Arch of Shadows

Cadence was in the middle of a slight adjustment dilemma. It had seemed like just moments ago that she had been whisked from the conscious world.

And now, here she was, in the dark, feeling rather warm and comforted. Which was odd, all things considered.

Playing the role of Celestia very well, she had seen that the princess had been fighting off dragons, ponies, and all manners of creatures within the capital city of Ponī.

It was a glistening city of sorts, with sparkling water and rainbows flowing from the lowest storm drain to the highest cloud tower.

The individual buildings were a somewhat distasteful marble coloration, but their many shapes and sizes made up for their lack of different colors.

Signs, instead of having words on them, largely consisted of pictures instead; griffins, dragons, ponies, cattle, and almost every beast that could come to mind seemed to be roaming the city in some capacity. But that was all on a regular day.

On the day that Celestia had chosen to begin the flashback, blood flowed just as much as water did. Seeing this all from Celestia's viewpoint, it was mostly an aerial view of a city in turmoil.

For some reason, many of the creatures wanted her dead; however, that was not exactly news, since Celestia's mother had warned her of that.

There were even some other alicorns in the city, much to Cadence's surprise; even more startling was the fact that Celestia's mother was outright targeting them with her attacks.

The panic only intensified as platoons instantly lost their commanding officer; those who had sided with her after betraying their alicorn officer were disposed of after their enemies dealt with.

Any creature who begged for mercy had their wings (if they had any) stripped in front of their legions, their horns (if they possessed them) smashed to dust, and/or their bodies thrown to the ground to be trampled by a stampede of panicking civilians.

Ruthless seemed to underline Solaria's current demeanor, though cunning seemed to fit well as well.

For some reason, the other alicorns were having trouble even matching her power; the few who did match her had Celestia to contend with as well.

Whatever Solaria had done, it meant that she was more effective than the others, with lethal consequences. And she seemed to be enjoying her work.

Did Celestia really come out of that mare? The appearance and her reference to Celestia as her daughter seemed to make that answer, but did Luna as well?

She figured the answer was yes to that too, but couldn't help but reason that, deep down, Nightmare Moon might have had a little influence from the top crazy in the family.

“Do not think about my mother like that,” Celestia very gently warned Cadence via telepathy, her voice coming in as a sort of inner thought.

“Are you sure it isn't you thinking about her like that?” Cadence cautiously challenged, “I mean, I am playing you right now, and I'm engaged in your emotions and thoughts.”

“Maybe, but I'm just warning you not to get that thought into your head permanently,” Celestia stated with a subtle threat attached, “Privileges are not rights, if this goes to show you anything.”

Needless to say, the battle was over once the last three alicorns in sight watched as their new subjects willingly kissed the floor their hooves hovered above.

Cadence could tell that there was a level of guilt radiating from Celestia's parents; but it was soon replaced with a booming, energetic voice as Solaria announced, “Beginning, the new reign of the pony! Poni from here on out shall be an Empire! Long live the Emperor Nightshade and Empress Solaria!”

“Long live the Imperials!” the residents below chanted afterwards, clearly fearful of refusing.

Nightshade and Solaria, how uncreatively named, Cadence thought to herself. For some reason, this announcement was making Celestia recall the short tale of their family history.

Apparently, Nightshade and Solaria had met in the middle of a sparring match back in their schooling days; they could best all of their classmates, but could never best each other.

Racing in the clouds, digging through the mines, magical jousts, the two just could not overcome the other no matter the competition.

They frequently wrestled, as usually there was a clear cut winner in at least that physical show of power and dominance.

All the physical contact and equal footing eventually got them interested, and to the grimace of their shocked peers, they conceived Celestia at the end of one of their wrestling matches, right there in the ring.

The gestation period seemed almost infinite, but then again, alicorns seemed to have longer spans of everything.

The delivery itself had also been a chore; by the time Nightshade was satisfied with where Solaria would be giving birth, in the comforts of his old cottage, Solaria had nearly passed out from exhaustion just from all of the travelling.

By the time Celestia was finally born, the alicorn was out cold; Discord once joked that the only reason Luna wasn't a repeat was because Solaria had been sternly adamant about Shade not taking her halfway across the country in an attempt to find 'the perfect spot'.

The mare had learned her lesson the first time about letting Shade dictate anything when it came to matters of his daughters; Discord even pointed out that Shade was slightly disappointed that he did not get a son.

He loved them all the same though, and probably intended on making a tomboy out of one of them.

Speaking of Celestia's father, Cadence brought herself back to the current ordeal at hoof.

Luna had been kidnapped by Discord, the new “Empire” had about as much legitimacy as a brand new country, and resistance groups were gearing up to restore the republic.

To say the least, this was no time for one of the rulers to be distraught and emotionally broken over much of anything.

Solaria grieved, but she mostly kept it from reaching the public eye; she confidently told Celestia that Discord had not fallen so low as to truly harm Luna, and that she was convinced that he was merely buying himself some time.

