And if that happens, we are willing to accept it." Celestia continued "But let us focus on what will be happening right now."

Within moments of his message to the entire kingdom, he followed it up with a siege of the Capital, everypony that lived there was given the same choice, join him or be eliminated. Many joined his side out of fear for their families and loved ones, others joined to get what they always desired, power, more others joined because they believed that this was still their king and wanted to fight for him.
The two sisters had created a counter-movement against Discord, they called themselves the Protectors of Harmony, and those believing in the good of ponykind and wanting peace back in the land joined their cause.
After this initial meeting, we had decided that the two sisters would try and gather more information on this Tree of Harmony and see if we could utilize its power, all the while me and Tracie would head out there with several groups of the Protectors to free several different villages and cities from Discord's reign. This led to sometimes very fierce battles with the battalions of Discord. And every battle was a loss of life for both sides.

We found that where Celestia and Luna had me and Tracie on their sides as their right-hoof mares, so too did Discord have a particular mare at his side. She was known as the Force of Chaos, and we found that her name was Sheilla Shortfuse. She had what seemed to be a near infinite amount of magical power, drawing from both within herself and the world around her and she used one of the most chaotic and erratic magic known to ponykind, the explosive kind. Her whole body was covered with strange red glowing lines and from it, she could fire what looked like electric shots that would explode on impact. A direct hit would instantly mutilate anypony, and she could fire them in rapid succession.

Years upon years it took, sadly. No side had a claim on victory, whenever we had conquered over one part of the Kingdom, we had to surrender another. Through these years of fighting, me and Tracie had become almost inseparable, I was on the front lines of attack as she would sneak past and surprise them from behind. We had complemented each other's weaknesses and strengthened each other in that way. We came to be known as The Force of Harmony, where one was dark and stealthy, the other was light and direct, working together in harmony.
Every battle against The Force of Chaos, we came to a stalemate, both Sheilla and we were completely drained of our magic at the end of every bout, almost always being the last surviving fighters of those brutal skirmishes. But with each battle, we knew a little more, with each loss, we had gained a little knowledge, with each victory, we came a little closer.

Only after many years of study had the princesses found the essence of what was needed to bring about the fruits of the Tree of Harmony, 6 ever-shining gemstones we called the Elements of Harmony. Laughter, Friendship and Honesty were given to Celestia in the form of a crown, a necklace and a harness. Loyalty, Kindness and Generosity were given to Luna in the same forms.
Armed with these weapons and the last bastion of The Protectors of Harmony, they challenged Discord to a final battle to end the war once and for all. It was set to be on the outskirts of The Capital.
It was there that after many eons the village of Ponyville was founded, and it was there that the Final Battle would take place. Through the endless battles, nearly all the alicorns had lost their lives, together with the unicorns, pegasi and earth ponies fighting with them.

As I had written a few chapters ago, I was the last naturally born alicorn, and this Great War was the main reason for that. And after this Final Battle, only the Princesses remained as the last surviving alicorns.
For it was at this Final Battle, I had found a way to stop the Force of Chaos, and it was through this method that I had lost both Tracie's and my own life.