Shade was much less convinced, and insisted that it was his fault that she had been captured. He should have kept a closer hoof to her at all times instead of pursuing their.

Solaria tried to insist that there were more pertinent things to worry about at the time, but the stallion just would not let it go.

Now with Celestia being held in the arms of Nightshade in this dark room and atop this soft cushion that served as a bed, Cadence had to admit that it was an oddly unfamiliar experience being in this position and not having the stallion erect on her backside.

Shining just couldn't help himself, and she certainly did not mind most nights.

Besides, this sleep together was for an entirely different reason; Celestia had been under Shade's watchful eye since the kidnapping, and had been a source of comfort for Shade.

Not because she said much, but simply because her being safe meant that Shade had not entirely failed as a father to his two daughters.

Shade was crying this particular night and he seemed quite tormented. He held Celestia closer in his arms as he constantly mumbled, “They will not take another from me... Never take another from me...”

Luna being cord-napped had affected him in surprising ways, at least from Cadence's point of view.

He was willing to strike down his own without a second thought alongside his crazed, errm, killer wife, take over a formerly functioning republic, turn it into a despot of sorts, and allow the slaughter of countless “monsters” in the name of Empire, but losing one of his two daughters brought him to tears?

The more Cadence thought about it, however the more she at least understood this strange behavior, interpreting it the only reasonable way she could.

Shade loved his daughters, his mate even, more than anything else; he wanted the best for them, even if it sometimes led to massacres and oppression.

Many of his ambitions revolved around them; he wanted them to rule a world where they would not have to fear being eaten alive by an army.

Of course, even in modern times where that ambition was a reality, there was always the danger of stepping into the wrong bog, but at least the creatures were relatively unorganized or sparse in number.

The changelings were among the many exceptions; but you can't get them all can you? This love was spilling more blood than hatred; and Cadence couldn't help but feel that Celestia had purposely put her here in order to make a point.

This was not the type of love that Cadence was familiar with. She was familiar with passion, family bonds, affection, even lust. But this, this was beyond her standard definition of love. She would call this madness with strong attachment, if this did not make any sense.

“Sometimes love can be very troublesome,” Celesetia said in an ethereal sort of way, “It can bring together and unite harmoniously, but it can also lead to destruction and ruin.”

“That is not the kind of love that we have in Equestria now though,” Cadence insisted, “Nothing that would cause anypony to do what your parents did.”

“Are you so sure?” Celestia asked, Cadence just now imagining that the princess was raising a brow, “What do you think would happen if you truly lost Shining, or vice versa, to some tragic event?”

“We would not go around massacring living things,” Cadence quickly asserted, “We love each other to death, but spilling blood unnecessarily is a little extreme for both of us.”

“Yes well, you will not know until you have to go through that. Now, this next part is important for the next upcoming scene, so pay some attention.”

“After that thirteenth night, Nightshade didn't repeat his actions, and pulled himself together enough to act ; he kept on conquering, replacing his sorrow for passion and vengeance,” the dream-like world seemed to fade to white.

“He would get his little Luna back, no matter the cost. He would search every corner of the world, under every rock, tree, and gemstone until he found her, conquering nations as he did so.

Solaria felt similarly, though while her mate laid waste to any opposition to his search, she instead tried to do damage control to his senseless violence, a bit of a reversal of roles from the coup day.

Celestia laughed at that last comment, though Cadence did not find much funny about all of this.

I learned almost everything I know about dealing with creatures from my mother at around this time, as I was obligated to stay by her side at nearly all times.

"Not surprisingly, while Nightshade focused on retrieving the daughter after his own image, Solaria affectionately tended to my needs.

But I had wanted my father's attention as well; I wanted him to teach how to single-hoovedly take down an Ursa Major, for example. He refused outright most of the time, and other times merely blew me off.

This caused some resentment, as this great attention for Luna was nearly suffocating. Solaria tried her best, but ultimately, she eventually started blaming Shade for making things significantly worse, hunting for a ghost in a swampy bog instead of spending time with me.

So, I had to learn things that I wanted to know from other sources.

I was taught some basic pointers on how to fight conventionally from some members of the Guard, who began to wear armor very similar to that which we have today.

It helped deal with the internal family issues, but even I reached my breaking point when Luna finally found her way home, and the reception that she got."

At this, Celestia made a very audible sigh, akin to one preparing to make a confession of sorts. Her voice also shifted, as if disgruntled at having to recall the next section.

"Shade, in tears, embraced her the best he could, donned her in some ceremonial armor, and immediately set out to teach her how to defend herself and her subjects. To say the least, it was a metaphorical slap to my face considering he did not give me the time of day before then."

"One other thing that Luna had interfered with was, upon her return, any chance of me having an early marriage.

I had just finished a rather boring day of class, since most of my classmates were either off to conquest or working on producing things for the conflicts abroad when in came Luna, showered with glory and cheers, trotting next to a beaming Father, him still wearing full battle armor, bits of gore still vaguely visible.

An entourage of soldiers flanked them on all sides, many of them just as happy for everything to be over as the assembled crowd.
Some of my marching classmates waved or winked in acknowledgment, but most of the gathering completely ignored me.

That did not bother me much, as I was just as happy to see Luna and Shade as the next, and it would be later reflection that would ingrain this as a more negative memory than a positive one.

After all, Luna's return meant that the long military campaigns were over, and that my family and many others could be re-united at long last.

Best of all, that meant that I could finally go to the Crystal Empire and meet the pony who was supposed to be my significant other for the rest of his life."

As Celestia concluded this long exposition, the scene began to shift towards later in the evening; the roar had died down by this point, it seemed, and while many reunions were taking place, few would be anything close to the royals'.

All four alicorns gathered for a feast of epic proportions, though it was only to be the four of them, eating dinner once again after years of separation and strife.

At dinner, in the large dining hall, a square table sat the four alicorn royals. The table was heavy-laden with food, piled high with the best that the chefs could scrounge up. Solaria and Nightshade sat at one end, Celestia and Luna the other.

Fire torches lit the room, and there were no guards or slaves present, at Nightshade's request. Halfway through the meal, the question that would doom the night was asked by the only stallion in the chamber of mares.

“So Luna, meet any interesting ponies while in the Empire?” Nigthshade inquired before finishing off his salad, “ By the sounds of it, you were not held prisoner very long after you arrived.”

“Oh yes, I did,” Luna cheerfully stated, using her magic to mix her own hay-filled salad into a bowl of sausages, much to Celestia's disgust, “Prince Sombra was supposed to be wed the day I arrived, and although Discord took advantage of everything that went on, the two of us really enjoyed lunch.”

Solaria suddenly convulsed, coughing and beating at her chest with her hooves in an attempt to dislodge some object.

After a brief moment of worry, Celestia quickly ducked as a bone went flying haphazardly across the table, smashing a stone statue on the far wall with projectile-like precision.

While Solaria gasped for air, Celestia inquired, “Oh, and what was so great about it?”

She apparently had felt that it was a mere coincidence, since after all, there were plenty of stallions who were both princes and about to get married on that day right? This misconception Luna was more than happy to correct.

“At first he was really depressed about the death of his parents, but then, he started going on about magic, games, and mother-forbid colt politics. Not only was he one of the only unicorns in the entire Crystal Empire, but he is also the only alicorn. Can you believe it?”

“Errr, well, that is a little more common around here than it used to be,” Nightshade uneasily stated with a raised brow towards his wife, “Although if you made some friendly relations, then I guess he won't be much of a problem...”

Celestia finally realized why Solaria reacted so adversely to the news, as her own eyes widened. Her mouth fell open as her apparent fiance had been dining with her sister, and the two apparently had talked like old friends.

Her sister knew more about her fiance than she did, and was probably unaware that she had talking in who was going to be her brother-in-law.

“Are you sure that was his name?” Solaria gasped, “Are you sure he was a real alicorn?”

“Well, of course! He and father could have been related had it not been for the strange horn, color scheme, and taste in mares.”

Oblivious to the body langauge of an incredulous Solaria, Nightshade pressed on with his questioning, “He sounds rather important if he made an impression on you dear, enough to think of me also. How old is he?”

“No clue,” Luna admitted as she finally made her food concotion settle into the bowl, “But Discord claimed he was around my age, and while he is a dirty liar at times, I think his estimates could not have been too far off.”

Solaria, having finally regained her composure, looked gravely towards Luna, only a single line of questioning on her tongue. “He did not take you to his chambers did he?” she asked, her voice dripping with concern, “Or look at you in strange ways?”

Luna, clearly oblivious of her mother's anxiety, gleefully continued, “Well, he did show me the Crystal Heart, and even told me how it works. It is entirely fueled by certain emotions.”

Solaria shot a glance at Celestia. Without a word, she expressed an entire dialogue that told her that they needed to have a talk after dinner.

“Celestia dear, you have been rather quiet,” Nightshade stated, by now having picked up on some levels of unrest at the table, “And it is not because you are eating. That fly near your tongue could have bit you if you didn't have such a shocked expression.”

Clamping her still open mouth shut for a moment, quickly in case the fly truly buzzed so near, Celestia replied, “I am just surprised that Luna is eating so much meat. I know it's a status thing, but I am not sure her stomach can handle it...”

“Nonsense, she will be fine,” Nightshade assured her with a dissmissive wave of the hoof, “Now then, on to the real reason you seem so uninterested in your flower garden all of a sudden.”

Indeed, Celestia had been dining on flowers of various colors and shapes until her mother nearly choked on a bone.

Why was there even a bone in her mouth in the first place Celestia dared not ask, as she sensed that she might be the only one at the table without a single meat item.

Up until that incident, she had been paying little attention to what everyone else was eating, and it was starting to show in her self-analysis of the dinner.

Last time she had checked, ponies were not supposed to consume large quantities of meat; Nightshade merely had a few loaves of bread and a few whole chickens scattered in front of him.

Solaria and Luna held more reasonable amounts of meat, but Celestia could only guess that it was a cultural thing that she would never fully understand.

“I am surprised, but happy that Luna found herself a stallion friend,” Celestia said, “Maybe now he can keep an eye on her and the two of us can...”

“The Crystal Empire is still under Discord's control,” Nightshade sternly pointed out, cutting Celestia off “Until I rectify that situation for good, Luna will not be seeing this Sombra fellow.”

As Luna began to dig into her odd food mixture, Celestia gagged, and not just because Luna was eating sausage, hay, and lettuce in the same bite. Solaria blinked, her ears sharply turning towards Luna as she asked, “What more do you know about the Crystal Heart?”

Luna, upon swallowing her bite, answered, “ Only that strong emotions have the power to make it act, either in defense of the state or in itself. In other words, polarized magic.”

“And where did you learn about polarized magic?” Solaria pressed, leaning in ever so slightly, “ Did you happen to practice any while you were there?”

“I learned that very negative emotions like hate and terror can fuel certain types of magic just like love and hope,” Luna explained, eyeing her food, “I didn't get to practice any.”

As Luna dug into her food, Nightshade cast a glance over to Solaria, who seemed to be lost in thought.

“Something wrong Sola?” he asked, lowering his earlier raised brow at last, giving him a more stern look, “You seem tense.”

“We will talk about it later.”

Solaria completely boarding up this issue seemed not to fly past Luna as strange. Then again, she was so busy trying to eat, they could have probably been plotting her unbirthing and she would not have paid them any mind. Celestia sighed, rising from her place.

“May I be excused, I think I am done here."

Her parents seemed somewhat surprised at this, and even Luna looked up from her meal as Celestia practically dismissed herself.

"Is there something that we can talk about?" Shade inquired with a concerned look, "I know that we haven't really talked all that much lately..."

"Go ahead Celestia," Solaria interrupted, "If you get hungry, what is left of your dinner will be in the storehouse."

Shad seemed surprised, but did not challenge the permission. Celestia walked off, leaving the entire dinner behind.

The scene rapidly changed yet again, presumably a time shift of sorts. Considering what Celestia had earlier told her, Cadence could reason that the next thing to be shown would be a climax of Celestia's conflict with her sister.

When the scene came back into focus, Cadence immediately assumed that she had hit the nail on the head.

It was a fine afternoon for a confrontation; sun was streaming through the West side, open air windows, casting an orange glow over everything in sight. Even the floors had a strong tint of orange to them.

This used to be the meeting room for the Animate; now, however, It truly was a proper throne room, and two thrones sat next to each other, bearing the cutie marks of the currently reigning monarchs. Celestia had vacated the room, with only a single guard in attendance.

Sinisterly, Celestia began walking to the other side of the room. One of the guards, now in shining metal and red armor that had become the standard, instantly saluted her.

“Can you be a dear and tell my sister to meet me here in five minutes?”

Celestia made sure to smile as she spoke, as to ward off any suspicion of future foul play. In her mind swirled thoughts that would have made the guard more than a little edgy; even Celestia seemed slightly uneasy about it.

The unsuspecting guard nodded in ignorant compliance, and then strode off to do her bidding. Anger, fury, and pure ecstasy began to flow through her veins as Celestia hopped atop one of the thrones.

She grinned, a strange, dark energy filling her being as she thought over what she was going to do to Luna when she arrived.

Send her to the moon? She had never tried it before, but maybe if she threw her just hard enough she might at least make it to the troposphere.

Better yet, bury her alive beneath the castle; no one would hear her screams, and she would suggest that Discord had returned and finally killed her.

Or, best one yet, she would just outright destroy her right here and there, and show her father who the superior daughter was while dancing in the ashes.

At worst Father would punish her with a severe scolding, but no doubt he would not have the heart to take things much further than that.

On the other hoof, Mother would. Celestia shivered, reasoning that if her mother decided to avenge Luna and end the alicorn race, then she would go out fighting, if she went out at all.

Celestia blinked as these strange thoughts filled her head.

What was wrong with her?

That was her little sister for goodness sake! Her own flesh and blood, who would never wish such harm on her, even for the most barbed of comments or borderline incestuous actions.

All of that was incredibly harsh, since all Luna had done was come back from the dead and make it even harder for her to spend time with her father.

Yeah, what was she, jealous or something? She had nothing to fear from Luna. She was just the foal of the family was all; Shade would get over her once she started losing her cuteness factor, and start growing more mature in form.

Then he would put the hoof down to keep her from mucking up her integrity.

But, then again, she had also made an impression on Sombra, who was now nothing short of unmarriable as far as Mother was concerned.

Though she seemed determined to fix what Discord had messed up, she had pointed out that Celestia should not get her hopes up on a significant other.

Trying to focus on other things, Celestia thought about some of the newly returned classmates.

All of them inquired, in pure jest, as to what would happen if Celestia were to go missing, and whether Shade would go to war with the world just to find her.

Just imagine, all that fuss being on her instead.

Celestia looked towards the windows, smiling, finding a sort of peace in the thought, no matter how unsavory getting kidnapped by a draconequus had to be.

That temporary peace was abruptly interrupted with the loud clopping of hooves. Turning her head, Celestia watched Luna regally enter the room, dismissing the guard who summoned her, as if that were her guard to dismiss!

The earlier emotions bubbled back towards the surface as Celestia eyed the heavily armored princess. The metal guard armor nearly completely covered her; without a care in the world, she slowly shed the armor that was custom fitted for her.

The only thing left on her was a small breastplate with her cutie mark on it. For some reason, the way she discarded the armor, like it was just regular armor and not a gift from the Emperor, garnered a low growl from Celestia.

It reminded her of her grievances against Luna in a heartbeat.

Luna unwittingly caused more agitation by sitting in the throne next to Celestia, the Emperor's, and reclined in the high back chair. "I am sure you heard about the Empire?" she said with a wide grin.

"Which one?" Celestia replied, playing along while seething beneath the surface, "You will need to be more specific sister."

"The Crystal Empire obviously. I hear that Discord was finally dethroned."

"Is that so? Heading over to visit Sombra?"

"Well, no..." Luna cast her eyes downward, her entire expression dropping, " The Empire is gone."

Celestia whipped her head in shock. "This is the first time that I have heard of this."

"Yeah well, I heard it straight from Father. It is on a need-to-know basis."

Celestia took offense to this. Luna was among that category? "And you are among that select group of creatures?"

"Well, Father brought it up during our training session," Luna rolled her eyes as her smile widened, "Mother did not bother telling me about it, I am surprised she did not tell you."

Celestia relaxed in the throne, apparently taking some solace at Luna's revelation. No, Solaria would not have divulged that at all, that just was not her style.

However, the silence that followed between the two seemed to thicken the very air, dropping the temperature by at least a few degrees.

“Why did you call me here?” Luna asked icily, staring at Celestia with suspicion.

Oh right, the whole reason she brought Luna here. Celestia made a mistake in retracing her thoughts.

Sitting up from the throne, Celestia responded, "Oh, just to let out some frustration, is all."

Jumping from the throne, Celestia flicked her ears backward as she whirled around, horn alight with yellow magic.

Sensing danger, Luna instinctively hopped from the throne and started to back away towards the double doors. She brought the elephant in the room to the forefront very quickly. “This is about all of the time I spent with Father, is it not?"

“No,” Celestia lied, inching ever closer to Luna,, “We have not seen much of each other since that first dinner when you came back, and I figured it would be a good idea to spend some quality time together...”

“You have a lot of tension within you,” Luna stated matter of factly, tactically retreating towards the still open doors, “You have no intentions of talking anymore do you?”

The gig was up. There was no point in trying to hide her intentions anymore, no, not that now all of her emotions were returning to the forefront.“Tch, leave it to Father's little filly to make this no fun at all,” Celestia spat, using her magic to shut the door

It became bolted in the same manner it was closed, and immediately Cadence could feel that rush as Celestia geared up physically for a brief scuffle. Since both alicorns were alive in the present, Cadence allowed herself to get quite excited to see this.

This was it. Celestia had Luna exactly where she wanted her. Now all she needed was that final drive, that one statement that would allow her to actually follow through with this dark wrong.

“I think it would be best if we scheduled an intervention with Mother and Father,” Luna stated, sweat beginning to make itself apparent around her face, “They have not been treating us all that well at least in part...”

Suddenly, Cadence realized that Luna was hardly trying to fight back, despite the obvious fact that she could ifs he really wanted to.

However, Celestia had been blinded so much by her emotions that, in this moment of weakness, she failed to see the obvious secret weapon that Luna possessed.

“Silence!” Celestia roared, the very thought of Luna trying to equate their suffering enraging her even more, “This is the day where the favoritism ends!”

“I agree,” Luna said, her eyes glowing white in preparation for battle. This sudden shift in countenance seemed to be a jump for self-defense, as Luna realized that there was no other way.

Cadence could tell that that was not the whole story.

The two sisters fired bolts of magic at each other. Since they were not far apart from each other, it should be little surprise that their horns ended up striking against each other as the two attempted to force the other from their stance.

Luna seemed more refined, with better technique, despite her younger age; but she was out-powered by Celestia, who had far greater reserves of magic within, coupled with raw emotion, allowing her to exert her force longer.

Likely realizing that her advantage would not be for a long drawn out push of war, Luna instantly leapt from her place; one of her wings became encased in the resulting blast, the concussive waves sending both to either side of the throne room.

Hitting her head on something hard, Celestia could not understand one thing; why was Luna so relatively prepared? Had she been waiting for this moment as well?

She would not get her answer as a soft wail drifted to her ears. Once Celestia rose, she noted Luna with some tears in her eyes.

Confused, as the mare was switching stances far too quickly, Celestia taunted, “What is the matter, did little Luna get her wings clipped by our rays? Don't worry, I'll put you out of your misery soon enough!”

Really, Celestia even was acting quite out of character here, and Cadence now really wanted to know if she had been so easily stirred in the past.

After all, as a ruler of the Crystal Empire, it would not hurt to know just how often Celestia's temper set things off, in case history bubbled up more tangibly in the future.

Cadence was shaken from them by the sound of wingbeats and hooves, a sign that the commotion had been heard and was being responded to. Luna began softly crying, lifting one of her scorched wings pathetically, smoke still coming from it.

Clearly she had been injured. Rather than striking again, fear suddenly gripped Celestia's heart, and Cadence could feel it very strongly. As Cadence had figured, Luna had not been trying to defeat Celestia in this brief duel.

Celestia must have recognized the pattern as she froze in place. Within moments, Nightshade was over his injured daughter, attempting to soothe her while Solaria fluttered behind Celestia with a demanding look on her face. “What happened here?”

“Celestia attacked me!” Luna wailed, more tears streaming down her face, burying her face into her father's coat, like any real foal would their parents.

Celestia could not believe what she was seeing, and hearing. Was Luna seriously trying to make it look like she had started the fight?

Well, she had by calling Luna in for the confrontation in the first place, but Luna had fought back. But here she was, acting like she was a complete victim.

Cadence had figured that this would happen, but was surprised when Nightshade actually leered at Celestia with an angry look. For a moment, it seemed he had fallen for Luna's deception.

Solaria quickly stepped between Celestia and Nightshade, perhaps intending on deterring any hasty actions. "Shade, we need to talk, our disagreements are clearly getting to Celestia and Luna."

“A talk about why Celestia attacked her only sister with such force?” Nightshade responded, “Or how Luna decided to feign innocence in the matter?”

Cadence would have cracked a smile at seeing Luna's rather simple plan backfired. She might would have gotten away with it if she did not spend so much time with Nightshade.

Luna's sniffling brought attention back to her, though as she realized that the game was up, her tears magically began to dry and she removed herself from her father's body.

Albeit, she did that slowly, and her ears were flattened against her head as she understood that the target of her deception had seen right through her.

Celestia was taken aback at how cunning the plan was, and berated herself for allowing her emotions to get the better of her. She had nearly been played by a mare nearly half her age!

Nightshade joked, “I suppose I taught her well. Remember the last time we fought each other for real?”

Solaria smiled wide, apparently remembering it with picture clarity, “Yes actually. You faked knockout, and when I came over to gloat over you, you struck me with a hoof and proceeding to mount me. Very unchivalrious if you ask me.”

“You do what you have to do,” he replied with false bravado, “Even if I had to trick you, I know the only turn on you ever had was brains over brawn.”

And, as if their children were not even watching, the two nuzzled each other affectionately, and started a long, passionate kiss.

Luna and Celestia looked towards each other indescribable expressions, getting across confusion and a level of disgust at seeing their parents kiss each other.

"I am sorry, Luna," Celestia started sheepishly, "I should have tried to reason with you instead of trying to hurt you."

"I am sorry too, 'Tia," Luna replied with a small smile, "It would have been much easier if we could have just switched roles for a few days. Instead, I almost tried to..."

"It does not matter," Celestia rushes over to embrace her sister, "What matters is that we see the error in our ways."

Yes, next time she sets out to destroy somepony, she would make sure to do it quicker, and with less dialogue. Wait, no, that was not the lesson at all here.

The lesson, Celestia attempted to cement into her head, was that she shouldn't have allowed herself to be controlled by her emotions.

As the two pairs made up, a very slow clap resounded through the throne room. Celestia and Luna tensed up, but Shade and Solaria seemed to be much calmer in response to the strange sound.

“Now isn't that how family makes up? No death, no swords drawn, just a good ole' session of foreplay,” a familiar voice cackled, a mockingly slow clap becoming louder, “You have to admit, I was actually enjoying the distaste that Luna and Celestia were having for each other back there.”

“You have grown some Discord,” Nightshade calmly stated, “Well, at least in body. Your mind seems as delusional as usual.”

“Being the spirit of chaos and disharmony does not come without its set of cards,” Discord joked, as of yet still having not revealed his location, “By the way, did you know that this upcoming winter will literally freeze you lot to oblivion?”

Immediately the two adult alicorns disengaged from each other, and turned to face the direction Discord's voice had been coming from.

Luna genuinely retreated and whimpered behind Nightshade's left rear leg. It was not a pleasing sight, but even Celestia was slightly unnerved by the draconequus' bold declaration.

“What do you mean by that?” Solaria inquired in a dull tone, “Riddles are more my thing.”

“When the three races collide, the empire will divide,” Discord went on, now appearing before the group in the flesh, slowly descending from the ceiling like some sort of archangel, “Just listen outside to the howls!”

Strangely enough, the four alicorns seriously took their eyes, and attention, away from Discord just long enough to hear the clop of hooves, the clashing of swords, and what sounded like howling wind.

“Well that does not make any sense,” Nigthshade commented, “Things were just fine a few moments ago.”

“Make sense, what fun is there in making sense?” Discord maliciously jeered, “Without disharmony, harmony cannot exist. A golden aged empire, in that same way, cannot exist without turmoil.

But thanks to you two, the impossible happened, and you can only imagine the pains I had to go through after you sent the Crystal Empire off!”

“That was for its safety and ours,” Solaria chimed, “And besides, we didn't want to risk you using the Crystal Heart...”

“The power of that heart is a repellent to the most fearsome creatures of winter!” Discord chortled as he saw realization dawning on the Emperor and Empress, “And you fools just sent it through space and time to Solaria knows where!”

The howling outside grew louder as the sounds of conflict grew louder, and Nightshade grit his teeth as he guessed, “I am guessing you whispered some inflammatory comments?”

“Maaaaybe,” Discord playfully replied, as if the seriousness of the situation had just dissolved away, “I don't think earth ponies take too kindly to their race being considered a demotion by unicorn and pegasus standards.

“Well it is the truth...” Luna piped, earning a reprimanding look from Nightshade. Seeing her cringe almost made the next bit worthwhile for Celestia.

“I hope you enjoy your time in the soon-to-be frozen wonderland you currently call home. I know I did,” Discord sang, hardly hiding the malice that the words suggested. He vanished in a comical poof of smoke, leaving behind a few streamers and party favors.

“How did Discord elicit enough hatred to send in an army of windigoes?” Nightshade inquired, turning towards Solaria, “I thought you were successful in the damage control department, not to mention I thought that they were still quite contained.”

“Well excuse me, but you caused so much damage that controlling it sometimes caused an eradication of the problem,” Solaria shot back, “But I'm sure you didn't notice when the griffons left the land in droves? And how do you contain creatures that feed on emotions?”

“Didn't care to be honest,” Nightshade admitted, “I had given them the option of assimilation or persecution. Most of them chose assimilation.

Besides, the sea dragons were at it again at the time and their mass exodus didn't really spark much interest in contrast with the teeth of sea serpents. And the changelings can be restrained if you give them a large enough source of love, and then cage them up.”

Cadence knew from history what happened next. The Ponī Empire would descend into chaos, and most of the ponies would be forced to go northwards, in the direction of the former Crystal Empire.

Solaria and Nightshade stood alongside their guards to fight off the opportunistic creatures that would prey on the fleeing ponies.

The windigoes, following the discontent of the ponies, followed them, and the premise for the Hearths Warming Eve tale was set.

When the windigoes left, so did their harsh winter, and much of the land returned to a wild state that would have left it largely unrecognizable. But Discord controlled it nonetheless.

As everything faded to black, Cadence contemplated on what she had seen. After all, she had seen a very different Celestia back there, several times in fact.

“So how did you beome you?” she finally asked into blank space, “Becuase that back there was a different kind of you.”

“Ponies change, Cadence. Even alicorns."

Celestia could be heard sighing after this statement. At last she appeared in view before Cadence, the two back in the waking world for sure at this point.

Celestia, without her regalia, almost seemed mortal, in a majestic and bare sort of way. The princess' throne room was almost like a clock or timetable of sorts, as bits of dawn-dusk lighting gave the glass windows an eerie sort of glow in the same colors as the many glass windows.

Cadence's body hurt, as if she had smacked straight into some stone on her way down. Looking around, she saw the sun beginning to rise. Immediately, she looked towards Celestia, who was shaking off her own sleepiness.

“Well, did you find anything strange?” Celestia groggily asked, slowly coming to her full sense.

Celestia shook it off and went out of the room, presumably towards the balcony where she would raise the sun and lower the moon herself, leaving Cadence to herself for a few moments to watch the sleeping Luna and Twilight.

If everyone was having dreams like this, living the lives of one of their long lost characters, maybe even completely unrelated, it was no wonder that it was a call for worry. This was ancient history being played out in dreams!

But Luna had noted earlier that Discord had also been rather disturbed. Even if he was no longer an enemy, there was still a chance that Discord may be behind everything.

The sunrise struck the East windows directly, sending the near blinding light throughout the room. This both dazzled and temporarily blinded Cadence, though within a few moments the bright light attained a more comfortable level of light.

“We are going to need to talk to Discord,” Cadence stated, suddenly hearing a chuckle resound throughout the room.

Celestia returned with a slight (very slight) smile on her face.“That doesn't make any sense, coming from you.”

“Make sense, what fun is there in making sense?” Discord cackled, appearing from Celestia's mane like the wind that kept it in motion.

The creature had bags over his eyes; apparently, sleep had not come easily for him either.

“Have you been here all night?” Celestia inquired, though it was clear from her expression that she had already figured out the answer.

“Of course!” Discord replied as he stretched comically, “ I just could not get past why there are no male alicorns in the newspaper. I figured, oh what the hay, I'll just come and pay you a visit. The guards wouldn't mind.”

“Speaking of which,” Cadence chirped, “How did you get in here without us noticing?”

“He stealth warped his head to the ceiling,” Celestia filled, “He then waited for us to drift off before revealing his entire self, likely catching snippets of our dreams from our murmurings.”

“Perceptive as usual!” Discord chuckled, temporarily transforming the entire room into a game show room of sorts, a spotlight on Celestia, “You have won a newly informed in-law!”

Cadence rolled her eyes at the display, but Celestia seemed oddly amused as the room returned to normal.

“I am not going to miss serious Discord,” Celestia commented absent-mindedly, “Your pranks may get old, but it sure beats the alternative.”

“Beats it with a stick!” Discord said, snapping into existence a Discord-looking pinata and a large wooden stick tied to Celestia's horn, “Just remember, candy is meant for consumption not for snorting.”

Cadence could only watch in bemusement as Celestia played along, whacking the pinata in a semi-comical fashion. This was a bit much for her to take in, considering she had seen the enmity between the two in the past.

Then again, she also caught onto something else that Celestia had said just as the pinata burst into various vegetables, such as broccoli and brussel sprouts.

“You said that you would not miss serious Discord,” Cadence pressed as she dodged the piñata's inner goods, “What does that mean?”

“The tree of harmony violated Discord's special places when he deicded to pay it a visit,” Celestia joked, dismounting the stick from her horn using magic, “I am sure he has nightmares of the tentacles.”

“Dreadful those branches were,” Discord carried on, now shifting into the form of an interrogation victim in a classic wooden chair, “Drove me mad with all the tickling. There were places I did not even know could be tickled.”

Cadence got an image in her head before vigorously shaking her head clear of it. Some things were better left to speculation than imagination.

“So that changed him? How does that affect what we're doing now?”

“Discord's change made him much easier to deal with him the second go round,” Celestia elaborated, “Almost reformable, really.”

“Yes indeed,” Discord chimed, “I became a saint among all chaos, and the worst I had to endure was being turned to stone. Poor Sombra never got that chance.” Celestia and Discord shared a glance for a moment, then laughed.

Cadence was unnerved, and she began to realize that they were doing this on purpose. She needed to see something in this interaction, something that was not right. Well, her list would be shorter if she could figure out what was actually right about this scene.

“So what made the Crystal Empire return? I mean, was it coincidence? And how did Discord even end up among the Tree?"

“No,” Discord answered as he snapped away a few party cannons, “It was not coincidence. Celestia's parents forced the Heart's defensive mechanism to end prematurely with their fierce love for their children.”

“As strange as that sounds, that is the basic idea,” Celestia continued, “Discord getting his claws on the Heart caused it to begin a slow, but sure process of defending itself from corruption.

When the threat of invasion came upon it and the city from my parent's forces, it immediately transported the empire between the fabric of time and space, sheltering it and the capital city from severe harm.”

“But I thought it was conquered?”

Discord showed some signs of irritation at Cadence's questioning, as if he expected her to know at least this answer.

“Obviously the city was safe, but the rest of the empire fell by default,” Discord stated as if it were indeed quite obvious, even to someone who was not living during that time, “The empire as you know it today is more of a shingle of what it used to be.”

“When we arrived there as refugees, we were desperate, and many of the crystal ponies feared that they were being taken over,” Celestia emphasized, “Had it not been for Sombra, we might would have had to fight our way within the safety of the walls. Father had been wise to sent Luna ahead of us.”

“Okay, so you all decided to stay there for awhile. Discord is getting violated, four alicorns are resting in the Crystal city, while other ponies are starving and freezing. Sounds kind of harsh.”

“We didn't exactly eat like royalty in the city,” Celestia pointed out, “Unless you ate gems or ponies, there was not an abundant amount of food to go around. Dissent began to grow. The only thing keeping it simmered was Mother and, later, Sombra."

“Enough of all of this telling!” Discord shouted, “I want to know what Luna and Twilight are dreaming!” Curiously, the previously ignored alicorns had not awakened, and they even seemed to be completely undisturbed by the disturbance going on around them.

Comically prodding them with the dislodged piñata stick, Discord jokes, "Sleeping with Luna is like sleeping with death; it is long, and very deep. Refreshing too if you keep from sleeping on the hard floor.